Latest / Pete Vs Anxiety!!!!! / How Trauma Fueled My Success—and the Four Keys to Avoid Repeating the Pattern

Transcript

How Trauma Fueled My Success—and the Four Keys to Avoid Repeating the Pattern · Pete Vs Anxiety!!!!!

• Peter: Welcome in to another exciting episode of Pete Fringiside. Today my guest is the founder of Spark and Change Coaching, the one, the only Anthony Spark. Anthony also is the co-founder of Operation Impact, Punk Rock Run. He's also the co-host of Extraordinary Excellence. Anthony, welcome in, man. You got a lot of titles going there. Pete: Ever wish you had someone to talk to anytime, anywhere, matter what you're going through? Meet PsychPAL, your 24-7 AI companion, designed to help you process your thoughts, calm your mind, and keep you moving forward. Chat anytime during a panic attack on a restless night or just when you need to vent. Prefer talking instead of typing? Try voice journaling. PsychPAL listens, transcribes, and truly understands. You can even upload screenshots of tough conversations, and it'll help you unpack how they made you feel. PsychPAL keeps life organized, too. ANTHONY SPARK: Thanks, man. Well, I'm thankful to be here. Hopefully some of the stuff I shared today can help save some people some time and suffering. You know, that's the biggest thing is you get lessons from different people and help you on your journey, man. But it's a privilege to be here and I'm looking forward to chatting, man. peter: Show ⁓ Pete: It can add appointments to your calendar, track your mood, and even summarize your sessions for your therapist so you'll never lose progress. Plus, built-in crisis resources are always just one click away. It's a privacy-first, constantly evolving, made to complement your professional care, not replace it. Ready to try it out? Head over to the link in this episode and use my code, Pete, at checkout to get 20 % off your first month subscription to PsychPAL. PsychPAL, because your mind deserves a companion too. Peter: Alright so Anthony, tell a little more about yourself. For anybody that doesn't know who you are, besides everything we just said, what are some things you want them to know about you, ANTHONY SPARK: Okay, I'll give you a quick bio. Grew up with, from a lot of background dysfunction on both sides of my family, a lot of undiagnosed mental health stuff. My dad was a womanizer and an addict, ended up in prison. My grandmother on my mom's side had undiagnosed bipolar disorder. They thought she was schizophrenic, gave her shock treatments. My mom had to run the whole house. So growing up, I came from a lot of craziness. can get into stories, I might be doing that here. Peter: Here we go. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. ANTHONY SPARK: But I got into business, I was always entrepreneurial. I started selling candy, selling polished stones in school. I'm 37, so this is pre-social media. 18, I met a guy, graduated high school, that said he was gonna retire at 28. I never heard of that before, learned about network marketing, which is super scandalous. Some people love it, some people hate it. But for me, it was the best shot that I had to build something. I opted to not go to medical school, was able to leave my job at 25. My wife left her job at 29. And I've built several companies since then, including the coaching company. That's my passion, helping people find their identity and be able to build a life that's their real dream, not their family of origin, not the labels to really build the thing and put the systems in place to have the life you want. I started Punk Rock Run for mental health, raises money locally for kids to have services in the North Shore Long Island, a lot of opioid problems. Co-founder of Operation Impact raised over a million dollars for kids in need. I have a AI company, Atlas Mines. I got a VA placement company, founder's right hand. I started with my partner. some other new stuff, but got four kids, happily married, been with my wife for 17 years. And if I'm going to say what I'm most proud of, it's being healthy, having a great marriage and being a father outside of all the other vocational bullshit. Peter: Damn man, do you have no longer resume? if it got any longer, we'd be here for hours. ANTHONY SPARK: That's it. That was the fastest I could do, man. That was as fast as I could go. Peter: So that's so cool man, like you've accomplished so much in so little time man. What's your secret? Just a hustle man? Cause you just seem like you got out there like, listen I want to soak up whatever I can at this point. ANTHONY SPARK: Yeah, so growing up in the background, I find when you look at the distribution on this bell curve, when you come from a lot of trauma, a lot of issues, a of mental health, and I don't want to paint it like everything was terrible. My dad did teach me good work ethic, he his own problems. My mom, I'm the eldest of three. My brother, my sister, myself, we're all in the top 1 % income earners, successful relationships, so they definitely did something right. But when you come from that kind of background on that bell curve distribution, you tend to either be on the absolute bottom where you repeat the pattern. Peter: Mm-hmm. Yeah. ANTHONY SPARK: or you use that as fuel for what you don't want to be. So growing up, knew I didn't want to be poor. I knew I wanted to help people. I was willing to work hard. I was blessed with an aptitude for learning. And I have just diligently worked at it. I find I always teach there's four things you need to succeed. You need to have number one. You have to have a mentor. You have to have somebody that can help give you the path. And that can ideally be a person, particularly that they have the same values that you want to espouse and the success. But you can find it in books. You can find it different places. Second, you need curated information. I've probably read a thousand books. I've read about a book a week since I'm 17, give or take. Third, you need a community. You need people who are gonna support you, you know, and you can find that in alcoholic anonymous. If you have addicts and an addiction problem, you can find that in a church, you can find that a spiritual foundation, you can find it in a club, can find it in a coaching community. But you need people that are not gonna pull you down. And then number four, you gotta find some type of vehicle that can get you where you wanna go. I mean, you could be the most intelligent, loving person in the world. If you become a teacher, I think that's an amazing amazing profession, but if your goal is to make a big income, you're probably not going to do it there. So just got to pick a vehicle that's going to get you the kind of outcome you want, whatever that is for you. Peter: Yeah, no, that makes perfect sense. So, you know, in things like that, too, I use my podcast to do it basically, though, man, it's been great. Like I've been doing this show for about a year and a half now. Three interviews into this thing, man, and the endless list of people I talk to on a daily basis, you know, I network with a lot of people. So any time I engage with somebody, always look at what I can do next or follow them and things like that, too. You know, now it's social media being added in. ANTHONY SPARK: Yeah. Thanks for watching. Peter: You know, you have a bigger market that you can get to, though, because you can reach people faster, though. And I know that's a fun little tricky thing to do, too, for me, because at first it was hard getting that traction because people don't want to talk about menthol sometimes. And it's a taboo subject for a lot of people. ANTHONY SPARK: Correct. Right. ⁓ Yeah, but I find that in business, in marketing, in impact, you have to have a lot of people that hate what you do to ever have a group of people that love what you do. A lot of people, try to go that middle road, right? Where it's like, if no one hates you, no one loves