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The John Challenge

  • Published
  • By Lt. Col. David Eisenach
  • 20th Aerospace Medicine Squadron
SHAW AIR FORCE BASE, S.C. --  John changed my life. Who is John? He is the most courageous man I have ever met.

To be honest, I really do not know him well. I only met him for ten minutes; nevertheless, those ten minutes had a profound impact.

The day I met John, I was in pain and had not slept for days. I had severe stomach cramps and was in the hospital waiting room anticipating the results of a CT scan when John sat down near me.

I did not notice him since I was listening to a podcast on my phone. After a few minutes, John started to talk to me. I really was not in the mood for a conversation. I was in pain and I wanted to be left alone, however, I could tell he was nervous and wanted to talk to someone, so I put my headphones away.

I am glad I did.

After a few minutes of conversation, I found out John was in his early fifties. He had a daughter close to my own daughter’s age. He lived in the local area for around 25 years and was a big college football fan.

John then told me he had prostate cancer.

He was diagnosed with the disease a few days earlier and was in the hospital waiting to see if the cancer had spread. I did not know what to tell him. I just listened. He said that the cancer was not going to defeat him.

As John was called back by a technician, he told me something that I will never forget. He told me to be grateful in life.

John then left and I never saw him again.

When I finally left the hospital and arrived at my home, I became emotional. I kept thinking about John. His story shook me to the core.

I pondered what he told me and I asked myself: Was I showing enough gratitude in my life?

I reflected on this question for some time, eventually reaching an epiphany. I needed to show more gratitude. I was taking life for granted and decided I needed to make a change.

Right then and there, I started the John Challenge.

The John Challenge is a daily gratitude practice, named in honor of the courageous waiting room warrior I met. I got the idea from a book called “A Simple Act of Gratitude: How Learning to Say Thank You Changed My Life,” written by John Kralik.

In this book, the author decided he needed a change. He was going through a rough patch in his life where nothing was going right for him personally and professionally.

One day, Kralik wrote a simple thank you note to someone and it gave him a sense of inner peace. He decided he wanted to experience this feeling every day, so he challenged himself to write a daily thank you card for an entire year.

This simple act changed his life by making him a more content person and better spouse, father and leader.

Following Kralik’s advice, I bought a number of thank you cards and started the John Challenge.

I attempted to write a thank you card every day. I wrote thank you notes to my immediate family, my friends, co-workers, squadron members and other acquaintances.

I even wrote a note to my daughter telling her how proud I was of her and a long overdue note to my wife telling her thank you.

I wrote a note to my mother as well. This note was particularly important to me because I felt, at times, I have not been there for her since my father passed away two years ago. I thanked her and let her know how much I admired her toughness and courage, knowing that this is what my father would have wanted me to do. The note was therapeutic and strengthened my relationship with my mother.

I have noticed other positive outcomes since I started the John Challenge. I have connected with other family members and friends in a deeper, more meaningful way than I have ever experienced.

The challenge has made me appreciate life more, made me a better leader and has had a positive impact on the 20th Aerospace Medicine Squadron.

Due to the John Challenge, our squadron has more trust and cohesion as well as increased morale. I feel my squadron members truly know that I care for them. I even see some of the thank you notes hanging up in their cubicles.

I wrote thank you notes before the challenge, but now I write them more frequently and more focused. Before the challenge, my thank you notes were more generic, but now I take more time writing them and think more of the individual attributes of the person I am thanking.

I recently had an Airman tell me he never received a handwritten thank you card like that before and how much the note meant to him.

Even if you choose not to write handwritten notes, I encourage everyone to start their own John Challenge. It changed my life, and it will change yours by making you a better person, giving you a better sense of inner peace and contentment, as well as giving you more patience and empathy.

The members we are entrusted to lead need to be told how much they impact the lives around them and how courageous they are joining the military in a time of constant conflict.

I feel leaders should follow the timeless words of Dale Carnegie written in one of the best-selling books of all time, “How to Win Friends and Influence People”.

Carnegie writes that we need to be hearty in our approbation and lavish in our praise.

You will not get what you want in life without being grateful for what you have. The John Challenge will give you this perspective. I encourage you to give it a shot.

This one goes out to you, John. I hope you are out there and get to read this. I think about you every day. My thoughts and prayers are with you, brother. I cannot express enough gratitude for inspiring me to be a better person.