Fristo Retires

@Fristo

Aw this is by far the most creative "farewell/ on hiatus" posts I've come across here in my almost 2 years of being in 7 cups.

And might I add, one of the most "gosh whatta loss to the community and those that have known you a bit more closely" kinda posts. I feel, with leaders specially, people who are engaged in many activities in and around 7 cups, contributing in endless ways for the betterment of the community, somehow over a period of time we get "used to" them doing what they do and then comes this reality check of how off cups life will always precede and there may be times when these people who have been synonymous to the projects they lead, roles they hold, rooms they've been a part of, will too need to step away (may be for a little while, maybe longer), and hey hey, stepping away for however long one may need to, is super okay. We've valued you then, we value you now and we'll value you when you return in whatever capacity that is. One thing's certain- you are and always will be valued, simply for being yourself. ❤

Your super active and warm presence will be missed dearly, Fristo, you are one the most passionate, dedicated and perseverant people I've met, you speak of giving your heart and soul to something you are passionate about and I know firsthand that you indeed go above and beyond for whatever you set your mind to. That's something (one of the many things lol) that I highly admire in you.

It's so touching how you always advocate for kindness and even now have the same message for us. To be kind and practice kindness.

Something else too that I greatly value about you Is your growth mindset and your willingness to constantly keep improving, and making the most out of your time and days, spending them doing things that bring you satisfaction and Joy and most importantly, a sense of purpose. And thus, it makes me so proud to know you have some great off cups goals and responsibilities moving ahead and theres absolutely no doubt you'll be the best teacher for your students. Ask them inquisitive questions about life hehe :P

In all honesty, I like the way you think, Fristo. I have said this before as well, your mind is a beautiful garden with many beautiful thoughts. I hope this beautiful garden will always be fresh, vibrant and ever-growing.

Thankyou is fairly unjustified in comparison to what you've done for the community, your contributions are so loud and radiant, and you've certainly made an impact and will continue to do so, I believe. But here's a try lol, thankYou, Fristo for being your wonderful self. I'm glad I got to meet you here and will always look forward to see you around and your PMs too haha!

Ps: I'm happy you'll be around and ofcourse, any and all of your presence is greatly appreciated and valued. ❤

Wishing you the best for your future endeavors. 🌞

@Sunisshiningandsoareyou

your mind is a beautiful garden with many beautiful thoughts. I hope this beautiful garden will always be fresh, vibrant and ever-growing.

HI - what i nice sentence to write!

@Helgafy

Hii Helga, many thanks for appreciating. ❤

@Fristo Much agreed with @sunisshiningandsoareyou because this is highly creative hehe, love it!

As much as this post was meant to be an explaination and farewell, it's provided much inspiration. I'm so glad to hear that you're able to put your time, energy and efforts towards what feels most fulfilling. You deserve that clarity and joy, wherever you go.

Hearing that you're a teacher made so much sense, as you've always been so kind, thoughtful, patient and adventurous in your 7Cups endeavors. Your dedication to reaching your best potential and following it where it takes you is truly admirable.

I feel so blessed to have gotten to know you for the short time I have, and I have no doubts that you're going to continue to spread sunshine, love and smiles wherever you go, and we all wish you the absolute best moving forwards.

Thank you for the time and efforts you've provided us as a community, and for leaving us with the fabulous gifts not only of appreciation, but of hard work, of communication, of slow moments of mindfulness, and of hope that we can make a difference in our own lives, in our communities, and in the world. We appreciate you.

Much warmth,

Elliot 💚💛

(Also I'm interesting in chatting about the Living with Leaders project 👀)

@WarmLightXO

Andddd what Elliot said too. ^ ❤

(I'm excited to see how the chat about the project goes 👀😛 rooting for Elliott, go go🤗)

@Fristo

*jaw-dropped moment*

Not gonna lie, it's a sad news for me, but I agree, offline life comes first. And knowing you, you'd do your best in every life settings. 💜

And... I'm losing one source of my social media content without Living with Leaders series lol xD

Fristo, take care for now, I'm wishing you the best and looking forward to seeing you around again. With or without roles! 🤗

@Fristo

You will be greatly missed but I can fully understand your reasons for retiring. I think it is a hard step, but I am sure that you will do amazing in your off-cups life.