you, no one cares, you know? So there's a huge need. Unfortunately, mental health, like you said, is still very taboo. have these kind of hustle, ⁓ manosphere mindset that like, mental illness doesn't exist. I think that is a way overcorrection in the wrong direction. On the other end, Peter: Yep. ANTHONY SPARK: We can't let labels and victim identity control us either. So I think there's a really healthy middle ground for ⁓ do I acknowledge what's going on, but how do I work with it, not let it define me. And that's really the space I try to live in. Peter: Yeah, I think that toxic masculinity is what's really killing us men right now, because if you think about it, a lot of times that's the issue we're having is that we're fighting against that, you know, because men don't talk about their mental health or when they do, it's scrutinized not only by women, but men itself, you know, like we ourselves are doing it. ANTHONY SPARK: Yeah. ⁓ Exactly. Totally. Yeah. unfortunately, you know, I think social media is tremendous. You know, like one of my favorite independent artists is Connor Price. He found Nick D. They got into FaceTime and they're independent artists. They work and collab together. So social media can be really, really powerful to find like-minded people you can never connect with. But on the other end, you got a lot of grifters. Peter: Mm-hmm. ANTHONY SPARK: You got a lot of people out there that are going to talk about things just for their own personal gain. And if people are, especially if they're hopeless or they're struggling or they're looking for something, it's really easy to get captured by the wrong voices. And we always have to ask ourselves, what is the agenda of this person on the other end of it? Because most of the time people's agendas aren't for you, they're for themselves. So you just got to be really careful with whom you listen to. I do find that that is not helping. ⁓ I mean, you talk about the suicide rate, you talk about Peter: Yeah. Mm-hmm. ANTHONY SPARK: you know, between veterans, between men, you know, the epidemic of loneliness, you know, you talk about this. I read a really interesting thing and see me to the end because it sounds very sexist and chauvinistic in the beginning, but let me start with it. So there was a Roman senator that talked about, they had this rule in Rome that women were not allowed to own more than a half ounce of gold and sounds super sexist, but the theory and the mindset was as soon as we lift this law, then all people are going to do is they're going to be spending their money, their power and their influence to now play a status game. And now it's gonna become vanity rather than character. And ultimately they repealed that and that's kinda how things went. All the money, the politicians. Cause if your way you're going to value yourself is going to be the money you can make and the value you can provide, particularly around status items, watches and gold and jewelry and homes and cars, we've lost the moral fiber. of what we have. And I think that the mental illness epidemic pandemic that we got going on is largely driven by this ⁓ where we're no longer measuring men based on their character. We're measuring men based on sociopathic tendencies for success. ⁓ there's a very disproportionate number of successful people. It's about five, like 20 % of CEOs of 500 companies show sociopathic behavior. So we're now. rewarding the kind of behavior that doesn't reward empathy, doesn't reward integrity, doesn't reward equality in standing up for the little person, it rewards self-aggrandizement. And there's no question when you incentivize bad human behavior, you get bad human behavior. Peter: towards self-abranding. No question of incentivizing that engagement. get that. Yeah, that's true for a lot of these companies. As you think about how they treat their employees, like Amazon's the one that you really hear a lot about when there's milling through people left and right. Why do you think they turn over? I can only imagine what their turnover rate for their company would be. It's got to be ridiculously high. And especially when you think about burnout and everything else that associates with mental health as well. ANTHONY SPARK: Yes Brutal. Peter: it gets even harder for people because then you get that burnout came in coming in and the people already have issues. They just escalate it even further. And then it's like, you know, everybody wants to say they want to talk about it. Then when you have the conversation, everybody runs and gets scared because they're like, ⁓ shit, that's just got real. ANTHONY SPARK: Thank ⁓ Yep. Right. Yeah. Yeah. You know, I had a lot of struggles with mental health myself and you know, people say they want to support you, but then they villainize you and then they ostracize you. And you know, that's, that's making the problem worse because people, they're not, they don't understand how to deal with things. So until we can start fixing this ability to have safe spaces, to have a conversation, and it's different than Freudian therapy speak. am not for Peter: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. ANTHONY SPARK: labels, am not for, I'm not saying that there are things and it's a gray area, but I'm not for victim mentality. So, you know, somebody struggles with the chemical imbalance. can be depression, it can be bipolar, can be schizophrenia, whatever it may be. There are certain places where you're going to need to have some type of chemical assistance, but we need to not look at all of the downsides and the ostracism and the judgment. Peter: Yeah. ANTHONY SPARK: because a lot of the most successful people that people want to write about and talk about, like the Teddy Roosevelt's and the Kurt Cobain's and a lot of these artists, they're not neurotypical and they have these things. Winston Churchill is diagnosable for bipolar and you gotta take the good with the bad, but you can't just look at what you can't do, you can't just look at what this label is or these limits. ⁓ have to look that with every rose comes a thorn and you can't cut the thorn off the rose, it comes with both parts. Peter: Yeah, yeah, it's a double-edged sword as I like to say, you know, and it's just, I think a lot of people don't realize what a lot of these guys struggle with. know, Robin Williams for one, man, if you re-looked at what he dealt with, holy crap, dude. He went through all these different things. Chris Farley struggled as well as some other names to mention, know, and it's just like, I think people are quick to judge because they don't know anything. And I know I deal with this situation, me and my girlfriend, she has BPD. So that adds a whole nother layer to everything. now, ANTHONY SPARK: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Right. Yes. Peter: Well, you hear the stories that people have around that to stigmatize that. Oh, well, it's they're horrible people. No, it's you just don't understand what they're dealing with. You know, and when we started dating Anthony, we I started really looking into everything that she was into because I already do the show already. So I had an expert on already Jen Bellinger came on. You know, I went to her was asking her advice. I searched on the Internet for things she was teaching me things to, which is really great, because when you get it right from the source, they can tell you exactly how they're feeling. And I think a lot of people. ANTHONY SPARK: Yeah, no doubt, no doubt. know, and obviously bipolar disorder is a spectrum for those who don't know, you know, you have ⁓ the lowest grade, which they usually call cyclothymia, all the way to bipolar one, and there's a spectrum. Peter: tend to forget to do that, but then they say they want to be there, and then when they have to be there, it gets uglier because they don't know how to handle the situation. Mm-hmm. ANTHONY SPARK: Are you hypomanic? Are you manic? Are you