Latest / Rise and Thrive with Dr. J. Nicole Podcast / Faith, Fitness & the First 15 with Dr. Kyle Boone
Transcript
- 0:16Good morning, good morning, and welcome to Rise and Thrive with
- 0:20Doctor J Nicole, where we are rising in faith and thriving in
- 0:24purpose. Today's episode is going to be
- 0:27focusing on faith and fitness and caring for the body that God
- 0:31has given you. And we have a very, very special
- 0:34guest here today. I've known this man for almost 2
- 0:38decades. I just did the math.
- 0:42So we have here with us today Doctor Kyle Boone.
- 0:47He's currently the Director of Housing and Residence Life at
- 0:50Grand Valley State University in Michigan, and his work as a
- 0:54scholar practitioner centers on amplifying the voices and lived
- 0:59experiences of historically marginalized populations and
- 1:03higher education. Our guy here is degreed up.
- 1:07He has a degree from the University of Louisville, the
- 1:11University of Pacific, and APHD from LSU.
- 1:16Go Tigers. Doctor Boone is passionate about
- 1:20turning research into real impact and keeping it real.
- 1:25While he's at all of this on rise and thrive, he brings both
- 1:29brilliance and boldness to the conversation.
- 1:32He's going to be reminding us that restoration and
- 1:34representation can coexist. Dr. Boone is a bourbon hunting,
- 1:41CrossFit loving, culture shifting scholar that you didn't
- 1:47know you needed on your faith and healing journey.
- 1:50Let's welcome him to the show. Let's go.
- 1:53Yes, let's go. Welcome.
- 1:55All. Right, so you know, our bodies
- 2:00are temples and yet many of us neglect the physical aspect of
- 2:04that, neglect the physical aspect of our well-being while
- 2:07focusing on spiritual growth. But faith and fitness, they go
- 2:12hand in hand. So caring for your body is also
- 2:15an act of worship, discipline, and gratitude.
- 2:19So in this episode, we're going to explore how we can shift our
- 2:22mindsets around health and Wellness and how we can honor
- 2:25God by taking care of ourselves and how to build sustainable
- 2:30habits that support both our spiritual and physical
- 2:34well-being. All right, Doctor Boone, welcome
- 2:37to the show. Having me this is awesome.
- 2:39Yeah, I'm so happy to have you here to talk about such an
- 2:43important topic. So tell me about why this topic
- 2:46is important to you. Yeah, it took a minute for me to
- 2:49figure out that fitness or taking care of me was super
- 2:54important because I never took care of like everything.
- 2:56Like the world makes you feel like, like you don't have time
- 3:00to do it right. You gotta just go and that
- 3:03hustle mentality will catch up to you.
- 3:06And next thing you know, you're just burning out and you're
- 3:08trying to figure out like what next and whatnot.
- 3:11And it's interesting that you even asked me to speak about
- 3:13this because like my mantra for this year is to make time for
- 3:16time. Like it's literally come on,
- 3:18like what, Like what, what can I do or what have I been putting
- 3:21off because I said I don't have the time to do it right.
- 3:24So I think this topic is important because it really
- 3:26makes you sit down with yourself and become aware of like, what
- 3:29are you actually making time for?
- 3:31Because we got a lot of excuses, right?
- 3:32You know, we got kids or puppies or work or whatever and you just
- 3:37can't sit down because you got to go, go, go.
- 3:40And I'm not, I'm, I don't want to be a hypocrite.
- 3:42I'm all about to go, go, go, but there is moments where you just
- 3:45got to take control of yourself. So this is important to me just
- 3:48because I've watched people literally sell their, their,
- 3:51their body, the mind and spirit for the job, right?
- 3:55And in my field, in my field, everything is about being
- 3:58student centered, student centered.
- 4:00And, and I've watched people burn out of this field by giving
- 4:03everything they had to, to the students without recognizing
- 4:06they probably have an interest in trauma or lack of movement
- 4:09that that needs to be handled. So that's why it's important to
- 4:11me. Yes, thank you for that and
- 4:15that's super important. So I recently saw you in New
- 4:17Orleans at Nassau, which is a student affairs conference.
- 4:20For those of you that don't know, before I was in mental
- 4:22health, I was at higher Ed where I got my start.
- 4:25That's How I Met this awesome guy.
- 4:27I'm just shy of 20 years ago and something that I recognized,
- 4:31Kyle, having been out of the field and then being back in
- 4:35community with you all is how boundaries are not really
- 4:42promoted or really reinforced. And it might be at some
- 4:45institutions, but I'm just saying generally, right?
- 4:48And that lack of boundaries, that lack of self-care, even
- 4:51though we talk about it with students and with them, we don't
- 4:54model it. Can you talk to me a little bit
- 4:56more about that since you did bring up burnout being a common
- 5:00thing in your field? You know, we don't model it at
- 5:04all. I think we're getting better,
- 5:06but I don't think we do it at all.
- 5:08Not at all. I don't think we do it as well
- 5:10as we probably should, right? You can just think about like
- 5:12when's the last time you received the 3:00 AM e-mail,
- 5:15right? Like we do that in this field
- 5:17because we're up and we feel like it's time to work.
- 5:20Well, me at my level, if I do it, my staff may read it and
- 5:24say, well, shucks, boons up. So I got to be up, right?
- 5:27And then it's it creates something that is not
- 5:29sustainable, right? So we don't model it really
- 5:31well, but I think we're getting better at it.
- 5:34The thing is like it's levels, entry level, early career
- 5:38professionals are really trying to put their foot in the door
- 5:40and say I'm supposed to be here not recognizing they belong.
- 5:43Since we, you know, they got that degree, they belong.
- 5:46So they got that first job, so. And they don't.
- 5:48Right, You don't have to prove yourself to us and, and even
- 5:50trying to prove yourself to us even like in the fitness world,
- 5:53like think about it like you're not going to run as fast as
- 5:56somebody else, but you might, you may not.
- 5:59So anyway, there are some, there are some boundaries that we
- 6:02haven't really found, found a way to like create the
- 6:05delineation between work and life.
- 6:07But I think the beautiful thing that I'm watching is, even
- 6:11though we haven't done boundaries real well, we're
- 6:13talking about harmony now. Like we're talking about like,
- 6:15well, how do we create some type of alignment with your work and
- 6:18your life? And I think jobs in I can't save
- 6:21every job I can say for this job, you know, jobs are saying
- 6:25we do Care now it's it's really up to us to say, show me, right?
- 6:29I want to try and see what happens.
- 6:30And I love what you just said, that you're aware of your
- 6:34influence as a leader, that if your team sees you up at 3:00 AM
- 6:38sending emails that indirectly sends a message that this is a
- 6:42standard. If my leader is showing poor
- 6:45boundaries without that, we that's what I'm calling it,
- 6:47right? If he, if he's showing poor work
- 6:50life balance, oh, well, I, I gotta, I gotta rise to that, to
- 6:54that standard. That's yeah.
- 6:55And let me add, like even in interviews, we love that
- 6:59candidate that says, I'm, I'm ready to hit the ground running.
- 7:02Like we love it. We do, we want it.
- 7:04It's it's sexy. It's the thing like, Oh my gosh,
- 7:07you're ready to come in and knock a wall down.
- 7:09But even in the idea of it all, like just if you think about it,
- 7:13if I'm in an interview, if I'm, if I'm in a suit, I'm clean and
- 7:17you tell me to step out and hit the ground running.
- 7:18Like at the end of the day, I'm not prepared to run, right?
- 7:21Like I'm literally dressed up. I might RIP my suit, I might
- 7:24slip and fall. So the idea sounds good on TV,
- 7:28right? But it's really not something
- 7:29that is sustainable. Sometimes you have to put on
- 7:32your running shoes. And I think when I look at like,
- 7:35what we actually reward, right? We reward the people who don't
- 7:39have the balance. We reward the people who say
- 7:41they're going to hit the ground running to do it.
- 7:43The person who literally wants to stretch a little bit is not
- 7:46seen as the person, right? Or at least often it's not seen
- 7:50as a person. So I think even in our normal
- 7:53like nomenclature like it's, it's a thing where we we promote
- 7:56it and we're also recruiting for it, which is kind of
- 7:59interesting. Yep, Yep, you're right.
- 8:00And that could easily lead to attracting a similar type of
- 8:04candidate, I mean, a specific type of candidate into the
- 8:06position that I'll be honest too, I pick up on energy, but
- 8:11also my clinical eyes were at work even though I was not on
- 8:14the clock, right? I could see and feel and hear
- 8:17the anxiety in so many spaces and places that I didn't hear
- 8:21before when I was in the community.
- 8:22I had to leave the profession and then also get trained up in
- 8:26a different way that I was like, oh.
- 8:28Wow, yeah, we're currently at that.
- 8:31Anxiety will always flow, right. Like where we're current, like
- 8:35what we're currently doing, like education is being threatened at
- 8:37a different level. People are, you know, beyond
- 8:40like executive orders. People are saying like
- 8:43enrollment is being challenged or is my job necessary?
- 8:47So, you know, that anxiety part doesn't go away, only amplifies
- 8:51and higher it in my opinion. But it's it's a thing that we
- 8:55can't turn a blind eye to, and another reason why this
- 8:58conversation is pretty cool. OK, OK, so we're going to shift
- 9:01a little bit about talking about why caring for the body is also
- 9:06a spiritual responsibility. We're going to first start
- 9:08backgrounding that in Scripture. So we're going to, I'm going to
- 9:11read from First Corinthians 619 and 20.
- 9:16Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit
- 9:20who is in you, whom you have received from God?
- 9:23You are not your own, but I'm actually going to add 20 because
- 9:28it takes it home a little bit more.
- 9:30You were bought at a price. Honor God with your body.
- 9:33So let's talk about that a little bit, like how physical
- 9:37health impacts our ability to fulfill God's.
- 9:41Purpose I read AI read a book this year wasn't my favorite
- 9:44book but it was a good book. The power of ritual and an idea
- 9:48of the book was like anything can be spiritual or, or
- 9:53fulfilling if you find an intent behind it, right?
- 9:55And then really does ground you or sending you.
- 9:58And I think the how of your question is the harder part like
- 10:02cause a lot of us just can't get started.
- 10:03But the idea behind it is really important.
- 10:06It's not your own. It's just like your talents,
- 10:09your talents are gifted. You have to mature.
- 10:11Your body is a gifted, you have to mature.
- 10:12I think especially the black population, we usually just wait
- 10:15too long, right? We have the athletic prowess as
- 10:18a child. Everybody runs track and plays
- 10:20soccer, regardless of your asthma that you got right and
- 10:23then. Or even in just in the.
- 10:24Neighborhood, yeah. And then you know, or it just
- 10:27could be generational. I remember I had to step outside
- 10:31that affect the rule in North Carolina when I was visiting
- 10:33grandparents was you come back in the house when the sun hits
- 10:36the porch like you got to get out.
- 10:37So it was. It was I've.
