Leave A Light On Podcast
Welcome to "Leave A Light On Podcast," the podcast that brings you inspiring stories of ordinary people overcoming extraordinary challenges in their lives. Join us as we delve into the lives of individuals from all walks of life, exploring the adversities they face and the resilience they demonstrate in overcoming them.
In each episode, we'll introduce you to a new guest—a parent, a teacher, a healthcare worker, a student, a veteran, or perhaps your neighbor next door. Through heartfelt interviews and candid conversations, we'll uncover the personal battles they've fought, whether it's overcoming illness, navigating through loss, breaking free from addiction, or facing societal barriers.
From tales of triumph over adversity to stories of perseverance in the face of hardship, "Leave a Light On Podcast" celebrates the human spirit and the strength found within each of us. You'll laugh, you'll cry, and most importantly, you'll be inspired by the resilience and determination of these everyday people who refuse to be defined by their struggles.
So, tune in and join us on this journey of hope, empowerment, and the celebration of the human spirit. Because in the end, it's the stories of everyday people that remind us all that we are capable of overcoming anything life throws our way.
Leave A Light On Podcast
Episode 3 - Shayne van As, Lessons in Resilience from Durban to Down Under
Ever wondered how a childhood in Johannesburg's "Gangster's Paradise" could shape a person's future? Join us as our co-host, Shayne van As, takes you on a journey through his vibrant South African roots to his current life in Australia. From dealing with the challenges of growing up with a young mother to thriving in a multicultural environment rife with crime, his story is nothing short of compelling. His reflections on attending a prestigious but brutal boarding school in Durban reveal profound lessons on resilience, self-esteem, and the stark contrasts of wealth and privilege.
Shayne's career trajectory is equally fascinating, taking him from the soccer fields as a professional player to classrooms as a dedicated teacher, and now to the mining industry. Listen to his inspiring anecdotes about overcoming severe bullying and the pivotal friendships formed at a youth group that helped him navigate life's trials. His insightful perspectives on wealth, privilege, and personal growth offer enriching takeaways for anyone grappling with similar challenges or looking to understand the diverse fabric of South African society.
The story takes a delightful turn as he shares his serendipitous move to Australia, initially for a wedding but extended due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Hear about the significant personal transformations he experienced, including meeting his now wife, Chantelle, and the journey toward permanent residency. With minimalistic values and a focus on experiences over possessions, Shayne's reset in Australia offers a powerful message about the importance of growth through hard decisions and the value of a supportive community. Join us for this heartfelt episode and engage with us on social media to share your own stories and insights.
Check out our socials on Instagram and Facebook at LeaveALightOnPodcast, and connect with us there.
Share your stories with us and lets Leave a Light On
I'm going to go to bed. A show that looks to tackle the everyday struggles in our everyday lives. It's time to shed some light on it. Here's your hosts, Shane and Shiv.
Speaker 2:Yo, good afternoon, good morning, good evening, wherever you may be joining us. Or in my native tongue, how's it? And to my co-host Shiv, what's happening?
Speaker 3:Hey buddy, what's going on? I'm really excited for today's episode. Yeah yeah episode. Yeah yeah, episode number three. So, yeah, really, really pumped.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's going to be a good one. I don't know. I'm not as excited as you are.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so we did me last week.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we did, you last week and you're this week.
Speaker 3:Yeah, can you?
Speaker 1:believe it.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I'm really to find out who you are, where you've come from and the person you are today.
Speaker 2:Well, obviously, to our listeners, you all know that today's guest is the one and only me, shane.
Speaker 3:Vanas.
Speaker 2:Good job, yeah yeah, very good job. Not Vanaz, not Vanaz or Vanaz or however you want to say, it Vanas.
Speaker 3:Yeah, this is awesome.
Speaker 2:So I'll welcome myself. Welcome to our guest Shane.
Speaker 3:Listen to it, he gets into it. He gets into it. Let's go.
Speaker 1:Oh, actually, yeah, I'll make the background. I think he's had a few.
Speaker 3:I'll make the background, yeah, he has Another one.
Speaker 2:I was going to pretend she did by the intro I was going to and today's guest is Shane.
Speaker 1:Yeah, well, I think the listeners are going to get a real good kick out of that.
Speaker 3:So you don't have to do that, because I really do think the listeners are going to get a good kick Pardon me, good kick out of, yeah, what you have to say and where you've come from. Thanks, shane, because it is, I think, just from the snippets you've told me, I think it's yeah, I think it's going to be awesome.
Speaker 1:Thank you.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so, without further ado, let's get into it. Let's get into it. So tell us about yourself. Who are you? What are you about?
Speaker 2:Yeah, well, obviously my name's Shane. I am married to one wife, and that is my wife Chantelle. What do you mean? One wife?
Speaker 3:Which is a joke. So, in South Africa you married one wife, so in South Africa you can marry multiple wives In different cultures.
Speaker 2:You can marry.
Speaker 3:Oh, really, yeah, oh wow, I'm hard up trying to keep one happy yeah no, so I married to one wife.
Speaker 2:She's incredible. Yep yeah.
Speaker 3:Yeah cool.
Speaker 2:Now I work in the mines. Yeah, sweet, yep, I'm a qualified teacher.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, Nice I trade.
Speaker 2:Yep was a professional soccer player and was involved in soccer management for a while.
Speaker 3:Yeah right, it sounds like you've had a pretty interesting upbringing.
Speaker 2:Professional soccer player teacher. Yeah, what are you doing sitting here talking to me?
Speaker 3:I don't know Professional soccer player. That's pretty cool.
Speaker 2:Obviously for South Africa. Yeah, not for South Africa. Specifically, I didn't represent national.
Speaker 3:Oh right, specifically.
Speaker 2:I didn't represent national, oh right, yep. But yeah, I was lucky enough and fortunate enough to earn a career doing the sport I love.
Speaker 3:That's good. Yeah, right, Fair enough. Yeah, I'm not, unfortunately. I'm not a big soccer fan.
Speaker 2:I can't concur with you. That's okay. It's only the world's most popular sport. It's only the world's most popular sport. I'm a cricket guy, Are you? Yeah?
Speaker 3:cricket and AFL guy Okay cricket, but I do like the South Africans. When Australia plays South Africa in the cricket it's always a good comp Always a good comp.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it is, it is.
Speaker 3:Anyway. So what childhood years growing up in South Africa. What were they like? How was that growing up, you know, going through school and whatnot in South Africa.
Speaker 2:Yeah Well, from what you've heard, obviously South Africa is a pretty interesting place.
Speaker 3:Yes.
