I wish someone had told me how to live a fulfilling life (sooner)

“I wish someone had told me” is a series of posts that feed into our inquisitive nature at CN&CO. Each week we hear from someone in our network about something interesting or surprising that’s recently happened or occurred to them. These blogs are a way to pay it forward and form part of CN&CO’s belief that the world can be a better place – and we all have a responsibility to make it so. This week’s post is by Rob Christian.

…the kicker being that someone has told me it just took me a while to figure it out. Johann Mets was born in 1924 and lived through many of the defining moments of modern history. Of Dutch heritage, the aftermath of World War I was still fresh in the memory of Europe by the time World War II broke out. A teenager at the time of the war, he survived a Japanese concentration camp, studied and became a doctor, married the love of his life, treated tiger attack victims (not to mention countless other patients) in Indonesia and eventually relocated a family from half-way around the world to South Africa in 1968. Talk about eventful!

The legendary Johann Mets and his grandson several years ago

With a stint in Port Elizabeth, Johann eventually settled in Cape Town where he joined the University of Cape Town as a lecturer in the Occupational Health Department in 1981. This was after he had to complete the foreign doctor qualification process to be registered in South Africa, not an easy task for anyone to accomplish, even today.

The definition of a life-long student, Johann continued to study and practice medicine. With his knowledge and drive he became one of the primary founders of the occupational health medical field in the country and remained influential in the field for many years to come. Over the years his family has since spread out across the globe, with relatives in the Netherlands, a son in the United States of America, a daughter in New Zealand and, to my mind, the most important child of his, a daughter still residing in South Africa. I say that last sentence with a heavy bias as that daughter is my mother, Jeannette, and Johann is therefore my grandfather or “Opa” in Dutch (and Afrikaans, but now you know where it came from originally.)

Now anyone who is 93 has certainly learnt a thing or two about life. One statement that stood out in my mind is that Opa has repeatedly said over the years that he attributes his long, active lifestyle to one simple fact: caring for others. By caring for others, be it his family, friends, or patients, he maintains it has given him a purpose to live such a long, fulfilling life because he had a personal obligation to help other people. While the science behind that claim is hard to prove, I don’t think it needs much cross-examination. Here is a man that has seemingly brushed off the effects of aging far better than friends 20 years junior. He is still fully mobile, enjoys driving his Q3, travels across the world, purchases the latest technology so that he can Skype with relatives and despite being seven years short of a century, can recall events from memory over 80 years ago. Most people these days struggle to remember what happened eight days ago, let alone in years gone by. One extra piece of information about Opa is that after years of being involved with the Cape wine scene, he has provided the best guide to choosing wine, whether at a restaurant, social function or at the shops: drink what you like, the price doesn’t make it any better.

The bottom line is, he is a man who has thrived in life and he attributes it to his years of service, be it professional or otherwise. We can’t all be doctors, nurses, physiotherapists or any number of other medical professions where you care for other human beings, but we can take the time out of our “busy” lives to be a part of someone else’s. To offer care, support, love, and friendship to the people we encounter in our lives, be it to strangers for brief seconds or family members who are with us for the long haul. It has taken me some time to figure that part of life out: that you can and should be a part of someone else’s life and that it generally is very easy to do so. The universe does not, nor will it ever, revolve around me and people will come and go in my life for an incalculable amount of time. But I believe you owe it yourself to make a difference where you can in those people’s lives. There are over 7 billion people on this planet, many whom would benefit from even the smallest of kindnesses offered to them.

You don’t have to care for 100’s of people, or solve all of the world’s problems. But next time you get caught up in the frenetic pace of modern day life, stop to think: could taking a moment out of your life to be present in someone else’s bring you something that you have never experienced before? And perhaps after taking one moment, take another? Could it be a crucial ingredient to living a long, healthy, fulfilling life? Opa certainly believes so, and as a man who has 60+ years of life experience more than me, I am inclined to believe him.

P.S the feature image is Opa circa 1979