In 2008, I was on top of my world. I owned a small business with 90 employees, 60 trucks and my company was grossing $5 million a year. By late 2009, my company had lost a major contract and slowly I went out of business. I was stressed and devastated of course. By late 2010, I had lost my cars, had to sell my house and moved 4 times with my wife and kids over the following years. I was sitting in my home one day, and I suddenly collapsed to the ground gasping for air. I thought I was having a heart attack. My wife called 911 and I was taken to the hospital where they ran all the tests to see if my heart was okay. To my surprise, I was a little embarrassed to find out my heart was in perfect health and what I suffered was a major panic attack. The stress had finally caught up to me. I was a little depressed and felt like I had failed my wife and kids. I continued to have panic attacks and depression for the next 6 months.

Was this the end of me? What I did not realize at the time was that I had so much support from the people around me. I had not realized that this was also affecting the 4 other people in my life. It was not the money and the struggle we found ourselves in that was affecting them! It was the fact that a husband and a father was not there. I was so worried about my stress and panic that I did not stop and think about what my wife and kids were going through. Then it hit me. It was like I ran into a wall. I let go!

I have always had a no quit attitude, I just fell into a slump. I read The Secret, I watched the movie. I followed all of the teachers in the book. I lifted myself up off the floor and just started to change my perspective. I started to visualize what I wanted to be as a person. I realized one thing that completely snapped me out of it. I was being grateful! I was grateful for my wife and kids, my in-laws and my parents and siblings. I was grateful for all of the friends in our lives that helped out when we needed it and were there for us. That feeling started to overwhelm me. I began to get my passion back and my desire to share. I realized that what happened to me was nothing! It was not cancer! It was not death! I was still breathing. That I had unconditional love coming my way. That I could possibly help other people to see this, too!

My passion to help children turned into a book series. I was sitting at my night job one day and it just hit me. I said, I am Grateful Bob. I though it had a nice ring to it. I immediately started to write a story based on my own life and combined it with my son Bobby’s life. This combination led to my first book, Grateful Bob: The Beginning. As I wrote, I realized that this was going to be my way of sharing with the world. I could send a message and help people get by. Hopefully my story can become a movement of gratefulness! The Universe is sending me all of the right messages and it makes sense. It all started with The Secret book. When I read this book, it changed my outlook in life. So all of the circumstances in my life where I thought I was a victim, I now realized that each one was a lesson. So I thank you Rhonda, for helping me make that leap into the possibility of helping people. I have just launched my website and book series and I hope I can help at least one person, like you helped me. #gratefulbobmovement

Thank you!