From LinkedIn

6:05 in the Gym Parking Lot

This was originally posted on my LinkedIn on August 17, 2026.

It’s 6:05 in the morning and I’m sitting in the gym parking lot after finishing my workout.

A year ago, getting up at 5:00 to go to the gym probably wouldn’t have been very high on my list of things I wanted to do. Actually I’m lying…it wouldn’t have been on my list at all.

Cancer changed that.

The last year put my body through a lot. Cancer, chemotherapy, procedures, appointments, scans and everything else that came with it. I was incredibly fortunate to have an amazing team taking care of me through all of it, and I couldn’t have asked for better care.

But one of the things cancer takes from you is control. For a while, it felt like cancer was making most of the decisions in my life. It decided where I needed to be and when I needed to be there. Treatment decided what was going into my body and how I was probably going to feel afterward. My calendar revolved around appointments, procedures, blood work and scans. Plans became tentative because I didn’t always know how I was going to feel or what the next result might bring.

Even the waiting wasn’t mine to control. You get the scan, go home and wait for someone else to tell you what happens next.

I had an incredible team helping me through all of it, but they couldn’t give me back the one thing cancer had taken away.

Control.

I’ve been thinking about that a lot lately while I’ve been trying to get back into the gym. Some mornings I actually enjoy being here. Other mornings I spend the drive questioning why I couldn’t have decided to get healthy at a more reasonable hour.

I’ve spent a lot of my adult life taking care of other people. That’s certainly true in my career, and becoming a chief only added to that responsibility. Then I became a husband and a dad, and taking care of people took on a whole different meaning.

Somewhere along the way, putting myself last became pretty easy. Work was busy. I was tired. There was always something else that needed my attention. I could eat better next week. I could start working out Monday. There was always another Monday.

Until cancer showed up and reminded me that none of us are promised another Monday.

I don’t pretend that going through cancer gave me some profound understanding of life. It didn’t. But it definitely changed the way I think about my health and how casually I used to treat it.

I want to be around to watch my daughter grow up. I want as many years with my wife as I can get. I want to keep doing a job I care about and have enough left in me to take care of the people who trust me to lead them.

Going to the gym at 5:00 doesn’t guarantee me any of that. If anything, the last year taught me just how many things in life I can’t control.

But this morning I got to decide to get out of bed. I got to decide to come here. And I got to decide to do something good for my body instead of having something done to it.

That may not sound like much.

After the last year, it means a lot to me.

Want to see the conversation? Read the comments on LinkedIn.