- 10:39Never heard sun hits the porch. I've always heard you on the
- 10:42street like comes on. I love this.
- 10:45Porch so 'cause it's shady at the time, so it's you're out
- 10:48early, they wake you up to get out the house.
- 10:51But that is something that's really not promoted And, and
- 10:53maybe this promoted, but we have so many things like technology
- 10:56or or TV or whatever that's in the fold.
- 10:59So it's not really promoted in the same and, and, and
- 11:01neighborhoods are dangerous now. So it's a little different.
- 11:03But the idea of the body is a temple earlier in my, my life
- 11:07was more of a it it's not mine, right?
- 11:10But you got to do something with it.
- 11:11And I think recognizing that is really humbling, right?
- 11:14This is not for me, you know, is for those who get to see or get
- 11:20to experience it. Or you could just bless them.
- 11:22I just by being in the space and they say, oh, you did it.
- 11:25Oh, you did it. I gotta try it, right?
- 11:26And that that is a blessing in itself.
- 11:29Yeah, thank you for that. So let's talk about how we can
- 11:32overcome guilt and shame related to body image or even past
- 11:37unhealthy habits, right? Because it a lot of those things
- 11:40they get at mindset, right? And that a lot of the times we
- 11:44can't get out of here and get really into here in action out
- 11:49here. I, I love that question.
- 11:53I think what's hard arguably is there is a lot of outcome based
- 11:59fitness out there, right? Like it's like, if you think
- 12:01about it like I want a six pack. I'm going to start for the
- 12:06summer. I want my summer body popping.
- 12:08So I want to start in December, November, and I'm going to get
- 12:12my summer body before I get to this trip in April or whatever
- 12:15that thing is. So we're so outcoming.
- 12:18And then what happens is you may have put all the work in.
- 12:22You might even diet it really, really well, but you didn't
- 12:24reach that thing that you said you would get.
- 12:27And then that reward goes away. And because the reward goes
- 12:30away, it's like, why did I do it in the first place?
- 12:32Like I really, really wanted somebody to validate my
- 12:37existence and I worked for it, I sweated for it, I ate for it, I
- 12:42got it. But now I'm a little bloated and
- 12:44it doesn't work. So I think being outcome based
- 12:47intensifies that grief, insifies that shame and the anxiety.
- 12:54I think that goes with actually working out.
- 12:56I, I like to propose, especially when I first started doing
- 13:00CrossFit, like I used to tell people, stay off the scale
- 13:03because the problem was people would work out And next thing
- 13:07you know, it's like, well, I'm not losing weight.
- 13:09I'm like, stay up to scale. Are you getting stronger?
- 13:11Are you, are your pants fitting differently or do you feel
- 13:14better? Stay up to scale.
- 13:15And women, when I coached or went and I'm starting coach
- 13:20again, but we're, we're really hard to tell that to because I
- 13:23think we have put so much pressure.
- 13:25We, as in men have put so much pressure on women that it's like
- 13:29we got to, you know, we got to be 1/25, 1:30.
- 13:34And this is not even physically possible for a lot of us.
- 13:36For the narrative is I don't want to get bulky and it doesn't
- 13:40really kind of work that way. But nonetheless, I think being
- 13:45outcome based doesn't help us. I think I like to look at it,
- 13:49it's kind of be skill based. Like what are my goals?
- 13:51Like what do I really am trying to accomplish physically, Not
- 13:55like in looks and parents, but in action.
- 13:57Like don't want to be able to walk up the stairs without
- 13:59breathing hard. Do I want to be able to jump
- 14:02high? Like what are the action based,
- 14:04skill based things that I'm that I want?
- 14:07And then the next question is gonna be, what are you willing
- 14:09to give up to get it? Because there is no way to
- 14:12outwork a bad diet. So I think there's a, there's
- 14:15the rub, right? Same thing with faith.
- 14:16Like there's no way like to, to be spiritually righteous on
- 14:20Sunday and, and then chill out the rest of the week and next
- 14:23to, you know, you're like, oh, well, I'm good right now.
- 14:26You gotta go back. Like, so it's the thing to me
- 14:28with fitness, it's that like you're, you gotta take the gym
- 14:32with you. Love that, love that.
- 14:34And you brought up such a good point with the outcome base
- 14:37because the other side of that is they meet the goal and then
- 14:41they stop and then they regress and then they start all over
- 14:44rather than it being about lifestyle.
- 14:47But when you think about that, that's exactly how a lot of
- 14:50these companies in like corporations stay in business
- 14:53because they can make you a repeat customer if they create
- 14:56messaging that keeps you in a constant cycle.
- 14:59You got to, you did it. Chill, right.
- 15:03So that's a really good point. I love that you said it.
- 15:05I also love what you said too about the make it.
- 15:11It's still action based, measuring it in different ways
- 15:14essentially, and not just like the scale.
- 15:17There are all these other ways to measure it or what is the
- 15:20you're doing this to be able to do what right, like and so
- 15:24that's fun. Like if your goal is So what are
- 15:27what do you call those things? And people like jump on the like
- 15:29the different heights, the things they stack up.
- 15:33Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like however many, I don't know
- 15:35how y'all measure those. I've never done it, right.
- 15:37But it just looks so dope when you see people do those, those
- 15:41leaps and it's amazing. And to be able to see that
- 15:46outcome and just saying like I came and I said this is what I
- 15:48wanted to do. And that scale thing, that's the
- 15:51thing. I don't own the scale anymore,
- 15:53right? And so I walked off between diet
- 15:56and like walking. I don't even know how many
- 15:58pounds I walked off, but I know that I was almost a size 16 and
- 16:01I walked myself down to a size 6.
- 16:05Yeah, yeah. I don't own a scale.
- 16:07I still don't know. I went to the doctor.
- 16:09I was like, in my mind, I wanted to really write.
- 16:12IDK but I was like because NA wasn't applicable because I do
- 16:19have a weight, you know what I mean?
- 16:21But that it is super important. When you get rid of that scale,
- 16:26there's a different type of freedom because it reinforces
- 16:29just the habits, it reinforces the lifestyle.
- 16:32I agree. Yeah, and what you say you can't
- 16:35outwork a bad diet? I think, yeah, I don't think
- 16:38it's possible. Me and my crew, every year,
- 16:40twice a year, we do a Paleo, but it almost feels like a Paleo, a
- 16:44diet. But what we're doing is just
- 16:45resetting. You know, it's right after
- 16:47Christmas and we go no alcohol, no bread, pasta, unnatural.
- 16:53So y'all take it dry January to another low?
- 16:56For about 40 days and then it's it's our way to reset.
- 16:59But for us, and this is probably a little more spiritual, it's
- 17:03really an opportunity for us to be in community with each other.
- 17:06Alright, like what you what you eat today I took send me that
- 17:10recipe. How you feeling?
- 17:11Are you sleeping well, like drinking water?
- 17:13Those are conversations that we're having checking in with
- 17:16each other because we're all doing it at the same time.
- 17:19And it's really a way, I think it's, it's matured us, you know,
- 17:22we could kick it with the best of them.
- 17:24But at the conference, we, we ran a 5K.
- 17:27Like it was one of those things where we're going to be in
- 17:29community with each other and then we're going to really be at
- 17:32peace with that. So I don't think you cannot work
- 17:34a bad diet. I think it's it's just
- 17:35impossible. Yeah, I love that that you are
- 17:39in community, not just for the social aspects, right?
- 17:43Like as that comes with community, I'm hearing that
- 17:46there's like a depth, I'm hearing that you all care about
- 17:48each other's well-being. I'm hearing that you all hold
- 17:52each other accountable for growth in multiple areas of your
- 17:55life. Not some of these other things
- 17:57that people have to outgrow in their like these and things like
- 18:01that in terms of what we focus on socially during those time
- 18:04periods in our life. And so I love that y'all are out
- 18:07of conference. I'm assuming when you talking
- 18:09about your community, these are people that are spread out
- 18:11across the country, just how higher Ed works.
- 18:14And then y'all are coming together and saying yes, even
- 18:17though we're in these sessions all day, we're going to get up,
- 18:19we're going to run a 5K. Exactly how it went.
- 18:22It was a it was a couple phone calls.
- 18:24You bring in workout shoes or running shoes, Trigger running
- 18:26shoes, I guess we outside. Yeah, we outside like it.
- 18:29You doing something to be honest, like fully honest.
- 18:33We just ended our challenge. So you know, we're going to eat
- 18:36bad New Orleans. So we did.
- 18:38We ate pretty bad, but we were also able to maintain, you know,
- 18:43or at least start back up to where we were before we before
- 18:46we started. And what I also love there and
- 18:50what you said is that it's not super rigid, right?
- 18:53Like if you have healthy habits, you can, you know, break outside
- 18:57of that. But some people they, they
- 18:59can't, right? If you have that personality,
- 19:01but you know, you can enjoy culture, you can enjoy places,
- 19:07but if you have your practices already in place, you know what
- 19:11I mean? It's not hard to get back on it.
- 19:13I know I needed to eat a few more vegetables when I was in
- 19:15New Orleans and then I came back.
- 19:17I had to really go like vegetarian plant based when I
- 19:21got back because my system was like, what?
- 19:22Why you do that? That's hilarious.
- 19:26I'm not even kidding, but it was it was everything was like just
- 19:29amazing love New Orleans. OK, so let's talk a little bit
- 19:33though about breaking the cycle of like negative and unhealthy
- 19:37habits. So let's talk about how stress,
- 19:40emotional eating, and a lack of self-care, how those impact our
- 19:45overall will not. This is awareness at its finest.
- 19:48Like you got to ask yourself, like, what do I look like?
- 19:52Act like who am I when I'm unbalanced?
- 19:55And that's a thing, right? Like if I got way too many
- 19:58emails, I act a certain way, I'm unbalanced.
- 20:00I know what it looks like. I can put my finger on it, but I
- 20:04can also communicate it to other people so they know, right?
- 20:08Like, hey, Kyle, like I don't think I don't think you're good
- 20:10today. Like I'm good because you know,
- 20:11we always want to, you know, be self-righteous, right?
- 20:14Like I'm straight. And now are you?
- 20:16And then you click a little bit, like maybe I'm not, but having a
- 20:20good supervisor matters, right? Hey, I'm going home.
- 20:23My Wellness is, is, is, is. I'm not balanced today or, or
- 20:26what not. You can't do it every day, but
- 20:28recognizing it does matter. I think the hard part is like
- 20:32when you choose to overlook it because we're always like
- 20:37delusional when it comes to things like that, right?
- 20:39When it's, it's a negative impact on you, you're kind of
- 20:43delusional. Like, am I stressed out?
- 20:45Nah. Do I got trauma?
- 20:47Nah, have I been hurt? Nah, I'm strong.
- 20:50I'm super strong. You don't got to worry about me.
- 20:52And then you know, you haven't cried in six weeks and your body
- 20:55breaks down. Like it's all these things
- 20:56matter to me, like having some type of awareness is is a big,
- 21:01big deal. But asking yourself the question
- 21:03like, what does it look like when I am stressed?
