Hey, I’m Aaron…

Hey, I’m Aaron. And this work is the foundation of my life’s purpose.

When I was a kid, I wanted to fit in more than anything. One day, some kids in my neighborhood built a sketchy little bike ramp. It hadn’t been tested. It wasn’t safe. I knew that. But the pressure to be accepted was louder than my inner voice. So I volunteered to be the first one to jump it.

I crashed hard. I hit the pavement, almost lost my eye, scraped my body head to toe, and ended up in the ER with several stitches. What hurt even more than the physical pain was the continual mocking, laughing and subsequent shame I felt.

That moment stuck with me.

What I really needed wasn’t toughness or embarrassment. I needed someone to kneel down, look me in the eye, and say, “It’s okay to cry, Aaron. It’s okay to be you.” I needed someone to speak to my heart, not just tell me to shake it off. I needed to learn the power of self-compassion.

Instead, I learned to blame others, suppress emotions, and disconnect from myself to belong. Those patterns followed me for years. Like many boys, I grew up without the emotional tools to navigate pressure, accountability, or self-compassion. That lack of guidance eventually led me into adulthood—and fatherhood at sixteen—before I truly understood myself.

As I got older, I began working with men who were only then learning how to heal old wounds and develop emotional awareness. I kept asking them one question: “How much would it have helped if you’d learned these tools as a kid?” Every answer was the same—a lot.