Latest / Share Your Fire / Share Your Fire, Ep. 9 - The Power of Choice (Craig Eagleson)
Transcript
- John Verrico: Hello, welcome to Share Your Fire. And I have got a great guest today. my guest is Craig Eagleson. He is an executive business coach. But, you know, it's taken him some stuff to get here. He's a former army ranger, and I'm gonna have him tell his own story of kind of some of the crap that he went through and what he learned. he's got an upcoming book called The Power of Choice. We want to look talk a little bit about that. So everybody please Welcome for welcome to the stage. Craig Eagleson. Craig, good morning. How are you, sir? Craig Eagleson: John, nice to see you today. John Verrico: Hey man. listen, I know you've been through some stuff and but but you've turned it all around and all the lessons that you learned you have combined into how you help people as an executive business coach and such like that. I know you've got an upcoming book coming and so let's let's just get let's get into it. Craig Eagleson: Yeah. Well first before we before we go, number one I want to thank you for your service. Mr. Navy Man. Hopefully we see the little cross on your forearm there, but thank you for your service. John Verrico: You know, I never did get I'm probably one of the only Navy guys who did not get a tattoo. Craig Eagleson: That's interesting. It's interesting. John Verrico: Ha ha. Craig Eagleson: so well, thank you for your service. thanks for having me on today. so, you know, just a brief background, you know, I entered the military after college, I lost a scholarship, entered the military, and you know, I was there for a short time, ended up getting hurt, you know, it didn't serve out my full commitment. You know, but one of the things you and I talked about last week was, you know, resiliency. And I think back to my short time there. And resiliency was something that was continually found on a daily basis. You know, you go through basic training, airborne training, ranger indoctrination program, and then you join a ranger battalion. And I remember being in you know the the Ranger Indoctrination Program. It was six weeks or eight weeks, I can't remember what it was run of those. And we were on a a a 27 mile ruck march, which became a run. you know, I'm 150, 160 pounds, and I got a hundred pounds on my back, 125 pounds on my back, and not John Verrico: Yeah, yeah. Craig Eagleson: easy for a guy that's that small, right? And I remember being about 15 miles in, and my gunner next to me, he's just a big guy, just grabbed me and he's like, put your hand on me, and I got you for like three miles, and I could start to hear him start to be challenged because he's dragging me, and you know, I kind of let go, and you know, at that point. You know, you know you have to get to an end mission, your goal is to get there, and you start to dig down deep inside and go, forget the pain, forget what's going on. You need to be aware, right? You're teaching you pain and being aware and your situational awareness. And I remember getting done and you know, he and I, we we got to twenty seven, twenty eight miles, whatever it was, and everybody was hurting and it was just you looked at everybody around and everybody got through by just digging down somewhere. You know, as I've gone through life, I've been you every everybody has challenges. I'm not the only one. Everybody has death, everybody has challenges, everybody has these things that happen. It's just a matter of how do you get through it? Do you give up? Do you fight through it? and again, life will fight you every day. You just need to fight back. And there's people who just give up. Say, hey, I'm done. I'm not gonna fight anymore. All right, I it's just not worth it. Right? Why do I need to fight for this? I don't want to fight for the role, I don't want to fight for this. But what I learned John Verrico: You know, somebody who doesn't want to fight, you join the army, man. I'm not saying Well, I t I tell you know, Craig Eagleson: no no no, I have no problem with the fight 'cause it's every day, right? John Verrico: so your your description of, you know, do doing this these these hikes with a carrying a hundred pounds on your back and all that stuff, that's exactly why I did not go army. I Craig Eagleson: Yeah. John Verrico: and that's why I went navy because you you don't have to do twenty, thirty miles, man. Ships aren't that long, right? You know? Craig Eagleson: They're driving you or you're you're getting to get on a boat, they're taking you where you gotta go. So, you know, I I remember, you know, one of the big challenges, you know, you you know, 2011 hit, you know, 2001 hit, and that was a big challenge for everybody in the world. And you know, I remember people around me were just scared. And you know, that was the first really you saw people how they reacted to that, how things were happening, and people coming together. And then you fast forward to 2007, 2008, we hit this great recession, and the walls, the wheels just came off every business, and it was bad. And