Latest / Scene Projects Sports Network / Nick Morrison on Bull Riding, Brain Health, Faith, and Finding Purpose

Transcript

Nick Morrison on Bull Riding, Brain Health, Faith, and Finding Purpose · Scene Projects Sports Network

• 0:14
  Welcome into the Scene Project Sports Network.
• 0:17
  I am your host, Bubba Starts.
• 0:18
  And with me today, former professional Burl rider, now turned stand up comedian and
• 0:24
  speaker, Nick Morrison.
• 0:25
  Nick, welcome to the show.
• 0:27
  Hey, Bubba.
• 0:27
  Thanks for having me on, man.
• 0:29
  I really appreciate it.
• 0:30
  Yeah.
• 0:30
  I buried the lead, fellow South Dakota boy.
• 0:33
  Yes.
• 0:34
  That
• 0:36
  Yeah.
• 0:36
  No.
• 0:36
  That's I was gonna say something, but I didn't know if your audience was mostly South Dakota
• 0:39
  or if it was all over.
• 0:40
  So but, yeah, South Dakota.
• 0:42
  But I'm South Dakota, and that's what matters to me.
• 0:46
  Hey.
• 0:47
  I live in Texas, but don't call me a Texan.
• 0:49
  I'm a I'm still a I'm still a South Dakotan.
• 0:51
  So I may have the accent, but I my heart's still in South Dakota.
• 0:56
  Fantastic.
• 0:57
  Well, Nick, a huge shout out off the top here, to Jim Tracy who who connected us, another
• 1:03
  wonderful South Dakotan that I gotta have a conversation with here recently.
• 1:07
  And he said you gotta have Nick on and already talking off camera.
• 1:11
  I'm really glad we were able to make this happen and no less right here on the week of
• 1:15
  the Cinch playoffs Governors Cup here in Sioux Falls.
• 1:18
  So this is gonna be a quick turnaround on this episode and getting it out there because I
• 1:23
  think the timeliness of it.
• 1:24
  You got a lot of friends that are gonna be at the rodeo this weekend, you know, riding for
• 1:29
  big, big money.
• 1:30
  And that's something that you did for a long time until injuries and mostly, you know, head
• 1:35
  injuries kinda sidelined you.
• 1:37
  So before we get into everything and then, obviously, the stand up career and what you're
• 1:42
  doing with the speaking engagements now, get a little bit of your backstory, and then we'll
• 1:46
  pick up the conversation from there.
• 1:47
  Yeah.
• 1:48
  I mean, growing up in South Dakota, especially Western being on the West River Side, rodeo is
• 1:53
  is is not, just a sport there.
• 1:55
  It's part of life.
• 1:56
  And so rodeo was was was a big part of what I've done.
• 1:59
  I grew up with some of the best rodeo athletes in the world, in the early two thousands.
• 2:03
  We all grew up together.
• 2:04
  And so riding bulls was a was an easy transition.
• 2:08
  Most most of my friends were riding Saddle Bronx or barebacks, but, I stuck with bull
• 2:12
  riding.
• 2:12
  We all started on bulls, then, you you know, you move up.
• 2:14
  And and, then when I was 18 years old, I made it on the PBR tour, and then it's just, the
• 2:20
  injury bug clicked, and I could not could not get unbitten from that injury bug.
• 2:24
  I broke c two in my neck, my rookie year in Sioux Falls, actually, as was where where I
• 2:29
  broke my neck.
• 2:30
  I was just in Sioux Falls speaking at the conference couple days ago, so it was great to
• 2:33
  return and and be there.
• 2:35
  But, but, yeah, I broke c two in my neck, recovered from that.
• 2:38
  Second year, break t ten eleven in my back.
• 2:41
  I had to sit out a while for that, and I was I was kinda bullheaded like most cowboys are.
• 2:45
  So I only sat out eight weeks with a broken back.
• 2:47
  We we built a brace that I could could wear underneath my vest, and and I started riding
• 2:51
  bulls again after eight weeks.
• 2:53
  And, that just set up injuries because when you when you ride hurt, especially at that level,
• 2:58
  you just set your body up for more injuries, and then then it just was one after another.
• 3:02
  Turned my shoulders up, tore both my shoulders up, broken tailbone, broken ribs, torn groin
• 3:06
  muscles, torn knees.
• 3:07
  I mean, just all of it.
• 3:08
  And just riding through that.
• 3:10
  And so my third year, I ended up having to have the surgery on my shoulder that ended ended
• 3:13
  that season.
• 3:14
  And then my first PVR back at 21 years old, I get life lighted out of the arena, and and a
• 3:19
  few weeks later was told that my career was over.
• 3:21
  And so, I've been facing it and and or dreaming of it since I was nine years old and and been
• 3:27
  riding I started riding steer when I nine.
• 3:29
  So it is something I've been working every day towards, and, it that was done in a heartbeat.
