You got what you worked for. Now you’re asking if this is all there is.

The promotion. The house. The weight you lost. Did any of it make you greater?

More than 1,500 gratitude lists written over more than a decade. Hundreds are here to read. They began as a way to commune with my Creator and to stave off depression. I never meant to publish them.

Ask AI Abe

Free thirty-minute conversation with me. Or ask AI Abe, which answers from the writings published here and isn’t me live. Five free questions a day.

Portrait of Abe Newmeyer, smiling, in a black three-piece suit with a purple tie

Be Greater

In three parts.

What happens inside them is shared with the people who join.

Get exactly what you want

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

Enjoy the getting

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

Love what you already have

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

This isn’t for everyone.

I would rather say so now than waste your time or mine.

For you if

You’ve achieved something real, and it didn’t finish the job.
You’re strong in one or two areas of your life and lacking in others.
You know it costs time, effort, energy and resources, not only money. This takes work too.

Not for you if

You want to be motivated. This isn’t that.
You want results guaranteed. Nobody can promise that.
You already have the answer and want agreement. You’ll get my honest read instead.

About

Untethered at 45

My parents died within seven months of each other, and they weren’t the first people I loved to die. I sold the house I grew up in and left Fort Worth. I wrote the first draft of my first book in 72 days in Rio de Janeiro, then came back to the States and spent about a year as a FEMA disaster inspector and then an SBA loan officer. On Thanksgiving Day 2018 I flew to the Philippines on a one-way ticket that was meant to cover five or six weeks. I’m still here. Before all of that: financial services, life insurance, auto sales and retail.

In February 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 still write.

Abe Newmeyer is the name that fits who I am now. The man I was before died on February 1, 2024.

Close portrait of Abe Newmeyer in a navy suit with a purple tie and a purple paisley vest

Begin to Be Greater

There is one of me, and a lot of you.

I give each person real time, so each day has a limited number of conversations. When they’re taken, they’re gone until tomorrow.

Thirty minutes, free. By the end we’ll both know whether working together is right. Answer three short questions, then choose your time.