I hope to see you now and then, you know that you are always welcome here ❤️

Take care @fristo

@Fristo You've been such a dedicated and kind member of the 7cups community. It's sad to see you retiring and I know I'll miss you so much! But I'm glad you are happy with the path you have chosen. I'm sure you're a great teacher and you can spread kindness wherever you go, on or off 7cups. I wish you all the best in your endeavors ❤️

@Fristo

Thank you for all you have done in 7 CUps particularly, from my side, to improve the quality of support, and quality of life for Listeners, with various initiatives, like your wonderful Interviews.

To the leader of the "Around the World" subcom, that stressed so much expression of cultural diversity, I share a piece of Western wisdom, the Ecclesiastes 3 that starts:

"There is a time for every thing under the sun, and for each activity, there is a season"

There was a very long time for 7 Cups, that you fulfilled with maximum commitment and excellence, and now comes another time, when you will focus all your amazing skills, kindness, and wisdom on another very worthy and noble purpose.

We wish you all the luck in the world in this new phase of your life!

@Fristo aww we will miss seeing you around. Hope you come back soon!! ❤️❤️

@Fristo

I was a bit taken aback, I won't lie. Took me a few seconds to process the information when I came around to alert this post. Something @Sunisshiningandsoareyou said clicked with me almost immediately, that is how we get used to some people around us, that we don't even see it coming. The only thing I want you to know is, that I've always admired how you put your heart and soul into whatever you do, from the smallest tasks to the bigger community projects. And I know wherever life takes you, you'll be nothing short of amazing. Best wishes 💜 I'll be very proud of myself if I'm ever able to do even a fraction of what you've done for the community. Thanks for giving me the opportunity to work with you on various projects, I'll always cherish those memories. And whenever you look back to 7Cups, you'll always be welcomed with open arms 💜

@Fristo

You are one of the most dedicated person I came across on 7cups, I cant imagine 7cups without you being around. You are super helpful & have always helped me whenever I have come up with my silly questions to you. I have learned a lot from you specially when it comes to answering listeners in LSR.

One more thing I will specifically say that, you have seen some potential in me & have asked me to consider few roles or responsibilities few times & I have always had my own reasons (excuses) to refuse them & still you never took it personally & you are amazingly welcoming even after refusing almost everything you offered me to consider.

Your students are really lucky to have teacher & guide like you. All the best with all your future endeavors. I Hope to see you in LSR (I am so used to that) soon. Take care

@Fristo

Namaste Sir Fristo! 🙏
Been a while, but why are you retiring!!!???

Okay, putting that aside, I just wanted to say a big thank you for everything you've done for the cups and the rooms here. I saw you grow from being a listener in our old cup days to taking so many roles and responsibilities and doing them right!

Although we haven't seen each other in a long in Listener rooms, it was always good to have you there, and I will miss your presence AND questions when I visit them.

However, I am glad you have discovered a better method to utilize your abilities, and I am confident you will succeed wherever you go, just like you did here.

It was great meeting you on this journey of cups, and I've always enjoyed our exchanges here. You are a beautiful soul, and keep sharing that around! 🌱

Wishing you all the very best in your future pursuits, whether in your personal life or in your teaching career. Keep shining! ✨💖

Leaving a few lines from one of my favorite poems as the end goal is still the same....

" मदिरालय जाने को घर से चलता है पीनेवला,

'किस पथ से जाऊँ?' असमंजस में है वह भोलाभाला,

अलग-अलग पथ बतलाते सब पर मैं यह बतलाता हूँ -

'राह पकड़ तू एक चला चल, पा जाएगा मधुशाला। " 🐾

Hoping to see you around again someday again :)

Warm Regards,

Dia 🌺

@Fristo

Dear Fristo,

I wish this was some other scenario where I would go like "Fristoooooooooooooooo! 💙" I honestly don't know what to say, haha. This might come as a huge shock because I never imagined that I would across a day where Fristo would be making a post like this. I might have imagined various listener friends of mine leaving at some point but never did I think of you, maybe because I'm used to seeing you bring lots of development and spreading kindness here?

