Thanksgiving 2014: Why I Am Thankful For Failure (Among Other Things)

Wednesday at the Trocadero

Thanksgiving is such a wonderful holiday. It is one in which we pause for a moment to celebrate and reflect on what it is we appreciate and love in our lives.

We are spending Thanksgiving week in Paris. I am writing this from a tiny, stereotypically Parisian apartment we rented on the Ile St. Louis. We will be spending the actual holiday in Reims, starting with a 10am champagne tasting at Ruinart. Believe me: I am incredibly thankful for this experience.

On this day of reflection, I am sharing what else I am grateful for this year. I would love for you to share what it is you're grateful for in 2014. Please post in the comments section


On Failure
2014 has truly been one of the most trying years of my life. As many of you know, I left a job I loved last year. I am probably one of those people who gets way too much of my self-worth from what I do professionally. It's the way I am wired. I love to work. I thrive on frenetic chaos. My passion is covering sports and the stories that make our favorite pastimes so compelling. I miss it.

"Sometimes you kick. Sometimes you get kicked"

-- Andrew Farris & Michael Hutchence

Don't let anyone tell you differently: being a sportscaster is a pretty kick ass gig. For more than a decade I enjoyed every aspect of that kick ass gig. Ever since I left CBS11, I have wanted to get back on the air in a full-time capacity. For reasons that are far too lengthy to share here, I haven't succeeded. That hurts. And that leaves me with a sense of failure.

On Gratitude 
As frustrating and disheartening it is, I am grateful for that failure. I believe in the learning opportunities and growth that come with failure. This past year has introduced me to new experiences I would have never enjoyed. I have grown professionally in other areas of my life and parlayed that into amazing new professional opportunities.

This has been rewarding on many levels. It's also a lesson many of us learn. The hard way.

On Rebounding
Ultimately, I am hoping to rebound and land back in a newsroom. During my senior year of high school I was the leading rebounder in entire city of Dallas among both public and private schools. Granted, most of them were offensive rebounds off my own misses. Hey, they still counted.

I bring this up because I have handled failure well in the past. This time, though, the rebound has been harder to come by, or grab, if we're talking basketball terms. I believe in drawing on past experience to help us handle issues in the present. That particular faith is one of the few things that keeps me going.

Here's hoping that rebound (for both you and me) is just an opportunity away.

Thank You
Most importantly, I am so thankful for YOU: readers of this blog, friends on social media and the loved ones I spend time with daily. Thank you for being an integral part of my life offering feedback, compliments, criticism and kind words. They all mean the world.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend!