Latest / Your Thoughts Your Reality / Uplifting Valor: Gina Iovino's Holistic Approach to Veteran Wellness and Community Strength

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Uplifting Valor: Gina Iovino's Holistic Approach to Veteran Wellness and Community Strength · Your Thoughts Your Reality

• 0:02
  Speaker 1: Welcome to your Thoughts, your Reality with Michael Cole, the podcast that shines the compassionate light on the journey of veterans battling through life's challenges.
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: Michael is a dual elite certified neuro encoding specialist in coaching and keynote training presentations dedicated to guiding military veterans as they navigate the intricate pathways of post-deployment life.
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: Join him as we delve into the profound realm of neuroencoding science, empowering these brave individuals to conquer universal battles procrastination, self-doubt, fear and more.
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: Together, let's uncover the strength within you to re-engage with families and society, forging a new path forward.
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: Hello, hello, hello everybody.
• 0:49
  Speaker 2: Today we have one of my all-time faves and repeat guest here on the your Thoughts, your Reality podcast.
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: We have Gina Evino.
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: She is a nutritional specialist, a neuro wellness coach.
• 1:04
  Speaker 2: She's a freaking rock star and a friend.
• 1:07
  Speaker 2: So you know, gina has three brothers I believe Marines, is that correct?
• 1:12
  Speaker 2: Gina?
• 1:12
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and she has a very different perspective.
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: She works with Guardians of Valor and Project Refit.
• 1:22
  Speaker 2: So we're going to hear some great stuff, great amazing resources that she's going to kind of bring to us and we're just going to have some really good conversations.
• 1:30
  Speaker 2: So, gina, for people that don't know you yet, why don't you just tell a little bit about yourself?
• 1:36
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 1:36
  Speaker 3: So I want to say too I love your opening, Michael.
• 1:39
  Speaker 3: I love your opening for the podcast.
• 1:41
  Speaker 3: It's phenomenal, it's great, I absolutely love it.
• 1:43
  Speaker 3: But, as you were saying too, I am a functional nutritionist and neural wellness coach on my.
• 1:49
  Speaker 3: My big, big passion also is working with veterans and first responders.
• 1:54
  Speaker 3: So the I would say the like you were saying, saying you know, the big one is project refit, like when I'm wearing right here here, and then a subgroup that I have my own fire team which is called guardians of valor.
• 2:08
  Speaker 3: Now, project refit originated it's in Jersey and what's really great is one of our biggest mission is the combat isolation.
• 2:17
  Speaker 3: So and that is doing fireside chats, some other things they do great retreats, they give resources.
• 2:24
  Speaker 3: But because I don't live in Jersey, I live in the Indiana area, very close to Chicago too as well.
• 2:29
  Speaker 3: So I have my own fire team, which is called Guardians of Valor, over all part of Project Reef.
• 2:35
  Speaker 3: That really just spread this message on isolation and also changing that negative stigma around mental illness and how we ask for help and all of that.
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: So fantastic and and honestly, as as we're having people pop on already thank you for what you do.
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: Honestly, it makes a difference.
• 2:53
  Speaker 2: You know we need to get our messages out, we need to get those conversations going with these veterans and you know for you.
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: Obviously you work with self responders, first responders as well.
• 3:07
  Speaker 3: So there's a correlation there too.
• 3:08
  Speaker 3: We do know a lot of veterans leave that, that position, and then they jump into being a first responder.
• 3:14
  Speaker 3: Very true, you know.
• 3:16
  Speaker 3: So you're going to find a lot of that everywhere, yeah.
• 3:19
  Speaker 2: So let me, let's just jump in, Right?
• 3:21
  Speaker 2: I mean, I've got you know.
• 3:22
  Speaker 2: Normally Gmail's telling me earlier.
• 3:24
  Speaker 2: Let's just jump in.
• 3:25
  Speaker 2: Normally I put together just three questions just to get to, if we do.
• 3:30
  Speaker 2: But this is all organic conversations.
• 3:32
  Speaker 2: I have 10 questions.
• 3:33
  Speaker 2: I got so excited about this.
• 3:35
  Speaker 2: I have 10 questions.
• 3:36
  Speaker 2: If we can, I'd love to just jump in.
• 3:45
  Speaker 2: We'll hit what we want.
• 3:46
  Speaker 2: But again, organic conversations.
• 3:46
  Speaker 2: Guys, this is live, this isn't, you know, all scripted.
• 3:48
  Speaker 2: We just go.
• 3:48
  Speaker 2: So that sound good for you.
• 3:50
  Speaker 2: I love it.
• 3:52
  Speaker 2: Just before we start, I just want to let everybody know hey, stick around.
• 3:56
  Speaker 2: At the end we're going to go through three tips for our veterans and first responders and, let's be honest, civilians as well.
