Bonus Episode 4 - The Weekly Scrap #205

Jeremy Sanders has been a firefighter for the City of Edmond in Oklahoma for 21 years and currently serves at the rank of Captain. He lives near Tulsa with his wife Erika who he shares 8 kids with and 1 grandson. In 2020 Jeremy created Crew 1st Culture and the Crew 1st Culture Podcast in which he shares the importance of the pursuit of daily personal growth. This daily growth has helped him to not only become a better firefighter and officer but also a better dad and husband at home.
Jeremy's Articles:
https://www.fireengineering.com/leadership/waitare-we-the-problem-fire-dept-culture/#gref
https://www.fireengineering.com/commentary/the-art-of-changing-and-protecting-culture/#gref
Check out his Website!
Crew1stCulture.Com

Jeremy Sanders has been a firefighter for the City of Edmond in Oklahoma for 21 years and currently serves at the rank of Captain. He lives near Tulsa with his wife Erika who he shares 8 kids with and 1 grandson. In 2020 Jeremy created Crew 1st Culture and the Crew 1st Culture Podcast in which he shares the importance of the pursuit of daily personal growth. This daily growth has helped him to not only become a better firefighter and officer but also a better dad and husband at home.
Jeremy's Articles:
https://www.fireengineering.com/leadership/waitare-we-the-problem-fire-dept-culture/#gref
https://www.fireengineering.com/commentary/the-art-of-changing-and-protecting-culture/#gref
Check out his Website!
Crew1stCulture.Com

In Episode 25 Ric Jorge and I talk to Jeremy Sanders about a difficult season of life he endured and how he found strength in his weakness. Jeremy shares how his faith helped him continue to move forward and how the adversity he faced refined him into the man God needed him to be.

https://open.spotify.com/episode/4m11PUtMLJeuuKpVIibVtj?si=R9O4fyWOTMC9l3GtTgntYQ

Today I want to share a few journal entries that I recorded while processing one of the most difficult periods of my life. This is such an important episode because I know there are a lot of people out there that need to hear this. Through journaling, meditation, and prayer I realized that when we stop seeing ourselves as victims of life’s challenges and of those who stand against us, we can finally see the truth. The truth is that those circumstances and those people are merely just a tool that God is using to guide us along the path that He has chosen for us. 

In a career that has been so richly described as the embodiment of courage and bravery, are the members of today's fire service living up to that statement or are we just hiding behind empty and hollow facades that look great on the surface and from a distance but upon any closer investigation our true identities would easily be discovered. My thoughts today dig into this question and reveal my very controversial opinion of what is missing.

Inside all of us is a darkness, a darkness so deep and empty that we are all fearful of it. This doesn’t make us good or bad, it just makes us human. Whether we believe in its existence or not; we are constantly haunted by it. Each negative event and seemingly unsurmountable obstacle we face brings us closer to our darkness; it is always there, ever waiting for that final straw that will bring you face to face with it. There are those that have somehow lived their life avoiding their darkness (or at least it seems that way from the outside looking in) but most of us will eventually come to know the darkness well.

I will never suggest visiting the darkness as a hobby or a way to pass time but if you are like me and want to make a difference in people’s lives and in the world that we live it, spending time in your darkness is unfortunately the price of admission. It is where we find ourselves. It is where we find our purpose. It is where we find our story. it is where we find our value, and it is where we discover that we are worth fighting for.

Over the years since putting myself in a more public role I have been asked a lot of questions from people but there seems to be an overwhelming theme with the majority of them - "How do you keep moving forward when so many things around you want to hold you back?" This episode I share personal experiences and challenges that I have not only faced in the past but still currently facing. Please join me as we talk about finding inner peace through the effort that we give.

As we approach the new year, talk of resolutions inevitably begin to take center stage. Today I just wanted to share a few thoughts on what may be a little different perspective on this. Set goals and resolutions all you want but just don’t get so focused on them that you miss something that’s placed in your life of much higher value because it doesn’t look like the goals we set for ourselves.

**This is one of the most important episodes I’ve ever released, please listen and share.**

Back with me again from Yoga For First Responders are Olivia and Eric to dive deep into the importance of Breath. Using a very helpful tool that they have created to help guide people through different techniques, we look at not only each technique and when they should be used but also explain why. This is an episode that every person needs to hear because our breath is obviously very critical to life. Follow the links below for a free month of their on demand platform and the link to the breath work resource as well. 

Link to 1 Month Free Yoga For First Responders On Demand Subscription:
https://ondemand.yogaforfirstresponders.org/checkout/new?o=87788&d=CREW1ST?via=crew1st

Tactical Breathwork Guide link:
https://www.yogaforfirstresponders.org/product-page/tactical-breathwork-training-resource-poster

**Update: Sorry everyone but when I uploaded Episode 180, I apparently uploaded the wrong file, so I had to redo the process for Episode 180.**

Since when does it make sense that those firefighters who stay engaged, who are constantly sharpening their skills, and who work to make others around them better are considered rogues, outliers, rebels, and misfits? It’s totally backwards, we are measuring ourselves by the same oath that the first firefighters swore to. So, it’s those who are selfish, the weak leaders, those who are ignorant, the complacent, the closed minded, and those who are arrogant that  are the true outliers of the fire service.

You can call us rogues, outliers, or whatever you want but we know we are doing the right thing.