Good morning, Team!  It’s Friday!

It was 30 years ago today, the day after Thanksgiving, 1989 that I started a job I thought would be my last career move.  Today, it would be challenging to find a place that would start you on a Friday, especially the day after Thanksgiving.

My attitude of gratitude post today is not about all of the awesome things I’ve been blessed with, up to and including; beautiful family, good health, great friends, and rewarding jobs.  Instead, I’d like to share the inflections in my life that I didn’t expect, at the time felt I didn’t “deserve” and where I am today.  I’ll stick to the big ones.

Job:  After 25+ years in a company I gave heart and soul to, the Board representatives said they “wanted to go a different direction”.  It has taken me years to forgive them and myself for the change in my career trajectory.  I’m in a better place today and truly thankful for the interesting journey I would not have experienced otherwise.  I’ve been given the opportunity to meet hundreds of new people and influence Boards, Divisions and Market Sectors as I expanded my view of the world.

Marriage:  After 33+ years with the mother of my children, we reached a point where we couldn’t see eye-to-eye … on much of anything.  We tried and tried and tried but couldn’t make it work.  It was (and still is) painful and we will be healing for quite some time to come.  It was a wake up call for me to what matters most in life.  We all deserve to experience joy.  We all deserve to be loved.

Health:  It is nothing short of amazing how stress erodes health.  In one of my last jobs, the CFO of one of the business lines retired and came back to work.  In a conversation over a beer with several of us, Duane shared that he dropped all medicines when he retired the first time and felt great.  Two months back in the saddle and he was back on the meds he was able to drop.  My physical exams would tell a similar story.  I have completed an annual checkup for the last 10 years, many at the Mayo clinic and have some interesting data; cholesterol levels, blood pressure, anxiety were all considerably elevated when I was in a high stress job.  Conversely, during the breaks, my numbers were stellar.  It is entirely possible that I took each of my roles too seriously and might have blown a gasket if I’d stayed in them.  Your life looks a whole lot different when you don’t have good health.

Today, I am grateful for all of the adversity I have faced.  It sucked going through it and I am not going to claim that I was well behaved when things didn’t go the way I had planned.  I complained, I gnashed my teeth and I let the world know I didn’t think it was fair.  Bad things happen to good people every single day.  It can be tragic and I wouldn’t wish ill on anyone.  Perhaps, as one close advisor shared, these are tests of faith.  Adversity has lessons to teach us, if we can see beyond ourselves.

Have a blessed weekend!