These are big questions, but at least for the present moment I do not mean them in the profound cosmic sense. Rather, I mean it more as who am I as a person and why do I feel compelled to start a blog?
On a practical level I am a husband, father, physician, amongst many other life roles. I live in Michigan and work at a family medicine practice that I founded 23 years ago. I have an amazing wife and two sons that mean the world to me and that are growing up way too fast. I love to travel, cook and eat, snowboard, and read and learn.
My current understanding of my bigger why? What gets me out of bed in the morning and makes me work so hard? To become the best version of myself (learn and grow) and have less suffering in my life. This means learning more about the nature of myself and others, as well as the shared world we live in.
I have been into personal growth to varying degrees for a few decades now, but it has really increased in intensity the past few years. I used to only read books, which filled me with great ideas. However, I found that I had a hard time making as much change in my life as I wanted from all the great things that I learned. The past two years I have begun doing more interactive things such as getting one on one personal coaching, going to conferences, and starting entrepreneurial coaching through Strategic Coach. I have done all of this in hopes of accelerating my growth and helping the things that I learn stick and make more significant changes in my behavior. This has all definitely helped, and now I find that I have this deep intense need to share and for community which is what lead me to start this blog.
As I have gotten more and more into personal growth, the desire for sharing has also grown. I am still sorting through why this has become so important for me. I think that some of it is that when I do find people who are also into personal growth, I enjoy our conversations about it immensely and find myself wanting more. I also think that I am wired to share what I have learned with others in hopes that they might find it useful, and this is likely one of the biggest traits that lead me to primary care medicine. I also think that we all have some fundamental desire for community with like-minded others, which may be an evolutionary vestige.
I have tried sharing in a few different avenues to meet this need, including with family (not a lot of reciprocated interest) and employees (varying degrees of reciprocated interest). I have developed some friendships with people I have met along the way from the coaching I am in and who are just as passionate about personal growth as I am, and those relationships have been great and very invigorating. I however still find myself wanting other outlets to share, which leads us here.
I want to help others see that life does not have to be dull, boring, and full of limitations set by other people who are too afraid to try or put themselves out there. It also does not have to be full of goals to please others instead of listening to that voice inside.
I think that most human beings are waiting for someone to come along and tell them that they are capable of something amazing and to encourage them. They truly want to believe and just need a little nudging before giving themselves permission to try. I know that when anyone has told me this or encouraged me to pursue my dreams, that it feels amazing and true. I want to be that person for others as we all hear too little of that today.
Too many people are afraid to pursue their dreams, maybe because they have never been told they are capable of attaining them. These same naysaying advice-offerers also will caution you that you too are not capable of achieving amazing results and are quick to point out all the ways it could go wrong. But why not you? It has to be someone, correct? Do you want to live only within the confines of their small, limited realities? Where would we be without all the dreamers like Steve Jobs, Albert Einstein, or Elon Musk? (I realize the latter may be a little politically polarizing but love him or hate him one cannot deny that he has accomplished multiple game changing things.) What would the world be like if they and so many others were afraid to even speak up, begin, and contribute in their own unique way? Do you want to deny the world your unique gift?
I have had this site for a while but have struggled with where to begin. I found myself not starting due to fear of not being enough and not having anything worth sharing. I know that there are some people out there who will find some of this useful, but fear does not always listen to logic!
Recently I remembered hearing somewhere the reminder that not everyone is at the same place in personal growth and asked the somewhat rhetorical question whether the current you felt that the you of a few years ago would find what you have to share now from what you had learned in the interim useful. For me the answer is a resounding yes. I found this mental frame to be very helpful in overcoming my fear of starting. We are both ahead and behind each other in different areas and can definitely learn from each other. I will work to share in spite of fear and doubt in hopes that I will make at least one person’s journey easier and better, while exposing myself to all the great lessons that others share in turn.
I also reminded myself that you cannot learn without doing and making the inevitable mistakes. Most people do not like to make them, but I think they are a necessary part of growth (yet I must admit that I still struggle to embrace them!). I am not a great writer yet, but I must push myself to stumble through it to get better.
I have also come to accept that who I am and what I am doing are not going to be embraced by everyone and that is okay. However, when I do find people who love the same things I do and are on the same journey I am of being the best version of myself, it gives me joy to no end. I will put this blog out there as my radio signal and will have faith that it will attract like-minded curious and open people, and those that it does not resonate with can keep searching to find something that does.
We are all walking our own unique path (and that is part of the beauty of this journey) but we can walk together to be less lonely and to also help each other along the way. The path is not always easy or clear. There are times when we want to turn back and shrink back into the easy role of the person we used to be. Having fellow travelers gives us a community of people who can pick us up and keep us moving forward when we run into the inevitable challenges. Someone who is having a better day than you are can help pick you up when you have those inevitable days of self-doubt, fear, or uncertainty.
I have no desire to walk this journey alone as I enjoy sharing what I have learned immensely, maybe even as much as the learning itself. I want like-minded others around me as I go and learn and grow. I intend to learn from you and hopefully also share things that you find useful.
I do not profess to know the path or the ultimate truth and in fact this blog is partly a way of forcing me to work through my own ideas and observations. I find that writing forces me to be much more thorough and concrete in fleshing out my thoughts in a way that is much less vague and lacking in detail than when I am simply mulling over things in my head to myself. I am simply a man on my own growth journey with a burning desire to share it with others. I am on a journey to become the best version of myself, and hopefully we can contribute to each other’s progress!
