Abe Newmeyer
The Synthesizer
The promotion. The house. The weight you lost. Did any of it make you greater?
I asked myself that question for years. It took nearly dying to write the answer down. Be Greater is what came out of it.
Free thirty-minute conversation with me. Or ask AI Abe, which answers from the writings published here and isn’t me live.
Be Greater
What happens inside them is shared with the people who join.
Not what you were told to want.
That summer, unemployed, I told a close friend I’d be in the Philippines before the end of the year. He doubted it. I called him from Manila after Thanksgiving.
“I took a prep course, studied at home, and became immersed with the material. I passed the exam on my first attempt.”Setting the Stage, April 10, 2024
The process is most of the journey.
“From no routine to two or so hours of walking, running, reading and meditation to writing my gratitude lists. This routine I’ve kept the longest.”Back On Track, April 15, 2024
Easy to take for granted until it changes.
“Three months ago I couldn’t stand unassisted. Today, I’m able to get up and go for walks and what not without any pain medication.”Living Your Legacy, May 10, 2024
Who this is for
I would rather say so now than waste your time or mine.
For you if
Not for you if
About
Data entry. Waiting tables. Retail sales: home improvements, then hardware, then electronics. Network marketing. Life insurance. Financial services. Automotive. Over thirty positions in at least four industries. When the newness wore off, I got bored, said life is too short, and left to find my next opportunity.
I’ve buried two childhood friends, two best friends, and both of my older brothers, but my parents’ deaths were different. They died within seven months of each other. I’d always wanted to leave my hometown, and with them both gone, it took about a year to realize I was untethered. I sold the home they bought when they found out they were expecting me, and I left Fort Worth.
At 45, I flew to Rio de Janeiro. I knew no one in the country and didn’t speak Portuguese, but I knew that was where I would write my book. Seventy-two days later, I had the first draft of my autobiography. I came home and spent about a year as a FEMA disaster inspector and then an SBA loan officer.
On Thanksgiving Day 2018, I departed Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport bound for Manila. My plan was to return after about five or six weeks. As you read this, I’m still in the Philippines.
Along the way, living alone, I started writing a gratitude list every morning to fight off depression. Over time it became something more: the way I talk to God (My Creator). I never meant for anyone to read them. But if those conversations can help someone else, that matters more than my privacy.
On February 1, 2024, I was on the back of a motorcycle (a habal habal, as the locals call it) when a small cargo truck hit us from behind. I don’t remember it. I’ve only seen the security-camera footage. Five broken ribs, a broken right arm, three weeks in the hospital, and months of relearning simple things.
I understood how fragile life is. Everything I’d learned about getting exactly what I wanted, enjoying the process of obtaining it, and being grateful for what I had, even if it wasn’t perfect, could end the day I did. So, left-handed, I documented the systems that have worked, synthesized all the processes, and put it all together into the program: Be Greater.
The crash nearly ended my life. It also gave me the one thing I’d been putting off: a reason to write it all down.
The man I was before died on February 1, 2024. I’m Abe Newmeyer.
The footage
Raw security camera footage from February 1, 2024. It shows a vehicle collision. Viewer discretion advised.
A life in brief
Early career
Data entry, waiting tables, and retail sales.
Many careers
Network marketing, life insurance, financial services and automotive. Over thirty positions in at least four industries.
Loss
My parents died within seven months of each other. I sold the home they bought when they found out they were expecting me, and I left Fort Worth.
At 45
Rio de Janeiro. Seventy-two days to write the first draft of my autobiography.
Back in the States
About a year as a FEMA disaster inspector, then an SBA loan officer.
Thanksgiving Day 2018
Dallas/Fort Worth to Manila, on a one-way ticket meant for five or six weeks.
2019 and 2020
Living in Cebu, writing a gratitude list every morning. In 2020, The Corona Chronicles.
February 1, 2024
The collision. Months of recovery, and Be Greater is written, left-handed.
Today
Still in the Philippines. Still writing.
Begin to Be Greater
Each conversation gets my full attention, so I can only hold so many. Start with one question. Then choose a time that works for you.
Free. Thirty minutes. Two more short questions, then choose your time.