197: 5 Reflections About Family, Fitness and Life

I’m sharing five recent reflections on listening, serving my family without keeping score, building real community, focusing on what matters in training, and learning to rest. These came from conversations, a hunting trip, and a weekend at the ranch—and they’re things I’m still working to get better at. CHAPTERS: 00:00 Five Recent Reflections 01:00 The Tennessee Studio 04:00 Listening to Understand 06:00 Learning From Mike Mayernick 11:00 What Our Children Model 13:00 Success to Significance 15:00 Serving Without Keeping Score 18:00 Bringing People Together 22:00 What Real Community Requires 25:00 The Conversations Beyond Fitness 28:00 Fitness and Simpler Times 31:00 Training Fundamentals First 34:00 Why I’m Deadlifting Again 37:00 Learning to Accept Rest 40:00 Work, Identity and Faith JOIN THE APP AND GET READY FOR UPDATES ⁠https://www.nickbarefitness.app/⁠ ORDER MY BOOK HERE: ⁠⁠ https://www.amazon.com/Go-One-More-Intentional-Life-Changing/dp/1637746210⁠ Become a BPN member FOR FREE - Unlock 25% off FOR LIFE ⁠⁠https://www.bareperformancenutrition.com/collections/performance-nutrition⁠ FOLLOW: IG:⁠ ⁠instagram.com/nickbarefitness/⁠⁠ YT: ⁠⁠youtube.com/@nickbarefitness This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be considered legal [health or profession] advice. Bare Performance Nutrition (BPN) is not responsible for any losses, damages, or liabilities that may arise from the use of this podcast. This podcast is not intended to replace professional medical advice. This podcast may not be republished without the written consent of Bare Performance Nutrition (BPN)

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:06Nick Bare?

  Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to another episode of the podcast. Today's episode is some recent reflections that I've had based off of trips we've gone on, experiences, events, moments. And I put these, these recent reflections together over the last couple of days. You know, in my, my notes app on my phone, I'm constantly jotting stuff down that pops in my head. Even if I'm on a run, I carry my phone when I'm running. And if I'm on a run and something pops in my head, I stop.

• 0:44Nick Bare?

  And I just, I either slack it to myself or I put it in my notes app because I don't want to forget about it. And these are some of the things I've written down over the last couple of days as I've reflected of what I've been learning and embracing, and I just want to share with you guys. Now, we only have about a little over two more months of recording left in the studio before me and the family make the move and transition to Tennessee. And then we'll be recording in the new studio there, which I'm building out right now and I'm super excited about.

• 1:25Nick Bare?

  So the, the property that we're building on in Tennessee right now, it's on five acres. It's gonna be awesome for our kids growing up, just running through the fields. And we know our neighbors and they have young kids the same age as our kids. It's just a really good community. But we have the, the main house we're building right now. And then there is a gym, a gym behind the pool. And I've shown this, this gym on Instagram a little bit. Completely building it out, all the equipment we need between play and arsenal strength.

• 2:07Nick Bare?

  And there's a loft in this gym of where the podcast studio is going to be. And we met with our designer this past week, Steph and I did, to go over some, some house design stuff. And she showed us the design of the podcast studio and it just felt so good. It's less of a studio production. Like right now in the studio that I'm recording in, it's beautiful. You know, we have wood shiplap walls and there's sound panels and these big bright lights and backdrops. And it sounds really good. It looks really good.

• 2:49Nick Bare?

  But what I want in the studio, if you can call it a studio in Tennessee, where we'll be recording the podcast in, in Tennessee at the new house, which is right on my property, which is going to be nice. I wanted to feel just like a a regular room, a casual place where I can host guests and we can train in sauna and workout and then go upstairs after eating some food and sit down for a few hours of conversation. I don't want it to feel and look like this big production. I want quality of audio and video and light, but more intimate, more casual.

• 3:34Nick Bare?

  And that's what we're building out right now. And they were saying, our designer showed us the, the renders of what she envisioned for this space and it just gets me really excited for what is to come. So we're a little over two months away from making the move to Tennessee. And all, all podcasts are going to be done out there and and some good stuff coming. So the first recent reflection, relationship and communication. Showing interest in others by asking questions, not by talking about yourself. Listening to people

• 4:20Nick Bare?

  to understand, not to reply. I find myself doing this all the time and I'm trying to get better. But as I'm having a conversation with someone, whether it's someone I just met, a group of people, or someone I've known for years and have a deep, meaningful relationship with. I am sitting in that conversation, listening to them, waiting for my moment where I can break the silence, the gap and reply, add in my two cents. And I hate that. I hate that I do that. What I want to get better at doing is actively listening.

