Hey there,
I’m grateful I only gained three pounds since Thursday and not the thirteen it feels like.

What are you grateful for today? Right now? In this very moment?

I was married for thirteen years (I’ve been divorced for sixteen years and something else I’m extremely grateful for is my divorce with my ex, Suzy. You can’t do it any better if you have a child involved than we did).

When she got pregnant we chose to leave Los Angeles and move to the island of Hawaii for a two-year sabbatical.

Two years turned into four.

One day a woman at the beach said to me, “You’re both so lucky to be able to do this for your daughter.” I thought, “Lady, luck had nothing to do with this.”

You see, it was a really, really tough thing to do. I realize it’s hard to feel sympathy hearing we took four years off, hung out every day with our daughter while living in Hawaii but we both had just walked away from beautiful careers and lifestyle.

Instead, for the next four years we lived off savings and the courage and faith we were doing the right thing for our daughter.

Recently Suzy and I were talking about our time in Hawaii when I said, “I wished I’d known everything was going to be OK. I could have just relaxed more and not stressed so much about money and what next and how we were going to survive.”

I wish I’d known everything was going to be OK.

Last week the Golden State Warriors were going for their 16^th win in a row, an NBA record. I wanted to watch it but couldn’t so I recorded it to watch it first thing the next morning.

When I woke up I first headed to Peete’s for coffee. I turned off the car radio so I wouldn’t hear any sports updates and I kept my head down as I walked past the newspaper rack. Just as I took my place in line the guy in front of me answered his phone:  “How about them Warriors! Sixteen in a row! Incredible!!!”

Seriously?!

I walked out, got in my car and drove home, my perfectly planned morning now ruined.

After pouting a bit more I finally decided, “What the hell. I’m going to watch the game anyway. I still don’t know the score and who knows, maybe something incredible happens.”

As I sat there watching a sporting event I already knew the outcome for something incredible DID happen. But not for the Warriors, for me.

You see, I connected some dots I’d spent years creating. It went like this: “I know the outcome to this game so there’s no stress or drama. In Hawaii, I wish I’d know the outcome so there wasn’t stress and drama.”
Now the epiphany.

“I know what I believe about this human experience, why we’re here and what happens after I finally take my last breath. So just like the Warrior game I already I KNOW the outcome to this game called my life so what the hell, Jim Jarrett, just relax and trust more because everything is OK and IS going to be OK.”

BOOM. That hit me hard.

What do you believe happens after you take your last breath? If you’re with me then I say it’s time to relax just a bit more, trust just a bit more, and enjoy this beautiful thing called your life just a bit more because you already know the outcome.

Everything’s going to be OK.

I’d love to hear your thoughts and reactions. You can share it with just me or with the rest of our Sunday Newsletter family on our private Facebook page. Either way, thanks in advance if you do. It’s always appreciated.

And so are you.
Jim