Life Advice from a 103 Year Old You Didn't Know You Needed

What advice would you give to your 25-year-old self? I thought I was done. There's nothing more to live for. My husband asked for a divorce after 46 years of marriage. The world was broken. If you can't see it, maybe it can go away, but it doesn't. What was life like, the world like, during World War II? Today I'm in Phoenix, Arizona, asking the world's most accomplished 103-year-old some of life's deepest questions. In this video, Gladys is going to share all of her insights and wisdom for how to live a more fulfilling life. So without further ado, let's get into it. How old are you, for people who don't know? A hundred and almost three. Almost 104. I was cheating. You're cheating, yeah. So many, it's hard to count, right? What does it feel like to be turning 104? Absolutely amazing. See, I can't even remember what it is because it's just another day. It's an amazing experience to be alive at this point. I'm in awe. You're almost 104, so you were born in 1920? Is that it? Yes. It was at the end of World War I, and then I went to medical school during World War II. I've been through all the rest of this stuff. What was life like, the world like, during World War II? Every day there was something that was scary, something that had happened. The world was broken. It was totally broken. And then it reached down to every one of us, and V-Day was huge. Just huge. What were you doing on V-Day? Do you remember? Well, we had a picnic, and you bring your basket and you share it. Just celebrated however we could. A lot of people are super fearful about what the world will be and what it will look like, and I think that definitely puts a lot of strain on people's mental health and mindset. So you've been through so many periods in life that have seemed like, what's the world going to be like? Is this it? Is it the end? Is it going to get any better? And it always seems to correct itself. Look for the light. If you're looking for the darkness, you'll find it. But look for the light, because the sun always comes up, and the moon comes up, and the stars. There's always light to be looked for if we look for it. Why do you think people gravitate towards darkness? Scared. They're really afraid to really look. And so if you can't see it, maybe it'll go away, but it doesn't. Look for the light. Look for hope. If you're looking for it, you'll find it. Sometimes it's hard to find. Sometimes it's very hidden. See, I kind of like thinking, if I'm walking on a path that's dark, and all I can see is one step at a time, I can take those steps one step at a time. But as I look over to one side or the other, maybe on the left side, there's a tiny little glimmer of light. But if I take my flashlight and put it on with that little glimmer, it lights the whole thing up. In other words, if we have something that we have to share, and we share it, life gets more exciting. Not only for us, but for the person that finds the light. And all of a sudden, well, there's more there. See, I have these five L's that have given me a little bit of a platform from which to work at. The first two are life and love. They go together. They don't function without each other. It's like when I'm pregnant, the baby that I'm carrying is one with me. Everything I eat, he eats. Everything I think, he thinks. It's all one unit. So the life and love function together. The third L is laughter. Laughter without love is cruel. It hurts. It breaks up families. It causes wars. But laughter with love is joy and happiness. It lights your life up. And the fourth one is labor. Labor becomes drudgery if you're just dragging it along. But when you actually look at it with love, you find what you're finding. The work that you are doing is 10 times as hard and longer hours than anything that you would be doing when you were dragging yourself through it. So finding the aspect of your own being that says, Ah, I got it. And you go after that. That's what lights you up. I'm working at this age to do something that I can do. And I know that the world is hungry for it. And then the last L is listening. Listening without love is empty sound. You just don't hear. But if you're listening with love, you'll hear. And it'll speak to you. Why do we laugh so little when we get older? We forget. And we start carrying the bag. It's better to let it go. My mother had a saying in Hindustani, Kuchipurwani. Many, many things come along, but they're just not worth it. So just let it go. If somebody says something mean to you and you take it in, it hurts your feelings. But if you take it in and you say, Oh, well, it doesn't matter. And you let it go. It's gone. You don't even remember it. I have a really good friend. And she's in her 90s. And she called me a week or two ago. And she says, Oh, I wake up in the morning and I think, Oh, not another new day. And I thought, Oh, how sad. You know, that's so sad. I wake up and think, Wow, what am I supposed to do today? And the sun comes up. My friends, back to the video in one second. It's one thing to listen to the advice that you hear on our channel. But as