"Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great." Mark Twain

This weekend I am going to be rappelling down the side of a building for an organization called Shatterproof My sister, Lori, is involved in the Shatterproof’s mission of bringing attention and better treatment to a disease known as drug addiction. We are hopeful that if recognized as a disease that requires treatment, rather than a stigmatized weakness, many lives will be saved.

In 2013, Lori’s son, my nephew, Matthew, lost his girlfriend to a relapse and heroin overdose even as the two of them had built over 2 years of sobriety together. These were bright kids and they were doing well, but drug addiction is a powerful illness.

My sister’s friend Gary Mendell’s son, Brian, lost his battle with addiction in 2011, and Mendell felt that it was time that people addicted to drugs in America had the equivalent of an American Cancer Society. He founded Shatterproof in June 2012, the first national organization to protect children from addiction to alcohol or drugs, to spare others the tragedy suffered by his own family.

The name of the organization is based on the idea of not letting a shattering experience, such as the death of a loved one, shatter your commitment to a fulfilling and purposeful life. In any of your pursuits, you are likely to hit roadblocks, have breakdowns and sometimes simply lack the time, energy and resources you’d prefer to have in service to your goal.

I’m inspired to talk about being shatterproof and being unstoppable in your life. If you want to grow your business to the next level, take your career to new heights or reach high for anything you want in your life, you can get it by setting your sights to the goal and never giving up from making it happen. No matter what tries to break you, be unbreakable. Be unstoppable. Be shatterproof! Can you feel the energy that can be generated by that kind of commitment.

Our fund raising is centered around rappelling down the side of a 22-storey building in Landmark Square, Stamford, Connecticut. I will be among some one hundred people who will be raising money this way to bring attention to our cause in this all-day event on Saturday, Oct 10. While it is an exciting challenge to scale down the side of this building, the most rewarding aspect is doing this for a worthy cause. If the spirit moves you, please donate through my link. MY FUNDRAISING PAGE.

So what about you? In what way and toward what goal will you be shatterproof this week?