• 3:33
  And so I had to switch, switch careers, and I've I've gone through a lot of different
• 3:38
  things.
• 3:38
  Went into youth ministry for years and just god absolutely blessed that.
• 3:42
  And and then here about seven, eight years ago, I I was thinking, have I really given
• 3:47
  everything I've gotten?
• 3:48
  And so I was really praying about it, and I've I've always wanted to do motivational speaking
• 3:52
  and, praying about it.
• 3:53
  I heard I was supposed to do comedy, and so I I started out in comedy and and really that
• 3:58
  started going great.
• 3:59
  And then I was outside working one day.
• 4:01
  I had a lot of concussions, had some concussion issues, and, was out working one day.
• 4:06
  And doctor said to stop being out in the heat because of, the the condition of my brain, but
• 4:10
  I didn't listen to him.
• 4:11
  And, ended up collapsing from a hypoxic, ecstemic encephalopathy, which is, like,
• 4:16
  similar to a stroke, but it's just oxygen being robbed from the brain.
• 4:19
  And when I woke up from that, I I couldn't speak and had lost the ability to speak.
• 4:23
  And and so I had to to work very hard rather than than be mute the rest of my life, worked
• 4:28
  very hard to get my voice back.
• 4:30
  And, since then, you know, my comedy still has been taking off, but the motivational speaking,
• 4:35
  which is what I've I've always wanted to do, has really been taking off this this last year.
• 4:39
  Had a book come out in October.
• 4:41
  It's called knocked out but knocked down, and it really dives into concussions.
• 4:44
  It dives into rodeo, dives into South Dakota.
• 4:47
  I talk a lot about South Dakota, but it mainly is just something for everybody.
• 4:50
  But it takes you through life of somebody with concussions.
• 4:53
  So it's it's not a memoir.
• 4:54
  It's like I call it a concussion memoir.
• 4:56
  It's a memoir of my concussion journey and and getting into the the head of someone who's had
• 5:00
  over 50 recorded concussions, what their life is like years after that.
• 5:04
  And that has opened up amazing doors because that ended up debuting as the number one book,
• 5:09
  and it stayed number one for eight months.
• 5:10
  And and we've sold tens of thousands of copies worldwide, and it's just opened door after
• 5:16
  door, that I I can't even wrap my head around, honestly, the doors that have been opened
• 5:20
  because of that book.
• 5:21
  And so now it's just, hanging on, riding a rocket, and and trying to keep my calendar busy
• 5:28
  and and, trying to keep up with everything.
• 5:31
  So I'm glad we was able to find a day, especially before the president's cup, able to
• 5:34
  find a day that we could, we could make this interview work.
• 5:37
  So
• 5:38
  Yeah.
• 5:39
  You're a hard man to catch up with and a lot of similarities between the the road that you're
• 5:45
  on now and being a cowboy.
• 5:46
  Right?
• 5:46
  You're kinda chasing it.
• 5:48
  You're on the road away from home a lot.
• 5:50
  Now, you know, hopefully, a lot less chances of getting knocked out, although you never know in
• 5:55
  a comedy club, but it's quite the road you've been on.
• 6:00
  I got knocked out the other day.
• 6:02
  This is how this is how bad my my brain is.
• 6:04
  I was in South Dakota, and I had a speaker friend was giving me ride around, and his
• 6:08
  producer for his show was taking us to the Tesla, and he wanna show off the Tesla.
• 6:11
  And before I could tell him, don't accelerate too fast to get the accelerator, my brain's in
• 6:15
  the back of my head.
• 6:16
  And I woke up to them both pulled over the side of the road freaking out because I just just
• 6:21
  they just knocked me out just from hitting the gas on the on the deal.
• 6:24
  So my brain is it's it's very unstable in my head now, and it doesn't take very much to
• 6:28
  knock me out anymore.
• 6:29
  And so, yeah, as much I'd say I'd love to I'm not getting knocked out or hurt as much.
• 6:33
  I I pass out a lot.
• 6:35
  My friends start calling me fainting goat is my nickname, and so, FG is the nickname they've
• 6:40
  given me.
• 6:41
  So, I I pass out a lot, and because of that, you know, I get knocked out a few more times
• 6:45
  through there.
• 6:46
  So I'm not I don't hurt as much as I did.
• 6:48
  I'm more hurt because I'm 44 years old, and I've broken so many bones in my body than I do
• 6:53
  because I, you know, got bucked off a bowl the night before.
• 6:55
  So, but I am on the road.
• 6:57
  It it's it's so much fun, and and I'm I'm actually home for a few days, and then my wife
• 7:01
  and I are are headed to Europe.
• 7:03
  And so we're gonna be over there for a few weeks, and then and then I get home and I hit
• 7:06
  the ground running again.
• 7:07
  I've got, four different cities and four sep and four four days in a row of four different
• 7:11
  cities.
