Mindset Matters

Subrahhmanyan Chandrasekhar, who created the model for what became the basis for black holes, is now a renowned astrophysicist. But back in the 40’s and into the 50’s he was still living in relative obscurity, conducting research and teaching at the University of Chicago. During this time, Chandrasekhar was working at Yerkes Observatory which was run by the University of Chicago, but located about eighty miles away from the main campus in Williams Bay, Wisconsin. One semester, Chandrasekhar was slated to teach an advanced seminar in astrophysics, but only two students signed up for the class. Because teaching that course would require a one hundred and sixty mile round trip drive twice a week to get to and from the main campus, it was expected he would cancel the seminar and avoid the hassle of commuting for just two students. Chandrasekhar not only kept his commitment to go forward with the seminar, he did so with great enthusiasm, fervently investing a great deal of eff

A few weeks ago, Anchorage was hit by a major earthquake. Power was knocked out across the city. Major roads and highways were destroyed when the ground heaved, shifted and sank, leaving depressions large enough to bury a three story house. Four weeks later, we are still feeling significant aftershocks. But amidst all the destruction, I was amazed how our city came together. It can take a week for city plows to get to your street after a large snowfall. Fixing a pothole might take months. But when large chunks of highway disappeared into the earth, crews were out immediately and had roads, bridges and on-ramps repaired and completely functional in mere days. Some major thoroughfares were fixed in just 48 hours. It wasn’t just road crews either. A windstorm can knock down a few trees, taking powerlines down with them, and a few isolated neighborhoods might be without power for up to a few days. When the ‘quake hit, it shut off power all over the city. The whole town went d

About 11 years ago, right at the beginning of the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, I began a financial planning and investment management practice. Giving up a six figure income and beginning this new venture from scratch out of a downstairs bedroom, I invited plenty of criticism and confusion from friends and family. I also was ignored by professionals in the industry as I sought their guidance. I felt like they thought I was some punk kid who wouldn’t last, especially as the recession wore on and investor confidence dwindled. Even partnering organizations seemed to ignore me. I quickly developed a chip on my shoulder. I wanted to prove all my doubters wrong. But my intent was not to tell them, “I told you so.” My desire was to succeed in such a way that I wouldn’t have to say anything at all. That my actions would show them they misjudged me. I wanted my drive and determination to say everything. However, building my practice was more difficult than

I want you to try a little exercise with me. It’s okay if you want to look around and make sure no one is watching first, I’ll wait for you. Okay, ready? Here’s the deal: I want you to stand up, life your arm and reach as high as you possibly can. Now, reach a little higher. You were already supposed to reach as high as you possibly could, but two seconds later you were able to extend your hand even higher. It’s not like you became more flexible or got taller in the last few seconds. So what’s that about? You, and myself as well, have been conditioned to hold back. You’ve become accustomed to not going “all in,” but rather keeping a little reserve off the table. While this might be a good strategy in poker, in life you only get to play one hand. And the old adage, “you can’t take it with you” applies to more than just possessions – it’s your effort and expertise as well. Whatever is held back and left over is wasted. Go all in in life because this is the only hand you g

It’s amazing what the human spirit is capable of doing when it’s backed by the commitment of the soul. People have accomplished extraordinary feats when they are determined to persevere. We are designed to endure much more than that for which we give ourselves credit. And many never see much more than a glimpse of what they are capable of doing. I believe some of this is due to hunting the wrong “bear.” Instead of searching to understand what we can bear – seeking and stretching our limits to learn what we are capable of enduring – we instead become content to only find the “bare.” We strive for the bare minimum effort to not get fired and to maintain status quo. We commit to only the bare bones preparation for what needs to be accomplished. We work just hard enough to acquire only the bare essentials for the tasks that lay ahead. People get caught up in the pursuit of “just enough.” It’s the perspective of “What do I have to do?” versus “What needs to be done and how much

A few years ago, Jaguar came out with a sweet little crossover SUV, the F-Type. This luxury ride boasts all the sophistication and stylish designs one would expect from Jaguar, and its top trim package, the F-Pace SVR, provides a beastly 550 horsepower engine. However, at just a little more than half the price of the SVR package, you can get a base level trim. It still has the overall look of a Jag, just a few less bells and whistles. But when it comes to what lies beneath the hood, it’s completely gutless. Instead of 550 horsepower, the F-Pace 20d trim package gets you 180 horsepower. To put that in perspective, that’s about 100 less horsepower than the minivan we are currently renting on vacation. It looks the part, but doesn’t deliver. This “budget” version allows one to say they “drive a Jag” without having to pay the price for true performance. Everything on the outside proclaims prestige and affluence, but where the *ahem* rubber meets the road, the actual driving exper

