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Finding your Resilience When Adversity Strikes · Authentic Living

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Welcome to authentic living with Roxanne, a place where we have as conversations about
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things that really matter in our lives.
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And now here's your host, Roxanne Derhodge.
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Everyone, it's, Roxanne Derhodge.
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Thanks for tuning in again this week to Authentic Living with Roxanne.
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Today, I have a special guest and, Bart is and I'm gonna say, what's an athlete?
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Don't all as an athlete?
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Do you have that mindset once you're there?
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Yep.
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So he is an athlete.
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I'll tell you a little bit about his background.
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And we're gonna talk a little bit about, you know, I talk a lot about resilience and I often
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say that, myself, I was not a, you know, the type growing up that was into sports, but I was
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into different things.
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And the mind of an athlete, I think, is also always very, very fascinating.
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So he's an all American athlete, and, he had a pretty big knee injury that almost took him out
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of the game.
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And, he went on to deal with that and become the USA, track and field, master's track
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championship champion, sorry.
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Mhmm.
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And you know, after that, he kind of channeled that energy into doing what he does now, which
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is working with a lot of people, to break through barriers.
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Thanks so much, Robert, for being on and taking your time.
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My pleasure for having me.
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So let's let's talk about little bit about you.
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I love to find out a little bit about, you know, the story behind the guests and kind of,
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you know, what got you involved in sports?
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Like, I mean, I I think, like, with every little boy, I have a son and, you know, he got
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involved in know, I'm Canadian.
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So he involved in hockey and and your history growing up.
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What was your exposure to sports like?
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Can answer that in one sentence.
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I'm the youngest of 7 children.
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Oh my goodness.
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So you're, well, so you're the baby then, the special one.
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Yes.
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Yes.
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And they were all athletes including my parents.
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Wow.
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It was just kinda in the blood, but just being the baby, was constantly somebody else's little
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brother, and that drove me insane.
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Same.
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So that's where you know, I kinda had that little chip on my shoulder just trying to be
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recognized for being Robert Foster.
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I was always Ramona's little brother, your moniece little brother, your Ralph's little
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brother, and, I hated it.
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Like, I just wanted to carve my own identity.
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So I went to work, and it was the best feeling was that someone was like, oh, you're Rob
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Foster.
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I was like, thank god.
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Goal accomplished.
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Right?
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Yes.
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So we were you short distance, long distance?
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What kind of running did you do?
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I was a sprinter and a jumper.
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Sprinter and jumper.
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High jumper.
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I jumped trumps up long dump.
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Oh, wow.
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Yeah.
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I did them all.
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Wow.
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Pretty amazing.
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Thank you.
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So so you got involved.
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You were finding I what I often say is, you know, I was actually writing a piece, that's
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gonna be going out in my book that's coming in April, around the all we all of us have to
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wanna find that uniqueness.
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And I talk about myself as well in the in this particular part of the book about recognition.
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Right?
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We all wanna find that unique identity.
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I like you, came from a family of 6, and I was kinda, like, in the middle.
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I wasn't the, you know, I wasn't the golden child and I wasn't the baby.
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And I
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was just somewhere in the middle trying shuttle with my brother, who's the only boy who made
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him special, and then me.
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Right?
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So I came up with a, well, like, I think I can talk to people and I could mediate situations
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and I found that skill.
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And I would say that most of us really, really try to find that uniqueness, not like what
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you're saying that you did.
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As being the baby of 7.
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Yep.
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Yeah.
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Absolutely.
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Oh, go ahead.
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So it's with sports.
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Right?
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Like, I mean, I know this.
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My my son is actually, at a level of professional golf now.
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And
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Nice.
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There's a certain kind of, I would say, core principles that goal with being an athlete.
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So tell me what tell me what they are, in reference to, core resiliency.
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What did you kinda learn about being as good as you were at the level you were?
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And then what did you apply routinely to get better.
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Yeah.
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So when it first starts, if you just take people who work, who have never been an athlete
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before.
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They're working most people for money.
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So they're working their job.
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They put in their 40 hours to get a paycheck.
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When you're an athlete, it's performance.
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And when you're an elite athlete, it's a complete lifestyle.
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Because there's a big difference between someone who plays basketball and someone who's,
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you know, trying to become a collegiate or professional athlete.
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It's just a different level of discipline.
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And it's just a different level of care, and it's just a different level of want.
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So when you're in that level, you're gonna push yourself harder.
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You're gonna eat better.
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You're gonna be more focused.
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You're gonna spend money on the right gear.
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Mhmm.
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You know?
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So, like, it's it's all in the mind.
