Intrepid Living

Episode 6 - Season 5

Intrepid Living: Recovery, Mindfulness, and Building Your Support Vault with Gail Heney

Host Bobby K. welcomes Gail Heney to episode six of season five of the No Magic Bullet podcast “What’s In Your Toolbox?”, introducing her as the force behind Intrepid Living and sharing their long Beaver Valley connection. 

Gail, sober for 20 years this coming September, describes how her career path moved from occupational therapy to high-adrenaline Bay Street trading, where burnout and alcohol took a toll, leading her to recovery, executive coaching, and weekly blogging at intrepidliving.ca. Inspired by “The Five Regrets of the Dying,” she focuses on living courageously, expressing feelings, and allowing happiness to reduce end-of-life regrets. She discusses shifting from adrenaline to nature, exercise, mindfulness, guided meditation, breathwork, and cold plunging as tools, and explains “Edna,” her named inner critic. Gail outlines her support system as “vault people,” her 12-step community, and close friends; Bobby closes with a lesson on “building a new muscle” through relationships.

00:00 Welcome to the Podcast

00:33 Meet Gail Intrepid Living

03:09 Crazy Legs Origin Story

05:35 Sobriety and Longevity

07:17 Why Intrepid Living Exists

10:53 Career Shifts and Recovery

14:32 From Adrenaline to Nature

17:34 Coaching Control and Response

19:11 12 Steps and Spirituality

20:43 Edna the Inner Critic

22:32 Mindfulness Anywhere

26:27 Breathwork and Cold Plunge

28:20 Building a Support Team

30:12 Wrap Up and Subscribe

31:33 Host Reflection and Life Lesson

34:32 Final Thanks and Disclaimer

  A disclaimer notes Bobby is not a doctor and speaks from lived experience.

Links

Website

intrepidliving.ca 

Instagram

https://www.instagram.com/intrepid_living_/?hl=en

Subscribe to What's in your Toolbox? http://nomagicbullet.org/

24/7 Crisis Support 1-888-893-8333

Subscribe to What's in your Toolbox? http://nomagicbullet.org/

24/7 Crisis Support 1-888-893-8333

Transcript

0:02

Welcome to No Magic Bullet podcast series. What's In Your Toolbox? is a monthly podcast on mental health. I am your host Bobby Kay. Comedian, mental health advocate, and executive producer of the documentary No Magic Bullet: What's In Your Toolbox? An honest discussion on mental health. I am 70 years young, suffer from Tourette syndrome, and love doing these podcasts that always reminds me to practice what I preach.

bobby_3_06-09-2026_190057 0:32

everybody. Welcome to episode six, season five of What's in Your Toolbox? Our guest is from her company, blog, whatever, but we're gonna call her Intrepid Living. And intrepid means she's fearless, she's an adventurer, and you're gonna find out why I offered to have her on my podcast. So I asked her to send me a bio, and she didn't. But it doesn't matter, because I've just taken this off of your website, and it says, "Who are you?" You're a seeker. You're a teacher. You're an occupational therapist. You're a solo European traveler. You're a financial markets trader. You're a recovering alcoholic. You're an executive coach. You're a speaker and a facilitator and a writer, and I think that basically qualifies you as an intrepid person. So we both live in our Shangri-La, which is the Beaver Valley, not the Beaver Valley Ski Club, but we take in the entire Beaver Valley. I have met our guest one time at Loblaws. I guess she was doing some coaching, and I was trying to grab a sandwich. So that's the only time I've seen her out of the Beaver Valley. She said to me one day at Beaver Valley Ski Club, "My people have to me- talk to your people." So that's why we are here today. She's inquisitive, and she has lots of lived experience. She's small and mighty and powerful So without ado, I'm gonna introduce you to our guest, Gail Heaney. Hey, girl

squadcaster-2j3g_3_06-09-2026_190057 2:36

Nice to see you. Thank you for having me

bobby_3_06-09-2026_190057 2:41

Listen, you know what? We've been talking about this for a long time. I didn't know what we were gonna talk about, and then one day we were in the senior members lounge, and I was telling you about a couple of people that I had on my podcast from Beaver Valley who were in the 12-step program. And you just walked by casually and said, "Oh I've been in the 12-step program." And I said, "Oh my God." Only the lid knows what goes on in the pot. So here we are. So tell me, how do we know each other?