About a week ago, Anchorage, Alaska was hit with one of the biggest earthquakes I can remember in the 37 years I’ve lived there. Thankfully, there were no fatalities or even major injuries that I know of. However, roads and buildings weren’t so lucky. One of our major highways dropped up to 30ft in some places, bridges and overpasses collapsed and some older homes and buildings were completely destroyed. Power was knocked out all across the city and gas had to be shut off in certain areas because lines had been compromised. In most cases, power was restored remarkably quickly and folks began to clean up the mess and mayhem the earthquake caused. But they also went into prep mode. Some gas stations were tapped bone-dry of fuel. Grocery stores had their bottled water supply cleaned out along with canned goods being picked bare. Generators sold out over the weekend. Everyone stocked up on basic necessities and survival gear. However, this was AFTER the quake and power, water a

Renowned author and speaker Seth Godin discusses a stuck escalator, relating it to how many view life. He paints a picture of individuals moving up an escalator when it abruptly stops. Instead of continuing on with a technique usually reserved for stairs, and simply walking up the frozen steps, the “passengers” begin to get unruly and impatient, calling out for help and yelling in frustration. As silly as this picture is, it does a great job of capturing the essence of our society as a whole. Rather than taking responsibility on ourselves and doing what is necessary to move forward, we are often paralyzed by entitlement, helplessly waiting for someone else to come rescue us and solve our problems. Furthermore, we tend to look for others to blame instead of accepting the fact that sometimes the responsibility to continue forward rests on us, even if it’s not our fault the escalator broke down. We spend our energy condemning outside forces – the manufacturer of the moving stairs,

We are good at celebrating the positive things we execute, but do we put enough emphasis on effectively avoiding the harmful and destructive? The missteps we manage to prevent don’t seem to get much press. After every touchdown in the NFL, there is inevitably a dance in the end zone. But do you ever see an “I almost threw an interception, but avoided it!” dance? Sometimes, the mistakes avoided make the biggest impact in the outcome of a game. In fact, Lou Holtz, the legendary college football coach, used to tell his players before every game, “You don’t need to make the big plays, just eliminate the stupid ones.” It’s easy for me to get caught up with all the positive things I could add to my life to be more productive, but sometimes I miss the opportunity to improve myself and my circumstances by simply eliminating the negatives. Marshall Goldsmith explains life as a box you carry around with you. Many successful people are so concerned with cramming as much “good” stuff as po

Have you ever considered the fact that all the genetic information to grow a giant tree is stored inside a tiny acorn? The blueprint, design and instructions necessary to create the towering oak are hidden within that little nut. They still require nutrients and resources to thrive, but the acorn intrinsically contains all the design and potential to become the oak tree. However, very few acorns ever reach their potential. Some are eaten by forest creatures. Others never find suitable soil. Still others never receive the proper nutrients to grow and thrive. Some may sprout but then are trampled and die. Many of those sprouts will also not survive the harsh winters. People are a lot like those acorns. We are all born with incredible potential, but many will never see what they are designed to accomplish or execute what they are capable of doing. Like the acorns, that potential is often devoured. Not by squirrels or forest animals, but by doubt and fear. Some potential is sq

Sometimes I let myself get caught up in details that should not have preeminence over other priorities, but they somehow get the bulk of my effort. It’s not that these details don’t matter. They often do, but they aren’t critical, and at times I let less significant issues demand disproportionate amounts of my resources. All of us get caught up in this. We place major emphasis on minor things. We get distracted and diverted from what is crucial to do what is convenient. Even if it’s not a matter of convenience, whatever calls out to us the loudest often takes precedent over what is most vital. We end up placing 80% of our effort on the areas that might only produce 20% of the results. We all have our attention pulled away from what must to be done as we are drawn to what can be done. We end up being firefighters instead of construction workers. We get stuck putting out the fires of urgent, but unimportant matters, rather than proactively building what is essential. Re

