Press Start: Taking Ownership of Your Health

In December of 2001, just a few days before Christmas, I made one of the worst decisions of my life. I had been drinking, and I decided to get behind the wheel. I thought I was in control. I was 22 years old, stubborn, and convinced I had life figured out.

I didn’t.

To understand that moment, you have to understand where I came from.

I grew up on the Nambe Pueblo reservation in northern New Mexico. We didn’t have much money, but we had family, culture, and a strong sense of community. Life on the reservation teaches you resilience early. You learn to work hard and make the most out of what you have.

When I was seven years old, my father was incarcerated. From that point forward, I grew up without him in my life. Like many young boys in that situation, I had to figure things out on my own and lean on the strength of the people around me.

Sports and physical activity became an outlet for me. Lifting weights and pushing my body gave me a sense of control and direction when other parts of life felt uncertain.

But by the time I was 22, I was going through a difficult period. The attacks on 9/11 had just happened. I had recently left the U.S. Naval Academy, and I felt like my life had lost its direction. On the outside, I tried to convince myself I was still in control. On the inside, I was struggling.

Then came the accident.

The next thing I remember is waking up on Christmas Eve in the intensive care unit at St. Vincent’s Hospital in Santa Fe. The last thing I could recall before that moment was leaving a party during a snowstorm a few nights earlier.

My truck had rolled over on Highway 285 between Santa Fe and what is now the Camel Rock Casino. I had passed out at the wheel and veered into a dirt median. By the grace of God, I was the only person involved in the crash.

The doctors later told me something that stuck with me forever. They said the reason I survived was that my body was strong. At that point in my life, I had been consistently lifting weights like most young guys trying to build muscle. That strength likely saved my life.

I walked away with a concussion, a C5 nerve impingement in my neck that I still feel today, and a deep cut in my knee when paramedics pulled me from the wreckage using the jaws of life.

Physically surviving the accident was a miracle. But it also forced me to start asking some hard questions about the direction of my life.

A Hard Look in the Mirror

I also made another important decision after the accident. I needed to change my relationship with alcohol. I had already had too many close calls, and that night was a wake-up call.

I didn’t quit drinking entirely at that time, but I did change how much I was consuming. I became more aware of the role alcohol was playing in my life and started drinking far less. It was one of the first steps toward making better choices and taking more responsibility for my health and my future.

It would take another twenty-one years for that lesson to fully take hold. On January 1, 2023, I decided to remove alcohol from my life completely.

Looking back now, I realize that the seeds for that decision were planted back in 2001, when I first started taking ownership of my life and my health.

Lessons Learned

The lesson I learned from that moment is simple.

Your life can change with one decision.

You don’t have to be an athlete. You don’t have to be in perfect shape. You need to take the first step.

Walk for ten minutes. Pick up a weight. Go outside and move your body. Do something today that moves you forward.

And if you’re not sure where to start, that’s exactly why we built the Performance Ranch.

Schedule a free Strategy Session with our team and let us help you create a plan that fits your life, your goals, and your future.

Because your health is the foundation for everything else in life.

Press start.

Live life beyond the gym walls.