- 21:06Because then you can start to pinpoint like what is stressing
- 21:08me out, right? I literally right before this
- 21:13year, two years ago, excuse me, I was going to a conference,
- 21:16coming home for the conference, working, going to something,
- 21:19coming back working. And I caught myself saying like
- 21:22I did a break in between these things so I can get back and
- 21:26reset. But it was my admin who told me
- 21:28that like, hey, like I've audited your calendar.
- 21:31You shouldn't be here. You know what you mean?
- 21:33I shouldn't be there like you. You're over.
- 21:35The fact that they even thought they needed to do a calendar
- 21:39audit is why. And it's awesome.
- 21:40It was absolutely awesome. So, but recognizing the stress
- 21:42is stress is something you're not going to avoid.
- 21:45It's just acknowledging what brings it to you.
- 21:47Correct, Because life is life and life will keep lifing.
- 21:49Every time so you listen, I knew you was going to come in here
- 21:52dropping the bars and all the venoms, right?
- 21:55So I'm like, as you're talking, I'm trying to find a pen because
- 21:58I was like, oh, I got to remember to ask him this, to ask
- 22:01him that because it's just coming so fast and it's so
- 22:04really, it's so very good. So I love what you're saying
- 22:07about awareness, right? And so even what you're
- 22:09describing, this is what I help my class with sometimes
- 22:11clinically, right? Like so then what is the issue?
- 22:14And so when we start sessions, I do what I call the tap in How
- 22:18are you feeling? How do you know and how and
- 22:20where are you experiencing getting your body and being
- 22:22right? And so if you know these things,
- 22:24you can label it. You know the context, sometimes
- 22:28the why and sometimes or the how, how do you know is based on
- 22:34what they are feeling in their bodies and being right.
- 22:37But we don't just stop there because then it's like, well, if
- 22:41we know that, that's the thing, right?
- 22:43So like I will use myself as an example.
- 22:45I get angry. Her name is Bridget, right?
- 22:49So like I try to protect people from Bridget.
- 22:51I'm in Chicago right now at the ladies lectureship with some of
- 22:54my sisters from church. And I was like, no, no, no, I
- 22:57gotta get a snack. I don't want y'all to meet
- 22:58Bridget. Y'all ain't never met her and
- 23:00it's some of y'all I've never met till today.
- 23:02And I we not going to let Bridget out.
- 23:04I'm going to go get a snack. But I know what I feel in my
- 23:08body when Bridget is starting to show up.
- 23:11I know her behaviors, right? Like and I just say that because
- 23:14I get really grouchy and you don't get the good energy from
- 23:17me. Like I shut down, I'm irritable.
- 23:20I really don't have nice things to say right.
- 23:23So so I had to I learned to be quiet with that, but that's that
- 23:27doesn't help it right? Like so where before it was just
- 23:30like I knew it, but I did nothing think about it.
- 23:33So knowing what it is, my body sends me signs and signals to
- 23:36say, hey, Bridget, is she knocking on the door?
- 23:39We want to do something about that and keep her at Bay.
- 23:42So I think that is very important.
- 23:44And with awareness, we cannot address what we won't
- 23:47acknowledge. So all change starts with
- 23:50awareness. So I love you for breaking that
- 23:53down in a simple way where I think it's digestible to people
- 23:56to to start there. And it doesn't have to be this
- 24:01huge thing either. There was something else that
- 24:03you said. I found my pen.
- 24:05I'm not going to miss nothing else.
- 24:08Not going to miss anything else. It was so good.
- 24:10If it comes back to me, I'll ask you.
- 24:12But let's talk about how the role of faith-based motivation
- 24:17in terms of creating lasting changes with like, healthy
- 24:21ethics. You know it.
- 24:22Alright, so there's so many different ways of looking at
- 24:25faith-based in my opinion. I know faith is faith, but when
- 24:29you say the word lasting, that changes it a little bit.
- 24:34OK. It's if you've never worked out
- 24:37a day in your life, there's a degree of trust you have to have
- 24:42with something outside of you to say, I'm about to start doing it
- 24:46right. It's just, it's just has to be
- 24:48because to walk into a space you've never been, I don't care
- 24:52how friendly you are with their the equipment you've never seen
- 24:55or never really used without a plan is tough.
- 24:59So I think you have to ask yourself, like how, where does
- 25:02help come from? Right?
- 25:05Like there's only also many YouTube videos you could watch
- 25:08somebody squatting before you have to go squat.
- 25:10And then you have to say, am I doing it right?
- 25:12Right. So where does your help come
- 25:14from? And I think oftentimes we have
- 25:16to look at the trust and the vulnerability of it all and say,
- 25:20like, I need help with this. Doing it by yourself is just
- 25:23arrogant. You know, it's to me.
- 25:27Don't get it wrong. You can go run right now.
- 25:29That's fine, right? But the idea of being
- 25:31intentional, excuse me, I think my, my camera just locked up on
- 25:35me. I apologize.
- 25:36My fault. My my connection was bad.
- 25:39OK, OK. I wasn't sure it was me.
- 25:42You said you can go run. But eventually, like, what next?
- 25:47You know what I'm saying? Unless that's your goal.
- 25:49If your goal isn't going to be a better runner, that's cool.
- 25:52But I think, I don't know, I just feel like it's, it gets
- 25:54arrogant. Well, we could do all these
- 25:56things by ourselves. We've always been a community
- 25:58minded people and we can get outside of black and white.
- 26:01But I you don't have to do it by yourself.
- 26:04You can you ain't got to. So anyway, I think with
- 26:07faith-based, I think it's the idea of asking God, like, how do
- 26:10I actually do what I say I want to do in the way you want me to
- 26:15do it? Because we try to do it in our
- 26:18own way and you can get injured or we try to do it in our own
- 26:22way as if meritocracy is a real thing.
- 26:24And then we feel like you're like, I'm going to get it, Like
- 26:28you get a badge of honor because you did it by yourself.
- 26:30It doesn't, it doesn't work like that.
- 26:31Every preacher needs a preacher, every coach.
- 26:33You're a coach, right? That's just what I believe,
- 26:36right? I believe that.
- 26:38I think with the lasting part, the second thing that you said,
- 26:42I don't think people understand you have to eat the elephant one
- 26:46by the time I don't, I don't think people.
- 26:49Yeah, that's. The yeah, I don't, I don't think
- 26:52they see it. Like I think what happens is
- 26:55like, I want to eat this entire meal.
- 26:57It's like what? Like what time do you wake up
- 27:01and when do you look at your e-mail and, and what's the first
- 27:04thing you do? Like, I think the smaller thing
- 27:07to do is to literally break your mornings down or your ending or
- 27:10your evenings down before we get to any workout conversations,
- 27:14right? Like are you praying in the
- 27:16morning? No, are you just breathing in
- 27:18the morning or are you just going straight to work?
- 27:21And often most of us go straight to work.
- 27:25I wake up earlier. I wake up early because I got
- 27:28responsibility, but that first fifteen, 2035 minutes is mine.
- 27:34You know, that's, that's all my I'm reading.
- 27:36I, I, I do a minute or a minute or five minute breathing.
- 27:41I shower, I pray, but that's my time.
- 27:45And what was the problem was I didn't have time to do that
- 27:48before. But you gotta make time if it's
- 27:49important. So for me, how I start my day
- 27:53and how I end my days on my own terms.
- 27:56Now, let me not lie to you. There's emails that might come
- 27:59out at 7:00 in the morning for me or 8:00 in the morning, but I
- 28:02wrote them and timing to go out that time.
- 28:04I'm not working. I don't look at the emails.
- 28:06I get to the office. So there there's a thing like I
- 28:09wanna own. Yeah, I wanna own my day.
- 28:11So to create a lasting impression, it's really like,
- 28:14how do I bake it in my day the entire time?
- 28:16But to start, I had to start small.
- 28:19Oh, this is so good. OK, OK.
- 28:22So I again, so much in there as you were talking about like this
- 28:27individually, individuality, having to do it on our own.
- 28:30And what came to mind is toxic individuality over community
- 28:35where we want all the credit. We want to say I was the one
- 28:39that did it, I was first or you just copying me, you know what I
- 28:43mean? That type of thing.
- 28:45When we are absolutely right, we came out of community.
- 28:49And then, of course, there's so many different things that have
- 28:52led to us breaking down to the breakdown of community and we
- 28:56are rebuilding it. So even community feels foreign
- 28:59to some people. It's more competition than
- 29:02community. But what people don't
- 29:03understand, when you are truly in community, if one elevate,
- 29:07everybody else gonna elevate too.
- 29:09And some people, they just want to be the one that's there on
- 29:13top that everyone's looking to. They want.
- 29:16The position is very selfish, right?
- 29:17That doesn't help the community. And then I heard you say
- 29:21something else. Am I doing it right?
- 29:24When I hear that, it takes my mind to perfectionism.
- 29:28And I think that alone can stop people from even doing it.
- 29:33So like, it really just depends on whoever is listening where
- 29:37they are in their journey, right?
- 29:39Because am I doing it right? It's going to stop somebody.
- 29:42They're not even going to do it right.
- 29:44And then you have the other person who is going to research
- 29:47and like do it properly. And then they'll be the one
- 29:49likely to take it back to community.
- 29:52Yeah, I. Agree.
- 29:53Yeah, yeah. And you also what you were, what
- 29:57you're saying, it requires vulnerability on a person
- 30:01because you have to be able to look at self, you have to be
- 30:04able to try to tap into that community because the help you
- 30:06need might be coming from somebody already in your
- 30:09community. Yeah, that part of vulnerability
- 30:12is super cool, right? I'm not, you know, I'm everybody
- 30:15knows I'm a little guy. I'm 52 like I'm small.
- 30:18Everybody don't know our audience only see what's in the
- 30:23camera and the energy bringing. I mean Act 65, but I I'm I know
- 30:28I'm little, but to see me lift is different, right?
- 30:32Like to see, because you're going to look and say, well, he
- 30:35can't well, I know technique. I can't, you know, I'm not the
- 30:38greatest, but powerful pound. I get busy, but it's it's almost
- 30:42like what he can do it. I gotta beat him, you know, I
- 30:45mean, it's like, well, no, you don't you got to beat yourself
- 30:47because that's embarrassing at some point, right?
- 30:50And then next thing you know, you never come back.
- 30:52And that that's why I don't like January 1st to January 30th
- 30:56because. Everybody.
- 30:58It's the. Best time of the year because
- 31:00everybody's ready to reset and everybody wants to get busy.
- 31:03And I want to welcome you to the space that that has given me
- 31:06life since 2012, right? Like come, come kick it with us.
- 31:09Let's go. And then at some point you see
- 31:12that you can't do what somebody who's been doing it for 5-10
- 31:16years has been doing. You're like, I'm going home.
- 31:18This is too intense for me. Well, scale it down.
- 31:20I can't, I can't squat like that.
