Despite the title, what this article really wants to say is how to stay young. At my age, this is really a crucial question. My first suggestion is to choose your ancestors carefully. Although both my parents died young, considering my other ancestors, my choice was quite good. Yes, my grandfather died at the age of 67, in the prime of life, but the relatives of the other three grandfathers all lived to be over 80 years old. As for further relatives, I only found one who didn't live long. He died of a rare disease: being beheaded. One of my great grandmothers was a friend of Gibbon's. She lived to the age of 92 until her death, and she was always a person who made all future generations feel awe. My grandmother gave birth to ten children in her life, nine of them lived, one died early and had a lot of miscarriages. But after being widowed, she immediately devoted herself to women's higher education. She is one of the founders of Gordon College, trying to get women into the medical profession. She always talks about an old gentleman with a sad face she met in Italy. She asked him the reason for his melancholy, and he said that he had just broken up with his two grandchildren. "My God!" She cried and said, "I have seventy-two grandchildren. If I have to be sad every time I break up, I will not live long ago! " ""strange mother. " He replied. However, as one of her seventy-two grandchildren, I have to say that I prefer her insight. At the age of eighty, she began to feel a little difficult to sleep, so she often read popular science books from midnight to 3 am. I don't think she has time to notice that she is aging. I think this is the best way to stay young. If your interests and activities are extensive and intense, and you can feel that you are still full of vitality, then you don't have to consider the pure statistics of how many years you have lived, let alone the future that you may not be very long.
As for health, as I have never been ill in my life, I have no useful suggestions. I can eat if I want, drink if I want, and sleep if I can't wake up. I never do anything based on health, although in fact, what I like to do is usually healthy.
Psychologically speaking, there are two kinds of dangers to be prevented in old age. One is too obsessed with the past. People can't live in memories, miss the good old days or mourn their dead friends. One should focus on the future and what one needs to do. It is not easy to do this, and the influence of the past is always increasing. People always think that their past feelings are much stronger and their minds are much sharper than they are now. If so, you should forget it; And if you can forget, then your self-righteous situation may not be true.
Another thing that should be avoided is attaching to young people and expecting to gain strength from their vitality. When children grow up, everyone wants to live according to their own wishes. If you care about them as much as they did when they were children, you will become a burden to them unless they are extremely slow. I'm not saying that we shouldn't care about our children, but that this concern should be implicit and, if possible, generous, not overly emotional. Once small animals stand on their own feet, big animals leave them alone. It is difficult for human beings to do this because of their long childhood.
In my opinion, it is not difficult for people who have strong hobbies, appropriate activities and are not affected by personal feelings to successfully spend their old age. Only in this range, longevity is really beneficial; Only in this range can wisdom from experience be used without being suppressed. It's no use telling adult children not to make mistakes, because on the one hand, they won't believe you, on the other hand, mistakes are one of the basic elements of education. However, if you are the kind of person who is dominated by personal feelings, you will feel that if you don't focus on your children and grandchildren, you will feel that life is empty. If this is the case, then you must understand that although you can still provide them with material help, such as supporting them with money or knitting wool coats for them, you must never expect them to be happy because of your company.
Some old people are distressed by the fear of death. It is understandable that young people are afraid of death. Some young people are worried that they will be killed in the battle. They feel pain at the thought of losing all the good things that life can give them. This kind of worry is not unreasonable and understandable. However, for an old man who has experienced the joys and sorrows of the world and fulfilled his personal duties, the fear of death is somewhat pitiful and shameful. The best way to overcome this fear is-at least I think so-to gradually expand the scope of your interests and get rid of your personal feelings until the wall that surrounds you leaves you bit by bit, and your life is more and more integrated into everyone's life. Everyone's life should be like a river-small at first, confined between narrow banks, and then rushing passionately over boulders and sliding down waterfalls. Gradually, the river widened, the banks of the river widened, and the river flowed more smoothly. Finally, the river flowed into the ocean without obvious interruption or pause, and then it got rid of its existence without any pain. If an old man can understand his life in this way, he will not have the pain of fear of death, because everything he cherishes will continue to exist. Moreover, if the feeling of fatigue increases with the decrease of energy, then a long sleep is not an unwelcome idea. I long to die while I can still work, and I can take comfort in knowing that others will continue my unfinished business.