• 4:03
  Speaker 2: Most of these tips will correspond for everybody.
• 4:07
  Speaker 2: So stick around.
• 4:08
  Speaker 2: Also, on the top right corner, we have that blue QR code.
• 4:12
  Speaker 2: Scan that.
• 4:13
  Speaker 2: There's resources for veterans, for everybody really.
• 4:17
  Speaker 2: But I've written some e-books and again, there's resources page just for veterans and so on.
• 4:22
  Speaker 2: So scan that.
• 4:24
  Speaker 2: Or if you're just listening on the podcast, on Apple Music or Spotify, et cetera, empowerperformancestrategiescom is how you get all this information, All right, so let's go.
• 4:35
  Speaker 2: So can you start, really, Gina?
• 4:38
  Speaker 2: I know the story, but can you start with what led you to get involved in Project ReFit or veteran support organizations in general, and in Gardens of Valor as well.
• 4:50
  Speaker 3: Yeah, so I don't have any ties.
• 4:52
  Speaker 3: I was never in the military myself.
• 4:54
  Speaker 3: I am not a first responder, but, like you had previously said, I have three brothers that are Marines and that really just opened up this whole world that I never knew was.
• 5:02
  Speaker 3: Even.
• 5:02
  Speaker 3: I knew it existed, but in my realm of thinking I didn't understand how it existed.
• 5:07
  Speaker 3: You know, we all go to school, we learn history, but it wasn't until I stepped on the grounds of Camp Pendleton when my brother graduated my first brother when he graduated in the Marine Corps that I was like holy cow.
• 5:19
  Speaker 3: It was almost like I got a rush of all of history at once and it just clicked in.
• 5:24
  Speaker 3: It all made sense Like this is bigger than what I was even taught in school.
• 5:29
  Speaker 3: So that was a wow moment for me right there.
• 5:31
  Speaker 3: The second part was this was right before 9-11.
• 5:33
  Speaker 3: We got to go into the auditorium, we watched what they were doing and, you know, a sergeant came out, gave this amazing speech and at the very end he said something that would later come back and hit me really hard and he said you know, these guys may go off to war, but it's going to be your civil responsibility to take care of them.
• 5:52
  Speaker 3: When they come home, wow, jump forward 9-11.
• 5:55
  Speaker 3: And it was just like boom, you know, went through all of that.
• 6:00
  Speaker 3: I had two brothers that deployed and it just those words resonated with me.
• 6:07
  Speaker 3: So from then then on, I the first organization I was with was Heart of Marine Foundation.
• 6:12
  Speaker 3: That is no longer functioning, and then from there I jumped in with Project Refit.
• 6:16
  Speaker 3: Um, but that's my way of giving back.
• 6:19
  Speaker 3: It's also too, and why I love Project Refit and their mission to combat isolation is, as I was telling you before, michael, before we jumped on, is this isn't just a veteran problem, it's not a first responder problem.
• 6:30
  Speaker 3: This is a family dynamic and I know what it's like to be on the other end of the family member who's worried, doesn't feel like they have support in their community.
• 6:39
  Speaker 3: I know when I was going through it, as everybody was having fun and going out because I was in my 20s having a good old time I was sitting there and looking around and going where's my people?
• 6:49
  Speaker 3: Who can I talk to?
• 6:50
  Speaker 3: Like?
• 6:51
  Speaker 3: No one understands what I'm going through.
• 6:53
  Speaker 2: Right.
• 6:53
  Speaker 2: So, gina, just for a second, if you will, in the gym, can you just say again what he told everybody?
• 7:10
  Speaker 2: That really stuck with you.
• 7:11
  Speaker 3: Yeah, he said.
• 7:12
  Speaker 3: You know, these men may go off to war, but it's your civil responsibility to take care of them when they come home.
• 7:20
  Speaker 2: I hope everybody really hears that, because if more people heard that message and they will now but if more people heard that, that hopefully changes the game.
• 7:31
  Speaker 2: You know, because it's those kinds of impactful statements that, for the right people, will make change that we need desperately.
• 7:41
  Speaker 3: Absolutely, and there's a big range there.
• 7:43
  Speaker 3: You know, you don't have to be someone like myself that joined the organization and is doing all of this work.
• 7:48
  Speaker 3: You can even have a veteran or first responder at home and maybe you're going to, maybe you're you're doing.
• 7:55
  Speaker 3: Your responsibility is to care for that person in a way that they need to be cared for.
• 7:59
  Speaker 3: So there's a big spectrum here.
• 8:01
  Speaker 3: Maybe sometimes you donate or whatever it is, or participate when schools maybe have functions for veterans, but it doesn't have to be in the form of going out and volunteering.
• 8:12
  Speaker 3: You know, I'm sure everybody, everybody's impacted.
