Grit, Gratitude, & Grace Newsletter Reader Let me tell you what I wanted to scream every time someone said "just breathe" or "stay positive" during the worst season of my life. I wanted to scream: "DO YOU THINK I HAVEN'T TRIED THAT?" Wife with cancer. Unemployed. Bills piling up. Medical bills suffocating us. The future completely uncertain. And people would say: "Just take deep breaths." "Try to stay positive." "It could be worse." I know they meant well. But platitudes don't pay bills....
13 days ago • 3 min read
Grit, Gratitude, & Grace Newsletter Reader April 2024. Month three of Florena's treatment. Month two of unemployment. The anxiety was eating me alive. I'd wake up at 3 AM with my heart racing. Intrusive thoughts about worst-case scenarios. Constant tension in my shoulders and jaw. That gnawing feeling in my stomach that never went away. I tried everything: intense workouts, journaling, talking to friends, prayer, reading, distraction. Nothing worked. The anxiety always came back, often...
20 days ago • 3 min read
Grit, Gratitude, & Grace Newsletter Reader I used to look at resilient people with a mixture of admiration and envy. You know the type. The ones who face adversity and somehow keep going. Who get knocked down and bounce back. Who endure unimaginable hardship and still find a way to smile. I'd think: "They're just built differently. They have something I don't." I was wrong. January-March 2024 taught me a truth I wish I'd known earlier: Resilience isn't something you're born with. It's...
27 days ago • 3 min read
Grit, Gratitude, & Grace Newsletter Reader I learned the most liberating truth of my life: My brain was not fixed. For decades, I had believed the lie: "I am who I am. This is just how I'm wired. You can't teach an old dog new tricks." I believed my personality was set. My habits were permanent. My capacity for growth had a ceiling. Then I discovered neuroplasticity—the brain's astonishing ability to reorganize itself by forming new neural connections throughout life. And I realized:...
about 1 month ago • 3 min read
Grit, Gratitude, & Grace Newsletter Reader It was April 2024. My wife was lying on the couch, exhausted in a way I'd never seen after a chemo treatment. I asked my usual question: "What do you need? How can I help?" She looked at me with tears in her eyes and said, "I don't know. I don't have words for this." In that moment, I realized something: I had spent many years confusing sympathy with empathy. Sympathy says: "I'm sorry you're going through this." Empathy says: "I'm here with you in...
about 1 month ago • 3 min read
Grit, Gratitude, & Grace Newsletter Reader It was March 2024. Middle of Florena's cancer treatment. Middle of my job search. Middle of our financial crisis. And we were in the middle of another argument. I don't even remember what it was about. Probably something small that stress had magnified into something huge. But I remember walking away, going to the bathroom, looking at myself in the mirror, and asking a question I'd never truly asked before: "Who am I actually being right now?" Not...
about 2 months ago • 3 min read
Grit, Gratitude, & Grace Newsletter Reader Two years ago today—February 8th, 2024—I was laid off from my job. I had done everything "right." I'd told my three managers about Florena's cancer diagnosis. I'd asked for a flexible work schedule so I could take her to appointments. They all agreed. I thought I had control of the situation. Seven days after I disclosed the diagnosis, I was unemployed. In that moment, sitting in the conference room, I felt every ounce of control slip through my...
about 2 months ago • 3 min read
Grit, Gratitude, & Grace Newsletter Reader For years, I carried a belief so deep I didn't even know it was there. It whispered in every difficult moment: "You're not strong enough." Not strong enough to handle adversity. Not strong enough to face uncertainty. Not strong enough to carry the weight when life gets heavy. I never said it out loud. But it shaped every decision. Every fear. Every moment I held back or played it safe. Then January 2024 hit. Wife diagnosed with cancer. Job loss....
2 months ago • 3 min read
Grit, Gratitude, & Grace Newsletter Reader Let me tell you about the moment I realized I had been sabotaging my own growth for 20+ years. It was March 2024. I was sitting in another job interview, feeling completely inadequate. The interviewer asked about my experience with a specific software system. My instinct: "I don't know how to use that." But then I caught myself. And I said something different: "I don't know how to use that... yet. But I'm a fast learner, and I'm excited to develop...
2 months ago • 3 min read