Who am I, and Why Should You Listen to Me?
I've had a remarkable military career that spanned 3 decades and included multiple deployments around the world (that's me in front of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Baghdad, Iraq).
In 2017, I was diagnosed with chronic PTSD. For decades, I'd been living with 12 symptoms that I thought were just a normal part of who I am. But I was wrong, and it cost me the most important relationships in my life.
The military medical system I depended on never looked for the symptoms of unresolved trauma I carried inside. Leaders emphasized physical fitness without making mental fitness an equal priority. Soldiers aren't trained to look for the signs, so many view trauma as a weakness. Consequently, they're afraid to talk about it.
Like many others before me, I learned how to "normalize" the traumatic experiences I'd had and fool myself into believing that I was in control of my life. On the outside, it may have seemed that way.
On the inside, my body kept the score. My life spiraled out of control, and it affected my family the most.
The more I learned about unresolved trauma, the more I discovered how much it directs our lives when we try to ignore it I believe trauma is an epidemic in our society. It's in our homes, in the workplace, in our schools, and places of worship. It's even in the grocery store. Making it worse is how we all normalize it hoping it will just go away.
A lesson will be taught until it is learned.
But the truth is, until we choose to see trauma differently and become an active participant in healing ourselves from within, nothing will change.
So I stopped avoiding, took on my post-traumatic stress, started seeing it as a wound I could heal instead of a disorder, and began a journey of rebuilding my life from the inside out.
To heal, I found Dr. Peter Levine, got into his treatment program, Somatic Experiencing (SE), and saw results almost immediately. My relationships improved, and so did my well-being.
But while SE addressed my past, I focused on my future by surrounding myself with the most successful coaches and thought leaders to teach me the mindset, habits, and skills I'd need to take my life in a new direction.
- I found Colin Tipping, who taught me an advanced spiritual method of inner healing called Radical Forgiveness, to help me stop sabotaging my life.
- My self-forgiveness work led me to Mike Dooley, who taught me how to reimagine my life with Infinite Possibilities.
- And then I met Brendon Burchard, who taught me how to have the extraordinary life I've built today with High Performance Habits.
Everyone deserves a second chance in life.
Today, I'm a personal development coach in all three disciplines. It's my mission to help Veterans living with trauma rebuild deep, meaningful, and authentic relationships with themselves and the most important people in their life.
I've combined 40+ years of military leadership with my lived trauma experiences and world-class coaching to develop a structured curriculum to teach you the advanced skills you need to take your life to more sustained levels of happiness, joy, and fulfillment over the long-term.
Letting your trauma control you and interfere with your relationships is a choice. I found a way to heal my PTSD and build the life I have today with my amazing wife, Marcela by my side.
I want that for you too.
I believe you can have more abundance, more joy, more aliveness, more connection, and more meaning in your life.
If that sounds like the kind of life you'd like to have and you're ready to get to work, I'm ready to show you how.
Does your past interfere with having better relationships?
Whether you're living with unresolved trauma like I used to or just want to reconnect with the most important people in your life (including yourself), download this FREE Relationship Check-in.
It's an easy assessment to find out what's working well for you right now and where you might make some adjustments to improve your performance and relationships.
