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Back to the Forum Archives People will always ask old guys what their secret is. Why have they lived so long? Since I am only 74 I am not yet qualified to address those questions. However, I do plan to live a very long time indeed. There is some precedent for this. Although my father died at age 55, I have outlived him by a great deal. I thing that is partly because In have more of my mothers genes, including baldness. My father was buried with a full head of beautiful hair. My mother wore a wig for many years. Go figure! Unlike Sam, I eschew the wig and wear my bald head proudly. I have also had many interesting brushes with the grim reaper and I survived all of them. I think that speaks well to my future survival. Concerning that, there is the matter of attitude. I will get to that in a bit. Now back to the answers people usually give to the longevity question. Of course, it is hard for all of us to resist trying to appear as though we really know something. So, most old guys, when asked, will give a bunch of BS reasons. These range from the silly to the belligerent. One I remember really distressed me. It was a woman who gave a list of what I would call obsessive compulsive behaviors It included, not just her diet, but her entire life style. I can only describe it as rigid. I was given to wonder why she wanted to live at all with that regimen. On the other hand I remember one old fart who claimed it was a result of smoking big ugly black cigars. Another said it was because he never listened to the doctors or the health advocates. Another claimed it was from drinking red wine every day. I think there is a clue to hear in all of these response. I think many of these answers speak more to attitude than to any other factor. This brings me to my belief about longevity. That is, it has more to do with our attitude and outlook that any other single thing. I am convinced it has almost nothing to do with diet. In addition, I believe our medical establishment does not know crap about longevity or aging. Even so, some of them will show a great deal of pompous pretense. They will load us up with don't, shouldas, and oughtas add infinitum. You gotta do this. You must do that. Don't drink. Don't smoke. Lower your cholesterol. It's all smoke. They don't really know much. Now, this is not to say our doctors cannot be helpful in our life. Without doctors, I would surely be dead by now. I would have died in agony several years ago. Doctors circumvented the agony and saved my life. I thank them in my thoughts every day. The point is to know who is responsible for what. You and only you are responsible for your overall health and lifestyle. For sure, you are responsible for you attitude. With that outlook, our doctor becomes what he should be, a consultant rather than a boss. If your doctor will not accept that role, I suggest you get another doctor. For sure, there are some cases where the medicos must take on the responsibility. These are the cases where an event occurs which requires medical intervention. When that happens to me, I make whatever preparation I can including emotional preparation. Then I surrender myself into the hands of the doctors. I have done my part and I give responsibility over to them with complete trust. This trust is very important, not only from the standpoint of the intervention, but especially for the recovery. If you don't believe you will recover, you probably won't. If you don't trust your doctor, you are in deep poopoo. As to medicine and longevity we do know some things. We know, for example, that smoking can kill you but we don't know the entire why or how of it. If it were that simple, there are many people who should have died of smoking who did not. We also know, some people are predisposed to cancer. We don't know for sure why or which ones they are, though we are learning. There are other things that will predispose us to health problems, but that is enough. We also have reasonable evidence to believe that vitamin supplements are helpful in longevity. I personally take a pot full every day. After all of that, my opinion is still that longevity is mostly a matter of attitude and that's the truth. This opinion is based on all of the people I have observed, including my mother. I mean really old people, not kids like me of 70 or 80. My mother is a very good example. She died at 94. In the meantime, she never worried about diet, weight, or cholesterol. She ate whatever she pleased whenever she pleased. So far as I know, she never smoked so she avoided that threat. Most important though is she woke up every morning with something to do, something to think about, something that was outside of herself. She looked outward rather than inward. That is how she spent her life. As best she could manage it, she was of service. She was not sitting around waiting to die. People who sit around waiting to die, do! My mother is not the only person I know of who followed that example and lived a long useful life. I have known and seen many others. So my recipe for longevity is simple. If you want your grandchildren to hang around and have fun with you, live in their now world. You don't have to run and jump with them. They know you are clumsy. Just don't belabor and bore them with usetabees. Don't tell them about what you did. Why should they care about unimportant history. That's what your life is for them. It is unimportant history. The kid's world is a lot more fun and interesting anyway. If you want their time, be interested in what they are doing. Listen to their dreams and plans and games. Join into their world, even when it is fantasy. Remember how it was when you were there. Then, when you finally must finish, finish with a flourish.
Finish with your head up locked in battle with the grim reaper.
Don't quit.
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