Latest / The Strategize, Adapt, and Overcome Podcast by Brad Young / The Power of Alliances: Why No Warrior Wins Alone

Transcript

The Power of Alliances: Why No Warrior Wins Alone · The Strategize, Adapt, and Overcome Podcast by Brad Young

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Good morning, and welcome back to strategize, adapt, and overcome.
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: I am brad young, and I am genuinely glad you
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: are here with me today because this is the one
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: that brings the whole journey full circle. Let me start
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: with a question, and I want you to sit with
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: it honestly before you answer. When the hardest moment of
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: your life came crashing down, and I mean the real one,
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: the one that took the wind right out of you,
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: who showed up, not who liked your posts, not who
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: sent a nice message and disappeared, who actually showed up,
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: rolled up their sleeves and stood in the fire beside you.
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: Take a second with that, because the people who come
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: to mind, however many there are, that is your true strength.
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: Not your bank account, not your title, not your talent,
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  Speaker 1: your people. We have walked a long road together. In
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: this series. We learned the patience of the warrior who
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: waits for the right moment. We faced the enemy inside
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: our own heads. We learned to bend like water when
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: everything changes. We mastered the art of the unseen, guarding
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: our intentions with quiet strength. And last time, we learned
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: to read our ground before we ever step into the
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: fight today. We finish where every real victory finishes. We
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: finish with the people who stand beside us. And sin
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: Sue understood this deeply, Even though we usually picture him
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: as the lone genius on the mountaintop, He wrote at
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: length about alliances, about the strength of the many moving
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  Speaker 1: as one. He warned that the leader who tries to
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: fight without understanding the value of his allies is walking
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: into ruin. He knew that the greatest campaigns were never
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: won by one brilliant person alone. They were won by trust,
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: by unity, by people who moved together towards something bigger
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: than any one of them. So let us get into it.
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: Here's the first truth I need you to sit with today.
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: The myth of the lone warrior is one of the
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: most damaging lies we have ever been sold. We love
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: that story, the self made person who did it all alone,
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: the hero who needed no one, and it is a
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: beautiful fantasy, but it is a fantasy. Behind every person
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: who ever built anything that last, there was a circle,
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: a mentor who opened a door, a partner who believed
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: before the proof arrived, a friend who caught them when
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: they fell. Nobody, and I mean nobody arrives alone. Think
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: about a single arrow. One arrow on its own snaps easily.
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: You can break it over your knee without much effort.
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: But bind a bundle of arrows together and suddenly no
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: amount of force can snap them. Same arrows, same wood.
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: The only difference is that they are bound together. That
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: is what an alliance is. It is the difference between
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: the arrow that breaks in the bundle that holds. Which
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: one Are you trying to be right now, the single arrow,
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: proud and a loan and one hard blow from snapping,
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: or are you learning to be part of a bundle
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: that nothing can break. Let me bring this out of
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  Speaker 1: the metaphor and into your real life, because this is
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: where it matters most. I want to tell you a story.
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: I'm going to change some details to protect the people
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: in it. But this happened, and it taught me something
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: I have never forgotten. Years ago, I watched two people
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: build businesses at the same time, in the same season,
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: both chasing something meaningful. We will call the first one
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: the fortress, and the Fortress did exactly what his name says.
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: He walled himself off. He trusted no one. He believed
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: that needing people was a weakness that asking for help
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: was admitting he could not handle it himself. He held
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: every decision close. He refused partnerships. He saw allies as
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: threats and competitors as enemies, and he saw everyone as
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: a competitor. He built high, thick walls around everything he did,
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: and for a while those walls looked impressive. But here's
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: what happened. When his storm came, and the storm always comes,
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: there was no one inside those walls with him. He
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: had spent so long keeping everyone out that when he
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: finally needed someone, the room was empty. He fought his
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: hardest battle alone, exhausted, isolated, with no one to share
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: the w and the walls that were supposed to protect
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: him became the walls that trapped him. He did not
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: lose because he lacked talent. He lost because he lacked people.
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: Now let me tell you about the second one. We
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: will call her the bridge builder, and she moved through
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: the world in the exact opposite way. She understood early
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  Speaker 1: on that she could not do it all alone, and
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: instead of being ashamed of that, she made it her strength.
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  Speaker 1: She built genuine relationships. She looked for people who were
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: strong exactly where she was weak. She gave before she asked.
