Category: News (Page 22 of 25)

2019 Pre-Blast Is Here.  What are you going to do with the next 365 days?

First, I just want to send many thanks out to the 2018 F3 Gastonia Leadership Team, Site Q’s and all the PAX.  It was quite a year of growth and impact. 

Second, I want to thank all of you for the opportunity to be the Nantan for 2019.  I am grateful and honored for the opportunity.  I am looking forward to what 2019 has in store for us.  We have a great group in place to help lead us on the 2019 journey.

Let’s be serious though, F3 is not about one person or even a small group, it’s about the entire PAX and what we accomplish collectively.  We are always looking for thoughts and ideas on how we can be more impactful. 

I plan to focus on several things in 2019 but one of the biggest will be encouraging personal growth.  That is, what are you doing to grow personally away from your weekly posts at workouts?  It’s easy for me to forget the mission of F3 is to “plant, grow and serve small workout groups for the invigoration of male community leadership.”  It’s not to have workouts to get in better shape, even though that is a huge byproduct of what happens.  It’s about impact (my word for 2018 by the way).  It’s about self-awareness, discipline and accountability.  We are compelled to help ourselves and each other be better in all facets of our lives, not just our physical well-being.  I have found reading to be the single biggest factor that has helped my personal growth and will be sharing books, podcasts, articles, etc throughout the year that I feel might be worthwhile to read or listen to. 

This was an extreme year for me personally, both high and low.  I experienced first hand the support that F3 gives to the PAX during the low after the loss of my Father.  I experienced the high of F3 as I completed the training required and ultimately finishing my first half marathon with several other PAX.  This is one of the reasons I felt compelled to get more involved in the leadership of our group.  I believe strongly that F3 can fill a void that is missing in many men’s lives.  Most of these men don’t even know it’s missing.  I didn’t realize it before F3.  I believe I’m a better man for it.  I believe there are many more out there we can positively impact. 

We can EH a few more and Kotter a few more to come back and get them more consistently to workouts and events.  We’ve had a lot of men show up 1 or 2 times and not come back.  This is something we can improve on. 

We have several new things happening with the first being the launch of the Q Source in our Region being led by Pizza Man.  He has already sent out details but please look to get involved in that.  We may be adding another workout, some Rucking events, CSAUP’s, 4^th year anniversary (that’s hard to believe), Nation events, Speed for Need races, local races, 2^nd & 3^rd F opportunities, Community Service Opportunities, planned Whetstone growth, etc, etc. 

2019 can be a year where we all accelerate some or decelerate.  The decision is our own.  I need some help to continue to accelerate and am looking for help from all of you.  That man beside you tomorrow morning might be looking for that help.  You never know what is compelling someone to show up. 

See you in the gloom.

Aye!

Stroganoff

An F3 Story.

Exactly two months ago today, my life changed in a dramatic way.  My Father passed away after a very short illness.  We received his diagnosis of Stage 4 Lung Cancer on August 20^th, he died 13 days later on Sunday, September 2^nd.  Those 13 days were a whirlwind of sadness, pain, agony, fear, anger, frustration, exhaustion, etc.  I could go on and on.

What does this have to do with F3 you might ask?

I have a terrific family, many friends (some far away) and acquaintances through Church, community organizations, from high school and college, work, etc.  Some of these people I have known for 35 – 40 years were not the first persons I thought of or the first persons to reach out to me.  As those 13 days were passing and I realized he was not going to recover, I found myself wanting to reach out to my F3 Brothers for support first.  Now, I did have support from my brother and mother but that is different.  Even with that, I was not really sharing with them what I was feeling or looking to them for support, I found myself wanting to support them more than looking for help from them.  I had support from some longtime friends but some were hours away.  As we’ve heard before in F3, proximity matters.  I had support from our Church and family as well but I found it to not be the same.

