Aging. Life. Advice.
Drink The Faucet Water
And other advice from 100-year-olds
I’m feeling old.
I suppose some days are like that when you receive senior discounts in the snail mail.
That, and while making sure I keep active — despite bum knees, a bung hip — I’ve somehow injured my elbow dancing. Dancing. I can’t explain it either. (See #50).
I’ve also woken up grumpy.
Suppose some days are like that when my morning news feed is filled with lottery winners and Bitcoin advice.
So, feeling an old codger, I Googled and Medium’d and read up on ‘Aging’.
What I found were two useful pieces, Tess Wheeler’s ‘Does Life Get Easier With Age?’ and 100 Pieces of Advice from Centenarians.
Respect your elders but also understand not all elders are noble and wise.
Just like youth, get enough people together and you’ll end up with morons and nuff nuffs in the crowd.
I have whittled the advice list from 100 to 22. (We may live to 100, but who has that kind of listicle reading time.)
100. What will be will be
86. Never drink, smoke or fool with the weed (meh; then what’s the point?)
90. Look inside your soul and find your tools (Say what?)
88. Mind your own business and don’t eat junk food
78. Take time to appreciate the smaller things that make life beautiful
66. Humor is a life force (Amen!)
64. Quit while you’re ahead (seems counterintuitive, but okay)
62. You gotta be lucky (Well, yeah)
57. Back yourself (can I get another ‘amen’?)
56. Don’t worry; just live
50. Pain is mysterious, having fun is the best way to forget it
48. Take the stairs and carry your own stuff
36. Don’t die too early (Kinda depends on #62, doesn’t it?)
26. Drink the faucet water
22. Learn to adapt
21. Religion, politics, cult… whatever; figure out what you believe and live it
16. Forgive
15. Don’t be a cheapskate
12. Don’t compare
11. Travel; experience is far more valuable than money
5. Forget vitamins and going to lots of doctors (Stay off the merry-go-round)
- Don’t look at the calendar (nor the clock)
There are other nuggets of advice to add to the pile. Centenarians can be a forgetful lot.
Love what you do Keep active Be positive And the final one: You can’t take it with you
I originally planned to publish this in a seniors publication, but that’s just preaching to the choir.
This needs to be read by the youngsters too — the ones who think twenty-something lasts forever, the ones who helicopter parent or the ones who just plain worry and stress.
100-year-olds already know how they got there — a little common sense, a few good genes that didn’t go awol or postal, and a heaping serve of luck. (A small shot of brandy before bed doesn’t hurt either.)
‘We crucify ourselves between two thieves: regret for yesterday and fear of tomorrow.’ — Fulton Oursler
My advice? Leave regret in the past and don’t worry about tomorrow. Fulfill today.
But ask me in another 46 years.