Hey there, I’m going to be vulnerable in this letter.

By all accounts, I was not supposed to be born. You see, my parents were pregnant with me at a very late age. My father was 50, and my mom was 40. Pregnancy at this age can cause many complications for the mother, potentially leading to miscarriage, physical deformities, or mental abnormalities with the baby.

Through blind luck, I came out a healthy baby almost 25 years ago. But, despite me being born a young health boy, my parents were reaching their own old age by the time I was reaching puberty.

As I dodged health complications, theirs crept in.

When I was only 14 years old, my dad was diagnosed with brain cancer. This led to several surgeries, with each subsequent operation removing not only pieces of his brain, but large portions of his personality.

With this grueling health decline, he lost his ability to speak coherently, walk on both feet, and thrive on his own. He passed away 7 years after his diagnosis.

At his funeral, I was not only surrounded by hundreds of family members, but the weight of their emotions too. The sorrow, grief, and tears.

Losing my dad had been the most devastating moment of my young life. But in my mind, this wasn’t a death we all were mourning. No, it was a celebration of his life.

Once this realization had hit me, I shared a few words from to the large crowd: “Don’t cry because it’s over. Smile because it happened.”

The Power of “Inversion Thinking”

That quote from Dr. Seuss hit me hard.

You can cry because a great thing has come to an end. Or you can instead step back, and smile with gratitude on the experience you earned you while it lasted.

The lesson here is clear: Any given situation cannot change. But your attitude can.

I like to call this “Inversion Thinking,” because often it’s a matter of inverting the situation from a negative into a positive.

• You can cry because of a messy, toxic breakup. Or invert it and smile because of the liberation you’ll soon feel as a result.

• You can invert self-doubting thoughts of “what if it goes wrong?” with “what if it goes right?”

• You can complain about “having to” go to eat cleaner whole foods to regain your health, or “choose to” prioritize your body and wellbeing.

Inversion Thinking is a powerful tool you should keep in your back pocket.

Closing Thoughts

These ideas aren’t completely my own here.

Viktor Frankl, was a man who survived some of the most grueling experiences any human has faced in history: the Auschwitz concentration camp during World War Two. Yet, being in this horrific situation, he’s understood the power of our attitude.

In his 1946 book, Man’s Search For Meaning, he so aptly put: “Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms–to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.”

Powerful stuff.

-Ricky

P.S., if this helped open your mind, even just a little, consider dropping me a message or forwarding this email to a friend. I read everything that comes through.

P.P.S., also, a special thanks to the new subscribers that have joined since last week! We’ve climbed to 230 total readers. I often imagine a packed university lecture hall with this many listeners, and my anxiety spikes!