Top o’ the Mornin’ to Ya!
TLDR: Discover why the cold season of admitting you don’t have it all figured out burns like frigid air in your lungs, but that burning cleanses and sterilizes everything, setting your mind free from secrets and connecting you authentically with family.
What?
It is nine degrees below zero. This coldness, this frigid chill reminds me of when I entered recovery, when I started my transformation.
I had it all figured out. I was a highly recruited ski racing coach in the country, for youth ski racing. I was the top of my game. Everything was cool. I was happening. I looked good. I was good.
And I had my secret thoughts, my thing nobody knew about. I needed to shift. I was convicted and said “I need help with this. I’m not that thing that I portray out in the world.”
That cold part of life transition for me was hard – to admit “Hey, I have it all figured out over here, but I don’t have anything figured out over there.” I needed to start over. It was cold.
Now I’m out here in the cold just reminded of that time, that division, that before and that after. It’s so much better now. My mind is free. I don’t have any secrets. I’m open. I’m an open book. I’m connected with my wife, my kids, my family. We go on trips together. We talk. We ask questions. My kids talk to me about their choices and their behavior and how they act because of me being open to transformation.
The thing I do like about the cold is taking a big nose breath – it burns going in. It’s like the burning and cleaning, sterilizing of everything. That’s how I feel knowing I’ve been transformed, knowing I have a system of friends and family and support. Not support like “You’re coming off the ground and need some support.” Support like “You’re way up here at the top and we want you to stay up here with us, with God, with Kingdom purpose.”
We gotta search ourselves and know ourselves and be able to go through that cold season.
Why?
I share this because people avoid the cold season. We maintain the facade that we have it all figured out over here, while hiding the secret over there that nobody knows about. We look good. We are good. Everything is happening. Except it’s not.
The cold transition of admitting “I need help with this. I’m not that thing I portray” feels like nine degrees below zero burning your lungs. That’s why we avoid it. But that burning is what cleanses and sterilizes everything.
After the cold season, my mind is free. No secrets. Open book. Connected with wife, kids, family. My kids talk to me about their choices and behavior because of me healing me. That only happened through the cold.
Lesson
The cold season of transformation burns, but that burning cleanses and sterilizes everything. When you’re at the top of your game – highly recruited, successful, looking good – admitting you don’t have it all figured out feels like frigid air searing your lungs. It hurts. It’s cold. You want to avoid it.
But that cold transition creates the division between before and after. Before: secrets, portrayals, things nobody knows about, division between what you show and what you hide. After: mind free, no secrets, open book, authentic connection with wife, kids, family.
The support system isn’t about lifting you off the ground. It’s about keeping you at the top with God and His Kingdom purpose. When you search yourself, know yourself, and go through that cold season, you come out sterilized and clean.
Your kids talk to you about their choices and behavior because of you healing you. That’s the Kingdom impact – not from maintaining the facade, but from going through the cold and coming out free.
Apply
This week, identify one area where you’re maintaining the facade of having it all figured out while hiding something nobody knows about. The secret thought. The thing you’re not. Search yourself and give that thing attention. Find one person – coach, accountability partner, friend – and admit “I need help with this.” Go through the cold season. Let it burn and cleanse.
You be blessed!
