It’s been three years, but it turns out I’m still here.

So, what happened? Well, not to get too specific, but I’ve spent the last three years pouring myself into a venture I thought might be The Thing: the endeavor that would secure my family’s future, ultimately bringing us financial independence and allowing me to spend more time doing the things that are important to me. Like working on my book. Or this blog.

Like the pursuits that help me stay sane, but don’t do anything to keep a roof over our heads, or gas in the car, or food on the table.

So I gave it everything I had. I poured my sweat and blood, sometimes literally, into this endeavor I hoped would be The Thing. And I quit doing pretty much anything else. I didn’t even finish the last megapost I promised you. I haven’t written a word here, or on my book, or pretty much anywhere except what was necessary to move this great endeavor forward.

And my family went into it right beside me, investing dollars and sweat and blood and tears to try to make a go of it.

And now it looks like that endeavor is coming to an end. And we’re not financially independent. And we need to figure out what to do next.

That’s the hard news. If I look at it the way I would have three years ago, it would be easy to think of it as a failure. Hell, more than that: a big-F-word Failure, a life-defining exclamation point to the phrase I’m just not good enough.

But I’m not the same man I was three years ago, and I don’t see it that way. Not anymore.

The way I see it, I stepped up. We all did: stepped up to do something really hard, spent three years working together, sweating and bleeding together, learning a thing or two about ourselves and each other.

And the things we learned are so much more important than whether we succeeded or failed. Because one of the things we learned is that we can do it: we can set our sights on a goal and work together to make it happen. Even when the goal is difficult. Even when we might have to risk our future to make it happen.

So whatever the result, whatever comes next, we know we can face it together.

We know this isn’t the end. It’s just another beginning. We have some ideas. Some of them will be hard. Some will require us to take risks—of time, of money, of effort. Many of them are scary to think of.

So now we choose a path and start forward. Without a clear vision of what the future will hold. Without knowing what changes might lie ahead to make our efforts easier or harder, simple or impossible.

But, hell—isn’t that the kind of thing this site is all about? It’s hard to move forward without taking some kind of risk. And if I can toot my own horn just a little bit, that’s going to take some courage.

If this site is useful to you, maybe you’ll come back. I’ve set a goal to post here 26 times this year, so I’ll be back with personal updates, as well as the same kind of content I created for you before.

Happy New Year, and I hope to see you again soon!