My 101-Year-Old Grandpa Believes You Destroy Your Longevity Rapidly With These Modern-Day Habits

An old man fishing. — Image by Josep Monter Martinez from Pixabay

There are a few people who inspire you to do better in life. Their example gives you the strength to make hard choices in life.

My 103-year-old dadaji (grandpa) is that person for me. His longevity and happiness made me believe we can live long and healthy lives.

But this journey is filled with sacrifices as being healthy is more about the habits you quit than the ones you follow.

His life might seem restricted to others but for me, it’s the blueprint for a healthier and longer life.

He believes that the habits he avoided had more impact on his healthspan than the ones he followed.

So, here are the five habits he has avoided all his life for better health and longevity.

The addiction that you make the essence of life

He’s a retired army man who has surpassed everyone’s expectations. Being in the army is stressful and lonely, the imminent risk to one’s life will make you forget the long-term effects of your choices.

So addictions develop quickly in the army, some people are already afflicted with dangerous addictions like smoking while others are too stressed and in need of a release so smoking fits the criteria perfectly.

Yet he never smoked in his two-decades-long career in the military. Every single conversation with his old man had a third party present — the tobacco placed under his dad’s gum. He had never had a single conversation with him when he wasn’t chewing tobacco.

This addiction took the form of mouth cancer and soon his dad passed away before he even turned 15. So, he made it a rule to use touch tobacco in his life.

He kept his promise to himself, he had never smoked a cigarette or chewed tobacco. It was difficult not to give in the peer pressure but he has managed to avoid smoking his whole life.

But one bad habit that he got from his army days was drinking, which he left as soon as he retired from the army.

So, he has successfully conquered two most potent yet somewhat acceptable drugs on this planet

It wasn’t a tough decision for him to stay away from smoking when his entire childhood was marred because of tobacco. But giving up alcohol took some time.

He tried to give it up plenty of times but only to fail, then finally he had his last drink on his 75th birthday, he hadn’t touched it in almost 30 years.

He used to drink occasionally even before quitting so it wasn’t a big change but it took some time to finally give up alcohol forever.

Here’s what helped him quit this habit:-

A strong resolution needs a defiant reason which prevents you from breaking the resolution. So dig deep and find a reason to give up these vices.
A long approach requires patience but it’s the surest way to quit. Random epiphanies to quit almost end up in remission. So, plan well.
Start slow. Take your time to form a plan that you can tweak accordingly in the future.

You ignore the best-known medicine

Army men are known for their discipline worldwide. They are the picture of ultimate self-discipline and utmost sacrifice.

Their habits set them apart from the rest of us. They live their lives in healthy restraints that assure better longevity.

Dadaji has many healthy habits that he has been following for decades. His diet, exercise, and lifestyle have been the same for as long as I have known him.

But waking up super early was one habit that started his quest for a healthy life. In the army, it’s common for soldiers to wake up before dawn to get a headstart on the day’s chores.

He detested waking up early, as a night owl I can sympathize with this terrible task. But he proved with dedication you can even become a morning person no matter how much you hate it.

He gave up the quiet luxuries of late night to become a morning person. He has had the same wake-up time since he retired from the military.

He’s up before the sun ready to go on a morning walk while the first rays of the sun dance the horizon.

Most night owls believe it doesn’t matter how late they sleep as long as they get good quality sleep, but that’s debatable. There’s a great correlation between chronic and mental health diseases and sleep time.

Your risk of chronic diseases increases even if you get a good eight hours every night. As a creative, I understand the lore of the moonlit sky and its poetic capabilities.

Inspiration is never guaranteed; the only way to ensure creative work is by a schedule. So, train yourself to sleep at a reasonable time to wake up at a time that’s at least socially acceptable.

You don’t need to follow the wave of productivity gurus that claim 4 am as the golden productivity hour. But you can work on yourself a little to wake up at least 30 minutes early to cram a quick workout into your morning schedule.

Here’s what helped him quit this habit:-

Duty makes hard decisions easy. He needed to change this habit and he had no way out so he did it.
Find a purpose that makes adopting a new habit easy.
Start small to make this habit stick. It will be difficult but not impossible.