squadcaster-2j3g_3_06-09-2026_190057 3:12

glad you asked 'cause this... I don't think that you even know this, Bobby. 31 years we've been members at Beaver Valley. Probably about 28 years ago, maybe 29, I noticed that you used to walk by the Beaver Valley Ski Club in the most horrendous looking, fuzzy, almost long johns but not quite, outfit, and you would be snowshoeing. You'd be stomping across in front of the senior members lounge and heading out into the up, up the hill at the north end of the club. And we had just started snowshoeing, and this was before it was cool. So I was ahead of the cool game, just saying, okay? As were you. I called you Crazy Legs to my friends. I'd say, "There goes Crazy Legs." And you'd stomp off, and I always thought, "Where the hell's he going?" And then not long after I made the discovery of you being Crazy Legs a friend and I were trying to get over to Talisman to watch our kids race and we wanted to snowshoe over, and we didn't know the way. It Brenda and I, and you found us wandering around up at North looking quite lost and stomping through deep snow, and said, "Ladies, I can show you the way." And Brenda and I looked at each other, and we didn't really know you, and you had on your Crazy Leg outfit, and I thought, "We got no, we haven't got no choice here if we wanna get to Talisman." So you were a fantastic guide through then, and that was before the trails were really marked, and you got us over to Talisman, and that's how I met you. And then after that you said I was scary and powerful, and I thought, "This is good. We could be friends."

bobby_3_06-09-2026_190057 4:48

You were scarier powerful. You were very dynamic, and we just had this simpatico relationship where I knew that deep inside you were a good mystery, and you knew that I was more than just crazy legs. I used to snowshoe because I have Tourette's. I wake up... I say in my comedy I wear a Fitbit to bed and I've done 10,000 steps before I wake up. So for me to g- for me to get up in the morning and go for a snowshoe for three hours and then come back, and I used to make breakfast, and then I'd get to the hill, and I was about at the same energy level as everybody else. So that's how we know each other. But how long ago do you think it was that you walked by me and I was talking about the 12-step program? You said, "Oh, yeah I've been in that or I'm in it."

squadcaster-2j3g_3_06-09-2026_190057 5:42

probably, I don't know, maybe a couple years ago, Bobby, I would say. Yeah

bobby_3_06-09-2026_190057 5:47

a couple of years ago, and this isn't gonna be about the 12-step program, 'cause it's gonna be about your blog. But how long have you been in that program?

squadcaster-2j3g_3_06-09-2026_190057 5:56

years sober in September

bobby_3_06-09-2026_190057 6:01

Yay. Let's have an applause. Isn't that wonderful? That's how you measure this stuff, in years, decades, not in minutes or hours.

squadcaster-2j3g_3_06-09-2026_190057 6:09

it in

bobby_3_06-09-2026_190057 6:10

So

squadcaster-2j3g_3_06-09-2026_190057 6:10

tell you

bobby_3_06-09-2026_190057 6:13

Maybe we can talk about that. This is this is your time, so you can t-talk about whatever you want. But you told me that you had a blog called Intrepid Living, and I signed up, and the first one that I read was about longevity. And of course, you and I are both... we're both grandparents. You're Gigi, right?

squadcaster-2j3g_3_06-09-2026_190057 6:35

Grandma Gail. Yeah

bobby_3_06-09-2026_190057 6:37

And I'm Crazy Bob. So obviously we are older than 60. Is that fair to say?

squadcaster-2j3g_3_06-09-2026_190057 6:44

let you go with that, yeah. Older than 60 and younger than

bobby_3_06-09-2026_190057 6:48

Okay, so we... There you go. So tell me a little bit about... 'Cause I was interested in longevity, and then of course I was reading some of your blogs recently, and there was one about Edna, and your writing is fantastic. And I hope that everybody subscribes because you're gonna love it. It's creative, it's intuitive, and it's fantastic. So what... Tell me about Intrepid Living

