{"id":1690,"date":"2017-01-01T09:55:27","date_gmt":"2017-01-01T16:55:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nehrlich.com\/blog\/?p=1690"},"modified":"2020-11-19T07:37:15","modified_gmt":"2020-11-19T15:37:15","slug":"2016-year-in-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nehrlich.com\/blog\/2017\/01\/01\/2016-year-in-review\/","title":{"rendered":"2016 Year in Review"},"content":{"rendered":"

After I pushed my limits physically and mentally last year<\/a>, this year was a much quieter year – let’s call it the Year of Recovery. <\/p>\n

The big event for me personally in 2016 was that I had a traumatic bike crash on May 3rd. I was on a morning ride with some faster guys, and descending a road I knew well (84 from Skyline). I was taking the turns a little faster than usual, confident in my skills and trying to keep up with the bike racers, and so I was going close to 30 mph when I whipped around a turn and hit the bump shown here (it hadn’t been there previously, and was less visible until the cops circled it in orange when they showed up to direct traffic after the crash).<\/a> I lost control and went off the road – no cars were involved, thankfully. The guys I was riding with called 911, and I woke up on the side of the road with the paramedics there, but no memory of what happened. I was taken to the hospital on a backboard in an ambulance, and was diagnosed with a severe concussion (two brain contusions visible on the CT scan) and two fractured vertebrae (C6\/C7 – yes, I literally broke my neck). But I was very fortunate that it wasn’t worse – I could easily have been paralyzed or killed. I had to wear a neck brace that immobilized my neck for three months while the vertebrae healed, and do a bunch of physical therapy after it came off, but was able to avoid surgery, and am now mostly fully recovered. <\/p>\n

So much of 2016 was spent recovering physically and mentally from the bike crash. But it was a good opportunity to reflect on my life and what matters.<\/p>\n

And for me, it all comes back to people. My posts on gratitude<\/a> and generosity<\/a> were inspired by my renewed appreciation for the people in my life. I had a rotation of close friends coming by to visit in the weeks after my crash, bringing food or taking me out to dinner, but more importantly, helping me stay connected when I was home alone all day. <\/p>\n

This reminder of the importance of people also inspired me to focus more on helping people; in particular, I have spent more time on coaching and mentoring in 2016. My broad experience and perspective has been useful to a variety of people, including engineers, designers, entrepreneurs and non-profits (I’m now advising two non-profits, one as a board director<\/a>, and one as an advisory board member). This was also the motivation behind my series of posts on how to design one’s life<\/a>. I have really enjoyed the time I have spent helping people find their path, and plan to make this a continued focus in 2017, including starting formal training as a coach. Please contact me if you are potentially interested in getting coaching or mentoring from me – you can read recommendations from a few people on my LinkedIn page<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Beyond the crash and coaching, my life has mostly remained the same:<\/p>\n