During those darkest moments of despair, the first persons that came to mind that I wanted to see and share my grief with were the guys I had been spending hours with in the gloom over the past 3 ½ years or so.  It was the guys I had spent nights out in the middle of nowhere and suffered through 30 hour relays with.  It was the guys that I had attended other visitations with to support another F3 brother in need.  It was the guys who helped push me up Crowder’s Mtn for a 2^nd time during the Climb CSAUP.  It was the guys who might check on me if I haven’t been to one of my normal AO’s in a while.  It was the guys that helped me train for weeks and weeks to accomplish a half marathon for the first time this past Summer.  It was the guy who beat me in a 5 mile race by .7 seconds and won’t let me forget it.  It was the guys who I believe know me now better than some of the people I have known for 35 – 40 years.

The day after my Dad passed was the Labor Day Murph at Martha Rivers.  I wasn’t sure what to expect or if I could even get through it.  I decided to go….I decided I needed to go.  I needed to burn off some anger; I needed to start getting all this emotion out of my system.  I needed to see the men who inspire me to be better each day, who push me to be better.  I went through the entire workout without sharing it with anyone there even though a few guys knew from the previous day.  I struggled through it but got through it.  After the workout, Roscoe asked my permission to share with the group.  He did and at that moment, you guys lifted me up.  For the first time, I personally experienced the power of the shield lock.  I had been on the outside of this before in the last 3 ½ years, but never the reason for it.  I immediately felt different.  I felt supported.  I did not feel alone.  I felt like I would endure whatever was to come in the coming weeks and months.

The visitation was one of the hardest days of my life.  However, the burden was lightened for myself and my family (especially my Mother) as so many of you came through to pay your respects.  My Mother knows how much F3 means to me and she was thrilled to meet so many of you and hear about how some of you got your F3 Names.  She actually smiled during some of those explanations and introductions.  We were overwhelmed with the support.  If you ever wondered about moments like this and if your words of support, notes, texts, phone calls, etc. make a difference.  I can assure you they do make a difference.

Every day since September 2^nd has been a struggle.  Each day brings a new thought, memory, count (as in today marks two months), level of sadness, joy, anger, despair, hope and fear. It sucks.  But I know I am not alone.

When I first showed up at the Schiele in April 2015, I had no idea where this would take me.  Something told me I should go and it’s been one of the best decisions of my life.  Maybe someone knew why I would need this group in the coming years, maybe it was just luck, I don’t know.

Men have lots of struggles these days and one of the biggest is loneliness and lack of connection with other like-minded men.  F3 can be the cure for this.  It has been for me.

With my faith, I believe I would have eventually struggled through the last 2 months.  Without F3, I’m sure it would have been more difficult and less hopeful as I would not have had the workouts and fellowship to help me get to this point.

I will never get over this but time and the support from so many will help me begin to heal a little more each day so I can get past the pain to move on toward the great memories and lessons I have from my Dad.

Last thing I want to share is something I’ve learned about the F3 Rock.  We get better by pushing the rock each day and helping each other push the rock.  We also have the opportunity to pause when needed to be the rock of support for those in need.  You guys have proven this to me over the past 2 months and I thank you.

I challenge all of us to continue to spread the word about F3.  I’m sure there are more men out there like us who would benefit from this.  They know something is missing, they just don’t know exactly what it is.  We can help others in the same manner you all have helped me.

See you soon again in the gloom.

Aye!

Stroganoff

F3Gastonia Whetstone has been up and running since July.  Many Stones and Blades are having conversations every few weeks or so; one pair almost weekly. The PAX into it have good things to say, so it must be moving them to advantage.

But remember that not every meeting brings immediate results; sometimes it takes a while for things to get moving. If that’s the case, try to continue for another few meetings. If it’s really not working, let’s talk. Sometimes the Stone & Blade just aren’t the right fit. There are PAX willing to serve as Stones who are currently unmatched, so we can reshuffle a pair.

New initiative: Have a good conversation and don’t mind posting some insight? Create a new post as if you are writing a backblast and give us a few sentences, a paragraph or two.  (HT: Roscoe for the idea)

Monk