• 5:00Nick Bare?

  And listening to that person speak to understand, genuinely understand, as opposed to having my opportunity to respond, to add in my little nugget of information to reinforce or contradict what they're saying. And where I picked up on this recent reflection, Steph and I were on a hunting trip about two weeks ago. And it was actually over our, our wedding anniversary, our six-year wedding anniversary. We celebrated on this hunting trip with a group of friends, couples that we know.

• 5:43Nick Bare?

  It was an amazing trip in Maryland. We were hunting for Sitka deer. Steph and I had the opportunity to spend two nights together in a blind. We did a duck hunt with the group and it was a successful hunt and harvest. Took down a stag Sitka deer on the, the last night of the hunt. Uh, so that's getting, that's getting processed and mounted. And we'll have that in the next couple of weeks. It was a great trip. And especially a great trip to spend, you know, with my, my best friend and my wife for our six-year wedding anniversary.

• 6:26Nick Bare?

  But there were some really amazing people on that trip with us. And one of the couples that were with us were really good friends with their daughter and her husband, Grace and Davy Hackett, and Grace's dad and mom, Suzanne and Mike Mayernick were on that trip. And they are people that we didn't know extremely well, Grace's parents before this trip. But got to know them better on this trip and

• 7:08Nick Bare?

  for years, as we've known them from afar, or watched them from afar, learned from them from afar. We've always had a lot of respect for them. The way they've raised their kids and led their family. They do a lot of work in the nonprofit space. They have a nonprofit called Love One International, which is an amazing organization. And it raises money and provides care for sick and malnourished children and families in Uganda. But we had the opportunity to spend some time with Suzanne and Mike Mayernick on this trip, on this hunting trip.

• 7:52Nick Bare?

  And Mike was diagnosed with ALS a few years ago. And he's now in a wheelchair and obviously that ALS, that disease has progressed over the last couple of years since his diagnosis. And I had the opportunity to spend some time, not much time, but some quality time talking to Mike. And one of the things that I picked up on every time I had the opportunity to speak to Mike is that he never talked about himself. He never talked about the struggle or

• 8:33Nick Bare?

  his disease, ALS. He never complained. Even though you know what he's going through is hard. It's a struggle. It's sad. But in the moments and the opportunities that I had to spend time with him, he always asked questions about me, about my work, about my family, about my life, what I'm learning, what I'm reading. The first thing he asked when we got back from that hunt, after I took down that stag, we're at the dinner table and we all sat at this dinner table at night.

• 9:15Nick Bare?

  And he looked at me and he said, tell us the story. You know, walk us through the hunt. Walk us through the harvest.

• 9:25Nick Bare?

  I had a few conversations with Mike over this hunting trip. And every time he was asking me questions and I could tell he wasn't just asking questions to ask questions, he was asking me questions because he was genuinely interested and curious. He was asking and listening to understand, never to respond or to reply. And it was this calm wisdom and warmth that I was feeling and experiencing during our conversation and engagement. And I left that hunting trip on the way back to Texas from Maryland.

• 10:07Nick Bare?

  As Steph and I were on the plane, I was just thinking about every encounter. As we were talking, his eyes were locked in on my eyes and he was listening to understand and genuinely interested and curious for what I had to say from what he was asking me. And that's very rare. The reason that I picked up on that is because of how rare it is. You know, since then, I've had many conversations with many different people.

• 10:46Nick Bare?

  And I haven't had that same level of experience and interest and connection and being on the other side of someone who is so engaged by actively listening, listening to understand. It's rare, unfortunately. But I want to be better at that. I want to be better at having conversations with people and they can see in my eyes and my emotional response in the muscles of my face that I am actively listening to understand, not because I'm waiting for them to stop talking so I can get out what I have to say.

• 11:31Nick Bare?

