Lower Your Stress; Live Longer!
What can we do to live longer? I wonder about that. I can’t say that I’ve really dedicated any time to really studying this. But I’ve got a few ideas on the subject.
Here’s a question I like to ask people - it’s quite interesting. So here is that question…How old will you be when you die? Now, please don’t be offended. It’s a quick, easy question really. How old do you see yourself getting to? 70? Maybe 64? I want to see at least 100. My grandmother has recently turned 98. How about you?
Now, one of my theories about this is that if we reduce our stress, both total stress and sustained stress - things like horrible traffic stress - we should live longer. There are lots of ways to reduce stress. For example, my wife and I like to avoid traffic now. When possible, we don’t schedule meetings at 9am. By shifting them to 10am, we get to drive on nice, virtually empty roads. Ok, so there might still be some traffic, but you get the point. 40 minutes driving versus 15 minutes. Less fighting over your space on the road; less chance of dings or real accidents. I think that will have a positive effect over time.
We’ve also moved recently to a place that seems like a village. And the amazing thing is, we only live about 5 minutes from our old condo. We had no idea this entire area of town existed until we went out house hunting. Truly amazing. The feeling now as we drive off the main road and back through the tree-lined neighborhood to our little corner of the world is distinctly “peaceful”.
One more idea is this - reduce the monthly built-in cost of your life. Raise the monthly built-in income you have.
I know that this idea can be painful, or almost impossible for some people to think about. Some people do “need” a large BMW, a couple vacations a year or a second house. But if you are able to just give up on the “keep up with the Joneses” mentality, I think you’ll improve your life. I really think it can help you to live longer. And if you spend 10 years stressed out, versus 10 years without that stress. I’d consider that to be a lifestyle improvement. Even if it doesn’t help us to stretch out our lives, it will make the life we do have more enjoyable.
