This morning I came across two pictures from 2024, two years ago. One is me standing on a bridge. The other is a sunrise. Both represented something significant for me: a new dawn, a new beginning.
I’d reached a point then where I felt like my life was completely starting over. And now, looking back in the rearview and thinking about the time that came right before that, I find myself incredibly grateful.
There was a time when my rearview was larger than my windshield. I remember a buddy telling me that. There was a time when the rearview seemed like all I had, and the windshield was nothing but a dark storm ahead.
How did I make it through? And how would I ever get to a place where I can honestly say I look back through the rearview with gratitude?
Today, I can say I am thankful. Thankful for everything I have today and the fact that I am here and have this life to live.
Now, my rearview gives me perspective for the windshield ahead. It gives me gratitude for the opportunities, the moments that I have, and the people that come into my life.
Without the rearview that I have had, I don’t think I’d be as thankful as I am now. I know that I wouldn’t be the man that I am today. And I can’t imagine looking at the future with this perspective if it wasn’t for that rearview mirror.
When I see myself standing on that bridge, I see a stronger man. A man whose character was shaped, and still is being shaped, by the storm he went through. And when I see that sunrise dawning at a time when I felt like I had lost so much, I feel overwhelmed with the privilege that each new day brings — an opportunity to connect with one person at a time, an opportunity to continue to share my story.
So I guess I wonder today: What in your rearview has defined who you are today? What is something about you that has changed because of what you can look back on, no matter how good or how difficult it was?
I’m a curious man, and I’d love to know.
-Alex Gerber, September 4, 2026
