Balcony Brotherhood: EMale 5-3-26

The Gentlemen read emails sent from the past couple of weeks about recent shows. Birthdays are celebrated and Mr. Becker’s review this week teaches us the power of compounding.

Share your stories or ask your questions at balconybrotherhood@gmail.com.

Connect with the Brotherhood on X, Instagram, and YouTube.

All links at linktree.com for more fearless conversation about what it really takes to build lasting relationships in today’s world.

Subscribe on Podbean, Spotify, or Apple Podcasts for more grounded conversations about connection, accountability, and building a life that doesn’t quietly shrink.

“The ultimate end of education was to be in control of one’s self.” Maria Montessori

reading changes your brain and challenges your presumptions, pick up a book and install new software!

check out my recommended reading list at https://turningleafs.com/book-list/

Balcony Brotherhood – Masculinity: Polarity not Competition

This week, we step into one of the most misunderstood conversations in modern relationships… and slow it down.

In an episode that refuses extremes, Mr. Drayke and Mr. Blackart take on a topic that often turns into noise the moment it’s mentioned: masculinity, femininity, and the roles men and women play in relationships. Not through arguments. Not through labels. But through clarity. Through definition. Through understanding what’s actually being said and what isn’t.

Polarity, Not Competition

This conversation isn’t about control, dominance, or outdated expectations. It’s about structure. About responsibility. About the difference between leadership and control, provision and paycheck, protection and presence. It’s about the three instincts many men recognize: lead, provide, protect, and why those instincts are often misunderstood in today’s environment.

The Brotherhood breaks down the tension that exists between what people say they want and how those behaviors are received. From hesitation in leadership to the confusion surrounding expectations, they explore why so many men feel uncertain in how to show up and why that uncertainty is shaping modern relationship dynamics.

This episode doesn’t ignore reality.

It addresses it.

The impact of survival mode. The strength built through necessity. The difficulty of turning off control when it has been required for years. The trust required to allow someone else to step in and why that trust doesn’t come easily for everyone.

Through listener emails, real-world scenarios, and grounded discussion, the gentlemen walk through what happens when relationships lose alignment. When connection turns into positioning. When communication turns into debate. And when two people stop feeling like partners… and start feeling like opponents.

But the conversation doesn’t stay in the problem.

It moves toward application.

This conversation isn’t about men versus women.

It’s about fit.

Because the question isn’t who’s right.

It’s whether the dynamic actually works

Share your stories or ask your questions at balconybrotherhood@gmail.com.

Connect with the Brotherhood on X, Instagram, and YouTube.

All links at linktree.com for more fearless conversation about what it really takes to build lasting relationships in today’s world.

Subscribe on Podbean, Spotify, or Apple Podcasts for more grounded conversations about connection, accountability, and building a life that doesn’t quietly shrink.

Balcony Brotherhood: EMale 4-19-26

The Gentlemen read emails sent from the past couple of weeks about recent shows. Birthdays are celebrated and Mr. Becker’s review is about communication techniques that can help you in life

Share your experiences at balconybrotherhood@gmail.com. Connect with the Brotherhood on X, Instagram, and YouTube. All links at linktree.com. Subscribe on Podbean, Spotify, or Apple Podcasts for more fearless conversation about what it really takes to build lasting relationships in today’s world.

“Learn to control your thoughts, and always ensure that the voice of courage runs your life.” Dan Hawkins

reading changes your brain and challenges your presumptions, pick up a book and install new software!

check out my recommended reading list at https://turningleafs.com/book-list/ 

“First say to yourself what you would be, then do what you have to do.” Epictetus

Good morning everyone is Iron Wil and I’m back with this weeks quote. Which is “First say to yourself what you would be, then do what you have to do” Epictetus. And to me what this quote is saying is that first decide for yourself who and what you want to be … your personality, your character, um … your career. Those different factors that are gonna make up your life and then once you’ve made that decision of who and what you want to be … then go and do the work and it is work! It is work to create the person that you want to become.

