Hey there, it's Michael. Welcome to Whole again, the show that can help you navigate today's uncertainty with more mindfulness, resilience, and grace. And since it's Friday, I have another tip for you This year in celebration of my 25th anniversary of my last bad day, which started my whole love affair with Kintsugi, I'm sharing a tip a week.

Things that I have discovered over the 25 years, and since you didn't ask for any of these, but that doesn't stop any podcast host or any social media platform for giving out unsolicited advice. Take what works for you. Take what works in your Tollhouse cookie recipe and then leave the rest behind.

Today we're up to number 10. It's all about hellos and goodbyes. Let me share more with you. I have lifetime status on United Airlines.

I share this not as a weird brag like Whoopty do that. I have lifetime status with United, although my family does appreciate it because we're allowed a few extra bags. I share this because with all those miles I have flown in my lifetime, mainly through my executive career, all that travel comes with countless hellos and goodbyes.

And early in my career, I took them for granted. Things were busy, I was growing my career and. Chasing my happiness. I was spinning quite furiously on my hamster wheel, and that was back in the day before social media. It's worse today,

but I was trying to chase with the best of them. We were a young family. Things were beautiful, but also pretty hectic. I assumed that there would always be another hello around the corner. I would always come back from my trips, so I didn't really think much. I certainly didn't fuss much about the current hello or the next goodbye because I always thought bad things happen to other people.

I was good. Surely I would have another hello. And then as I was growing my career, more goodbyes, but the hellos would always be there. And then I had my accident, a near fatal cycling accident, two days before it happened, I left for another business trip. It was a Monday morning. It was an early flight to Albuquerque, New Mexico.

It was so early. My wife and my two daughters who were three and a half and seven months old at the time were still sleeping, so I just tried to slip out of the house ever so quietly quiet like a mouse. I didn't want to disturb them. I had another trip. It's what I did. So I never really said goodbye. I didn't tell them on that day that I loved them.

I really didn't wanna wake them. I didn't want to be a bother. Plus,

they know I love them. I don't have to say it. And I was gonna be back on Friday. I could say hello again. I could tell them then on Friday how much I love them. Two days later, my wife received a phone call, actually. She received many phone calls. The trauma team that was trying to save my life didn't think I was going to make it.

People wanted her to fly out to Albuquerque, where I was medevaced to. The University of New Mexico in Albuquerque. When I eventually came outta the ICU, she was there along with my parents and our youngest daughter. Our oldest daughter stayed back home with friends and one of the trauma nurses that was in the trauma room, she was working on me along with about 20 other people.

She paid me a visit. I will say this, I do not remember this visit, at least initially. What happened in 2022, I was riding my bike across the country and the medical center wanted to do a story about me. It was in the spirit of where are our patients now? Very inspirational. At least I hope it was. Now, I wasn't riding through New Mexico, but I was close.

I was in Colorado. I was able to do a interview with one of the local news channels, and they did a full story in the medical center's newsletter, and my trauma nurse said, I know that guy. And she reached out via Instagram. She wasn't following anyone and she had no followers, so I think she created this account just to reach out through dm.

I don't really remember our conversation in the hospital. What she shared was when she did come to visit, she had just recently lost her husband, and what she shared with me I think got embedded in my subconscious and when I read her dm, boy did I cry. It was an ugly cry, but also a very beautiful one. It was a flow of emotion because what she shared with me when she came to visit is something I've been living by ever since.

She told me that tomorrow is not guaranteed. She encouraged me to make sure I made time for the people I love and to tell them often daily how much I love them in words and in in action. I no longer take hellos and goodbyes for granted. This is tip number 10.

This is why I insist on doing the airport pickup and drop off for people in my family and those closest to me. My oldest daughter, when she comes to visit us here in New Jersey, she flies into LaGuardia and the flight usually lands around midnight. So one could say that. It would be easier if I just asked her to take a Lyft or a Uber home.

After all, dad needs to get his beauty sleep, but I don't want an easy life. I want a full one. Now that said, if we can throw in some easy parts, that's cool, but I practice mindfulness to be in relationship with all that life throws at us. Instead of pushing away the things that we don't want and clinging to the things that we wanna hold onto, much like Rumi writes in a guest house every day is a new arrival, welcome and entertain them all.

Our practice helps us do just that.

The thing is, those rides are priceless. Whether we're talking about an early morning pickup because someone has come in from a red eye. We're all still half asleep, or we're worried about getting to the airport on time because there's another traffic jam, or we're simply listening to music on the way.

These are moments. These moments. That's where life happens. It's not in the big shiny stuff that we post on social media. It's in these moments. This is life. I say this with all due respect to the people doing Lyft, doing Uber. I want them to have enough money to support their family. Full stop, but there ain't no way they're taking that time away from me.

For me, there's something about getting outta the car, opening the doors, unloading the bags. Giving someone a tight embrace and say, precious cargo, I love you. Can't put a price tag on that one.

So number 10 is all about the fact that tomorrow is not guaranteed, even though so many of us are living our lives like it is. Make sure the people around you. Know how much you love them. Maybe you don't do the airport pickup and drop off every time, but every now and again, you might wanna do it or take the principle of this tip and make it your own.

Don't take your hellos and goodbyes for granted.

So that's number 10. All this year on Fridays, I'm gonna share these tips with you. Again, some of them are gonna hit the mark. They're gonna be part of your Tollhouse cookie recipe, and others, as they said in Major League, are just a bit outside. Leave those behind another way. I'm celebrating 25 years since my last bad day, AKA, my near death cycling accident.

There are episodes of Whole again that speak to all the details of my accident, but I'm also giving away free copies of my bestselling book, my Last Bad Day Shift. The link is in the show notes, so you can just click on that link. Easy peasy, lemon squeezy. I'll send you a free copy in it, you'll find a whole bunch of resources.

To bring more mindfulness, resilience, and grace into your life, and hopefully you can adopt the last bad day mentality, which is not toxic positivity. It simply acknowledges this fact that in your day you'll have a thousand or more different moments. Some will be challenging, some you might say. Totally suck or are bad, and there'll be other moments where you'll feel gratitude, you'll feel joy, you'll feel excitement.

So when you get to the end of the day, it's really hard to pick one label that best describes the full day. And as long as you have people in your life who love you and you love them back, then I think it's impossible to call that day a bad one. It might have been really challenging, but luckily you have love in your life that can help you create a better tomorrow, and that's the meaning behind having your last bad day to get really smart about the labels you use in life because the labels you use create your story.

And I want everyone to create an amazing story. That's filled with positive ripples that benefit all of us, not just some of us. So I hope you'll pick up your copy and as always, thank you for being here. Thank you for listening. If this episode or tip hit the mark for you, I hope you'll share it with a friend or two.

And until Monday's episode, I have a beautiful micro meditation for you. Have fun Storm in the castle. And as always, let's celebrate our scars as golden symbols of our strength and resilience.