On May 22, 2019 I celebrated the 10 year anniversary of my heart attack.

Why in the world would someone want to celebrate such a scary event?

Because I’m thankful for that cardiac event. I’m thankful that I’m still alive, and survived that health scare. Statistics indicate that I shouldn’t have survived. So you could say that I should be dead instead of alive.

Well, thankfully I’m not dead.

Those familiar with my story knows what transpired after that heart attack:

• 17 weeks after my heart attack, I lost my job during the economic recession
• 6 months after the job loss, the bank repossessed our family vehicle
• 1 month later, the bank foreclosed our home

So heart attack, job loss, car repossession, home foreclosure. All in a year.

I’d call that a crappy year.

I’m thankful that all of those things happened.

WHAT?

Yes, I’m thankful that I went through all of those situations. They were lessons that I needed to learn.

I was on a highway to death, based on how I was living.

I didn’t have boundaries around my working hours, answering and sending emails at all hours of the day, night, and weekend.

I was eating fast food for my meals.

I was not exercising at all.

My sleep was crap.

I no longer enjoyed the things of life that used to be an absolute joy to experience.

I was completely burned out.

So, sometimes the only way to learn is to go through tragedies and challenges, to entice you to make some adjustments.

My hope is that NO ONE ever experiences the year I had a decade ago, but if that’s the only way for you to make the necessary tweaks to your life, and have you focus on taking care of yourself FIRST, then so be it.

A decade later, I talk about boundaries and burnout. I see way too many people stressed to the max, burned out, working too many hours, spending hours and days on their iBinky, and completely missing out on what REALLY matters. You have a choice: Boundaries in your life, or a burned out life.

Choose wisely.