They lived like it was 20 years ago, and their bodies started reversing time
Here’s something I never thought I’d say with a straight face: I’m learning to rewire my brain. Not metaphorically. Actually. Day by day, thought by thought.
I’ve been reading You Are the Placebo by Dr. Joe Dispenza, and it cracked something wide open for me. One story from the book has been living rent-free in my head: a study on aging that involved two groups of older men. One group was placed in an environment that reflected their current age. The environemtn was filled with modern magazines, mirrors, current music. The other group was placed in a fully recreated environment from twenty years earlier. Vintage magazines, old music, no mirrors, everything designed to feel like they had time-traveled back to a younger version of life.
And the wildest part? The men in the "younger" environment started to physically change.
Their posture improved. Their strength returned. Their vision sharpened. Their biomarkers shifted toward youth. Their joints loosened, their fingers became more flexible, even the way they walked changed. They played touch football in the yard. Their bodies responded not to their actual age, but to the signals being sent by their surroundings. The emotional and sensory cues of youth.
Why? Because their environment convinced their mind, and their mind changed their body.
That one study unlocked something in me.
We’re constantly being shaped by what surrounds us. Our brains are listening to every signal, every cue. So I started thinking: what would it look like to design my life in a way that tells my brain I’m already becoming that future version of me?
This journey started when I realized that no matter how much I wanted to change, I kept running the same loops. Worry. Doubt. Overthinking. Old patterns dressed up as new problems. But then I started experimenting. Not with a major life overhaul, I mean small, daily rituals. Tools. Routines that felt doable. Things that helped me create new thoughts and, more importantly, new feelings.
I started asking myself each morning: How do I want to feel today? Not what do I want to do, but how do I want to feel while doing it?
It shifts the focus. When I imagine the kind of life I’m building, I picture ease. Confidence. Lightness. And when I sit with those feelings, even briefly, my nervous system starts to believe it. I’m not just visualizing a better future, I’m literally firing new circuits in my brain, creating a pathway to that version of me.
Gratitude, too, changed its role in my life. It’s no longer something I force because I “should.” It’s something I reach for as a re-centering tool. Especially when I’m spiraling. I try not to wait to feel thankful, I just try to begin. Sometimes it’s, “I’m grateful my coffee was hot.” Other times it’s something deeper. But it always brings me back. Gratitude trains the brain to notice what's working. That creates momentum.
I also made myself a space at home that feels like my future self already lives there. It’s small. A chair. A vision board. Calming lighting. And a few little objects that connect me to opportunity. When I sit there, I breathe differently. I think differently.
It's like sending my brain a memo: this is who we are now.
Meditation has helped me strengthen this signal. Not because I’m great at meditating (I'm not), but because I show up. Some days it’s quiet, some days it’s noisy, but that’s not the point. The point is reinforcing new patterns. It’s the practice of not abandoning myself in the process of becoming.
And the hardest but most rewarding part? Acting like the version of me I want to become. Even when I don’t feel like her yet.
I do the thing before I feel ready. I ask, “What would future me do right now?” and then I try to do it. Not perfectly. But on purpose.
Sometimes that’s writing it down. Sometimes it’s putting on different music. Sometimes it’s moving my body or saying the affirmation out loud even if I feel ridiculous. Consistency is the transformation. And identity, I’ve realized, is a daily decision.
That study stayed with me because it made something clear: we don’t need to wait for our lives to change before we feel better. We can flip the order. Feel better first. Live like it’s already happening. Design our environment, thoughts, and routines to reflect the life we’re stepping into.
It made me realize how much power I actually have. Not in a hype-yourself-up kind of way, but in a grounded, evidence-backed, start-small-and-stick-with-it way.
That’s what I’m doing. And I think it’s working. Something feels different anyways.
You don’t have to go all-in overnight.
Just pick one shift and start there. One ritual. One corner of your life. One belief that helps you remember who you’re becoming.
You're not broken. You're just rewiring. And you get to do it with full creative license.
If you’re interested in resources I have used, here’s an Amazon list.
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