Two days before I had a heart attack, I’d been leading an expedition (探险). I was 37, and active. Even when I got to hospital, I hardly believed I was having a heart attack, but I was rushed into an operating room.

When I came out of hospital three days later, I could barely walk and was put into cardiac rehab (心脏康复) with a group of 85-year-olds. But I believed I needed something else to heal (治愈) me. As an outdoors guy who could make stone tools and live off the land, I knew that was where I needed to be. And so, after several treatments, I thought, “I’m out of here!” and went to live in a cave, near where I could hunt animals and drink from streams.

I spent about six months changing between a traditional life and living in the Colorado wilderness. I didn’t want to be away from my family for too long, so I would come back often to connect with them.

I was becoming part of the pattern of life that existed in the wild, understanding the sounds and the smells. You can choose to fight it, or to try to control it, but when you accept it, you reach a deeper understanding of who you are and what you’re doing out there. The day of my heart attack changed my life, because it was a reawakening. Knowing that eventually one day you will die, you need to live the life that you want, find the value.

For all the time I still spend in the wilderness, social media has actually become a big part of my life. Before my heart attack, I was never on it, but, afterwards, people encouraged me to start a YouTube channel sharing my skills. Now I’ve written books, done reality shows and consulted for movies. I’ve embraced this element of modern life, and hope to fuel people’s curiosity about the natural world.

Many of us accept life just the way it is, but there are some who want something different. Luckily, I am the latter one.

The Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu once said, “If you are depressed you are living in the past. If you are anxious you are living in the future. 【小题1】”

After centuries, this statement is still true. People are filled with anxiety, as they struggle to make a living, or to keep up with society’s standards.【小题2】 They are stressed because of what awaits, yet ignoring what they must do at the moment to establish a better-future for themselves. Sadly nearly one in 33 children and one in eight adolescents have clinical depression. In my view the encouragement of unhealthy competition and perfectionism has led to this problem.

【小题3】 From an early age, my parents taught me to settle for nothing less than an A on my tests and papers, I was persuaded that my grades would determine my worth. Therefore, I denied all my friends’ invitations to their parties and practiced math over the weekend. I was embarrassed at the sight of a low A and felt pressured to keep an outward image of perfection. One day, my friend Neha said, “【小题4】 You’re president of orchestra, an All-State violist (中提琴演奏手), an amazing tennis player, a straight A student, I mean, you’re perfect.” I smiled at Neha, though I knew that I wasn’t really perfect.【小题5】 Preoccupied with viola, tennis, and keeping my high grades, I hadn’t given enough attention to my health. I didn’t experience depression or anxiety during this time, but I wanted to lie on the grass, on a summer day, just watching the clouds move and to walk by the shore, watching the waves lap at the sand. I wanted to live in the present.

It’s never too late to earn your college degree. Just ask 94-year-old Hazel Soares.

The woman was one of about 500 students to pick up diplomas (学位证书) at Mills College. “It’s taken me quite a long time because I’ve had a busy life,” said Soares. “I’m finally achieving it, and it makes me feel really good.”

Soares, who has six children and 40 grandchildren and great-grandchildren, is believed to be the world’s second oldest person to graduate from college. Born in Richmond, Calif. in 1915, Soares said she had wanted to attend college right after she graduated from Roosevelt High School in 1932, but that was during the Great Depression. “Unless you had some help, it would have been impossible to go to college,” Soares said. “However I never lost the desire to go.”

Soares married twice, raised six children and worked as a nurse before she retired. After retiring, she decided to return to try to achieve her dream of earning a college education.

She spent six years taking courses before earning her associate’s degree when she was 85. Then she enrolled at Mills College in 2007.

“We are really amazed and very proud of my mom,” said Regina Hungerford, Soares’ youngest child. “The biggest thing that we can all learn is that we’re never too old to do something.” Soares doesn’t plan to relax now that she finally has her degree. The art history major hopes to work as a guide at a museum.

Soares said she doesn’t know the source of her longevity (长寿). No one in her family has lived as long as she has — but she believes it has something to do with eating lots of fresh vegetables.

She hopes others realize that it’s never too late to get a college education. “There’s no reason why you could not go back,” Soares said. “Some people say it’s too late or that there is   much work. They may not realize that once you try it, it’s exciting to go to school.”