- 31:22You sit every day. You know, it's, it's, it's that
- 31:25type of thing where where we literally don't make it make
- 31:29sense per SE, you know, And so it's like, well, I can't lift
- 31:33that. When you lift that, every time
- 31:35you go to the grocery store, you pick it up, you put it on top of
- 31:38your fridge or pick this water and you put it on the corner of
- 31:42your floor. Like that stuff we do every day.
- 31:44But we psych ourselves out because we're not vulnerable to
- 31:46the fact that I may not be as good as.
- 31:49But you showed up, you know, when I first started this
- 31:51workout thing. Yeah, when I first started, it
- 31:54was a trick. I was tricking myself.
- 31:56It was let me just get up and put my clothes on and then I was
- 32:00like, alright man, let me just get in the car.
- 32:03Alright, let me go. But I can come home and take a
- 32:05nap because that's my superpower.
- 32:06I could take a nap at any time now.
- 32:08And next thing you know, you're there and proximity matters,
- 32:12right? Like once you're in the space,
- 32:13it's like let's go and then you evolve.
- 32:15I believe it's let's go and I believe you evolve when you
- 32:19commit to it. But again, we're talking
- 32:20intentionality, we're talking awareness, definitely with
- 32:25vulnerability because you can't, you know, you got to be OK with
- 32:29your deficiencies, right? And say I'm going to work on
- 32:32those. There's some things in the gym
- 32:34I'm not good at. I come every day because it's
- 32:38not my choice to, to cherry pick.
- 32:40I went, I got to do this for me. I got I.
- 32:44Yeah, that's good. That's good.
- 32:45So I think this is naturally going to a very important thing
- 32:48and that's mindset. Let's really talk about that a
- 32:51little bit like the impact of mindset on really about breaking
- 32:56those cycles, right, like. Yeah.
- 32:59Like you said, psych ourselves. Out I I struggle with this one
- 33:04because I think we all have the right idea.
- 33:09We just have trash followed right like I, I think that's
- 33:13where it is. And again, it goes back to make
- 33:15time for Todd. But the reason that I think it
- 33:18works for me is how I lead is how I lead and work and also how
- 33:22I lead in life right. So for me, like if I know
- 33:26something's coming, you plan for it.
- 33:28It's just makes sense to me like if I know I got a family
- 33:31vacation coming up, I plan for it.
- 33:34Now there's things that happen. Let's be fair.
- 33:37But if you know, Thanksgiving hits and somebody's got to make
- 33:41the Mac and cheese, like at some point, it'll.
- 33:44Hit the same week every year you plan.
- 33:46For same thing will work if I know this report is due, you
- 33:50plan for it. But the other thing that I tell
- 33:52my team and I tell myself is you got to own it.
- 33:55There's some agency of this that you got to take responsibility
- 33:57for. So for me, the mindset set shift
- 34:02happened when I started talking about my goals, where people
- 34:06like to hold their goals or hold these good things to themselves
- 34:10because they're worried somebody's going to steal it or
- 34:12they're worried somebody's going to take, take it and make it
- 34:14better. And I remember in my doc
- 34:16program, my, my major professor saying to me, like, why don't
- 34:19you talk about your research? I was like, well, don't do that.
- 34:23He was like, why don't you talk about you being in school with
- 34:25your crew, like from back where you're from?
- 34:28I was like, I don't want to deal with that story of survivor's
- 34:31guilt, right? Or survivor's remorse.
- 34:33I don't, I don't want that. And he was like, so, so you
- 34:36choose not to speak about it, right?
- 34:39Then they have somebody else they can look up to, but not
- 34:41you. So you're being selfish.
- 34:43And I was like, whoa, hold on, bro.
- 34:45He elevated and said, and with your research, you act as if
- 34:49somebody is better than you. And then he challenged me.
- 34:53He said, Kyle, if we go, all right, people know I love
- 34:56clothes, so if we go to a mall, he said what store are you going
- 35:01to? I was like, I'm going to
- 35:02express. He said let's go to express
- 35:03together. So we go to express together.
- 35:05It's in front of the class and he said we're going to get the
- 35:08same outfit. I was like, alright.
- 35:10He said we're going to wear it on the same day to the same
- 35:12function. I said alright, cool.
- 35:14I love a good experience. So what's going to happen?
- 35:17And I said they'll never see. He was like, why don't they see?
- 35:20I said the way I wear it is going to be different.
- 35:22He said that's the point. No one can do it like you.
- 35:25So you need to start sharing more about what you're doing so
- 35:28people can challenge it, but that's also so you can make it
- 35:32better. I think the same thing with our
- 35:33goals. So I think our mindsets doesn't
- 35:35shit because we picked our we picked the people who agree with
- 35:38us that when we want to take a cheat day, they're like you,
- 35:41right? You deserve that it, but they
- 35:44don't challenge you. They don't tell you your fly is
- 35:46down when it's down. So I think you shift your
- 35:49mindset like set when when you start to really have agency of
- 35:53what's happening around you. But you that means you got to
- 35:56start talking about it. And I think that's really hard
- 35:59to say to people. I leave work at 4:30 to go to
- 36:02the gym. Why aren't you working?
- 36:04My supervisor says it's OK and I'm going to make it up out.
- 36:08I within my hours already. That means I got here early
- 36:12enough to leave it. For so it's, it's talking
- 36:15through your own strategy, it's having agency been planning for
- 36:20because you know, it's going to come like if you know that,
- 36:24that, that you want to work out, what are your days?
- 36:27You going to the gym, you know, every day, probably not
- 36:30sustainable, but if you talk about it, somebody will say
- 36:33that's a lot bro. That's all that seven days is a
- 36:36lot. Then they may, they may give you
- 36:40the grace and they may ask you, well, what do you do?
- 36:43I go three on, one off, 2 on, one off.
- 36:46Why do you do that? Because I'm 45 and I can't run
- 36:49like I used to. I can't move like I used to and
- 36:52I need a day. What do you do on that day?
- 36:55I actually stretch on that day. I never stretched.
- 36:58Cool, let's get to stretch it. Like I think that's the thing.
- 37:01We're talking about your goals or talking about what you're
- 37:04doing and how you're enjoying it or not.
- 37:06Enjoying it helps you shift your mindset in a way that you can
- 37:11build off of the world. That's so good.
- 37:13That's so good. Thank you for that.
- 37:15Yep, that's that's, that's really good.
- 37:17So now that we got minds mindset covered, how about finding the
- 37:22balance because it's easier than mindset shift?
- 37:25I'm all in. I'm going higher than the paint,
- 37:28whatever they think it. How do we work on finding that
- 37:31valve? You know, it is trial and error.
- 37:35It's less about balance, more about harmony, but it's
- 37:37definitely trial and error. It's it's what works for you.
- 37:47Yeah, yeah. Balance is if I take two things
- 37:50and I put it put it on a scale, they both equal in weight.
- 37:54So they're just as important at the exact same time.
- 37:57And I don't necessarily believe that.
- 37:58I think there's some degree of harmony that and I, I got
- 38:01stealing this idea. I forgot her name from author I
- 38:04made my staff read recently. But the idea is with harmony,
- 38:07they may not all be equal. You could be having a bad day,
- 38:10but you still got to do something right.
- 38:12So how do you make sure that the good rises during that time
- 38:16frame to support the bad? Because the bad could be super
- 38:19heavy. So I look at this as a little
- 38:21bit of harmony more than balance.
- 38:23Love that. And as you're saying, it's like
- 38:25the yin and Yang symbol made that much more sense to me, even
- 38:28though we look at things like, do you really process and like,
- 38:32interpret the image? But yeah, going back to finding
- 38:35the harmony so that we don't we're not operating in.
- 38:39Yeah, I it's taking inventory of your time.
- 38:41It really is. If nothing else from your
- 38:43listeners, they hear from me is do you make time for time you
- 38:46really, and that's actually knowing what is your inventory
- 38:49of your time that you have. Without that, I'm telling you
- 38:52it's just going to be a long road.
- 38:54It's just a long, long. Rd.
- 38:56You do got to start somewhere, right?
- 39:00But if you could break your life down to the three parts, you got
- 39:03work, you got family and you got you.
- 39:07Let's just say that for now, right?
- 39:09Well, how much time do you need to spend with your family?
- 39:11How much time do you normally spend with you?
- 39:12How much time do you spend with work?
- 39:13Work is usually going to outweigh everything and then
- 39:16family is going to outweigh everything.
- 39:17But if you find yourself not spending any time with you, then
- 39:22the harmony part is then how do I bring family into my fitness?
- 39:26That's the harmony part of that point, right?
- 39:27Because you're now asking, I need to do something for me, but
- 39:31I don't have time to do it for me.
- 39:33So who can I bring along for the ride?
- 39:34So at least I'm getting it done. So I'm not saying your life can
- 39:37be divided into 3. I'm saying for the purpose of
- 39:39this example, yeah, I got you. But yeah, so.
- 39:42So taking inventory of your time matters and then finding out or
- 39:47asking yourself, how much time should I give to this?
- 39:50Second thing you need to ask yourself is how much money you
- 39:52want to invest in it. Some gym memberships are
- 39:54expensive, you know, some are free.
- 39:58And a lot of us aren't even using the resources we got.
- 40:02A lot of us aren't even going to the doctor.
- 40:03But the point is, if you got a gym membership and you never use
- 40:07it, that's a thing. A lot of people actually bank on
- 40:10it. They bank on the fact that
- 40:11you'll pay for this membership and you'll never go.
- 40:14You'll pay for your car wash membership, but you'll never
- 40:16wash your car. You'll pay for this when you'll
- 40:18never show you pay for your insurance, but you never see a
- 40:20doctor. So they're banking on that.
- 40:21My challenge is to use everything you pay for, like
- 40:24taking inventory of your subscriptions and saying, how
- 40:28can I use it? So I think with the idea of a
- 40:31balance is that that time inventory is super important
- 40:35because we, that's our, that's my excuse.
- 40:36I hear the most, I don't have time.
- 40:40I, I think once you do that, once you sit back with that, and
- 40:44that could be with yourself, that could be in therapy, that
- 40:47could be with your crew, whatever it is, I think once you
- 40:51have an honest conversation, I think you'll know your starting
- 40:53point, right? Because at least at this point,
- 40:56it could be something small, and your crew can tell you that's
- 40:58not enough, right? Or your body will tell you
- 41:01that's not enough because you're just breathing.
- 41:03That you need to do more that you've grown there's room for
- 41:06experience yes yes yes. Love it, love it, love it.
- 41:10So what when you're thinking about this through fitness as an
- 41:15act of worship, right? Because remember, our bodies are
- 41:18a temple, right? It's the framework we're working
- 41:20with today. So like, how can we look at this
- 41:25as like a spiritual practice and just like practical ways to
- 41:28incorporate fitness into a faith centered lifestyle?
- 41:32You kind of you're, you're working in that direction with
- 41:34the harmony thing, but how do you think we can do that?