depressed? you, know, depending, you know? So I had found for myself that I have tendencies that can be identified as low grade bipolar, cyclothymia, right? Challenge I find with a lot of these different things. And if we're to go way back, you know, you had the Jungian School of Psychology and Psychotherapy and you had the Freudian School. Freudian was chemical based and forever talking over and over and over again, ruminating on the past. Peter: ⁓ yeah. Yep. ANTHONY SPARK: which is extremely marketable Jungian was not. It was a very, different frame and it wasn't as marketable. It wasn't as consumable. So we ended up with this, you know, medication pharmacology ⁓ goes on. I'm not saying that those things aren't there, ⁓ one of the challenges is if you ask for the ⁓ test for getting medication is saying you need help. And it's a little bit of a low bar, I think, you know? So it was a time where they're like, hey, listen, you should get on lithium. And, you know, I took the script. I never filled it. And I said, okay. I'm going to exhaust everything I can, behaviorally, lifestyle. I'm going to really do the deep dive. What is going on that's causing this? Because the interesting thing with the bipolar disorder, particularly if you're not going to be in the extremes where you're going to sometimes need that, where you're going to be so manic that you're going to be hallucinating or you're so depressed that you're not safe to yourself, is there's a lot of pros and cons to it too. There's a lot of pros on the other end. It gives you tremendous creativity and a different way to look at things. Peter: Yeah. ⁓ yeah, definitely. ANTHONY SPARK: different appreciation for life and this contrast, which is why a lot of people that have bipolar, they don't want to get on meds because you're getting high on your own supply and you don't want to stop doing it. But what I had found for myself is I was not acting. think that many of us, and again, I'm not a psychologist. not looking to pass. I'm just talking about my own personal experience. I'm not looking to lead anybody astray. But I think if we do the deep digging, very often we might have tendencies and we might have propensities towards different types of mental illness. Peter: Yeah. ANTHONY SPARK: But I think for a large portion doing that internal work, which is extremely difficult, it might require a lot of support and a lot of time and a lot of hard conversations, whether it be digging into trauma in the past, looking at your identi... the way your identity is built and those global beliefs that you have, but also the environment that you're had. I was in an environment that people would constantly tell me, like, you're too smart, you're this and you're too much. And eventually you start to internalize it and say, maybe there is something wrong with me. And that's the beginning of the end. Because if there's something wrong with... Peter: Yeah. ANTHONY SPARK: me, opposed to I have a challenge or I have a situation or I have something I need to overcome, totally shifts the direction. So as I started to really dig into my identity and get rid of the avatar that I had built that created success, particularly my network marketing business, and I started to really identify some of my core relationships that were emotionally abusive and toxic. And as I started to do that, I found for myself that a lot of those challenges dissipated. So again, Some people need medication. have a lot of people and I've recommended some people need to do that. And I don't think there should be any shame, but I think it's a really healthy spot for us to do the best we can make that a last resort. And then if we do need that, try to use it if we can as a bridge to get to the healthiest place to then do that work. Cause sometimes you're so unhealthy, you can't do that work. Peter: Yeah. I think you said two key points there. said to use as a bridge in the work. think a lot of people go to therapy and I've talked to some therapists on the show. They say the part that people miss out on is the work part. Like they get all excited, they leave, they're all hyped up, they leave and then they come back and right back to the end of the cycle because they don't want to do that work in between because it's either too hard or all these other things you can come with. But nowadays we have so many different avenues that know, don't get me wrong, medication has its place for those people that are worried about it. ANTHONY SPARK: Yes. Peter: Or exhaust all these other resources, though. Try hypnotherapy. Try it. Because you never know what these other things might work better for you. There's so many different things you can do these days. Hypnotherapy has been an interesting one lately for us because a lot of times you find that sometimes if you traumatized as a kid, you don't remember it at all. Your body will remember it, but you don't remember what it is. And sometimes that's what it takes to do it. And then there's what we explore the option of what happens if you go past birth when you're doing hypnotherapy as well with Craig Megweather and another guest I had on. ANTHONY SPARK: Yeah. Yeah. Thank you. Right. then Peter: We were talking about that whole thing too. So it's just endless amount of things you can do these days. you know, if medication really you don't feel like works for you you don't like the side effects or something, there's something out there to work better for you. Like don't get me wrong, I'm not demonizing medication. It has its place for those people that need it to control whatever. But like you said, use it like a bridge. Don't abuse it and then just kind of rely on it to be your crutch because too many people do that. They're like, well, ANTHONY SPARK: Yeah. Thank No. Yeah. Thanks Peter: Well, my anxiety is so bad, I can't, is it really that or is it that you're putting a label on it? And I hate when people do that because they use their diagnosis as a crutch to be like, ⁓ well, I can't do that because I'm anxiety-filled. No, you deal with anxiety. Anxiety isn't you as a person, you know what saying? Now you're making this, you know what saying? It's just a horrible character for lot of people. ANTHONY SPARK: Right. Correct. Yeah, it comes back to identity. ⁓ you take a label and make it your identity, the cognitive dissonance ⁓ it so you prove it to yourself. So you can suffer from feelings of anxiety. You can have a panic attack. But when you say, ⁓ anxiety disorder, I think that that frame can really harm us more than we realize a lot of the time. Peter: Mm. Yeah. Yeah, because it's a mindset thing. You're telling yourself that, you're setting yourself that mindset and then mindset builds and then you start tricking yourself and it gets to a whole new level of things that we can go into, like negative self-talk and contribute to that too. And everybody asks me about mine. Like I say, I have anxiety, like I deal with my anxiety. I have anxiety, but I deal with it. You know what saying? I don't let it run me. It's almost like a superpower. So sometimes when my anxiety is at an all time high, a lot of times it's alerting me to something and things like that too. And I don't know. ANTHONY SPARK: Yep. Yeah. Sure. ⁓ Peter: You know, I don't know if you know the energy principles too, like, you know, I can sense energy as well. So like a really big energy sense guy. So I can, I tell people's energy and I'm an empath so I could feel it too. So like I feel things on the next level, but you know, I don't let it identify me as a person because I deal with anxiety and depression and you know, it's an infinite loop that I deal with, but it's just, those are just feelings I have. Those aren't me as a person. ANTHONY SPARK: Yeah. Yes. Yeah. things I think are important. There's a lot of people, they get stuck and they're, I don't believe in hypnotherapy or I don't, I don't, if something works, ⁓ fucking cares, man? You know what I