Speaker 2:Both interesting good and interesting bad. So, growing up, I was born in 1987. Yep In a place called Johannesburg, which is known as the concrete jungle or gangsters paradise to all my South African mates that are listening. Okay, peace out, gp. Gp, what do you mean? Gauteng Province? So like we don't have states in.
Speaker 3:South Africa.
Speaker 1:They call them provinces, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:And the one that Johannesburg is in is called Gauteng, and so GP Gauteng Province is Gangster's Paradise, they call it.
Speaker 3:Oh right, okay, yeah, because Khartoum province is gangsters paradise. They call it. Oh right, okay, yeah, cause I was a bit like when you told me that I looked at you weird Cause I was like yeah, yeah, so fair enough, gangsters paradise. I was born in Johannesburg in 1987.
Speaker 2:Um, my mother was 18 at the time when she had me. Oh, wow, so she was only young. Yeah, she was actually still in high school year, in matric, or year 12, as you call it yeah, in australia, okay. And so she had me literally rode to her final matric exam or assessment and went straight to the hospital and had me how good is that?
Speaker 3:yeah right, yeah, I've got to go. I've got a baby to do. That is pretty cool yeah the test results are in folks. Yeah, yeah, that is pretty cool.
Speaker 2:Eh, I'm under no illusion that I was not planned.
Speaker 3:I think you were. I was very much a mistake.
Speaker 2:My mother was like I said 18 and my dad was 20 at the time.
Speaker 1:They were not married.
Speaker 2:They subsequently got married when I was two years old.
Speaker 3:Two or three, I was quite young, so do you have any siblings along with you besides yourself? Yes, how many do you have any siblings along with you besides yourself? Yes, how many do you have?
Speaker 2:I have my oldest sister, who was born with my biological parents, my mum and my dad. She's six and a half years younger than me, so I'm the oldest by far. Okay, I think she was planned Just the one. So, yeah, I'll get into that now.
Speaker 3:Oh, okay, yeah, sorry yeah.
Speaker 2:So yeah, one um. So yeah, I'll get into that now, okay, yeah, sorry, yeah, so yeah, she's yeah cool. So she's the full sister um, and then I have two half sisters and a half brother.
Speaker 3:Okay, oh, nice, right. Yeah, yeah, sweet. So uh, do you see them very often or are they still in south africa?
Speaker 2:they live here um, so all my sisters are in new zealand at the moment, oh okay, and my brother is, as far as I know, is back in south africa. Yeah okay, cool right, yeah right sweet.
Speaker 3:Well, there you go, that's, uh, they're a bit, oh, okay, and my brother is, as far as I know is, back in South Africa. Yeah, okay, cool, right, yeah, right, sweet. Well, there you go. They're a bit spread out, aren't they yeah? Especially from South Africa and New Zealand and stuff like that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, a little bit of a clarification on that. My parents got a divorce when I was 12 years old, okay, so they separated and my dad got remarried and my two sisters are from him, and my stepmother and then my biological mother had a son with another individual, and he's my half brother.
Speaker 3:Yeah, okay, so what about your parents? Like how were they growing up? Like obviously, yeah, you mentioned that you had half sisters and stuff like that.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:So obviously your parents like you've got a stepmom and stuff like that and yeah so, okay, obviously your parents like you've got a stepmom and stuff, yeah so growing up um, obviously the first part of my life up until they got divorced.
Speaker 2:Um, to be honest with you, it's pretty much picture perfect it was the stuff that you would probably read in, like movies or seeing movies, and things like that my dad was fairly well off. He had a great job at the time and was earning good money. My mother was actually a stay-at-home mom because my dad was doing so well, and then obviously it was just my sister and I and I had everything a child could want for. I didn't lack anything and lived in a really Prestigious area Back in.
Speaker 3:Johannesburg Just a bit To say that, especially with South Africa. Just, I mean I've never been To South Africa or anything like that, but I've got mates of mine that have been, like my old man's, been To South Africa. So when you say you had everything as a kid, that For someone like me Like nothing bad, but it's very stereotyped for me because you only see the bad parts of south africa.
Speaker 1:Yeah, do you know what?
Speaker 3:I mean like if I could say that properly, if you know what I'm getting at.
Speaker 2:Yeah, like I say, like south africa is is a beautiful country and I won't get too deep into it but there's, it's my love for south africa. I mean, I still love, I'm still patriotically south african now, even though I've immigrated to australia. Yep, um, I love my country and I think there's I love south africans in general. Um, there's obviously a minority of people that that make it a really dangerous place. Yeah, okay, um, the crime stats and murder stats and everything like that are pretty high in south africa.
Speaker 2:Yep, um, but the african culture is just such a beautiful culture um we had 12 official languages in South Africa, which obviously meant that those languages were associated with different cultures, which meant you had such a multicultural upbringing from me anyway, which was wonderful. Like I said, I just really enjoyed my upbringing and didn't look for anything. Yeah cool. And the people I've had the privilege of kind of having through my life have been incredible, and that's from all walks of life and all cultures.
Speaker 3:Yeah right, okay, yeah, sweet. That's really interesting to know that you've had a decent childhood, especially, as you said, because people outside looking in only really see the bad parts. Yeah so it's good to know that you had like a decent childhood and you know you had everything as a kid and all that sort of stuff. That's good, that, yeah, I'm sure you would have said the bad parts of South Africa yourself living there as well.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, it's pretty interesting stuff. Yeah, I would have since mentioning stuff. Obviously, I've had my share, my fair share of uh negative stuff that has happened and come through south africa from um obviously being held up at gunpoint, to having people break into my home, to my vehicle stolen. Um, yeah, it's all.
Speaker 3:Wow, became just part of life oh, mate, I would have cried if I I would have wet my pants if someone held me at gunpoint.
Speaker 2:Yeah, look, I mean, it's pretty obviously scary.
Speaker 3:But you would have been used to that living in South Africa, wouldn't you? Because that would have been not an everyday thing. But do you know? What I mean that would have been roughly so to get held up in gunpoint right now in Australia. It'd be different, Like it'd be like what the hell is going on.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so, like I said, it was kind of you kind of grew up with around, so you knew kind of what you had to do and what you were expecting, I suppose.
Speaker 1:Yep. I still remember when.
Speaker 2:I first landed in Australia and a friend of mine picked me up from the airport and we're driving out of Sydney airport.
Speaker 1:You were actually telling me this story. It was about 10.30 at night.
Speaker 2:I think 10.30, 11 o'clock at night and we drove out of Sydney airport and I remember seeing this young couple walking down the street holding hands, like in this really like secluded area it wasn't very like populated or anything like that and they were walking holding hands. I still remember looking at my friend and being like what the heck are these people doing? They can't be walking out here all by themselves and things like surely that's not safe. And he just looked at me and he was like dude, like you're not in South Africa anymore.
