Here are some of the symptoms my wife Eve and I navigated when committed to living the “Healthy Lifestyle.”

• Tendonitis in elbows

• A meniscus tear in the knee

• Sports Hernia

• Chronic Ankle Sprains

• Cubital tunnel syndrome in the elbow

• Rotator Cuff Tear in the shoulder

• Thoracic Outlet Syndrome

• Depression

• Anxiety

• Cysts

• Fibroids

• Fertility Issues

• Polycystic Ovary Syndrome

• Autoimmune Disease

• Dental Infections

• High Blood Pressure

• High Blood Sugar Levels

• High Cholesterol

The solutions offered to us were:

• Orthopedic Surgeries

• Cortisone Injections

• PRP Injections

• Steroid Packs, like Medrol

• Physical Therapy

• Antidepressants

• Antianxiety Medications

• Hysteroscopy

• Hysterectomy

• Birth control pills

• Metformin, for blood sugar

• ACE Inhibitors, for blood pressure

• Lipitor, for high cholesterol

Having spent 25 years in the Health & Fitness industry, I regret to say that the experiences my wife and I had with this model are far from uncommon.

Most, if not all, of the people I've worked with over the years—all health conscious—suffering from similar ailments were offered the same solutions.

When I say health conscious, I'm referring to people who 70-80% of the time ate “healthy,” exercised regularly, took their vitamins & supplements, got massages, and even meditated.

So it begs the question:

Why are all these health-conscious people navigating the same ailments and in need of intervention?

Something is Seriously Wrong!

In a previous newsletter, “How to Step Out of the Rat Race of Pursuing Health & Happiness” I shared how futile pursuing the model of “Health & Happiness” can be. And that, most likely, it’s the very thing preventing you from living your best life.

I also shared with you a new model called The Vitality & Fulfillment Model and its two primary principles:

1. Getting Connected to Your Authentic Self

2. Aligning Your Lifestyle with Your Biology

In this newsletter, I'm going to share with you the 3 Major Paradigm Shifts that will help you transition from a “Health Mindset” into a “Vitality Mindset.”

Going from Health to Vitality means shifting your perspective in a few ways:

• Exercise to Movement

• Dieting to Systemic Wellness

• Happiness to Meaning

I will also introduce you to the Vitality Level Method, a step-by-step process that guides you from Health to Vitality.

Let's dive in!

But First, Real Quick—I Need Your Help!

Thanks so much for being a subscriber. I’m glad that you’re finding my newsletter helpful.

That being said, my passion is in helping people implement Vitality into their lives. I’m always looking for better ways to serve this purpose. That’s why it would be a huge help for me if you took a couple of seconds to answer the poll below:

Thank you so much for answering that.

Now, on with the rest of the article:

The BIG Difference Between Pursuing Health and Pursuing Vitality

Think of these two as completely different destinations, with completely different paths.

Health is defined as the absence of disease and illness. The journey of health can take you to Survival Land, where you’re only well enough to not be sick.

Vitality is defined as the state of exuberant physical strength & mental vigor. The destination Vitality takes you to is Thriving Land, where you have the capacity for a meaningful and purposeful existence.

Where do you want to go?

If you're looking to do more with your life than simply survive, then I'm going to bet you’d like a one-way ticket to Thriving Land on Vitality Airlines.

If that’s the case, you will have to discard everything you know about being “healthy” and start from scratch.

Everything You’re Taught Comes From the “Health” Approach

The majority of things you know about taking care of your well-being come from the "Health" approach.

This means that what you know and have learned about Health will not take you to Vitality. Healthy Airlines can only take you to Survival Land, where you’ll be kept alive just enough to form a dependency on it.

And just how much does this dependency cost?

US healthcare spending in 2022 reached 4.5 trillion dollars. That is ~$14,000 per person on average.

Clients that I’ve worked with over the years are spending 3-4x this amount.

Then, combine that with the more than 30 billion dollars created by the Health and Fitness Industry in 2022.

In other words, a lot of people are making a lot of money on making sure we need all this support to stay "healthy.”

The very healthy lifestyle that my wife and I were living didn't produce positive results. It only made us sick, and we were in our 20s!

There Has to Be Another Way!

After struggling to get no real answers to any of our ailments, just temporary fixes or ways to cope with what was happening, we decided we needed to do something different.

For the next decade and a half, we challenged every accepted "healthy recommendation." We started to ask questions like:

• Why is salad good for you?

• Is sugar really bad for you?

• What do they mean by “sugar”?

• Why are these exercises the ones to do?

