Yew!

Today’s newsletter is a bit atypical… so if you’re new here and this is the first email you’re receiving from me, make sure you go back and check my previous emails so you get the vibe of what I do: CLICK HERE TO CHECK MY PREVIOUS EMAILS

Let’s dive into today’s:

Thoughts about Friendship

So, as I said, this newsletter will be slightly different. It will be short and provoke you to do something.

But it won’t follow the usual structure. It’s worth it I think.

After spending two weeks with my childhood friends Esteban (aka Rolkeishon) and Ezequiel (aka Chiro) it turns out the impact is more profound than a simple holiday with mates.

So… when I moved to Australia 25 years ago I was very young and I left behind my childhood friends.

And although I went back regularly and experienced glimpses of their lives, they - on the other hand - never experienced my life.

They never saw or touched or smelt the stories I told them of squeaky white sand or coffee as good as it gets.

Finally, over the last couple of weeks and after 25 looong years my dearest friends got to see it and experience it with me.

There is something powerful in reconnecting with the YOU you used to be.

The one before kids and partners and jobs and businesses and taxes and responsibilities.

And, weirdly enough, it’s still inside you and all it needs is a few days with those who used to share that context, to come out again.

I will from now on make a point of returning to those that shared a lot of my earliest memories to unlock that “me” that is still inside.

It was a cool “me” I hadn’t seen in a while!

I think it may have something to do with the way we store memories.
As you may know, we often use other people’s brains to store our memories.
Partners, kids, friends, parents, siblings etc.
You know when you recount a story or an experience and there are bits of it you have and bits they have and together it makes a full story and from then on, every time you recount it, you each own your bit of the story.

I think having them around meant the bits of the stories from my childhood I was missing got filled in, and fuzzy pictures became clearer.
Now the new memories we created over the last couple of weeks will be stored in three separate brains, each recalling parts - together the whole adventure.

I took them around Melbourne, had some epic coffees and some amazing food.
Urbn surf twice and 13th, Torquay and Bells!
We went boating in the Yarra and fishing in the bay.
We spent time in Byron Bay surfing with longboards, scuba diving with sharks, walking to waterfalls and of course chasing kangaroos and koalas.
We cooked asados at home, met some of our Aussie friends… cooked a lot, played a lot of cards, ran a lot and drove from Melbourne to Sydney just to talk for hours in the car.

I caught my pretty wife telling her sister something she noticed that blew my mind.

How simple but perhaps profound it is... she said something like:

“What I loved the most was that my kids got to observe three grown men wake up in the morning, kiss each other and genuinely acknowledge each other’s presence. The kids witnessed friendship between adult men in a way we don’t often see here and that was beautiful.”

Go find your childhood friends. Go laugh and reminisce with them.

Try to organise a little getaway if you can and be you - the friend - for a bit.

Not you the friend as well as the colleague and father and mother and partner and sister and uncle and… and… and…

Be just the young friend you used to be.

Thanks to pretty wife and my kids for helping me make it happen 🙏🏽❤️

Yew!

Till next week!

Gus

My recommendations:

This week I want to change it up and encourage you to consider helping my combat sports Olympic athlete friends who unfortunately don’t get the same level of funding as swimming does or any other “popular” sports but train just as hard and sacrifice just as much.

Anyway, if your business wants to get some epic packages that are more than just advertising, we are talking workshops, keynotes and tickets to Olympic parties… contact:

[email protected] 
www.combataus.com.au

Forwarded this email? Sign up here 

Follow me on Instagram and LinkedIn

LET ME HEAR IT

What do you think of this email? Tap your choice below and let me hear it 👇

🤘 MEH - NOT GREAT

🤘🤘🤘 PRETTY GOOD!

🤘🤘🤘🤘🤘 AMAZING - LOVED IT!

HIT REPLY and share your thoughts on what you want to have more in this Newsletter!