“What’s taking her so long?” I thought as I waited, gripping the handlebars of my bike. After what felt like 30 seconds, my wife, Manon, finally appeared, flying down the trail with a loud “𝗬𝗶𝗵𝗮𝗵!” It was summer 2013, and we were in the Vallnord Bikepark in Andorra, racing down mountain bike trails. These weren’t…

𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗶𝗳 𝗜 𝘁𝗼𝗹𝗱 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗳𝘂𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝘀𝗲𝗹𝗳 𝗶𝘀 𝗮 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗲𝘁𝗲𝗹𝘆 𝗱𝗶𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗼𝗻?𝗛𝗲𝗿𝗲’𝘀 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘇𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗱𝗶𝗱 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗺𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝗶𝘁 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝗵𝗲𝗹𝗽 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘁𝗼𝗼…. If you had a chat with “Present Me” and “2014 Me,” it would feel like two completely different people. Seriously, it’s 𝗰𝗿𝗮𝘇𝘆 how much we can change over time,…

In my teens, I had just one burning desire. One thing I craved more than anything: 𝘁𝗼 𝗯𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗲 𝗮 𝗠𝗮𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗲. Why? The military excellence, the adventurous life, and above all—the Brotherhood for Life. It wasn’t just appealing to me, it became 𝗮𝗻 𝗼𝗯𝘀𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻. I read every book about special forces, tactics, and their missions. I…

Whenever my Commando unit would walk into an off-base mess hall, the room would go 𝗱𝗲𝗮𝗱 𝘀𝗶𝗹𝗲𝗻𝘁. You could feel the weight of the stares and hear the whispers—”It’s the Commandos. What are 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 doing here?” Even after all that time, the level of respect we got still blew me away. We represented something different,…

“How’s it going?” I asked, trying to gauge her energy. “Good, right? Nice pace.” “All good. I’m getting in the flow,” Leyla replied confidently. We both know the importance of the words we speak. No room for complaints here. I love her spirit. “Just another 10K to go,” I added. “OK, easy.” Yesterday, my daughter…

𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝗧𝘂𝗿𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝟱𝟬 𝗦𝗽𝗮𝗿𝗸𝗲𝗱 𝗠𝘆 𝗛𝗲𝗿𝗼’𝘀 𝗝𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗻𝗲𝘆: 𝗘𝗺𝗯𝗿𝗮𝗰𝗲 𝗨𝗿𝗴𝗲𝗻𝗰𝘆When a close friend of mine hit 50, he warned me, “The big 5-0 changes everything. You’re getting old!” I shrugged it off, thinking it was nonsense. After all, nothing happened when I turned 49, so why would 50 be any different? Just a number, right? I…