The Secrets to Live Till 100 and Still Be Healthy and Happy ?? - from Real People

Happier YOU with Amy?Letter:?VANITY.

Happy Friday! How has your week been? On my end, it was more about seeing and being inspired by?Hillary?Clinton?on?Memorial Day to look back and to look forward. Hope you had a great one too.?

In today's Happier YOU Letter, I want to talk about the secrets of living till 100 and still being healthy and happy, instead of the traditional belief that when?we get old, we will be weak as our health withers.

Indeed, I had the random opportunities to meet with and talk to a few elderly women in the past weeks or so and I was both surprised at and?impressed by their elegance, vitality and inside out beauty from the glowing skin to the radiant smile.?

The first I met is my neighbor Rosie (name has been changed). When I saw Rosie at the back of her daughter's car last summer, I thought she was in her 80s just to later learn that she was?97. As I often have a walk around my?neighborhood each morning and take a long pause at Rosie's adorable garden, I had just another casual chat with her daughter, Sue (name has been changed), a published journalist and?play writer?and passionate gardener, who is now also a friend of mine. Sue shared that two years ago, before the pandemic hit, Rosie often went to the gym and had lunch dates with her good friend. Each morning, Rosie would put on some lipstick and make-up to start her day. "I believe it's vanity that keeps her how she is now," Sue said.

About two weeks ago, also during my walk, I bumped into Mary (named has been changed) who was removing chives from her front yard. "There are too many of them," she said as her grandson was helping her out as well. Mary gave me some to bring home and plant them in my very young garden (we moved in last summer). Mary has four children and 14 grandchildren a few of whom were graduating from college, and if you see her in person, you will notice her pink cheek and red lips. "Paint and lipstick make you what you ain't, my mother told me," Mary told me.?

Over the weekend, I met with a friend's mother-in-law. Sara (name has been changed) is 83 yet all of us at the party thought she was 60. Her composure and her skin never tell her age. "You already know I experienced two big losses this year of my son and then my husband. But I take care of myself well. I have enough sleep. I cook. I do gardening. I always have something to look forward to each day," Sara said, her eyes wearing a beautiful smile. As we continued to chat, Sara also shared when she was a child, she lived with her grandma who would wake her up at night so they could pray together. She further unfolded her stories with me, "Since a young age, I learnt about faith, inner peace and wanted to help people to feel at peace. So when I grew up, I decided to be a social worker and I had been one since then till I retired." Sara lived a purpose fostered in her as a child.

And over a month ago, I read an article in?Vogue?about the?model and fashion icon, Iris Apfel, who is still called to create?at the age of 100. As I scrolled through the story of a young Iris, I started to crack the code.

"My grandmother took me by the hand to the back hallway and there were two big closets full of what looked like pillowcases tied in knots. She opened two of them and started to spill little bits of fabrics on the floor and my eyes popped. She said, 'Look, you can play with all these scraps—just play and do whatever you want with them, and at the end of the day, if you've had a good time and you like them, I'll let you take home six pieces of your choice.'

I didn't realize at the time, nor did she—it was the entrance to my life in the textile world. I had the time of my life. It was so exciting for me to put colors together. It was my first dose of how it feels to be creative. I must have been about five years old."

So at a very young age, Iris had already had a passion and a purpose formed, and she has been living them, through all her precious years.?

Now if I am to summarize the longevity, health and happiness secrets of these amazing and inspiring women, they would be: vanity, exercise, meaningful social connection, passion, purpose, and an optimistic outlook for each day and for the future. Do these all ring cool and true to you as well?

For a happier YOU:

With that list of secrets, pick one that you feel you need to add more to your life. Is that vanity? Then put on some lipstick or anything that makes you feel good. Is that exercise? Then do yoga or whatever your body feels like doing. Is that social connection? Then reach out to family members, friends, neighbors, colleagues you want to bond with. Is that passion? Then start it. Buy that water color set and or sign up for that dance class or create that business. Is that purpose? Then uncover it and challenge yourself how you can start living it from now. Is that the optimistic outlook? Then wake up each day naming the things you look forward to that day and create the vision of who you want to become in 5 - 10 years to visualize it every morning.

And see how these little changes lead to big changes in how you feel, how you look, how you lead your life, and how you inspire others.

With excitement about joining Rosie in her 97th birthday celebration and seeing an old friend from India who will pay a visit this weekend.?

Onwards to Happiness Infinity,

Amy Nguyen

P. S. If you love this newsletter and think your friends may benefit from it, I'd like to invite you to spread happiness and share?this subscription link?with them.

Photo: The very reason I wake up each day feeling excited as well.