“Little Big Steps” has published!

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I could not be more thrilled, excited, proud (and relieved) to announce the publish of my book, “Little Big Steps – A Life-Changing Injury and the Inspirational Journey to Overcome the Odds.”

I’ve been working on it for almost three years and I have to credit all of you, readers of my blog and supporters of my recovery, for giving me the inspiration and motivation to take on this project.

If it weren’t for all the feedback and interest that I received about some of my early blog posts, I would not have known to dig into these stories, expand and explore the depth in each of them, and understand that I could actually be capable of turning them into a larger story. But here I am, a couple years later and with a book that I think can be interesting to all people, not just those dealing with a traumatic or life-changing event or adversity in their lives. Although the story of my injury and ensuing recovery is very unique to me, in writing this book I have selected the moments, perspectives, and experiences from my journey that are likely the most informative and relevant to readers.

So let this be my shameless plug. I ain’t no JK Rowling or Malcolm Gladwell, but with a strong wave of support and early sales of the book, especially in these initial days, I can make myself known to the bookselling gods, so please check it out! All the info and links to buy are on my book page. 

It’s available in print and all e-book formats (Kindle, Nook, Kobo, etc.) and for you listener/readers, the audiobook will be ready in just a few days. If you have enjoyed my writing and blog posts at any point, then the book is for you! Or maybe for a friend or family member? At the very least, an ornamental piece?

Thank you for all your support and for helping me make this happen.

Photo on 9-28-17 at 12.37 PM

 

Exciting News! – A book is coming….

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When I started writing this blog in November of 2012, just five months after I suffered a traumatic spinal cord injury, my intention was only to have an honest and unobtrusive way to keep my family and friends updated on the process of my recovery: the struggles, challenges, objectives, achievements, breakthroughs and thought processes behind this insane journey. I didn’t want to crowd everyone’s inbox with emails or spew out random thoughts or take to social media for these updates, so I figured I would write a blog and have it out there for whomever was interested in staying in the loop.

Little did I know where this would lead…

Thanks to all of you and your continued interest, support, encouragement and readership, the blog continued to grow and reach more people than I could ever imagine. Within a few months of me launching this website and sharing my story, I was getting readers and messages from all over the world. People were asking questions, seeking advice (for which I had very little to provide…), searching for perspective, and often times, relating some of the experiences I was sharing to their own respective experiences. I also learned that there were many people out there — with spinal cord injuries or other medical conditions or just life challenges — who could identify with some of the larger issues that I would sometimes raise.

I was flattered to have anyone outside of my personal social community care or read about my story and it wasn’t until many of you commented and told me that you wanted to know more about a specific story, that you were curious about something I had shared and asked me to delve more into it, that I got the idea for doing something bigger.

Well, I can now say that that bigger something is coming very soon.

For the better part of the last two years — and with increasing intensity, energy, time and commitment — I have been turning the story of my recovery into a book. And this book is coming to fruition now as I am in the final process of revisions and edits to get it ready to publish.

This blog has been so many positive things for me but I didn’t expect that it would spark the creative effort and undertaking of completing a full-on memoir of my experience. But alas, that’s where we are.

I will be posting more info very soon about the book — including a landing page where you can sign up to get updates and have access to an advance copy, as well as a specific timeline for the final publish (summer reading anyone???) — but for now, I want to thank all of you for the incredible support and commitment you’ve shown me in reading my blog, commenting, sharing your perspectives and launching this crazy little idea within me that will hopefully turn into something real and tangible very soon.

I always have, and still continue to read and respond to every single comment that has ever been posted on this blog and if it weren’t for the conversations that you have all initiated with me, this likely would not have happened. So thank you. I’m grateful to have this opportunity. And I’m excited to share the larger story very soon…

Grateful for more than the gobble gobble

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I started writing this blog just over three years ago today, on the eve of this all-encompassing American holiday, and now I look back to the third blog post I wrote, just before Thanksgiving where I listed the reasons why I was thankful despite the horrific nature of my situation and being only four months out from my spinal cord injury. Fortunately, every reason for gratitude I listed on that day still applies to my life today, with some notable additions of course, and it makes for a good opportunity for me to recognize one particular thing for which I’m recently very grateful.