• 8:14
  Speaker 3: I think everybody knows an uncle, a grandfather, a brother, a friend, somebody, and it just starts with just being a good person and checking in on those people and seeing if they're OK, and that's how, and that's how you get started.
• 8:29
  Speaker 2: I love that and I'm just going to add on to that.
• 8:31
  Speaker 2: It's let's just reach out, just like you said, and just create space for them.
• 8:48
  Speaker 2: Just let them say you know, hey, I'm struggling or hey, I'm having a great day, and have them celebrate that you know, and celebrate that you're just reaching out, you know.
• 8:53
  Speaker 2: That does so much for psychology and all of the amazing neural chemicals that release and say, hey, I want more.
• 9:03
  Speaker 2: And if we just take the time, think of a veteran today, can we take an action today, guys?
• 9:10
  Speaker 2: Or a first responder, can we take an action today?
• 9:13
  Speaker 2: Think about someone that you know and reach out hey, how are you today?
• 9:17
  Speaker 2: And just have a five-minute conversation.
• 9:20
  Speaker 2: I guarantee you that changes their day and yours.
• 9:25
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 9:25
  Speaker 2: I guarantee it All right.
• 9:26
  Speaker 2: So thank you for that.
• 9:28
  Speaker 2: And, Gina, really you know I didn't get into it, but thank you for everything that you do with Project ReFit and Guardians of Valor and just you as a person.
• 9:36
  Speaker 2: You know, I'm honored to know you.
• 9:40
  Speaker 3: You really are an amazing, amazing soul, so thank you for being here, you as well, and we're going to do this together.
• 9:46
  Speaker 3: And that's why I love that you're doing this, michael is because we can't do it alone and we can't do it separately.
• 9:50
  Speaker 3: We've got to keep branching out, we've got to start locking arms with each other and different organizations and different people like yourself that are also helping veterans and say hey, how do we come together?
• 9:59
  Speaker 3: So that way we're all locked.
• 10:01
  Speaker 3: If one tries to run somewhere, they ain't going to get through because we're going to be surrounding them somehow.
• 10:11
  Speaker 2: If we can all just keep locking arms, we're stronger together, for sure.
• 10:13
  Speaker 2: Amen, amen, all right.
• 10:14
  Speaker 2: So question what are some of the unique challenges that veterans face today that organization, organizations that you're involved in aim to address, involved in, can aim to address?
• 10:24
  Speaker 3: Yeah, one of the things that I really love with Project ReFit and what really drew me to them is they're actually they're putting their boots on the ground for these veterans and I'm just saying donate, give us money, we're throwing an event, we're having a good time.
• 10:38
  Speaker 3: They're really working hard constantly and I'm currently, right now, building my fire team so that I can have these fireside chats.
• 10:46
  Speaker 3: And what these fireside chats are, it is either you can have them once a month, a couple times a month, but it's a place where veterans and first responders can not only feel safe, but we can come together around a fire, sit down and be able to talk freely and not be judged, also be understood, because the people around us, the only people that can show up to these, are those veterans and first responders, and we're all giving support, we're all saying hey, we're here for a helping hand and let's get through this, let's not suffer with it, let's let it out and let's get through this.
• 11:19
  Speaker 2: Amen, that's yeah, I love that.
• 11:23
  Speaker 2: And again, veterans, first responders, you know they, they um the ones that I talked to, coach, et cetera, they, they struggled with and I'm not saying everybody, so please understand.
• 11:36
  Speaker 2: This is not a blanket statement across everybody in the world so, but they, um, they struggle with the trust.
• 11:40
  Speaker 2: Right, when you're trusted, they open up and real change happens, you know.
• 11:45
  Speaker 2: So what you're doing with the fireside chats is really, really cool.
• 11:50
  Speaker 3: And not only trust.
• 11:51
  Speaker 3: I think part of it is.
• 11:52
  Speaker 3: All of us, as human beings, want to feel accepted and we don't want to ever be looked down upon.
• 11:57
  Speaker 3: That's all of us.
• 11:59
  Speaker 3: And so if you can be in a group that you feel support and it doesn't matter what you say no one's going to judge you for that kind of a statement and and anything that comes, you know as comes back as far as a conversation is only going to be out of extra support and out of love for that person.
• 12:17
  Speaker 2: Amen, we have to have those families you know blood or chosen, but we need to have those families for support.
• 12:24
  Speaker 2: Amen, I really love that.
• 12:25
  Speaker 2: Let's see what are.
• 12:28
  Speaker 2: I'm going to skip that one.
• 12:30
  Speaker 2: How important is community involvement we just talked about this, but involvement in the success of veteran support programs?
• 12:36
  Speaker 2: How can the general public get more involved?
• 12:39
  Speaker 2: And feel free to talk about websites, whatever.
