Let's recap. In 369 days, back in 2009 and 2010, I got a heart attack, I lost my job, my car was repossessed, and my home was foreclosed. As I joke with people, if I would have had a dog at the time, I probably would have lost it too. If there's any country music fans out there that knows somebody that can write music, feel free to write a song about it, because I'm sure it would sell quite well. When you have things like this happen to you, for most people, it's going to be a situation where they may have one or two of these types of losses, but not all of these in such a short period of time. It has the potential to really knock you on your butt and make you not want to get back up.
I have always been one to get back up, and a big part of that is part of my background, the fighting mentality. Not fighting like confrontational, but just to fight to get back on your feet and get back into the ring and be able to do the things that you need to do, because we all have a calling to do something to make a dent in the universe. I have that, and it's with boundaries. It's with teaching people how to find their boundaries so that they can have the life they're supposed to have and not be in constant flux or in constant stress or anxiety about trying to accomplish everything when they're actually accomplishing nothing. After all of those events, I was at square one. I had to start from scratch. Clean slate.
Tabula rasa, as I like to say, which, for some, would be devastating. For me, it was a wonderful opportunity to say, "Okay, let's go ahead and rebuild my life," which I have. You don't rebuild a 40-something-year-old life in a couple weeks. It takes time. It's taken me several years after those 369 days to determine what is important in my life and what isn't. What are the things that I want to do with my career, and what are the things that I don't want to do with my career? These are things that are important because once you figure these things out, your life will go a lot easier. When you start off from square one, you have the opportunity to redesign your life based on the skills and the life that you've lived before.
You can pick and choose the things that work, and I was able to do that. I'm in the same job. Different company, but same job that I was in when I had my cardiac event. I'm in the same field. Most people would say, "You're crazy to go back in the field that almost killed you." It was important to do this because I knew I had a lot to accomplish, and my career, and your career as well, would thrive if you design your days the way that you need to. I've referred to my book 369 Days quite a bit. Go to breakfastleadership.com/30days to get a free digital copy.
I think it's important for people to see how I navigated through all of those losses and how I rebuilt my life. In the coming days, I'll share more specific tools and what you can do to make your life better, both at work and at home, and find that balance that's crucial to you.
Until next time, be well.