You know it’s [been] said that when … um … Michelangelo was sculpting David, um … he said that all he did was chip away everything that wasn’t David, in that sculpture. And in a similar way, inside each of us is an amazing and beautiful individual. The question is do you want to create that person or do you just wanna … kind of follow along life and just kind of whatever happens. Um … and so we get the opportunity to choose who we want to become or allow life to choose who we become. The difference is your intent, my intent on who I want to change into … how I want to grow. Do I wanna become the best version of myself or do I wanna become a mediocre version of myself? What or Who do you wanna be?

One of my favorite Native American, legends or stories or things … is that you have two wolves inside of you, you have a good wolf and a bad wolf; or a light side and a dark side … and the question is asked of the young, which one will win? And the answer is … the one you feed. So if you’re willing to put good content, and if you’re willing to put in good information; if you’re willing to put in the work to become a better person …than that is who will win. That is who will come out of you is that better version of yourself, that better person excuse me that better person.

And honestly in my experience with people and with learning of myself I have found that doing that work does bring out a better person. A better version of yourself, not perfect, please remember not perfect. Um … but better and sometimes other people will see that version of you and sometimes because of when you connect or communicate or when you associate, they won’t always see that version of you. It just depends.

We should be willing to grow and change and pay the price if we want to have a better life. 

And to be a better person. And one of the things that we need to give ourselves is grace for the mistakes we’re gonna make; and grace for the time or patience for the time it’s gonna take to grow and develop into that person. One of my favorite … um … I think it is a Chinese proverbs “The Journey of a 1000 miles begins with one step. And life is a journey … life is a journey and your destination, as Christian, is the next life. So, your graduation day will come at some point and you’ll be called home to meet your GOD. And what person, what version of yourself do you wanna be showing up there? what version?

So with that my friends, I hope that you like this video, if you do please share it. Go out and make a great day and make it a great week. Iron Wil out.

reading changes your brain and challenges your presumptions, pick up a book and install new software!

check out my recommended reading list at https://turningleafs.com/book-list/

Balcony Brotherhood: Dealing With Grief

This week, we sit with something most men carry… but rarely name.

In an episode that trades noise for honesty, Mr. Drayke and Mr. Blackart turn their attention to grief—not the kind that shows up loudly, but the kind that settles in quietly and stays. Not dramatic. Not visible. Just present. Through grounded discussion, research, and listener emails from men across the country, the gentlemen explore what grief looks like when it isn’t expressed, but carried.

This conversation isn’t about loss in the abstract. It’s about the father who passed and the son who never cried. The brother who’s gone and the man who stayed busy so he didn’t have to stop. The anger that doesn’t make sense, the distance that slowly grows, and the silence that feels easier than explaining something you can’t quite put into words.

The Brotherhood examines the realities many men don’t talk about. How grief often shows up as numbness, irritation, or disconnection. How staying busy can look like strength, while quietly postponing what needs to be processed. And how isolation, even when it feels easier, slowly increases the weight a man is carrying.

They explore the research behind it—why men are less likely to seek support, how emotional suppression affects long-term health, and why even one honest connection can change the trajectory of how grief is carried. From instrumental grief to the “in-between” stage where nothing feels resolved, the conversation moves through the spaces most men find themselves in but rarely describe.

But this episode doesn’t stay in the weight.

It moves toward understanding.

Toward the idea that grief doesn’t have a single form. That moving forward isn’t about forgetting, but about integrating. That connection doesn’t have to be loud or dramatic to matter, it just has to exist.

This conversation isn’t about fixing grief.

It’s about recognizing it.

Because the question isn’t whether you’re carrying something.

It’s whether you’re willing to acknowledge that it’s there.

Share your stories or ask your questions at balconybrotherhood@gmail.com.

Connect with the Brotherhood on X, Instagram, and YouTube.

All links at linktree.com for more fearless conversation about what it really takes to build lasting relationships in today’s world.

Subscribe on Podbean, Spotify, or Apple Podcasts for more grounded conversations about connection, accountability, and building a life that doesn’t quietly shrink.