“I really don’t know why I’m here. I had my ‘moment of fame’ … and now I guess I have to come to terms with my best days being behind me. Seems like I’m at a loss as to what to do next …”
I knew he had been the face of some very distinguished brands. A face you would have recognized.
But rheumatoid arthritis had required treatment with prednisone, which had significantly changed his appearance. Particularly the “buff” physique those brands had hired him for.
“I guess I should be grateful for the good run I had for a couple of decades. Yet I find myself wondering …” His deep gaze couldn’t erase the redness in his eyes or the tears beginning to form.
I waited. And when he “came back,” I gently asked, “What do you wonder?”
“Oh, dumb stuff … like what could’ve been …
What do I do with myself now?
Why can’t I just settle into life being different?”
I nodded with understanding and compassion. “I certainly wouldn’t call ANY of that dumb stuff!”
Many of us come to a time in our lives, whether we’re young adults, middle-aged adults, or senior citizens, when we begin to consider our future … and emerge with more questions than answers.
I told my client, “In some ways, I think it’s harder when we’ve had some success. Because if we look forward and don’t see greater successes on the horizon, we tend to assume our greatest opportunities are already behind us.”
He interrupted. “EXACTLY!”
I smiled. “Of course, that doesn’t mean they actually ARE behind us. But it can certainly feel that way!”
Then he popped his zinger. “I guess I’m here to find out if you think I should settle in … or rev myself back up.”
I loved his curiosity.
“What if there were a THIRD option?” I proposed.
“Well, lay it on me … because I somehow think you might ‘get me’ and what I’m saying.”
I shared something personal. “I can’t promise that I understand exactly what you’re going through. But I remember when I came off the road after traveling globally doing workshops. I wanted to be there to help take care of my parents, but I didn’t know what to do with myself …”
He leaned in. “It seems like you’re in a great place now. So how did you get from there to here?”
The timing couldn’t have been more perfect. Because that’s the very reason I’ve been building something I call THE BRIDGE.
Not because I have all the answers. But because I remember how much I wished I’d had someone to help me find my OWN answers during that season.
I asked him to consider something. “What if your years of experience, your health disappointments, your growth, your recovery, your learning, your wondering … have been preparing you for something more meaningful than you ever dreamed possible?”
For the first time, I could see him relaxing a little.
“I don’t believe unfortunate things have to happen for us to find more meaning in life,” I continued. “But I DO believe we can find purpose in what happened to us.”
And perhaps that’s something YOU need to consider today.
Because sometimes the question isn’t whether your best days are behind you.
It’s whether you’ve recognized what your life has been preparing you to GIVE.
Here are three ways to begin moving from wondering whether your best days are behind you … toward a life of deeper meaning and purpose.
- Realize that sometimes we mistake preparation for rejection or delay.
“Ouch!” my client blurted out. “How did you know?”
I laughed as I explained, “Most of us didn’t grow up in environments that promoted resilience. So when life knocks the wind out of our sails, we often interpret a loss of recognition or a change in timing as something negative about ourselves.”
We look at seasons or years of struggling, surviving, raising families, building careers, healing, doing our best … and wonder why we’ve arrived where we are.
Now I’m certainly not going to try to morph those painful seasons into something you “should be grateful for.”
But I AM going to ask you to consider something.
What wisdom, compassion, understanding, or abilities might you have acquired along the way?
Not because the disappointment was good. But because YOU continued growing, even when life wasn’t unfolding as you’d hoped.
“Do you believe there could have been any preparation during this season?” I asked.
He drifted into thought. “I’m not sure … but I’d like to think so. I think I’ve resisted getting back into shape because, in my former life, that would mean I would certainly get hired by another brand. To avoid the disappointment, I guess I’ve let myself go … until recently.”
As we talked, he began to recognize how he’d been protecting himself from another disappointment by avoiding the very things that once made him feel alive. Yet he’d recently found a way to encourage himself back into the gym.
So I asked him another question. (And I’d love for YOU to ask yourself the same question).
“After that tough season, what do you wish someone had shown up and said to you … or directed you toward?”
He laughed. “I wish someone had smacked me and said, ‘So you’re going to punish yourself so you can avoid disappointment? Get your *ss to the gym!’”
I laughed with him. “What else?”
He nodded with a grin. “Dude, why don’t you shape up so you can help others who’ve had a life disappointment not get lost like you’ve been?”
And then something happened. He HEARD himself. The answer hadn’t come from me. It had come from HIM. A glimmer of direction began to emerge. Not a guarantee of another modeling contract. Not a promise that his health would return to what it had once been. But a possibility he hadn’t considered.
What if what he’d needed during his darkest season was something he could now offer someone else?
I never encourage anyone to celebrate their suffering or pretend their disappointments were blessings in disguise. But I’ve discovered something important. When we can identify what we desperately needed during a difficult season, we may also discover something valuable we can offer someone else.
And there’s something deeply fulfilling about meeting the needs of others in a healthy way. Especially when we’re offering something we once needed ourselves.
So let me ask you … What did YOU need during one of the hardest seasons of your life?
Encouragement?
Direction?
Someone who believed in you?
Someone who could see possibilities when you couldn’t?
Someone who reminded you that your life wasn’t over?
And what if your understanding of that need has prepared you to become a source of encouragement, wisdom, or direction for someone else?
Maybe you’ve been calling that season a setback.
What if it also contained some preparation you haven’t recognized yet?
- Remember that your gifts often become so familiar that you stop recognizing them as gifts.
“Somehow, before this season, it sounds like you’ve always been able to motivate yourself and others. In encouraging ways. Without shame?” I asked.
He humbly nodded.
“That’s impressive,” I commented.
“Oh, anyone can do that …” he defended.
“They could. But how many people have you seen who actually DO that?”
“Hmmm … not many.”
“That’s a GIFT,” I commented. “Let’s not minimize or diminish it! What comes naturally to you may be exactly what someone else desperately needs.”
Isn’t it interesting how quickly we dismiss the very things that make us remarkable?
If something comes easily to us, we assume it must come easily to everyone. If we’ve always been good at something, we assume it isn’t particularly valuable. And if we haven’t received awards, recognition, or financial compensation for it, we may never have considered it a gift at all!
But think about the people in your life. Perhaps you’re the one people call when they’re discouraged. Maybe you have an unusual ability to see possibilities in complicated situations.
Perhaps you can bring peace into a room filled with conflict. Maybe you can explain difficult things in ways that help people finally understand.
Perhaps you have a gift for noticing the person everyone else overlooks.
Or maybe you can look at someone who has lost confidence in themselves and somehow help them believe again.
You may be thinking … “Oh, that’s nothing. I’ve always been that way.”
EXACTLY!
Just because something is ordinary to YOU doesn’t mean it isn’t extraordinary to someone else!
My client had spent years being recognized for his appearance.
And there was nothing wrong with that. But what if some of his most valuable gifts had never appeared in a photograph?
What if his ability to motivate people, to encourage them without shame, and to help them recognize their own potential had been there all along? What if those gifts could become part of his next chapter?
And what about YOU?
What do people consistently thank you for?
What do they come to you for?
What do you do naturally that seems difficult for others?
What strengths have you been dismissing because they feel so ordinary?
I’d love for you to consider something: What if the gifts you’ve been overlooking are some of the very things your next season of life is waiting for?
Not because you need to become famous.
Not because you need another accomplishment.
But because there’s something wonderfully fulfilling about discovering that who you ARE has value … beyond what you’ve achieved.
- Take note of this: Discovering your calling doesn’t mean starting your life over. It may mean seeing your life differently.
“So are you suggesting I start over? Go back to school for something? Or do some sort of training? Or have a brain transplant?”
We both laughed.
“I think a lot of people assume that’s necessary when they enter a season of reflection about their lives. But the truth is … none of that is usually necessary!”
And that’s one reason I’ve been building THE BRIDGE.
