Weekly Roundup: Lifespan, Longevity & Circling Back
This week on Remote with Rob & Dan we discuss Fighting the Fear of Failure. I found this episode particularly interesting as I have a keen interesting in learning through failure. I tend to embrace failed attempts to change habits, adjust my knowledge or build something new. In these attempts we find learning opportunities and the only moments in our lives where we truly know how to better ourselves and most specifically what will not work for us.
Six months ago or so I found David Sinclair’s book, Lifespan and it was one of those life-altering moments where a concept not only fascinated me beyond compare but also made me adjust how I approach my day-to-day life. Fast forward to today and I ran across Dr. Sinclair on a newer episode of the Rich Roll podcast, once again discussing his life-altering findings. It was at this time that I started to piece together what I had changed, what worked and what didn’t work after reading the book 6 months ago.
After reading Lifespan, I went on the hunt for the best versions of NMN and Resveratrol I could find. This post is not about the ins and outs of NAD boosters and longevity research specifically so I will not go into what these are. I would highly suggest reading the book. After spending weeks reading and researching the various drug companies, supplement companies and brands on the market I hit analysis paralysis and found myself leaving multiple versions of the supplements in my cart as a save for later. Failure on my part.
In the book, Sinclair discusses various ways in which diet, exercise and environmental factors such as extreme temperature shocking can have a strong influence on your longevity, fix cells and in some cases even reverse the signs of aging. Again, this is not the point of the article and I am a very skeptical person, so I would highly recommend the book once more. Through some of the extreme measures discussed in the book I found some common ground with the way I approach life sometimes. Discomfort can be good and even in some instances, pain is good. In following many endurance athletes over the last few months I have found this as a common theme. I have begun to embrace discomfort and in particular, I found myself embracing the extreme cold mountain air in the early mornings of the winter. I would run and walk in these sub-20 temperatures with wind chill near or below zero, all the while remembering what was discussed in the book and leaning into the discomfort.
After listening to a few more interviews with Sinclair recently, I finally completed my research and ordered my longevity-boosting supplements. Based on the research, this is a long con. I do not expect that I will see any physical or mental difference anytime soon, if at all. This is not the point. The point is to invest now to reap the rewards later. I do not personally want to feel any worse at 70 than I do at 38. In fact, I feel better at 38 than I did at 28 and I hope to continue the trend.
Through all of my life-alterations lately the continual concept that I keep coming back to is enjoying the process and not focusing on a goal or the outcome. I had been thinking about it so much I created a video on the subject as it relates to creative pursuits. By focusing on the habits, the personas, the tasks, the changes themselves and the person I want to be, I do just that, I live in the moment and focus on being as opposed to becoming.