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I know I know mindset is over is overplayed and overused, but at the end of the day, that's
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what it is.
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So when you're an athlete, you're focused.
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And with my fitness clients, my best clients are people who were former athletes.
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Because because once you have it, it's always in there.
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And I always say it's so much easier to pull badass out of someone than it is to try to
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stuff it in someone that never had it.
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Pull it out versus push it in.
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That's I'm trying to so I think of myself, right, like, over the years, obviously, I I I
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do work but I I don't have, like, I remember when my son, he played hockey.
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He started, you know, at 7 playing hockey, and then he played travel like they would do, and
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then he moved to golf.
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Right?
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Yes.
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And I remember him, like, I I got to the point where I'm, like, of course, I'm mom and I'm,
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you know, the psychologist, and I'm trying to talk about like, you know, like balance and all
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of that.
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And he looked at me one day, and he said, mom, if you're not gonna get it, I'm like, what do
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you mean?
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He goes, I have to become the master of one thing, and he's like fourteen years old now,
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right?
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So I'm talking, well, you should hang out with your friends and, you know, and he goes, no,
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mom.
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He says every split second I get, I wanna be out there because I'm driven and I know where I
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wanna be.
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So I, you know, for him, he he was teaching me something because on the level that he was
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trying to ex explore.
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So I'm gonna assume What were your parents like?
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Like, what what guidance did they give you about developing this this mindset, like you
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said, as overuse as it is, it's a mindset or a state that you go into.
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And I'm gonna assume you start running did you start running quite young?
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Yes.
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Okay.
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Yes.
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I played and and it wasn't even just tracked.
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I played pretty much everything out there at basketball baseball, volleyball, soccer.
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Like, I played it all.
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So it, like, in our household, sports was pretty much mandatory.
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Now my father, He ran track too back in back in the day, and he ended up he could he had had a
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good shot of being on, I believe, was the 64 US Olympic team for the four hundred meter
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hurdles, but, he was in the marines and Vietnam broke out.
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So he ended up going going off to war.
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But he always pushed us.
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The thing was just a combination of his own drive with that military background.
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That he just didn't let us settle for average.
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You know, he's like, you can just roll out of bed and be average.
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So he's like, if you're gonna if you're gonna take the time to go to practice train, you
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gotta get the most out of it.
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And your body will do whatever you train it to do.
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So he said, you get out there and and you train.
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If you wanna play basketball, you gotta practice shoot, and you gotta practice running,
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you gotta practice jumping.
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And he's like, you don't just You don't just go to your practice and say that you're done.
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It's like, it's what you do before practice.
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It's what you do after practice.
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And then that's how you're gonna become a champion.
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And all of us won championships in something.
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Like, all seven of us.
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So it was something that he ingrained in you quite early.
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So I want I want you to take me back to when you do you remember some of the very first, one
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of your most significant first wins?
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I do.
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Okay.
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Tell me about that.
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And tell me what, you know, that space was for you when you actually obviously, I, you know,
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takes a lot of work to get to that level that you got to, but what was that like when you got
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that first kind of taste of of of winning at that level?
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See, and this isn't even gonna be what you're thinking, but this is the first one.
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So I was in 2nd grade.
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I, well, I believe that seven years old.
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It was an Apple Bob contest.
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Right?
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It was an Apple Bob contest.
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So it was filled day at our school.
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And my friend was up in front of me and just telling me he was gonna win.
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I had no chance.
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I shouldn't even go up there.
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And I was like, dude, I come from a long line of athletes.
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He's like, we're constantly challenging and put pushing each other.
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He's like, doesn't matter.
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You have no chance.
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So it's his turn to go, and he and he goes into his credit.
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He got down and up in 5 seconds.
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So I was like, okay.
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That's that's solid.
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But I got this.
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And so the teacher calls my name.
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I walk over to that bucket.
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I'm pulling up the sleeves, you know, up here in Rhode Island.
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It gets chilly all the time.
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It's gonna gonna pull up the sleeves, and I put my hands on that bucket.
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I looked down.
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I scanned, and I found my target.
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It was one right by the corner.
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I said, now I'm gonna take straight down, pin it to the bottom, and then I should be able to
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come up in under 5 seconds.
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And some teachers like, Ray said, go.
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And I dug dug right in there, right in.
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Soaked myself.
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Got it up 2.2 seconds.
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And Wow.
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Such a rush.
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It was, like, just the feeling of winning was such a rush that it actually helped propel
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everything else.
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You know, it's like, people chuckle when when I tell that story to, like, an Apple Bob podcast.
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Like, but but you don't get it.
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It's like, just that feeling of being doubted and then coming through.
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Yeah.