As much as this saddens me, I'm so glad to hear you are focusing on your real-life commitments, they indeed deserve your attention and I wish you all the best wishes and success to them. 💙

I don't think I can imagine a 7 cups, or the forums or the peer appreciation or the LSR or the LCR without a Fristo.

You have so much here, that it can't be justified through words. Fristo is a beautiful and wonderful part of 7 cups that I will forever remember as long as I'm here and even after I leave cups. You leave a significance behind your name and I'm so so so proud of you. 😊

Fristo, thank you so much for everything you have done here, and all those interactions I had with you, I'm going to cherish them in my memories and will wish and hope to still talk to you in future. My compliments for you might never stop, haha. You are very kind and sweet, I think you already know that!

I'm so so so grateful that I met you, and that I know a person in my life who's so awesome. Thank you so much. And at times if you can, please do drop by my pms, it would make me happy, haha.

At this point, I'm barely able to control my tears, but no crying! I have an exam tomorrow, smh smh. I wish you and your family all kinds of happiness, good health, strength and safety. *hugs hugs*

Take care, Fristo.

Love, Starla (Shreya) 💙

Ps: A cookie for you. 🍪

@Fristo

Sending you a biiig smile! 💜

Thank you for all the work you did here on 7 cups. I wish you all the best for your future as a teacher as well as everywhere else.

Take care!

audienta

@Fristo

Wait what?

I can not believe it.

You are like the life force of Cups Fristo. I am so sorry I saw this post so late! From your post, I can take comfort in knowing that you are not gone forever. :) I don't know what caused this but take care of yourself Fristo! You will surely be missed whenever you are not here.

@Fristo

FRISTO!

Thank you so much for your effort! What a shining light you're to the world. I bless you in the name above all names Jesus Christ/God (I'm a Christian). And what you say "and make a heaven come true in that place" - exactly the same prayer the Lord teaches us: "Let your kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven"!

From Helga.

@Fristo

wishing you all the luck and happiness in life Fristo! thank you for everything that you've done for all of us! <3

@Fristo things would be different with you not around! wishing you the best with everything in life ❤️

flowers for you!

@Fristo Self-care and finding balance is always important. I wish you the best in pursuing all your goals and know that your continued presence in the community will be much appreciated, role or not since your leadership will continue to lift others up! Thank you for all that you do ❤️ Please stay in touch during your visits - my butterfly garden will always have a warm cup of tea for you to hopefully enjoy and check-in with!

@Fristo Fristooooooo! It's hard to say well done for putting yourself first and ensuring you get great self-care without sounding patronizing, but it is a huge decision and I know that you will have taken a lot of time and thought before making it.

I hope you do pop in and say hello in my PM's. Your pupils are all very lucky and they will be the ones that benefit now!

Take Care ❤️

Listening - One Step At A Time!

@Fristo

Hi Fristo! 😊❤️ *sighs* Well, must admit, this one hurts! *ouch*

I guess there is an old saying "don't know what you got, until it's gone". Your absence from being here in the community as often, I imagine will be felt by many. I'm sensing a huge ripple effect coming.

I respect you and I respect your reasons for doing so. I can only tell myself that this is a higher calling for you, your students need you more, the universe needs you more as it has seen your greatness just as I have! The one compensatory factor in all of this for me personally, is that you will still be here with us and you aren't leaving us entirely. I am most grateful! ❤️

Great segway.......gratitude.....

Thank you for everything you have done for the community! Thank you for creating change in a positive direction!

I have truly enjoyed reading your Leadership Interviews and we have all benefited from your well thought out questions that seem to be custom tailored to each individual. I feel like it's because you took the time to get to know each and every one of us as human beings! 😊❤️

Thank you for creating the Peer Appreciation Project! Wow! This has truly been after my own heart as well, as I believe in giving others positive affirmations, giving credit where credit is due. I call it "catch me being good" and to see someone doing the right thing, commending the behavior shows each of us the best way to perform and there is a higher propensity for the behavior to be repeated. ❤️

I do believe you also created another project. I don't recall the name of it but If I remember, it's an area for (a link) for community members to directly leave messages for administration for great ideas they may have. This seems to have much value and you got traction in that way also!

