When Your Body Forces You to Listen
Let me paint you a picture of rock bottom.
102-degree fever. Completely helpless.
Unable to eat.
Barely able to drink water.
For 36 straight hours, I was confined to my bed, my body waging war against the relentless pace I'd been pushing.
This wasn't just a flu.
This was my body staging an intervention.
You see, I've been chasing ghosts on social media.
Getting caught up in this idea that I needed to be a millionaire with six-pack abs to prove... what exactly? That I'm successful? That I've made it?
Here's the truth bomb that hit me somewhere between fever dreams:
My kids don't give a damn if daddy has a six-pack.
My wife couldn't care less about visible abs.
The only person obsessing over this was me.
And why?
Because I saw others flaunting their physiques on Instagram?
Because I thought it would somehow validate my success?
Let's get real for a moment.
We're all running from something.
Maybe it's our past.
Maybe it's other people's expectations.
Maybe it's our own insecurities.
But when we're running so hard we forget to live, something's got to give.
For me, it was my health.
My body finally said, "Enough is enough," and it wasn't asking for permission.
It was demanding I listen.
As I write this, I'm still not 100%.
I'm easing back into work slowly – something the old Mike would have scoffed at.
But this experience has taught me something profound about success:
There's no victory in burning yourself out.
There's no triumph in sacrificing your health.
There's no achievement worth missing life for.
We get so caught up in proving ourselves – to our past critics, to our current competitors, to our social media followers – that we forget to ask the most important question:
What are we actually proving, and to whom?
I've spent years teaching entrepreneurs how to scale their businesses, how to create systems, how to build something bigger than themselves.
But here's what I haven't emphasized enough:
The goal isn't to work yourself to death.
The goal is to build something that serves your life, not consumes it.
Your business should be a vehicle for freedom, not a prison of your own making.
So here's my challenge to you:
Take a hard look at what's driving you.
Are you pushing past your breaking point?
Are you chasing someone else's definition of success?
Are you trying to prove something to people who don't matter?
Because here's what I learned during those 36 hours when I couldn't lift my head from the pillow:
The emails will wait
The calls can be rescheduled
The world won't stop spinning if you take care of yourself
Success isn't measured by how close you can push yourself to breaking.
It's measured by the life you build, the memories you create, and the impact you have on others.
And you can't have an impact if you're running on empty.
As I slowly rebuild my strength and return to work, I'm doing it differently.
I'm setting boundaries.
I'm listening to my body.
I'm remembering that there's more to life than the next deal, the next milestone, the next achievement.
Because at the end of the day, your kids don't care about your bank account.
Your family doesn't care about your social media following.
What they care about is you being present, healthy, and alive.
To your genuine success and freedom,
Mike
P.S. If you're pushing yourself to the breaking point, if you're chasing someone else's definition of success, hit reply with "BOUNDARIES". Let's have a real conversation about building success that doesn't cost you everything.