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It just laid the foundation that no matter what else I do, no matter what obstacle people try
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to put in my place, I'm gonna bust through it.
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Mhmm.
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So your injury, your major injury, was before you went on to win the the, track championship,
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was it?
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Was it as was it as you were training?
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No.
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It was actually
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during a track
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meet.
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I was thirty four years old.
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So now let's backtrack.
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In 1992, I injured it the first time training.
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I was actually trying to qualify for the 92 Olympic trials and the triple jump And I end up
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just overextending.
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I landed weird and something popped.
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So now that was in 1992.
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So this injury happened I was 34.
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So this is 16 years later.
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So it was just all those meats in between and playing basketball and everything else just was
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wearing it down, I guess.
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So I'm in this track meet now, and I have my age bracket 1 because, like, once but I believe
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it's Once you're 25 and over, you you just go into different age brackets.
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So I had my age bracket 1, 30 to 34.
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But there was a forty five year old still jumping.
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Mhmm.
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And the way my competitive spirit is is set up, I couldn't just let that go.
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So I was like, alright.
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I'm gonna I'm gonna take 111 more jump.
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So I go.
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I jump.
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I miss it, but I felt like a tug in my left knee.
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And so the other gentleman, he missed it as well.
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So I was like, alright.
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So he missed too.
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So let me do one one more.
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If I nail this one, like, because I don't think he can make this height.
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This was in the high jump.
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So I was like, I don't think he can make this height.
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So I went to my now x.
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I was like, give I was like, give me the tape.
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I was like, let me let me tape this because I felt something weird to give it some more
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support.
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Let me take this one one last jump, then I'll get my medals and we'll get out of here.
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And so I'm up in there.
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The wind had stopped, so it was like, you know, because the wind can greatly affect your your
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high jump.
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So the wind stopped the sunshine and down.
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I'm feeling good.
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Take that big breath.
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And I go and then I saw white, like legit saw white.
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I was on the ground, and I looked down, and my kneecap with a quarter to weigh up my club.
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Yeah.
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So my Patel attendant and whatever else is withholding completely gave way.
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And so I'm on the ground.
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It went instantly numb, so thank god I didn't feel that because I I pro I probably would
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woulda went into shock.
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But I had my hands over my knees, and the, the athletic trainer comes running over.
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And I was like, my I was like, my girl's called 911 already.
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She's like, oh, she's like, I don't know if you're gonna need need an ambulance.
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And then I moved my hands, and she saw my knee.
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She was like, Oh my.
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She's like, oh my.
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I was like, yeah.
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And so my next question after that was, how do I get my medals?
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That was all I cared about because at the end of the day, I still want I still won the event
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for my bracket.
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But Yeah.
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But, anyways, but we're everything changed now.
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Was in the emergency room.
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So the EMTs had put a brace on my knee, and I get into the emergency room.
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The ER doctor comes in He takes my bracelet off.
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And within half a second, he's like, oh, you're never gonna run a jump again.
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Wow.
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And now I had just started my fitness business earlier that year.
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Like, I just started.
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I just had twin when boys who were born, they were 45 at the time.
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I mean, sorry.
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They were 4 months at the time.
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You know, kids number 45.
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And so I'm like Wow.
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I'm like, never run a jump.
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And so, like, I stopped crying.
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I'm like, I'm never gonna be able to run with my kids or, you know, run with my clients.
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It's like, how how am I gonna do this?
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And then at that moment, I stopped, wiped up the tears.
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I looked at the doctor, and I'll keep it PG, But I looked at the doctor, and I said, you
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don't effin know me like that.
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I was like, you might know medicine.
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I said, but you don't know me.
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I was like, you don't know what I'm willing to go through to get this back.
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I said, and it's not even to prove you wrong, so I could care less about your opinion.
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It's the fact that I need this joint to work for me to get where I need to go.
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Mhmm.
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And he's like, well, you know, these things I said, don't even finish the sentence.
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I was like, I I don't care how these things for the average person.
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Like, you're not talking to an average person.
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I was like, I'm gonna get through this.
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And So
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let's talk about that tenaciousness, right, because that's that fire in the belly.
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Right?
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You're kinda like, you're not keeping me down.
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You may have gone to all that med school stuff, but you're not gonna you're not gonna tell me
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what I'm capable of.
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And you know, when any of us are injured, right, and we're forced not to move, there's a
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mental set that we go into.
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So you must have, as much as you know, I'm gonna do this.
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There must have been things that you fought off.
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Oh, yeah.
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Naturally to be able to kind of you know, we know the body and the the mind is 1.
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Right?
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Even though in the west, we always kinda separate those 2 out.
