If you can’t do anything about it, don’t worry about it

Jeanne spent her life in Arles in the South of France. Photo by Jan Buchholtz on Flickr.

Jeanne Calment died on 4 August 1997 aged 122 years and is the oldest known human to have lived.

So what was the secret to her longevity?

No doubt it was a combination of factors; She exercised, riding a bicycle until she was 100, ate a lot of chocolate and olives, smoked and considered laughter very important. Although longevity ran in her family and she lived a life of comfortable wealth, it was her positive attitude which most stood out, summed up when she said:

”If you can’t do anything about it, don’t worry about it”.

A lawyer Andre-Francois Raffray bought Calment’s apartment in 1969 when she was 94. Raffray said he would pay her 2,500 francs a month until she died while she continued to live in the apartment. An arangement made under the French en viager system. After that, Raffray would own the apartment.

This was a disastrous investment, as Raffray died at 77, two years before Jeanne, owing her more than $180,000, which his family was still paying when she died.