While your past may have shaped who you are, you are ultimately responsible for who you will become.

I have lived enough life that I have started thinking differently about what I want the years ahead to look like.

Some recent health challenges gave that thinking a little more urgency, but this isn’t a story about illness, and it isn’t an attempt to turn back the clock.

I’m interested in a much bigger question:

What can I do, starting where I am today, to give myself the best chance of living well in the years ahead?

That means exploring more than exercise.

I want to understand how the choices I make about food, strength, mobility, cardiovascular health, sleep, habits, stress, relationships, happiness, purpose and even the way I think might affect the person I become.

I’m not a doctor, scientist, dietitian, trainer or health expert. I’m also not here to tell anyone else how to live.

I’m simply a case study of one.

When I have a question, I’ll look for credible evidence and reliable sources. When it makes sense, I’ll try what I learn in my own life. Then I’ll share what actually happens…including the things that work, the things that don’t, and the things that cause me to change my mind.

Evidence → Experiment → Experience.

I’ve chosen to remain anonymous because I don’t want this project to be about who I am. I’m not trying to become an influencer or build a public identity around myself. If something I learn or experience is useful to someone else, I’d rather the idea receive the attention than the person behind it.

You may therefore see the places I go, the food I eat, the things I try, the research I’m reading, the trails I walk and some of the successes and failures along the way.

You just probably won’t see my face.

I don’t know where this experiment will lead, and that’s part of the point.

I’m not starting from scratch. Like everyone else, I arrive here with decades of experiences, habits, successes, mistakes and assumptions. Some have served me well. Others probably haven’t.

I can’t rewrite those years.

I can decide what I do with the next ones.

While your past may have shaped who you are, you are ultimately responsible for who you will become.

This is my attempt to take that idea seriously.

Better from here.