I remember seeing a lot of people just give up. I'm gonna declare bankruptcy, I'm gonna quit my job, I'm gonna sell my house, I'm gonna do this, and do this. And we were in the same position as everybody else. You know, we I was in a fully commissioned job, you know, had a small salary. I mean, the salary wasn't even enough to pay for, you know, grocers every week. And It was the first time my wife and I faced a major, major challenge. And we just fought our way through it. We figured out a way to budget, to do this, to do this, to cut back, to live the way we needed to and not give up, not have to declare bankruptcy, not had to and we fought our way through a year and a half. It was tiresome, but we came out on the other side stronger. And that you know, having that resiliency from the military and my upbringing and and fighting for things and Getting through that challenge really prepared us for a couple of years later in 2013. You know, my father-in-law fell ill. he had colon cancer. he was he was on death store, and my wife said to me, Hey, we need to get back to New Jersey. My dad's really sick. I want to be there for him. Although she was going back and forth. We were living up upstate New York for, you know, promotion. And, you know, I started making things happen to get back. So then January we got back. We were starting to come back. January second, my father-in-law passed away. It was a few weeks later, my wife's great grandmother passed away. Her grandmother passed away. A month and a half later, my dad passes from he had a kidney failure, 59 years old. And then it was less than f yeah. John Verrico: you left your dad young too. My my my father passed at fifty eight, so yeah. Craig Eagleson: Yeah, it's it was sad, right? You know, he was he was a you know, miss him every day. I mean It was so much more life for that man. And then forty-five days later, the house we're living in with my mother-in-law, because we came back to be with them, the house burned down to the ground in the middle of the night. So in the span of four months, three very close deaths, and we lost our house and everything we owned. And I remember that time, you know, I had two small kids. My kids were very little, seven and ten years old, seven and eight and eleven. And they the the only thing they can imagine was they lost their toys. That's to them, like, hey, my toys, my guys, my my cars, John Verrico: Yeah. Craig Eagleson: right? My my my bed. And I was out to lunch. you know, I I just started a new job to come back home. And, you know, a friend of mine was he he raised some a couple grand for us and said, hey, hopefully this house went out to lunch with a bunch of guys I know. And he sat down, he looked at me, he goes, why are you smiling? John Verrico: Yeah. Craig Eagleson: And I I looked at him and he worked for me. I was a mentor to him. He was a mentor to me. And I said, Jeff, I said, I have one path forward, and that's forward. I said, I have no time to woeze me. I have no time to stop. I said, I have a an eight and t an eleven year old. I said, I have a small dog. I got a wife. They're all depending on me. If I fall apart, they're done. And there was no choice but forward and When those things happened, I remember the day after the fire, I was it was it was just blindsided me. I was, you know, emotional and I was sitting on the front porch of where we stayed that night and it just for me it was all right, how do I fix this? What is next? What is step one today? Forget about we just lost my wife's dad, her grandmother, and my dad. We need to rebuild our life quickly. What do we do? First thing was we gotta go get some clothes, right? Get the kids in the car. We had one car because two cars burned in the garage. Let's go let's go John Verrico: Wow. Craig Eagleson: to Dick's and get some sneakers, some socks, and some things for everybody to wear. And then it was one day after the other, one day after the next. And there was never a time where I you know, I couldn't allow. Now in private, yeah, did I have private moments where I was, wow, what's going on? But never let anybody outside see it. I dug down deep within and said, What is it gonna take? Where are we gonna go get money? How are we gonna rebuild? And what are the next steps? John Verrico: Were you guys actually home in the house when they caught fire? Jeez. Craig Eagleson: Yeah. Yeah, twelve o'clock at night. It was it was midnight and we heard things g we heard something popping in the garage and we had just got ready. It was Memorial Day weekend, we were getting ready for the weekend, so we bought water and we were in a big party and nice pool out back and we had a bear on the side of the house a few weeks earlier, so we thought the bear maybe got into the garage. And man, when I went out I opened that door, I said to my wife, Something's out, don't open that door. She opened the door and I saw flames shooting. I spun and ran down the house, kicked open my mother in law's door, got her up, swooped up both kids, like one arm each, grabbed the dog, grabbed my wallet, and