  That's a very powerful trait and characteristic that certain individuals have. Not many, not many have. And what's interesting about that is I was watching the way that his children, he had two of his kids on that hunting trip too. Like I said, Grace, who is same age as Steph and I, and their, their younger son, Michael. And the way that Grace and Michael have conversations with people too, are the same

• 12:13Nick Bare?

  way that their parents have conversations with people. It is actively listening and listening to understand, not to reply, not to respond. So there was this realization that, all right, your children, my children, will model the behaviors that I display regardless of what, of what I try to teach them. I can almost promise you that Suzanne and Mike didn't have to tell Grace and Michael, their children, how to actively listen, how to have meaningful conversation and engage

• 12:58Nick Bare?

  without the need to reply or respond. But they picked up on that by modeling the behaviors of their parents, of the other members of their family. So that's something I want to, I want to work on, I want to get better at. Showing genuine interest in other people by asking questions and listening to understand, not to reply or respond, and not always talking about yourself, but asking because of genuine interest. The second recent reflection that's family focused.

• 13:37Nick Bare?

  Sacrifice and servant hood is a continuous and evolving mission. I've talked about this book many times before. It's called Halftime. Moving from Success to Significance by Bob Buford. I feel like I've been referencing this book even more so recently because it feels very applicable to, to this season in transition of my life right now. Bob Buford in Halftime says, "For the second half of life to be better than the first, you must make the choice to step outside of the safety of living on autopilot.

• 14:19Nick Bare?

  You must wrestle with who you are, why you believe, what you profess to believe about your life, and what you do to provide meaning and structure to your daily activities and relationships. The key to a successful second half is not a change of jobs, it is a change of heart, a change in the way you view the world and order your life." The key to a successful, I'll say this again, second half is not a change of jobs.

• 14:55Nick Bare?

  It is a change of heart, a change in the way you view the world and order your life. One of the, the recent reflections that has been reinforced as of recently is that my job as a husband and a father is to sacrifice. And when I say sacrifice, I mean that it is my responsibility to burden the responsibility

• 15:38Nick Bare?

  to show up and serve my family, my children and my wife at whatever cost. Marriage, family, it's not a game of this for that. Sacrifice doesn't keep score. I used to do that. And sometimes, just being honest, I still do. It's, it's really easy to, in, in a marriage, especially as you have kids and life becomes crazy and chaotic and exhausting, that you start keeping score in the marriage. You know, I did this, so here's a point for me.

• 16:23Nick Bare?

  I expect you to do something, this for that, transactional. I have found myself in the past, and sometimes still do, unfortunately, keeping score. Okay, I'm going to go do this. I'm going to watch the kids tonight so you can go do something that you wanted to do, but that gives me a point and I can now go do something that I want to do at some other time of my choosing because there's this scoreboard that we're keeping track of and that's just so unhealthy. It is my job as a father and as a husband to sacrifice.

• 17:07Nick Bare?

  There's no keeping score. It is my job to, to serve my family, to bear the burden of being tired, exhausted at certain points, to show up and serve my children and my wife, putting them first, always, at all costs. Whatever it costs me, it's them before me. That's the job and responsibility of a father and as a husband. There's no keeping score. I don't think there's much more to say about that. I could keep beating it in and beating it down.

• 17:51Nick Bare?

  But if you're keeping score, or if you're, you're leading your family in such a way, which we all battle with, recognize it and eliminate it. If you're a husband, if you're a father, it is your responsibility to serve your family and to sacrifice, plain and simple. Reflection number three, community. Isolation is dangerous to mankind. This past weekend, we hosted an event at Bear Ranch.

• 18:32Nick Bare?

  And there were 200 people, men and women, who flew in from all over the country for this event at Bear Ranch. Some internationally, too. I met someone who flew in from Jamaica just for this event. And it wasn't a multi-day event. It was only lasted a few hours. So I opened this event up to members and subscribers of my fitness app, the Go One More Method. If you're not a part of this community yet, I highly recommend. It's so much more than a fitness training app, a nutrition guide, resources.

• 19:10Nick Bare?

  I mean, there is a really strong, active and engaged community within this app. There's a tab in the app titled "Community", and people are sharing what they're struggling with. They're sharing their progress. They're sharing bits of information that they're learning, resources. I mean, it's an amazing group of people that are highly engaged. If you want to get started, go to nickbearfitness.app. Sign up today. There's multiple different ways to approach the training portion of the app. I have all of the workout programs I've done over the years. There's hybrid athlete training programs, marathon training programs,

• 19:53Nick Bare?

  half marathon training programs. There's a high rocks prep. One of my favorite programs in there is called The Strong Athlete. I have recipes, a nutrition course. And then every Sunday, I upload six new workouts per week called G1M Daily. So it's new workouts every week, six workouts per week, one workout per day. It's a combination of running, strength training and circuit training. So you can either do the workouts that are uploaded every Sunday under G1M Daily or one of the existing programs. But I think one of the greatest benefits is the community portion of the app.

