Dear Rich

Reflecting on the journey that started a little over two years ago after reading Finding Ultra, I owe so much to Rich Roll. I hope this letter finds its way to him.

Dear Rich,

Unbelievable. That’s the word that comes to mind when I think about the past two years. About the changes I’ve made, about the growth I’ve realized, and about the person I’m becoming. And those changes all started a little over two years ago when I first listened to Finding Ultra.

I write to you here on the eve of my 40th birthday, and I’m not sure why, probably the universe conspiring in the way it often does, but after my workout this morning I felt a tug to download the revised version of the audiobook and hit play. It could have been the euphoria of the workout I’d just finished, or the heat of the sauna I was now sitting in, or the reflective nature one feels as they approach a milestone birthday, whatever it was, I was immediately looking back at the past two years and experiencing so many emotions from joy, to appreciation, to a desire to serve others in the way you did for me with your story and your example.

I remember hearing your words when I was 38 as you described your then 38-year-old self looking over your young family and wanting to be there with them well into the future. Pages one through 15 made me question everything about my own lifestyle back then, and helped shepherd in changes that I would have once considered impossible.

You see just four years earlier, my wife and I lost our young daughter to a rare form of pediatric brain cancer just before her second birthday. Her name was Colette, but she went by Coco, and she was the most amazing little girl you could ever imagine. After a loss like that things tend to go one of a few different ways. Having two young sons at the time, I made it my mission to pull myself together and not let the family fall apart, and together with my wife and the support of our amazing family, friends, and community, we found the strength to just keep moving forward.

A few years later at 38, with a two-year-old daughter at home and another little girl on the way, not to mention a global pandemic going on, I had my own opportunity to look at my life and at this beautiful family and question what the future holds for all of us. Will I be there with my kids and grandkids enjoying bike rides and puzzles on the floor? Weddings and grandchildren someday? Or would the trappings of “normal” life; alcohol, ultra-processed diet, and little exercise, slowly rob me of the strength and energy needed to truly experience those moments? With your story at the forefront of my mind, I took an honest look at my own physical health, my mental health, and the choices I was making, or not making, and started to think, what am I doing here?

What happens if I stop drinking alcohol? What if I try a plant-based diet? What if I get more sleep and spend more time in the gym? What if I spend more time caring about what I want and less about what I believe others want me to do?

On one of your shows, you talked about

Gordo Byrn

being your “mentor from afar” as you trained for Ultraman. You served as that mentor for me as I considered those questions, and the challenges I would ultimately face - often from friends and family concerned I was losing it. The later chapters of the book outlining your food journey gave me the permission I needed to try some new. Something different. Something better.

Two years later, that curiosity and many trials and errors along the way have yielded the best shape my body has ever been in, the best mental state I’ve ever experienced, and more career success than I could have imagined. Truly unbelievable.

Most importantly though, our family is thriving. I’ve been alcohol-free for two years now and predominately plant-baed for the same. I no longer fall asleep on the couch after dinner and my joints don’t hurt when I ride my bike. I can play on the floor with our two girls (5 and 2) and play catch with our two boys (13 and 10). The list of positive outcomes continues to mount and is far too long to cover in this letter alone, but the knowledge that I’m changing our family tree, not with money or assets, but with presence and health and love cannot be overstated.

I’ll close it out by saying this.

You helped me question everything with your story.

You introduced me to new people, ideas, and ways of being with your podcast.

You’ve changed my life’s course in a very real and positive way, and for that, I’m forever grateful.

Sincerely,

Paul Haskell

✌️🌱🙏