I’d like to pose a question.
Do you want to live to be 100?
Have you thought about this end of life process- that is, the age at which you will exit this earth and head for heaven (or whatever you feel is the next step)? Heaven is my personal trajectory- and you are welcome to ask me how I can be so sure.
My mom is now 95, and the last of her 3 siblings. Here is an interesting comment in the book I just finished reading, Living to be 100 by Michael Howard, PhD. He writes: “Studies have shown that first-born children, especially women, may be more likely to reach 100 years old than later-born siblings.” My mom is an example of that observation.
Having An Active Lifestyle in Any Setting
Until October, 2017, Mom was living independently in a 2-bedroom cottage on a “senior living campus.” Today she is well-cared for in a 1-bedroom apartment in the main building, same facility. Her abilities to manage her own life have changed, but she and I still talk on the phone (she has a cell phone), and she walks the halls, attends special programs, and even ventures outside- all of which make her a very remarkable woman! The feature photo shows mom next to a planter she recently finished.
Planting a tamarisk tree
Mom engineered the transplanting of a tamarisk tree that had been in her yard for several years. It was quite a process, but God provided a beautiful day with blue skies!
My Question
Seeing Mom recently, taking a CEU course on brain health, reading the book I referenced above have all contributed to my own thoughts about how is it that some people live to be 100 (centenarians) with a very few labeled super-centenarians (110 years or older)?
A fascinating result of posing this question in a variety of conversations is the strong negative responses: “No way.” “Definitely not.” I have discovered that personal experience with an infirmed relative is the reason behind the negative response. The individual has never met a vibrant elderly person who has purpose and who is making a difference in people’s lives.
Again the question, Do you want to live to be 100?
Make Conscious Deliberate Choices
The book that I referenced above lists 16 lifestyle behaviors that have been distilled from numerous studies on centenarians. The good news is that further studies indicate you don’t have to engage in all 16 to arrive at a healthy 100 years old!
My goal is to inspire you to make conscious deliberate choices with the result that you too can not only have a long life span, but actually have a long healthy life span…that is, after all, a worthy goal!
What are your thoughts?