• 7:12
  And so, I I have twelve hours, from landing from Europe to get over get over jet lag, and
• 7:19
  then I'm I'm back at it again.
• 7:21
  So it's it's it's a lot of fun.
• 7:22
  I enjoy it.
• 7:23
  I love speaking into people.
• 7:24
  I because of my because of my topic and what I talk on, I'm not narrowed to one industry like
• 7:30
  most speakers are, and so it's it's so much fun.
• 7:33
  I get just in the last couple weeks, I've I've done anything from nursing home workers to
• 7:39
  health care workers to realtors to speaking at churches to sports teams.
• 7:45
  I mean, it's just it's I I've got such a wide range.
• 7:47
  I've spoken to tech conferences, and and and, I mean, it's just it's just wild.
• 7:53
  All the different teenagers.
• 7:54
  I'm I just booked this morning.
• 7:56
  I'm gonna be speaking at a big future business leaders of America conference.
• 7:59
  And so just finished getting that all all done.
• 8:02
  Soon as I get the contract from them, I'll send that over, and we'll have that that linked up
• 8:06
  too.
• 8:06
  So it's it's fun for me to get to I get to meet some that's what I miss the most from rodeo was
• 8:11
  the traveling and meeting people, and I get to do that now.
• 8:14
  And and then I I try to schedule in breaks for my brain because I I know if I push it too
• 8:19
  hard, seizures can be an issue, and then there's a lot of times I I'll forget where I am
• 8:24
  or who I am, and so we really try to pace myself.
• 8:28
  And so like this, I I got home at 02:00 in the morning yesterday, and so yesterday was a was
• 8:33
  an all day off, and then today is all all media, all radio and podcast interviews.
• 8:38
  And then, tomorrow, I'll take completely off.
• 8:40
  I won't do a single thing tomorrow, and then Friday, I'm back on the road.
• 8:43
  So, we we try to schedule things so that I have a full day's break between things, if I can.
• 8:51
  Yeah.
• 8:52
  I like to think I'm a pretty busy guy, and I've been all over the place.
• 8:55
  You make me look like I'm standing still, Nick.
• 8:57
  And and I believe that there's a little bit of a lesson inside of the way that you treat
• 9:02
  yourself.
• 9:02
  So many of us, especially in the media or music, the world that I come from, or, you
• 9:07
  know, professional athletes of which you were as well that we don't know how to slow down and
• 9:13
  how to stop, but it's so important not just for our physical health, but for the mental health
• 9:18
  as well.
• 9:18
  And especially with the amount of concussions that you've had, I think you've probably dealt
• 9:22
  with both of those things.
• 9:24
  Right?
• 9:24
  And I think that it's very relatable especially to, you know, football players, which I think
• 9:28
  is probably second, you know, professional bull riders or cowboys in general, top of the list
• 9:34
  of guys that walk away with concussions, then you have your, you know, your heavy contact
• 9:39
  sports.
• 9:40
  Secondary to that, there's a lot of mental health aspects that go with that.
• 9:44
  You you're forgetting who you are.
• 9:46
  That can be such a terrifying, thing, especially if you're out and you and you're
• 9:50
  traveling.
• 9:51
  You know, is your wife able to travel with you?
• 9:53
  Do we have a partner that travels alongside of you while you're out here?
• 9:57
  So she does some.
• 9:58
  So she, she's actually going back school to get her master's and doctorate degree.
• 10:03
  She's a fifth grade science teacher right now.
• 10:05
  So during school, during school time, she she doesn't because of, she she has those
• 10:10
  obligations.
• 10:10
  But during the summer, she travels with me everywhere I go for the most part.
• 10:14
  Our kids are both graduated.
• 10:16
  We we had our kids young because we wanted to we knew with the brain stuff, I I needed to do
• 10:21
  it young if I wanna play with my grandkids.
• 10:22
  And so we started young, and then I didn't really pursue this career full force until I
• 10:27
  knew they were both out of the house because I wanna spend time with my kids.
• 10:30
  So my wife is going back to school to get her master's and possibly doctorate so she can be a
• 10:35
  a professor, an online professor, and then she she can travel with me full time.
• 10:38
  But she does travel with me to certain things.
• 10:41
  Like, it's it's really funny.
• 10:42
  She didn't wanna go with me to Sioux Falls, South Dakota or Fargo, North Dakota.
• 10:45
  Didn't wanna go to Bemidji, or or or any of those places, but she you know, if I'm gonna go
• 10:52
  do comedy in Hawaii for a week and for some reason, she's like, get to go with you.
• 10:55
  Right?
• 10:55
  Or if I'm going to Europe, it's a lot of times I'm
• 10:57
  like, where in
• 10:59
  Europe, can I can I go with you on that trip?
• 11:01
  And so she she likes to go with those.
• 11:03
  It's it's really funny how that works, but the reality is she would be with me every single
• 11:07
  day if she can.
