First off, I want to say its awesome you have your family joining your community here. It is super cool to see how supportive they are of your endeavors. I would love feedback from everyone here, honestly. I am currently working on creating a company in Las Cruces dedicated to mentoring young men aged 18-30. My goal is to get them off social media and away from the lies about masculinity on all sides. My goal is to create good Christian men, who are responsible and contribute to their local community. I think Las Cruces has heart and can change the trajectory of the U.S... But I also think it starts with repairing the view of true masculinity. Currently, I teach and coach men on finding their purpose, working on their motivation and dedication, goal setting & mission planning, financial literacy and mental fortification most of which I learned in my time as a pararescuaman. I intend to teach public speaking and debate, resume building and host physical fitness events. How can you help? My first question is how do I get young men such as yourself engaged in a program like this? What would you like to see out of a program like this? Thank you and I am looking forward to your response.

@Jake Estep Thanks for the response. The brain dump is helpful. I realized I have all of the ideas in my head, but struggle to vocalize them for everyone else to understand. The pain point is exactly what you mentioned, "not knowing what to do". It is visible that young men are lacking a sense of purpose. What I see is a society where young men are living life like a jellyfish, they are going with the flow instead of picking a direction and driving toward success. My objective is to build a foundation in your God given purpose, then give you the tools and mentorship to succeed. Many men find what they think their purpose is in their job. For example, I thought mine was "that others may live" for 10 years. When I left the military I left what I thought was my entire purpose for existing. I realized that purpose is intrinsic, and your job or career should be a reflection of that purpose, not the other way around. What I see in young men today is that society is dictating what their purpose should be, and the result is a combination of issues that we are seeing: Absent fathers, drug use, apathy, adult temper tantrums, among many other issues. The big question is how do I make it an attractive proposition to the young male?

Good luck man, I will second what @Paul Estep said, God is good! Keep us posted for sure.

I like the visualization you used, and the artistic method of delivery. If you were looking for a group, what would you look for in an about page? Is this it? If so, that is awesome man. But if not, how would you attract yourself to the page? A cool direction I could see this group going in is encouraging hikes in the local mountain ranges, fishing in the river (when it has water), or driving up and spending time at a lake. Like.... "hey guys, I am going to Elephant Butte Lake on xx day at xx time, come hang out with me" post a bunch of pictures, talk about how relaxing it was, and how nice it was to get away from the current mentioned in your writing.

@Jake Estep I dont think that would isolate, rather encourage people to go out and explore wherever they are.

It takes more energy to initiate movement than it does to maintain movement. (An object at rest will stay at rest) Likewise, it takes more energy to halt that movement than it does to allow it to keep going. (An object in motion will stay in motion) For me, the first step is communication. If I communicate my goal with someone supportive (my wife for example) I know psychologically I am more likely to complete my goal or at least take the first few steps. The first step is almost always the hardest; it is where the most lessons are learned, because you will fail. The key is to learn from the failure and not let it dissuade you from pursuing your goals. Most people quit after their first failure. You are not most people. Check out a book called "the power of full engagement". It is all about managing your energy instead of your time, this is a concept I think you can get behind with your current community idea/model.

Figuring it out early is good to see. I didn't start prioritizing sleep around 30. A few tips: - focus on a consistent bedtime - Don't eat within 2 hours of going to bed - Focus on sleep quality over quantity... Cool, dark environment - Have a quality de-stress process prior to bed. read a book, journal, or have pillow talk with the wife but the biggest thing is no screens. Similar to your light trick, we use a sunrise alarm clock. Starts dim and progressively gets brighter to help simulate sunlight.

@Jake Estep Of course brother, one thing we did is set up a spot for electronics outside of our room.. So phones stay out. It is hard to get over the irrational fear of "what if someone needs me" but... statistics show that is rare.