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What kind of things did you do to really enhance or or even I'm not even enhanced, but
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just allow this the process to occur so that your body could kinda get get back to the level
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that it needed to to go to go on.
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When I tell anyone going through anything, whether it's fitness, whether it's injury,
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whether it's a struggling business, no matter what it is, is you have to celebrate every
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single win.
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And don't worry about the stuff you'd have yet or the stuff you can't do yet.
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So at the time when I was in a wheelchair, I'd still be outside with the kid playing
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basketball.
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I'd be I'd be wheeling myself around, wrapping the ball, shooting, and, like, I can still
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shoot.
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Like, you know, my legs broken, but my arm still worked just fine.
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I was still going to the gym on crutches, hop hopping around between machines, doing doing
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what what I can do, It's like it's like if one area is hurting, then you have to intensify the
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other areas to make up for it.
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Because if you only focus on the one area that's hurting, it's gonna completely derail
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you.
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It's gonna demoralize you.
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It's gonna depress you.
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You're gonna end up gaining weight.
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You're gonna lose energy, and you're just gonna lose that that hunger.
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So for me, I just celebrated every last thing.
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It's like, hey.
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I walk three steps without Paulin.
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Yes.
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You know, hey.
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I walked all the way to the bathroom when you'll text and texting the wife.
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Hey.
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I walked all the way to the bathroom today.
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No crutches.
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Right.
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I just I just made everything amazing.
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And I just think when you keep that positive attitude and keep that energy high.
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It it seriously, I mean, I'm no doctor by any means.
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I dropped out of college three times, so I don't know if this is true or not.
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But I feel it helps the healing process just being positive like that and just surrounding
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yourself with awesome experiences.
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Oh, absolutely.
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And because, you know, we have nerve centers throughout our body.
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Right?
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And your, you know, your body remembers, like, you know, there's a famous book, that's, you
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know, based on some of the training that I did trauma, and it talks about the body keeps a
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score.
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Yes.
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Right?
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So the body is keeping all emotion if you think about it.
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And it's constantly feeding it back up.
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So we don't even have we have nerve cells in our tummies, more than ourselves in our tummies
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than we do in our brain.
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Yeah.
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So
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if you kinda think about it and if that message is going back and forth all the time to your
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point, you're actually kinda you're saying, okay.
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Move over.
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Injury.
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I gonna jump into the, you know, into the driver's seat even though I know I have to do
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this work because, again, like, we have, like, 60,000 thoughts in a day, about Roxanne, and a
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lot of them can be negative.
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So if anybody says, you know, oh, yeah.
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No.
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I think, positively all the time, I often say, telling you a lot of fibs.
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Right?
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It's about what you do to channel that, and that sounds like what you did.
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You looked at what what you had control over and incrementally gratitude I'm gonna assume
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was part of that.
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If you could kinda wheel around with your kids and and be able to still do some things, but
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just being gracious for what you have versus the focus on what you don't have with the which
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was the fact that you were kinda you're in a wheelchair and you're a runner.
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Yeah.
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Yes.
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If that's not gonna derail you, I'm not I'm not sure what wouldn't kind of thing.
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Yeah.
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And even with even with the fitness business, like, I would show up down to the field.
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I'd drive the van.
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I'd have my wheelchair in in the back of it.
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My clients would come.
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They'd get the wheelchair.
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They would open me.
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They would help me out of the van.
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They would help me into the wheelchair.
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They would push me over to the part in the playground where we were gonna be training.
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And, you know, I I have my clipboard and I'm barking orders and, you know, people are
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walking in a park, like, looking at me, my leg all up in a wheelchair, like, you know, this
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guy's in charge over here, but, you know, it's all about how you show up.
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If you show up positively and powerfully, great things can happen.
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So the fact that at that time, I was only 1 week post surgery, and I was already back out
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there.
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Yeah.
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I was already back out there because I told myself, you can do this.
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Right?
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When you tell yourself you can do this, you can do it.
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If you tell yourself you can't do it, you're right there too.
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So I just keep it positive all the time.
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So let's talk rituals because I'm gonna assume, just from what you're saying, and I know what I
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what I teach and what I speak about and rituals are so such a big part of it.
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So tell me when you now you know, in your business and when you're speaking or when
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you're coaching, I'm gonna assume you teach a lot about rituals.
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So tell me what you teach.
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As a frame because Robert, if we think about the time we're in, the biggest thing that I'm
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dealing with is the challenges, because most people are trying really, really hard.
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But it's almost like we have, you know, this, the world's on a tilt.
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Right?
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And everybody's trying to gain control but, you know, we do it some days and you don't do it
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some days and people are trying their best.