Gladys says, it's even more important to take action on it. After over 1,000 interviews with strangers and experts of all ages, we've put together all of their strategies and advice to live a more fulfilling life into our goal setting journal. This journal has helped over 3,000 people develop the discipline, clarity and motivation to turn their greatest dreams into their current realities. If this interests you, click the link in the description to grab a copy of our final batch. OK, back to the video. What do you think is the difference between someone who lives to, let's say, in their 80s versus someone who can extend their life and get to where you are? Well, I've found that I have a purpose and I have a message. When you find what it is that makes you excited and keeps your life force going, it keeps going. I don't know why I live this long, except I know I still have something to say. If the purpose that you're working for suddenly moves out of the way, you either find another or you just let it drop. It's like when my husband asked for a divorce after 46 years of marriage. I thought I was done. I was completely broken. I was in my car riding back from my office to an empty home except my dog. And I thought there's nothing more to live for because we had done so much together. We'd created the American Holistic Medical Association, had six kids and all this stuff. And then he asked for a divorce and I felt like I was just in limbo. How old were you at the time of the divorce? How old was I, John? 70-something. What happened? Oh, he found somebody. At 70? In the 70s? How do you move forward? Oh, I was totally broken. I really didn't have any idea what I was going to do. But I knew that there was still work for me to do. So I think the important thing is not to shut everything down. You know, I could have gone back in the car and shut the door and sat in the rest of my life being horribly broken. Or I could keep that door open and see what else came up. And I didn't want to be broken. About a year later, I was able to write my ex-husband a letter and say, thank you for giving me my freedom. Because all of a sudden, I was not billing Gladys like I had always been during our marriage. I was Dr. Gladys. So all of a sudden, I had a new identity and I could use it. What is it like to go through life, I say, especially in the last 20 years, and you start seeing people that you were close with that you spent a lot of time with passing away? Like, how do you deal with that sort of grief? One of my really close friends died last Monday. I'm sorry. I'm missing him. But nothing can take away my memories of what we did. I have this place called Memory Lane. And anytime I choose, I can go down Memory Lane and nobody can take that away from me. The people that I have loved, even the little people when we were children, they are still part of my Memory Lane. They're as real as anything because they're in my thoughts. And I can call them back. All of my siblings are gone. Finding people my age would be kind of an interesting thing. If there are any out there, let me know. I think a lot of people attribute diet to longevity. What do you eat? What is your diet? My diet is what I can do. My son, John, goes out and gets some food and I eat it. Ever had an In-N-Out burger? Would we ever catch you having a fast food hamburger? Sure. Yeah? Yeah, I haven't had one for years. But you would if John brought it home. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I try to keep it as fresh as possible. Home-cooked food, if you can do it. If not, as close as you can get. What's your favorite meal that you like eating or favorite food? I don't have a favorite meal. A long time ago, I decided I'm happy that I've got food because there have been times in my life when I didn't have it available. What other things, what other habits, or just in general, what things contribute to living a long life? Keep moving. I walk with my walker and I keep my steps on my cell phone so that I make sure that I keep moving. I go around my own little house here. Keep your body moving. Get at least eight hours of sleep a night if you can do it. Sometimes you can't. But take a nap. It took a while for me to understand that. When you take a rest, you're not being lazy. You're doing something. You're actually taking a rest. If you were to go back in time knowing everything you know today and you could speak to your 25-year-old self, what advice would you give to her to live better? Don't lose the light. Follow the light. And love is always the great teacher. So look for it. The hard times come, but they go too. If I asked you also to your 50-year-old self, would that advice be different? No. I'm really content with where I am. I don't have much, you know, here. But I've got the whole world. Thank you so much for watching this video. If you haven't had a chance to grab a limited copy of our goal-setting journal that has Gladys' and over a thousand different strangers' best advice and strategies to live a more fulfilling life, click the link in the description to get yours today. As always, it's a mindset. See you next week.