• 12:42
  Speaker 2: We need to get the information out there, please.
• 12:48
  Speaker 3: Well, first, the easiest thing that anybody can do is anybody watching this.
• 12:50
  Speaker 3: You hit the share button below.
• 12:50
  Speaker 3: That's how you do it, because you never know who shares it with somebody, or their friend sees it, or they're like, hey, I have a buddy, or you know, I have a spouse.
• 12:58
  Speaker 3: Oh my God, this can help them and they continue to share it.
• 13:00
  Speaker 3: And that's the first thing you can do.
• 13:01
  Speaker 3: It's super easy and it's just it's awareness.
• 13:04
  Speaker 3: I believe that people know that this is out there, but I think kind of like that no, like trust factor has to come from seeing it over and over again.
• 13:15
  Speaker 3: So when they are ready to say, hey, where, where is there a spot for me?
• 13:19
  Speaker 3: They can feel comfortable in knowing that they're seeing this material over and over again, just like what you're doing, michael.
• 13:25
  Speaker 3: You're going to have people that are going to be watching your podcast and then eventually, when they need to reach out, they're going to go look, look for you, because they feel comfortable, they feel like they've known you and they can trust what you're doing.
• 13:37
  Speaker 2: Yeah, they know you're hard right and that's the same thing for you.
• 13:40
  Speaker 2: I mean, anybody that knows me knows how passionate I am about what I'm, and you as well.
• 13:46
  Speaker 2: I mean, I've, I've you know, seen I, I, I watch your stuff, I comment too but there's so many people we call them lurkers, right that are back there watching and all of a sudden, when's the right time, they reach out.
• 13:59
  Speaker 2: Exactly you know what you're saying so.
• 14:02
  Speaker 3: And it's word of mouth.
• 14:03
  Speaker 3: You got to keep telling everybody that you come in contact with.
• 14:06
  Speaker 3: I do a thing where I make like little cards that have a piece of the American flag that used to fly but can no longer fly anymore.
• 14:11
  Speaker 3: It has a little message on the back and at the end it lets them know that there's always somebody out there that loves and supports you.
• 14:17
  Speaker 3: And whenever I'm out and I see a veteran, I make my kids go with me.
• 14:20
  Speaker 3: If they're with me we say thank you.
• 14:22
  Speaker 3: I asked them if I could give them the gift of giving them that card.
• 14:26
  Speaker 3: It has my information on it and I let them know that I appreciate their service.
• 14:30
  Speaker 3: And and then you know, I always tell my kids you know, hey, make sure next, when you go into school the next day, you say the pledge of allegiance.
• 14:37
  Speaker 3: Remember that guy.
• 14:39
  Speaker 3: That's what people say the pledge of allegiance.
• 14:41
  Speaker 3: Excuse me, yeah, oh, you're good, you're good yeah, it's for, you know, for a lot of men and women that have some most them pay the ultimate sacrifice, but can't forget.
• 14:52
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and it's thank you for the vulnerability.
• 14:55
  Speaker 2: First of all, you're amazing, so thank you.
• 14:58
  Speaker 2: I had a guest on yesterday, robert and Kathy Castile, and when I thank them for you know their service and what they're doing now, just like you she said something that I just heard recently, recently, and it really made an impact.
• 15:12
  Speaker 2: She said you were worth it.
• 15:14
  Speaker 2: Wow, yeah, it was OK.
• 15:19
  Speaker 2: Now I'm going to get I heard someone else say it because there's sometimes awkwardness when you think a veteran and they're not sure how to respond, et cetera, and I've seen this for a while and when she said it it just really hit.
• 15:33
  Speaker 2: They're really doing sacrifice, and not just them, it's their families at home.
• 15:41
  Speaker 2: They're sacrificing as well, and they sacrifice for a time afterward until they get to know each other and the things that they go through when they come back as a family, family unit, which I know is a super passionate topic for you as well.
• 15:54
  Speaker 2: So fantastic, and thank you again for for that.
• 15:57
  Speaker 2: Um I got.
• 15:59
  Speaker 2: I have a mosquito, it's live.
• 16:02
  Speaker 2: Guys, I don't edit this um, so can you share?
• 16:07
  Speaker 2: Uh, gina and I, I'm really excited to hear something on this one, a personal experience, success story, even more so from your work with veterans that has been more so or particularly impactful for you personally.
• 16:29
  Speaker 3: Personally, we probably won't really know specifically how many lives we've actually saved by just having this support system.
• 16:41
  Speaker 2: Amen.
• 16:42
  Speaker 3: Because there's no real survey that goes out.
• 16:44
  Speaker 3: That's like, hey, did you think about, you know, suicide this month?
• 16:46
  Speaker 3: That's not what we do, but we really probably don't understand the magnitude of how many people it's reaching and how many lives are actually being saved, which is something for me.