mean? It doesn't matter. ⁓ know, ⁓ well, that's the placebo effect. If it helps, it doesn't matter. I don't care if you want to drink a magic potion, you want to drink a green juice. Peter: Exactly exactly what I'm Exactly. ANTHONY SPARK: You want to meditate, you want to do hypnotherapy, know, you want to do some something controlled thing, ketamine therapy, helps you. it helps and it gets you to where you need to go, ⁓ fucking cares, man? That's the biggest thing, I think. Peter: I think on that point really fast, think that why people think that is because we're all so quick to judge each other. And now remember, we have the internet now in play now, OK? So now you're able to you get harassed by more people that don't agree with what you're doing. you know, that kind of thing. So that's why we're at that point, though. But you're right, though. I agree 100 percent with you. I you're making great points. ANTHONY SPARK: Right. Yeah. Yeah, you you find your solace in your faith, you find your solace in your meditation. Just find what you need and don't worry about everyone else and keep trying and keep getting tools. Thing with therapy is I think a lot of people have had really bad experiences with therapy because they fail to recognize that just like every industry, most people are mediocre. You know what I mean? And that's not a diss on anybody. It's not a diss on an industry. Peter: Mm-hmm. Right. Mm-hmm. ANTHONY SPARK: You know, but there's a few amazing plumbers and electricians and construction guys, and there's a large number that are average. But the goal, in my opinion, for therapy is to equip the person with the tools to eventually not need the therapist. But that's not very commercially viable. You know what I mean? I mean, if your entire practice is trying to get people out of your practice, it's hard to continue to make money. And a lot of times we got to follow the money, but you got to find someone who works for you. And just like a lot of people, end up with Peter: Yeah, exactly. ANTHONY SPARK: They end up with bad experiences with network marketing. Yeah, a lot of people are already freaking suck. A lot of people are like lunatics. A lot of people are weirdos. That doesn't mean everyone is. Same thing with therapists. You can't have one or two or three bad experiences and throw the baby out with the bath water. You have to find the thing that's gonna work with you, the person that's gonna work with you. And it's the same thing with coaching. I'm not the best coach for everybody, but I'm the best coach for some people, and it's finding that connection, you know? Peter: Mm-hmm. Yeah. You know, and it's a really great point too, because people give up. They're so easy to give up. Oh, well, I've gone through a lifestyle. People have gone through seven different therapists and found one that finally works what they want to do. But like Anthony's point is, make sure they work for you. That's the thing that you need to understand is that you're doing it for you. And they understand that they don't care if you switch. They're like, OK, cool. The next person will come. know, same thing in Anthony's situation. If he's not for you, OK, cool. Well, have a great one. He'll switch you the best of luck and go on with his day. He's not going to sweat anything. And I think people get fixated in that they don't want to do it because, I don't want to hurt their... ANTHONY SPARK: Right. Right. See ya! Yeah. Peter: You're not hurting anybody's feelings or those people that go in there and go, why just don't want to do therapy? Then why waste your time and go? Like if you're not going to give it an effort, why go? You know, well, I don't want to talk about my problems. Well, then what are you going for? Just to hang out and have a conversation. You go to a bar and have a conversation with somebody, you know, or some kind of social setting. There you go. Are you going to say it? A lot cheaper than what it's cost you to go to these damn therapists, you know. But yeah, look, the crazy things that they do these days, ANTHONY SPARK: No. Right. Yeah. Right. A cheaper. A cheaper than the bar. Yep. Peter: It's an endless amount of things you can try though. People's other biggest fear though at therapy was is that, what did they say? They said afraid they're to put them on medicine. said, what are you so afraid of? there something that is going on in your head that's going to cause that kind of reason? Because you have to be in a real extreme level for them to want to do these things. Like my co-host of another show I do, she's got more problems than most people could even list on one finger. And she has medication for that reason though. Because it's needed, like we were discussing. ANTHONY SPARK: Yeah. Right. Right. Yeah, yeah. All right. Peter: And I think that's where people get things muddled because they go to the internet, they start looking at Wikipedia, which, God, we all know that's just opinion based, everybody. Stop using that, please. know, and things like that, you know, or they go like, what is that whole new thing? Chat, GBT's, my therapist, they were saying. I'm like, please stop doing these things. Like you go on the internet every day. I go on my Instagram feed sometimes. I just have to turn it off instantly. I'm like, yeah, I'm done with the day today. I can't do this anymore. Like I'll go on for five minutes, look at something else I got to do. And this video will come on and it's like, yeah, I'm done for the day. All right, let's go. ANTHONY SPARK: Yes. Yeah. Peter: You know, and that's the scary part of the Internet is like, what are we teaching these young kids the way we handle our mental health now? Because they're the future. If we're not emotionally regulating them, what are we doing for these guys? Because later on, they're going to have a lot of issues. And if they don't know how to handle or deal with these things, especially the men, because the rates from the younger kids, 10 to 14 has been going up. And it's a scary number to hear that 10 to 14 suicide rates are going up. That's way too young to be losing kids at this point, you know? ANTHONY SPARK: Yeah. Right. Yeah. Totally. And you got to be careful with the judgment, you know, and it starts with self-judgment. You know, the problem comes if my identity given to me that you're supposed to always have the answer and or your identity is that I am strong. This becomes a problem. Peter: Mm-hmm. Exactly. ANTHONY SPARK: because now you're never gonna be able to do the things that you need to do. You we have to draw our identity from our unique value. We have to draw our identity and if you can't love yourself, there's no amount of praise or fans that are ever gonna fill that hole. I mean, there's how many artists and how many unbelievably talented and successful people that have tried to fill this hole in themselves with fans and praise and accolades and achievements and it just doesn't ever do it. Those are nice trophies, but you can't confuse the real prize Peter: Exactly. ANTHONY SPARK: with the trophy or the plaque, the prize is the person you become in the pursuit of something and doing that work and getting to the point where you can look someone in the mirror that you love and respect, regardless of whatever one else thinks, by living your own values and doing and standing up for the things that you believe in, most people, they over index the success or the fame or the popularity or the agreement over themselves. Peter: Yeah. Exactly. ANTHONY SPARK: And ultimately this puts you in a darker and a darker place and you lose yourself, you know? I'm a real big follower of Jungian psychology. you know, particularly for anybody that's 30s, 40s, you know, maybe late 20s, one of the best books I read last year, and it's a little deep, you know, you're have to wrestle with it a little bit, but it's the midlife passage. I have to look up the author. I always forget his name for some reason. Also