When I stepped onto the stage at the AB Show, I could feel it. That quiet hum of anticipation mixed with fatigue. You know that moment before the lights come up, when the audience settles and exhales? That’s where transformation begins — in the breath between what was and what’s next.
I didn’t come to tell anyone how to be resilient. I came to share how resilience shows up when we stop trying to go back to what was and start committing to what can be. That’s what my Re³ Resilience Action Model for transformation is all about — three movements that mirror every season of growth: the Reckoning, the Revision, and the Renewal.
As I looked out over that audience of professionals, leaders, and recreation innovators, I saw the same thing I often see when I begin a keynote — good people wrestling with change. Before the talk, many of them were in what I call The Reckoning. It’s that disorienting phase where everything feels offbeat. Comments after the session confirmed it. Some said they’d been “stuck in a rut,” or that “change feels constant and exhausting.” Others admitted they’d been trying to get back to the way things used to be.
That’s the Reckoning. It’s when we’re longing for normal while living in a world that’s already shifted. It’s when we say, “We’ve always done it this way.” I’ve lived there, too — in that space where you just want to rewind life and unbreak what’s been broken.
But then, as we moved through the stories, something happened. I began to see heads nod, eyes lift, smiles emerge. The energy shifted. The audience began stepping into The Revision. That’s the moment a person starts to ask new questions — “There could be another way?” “What if I tried something different?” It’s the phase of curiosity, and it’s where imagination re-enters the room.
In those few minutes, people stopped seeing change as something to resist and began to see it as something to reframe. They realized that their own version of transformation didn’t have to look like anyone else’s. The Revision phase invites us to take ownership of meaning — to decide what the challenge will mean to us instead of letting it define us.
By the end of the session, something beautiful was unfolding. The Renewal was already beginning. You could hear it in the laughter, feel it in the posture of the room. Comments poured in afterward like, “I’m ready to tackle life differently,” and “This helped me see change through a new lens.”
That’s Renewal — the moment commitment takes root. It’s when people stop waiting for the old rhythm to return and start composing a new one. The Renewal isn’t easy. It’s gritty and uncomfortable. It’s that moment when you realize growth hurts before it heals. One attendee put it perfectly: “The pain gets worse before it gets better, but elevation is waiting on the other side.”
What moved me most about the AB Show audience was how willing they were to participate — not just physically through the Mentimeter polls or the call-and-response moments, but emotionally. They didn’t sit back and consume the message; they engaged it. They allowed it to confront their own stories of loss, change, and possibility.
I always remind people that resilience is not about bouncing back. If you bounce back, you land in the same place you started. Real resilience is about rebuilding forward. It’s about amputating the limits that keep us stuck in the past so we can elevate into the future.
The Re³ Model isn’t just theory — it’s motion. It’s action.
- The Reckoning asks, What must I accept that will never return the same?
- The Revision asks, What new vision can I cast?
- The Renewal asks, What commitment will I make to become who I’m called to be?
Every one of us is somewhere inside that cycle, often in more than one place at a time. We might be reckoning with loss at home, revising goals at work, and renewing hope in our communities — all at once.
As I left the stage that day, the crowd didn’t feel like an audience anymore. It felt like a team — hundreds of people ready to reframe their challenges and rise together. That’s what transformation looks like in real time.
To everyone who was in that room: thank you. Thank you for showing up with open hearts, for laughing, reflecting, and sharing your truth. If the talk stirred something in you — if you’re ready to continue your own Reckoning, Revision, or Renewal — I’d love to keep the conversation going.
You can schedule time with me through the link below. Let’s explore how your story of resilience can elevate not just your life, but the lives you lead.
Go forth — inspire your world.