• 11:07
  We had a an instant I'd I'd had some comedy shows in Denver a couple years ago, and I
• 11:12
  landed, and I I get these moments where if I'm pushing myself too hard, I'd that's why I take
• 11:17
  the breaks.
• 11:17
  And I've learned from mistakes.
• 11:18
  And so on this instance, I was pushing and going, going, going without any breaks.
• 11:22
  And I landed in Denver, and I went to get my rental car.
• 11:26
  And then I stepped off of the rental car bus, and I didn't know where I was.
• 11:30
  So I'd stepped back on the bus just trying to figure out where I was doing, and then I just
• 11:34
  got off at the next stop.
• 11:35
  And then I realized I'd left my phone, my bag, everything on the bus.
• 11:39
  And so now I didn't have anything to tell what I was and and and all of a sudden, I I didn't
• 11:43
  know where I was at all.
• 11:44
  I didn't know what city I was in.
• 11:45
  I didn't know and and I just started walking down the road.
• 11:48
  And, they somebody found me, and we was able to get everything kinda back together, and I was
• 11:52
  able to get my phone.
• 11:53
  But it was this this big panic moment of, you know, me me wandering around the city and not
• 12:00
  nobody knowing where I am or how to find me because my phone's riding around on a bus.
• 12:03
  You know?
• 12:03
  And so that was when my wife's like, okay.
• 12:05
  We need number one, we need to pace I need to pace myself.
• 12:08
  And number two, we need to start working towards her being able to travel with me.
• 12:12
  And and the only way she can do that and to keep her retirement that she's been working
• 12:15
  towards is for her to become a professor.
• 12:17
  So she's going back to school just for that sole reason of being able to travel with me,
• 12:22
  and and she and we both like to travel.
• 12:24
  And I I did a did a comedy show.
• 12:27
  I'm I'm big on history.
• 12:28
  I did a comedy show in Columbia Columbia.
• 12:33
  I don't know.
• 12:33
  Somewhere over in Georgia.
• 12:34
  Columbus, Georgia.
• 12:35
  Columbia, Georgia.
• 12:35
  Something in Georgia.
• 12:36
  But they had the I got a private tour of the naval war, the the civil war naval museum.
• 12:43
  And the whole time I'm walking around this museum with this private tour, I'm just like,
• 12:47
  man, I wish my wife was seen was with me for this.
• 12:49
  I wish she could see this.
• 12:50
  And so we try to we we try to travel as much as we can.
• 12:53
  Comedy, I will usually bring someone with me.
• 12:57
  If if, if especially if I'm streaming together shows, I'll bring an opener with me.
• 13:01
  Or if I'm on a tour, Like, last year, was on a tour so that I'm traveling with with somebody
• 13:05
  else as well.
• 13:05
  So those those, I need it because you are you're you're grinding because, you know,
• 13:10
  comedy clubs only have so many seats.
• 13:12
  And so you're sometimes doing two, three, four song or four shows a night.
• 13:16
  And so and then you're doing you're stringing together two, three shows, and then you're
• 13:19
  getting in the car, and you're driving through the night to your next place.
• 13:23
  I think of, like, last year where we were in Huntsville, Alabama.
• 13:27
  Our last show ended by the time we get done with the meet and greet.
• 13:29
  We had a radio interview in Nashville, Tennessee the next morning because we were at
• 13:32
  Zanies headlining Zanies the next night.
• 13:35
  And so we we drove through the night, got for a hotel, and didn't even go to bed.
• 13:39
  We literally just showered, got in the car, and all of us drove over to to the to the show, and
• 13:45
  we did the did the radio show.
• 13:46
  And then all day long, we was around Nashville doing radio shows and podcasts.
• 13:50
  And so that that wears on me some.
• 13:52
  And so in those cases, I will always have, openers with me or or people who I trust who
• 13:57
  know what's going on or people I'm opening for, whatever that is, that that that they could
• 14:02
  watch for it and usually tell me like, hey, Nick, you know, stay behind tonight.
• 14:06
  You know, this one, let's not do something.
• 14:07
  You know, let's not go out and and tour the town or anything like that.
• 14:10
  And so I try to pace myself, but a lot of it is, the the supports.
• 14:14
  But speaking is a it's a lonely.
• 14:16
  You're you're there.
• 14:17
  When you get there, you have your, you know, maybe other speakers you've worked with.
• 14:20
  But, for the most time, it is it's by myself, and it's, I try to be there for the clients
• 14:25
  from the moment I land until the moment I take off.
• 14:27
  And so but I I get a lot more downtime speaking than I do with comedy because you'll do a sound
• 14:32
  check, and then you got a couple hours, three hours, or you'll do a walk through.
• 14:36
  And and so, there, I can pace myself a lot easier than I can with comedy.
• 14:42
  No.
