Happy Ranch Safety Day

8 years ago today my life changed forever.

More specifically, my brain changed forever.

While riding a 4-wheeler, I was overly aggressive trying to get a cow to move toward the corrals. "Penning". She was resistant and I was angry.

I over-corrected and was thrown onto the sun-baked pasture ground. The back of my head hit the ground and I blacked out. At least that is what we assume must have happened. I have no memory of it.

Nor do I have many memories from the following three days. I remember scenes, still-life pictures of visitors to my hospital room. I don't remember the doctors or nurses. I remember refusing to let Lindsey leave on the day I was to be released, because I was afraid she wouldn't come back, or that the doctor would change his mind if she wasn't there to bail me out.

I'll write a lot more about how that event changed me, but for today, I'll remember the most practical lesson I learned.

Write things down.

In the 3 weeks that followed, I was home-bound. No driving, but lots of visitors. I don't remember half of them, but I knew at the time that I would have that problem. So I wrote them all down. I wrote their (your) names, what we talked about, what food you brought.

I turn to that notebook about this time every year.

Since that time, I have learned the power of writing things down. It releases my mind, lets me think clearly. To-dos, tasks, thoughts, ideas. I don't write as much as I'd like to, but I still preach the gospel of getting it down. I love lists, but more than that, I love shared lists. If you tell me to remember something, I will laugh in your face. It's a gamble you shouldn't take, resting your message in a dented brain. But I'll write it down and we'll both know the thing exists outside somewhere, where I can trust it, find it, apply it.

Writing builds trust.

So here's where I'll begin my step-up into writing more.

I'll keep the good stuff at Notes from Red Tower. Better-edited and more thoughtful, the things I want you to know and share.

This will be my working journal. I'd love for you to join in. Sign up, get the emails, comment here or reply back with your thoughts.

Honestly, if you do none of those things, or even if you sign up and then unsubscribe, I don't mind.

I just need to write it down.