It has certainly been an “interesting” couple of weeks for yours truly. Yes, I had surgery. And if you would like the scoop, here ya go…raw and uncensored:

See, I’ve been struggling to breathe for longer than I want to admit, particularly through my nose.

I just assumed everyone else was operating like I was – ping ponging between chronically congested and severe nasal drainage.

So I approached it like I do most things: suck it up and push through it.

But it started to affect my sleep, and I don’t care how much you work out and try to eat well, it’s hard to be “healthy” when you’re always feeling tired and sleep deprived.

Finally, JoAnna (my fiancé) convinced me to see someone about it.

As I sat down with the ENT doctor, it took her less than 5 seconds of sticking her flashlight-thingy up my nose to say:

“Wow. You have a SEVERELY deviated septum.”

“Ok, got it. What can I do about it?”

“Surgery is your only option. You can try prescription nasal sprays if you want to, but it’s only going to provide minor relief. You’re never going to breathe the way you’re supposed to unless we operate on it.”

You can probably guess this by now, but I HATE surgery. I haven’t had one since high school. It’s probably the control freak in me that wants to make everything better all by myself.

But, if I was being completely honest, I’d tried everything already. Neti pot, nasal saline rinses, sprays, allergy medication, humidifiers…

None of it was helping.

So I scheduled surgery for June 1st.

For the deviated septum, they basically break your nose to make it straight again. They would also do a “turbinate reduction” (small tissues in your nostrils) to reduce inflammation so I could breathe better.

The aftermath of surgery was ROUGH. I had an ice pack on my forehead, had to sleep in a chair for three nights to stay upright, and had bandages and gauze pads taped below my nose to catch the blood that was dripping.

Aren’t you glad you’re reading this lovely article?? :-)

But each day it got a little better, and on Tuesday, I went into the ENT for the post-op.

After they pulled out the two stints (they were keeping my nose straight as it healed) with their pliers-type-thingy, it was amazing…

I could breathe!

I was truly at a loss for words. How do you describe something you’ve never felt? All I could say to the ENT doctor was, “Thank you! I feel like I was blind and now I can see!”

If you’ve gotten to this point, you’re probably wondering what my take-home message is? As I reflect, it’s simply this:

It can be easy to fall into the mindset of, “I guess this is just the way it’s supposed to be” – especially if the other side is somewhere far away. Or somewhere you’ve haven’t been in a while. Or somewhere you’ve never been.

But so much of what I talk about in speeches is defying conventional wisdom and challenging your self-limiting beliefs.

For a long time, I believed:

1) I could do it on my own
2) there were no good options
3) I had to lower my standards of what I deemed “normal”

I’m not sure where this finds you at the beginning of June, but if you are doing this in any area of your life (personally, professionally or athletically), I’d encourage you to not be a way-too-stubborn-German like me and to open yourself up to the possibility of BETTER.

You’ll be glad you did. You deserve it.

Thanks for reading and keep Outperforming,