It’s not about taking. It’s about giving and then being on the receiving end without expectation or hardship.
one of the core values we have at work is “Operate with a help first mentality.”
It’s a statement that has made significant impact on my life.
I’ve had so many giving conversations with that mentality to help people where I can and the fulfillment is amazing to me.
I've really never felt so blessed.
I’m going to tell you a story of something that just happened to me (today 3.22.2022).
Unbelievable.
A little background is one of my friends from growing up is in the Marine Corp. He’s still active so I don’t want to say his name on here.
He connected with me through my DM’s and we set up a call. He’s having some very unfortunate issues at home and also still dealing with PTSD from his days in MARSOC and Afghanistan.
He’s a servant at heart and backed our country in the worst times we’ve seen the past 20 years.
And now he’s paying for it through guilt and mistrust for a lot of good reasons.
He’s been released by the one thing he’s known for 20 years, and had no idea how to get himself out of a tailspin at home.
We’ve been having conversations back and forth about mindset.
How important it is. How it makes us feel, good and bad.
See something many people don’t realize is there are three kinds of thinking.
I told Brandon this and it rocked him. I could tell.
Negative thinking works 100%. Speaking it out loud gives it 40-70x more power.
Positive thinking isn’t sustainable. We’re human and our connection to negativity is engrained in us from a very young age.
Why?
Because by the time you were 13 you had heard “no” 165,000x and “Yes” only 5,000. That’s the AVERAGE!
That’s why!!!! Think about that for a second.
It’s hard to be positive all the time.
Moving on
Neutral thinking and focusing on daily activity. Right now it’s just the next step in the day.
We also made a deal to reduce drinking because it increases depression and get his ass outside and out of his environment.
A few weeks later I get a text message from him. Showing me a friend of his from MARSOC who will also remain nameless, didn’t want to live anymore.
He has been sleeping under his desk for weeks.
His PTSD was back and it was hitting him really, really hard.
When both of them were speaking early on Saturday morning something was wrong.
I spoke to My friend and realized that our friend needed help. Right away.
My friend told me that he was in McKinney, TX.
That’s 20min from me in DFW. I told Brandon that I would be there in 2 hrs to take him out to lunch.
We met and talked for a few hours. We talked about how to get tough times, what he’s going through and how it’s effected his entire life.
I want to take a moment here and recognize all of our service members and first responders. You are amazing humans that give with massive sacrifice.
Thank you.
PTSD is no joke for anyone, but I’ve seen more extreme cases from the military than anywhere else.
I want to make sure that you’re fully aware and please, text a friend you know from the military today.
There’s 365 days in the year and one dedicated to their service but they serve and keep us safe everyday.
Lucky enough I got a text a few days later that reminded me of how important just operating with a help first mentality can do.
In any situation.
This was two men sharing real life experiences with each other and learning from one another.
Read the text from Zach
I also want to acknowledge our networks and the people who helped make this possible.
WinRate Consulting, Break Free Academy, and Elite Meet. who are helping get this man the help he needs and deserves.
You never know what’s going happen but when you live by core values these are then you’re prepared for what comes at you.
If you’d like to give to Elite Meet please go to their website and shoot them a donation.
Let’s help out veterans out.
Go be a champion today.
And enjoy the journey! 👊🏻