by John Murphy, Founder, Make 100 Healthy
It’s the one question everyone wants to know but no one gets the final answer until it’s too late. How long will I live?
We also wonder: How am I going to die? Will anyone show up at my funeral? With total uncertainty, we live our lives not knowing if we have 1 minute left or if we’ll live to 100 or longer.
We just don’t know. The way we deal with this usually determines how long you live.
Let’s look at genetics, for example. Many people doubt their own ability to live a long life based on genetics. Many use a poor family genetics history as an excuse not to do certain things they know would help them. Why bother?
The good news is that research shows genetics and family history only play a small factor in your life span. That’s right, genetics is less than a third of a factor in how long you live.
I urge you to stop making excuses to help yourself based on a family history.
To illustrate my point, let’s look at a family history — a family history of the men in the family dying of massive heart attacks in their early 50s.
Great grandfather, grandfather and father all went the same way. Must be “bad genes,” right? Maybe, but they all smoked, didn’t exercise and became overweight.
Is this genetics? Most likely poor eating and lifestyle habits did them in. If you are in the next generation but eat clean and lean, don’t smoke, and exercise, you can live a long healthy life.
Key factors in reaching your longevity destiny:
- How you live
- What you eat
- How active you are
- How you handle stress and life’s circumstances
These factors play a much bigger role in determining how long you will live.
That’s the whole goal. To dig deep, reflect on our habits and empower ourselves to get past all the stories and excuses we make to procrastinate making positive change.
I remember something my dad said, “Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, so live for today.”
The best way to manifest your longevity destiny is to enjoy each day along the way. And take that first step. It’s the hardest. Doesn’t sound too hard to me! What do you think?