Living To Be 100
There is an excellent audiobook which I listen to whenever I drive to my daughter’s place some five hours away. It’s called ‘The Mind-Body Code’. Dr. Mario Martinez explores All. The. Things. people who live past 100 have in common.
And take note — these are not feeble 100-year-old folks. These are people who tell him stuff like, “I have to date 60 year-old-men because men my own age can’t keep up with me.”
Life Goals.
I am rather famous in My Tribe for dating younger men. Age differences well into double digits. But forty years is a stretch. Even for me.
But I digress. Back to living to be 100. What’s Their Secret?
According to this wonderful and inspiring audiobook — aging well is an inside job. It begins when you refuse to let the Over Culture define you. There are many subtle ways to talk yourself into living longer.
Age is just a number. I freely admit my age. I am brutally honest with anyone who cares to ask. But you don’t see me signing up for senior citizen discounts or AARP either. I refuse to live in a 50+ only community as well. Being around people younger and older than myself gives one perspective. The Circle of Life includes ALL of us. All ages. There is no ‘acting’ My Age when my environment includes Humans on the entire spectrum of Life.
Never Retire. I may collect my well-earned pension from my primary career — but I will never stop earning my keep. I enjoy traveling and treating my grandchildren too much to confine myself to ‘fixed income’ status.
Rituals. Do something every day that gives Your Life meaning and pleasure. Smoke that cigar, have those two fingers of scotch, run five miles, meditate, roll out your yoga mat…but do That Thing. Find Your Thing — and just do it. And do it every — single — day.
Change the channel on your body image. Aging is inevitable but not the end of the world and much better than the alternative. Look for the Good in Your Mirror. Yes — I don’t have periods any more — HURRAY! Bone loss? Heart attacks? Fuck them — I’m just so bloody (pun intended) happy about the no periods/cramps/chance of pregnancy. Gray hair — God damn right! I fucking earned every single one — I have two (count them two!) awesome daughters raised to adulthood — that does not happen without a lot of walking the floors and hand wringing. Crows feet and Marionette lines? Check — because I have laughed through much of My Life and My Face shows it. That ten pounds I’m never going to get rid of saves My Life when my asthma acts up and makes for a lovely cushion for my grandchildren to cuddle. Goddess bless every ounce of it!
The Things I’ve survived — Divorce/Pain/Grief. I am here because I am resilient. I can show you all how to walk — no, dance — down that path. I am no broken useless old woman — I am Strength personified. Dignified. Embodied. I am Wisdom. I got where I am by putting one foot in front of the other and trust me — not all of my roads were paved on my journey to My Now.
I have only lived half My Life. Perhaps a bit more than half. Trust me, I am not nearly done. For those of you who are my age or near it and think you may be Old or finished with Life/Adventures/Living — I wish you a Good Death. For the rest of us — Buckle up Buttercups— We still have decades left. DECADES.
I intend to live long enough to experience dating a man forty years my junior. #lifegoals.
Namaste.