I'm guessing there are many many more things that you have done for the community at large that none of us may be privy too.

I'd like to show you my gratitude and thank you also on a more deep and personal level, teammate to teammate. These are my feelings, my perceptions. These are ways in which you have treated me as a human being that others weren't able to see as it was 1-1 😊❤️😊.

Fristo, thank you for "seeing" me! For me, in the past, lack of a higher order badge did not thwart you in the least from seeing value in me. This is exhibiting one of the core values of 7 cups. *7 cups believes in equality* I guess over time you saw me from across the room in the LSR and maybe thought that "hey, maybe this little gal might be on to something around here" lol!

I had so many amazing moments with you via pm! ❤️ I loved our brainstorming sessions and was truly honored that you would even ask for my thoughts, opinions, links, bookmarks any type of information at all for you to take into consideration! This for me is truly the sign of a great leader! Someone who surrounds themselves with a wide set of highly diverse and intelligent people! Thank you for never underestimating me! It's how I am as well! I underestimate the power of none of us here on this platform!

Thank you for also "seeing" me publicly in the rooms! For calling an "Ace an Ace and a Spade a Spade". Thank you for being kind to me, for saying wonderful things to me publicly just as I do for others! You, so many times positively reinforced my good behavior as I do for others! (Yup, works on me too, works like a charm! Weeeeeeee Weeeeeeeee! 😊) haha You have many times filled up the "cup" for me as I was consistently filling it up for our other teammates! ❤️ Unbeknownst to you, you have been a part of my daily gratitude moments on so very many occasions!

As an educator and as my teammate I'll share my gift to you today in the form of a quote. "I am a part of all that I have met". This quote is by Tennyson from the book "Ulysses". For me it means that all humans are shaped by a combination of all of life's experiences. I feel in my heart that some of your greatness "rubbed off on me" and that some of the things I have to offer around here "rubbed off on you" as well! 😊😊😊 I think the pair of us both learned, grew and developed even more as people because of it! Grateful for the moments spent with you! ❤️

As an aside, in an effort to make you laugh, trying to read the book "Ulysses" many years ago, was the book that made me change my mindset of ...if you start to read a book, then you must finish it. Nopie, nope, nope and more nope! I met my match with that book, it's my arch nemesis as it was just wayyyyyyy too hard to follow! lol But at least I have that wonderful quote to draw from!

I'll apologize to the rest of the community for such a long forum post response. Feel free to skip over it if you like. I'll never apologize for showing care, respect and gratitude for a fellow teammate though! Yup, Fristo! This one is for you! *high fives* 😊 big *hugs* ❤️ and stay great my friend! 😊

@Fristo

Take care and all the best for your future.

@Fristo

I value your positive energy here and have loved reading your posts. I wish you much success in your teaching career. Those students are so very lucky to have you, Fristo. I'm gonna miss seeing you around.

@Fristo

I just read about it Frisyy...i know i haven't been around for a long time but i came back and i wish you had been around a little more ..but still i m happy that i got to know you in my days on cups. You have been a great friend fristo. You always were there when I needed help from you. Your talks and questions and everything you always talked was something that's always reached my new things.

I have been a great admirer of you fris. I wish I could have been more around to have these learnings from you. You have contributed alot to 7 cups. I have seen you improving alot everytime i came. That was really great to see. Thank you for being my support, my friend, my motivation, always tried to get me into something new.

I will always miss you my friend. I hope you have your life concerns sorted and have a great life ahead. Be happy and safe and healthy always frissy, there is nothing more i would wish for you than this. It was a pleasure knowing you @fristo. Thank you for giving me chance to know you and be your friend. take care of yourself friss....hope to see you again on 7cups.❤️❤️😊😊

@Fristo

We will truly miss you Fristo! :( It's been super incredible to have you here! You are one of the greatest and supportive listener mentor here!

We wish you all the very very best for the future!

Please take care! :)💜🌺💐🌼🌞🌻

Cheers!

I’m so happy to read this interview. From one teacher to another, teaching is the best way to create the quiet revolution of kindness you seek, Fristo! Acting kindly whenever I think of you! Well then, I will be very kind indeed!