Speaker 3:Cause I remember you telling me off air about that. You said if you did that in South Africa, more than likely yeah.
Speaker 2:You would get jumped. You were, you were putting yourself in a really precarious place. Put it that way.
Speaker 3:Yeah, other questions just trying to get to know Shane and what he's all about. But where'd you go to school at in South Africa? Like like, how was school growing up? Yeah, friends and stuff, like how was it so school for me?
Speaker 2:was, was quite interesting. Obviously, um at the time South Africa had just come out of apartheid, which means a lot of schools were starting to become multicultural. Um, which in my primary school to be honest I don't remember too much about it, um was in the middle of johannesburg was a very decent school. I think we had about a thousand kids or students um which is quite a fairly sized school.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it was fair, fair, yeah, um, but it was like I. I had a fairly good first upbringing at my primary school when I was 12 years old, I like to think I was pretty intelligent. I was achieving pretty good marks in school and probably I was at the time I think I was second in the province for mathematics.
Speaker 3:Yeah right, wow Well that's why we're doing the podcast, and you're the brains behind it. Yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you've already switched on with this technical like yeah.
Speaker 3:So yeah, no fair enough.
Speaker 2:That's pretty cool, the second in Providence, so that's yeah that must be a pretty huge achievement for you yeah, and then I would say probably the second half of my kind of schooling career was very different to the first half.
Speaker 3:Yeah, okay. So what's that all about? Are you talking about like high school?
Speaker 2:Yeah, high school Okay.
Speaker 3:Do you just want to elaborate? Give us a quick rundown. Don't go into too much detail, no well, I suppose.
Speaker 2:So life changed very much when kind of 12 years old hit. For me that was like year seven. So I was going into high school the next year and obviously parents came to me and sat my sister and I down. It was very much different. She was only six years old at the time and they obviously informed us that they were going to be separating, they were getting a divorce, and so, to be honest with you, it wasn't something that I really knew much about at the time.
Speaker 1:I didn't know what it was going to entail.
Speaker 2:Obviously, all I knew is that they were going to be separating and they were going to be living in different houses, and it was a big shock, for me Especially at 12 because you still don't.
Speaker 3:You're getting older, but you've still got a little bit of an immature brain. You don't really know what's going on. Do you know what I'm trying to say? Like, it's one of those things.
Speaker 2:It's critical. I would say it's probably one of the most critical times in a child's life is that 12, 13, 14 years where they kind of becoming that adult, um, maturing, going through that puberty stage and things like that and kind of just figuring out a lot more about themselves. Yeah, okay. So, um, yeah, it was just a. It was a very interesting time for me I didn't really know how to take it and um, anyway, uh, my dad was incredible through the whole process, like he um, he obviously said to us like he still cared a lot about my mother and he was going to make sure that she was wanting for nothing and he was obviously, um, going to move out and she would have everything she needed to look after.
Speaker 2:My sister and I and we would go and visit him, obviously every second weekend or whenever we needed um, we were going to spend time with him. Um, and he was very respectful, yeah, um, towards my mother. Never to this day I don't think I ever remember him ever like um saying anything negative towards her or okay um putting her down in any way, shape or form.
Speaker 2:Like it was he was, he was incredibly integrous about the whole situation which I've always admired yeah okay. On the other hand, my mother didn't take it so well she was not happy um with the whole divorce situation.
Speaker 2:She often would put my father down and obviously put a lot of the blame on him and say he was the reason why we were going through this and he was the reason for the heartache and the pain and and so um, and because we were obviously living with her, uh it, it definitely put a lot of strain and stress on us, especially in that like development kind of stage of our life.
Speaker 3:Of course, especially if, like your mum, like one side of the coins, like you know, all for it, you know like still praising your mum, stuff like that. But the other side of the coin it's a bit more. You know, uneven if that makes sense. You know like, yeah, your mum, yeah, so, but but going being 12 years old and stuff like that, like I mean just quickly, like my old man and my mum got a divorce, but I was too so I didn't know.
Speaker 1:Do you know what I mean?
Speaker 3:but what I'm saying is like 12 years old, it's probably a bit more. You still don't really know what's going on, but you got more of an idea yeah, it makes sense.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you kind of can comprehend it, if at the same time, I don't think you're mature enough to really grapple what it means no, that's.
Speaker 3:yeah, that's exactly right.
Speaker 2:So it's a very interesting age.
Speaker 3:Yeah, okay.
Speaker 2:So yeah, so that all kind of happened. When I was 12, 13 years old and then transgressed From there, my dad met his now wife. My stepmom Yep met his now wife. Okay, my stepmom yep and we ended up moving from johannesburg to a coastal place called durban, okay, which is very similar to newcastle, where we are now um in terms of the climate, and it was a lot more laid back and um more coastally.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, so obviously surfing and and beaches and and those kind of things, yep, and that kind of climate which is very different to me, and initially I'd fought the whole process of moving because I was very settled in.
Speaker 3:Johannesburg. You would have friends and everything.
Speaker 1:Friends and everything.
Speaker 2:yeah, and I came to a place where my real mom's grandparents were in Durban and we would often come and visit them for like holidays and things like that and I always enjoyed it, but I didn't enjoy it enough to really move there. So and I didn't know anyone, but anyway I managed to have. Well I say I managed I had the privilege of getting into a really, really like high end school in Durban. In Durban yeah, it was. It's probably in the one of the top 10 schools in the country.
Speaker 3:Yeah right.
Speaker 2:And it was. With that obviously came a big price tag to it.
Speaker 3:Yeah, of course it would have been very expensive, yeah.
Speaker 2:At this stage. Obviously, with the divorce and things like that, my dad had also changed jobs at the time and was not earning as much as he was, so we weren't very affluent when it came to obviously what some of the other students' parents were Middle of the road, type of thing. Yeah, In this particular school I would say I wasn't even middle of the road. I was probably on the lower end when it came to some of the budgets, that some of them were working with Yep and it was a boarding school as well.
Speaker 3:Oh right, so that was all boys.
Speaker 2:All boys. Oh right, so that explains why, you how you are now?
Speaker 1:I'm joking.
Speaker 2:I'm joking. No, that's all right.
Speaker 3:Did you get beaten? Yeah, I'm joking. Yeah, no boarding schools. Yeah, all boys. Yeah.
Speaker 2:No boarding schools. Yeah, all boys, yeah, Back in the 70s and stuff people used to get lost. Well, yeah, but obviously different times. Big egos.
Speaker 3:No, that's all right. So, okay, that's pretty interesting to find out, yeah, that you were middle of the road sort of on the low end, especially going to such a high-end school and all that.
