Get Off the X is a feel-good book full of inspiration. This labor of love explains my path, and highlights the difficult decisions that I and others have made to push through fear, uncertainty, intimidation, and challenging circumstances to live the life of our dreams.
The every-day heroes highlighted in this book faced life-altering developments: teenage pregnancy, brain damage from a deadly car accident, profound learning disabilities, being taken hostage and used as a human shield by Saddam Hussein, unexpected job loss, and war negotiations with Iraqi insurgent leadership. Each story highlights tradecraft you can use to push through trauma, indecision and difficulty.
This is the book you’ve been searching for. It’s a windfall of encouragement to make the decision to move forward. If you want to live a life of meaning and purpose, you must dig deep to find the courage to get off the X. If we can do it, so can you!
This memoir is multifaceted. It is a deep dive into the trajectory of my career from graduate school to the clandestine training program, ten years of service in the CIA, and the amazing post-CIA career I’ve forged since retiring from government work. It delves into the psychology of espionage and provides a rare account of CIA counterterrorism operations. Breaking Cover is a front row seat into a life transformed by a career as an intelligence officer and the calling that was fulfilled after leaving the protected bubble of agency life.
Although the book is a memoir, you may see yourself in the pages and read it with a growing desire to push through your own fears. Breaking Cover is a page-turner that will have you wondering whether you’ve been holding back or playing it safe. Reading this book may cause you to re-think everything, to dig into that secret agent alter ego you have suppressed, to be all you’re called to be.
Dear Readers…
If you had told me early in my life that I would write two books, I would have said that you were mad. In no universe did I believe that I had anything worthy to say, or the skillset to write a whole book that would benefit others. Many people think that writing a book is a romantic endeavor. To me, being an author didn’t sound romantic, nor would the production of a book ever take the shape of a dream because it didn’t sound particularly fun or achievable.
Like many things in our lives, we are often called to missions that seem beyond our reach. Yet, we are called to do hard things and then share what we have learned, what we have gained, what God has wrought in our lives and character. We do this to help others on their journey. In fact, I believe that this is the point of life: live, learn, and pass it on. If you can take the difficulties, pain, and even suffering, and flip it for good — that’s the ultimate transformation.
Despite my flawed self-assessment, it turns out I could write a book. (I was right on one count: it wasn’tfun!) It was an inordinate amount of work filled with rejection. But the secret sauce—faith and perseverance—finally produced. After seven years of toil, my first book was published. When I get messages from people who have read Breaking Cover, I have no doubt that the challenges and pain required to bring these books to life was worth it. It is making a difference in other people’s lives.
Are you passing on what you have learned? Have you been able to take your life lessons and use the material of that struggle to lift others? I firmly believe we are all called to break our cover (self-limiting ideas and self-imposed obstacles) and get off the X of our comfort zones to build faith, courage, and tenacity, the currencies of the breakthrough.
