A few weeks ago, I had the honor of being present at my grandma’s 80th birthday. She hosted a small reception in the foyer of her tiny village’s gym-and-event space for about 50 people. Naturally, the entire family helped out, and I was in charge of handing out welcome drinks. This led to several funny encounters.
There were people I hadn’t seen since I was ten years old, people who’d given me one of my first jobs and were now long retired, and people whom I’d never met before. My grandma introduced me to several of the latter, many of them her childhood friends — and therefore as old as she now is. “Margret just turned 80 three weeks ago.” “This is Anne. She was 83 in September.” “Peter will be 80 this fall.”
By the time I had a rough idea of who everyone was, I looked around the room and realized: Most of these people don’t look their age. “So that lady is 80, so is this one, and wait, her husband too? Wow! 80 must be the new 70.” For a moment, I thought about modern healthcare, and sure, my grandma got a hip replacement years ago, among a few other treatments here and there. Ultimately, however, it seemed to me that these people stayed young mostly for their lack of adaptation to the modern world rather than their adjustment to it.
They don’t stare at screens all day long. They use their phones to call people instead of anything but communication. They cook their own food, spend time outside, and don’t obsess over each breaking news story from every corner of the globe. In other words, they just live — and that keeps them connected to life, both physically and spiritually.
There’s now more than a handful of Silicon Valley millionaires and billionaires who bio-hack the living hell out of their bodies in order to live to 100 and beyond. Ironically, most of them look to be aging faster and faster in every next New York Times profile. Perhaps the secret to long life is not to resist death, but to accept it. Often, the more we try to avoid something, the faster we bring it about — why should aging be excluded of this dynamic?
When I think of longevity, I don’t think of devices and trackers and infusions. I think of my grandma’s 80th birthday party — where I learned that 80 is the new 70, and that that is more than good enough.