- 41:38There's moments of gratitude. I take like like every day,
- 41:41right? And, and I am, I'm son of a
- 41:44preacher. So it, it, it kind of instilled
- 41:46in me. Whoa.
- 41:48Hold, hold on. You do not get to sneak that in.
- 41:52Hey, never knew that you were APK on the I.
- 41:57Think you did on my AMEPK, matter of fact.
- 41:59Sir, I did not know. There's no way or if you told me
- 42:02it didn't stick, but I know I will never know going forward.
- 42:05So many people. Like, you know, they know my
- 42:07people. So.
- 42:08Yeah, yeah. So, yeah.
- 42:11But I start, you know, start today with gratitude.
- 42:13I think when you think about your fitness journey, right, and
- 42:15you think about like what you're trying to literally say to
- 42:19yourself to me, it's God. Like, can you, can you get me
- 42:23through this right? Or can you get me to the other
- 42:26side and trusting that you'll get there.
- 42:28That's why I get so mad when people kind of meander in a
- 42:31workout, right? They, they don't, they don't
- 42:34leave it on the floor is if they don't trust it, God's gonna
- 42:36protect them. God's gonna let help their
- 42:38breathe and God's won't, you know, mature them through the
- 42:40process. So, and I'm speaking
- 42:42specifically to a lot of high intensity things.
- 42:45But but it's, it's, oh, I, I think it's starting with
- 42:48gratitude. Like I'm grateful for the body I
- 42:51had and I, I'm not working out because I'm not grateful.
- 42:54I'm working out to actually show how grateful I am.
- 42:58Because if I lay around dormant and what happens, right, it
- 43:01Withers away, just like my talent, right?
- 43:04So I don't use it, you know, it Withers away.
- 43:07I'm not trying to be the the, the biggest person, you know,
- 43:12I'm not trying to be. I wanna look good.
- 43:15Let me keep it, Buck. I wanna I wanna look good but
- 43:18but I'm not. I mean, it's possible, so why
- 43:21not? And a lot of people do a whole
- 43:23lot, and they go out of their way too now.
- 43:25But yeah, but it's, I'm, I'm just grateful.
- 43:27So I think like when you think about an act of worship, it has
- 43:30to be intentional what you're doing, right?
- 43:33So I think when I bring up gratitude, I'm really telling
- 43:37your listeners, like before you start the workout, just be
- 43:39thankful for the moment, right? Just just take some time and
- 43:43once your intentional or you, when you set your intention, I
- 43:47think that matters, right? Hey, I'm thankful for this
- 43:49moment. What's your intent of this
- 43:50workout? I want to get all I got.
- 43:52I want to be present in the moment.
- 43:53It takes a lot of of of of of of centerness for you to actually
- 43:58make that happen, right? For you to, for your mind not to
- 44:01be with your babies, for your mind not to be with the debt you
- 44:04owe to the IRS. So your mind not to be up to all
- 44:08the bad guy. Like that's a fake based journey
- 44:11like this. Give me this moment in time
- 44:13where I can just be, but I don't want to be by my sub.
- 44:16One guy there with me. That's valuable.
- 44:19Yeah. Yes, yes, yes.
- 44:21That's so good, so Rich. And I also heard a undertone in
- 44:25there of discipline and being disciplined in the process.
- 44:29Yeah, that's really good. If you, if not, and sorry to cut
- 44:32you off, I think if not, like you're just working, right?
- 44:36If you're just working, you're not just, I mean, if you're
- 44:38doing a workout, you're not disciplined.
- 44:39All you're doing is working out in my opinion, like 'cause you
- 44:42haven't given up anything. You're just working out like,
- 44:46like, what are you willing to give up to get it?
- 44:48You know, that Snickers, that ginger ale, like, like that one
- 44:53day where you just don't want to go, that 'cause you don't want
- 44:55me embarrassed. What are you giving up to get?
- 44:57And it could like, like, put the example before.
- 45:01It could be your own personal time because you want to bring
- 45:03other people along. But that's OK.
- 45:06Yeah, and that's interesting 'cause sometimes we want to
- 45:10bring people along, not for them as much as it is for us and our
- 45:14codependence. And even what you talked about,
- 45:17or you mentioned this earlier about having like survivor's
- 45:20remorse or survivor's guilt or just, I guess I'm gonna call it
- 45:24Thriver's remorse. I.
- 45:26Like that? I already hear today Thriver's
- 45:28remorse. Yes, because then if I've
- 45:32changed, who am I, who becomes my community?
- 45:35And like people are in fear of that and like it with with
- 45:38community and sometimes what that means.
- 45:40And to be able to have this discipline, to be able to have
- 45:43these practices and really honor your body as a temple.
- 45:46Sometimes what you're speaking and doing can be very radical
- 45:51because people are like, I remember when I first stopped
- 45:53eating pork. Let me tell you something.
- 45:56My family is from Jackson, Ms. Baby and eat everything OK.
- 46:02And my aunt, shout out to my Auntie Pop, Love you her ham.
- 46:07Listen, it's from the I can't, I don't remember a time of my life
- 46:11where I did not love her ham. And being at her house on
- 46:13Thanksgiving, Christmas, whatever it was, she would make
- 46:15that ham. You know, you had to put the
- 46:17pineapple slices on it, all the things, right.
- 46:19And I came back home because I think I was.
- 46:22Yeah, I had moved away. So this is when I was first,
- 46:24early in the field, University of Maryland, first year working
- 46:27there. And I came home for Thanksgiving
- 46:30and she got the slice in that ham because she just all these
- 46:33years, like this is 20 something years, Jeannie have her plate
- 46:37out for that ham. And I was like, Oh no, I'm not
- 46:41going to have any. She looked at me like I had
- 46:43cussed at her and I was like, I don't eat pork anymore.
- 46:46She's like, what you mean when I tell you her feelings looked
- 46:50hurt. I had no idea that she had me in
- 46:54mind when she made that ham that, you know, cooking and
- 46:59things like that. And I get it because it's in me
- 47:01too, right? It's also an act of love and act
- 47:04of service to show those that who you care about that you
- 47:07know, that you do care about them.
- 47:08And she thought about me, but like, I was like, wow, I didn't
- 47:11realize how much I was shaking things up.
- 47:16So talk about that, how that it can be radical and to help our
- 47:20listeners, our audience prepare for that.
- 47:22Right, I think people think you're joking, right?
- 47:24Like when you do that, like I'm not doing this anymore.
- 47:26What do you mean not doing this? I know you, you talking about,
- 47:28you know, I mean that one guy that you grew up with that said
- 47:31I'm faithful now. Like, what are you talking
- 47:33about? Like it's, it's that it's like
- 47:35it people, people who could judge you.
- 47:38And it's almost like, like, well, why did I even tell you in
- 47:41the 1st place? I got you.
- 47:42You supposed to believe in me? Not the ribbing of it all.
- 47:44Yep. But the radical like idea that
- 47:48being radical is real just because, as my mother would say
- 47:51to me, like your name is your name.
- 47:52And people only know like who you've been.
- 47:55They don't really know like where you're actually going per
- 47:58SE. I think some people can say
- 48:00like, oh, I see it in you and I do believe in that.
- 48:03But why often if you've been the person who who is done nothing
- 48:08physical to jump out and say I'm doing something physical is
- 48:13like, no, you're not like I know, I know you right?
- 48:17So but, but it's also unfortunately, like you probably
- 48:21haven't had it out there where you can show that you can
- 48:25actually accomplish it, right? Like, so it just sounds like it
- 48:29sounds like tongue in cheek. He's just talking.
- 48:31He, he, he really ain't about it.
- 48:33And. They literally say that.
- 48:34Sometimes, and I think that's the issue.
- 48:36I think that's the issue being outcome based, right?
- 48:38If you don't have something done by a certain amount of time,
- 48:42people are like told you, you know, that's why I like like
- 48:45with doc students, I never asked them when they're finishing,
- 48:48right? Because the moment you ask and
- 48:51they're like, I'm finishing next month, like why Are you sure?
- 48:54And then you get to that one committee member that says you
- 48:56like you're not ready. It it hurts, it's a it's a
- 48:59bummer. And that's why people are Abd
- 49:01from longer than they need to be Abd sending with fitness.
- 49:04I would argue right, like or that that journey.
- 49:07A lot of people have said I'm going to be this in six months,
- 49:10seven months, 8 months, because I'm outcome based.
- 49:13And then you get there and you're not there and people like
- 49:15I told you. But there's progress that I
- 49:18think people miss a long way, and that's huge.
- 49:22Like, yeah, I didn't get to the I don't know.
- 49:26I was just thinking like if someone lost, wanted to lose 100
- 49:28lbs, right? You didn't get to 100, but you
- 49:30got to 65. Hello.
- 49:33You see you, you see the proof it's working.
- 49:35I just got to tweak a few things and I'm going to keep.
- 49:38Going I think that's the part when you where I was going with
- 49:40the radical part. We haven't had a unified,
- 49:42collective shared vision of what success looks like.
- 49:46So it's radical because it's like this big lifestyle change
- 49:49has happened in one moment, right?
- 49:52But you haven't seen the incremental changes that brought
- 49:55you to the place that said I don't want to eat pork anymore,
- 49:58right? Like there's something that
- 49:59happened that. Led you up.
- 50:00I wanted it, yeah. But but something happened along
- 50:04the way though. They said I'm not doing this.
- 50:07But all people saw was you're not doing it.
- 50:10It's not the what what happened, you know what thinking about it
- 50:15and this is going on. This is going on.
- 50:17And I started reading a little bit.
- 50:19I'm getting a little bit more aware and I want to be more
- 50:22intentional about what's happening and I want to be a
- 50:24little more disciplined and I'm trying to find some balance in
- 50:27my life. All those things we've talked
- 50:29about throughout this whole conversation LED up to the
- 50:31decision, but only people, the people only see the decision.
- 50:35So it's like, hey, what happened to you?
- 50:38Well, a lot. Let's talk about it, right?
- 50:40That's an agency that I was sharing earlier.
- 50:43That's that planning that I was sharing earlier.
- 50:45It's a valuable thing to to do to Share your story.
- 50:49We don't do that well either. But you know, I think this,
- 50:52hopefully with this podcast, people recognize that, you know,
- 50:55it's valuable to say, I got on and got off and got back on and
- 50:59got off and now I'm back again and we'll see what happens,
- 51:01right? Because you might catch a friend
- 51:04that says me too. Let me be your accountability
- 51:06partner. How, why, why did you start your
- 51:09journey? I started because I'm wanting to
- 51:11get better. I got a high, I got a type 2
- 51:13diabetes. I'm really trying to be here for
- 51:15my kids. Me too.
- 51:16Now we have a connection. We have a sheer language of a
- 51:18bond. So let's do it together.
- 51:20Now we got some accountability rocking and then we can check on
- 51:23each other. Oh, we got a feedback loop now.
- 51:25Like it's something about community that matters with the
- 51:28speaking about being intentional is speaking about being
- 51:34disciplined, all those things. But I think it looks radical
- 51:36because we only see the outcome, you know, we don't, we don't see
- 51:41the story. Yeah, that's good.