Speaker 2:Do you think that benefited you in the long run going to such a high-end school, boarding school, uh, with you like your career choices that you look yeah, I mean the the education level I was getting was obviously, um, obviously really awesome, incredibly incredibly good and definitely does bode me well in terms of, obviously, career. Yep, I think for me, um, the things that I got out of school was a lot more life lessons.
Speaker 3:Oh right, If that made sense. Yeah, definitely yeah.
Speaker 2:I think growing up and having, like I said, everything I had, and then going there and seeing what everyone else had and then experiencing the other kind of spectrum of the financial kind of table, it made me appreciate things a lot more.
Speaker 3:Yeah, okay.
Speaker 2:Yeah, right of table. Um, it made me appreciate things a lot more. Yeah, okay, yeah, I think I also. Uh, high school was probably one of the toughest times of my life the kind of life to be honest with you, yep, um, especially in the school I was, I was obviously grappling with the fact that I was going through a lot personally, with, with my, with my parents, and, without getting too much, there was other things that were going on there.
Speaker 3:Yeah, cool.
Speaker 2:But, yeah, I wasn't the most confident person and in that, obviously, going to school where there were a lot of egos from the students there and a lot of people, people thought that they were better than others and so, uh, one of the hardest things I had to probably go through was that I got bullied yeah, when I was in high school yeah okay, um like pretty severely, like uh, I was. Yeah, I was told I was um the lowest of low. I was called every name that you could think of I was.
Speaker 3:Yeah right, well Told.
Speaker 2:I would never amount to anything To the point where I was even, yeah, beaten.
Speaker 3:Yeah, okay.
Speaker 2:They would. I had guys walk up behind me and just kick me for no reason or Hit me in the back of the head or those kind of things, just because they.
Speaker 3:Yeah, they thought they were better. Yeah, it sounds very similar to me Like the bully side of things, so I can relate to that a little bit. Growing up going through the high school years, so I can definitely relate to that.
Speaker 2:I still remember going home some days and just absolutely like bawling my eyes out to my dad and just being like I don't want to go back to school, like I just I would you know I'd say I was sick in the morning sometimes to not go in, did not? Go yeah, and meanwhile, there was absolutely nothing wrong with me. You know, yeah, okay, um. So yeah, high school was tough.
Speaker 2:It taught me resilience to be honest okay, pushing through that and I I did subsequently meet some really key figures um, through that to to really kind of stand with me a little bit and and show me a bit of support, which was, which was great, yeah, um, and, like I said, high school taught me a lot of life lessons yeah, cool. I don't feel, um, that people need to go through that in order to, yeah, kind of learn those life lessons, yeah, okay um, so you're talking about like the whole divorce, bullying and stuff like that?
Speaker 2:Yeah, there was other issues at the time with my mother, yep. Obviously she didn't take the divorce too well and she started to. She got into drugs quite badly. Yeah, okay, yep, and so it all culminated, yep. Long story, short, yeah it all culminated to a point where my sister and I actually ended up going to live with my dad.
Speaker 3:Okay, which wouldn't have been easier in itself. Your mum doing that type of thing, it would have been a lot harder yeah.
Speaker 2:So yeah, so culminated with that and the bullying and everything like that, High school was an incredibly tough period for me to kind of walk through. I yeah, high school was an incredibly tough period for me to kind of walk through.
Speaker 3:I really battled. Yeah, okay, yep, yeah, I suppose the battles that we fought every day. It makes us who we are really.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3:So I like to think that, I mean, we've known each other for close to two years now and I like to think that, even though you've had struggles growing up and obviously I've had struggles growing up it's made us the people that we are today.
Speaker 2:So yeah, yeah. Well, I mean, I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for those struggles.
Speaker 3:Yeah, exactly, but as you said good life lessons you've learned.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so yeah.
Speaker 3:What about just trying to think now? So what about like influences and stuff like that who was your biggest influence going through school? Like who did you look up to? And you know.
Speaker 2:Yeah, what did you?
Speaker 3:want to inspire to be when you left school and stuff, I guess. So the question, I suppose.
Speaker 2:Going through high school, I suppose my biggest influence, and probably the person I'd say was my hero, was my father. Okay, yep, I really did look up to him. He was, like I said, the whole way through. He's incredibly integrous. He never, he never, ever said anything negative towards my mother. He protected us. He made sure that my sister and I always looked after and had everything we needed and then subsequently, like I said, when we eventually did go live with him, there was never anything in him that was against it in any way or fought it. I still remember him coming at 2 o'clock in the morning to come pick my sister and I up.
Speaker 3:Oh, that's awesome. So he always had your back, yeah.
Speaker 2:Which is great.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And he himself had a bit of a difficult journey going through life as well.
Speaker 3:Yeah, okay.
Speaker 2:Through this whole period and even up until fairly recently, I would say and I've always admired his resilience and his kind of fortitude to always kind of just keep going, yeah, right Through everything.
Speaker 3:Yeah, cool fortitude to always kind of just keep going, yeah, right and through everything, yeah.
Speaker 2:So he was definitely one of my biggest kind of uh influences. I would say, yeah, sweet. The other um probably influence I would probably say came along later in my high school career was, um. It all culminated probably in my final year of high school and I was in a real bad place and a friend of mine invited me to a youth group at the church and I kind of didn't really want to go to it, to be honest, because I didn't really know much about, you know, christianity or anything like that at the time. And anyway, it all culminated one day when I was like, eventually I just was at a place where I just couldn't keep going and I was like, okay, I'll, let's go, I'll give this a go, I'll go with you on a friday night to a youth group and see what it's about yeah um and ended up going and met some really key people in my life there that are still in my life today, um that I really consider um role models that's good.
Speaker 2:That's good that you got close to people with that.
Speaker 3:And that that they'll be able to become a bit of an influence on your life. You don't have to be like that.
Speaker 2:It's good that you had them there you know Key people, like a very good friend of mine, phil Yep.
Speaker 3:Okay, I don't think he realizes how much impact he's had in my life.
Speaker 2:Shout out to Phil if he's podcast. Yeah, um, his brother colin also. Uh, he had an older brother, colin. Yeah, okay, um was also a really big influence in me and yep, just in terms of, let's say, those boys are listed, yeah, and then another guy who was the youth leader at the time, um is hilton um was someone I've really admired and looked up to, because he's not. He's not what you would expect yeah, really okay, from someone who has been in the church as long as he has, I suppose.
Speaker 3:So what do you?
Speaker 2:say A bit rough around the edges. No he is one of the coolest guys I know. Yeah, okay, like so cool and switched on and suave.
Speaker 3:I know you might have meant like, yeah, he's a bit rough around the edges, no, but being a pastor, you know.
Speaker 2:He's just so down to earth. Yeah, cool he's just so down to earth. Yeah, cool, that's awesome. He just really he gave me a different perspective, yep, in terms of what it was to actually have faith and laugh.