What if the prize goes to the participant who fails the most? What would that look like? It might look a lot like the stories of success around us because many times, that’s exactly how it works. Fear of failure is often what keeps us from chasing a goal or a dream. The embarrassment of a bad idea is often what scares us away from trying to come up with good ones. Unfortunately, these outcomes are knit together intimately. The only way to create any significant achievement is to build it upon a mound of failures. Good ideas only present themselves after sifting through many bad ones. Out of the five players responsible for missing the most shots in NBA history, four of them are currently in the Hall of Fame. And the only one of the five who isn’t in the Hall of Fame holds the top spot with nearly fifteen thousand failed attempts. His name is Kobe Bryant. Reggie Jackson owns the MLB record for most career strikeouts by a batter. He is also in the Hall of Fame and nickna

Many times in life, both breakdowns and breakthroughs are created from similar circumstances. The same adversity and challenge we face that may cause us to give up and quit can also create the environment that forces us to adapt, overcome and grow. It’s all about our perspective on those moments and how long we are willing to push and persevere, allowing a potential breakdown to become a breakthrough. We love to hear stories of overcoming adversity. There are historic events like Edison’s inventing of the light bulb after ten thousand failed experiments and the Wright brother’s first flight following countless crashes and failed takeoffs. We also remember events that don’t have the same historic impact, but were played on such a grand stage that we can’t forget: Keri Strug’s vault on a badly sprained ankle that sealed the gold medal for the US Gymnastics Team or Michael Jordan’s 38 points, despite suffering from a severe flu, to seal Game 5 of the ’97 NBA Finals. As much a

As I have mentioned recently in another post, within the last six or seven weeks my family has been to memorial services for five precious friends. The fragility of life has certainly been on my mind lately already, but was again brought back to the forefront this weekend when I received a text on Saturday from a friend of mine in Washington. She was in the hospital trying to recover from a heart attack. She was not only suffering from congestive heart failure, but the damage to her heart and descending aorta was so severe that her kidneys had shut down due to insufficient blood supply and she was in renal failure. On top of that, there was a blood clot in her heart causing further complications. The doctors are convinced her time is very short. Trying to find the silver cloud in all of this, my friend mentioned she had “at least made it past 70,” which was longer than either of her parents had lived. This statement got me thinking, especially after we got off the phone and t

Do you ever negotiate your goals? Here’s what I mean: do you ever start out with a plan to accomplish one thing and then move the target in as you progress? You make the rules a little easier on yourself once you get started? Maybe you set out to lose ten pounds, get stuck at eight pounds, and then decide you’ve worked hard enough until this point. Plus there have been some setbacks out of your control, like the jerk who opened a Krispy Kreme right in your neighborhood, so you settle on the fact eight pounds is “close enough.” It could be you’re trying to save $20K to replace a vehicle in cash, get to $15K and then choose to finance the rest because that’s still more than you’ve ever put down on a car before. Perhaps it’s getting up an hour early and getting started sooner at work so you can get off earlier to spend more time with the family. By Thursday, however, you really feel like getting some extra sleep. Besides, the kids have probably had enough of you anyway. I am a v

We are all familiar with “no risk, no reward,” the idea that any great outcome or result will come at the price of risk. While the product of the risk is important, and often very rewarding, I think we often overlook the process of risk. What if the reward isn’t merely in the result, but inherent in the risk itself? Not long ago, as I have mentioned in other posts, significant risk was required for survival. If you didn’t dare, you died. Chasing wild animal through the harsh wilderness – exposing one’s self to the elements, other wild animals, falls, accidents, and other perils – wasn’t an option, it was a survival requirement to fend off starvation. Simply constructing a barn, chasing down a rogue horse or traveling through a nasty winter storm to trade goods in town could all mean serious danger. However, neglecting these activities would be even more harmful. It’s because of that our Creator built within us mechanisms to reward us for the risk itself. Chemical cocktails

During the 1960’s and 1970’s, Stanford psychologist, Walter Mischel, performed a series of experiments in which young kids were placed in a room with a single marshmallow on a table to test their willpower. Before leaving a child alone with the marshmallow, the researchers carefully explained to each child that he or she would be rewarded with an additional marshmallow if they could avoid eating the one originally given to them until the researcher returned. If they could wait about 15 minutes without giving in, the child would be able to enjoy two marshmallows instead of the single treat originally received. Some of the kids ate the snack right away. Most of them stared at it for a while or even tried looking away and covering their eyes, seeking to reduce the temptation, before eventually giving in. But a handful of the students were able to hold out until the experimenters returned to reward them with the second marshmallow. Mischel and his colleagues then followed these

