Longevity Montréal: Approaching Our Third Year

As Longevity Montréal approaches its third year in operation, many things come to mind.

On a personal note, as one of this community’s co-founders, organizers, and admins (whatever the term might be), it’s been an incredible privilege to grow alongside this community and to have seen some of its potential realized.

It’s also with humility that, in recent months, I’ve come to understand something about my role here. I very much enjoy this community, and yet there is much I still have to learn when it comes to being able to lead it. While I am proud of what has been accomplished so far, I know there is much more that can and will be done in the near future.

Life holds very little meaning in my eyes if we don’t strive to learn from past experiences. In this spirit, I wish to share something with you today.

A Personal Reflection

I enjoy strategy. I enjoy organization. I enjoy systems, protocols, and structure.

When it comes to dealing with the human element, the social responsibility and consistency of community management, it’s been outside my realm of expertise, and thus outside of my comfort zone. This has led to delays and patterns of avoidance, habits I’ve been conscious of and working on, even to this day.

This past month, I made a choice to reassess, refocus, and reorganize. I noticed I was sustaining old patterns that were not leading to the results I was expecting. And yet, because I was not putting in the work required to achieve our preset goals, I cannot say I was surprised to see similarly stalled results.

The Work Behind the Scenes

Longevity Montréal is still a passion of mine, and it receives dozens of hours of my attention every week. Much of this work has been on the back-end, building and scaling infrastructure, work that has not been as public as I might have liked.

These next few months will mark periods of change for our community. One such change is that I am reassessing how I approach community management. For far too long, I have taken it all on my shoulders. I have attempted to do too much with too little, and mostly alone, underutilizing not only resources but also the people who have so graciously offered their assistance in this community-wide initiative.

Longevity Montréal isn’t “my baby”, I see it as a collective initiative and nascent public service, wishing nothing more than to see it grow more autonomous and self-sustaining! This project has the potential to reshape our city’s approach to health policy, community infrastructure, and meaningful connection. I truly believe it, and will continue working to make it so.

While outward-facing engagement in the city has slowed of late, please know that behind the scenes we are busier than ever. Change is coming, and sooner than you think.

Looking Ahead

I will be hosting events of my own several times a month, but the format will be different. There will be a mix of different event types, ex: clinical, social, tech etc, while also focusing on things I greatly enjoy (and inviting others to do the same).

For example, I’ll be hosting a HIGHLY unconventional event on August 31st, 2025 (tomorrow, as of this post’s release), which you are most welcome to join: Psychedelic & Meditation Adventure (Mt-Royal)

I will also be offering my services as an organizer to help individuals host events that they find meaningful. If you have an idea, theme, or topic you would like to host and help lead, it would be my pleasure to help you organize and execute! You need only message me on WhatsApp, via email at anrif@longevitymontreal.com, or wherever else you prefer.

Please know that this project is only just beginning. I am excited to share, in short order, everything we have planned for our fair city and our fantastic community.

Thank you, and take care of yourself.

-Anrif