The longest living people in the world have a clear picture of their purpose and identity - called their ikigai. I think it is essential we all hunt for what ours is.

I found mine.

Every chapter of my life has been preparation for this moment. I love the expression that things aren’t happening to you…they are happening for you.

Perhaps the funniest part of it all is getting my dna test results last week and learning why I have always been a builder - my dopamine sensors are wired for the chase - the next adventure. But I’ve found myself losing that feeling now that I’ve found the very thing I feel I was born to build.

I have my first lemonade stand on the wall of our house, I remember peddling board games at the Summer Olympics in 1996, I have had so much exposure to so many disparate lines of business and life and none of it would make sense unless you knew my underlying thirst for the answer to one question - what moves the needle most for our personal health and happiness?

My dad’s health journey, my own health crisis and being told I had leprosy - it all gave me a front row seat to learn what moves the needle to this question.

I’ve been kicked out of churches. I’ve been told it may be cancer. I’ve collapsed on a shower floor thinking I was having a heart attack. I lost my dad - my best friend in a car accident. I lost $120,000 day trading at the age of 13. I’ve been through some things.

I wouldn’t be where I am today if I hadn’t gone through those. Trials are funny - we hate them in the moment - but we see their value in the long run.

I used to be so healthy and obnoxious that I would all but make fun of people who had some allergy or health problem - it was their fault I would say. Then I have a 7 year battle with something no one can identify that ends up being a parasite I got in India. I got allergy to every food I loved and felt miserable - nothing like being humbled.

I learned along the way - health cannot just be the numbers on a scale, the steps we get in each day, the colors of foods on our plate or saying our prayers at night.

So much of what we call health is siloed. Healthcare all but is built on symptom management, not causation or cure. Wellness is increasingly a cacophony of voices as to which peptide or supplement stack or procedure or new gadget you need.

But what I have learned is that health is wholeness. It is the balance of three things - Physical Vitality, Mental Clarity and Spiritual Connection - or as we often hear - body, mind, and spirit. But I want to say this - the second you think its only one of those and ignore the others - the whole thing comes crashing down - sometimes suddenly, often gradually.

Medical health/wellness lives in one silo. Luxury spas in another. Biohacking labs in a third. Nature/Farm retreats in a fourth. No integration. Not much measurement. Not much genuine follow-up. You leave feeling great for a week, and then life swallows you back into the pattern that made you sick or unsatisfied in the first place.

We began to visit places around the world that cater to health or hospitality or wellness…with our interest in being close to our food, we began to visit places where food was grown on site too. But though each had a neat element - they left us feeling like something was missing.

So Annette and I started asking a bigger question: what would it look like to build the place we wished existed?

I think many of us don’t know how to relax or let our guard down in the midst of our grind - we need a space and place for a few days to enter a new experience of life.

I remember my dad’s experience at a health retreat after he was diagnosed with tumors on his adrenal glands. He said he couldn’t do it at home. He needed to be away. He also said the landscape and nature all around were beautiful but the infrastructure was old and decayed and not intentional for healing.

So over the years - we went looking. We visited the longevity destinations. The decorated spas. The retreat centers everyone raves about or that get awards in our favorite journals. The farms that are actually regenerative. The Blue Zones where people quietly live past 100 without thinking about it. We tried the biohacks. We decided to move and find land so we could grow our own nutrient dense organic food. We built our own sauna, got the red light devices, cold plunges, hot tubs, supplements stacks, and gadgets galore. We interviewed the doctors. We read the research. We learned to see something - the synthetic path and nature’s path. We started to learn there was a difference between the science and the woo woo.

Seven principles kept showing up. The same seven patterns across every tradition and every lab. We call them our Seven Pillars, and they became the foundation of everything we’re now building.

Then we needed to find land that had all these pillars and ingredients on site. From all my golf trips to Arizona, I knew where the sunshine lived.

Then I stepped foot onto the most glorious 320 acres in Box Canyon, Arizona. Protected by mountains. Dark skies. Soil that wants to grow food. Water. Silence so complete it does something to your nervous system you can’t describe until you’ve felt it.

Annette and I, together with a team of amazing people whose backgrounds have prepared us for exactly this, are building Santerra.

An adults-only, all-inclusive luxury wellness resort in the most beautiful place I’ve ever seen. 34 private biophilic villas, each with its own private spa. A regenerative organic farm feeding every meal. Evidence-based programming rooted in the habits of the world’s longest-living cultures - light, silence, nourishment, movement, connection, and rest.

Every guest will be assessed before they arrive. We’ll show, in plain language, what the science says about where their health actually is. We’ll walk them through a their own personalized experience built around the Seven Pillars. And then….this is the part nobody else is doing - we’ll follow up. Reassess. Measure what actually changed. Prove, with data, that nature holds the remedy to health, happiness, and longevity.

We named it from two Latin words. Sanus - health. Terra - earth. From the soil to the soul.

We’ll use every tool the future hands us. Including AI. But at Santerra, screens take a backseat. The human experience leads.

This isn’t biohacking theater. It isn’t a spa with a better view. It’s a place designed to change the trajectory of a life and to prove it with data.

As I look to the future of healthcare - I think its going to be a place like this that sets a new standard on moving the needle for someone’s overall health and coming out of it with the science to back it up.

I plan to share our journey as we move forward. Though a lot of work has brought us to this point, now we need to build the place. As we planned things got nicer - we went from a great place to the best place - and that raised the bar - and our budget.

Join us on this journey as we bring it to life. Share it with someone who may be curious or find resonance. Over the coming weeks and months I’ll share the story of how Santerra is coming together - the land, the team, the science, the villas, the Seven Pillars, the investors, the timeline, and how you can be part of it.

We’ve got some cool things cooking and I can’t wait to share more.

This is the work I was made for.

I’ve never been more humbled, more clear, or more grateful.

Thanks for your encouragement and support.

-Jared

I plan to share more on Instagram so I invite you to follow along.

I write this newsletter each week because I feel my best when my body, mind and soul are all healthy. I want the same for you. If you feel like you’ve seen something valuable here, please do me a favor and forward this newsletter to a friend or let me know what you think by replying to this email or texting me - (310) 879-8441

P.S. - This newsletter does not provide medical advice. The content, such as graphics, images, text, and all other materials, is provided for reference and educational purposes only. The content is not meant to be complete or exhaustive or to be applicable to any specific individual's medical condition.

Here are links to things that have helped me improve my health:

Whoop - Track your HRV and REM Sleep

Function Health - Optimize Your Health via 160+ BioMarkers

Here are a few topics I think you’ll love if you haven’t checked them out before:

How to Breathe for Better Health

How to Supercharge Your Sleep

The Power of the Sauna