squadcaster-2j3g_3_06-09-2026_190057 7:19

you. I'd love to. Actually, it's my second website and kind of blog series, most re- it's the more recent one, and it it came about I was doing some babysitting, and I picked up this book on my daughter's coffee table saying-- And it was called "The Five Regrets of the Dying," and it was by Bronnie Ware, who is a pa- was a palliative caregiver. And and I'm watching, speaking of longevity I watch and hear everybody with their Fitbits and their Oura Rings and their supplements and their, backpacks with weights in it, and all of the things that we're all doing to try to stay fit and healthy and things. And I thought, "I wonder if anybody, when they're, on their way out, is thinking, 'Gee, I wish I had bigger quads or, whatever.'" And so the three regrets that really stuck with me and got me thinking about writing about living a courageous, open-hearted, open-minded life you don't live anymore, the three one- the ones that stuck with me were the one was, I wish I had more courage to live a life true to myself, not one that others expected of me." And the other one was, "I wish I had the courage to express my feelings," then, "I wish I let myself be happier." And I thought about those, and I was in my mid-60s, so well into grandparenthood at the time, and I thought, those should be my life priorities," 'cause if I wanna do that, then the health and things will come behind that to keep me doing those things. So intrepid was a word that really stuck with me because it's fearless, it's courageous, it's inquisitive and curious, and I also wanted to throw in compassion. So it's not so silly, but it's kind of compassion for self and others. that's-- So I write a weekly blog about my experiences, about my thoughts. I'm a seeker, so I go on retreats, and I meet interesting people, and I learn interesting life lessons, and my recovery program has taught me a lot, and I just wanna put it out there, and I want to inspire other people, and I wanna provoke other people to maybe be more honest with themselves, maybe live more honestly so that they don't have regrets when they die.

bobby_3_06-09-2026_190057 9:36

This is your first foray into being on a podcast,

squadcaster-2j3g_3_06-09-2026_190057 9:40

Y- that's correct

bobby_3_06-09-2026_190057 9:41

correct? And, we've gone through social media, we've gone through Facebook, Instagram, and then now all of a sudden we've gone into blogging and all that. This is the new way of communicating with people. People love to listen to podcasts because they have quality time, whether they're in the car, whether they're walking, maybe they're going with Brenda from Beaver Valley to Talisman. And we're trying to get this message out to people, so that's why we're doing this. So I read who you are, and you've done so much stuff. Where do you wanna start when, What, just where do you wanna start? 'Cause this is called What's In Your Toolbox?

squadcaster-2j3g_3_06-09-2026_190057 10:51

w- and at my university education was to be an occupational therapist, and I did that for a little while, but that wasn't adrenaline rushing enough for me, and I saw that you could make a lot of money and have a whole lot of fun, and it was pretty much the Wild West to work on Bay Street in financial markets the '80s, in the early '80s. So I got myself a job there doing that. And I did that for many years, and I was very successful. All the things drove me really worked well in that environment. and then things started to unravel a little bit. I had a family, and I couldn't quite... I was-- the adrenaline rush was wearing me down. The booze was wearing me down. The pace was wearing me down. And I lost myself for a little while. And so I left that career, and then I did training. And I re- actually, when I left the career, I thought what did I really like about it?" Once I got over the adrenaline and the ego, what did I really like about it? What I liked about it was the people, I was starting to understand that I was a connector, that was critical to my wellbeing to feel connected to people. I did my certification to become an executive coach, and that has been my business. still doing some of, a bit of it for the last 20-some odd years. And then probably about seven or eight years ago, I started writing, 'cause One of the things with recovery is that You whenever you started your addiction, whatever it is, whether it's booze, drugs gaming, whatever you basically stop developing emotionally. So I started drinking at 15, so that was it. So whatever my 15-year-old body and mind got sober when I was 50, and so I believe through my 50s I was in my adolescence, and I was learning a lot, and I was terrified, and I was enthralled all at the same time. So I had lots of stuff to write about, and I had lots of unpacking to do. I think we all have unpacking to do. And so the, for me, writing is, was the way to do it. Some people do art, some people other activities. But it, to me, it had to come out in a creative way. So that's when I started writing, and so I write and I coach now. Not a lot of coaching, but a little bit. And I write, and I do a weekly blog, intrepidliving.com, .ca sorry. And I'm the early stages of a book that will be around living a full life courageously, what I've learned, life lessons learned, learned them, sorts of... that kinda living wholeheartedly, which is a line from another great author, Brene Brown, but I really subscribe to it, and I find my lifestyle now is such that I can create the time and space to do that. Find the people that matter, find the things that matter, write about it, inspire other people, and sometimes provoke other people. Give them a bit of a poke to say, "Hey, how are you doing? You, are you not doing stuff 'cause you're afraid? What if you weren't afraid?"

