I first remember hearing the term Renaissance Man when I was nine or ten years old. I found it fascinating that a person could be skilled at so many things. From that day forward I have purposed to be a Renaissance Man.  The term is not strictly a “man” thing either. I was also blown away that the term Renaissance Man was also used to describe Catherine de Medici who was a woman (look I was nine). She was an absolute force not only in her time, but in any time. My recollections are of going to the library to get books about people who fit this amazing description (yes, those papery things bound by glue and cardboard). Those books were filled with people who advanced science, spoke languages, were warriors, poetic, artistic and simply heroes in a time before Instagram. I decided I wanted to be one of those people.

It occurred to me at some point that those larger-than-life characters in the history books had to learn things to be the examples they were. This epiphany led me towards lifelong learning. Looking back on my years, many of the decisions I made were driven, consciously or unconsciously, by my desire to be a Renaissance Man. I joined the US Military, I studied piano, I had a passion for learning languages, I studied science at university (Physics rocks!), I had the privilege to travel.  All these things made me the man I am today. I have been blessed to be extremely accomplished in many of my pursuits. However, I am not as accomplished as some of the examples from history. While it saddens me at times, I still strive every day to learn more, become more. I would never trade my life of learning and gathering experiences for a different journey.

Contemporary Renaissance Man is my personal brand website and, to some extent, my catharsis. It is a description of who I am and covers the breadth of my personal experiences and interests. In a way, simply building the website and having a Blog is growth for a dude of my years. The content will seem eclectic and perhaps that is what I learned from those original “Renaissance Men”. It stands as a testament to their examples, an inspiration to all of us to go do things, to never stop learning. “This guy is trying something else or learning a new thing” is my unifying mantra. Perhaps this will even be a testament or inspiration to younger people to go do things. This Blog is a reaction to my triumphs and my own feelings of failure. One of my sayings to my sons is “It isn’t failing that defines you, it is your reaction to failure that defines you”. I include my failures here just as I include my triumphs choosing to embody the spirit of a Renaissance Man. You may judge the success of it and, I hope, gain inspiration from my journey.

Thank you for visiting!