• 14:42
  And I know you're doing a lot more speaking now, obviously, after the book and having it be
• 14:47
  number one, that star kinda rising in this side, allowing, comedy to more be of a filler
• 14:54
  rather than, the whole road.
• 14:56
  Right?
• 14:56
  But there's a it's really powerful what you're doing with the speaking.
• 15:00
  Now, obviously, not everyone has has lived through your experience, but there's a lot that
• 15:05
  can be gleaned, and and we kinda touched on it a little bit that you can really speak to any
• 15:09
  industry and group of people.
• 15:11
  How rewarding is it for you now to be able to turn that, you know, the these traumatic
• 15:16
  experiences, the injuries, and everything you've been through and post injury, you know,
• 15:22
  you know, symptoms that you still suffer from and how even a sneeze can knock you out cold.
• 15:28
  You know, sharing this experience, I think there's there's a power to that.
• 15:32
  How rewarding is it for you to be able to go out there and and to share with all of these
• 15:36
  different groups of people now?
• 15:38
  That's always been my heart.
• 15:40
  My heart is other people and impacting other people.
• 15:42
  It's it's what every day I wake up saying, god, guide my steps today.
• 15:46
  Where do you want me to go today?
• 15:47
  And who do you want me to bless today?
• 15:48
  My heart is always out reaching out towards others.
• 15:51
  And so getting to be on stage and and and do that, and and and and I'll speak to all
• 15:56
  different sizes of crowds.
• 15:58
  Like, I'll speak to thirty, forty people, and then the next day, I'm speaking to thousands of
• 16:02
  people.
• 16:03
  And and none of it neither of those to me like, some people are like, oh, well, I'd rather just
• 16:08
  have the thousands of people all the time.
• 16:10
  Yeah.
• 16:10
  That's great.
• 16:10
  But, man, I've I've I've seen with the smaller crowds, I can look them in the eyes while I can
• 16:15
  see what I'm saying is impacting them.
• 16:18
  You know?
• 16:18
  I can see the tears falling up in their eyes or my favorite thing is the is the meet and greet
• 16:22
  afterwards because I I really strive to connect with an audience.
• 16:26
  The the best feedback I get from clients that that have booked me for a conference is is if
• 16:30
  they say that I connected with their audience very well because that that's what I strive
• 16:34
  for.
• 16:34
  And, my I'll do meet and greets afterwards and sign books.
• 16:37
  And the and the last, the the two of the last threes that I did just this last couple weeks,
• 16:42
  I had over two and a half hour meet and greet because the line was so long of people.
• 16:46
  And to me, that's what fuels me to go because that tells me that's how many people were very
• 16:52
  impacted by what I had to say, but they're willing to stand in line for two hours just to
• 16:56
  get up and and and just take a picture.
• 16:58
  Like, it wasn't like I'm standing there talking to people ten minutes at a time.
• 17:01
  It was a sign the book, tell me about yourself really quick.
• 17:04
  You know, everybody gets maybe forty five seconds and then a picture and go.
• 17:07
  And so to have that many people impacted really is a is a a booster to me that I'm doing
• 17:13
  something, helping them because, I don't want anybody to have to deal with what I dealt with,
• 17:18
  and I don't want anybody have to do the daily deal with the daily things that I have with my
• 17:23
  concussions.
• 17:23
  And so if I can get out there and inspire people to push through whatever it is that's
• 17:28
  that's knocking them down or knocking them out or or making them not want to perform on a day,
• 17:32
  if if my story and what I have to bring because I I don't just tell my story.
• 17:36
  I'm I'm a very meat and potatoes.
• 17:38
  You're you're gonna leave with actionable goals to to do towards whatever it is you're facing
• 17:43
  or whatever just your day to day work or just all of that.
• 17:46
  But in the same time, I'm wanting to put, let people I want I want to prevent somebody else
• 18:02
  from having to have a life like me with their with their concussions.
• 18:07
  I'm sorry.
• 18:08
  I'm hoping you can edit this out.
• 18:09
  If you'd lose me, can you still hear me?
• 18:11
  No.
• 18:11
  You're good.
• 18:12
  You're good.
• 18:12
  It it switched over.
• 18:13
  I've got some earbuds died on you.
• 18:15
  Yes.
• 18:16
  I forgot to charge them in between interviews.
• 18:18
  I apologize.
• 18:20
  You're all good, Nick.
• 18:21
  You're you're Either you edit it out or everybody's gonna get a behind the scenes look.
• 18:24
  I apologize.
• 18:25
  Yeah.
• 18:25
  So They get the behind the scenes.
• 18:26
  I don't edit any of it.
• 18:28
  This is Well, there we go.
• 18:28
  This is
• 18:29
  real life, Nick.
• 18:30
  We we we are all we'll blame that on the concussions, but it's just literally, it's it's
• 18:35
  the amount of interviews I've done today, I forgot to charge in between.
