January 3, 2018:  My car is struck by a drunk driver. I have a bit of a headache, but not as bad as non-injury headaches that I’ve experienced.  My car is totaled.

January 5: 2018:   I still have small headaches so I visit the doctor.  Concussion.  Yikes.   No other pain.

January 7, 2018:   I stand up at the end of church and immediately need to sit back down. I am in excruciating pain.  My pack is killing me.  My neck is suddenly a little sore as well.

January 8, 2018:  I have one of the most critical business presentations of my life.  Back is slightly better.

January 9-10, 2018:  Swamped at work. Back is still very sore but not quite as bad as Sunday.

January 11, 2018:  I visit the chiropractor.  I am told that i am in very bad shape. I’m told that I will recover in 3-4 months with a treatment plan that the doctor put together.

11 months later….

December 9, 2018:  My pain level is so bad when standing up that I immediately go down to the ground.  I’m defeated.  I’m hurt and broken.  My fist begins punching the floor while I begin to cry.  My family saw this and I realize that my family was suffering while watching me.  I decide that laying on the floor won’t make me better, but doing some rehab work will.  I head to the basement which is my own private gym.

The pain was bad; the emotional pain was 10 times worse.  At that moment I realized that my fitness life has been on hold for an entire year.  My life and family’s life had been severely inconvenienced in so many ways yet the end was not in sight.  The emotional and psychological toll was starting to make me go a bit crazy.  I felt hopeless.  I’m very irritable with everyone.  This includes family, friends, employees and co-workers.

I fired up an episode of “The Joe Rogan Experience” to distract me a bit while rehabbing.  His guest was David Goggins.  Former Navy Seal and Army Ranger.  I heard some of his story on a previous JRE, but not the detail of this story.

David said something that clicked.  And a few other things that clicked.  And I put the plan together.  I thought about this blog then but the timing was not quite right.  This blog was only a small part of my plan.  The bigger plan…well, we’ll get to that.

Tomorrow I’ll tell you what David said to inspire me, which is why I’m here.

I could be on the couch.  Most would have given up. But I’ve got this beast inside of me that refuses to stop.

Part 2:  David Goggins motivated me to start this

Part 3:  What happened between Part 1 and Part 2?