• 16:58
  Speaker 3: With that, 22 a day is unacceptable.
• 17:00
  Speaker 3: And you know, a friend of mine who is an officer made a post because they had lost another police officer and she was kind of like god, when is this going to stop?
• 17:12
  Speaker 3: When are we going to get help?
• 17:13
  Speaker 3: And it was like I could either keep scrolling and that's when I got involved with Project Refit.
• 17:17
  Speaker 3: It was like either I could keep scrolling or I could be a part of the solution instead of waiting for it.
• 17:22
  Speaker 3: So there's a need and it's definitely out there.
• 17:28
  Speaker 3: And I think those, those achievements are in the quiet times when no one's around, and those quiet moments when that veteran or first responder is left by themselves with their thoughts and they make a different choice because they know that they do have support or that they can let it out or that someone actually cares.
• 17:47
  Speaker 3: You know, one of the things I love about Project Refit is they have what's called a radio check.
• 17:51
  Speaker 3: It is every single Monday, every single Friday.
• 17:54
  Speaker 3: Robert Scott, if you hear this, I love you.
• 17:57
  Speaker 3: He does it.
• 17:57
  Speaker 3: Rain, shine, holiday, it doesn't matter.
• 18:00
  Speaker 3: He's on at 9 pm Eastern yeah, 9 pm Eastern.
• 18:05
  Speaker 3: And, like I said, it's Mondays and Fridays.
• 18:09
  Speaker 3: Fridays are really nice because those Zoom calls are more private.
• 18:12
  Speaker 3: For those calls when Mondays they were which I don't know how things are going to change now but they were streaming live on Mondays through Facebook.
• 18:19
  Speaker 3: But, yeah, you can get on those calls and what a beautiful thing to always know that somebody is there every Monday, every Friday.
• 18:29
  Speaker 2: How long has Project Refit been around?
• 18:32
  Speaker 2: This isn't, I'm just my curiosity.
• 18:35
  Speaker 3: I know it's been quite a few years.
• 18:36
  Speaker 3: I've been with them a few years.
• 18:37
  Speaker 3: Oh God, I don't.
• 18:38
  Speaker 3: I'm going to say anywhere between.
• 18:40
  Speaker 3: I want to say like five to seven, but don't quote me.
• 18:43
  Speaker 2: Yeah, okay, I'm going to quote you yeah.
• 18:46
  Speaker 2: That's fantastic.
• 18:49
  Speaker 2: So, you know, I can only imagine how many people and people that people know, and the whole tree going down.
• 18:58
  Speaker 2: How many people have been impacted um, even if it was just to change your day let alone, of course, veteran or first responder suicide it's uh, yeah, that's just an amazing thing.
• 19:11
  Speaker 3: So you know, and I love being a part of this too, cause, you know, as a nutritionist, you're like okay, well, what does the nutrition have to do with it?
• 19:16
  Speaker 3: It has a lot to do with it.
• 19:17
  Speaker 3: You know there's there's many, um, I would say what we call many pieces to this issue.
• 19:24
  Speaker 3: It's not just you got to think yourself out of it, no, you got to eat right, you got to move right.
• 19:28
  Speaker 3: Um, you know you, you got to take care of yourself with correct supplements.
• 19:33
  Speaker 3: I mean, this is a bigger picture.
• 19:35
  Speaker 3: So I think the way now, which I'm very happy to be part of, I think, with the way that we're moving in, functional nutrition, is going to be so beneficial for people experiencing their TBI, ptsd.
• 19:47
  Speaker 3: Moving into more of this, how do I want to say this way of treatment?
• 19:56
  Speaker 3: Then where you should be just so rigid.
• 19:57
  Speaker 3: You're experiencing this here.
• 19:59
  Speaker 3: You take this.
• 19:59
  Speaker 3: Go home where it's looking at the whole person.
• 20:03
  Speaker 2: It is, and you know let me add on to that as well and let me touch base on that first when, when you're exercising and you feel good because we're eating the right thing and getting the right nutrients and I can't say enough about this, Gina can, she can talk for days I love it.
• 20:20
  Speaker 2: But when when people realize it because they've done it and they realize the difference in how they feel and the thoughts that are going through their head instead of sitting on the couch, you know scrolling or you know binge watching Netflix for a week straight, whatever the case may be, but when you get on that treadmill you go for a simple walk in the sunshine and how it changes your mentality and how you feel out of this world difference mentality and how you feel, out of this world difference.
• 20:53
  Speaker 2: So you know the mental stability, the, the positive thoughts instead of the beating yourself up thoughts is out of this world difference.
• 21:00
  Speaker 2: So thank you for bringing that up because it's super important on how, how it impacts.
• 21:05
  Speaker 2: That's across the board, everybody you know.
• 21:09
  Speaker 2: So thank you for bringing that up.
