The greatest impact I can have on the world is to help others face down the same obstacles that I myself have confronted: shame, helplessness, fear. I've learned many hard truths about life in confronting my situation. With the benefit of hindsight I now take great joy in being able to communicate these truths to others. I've given hour long talks to audiences ranging from 50 to over 1000. Please reach out via the form below if you are interested in booking a talk or if you'd like to connect for another reason.
General Audiences - Motivation to Change
I was hit by a semi truck in 1989. In the following decades I resigned myself to merely suffer, cope and deal with the aftermath from that incident. Then one day something clicked, coping wasn't good enough. I wanted to thrive. Where I wanted to go there was no path, so I made one.
"Where I wanted to go there was no path, so I made one"
The most common question that I am asked when people hear my story, "What caused you to make the change? How did you go from merely cooping with your condition to mastering it?". In this talk I give an overview of my journey from a life oppressed by my disability to one of fulfillment through my disability. I focus on the specific turning point in my life where I went from imagining the life I wanted, to living it.
Patients / Practitioners - Mastering Your Condition
Are you a 'Master of Your Condition'? I wasn't for most of my life. Then one day in 2011 all of that begin to change. I began to consider my disability very differently and began to orient myself very differently to the healthcare system. During the following few years I made more progress on my condition that I had the previous two decades of my life.
"I ceased being a consumer of healthcare and started being a commander of it."
What changed? Same disability, same healthcare system, but I was very different. I ceased being a consumer of healthcare and started becoming a commander of it. I realized that that I need to change the level of effort I put in, how I talked about my condition, how I shared my condition, and even how I lived on a daily basis. For anyone you suffers from a chronic condition and everyone who treats those suffering from chronic condition the difference between ordinary and an extraordinary outcome starts and ends with the patient.