Something Bad Happened? Good.
Not because the setback is good — but because of what it can build.
Find Gratitude In the Suck.
Read on kevferrell.com
Welcome to Rewire | Reboot, a weekly newsletter where I share reflections from my ongoing personal growth journey and provide tested ideas, frameworks, tools and practices to help you create the life you want.
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In this issue:
- Rewire - When the Terrain Changes
- Reboot - Modify. Don’t Quit.
- One Action - Flip the Script
Rewire - Idea I'm Exploring
When the Terrain Changes
Oftentimes our path in life doesn’t unfold the way we expected.
You lose the job.
The business hits turbulence.
A customer walks.
An injury sidelines you.
A relationship ends.
The terrain shifts beneath your feet.
When life forces you down a different path it doesn’t automatically mean you need to change your destination. You’re still moving toward the same place. You’re just taking a different route.
That’s resilience.
That’s adaptation.
I’ve experienced monumental setbacks across business, family, relationships and health. In the middle of them, they can feel insurmountable. Disorienting. Unfair. And lead you to ask “Why me?”
But when you come out the other side and look back, a different truth becomes clear.
Each one played a role in shaping me.
Each setback carved something into me that comfort never could – more resilience, patience, perspective, composure. You become harder to rattle. More unflappable.
You rarely see that while you’re in it. Growth doesn’t announce itself. It just quietly reshapes you.
When the terrain shifts, I come back to a few anchors.
First, get clear on what has actually happened. Strip away the emotion and look at the facts. What's the worst-case and where are you really today? Big feelings can distort reality. Clarity shrinks panic.
Then separate what’s in your control from what isn’t. You can’t control external forces or other people’s actions or decisions.
You can control your response. Your next move.
Acceptance follows. Not resignation. Not defeat. Just a grounded acknowledgement: This is the situation. Energy spent fighting reality is energy you don’t have for forward motion.
From there, ask a better question.
Instead of “Why is this happening to me?”
Ask, “What is this teaching me?”
Identify the opportunity it presents instead of ruminating on the loss.
Look for the good that comes out of the bad.
No job? More time with your family until the next opportunity.
Business is struggling? A forcing function to sharpen the model.
Injury? A chance to reset and rebuild smarter.
Find gratitude in the suck.
Not because it’s pleasant – because it’s powerful.
Gratitude doesn’t deny the difficulty you’re facing. It prevents bitterness from taking root.
Then identify the next logical step. Shrink the horizon.
Not the five-year plan. Not the perfect solution. Just what will move you forward today?
Send the email.
Book the appointment.
Go for the walk.
Update the resume.
Start the rehab.
Action breaks rumination. Momentum rebuilds confidence. Confidence restores belief. Belief fuels persistence.
What you can’t do is give up. You can’t quit.
Because when you quit, there is only one direction left — and it isn’t up.
Quitting closes doors that setbacks never did.
The terrain will change. It always does. Your job isn’t to avoid that. It’s to stay steady enough, grounded enough, resilient enough to keep moving toward where you said you wanted to go – even if the road looks different than you imagined.
Years from now, you may look back at the very moment you wanted to give up and realize: That was the turning point.
Reboot - Health & Longevity
Modify. Don't Quit.
For me right now, the terrain shift is physical.
Years of heavy lifting, escaping choke holds and throwing elbow strikes have taken a toll.
The current scorecard: structural damage in my neck, nerve impingements and three out of four rotator cuff tendons torn in my left shoulder. I trained through it for well over a year. Eventually, it caught up.
If you spend your life testing limits, eventually something gives.
The traditional path was clear.
The surgeon’s view: operate.
Pain specialists: manage the nerve symptoms with medication.
Both valid. Both common.
Instead, I chose to experiment with a different route first — mesenchymal stem cell therapy paired along with peptide BPC-157 through a reputable longevity lab.
Mesenchymal stem cells are known for their regenerative and immunomodulatory properties. At a high level, they’re thought to help signal repair by reducing inflammation, recruiting healing factors and potentially supporting tissue regeneration in damaged areas like tendons and joints. It’s cutting-edge science, still developing, not Health Canada or FDA approved for orthopedic repair, but actively being studied.
Body Protection Compound 157 (BPC-157) is a synthetic peptide derived from a protein found in human gastric juice. Early research suggests it may support healing through mechanisms like improved blood vessel formation, tendon-to-bone healing and soft tissue repair. Again, promising, but not definitive.
This isn’t medical advice. It’s an experiment. I’m the guinea pig. I’ll report back.
What’s been harder than the injections themselves is the protocol around it.
A week before treatment, I had to stop all supplements. No cold plunges. Minimal training such as stationary cycling, walking, light mobility work. Those restrictions continue for ten days after, followed by a slow six-week ramp back toward baseline.
For someone who hasn’t missed a single day of cold exposure in years, who treats training as non-negotiable, who builds life around disciplined routines – that messes with your head.
Strip it all back to almost nothing and you feel it immediately.
Energy dips. Soreness lingers. Everything just feels…off.
Training isn’t just exercise for me. It’s fundamental. It’s identity. It anchors me.
The good that comes from this bad? Proof that the habits matter. And the opportunity to reset and build back better.
The lesson? Not training the way I want to isn’t the same as doing nothing.
So I walk, stretch and find movements I can do.
No heavy loading? Then precise bodyweight work.
No standard push-ups? Modified one-arm push-ups.
Limited range? Then controlled range.
No cold plunge? Accept it. Reset.
Small wins still count.
Recovery isn’t about stubbornly forcing the old plan. It’s about intelligent modification. Regressions before progressions. Assisted range before full range. Full range before loading.
After tearing my quad tendon a few years back – surgery, 10 weeks immobilized, many months of rehab just to bend my leg again – I went all-in on corrective work. The result? My knees feel better today than they did in my twenties.
Injury doesn’t mean stop. It means adapt.
What I won’t do is quit. I won’t use it as an excuse to slide backward.
Instead, I create a plan for healing. For rebuilding. For returning stronger and smarter.
That’s resilience in practice.
The next 6–8 weeks will tell a story. I plan to follow up with the results of imaging and a surgical consult to objectively assess structural changes. And I’ll share how it feels, performs and functions in real life.
Consider this the beginning of the experiment.
Stay tuned.
One Action
Flip the Script
When something goes sideways this week, pause. Before reacting, ask: What could this be teaching me?
Find something good that comes from the bad.
Find the gratitude in the suck.
Notice how it changes your next move.
Let me know how it goes. Just reply to this email.
Recommended - Watch and Listen
"Good"
A must watch (only a two minute video).
Jocko Willink - "Good"
Jocko is a decorated Navy SEAL officer, author, leadership instructor, speaker and executive coach. His message is inspiring.
“When things are going bad there's gonna be some good that’s gonna come from it.”
Get after it!
Inspiration
May I have the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference.
– Reinhold Niebuhr
Reader's Corner
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Until next week,
Kevin
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