HemoLife Podcast
Welcome to the HemoLife Podcast, where we explore how to live an elite life while managing a bleeding disorder or other rare conditions. Dive into educational, entertaining content with stories of high achievers, expert advice on mental health, nutrition, and exercise, and the latest relevant news to elevate your mind, body, and soul.
HemoLife Podcast
"Bloodlines & Breakthroughs: Two Brothers, One Mindset"
Two brothers come together to share their unique perspectives on growing up in a family affected by hemophilia, exploring how their different paths led them to similar life philosophies and purposes.
• Gabe reflects on his childhood experience as L.A.'s younger brother, unaware of the full impact of hemophilia on L.A.'s life
• The brothers discuss how childhood trauma shaped their competitive mindsets and approach to challenges
• Both brothers found purpose through adversity despite taking different paths – L.A.'s through physical achievement and Gabe through religious faith
• L.A. shares his journey creating the Chronic Physique Blueprint workbook to help others with chronic conditions develop elite mindsets
• Discussion of how faith provides strength during difficult times, with Gabe sharing how his relationship with God helped him through divorce
• Both agree that finding your community and support system is crucial for thriving with chronic conditions
• Final message that regardless of the cards you're dealt in life, it's about playing them as if they're the ones you've always wanted
Check out L.A.'s Chronic Physique Blueprint workbook on Amazon to discover the tools he's developed to help those with chronic conditions thrive physically and mentally.
Thanks for tuning into the HemoLife Podcast. Be sure to subscribe, leave a review, and share this episode with someone who needs a spark of hope or encouragement. Follow us on Instagram @HemoLife_Podcast and YouTube for updates, guest highlights, and behind-the-scenes content. New episodes drop regularly—your story matters, and this is just the beginning.
Welcome to the Hemolife podcast your gateway to transformation and empowerment. Hosted by Elia Aguayo, we're diving deep into the world of rare disorders, unlocking the full spectrum of your potential. Each episode, join us as we connect with pioneers, wellness experts and true survivors. They're here to share powerful stories and invaluable insights, from mental resilience to physical health, community news to life-altering strategies. At Hemolife, we provide the tools you need to excel and inspire, prepare to elevate your life, learn, laugh and grow with us. Let's embark on this journey together.
Speaker 2:Welcome back, guys, to the Hemo Life Podcast. I've got my brother here, gabe Aguayo. This is going to be a very special episode for me. You know, this is kind of just off the cuff. We hung out today. We took my son to a football camp and we were like you know what, let's do a podcast. We've been wanting to do a podcast together. I think it'd be such a cool experience to have my brother on talk about his experience. I know there's a ton of other people in the chronic disorder community who have siblings and there's always that question. You know it's like, yeah sure, you know the person with the disorder is going through so much. But what about the people without the disorder? How do they feel? What is their experience? Because I believe that experience really does matter and I think that it does affect them in so many different ways. You know I have you know, five other brothers, right, five or four, three other three other brothers.
Speaker 3:Well, here here five of us, total Five of us total.
Speaker 2:Okay, there's five total. See, that's where I'm at. I would be lying if I said, you know, we didn't have fun today. I want to start drinking.
Speaker 2:But that's what's going to make this episode raw and genuine and unique, just the way we love it, just the way the Hemo Life podcast is supposed to be, and it's going to be a lot more fun, a little bit more unscripted.
Speaker 2:So, yeah, it's gonna be fun, but I would say that, out of all my brothers, gabe and I have drawn a lot closer as we became adults because we share a very similar mindset and we have similar upbringings. We both didn't come from much, but for some reason, god gave us this skillset or this vision. I'm not really sure how you view it, and that's what's going to be really cool too in this episode, guys, because we also come from a different religious background as well, with myself not really having a certain direction with being a Christian or a Lutheran Catholic. I kind of just got to choose what I wanted to do as I grew up and and Gabe on his side, he was raised as a Jehovah's witness and you know, I've I've learned a lot about what he does and totally respect and love his beliefs, but they have conflicted at times. So I think that's what's going to make this episode so cool. But before I just keep on rambling on what's, up game.
