In my late 20s, I learned how to meditate.
Not because it was trendy,
but because something inside me was asking for quiet.
I needed grounding.
Stillness.
A way to quiet the noise.
Silence became my anchor.
When I was newly married at 30, my meditations changed.
What once felt light and calming became dark and heavy.
Something deep in my body and soul knew something was wrong.
Because I had trained myself to slow down and go inward, I listened.
I remember going to talk to my wife after a meditation and saying:
“Joanna, I think I have testicular cancer.”
No symptoms.
Just knowing.
I went to the doctor.
Stage 1 testicular cancer.
Seventeen radiation treatments later, I was one of the lucky ones.
I caught it early —
and I am deeply grateful and blessed for my wife, Joanna,
and our kids, Jacob and Aria.
I often wonder where I’d be today had I not invested in silence.
Today, silence is non-negotiable.
It’s how I ground myself.
It’s how I reconnect with my soul.
And it’s how I recalibrate in a world that never stops making noise.
Why silence matters more than ever:
• We check our phones nearly 100 times a day
• We’re interrupted every 3 minutes
• It takes 23 minutes to refocus
As I look ahead to 2026, I’m noticing something about myself.
When I rush, I lose the very thing that helped me listen in the first place.
So this is what I’m committing to:
Starting my day with silence.
Protecting a few one-minute pauses throughout the day.
Breathing.
Listening.
Letting things slow down so clarity can catch up.
One of the most meaningful things I read in 2025 wasn’t a tactic.
It was a belief.
In How to Make a Few Billion Dollars, Brad Jacobs shares how intentionally he built his life and work around stillness.
I recognized myself in that.
“Meditation is not a luxury. It’s a competitive advantage.” — Brad Jacobs
If your mind is already telling you that you don’t have a minute, that’s probably the exact reason you need one.