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So what kind of things do you talk about and teach people about resilience.
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It starts it starts with the clarity of the vision.
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It's like most people most people will say it starts with the y.
21:15
Like, the the the y is in there, but just and this is, you know, my own 22¢.
21:20
Is it has to start with the clarity of vision.
21:23
So when I started my gym so now this was actually a year and a half prior to me ever
21:30
thinking about having a standalone look location.
21:33
I took out my my trusty notebook, and I just sketched what I wanted my gym to look like.
21:39
Now it was a ghetto looking sketch because I don't draw, but I did I did the best I could.
21:44
I was like, I know I want a smaller room up front, something that was wasn't too
21:48
intimidating.
21:48
Like, I don't want people to walk in the door and be like, oh, wow.
21:51
Let's see all this obstacle stuff.
21:52
I want it to be welcoming, inviting, and inspiring.
21:55
So then I wanted it to open up into a bigger room where we would have the equipment and the
22:01
ropes hanging in the climbing walls kettlebells and all that stuff.
22:04
Mhmm.
22:05
But that was after they were nice and comfortable.
22:07
So I wanted an office over here on this side.
22:09
I want a storage room here and your bathrooms over here.
22:13
And so we fast forward a year and a half now.
22:16
I had I had bad credit.
22:17
I had no savings.
22:19
And I had I told her I dropped out of college.
22:21
So it's like, I don't have a degree.
22:23
It's like, how how am I gonna do this?
22:26
I said, so all what I'm gonna do like, I was talking with my parents and said, so what I'm
22:30
gonna do is I'm just gonna keep changing people's lives.
22:32
And then at some point, a door is gonna open.
22:35
Mhmm.
22:36
And so that that was all I focused on.
22:37
We're just getting my clients', clients' results, getting them out of their bad habits,
22:41
helping them get of blood pressure meds, helping them fix their cholesterol, you know,
22:46
reverse in type 2 diabetes.
22:48
Like, I just focused on that.
22:50
And then one day after a busy class, one of my clients approached me and was like, why don't
22:55
you have your own place?
22:56
He's like, you know, you you have such a strong following.
22:59
And then so long story short, he and one of his his partners, they invested in me to open up a
23:05
five thousand square foot facility.
23:07
So now as we're scouting around locations, we walked into this one.
23:12
And when I tell you when we walked in, this place was a dump.
23:15
It was an absolute dump.
23:17
It was smelly.
23:18
It was like a, like, a mill do filled carpet or holes all over the wall.
23:23
It was dirty in the main road, and I walked in and said, this is perfect.
23:28
And they looked at me like, what?
23:30
They're like, this place is perfect.
23:32
I was like, you don't understand.
23:34
When I sketched down about a year and a half ago, this is it.
23:39
And it it was so scary.
23:41
The only difference was this one had an extra storage room that I didn't have written down,
23:46
and it had an upstairs, which I didn't have written down.
23:48
But the main layout was to a tee to what I had written down.
23:54
And so that clarity of vision helped us turn that dirty old warehouse into an award winning
24:01
facility.
24:02
So
24:02
Amazing.
24:03
So the the capacity of of visualization Right?
24:06
Like, like, not not not to trivialize to what you just said, but
24:10
Yeah.
24:10
In your brain, even though I'm sure the other people you're with were thinking, what is he
24:14
seeing.
24:15
You because you had had that mind that mental set, oh, and and to your point, right, if
24:20
you're the average person walks into a gym, you know, I remember when I used to go to the gym,
24:25
like, way back and you walk and you see the big guys, you're like, oh, okay.
24:27
I'm not gonna move there.
24:29
Look at what their lift I'm going you know, and then you you because you're like, woah.
24:33
Okay.
24:34
So that co concept of being inviting, and, yeah, I don't wanna see a £20 kilobell as soon
24:39
as I'm hitting the the the front.
24:41
I I wanna see a 10, maybe a 5, but that whole approach of I want people to come in.
24:47
I want them to kinda get their feet wet.
24:50
I want them to think, okay.
24:51
It's a gym.
24:51
Okay.
24:52
And then feel welcomed.
24:53
And then then they go into the backroom and then they can see.
24:56
Well,
24:56
okay.
24:56
Well, I can do this.
24:57
So you have that vision, and I think what happens to a lot of people is they, you know,
25:02
like, to your point, you you didn't focus on what you didn't have.
25:05
Right?
25:06
He didn't focus on, yeah, had this injury or, you know, I don't have the money.
25:10
I don't have the degree, all that stuff, which is a lot of times what people tell themselves,
25:14
but they don't stop to think, you know, obviously, you're passionate about, you know,
25:19
what you do.