• Should we be avoiding stress?

• What is stress?

What we discovered was life-changing:

Most everything we thought was healthy was actually making us sick.

Exercise Can Be the Worst Approach to Go From Health to Vitality

The United States is one of the only places where you can find multiple gyms and workout studios in every town, city, or neighborhood.

Why is this the case?

Because we are one of the most sedentary cultures in the world.

To address this the "healthy way," we designed artificial boxes all over our country that teach you to move your body in artificial ways. We call this exercise.

Then, the "health model" promotes how important it is for us to exercise every day. Unfortunately, the exercise model and all its recommendations to be physically fit were based on studying cadavers—dead people.

The truth is, every exercise you have done or see someone doing in a gym is more suited for how a corpse functions than you. Your body was NEVER designed to isolate muscles and get them to scream for sets of 15 reps.

This is, however, a great way to injure yourself and enter the Vicious Cycle of Soft Tissue Injury Care.

Exercise also comes with the idea that more is better: when you’re completely exhausted after a workout, can't walk, and it hurts to move, you got a "good workout."

So let's think about this…

You don't feel healthy, maybe not eating as well as you could, put in a ton of hours at work, don't get the best sleep, and want to be healthier…

Yeah! I got it! I need to start adding super stressful workouts into my routine so I can be healthy!

One of the first things people do when they want to get "healthier" is begin exercising, and it’s a huge mistake.

If you feel stressed, exercise is a great way to add stress to an already stressed system.

You may "feel better" due to the adrenaline and endorphin rush, but is that the goal? To feel better for a little while?

That is definitely the goal if you are pursuing "Health and happiness," and if you read my newsletter on that rat race, you know what that entails.

When pursuing Vitality, exercise is NOT the first thing on the list when looking to uplevel your physical well-being.

Aligning yourself with a Movement Lifestyle is the first step to improving your physical well-being and achieving Vitality.

My recommendation to my clients is to count STEPS, not REPS.

The Vitality Approach to Physical Well-Being

Movement Instead of Exercise

Traditional Exercises are nothing more than made-up movements based on the study of human cadavers.

Nothing about any of these exercises makes ANY sense when it comes to improving everyday human function. The only place on planet Earth where you see people do the things you see people do in a gym, is in a gym.

Traditional exercise should be considered more of a sport or activity than a baseline of Vitality or health. If your "exercise" is running or swimming, then I would not include this in what I’m referring to as traditional exercise.

Running and swimming are movements humans have been doing forever and are part of a Movement Lifestyle.

If your primary exercise is cycling, however, then I would put this in the traditional exercise category. The biggest problem I have found with cycling as your primary activity is that you are exercising in a position you are already in too much: sitting.

Movement Lifestyle Trumps Any Exercise Routine

Movement Lifestyle is number one on the list.

The Movement Pillar of the Vitality Level Method begins with three simple goals:

Level 1: Getting at least 5,000 steps a day, outside of any structured activity

Level 2: You can go for a 3-mile walk with ease

Level 3: You are getting at least 10,000 steps a day, including a daily walk of at least 2 miles

There are over 8 levels in the Vitality Level Method Movement Pillar before "exercising."

The foundation created in the first 7 levels prepares your body to tolerate more advanced movements, traditional exercises, and activities.

If you are an avid exerciser and these first three levels are not part of your routine, I highly recommend finding time to incorporate them or substituting them for your exercise routine.

The Movement Pillar of The Vitality Level Method Includes These 10 Levels:

1. 5,000 Steps

2. 3 Mile Walk

3. 10,000 Steps

4. 3D mobility

5. Fundamental movement patterns

6. Joint capacity strengthening

7. Jogging and running

8. 3D agility and dynamic movements

9. Big 3 Lower Body Exercises

10. Big 3 Upper Body Exercises

The Vitality Approach to Systemic Well-Being

Systemic Wellness instead of Dieting

When “Health” is the goal, the next step after exercising is to clean up your diet. This usually means one of the following:

• Eliminate grains and/or dairy for a while

• Start Paleo, Keto, or some other Diet

• Do some detox program

• Try some multi-day fast or start intermittent fasting

There is no bigger example of the Health and happiness Rat Race than these strategies. We usually adopt them in a desperate attempt to "feel better" or because we recently engaged in some type of debauchery.

These are all unsustainable and do not address the main reasons why someone is most likely not feeling "healthy."

It really doesn't need to be this complicated.

When shifting to a Vitality & Fulfillment Approach, the priorities are simple, and you only have to do it once.

