Fwd: Trevor's 4 Self Challenges
Garth Gilchrist
The following came in from Trevor this afternoon. He and I are going to speak tonight.Incidentally, it looks like he and Abbey are likely to break up, so he’s feeling pretty tender.Is anyone available on the phone at 5:00 or so today?ESent from my iPhone
Begin forwarded message:From: Trevor Stevenson <trevor.jay...@gmail.com>
Date: January 2, 2019 at 12:48:22 PM PST
Cc: Elliot Cahn <cah...@aol.com>, ga...@garthsgardens.com, Taylor Fogelquist <taylorfo...@gmail.com>
Subject: Trevor's 4 ChallengesElliot, Taylor, and Garth,My apologies for being slow in getting back to you on my prep for the initiation process. I'm incredibly excited about this, and am really looking forward to working with you and with the other men in Truth Tribe.Below are my thoughts about my four key challenges. Elliot and I will be meeting by phone tonight to talk through this a bit.Should I send this to anyone else in TT? I'm happy to share this with anyone.Thank you so, so much.Trevor
Please list 4 areas that are challenges for you or where you would like to grow, and where you would like to use Truth Tribe as a vehicle for making progress.
Challenges:
1. Purpose
I need to revisit and recommit to my purpose in life. I’ve drifted into accepting the purposes prescribed by others, or by society in general, and have lost my drive towards what I know to be true for me. I would like to present my purpose, and be thoroughly questioned and challenged about it, until it feels rock solid and I’m on track with it.
2. Focus
For most of my life, “focus” has been my superpower. When I can bring absolute focus to any task, I can outperform anyone or overcome almost anything. I’m increasingly finding that my ability to bring that focus is significantly weakened when I’m feeling disconnected from purpose and community, so that’s part of the issue here. But there are also some bad habits and lack of discipline through which I’ve allowed myself to lose focus on what matters, and do things in a half-assed way, or take a long time to find the focus to finally do them well. I’d like to be supported and challenged to bring focus more consistently into more aspects of my life.
3. Community
I thrive in community. I love living in a social fabric with friends, family, acquaintances, and even adversaries. For most of my life I’ve lived in situation where this happened fairly organically: rural areas, indigenous communities, universities, etc. But I have no real idea of how to find or build community more intentionally, especially in more urban contexts where people ironically seem to be very isolated. I would like advice and support on how to build community, in a bigger picture way than just the Bay Area, that I can apply for the rest of my life, anywhere I go.
4. Connection
Deep connection with others is the most meaningful thing in my life. I love having trust with people to challenge and be challenged by them in ways that help us grow and evolve. However, I’ve allowed myself to stay for 7 years in a relationship that has almost no “connection”, and I haven’t done a good job forging new connections (such as deep friendships), or even maintaining many of my older connections. I’m at my best in person, but need to be challenged and supported in creating and sustaining connection across time and distance, via modern technology and cultural norms, in addition to making very intentional effort to connect regularly with people in person.