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  Speaker 1: She showed up for others long before she ever needed
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  Speaker 1: them to show up for her. She built bridges everywhere
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  Speaker 1: she went, patiently, sincerely, one real connection at a time.
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  Speaker 1: And when her storm hit, and it hit hard, she
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  Speaker 1: was not alone. People came running. The mentor she had
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  Speaker 1: honored gave her wisdom. The partner she had chosen carried
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: part of the load. The friend she had invested in
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: stood in the fire beside her. She survived what would
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: have destroyed the fortress, not because she was stronger by
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: herself elf, but because she was never by herself. Same season,
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: same challenges. One built walls and one built bridges. One
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: faced the storm alone and one faced it surrounded. So
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: ask yourself, honestly, which one are you becoming? The fortress
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  Speaker 1: or the bridge builder? Now I want to break this
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  Speaker 1: down into something you can actually use, because building alliances
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: is a skill, and every skill can be learned and sharpen.
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: The first principle is this, choose your circle with wisdom.
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  Speaker 1: Not everyone belongs in your corner, and pretending otherwise is
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: not kindness, it is carelessness. Soun Sue was careful about alliances.
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  Speaker 1: He did not partner with just anyone. He asked whether
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  Speaker 1: an alliance made both sides stronger, or whether it quietly
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  Speaker 1: made him weaker. And you have to ask the same
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  Speaker 1: thing about the people you let close. Look honestly at
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  Speaker 1: the people around you. Who lifts you toward the person
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  Speaker 1: you are trying to become, and who quietly drags you
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: back toward the person you're trying to leave behind. Who
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: tells you the truth when it is hard to hear,
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: and who only tells you what you want so they
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: can keep something from you. The people in your corner
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: shape your standards, your beliefs, and your ceiling. Choose them
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: like your future depends on it, because it does. The
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: Stoics understood this at a deep level. They taught that
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  Speaker 1: we become like the people we spend our time with.
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: The philosopher Seneca said to associate with people who are
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: likely to improve you, and to welcome those whom you,
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: yourself are able to improve. Notice the balance in that
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: it goes both ways. A real alliance is not just
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: about what you can get, It is about lifting each other.
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  Speaker 1: Seneca was telling us to be intentional, to surround ourselves
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  Speaker 1: with people who raise us up, and to become the
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: kind of person who raises others up in return. That
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: is the whole heart of it. The second principle is this,
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: give before you take. This is where most people get
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: alliance is completely wrong. They treat relationships like a vending machine.
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: They walk up, they want something, and they expect it
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  Speaker 1: to drop out immediately, and when it does not, they
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  Speaker 1: feel cheated. But real alliances do not work that way.
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: They are built on the slow, patient foundation of showing
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: up for others before you ever need anything back. Think
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: about a garden. You do not walk out to an
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: empty plot of dirt and demand a harvest. You plant,
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: you water, You tend the soil through seasons when nothing
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  Speaker 1: seems to be happening, and then long after you began,
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  Speaker 1: the harvest comes and it comes in abundance. Relationships are
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: the same. The people who invest generously in others sincerely,
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  Speaker 1: without keeping a scorecard are the ones who find themselves
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  Speaker 1: surrounded when the hard times come. Give first, give real,
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  Speaker 1: and trust that the harvest arrives in its own season.
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  Speaker 1: The third principle is this, but come the ally others
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  Speaker 1: fight to keep. This is the one that changes everything,
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  Speaker 1: and it is the one most people never think about.
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  Speaker 1: We spend so much energy asking how we can find
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: better people. But the better question, the one that transforms
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  Speaker 1: your entire life, is this, Am I the kind of
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  Speaker 1: ally that better people want in their corner? Ask yourself
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: the hard questions. Are you loyal when it costs you something?
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  Speaker 1: Do you follow through when you say you will? Do
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  Speaker 1: you tell the truth with care? Or do you disappear
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: when things get difficult. The people you most admire, the
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: ones you would love to have beside you. They are
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: looking for the same qualities in an ally that you are.
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  Speaker 1: So the fastest way to attract high quality people is
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: to become a high quality person. Be so trustworthy, so generous,
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  Speaker 1: so steady that people fight to keep you close. Become
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  Speaker 1: the ally you are hoping to find. So let me
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  Speaker 1: give you something practical to carry out of here today,
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  Speaker 1: because I never want to just fill your head ideas
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: and send you off with nothing to do with them.
