Carrie and I are hosting an “Eliminate Your Limits” retreat this week (this is Brian, by the way)

Which is why we haven’t been in touch with you as much.

We’ll get back to our normal routine of messaging you next week, but I really wanted to check in today so I could send you this note.

Maybe you know this story.

Maybe you don’t.

But either way, it’s something I think everyone on the planet either needs to read or be reminded of.

It’s all about how Carrie and I first got together.

In the oddest of moments.

Shortly after I nearly lost my life.

This is a little longer than what we usually send your way, but you won’t be sorry you took the time to read it (I absolutely promise and guarantee you)…

I walked for about 45 minutes, trying to find a cell phone signal.

There were no houses, no streetlights, and no cars around.

And I was still shaken from totaling my car.

While driving from my home in Chicago to speak at a conference in Minnesota, a deer ran across the deserted stretch of back roads and sent my tiny Toyota for a three-rotation flip that, to this day, I don’t know how I walked away from.

45 minutes.

In the darkest dark I had ever seen or been immersed within.

Just hoping to find a cell signal so I could call for help.

I remember the police officer who finally came telling me that he was calling an ambulance.

But I refused.

I had no health insurance to speak of and virtually no cash in the bank.

The tow truck took three hours to get to the scene and charged $600 to drive me and my wreck back to Chicago.

I walked two hours from the car dealership to my apartment because, no matter how much my body hurt from the crash, I officially had no money left for a taxi.

“Have you ever fallen in love with someone but didn’t tell them?”

That was the question my roommate asked me a few weeks later while we were talking about that car wreck and how long I wandered in the dark that night looking for help.

“Yes.”

“Well, tell her now.”

Carrie Campbell received a private message on Facebook two hours later.

I wasn’t sure if she’d remember me. Our paths had crossed nearly four years earlier, while I was speaking at a conference in Montreal, where she lived.

“I don’t know if you’ll remember me, but I fell in love with you back in 2009…” Those were the first sixteen words she read that night.

Twenty-two weeks later, I moved to Montreal to start a life with her and her two young children, who have grown to be my best friends and greatest joy.

That Facebook message was sent seven years ago this week.

A short few weeks after almost losing my life.

If you find yourself in the dark right now.

The darkest dark you’ve ever seen or been immersed within.

Wandering through that dark, aimlessly and afraid, shaken and just hoping to find some help. I truly hope my story gives you something to ponder.

A ray of light and some hope.

Because things really do happen for a reason.

If nothing else, find faith in that.

Keep your thoughts calm and your belief steady.

It’s all happening for reasons you may not be able to see or truly understand right now.

B & C