bobby_3_06-09-2026_190057 14:28

So I know a lot about adrenaline 'cause I have Tourette's, and it's got this crazy energy. It manifests itself in some people by twitching, by grunting, by barking, by swearing. And I've had to learn to manage my adrenaline. And like you, I traveled all over the world. I was this business guy who was in the beeper business, and I always stayed ahead of my curve until I moved up to Beaver Valley to outrun my anxieties, 'cause I was living in China, and it really was a problem. And then I got up here, and I crashed because positive adrenaline is as strong as negative adrenaline. Here we are. We're living in Beaver Valley. You're living outside of Red Wing a, on a hobby farm. So how does this create adrenaline for you?

squadcaster-2j3g_3_06-09-2026_190057 15:24

I, first of all, I don't believe I need as m- I'm not as much of an adrenaline junkie now. I actually crave to have a slower pace to my life and have space and time in the middle. And in my drinking years and in early sobriety, to have any open space and time was terrifying for me. What was I gonna do with that? So I would just get busy, and pack stuff, keep packing stuff on. now my feeds come from nature. I hike, I swim, walk, I golf a little bit. I go to the gym several times a week. So I use nature and probably physical activity for that piece that needs to come out, and then I use reading and writing and being with people and volunteering for that other side that needs to be fed as well

bobby_3_06-09-2026_190057 16:23

So did that just happen naturally, or did you have to work at it that you replaced the adrenaline, being an adrenaline junkie, to living mindfully or living in nature-based wellness? How did you make that transition? Or how does somebody make that transition?

squadcaster-2j3g_3_06-09-2026_190057 16:38

Wow. That's the million-dollar question, right? That's my book. You know what? It's a ton of work 'cause it's really scary. Like, when you look at an afternoon and there's nothing in it it can be really uncomfortable, so all of a sudden people are cleaning closets or, phoning someone to do something. It's learning how to live being a little bit uncomfortable and then tuning into that deeper level of what do I really wanna do and then doing that if it's not... it has to be different than what you normally do. So it has to-- You have to break the cycle of the pattern of doing habitually what you normally do, and that's really difficult to do

bobby_3_06-09-2026_190057 17:22

whenever we do these podcasts I have to listen to them about 10 times because I edit them. And, but the last time I listen to them, I say, "Okay, I'm gonna listen to it as if I was learning from it." So do you think being an executive coach and getting high energy, high-powered people has helped you transition into this?

squadcaster-2j3g_3_06-09-2026_190057 17:44

it has because I end up coaching them how not to be like that so much, so often. They want... They a lot of times when people are seeking out executive coaching, it's because they're managing too many balls in the air all at the same time, and they're afraid one's gonna drop, or they're afraid they're gonna burn out, or there's a, there's a rift in whether it's a work relationship that they're gonna lose someone that they really value, or whether it's in their personal life, and it's often both. And so the work personal kind of morphs together into tell me about your day and what parts of it can you control? And a really big thing because the fact is when you ask yourself what you can control, if you think about a triangle, there's the situation, the other person, and you. The only sphere of control you have is you. You don't control the situation, and you can't control the other person. You do have full agency to decide whether you're gonna react to something, which is reflective and habitual and can get you into trouble, or whether you're going to respond, which would be more thoughtful and probably gentler for you and everybody else. And that takes a lot of practice

bobby_3_06-09-2026_190057 19:05

Sure does. Now, I've had quite a few guests on here that were in the 12-step program. And I've never been in the 12-step program, but I've been in the 10,000 step program where you twitch be- so much b- before you wake up. Just kidding, a little bit of humor. it's not a a sentence to be in the 12-step program. Do you think the 12-step program taught you a lot about how you got

squadcaster-2j3g_3_06-09-2026_190057 19:31

for

bobby_3_06-09-2026_190057 19:31

here today?

