For those who want to dig deeper into the story, first let me say how glad I am that something here sparked your curiosity. My hope is that these pages take those small embers and blow them into a full blaze that pushes you toward your own goals. Because this is a published book, I’m limited by word count, pacing, and whatever artistic choices made sense at the time. That means plenty of good material gets left on the cutting-room floor. If you’re interested, this is the place where I can break the fourth wall and expand the story without worrying about space—only the cost of bits.

A few rules before you follow Alice down the rabbit hole and dive into these footnotes:

1. This is spoiler territory at the highest level. Proceed at your own risk. Honestly, why ruin a good story for yourself? Read the book first; these notes will make far more sense afterward. Some of you will ignore that, read the footnotes first, and then complain in the comments. And all I can say is: Really? I warned you. I will absolutely respond with that and link you right back here. So, for the love of all that is holy, if you haven’t read the book, DO NOT READ the corresponding footnotes.

2. I am intentionally breaking the fourth wall. I’m talking directly to you because I’m hoping to spark some kind of internal conversation—maybe even a small conversion. We can all get better. Better spouse, better friend, better listener. Just better.

3. Come into these footnotes with an open mind. Set your biases at the door. That means reading in a time and place where you’re actually able to think through what I’m saying, not react from habit or emotion. Don’t dismiss something just because it challenges your personal, cultural, or religious background.

4. I believe there can only be one truth. You can be deeply passionate and still be completely wrong. If you’re confident your belief is correct, then let it stand on its own merits and out-argue all challengers. Present a logical case. Let’s debate it.

5. No one likes a prophet, and by that I mean no one enjoys being confronted with uncomfortable truth—especially when that truth exposes a weakness. But being challenged is okay. Realizing you were wrong and learning from it is okay. That’s growth. And when you learn from someone else’s mistakes instead of repeating them yourself, that’s wisdom. Either way, you come out better (See rule #2).

6. If something here hits a nerve, don’t get emotional. Ask yourself why it triggered you. You’ll learn far more about yourself and the topic when you can set emotion aside long enough to think clearly.

7. Lastly, the books come in pairs, which means the footnotes are organized according to those pairs. This is a Microsoft quirk: even when a footnote is hidden in the second book, the software still counts it in the first book. So the footnotes in the first book of each pair will appear in oddly numbered, not in numerical order. When you read the second book in the pair, every footnote becomes visible, they will be in numerical orde