• 18:37
  So I I should have done one at a time.
• 18:39
  So learn live and learn.
• 18:41
  Live and learn.
• 18:42
  Yeah.
• 18:42
  Well, I you only have one speed.
• 18:45
  And even the the, you know, 50 documented and probably twice that many or more, you know,
• 18:51
  undocumented, it's it's easy to see that you only know how to go a 100 miles an hour.
• 18:58
  And you've you've had to learn that, okay.
• 19:01
  If I only have that one speed and I can't do that all the time, then I need to learn just
• 19:05
  how to stop.
• 19:05
  If I can't slow down, then stopping.
• 19:07
  And I think there's there's something to be learned from that, that it's okay to stop and
• 19:11
  to rest and to let your mind and body recover inside of that.
• 19:15
  I think so many people today in this, you know, kind of culture of grinding it out and and
• 19:21
  really being in the hustle culture more than anything, which I am very, familiar with,
• 19:27
  throughout my life as well, that it it it's in those moments that you stop that god speaks and
• 19:34
  that god finds a way and sets a path before you.
• 19:37
  And if you're always so busy making plans and going, that you're not really ever opening
• 19:41
  yourself up to god's plans for you.
• 19:44
  And and I feel like maybe it took the concussions and the injuries to finally get you
• 19:49
  to listen a little bit to to that to that small voice inside and to take that direction, but
• 19:55
  now you're just full steam ahead in everything that you're doing with short periods of rest in
• 20:01
  between.
• 20:01
  Well, something my mom or my my my wife something my wife said to me one time because
• 20:06
  she was when I stop is when everything hits.
• 20:09
  So if I'm going a lot, then when I stop is when I I get a lot of seizures, I get a lot of but
• 20:15
  we've learned that that's when I kinda let it all out.
• 20:17
  But if I keep going, then it's going to happen while I'm going.
• 20:20
  And so I've had to stop to to pretty much let that stuff happen, I guess would be a way to
• 20:25
  say it.
• 20:25
  But my wife said something one time.
• 20:26
  She said if god could take an entire day off after after he worked for six days, you can
• 20:31
  take a day off too.
• 20:32
  And so that's what I do.
• 20:33
  I take a day off, and I don't I don't do anything.
• 20:36
  I'll watch shows.
• 20:36
  I may answer emails because, you know, I don't wanna I don't wanna lose out on a speaking gig
• 20:40
  because I I said, oh, I'm shutting the emails off that day.
• 20:43
  So I only answer professional emails or talk to family on on the phone.
• 20:46
  That's that's all I do.
• 20:48
  But then those are the days that I do I was prescribed from neurologists was to do video
• 20:53
  games for for brain injuries.
• 20:55
  They are Minecraft is, like, one of the best one of the best things I can recommend to
• 21:00
  people who have brain issues is because you're you're doing the same things.
• 21:03
  You have to think through things on a on a levels and on a way that it it really helps the
• 21:06
  brain.
• 21:06
  So, typically, like, those are the days I'll take off, and I will shut shut everything down,
• 21:10
  just check emails every once in while, and I'll play video games just to have my brain just to
• 21:15
  do that therapy type of a stuff.
• 21:16
  And so I think it's important to have those days where where you don't go a thousand miles
• 21:22
  an hour because your body has to rest.
• 21:24
  And it's so funny because I scheduled them out.
• 21:28
  You talked about God guiding and stuff.
• 21:30
  I'll have my calendar, and I will fill it with speaking gigs, and then there's days that have
• 21:37
  something.
• 21:37
  And I'm like, okay.
• 21:38
  Those are days I know I need to block that day off.
• 21:41
  And so then I I I don't schedule in block days.
• 21:44
  I schedule my speaking, and then I schedule my block days around that.
• 21:47
  And it never fails.
• 21:48
  Every time I have that day that a speaking gig didn't work is the day that I'm like, man, I
• 21:52
  needed to rest today.
• 21:53
  Like, it's I was like, I'm I'm just hitting my edge.
• 21:55
  I needed to rest today.
• 21:57
  And so I I really credit that to God on that end.
• 22:00
  He's always looking out for that and just knowing what pace I can go, but this is what I
• 22:03
  do to supply for my family.
• 22:05
  And so my philosophy in life is work like it depends on me, pray like it depends on God.
• 22:09
  That is what drives me every day, is I'm gonna pray God that you are giving me miracles and
• 22:14
  you're keeping me going and you're keeping the brain, because the amount of damage my brain
• 22:18
  has right now, I should be living off of a machine.
• 22:22
  I have it's it's if you used to see brain scans, it would blow you away how operable I
• 22:27
  am, but I work every day for that.
• 22:29
  I do four hours of brain exercises every single morning so that I can keep going at this pace
• 22:34
  and and and to do this.
• 22:35
  And so, you know, it's a it's a purposeful, intentional thing for me, but I'm not gonna
• 22:40
  just sit and wait for god to to do a miracle.