- 51:43And that I know you think that that they they know you, but I
- 51:51don't. I think people misjudge because
- 51:54it's almost like they're saying you can't outgrow the
- 51:57limitations I've set for you, which in a lot of times could be
- 52:01limitations that they have set for themselves and sometimes
- 52:06even in our communities, right? Like sometimes that's where our
- 52:09biggest hurdles and barriers and challenges can come from, which
- 52:13connects the mindset, right? Like no one's ever done it.
- 52:17I know you. I've seen how what you've done
- 52:18all these years. So they are using data, right to
- 52:22predict it, but they're forgetting a real key part.
- 52:27You are you, and what God put on the inside of you is unique to
- 52:31you. And you know, you may not share
- 52:35that, or God may tell you to just be quiet.
- 52:37Yeah, yeah, I agree. Yeah, because I'm like that,
- 52:41that I know you so like it it it's like the cousin to to
- 52:46what's the what's the other one that people use in a way.
- 52:49Oh, I don't want to give you false hope.
- 52:52Like those two things are related.
- 52:54So you'd rather I have no hope essentially is what you're
- 52:58saying. Yeah, yeah, I agree.
- 53:01Yeah, I agree. Yeah, yeah.
- 53:04So, so those, those things where we think it's protection, right?
- 53:08Because I, I get that. I know you was like, I don't
- 53:11want you to get your feelings hurt if it doesn't work out.
- 53:13That's why I said they're related.
- 53:15They're cousin. I don't know how closely they're
- 53:16related, but it's of a similar mindset.
- 53:19And it can come from those who really care about us and they
- 53:23think they're protecting us when really they're clipping.
- 53:25Our wings, yeah. And we haven't had time to
- 53:28figure out whole nother situation, a whole nother
- 53:30conversation. Like how do you challenge back?
- 53:33Like we just haven't figured that out.
- 53:34We're we're so defensive of our our own actions or inactions
- 53:38that it is more of a us to make an excuse.
- 53:41And we haven't said, hey, you hurt my feelings.
- 53:43What like can we talk about it? It's usually you hurt my
- 53:46feelings. We're not friends anymore.
- 53:47And then you you put your back against the wall.
- 53:49You're fighting at the corner. But being able to say, hey, like
- 53:53when you said you look a little thick, that didn't, that didn't
- 53:56make me feel good. Tell me what you were actually
- 53:59saying to me, right? Were you saying that I, I, I
- 54:02look unhealthy? Are you saying that, you know,
- 54:05you think I need to work out? Do you know I I changed my
- 54:07eating habits like. And I wouldn't even ask all
- 54:10those questions. What were you saying?
- 54:12Because it's on that person who from whom it came instead of you
- 54:17trying to guess. And what you're describing right
- 54:19there. That's a lot of times the
- 54:20narrative that goes on in our mind after the fact when we
- 54:23haven't expressed in the moment that our things have been hurt
- 54:26for because we process at a different speed, like when we're
- 54:30quiet and settle down. Like, hold on, what they say to
- 54:33me. Why?
- 54:35And then that's the narrative that can start going in our
- 54:38minds and we need to just put that back on them.
- 54:41And sometimes you got to pay attention to the source from
- 54:44which the comments comes. The one problem you think is
- 54:48thicker than you. Yeah, I think it's I think, I
- 54:50think it's all valuable, like understanding what you heard and
- 54:53what they said all that right. So, but we haven't had, I think
- 54:57there's some trauma in it because when we're going into
- 54:59this journey and we're really trying to really make a radical
- 55:02change, people are belittling the small steps around the way.
- 55:06And then it becomes it's only about the big deal, but the big
- 55:09deals. That's that's, that's small.
- 55:12Think about the road trip last part, like when I go on a road
- 55:15trip, I got that's understood. Anybody who wants to like like
- 55:19work out or set a goal, but use this about working out.
- 55:22And again, I'm not the greatest workout guy, but hear me out.
- 55:25If we were to say right now, me and you, doc, we're gonna we're
- 55:29gonna go to to on a road trip. We're gonna drive though like
- 55:32you pick a city where you want to go, like you're where would
- 55:34you want to? Go like I'm like, where's it
- 55:36going? My machination is me and I'm
- 55:38like you tell. Me where you want to go?
- 55:42I want to oh this, this would be a road trip.
- 55:44I want to go to Arizona so I can either go to Sedona or go see
- 55:48the Grand. So, so we going to rock out, we
- 55:50going to get in the car, probably my car, you know, I
- 55:53mean, I'll let you let you chill for a minute.
- 55:55We're going to drive it out. Since we drive it out, we got to
- 55:58get snacks. So we're going to pick up some
- 55:59snacks. They don't got to be healthy.
- 56:00We're just going to get there, right.
- 56:03And then as we're driving, since you're coming from the East
- 56:06Coast, you know, I mean, I got to go to you come back, I get a
- 56:10flat, right? I got a flat tire.
- 56:13Do we go back home or do we get a change, get a change, we get
- 56:16the tire changed and we keep? Because you still got to get a
- 56:18change to go home. Yeah, so we get a change.
- 56:19We keep rocking as we keep rocking.
- 56:21Next thing you know. Amen.
- 56:23Keep it a bug. I'm sleepy.
- 56:24Do we go home or do we just stop and take a nap?
- 56:27We stop and take a nap or if I feel like.
- 56:29Driving So, so then we keep it rocking.
- 56:31Next thing you know, we, we, we get pulled over by the police.
- 56:35Do we go home? Do we just, you know, take a
- 56:37ticket, keep it rocking? I I see what you're doing here.
- 56:41All these barriers, how close are we when we get pulled?
- 56:44Over we try like we we in Texas like we rocking we all we are
- 56:48close. OK, well then I'm say let's keep
- 56:51going. Well, even still you too far
- 56:53from home we keep. Going, I think that's the thing,
- 56:55like then we get there, we have a blast, but then we come back.
- 56:59The story probably should be about the trip, right, like the
- 57:04journey. But what we do is we talk about
- 57:06what we did in Arizona. We don't talk about like, man,
- 57:09we got pulled over. Like remember what happened when
- 57:13like so I think that's the thing with fitness, right?
- 57:16Like we only talk about when we made weight.
- 57:18We don't talk about, I mean, at one time you look stupid with
- 57:20your with shorts on when you made that one time.
- 57:22Like, like it's radical because it literally makes it make
- 57:26sense. It's radical because it it takes
- 57:28a fuller picture of what we're doing.
- 57:31It's not just about we went to Arizona, we drove to Arizona, we
- 57:35had fun, we talked and on the way we spent more time in the
- 57:38car than we did at our destination.
- 57:41But the destination was important.
- 57:43But the trip, man, that was it. So I think that's where we talk
- 57:47radical, we're talking that to. Yes, love that.
- 57:50That was so good and I love a good example and just like to
- 57:53take us through it, right? That's exactly how it goes.
- 57:56And that is indicative of the different barriers we face,
- 57:59whether it's fitness, whether it's going back to school,
- 58:02whether it's relation like we're going to be faced with barriers
- 58:06and what are we going to do? Are we going to turn around and
- 58:08go back or we going to keep going.
- 58:11So I, what I got from that was definitely keep going.
- 58:16So we talked already like about community and accountability and
- 58:21as well as like, just like spirituality in general.
- 58:24So I want to get a little more personal, right?
- 58:27Talk to us a little bit about your personal journey of
- 58:30integrating like faith and fitness.
- 58:32Yeah, mine is different. I was never a fitness guy
- 58:35growing up. I ran track in high school
- 58:38because colleges said I needed some type of extracurricular and
- 58:43I knew I wanted to go to college and I picked track cause girls
- 58:46showed up and I was like, you know, that's a win win.
- 58:49So I, I didn't have a definition of org or a true destination of
- 58:54what I was trying to do other than to fulfill the requirements
- 58:57to go to school. So my journey really didn't
- 58:59start. I mentioned it early until like
- 59:012012. Like I was in, I was in my doc
- 59:04program. Friend of mine hit me up and
- 59:07said I see a Groupon for this CrossFit thing you should try.
- 59:10And I was like, Nah, that looks intense.
- 59:13He was like, we should, you know, $50.
- 59:15I'm like, OK, well, $50, let's go.
- 59:17And so we did it and we did it for about like a month and
- 59:22'cause it was 30 days. And then when it ended, I really
- 59:26feel like was like in love with it.
- 59:27So this is dope. And that's some sport per SE,
- 59:30right? And then they said, here's how
- 59:33much it will cost. And they put the cost on the
- 59:35table. And I was like, I'm a cop.
- 59:37It I ain't got it, you know, So another Groupon, another Groupon
- 59:42I hit for a different gym, but it was CrossFit Groupon was
- 59:44popping back in the day and. It was.
- 59:48It still exists. I don't know how the number is
- 59:50doing. So I jump in it and I'm like hey
- 59:54I really want to do this but I want to be above board and let
- 59:57you know. I just did 30 days with another
- 1:00:01gym. I don't know how this CrossFit
- 1:00:03thing work. I don't know if y'all are
- 1:00:04friends or something like that. I don't want you to feel like I
- 1:00:06am using you. He was like try it for 2.
- 1:00:09Different things, let's go. So I get there and I work out
- 1:00:13for the whole month and I've been talking to him the whole
- 1:00:16time about the cost, but it was almost the same.
- 1:00:20Alright, so I'm like, I'm not going to be able to do this when
- 1:00:22the year is out and actually pray.
- 1:00:24Like I really want to do something other than working
- 1:00:27school, other than working school.
- 1:00:30And this is helping me find that harmony that I was looking for.
- 1:00:34So when the 30 days ended, he said you'll never believe it.
- 1:00:38I am about to buy the gym. I'm like, oh, you got to buy it.
- 1:00:42He's like, yeah, he said, so you technically are like one of my
- 1:00:47first, like you're a part of the first family.
- 1:00:50Yeah. So what we going to is for you
- 1:00:54the rate I quoted you, we're not going to do that.
- 1:00:56We're going to do something less.
- 1:00:57So let's. So let's imagine I'm correct if
- 1:01:00the rate he quoted me was like 100, he's like, I'm going to
- 1:01:02give you like 75, but you got unlimited access in the gym.
- 1:01:05And I was like, huh, The excuse was it's still expensive.
- 1:01:11But the difference was I actually didn't pray for it to
- 1:01:13be like $50.00. I prayed for it to be
- 1:01:15affordable. Oh, because I wanted to do
- 1:01:18something right. I still wanted to work.
- 1:01:20So I was like, bet like, honestly, I'll do it.
- 1:01:23He said the only thing that's contingent, just so you know, is
- 1:01:28you and your friend that you've been bringing have to start like
- 1:01:30you're, you're on a, a couples membership.
- 1:01:32We're not a couple, but we're on a couples membership.
- 1:01:35I said, so we both get in for 75.
