I woke myself up in the middle of the night last night and my mind was racing.

It had been a long weekend of running around from basketball game to basketball game with my daughters, which was a joyous distraction from the “real” world. Mixed in between the basketball games were some very hard conversations I was having with my wife on a number of topics. They were honest, but at some times contentious, discussions about the state of our world on a variety of fronts. The details of each conversation are complex, tedious and not fit for public consumption. They are however, an important backdrop to why I woke up in the middle of the night with my mind racing.

Hard conversations like the ones we were having can challenge you in so many ways. They can challenge your thinking on a subject. They can challenge you to look differently at your own habits and patterns of behavior. They can challenge you to look at the world in a different light. Some conversations, if they are really hard, can challenge your ability to get enough rest. This was the case of this past weekend for me.

It’s not unusual that I wake up in the middle of the night with something on my mind. There is a lot going on in the world and my mind never picks a perfect time to race those things through it. Some nights I wake up thinking about world events. Other nights I have an idea for a song (which I never write down and always lose before I wake up.) Last night I had an idea for a change in direction for my whole outlook, I would call it…My Comeback Story.

Comebacks come in all shapes and sizes. Often they are used in the context of sports. My favorite sports comeback of all time was when the New England Patriots were down by 25 points (28-3) in Super Bowl LI against the Atlanta Falcons with 2 minutes to go in the 3rd quarter. The Greatest Of All Time (GOAT), Tom Brady, led his team to the greatest comeback in sports history to win 34-28 in the first overtime game in Super Bowl history. It cemented his already impeccable legacy as the greatest to ever do it.

• Should I pause here to go watch the YouTube video of that comeback? No…stay on task*

Usually a comeback is needed when a team or a person is at a low point and extraordinary measures are required to bring them back to the top of the mountain.

So, why am I in need of a comeback?

When I woke up last night I was thinking about the difficult conversations my wife and I were having about the state of my career and what it meant for our future both financially and mentally. We were discussing the changing landscape for my business and how customer expectations have shifted away from the skills I have long excelled at. Customer expectations have dramatically shifted in just the last few years for a variety of reasons and that means reassessing how I can meet those expectations with the skills that I have or the skills that I have to develop.

My Comeback Story, I thought, could be a blueprint for those who may be in a similar situation as I am. I run a small business with a stable set of clients who have shifting expectations and a world that is changing what it wants and needs from companies like mine over the next decade and beyond. I could lay myself bare and share my journey to rediscover the vibrancy that once propelled me to success as a business owner. The journey would touch all aspects of my life both business and personal and along the way I could meet new people, develop new skills and help others who find themselves in this season of life.

This is the beginning.

Beginning can be hard. There is uncertainty in a beginning that can leave you staring at a blank page with nothing to write. There is fear in a beginning that can leave you paralyzed at the thought of success or failure. There is heaviness in a beginning that can leave you unable to pick up your foot to take a first step.

Beginning can be exciting. There is hope in a beginning that can leave you daydreaming of successes to come. There is joy in a beginning that can leave you breathless with excitement. There is lightness in the beginning that can leave you ready to fly to the top of the mountain.

I welcome you to the beginning of My Comeback Story. I am almost certain it will lead me somewhere I am not expecting to go, but I am ready to take the leap. After all, you can’t write a storybook ending if you don’t write the beginning.