Mentor vs Mentee, can you be both?

One of the principles I live my life by is "to always have a mentor" and as I've gotten older I picked up this one "to always be mentoring." The question is, can you do both, or be both the mentor and mentee, within the same relationship?

For those of you who don’t know, I’m a 3D Dood, that’s a dad of only daughters, having three adult ladies whom my wife and I love and cherish. I wouldn’t trade them for the world and am thankful that God has chosen me for this unique and yet difficult, assignment. I do however, love the opportunity to mentor (or be reverse mentored) by some incredible young men. I would like to highlight one of those guys, AJ Agazarm.

A.J. and I first met at my church here in Columbus, Ohio, in 2008 courtesy of the one and only Tom Ryan, Ohio State University's highly respected head wrestling coach. He was looking to impress the coach and hopefully walk onto the team and when Tom invited him to attend that Sunday, he accepted. We hit it off quickly, spent a lot of time together and ultimately I hired him to work with me, first as an intern and then a sales assistant" role at my last company, Tom James.

Over the years, this relationship with A.J. has gone from acquaintance to friend to employee to partner to RevLocal sponsored athlete but through all of that, he’s become like, to be frank, a son... I mean, straight up family. The reason for this is because of the value we have given each other through our mentor/mentee relationship and the storied path we have traveled together. But you know what, I've been learning a lot through all of this ups and downs of this relationship, as well.

To be honest, it hasn’t always been sunshine and unicorns. As a matter of fact, we have had some serious knock down, drag outs. (Verbally not physically, thankfully for me) If you know him at all, you probably know why. But through his hard headed-ness and stubbornness, I've also seen perseverance, discipline, tenacity, resolve and resilience displayed. These are all traits, that I'm reminded to exhibit in my life, even as this June, I celebrate my "double nickle" birthday.

Those in the BJJ and grappling world either love A.J. or they hate him. After a year actively fighting, the MMA peeps are starting to fall into one of those 2 camps, as well. But you know what? I love this guy. I see where he’s headed, I see who he’s becoming, I see the maturation process occurring and through it all, I’ve got his back. I pray God continues to work in him, bless him and keep him safe in his professional fighting career with Bellator MMA. (3-1 record so far, ayyyy)

If you don’t have this kind of relationship. I would suggest, pray and ask God for guidance as to who to spend your limited and valuable, time with. Once you've found that person (or people) add massive value to their life, then look inward and be coachable yourself, be open to learn from them, and see then where it goes.

12 years into this relationship, I have found that as for mentor vs mentee, if your heart is in the right place... yes, you can be both. #2ndhalf