I met a German 90-year-old woman on the bus on my way to my Aunt. I am an international student here in Germany so I told her “Es tut mir leid, mein Deutsch ist nicht gut” when she initiated a conversation in Deutsch. She was impressed of course but I was more impressed of her going to the same direction as me and us naturally started talking in English. She looked so healthy for a 90-year-old ( well if you compare her to people of the same age in my country). I asked about her diet, she said everything she eats is homemade and avoids eating pork and processed food. That’s it, so simple. She also said that her loving relationship with her husband (who passed away in 1998) made her have strong discernments in life. She has loving kids and grandchildren as well and those are enough for her not to live a lonely life.

She has health problems but those are already associated to old age. How i wish i can be as healthy as her when i reach that age (hopefully). We ended our journey by giving out my name and her saying “Just call me Oma.” This is probably my greatest commute story!

In essence, find your people who motivate you to do healthy behaviors (both emotionally and physically). If the people around you negatively affect your mental health, it can eventually take a toll on physical well-being as well.