A 103-year-old doctor has shared her secrets to staying fit and healthy in old age, after decades running a clinic and raising six children.
Dr. Gladys McGarey, who published her memoir this year, continues to consult patients by phone, lecture on podcasts and runs an Instagram account with more than 47,000 followers.
In a recent interview, the centenarian emphasized the importance of purpose in life, saying: 'You have to have something to live for.'
“And when you're so scared of what's happening in the world, it's really hard to get yourself excited enough to actually want to do it,” she added.
However, she didn't always feel this way and described feeling “broken” when her husband of 46 years served her divorce papers at age 69 to begin a relationship with a colleague.
“I thought, 'Am I going to scream like that for the rest of my life?' The pain itself became a huge teacher,” she said the Wall Street Journal.
Dr. Gladys McGarey, 103, has shared her secrets to staying fit and healthy after decades running a clinic and raising six children.
McGarey, who published her memoir last year, continues to consult patients by phone, lecture on podcasts and runs an Instagram account with more than 47,000 followers.
McGarey celebrated her 103rd birthday with her granddaughter Jessica McGeverly and Jessica's husband, Connor McGeverly
McGarey, a founding member of the American Holistic Medical Association in 1978, grew up in India, where her parents were medical missionaries, and came to the U.S. to pursue medical training.
She later became a Presbyterian and operated a clinic in southern Ohio until she and her husband moved to Phoenix, Arizona, where they operated a clinic for the next four decades.
But several years later, her husband, Bill, who has since passed away shortly before she turned 70, divorced her to marry one of their colleagues.
In an interview, she acknowledged that the divorce was “the hardest thing” she has ever had to deal with the guard earlier this year.
She remembered being so angry when she got an invitation to Bill's wedding.
'I was screaming. I pulled over to the side of the road and thought to myself, 'Are you going to keep this up? I mean, this is really gross.”
But it was also the turning point in her life. She said, “This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad.
'It's not a matter of getting over something, it's a matter of living through it. If you can get through the problems you face, they will become one of your teachers.
'It wasn't until I was 93 that I really accepted it. You get to that point where you can hold on a little bit.”
She later purchased a sign that read “BE SMOOTH,” as a constant reminder to cherish and celebrate the many things she “cherished” in her marriage.
“I don't regret a minute of the time I spent as Bill's wife,” she said, but added, “My life has taken on amazing dimensions that have nothing to do with him at all.”
'Before I didn't really trust my own voice. I really didn't think I had a voice,” she said, reflecting on the 46-year marriage in which she raised six children.
“I know I had a voice. After the divorce it was no longer Bill and Gladys, but Gladys McGarey MD. I reclaimed what I had, not just as Bill's partner,” she added.
McGarey, a founding member of the American Holistic Medical Association in 1978, grew up in India, where her parents were medical missionaries, and came to the U.S. to pursue medical training.
She later became a Presbyterian and operated a clinic in southern Ohio until she and her husband moved to Phoenix, Arizona, where they operated a clinic for the next four decades.
At the age of 86, McGarey ended her career and traveled to Afghanistan to instruct rural women in safer birth practices.
She wrote four books and recently published the fifth. Since May, she has conducted no fewer than 200 interviews and podcasts
Her daughter Helene went to work in medical practice and together they opened a new clinic in Scottsdale, Arizona, with the help of one of her patient's husbands, who co-signed the loan.
At the age of 86, McGarey ended her career and traveled to Afghanistan to instruct rural women in safer birth practices.
But the active centenarian hasn't stopped working; she continues to provide telephone consultations, has written a memoir, and manages her social media platforms, where her followers are amazed by her wisdom.
'There are the hills and valleys. In fact, I'm grateful to be a hundred years old. You know, it happens,” she jokingly noted during her TedX Talk on holistic medicine when she was 100.
During the speech, she expressed her belief in “a colleague within every patient who does the healing, as I do the other part of it, what I know and understand in the field of medicine.”
McGarey also follows a healthy diet, gets nine hours of sleep, rides an adult-sized tricycle and walks 3,800 steps every day.
The active centenarian hasn't stopped working; she continues to provide telephone consultations, write memoirs and manage her social media platforms, where her followers are amazed by her wisdom
McGarey (pictured with family members) now lives in Scottdale, behind her daughter's house. McGarey follows a healthy diet, gets nine hours of sleep, rides an adult tricycle and walks 3,800 steps every day
McGarey now lives in Scottdale behind her daughter's house.
She has written four books and recently published the fifth. Since May, she has also conducted a whopping 200 interviews and podcasts.
Her son John, who lives with her and goes through the daily schedule with her every morning, said: “She believes everyone should have a reason to get up in the morning.”