- 1:01:37They were like, yeah. And I was like, that was that's
- 1:01:41a blessing. So next thing you know, like,
- 1:01:43not only do I have a new community, I watch a prayer get
- 1:01:47answered, right? I wanted to do something right.
- 1:01:50And I asked for it to be affordable.
- 1:01:54And it became affordable for at least whatever season I was in.
- 1:01:59And next thing you know, it opened up and I was able to do
- 1:02:03it. Not the original gym I went to,
- 1:02:05right? CrossFit is CrossFit, but the
- 1:02:07second gym. And I think that made me just
- 1:02:09kind of look at it a little differently.
- 1:02:12Like what am I willing to talk about, pray about, ask for
- 1:02:16because you don't know until you do.
- 1:02:18So I think that's the beginning of that little, not little, but
- 1:02:21that journey for me because I literally watched a prayer get
- 1:02:24answered and on my wall in my office, there's a picture of me
- 1:02:29looking down graduation regalia and, and everybody's like
- 1:02:36cheering around me and I was praying and I, and I remember
- 1:02:40that prayer because I kept saying God, I asked for this.
- 1:02:42Like that was like the, the theme that ran through through
- 1:02:47that entire moment of race. So I was like, I asked for this.
- 1:02:50I asked for some affordability because I'm broke.
- 1:02:53I'm a broke college student trying to work out.
- 1:02:55I asked to be doctor Boom, and you provided a way.
- 1:02:58I asked for it to get paid for and and the school basically
- 1:03:01paid for my degree. Now it's real, right?
- 1:03:04Like it's, it's a thing because it's the lights are on, it's
- 1:03:08hot. Like I'm seeing it all happen.
- 1:03:10And I, I got overwhelmed. So when everybody was looking
- 1:03:12up, cheering, I'm praying. And it's because I was reminded
- 1:03:15like I asked for this. And it's weird how God's
- 1:03:18favorite works, right? So, so it may not have been like
- 1:03:21the timing I wanted because I asked for the degree.
- 1:03:24It took me a little longer than I said I was gonna work.
- 1:03:26I I thought I was gonna work. Yeah, I asked for the degree.
- 1:03:29I understand that. God, I defended and didn't have
- 1:03:31a job when I came back. So technically I'm I'm, I'm
- 1:03:34homeless, but I asked and got he gave it to me, but he also gave
- 1:03:38me provision and favors. So I think it all the fitness
- 1:03:42thing really worked for me because it reminded me you asked
- 1:03:47and then it started to show me like what does sacrifice look
- 1:03:49like, right? Like what does it look like to
- 1:03:52to when you diet? Diet to me is just a fancy word
- 1:03:54for sacrifice, right? Like what are you giving up?
- 1:03:56What are you not doing? So so it was I, you start to
- 1:04:01realize I can't run as hard. I drank the day before.
- 1:04:04Like it's certain things you realize that you can't do.
- 1:04:06So it's like, alright, well shift your lifestyle a little
- 1:04:09bit, but it's, it's, it's for the greater.
- 1:04:12That was so good. It was like story time with
- 1:04:14Doctor. Lewis, appreciate it.
- 1:04:17Yes, but I heard you say something that popped out to me
- 1:04:20because you were talking about just like God and realizing that
- 1:04:22prayers were answered and you said it was a little bit
- 1:04:26invalidating, whether you recognize it or not, when you
- 1:04:29were like, I asked for this, I had the degree, but I didn't
- 1:04:31have a job afterwards, Right, But what?
- 1:04:34That's not what you prayed for. 2A perspective shift would tell
- 1:04:37you. God gave you guys.
- 1:04:39I don't know how much time in between getting your job or
- 1:04:43starting your job because obviously you're here with us
- 1:04:46today and you holding it down at Grand Valley.
- 1:04:48Yes, they need you. We need you.
- 1:04:49So sometimes we again, it's that finished thing that you're
- 1:04:53talking about, the part of the outcome.
- 1:04:55OK, you got this now. You got the job now baby, you
- 1:04:57need rest after a doctorate. To to be at your, your
- 1:05:01listenership here. Like it wasn't invalidating for
- 1:05:03me because what I actually learned is I would have sat
- 1:05:07there like I would have, I would have stayed there.
- 1:05:11And God moved me out of that because I still had to finish my
- 1:05:14edits. I still had to do so many
- 1:05:17things. But when I lost it, I was forced
- 1:05:19to go like to get busy because I had a timeline.
- 1:05:23What do you mean when you say you?
- 1:05:25Lost. So I was in Canada working on my
- 1:05:27dissertation and an internship. I was at Ryerson University in
- 1:05:31Toronto. Beautiful city.
- 1:05:35Yeah, this job, another story about asking.
- 1:05:38They, they, they shared that they were going to pay me.
- 1:05:41This is my last semester and my doc program.
- 1:05:43They're going to pay me for the summer.
- 1:05:45It's probably not a lot, so say like $6000, but they're going to
- 1:05:49put me up downtown Toronto and you get to like work for the
- 1:05:54summer. They called me probably, let's
- 1:05:57say they call me, let's say around May, beginning of May.
- 1:06:02I've already bought my ticket in March ish to call and say, hey,
- 1:06:05unfortunately we can't pay for you to come.
- 1:06:09Your visa never got approved. We can't pay.
- 1:06:13I said, what are you saying? And they said, well you could
- 1:06:16still come, we just can't get, we can't pay.
- 1:06:19I said, well what can you do? And they said, well, we could
- 1:06:23put you up in the same apartment that we're going to put you in.
- 1:06:27We can get you a phone from the university so you can call back
- 1:06:30and forth. You we can get you a gym
- 1:06:32membership because we heard you like the gym, but we can't
- 1:06:35physically pay you. I said, I see you in May.
- 1:06:39So I get there and as I'm there, I'm writing and this is the
- 1:06:42first time my data started speaking for you.
- 1:06:45When you start coding, you're looking at the wall or the floor
- 1:06:49if you're old school and you're like, what am I looking at?
- 1:06:52Eventually it clicks. It hit you like also now I'm
- 1:06:54looking at that. Well, that happened.
- 1:06:56So I called my people and said hey, I'm my major professor, I
- 1:07:01think I'm done. He said send it to me, he read
- 1:07:04it in a weekend. He said that's it, fly home,
- 1:07:09let's defend it. I said when he said fly home,
- 1:07:14give it about two weeks, get your committee situated, we'll
- 1:07:16defend it. I was like, alright, it's a
- 1:07:18little longer so say 3 weeks. So since my committee came home,
- 1:07:22which again blessing of the school couldn't pay for me pay
- 1:07:26for my flight home. Say you about to go what
- 1:07:28somebody go defend. They say we're going to pay for
- 1:07:30that. So they pay for me to fly home.
- 1:07:32I I come into I get ready to defend the date of my defense.
- 1:07:36They say you can't defend your dissertation.
- 1:07:38I said why not? They say you're not registering
- 1:07:39classes right now. You're registered in an
- 1:07:41internship, which is different, so you have to be registered in
- 1:07:44class. So now I got to pay money.
- 1:07:46I ain't got to register in a class and then defend my
- 1:07:49dissertation. I remember those.
- 1:07:52Days too defend my dissertation. I'm still a graduate assistant,
- 1:07:55so I'm full time in grad life, so I don't have a job, but I'm
- 1:08:01full time and my contract's been renewed for the next year.
- 1:08:03Kyle defends. Kyle becomes stock.
- 1:08:06Kyle goes home. The next day, I get a phone
- 1:08:09call. Hey, Boom.
- 1:08:10No, not next day, but 222 days later, I get a phone call.
- 1:08:15The weekend later, excuse me. I get a phone call.
- 1:08:17Hey, Boom. Congratulations.
- 1:08:19Heard you came down to defend. It was the director of housing.
- 1:08:21I said yeah, man. He said, well, doctor.
- 1:08:23Boom, man. Nice man.
- 1:08:25So good. This has a ring to it like man.
- 1:08:28Thanks, brother. What you call it?
- 1:08:32I kind of said, let's get to this.
- 1:08:34This you, you butt. Me up for work, you say?
- 1:08:36Unfortunately, now that you're doctor, boom, you're not a grad
- 1:08:39student anymore. And since you're not a grad
- 1:08:41student, you can't have your graduate assistantship, so we're
- 1:08:45going to rescind your offer. I live where I work, so you're
- 1:08:49telling me the happiest time of my life.
- 1:08:51I'm now homeless. I'm like, all right, well, what?
- 1:08:55So I I pull this bigger story than that.
- 1:08:58But but for your listeners, just know I bowed out gracefully.
- 1:09:01I was like, you got it, you know, I mean, but now I'm
- 1:09:04sitting in Canada knowing I got about a month or two left, a
- 1:09:07month and a half left and next thing you know, I, I don't have
- 1:09:09a home to go to, you know, I mean, so.
- 1:09:13Now you, you got a home because God.
- 1:09:14Got you, But I did. It in the physical, in the
- 1:09:18material. So got that, consulted with some
- 1:09:21folks, realize how dope my crew is and got to writing.
- 1:09:26Yeah, yeah. And, and next thing you know, I
- 1:09:28was already docked, but my edits had to be approved by a certain
- 1:09:30time before I walked the stage. So anyway, I didn't take it as
- 1:09:34invalid. I took it as it really made me
- 1:09:37say it's time to work because you have your, your timing is
- 1:09:41limited. But I also got some stuff I want
- 1:09:43you to do. And I think that was God's way
- 1:09:45of, of saying or having that real conversation with me
- 1:09:49because I, I think I would have, I think I would have waited the
- 1:09:52whole year. I would have took my my little
- 1:09:53time to write, edit, write it so.
- 1:09:57You see see, God knows his children because I I've had many
- 1:10:01of those similar type of moments where I would have been
- 1:10:05comfortable. I would have took it my page
- 1:10:08when God's like thank you people waiting for you, let's go where
- 1:10:11he had to make me uncomfortable. He had to make situations happen
- 1:10:15that forced me to move right. That where you're not, you're
- 1:10:19you're not supposed to be. And so you know to on the
- 1:10:22service. It's like what, I'm homeless.
- 1:10:25Like what? I just had a contract.
- 1:10:27I just had my next year kind of mapped out.
- 1:10:29Didn't have to worry about it. Now I got a month to get it
- 1:10:31together. Some people would have stopped
- 1:10:33right there, but when those things happen, when God is
- 1:10:38stripping things away, it's not punishment.
- 1:10:40And so many people end up thinking it's punishment and no,
- 1:10:44he's making space because how can you receive if you got an
- 1:10:47offer in hand? He said give me that so he can
- 1:10:50filter your hands up with something bigger.
- 1:10:53Facts. Something better, something
- 1:10:56handcrafted just for Doctor Kyle Boone, who prayed for this.
- 1:11:02And I would give him double for his trouble, and I'm going to
- 1:11:08bless him exceedingly and abundantly.