finding meaning in the second half of life. And it's this shedding. Peter: Mm-hmm. ANTHONY SPARK: of all of the cultural norms and the familial expectations and to becoming the version of you that you're supposed to be. And a lot of people, like to talk about, be yourself and be individual and stand up what you believe in. No one talks about the price. No one talks about the consequences and the loss of relationship. Because if you've built this avatar and you've acted in a certain way that served you, and now you're going to actually have the courage to be who you are, that stuff's not all going to last. It's going to be different. Peter: Yeah. ANTHONY SPARK: And some people aren't going to like it. They're going to like the fake version of you, maybe more than the real version of you. But if you don't like you, it's never going to fix the problem. Peter: You know, and to your point of, you know, the whole thing of people expecting from you, like being strong. I was like that for a while. I on a front that looked like I was strong, but really the inside I was falling apart. So me and my now going to be ex-wife, we had gotten into this discussion about it and how she was like, you showed so strong at first, but now since you're doing the show, you're a lot different. So I'm becoming a different person that I should be. And I'm discovering more things about myself. Each interview I'm having with different people, I'm discovering new things. ANTHONY SPARK: Right. Yeah. Peter: She didn't like that, you know, and like what you were saying, like, you're going to lose friends at that rate. People are friends, people, other people that don't agree with your same values. That's okay. Cool. Fuck them. At this point, that's what the mentality, you have to worry about yourself at the end of the day. You can't cater yourself to everybody else because if not, you're just going to be doing, you're going to be a self-pleaser. And I'm not that type of person. I couldn't do it. You know, and she didn't like that. She didn't like the fact that she couldn't. ANTHONY SPARK: Yes. Yes. Right. Right. Peter: Keep me the way she wanted me. ⁓ you're so strong. I'm so strong. I'm actually stronger now because I'm standing up for the way I want to be. I'm not letting someone else tell me what to do. in the ⁓ media games, the same way. People are going unfollow you because they don't like what you do. Well, I haven't done anything different from the beginning I'm doing now. So if you want to leave, there's a door. See you later. I don't know what to tell you because I'm not changing anything. You know, I talk about mental health all the time, so. ANTHONY SPARK: Totally. Sometimes people, not that we don't care, you don't care, I don't care. No one wants to not be liked. No one wants people to leave. It's just that standing up for yourself and what you believe in needs to be more important than that. ⁓ talks a lot in those two books I just cited, which I think would be a very valuable thing for anybody to read, particularly if they're in this place and they're Peter: Exactly. Yeah, I agree. ANTHONY SPARK: having this existential struggle to try to figure out how do I get out of this darkness and all these different things. But it talks about the avatars we build and a real relationship. You're not gonna be in the same relationship if you're gonna have that 40, 50 year marriage. The person every five, 10 years is gonna be different and you need to be willing to do that discovery and the person needs to change. On the other hand, if we do build an avatar, which most of us do, we're gonna be at some point. Peter: Mm-hmm. ANTHONY SPARK: take the responsibility and the courage to drop the avatar and be who we are, we also have to take a little bit of the responsibility that we were not shown up as who we were we're partly responsible, you know what I mean? So it's not the other person's fault in my case and the different people that, you like I'm not blaming them. I don't want to be in relationship with them. And I think they're toxic and these different things, which also, I also want to be clear, may not objectively be true because reality isn't all objective. It's subjective. So ⁓ Peter: Yes, I love that. ANTHONY SPARK: It could be not that they are toxic, it just could be together, for me, they're toxic, which is very different than labeling them as some problem. But if I showed up in a different way for 15 years and suddenly I show up as I am, I gotta take some responsibility and say, okay, that's partly my fault. Peter: Yeah. Yeah, no, oh no, I blame, I agree though. I don't blame her for anything. It's just we don't work out is what I tell people. That's it. I don't have any ill will towards her. She has a strong mindset of things she thinks of, you know, and we just didn't agree when anybody asked and everybody's like, oh, I'm sorry. No, we just didn't agree. That's all it is. End of the day, was just we had two different views. Our views were going differently and we just decided it wasn't going to work out. We said early on, we just started talking about divorce and she brought it up. I don't think it's probably for the best. And if we both can't agree to something, what's... ANTHONY SPARK: Yeah, totally. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Peter: What's the point? Because she had a younger daughter. And my thing is like, why put her through that whole thing just to stay together to make something work that's not working? You know what mean? You just got to admit sometimes things don't work. But we were both on the mutual agreement, though. It just was we both had different ways. anybody asked, I'd say the same thing. We just didn't. We just had different views. You everybody else wants to make jokes about things, the things they do about her and all these other things. I have never made fun of her addiction problems or anything else she's had. She was an ex-pill addict. ANTHONY SPARK: ⁓ Yeah. Yeah. Peter: alcoholic all these things. I've never ever cited those things. Anybody else is the reason why we could be together. It was just we had different views and I'll leave it at that because it's really nothing matters. I'm not going to put that on her because with her addiction, it's a struggle for her and I know that I was there for most of it when she struggled trying to attain a lot of it. It's hard to watch when you're watching it happen in front of you, but you know, you can't really do much for people that don't want help. ANTHONY SPARK: Yeah. Thanks. Sure. Yeah. Yeah. Right. ⁓ Peter: You know, like I said, you know, but I agree with you, though, because it's just you've got to take your own faults for it. You know, and I've been self reflecting this past year, though I was self reflecting everything about everything I've done. In the way I look at things now and the way people look at me as a way differently, because now I'm taking responsibility for everything instead of trying to blame other people for it. I took my own faults. OK, well, this is my fault. ⁓ I've seen a massive change. My kids and I, didn't have a great relationship. I got three daughters. We didn't really talk until this point. Now we're having full-on conversations together because they can see that I've accepted my blame for what I've done and everything else. know I mean? Those are just little steps. Then I met somebody else in the process. I didn't even tend to meet anybody. It just happened. She's real supportive of everything I do. the same time, she's teaching me new things about her because she has BPD and bipolar 1. ANTHONY SPARK: Thank you. Yeah. Love that. Yes. Yeah. ⁓ Peter: So I'm learning new things about her as I go and all these things I'm learning from the show and all the other things that are happening in the back scene for everything. So it's been really great, though. I've been enjoying doing this show. So with that being said, let's talk about your podcast, man, that