Chris Hemsworth has said his latest project helped him to slow down and live in the moment after feeling like being on “a treadmill for years and moments just flying by”.
The Thor actor, 39, embarks on a mission to discover how to live better for longer in new series Limitless With Chris Hemsworth.
Speaking about what he learnt about himself during the creation of the new National Geographic show launching on Disney+, Hemsworth said: “This is a dream scenario for me, the freedom, the creative choices I’m able to have and make the films I’m able to make, and travel and so on is a dream.
“And what got me there was a real urgency and a very front-footed, attack-mode approach to things.
“And then it’s about finding the balance now, of going, you’ve arrived at so many places that were distant dreams and now am I going to appreciate these moments or am I very quickly going to have something else ahead of me that I’m actually going to miss what’s right in front of me.
“In the last episode, I touched on that a bit, about feeling like I had been on a treadmill for years and moments were just flying by.”
During the series, Hemsworth undertakes various extraordinary journeys and extreme challenges in an attempt to understand the limits of the human body.
The episodes see him meet with a death doula, walk out on a platform from the top of a skyscraper and face the most stressful test for New South Wales Fire and Rescue academy recruits.
Hemsworth continued: “Then, I was asked by the death doula, ‘What would make a good death? What would your death look like? Who would you have around in those last moments?’ and I realised, it’s everything I have now.
Can enduring extreme temperatures help us live longer? @ChrisHemsworth puts his body to the test in #LimitlessWithChrisHemsworth, an Original series, now streaming on @DisneyPlus! pic.twitter.com/N8bJU5t5pt
— National Geographic TV (@NatGeoTV) November 17, 2022
“It’s every Sunday afternoon when we’re having friends and family over, and we’re together.
“I think for most of us, it’s all perspective.
“And what we have right in front of us, in this moment now, is the most important thing.
“And it gave me sort of a lightbulb moment of gratitude and an awareness and that is what I keep trying to bring myself back to.”
After undergoing six challenges during the series – each with a different part to play in understanding how humans can stay fitter, healthier and happier – Hemsworth also revealed a number of things that have stuck with him since he finished filming.
“I was asked to question a whole lot of things that I hadn’t even thought about before and confront ideas that hadn’t ever really been in my ether of thinking.
“Ever since I finished the show, I try and implement all those tips and techniques and practices that were taught to me.
“But also there was a wonderful sense of gratitude, and thanks, and living in the moment that I took away from the whole experience.”
He added: “Thinking about all the wonderful things I’ve been a part of, and how fortunate and lucky I am, and grateful, that has stayed with me since the show.”
Limitless With Chris Hemsworth is available now on Disney+.