Looking Back at 2017 / Forward to 2018

Letter 2017.12.29
Friday, December 29, 2017
11:05 PM
Brothers, it’s the perfect time of year to reflect a bit, and so I have. To cut to it, one thought I’ve come away with is a key to driving positive change in my life. Looking back it is easy for me to see that in order to experience growth, my focus should not be on mustering greater will power or strategizing better goal setting but rather in investing in a strong positive community. The power that comes from surrounding myself with a community of men that embody the change I wish to make, the vision I have for myself is humbling and undeniable.
Over the past 12-18 months I’ve seen my motivation to post shift from a desire to get more fit, to help others get better, to a bit of both. I have had no weight, muscle, or running goals for the whole year and yet I find myself in the best shape of my life. And the why behind it all is simply that I am trying to spend more time with some dudes that I enjoy being around. Don’t get me wrong, I still had to invoke some solid will power (aka discipline) to get myself up and get at it and I believe enough in goal setting that I have publicly made some tangible ones for 2018 but… I feel that both of those elements would amount to little if I didn’t have the men surrounding me that I do.
I have been challenged several times in my life to step back and see who I was spending my time with and what impact they were having on me and the direction I was heading; whether at work, athletics, spiritually or in general life. Who are the five people I hang with most? Heck, can I name five men that I even spend time with? What is our common element? If the connection with my closest friends stops at a shared passion for fantasy football, its time to think about where I want to go and who else is headed that way. Freed To Lead has a great chapter focusing on our male relationships and which of those bonds will survive the sifter of life. When your path hits the gravel, who can you turn to, who will stick with you?
My goal from here and my challenge to you is to not take the men around you for granted. Anyone reading this right now has a community around them that is trying to be better husbands, fathers, friends, neighbors…men. Embracing this opportunity, may we all invest in creating real bonds that survive the sifter and spur us on toward greater and greater endeavors.

With Peace

-SeatDown