25:20
And you make a change in people's lives.
25:22
And that's where you went from.
25:23
Like you said, one person at a time, you made the difference.
25:28
You, you know, people come in potentially overweight, not feeling good, no energy, high
25:34
cholesterol, all that stuff, and you just kept focused on small goals with them over and over
25:40
again.
25:40
And then, of course, once people start to move and they start to shift things, then guess
25:44
what?
25:44
They go back to the doc and the doc goes, what have you been doing?
25:48
They're doing lots of little things often consistent, and then they start to see the
25:52
change.
25:52
And that's where you you just, you just kinda hung out and did that a bit of time with
25:57
everybody over and over again.
25:59
Yes.
25:59
Yeah.
25:59
And, you know, pig piggybacking on that is not just the ability to see it is you have to be
26:05
able feel it.
26:06
Like, when I sketched it down, like, I pictured myself walking into the doors and seeing what I
26:13
had laid out because, like, some people can say, yeah.
26:15
You know, I wanna make a $1,000,000, but but they can't see themselves living in the home
26:19
with their dreams, driving the car, their dreams, having their kids in the the school of
26:23
their dreams and taking the vacation of their dreams.
26:25
Like, they don't they don't take it that deep.
26:28
And so I
26:30
always say How do you take it deep?
26:32
Let's talk about that because, you know, like a lot of people, you're right, you know, and, you
26:35
know, the self help people say, you know, kind of put it out there.
26:39
No.
26:39
You have to do a lot more other than you have to feel it
26:43
Yes.
26:43
And experience it.
26:44
So tell me how you do that.
26:45
I know.
26:46
I mean, I know what I do, but I'm curious to what you do.
26:49
Yeah.
26:49
I mean, ins insides, well, there's different there's different ways.
26:53
So it depends what I'm dealing with.
26:54
So on dealing with fitness, you know, sir, I work with mostly women.
26:59
So with women, a lot of it is, you know, they have that that one little dress in their
27:04
clothes that they haven't worn a decade that they wanna put it back on.
27:08
And I just walked them through that process.
27:10
Like, what would that mean to you?
27:11
Like, picture it.
27:12
Where would you wear that dress?
27:14
It's like you have to ask the right questions.
27:16
And so when you're doing it for for for yourself, a lot of people struggle with that,
27:21
but that's where coaches like us come into play.
27:23
And we help people through that process.
27:26
So my process is 7 steps.
27:28
And so now this used to be called years ago, shut up an exercise, but I wanted to take it
27:34
wider.
27:35
Right?
27:35
I wanted to take it wider, so I switched it to shut up and grind because it doesn't matter
27:40
what you're working on instead of whether you're an athlete, whether, you know, you own a
27:43
hair salon or a bowling alley.
27:45
Like, it doesn't matter.
27:46
Like, all the principles are exactly the same.
27:48
What do you want?
27:50
What will it do for you if you get it?
27:52
Why do you want it?
27:53
How will you benefit the community if you get it?
27:55
You know, what would the legacy be for your for your family, are you solving problems, or are
28:00
you just providing providing, you know, selling products?
28:04
And, like, you just have to ask the right questions and get down to the heart of what
28:08
what is in their passion, you know, what's in their heart.
28:11
And and because, like, once you get that deep, that person will go far.
28:16
People who are content are going nowhere.
28:19
Absolutely nowhere.
28:20
So I don't even mess with people who are who are content.
28:24
So, like, you have to work with the people who are fed up, and they're ready to change.
28:29
Those people will be receptive to the coaching.
28:32
The people who are who are content, not gonna say all of them because, you know, you can't
28:35
pigeonhole everyone, but a majority of people who are like, yeah, you know, I'm okay where I
28:39
am.
28:39
So, well, I'm not the right coach for you
28:42
So through this this time and how have you shifted things with your business.
28:50
Like, with the speaking, yeah, I know what's speaking the in person I'm not doing as much.
28:55
I'm doing more virtual, speaking in training, coaching, how have you shifted and how how the
29:00
gym is physically still in in in Rhode Island, right?
29:03
How have you had to pivot And are you, you know, here in, I'm close to Toronto to give I'm
29:10
in Niagara Falls, which is about an hour from Toronto.
29:12
We're we're in a a complete lockdown.
29:14
Are you are you are you open still, or are you in lockdown like us?
29:18
Well, we we weren't shut down again.
29:23
November 30th to December 20th.
29:25
So we were allowed to open December 21st just with with restrictions, of course.
29:30
So, yes, we are open now, but overall, I mean, you know, I'm down, like, 60% in volume.
