I am an extremist.

In 1st grade, I had memorized the capitals of every autonomous nation on the planet and read the entire Bible twice…but I still needed to wear Velcro shoes because tying knots was just a little too overwhelming!

I once thought a High School English assignment was lame, so I “spiced it up” with some quixotically iconoclastic pizzazz and got a zero…and the failed paper helped earn me an $85,000 full-ride scholarship into a Broadcast Journalism program…which I then declined!

During my General Surgery rotation, the attending physicians quickly tired of quizzing me on the components of the hepatoduodenal ligament and the territories supplied by the superior mesenteric artery…I thrive on answering test questions! But on more than one occasion, I missed out on chances to practice my suturing technique because I violated the sterile field trying to put on my gloves!

I recently hopped on a high-speed treadmill going 15 mph and held the pace for 2 minutes…but I can’t stay on a skateboard for even 2 seconds!

I don’t do well with boxes. I don’t fit in them, and I even more deeply resent checking them. If the majority of the world’s population can do it, then I probably struggle. And I have a pathologic aversion to minutiae that can lead to dramatic catastrophizing and fabricated apparitions of conspiratorial sabotage.

Thankfully, God has blessed me with wonderful friends and an amazing wife to talk me down from the self-made ledge and help me tie my proverbial shoes. Without all of you, I’d still be on the Treadmill of Despair. God is good