squadcaster-2j3g_3_06-09-2026_190057 19:32

For sure. They say, these step- these are the steps we recommend. There's no, you have to do this and you have to do that. However, the 12-step program has, not a religious, because we have every walk of life and every belief system and no belief systems all in the same room. But it's, there's just a spiritual aspect to it. And some people find it in a, in what they would call a higher power or the... I think of it as the universe or universal energy. Some people find it's just the group, but something that kind of right-sizes them out of their ego and need for control. And then once you can right-size that, then you can start to be really honest with yourself. The 12-step program really taught me to be honest, and I believe for all of us, if I think about back to the, regrets of the dying the big one is I really wish I'd been more honest with myself so that I lived a life that was truer to who I am, not to what everybody else wanted

bobby_3_06-09-2026_190057 20:37

So I know you're very spiritual. One of your blogs, you just said you came back from some retreat somewhere and you were talking to Edna. Who... Tell me about Edna. Who is Edna?

squadcaster-2j3g_3_06-09-2026_190057 20:52

the name I've given to my inner critic, and if anybody's listening and says, "Oh, I, I don't have an inner critic," I'm gonna say, don't you just, you dig a little deeper and listen to what goes on in your head when you're feeling uncomfortable in a situation, you're feeling afraid, you're feeling nervous, you're avoiding any of those things." That's your inner critic, that little unconscious voice in your head that's saying no, this is dangerous. No, you can't do that," or, "Who do you think you are?" Or, whatever it is. "You're not strong enough. You're not smart enough. You're not this, you're not that." So that, that's Edna. I named her Edna. I can't really remember where I got that name from, but I felt she had to have a name, because in the work I've done in my spiritual program, I've had to converse with her and my relationship with her

bobby_3_06-09-2026_190057 21:42

So when did you become spiritual?

squadcaster-2j3g_3_06-09-2026_190057 21:44

think as m-

bobby_3_06-09-2026_190057 21:46

Have you al... Maybe you've always been spiritual

squadcaster-2j3g_3_06-09-2026_190057 21:48

been spiritual. It got drowned in gin, and then as I was trying to come up for air from the gin, I started getting a bit more spiritual, but I felt I was being, a bit hypocritical, that was part of what led me to know I needed to get sober. And then I find quite comfort, and I find that spiritual focus helps me stay in my body and learn from it, and then also helps me focus and learn from other people

bobby_3_06-09-2026_190057 22:26

Now, I know you do yoga. What about mindfulness? Are you a mindfulness person?

squadcaster-2j3g_3_06-09-2026_190057 22:31

am. I, never as much as I'd like to, but I I like mindfulness and breathwork. I think for all of us it can really be a reset for your brain to do some, yogic breathing and then a little bit of meditation. my biggest challenge with mindfulness is slowing down enough to be mindful. Like, when you're walking, not to be... I do not listen to anything when I'm walking. When I'm walking, I want to know what's going on around me. I wanna hear the birds, I wanna hear a rustle that might be a deer, I wanna keep track of my dogs. So I really focus on being wherever I am, being in that and not having something else go on. I'm the opposite of a multitasker now, and I didn't used to be, but I am now. I think multitasking's caca.

bobby_3_06-09-2026_190057 23:22

Then not everybody has the luxury of living in the beautiful Beaver Valley. If you lived in Could you do the same thing?

squadcaster-2j3g_3_06-09-2026_190057 23:31

it there. Yeah, I got-- Yes, I lived in Toronto, up until s- five or six years ago. Every week I was in Toronto for full weeks and then just a few days. There are... you could be mindful in your backyard, in, on your balcony noticing the clouds in the sky, noticing the city sounds. Your breathing can happen anywhere. You can be mindful walk... you sure as heck have to be mindful walking on Yonge Street so you don't get killed between traffic and scooters and cyclists, et cetera. Mindfulness is like noticing, like being aware of what's going on around you and noticing, and without, with, ideally without judging it. There it is. Wow, that person is driving really fast. I need to just step away from the curb a bit 'cause they're driving. It's just noticing and being in your skin and in whatever environment you're in, as opposed to making a shopping list and talking on the telephone and weaving in and out of people without noticing, and all of a sudden realizing that you're walking across and the light has turned red and you're in the middle of the intersection. And I've seen that happen a lot

bobby_3_06-09-2026_190057 24:43

Listen, I've talked about mindfulness. It took seven years to be my friend. I had to do mindfulness because I went to to Pat Rockman's mindfulness institute. And I just had to be mindless because I was so sick I couldn't get out of bed. But it took seven years to be my friend. Would you say it's your friend now?

