Our mission statement

Coming Home Together (CHT) is a network for people in their late fifties and beyond who want to share thoughts and explorations relating to creative later life transitions, and who dare to ask “What do I want from the rest of my life?” Our website provides information about fulfilling and rewarding later-life alternatives, and links to resources, projects and communities, enabling its users to become actively involved in online and on-the-ground initiatives.

We believe that older people collectively have the wisdom, experience and resources to play a key role in shaping our own future, and reject any idea that “old” necessarily implies “being a burden.” CHT helps to empower us to take control over our own decisions, to appreciate being fully alive, to be open to challenges, and to be useful to our friends, our communities, and our world.

Who we are

CHT is the brainchild of two sixty-plus friends, Cin in Colorado and John in England, who met in 2013 and have been meeting up regularly since, most often online but as often as possible “in the flesh.” They realised early on in their friendship that they had very similar ideas about what it means to be active, self-directed older people with real choices about how later life might be for the many people daring to think about their futures. Together they hatched and developed the idea of CHT, and along with a growing group of friends and connections all over the world are working hard to build a forum for exciting and innovative ideas and projects for older citizens.

A time of transition

For many of us, our late fifties and early sixties are a major period of transition, often the first we’ve experienced since we left home in our teens or twenties, or since our own children left home. Common transitions as we age include:

• retirement
• downsizing
• adult children not needing us so much
• more opportunities to travel
• more time for networking and interests beyond work
• health and mobility issues
• the loss or sickness of a partner
• recognizing (for better and worse) the freedom for self-determination

Do you want what we want?

• to carry on being fully alive until we die
• not to worry unnecessarily about “being old”
• to understand the importance of “use it or lose it,” mentally and physically
• to recognize that “old” isn’t necessarily a disability or a burden
• to have as much control as possible over our own decisions
• to be open to challenges
• to be useful to our friends, our community and the world
• to continue to have a purpose
• to accept our responsibilities without stress, inviting beauty, stimulation, variety and calmness

Senior lifestages

Where are you, and what’s your thinking as you mature?

You’re in your late fifties 
Your vistas are expanding in some ways, contracting in others. You may find yourself single for the first time in decades. If you’re single, you’ll possibly be wondering who’s going to be there for you as you get older; if you’re one of a couple you might be daring to wonder what will happen when there’s only one of you left. You may be flirting with the idea of retirement, or at least slowing down and re-focusing. You’re meeting people not much older than you who are retired and loving it – or not. You’re also starting to see people not much older than you falling by the wayside due to illness or other misfortune. If you’re fortunate, you’re excited about the possibilities of the coming years, with a chance to branch out and start to do things you’ve always wanted to do, perhaps to live in a different way. But you also feel an incipient urgency to get on a path that will serve you over the inevitable changes and challenges your future holds.

You’re in your sixties 
As much as you try to avoid thinking about it, you have to wonder how and where you will live as you get older. You may have experienced the end of life of one or both of your parents, and seen the lack of choices they were presented with, the tremendous expense of care homes and the indignity of having to leave their home just at the time they’re least able to cope with major relocation and lifestyle changes. You’ve heard yourself say “I don’t want to end up like that!”

You’re in your seventies
You realize that the time may be approaching when living on your own is no longer an option for you. You may be beginning to experience physical limitations; you may have lost or be caring for an ailing partner. You’re concerned about becoming isolated, or being too dependent on your children. You don’t want to lose control of the direction of your life.

You’re in your eighties and nineties
You’re worried that it might be too late to make choices that reflect your desires, your hopes, your dreams – yet you still have them. More and more often other people are making your decisions for you, but you still want a say in how you live your life. You’ve lived a long time and through a lot of changes; that makes you wise and experienced, not redundant!

You have big choices to make; your future is up to you!