Silhouettes of hikers helping each other at sunset.

All About You FRIDAY – Just Say Yes

Silhouettes of hikers helping each other at sunset.

I have a mentor named Bob.

We met in the Fall of 2004 when his work as a consultant brought him to Detroit for several days out of the week and I was a struggling new entrepreneur trying to not lose my shirt on my first clinic. How a consultant from Houston connects with a physical therapist in Detroit is a story for another day. But he had heard about my vision and offered to help expand the message of pain-free living to the masses.

“I can’t afford you,” I said.

“It won’t cost you a thing,” he replied.

And so I asked questions. A lot of them. First about business and then about life. I would get up in the morning and send him an email and a few hours later, I’d receive a reply.

July 2006. Life was tough for me and about to get tougher. Finances were tight, I was raising a young autistic son and a teenager and my loving husband battled depression. And on July 19, 2006, he lost that battle. That, too, is a story for another day.

In the frenzy of that morning, someone called Bob. He reached out asking if there was anything he could do. I got on the phone.

“Would you climb up a mountain with me?” I asked. My husband had left no will and in my grief and shock all I could think was I needed to lay his ashes on a mountain we had hiked in Colorado on our 10th anniversary.

“Which mountain would that be?” he asked.

“Flattop Mountain in Colorado.”

“Yes,” he said without hesitation. And he bought a ticket.

Bob was in the middle of a huge transition in his life, making the move from Houston, where he had lived for over 30 years to a new life in Austin. The moving trucks were literally on the road with his life packed in it. As I think back to that day, he was a couple years younger than I am now. He was working a new job and trying to make a new home. Would I have dropped everything and said yes?

July 23, 2006. We met at the Denver International Airport and made our way to Estes Park. The next morning, we got up at 5 a.m. and hiked 5 miles up Flattop Mountain, neither one of us physically or mentally prepared to carry twelve pounds of ashes up an incline for several hours. We didn’t say much. Hours later, we made it to the top. And in one of the most solemn moments of my life, sweaty and exhausted, 12,361 ft above sea level, I laid Doug’s ashes to rest.

I couldn’t have done that alone and that hike set the course for the rest of my life. In that moment, Bob became more than just a mentor. That moment bonded us for life.

We made it off the mountain and got back to the lodge. He gathered his things and I dropped him off at the airport exactly 24 hours after he had landed.

People thought he was crazy. “Why would you do that?” they asked.

And his answer was and always will be, “Because she asked.”

I think of that moment a lot. How a “yes” without hesitation changed the course of two lives. I still write him every weekday morning, continuing a conversation that has lasted more than 20 years. And before 8 a.m., I receive an email packed with lessons and insights about work and life. I thought I’d kick off the year with a few lessons from Bob. And this is the first one.

When it comes to relationships, just say yes. If someone needs help, just say yes. Stopping to think about it might make sensibility rule over what’s right and what’s needed.

Just. Say. Yes.

It’s been a long week. Don’t forget to celebrate.

Until next time…

Kind Regards,
MoveWell Academy
[email protected]

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