Speaker 3:Yeah, okay, so that's awesome.
Speaker 2:Yeah, he was a big Influence and still is a big influence. In fact, he messaged me the other day.
Speaker 3:Oh, did he? Oh, okay, that's good that you're still in contact.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we had a good laugh. We often had some laughs about certain things that had happened, and there's this key one where he would have a good laugh about this. But one day at church they had this fake snake that they set up on this like fishing line. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And they called me outside and this was outside. He called me outside and I came walking out in this fishing line, wrapped around my leg and the snake came out the bush. And I still remember, just absolutely losing my mind because I thought it was a snake that was, and they just cackled themselves.
Speaker 3:That is awesome I've seen videos like that on YouTube and stuff the reactions of people.
Speaker 2:He sends me the reels about it all the time. He loves it.
Speaker 3:So what was that? Was that he that, yeah, yeah. So what was that? Was that? He that yeah, yeah, okay, so yeah, that was a bit of a joke, yeah, cool.
Speaker 2:So yeah, that was a. That was a kind of a at the time, the key influence I had others in life as well. I had a really key family, that kind of um after that that had kind of pulled beside me and helped me. There were two actually that I can remember offhand. Um are very good friends of mine still and they actually live in australia now. The thornton family okay, um, they, they were really key in in helping me and and growing me into this person. And then there was also the roberts family who um?
Speaker 2:the carrie used to work with me as a teacher, okay, um, and her daughters were in the school as well, and then her husband, ryan. Yeah, so they were really key influences in my life at the time. Yeah, yeah, I had others, but those are probably the most prominent that I can think of.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that's all right. I was just about to say that that's really awesome that going through school, all that sort of stuff, and you did have influences to sort of push you along a little bit and sort of influenced you, which is really good that you've always had someone there to help you.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and also also quickly just throw this in my stepmom. When she came on board with my dad and they got married when I was, I think, 17 or 18 at the time, she was incredible as well. She really did jump on board and kind of just took my sister and I on as if we were her own kids.
Speaker 3:Which is really hard, Just quickly. I don't mean to cut you off, but just quickly there. It's very hard for someone that's random to come in and fulfill that position. Yeah, Cause not. It doesn't always work. Yeah, and I can speak from just quietly firsthand about that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so she was incredible and you know. So that's awesome. I've always admired her for that and respected her immensely for the role that she has. Yep, yeah, it's good that she's there.
Speaker 3:As I said, come in because, as I said, I can speak firsthand that it doesn't always seem to work when a step-parent comes in. Yeah, but for her to have the support for you like a mother is really awesome. You mentioned before that you were a schoolteacher, so what sort of pushed you into that, to do schoolteaching and stuff like that? Like what was your? Is it something you always wanted to do when you were through?
Speaker 2:school. No, it wasn't my original plan when I was going in high school was that I was going to kind of come out of high school and I was going to go into um the air force, cause I wanted to get my pilot license and I wanted to be a pilot.
Speaker 2:Yeah, okay, um, it's kind of what I could always imagine myself doing, um, and then things just changed in my matricula. I kind of felt like that was not the path I was supposed to take. Yep, um, I'd started kind of getting recognized for my soccer talent at the time, yeah, okay. And so things just changed. Yeah, I managed to get the chance to train with a few professional clubs and I started studying theology instead, which was incredibly eye-opening to me. And, yeah, just, things changed and then I finished studying my theology. Uh, qualification, yep, um, and the soccer side of things just wasn't progressing to where I wanted it to progress. Um, and I didn't know what I was going to do. And heaps of people had always said to me throughout my life that I was really good with, like, younger kids. I was always good with, like, whenever we would have, like, our cousins or whatever the case is, or my sister would have friends over, I was always good with the young kids and they would always be like oh, you would be so good with kids, you need to go into something with kids, blah blah blah blah and um yeah, it just kind of culminated into a point where I was like I'd done a lot of coaching up until this point and I really enjoyed the influence and the working with kids and stuff
Speaker 1:like that.
Speaker 2:I guess that just kind of spurred me to be like well, maybe I can kind of go into that and be a teacher. And so I started. I started studying to be a teacher and I did my internship at a really incredible school in South Africa, a primary school which I absolutely love and adore to this day. Yep, it was incredible time, um hence, and that's actually where I met sam thornton and kerry roberts, the two that I was saying that had influence on me.
Speaker 2:Yeah, okay and at the time was it was a difficult stage where I was working three jobs at the time to try and kind of support myself and, um, I didn't have the best living conditions, yeah, okay um where and so, uh, yeah, I was really struggling to kind of, and at the time I, my parents, weren't really in a position to help in any way either, so it was kind of sink or swim um for me yeah, so yeah, I was working three jobs um trying to kind of just make sure that I could pay for my studies and keep my head above water, top of my head above water, keep a roof over my head and and whatever shape that was.
Speaker 2:Yeah, okay, um, and just make sure that I had some food on the table well, you're in australia now and the opportunities are limitless very, very different, yes, very different mentioned you mentioned before, uh, back at the start of the conversation Chantel, your wife.
Speaker 3:Yes, how did you come to meet her? Was it in South Africa? No, I didn't meet her.
Speaker 2:So my wife is actually originally from. I've got to get this right because she'll probably. She's originally from Zimbabwe, Zimbabwe, Zimbabwe.
Speaker 3:That's how we say it in.
Speaker 2:Australia, we're Australian. She's originally from Zimbabwe. Her and her family, yeah, okay, and she immigrated with her family 20 years ago now to Australia 20 years.
Speaker 3:Oh, so she was actually.
Speaker 2:She was in Australia.
Speaker 3:In Newcastle, way before you, way before me, oh so. She's not, she is, oh, she is, oh, that's right Are you?
Speaker 2:No, I'm not a citizen, I'm just a permanent resident. Well, that's not good enough. We need to get you some nice. Yeah, so I came over to Australia four years ago. Four and a half years ago at the beginning of 2020, and I came for the Thornton family, their for the Thornton family, their daughter Summer, who I'd taught and had helped kind of grow up and had been a part of their family, for she's close on. I think it was 12 years at the time. She was getting married.
Speaker 3:Oh right, so you come over here for a wedding.
Speaker 2:I came over for the wedding. They immigrated here and I think it was 2016. They immigrated to Australia yeah, okay, to Australia. Yeah, okay, might have been a little bit before that 2015. And they came across and they immigrated and settled in Australia, and so she met funny enough, she met an Australian who was also born in South Africa.
Speaker 3:Wow.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I know it's crazy. You just want to keep it in the family, keep it in the country, yeah the culture.