29:37
I wanna say, So it's it has been tough, but, like I said, I don't worry about what I can't
29:42
do, what what I can't have.
29:44
So in that time, I I I had actually taken my classes outdoors.
29:50
This is back in April, I mean, back in March.
29:53
Before the governor mandated it because I knew it was coming.
29:56
I was just watching what what was happening elsewhere.
29:58
Like, so let's just stay ahead of the curve and start adapting to it now.
30:02
So I did that, but then that gave me the green light to go ahead and start the podcast because
30:07
I had 8 live gigs booked between March May.
30:12
And then, obviously, they all got canceled.
30:15
And I had this this nice microphone I bought like a year and a half ago just sitting here
30:19
thing does and the lights in the green screen.
30:21
That was Mhmm.
30:22
I had it all, and then I was that creature that was content.
30:26
So it's like I'm busy busy with the gym.
30:28
The gym is growing.
30:29
You know, speaking gigs are coming.
30:30
So Mhmm.
30:31
But now with those taken away, I was like, you know what?
30:34
Let's get the podcast up and going.
30:36
And let's start, you know, working on getting I joined 22 masterminds, went about getting on TV
30:41
and went about doing Facebook ads because now I can help other businesses with their marketing.
30:48
By, you know, teaching them how to do how to do Facebook ads and social media marketing and
30:53
personal branding and all that good stuff.
30:55
So, like, I I took myself from just being, I don't wanna say just, but being a gym owner and
31:01
a speaker and to now being a full blown international business coach
31:06
Amazing.
31:07
So who are your mentors?
31:09
Like, I it sounds like your your dad was an athlete.
31:12
Was he one of his or who were the mentors in your life?
31:15
Or who are the people that mentor you now kind of whether it's kinda you you am you think
31:21
about them, or you do have mentors now that you follow.
31:24
Yeah.
31:24
I mean, I do I do have some now, but I know this is gonna sound cliche, but I try to I try
31:29
to learn from everyone.
31:31
You know, there's so many people on this planet and as knowledgeable as I am, I know I don't
31:36
know everything.
31:37
But I I just know there there are things you have swirling around in your brain I've
31:40
probably never thought of.
31:42
So, you know, so I just try to take bits and pieces from as many people as I can, but,
31:46
obviously, it starts in the household, but definitely starts in household.
31:50
If if your parents are pushing you, you're gonna grow up with more with more drive.
31:54
If you're in a household where both parents are working full full time when you're bouncing
31:59
around from from day cares, chances are you're not gonna get the same structure.
32:03
And, and, again, I'm saying chances are, you know, I'm not pigeon hole and everyone, but so
32:07
it starts there.
32:08
But then from there, there comes a time where you have to step into your power.
32:13
Right?
32:13
You have to step into your power.
32:15
And as an example, I was speaking with a young young woman who just recently graduated from
32:20
college with an exercise physiology degree.
32:23
And so I said to her, I said, so what are you gonna do with it?
32:26
She's like, well, you know, I I have to get experience now.
32:29
I'm like, you have a degree.
32:30
I said, right now, this moment, you are an expert.
32:34
Everyone that doesn't have one.
32:36
I said I said, so why are you gonna let people you into a box and tell you what you need to do
32:43
before you can make it.
32:44
I said right now with the power of the internet, You can start a YouTube channel or a
32:49
TikTok channel or whatever and start sharing your knowledge.
32:53
Your knowledge is valuable run it.
32:56
Yes.
32:56
Yes.
32:56
I'm sure you're gonna wanna work with with patients and clients at some point.
33:00
I said, but step into your power now.
33:04
You know, it's like you don't wanna shrink yourself, and so many people fall into that
33:08
trap.
33:09
And even more so in the time, right, with all the negativity.
33:12
You gotta you gotta shut it off.
33:13
You you know, I know with you guys in the US, you're going into, you know, a a quite the
33:18
week.
33:18
You you gotta take it in, but you gotta, you know, not worry about it too much.
33:22
I often say limits the amount of, you know, some social, not a lot, not a lot of news, Just
33:27
find out what's going out.
33:28
What do you need to know?
33:29
Because, really, that's a lot of it's negative coming at you.
33:32
And then you Yeah.
33:32
You know, this is your this is your capital up here.
33:35
You gotta really protect it at on all cost.
33:38
Now for anyone listening, that's, you know, they're like, oh, this sounds all well and good
33:43
at Roxanne, but I'm having a tough time.
33:45
Robert.
33:45
What what would be some for small steps?
33:48
You would say whether it's a a woman getting wanting to get in shape, which I know you work
33:52
a lot with, or, like you said, somebody coming out of college that, you know, is like, well,
33:57
there's no, you know, we're not pandemic.
