Intro to The Adventure Life Project

The Adventure Life Project is about living a fitter, stronger, healthier, longer, happier, more adventurous life. It’s not just about getting outside, but getting outside our box and expanding our comfort zone. It’s about facing challenges and overcoming fears that have blocked our path for way too long.

The best time to plant a tree is twenty years ago. The second-best time is now. The Adventure Life Project is a novel approach to developing a lifestyle that will not only allow us to not only live longer, but to live better by breaking down our “ideal” lifestyle into its core components - health and fitness, longevity, happiness, self-improvement, and living adventurously.

With a bit more digging we discover some truths exist in each area in regards to longevity:

• Running or intense cardio will add years to our lives.
• Strength training will add years to our lives.
• Eating the right foods and avoiding the wrong ones will add years to our lives.
• Reducing chronic stress will add years to our lives.
• Exposure to nature will add years to our lives.
• Feeling that we are living the life we are supposed to be living (i.e. having a purpose) will add years to our lives.
• Taking responsibility for the choices we make in our lives and accepting the subsequent circumstances will add (well, maybe it’s just really important).
• Avoiding the intake of substances (drugs, alcohol, tobacco, etc…) that take years off our lives will add years to our lives.
• Having a positive attitude throughout our lives will add years to our lives.

Each of these lifestyle choices, individually, are understood to not only lengthen our lives but improve them (subjectively) as well. So what would happen if we adopted a lifestyle that included all of them. We do not yet know, because to the best of my knowledge, no one of a sufficiently advanced age has adopted this kind of lifestyle.

It’s possible that humans have begun to reach the upper limits of longevity. It’s possible that the additive effect of each of these lifestyle changes will diminish as they are aggregated. Maybe the improvements we make in one area have a negative impact on another area. The only way we will find out is by making a go of it. It won’t be easy, it won’t be comfortable, and it won’t be pain-free.

But, I am confident that by adopting as many of the above lifestyle choices, and maybe even more, not only will we add decades to our lives, but we will drastically improve those years, physically, mentally, and emotionally. Ultimately, this is about improving our healthspan and any extension of our lifespan is just a bonus. “But until a person can say deeply and honestly, 'I am what I am today because of the choices I made yesterday,' that person cannot say, 'I choose otherwise.'” - Stephen R. Covey

Next Step - Getting Started