• 20:36Nick Bare?

  So I invited people from the app, members and subscribers, to our first event that we ever hosted, our first ever in-person live event for the app at Bear Ranch. And we're going to be doing more of these in the future. This was the first one. And we capped it at 200 people. And we sold out of tickets. The first 48 hours, they were free tickets. So you just had to secure a ticket. But people showed up at 8:30 a.m. And we did a little meet and greet, hangout as people were arriving. Simon led the group through a warm-up.

• 21:18Nick Bare?

  And then we ran on the trail on the ranch, the same trail that we use for the G1M Ultra. And people ran anywhere from three miles to 12 miles. And we ran about 60 to 90 minutes on the trail. And then when people were done running, we had Eric from El hombre Taco there that was serving up fajitas, chicken steak, veggie fajitas. We did a Q and A with everyone and then just hung out and built community and relationship. And it was just a great experience overall. Such a good time with so many good people.

• 22:03Nick Bare?

  And it reinforced the need for community. But there were some things that I really took away from this past weekend's event. You know, community gets thrown around so many ways. I think it's overused in that a lot of times when people say they're building community or part of community, they're actually not a part of a real community. And I want to try my best to explain what I mean

• 22:43Nick Bare?

  and why this weekend was so powerful and impactful for me. So I believe that real community requires authenticity. And authenticity requires vulnerability. Brene Brown in The Power of Vulnerability says, "Belonging is the innate human desire to be a part of something larger than us. Because this yearning is so primal, we often try to acquire it by fitting in and seeking approval, which are not only hollow substitutes for belonging, but often barriers to it.

• 23:24Nick Bare?

  True belonging, however, only happens when we present our authentic, imperfect selves to the world. Our sense of belonging can never be greater than our level of self-acceptance." Real community requires authenticity. And true authenticity requires vulnerability. That was reinforced for me this past weekend at the ranch. Isolation is dangerous to mankind. Isolation is not a strength. It's not a strength because isolation is prideful.

• 24:03Nick Bare?

  And pride is our greatest enemy, while humility is our greatest friend. When I got back from the event this weekend, I was talking to Steph. And she was looking at the photos and the videos from the event. And she made a comment and she said, "It's so cool seeing all of these people come together and here in the storage." Because if I just look at the photos of a lot of these people, yourself included, speaking to me, you guys are a lot of strong, built,

• 24:47Nick Bare?

  independent, alpha-type, mostly dudes. It was mostly guys at this event. There were some females there and some women. It was mostly guys. And she made the comment that it's cool to see guys, men, supporting other men and being vulnerable enough to share what they're struggling with alongside other men they really don't know well because they desire belonging and being a part of community and improving and getting better.

• 25:32Nick Bare?

  A lot of the conversations I was having with people at this event, it wasn't about how to run a faster marathon. It wasn't how to build muscle. It really wasn't even fitness-related. It was sharing the journey and the struggles of being a husband, being a spouse, being a parent, a father, a mother, being equally as professionally ambitious, as personally content and present in life

• 26:15Nick Bare?

  and just the challenges that the world and life presents as we're trying to navigate it. And a lot of the conversations I was having with people at this event were very vulnerable conversations. It's what people were struggling with. And I think sometimes people think that I have all the answers and I shared that I don't. I'm navigating this life just the same way that you guys are navigating this life. The difference is that I've built a platform that I can share what I'm learning in real time. But I don't have any more answers than most of you guys. I'm figuring it out too.

• 27:00Nick Bare?

  But it's really powerful when you bring people together who can be authentic because they are willing to be vulnerable. And that builds strength. That builds community. Because you now have a support system. You have people alongside of you to do life with. You realize that you're not alone. And you're navigating similar, shared struggles and weaknesses and problems, just like everyone else is. This weekend's event at the ranch was a great reminder that we need community. But real community requires authenticity.

• 27:44Nick Bare?

