96-year-old man gives people priceless advice that will change everyone's outlook on life

Aging or living longer teaches an individual a great deal about life. When a person is past their prime, they have acquired knowledge about society and themselves and have tons of life lessons to spare for the younger generation. One gentleman in his mid-90s was stopped on the streets by a social media content creator, Oleksandra Al Zakhran–who goes by @polleksandra on Instagram–who tossed a serious question to the elderly fellow, asking him what's that one piece of life advice that he would like to give people. The video was reposted by @connectwithgrowth on TikTok, where it went viral, gaining over 8 million views and 624k likes.

The man, who says he is about to turn 96, lets out a little chuckle before speaking into the mic. "Well, you know, I don't like going back because there is nothing you can do about the past. I will say, accept where you are at and move on," the man advises. He also tells people to "try and be in the present" since many people are hung up on their past and they carry the regret of not being able to undo something.

"You have gratitude for what you have. Have compassion and accept what is," he adds. "If you can change it, okay. But there are some things that you need to accept, things that you can't change. If you can't change it, then let it go. Be who you are and people will like you." As the aged gentleman concludes, numerous TikTok users flock to the comment section to share their thoughts and opinions about his life advice and share some of their own life lessons and experiences.

@loveallways12345 wrote, "He's talking when humans were good people who had values, loyalty, respect and manners. Humans like that don't exist anymore and it's all evil-hearted. People got no respect." @happydhalight commented, "When you really satisfied and accepted your previous life, no regret till the end." @ythra_0914 quipped, "Bone-chilling when oldies give life advice to the new generation. Thank you so much." @robertkun7 added, "It was lovely to hear his wise advice. He's got extremely big life experience, so he's just telling what he's got in his heart."

In a similar story, William Rossy–who goes by @sprouht on Instagram–shared a brief conversation with a couple on the streets of New York. He asked the couple, who are in their 70s, one question, "What is one regret that you have or one mistake that you have made that you learned a valuable lesson from?" The 73-year-old woman went on to answer his question. "We both love to travel," she said, sharing her regret of not traveling enough in their youth.

"I think we waited until we thought, 'Oh we can afford that. Now we can't afford that, we have to focus on our careers.' You know you could do it. You don't care as much," she continued. "We didn't start traveling till we were about 50. Yes, we can afford the nicer places to go, but it would have been much more fun to be able to do the nice backpack stuff." The woman further talked about how it would have been nice to try out more adventurous stuff when they were younger since age is something that holds them back from enjoying their trips to the fullest.

Editor's note: This article was originally published on November 9, 2023. It has since been updated.