as I got out the front door, I lost a flip flop. So I had a t shirt on, shorts, and one flip flop. And you know, John Verrico: One flip flop. Wow. Craig Eagleson: that was it. You know, it was middle it was a scare it was a scary thing because that fire spread so quick. I mean, as I got everybody outside, I said, I need to get the keys of that car. I ran back in the house. I the keys were like right there. And I could see I could hear the smoke and the crackling. It was already coming. The whole house was going. I grabbed the keys, ripped them off the wall, and then got them out of there. And you know, that was it. But yeah, scary situation. But you know, it's that resiliency that you think about that gets you through that day. And I've seen other people go through the same thing. And it's like, you know, they they let themselves go for a long time to figure out what's next. For me, it was no it it was I had no time to mourn. I had no time to feel bad for myself. It just was would I love to spend, hey, yeah, let me just let me go to a hotel and feel bad for myself. No, there was no time for that. It was we've got to get our life back and I've got to get these kids back on track. And you know, when I look back at that time, you know, the kids still talk about it. They you know, they're my son's now twenty two, my daughter's twenty, they remember it. you know, they remember it when I went back in house, they thought I was I was dead. Like they they were scared that I wasn't gonna come out to get the keys John Verrico: Right. Craig Eagleson: of the car, right? And I years later I found that out, but it was scary for them. But at the same point, the piece they remember was how fast we replaced things. Like we got them their toys real quick. We got them clothes, we got them in a a new apartment. We spent the weekend, like we went and found a hotel room for a weekend with the dog, and they got to swim, you know, indoors for a couple days. And they were like, Wow, this is great, we're on a vacation. So made it as seamless as possible, but you know, when you think about resiliency and the fire that comes from inside to never lose, that's where it came from. You know, and then you fast forward, John, and I'm sorry I keep going on, but I I look at the next thing that really hit and it it was it was John Verrico: No, this th this is what it's all about, man. This is just it it just Craig Eagleson: twenty twenty four and I'm sitting in my office, I'm on a leadership call. My wife works for my company. She works on a commercial team and she's standing outside my door and I could see through a little side light. She's crying. And I I knew she was waiting on a result. I ended the call. I said, guys, I gotta go. Ended the call. She came in and said, Yeah, I have breast cancer. And you know, I thought John Verrico: Cheese. Craig Eagleson: back to like, man, 2013 and I like, it was nothing compared to that gut punch. That was a gut punch. I mean, that was a bad one. cause in that moment The first thing in your mind, what do you think? I got cancer, her dad died of colon cancer. I'm like, Am I gonna lose my wife? You know, I have two young kids like I I don't and you you just get this punch and then she's crying, I hug her, we sit down, we talk about it, I'm like, All right, what's the next step? All right, we gotta meet with the surgeon, I'm gonna we we gotta pick out a surgeon, reach out to people. But that gut initial gut punch that hits you, John Verrico: Yes, yes. Craig Eagleson: and then so we went out and I said, You know what, let's go, let's go get lunch. Calm down. Let's have a drink. So we went across the street, had lunch, had a couple drinks, took the edge off. And like, all right, what's what are the steps we need to go through? Like, what did the doctors tell you? And then we, we, again, we didn't wait weeks. I mean, I we made it important. We got in with the right surgeon. We interviewed two surgeons. The first one we met was amazing. And, you know, she, you know, her first thing was, you're not going to die from this. Here's the choices. Here's what we're going to do. And you know, my wife in in that moment, my wife's crying. And again, for her, I could never for me again to private moments, sure, in the car, tier or two, right? With her, I when she was crying, it was I had to be the rock. The resiliency had to come in. John Verrico: Yeah, yeah, you gotta be the strength. Craig Eagleson: Yeah, you got it. And again, it was for my wife and kids, and you know, it was I'm not gonna I'm not gonna show I'm gonna show you nothing but strength here because you're gonna feed off my strength, and I will tell you. In the two years that we went through that, man, I felt nothing but strength and love come from her. You know, you never saw a woman with breast cancer that smiled so much. And in my book, you'll see The Power of Choice. There's a whole chapter in her about this. And I say it to her today, she beat that with a smile and love. She told it, she made a decision a week or two after, I'm gonna get double massectomy. This