Although technology has certainly made many areas of our lives more efficient and effective, saving us precious time on countless everyday tasks, we seem to be busier than ever before. Our lives in this day and age seem to have very little margin with the hectic schedules we follow. Yet, do we have a lot to show for it? Everyone seems busy. Not everyone is productive. Peter Drucker once said, "There is nothing so useless as doing very efficiently that which should not be done at all." I think this is true for a lot of us. It’s an easy trap to fall into. We start to confuse activity for advancement and movement with progress. We run around in circles but never actually get anywhere because the activities we engage in aren’t the ones in which are time and energy should be invested. We neglect the important tasks by filling our day carefully completing that which need not be done at all. We all find a way to fill the minutes in our day with something. It’s not how

I was at the gym early this morning on a machine called the Step Mill. First, let me preface all of this by letting you know I despise doing any and all forms of cardio. Second, you have to understand this machine is basically an endless staircase, upon which you are essentially running up a “down” escalator. It’s something most likely invented during the Inquisition or, since they didn’t have the technology back then, maybe created an orthodontist. Either way, it’s pure evil. As I looked down at the “time” display on the sadistic machine, I noticed it was counting down the minutes I had spent on the machine from one hour. This may seem like a small detail, but it really bothered me. I felt somewhat “trapped” on the Tool-of-Satan, as if it was a sentence I must endure, rather than a mission to complete. It was as if I was trying to hang in there and survive the workout rather than conquer it. By simply switching the display to time elapsed, logging the work I had accompli

Good is the opposite of bad. Rich is the opposite of poor. Pleasure is the opposite of pain. Joy is the opposite of sorrow. Excitement is the opposite of boredom. I think we can all agree on those. But what about fear, what is the opposite of fear? It’s not confidence, because elite soldiers or extreme athletes exude confidence even in the midst of fear. What if the opposite of fear is simply relief? The opposite of fear is certainly not joy or fulfilment. It’s not pleasure or love. It’s not excitement or jubilation. At best, if you are to run away from fear, the best case scenario is probably relief. Feelings of regret, uncertainty and confusion are all likely outcomes as well. And even if you manage to find relief, that sensation is most likely temporary. However, the gifts often lie just on the other side of fear if we are willing to face it and overcome the temptation to flee. Joy and fulfillment, confidence and clarity, even triumph, these are spoils when we engage o

Five and a half years ago, my wife and I went in for a 20 week ultrasound for our fourth child and found out we were going to have another son. We also found out this wasn’t a normal pregnancy. The ultrasound showed cysts on our child’s brain, calcification in his heart and intestines, nerve issues keeping some of his muscles in spasm and his fists clenched, and other markers for severe genetic disorders. We went in a few weeks later for a high definition ultrasound and they not only confirmed everything the first sonogram showed, but found others, including malformations of his heart and underdeveloped lungs. Our son was diagnosed with trisomy 18, a devastating chromosomal disorder that was essentially a death sentence. We were told our child may not survive the pregnancy and would never see his first birthday. We were devastated and overwhelmed. The next 20 weeks were some of the longest of my life as I tried to prepare myself for what we would be walking through together a

Zebras, close relatives of the donkey, are a lot like people in some ways. The famous stripes of the zebra don’t do much for him when he’s out in the open. However, when a zebra is sensing a threat, he will move in closer to its herd. Once he’s surrounded by other zebras, his markings break up his shape and silhouette, making it harder for a predator to identify a single animal. The zebra hides by blending in and looking like all the other zebras around him. He seeks safety by being inconspicuous. I think a lot of us act much the same way. A peacock, on the other hand, does the exact opposite. Instead of blending in and trying to stay hidden in the face of danger, the peacock will courageously emerge as conspicuously as possible, with colorful feathers in full display. He does this to distract the threat from the other birds and give his family, the hen and the chicks, a chance to escape and flee to safety. He understands his mission and heroically executes it.   There is n

Rabindranath Tagore – the Bengali “Renaissance Man” of sorts, being a poet, musician and artist – once wrote, “Spring has passed. Summer has gone. Winter is here…. …and the song I meant to sing remains unsung. For I have spent my days stringing and unstringing my instrument.” These powerful words caution us against living a life only half lived, the remainder being filled with regret for the dreams ignored – songs unsung, risks not taken, and art not created. There is great danger in always preparing but never doing. Constantly planning but never executing.   Too many of us are caught in this cycle, waiting for the right “season” to begin playing our song. After this coming weekend, my family will have been to the memorial services of five individuals over the last five weeks. This has been a poignant reminder that none of us know how long our spring and summer will last. The only guarantee is that winter comes for each one of us. When your winter arrives, I hope you are

