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Why is this important?

• Continued learning through life enhances self-esteem and encourages social interaction and a more active life.
• We will experience more if we are prepared to “give things a go”. Failure, or not being perfect is part of learning. We don’t need to be brilliant at something to get enjoyment from it.
• Evidence suggests that the opportunity to engage in work or educational activities particularly helps to lift older people out of depression.
• The practice of setting goals has been strongly associated with higher levels of wellbeing.

Practical Strategies

• What new experiences could you take?
• What clubs could you join?
• What hobbies did you used to have that you could do again?
• What did you do when you were younger that you enjoyed that might have equivalents activities as you have got older?
• Saying we will do something forever is a hard goal but it is much easier to consider sustaining something for 30 days – what could you do? You might find that a simple idea means that you find something new e.g. Stop and take a photograph every day of something interesting, do 20 sit ups, ……

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