is not gonna beat me, I'm gonna live a good life. And we're gonna move on. And she did. You know, she she had a double mastectomy. Three weeks later had to go to a dentist appointment. And the dentist, she's telling the dentist what happened. And he's looking at her, and she had just got her hair done. Like I took her to the salon, but she had a double mastectom, she was still wrapped, like, but she was able to go to an appointment. And I go to the dentist the following week and he comes out and he hits me. He's like, You didn't tell me your wife had breast cancer. I'm Well, I didn't tell the world. I said Really, there's a handful of people that know because we're private people. She didn't want anybody to know. And he's like, I would have never known. He's like, She's glowing. She's smiling. I'm like, that's her. Like inside she beat it and I watched her every step of the way. After the double nasectomy, which was difficult. I mean, I was two weeks of I had to play all the roles, right? And I don't ever say, John Verrico: Yeah. Craig Eagleson: Whoa, he's me, but I got through those two weeks with a couple bottles of McAllen. you know, worked at night. had a little help from my mom and my brother and you know the kids did their deal but you know I was doing everything she had to do and I had to do and taking care of her and my main focus was I'm gonna make sure she gets through this, right? And, you know, she came out of it stronger than you could ever imagine. John Verrico: You know, you don't realize how much don't realize how much your wife does until you have to fill in. Craig Eagleson: Yeah. Well, cooking, cleaning, the dogs had to eat, the kids had to eat, the laundry had to get done, the house had to be cleaned. And John Verrico: Yeah. Craig Eagleson: then, you know, one o'clock in the morning I just gave her her medicine and I'm like, I don't I don't think for those four or five weeks I slept more than three hours because I would sit on the couch, I'm like, Where's that bottle? I got I need to have a drink. you know, you have a drink, it's like one o'clock in the morning and you know, I'm you know, I'm focused on making sure she was okay. but there is one thing, you know, in the book that, you know, when we were writing it, the guy said, Hey, tell me about the time you went in for surgery. So she went in for her double massectomy, and you go into this waiting room, and the lady said, Hey, we'll call you when she's done. I'm Okay, well, I'm gonna be right here. I brought a cooler. I knew it was like an eight-hour surgery. I got a cooler, I got food in there, I got my laptop, I'm gonna work, I'm not leaving. She's like, well, most people just leave, go do their day, go to work. I said, No, I'm not, I'm not leaving here. I I am not leaving this building until she is done and John Verrico: Not going anywhere. What are you crazy? Yeah. I never understood that, yeah. Craig Eagleson: I go out. And I I couldn't understand it. And John Verrico: I never I never understood how people can can have their spouse or family member or anybody in the hospital going Craig Eagleson: Yeah. John Verrico: through surgery and not staying right there. Yeah. Craig Eagleson: Yeah. And that and that was for me. I I wasn't leaving that ho I wasn't leaving that surgical center without my wife. I wasn't she was in there and I was there. And the nurse was like, she's like, Usually people scope. I said, Well, I'm not I'm not typical person. And then another nurse came out, she's like, Mr. Eagleson, come with me. She's like, I got some she brought me in a just nice chair. I was like, I could sit out there. She's like, No, no, no. Cause I was the only one really waiting. Other people had John Verrico: Yeah. Craig Eagleson: like a half hour surgery. I she gave me this nice chair, she goes, Sit here, eat, do your thing. I was like Thought that was really nice of her. But again, for me, it was I gotta be her strength. She's the rock behind all this. And you know, that gut punch, man, we really you really had to dig down. I mean, I I found more resiliency in that time than anything else. And I I look back at all the things I've you know, those three things just pop out, you know, the the recession, 2013, 2024 with her breast cancer. But Listen, every other day there's a fire, there's something else, and you bring out resiliency. And I truly believe that resiliency is not something you're just born with. It's something that you experience by I overcame this challenge. Well now I know to get the bet next one. And either you take one or two paths. You either give up or you beat it. And you fight. And you know, my I've it's just always been instilled in me from you know my dad my dad's upbringing was you fight and you just get through it. Whether you fail or succeed, you fight and get through it and stand up. You can get knocked down. Right. You can and you know it, right? John Verrico: Yeah, at at least you try. Yes. At least try. Craig Eagleson: From the Navy, you know it. You can get knocked down. You can get beat up. If you don't get up, you