Believe!
If you happen to see our family Christmas card this year, you’ll see that it says BELIEVE. This has a lot to do with where we (the Wagner’s of Hilliard) have come from over the past few years.
When we moved back to Ohio after 5 years in Illinois, I remember going to change our voter registration status. We’ve always believed in voting and exercising our voice. However, when we moved to Columbus in December of ’95, I couldn’t tell you what I believed in.
We went to register to vote and couldn’t tell you if I was Democrat or Republican. It may have been the generation, but I had no idea what the differences were. I’m assuming many of today’s youth has a better idea. At least I hope so. However, they need to understand that there is more to it than just despising people that have more than them.
Born and raised a Catholic, I knew that I believed in God. That was my reason for going to church every Sunday. It wasn’t until we moved to Columbus and started to attend the Lutheran church that I came to understand why I believed in God.
My first professional passion was project management. My second was sales. Both of these jobs take a great deal of human interaction and passion to be successful. That interaction centers around leadership and relationships. My beliefs shaped the leader in me and my profession allowed my beliefs to grow. Something that you may not know about me is that I wear my heart on my sleeve. Having said that, I’m sure beliefs have been apparent to many other people. We’ll call it a fringe benefit.
Look at any profession and you will see a separation in the level of performers. More often than not, you can go back to their belief system. Don’t get me wrong. This is not always the case. There are lot of very high-performers that don’t have a great belief system. That doesn’t make them bad, just not in “the norm”. Also, you have to understand that when I say “belief system”, that doesn’t have to be the same beliefs as other high-performers.
When I went to AZ for surgery I knew that I was doing the right thing – even though doctors told me that there was a 25 % chance that conditions could worsen. There was even a chance that I could die. I had to believe that this was the best chance for a full recovery. It was not a difficult decision for me.
I firmly contend that MY belief system allowed me to make that decision. It has helped me get out of bed, meet with old friends and make new ones. Seriously, there are people that I’ve met with in the past 9 months that have never known Brian Wagner with two good eyes. My belief system has enabled me to have my picture taken and even write this blog.
When they were performing the surgery they had to opportunity to remove both cavernous malformations. For some reason they only took one. There must have been a reason that they didn’t remove the other. Yes, they said it was in a much different location. But, they had to believe my chance for a full recovery was better if it were left. I wonder about that other lesion every day.
However, my beliefs allow me to carry-on as if nothing has changed. One of these days, I hope to return to the Barrow Institutute in Phoenix and have the other cavernous malformation removed. It would be nice if that were not done as a necessity but as prevention. The former may mean a blog-writer (BW) that is a much different person … on the outside. This BW will certainly be the same on the inside. You’ve gotta believe.
- UPDATE – The old and the new - July 18, 2023
- Rehab is work - April 14, 2023
- I lost my wallet - April 6, 2023