  And true authenticity requires vulnerability. And that isolation is so dangerous to mankind. Recent reflection number four. This is fitness-related. Stop stepping over dollars to pick up pennies. I've been seeing these posts on Instagram lately that I can't get out of my head. There are like these nostalgic, written posts from between, say, 2009 to the 2013 fitness era online, which is about the same time that I discovered fitness

• 28:29Nick Bare?

  and fell in love with the gym and bodybuilding. And I would argue that was some of the best times of online fitness. And that's by no means me being this old timer of, "I remember the good old days." No. I will draw a line in the sand and be like, "Those years of online fitness were the best years." And I think we can get back there, hopefully. Someone's got to lead the charge. Right now, this era of online fitness, it ain't the best times. And if you unfortunately didn't live between the years of 2009 and 2013 and you were involved in online fitness,

• 29:12Nick Bare?

  you missed out on some of the golden days. That was a golden era, at least from my time.

• 29:23Nick Bare?

  I think the fitness industry trends are cyclical and that this anti-optimization movement is on the rise, but I want to read to you this, this post that I keep coming across on Instagram that's been shared by multiple people. These aren't my words, someone else put this into, into a post and I'm going to read it word for word because it's, it's such gold, but it will reinforce where I'm going with the recent reflection of "stop stepping over dollars to pick up pennies." It reads, "It's 2010. You've just signed up to Bodybuilding.com. Your username is something like shreddedkid97.

• 30:05Nick Bare?

  You're arguing in the forums about whether you need casein, protein before bed. Some guy with 4,000 posts swears ZMA gives you crazy dreams and you believe him. You're drinking 1,200 calorie mass gainers that taste like wet cement and loving it. Your shaker bottles smell like death. Your pre-workout is literally Jack 3D and you feel like your heart's going to explode. You train chest and arms every Monday, you're terrified of squats, your gym playlist is nothing but disturbed in D12. No one's talking about TikTok. No one's optimizing cortisol or biohacking sleep.

• 30:45Nick Bare?

  Just people trying to get big and maybe impress someone at the gym who definitely isn't watching. Simpler times." Those were the best of times. If you were alive and you were online and actively involved in fitness between those years, what I just read to you resonates so deeply to your core. And if it made no sense to you, it's either that you weren't alive during those times or you weren't into fitness online during those times. Because if you were online and you were into fitness, what I just read will, it will take you back in time. Truly simpler times.

• 31:29Nick Bare?

  I believe that these last couple of years, the fitness space and industry has gotten so out of whack, over-optimized everything that we forgot about what actually matters. It's eating food and training hard. I've made my best fitness gains when I was just training really, really hard and eating a ton of food. All these optimization strategies and tactics and being afraid of seed oils and blue light and microplastics, I get it. Like these are real things, but people are stepping over dollars to pick up pennies. People are missing out on the things that actually move the needle and make progress

• 32:14Nick Bare?

  in your health and performance to pick up the pennies. People will avoid training, but at all costs, avoid eating a seed oil. Or they won't go log the miles and eat the food and get the calories in, but now they'll make sure that they train based off of what their whoop strap or their recovery score is for the next day. I think at some point in the near future, we're going to have this shift back to what really matters. Eat food, train hard.

• 32:58Nick Bare?

  Eat clean, lift dirty. Simpler times. Stop stepping over dollars. Stop stepping over the things that actually move the needle to pick up the things that are so microscopic and intricate and the details that they might matter, but it's not significant. People focus on this, this microscopic stuff that in the grand scheme of things really isn't that important.

• 33:36Nick Bare?

  You know, like, I think back to when I first started training and I was just eating a ton of food and I was training really hard. I don't really know what I was doing with training, but I was just adding volume and intensity and more and more and more. And I was eating a bunch of food and I was gaining weight, some, some good weight, some bad weight, but I got really strong and really jacked and it built my physique early on. When I think of something that people do, I mean, here's a tactic and something you can clearly implement when it comes to stepping over dollars to pick up pennies.

• 34:21Nick Bare?

  In the last couple of weeks, I started deadlifting again. And I stopped deadlifting for a while because, yeah, I don't, I don't really know why I stopped deadlifting. Maybe because I had some endurance goals and the heavy deadlift, I didn't think correlated to some of these endurance goals and I didn't want to risk getting injured or hurt my back with a deadlift that would take me out of training for some of these endurance focused goals.

• 34:58Nick Bare?

