“Jon Dorenbos is a mystical individual. Life Is Magic shows how we will all make a choice happiness within the face of overwhelming odds.” —Ellen DeGeneres
An odd and empowering tale of resilience, forgiveness, and residing a lifetime of goal within the face of unfathomable stumbling blocks.
You may acknowledge him as an NFL All-Professional or as an elite magician who made the finals of America’s Were given Skill and incessantly seems on The Ellen DeGeneres Show. However Jon Dorenbos says that what he does isn’t who he’s. Who he’s is any individual compelled, at the such a lot smooth of a long time, to train himself into turning tragedy to triumph.
One morning in August 1992, while Jon used to be twelve years antique and residing a reputedly idyllic early life in suburban Seattle, he aroused from sleep for baseball camp. His dad waved goodbye. Later that day, Jon heard the scoop: his father had murdered his mother within the circle of relatives’s 3-automotive storage. Right away, his existence had shattered. He’d been necessarily orphaned.
Thrust into foster care at the same time as his father stood trial for homicide, Jon struggled. Left to himself, he came upon an not likely get away acting magic methods. When you discovered a strategy to regulate your fact after your dad—your hero—killed your mother, wouldn’t you dangle to it too? Then got here soccer, which equipped a unlock for all of Jon’s pent-up anger. In combination, magic and soccer stored him, major to 14 NFL seasons at the gridiron and raucous sleight-of-hand performances to packed homes around the globe.
In 2017, after being traded to the New Orleans Saints, Jon used to be identified with a existence-threatening center situation. He had a decision: holiday down, or—as he’d lengthy via now taught himself—jump again. “Talk to your self, don’t listen to your self,” Dorenbos advises for the ones moments while the internal voice of self-doubt screams.
In Life Is Magic, Dorenbos attracts a street map for how you can close that voice up via choosing happiness. At his darkest instances, he writes, he’s realized classes of affection, forgiveness, and perseverance. His tale is poignant and strong, informed via a charismatic and positive guy who has triumph over existence-or-demise demanding situations with grace, patience, a childlike feel of marvel…and jaw-losing card methods.
