1. Significant event that happened this week…
My son, Kyle, graduated last night from Aurora High School. He is the last of our six kids, so it is pretty significant. He graduated Summa Cum Laude (not bad for a kid who doesn’t care much for school). It’s been quite a past two weeks, with awards banquets, a senior slideshow, prom, his wrestling team banquet, and last night’s ceremony. We are excited for his next chapter… as well as ours. The words “next chapter” must have come up at these events at least two dozen times. I couldn’t help but think about how we all have next chapters. I wrote about it in this week’s blog, which you can read by clicking here. I am excited for the Class of 2023 and can’t wait to see what these incredible human beings will do in this world. And congratulations, Kyle! We are SUPER proud of you! (See our gang pictured below–minus Jack and plus my mom.)
2. Book I just finished…
I just finished a book by Dr. Peter Attia, titled Outlive: The Science and Art of Longevity. I really liked the book, and it is LOADED with great info and data. I listened to the audio, as well as referenced the hardcopy. I would recommend it 100%, however, many of you would get bogged down in science and numbers and data that you don’t necessarily need, would not benefit from, and might get bored with. (Not that you’re not smart enough, but the stuff that excites me bores most others.) And… it’s a BIG book… almost 500 pages… and the audio is over 17 hours! I will share bits and pieces from it over the next couple of months that I think will have the biggest impact on you. His main takeaway (I believe… and agree with) is that we need to differentiate between lifespan… the number of years we live… and healthspan… how many of those years we remain healthy and free of disease. After all, who wants to live a long life if that life is plagued with miserable health? For now, you could find some of Dr. Attia’s stuff on YouTube. Here is a really good, short video of him explaining longevity…
3. Short story to think about…
The last chapter in that book, Outlive, is about emotional health, an often underappreciated component of optimal living, as well as a growing concern and problem. He tells this story…
“When I think of suicide, I often think of a man named Ken Baldwin, who leaped off the Golden Gate Bridge in 1985, when he was twenty-eight. Unlike 99 percent of jumpers from that bridge, he survived. As he fell, he later told the author, Tad Friend, “I instantly realized that everything in my life that I’d thought was unfixable, was totally fixable – except for having just jumped.”
Wow! That story is POWERFUL! Make sure you don’t get overwhelmed by the things you think are unfixable… because they ARE fixable.