don't you can't recover. Right. So, yeah, th those those were the challenges. I mean, and you when you dig down deep inside and see, you know, and how we've overcome life and how we've won and continue to win and, you know, living a good life and you know, you always want more but you keep going. John Verrico: I like how you pull your your inner strength. It's it's amazing what we have to experience in order to find that within ourselves. I've always said, you know, life is gonna throw you crap. And you could you could stay the victim and wallow in the stench of it, or you can turn it into fertilizer and move forward. And it sounds like you have You you've you've created great fertilizer to be able to continue to grow. your I I can't imagine what I mean, I remember, you know, when when my wife found a lump you know, many years ago, you know, it was okay, what do we need to do about this? and you know, we're fortunately it it turned out not to be the big C and and all Craig Eagleson: Right. John Verrico: that. But, you know, we we've all gone through this in our families where somebody has gotten you know, that that horrible diagnosis or suddenly passed. You know, with my father, my father had and he had a heart condition from his thirties. Craig Eagleson: Wow. John Verrico: Yeah. And he he he had he quit smoking immediately, which was amazing. A lot of people don't. Craig Eagleson: Right. John Verrico: and then, you know, but but and then he s he suffered several more heart attacks over the years. Ultimately got, you know, open heart surgery, a quadruple bypass and all this other stuff. And his doctors still only gave him a couple of years to live. And he lived 22 years after that surgery, outlived two of his doctors. Craig Eagleson: Wow. John Verrico: Married married a woman twenty some odd years his junior, had had a baby with her, and suddenly passed away three months later. You know. And it's that Craig Eagleson: Sad. Yeah. John Verrico: it's that that shock that that when when we have devastating change like that. To be able to to face it and to move forward and to get through it. And it it's really it's one of the hardest things we go through in life, you know, is dealing with dealing with traumatic change. Yeah. Craig Eagleson: Yeah. Losing losing my dad young losing my dad young was was challenging. It was tough, right? He was fifty-nine and he was man, he was five seven, you know. he and in his bet in his prime, five seven, you know, a hundred and maybe seventy pounds, but the strongest guy you'll ever meet. Like he he hit the he'd hit you like a bull, his hands were like bowling balls when he hit ya, and but The night like he just when you needed something, he was the guy you go to. And you know, when we lost him, it was a big loss for our family. You know, he was the he was the he was it, right? He nothing nothing happened without that. And you know, I I still to today, you know, that was no fourteen years ago now, that we lost him and you still reach, you know, you're still reaching, right? It was you still th you know, you look for that and hear it. But when you have that loss, and again I go back to that fire inside. You know, a lot of people say my story doesn't matter, right? I could sit here and compare my story to others that I've heard other stories that are, hey, I I I was broke, I was living in my car and then made myself a multimillionaire. And amazing stories. And other people will say, Well, my story's not like their story, but everybody's story's your own, right? And when when I when John Verrico: Yes, exactly. Craig Eagleson: I started writing my book, I I wasn't thinking that way, but I heard some other people say, Well, you know, what are you gonna sell? Their story Because my story may relate to you differently than somebody else. And you know, they're like, well, you know, you look at people, they write books, they're, you know, the they're they're on stage and they're doing all these things. Yeah, but you know what, I've had a pretty successful life. I've been able to work a 30-year corporate career and have a lot of success. And, you know, now I'm an accredited coach and you know I'm running a a national business successfully. I'm coaching people successfully. and it's all because of things I've done. You know, I went and got accredited as a coach. So good job. John Verrico: You know, w it it reminds me of the fact that so many people don't think their story is worth sharing. And and that's actually quite why why I started this podcast and why I do what I Craig Eagleson: Yeah. John Verrico: do, is because everybody's story matters because you can all everything can make a difference for somebody else. We don't real we don't know what's going on in somebody else's life. You know, there's a a and there's an ancient proverb and I think it's Chinese in its in its its origin, but it doesn't matter where it came from. Basically the the premise is that if you live long enough, everything will happen to you. And if you think about that, you know, that could be good or bad. But at some point in your