Speaker 2:And so I got invited to the wedding in 2020 and I came over in 2020 in February, and we all know what happened in 2020.
Speaker 3:Oh, covid, yeah, I was wondering what you were getting at.
Speaker 2:Yeah, covid, covid hit and borders were closed and I got to hang around and that, so you couldn't actually fly back to South Africa. I could. But I also knew what was happening and so I kind of took a gamble and said I would rather stay here. Okay, at the time they weren't necessarily forcing us back home. We had the option to oh righty-o. But then it became a lot harder after that, when borders really got strict.
Speaker 3:Yeah, okay.
Speaker 2:But yeah, I was working for a company at the time and the company was doing some work for Chantelle's parents.
Speaker 3:Oh, really so. Did you see your missus and was like, holy shit, she's sexy as top, were you like?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I walked into their backyard and she actually came out.
Speaker 3:Oh really.
Speaker 2:To give me some instruction on what the job entailed.
Speaker 3:So she was sorting you right out from the get-go.
Speaker 2:She would love to still say that she has always been telling me what to do, since day one.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that's what my missus does too, don't worry so ever since then.
Speaker 2:It was just a rollercoaster of meeting her and then dating during COVID, which was very different. I had a bit of a very tricky circumstance in landing my permanent residency in Australia because of all of COVID and everything like that. Yeah, I was about to say that would have been hard to wrap your head around trying to get it was just, it was very difficult from terms of what they wanted and how they were allowing people to stay at the time.
Speaker 2:And so the paperwork side of things was very difficult, and she and her family played a very integral part in that whole process.
Speaker 3:Oh, okay.
Speaker 2:Yep, but in saying that it was, I mean we had started dating and we had actually started living together. Oh right, okay.
Speaker 3:You're a quick mover.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, I don't want to go back to South Africa. Can I please stay with you?
Speaker 2:And then, yeah, within four and a half, well, four years of us meeting, which was four years ago last month, in May.
Speaker 3:Oh yeah, okay, so you've been here, would you say four years last month.
Speaker 2:Yeah, her and I have known each other. So in those four years we have dated You're a quick mover. You already moved, moved in, bought a house together. Is she the one got married bought?
Speaker 3:a car, holy wow, gone on holiday.
Speaker 2:She's obviously the one then yeah, yeah, and we've got a dog together. Oh, you got a dog. Yeah, harley, he's awesome.
Speaker 3:Harley is so that sort of leads me into my next question, a little bit uh, which you've sort of already answered, but I'll still ask it anyway. But so how'd you feel just packing up and just leaving South Africa altogether to come to Australia? As I said, like you've sort of already answered that, but do you get what I'm saying?
Speaker 2:Yeah, cause you're the COVID thing.
Speaker 3:you know, you sort of yeah.
Speaker 2:It was very interesting for me. Before coming to Australia, something inside of me said that I wanted to come to Australia and there was a chance I wasn't going to come back.
Speaker 3:The other reason why I ask that is because you've lived in South Africa for a long time. You've only been here four years. That would have been hard for anyone yeah, so anyone listening to pack up and leave Australia and go overseas just to live. As I said, I think that would be hard for anyone to do.
Speaker 2:It wasn't hard settling here because I think I had people already here, key people here. And obviously then met my wife, who or now wife who was a very big part of the reason of me being here and the fact that I knew that I wanted to stay here. So it wasn't hard to stay here, um, so it wasn't hard to stay here per se, yeah, okay, um, leaving things behind for me was was never, you know, material things are material things yeah, yeah, of course um yeah, I'm not materialistic, I'm not one for a lot of possessions, I am very minimalistic and, to me, um, people are what I value most and relationship is what I value most.
Speaker 2:And you know, I've I've made a lot of mistakes in my life in terms of, um, taking relationships that I valued for granted, um, and you know, making a lot of wrong decisions. Yeah, um and so, but that's who defines us anyway, you know making a lot of wrong decisions, yeah and so.
Speaker 3:But that's who defines us anyway. You know, we're all not perfect, we're all going to make mistakes.
Speaker 2:I think I took the move as an opportunity to start again yeah, both personally, you know, with the physical side of things in terms of materialistic and things like that, and just start again with just myself. Yeah, and so that for me was kind of where I tried to envision what I was doing.
Speaker 3:Yeah, okay.
Speaker 2:So yeah, so you know, if I could, I would do a lot of things differently in terms of some of the relationships and things that I've done and decisions I've made. Um, I would, I would love to do, to redo them and and well, just, yeah, just about to ask, because that you've actually just led me to.
Speaker 3:My next question is uh, how would your life be different? Uh, no, sorry, how has your life been different since moving? Here, like yeah, I know you've mentioned, like the people that you've had around you, especially your wife and all that sort of stuff. But how has it been different from moving from South Africa to here?
Speaker 2:Like yeah, look, I think I've I've learned to, to, to, kind of what's the way I'm thinking of this? I have looked, I've taken a very different approach to life since being here. Okay, I value experience over possession, if that makes sense, experience over possession.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, okay.
Speaker 2:So it's not about what I have. It's more about the things I've done and who I have in my life, if that makes sense. And so yeah, of course, it's been a real reset moment for me. Like I said, I knew that I had done things wrong and I'd made bad decisions, and some of the relationships I had in my life were also wrong at the time, and so it was a real opportunity for me to start again. Yeah, just like you said reset for me to start again.
Speaker 3:Yeah, okay, yeah, just like you said reset, start from scratch again With relationships with people, with myself, yep. So it was probably good for you in the end anyway.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it was probably the best thing I ever did.
Speaker 3:Yeah, okay, just so you could reset, like as you said, you know, just reset and start from scratch and just you know go. This is where I want to be and this is what I want to do.
Speaker 2:Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 3:No cool. So how would your life be different if you were to stay in South Africa? So if you weren't here today and you were to stay in South Africa? This is one question.
Speaker 2:Seriously, this is one question I'd really like to know, because, yeah, do you want Donna Stanster? You'd probably be dead. Yeah, I probably wouldn't be alive today, you reckon?
Speaker 3:Yeah, I probably wouldn't be alive today to be honest with you, Because I remember talking off air with you and then you had a bit of a chuckle and you were like well. So I'd really like to know like if you were to stay in South Africa and you weren't here today, where do you think you would have been in South Africa right now?
Speaker 2:I would have been in a really bad place. You reckon, yeah, I would have been in a really bad place.
Speaker 3:Yeah, okay.
Speaker 2:I think I, like I said, if I didn't have this opportunity and do what I did in terms of making the move across to Australia, Yep. Without being dramatic or anything like that. I don't know if I would be alive today.
Speaker 3:Yeah, okay. Well, yeah, dramatic, or anything like that. I I don't know if I would be alive today, yeah, okay. Well, yeah, there you go, I think. So what are some?