squadcaster-2j3g_3_06-09-2026_190057 25:02

Abso- absolutely.

bobby_3_06-09-2026_190057 25:04

Yeah

squadcaster-2j3g_3_06-09-2026_190057 25:05

It's like a it's like a safe haven, don't you think?

bobby_3_06-09-2026_190057 25:12

How long did it take before you could... 'Cause I hear from so many people, "I can't sit. My mind goes crazy. I hate doing it." I just bought my sister actually for her 68th birthday a meditation pillow, and I sent her one of Pat's, one of Pat's meditations. So how long did it take before it became your friend? Was it instantaneous, or did it take a long time?

squadcaster-2j3g_3_06-09-2026_190057 25:34

not. 25 years ago I tried to meditate and I said, "Nah," I said, "I'm just not cut out for it. I can't sit still long enough and I have too much on my brain." I, I used to say jokingly, "My brain's just too big, man. It's just too much going on." The fact is that think that what helps when you're trying to get into it and what can make it a little less scary is to do guided meditations then you're still listening, and if you can just focus on listening to someone who's suggesting that you imagine a beach or you imagine water running I found that a nice way to get me started that wasn't so scary 'cause it wasn't all up to me. I knew someone was gonna tell me what to do 'cause I sure as hell didn't know what to do

bobby_3_06-09-2026_190057 26:21

And tell me about your breathwork. I once saw you and Angie in the parking lot. You were going to go cold plunging

squadcaster-2j3g_3_06-09-2026_190057 26:28

Yep

bobby_3_06-09-2026_190057 26:28

in Georgian Bay, and I cold plunge. So tell me about cold plunging as a tool. What do you use it for, and What do you use it for?

squadcaster-2j3g_3_06-09-2026_190057 26:37

for a whole mind-body reset and exhilaration, and it just seems to clear my brain. We cold plunge. We go in Georgian Bay all year round, so we go in all winter. And we breathe beforehand, just yogic breathing to clear our heads and have some quiet and kinda get into our body a little bit. And then and then we go in the water and stay... it was below zero and we were hanging onto icebergs this past winter 'cause it was, there was so much shore ice. It just is a reset of mind, body, and even spirit that I don't know how else to describe it.

bobby_3_06-09-2026_190057 27:22

I understand because I do it all the time. You dunk your head at the end?

squadcaster-2j3g_3_06-09-2026_190057 27:26

dunk our heads.

bobby_3_06-09-2026_190057 27:27

'Cause I dunk my head,

squadcaster-2j3g_3_06-09-2026_190057 27:28

h- what, how-

bobby_3_06-09-2026_190057 27:30

I dunk my head because it that's the way I finish off and it really, that's like the pinnacle now I'm

squadcaster-2j3g_3_06-09-2026_190057 27:37

Really?

bobby_3_06-09-2026_190057 27:38

good

squadcaster-2j3g_3_06-09-2026_190057 27:39

so we go in up to here so that we get our thyroid, which we've read about in the back of our neck. But I haven't dunked my head. I think I'm a bit worried about a sinus brain freeze. But you know what? Who knows?

bobby_3_06-09-2026_190057 27:57

You're not gonna have a sinus brain freeze. You are such, you are you're a lived experience human being in a young person's mind, and unfortunately me too, except we're in old people's bodies, but not so bad. W- I think we're doing pretty good. So listen, I asked you, I told you I have a BAST, Bob's Amazing Support Team, and you, I know, have a GAST, Gail's Amazing Support Team. I hope you mention that beautiful husband of yours, because I love him because he's little like us but, and he's fantastic. So tell me about your support team

