When Life Doesn’t Go According to Plan

Over the past 18 months, life took me in directions I never expected. I helped care for my mother at the end of her life, navigated challenging family relationships, experienced the end of a toxic marriage, went through a difficult legal process, sold a home, moved across the country to a place where I knew no one, and left behind a beloved dog. Professionally, I found myself in an extended executive job search just as artificial intelligence began reshaping how many of us work. At the same time, I had the privilege of helping others navigate their own professional transitions. Those conversations reminded me that uncertainty wasn't unique to my own life.

As difficult as that season was, it reminded me that periods of change and uncertainty often reveal strengths we didn't know we possessed. I gained a deeper appreciation for my courage and curiosity, along with a greater confidence in my resilience. Difficult seasons have a way of revealing parts of ourselves we sometimes forget are there.

Why This Matters

My story is different in its details, but not in its experience. Most of us have faced seasons we didn't choose, health concerns, financial pressures, relationship changes, career uncertainty, or unexpected transitions. Life rarely unfolds exactly as we planned.

At the same time, we live in a world of extraordinary possibility alongside extraordinary complexity. Technology is evolving at an incredible pace. Work is changing. Communities are changing. Information is constant, priorities compete for our attention, and it's easy to spend more time reacting than reflecting.

I hope the articles I share become an invitation to pause and explore the questions that help us make sense of a rapidly changing world. My hope is that our conversations explore the very human side of navigating uncertainty, purpose, work, technology, and artificial intelligence in practical, thoughtful ways, and that they help us better understand ourselves, one another, and the world we're helping create.

An Invitation

What is one change—in your life or in the world around you—that has captured your attention recently?

You don't need to solve it today. Simply notice it. Sit with it for a few quiet moments and see what begins to emerge.

Sometimes clarity begins with paying attention.

A Conversation for Another Day

One of the conversations I’m most looking forward to exploring together is artificial intelligence—not from the perspective of technology, but from the perspective of being human. As these tools become part of our everyday lives, how can we use them thoughtfully? How do we make sure technology supports our values instead of quietly shaping them?

Along the way, I may even share a few of my own experiments, lessons, and surprises—including one unexpected way AI helped me reduce decision fatigue and reclaim a greater sense of agency in my own life.

I hope you'll join me.

Originally published in Navigating Through Today’s World, my article for the Unity of New Braunfels newsletter — August 2026.
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