you co-host on. So how did you guys get started doing this thing? ANTHONY SPARK: Yeah. So that was a, you know, side project that we did. So being that I'm in network marketing and my whole life's been speaking, speaking on stages, COVID happened and we couldn't speak, you know? And then there was also a lot of regulation in the space because a lot of people exaggerate and did the wrong thing. So unfortunately, good actors suffer when bad actors do the wrong thing. So I said, okay. Peter: Mm-hmm. ANTHONY SPARK: Me and my brother-in-law during COVID, we said, let's do a podcast, man. Let's just go at it. And we did, I think we did like 55 episodes. It probably a year, year and a half project that we did. And it got, I don't even know, tens of thousands of views. It was like a top 1 % podcast. We had an audience already from the speaking and it was a lot of fun. It's a lot of great stuff on there. And it's really cool to see where a lot of those people went that are friends or connections. Mike Signorelli was a friend of mine. I helped to start his church. We started a Bible study in our our living room and raise the seed money. just really believed in him and what he wanted to do. And that's become one of the most successful churches in the Northeast of all time. So he was on the podcast early on. Rowe was a friend of mine. So we were doing some work. He had come from Jamaica, had a modeling background, just kind of getting, just had no money, just kind of re-getting started and became a trainer, raised the ranks, worked at ⁓ really prestigious gym, was training celebrities. Peter: That's so cool. Mm-hmm. ANTHONY SPARK: And then ultimately he's built his own brand. He's got 1.4 million followers now and he just came back from, don't even remember, Shanghai or something. And he's developing a vegan pasta brand with a celebrity chef. And it's really cool to kind of look back ⁓ to see over the last five, six, seven years, people that were early in their journey ⁓ really start making their dreams come true. So a lot of friends on there, a lot of different people. It was a really cool project that we did. Peter: Yeah. Yeah, that's how this one started. I started inviting some people I know and then I started in Facebook and you know, I started growing and I'm watching other people grow and they're like, oh, I had X amount of thousand download. OK, that's cool. You know, I never let it quit the focus of what I was always told in the beginning by my good friend, the host of the Come On Man podcast. He's like, be consistent. So that's what I did. So I kept that mindset of being consistent. I'm going to do this thing. Drops are going to be consistent. I'm going keep to a consistent schedule. ANTHONY SPARK: Yeah. Peter: And I'm just going to keep doing me and not letting other people tell me what to do differently. So I've had a few people... I've had a lot of people early on that have been really successful than me. I'm shocked even said yes to this conversation. One has 2.6 million downloads and she actually got an award for a mental health podcast. She runs a podcast called The Shit That Goes On Her Head. man, the podcasting thing has been so much fun, man. The endless list of people I've met and in the first year and a half... I got you beat by the way. I'm 300 episodes in. So you're 50 faults. ANTHONY SPARK: You'll love it. Yeah. Yeah. It's awesome. Love it, man. Love it, man. It does, my friend. It does, my friend. Peter: You're 50, false comparison to mine. But you know, I just enjoy the conversation. But you know, the knowledge I picked up through it has been great. And then I have other people that want to podcast you. So I got other people in the podcasting as well. My good friend Jay does a recovery podcast. You know, and I follow these other people. I'm watching all succeed. And it's great to see them, know, and Jay and I share guests and, you know, all these are people I started networking with. So they all started calling me the master networker because I already had interviewed like maybe 100 people by the time he started. ANTHONY SPARK: Love that. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Peter: And he's like, damn, Pete, what are you doing? I'm interviewing. Like every day of the week, I was interviewing somebody. So I work a full time job and I interview full time and I do all the social media things. Tick tock, all that great stuff and things like that. Now I've changed my schedule a little bit. Mondays and Tuesdays, bulk record the show. Then I spent the rest of the time doing like tick tock and things like that and exploring around, kind of expanding it and talking to people about it, doing other guest spots, other shows and things like that as well. So, you know, it's been kind of fun to see, you know, only a year and a half in this thing, how much ANTHONY SPARK: That's it, Love it. Peter: How many people know my name? I found out a girl in Canada has got a hundred thousand followers versus my minute amount of followers that I'm more known than she is. And she's like, I don't know how you do it. I'm like, I just talk to people, man. Just talk to people. ANTHONY SPARK: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It is. If you like talking and you like relationships and you have a cause you believe in, you know, doing a podcast, build it a business. It's so much fun. You know, you just got to you just got to stay on the thing and it takes it takes a while. You know, I mean, there's no overnight success. Peter: Hell yeah. Mm-hmm. Yeah. I think those are the most important words that Tony just said. I want you all to listen. It takes a while. A lot of people that get into this don't realize it takes a little bit to gain traction. know, everybody wants that instant moneymaker. It's really not there, man. You got to you got to work towards it, man. A lot of these guys will tell you Joe Rogan and all them. All of them started somewhere, you know, in things like that, too. And, you know, things like that as well. So it's kind of interesting. ANTHONY SPARK: Yeah. Yes. Right. Yes. Yeah. Peter: But yeah, man, it's been fun though. Like I said, I get other people into this thing and they all start doing it. I'm like, just go for it. And like, we celebrate the milestones like 20 episodes in is more than most people get through. So, you know, I celebrate with anybody who got 20 episodes. Invite me. I'll come celebrate with you. I'm down. Let's go. Because, you know, I'm always always there trying to support other people in the community, regardless of what topic it is. You know, I still want to support them. You know what mean? It doesn't matter. I think too many people judge too many people and we don't support each other enough. ANTHONY SPARK: Amen. I love that. Yeah. Totally. ⁓ when you give and you have relationships, you celebrate people, it always comes back to you. And it doesn't have to come back monetarily. It doesn't have to come back in followers. can just be ⁓ self-image and who you are, but very often there's rewards that come with it. I find most people don't start projects because they rather look good than be good. And the only way you get good at something is by being bad at it, you know? But if you're not going to start, you're not going to try. ⁓ Peter: Exactly. Yeah, exactly. ANTHONY SPARK: and you're afraid of what people are going to say, like, if you're going to do a podcast, you're to get really good at it. Your first 50 or 100 probably aren't going to be as good as your next 50 or 100, but that's how you learn something. You know? Yeah. Peter: Yeah, exactly. Oh, no, I agree. I agree, man. The first 50 were fucking terrible. Like some I had some pretty interesting guys, so I've had some guests. I'm pretty interested in getting musicians and things like that. I've had I've had a lot of people on this show that I've just like it's crazy. Couple of international bestsellers at a global bestseller on, you know, all