It’s an opportunity to look at where you’ve been and recognize the VALUE in it.
To examine what you’ve learned.
What’s grown in you.
What you’ve discovered about yourself.
And then to consider what might be possible if you brought those things into the next season of your life.
Not necessarily greater fame.
Or greater recognition.
Or greater income.
Or greater accomplishments.
But something I believe can be far more fulfilling.
MORE LIFE in your LIFE!
You don’t have to quit your job.
Become a coach.
Launch a ministry.
Go back to school.
Or make some dramatic change.
You may simply need to discover what your next meaningful contribution could be. And sometimes, that discovery begins by looking at your life through a different lens.
Instead of asking, “What have I lost?” Perhaps you could also ask, “What do I still have to give?”
Instead of asking, “Why didn’t things turn out the way I expected?” Perhaps you could ask, “What possibilities haven’t I considered?”
Instead of asking, “Are my best days behind me?” Perhaps you could begin asking … “What if my most meaningful contribution is still ahead of me?”
And before you decide that you have nothing particularly valuable to contribute, I want you to ask yourself one more question. What if the very things you’ve been discounting about yourself are the things the world is waiting for you to discover?
Maybe not the WHOLE world.
Maybe just your part of it.
Your family.
Your children or grandchildren.
Your neighbors.
Your workplace.
Your church.
Your community.
Or someone whose path hasn’t even crossed yours yet.
And then consider this … WHAT IF THAT’S PART OF YOUR SONG?
Please … Don’t Die with Your Song Still in You!
*****
For years, I’ve invited people in my workshops and seminars to consider something very important:
DON’T DIE WITH YOUR SONG STILL IN YOU!
I’m not talking about literal singing. I’m talking about the gifts, wisdom, talents, compassion, experience, and purpose that make YOU uniquely YOU.
The things that might seem ordinary to you … But could create extraordinary change in someone else’s life.
I’m talking about the possibility that you haven’t missed your calling. Perhaps you’ve been preparing for it!
And that’s why I’m inviting you to join me for a very special FREE live experience.
DON’T DIE WITH YOUR SONG STILL IN YOU!
Tuesday, October 27, 2026
7:00 PM Central | LIVE on Zoom
FREE — But please reserve your seat!
[CLICK HERE TO CLAIM YOUR FREE SEAT I’VE SAVED JUST FOR YOU!]
We’re going to explore the possibility that the MORE you’ve been looking for isn’t necessarily somewhere OUT THERE. It may be waiting to be discovered WITHIN YOU.
We’ll begin exploring the gifts, experiences, and possibilities that could lead you toward a life of greater meaning and fulfillment.
Think of it as the beginning of crossing a bridge.
A bridge between where you are …
And where you long to be.
Between wondering whether your best days are behind you …
And discovering what might still be ahead.
You don’t need to know what your song is.
You don’t need to have your purpose figured out.
You don’t even need to know what you’re looking for.
Just bring your curiosity.
Come as you are.
I’ll take you there!
And Now … Back to My Client.
I wish you could have seen him when he came in this week.
Not because his health challenges had disappeared.
Not because he’d landed another prestigious modeling contract.
And not because all his questions about the future had been answered.
But because he’d begun seeing himself differently.
He came in with a PLAN! A plan to help young men discover careers they could be excited about. He’d experienced the thrill of having a career he loved. And now he was considering how he could help other young men discover that same kind of fulfillment.
He wasn’t trying to recreate his former life. He was discovering how the VALUE of that life could become a gift to someone else. And as I listened to him, I couldn’t help but smile. Because the man who had walked into my office wondering whether his best days were behind him … Was beginning to imagine that some of his most meaningful days might still be ahead.
HE WAS SINGING HIS SONG!
And now I want to ask YOU … What if you haven’t missed your calling? What if you’ve been preparing for it?
And what if October 27 is the day you begin discovering what that preparation has been for?
I’d love to meet you on the bridge.
Because we have lives to transform …
AND ONE OF THEM JUST MIGHT BE YOURS!