- 1:11:10Exactly what? Sounds like a good story that's
- 1:11:13so good. See storyteller Dr. But we might
- 1:11:15just have to have you on from time to time just to do story
- 1:11:19time and I love a good story. And did we even finish the whole
- 1:11:24question? No, because I asked you about
- 1:11:27what that meant, integrating faith and.
- 1:11:29Fitness. Oh, what it meant.
- 1:11:32Be fair it it meant that you like I had to ask like like what
- 1:11:38does what do you want me to do with this?
- 1:11:41Like what do you want me to do with my body?
- 1:11:43The innocence like not like do you not want me to move, but
- 1:11:47like like like do you do you want me to do it this way right?
- 1:11:51Are you cool with me talking about this journey?
- 1:11:54Like I think I've been injured one time while working out and
- 1:12:01and that's a whole nother story and a good little story.
- 1:12:03But in that time I was competing with folks, right?
- 1:12:06And it was like, I don't know, it kind of sat me down a little
- 1:12:10bit. So I think, and I was doing
- 1:12:12think about it in my own little small world.
- 1:12:15I was rocking it. But around that time I think I
- 1:12:18needed to slow down, right. So anyway, So what it meant,
- 1:12:22like I think, I don't know. I think you have to, but I don't
- 1:12:25want to say consult with God, but there needs to be a it
- 1:12:28works. It needs to.
- 1:12:29There's a lot of different ways in which we need to be in
- 1:12:32relationship with him. Sometimes he is our.
- 1:12:34Consultant Yeah. You really need to like, sit,
- 1:12:37like, not at sit back and be at peace with silence and sit back
- 1:12:42and have a conversation about like, what does all this mean?
- 1:12:46Unfortunately, like, I'm a black man whose family has had, you
- 1:12:52know, neuro neurological issues. I'm watching black men who
- 1:12:56struggle with prostate issues. I'm watching obesity run rampant
- 1:13:00in my own family. It's like, what else?
- 1:13:04Like, how do we break this, right?
- 1:13:06How do how do you want me to show up?
- 1:13:08Because I am different. Like my mom gets busy in the
- 1:13:12kitchen. Yeah, but.
- 1:13:15I, you know, and this is also about status, but something that
- 1:13:20I eat now that my mom ain't eating, it'll be like my mom
- 1:13:22puts sugar in a lot of stuff. But it, it's, it's just our
- 1:13:27norm. It's probably the normal stuff
- 1:13:29we normally eat. You know what I mean?
- 1:13:30But it's the from where I'm from, rice, potatoes, grits,
- 1:13:35cream of wheat, like that was a that was a thing.
- 1:13:37Lovely. A good bubble of.
- 1:13:38Bread so to challenge that and be like, hey man, I'm cool like
- 1:13:42like maybe cool so it's it's I'm not breaking a generational
- 1:13:47curse. I don't think it's a curse, but
- 1:13:49I'm challenging what we don't. Yeah, we're just challenging
- 1:13:52what it is, you know what I mean?
- 1:13:55Just think about how much sweet you eat.
- 1:13:56So anyway, I think maybe I'm going around the, the world
- 1:13:59with, you know, like, what does it mean?
- 1:14:02But I, I think it, it does mean like you have to be OK with not
- 1:14:06being OK. You have to be OK with looking
- 1:14:08at stuff and saying you ain't got nothing for me here, let me
- 1:14:11go get something else, right. I'm glad to go see my dad a
- 1:14:13couple days. I know for sure it's
- 1:14:15refrigerated. It's not going to have what I
- 1:14:17need. And you know what I mean?
- 1:14:19It's it's OK with, you know, you know, going to get what I need
- 1:14:23and, and seeing if he'll jump in there with me.
- 1:14:25Right. Anyways, I don't know.
- 1:14:28It's also an opportunity to be a family.
- 1:14:30I mean, community with family, right?
- 1:14:31Because I'm going to walk on my family.
- 1:14:32I'm going to get people outside. Yes, absolutely.
- 1:14:36Bring them in on the journey with you.
- 1:14:38Man, this has been so good and easily.
- 1:14:40I think we could continue talking about this.
- 1:14:42So I do want, because I know you and you've been laying the
- 1:14:46groundwork here, what are a couple good easy reads that you
- 1:14:50think could be good to recommend to our audience reads?
- 1:14:55I can give you one right now. Think like a monk, Jay Shetty.
- 1:14:58I would be a wonderful. Yeah, it would be a wonderful
- 1:15:03start. It's gone, but it gives you
- 1:15:06space to talk about like, what does meditation look like?
- 1:15:10What does centering and grounding look like?
- 1:15:13I think that is a good one. I said I didn't like it earlier,
- 1:15:16but I was only saying it because it's repetitive.
- 1:15:18I think the power of ritual is really good, you know?
- 1:15:21It's just not. But think about it, it makes
- 1:15:24sense for it to be repetitive if it's called the power of.
- 1:15:26Ritual it's it's super like you're like I think I know the
- 1:15:29ending, but I think those two are are really, really good
- 1:15:33start. I think the other read that I
- 1:15:35will offer, which has nothing to do with meditation is heavy by
- 1:15:40Keith. Was it Kai's lame on I mean it
- 1:15:43probably butchered his name, but it's his.
- 1:15:46It's like a letter to his mother about his relationship.
- 1:15:50Wait. Oh, my gosh.
- 1:15:51It is powerful. It is powerful.
- 1:15:54OK, Yeah. LAYMOAI think it's a Professor
- 1:15:57Rice. I'll link it so that they can
- 1:15:59they can follow. It's powerful.
- 1:16:01But it's an excellent, excellent breed about like his journey.
- 1:16:05And matter of fact, I will even start with that and then
- 1:16:08possibly go think like a month #2 and then if you got time,
- 1:16:12maybe next year. Power Ritual.
- 1:16:15I'm so glad you asked me that question.
- 1:16:16Yeah, it's good. OK, so now we're going to wrap
- 1:16:19you up with our signature question.
- 1:16:21If you could leave the audience with one powerful truth to help
- 1:16:26them rise and thrive, what would it be?
- 1:16:28Well, tell your audience it's powerful to start your day or
- 1:16:31end your day on your own terms. That you're my second guest that
- 1:16:35talked about that being such an important part and that's the
- 1:16:38episode in case if y'all missed it with coach Rice somewhere he
- 1:16:41talks about spending the first part of the year day like with
- 1:16:44self right and needing that. Thank you for reinforcing that
- 1:16:48for sure. So I want to thank you again,
- 1:16:52Doctor Boone, for taking time out of your busy day to be here
- 1:16:54with me today and to really bless our audience.
- 1:16:57You left us with so many, Jim. I got notes.
- 1:16:59I had to write it down because we got to do a really good recap
- 1:17:03on there, right? So the first thing you said, do
- 1:17:07you make time for time? So listeners, make sure you're
- 1:17:11making time for the things that are important to you.
- 1:17:13Making time for time. You talked about the importance
- 1:17:16of awareness and that's how we can start this journey and grow.
- 1:17:19And I'll, I'm calling it the first 15.
- 1:17:21What you just wrapped up with the you spending that time with
- 1:17:25yourself. Call it the first 15 'cause I
- 1:17:27sound catchy, but it could be the first fifty, the first 30,
- 1:17:29whatever works for you and your time.
- 1:17:31What matters is that you start your day on your terms.
- 1:17:35Wow, that your message is so consistent through here.
- 1:17:38Like on your day, just start and something that I heard you say
- 1:17:43that you didn't say it directly, but it was my interpretation is
- 1:17:46letting go of comparing and competing and get into
- 1:17:49community. Community was a consistent theme
- 1:17:52throughout our time here together today.
- 1:17:55And that's super valuable. And I also love how you talked
- 1:17:59about the power of speaking and how that gives others permission
- 1:18:05to be able to examine themselves or to give them direction, but
- 1:18:08also speaking to God and prayer, right?
- 1:18:11And those things that it does in your life and the ripple effect
- 1:18:14that comes from that, right? And we cannot leave here without
- 1:18:19acknowledging how you really broke down the difference
- 1:18:22between balance and harmony and just bringing harmony into
- 1:18:25everything that you do to be able to have growth in so many
- 1:18:31areas of your life and not operating in extremes.
- 1:18:34Thank you for that richness. Alright, so now this is where
- 1:18:38any last words? No, I appreciate you even
- 1:18:41reaching out and I I didn't know I had much content to give you,
- 1:18:44but I'm glad we had a good conversation.
- 1:18:45We'll be rocking our desire with me.
- 1:18:47I listen, I already knew I had no doubt anytime we get on the
- 1:18:51phone, anytime I've seen you, you know, it's always good
- 1:18:55quality conversation. It's also good glass, but there
- 1:18:58it's always an enriching experience, I think, and I think
- 1:19:01that's how, even though we like maybe fill out a contact for a
- 1:19:04while, like but you were always someone or just like Nah, Kyle's
- 1:19:08solid, right? Like Kyle is solid, and so I
- 1:19:12appreciate that. So of course you have something
- 1:19:14to offer. That of course you have
- 1:19:15something to offer. And so we're going to wrap up
- 1:19:17now. Audience, this is for you.
- 1:19:19This is your call to action. So I want you to reflect on how
- 1:19:23you are currently treating the body that God has given you.
- 1:19:27And then we're going to build on that and take action.
- 1:19:29And we want you to choose one small step today, whether you
- 1:19:33talking about drinking more water, just moving your body,
- 1:19:36having something green once a day, whatever The thing is, come
- 1:19:40into doing that today. And then finally, you know, I'm
- 1:19:44not going to let you all leave without me affirming you in some
- 1:19:46sort of way. So your affirmation for today is
- 1:19:49my body is the temple and I will care for it with love,
- 1:19:54discipline and gratitude. So I want to thank you all again
- 1:19:58today for tuning in for another episode of Rise and Thrive with
- 1:20:01Doctor J Nicole, where we are rising in faith and thriving in
- 1:20:05purpose. And I am excited the day in
- 1:20:08which we are recording this episode, the merge is live.
- 1:20:12So if you haven't already gotten your merge, go to www.evolve
- 1:20:17with Doctor J Nicole. You can do two things.
- 1:20:19One, you can get in community and join the Thrive tribe.
- 1:20:22So once you go to the website, you're going to get that pop up
- 1:20:25so you can make sure you don't miss any.
- 1:20:27Updates. We'll send out text and e-mail
- 1:20:28updates. Then I also want you to Scroll
- 1:20:31down or Click to go to the podcast and then when you do
- 1:20:34that, you can click shop the merch so and you can get we have
- 1:20:39the exclusive mugs, we have hats, we got the hoodie.
- 1:20:42You got your journal, right? And just have a good time.
- 1:20:45And if it's not your style, get it to someone that might
- 1:20:47benefit. So thank you again, Kyle, Doctor
- 1:20:51Boone for being here and it was an absolute pleasure.
- 1:20:55Thank you for blessing the audience and thank you for
- 1:20:56blessing. Me with your thank you so much,
- 1:20:58you have a wonderful day. Thank you.