What the budget means for older people

Check out this AgeUK guide to what the budget means for YOU.

http://www.ageuk.org.uk/money-matters/what-the-budget-means-for-you/

Ground-breaking partnership launched to help people aged 50 and over in Greater Manchester

Greater Manchester has announced a five year partnership with the Centre for Ageing Better.  This will support the new Greater Manchester Ageing Hub on a range of work to improve the lives of people living in Greater Manchester aged 50 and over.

Read the full story on the GMCA website.

Golden Voices Choir

Golden Voices Choir is a friendly group of over 50s who sing pop and traditional songs from many lands. They're looking for new members - there's no audition and you don't have to read music. They have an inspiring musical director who teaches and encourages and they've performed at a range of venues including museums and art galleries. Prospective members are welcome to join a rehearsal before signing up.

£3.50 per session (first session is free)

Contact Julie Jones on:

Email: choir@goldenvoices.com
Tel: 07906201262
www.facebook.com/goldenvoicescommunitychoir

Royal Exchange Theatre Elders Company

Royal Exchange Theatre, St Ann's Square, M2 7DH
Cost: £6

The Royal Exchange Elders’ Company are starting new monthly taster sessions. Open to anyone over 60, they're practical workshops for those wishing to develop drama skills and knowledge of theatre.

Upcoming sessions:

Wednesday 23 March, 11am-1pm
Wednesday 27 April, 11am-1pm
Wednesday 25 May, 11am-1pm
Wednesday 22 June, 11am-1pm
Wednesday 27 July, 11am-1pm
Wednesday 24 August, 11am-1pm

Sessions are proving extremely popular and if you're unable to book a place on Elders Monthly, you'll be placed on their waiting list.

To book: contact the Box Office on 0161 833 9833. Tickets for the next Elders Monthly session are released at 10.30am on the previous session.

For further information please contact Andy Barry on 0161 615 6792 or email andy.barry@royalexchange.co.uk.

How can cities be improved for older people?

How will ageing populations shape our cities? The Guardian would love to hear about your experiences as an older person of the challenges and benefits of urban life. How could your city improve for older residents? What physical or social changes would you like to see happen to enable a more inclusive, age-friendly city?

Find out more and share your experiences by Monday 21 March.

What to do If you feel you’re slipping off track again

Sometimes we have the best intentions but still slip and get off track. Is it a mindset problem? Or was the goal too big? Did you not have enough support? No matter what the reason, don’t give up! You can return to working on your resolution.

Decide if the goal really means something to you, and if it does, you’ll want to follow this simple process to get back on track.

• Review your plan. Did you set your goal a little too high? For example losing 50 pounds in 3 months? Aim a bit lower. Set your target goal to a more attainable one. So for this example, losing 10 or 15 pounds in 3 months or changing what you eat and scheduling exercises would be a better resolution.
• Break down your goal if your original goal is too large to accomplish easily. If your goal is to lose 50 pounds this year, then break it down into smaller tasks. In this example, 50 pounds a year is less than a pound a week. Then set up an eating and exercise plan to lose a pound a week.
• Focus on one resolution at a time. Choose the most pressing one – losing weight, eating healthy, changing your mindset—and concentrate on it until you achieve it. Trying to change more than one habit at a time can be overwhelming.
• Get an accountability partner. Enlist the help of a friend or professional to keep you accountable who can advise you on what you need to be doing.
• Be flexible and willing to change how you approach your resolution. Lengthen your timeline if necessary.
• Work on smaller goals at a time that lead to your ultimate goal.
• Create new milestones if you feel like you’re just too far off track. Modify your original goal for a new more attainable one that fits in the remaining time. That way, at least you’re making some progress towards your original goal.
• Get more specific if you created a very broad and grand resolution. Maybe your goal was to get healthy. That’s great, but it is without an action plan and specific definition of what healthy means to you. Does it mean eating clean foods? Or exercising three times a week?

Just because you’ve started slipping away from your New Year’s resolution doesn’t mean you have to totally forget about it. Use the above tips to get back on track and get your momentum going again.

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Your next step...

We almost all do it. We make New Year’s resolutions to get healthy, to exercise more and to live a more happy and positive life. Then, as they say, life happens. We fall off the ball and eventually we’re right back where we started a year ago.

Sometimes it’s just a matter of losing our motivation to continue. Reaching the goal might be taking longer than we hoped or harder than we anticipated. But there are things we can do to boost our motivation along the way.

Tell other people about your goal or invite them to join you.

Work on taking small steps every day that leads you towards your goal.

Celebrate your success at pre-set milestones.

Work on changing your thought patterns as you work on the new behavior. If you don’t change how you think about eating healthy, you will likely have trouble maintaining it.

Have fun and laugh at yourself when you slip. But get back on track as soon as you can.

The statistics are scary. If only eight percent of people setting New Year’s resolutions are able to achieve them, then why do so many attempt them year after year and fail? It’s not because they are lazy. Often it’s simply because we set too high a goal or try to achieve too many resolutions at once.

Setting a New Year’s resolution is a lot like taking a long trip. You wouldn’t set out without a plan on how you were going to get there, where you’d be staying or even what you planned to take with you.

So when you do make your resolutions this year, and you find yourself slipping, take the time to reassess and revamp the plan on how you are going to reach that health goal. Hit the gym, turn down that piece of cake and eat less processed foods. Give yourself a reward, and then get out and do it all over again tomorrow. It’ll be worth it when you finally achieve it.

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