• 22:42
  I'm also I'm gonna work my hardest, like, it depends on me.
• 22:45
  And so being that this is what I do, supply for my family, I'm you know, I'm take I as many
• 22:49
  speaking gigs as I can and as many comedy gigs as I can, and I'm finally at a place where I
• 22:54
  can churn things down because supply and demand.
• 22:57
  And it used to be whatever your budget was, I would go and do that.
• 23:00
  And now I will make it work for some some because I really wanna do that, or because it's
• 23:05
  a slower season and so the time's open.
• 23:07
  But during my busy season, like, right now is a a busy season, and I actually had to turn down
• 23:12
  speaking gigs and a lot I turned down a whole comedy a really good comedy tour.
• 23:16
  Really good comedy tour.
• 23:17
  Wanted me to go on the road with them, and I turned them down because it wasn't gonna pay as
• 23:22
  much.
• 23:22
  It was great exposure.
• 23:23
  It was great you know, you're gonna be in front of thousands of people every single night, and
• 23:28
  it was a huge comedy show or tour, but I turned it down because I'm not in comedy to to to have
• 23:36
  a name.
• 23:36
  I don't care if people know the name Nick Morrison.
• 23:39
  I could care less.
• 23:40
  I get in front of people, and there's somebody that's in that crowd that's going through a
• 23:43
  hard day, I'm there to gift them laughter.
• 23:46
  That's that's the only reason I do comedy is to gift laughter to people who are struggling or
• 23:50
  just they just need to laugh today.
• 23:52
  And so being able to turn those down because the speaking is is paying so well and I'm
• 23:57
  getting so many of those, it's it's very nice because then I'm I'm able to pace myself a
• 24:02
  little more rather than I have to take this because I have to pay bills.
• 24:05
  And so I yep.
• 24:06
  Okay.
• 24:07
  You're only paying this much.
• 24:08
  Okay.
• 24:08
  I have to go and do that.
• 24:09
  Like, now I can actually pick and choose, and then I can choose if I wanna make a smaller
• 24:14
  budget work or not based on what my schedule looks like.
• 24:17
  Or, you know, South Dakota, North Dakota, a couple places I will make work more.
• 24:21
  Wyoming, Nebraska, those areas, I will work harder for that because those are places.
• 24:25
  That's my heart.
• 24:26
  Those are my people.
• 24:27
  That's where I grew up.
• 24:28
  That that's my that's my crowd, I guess you could say.
• 24:30
  And so I will work whatever I can to make those work, and then everything else outside of that
• 24:36
  has has allowed me, because of of where I'm at right now, is I'm allowed to be a little more
• 24:41
  choosy, but my heart is I don't want to turn anybody down.
• 24:44
  So I have to find that balance of saying no, as hard as that is, if it was up to me, I would be
• 24:52
  speaking every single day, but it's not up to me.
• 24:54
  I have to take those days, force myself to stop and rest.
• 24:59
  Kids, you heard it from the neurologist.
• 25:01
  Video games are good for you.
• 25:03
  You can use that as ammunition next time mom's trying to kick you off of there.
• 25:06
  So My wife we're got that in there.
• 25:09
  We're with the neurologist, and and the neurologist says, yeah.
• 25:12
  I think I think Nick needs to be doing an hour of video games a day or seven day seven hours a
• 25:17
  week, worth of of video games.
• 25:20
  And my wife just looked at me and looked at him and says, how much did he pay you to say that?
• 25:23
  And then so he said, well, actually, I'm not let me get a second opinion.
• 25:26
  So he brings a second opinion in, and this guy's like, actually, honestly, I think he
• 25:30
  needs to be doing two hours or fourteen hours a week.
• 25:33
  And I looked at my wife, and I said, I think we need a third opinion.
• 25:35
  I like the way this is I like the way this is going.
• 25:38
  So but my wife will now be the first person to tell you how impactful that is.
• 25:43
  She will block my day off.
• 25:45
  She will hide my phone.
• 25:46
  She will she will say, and hand me a controller, and say, you're not moving from the
• 25:50
  couch other than to go to the bathroom.
• 25:52
  You need to be playing video games today.
• 25:53
  Because she has seen how much it helps my brain.
• 25:56
  And because because she's around me all the time, she recognizes when things are gonna when
• 26:01
  brain issues are gonna come on before I do a lot of times.
• 26:04
  So she can get ahead of that.
• 26:05
  Because she she just knows me better than anybody.
• 26:07
  And so she's become the biggest believer in it.
• 26:09
  And so but, yes, I have I've had many parents call me and say, my kid plays football, and
• 26:14
  he's and he's heard you speak at something and said that he's he's supposed to play video
• 26:18
  games now.
• 26:19
  And I'm like, I mean, honestly, yes.
• 26:21
  But, Call of Duty is not the game that's gonna help you.