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  Speaker 1: Here is your framework for this week. Three moves. Run
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  Speaker 1: them and watch your circle begin to strengthen. The first
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  Speaker 1: move is to take an honest inventory. Sit down and
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: look clearly at the people closest to you. For each one,
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: ask a simple question, does this person lift me toward
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  Speaker 1: who I want to become, or pull me away from it.
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  Speaker 1: You do not have to make dramatic decisions today. You
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  Speaker 1: just have to see clearly, because you cannot build a
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  Speaker 1: strong circle if you refuse to look honestly at the
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  Speaker 1: one you already have. The second move is to give
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  Speaker 1: first this week to someone in your corner. Pick one
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  Speaker 1: person and do something genuine for them with no expectation
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  Speaker 1: of anything. Back off for help, share a connection, show
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  Speaker 1: up in a way that costs you something, plan a
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  Speaker 1: seat in the garden of that relationship, and do it sincerely,
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  Speaker 1: not as a transaction, but as an investment in a
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  Speaker 1: bond that matters. The third move is to become a
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  Speaker 1: better ally in one specific way. Honestly at yourself and
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: name one place where you could be a stronger friend, partner,
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  Speaker 1: or teammate. Maybe it is following through more reliably. Maybe
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  Speaker 1: it is telling a hard truth with love. Maybe it
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: is simply being more present. Pick one and practice it
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  Speaker 1: this week, because the surest way to build a stronger
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  Speaker 1: circle is to become a stronger person inside of it.
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: Take an honest inventory, give first, become a better ally.
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  Speaker 1: That is how you stop being the arrow that snaps
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  Speaker 1: and start being the bundle that nothing can break. Now,
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: I want to say something important before we close, because
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  Speaker 1: I never want this to be twisted into something it
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  Speaker 1: is not. Building alliances is not about collecting people you
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: can use. That is not an alliance. That is manipulation,
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: and it always collapses in the end because people can
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: feel when they are being used, even when they cannot
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  Speaker 1: name it. The stoics would never let us forget that
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  Speaker 1: virtue comes first. A true alliance is rooted in mutual
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: respect and genuine care and wanting good for the other
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: person even when it does not serve. You use these
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: principles to build real bonds with real people and to
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: lift each other toward something better. The moment you start
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: treating people like tools, you stop building alliances and start
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: building resentment. And resentment is a foundation that crumbles under
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: the first real weight. Let me leave you with this
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: before we go. The world will keep selling you the
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: myth of the lone warrior. It will tell you that
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: needing people is weakness, that asking for help is failure,
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: that the strongest thing you can do is wall yourself
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: off and handle it all alone. Do not believe it.
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: That myth has broken more good people than almost anything
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  Speaker 1: else because it convinces them to face their hardest storms
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  Speaker 1: with an empty room. Sun su knew better twenty five
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  Speaker 1: centuries ago, The stoics knew better, and deep down you
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  Speaker 1: know better too. Real strength is not the fortress standing
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  Speaker 1: alone against the wind. Real strength is the bundle of
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  Speaker 1: arrows that cannot be snapped, the bridge that connects one
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  Speaker 1: person to another, the circle that closes around you when
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: the storm arrives. You were never meant to do this alone,
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: nobody was. The most powerful, most resilient, most unstoppable version
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: of you is not the one who needs no one.
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  Speaker 1: It is the one surrounded by people who would run
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  Speaker 1: into the fire for you because you have earned it
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: and because you would do the same for them. So
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: this week, take that honest inventory, give first, and give real.
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: Become the kind of ally others fight to keep. Build
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  Speaker 1: your bundle, build your bridges, build a circle that will
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: carry you through every storm still coming your way, Because
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: when the hardest moment comes again, and it will, I
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: do not want you standing alone inside a fortress. I
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: want you standing in the open, surrounded by people who
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: showed up ready to face it together. Thank you so
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: much for spending this time with me today, and thank
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: you for walking through this entire series with me. If
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: this episode reached something in you, do me a favor
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: and share it with someone in your corner, someone who
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: has stood in the fire beside you, and let them
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: know you are grateful they showed up. And make sure
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: you follow the show because there is so much more
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: ancient wisdom to pull into this modern fight. In the
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: coming episodes, We're going to keep sharpening your edge, more strategies,
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: more stories, and more practical tools for leading with wisdom,
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: mastering your mind, and building a life that stands strong
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: no matter what storms come. Until then, choose your circle wisely,
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: give before you take, and keep moving forward.