Money or children will not help when the day you cannot go to the toilet by yourself.
A very incisive remark often attributed to Chen Daoming1 :
“Don’t talk to me about pensions, and don’t bring up filial children. Let me tell you a hard truth: your happiness in old age depends on just one thing — how many years you can get out of bed and go to the toilet by yourself.
Once you are bedridden, you are no longer really yourself; you become a burden that merely breathes. Who can you rely on? Your children? Caregivers? Helpers? No one will love you the way you love yourself.
Have we ever thought about our future selves at eighty? When you wake up in the morning, will your arms and legs still obey you?
Will the few steps from your bed to the bathroom leave you breathless, or will you walk them with ease?
Only when that day comes will you truly understand: dignity, independence, choice — even your emotions — all depend on a body that can still move.
If you can turn over by yourself, you won’t have to wait for someone to help, enduring the loss of privacy. If you can pick up a glass of water, you won’t have to lie there thirsty, waiting for the next visitor.
If you can walk to the window and look outside, you won’t be stuck staring at the ceiling, counting time inch by inch.
At that moment, you will see the truth clearly: money is important, but it cannot buy genuine care, nor can it give you the strength to turn over at three in the morning.
A child’s filial love is warm, but they have their own lives — mortgages to pay, children to raise. If they can spare time to visit you, they have already done their best.
The one thing that stays with you at all times is your body. If it serves you well, you remain the master of your life; if it fails, your world shrinks instantly to the size of a bed.
This is not pessimism — it is the clearest reality. In the end, happiness in old age simply means being able to get out of bed, go to the toilet, and walk into the sunlight on your own.
So take care of yourself. From today on, treat your body as your oldest friend and most loyal companion. If you care for it, it will support you through the long years.
Sleep well. Let today’s anxieties come to an end. When you feel low, don’t suppress it — go for a walk, listen to music, or just sit quietly for a while.
All the things we fight for, compete for, and get upset about become insignificant compared to something as basic as being able to go to the toilet by yourself.
This is not negativity — it is the greatest form of positivity. It turns worries about the future into real actions in the present: strengthen your body, preserve your vitality, and calm your mind.
In old age, the greatest gift you can give yourself is not a stack of savings books or an empty big house, but a self that can still walk into the sunlight, feel the breeze, watch flowers bloom, and remain calm and unhurried.
This inner strength cannot be given by anyone else. Only you — who treat yourself well day after day — can give it.
Don’t wait until the day you are bedridden to realise this: the strongest asset in life is never money or children, but a body that can still stand up on its own.”
Absolutely true!
