My brother Scott Schuler, one of the people I hold in high regard as a person, but also as the man behind the Ride for a Reason fundraiser among others, has put up a couple of videos on his YouTube channel about his “MAN UP” project. A project to help men stand in their power and live a life filled with values, norms, respect and trust.
For me “Manning Up” is taking responsibility for my actions or actions taken on my behalf.I have to apologize and repair whatever damage is done, no-one else. From the heart, genuine! Not matter how uncomfortable that makes me feel. Manning Up.
Making excuses is often used as a hollow phrase, to hide the real facts someone should apologizing for. People that are angry they got busted is what their apology is for, not regretting for what they did or caused.
As a father of 2 teenagers, I recognize whatever they are doing and saying: They copy my behavior, my way of thinking, my humor… I am their main role-model.I do regret the way they sometimes react towards Daniëlle (my wife) or me, then I MAN UP and correct them for their behavior, taking responsibility for how I raised them.But then again I hear from their friends’ parents how friendly, nice, thoughtful, well-behaved and helpful they are. That gives me pride, I know I did something right.I know I sometimes drop the ball, but overall I did a hell of a job, even though nobody ever told me how to do it.
Same goes for our marriage:
It may not be perfect, but it is perfect for me. I truly adore my wife, we have been together for almost 30 years, we have our up and downs, but we can talk to each other about anything. We need to talk about anything, as we have a family together, a business together, a life longer together than being apart. We might not agree all the time, but we respect each other for what we are; flaws and all!
Or what about OUR business:
I know my wife has been busting her ass off, working over 4 years to get where we are today, but where would we be if I had not “Manned Up” and do the work around the house, the dinners, the laundry? Being in a business together means that we do things that the other one doesn’t or is too busy to do so. I am forever grateful for all the effort she puts into our business. If she had not put in that much effort, we would not had the opportunity to fire my boss and me join this Young Living adventure full-time. If I had not taken on the chores, she would not have time to do the business full time, we would never have the freedom we have nowadays. We both have to put in effort to make things work.
So, to all my brothers out there, I just want to say this:
Get your head out of your ass, be there and do what is needed: MAN UP!
2 weeks ago the Young Living 2018 European convention was about to start. A very social, yet business event we encourage all our members to attend. Why?
Before I got laid off in 2014 I already made my decision to look for something else; although I got fired before I could find another job. I never could have imagined being unemployed for over 2 and a half years, with 25 years experience as baggage…
That, my unemployment and a seriously ill family member was enough to tip our scale: we were stressed out, sleeping bad and a load of other stuff going on.
What started out with just an oil to reduce the pressure we felt in our lives (I was unemployed, Daniëlle was pressured by an d**k of a boss because I was at home unemployed and she really could not say no to more work , a house that without the financial help of family never could be saved and a relative who was seriously ill), has now become a network marketing business where we help almost 2000 people in their personal growth and support them with 100% natural products.
What started for me as “just the man of”, I have since been able to quit my job to do the Young Living business FULLTIME; last March during the Global Leadership Convention in Croatia it got me on stage in front of about 1,000 people telling them my vision on working together as a couple. I spent a big part of my time trying to involve more men in this business. Because to be honest, Young Living is still a business in which more than 85% women and only 15% men work. And then we are not even talking about Europe, where the percentage of men is even lower!
I occasionally buy a cap that has that “something completely different” feeling to it, something I have a great feeling about. Like this one!
Melissa is a mother of 8, wife to Nick, and still finds the time to volunteer to fly (at her own costs) to Uganda and help the locals with hanging hundreds of mosquito nets so the people of Uganda can sleep safe without getting infected with Malaria. Or help the locals with building shelter or housing, so they have a roof over their heads to get through the nights. What about buying large amounts of chickens to support the locals not only with food, but also an income from either selling eggs, chicken or chicken-meat. But what I admire about her most of all: she helps the people of Uganda with dealing with 
The cap I want to tell you about is the 
We were going to spent a long summer vacation in Florida in 2011, traveling the state, see all the Disney & Universal parks & of course a couple of baseball games; so I also scheduled a stop in Fort Meyers to go see Swen in his hometown… But Swen was doing so good, he was promoted to the next level: Short Season A. He was to pack his bags and move to Lowell, home of the Spinners, just a short hour from 
We run in to each other every now and then, we live in the same town, we both coach Little League (Swen coaches the Littles, I coach the Seniors, both for the same team – Kennemerland), he organizes the BAC, I was one of the coaches of the BAC-team. I have a soft spot for this tall guy with his big heart, I still wear my Lowell Spinners cap often… WITH GREAT PRIDE!