• 21:10
  Speaker 3: Yeah, cause you don't know, maybe you know, maybe you're stuck in the hamster wheel of your thoughts, cause maybe you have a hormonal imbalance, maybe something else is where you know.
• 21:17
  Speaker 3: Go get that blood work done, go talk to your doctor, see if there's something under an underlying cause that keeps pulling you and gravitating you towards, towards that direction first.
• 21:25
  Speaker 2: But absolutely and, and, and you know, talk to talk to a coach, talk to talk to somebody else, like that.
• 21:34
  Speaker 2: A lot of times I'm going to go with.
• 21:34
  Speaker 2: 90% of the time, the thoughts that are going through your head are the same thoughts that you went through and talked to yourself yesterday about.
• 21:41
  Speaker 2: And we have, and I'm not trying to sell you on something, I'm just trying to help.
• 21:45
  Speaker 2: So understand that, um, we have skills.
• 21:48
  Speaker 2: We we have, especially with neuro encoding.
• 21:50
  Speaker 2: We have things that simple tips.
• 21:53
  Speaker 2: Simple, not complex.
• 21:55
  Speaker 2: Simple tips that can help you change that structure and change what you're going through and, and you know, default you back to your best self or your best thoughts, if you will.
• 22:05
  Speaker 2: So you know there, of course, there are the health things as well, so I'm not disregarding that, but a lot of the times it's literally just learning some skills to change your mental thought patterns.
• 22:16
  Speaker 2: Yeah, so, looking ahead, what are some of the goals for you personally or with your companies?
• 22:27
  Speaker 2: Or, of course, refit and guardians of valor.
• 22:31
  Speaker 2: What's coming up?
• 22:33
  Speaker 3: Well, for me, one of the biggest things that I want to work on is I had a A really great experience going to an event.
• 22:41
  Speaker 3: I don't know if you're familiar with Travis Howes, but he also is an ex-Marine.
• 22:46
  Speaker 3: He was a first responder, both police and firefighter, and he just man.
• 22:52
  Speaker 3: His events are amazing, if you can go out and see one, because he talks about having resilience and it's mental resilience and really getting this conversation out.
• 22:59
  Speaker 3: Getting this conversation out.
• 23:04
  Speaker 3: He says a lot of things that were so amazing, and one of the things that stuck out is he did ask people how many of you have thought about suicide or tried committing suicide?
• 23:08
  Speaker 3: And when you look around and you saw how brave some of these people were to raise their hand, I thought, oh my gosh.
• 23:13
  Speaker 3: And then at the same time, when the event was over, we just let them leave, like they just they left the event and that was it.
• 23:20
  Speaker 3: And I know, like as a person, sometimes you go to an event you're like, yeah, this was so great.
• 23:23
  Speaker 3: But then you get home and you're like, now, what do I do with this?
• 23:26
  Speaker 3: There's no tools.
• 23:27
  Speaker 3: So partly what I want to start doing is I want to start creating those tools.
• 23:31
  Speaker 3: So it's not just like we're not just going to have a conversation, but now we're actually going to give you a workbook, we're going to have something that we're doing.
• 23:38
  Speaker 3: So that way it's going to give you those steps.
• 23:41
  Speaker 3: So when you're home and then, or if you're done with the event or the workshop, you're like all right, I remember this, I kind of don't remember it.
• 23:47
  Speaker 3: Where am I at?
• 23:48
  Speaker 3: You can kind of find, find the solution there and start working on it.
• 23:52
  Speaker 3: That's how we're going to help people too.
• 23:55
  Speaker 3: You got to actually give them the tools and, like you said, the simple tools like a neural encoding.
• 24:00
  Speaker 3: Yeah, you know further, faster absolutely so.
• 24:04
  Speaker 2: Um, I love that you're doing that.
• 24:05
  Speaker 2: I love it.
• 24:06
  Speaker 2: Um, so I, I I can't tell you how many seminars, how many things I've watched or done that it's raw, raw, raw and you feel great and and I'm gonna side note here some of that goes in your subconscious and it comes back up right.
• 24:24
  Speaker 2: But having that, okay, I just went to I'm just going to say a seminar for three days and now I'm home.
• 24:32
  Speaker 2: Very easily, if you don't have the right mindset and the right skill sets, if you will, to keep that going, or workbooks or things to just keep the momentum going, how fast you can go from rah rah to I hate my life and like real world.
• 24:50
  Speaker 3: That's in if you will yeah, I mean, we even had oh I'm sorry, I didn't mean to cut you off yeah, and we even had, even like, guys that were in their uniforms there because they knew they had to cut out and go, go to the job.
• 25:00
  Speaker 3: So they're only watching an event that was pretty emotional.
• 25:01
  Speaker 3: Now they're jumping to their out and go to the job.