With election season wrapping up, I wanted to draw your attention to one of our local elections. It’s common for people to neglect to vote or possibly just not research their voting options and justify either action with the thought that one vote doesn’t really matter. However, we just had a state senate seat decided by eleven votes. Thousands of ballots cast and it came down to fewer than eleven votes. Lives changed, and potentially even the trajectory of our state, by just a handful of ballots. In life, our choices are our votes. Sometimes it’s easy to think an individual choice doesn’t really have much impact. Cheating a little on the diet, turning in an assignment just past a deadline, easing up a little on our effort “just this once” or cutting a corner here or there, we justify giving in because we think one single, seemingly small choice doesn’t count. In life and elections, we never know when that vote will count. Sometimes, a single choice can change everything.

Perfection is a wonderful - albeit, impossibly elusive - concept. It is beautiful in movies and story books, but it just doesn’t show up in real life. In fact, perfection is a real problem, because Perfect is often the enemy of Done.  Some don’t care about perfection at all and have no drive or ambition to improve and progress. I have nothing for those people. But for the few of us that strive to make a positive impact during our short lives and seek to continually improve our value to others, perfection can be quite dangerous. Now, don’t misunderstand me, pursuing excellence is a noble and admirable endeavor. But excellence is different from perfection and too many of us neglect to deliver Excellence because we are waiting for Perfect.  The determined ambitious among us often suffer from POTA, Paralysis of the Analysis. We want to continue to tweak and adjust whatever we are working on to just make it a little bit more. Unfortunately this might prevent us from ever “shi

I recently heard an interesting definition of success: “Living a life that would make your 18-year-old self proud of who you’ve become.” At 18 years old, our entire adult lives are ahead of us. We have (probably) recently escaped high school and are eager, if not even a little fearful, to begin the next chapter of our life. Maybe we were applying to colleges or trying to get our first “real” job. We hadn’t yet been jaded by the dead-end nine-to-five job nor had we been corrupted by the pressure and politics surrounding many careers. We were naïve and full up hopes and dreams. We were probably better at seeing the world for how we wanted it to be than how it actually was. Many of us had grand plans for our futures. How has that played out for you? While my life has certainly not taken the course I thought it might and even hoped it would, I can say there were many wonderful surprise twists and turns that took my life on a better course than I had ever imagined. However, in

As I have mentioned before, I believe each and every one of us is specially created and gifted to live a life of unique impact and significance. I also believe those gifts – the talents and tools required to become who we are designed to be – are already inside of us. However, mining those gifts and bringing them to the surface so you can share them with the world is no easy task. Imagine a land owner in Texas during the early 1900s who has just discovered oil reserves buried under his ranch. Let’s also assume he owns the mineral rights to whatever lies beneath the surface of his land. He would no doubt be thrilled to learn he has millions of dollars' worth of oil just waiting to be harvested. However, if that’s as far as he goes, just discovering that precious resource, it will never do him or anyone any good. Even though this rancher literally sits on top of great potential wealth, the real work has only just begun. He must dig deep into the earth, drilling into the

When I sit down with a new client and look at long term goals and needs to begin charting their financial course, one of the things we consider are potential obstacles. We spend time discussing and identifying possible road blocks so we can then create solutions around or through that barrier. Isolating and identifying likely hurdles and obstructions along a path to any goal is an important step to overcoming those hurdles. Along the path of life, you are likely your own biggest obstacle. And I am not just picking on you; I realize I am my own biggest obstacle as well. A lot of the excuses people make regarding their station in life and their circumstances are really just blame being deflected and placed where it doesn’t belong. For example, “I don’t have enough time” is often code for, “I don’t get up early enough” or “I waste too much time” or “I don’t prioritize my day.” Complaints about lacking opportunity commonly arise from someone not being prepared for the opportunity