33:59
Did you not know?
34:00
And how am I gonna start anything?
34:02
Or Well, I had to pivot because my business is down by 50%, which is what most businesses are
34:07
down by overall.
34:08
What would you say?
34:09
What kind of tips would you give them to to to at least get going right now?
34:14
Yeah.
34:14
The average person spends about 4 hours per day on social media.
34:20
4 hours per day.
34:22
Take that time and put yourself out there.
34:26
Like, no matter what field you're in, no matter what industry you're in, you are filled with so
34:32
much power that you don't even know exists.
34:36
Right?
34:36
So I just start I started a program this year also called speak about yourself out loud
34:41
because as I joined these multiple mass minds and, you know, you're in all these Facebook
34:46
groups.
34:47
And you start hearing people say, hey.
34:49
Someone so introduce yourself to, like, hi.
34:51
I, and Mary and I am, from and it's like, you know, you have to be able to tell to speak
35:00
about you people can speak about movies.
35:02
They can speak about how their girlfriend's crazy.
35:04
They can speak about how so many different things about the great bar or the football
35:08
game.
35:09
But but it's like, what do you wanna do?
35:13
So I I help people take their own personal experiences and start things like blogs, you
35:20
know, become, writers, speakers, podcasts, you know, if they wanna write write a book There's
35:27
just so so many different different things that people can do with their own experience, but
35:32
the problem is is that people think, nobody wants that.
35:34
Wants to hear from me.
35:35
Like, there's 7,000,000,000 people on this planet.
35:38
7,000,000,000.
35:39
And to put it in perspective, here in the US, I'm sure sure you've heard of Dwayne the Rock
35:44
Johnson.
35:45
Yes.
35:45
Right.
35:45
He's got 275,000,000 followers.
35:49
There's 7,700,000,000 people on the planet.
35:53
So you know how many billions of people have no clue who that man is?
35:58
No problem.
35:58
So Think about it.
35:59
So so there's people out there that need to hear what you have to say.
36:04
And they Absolutely.
36:05
Right?
36:05
You can heal people's souls with your stories.
36:08
Absolutely.
36:10
Well, I think you and I, I love your energy, Robert.
36:13
You brought, you brought, nice time to the listeners today and to myself.
36:18
So for people that are interested and they wanna learn more about, you know, when things
36:24
open up or even virtual speaking or any other things that you do in reference to some of the
36:29
programs that you talked about, where can people reach you?
36:32
Well, you know, website and social, those types of things.
36:35
Yes.
36:36
You can reach me on my website, Robert b Foster.com/speaker.
36:43
And then all of my social links are there on that site as well.
36:47
Okay.
36:47
Well, thank you so much for your time.
36:49
So what am I learning?
36:50
What am I taking away?
36:51
You know?
36:53
Don't ever not listen to what you have internally.
36:55
And I think of myself as a little girl growing up in Trinidad and what I what was my
37:01
uniqueness.
37:01
And at that time, my friends would say, no.
37:03
He's gonna listen to you.
37:04
You're 11.
37:05
I go, yeah.
37:06
Yeah.
37:06
I'll figure out what I'm gonna do.
37:08
And I I went on and you know, created a, you know, went to school and did all that stuff to
37:12
to do the kind of work that I do.
37:14
And I've been giving back for a long time, And, you know, I feel privileged that I listened.
37:20
I listened to something that I thought I could be good at, not knowing that if if I would get
37:24
paid for Ready.
37:25
That was the last thing on my mind.
37:26
Yep.
37:27
So for everyone, just listen to that deep space.
37:29
We all have it.
37:30
That's space within you that we're so busy that we kinda get disconnected from, and we think,
37:36
oh, yeah.
37:36
Well, I don't I don't have that thing that I can be good at.
37:39
Listen, spend time in nature, clear your mind right, you know, get things out, and it it will
37:45
eventually come to you.
37:46
For anyone that's wanting to learn more about authentic relationships, I just launched a new
37:51
course, on how to authentically connect at home, especially at this time with the
37:56
pandemic.
37:56
We all need the skills that much more So it's a full week, live coaching and and, training
38:03
course, and that will be starting soon.
38:05
So if you're interested, please reach out Roxanne.
38:10
Thanks for tuning in to authentic living with Roxanne, creating the space for positive
38:15
healthy change.
38:17
Roxanne is a keynote speaker, psychotherapist, and coach to work with Roxanne, visit Roxanne
38:24
Durgesh dotcom/blueprint.
38:27
We'll see you next time on authentic living with Roxanne.