squadcaster-2j3g_3_06-09-2026_190057 28:36

I actually, I thought about that 'cause you mentioned it earlier, and I thought my support team, I I think I have I have a bullpen and then I have the front line, like the pinch hitters, and then I have the people in training. So my support team consists of my vault people, those are people who are the safest for me to share absolutely anything with and to be however I need to be in that moment, and that I know that it will stay with us. So I call them my vault people. And I have just a handful of those, and my husband is, the key vault person. And then I have my recovery team, which is an incredible support team, and program the 12-step program is like a support system. Like I can get on a plane and go anywhere in the world and land, and I always make sure I know where I could go to a meeting if I felt I needed to go to a meeting. Anywhere in the world. I've been in Spain, I've been in Italy, I've been in the UK, I've been out at Whistler, down in South Carolina, down in Florida, you name it. So that's your just in time support team. And then I have this wonderful community. I'm old, right? So I've got these snippets of people that we do a lot of activities together, we dine together, we travel together, and if I fall down, I know they're gonna pick me up

bobby_3_06-09-2026_190057 30:04

Listen to me. This has been so fantastic. You know when you do things where hours turn into minutes?

squadcaster-2j3g_3_06-09-2026_190057 30:12

Wow.

bobby_3_06-09-2026_190057 30:12

God, I just started s- snowshoeing and all of a sudden it's 3:00. We are out of time, girl. This has been so fantastic because so much, but the reality is that I've never heard somebody succinctly, when I ask them about their support system, talk about a vault, talk about your support team through your... and of course

squadcaster-2j3g_3_06-09-2026_190057 30:42

K.

bobby_3_06-09-2026_190057 30:42

your group of friends. So listen, my friend, this is going to be, It's over, but we're gonna do it again. We're gonna do it next year as a pickup because by that time you'll have your book out and there will be show notes so where people can subscribe to your blog. It doesn't cost anything, right?

squadcaster-2j3g_3_06-09-2026_190057 31:02

go online intrepidliving.ca and read what you wanna read, and then at the bottom it just says subscribe, and I won't hassle you. You just give me your email, and then when I put a new blog out, it lands in usually your inbox, usually in promotions. Don't even get me started on that. And when my book is out, you will be the first to know about that as well

bobby_3_06-09-2026_190057 31:27

Listen, this is Bobby Colvin and Saying thank you so much for listening to this episode of What's In Your Toolbox. Wow, that was just great because I didn't get to say half the things that I wanted to ask, but I'm the host and she's the guest, and I think she very succinctly talked about her journey and things that sometimes people see negatives that they're in the 12-step program. She explained it as a positive, and she's explained that she's replaced adrenaline with something else that's just as strong just as meaningful. And we learned about Edna, so maybe some of you people have your own Edna. I don't have an Edna. My inner voice is, I'm gonna think about it. I'm, the ne- when we talk next time I'm gonna have, I'm gonna have somebody. So listen, as I always do at the end of these podcasts I clip out something from the newspaper that is meaningful to me. And on May the 16th, in the Toronto Star, there was an article about Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen and his Artemis two crew mates have shared some of the life lessons they learned preparing for and carrying out their record-breaking lunar flyby last month. The crew attended an event in Montreal, and they were asked to share their advice, what they learned that could help people on Earth, and here's what they had to say. And I'll just the first part was, "Hansen told the crew, the crowd, that the astronaut team committed to developing a close relationship and worked on it constantly, like building and exercising a new muscle." So my guest, Gail Heeney, I got that right, has used her challenges in life to build a new muscle, and she's living her best life, and she is Intrepid Living. So in conclusion, everybody, you just listened to some tools that somebody had. I found out that I'm Crazy Legs, which is cool. in the show notes you'll see a link to Gail's blog. This episode will also be on YouTube, so you can see this dynamic power host person who offered to talk a little bit about herself and open her kimono. So our next episode is called Walk for Courage. So this is Bobby Koven saying thank you so much for listening to this episode of What's In Your Toolbox.

34:34

Thank you for listening to No Magic Bullet, What's In Your Toolbox? I am not a doctor, but I have lived experience in dealing with the many challenges of mental health. If you enjoyed this podcast, please subscribe and share with others who will benefit from learning about tools they can use to deal with their own mental health challenges. If we can help just one person, all this effort to bring this podcast to you is worth it