After more than a year away from the mic, I’m finally back. Last September, shortly after returning from a trip to Turkey with my dad and stepmom, I received news that changed everything: my cancer had returned — and this time, it had spread to my brain. Everything stopped. And then… I went into shame. I’ve always promised to show up authentically here. But when I was barely figuring out how to breathe through the news myself, I didn’t know how to coach, inspire, or even speak into the mic. So I hit pause. This episode is not a recap of the past 200+ episodes. It’s something deeper. Over the past year — while I wasn’t recording — I was learning. Living. Stripping things down to what actually matters. In this comeback episode, I’m sharing the five biggest lessons the past 12 months taught me across all six pillars of F It: Faith Family Food Fitness Forgiveness Formula These aren’t lessons I researched. They’re lessons I lived. 1. Faith Isn’t About Certainty — It’s About Anchoring in the Storm When my cancer returned, certainty disappeared. The timeline. The plan. The control. Gone. And for a season, I didn’t use my faith as an anchor. I was angry. Confused. Upset. My world felt like it was falling apart — and by many accounts, it was. What I had to relearn is this: Faith isn’t believing everything will turn out exactly how you want. Faith is having something steady to hold onto when nothing makes sense. Storms are guaranteed. Being swept away isn’t. And I’m still working in this area. 2025 was a year of survive instead of thrive. But I’m already feeling an awakening — and it’s rooted in faith. 2. Family Is the Real Scoreboard When everything else slowed down — the podcast, the business, the content — one thing didn’t stop. Family. Erik. My kids. The people closest to me. I used to measure progress by output: Episodes recorded Clients served Content created But when your health pulls the rug out from under you, you realize something fast: The real scoreboard isn’t downloads or dollars. It’s whether the people who know you best actually feel your presence. If life pulled you out of the game tomorrow, would the people closest to you know they were your priority? If that question makes you squirm a little, that’s not guilt. That’s clarity. 3. Food and Fitness Are Medicine This year cemented something I’ve taught for years: Food and fitness are not about shrinking yourself. They are medicine. During treatment, a calorie deficit wasn’t even a thought. What my body needed was nourishment: Enough protein to repair Enough fuel to support my immune system Enough energy to keep moving forward And muscle? Muscle is medicine. The strength I built before treatment became my reserve. It carried me when my body was fighting. It gave me resilience when so much felt out of my control. If you’re constantly cycling through restriction, overtraining, or under-eating, you’re robbing yourself of the very medicine your body needs. Stop training to punish your body. Start fueling it to survive and thrive. One day, you’ll need that resilience. 4. Forgiveness Starts With Yourself The hardest forgiveness this year wasn’t toward anyone else. It was toward myself. When I stepped away from the podcast, I felt guilt. Like I was letting people down. Like I wasn’t showing up. The internal voice was brutal. But I had to learn this: Forgiveness isn’t excusing everything. It’s choosing not to carry shame forward. “Yes, this season looked different.” “Yes, I couldn’t do it all.” “And I am still worthy.” If you’re carrying guilt for quitting a diet, missing workouts, or not being as consistent as you wanted… Put the brick down. Forgiveness isn’t a free pass. It’s freedom. And you cannot move forward while dragging shame behind you. 5. Formula Isn’t About Control — It’s About Flexibility If you’ve been around me, you know “Formula” is one of my six F’s. But here’s what this year taught me: Formula isn’t rigid control. It’s flexible structure. Discipline and willpower will fail you in a storm. But systems? They carry you. For me, that looked like: Daily Agreement Cards Journaling A simple training structure Core meals I could rotate Not as shackles. As anchors. If you have no system, stress forces you to make a thousand decisions in real time. If you have a formula, you adjust — but you don’t quit. Build systems that work on your best days and your worst days. Perfection isn’t the goal. Stability is. What’s Next This is a new season of F It. More real conversations. More depth. More integration of faith, family, food, fitness, forgiveness, and formula — not as theory, but as lived experience. Thank you for being here — whether this is your first episode or you’ve been with me since Episode 1. We’re not chasing perfect. We’re choosing anchored. If this episode resonated with you: Share it with someone who needs it.Leave a review.DM me on IG and tell me which lesson hit home. If you enjoyed this episode, make sure and give us a five-star rating and leave us a review on iTunes, Podcast Addict, Podchaser and Castbox. https://lovethepodcast.com/f!it! 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