The Systemic Pillar of The Vitality Level Method Includes These 4 Components:

1. Get Your Sleep Dialed In!

2. Get Outside

3. Eat REAL Food

4. Active Recovery Plan (nature immersion, meditation, massage, etc.)

If you need some tips on getting the highest quality sleep, make sure to read, "The Most Powerful Way to Uplevel Your Performance & Vitality."

The Vitality Approach to Mental Well-Being

Meaning Instead of Happiness

Next up on Health Airlines is dealing with all your stress. So after increasing physical exertion and starving yourself for a few days, your adrenaline is off the charts, and now you’re feeling energized!

Health Airlines is delivering on its short-term promise of “feeling better.”

After all, adrenaline is the perfect drug for feeling better and suppressing your appetite. Amazing! Now, it’s the perfect time to manage your stress! The stress which has strangely begun to increase…

No worries, Health Airlines has just the remedy for you: reminders that “Happiness is a choice”, “Just let it go,” and "You just need to destress."

And for your convenience, flight attendants are now serving CBD products to support you.

Talk about a complete Rat Race…

The World Health Organization defines good mental health as:

Coping while being productive—otherwise known as surviving.

Keep your head above water, function, and seek things that make you happy occasionally. Make sure to schedule some vacations away from Survival Land!

When aligning with Vitality, the goal is not to survive and find things that make you temporarily happy.

The goal is to align with meaning and purpose.

When you live in alignment with your unique meaning and purpose, you experience happiness and a Fulfilling Life.

Now, let me be clear:

Connecting to your meaning and purpose doesn't mean you must have some pre-templated, societal, grandiose accomplishment named. It does not have to be things like feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, and curing cancer.

What is ABSOLUTELY ESSENTIAL is that it is connected to what is meaningful to YOU!

The opinion of what society or other people deem as important is irrelevant.

What matters is what you believe is important.

Not everyone will agree because not everyone is passionate about the same things. It’s not intended to be any other way. Music, art, poetry, animals, cultures, human biology, astronomy, insects, spirituality, and an infinite of other things are here for us to explore as humans.

The key is to be TRUE to yourself.

The exploration of who you are and what you innately find interesting and meaningful in life is supposed to happen in your childhood. Unfortunately, most of us did not have the environment to be free enough to explore ourselves and our curiosities. In some cases, childhood was about survival.

This is why it’s critical to create the time to reconnect with yourself, to explore who you are, and what you’re innately interested in. The path to your passion and life purpose is curiosity.

This is where the Vitality Approach to Mental Well-Being begins.

Knowing what is meaningful to you starts with getting to know yourself at deeper levels. There are a few ways you can deepen your relationship with yourself.

The Vitality Level Method for Mental Well-Being

The First Step: Connection

This means connecting with all aspects of who you are. Getting connected to your physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual self. Understanding your personality and how your brain and physiology work and communicate with you.

Recommendations to Improve Connection:

1. MES Journaling

2. Taking a Big 5 Personality Test

3. Cycling Life Force or Chi

MES Journaling is about writing your thoughts, feelings, and sensations with pen and paper in the Morning, Evening, and when Stressful situations arise.

Taking a Big 5 Personality Test is another great way to get to know yourself. I highly recommend taking Jordan Peterson’s Personality Assessment. It is his version of the Big 5 Personality Assessment, and I have found it to be very insightful.

Cycling Life Force, or Chi, is a practice passed down for thousands of years. It connects you to the body’s energetic systems at a very basic level. At a more esoteric level, it connects you to the energetic being that you are, who inhabits the body. Regardless of your belief system, a breathing practice that has you focus on a presence in you beyond the mind, emotions, and body is very grounding.

I have found Michael Bijker from the Life Awareness Project to be an excellent source for these practices. Here is a simple 5 Minute Breathing Meditation that shows you ways to reconnect to that source of inner peace and power within.

A Summary of the Differences Between Health & Vitality

As you can see, the Pursuit of Vitality is a completely different game than the Struggle to be Healthy.

My invitation to you is to pause and really ask yourself, do you want to survive, or do you want to thrive?

Shifting a few of these approaches and aligning yourself with Vitality gives you access to the life you were meant to live.

Yours in Vitality,

Matt

P.S., Did you weigh in on the poll in the first half of the article? If not, please consider taking a couple of seconds to answer for me. Here it is again in case you missed it:

References

https://www.healthdirect.gov.au/good-mental-health#:~:text=Good%20mental%20health%20is%20more,learn%20and%20work%20productively