• 25:02
  Speaker 3: So they're only watching an event that was pretty emotional.
• 25:04
  Speaker 3: Now they're jumping to their job and who knows what catastrophic thing can happen at work.
• 25:07
  Speaker 3: So how much of them, when they come home and it's like time to be a father, to be a husband and have to try to relax, are you going to be like now, what did I remember from the event so that I can go from you know, fight or flight to parasympathetic state?
• 25:23
  Speaker 3: You know, it's just, there's a lot to unpack there.
• 25:26
  Speaker 3: That I don't think people realize is what these first responders and a lot of the veterans that have gone overseas and what they actually physically, mentally, emotionally go through.
• 25:38
  Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely.
• 25:39
  Speaker 2: And you know, like the great Les Brown, life be lifin' whether you have that, whatever the case may be, in your world.
• 25:47
  Speaker 2: And then life happens.
• 25:48
  Speaker 2: You know, your water heater goes, whatever the case may be, your water heater goes out.
• 25:52
  Speaker 2: Who knows, cable goes out for a weekend, but you have all these little things that just stack, you know, um, and if you don't unstack or stack the good, positive things in there, they build.
• 26:03
  Speaker 2: And then, and then you know, bad things happen Explosions, domestic violence.
• 26:06
  Speaker 2: You turn to alcohol, drugs.
• 26:09
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 26:09
  Speaker 2: You go to solitude and then we all know what happens.
• 26:12
  Speaker 2: You know, unfortunately, once solitude goes in there, we don't break out of it.
• 26:15
  Speaker 2: So I think that's an amazing point there, hey.
• 26:20
  Speaker 2: So we're getting kind of close to the end here, Dang it.
• 26:24
  Speaker 3: No, darn, it goes by too fast.
• 26:26
  Speaker 2: I know right, that's okay, we'll have you back.
• 26:29
  Speaker 2: So how can people reach out and move forward?
• 26:36
  Speaker 2: And well, first of all, let me go two questions.
• 26:38
  Speaker 2: Let me separate this because I'm going to give you too much to go with.
• 26:41
  Speaker 2: So how do people reach out and get involved to support veterans, first responders, through, specifically, your organizations?
• 26:52
  Speaker 3: Yes, so you can go to project refit dot us.
• 26:55
  Speaker 3: They have a fantastic website.
• 26:57
  Speaker 3: There's on there like with retreats what they're doing, because they also take first responders and veterans all the time on retreats to work on opening up and talking and having these conversations.
• 27:07
  Speaker 3: You can also be like myself.
• 27:09
  Speaker 3: I'm a monthly donor.
• 27:10
  Speaker 3: You can donate anything from a dollar up to as high, as high, as as much as you want every single month, which goes back to the resources that we need to help them.
• 27:20
  Speaker 3: Another thing that you can do is, if you are in any state that you're at any community, like yourself, if you're like I want to start a fire team, like I want to want to help out, you can start one.
• 27:30
  Speaker 3: Contact Project Refit, james Corbett.
• 27:33
  Speaker 3: He will get on a call with you and he will help you to get that started in your community, because the more and more that we have more of these fire teams, then the more and more people are going to start saying that this is where I need to go.
• 27:44
  Speaker 3: I need to go to Project Refit because they understand me and I can get that help.
• 27:48
  Speaker 3: I would also say, too, you could go on Facebook I'm there, guardians of Valor or the Chicagoland area.
• 27:56
  Speaker 3: Please reach out to me.
• 27:57
  Speaker 3: I'm trying to build this team.
• 28:07
  Speaker 3: We are trying to push for our first Fireside Chat in July, so we're also going to need some donations and resources for that too as well.
• 28:16
  Speaker 3: So, yeah, if you're listening to this and you want to help out, please do.
• 28:22
  Speaker 2: So I'm listening, I want to help out.
• 28:24
  Speaker 2: Let's talk after we get off here.
• 28:25
  Speaker 2: I'd like to help out, so let's definitely talk.
• 28:28
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 28:28
  Speaker 2: Yeah, so for you personally as a nutritional coach, how do people get a hold of you?
• 28:34
  Speaker 3: Yeah, again too.
• 28:35
  Speaker 3: You can reach me on Facebook.
• 28:36
  Speaker 3: I have a page there.
• 28:37
  Speaker 3: I'm also on Instagram at GinaWillShowYou, and if you also too, if you want to look up Health and Mindset Revolution, you can also find my business that way too as well.
• 28:49
  Speaker 2: Fantastic Will you do me a favor.
• 28:50
  Speaker 2: It looks like actually Susan is already dropping.
• 28:54
  Speaker 3: I know she's so sweet.
• 28:55
  Speaker 3: She's been posting all of it so beautiful.
• 28:57
  Speaker 3: Thank you, susan.