life, you're gonna be doing well, maybe not so well. You'll have money, you'll need money, you'll be hungry, you'll be fed, whatever, you know, different times in your life, you'll experience probably everything there is to experience. you know, health-wise, family-wise, whatever is going on. You don't know what's going on in somebody else's life because they're going through something too. Craig Eagleson: Yeah. John Verrico: What's interesting about it is at some point in your life, In one chapter of your life, you you're the hero of the story. In another chapter of the life, you could very well be the victim in the story. Craig Eagleson: Yeah. John Verrico: And then in another chapter, you might be the villain in somebody else's story. You Craig Eagleson: Right. John Verrico: know, whether you even know it or not. So understanding that we're all going through something, there's a high likelihood that there's a similarity, if not in the exact same kind of situation. There's some similarity, right? So your wife got breast cancer and she defeated it. You lost your father at a young age. Somebody else may may have completely opposite results of all this kind of thing, but they've experienced that trauma of having a Craig Eagleson: Mm-hmm. John Verrico: family member ill or dying or whatever. You know, not everybody's lost their whole house and a and you know, burned to the ground. But they have experienced loss of some sort. And so by Craig Eagleson: Right. John Verrico: sharing the stories and helping people to understand that you're number one, they're not alone. And number two, they can get through it. Those are the most important things that we can do for others in this world. And so I'm really glad that I can't believe we're almost out of time. I'm really glad that you you chose to come on here and share share your story. So tell me now, how do you help people right now with their with their resilience or with their growth? Craig Eagleson: So it's twofold, right? So the team that I manage in my day job, I use my coaching skills to help them grow as people and individuals. The individuals I coach, you know, I I I went through an accreditation process a couple years ago to be a fully accredited coach. I didn't just use my 30 years of experience and hey, I got some military and the resiliency there. I went out and invested time and money in myself and said, how can I be a better coach, leader? trainer, whatever it may be. And I did that. And I'm an accredited coach. And when I'm working with somebody, it's a matter of finding out what they are aware of and what they're unaware of. You know, when I'm working with somebody in a coaching situation, it's uncovering the things that they're struggling with and then helping them come up with solutions that they have found internally. Find the answers from within, find their fire within, right? And show them, hey, you're on You're unaware of these things and this belief system. I think you and I talked about that. You're unaware of this belief system that you grew up in that is holding you down, that's allowing John Verrico: Yes. Craig Eagleson: you to tell you you're not good enough to go do something else. And when I help them uncover that and open their mind and make those changes, they walk away and they're better than what they've done. John Verrico: And it's it's so true. We and that the fact that a lot of times those voices in our head that are telling us we can't do something, they're not our voices. They're somebody else's voices, somebody else's opinions and that's when we need that's we need to to overcome and to realize that we can do pretty much anything we set our mind to. Craig Eagleson: And I've had this conversation, John, right? It's that internal saboteur. And I I you're a hundred percent right. It could be others telling you, right? You're hearing others. It could be the belief system you grow up in. It could John Verrico: Yeah. Craig Eagleson: be that internal saboteur. And I've had this conversation with a a coaching friend of mine that says, it's your protector telling you, I want you to be safe here and stopping you from going and doing something better, the new job, the the promotion, or going after us because it's protecting you. John Verrico: Right. Craig Eagleson: But is it protecting you? Is it hurting you? Right. And that's the whole thing of what is your belief system and what are you allowing people to tell you? John Verrico: Yeah, that's exactly it, right? It's your your your body is designed to protect you and change is something that we fear. And so maybe this new thing, this new whatever, is going to be dangerous. And, you know, if you think about it and it's down in our amygdala, you know, that part of the brain that you know Craig Eagleson: Ha John Verrico: you know, I don't want to get into all the weird science in there, but you know, that that part of our brain that controls the fight or flight thing you Craig Eagleson: Right. John Verrico: know that's kind of reptilian in nature it comes from those kind of roots and if if you look