Speaker 2:oh, sorry, keep going oh, I just think that it was. It was tough, yeah, okay just what is that?
Speaker 3:just because of, obviously, as I said to you, like before, like, uh, just the way south africa is, and yeah, covid, when you said you got held by gunpoint and stuff like that.
Speaker 2:Like yeah, that sort of stuff, just obviously decisions I'd made. It led me to a point where I was just not happy with okay, yeah, and things and and you know circumstances and yeah, I'd probably let quite a few people down. That yep at the time were really good to me and and you know that was, it was a hard thing for me to kind of grapple with. Yeah, okay, um, and so, yeah, so it was. I lived in that situation and try to deal with the emotions and the feelings that I had felt.
Speaker 3:Yeah, okay.
Speaker 2:In that, you know, I just I needed the space to kind of just reset, yeah Cool, and just kind of grapple with the things that I was struggling with in the relationships that I had in my life that I needed to just either segregate myself from or kind of just protect myself from at the time.
Speaker 3:Well, all jokes aside, I'm glad you're not dead, thank you. I'm glad Because you are a top bloke and you are one of my good mates. So I'm glad that you made the decision to move to Australia, because obviously what you've just said and all that sort of stuff being in a bad place and you could have just said, and all that sort of stuff being in a bad place, and you could have been dead and all that sort of stuff with where you were letting people down and all that.
Speaker 3:It's good to know that you've made the right decision to come here and obviously you've met your wife and you're obviously in a good place right now.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'm in a good place, which is good. I think, like I said, there's been some really key people in my life throughout the journey and, um, you know, even from the the little that I've said in this podcast, I think for me the biggest thing was always that you don't have to do things on your own.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you know, and when times feel lonely sometimes that's only the only reason you feel lonely is because we tend to narrow our perspective of what's happening around us or the people around us.
Speaker 2:Should I say Yep, because generally there are people that care enough, that would want to help and sometimes they're distracted, and that's okay times when, for me, I found something as small as just, you know, a helping hand, or, yeah, can I help with anything, or you know, do you need? You need a break, or do you know what, anything like that I found it's awesome, just uh.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that's what really counts and that's what I think um shows. Someone who actually really gives a shit is when they ask you for help yeah or sorry, I went, I did it a hand, or do you know what I mean? So it's like yeah, you know what I mean, like you know, do you know what I'm trying to say? Like it's that sort of reassures you that?
Speaker 2:yeah, I think for me the the other I think I forgot to mention some other key people in my life, um, obviously, when I was going through everything I was going through, there was a particular family that I always admired. Um, and they were probably my best friends at the time. Was was ian and sean yep and their parents and their sister. Um the walling, the wallington family. The wallington, the wallington family.
Speaker 2:Um, they have an incredible story of their own, but yeah, right they were the most generous, open, trusting, loving family I'd ever come across like they would open their door to me. I remember I think I lived at their house with no questions asked for about three weeks. Yeah, well, yeah okay not intentionally it's just I would stay there in their, in their house, and they would feed me they would. They never asked me for a single cent, they never asked me to leave.
Speaker 2:They, they, they would and you know what they I wasn't the only one, I know that but their, their kind of generosity and their, their unconditional love. I mean, I still remember Sean's mom one day just wrapping her arms around me and just giving me the biggest hug.
Speaker 3:So obviously they're very dear to you.
Speaker 2:Yeah, they obviously looked after you and helped you.
Speaker 3:Paved a little bit of their way.
Speaker 2:Yeah, they were an inspiration, they were a real inspiration to me in terms of a family unit and how close they were as a family unit, but also how open they were to people coming in and experiencing that.
Speaker 3:It's always good to have people like that that actually care yeah, so they were amazing, and they still are people that I admire to this day. Yeah, well, shout out to them. You know, yeah, but that's awesome that they took you into their house and looked after you as one of our own.
Speaker 3:That's pretty cool, um, so yeah yeah so I guess the next question if you had to change one thing in your life, you know what would it be like. If like so from when you were a kid to now, if there was one thing that you could change like, what would it be and why? Like growing up, Is there anything that you would change and go? You know I could have done that better, or do you know what I mean? Like I wish I'd done this or whatever? You know and why.
Speaker 2:Yeah, look, it's always a hard question because I suppose every decision we have made has put us in this particular position we are today. So you know, know, we wouldn't be here today if it wasn't for the decisions we've had to make.
Speaker 3:Well, that's exactly right. So the decision, the decisions define us, yeah so.
Speaker 2:So I don't know if I think for me is, if I could do something differently, I would probably look after the relationships I had with people a lot sooner than I did.
Speaker 3:Yeah Right, so what happened to just letting just oh, I think, I just yeah, I just.
Speaker 2:I let people down.
Speaker 3:Yeah, okay.
Speaker 2:Um, and you know, just like I said, yep, Just maybe made mistakes and, and you know, didn't do things that I was supposed to do and and kind of let those relationships fall by the wayside, fall by the wayside. So I think I would do things differently, in that I'll cherish them a lot more, knowing how much they mean to me now, okay, so I guess that answers my next question.
Speaker 3:anyway, do you have any regrets in your life? So that's obviously one of the things that you probably regret that.
Speaker 2:I mean, I still ask it anyway, I don't know if I regret things. Let's put it that way.
Speaker 2:Because, anyway, but I don't know if I regret things. Let's put it that way yeah, because I feel like I said it makes me who I am today and, um, you know the person I am today, but I I do. If I could do things differently, I would. Yeah, of course, yeah but, I don't. I don't regret things. I think, I just wish maybe I'd made better choices yeah, okay, yeah, well, that sounds yeah sounds like me I wish I made better choices, that's for sure.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so what are that? Sounds like me. I wish I made better choices, that's for sure, yeah.
Speaker 3:So what are your hopes for the future? What do you expect to get out of the future? Now that you're in Australia you're not quite a citizen, but you're a local resident and look.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think for me.
Speaker 3:Become an Australian citizen.
Speaker 1:I hope you take the test. It's bigger than think for me Become an.
Speaker 3:Australian citizen.
Speaker 2:I hope you take the test. It's bigger than that for me.
Speaker 1:I think Okay, fair enough.
Speaker 2:I think for me. I want to be a positive influence to people around me.
Speaker 3:Yeah, cool. Well, that's why we started this podcast.
Speaker 2:It's a big reason. It's not something that I ever thought we I would do. Personally, yep, um, and I am pretty, I'm a pretty open book, but at the same time, I think I've also I've got a lot of things that I, yeah, don't speak about, okay, and things that I've had to walk through and I think for me, I also know I have a lot to offer in terms of life experience.
