3 tips for living a long and healthy life (according to my 95 year old grandmother)

With the recent holidays, I was able to sit down with my 95 year old grandmother and spend time listening to her share her heart and her life.  Now while she is actually my husband’s grandmother, my grandparents passed away years ago, so I look to her as my own source of wisdom and inspiration for living a long and healthy life.

Honestly, I think the elderly often get overlooked as a blessing and a source of knowledge.  People are scared of “old people”.  I think they are scared that all the elderly are grumpy and will yell at them or they will fall over dead or something. ;) But as I have gotten older and more bold, I have had a chance to sit down with several older family relatives and really talk to them.  And you know what I have discovered?  They have so much to share, so much wisdom to pass on.  And they aren’t afraid to talk about the deeper issues of life and death because that is their reality.

Sitting down with my husband’s grandmother and discovering her story and how she got to where she is, has been pretty amazing.  She is 95 years old and has lived alone since her husband passed away over 15 years ago. She takes 2 daily medications for minor conditions.  She looks at least 10 years younger than she is and you can easily have a normal conversation with her without having to shout or simplify things, as she is very sharp.

So, my question has always been, how does she do it?  How has she lived so long and so well?  To be 95 years old, to be healthy, very cognizant and to still be living on her own (and host holidays, no less!), that’s impressive!  As I have mulled over several honest conversations with her, I picked up on these 3 tips as to how she has lived so long and so well.

Tip 1: Exercise daily
I think that it has only been in the last few years that my grandmother has stopped doing this.  After midlife, she told me, she began walking a mile every day.  Every day.  When she was in her 70’s and 80’s, she made sure she was walking at least a mile a day. Then as she got older and more fatigued, she turned to an indoor exercise bike and rode that everyday.  Now, she was a farmer’s wife in her younger years with 6 kids, so probably her exercise used to simply be her life, but as she aged, she was committed to daily exercise.

Tip 2: Lifelong learning
My grandmother told me that part of her everyday life involved bible study classes and opportunities to continue to learn and grow in her knowledge of the bible.  I don’t know about you, but at 95, I think I would probably think that I had heard it all by then. ;) But my grandmother believed that we always had something new to learn.  And she doesn’t just take bible study classes, she also does puzzles on a regular basis and watches trivia game shows.  All of these things keep her mind sharp and it shows.

Tip 3: Acceptance
Now, this isn’t a tip that she came right out and told me.  But through many conversations, I have heard her talk a great deal about how once she accepted her circumstances, she felt much more content about life.  I watched her struggle as her body slowed down and she didn’t have the energy to do the things she was used to and it was hard.  She felt discouraged and betrayed by her body. when her mind was still so sharp.  But when she came to the place where she had peace and acceptance that she couldn’t change those things, you could see a shift in her.  She was more peaceful.  I often hear her say all those familiar cliches like “It is what it is” and “There is nothing you can do to change things” and “You make do with what you’ve got”, but she genuinely believes them.  My grandmother has an attitude of acceptance of life’s circumstances and I believe that really has contributed to her longevity.

Now I am sure if you sat down with someone older and wiser, you might get some different words of wisdom, but what if you did?  What if you were bold and asked those people in your life what it is like to get older?  How about what it is like to lose friends?  I bet you, too, will hear acceptance in their voice. I think that is their reality and one that they eventually have to come to peace with.  The things that terrify the rest of us are the things that the elderly live with on a daily basis. Personally, I would love to learn how to come to a better place about the hard things that are coming my way as I get older.

I think part of the reason those things are so scary is that they are part of the unknown of aging.  But it doesn’t have to be that way.  Not only could we learn a thing or two from the elderly if we stopped and asked, think of the joy we can give if we simply spend time with them!  It hurts my heart to see so many people of the older generation overlooked and left alone- in the corner of a party, at an assisted living facility, as if they have lost their value as they age.  I simply don’t believe that to be the case. Or maybe it is, but how will we know if we don’t ask? ;)