  The deadlift, in my opinion, is one of, if not the greatest exercise movements of all time. In the last couple of weeks, maybe months, I started deadlifting again, seriously deadlifting, intentionally programming it into my workouts. And I believe that it has transformed my physique and my performance just in a few weeks and months. After I do a big deadlift session, I mean, I'm wrecked the next day. My whole posterior chain, my legs, my glutes, my hamstrings, my lower back, my upper back,

• 35:41Nick Bare?

  my traps, my entire posterior train is taxed and worked. The deadlift is a full body movement. It is so many benefits for performance, it has so many benefits for body composition and physique. And it's one of those movements that people avoid because it's hard. Takes a lot of time to, to load and unload the weight and warm up to heavier sets. If that position that you have to get into is not familiar or comfortable, it's an intimidating movement. If done properly and correct, it has the ability to transform, like I said, your performance

• 36:25Nick Bare?

  and your physique. But people will step over the dollar of what is the deadlift to pick up the pennies of another movement that doesn't have even close to the same impact on your performance and your physique because of the, the work that is required to do the deadlift. In that case, I'm just talking about exercise selection, but this can be applied to so many things, not just in fitness, but outside of fitness. We are focused on the inefficiencies of life, the pennies, as opposed to the needle-moving

• 37:05Nick Bare?

  opportunities, movements, practices, the dollars that actually matter. Stop stepping over dollars to pick up pennies. This is applicable to training, diet, life, work, everything. And recent reflection number five, life. Don't be fearful of rest and slower seasons. Right now, I am in a season of transition. Multiple transitions. One of those transitions professionally, I moved down to the CEO role a few months ago. Our new CEO, John Childs, is now in place.

• 37:48Nick Bare?

  I am the founder of BPN. So I'm now in this, I don't say lull, but I'm in this transition professionally that I'm learning a new routine, new rhythms, different responsibilities. It's given me, it's provided me more opportunities to spend more time with my family, be home more. It's been great. But it's really easy in a season of transition or a lull, a down period, that this rest

• 38:27Nick Bare?

  or a slower season can become scary. Cause it feels like I'm not doing enough, I'm falling behind, I'm regressing. But the reality is that this, this season of rest, the season of lull, the season of transition, might actually be your opportunity to sharpen your axe for the next season. Ecclesiastes 10:10 says, "If the axe is dull and its edge unsharpened, more strength is needed, but skill will bring success."

• 39:10Nick Bare?

  You can't keep going through life swinging your axe at everything and expecting it to stay sharp. You need a season or a slower time to re-sharpen that axe. So when you go out to battle again, you go out to fight, you're fighting with a sharp axe. What happens to so many people is you just stay in the fight too long. And eventually your axe becomes dull and its edge un-sharpened and you are ineffective. You're inefficient at what you are trying to

• 39:51Nick Bare?

  accomplish. Embrace rest when life provides you rest. When you're in a transition or you're in a lull, don't fight against it. Don't view it as regressing or you're losing momentum. Use that opportunity to sharpen your axe. Right now, I am in a season of sharpening my axe for what is about to come next. I can feel it. In the past, what would have happened is that this would make me really uncomfortable. This transition, this lull, this newfound mission and opportunity would have really scared me. And I would have been itching to find the next

• 40:36Nick Bare?

  thing as soon as possible. And in some cases, acting so quickly that I won't care what the next thing was, I just needed the next thing so that my identity as someone who worked really hard was fulfilled. Preston Morrison had this Instagram post earlier this week that I absolutely loved. Preston Morrison has a great podcast. He's a great follower on social. He's a pastor. It said, "Rest is one of the great acts of faith." It doesn't always feel like faith though, does it? It often feels like falling behind. But when God seems to be moving most in your

• 41:17Nick Bare?

  life, some of the strongest faith you'll walk by, looks like not even walking at all. Walking without stopping is one of the ways I tell God, "This won't keep going without me." But here's what I'm really saying. "Lord, you can't carry this without me. Every time I rest, I am preaching a sermon to myself. God is God and I am not. God will do while I do not. Don't lie to yourself this week. You need the rest. Just let Him do." I share this to encourage you that if you are

• 42:01Nick Bare?

  in a slower season, a season of transition, or rest, it might not feel like rest. It might feel like you are falling behind. You're losing momentum. You are regressing. Use this moment to learn, to sharpen your axe, and get ready for what is to come. Because if you aren't rested, if your axe is not sharp, and it's dull, and its edge un-sharpened, you will require more strength. And if you're not rested, you will not have the strength that is required. Because

• 42:40Nick Bare?

  skill will bring success. So those are the five recent reflections I've had that I wanted to share with you guys. I hope you enjoyed this one. It's been on my mind. It's been on my heart. Thanks for listening. Appreciate you guys. Love you. And as always, go one more.