Gratitude (Part Three)
For our final entry regarding gratitude, I thought to share a personal story on the eve of Thanksgiving. My intention is that you become present to not just gratitude, but also the ephemeral nature of business and life and the opportunity that it presents to you every single day.
Catching Air in Yosemite
Exactly one week before Thanksgiving in 2008, I was driving alone on a three hour drive from Oakland Airport to the Yosemite Bug Resort at night. For business purposes, I was completing an advanced course on ontology, the study of being. Quite tired from my Chicago flight that day and not having slept well the night before, I tried to push through -- the way I do everything -- all the way on this three hour drive. About a mile down the winding road from the last STOP sign in Mariposa on CA-140, I kept hearing a low rumble. Kind of strange. What could it be, I wondered? I opened my eyes to find out it was the sound of my tires crossing the grooved median onto oncoming traffic! I was sleeping while driving in Yosemite. In fact, I had slept from the STOP sign onwards, because I could not remember anything after that. Who exactly was driving the car if I was sleeping for about a mile?
Powerlessly, I watched the car go off the road and catch air. Surreal. Time slowed down, and I noticed every detail in what felt like a silent and peaceful eternity. The drop was about 20 feet, but luckily about 10 feet down the left side of the car caught the side of the only tree for hundreds of feet. The car did so at an angle and scraped against the tree. The tree slowed the car to a stop from about 25 mph (best guess). But the tree now blocked the door, with the car nestled on the driver’s side tilted below the passenger’s side. The airbags went off. That side airbag hits you like a big boxing glove, and it hurts a lot, just not immediately -- you have to wait till the next day to start to feel the pain you will experience for months. The car door was bent inward, cutting into my left arm at the elbow. I could hardly move. It was 8:30pm and quite dark. I yelled for help.
The roads around Yosemite are windy, with one side a mountain and the other side a cliff with a 20 to 50 foot drop. Many have driven their cars off, fallen 40 feet, and perished in their cars with no one knowing where they were for days. Should they be lucky enough to survive the fall, they often die injured and alone many hours later. It is a frightening scenario. In short, you don’t want to get into an accident there, especially given the paucity of healthcare providers nearby.
Gratitude for What Actually Happened
I am grateful for whoever or whatever drove the car for a mile on the road with my eyes closed. Grateful for the lone tree that kept my car from crashing hard. Gratitude for only cutting my arm. I am grateful that my cry for help was answered immediately by someone who happened to have seen me driving erratically and followed to help. This man came down the hill, opened the passenger door, and pulled me up and out by my right arm. There really was no other way out for me. I am grateful that an ambulance arrived within 10 minutes. I am grateful the John C. Fremont Medical Clinic was a 5-minute drive away. Grateful the doctor stitched my arm up so adeptly. I am grateful to the people who put on the course as they let me stay in their home that evening. I am grateful for the drugs I was on for the next week, as each breath was an achy one. Lastly, I am grateful everyone was kind to me – those in the course, the upstander who got me out, the medical staff, the rental car agency, and my insurance agent.
The truth is I am not always so understanding. I am grateful everyone is not like me.
The Turnabout
It has been 12 years since I nearly foolishly ended my life pushing too hard in pursuit of continual learning in the name of business success. My drive nearly killed me and left my wife a widow and my children fatherless. Why does it take a near tragedy to wake up to being grateful for what you already have? Why do we pursue business goals without holistically thinking about what we are doing? Why does a need for success run the lives of many of us, especially those of you who are like me? It doesn’t have to be that way. Success can come in many ways that are accretive to your entire life. It just takes being willing to do the rigorous thinking and planning required so that your business and life are designed from a space of gratitude. In the case of Agile Rainmakers, we experience gratitude for the unique opportunity it is to bring freedom and abundance to business and life. I’ve learned that it is not about where you are going, it is about where you are coming from.
I am grateful for these 12 years, especially with a deeply loving wife and two kids. The opportunity to make a difference for entrepreneurs and business leaders interested in joyfully riding their wave is an opportunity I cherish daily. Thank you.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Here's to you and your awesome future.
Until then, keep your feet on the board and keep riding your wave!
Robert J. Khoury
CEO Agile Rainmakers