these people I'm telling people all the time about it. I'm getting, you know, on and then there's an award winning British cartoonist I'm working on getting. And we're still trying to figure out we're going to sit down and record maybe hopefully this week at the time of this recording. ANTHONY SPARK: love that. Peter: We're talking about recording for her new book coming out on anxiety land and things like that too. So, you know, it's been really cool, man. My emails get blown up every day by people that are trying to be on the show. I meet all these people. I get invited to do these different panels, things where I get to meet other people, you know, and it's so cool to tell people about the adventures. I'm here for the adventure, but now if I could turn this to a full-time job, okay, cool. The end of the day, that'd be awesome. I'd love to do that, you know, because I just enjoy talking to people. I've interviewing people, I've been meeting new people. It's just so cool to meet people, see what they're doing, you know, and highlight their accomplishments as well. ANTHONY SPARK: answer. Love it. Yeah, man. ⁓ Yeah. Yeah, it's fun. That's another thing when we're on the topic of mental health. It can get really easy that one of the challenges is you become internally focused. I'm not shaming it, you know, but the more we can put our eyes on other people, the more that we try to help somebody else. Very often it'll naturally help unwind. Peter: Mm-hmm. Yeah. ANTHONY SPARK: a lot of the things in our own life, celebrating someone, being grateful for someone, supporting somebody. And a lot of times when we have problems and we feel less than, we feel like we don't have anything to offer, but everyone has something to offer, even if it's just encouragement, even if it's just support. And the more you offer and the more you do, very often that becomes the beginning for most of our healing journeys. Peter: Mm-hmm. Yeah, exactly. I think those are really great points too. Yeah, I think that we need to start celebrating each other more. I hang out with Jay. He's I'm not a recovering addict, but I hang out in the recovery community with him, support all those guys and things like that. It's been really great. ANTHONY SPARK: ⁓ recovering addicts, Pete, are my favorite people. They're my favorite people in the world. Peter: Yeah, ⁓ definitely. I'll have to get you linked up with Jay then for sure. He's really cool. And there's a girl in Canada as well. Jasmine, she does when called Everybody's Addicted, you know, and I met her through doing this show, too. You know, we all know addiction and mental health go hand in hand and things like that. So I'm always hanging out with Jay wherever he's going and like, you know, and stuff like that, too. And usually hang out with one of those guys, because it's always cool to see and hear their stories and hear the things they've gone through and just just support them because they love it. They love to hear like, hey, listen, I made it a month. OK, well, you made it a month. That's awesome. ANTHONY SPARK: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Peter: That's better than most people can say, you know what saying? Anything little that they get through, it's like you hype it up for them, you know? And there's nothing wrong with that at all, know? stuff like that too. So, you have any events coming up? Anything cool going on? know, if you want a shout out here while we're in the middle of conversation? ANTHONY SPARK: Sick. Yeah. Well, yeah, man. Well, I got, you I'll run through the run through the stuff, the shameless promo. So spark a change coaching. I probably got room for like 20 more clients and then I'm probably going to have to shut that down. You know, my goal with that is to have a small group that I grow with. I help them make money. I help them succeed. I help them grow. And then we just grow together. know, rates go up, they make more money and I kind of have it as a closed system. So if anybody's looking for business coaching, personal coaching, life coaching, financial. Peter: Mm-hmm. Makes sense though. ANTHONY SPARK: You know, I feel very confident that I can help someone make at least 10 times more for any investment they make in coaching, whether it be budget-based, it'd be income-increase-based, business-based. I've proven that time over time. I got a guy that had no business background, was in ministry. His company this year should do a million, a million and a half, probably the 30 or 40 % more. He'll make 10 times the amount of money he's ever made. So that's Spark of Change coaching. Atlas Minds is AI integrations. You know, we mainly work with sales organizations or not-for-profits. Peter: Nice. ANTHONY SPARK: but it's how to maximize and implement the AI tools, whether it's tools that we've built through my amazing tech guy, Shane, that does all that. I do more of the front end, as probably people can imagine, and the sales and the client acquisition, but it's implementing AI tools and how to maximize your workforce again. Same thing, goals that get 10 times return on the investment. right hand is, I found an amazing, unbelievable, invaluable virtual assistant. Her name is Nem. She's the one that interfaced with you and got all this stuff set up. Peter: Mm-hmm. ANTHONY SPARK: but she had a lot of girls and we found that most of these VA placement agencies, they're very exploitative. So they take 50, 60, 70 % of what the client's paying and then they only pay 30, 40, 50%. So we have, as far as I've been able to find, highest average, the most amount percentage going to these VAs. They have a workable wage. You can take care of their family, mainly based in the Philippines, they use the second language. So my assistant, you we partnered on that company. She's building her dream house and it's so special. It's her son, Liam, has special needs. He's got a... Peter: That's awesome. ANTHONY SPARK: Cerebral palsy, know, so she's able to pipe for the services and build a house. So that's a really cool project because you get amazing talent that can be a fraction of the cost to help you run your business and do the different things you need, content, lead, gem, admin, whatever it may be. And then these girls get a wage that they're making more money than almost anything that they could do, which changes their lives. That's been a really cool project. And I got my network marketing stuff, you know, still growing that, you know, got a few hundred people on our team. That's been kind of, that's my OG. That's my original starting point. So. Peter: So Anthony we're at the part of the interview where I'm gonna ask you two questions, okay? So the first question to you is if your mental health had a song What would you say that song would be? ANTHONY SPARK: Shoot. ⁓ a good one. Peter: This is always a fun one now, okay, because we've got some pretty interesting answers that have come through. ANTHONY SPARK: That's a good one. ⁓ I love that. Peter: We had Rage Against the Machine from Susan Snow. We had a few other ones too that have came down that were really unique. I was like, oh, OK. ANTHONY SPARK: I'm gonna give you some of the songs that I had on my playlist this morning, but I'm gonna start with Make the Money by Macklemore. I'm gonna start with that one. I love Joker by Dax. That's a really good one. Excellent song. Let's see, let's go through what I listened to. I get these names worth a second. I got some good songs. Music is my jam, man. Peter: Mm-hmm. Yep, real great song. ⁓ yeah, definitely. ANTHONY SPARK: Rocks, Life of Dylan. I don't know if anyone ever heard that one. That one's amazing. NF is my favorite. Hope, one of my favorite songs. Amazing. Let's say, oh, Eminem, you know, Maybe the Way I Am or Without Me, All My Blessings, Tommy Prophet. Amazing song. Love that one. And Perfect Timing, Able Heart. Those are my list of Peter: Love it enough. Nice. Nice. Yeah, I'm a rock guy, but I like rap as