The research is clear that vital centenarians are a self-reliant independent lot. They do what they think is right and what fits with their dreams. Few have had any ulcers.

They remind me of Maria in the musical, “The Sound of Music.” She perturbed the Mother Superior by being such a free spirit. Since Maria was at the bottom of the pecking order, she left to pursue a life that was a better fit with who she was. Had she been high in the pecking order she might have stayed, been “eccentric,” and created more freedom for other nuns to express their unique personalities.

Centenarians typically think of their physicians as consultants. They take their advice into consideration, but decide for themselves whether it makes sense to them. Thus they take primary responsibility for their health. This gives them a sense of control over their own lives. It also makes them more likely to consider other options before taking a pill or undergoing an elective surgery.

This attitude is even more important today as physicians are squeezed by managed care and many only be able to see patients for about eight minutes. Many of their patients expect to leave with a pill and may be unhappy if they don’t. The eight minute visit is even more of a problem for Seniors as their health issues are often more complex and there is less research data on treatment for Seniors than there is on younger patients.

I in no way mean to disparage the wonderful work that physicians do. They too are frustrated with eight minute sessions and all the paperwork. They have a monumental job keeping up with a barrage of new research, new medications, new treatments, and new treatment guidelines, not to mention coordinating treatment with speciality physicians and other healthcare providers. Brief visits don’t allow them time to assess adequately nutritional, exercise, and lifestyle issues and to consider whether nonmedical treatments might make medical treatments unnecessary. It isn’t realistic to ask them to have expertise in these other issues as well.

Centenarians typically don’t spend much time worrying about what others will think. As centenarian researcher Belle Boone Beard put it, “There are no Casper Milquetoasts among centenarians. . . . they express themselves in bold and unconventional ways.”

The “rule of thirds” applies to most people. It suggests that a third of people will like you, a third will be neutral, and a third won’t care for your style. If you change your style, you’ll get roughly the same breakdown of thirds but the third that likes you will shift. You want to be authentic so the third that likes you likes the real you.

Ask yourself what you would do if you weren’t constrained by worrying about what is socially acceptable. Then ask yourself if it fits with your purpose and mission in life. If so, what stops you? As Mark Twain put it, “ Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover." Or as Erica Jong put it, “And the trouble is, if you don't risk anything, you risk even more.”

Michael Brickey, Ph.D.
www.NotAging.com