Living Like You’re Dying

A few weeks ago, I was in the midst of high-intensity athletic training, when Eminen’s voice bouncing between my ears in’Till I Collapse resonated deep within me.

In his unique tone, he screams: “Sometimes you just feel tired… You feel weak… And when you feel weak, you just want to give up. But you’ve got to search within. You’ve got to find that inner strength. You’ve got to pull that stuff out of you and get motivation to NOT give up. And NOT be a quitter. No matter how bad you just want to fall flat on your face and collapse…”

We all know these moments when we feel down, beaten, discouraged, tired and disappointed. These moments when challenges and difficulties overwhelm us. When we feel hurt, betrayed and abandoned. When strength seems to drain out of us and we feel defeated. Moments when we need to reboot our engine. Find a way to ignite the internal flame back to life, somehow.

This is what I specialize in with forensic brain rewiring. Rebooting the engine. Reigniting the flame within. Surviving and thriving through hits and adversity. Finding the strength, somehow, somewhere, to push back from the dirt where we collapsed and stand again. Walk again. Run again. Thrive again. Stronger, faster, better than before. And I’m just like everyone else. I’m human, weak, and scared. I’m flawed, hurt and harmed by life. So I decided to push the envelope once again. To see how it feels to jolt the engine back to power. To reawaken the senses and remember how it feels to life life again in high definition.

I embarked on a series of high-velocity, high-intensity, high-octane experiences. I faced the Pacific Northwest waves for the 1st time in my life and learned how to surf. Blew out an eardrum. 4 days later, with my torn eardrum, I was skydiving from 13,000 feet and faced a tangled parachute at 120 mph on the way down. Learned how to play the drums (turned out to be the safest thing I did 😉 Went zip-lining through forests with an airline pilot. And shared my adventures.

The reactions I received were priceless. A friend asked in a private message if I was dying, adding it looked like I was going through my bucket list at lightening speed. His excellent comment inspired me to title the series “Living Like You’re Dying.” And the rest is history. I received so many messages telling me my adventures reignited strength, courage, spirit and motivation in others lives. Reminded them we carried within the force to stand again, to try harder, to live brighter, to jump and to fly.

To those of you who sent me these wonderful comments, thank you, from the bottom of my heart. To everyone else, let’s continue to soar and fly!