07/29/2026
For years, I thought about health as something we work toward.
Better numbers. Better metabolic health. More energy. A healthier weight.
All of those things matter.
But many years ago, a professional musician I have known for more than two decades gave me a different way to think about it.
He spoke about the relationship between a musician and his instrument.
A musician may have extraordinary music inside him — but the instrument is what allows that music to reach the world.
And I realized that perhaps we think about health backward.
Our bodies are not the purpose of our lives.
They are the instruments through which we live them.
We want to work. To travel. To create. To love. To remain independent. To participate fully in the lives we've built.
That is what makes health matter.
Roman's story stayed with me for twenty years, and I finally decided to write it.
It is a story about health, but even more, about what health makes possible.
Health is the instrument.
Life is the music.
I hope you'll read The Instrument.
https://open.substack.com/pub/drtatianakolpakov/p/the-instrument?r=oci8f&utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=web