Speaker 3:Okay, well, you've done a fair bit of stuff, like you said at the start of the podcast. You know you've been a professional soccer player. You've been a school teacher growing up in South Africa, so there is a lot of stuff that you've been through.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:So you know what I mean. Like you're not just an average person, yeah, you know what I mean.
Speaker 2:Like you're not just an average person like you've yeah, you know what I mean. You've got a lot to you, yeah, no, I think for me, I'd love to look back at life one day and not look at those accolades as my defining characteristics, but rather the kind of relationships I have with people and yeah and being able to nurture and mold those relationships with people to a point where you know I can say wholeheartedly that you know, I did everything I could to make that person's life better and easier and happier and them be the best versions of themselves.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah. Well, that's all we can do you really at the end of the day, we can only do what we can do and, like you know, helping the day. We can only do what we can do. Yeah, helping people out. There's only so much you can do.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think I've in the last four years like to maybe wrap it up for you the last four years I've done a lot of self-development in my own self in order to just be a better person, not only for me, I think, because that is very important is to be the best version for me, but also to be the best version for those around me.
Speaker 2:Yeah, of course, and that has been a hard thing to do. It's cost me a lot personally and it's cost me a lot relational wise, like I said, yep, but I'm hoping through that the growth at the end of that is far more exceeding to what the growth could have been if that makes sense.
Speaker 3:Yeah, no, it definitely does. Yeah, okay.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think I'm working on myself in order to make those around me better, if that makes sense.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, of course it does. Yeah, yeah, sweet. So I guess the last thing I want to really ask you is like, have you got any last words before we close the interview and you know the people listening Last? Words yeah, the people that are listening are. You know? As I said, we didn't go too crazy into detail, but at least the listeners have got to know a little bit about you, and yeah, you come from and we are. So, I guess, any last words, last words, I would probably be two things.
Speaker 2:Yep um to those, maybe that earlier in my life, when I was going through things and and doing things to those that I had not given the respect and value that they deserved, you know to. I hope that I've honored you enough in this to let you know the impact that you've had on me and I'm hoping that, through that grace that you showed me through those times, that I would be able to pass that on to others later in life.
Speaker 3:Yeah right.
Speaker 2:And then the other thing for me is that, yeah, I just I really want people around me to live their life to the fullest that they can, and sometimes that means having very hard conversations or hard discussions and comes with making hard decisions.
Speaker 3:but if I can say anything, is that with the hard decisions that need to be made, yeah, the growth afterwards and the place that you come out afterwards is so much better yeah I am better for those harder decisions that I've had to make yeah, and it's always the harder decisions that, yeah, as you said yourself like that make you the better person in the long run and and it's those decisions that you can't see no, you can't see what the other side of that decision is going to look like.
Speaker 3:No, because when it's a hard decision just as in my opinion but when it is a hard decision, you always look at the bad things, yeah, and you sort of look at one side of the coin, not both. That's just in my opinion. That's just how I do it. I look at the bad things but, as you said yourself, later on in life you realize, oh wow, there is a better side to it. Making that hard decision was the better option, where sometimes I'm bad for it. But I don't look at it like that.
Speaker 2:Unfortunately, you know what I mean. It's human nature to kind of.
Speaker 3:Always pick the bad stuff.
Speaker 2:I to kind of always pick the bad stuff. I suppose it's always human nature and it's you know me, I'm always one to quote a good quote. Yeah, you do.
Speaker 3:Which is not a bad thing it's great, yeah, but it was basically.
Speaker 2:how did it go? It was something along the lines of it's better to experience the pain of growth than the pain of staying in the situation you're in.
Speaker 3:Yeah, okay.
Speaker 2:And that's something that I've probably really wanted to take on board is because it's easy to stay where we are and to continue doing the things we do and live with the known. It's that age-old saying rather the devil you know than the devil you don't kind of thing yeah, yeah of course, yeah, yeah. I would much rather put myself in a position where I can grow and move forward than stay and just deal with it.
Speaker 3:That makes sense. Oh yeah, it definitely does.
Speaker 2:It comes back to the whole moving to Australia situation. It maybe was a novelty thing, but it was not an easy situation. It hasn't been an easy road.
Speaker 3:Well, that's what I said to you Just packing up a country, putting it in your back pocket and going righty, I'm going to move. That would be a difficult task in itself. I mean it took me Just to leave everything you know.
Speaker 2:It took me three years to go through every hoop that the australian government threw to throw at me to get a visa to stay here well, we don't want clowns in our country.
Speaker 3:Yeah, well, you guys are apparently bringing them in yeah, well, yeah, unfortunately um.
Speaker 2:So the reason why I say that is because it would have been easy to just pack it all in and go home. But I look at everything I have now and experiences I've been able to achieve through it and the growth I've had personally through it. Yep, I wouldn't change it for anything.
Speaker 3:No, that's awesome. So you do obviously like Australia and I love Australia.
Speaker 2:Yeah cool, I also love South Africa. Yeah, no that's all right, I was just wondering if you like love living here. I love living here. You do, I do, but I do miss South Africa, I miss the people.
Speaker 3:Yeah, okay, I miss Well, me and you. It's on our travel card Me and you are going to South Africa.
Speaker 2:Yeah, my wife would fight you for that.
Speaker 3:Why.
Speaker 2:She wants to go back.
Speaker 3:No, she can stay here.
Speaker 2:Me and you are going.
Speaker 3:You listen to this, shane, out of all honesty. That's been awesome for the listeners to find out who you are where you've come from and you know where you're going and what you've done in your life. I think I'm really hoping the listeners have enjoyed this episode to find out a little piece of you. Yeah, I really appreciate you taking the time to give us a bit of a lowdown on you and your country and how you come across to.
Speaker 1:Australia, so I'm really happy with that now. Thank, you.
Speaker 3:That's good. It's been really awesome. Thank you and yeah, as I said, thank you again, yeah.
Speaker 2:Thank you and yeah everyone listening. Just like to quickly do a shout out and say don't forget to follow us on our socials. Yeah, definitely, that's our on our socials. Yeah, definitely, that's Instagram and our Facebook. Leave a like on podcast. Yep, get on there. Give us a like. Be awesome to hear from you as well if you've got some cool feedback or maybe you've got a story to share. That would be something I'd love to start to do is people who share things with us, maybe something that you've gained from this or what I like on our socials.
Speaker 2:That'd be cool If you've got a story or you've got an inspirational story that you'd love to share with us, send us an inbox, get a hold of us, let us know. It'd be great to hear from you. But thank you very much for having me on this episode of the Live Alive podcast.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I've really enjoyed it. So, yeah, thanks for being on here. Thank you, anyway, to the listeners, stay safe out there and we'll see you on the next.