Pushing My Limits for Longevity
Everyone wants to live a long and healthy life but are we doing everything we can to possibly achieve this? Susan Williams wants to try and do this and push her limits on the way.
When I turned 59 in November 2021, I realized that my life had hit a bit of a lull and I needed to somehow shake it up and reengage with the world outside. That’s when I undertook the challenge of doing 60 different things before I turned 60.
Over the course of the year, I experienced so many different things and when I crossed the finish line in November last year, I was really pleased to have completed this project. But what really made this accomplishment extra special was that so many people reached out to me to let me know that I had inspired them to try something new or do something different.
Along with the congratulations, often one of the other questions I was asked was what I planned to do next. Since the completion my 60 Before 60 Project, I also realized I missed the challenge. I needed to find my next mountain to climb.
Around the same time I was thinking about what I could do, I happened to watch the series called Limitless featuring Chris Hemsworth (currently being streamed on Disney/National Geographic). Over the course of six episodes, Chris, supported by experts, explored different ways of how to live a longer, better life and Chris attempted some extreme challenges related to these areas of focus.
I was spellbound. As Chris maneuvered through these life learnings about longevity and attempted these massive challenges, I couldn’t help but be mesmerized. But Chris Hemsworth is a human being who is in amazing physical shape. He truly has the physique of a superhero – he even plays a superhero as the lead character in the movie franchise Thor.
This all made me wonder, how could these learnings and activities be translated for the average person?
All this thinking forced me to consider my own physical and mental fitness and my own longevity. I then came face to face with the reality that I am not in the best shape. I realized that if I really want to extend my life and possibly prevent chronic diseases and other age-related challenges, I need to take some drastic action.
All these thoughts were swirling through my head towards the end of the year. Which made me wonder whether I was destined to yet again set some new year's resolutions like lose weight, exercise and eat well that I like would likely abandon like so many others within 3 months?
I then realized these changes I was looking to make weren’t a resolution. This was a significant lifestyle change. I also knew if I wanted to be successful, I had to take a different approach.
This is when I came up with the idea of Pushing My Limits for Longevity.
Over the course of the upcoming year, I plan to embrace a new longevity lifestyle and get into the best physical, mental and emotional state I possibly can and be armed with the skills to be able to support this shift long term. To make this year extra interesting, I am also planning on pushing my own personal limits and attempting challenges that will stretch me outside my own comfort zones.
Rather than attempt this longevity lifestyle change alone (which based on my experience would likely end in failure and disappointment), I also decided I needed to work with a professional fitness/performance coach who specializes in helping people make these changes for life.
Shannon Bond has agreed to support me in my endeavor. Shannon is a certified personal trainer, nutrition specialist, and performance coach and has been in this profession for the past fifteen years. He believes in fostering sustainable and transformative lifestyle changes. Shannon’s philosophy is that true success lies not just in achieving short-term fitness goals but in cultivating habits that lead to long-lasting vitality.
Over the course of the year, I am planning on sharing my journey with you as I attempt to revamp my lifestyle for longevity and push some of my personal limits. Shannon and I will also be collaborating to share information and knowledge on some of the actions anyone can take to focus and improve their own longevity.
What also makes our partnership quite interesting is we are both physically residing in two different parts of the world in very different time zones. Shannon is a former Australian now living in Thailand and I am living in Canada. This means all our interactions will be done virtually.
I’m excited about this project but if I’m honest, I am also scared.
I’ve tried many times to do something like this before but never succeeded. This is why I was extremely reluctant to share my intentions publicly. Ideally, I wanted to have had some initial success before I announced my intentions. But as Shannon highlighted to me, sharing this now may just provide that extra incentive and accountability for me to keep going when I might normally have given up.
I have a very high mountain in front of me to climb and I don't know how it will turn out. But my biggest hope in undertaking this project is that I might be able to show that if I can make these lifestyle changes and push some of my own limits for longevity, then anyone can.
