Time to Face the Truth: Why You Can't Lead

My summers were miserable...

They were filled with:

- Soaked t-shirts,

- Water drunken from boiling hot gallon jugs

- And endless football practices

(Even though I convinced myself I hated the sport) became the norm.

My dad is a dead simple man.

One of his favorite things to do with my brother and I at the time was to take us to a field—often an elementary school, that was nearby and we'd run, play football, and eat copious amounts of watermelon and pickles.

He'd quite literally drive his car onto the field, blast whatever nonsense was on the radio, take his shirt off, and run.

My brother and I would follow suite, as sitting in the car was a recipe for burning alive in the North Carolina heat.

I used to hate this.

I'd much prefer to stay inside and play competitive matches of counterstrike.

But looking back, these are memories that I'm very fond over.

I didn't know it at the time, but watching my dad endlessly run around that field on those hot summer days taught me something special.

I was learning how to lead.

My dad never told me the benefits of exercise while sipping on a beer and crushing a slice of pizza.

He showed me. We would:

- Run together

- Lift together

- Hike together

- Fish together

He led by example.

He didn't preach me, he showed me.

And damn did we (my brother and I) complain.

There were times where I shamefully had full breakdowns because my dad—who was a football coach for a youth team, would make me come to practice.

I just wanted to sit at home and play videogames.

It's a shame it took me years to realize the true value in what he was teaching me...

I'm so glad for everything he did.

But wait... there's more!

The full version of this newsletter is here: nequea.blog

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