Ordinary Strength: We Already Have What It Takes

At twenty-six years old, I was forced to unexpectedly confront my mortality. After an MRI of my back, doctors incidentally discovered that I had numerous cysts throughout both of my kidneys and liver. Statistics suggested that the life I had envisioned was no longer within my grasp. My life expectancy plummeted, but even long before I would have to confront dying, I knew the complications of my disease would significantly affect the pursuit of my dreams. I had been involved in a life-or-death struggle for my co-worker’s gun and had to undergo plastic surgery on my face twice for injuries sustained in my youth, but nothing prepared me for my diagnosis with polycystic kidney and liver diseases. The world felt overwhelming and unfair, and I didn’t know how to go on. I was just a regular person confronted by, in my eyes, seemingly monumental adversity. How could I fight a battle I knew, in the end, I could not win?

This pivotal moment in my life not only made me question my mortality, but challenged my outlook on life. It made me reflect on my journey, my dreams, and the path that lay before me. Through introspection and revisiting the moments in my life that defined me, from my career in law enforcement through to simple and personal experiences, I discovered the principles and tools I needed to unlock a resting strength within me. That same reflection allowed me to also conclude that this strength was not unique to me alone: it was an ordinary strength.

Everything I have endured in my life has led me to believe that we all have the ability to spin pain into power, doubt into belief, and fear into courage. There is no adversity that cannot be conquered and no dream that cannot be followed. We do not need to be extraordinary to be strong. In Ordinary Strength: We Already Have What It Takes, I recount specific events and moments that shaped who I am today, the key lessons and principles I took from those incidents, and most importantly offer a guide to how we all can unlock the ordinary strength that rests within us starting this very moment.