Hello Readers and Friends!
It’s exciting to announce that my newsletter about determination, inspiration and healing is returning after a break!
It’s been more than a year since I was last able to reach out with news, updates, and stories of recovery. That’s because 2024/2025 threw a bit of a curveball at me. I stepped down from my responsibilities at the nonprofit business that I founded in 2020. Family emergencies that I experienced required my full focus, energy, and resiliency. It was also an eye-opening time as I realized that I needed the time – not just to concentrate on their essential care and recovery – but also on ensuring my own stability and health.
While it was a long hiatus from the development of this newsletter, it did provide me an opportunity to revisit the core inspiration for sharing my journey after the ischemic stroke and aphasia. More succinctly, I am— once again—inspired to inspire!
It’s now been many years since the day that the terrifying stroke changed my life, but I am still regularly asked, “How did you do it, Ted?” There are assumptions that my stroke was a “small stroke” or a “mini stroke”, and when I reassured that it was, in fact, a major, massive stroke that robbed me of my ability to walk and to talk, they asked again “How is that possible?”
It’s not just disbelief at how far I’ve come, but also regarding how much I continue to do. “How do you keep up? How is it that you stay so curious, you are still striving to learn?”
In truth, at the time, I just wanted to live and I knew that I had to go through the pain, sorrow, emotions, and sadness. Then, those feelings dwindled and a calmness set in myself. I just absorbed the prognosis regarding what happened to me and then I contemplated – A LOT – what small changes could I make, if I can rewire my brain, could I retrain my physical body. I was so determined, so no matter how many punches I encountered along the way, I knew I had to stay on the path to recovery. Since then, I’ve had the privilege of hindsight, and I realize that it really boils down to the three Rs.
Reset, Restart, Refocus…
RESET
This is the first, and perhaps hardest step – the acknowledgement that the goal after a massive stroke or other life-altering health challenge can’t be “to get back to normal.” There is a new normal after something like that. Anyone who has successfully survived will tell you the same – life is never the same again. We must embrace the idea of a new normal. For me, after I hit that figurative reset button, I discovered a renewed sense of curiosity, and a distinct interest in creativity and continued learning.
Restart
This is both challenging and exciting at the beginning. I, like many, was very zealous at the beginning. The intense desire to just plow forward did result in several setbacks, in fact. Often, restarting feels like getting nowhere. The climb can be slow at first, or it can be very fast but then met with intense obstacles that slow or hinder the journey. That can be very discouraging. I’ve come to see that the best recoveries happen when people understand it’s not a race to some finish line, but simply about moving forward and being open to trying new things.
refocus
The bright spot in recovery is the discovery of what really matters – who really matters. Before my stroke, I often tackled tasks in order of urgency. Whatever seemed most pressing received my attention first. Since my stroke, I prioritize what matters most to me (hence the hiatus). There is a sort of freedom that comes when you realize that life is fragile – YOUR life is fragile. For me, refocusing came with a strong desire to chase things that made me ask “why?” or “how?”
Respecting my family’s privacy, I will say that 2024/2025 saw me in a different seat in regards to healing. Instead of me facing changes in my mind and body, it was a loved one who needed family support. Instead of me being dealing with setbacks and returning to the emergency room, it was a loved one who needed help to just keep living.
Healing is a Journey, Not a Destination
Life often finds funny ways to surprise, teach, and humble us…
The experience of life and healing, no matter what age you are, comes with many twists and turns, many headaches and frustrations, but it also presents us gifts if we are willing to accept them.
Healing is a journey, not a destination.
In my book, Relentless: How a Massive Stroke Changed My Life For The Better, I detail the aftermath of my stroke, as well as part of my recovery journey. In the telling, I hope you will recognize the moments when I accepted the reset, restarted, and the refocusing that happened along the way.
You can purchase my book from the retailers below to learn more about my symptoms, diagnosis, and journey to recovery.
Buy the book from any of the following retailers
