Thank you, Right-Handers. You designed a world for the 90% on the globe who “go right”. In China? It spikes to 97.4% (1.3 billion people). Because of righties, I had to build up neural muscles to overcome smudgy handwriting, mediocre results with scissors and Coaches who didn’t know how to get the most out of a lefty. Now, I see these early “righty-world-obstacles” made me more handy later in life. Thank you.

Thank you, Anosmia. Was it allergies? Biological? Something else? Whatever it was, it lead me to Anosmia; the partial or full loss of smell. Then again, can you lose something you never truly grasped? I have taken on life with primarily four senses. Because of this, I am more potent in what I observe through seeing and hearing. It’s why I feel I am the observationalist I am today. Thank you.

Thank you, Henry Danver. You took my first love away cutting me my Junior year of High School soccer. Because of you, I developed the tenacity and grit needed to keep working. While I didn’t see it at the time, you gave me everything I needed to believe in myself when no one else did. And why would they? Everyone was too busy focusing on believing in themselves. To come back my Senior year, make the team, and go undefeated on the way to winning a Maryland State Championship made the journey worth it. Thank you.

Thank you, Cornell University. I looked up at you every day from the other side of the hill attending #IthacaCollege. You were a constant reminder — every snowy day over four years — that since I couldn’t outsmart you I’d have to build up muscles to out work you. While I realize today, that “when you compare, beware”, at the time, you gifted me a dose of reality of what I would have to prepare for waiting for me out in the world. Thank you.

Thank you, Kevin Roddy. You fired me from my advertising NYC life. At the time, I was beyond mad. You didn’t even know my name. Now? I realize, you were juggling a hundred hand grenades at the same time. I was the least of your worries and wasn’t even on your radar; nor did I give you enough reasons to know who I was. Without you? I never feel that terrifying first “now what”. Nor develop that “figureitoutability” needed to overcome the strife that comes with being human. Thank you.

Thank you, Baldness. Like the world’s slowest train I knew was coming my way, being follicly-challenged was more a fear I knew I’d have to fend off later in life. While I saw you as a hereditary inadequacy, I liked how you taught me to embrace all my freckles…including my actual freckles. Today? I’m grateful to be at peace with “me” which happens to include some perks like saving me heaps of time and money by avoiding a salon. Thank you.

Thank you, NYC & Los Angeles. You gave me a complex, New York and LA. I couldn’t be more grateful for it now. Convincing national clients to pick a creative business in San Diego always felt like an uphill battle. To win this war from San Diego, I felt we could not be even with NY or LA; we had to be better. If it weren’t for my own uneasiness NOT being one of you, I would never have embarked on the learning journey that came with writing Return On Courage. Which means there would be no weekly doses of courage, no listening to The Courageous Podcast and no company called Courageous. Thank you.

Thank you, drawbacks.

Thank you, hindrances.

Thank you, inadequacies.

Thank you, complications.

Every one of you has made me who I am today.

Make a list of your life long hurdles.

What you can take from each?

Thank each obstacle you’ve overcome.

Everything that tests your self-esteem builds your resilience.