at a snake or a lizard right when they experience change as they grow they molt right the skin peels off Craig Eagleson: Yeah. John Verrico: and so during this time it's a very physically uncomfortable time for them Also, they are at their weakest point while they're molting, which is why they usually kind of cower someplace off in a corner. Now, this is lizards, this is, you know, crabs, you know, all kinds of creatures that that do this. And the first thing that happens, especially in in reptiles, is they grow a film over their eyes to protect their eyes during this period. Craig Eagleson: Mm. John Verrico: Which means that during this time of change, they're blind. They're effectively blind. So they can't see what's going on around them. And Craig Eagleson: Wow. Wow. John Verrico: so now they're going through all this this un this discomfort of have their skin peeling off and all this other stuff. And they're blinded and they have no idea what's around them. So that is when they are the most defensive and they're also at their most vulnerable. So that's what our brain is doing when we're going through when experiencing change. And especially when it's, you know, a significant change. And the way our brain processes change is the same way we process grief. Change Craig Eagleson: Wow. Yeah. John Verrico: for some of us i is indicative of loss. And so Craig Eagleson: And you know, you know you know the saying, right? Change is the only constant in life. John Verrico: Yeah, yeah. And instead of looking at change as a potential for something new and great and wonderful, we have a tendency to look at change from the perspective of what we are losing. Craig Eagleson: Mm-hmm. Yeah. John Verrico: And you have seem to turn this whole thing around, you know, every time that you have experienced change and even of a devastatingly negative nature, you still manage to find a way to pull out of it. And so that's what I admire about you and I appreciate your coming on the Craig Eagleson: Nah, I appreciate that. John Verrico: sh coming on the show to share that with the world. Craig Eagleson: No, thank you. Thank you for being and I you know, I wear this shirt, I bought the shirt and it says on the front, keep moving forward. And on the back it says throwing up is okay, falling down is okay. It goes through all these little things. Getting John Verrico: Yes. Yeah. Giving up is not Craig Eagleson: getting giving up is not okay, right? So you have John Verrico: Ha ha. Craig Eagleson: to get up and you know, hey every everybody faces a challenge, everybody faces a change. It's how you get up, you know, and how you fight the next day. That's it. John Verrico: And and here's the here's the key, and I think you know this better than anybody else. you know, it's in the choice we make. It's in the choice we make. And that is a final plug for your upcoming book, The Power of Choice. How do you do how do you like that? So a Craig Eagleson: I like I like that, John. John Verrico: as of this recording, that book is not quite out yet, but folks Craig Eagleson: Not yet. John Verrico: look for you know, around September twenty twenty six time frame. around that time frame look for the power of choice from craig eagleson. Craig, I really appreciate your taking the time to come and share your story with us today to share your fire. And thanks for all the fire plugs, by the way. It was always it's always great when somebody just you know gets it and they're and they throw in those those ties. I really appreciate that. but I look forward to to to reading your book. By the way I'm I'm hoping to get an autographed copy when it comes out. Craig Eagleson: Yes, sir. John Verrico: We will and stop calling me sir. I was enlisted. Craig Eagleson: Yeah. John Verrico: but but I do look forward to the book and look forward to continuing to to chat with you in other other venues and other opportunities. Craig Eagleson: Sounds great. Thank you, John. Appreciate John Verrico: So Craig Eagleson: you having me on today. John Verrico: Craig, really quick, let's let's quickly tell people how they can get in touch with you. Craig Eagleson: a couple ways. So very simple way is Craig C R A I G at prestigetransformational dot com. that's the email. you can visit my website at prestigetransformational dot com. and those are the two easiest ways to reach me. And you can book an appointment right on the website if you want to have coffee or virtual coffee and talk and go from there. John Verrico: Excellent. Excellent. So that's prestigetransformational dot com. And that'll be in the show notes as well for people who are just listening to this while they're driving or mowing the lawn or whatever else they're Craig Eagleson: Yeah. John Verrico: doing. Craig, thank you again for taking the time to come on the show and folks keep listening to Share Your Fire, the podcast. we are out here shining light on people with amazing stories and who know how to re spark their internal motivational fire. Craig, take care. Have a great day. Thanks again. Craig Eagleson: Me too. Thanks, Sean.