93-Year-Old Shares Secrets for a Long Life; Listening, Keeping Busy

Whenever 93-year-old Chris Meyer leaves her apartment, she looks well put together, wearing an elegant outfit and full makeup.

She often clutches her Maltese dog, Mia, and greets neighbors with a lipsticked smile in the Boca Raton, Florida, condominium where she has lived independently since 2022.

“I don’t do it for anyone else, I do it for me,” she told Business Insider, about her appearance. “I hold my self-image and self-worth to the highest standards.”

The former hospitality director and advertising executive added that the characteristic has helped her throughout her nine decades of life because it indicates self-respect and confidence.

She said staying active, sociable, and interested in other people is also key to keeping your mind alert and body healthy.

When she turned 93 in August, she joked that she wanted to switch the two candles on her birthday cake so they showed 39. “That is my age in my head,” the grandmother of four said. “I don’t feel any different from how I was then.”

Although she doesn’t portray herself as a role model, she has some useful advice for those who want to hit 90 or more.

Roll with the punches

Meyer’s life was turned upside down by her divorce in 1965. The stay-at-home mom, then 33, moved from a large house on Long Island, New York, to a one-bedroom rental in Queens.

“I was thrown into a world I knew nothing about,” the nonagenarian said. She hadn’t had a job since the birth of her daughter, Cindy, in 1959, but she encourages others in a similar position to embrace the change.

“I didn’t know what the heck I was doing,” she said. However, in the spirit of “fake it till you make it,” she never let on and quietly learned the ropes in subsequent jobs as well.

If her divorce was a setback, it was nothing compared to her medically fragile grandson, Jesse, dying at the age of 19. But, despite moments of falling apart, she comforted herself and Cindy in the knowledge that he was no longer in pain.

She has buried the grief, but Meyer has adapted to life without him. “You have to keep on going, whatever challenge you face,” she explained.

Listen to others and keep learning

Meyer said that she preferred to listen to her family and friends, rather than interrupt and talk about herself, adding that you can get to know someone better when you listen to what they’re saying.

As for learning, Meyer watches the History Channel, boosting her knowledge about the past and future. She read up on AI and used it to craft flyers she is about to distribute.

“It’s never too late to expand your horizons,” she said, adding that staying busy and keeping an interest in sports like football gives focus.

She maintains a real estate license in Florida, largely making referrals to other agents, plays the card game, Canasta, paints, and sells her knitting and handmade jewelry at craft fairs and pop-up stores.

Adopt healthy habits — and ‘interview’ doctors

Meyer doesn’t observe a strict diet, but she skips breakfast for a cup of coffee, eats an early lunch, usually consisting of eggs, and an early dinner to help her digest her food before going to bed. She cooks her own meals, favoring proteins like meat or fish served with vegetables such as cauliflower and asparagus.

“I have never been on a diet,” she said. “But I like to keep a steady weight of between 127 and 132 pounds.”

Seven years after quitting her favorite activity, golf, she has been undergoing physical therapy to keep her joints moving. She treats herself to a massage every month.

Meyer credits her young-looking skin to good genes. Still, she hydrates by drinking at least four 16-ounce glasses of water a day. “People are generally surprised when I tell them I’m 93, because they think I’m in my 70s.”

She keeps her health in check by seeing her doctors regularly. Meyer joked that they are lucky to have her as a patient, as she is somewhat selective.