• 28:59
  Speaker 2: She's an amazing woman, yeah, susan shout out yeah, thank you.
• 29:06
  Speaker 3: Thank you, Susan.
• 29:08
  Speaker 2: So what?
• 29:09
  Speaker 2: As promised in the beginning, we want to give our vets, first responders and civilians the three tips that we promised if they stuck around.
• 29:22
  Speaker 2: Um, how to give me?
• 29:26
  Speaker 2: Give me three tips.
• 29:27
  Speaker 2: I'm sorry some, some messages are coming in so fast.
• 29:31
  Speaker 3: Fantastic, um, give us three tips, gina I would say the first tip is you always have to know that you have a choice, always have a choice.
• 29:39
  Speaker 3: So you can either choose, even though, how hard or painful it, you can either choose to stay in that pain or you can choose a just start by finding something and even if it's not Project Refit which I hope it is, because we love you, we really do, but if it's not, go out there there are a lot of organizations doing amazing things Find what your fit is, find who your people are and start that way.
• 30:02
  Speaker 3: So I would say that's the normal thing is make that choice.
• 30:05
  Speaker 3: You have to make it and, like anything else, you have to work.
• 30:07
  Speaker 3: I say step two is you got to constantly work on that choice.
• 30:10
  Speaker 3: Maybe take sit down and maybe you need to write a nice letter to yourself or something that says every day, I'm going to do xyz and put a plan together and start actually putting that into action.
• 30:23
  Speaker 2: Fantastic.
• 30:29
  Speaker 3: And the last thing like a neurocoding is you got to celebrate every day.
• 30:31
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm not only that way, but you gotta, you gotta be grateful.
• 30:33
  Speaker 3: Or, if you push through a hard day, you need to take a look at yourself and say, hey, you know what, in the mirror, like you took on a lot of stuff or that call was really rough, but you know what, you were amazing for yourself, amazing for your team and you know we all went home to our families today because of you fully showing up, be grateful, celebrate, celebrate that.
• 30:54
  Speaker 2: Love it.
• 30:55
  Speaker 2: If I can, I want to add two things.
• 30:57
  Speaker 2: I want to add to the first thing.
• 31:00
  Speaker 2: You know, take an action, just take that first action.
• 31:05
  Speaker 2: Pick up the phone call text, do some research, find your tribe.
• 31:11
  Speaker 2: Yep Get on a radio check call.
• 31:14
  Speaker 3: You don't have to talk, you can just sit there if you want, but get on one of our radio check calls.
• 31:18
  Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely.
• 31:19
  Speaker 2: And if it's not with you, do it with somebody but Gina and her group.
• 31:24
  Speaker 2: Amazing resource, absolutely amazing resource.
• 31:27
  Speaker 2: So take, take that action.
• 31:30
  Speaker 3: And real quick too, since we're giving resources.
• 31:33
  Speaker 3: If you are in the Chicagoland area, I do have a really good friend of mine who works for a vet center.
• 31:39
  Speaker 3: He's phenomenal.
• 31:40
  Speaker 3: He's also a veteran himself.
• 31:42
  Speaker 3: So if you need to reach out and you need that resource and information, please, please, let me know.
• 31:50
  Speaker 2: Excellent, excellent and honestly you know talking about celebrations, hey, at the end of the day, you know, have something to write on and just write down for two minutes or 10 minutes or whatever you can, but don't stop.
• 32:05
  Speaker 2: Just write every wind for the day.
• 32:08
  Speaker 2: And that could be I got out of bed, that could be I brushed my teeth, that could be I had an amazing dinner with my wife, or whatever the case may be.
• 32:16
  Speaker 2: But write those down because it really helps to ingrain them in you and into your nervous system, truly so that you start stacking the positive and not just life.
• 32:28
  Speaker 2: Be lifin.
• 32:29
  Speaker 2: Thank you, les Brown.
• 32:30
  Speaker 2: Stacking all of the other.
• 32:34
  Speaker 2: Let's call it shit.
• 32:35
  Speaker 2: That happens during the day, because it happens to all of us.
• 32:37
  Speaker 2: So those are the two things I wanted to add.
• 32:39
  Speaker 2: Gina Iovino, you're amazing, I love you, lady.
• 32:40
  Speaker 2: Those are the two things I wanted to add.
• 32:41
  Speaker 2: Gina Iovino, you're amazing, I love you, lady.
• 32:43
  Speaker 2: Thank you for being here, thank you for what you do.
• 32:46
  Speaker 2: I am so honored to call you a friend, so thank you Thanks.
• 32:49
  Speaker 3: Same here, Michael Thank you for this opportunity Absolutely.
• 32:54
  Speaker 3: Thank you, team, your community as well.
• 32:57
  Speaker 2: Thank you, and it's just let's get out there.