I’ve shared my experiences at length about the unique therapy I’ve done in Maui and its incredible contribution to my recovery but one of the biggest challenges I always had after coming back home from Maui was the struggle to find ways to continue doing that Pilates-based therapy. I always felt like I would make these huge gains in Maui, only to return and have that momentum of improvement stall. Luckily, that isn’t an issue anymore.

Absolute Center is a busy, successful and well-regarded Pilates studio a short drive from where I live and in recent months, it has become my primary place for rehab and wellness. When I met the owners of the studio, I don’t think any of us expected our encounter to lead to the establishment of a legitimate program geared towards people with spinal cord injuries completely different from their usual offerings, but that’s what has happened. There are scores of Pilates studios all around the country and the world but it took the curiosity, progressiveness, and forward thinking of the studio owners to recognize that there was an opportunity to provide this population with a viable option for this kind of Pilates based therapy.

My last few months of training and being able to continue working with the same principles and techniques that I learned in Maui have been invaluable for my recovery. I’ve seen greater gains in a short amount of time by virtue of being able to consistently train in a supportive environment and amongst talented and knowledgable people who are committed to help me reach my short and long-term goals. Additionally, a number of other people with spinal cord injuries have been training there too and as a result, alternative and creative approaches to spinal cord injury recovery are being explored and pursued.

I am grateful for meeting these people and having the opportunity to maximize my recovery efforts and I’m excited see how a more persistent commitment to this therapy will show itself with the improvements in my body by the time I go back to Maui again.

While I must admit that I don’t love turkey or a lot of typical Thanksgiving fare (which is why we make a somewhat less traditional feast!), what I do love about this holiday is the notion of taking a moment to be grateful. Happy Thanksgiving to everyone.

 

My TEDx talk

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There’s no easy way for me to share this and not feel awkward about self-promotion so I’ll just come out with it.

Last month, I did a TEDx talk in front of an amazing audience of over 650 people. I was invited to share the story of my recovery thus far and how I’ve handled being dealt the most catastrophic hand I could ever imagine.

Quick recap on how I got here:

Last year, when I wrote my blog post about standing up and asking Brita to marry me, a random friend reached out and asked me to share my story at a technology conference he was organizing. While I’d always felt comfortable talking to people and presenting in front of small audiences, I had never done anything like that event, in front of 300+ CEO’s, venture capitalists, and business leaders. He gave me very little guidance and I still to this day have zero idea how or why he knew that I might do a half-decent job, but he trusted me fully and told me to give it a shot. So I got up there, told my story and then made way for will.i.am and his fireside chat (and yes it was deliciously entertaining to see a hipstered out rapper talk to a roomful of Silicon Valley investors and entrepreneurs).

My talk went over quite well and since then, I’ve been invited to do a number of speaking engagements including large and small conferences, corporate workshops and meetings, business events, and even a roomful of medical students who were on their way to being the doctors, prognosticators and hope providers (or deprivers) of tomorrow.

Although I was hesitant at first about sharing my story, mostly because I haven’t yet achieved my ultimate goal of getting back on my feet and didn’t feel quite comfortable sharing a story of a partially achieved objective, I got over that and realized that I really enjoy speaking to people. As a result, an incredibly generous and selfless friend who I’ve mentioned on this blog anonymously and who hates self-promotion as much as I do but who I will now shamelessly reveal because he’s an overly humble yet completely badass published author, conference organizer and entrepreneur, told the organizers of this particular TEDx event about me. The rest is history.

So here’s the video. Feel free to share as much as you’d like. If there’s one time I’d be ok to see social media saturated with something I did, it’s now. And yes I am interested in other speaking opportunities so please contact me if you have other ideas.