Circle of Trust

I’ve been thinking a lot this week about what to say during this CoT.  Typically, I don’t put a lot of thought into it, I just say thanks for coming out and we end with a quick prayer.

But something changed this week and I felt nudged to share.

We had an fng at HH last week and as the site q, I gathered his info and put it in the system.  When I went to send his slack invite, I started spewing out “it’s a great group, you should come back” … that kind of stuff.  For whatever reason, I decided to share what happened to me for it to ‘click’ that f3 was for me and why I went ‘all in’.  Here’s why …

I came out on Saturday, August 18th on an invite from Enron who started the week before. I didn’t really know him that much but a few of us have kids the same age so we were acquaintances.  But he managed to get me and Half Price out on the same day, a Saturday during IPC week.  Needless to say, it sucked.  But I loved being active again.

So I went 3-4 times for the next 5-6 weeks.  I had posted around 15-20 times when I had to take a break.  My mom got really sick and she ended up passing on October 14.  This is when it ‘clicked’.  We had her service on a Saturday and there was a pretty large turnout of friends, family, coworkers … the typical turnout you would expect.  What I didn’t expect was to see f3 guys there.  I’d only been going a few weeks and hadn’t met many people, but there they were.  5-6 guys, a couple I hadn’t even met before, showed up, offered their condolences and gave me a hug.  There was also a huge flower arrangement that was donated by the f3 brothers.  It was a great show of support and a clear example of what f3 was all about.  The guys genuinely care for each other … whether they know you well or not.

This is how it felt for me for a long time.  I really enjoyed everything about it.

Lately, it’s been different.  A lot of new guys.  The pandemic.  No BR.  A lot of the original BP folks don’t show up to BP as much anymore.  It’s just not the same.

What I’ve realized is … it’s not the same because things change.  Things evolve.  It’s on me and others to ensure we are doing all we can to make sure each fng has the same feeling I did.  It’s on us to show them it’s more than a workout.

This has re-energized me and I’m all in on paying it forward.

#morethanaworkout