A “THANK YOU!” TO A MENTOR AND A FRIEND

October 7^th, 2012.

That was the first time I ran into the man they called Dax.

We were at Paul Mort’s gig in Manchester (and more about the awesome Paul in another post).

Dax came into the room, looked around and sat down in the empty chair next to me.

Destiny.

Being a talkative kinda fellow, I turned to him and whispered “Hey do you compete?”. I thought he might. You know, in the middleweight category.

(Sorry Paul, I was talking while you were talking! I know, I know…)

Dax looked amused and whispered “Nah!”

Well, Sherlock Holmes I am not.

Little did I know that this man sitting next to me would become one of the great influences in my professional and personal life.

It is amazing how such significant things have such small beginnings.

This was ours.

SO WHAT IS THERE TO SAY ABOUT DAX MOY?

First – Dax is good man.

That is one thing I must say about him.

He is one of a kind.

He gave me time. He gave me patience. He listened.

And he showed me the way out of the darkness.

He showed me love comes first and work comes later.

He showed me you cannot progress professionally until you have a good foundation at home.

He reminded me of things, I knew but, in the tumultuous treadmill of life, I had forgotten.

Things like simplicity, and directness, and patience and action.

And most of all, he reminded me about love.

He gave me a time with my family none of us will ever forget.

He happily shares his wisdom, and he genuinely loves seeing others do well.

I love the way we are different (kinda like sugar and spice, you figure out who is which), but we can always talk about things and get to a conclusion.

I also know the man is as busy as a one legged dude at The Ass-Kicking Nationals, yet he will always find time for a word.

Now, THAT is something you do not see every day.

Trust me, I know how rare that trait is.

Yes, Dax is a good man.

HERE IS ONE THING I DO NOT SAY ENOUGH OF

Thank you Dax Moy.

Just for giving me perspective and helping me think things out better.

For slowing me down when my engine revs up into the red zone.

For teaching me the difference between energy and power.

For being a good man and a wiser man than I.

For pointing to the fillet mignon main course, when I get too excited about the eggs and meat slices starters (man, I love those starters).

For ganging like minded people together in our FMMS group, where we can listen and discuss, and learn and grow (shoutout to my FMMS peers, you know who you are).

For providing a space where those who want to share and give can do so.

And to all of you who do share, who give, who love, who smile and who are truly genuine:

We are all precious stones, but some of us are diamonds.

They are few and far between, but they are there.

Dax is one of them.

There are others, but more about those later on.

Whilst I, though definitely a diamond, am still a diamond in the rough.

A bigger diamond (cough, cough) but one whose shine is still being polished in.

So yes, we’re getting there. One (muscular) step at a time 😀

And it’s people like Dax who make this journey a better one.

So, thank you Dax, little fella! 🙂

I am proud to call you a mentor and a friend.