I’m Traveling The World At 84. Here Are My Secrets To A Long, Healthy Life.
1. Don’t procrastinate on doing what you want to do.
My wife and I have always made time to vacation in different parts of the world,focus on hobbies and learn new skills.
In just the past 18 months, we witnessed the glory of lavender fields in full bloom in France, ziplined in Costa Rica and cruised along the Chilean Fjords to Argentina. In earlier travels, we visited much of Western Europe, almost all of South America, plus South Africa and Zambia. We have visited the ends of the three continents — Kanyakumari in India, Cape of Good Hope in Africa and Cape Horn in South America. We have seen Niagara Falls, Victoria Falls and recently, Iguazu Falls. Our bucket list has reached rock bottom. If something pops up in the future, we will take the opportunity. But we feel fulfilled.
When I posted some of our travel photos, one of my nephews said,“Uncle, I am impressed by your enthusiasm, curiosity, and energy in traveling to all these wonderful places at your age. You are an octogenarian nomad.”
Our lives have been enriched by all this travel. We met interesting people who are gardeners, artists, book lovers and foodies, just like us. We made long-lasting friendships. I can’t imagine what my life would be if I just stayed put.
2. Love, trust and support your significant other.
In July, my wife Bharati and I celebrated our 54th wedding anniversary. After living so many years together, I have learned how love and appreciation grow because of shared experiences.Having been together for over half a century, through thick and thin, I think about the meaning and significance of our wedding vows.
We are both Hindus. In the Vedic wedding ceremony, there is a ritual of Saptapadi (seven steps around a fire,for the fire god) during which we made vows similar to “for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death us do part.”
Looking back, I wonder how we survived our initial years after we were married, when we faced long odds.After our wedding, Bharati had to stay back in India when I returned to America. It took her one year to get her visa due to India’s government bureaucracy. After she arrived in the U.S., she had to acclimate to a new country far different from where she had lived.
All newlyweds have challenges when starting a new life together, but ours were exacerbated by the economic climate in the early 1970s. I graduated with a master’s degree in engineering from the University of Oklahoma. At the time, the country was in the grip of a severe recession. Large companies were laying off people. It took me more than two years to gain footing in a good job.
Our earnings were meager during this period, but we still enjoyed our life. In the following years, we suffered the loss of our first child to spina bifida and two difficult pregnancies a few years later. We recovered from all of this and had a reasonably successful middle-class life. I learned that when two people love, trust and support each other, things tend to work out.