Inoculation, defined by the dictionary as, “the act or an instance of inoculating, especially the introduction of an antigenic substance or vaccine into the body to produce immunity to a specific disease.” To paraphrase, inoculation is proactively exposing the body to a potentially harmful substance, causing the immune system to strengthen and adapt, making the body more resilient to disease. What if you adapted that same strategy towards other areas of your life? Afraid of confrontation? Choose small, minor conflicts that force you to stand up for yourself and what you believe in to make confrontation less overwhelming in the future. Afraid of public speaking? Start finding small groups to speak to or maybe even read in front of your family. Intimidated by the gym? Just go in and walk on a treadmill. The idea is to expose yourself to just enough pressure to cause your mindset to adapt and adjust, but not so much that it crushes you. In time, you will build up an “immunity” a

John F Kennedy was a fantastic orator and gave many profound and impactful speeches. Of all of his thought-provoking quotes, one of my favorites is, “There are risks and costs to action. But they are far less than the long-range risks of comfortable inaction.” President Kennedy led our nation during some very tumultuous and volatile times. There were seasons of extreme uncertainty with seemingly no right answers to issues the world faced. As the nation sought safety and security, Kennedy understood risks must be taken to ensure the protection of our nation. Safety and security are illusions. Both action and inaction entail risk. A decision to act or a decision not to decide each brings with it certain hazards. Life is fraught with danger regardless of what you do. The moment you were conceived, you started facing risks. In fact, life is so risky, it will kill you eventually. Guaranteed. You can choose to proactively take the risk of action on your terms, with a potential

How often do you check your fuel? Well, when it comes to your vehicle, you probably have a reminder right there on your dash showing where your fuel level sits. At the gas station, you have choices for several different grades of gasoline, all methodically tested to perform at different levels of efficiency.   The higher the octane level, the higher performance the fuel is capable of producing. Some vehicles will run fine at 85 octane gasoline, but a Ferrari requires 93 or even higher. The more performance desired, the higher quality of fuel required. Checking your car’s fuel is convenient and straightforward, but how often do you check the fuel for your life? Your body requires fuel to perform and junk food fuel will produce garbage performance. Your mind also needs to be fed, and sludgy, toxic fuel will produce destructive tendencies in your thought patterns and perspectives. You can’t expect great results with mediocre fuel. If you desire excellence as an outcome, your

According to multiple studies and extensive research, over two thirds of lottery winners end up broke or bankrupt. Nearly 80% of NFL players are bankrupt or financially insolvent within five years of retirement. Basketball players aren’t much better, with 60% of NBA retirees filing for bankruptcy within five years of leaving the game. How is this possible?!? How does wealth vanish so quickly and leave previously rich individuals destitute? While there are many possible reasons and theories that I won’t go into here, we can sum up a lot of it with the fact they came up too fast. Money and fame flooded into their lives before they were properly prepared to handle it. Their behavior, perspectives and mindsets didn’t have time to adapt to the new challenges and scenarios they faced. Ultimately, they allowed themselves to be ruined by their own success and prosperity. When a diver spends time at significant ocean depth, the pressure of the water causes physiological changes in

On the wall at my gym there is a disclaimer sign, warning members to “cease activity and consult a physician if you experience any pain, discomfort, shortness of breath, light headedness or nausea.” In addition to those symptoms, I also get hot and sweaty. I can only assume I am allergic to working out and I should quit any and all activities related to exercise immediately! Now, I understand the gym has that sign to reduce their liability, but if I actually followed those directives, my workouts would be cut drastically short. I would be constantly interrupting my training with frequent doctor visits, asking about the strange sensations of rapid heart rate and sweating, and I would never accomplish anything. I go to the gym to stay in shape, not to be comfortable. In fact, it’s the very act of pushing the body out of its comfort zone, stretching its limits, that triggers the adaptations leading to better health and fitness. Muhammad Ali once said, “I don’t count my sit

To the world, I may look confident and strong, but that is not always the case. But it is also not a façade. Any confidence or strength I show comes from a careful balance of being honest with myself, from an awareness of who I am. I am weak and fragile. I feel fear and anxiety. I hurt and experience pain. I cry. I get confused and frustrated. I am overwhelmed and intimidated. I don’t have all the answers, nor do I know what the road ahead will entail. And what I do know is often daunting. I know the path will be difficult. I know it will be steep and narrow. I know it will be lonely at times. I know there will be boulders and obstacles blocking my way. I know I don’t have the solutions, at least not yet, to overcome those barriers. I know I lack the strength to complete the journey on my own. But I also know the strength will come, not all at once, but in the moments when I need it most. I know I am not alone. And with that knowledge, I will step into the arena. I will