The Books That Transformed My Purpose and Longevity

Photo by Sid Saxena

"Disclaimer: This article shares personal experiences and is for informational purposes only. It is not medical advice and should not replace professional medical consultation."

I am not an avid reader.

I wish I was but never truly enjoyed reading. I do recall going to visit bookstores and the library on many occasions where I would walk in and wish I could absorb all of the great information by osmosis.

When I was growing up, my schools didn't require a lot of reading either. I remember reading The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger and Catch-22 by Joseph Heller but that was about it.

In fact, most of my time was spent reading the daily comic strips in the newspaper with my favorite being Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson. If you don't know about Calvin and Hobbes, Calvin is a 6-year-old boy and Hobbes is his stuffed tiger but comes to life in his imagination and they do great things together as well as get in a bit of trouble. I miss that strip and now pick up a daily dose on Facebook. You can also pick up the books as individual or the complete collection on Amazon.

Balancing my love for Calvin and Hobbes, I have fallen in love with two books that I would recommend to anyone.

More importantly, these two book recommendations are rooted in everything we do within this lifestyle website. The first book focuses on your purpose and the second focuses on your longevity, and honestly both go hand in hand.

Intentional Living Books

The first of the intentional living books is Start with Why by Simon Sinek. Simon gained popularity around the world from his TED Talk on the same topic. The book helps you understand why your why is so important. Basically, it's your purpose in life. Simon created a company around it called the Optimism Company. The company's why is "We are here to inspire people to do the things that inspire them so that, together, each of us can change our world for the better."

To give you a personal example, I like to help others. Very early in my career, I started mentoring colleagues and still do so today. I also spent a few years as an Adjunct Professor which I loved and hope to be able to do it again in the future. As well, I was a TEDx speaker on a topic of personal productivity, wrote a blog series on it, and even created a Udemy course about it. I post an article each year around college graduation on advice from others in the business world, both experienced and recent graduates. These last few items are pinned to my LinkedIn profile if you would like to know more.

So regardless of what action I am taking, if I can relate it back to helping people, such as this starting this website, it aligns to my why.

The Rooted & Refined Living Expert Tip: 

"Think back to your favorite book as a child. Take a trip to your local library and find a quiet place to read it. Settle into the emotions of how it makes you feel. Enjoy the elevated sensory experience."

The second book is The Blue Zones by Dan Buettner. The book chronicles 9 regions around the world that have a significantly higher than average life expectancy. Dan, originally highlighted the regions with a blue marker on a map, hence the name, visited each region and interviewed many of the individuals who were well into their 90's, 100's and beyond.

There were a few key themes that emerged from his book including movement (walking, gardening, exercise) and eating a plant-based diet, with a strong focus on beans based on their combination of supplying protein, fiber, and other key nutrients at a very low cost. Two of the other key factors was having purpose (such as volunteering, helping others, ie- finding your why) and connection, such as having good friends.

Driven from much of what I read in the Blue Zones, I have a mindset to live to at least 100.

Hiking in Stowe, Vermont

I turned 50 last year, and people look at me funny when I tell them I’m at least five years away from my midpoint.

Yup, my plan is to live to at least 110.

Living to 100 makes you a Centenarian.

Living to 110 makes you a Supercentenarian.

That’s my plan. It’s really a mindset more than anything else. I eat right and try to do all of the things that will keep me healthy, but I don't go overboard. I do eat cookies and drink wine occasionally, but for the most part, I live a healthy lifestyle.

By subscribing to the concepts in the Blue Zones, I started putting beans into my daily smoothies, walk frequently and try to get a much movement as possible, connect with friends and family, focus on meditation and other stress related activities like walking without my phone, and offering help to people, such as publishing this website to have people get closer to sensory experiences they had when they were kids.

As well, if you read many of my other stories in each of the sections, you can follow along to the activities and mindset I follow. It didn't happen overnight, but it does make a difference in how I approach life.

Regardless of your age, enjoy life!

As you have read through this entire post, you can only see there are just 2 book recommendations (outside of Calvin and Hobbes).

What books have helped you level up your lifestyle?

Cover photo by Sid Saxena

For Transparency: Some of the links in this post are affiliate links. If you purchase through them, I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. I only recommend products I truly love and use myself.