Be honest: What comes to mind when you hear the words senior center?
If your mental picture involves a quiet room filled with people much older than you, you’re probably overdue for a visit.
Today’s older adult centers are active community gathering places — and you don’t have to feel “old” to walk through the door.
At Timber River Connections, our centers throughout Lewis County offer opportunities to exercise, learn something new, enjoy a meal, play games, make things, volunteer and, perhaps most importantly, spend time with other people.
If you’ve been telling yourself you’re “not old enough for the senior center,” we’d like to challenge you to think about it a little differently.
It’s About Community, Not a Number
There’s no magical birthday when someone suddenly wakes up feeling like a senior citizen.
For many people, retirement arrives while they’re still active, busy and looking forward to decades of doing the things they enjoy. Others continue working but find themselves with more flexible schedules. Kids grow up. Families change. Friends retire, relocate or pass away.
Our social circles can change considerably as we get older.
That’s one reason community spaces become so valuable.
Timber River Connections’ vision is for older adults throughout Lewis County to remain physically and mentally active, have their nutritional needs met and continue thriving in their own homes.
That doesn’t begin at a particular age.
It begins with staying connected.
You Might Actually Have Fun
You don’t have to come to a center because you “need help.”
You can come because something sounds fun.
Depending on the location and schedule, activities at Timber River Connections centers include things like:
- SAIL exercise classes
- Chair yoga
- Zumba
- Tai Chi
- Painting and crafts
- Quilting
- Pinochle and other card games
- Bingo
- Adult coloring
- Writing groups
- Live music
- Community events
- Special presentations
- Holiday celebrations
- Group lunches
You don’t have to do everything.
In fact, you don’t have to do much of anything.
Maybe you come for an exercise class once a week. Maybe you discover a regular card game. Maybe painting sounds interesting. Maybe you just want somewhere to have lunch where somebody else cooks and there are people around to talk to.
That’s the beauty of a community center: You decide what being part of it looks like.
Making Friends Gets Harder as Adults
When we’re young, friendship happens almost automatically.
We go to school. We have coworkers. Our kids have activities. We’re constantly being put into rooms with other people.
Then life changes.
Retirement can remove one of our biggest sources of everyday social interaction almost overnight. Children and grandchildren have busy schedules of their own. People move. Spouses and longtime friends may experience health problems.
Suddenly, making a new friend isn’t quite as simple as it used to be.
That’s where regular activities make a difference.
It’s much easier to get to know someone when you see the same faces every Tuesday at yoga, across a pinochle table or over lunch.
You don’t have to walk into a room and announce, “I’m here to make friends.”
You just have to show up.
Staying Active Doesn’t Have to Mean Going to a Gym
Physical activity matters as we age, but staying active doesn’t necessarily require a gym membership or an intimidating fitness routine.
Many Timber River Connections locations offer approachable activities designed to keep people moving.
Depending on the center, that might mean SAIL exercise classes, chair yoga, Tai Chi, Zumba or another group activity.
And there’s an added benefit: Someone is expecting you.
It’s often easier to maintain a routine when other people are doing it alongside you.
Lunch Is a Perfect First Visit
Still not convinced?
Come have lunch.
Nutrition is one of the central parts of Timber River Connections’ mission, with congregate meals offered at locations throughout Lewis County.
But the meal is only part of the experience.
Lunch gives people a reason to get out of the house, sit down together and catch up. For someone visiting a center for the first time, it’s also one of the easiest ways to see what the place is actually like.
You might recognize someone.
In Lewis County, there’s a pretty good chance you will.
Bring Someone With You
If walking through the doors by yourself feels awkward, don’t.
Bring your spouse. Bring a friend. Bring your neighbor.
Try an activity together and see what you think.
And if you have a parent, grandparent, friend or neighbor who could use a little more connection in their life, don’t simply tell them they should “go to the senior center.”
Go with them.
Have lunch together. Play bingo. Check out an event.
Sometimes the difference between I’d never go there and When are we going again? is simply having someone there for the first visit.
Maybe We Need to Rethink the “Senior Center”
Perhaps the problem isn’t the center at all.
Maybe it’s the word senior.
At Timber River Connections, we’re increasingly using the term Older Adult Center, because it better describes what these spaces really are: community centers designed around the interests and needs of adults as they move into another stage of life.
They’re places to stay active.
Places to learn.
Places to eat.
Places to volunteer.
Places to laugh.
Places to see familiar faces — and meet new ones.
So if you’ve driven past your local center thinking, I’m not old enough for that yet, consider this your invitation.
Come inside.
You might be surprised by who — and what — you find.