Your basic vices are destroying your health

A healthy life requires sacrifice no matter how much you like your “healthy lifestyle”.

The small sacrifices made daily add up to a long and healthy life. Every time you say no to dessert, drinks, or snacks counts. All sacrifice counts no matter how small.

After a few long years, these sacrifices become second nature you commit them without even thinking, it gets easier but the temptation is always there.

It was easier for him to follow a healthier diet because processed food was minimal in his time, so his diet was mostly home-cooked meals.

But still, he refined his diet more to allow only healthy foods. He quit fried foods which are pretty popular in the Indian diet. Then he did something so drastic that none of us could believe him he gave up caffeine.

Tea is the most loved beverage in Indian households our day starts and ends with “chai” no matter how bad the acid reflux gets.

You can find one “ Chaiwala ” at every corner of the street, that’s how popular chai is in India. So, it sounded insane to us, that he had quit the most beloved drink of all.

Chai is so much more than a chai latte, here we can get it in many flavors like rose, chocolate, mint, and masala. These delicious flavors are enough to rethink this decision. Still, he went ahead and decided to quit it forever.

Quitting fried and processed foods was a mindful decision that helped him maintain a better digestive system so did cutting off additional sugar entirely.

He only consumed sugar which was a part of his healthy diet and that was it. It was a tough decision that protected him from the thaws of chronic diseases.

Here’s what helped him quit this habit:-

Find your addiction, a food or drink that you can’t live without, and try to cut it out of your life gradually.
It’s difficult to stop but you can make it healthier by decreasing the sugar content.
Decrease junk food and processed foods by

You are drowned in useless information

Awareness and knowledge have always been his top priority, he believes in keeping up to date with politics to know everything that’s happening in the world.

May it be world events or Indian Politics he would know the answer to most random questions you can ask.

Moreover, he’s why I became an avid reader, he lent me the first novel I ever read. At first, I was a bit sad as there were no pictures in it, but then I came to love the adventures of Nancy Drew.

He believes reading to be the best hobby that everyone should practice, it takes time to fall in love with books but once you find the right one, you’re enchanted by its magic.

But lately, he feels overwhelming negativity from the press and the useless information that can now pass as news these days is too much.

He is only aware of the current events at the surface level as he no longer reads the newspaper from end to end.

Moreover, he loathes social media, it’s not an old-person thing he has a solid reason to avoid it at all costs.

He loathes whenever someone sends a text on his birthday, he considers it a cop-out, he believes you should at least call him if you can’t meet him in his books that’s the bare minimum.

Also, social media is a cesspool of negativity that will wreck your brain health and kill your motivation.

So, he has made it his mission to stay off social media and avoid all useless news.

Here’s what helped him quit this habit:-

A lifelong obsession with news is a hard thing to break but he did it because he realized the fact that everything qualifies as news nowadays.
The sheer quantity of it overburdened his mind, it caused too much stimulation so switched to reading a few selected news items.

Instant gratification is killing your mindfulness

Oldage is a beautiful period where you can sit on a bench and stare at the sunset for however long you want without worrying about a thousand other things.

You slow down to enjoy the moment when you realize how limited they are.

They don’t waste their time chasing clout or trying to sound smarter than everyone. They live a life that’s honest and free from the expectations of others. They do what they want when they want.

It never bothered him when a kid was being mean or when the local aunties were being disrespectful with their endless gossip.

He solely focuses on the moment in front of him. No multitasking and no aversion to boredom.

He cherishes the most mundane moments of life to the fullest. May it be seeing her great-granddaughter nap in his arms or just feeding the stray dogs.

He is always mentally present in the moment no matter how repetitive or mundane it gets. Being present is the biggest challenge right now when we have so many gadgets at hand to distract us from real life.

We are so used to escapism that now it has become the norm. We run away from boredom and detest solitude, technology helps us do so with ease.

Here’s what helped him quit this habit:-

Plan an airplane mode hour, where you disconnect from the world intentionally.
Mindfulness takes time but the best way to achieve it is through an activity that you love. So, practice your hobbies more often.
Take a break from yourself, and let the idle chatter in your brain subside with a quick stroll in the park, a jog, or a leisure swim. The motion will help you focus on the present moment.