• 26:23
  That's probably gonna hurt you more because of the panicky like, you need to be have the games
• 26:27
  that help you slowly process rather than, you know, run around panicking all the time.
• 26:32
  So
• 26:34
  Great stuff, Nick.
• 26:35
  Well, I know you got a busy day, and I wanna allow you time to rest in between this one and
• 26:39
  get those earbuds charged up for your next, your next interview on your media day here.
• 26:45
  Really appreciative, of you coming on, sharing some time with me.
• 26:49
  You know, next time you're in South Dakota.
• 26:50
  I know you were just here, but I'll have to be following the schedule and make it a point to
• 26:55
  to come up and see you and spend some time with you because I just find you to be such an
• 26:59
  incredible individual.
• 27:00
  I I love that that you've turned this, you know, the this trauma and these challenges in
• 27:06
  your life into such a positive force and you continue to rise and to follow that plan set
• 27:12
  before you.
• 27:13
  I think it's incredibly inspiring.
• 27:16
  And, yeah, if someone's having a bad day, it's easy to listen to you speak for just a few
• 27:20
  minutes and to feel a little bit better about where you're at in life.
• 27:24
  A sneeze isn't gonna knock me out anytime soon, so I think I'm gonna make it through whatever
• 27:28
  I'm facing.
• 27:29
  Yeah.
• 27:29
  And and I'm I may be I may be in Rapid City for the Black Hills Comedy Festival.
• 27:34
  That's that's in the works right now.
• 27:35
  So keep a look on that, and you can come see me do some comedy at that.
• 27:39
  So if the Black Hills Comedy Festival, if if they do end up bringing me in, that's I'm I'm
• 27:43
  looking forward to that.
• 27:44
  So that'll be that'll be one that I know for sure I'll probably be in South Dakota.
• 27:48
  So but love to see you.
• 27:49
  Reach out to me if you are, and would love to love to see you at it.
• 27:52
  Yeah.
• 27:52
  That would be great.
• 27:53
  I'm actually headed back to Deadwood for the Wild West Songwriters Festival here in a couple
• 27:57
  of weeks.
• 27:57
  That's where I grew up in Deadwood.
• 27:59
  So I'm a fellow West River kid as well.
• 28:01
  Awesome.
• 28:02
  Awesome.
• 28:03
  I'm sure we have I'm sure we probably have mutual friends.
• 28:05
  We'll probably be that songwriters deal.
• 28:07
  Well, you're rodeo.
• 28:08
  I'm sure I'm sure you know a couple of Hydlers out there.
• 28:11
  Oh, yeah.
• 28:11
  Yeah.
• 28:11
  OJ.
• 28:12
  I went to college with OJ.
• 28:13
  So yeah.
• 28:14
  Yep.
• 28:15
  Kelly's a good friend of mine.
• 28:16
  Obviously, Jasmine Cain in the music business in South Dakota.
• 28:20
  She she's one of our best and brightest and has become a great friend of mine and, had the
• 28:25
  opportunity to meet her mom and dad, when we were in Nashville altogether last year for the
• 28:30
  Josie Music Awards.
• 28:31
  So Awesome.
• 28:32
  I get to hang out.
• 28:32
  I get to run into Halverson every once in a while out there on the road where we may be
• 28:37
  doing something together, or we'll be in the same city together.
• 28:39
  So we always try to, so it's it's fun.
• 28:41
  Like like, Tyler and I have said, there's not very many people out of South Dakota that are
• 28:45
  out here on the road.
• 28:46
  So, so it's fun getting to to run into them.
• 28:49
  So yeah.
• 28:50
  Great stuff, Nick.
• 28:51
  Well, I appreciate you so much spending some time with me.
• 28:54
  Appreciate all the work that you're doing out there and inspiring individuals all over the
• 28:58
  country and around the world now.
• 29:00
  Congratulations to you on overcoming everything that's ever been put in front of you, And stay
• 29:05
  safe out there on your travels, brother, so we can catch up hopefully at the comedy festival
• 29:10
  and if not, shortly down the road.
• 29:12
  Nick Morrison, thank you for jumping on today.
• 29:15
  Everyone go check out his websites, nickmorrisonspeaker.com for his speaking stuff,
• 29:21
  and then nickmorrisoncomedy.com for the comedy schedule and see some bits there.
• 29:25
  And go check out knocked out but knocked down.
• 29:27
  It is available on we're sold out everywhere else right now.
• 29:30
  They're printing more books, but you can still get them on Amazon.
• 29:33
  It is knocked out but knocked down is the book.
• 29:34
  So
• 29:35
  Fantastic.
• 29:36
  Well, Nick, thank you so much for being on the show today, and thank you for being part of the
• 29:40
  scene.
• 29:40
  Absolutely.
• 29:41
  Absolutely.
• 29:42
  Thanks for having me on, Bubba.