Are you ready to begin your personal journey to add not just years, but good years, to your life? Join us this Thursday night as we officially launch the crucial — and most fun — second phase of the AARP/Blue Zones Vitality Project sponsored by United Health FoundationSM.

This is your chance to take part in an unprecedented project — the first-ever longevity makeover of an entire community. It’s your chance to change your life for the better.

On Thursday at the Albert Lea High School at 7 p.m., we hope to inspire you to start your personal journey to stack the deck in your favor for becoming a longevity all-star. At the event, you will find a huge gathering of your peers, your community members of all ages, your neighbors and your city leaders, coming together to make a public show of commitment to making life better and stronger in Albert Lea.

The “Vitality Project Leadership Team” members — and our 150 Vitality Project volunteer ambassadors — have been working tirelessly to put together a great event.

I’ll be there to share the latest research from the newest Blue Zone — Icaria, Greece. We’re also bringing the nation’s foremost expert on eating, Dr. Brian Wansink. Brian will share his expertise in how to avoid “mindless eating,” and will offer important insight into making over your entire “habitat” as it relates to food. We all need some simple tricks to eat less — and I guarantee you’ll go home and make immediate changes to your home!

And if Brian doesn’t get you to the event, how about the chance to sign up for free community events, and the opportunity to get a free AARP membership?

At the launch, Nancy Graham, editor of AARP The Magazine, our project partner, will be on a fact-finding mission to find compelling personal stories to feature in the magazine.

Other national media also want to follow the progress of Albert Lea’s families, couples, individuals, employers or households as they embark on the Vitality Project. Are you embracing the opportunity provided by the Vitality Project — and planning to make changes to your life? If so, we want to talk to you! Come to the event and talk to Nancy.

I’m delighted to say that the launch event on Thursday is just the beginning. We have planned a whole host of events to occur between now through September that will help inspire health while strengthening community bonds – important tenants of living in the Blue Zone. Visit www.aarp.org/bluezonesproject for a community calendar, or check the Albert Lea Tribune. Let me give you a short preview:

All generations of Albert Lea citizens will join the ‘walking school bus,” which just launched. Volunteers and retirees will walk Albert Lea area children to school as a group. Right now, a mere nine percent of our kids walk to school. We want to make it 30 percent by the end of this project!

Richard Leider, an expert in helping people identify that often elusive sense of “purpose” in their lives, will lead a series of workshops (free of charge) for 1,500 residents in Albert Lea. The goal is to help you not only realize your gifts and talents, but also to express them. Studies show that people who wake up each morning with a sense of purpose for their day, live longer than those who do not.

Join one of new community gardens we are establishing or try a few of the “healthy cooking” classes that promote the teachings of the Blue Zones. Both of these initiatives can actually add years to your life!

Encourage you boss to sign the Employer Pledge and participate in making your work site a place to where it’s easier to live healthy. You spend most of your time at the office, so make it count!

As you can see, we have a lot of activities on the calendar. Again, I encourage you to read more about each of these on our terrific project Web site at www.aarp.org/bluezonesproject.

One more thing. And this is really important:

Don’t forget to take the Vitality Compass, a tool we designed to project your life expectancy — and to give personalized tips for getting more good years of life. It only takes a few minutes — but the payoff is big. Take it now, and then take it again toward the end of the project.

That way, you can see how many years of projected life you have added by participating in the project! We’ve set up free training sessions at the Albert Lea Public Library for those of you who want some assistance.

It’s now up to you, Albert Lea. The ball is in your court! We hope you’ll join us in this great undertaking to live longer, better. Live large!

Dan Buettner is the founder of the Blue Zones organization.