The Key to Longevity Is Boring

ABC 201: On the mundane "secrets" to living a long life

Editor’s note: For those in the Bay Area, I’m co-hosting an event on Tuesday (9/24) at this hip new “third space” called The Commons. It’ll be part book talk, part discussion about right-sizing work’s place in your life. I’d love to see you there. RSVP here.

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I was recently having a discussion with some friends about longevity—specifically about Bryan Johnson, the tech guy who spends $2 million each year trying to live forever—and the room was fiercely divided.

Why not try to do what we can to live longer, some argued. If a daily supplement or cold plunge protocol helps extend our health span, it’s worth trying.

While I’m sympathetic to the argument, there’s something about our societal obsession with longevity that creeps me out. We live in a death-denying culture. And while I’m all for living a healthy life, avoiding our own mortality comes with a cost.

As the author of this week’s article writes, there is a real danger in focusing so much on extending the number of years in our lives that we neglect to focus on the life in those years.

Here’s the piece: The Key to Longevity Is Boring

Warmly,
Simo 

P.S. The song of the week is some funky Afro-pop from the Ivory Coast. The full songs of the week playlist is here.