well. So like, you know, let me bleed is on my playlist regularly. Lives Lost is on there. They've also been a guest on the show. What is it? God, can't think what the deal. Most us and whites been listening on mine, too. ⁓ When I when I got asked the question, though, for that, by the way, my anxiety song is changing with two bad omens, artificial suicide, just because. ANTHONY SPARK: Love it. Nice. Peter: to explain that feeling of just constant state of uneasiness, like that, you know? And then my depression song I had given it was turning the light on, Talk Away the Dark by Papa Roach. I just love that music video. That was so great and things like that too, because I'm a big music guy myself. I love music. It's one of the things I use all the time in front of bad mood. You know, and sometimes I feel it's easier to explain to people like how you're feeling, like how you're feeling today. Let me send you a playlist and I'll give you a little idea of what my current thought process is. And it could go everywhere. ANTHONY SPARK: and Yeah. Yeah. Mmm, love that. Yeah. Absolutely. Peter: We can go everywhere. Backstreet Boys ends up on some just to throw them for a loop. I just like to make people laugh when they hear that one. They're just like, what the hell is this doing here? Listen, you want to know how I'm feeling today? OK, here we go. So. ANTHONY SPARK: Love that. That's it here. I put a song in my newsletter every day. I don't pick the song every day because my VA does it, but I got a list of songs and she picks one off there and know, little bit of Ivy music with the lessons, you know. Peter: That's so cool though. Yeah, that's really cool, though. I like that though. Music is a really big thing. Me and another guy out of Minnesota, does he teaches young kids uses music as like a therapy kind of thing for me. He's not a therapist, but he has therapists that come in and do drums and stuff in there and say, thanks for the therapy session and walk out the door, he said. So we had talked about a 12 year old girl and unfortunately took her life, though, but he had wrote this song called Weird Hearts. So that's on there as well, because it's just a special moment we had where we were just talking about different things and relating about music and stuff like that. So was great. ANTHONY SPARK: I love that. Sit there. RUN! Mm-hmm. Peter: We had a great time talking about it. So Anthony, my last question before we start wrapping up for you and the reason I started this podcast. OK, all right, let's go for it. What do you got? What do you got? There you go. ANTHONY SPARK: I got one more, one more artist I had to find, Ren. Ren. Ren's stuff is amazing. I don't know if you know Ren, but his stuff is amazing. I had to find that, but music is terribly fun. ⁓ yeah. Hi Ren. Do Hi Ren. Hi Ren is one of my favorite songs by him. Peter: I don't think I do, I'm I'm going to check it out though. Every time people suggest something I don't know and it's very rare, I don't know. So I'll have to check it out for sure. Okay. I'll check it out for sure. Yeah, no, I always go check out everything everybody tells me because like I it's very rare I don't know a song honestly and it's scary because that's just one of my useless facts I use like what I used to have one of my weird skills I have is I can listen to a song and you say identified even if I've never even heard of it I can probably tell you what song it is so but so before ANTHONY SPARK: Yeah. I love that. I love that. You text me when you listen to Hi Ren. That one's deep. Peter: Hell yeah, I'll let you know, definitely, for sure. So the question for you, and the reason I start this podcast is that if you could break the stigma about mental health, now I ask this question from the aspect of the one thing that absolutely drives you crazy that people say, what would you say that one thing would be? ANTHONY SPARK: that having mental illness makes you defective and weak. Totally false. Most people have challenges. Some people, they can learn fast, some people can't. Some people, they see the world in a different way. Some people struggle with being able to see the things in life they need to see. Some people struggle knowing the difference between reality illusion. Some people, they're strong. Some people are physically weaker. Peter: I love it. ANTHONY SPARK: Some people are able to see and understand art and beauty or philosophy, and some people can't. Just because you have a specific thing in your life on the other end of any weakness is an equal and greater benefit. You just have to be willing to look for it, understand it, and stop guilting and shaming yourself to be somebody you're not. You shouldn't be different. You should be you and find the best way to be the way that you need to be for yourself. Peter: Absolutely love it, Anthony. Thank you so much for being here today, Before we wrap up, do you want a plug where everybody can find you at? What's the best place to find you? ANTHONY SPARK: Yeah. particularly, they want to mental hall. I do this everywhere, but if someone's struggling, someone needs, this has impacted you in any way. My personal cell phone I've given out for 10 years. It's 631-327-2241. No one's too busy to answer somebody that's got the guts to personally reach out. You need to text me. You want to send me a voice memo? You can. More probable way that you're probably going to do it is you can sign up for our newsletter, Spark A Change Coaching. put some really great stuff in there. think it'll help. lot of it has to do with identity, growth, business, and mental health stuff. is born. A spark is born is my Instagram. Underscore this, but if you search Anthony Spark, you should be able to find me, but that's the main spots. You you text me, ⁓ follow me on Instagram, you check out the newsletter. I'd love to have you part of the community and help however I can. Peter: Definitely guys and I'll pull all that and for anybody that's listening at home on anything other than YouTube I will definitely put all that in the bio for everybody in the below description to show that way you guys can reach out to anything directly and Anthony Thank you so much for coming to hang out with me man. I had a great time. It's such a pleasure having you ⁓ You know, so we'll definitely be in touch though ANTHONY SPARK: Dude, great time. Great time, man. Last thing I'll, last thing I will say is really what you should do is you should reach out to Peter. Because Peter has spent thousands, tens of thousands of hours pouring his heart. He's even be willing from what you, what you sounded, what you said, you were even willing to choose being who you are and relationships change and things in your change. if this podcast at any point in your life, Peter: Always available. ANTHONY SPARK: has impacted you positively and you've listened to it. The reality is that most people never escalate the praise or the comments or the compliments or the impact. I'd encourage everybody that's been listening to this podcast to reach out to Peter personally, thank him, cite the thing that helped you. Because one or two or three comments like that, that can give you the juice to go six or 12 more months. But if Peter just keeps sitting in his little office, solo, and doesn't hear the impact and doesn't hear, how does he know that what he's doing matters? So reach out to him. Peter: Exactly, thank you so much Anthony. I appreciate being here today guys. And with that being said, we're gonna wrap up this episode of Pete Fritz Anxiety. You guys know where to find me. I'm Pete Fritz Anxiety on Spotify, all the way down to Pandora Radio, I'm on X, all the way down to TikTok. And as always, say it costs nothing, absolutely not to be kind to somebody, one kind act you can do, can save someone's life, or hell, you can make their day. I'm Pete Fritz Anxiety signing off. See ya, and don't ask how your day is today. Say hey, how's your mental health?