Speaker 3:Talk to my people, man. What's going on, brother? Hey man, I'm excited about this episode. We've talked about this since you even were gonna start the the podcast in general, so I think this is gonna be a fun one for sure yeah, yeah, exactly, man, I'm pumped up.
Speaker 2:You know, we were just, we were just having conversations, like, like I said, we just got back from football camp, we were having conversations and and every single time we start talking it just gets deep and it's like man, so many people can benefit from these deep conversations. Whenever you do have a special mind, a mind that has vision, and there's this belief in yourself that you're meant for more, that there's more to accomplish out there for you. It's hard to find your circle of people for more that there's more to accomplish out there for you. It's hard to find your circle of people. You can go your almost a whole lifetime and not find that group and you just start settling to be around other people who can't relate to you and maybe when you do have amazing ideas, you just will shut it down.
Speaker 2:But that's our kind of our blessing that him and I have realized that we share and we connect frequently and get to talk about that. So hopefully we can bring that to you guys. You know you cause. It's an energy, right, it's an energy that you share, and when and when somebody you feed off of each other, then you know it's just amazing things can happen, and that's what, you know, good collaborations do, and so we're blessed to have that and we just wanted to share our conversations with you guys today. And we have. We have a few questions that are scripted that you know we'll kind of go through. Not scripted in the sense that we know the answers. We have no idea. We've been drinking and we just put these questions together, but so I have no idea what the answers are going to be. I don't even know what the answers are going to be. Who knows what they're going to be, but it's a good guide for the show and then from there we'll just break off and talk about whatever it is it's about to get real.
Speaker 3:It's about to get real.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but it's going to get real man for sure. And, like you know, we went to the football camp. It was like from nine o'clock in the morning to one o'clock.
Speaker 3:It was a lot, but it was a blast. It really was.
Speaker 2:It was fun. And here's the thing, guys. I went I freaking love sports man, my son's competing, like if I push myself a little too much I'm gonna be in pain. And I chose, I chose pain. I chose pain for the pleasure. And gabe was throwing me the ball, leading me into the end zone catching some deep passes. You know we had an audience. You know are we shooting some?
Speaker 3:battle hawks are there yeah, the battle hawks.
Speaker 2:so it's the st louis battle hawks, the xfl team. So, yeah, you know we're just trying to get our contract get in, the get in the big leagues. Gabe is actually like a legit quarterback, so he could have made it Not too small.
Speaker 3:Seeing the guys there today puts things into perspective. Yeah, they're huge, even as I mean it's like kind of amateur league, but they're still professional athletes, it's not amateur league. They league professional but it's not NFL and they are huge players.
Speaker 2:Yeah, huge humans. That's what I wanted to see today too, cause like one thing that I've been obsessed with my entire life as a kid was you know what does it take to get to the next level? I've always had this crazy obsession where, you know, I always tell my story about my hemophilia journey, like when the beginning. I miss so much school, three to four days a week, and I would sit there in front of the TV, I swear to you guys, for eight hours plus watching the rewinds of SportsCenter. I could care less what sport it was.
Speaker 2:For some reason I had this weird obsession of watching people do something at the most elite level and how fascinating that was to me. And as a hemophiliac, being told you can never play sports, you could, you know it's not safe for you, it's not even a possibility, so don't even consider it. I like I was, like my soul is telling me otherwise. My soul is telling me I'm an athlete. My soul is telling me this is my passion, this is what I love, you know, and, and so I've always just loved watching that stuff, and so I think that you know what's I did get the opportunity through bodybuilding to, you know, when I first started to at least get on stage, get good enough to get on stage, coming in last place for the first four events and then being like, okay, what does it take to go from last place to first place? Because to me, from the outside appearance, it's very subtle, right? It's like, well, I have a six pack, well, I look good.
Speaker 1:I look lean.
Speaker 2:Well, what is it and what's so amazing is it's all these nuances, these very, very small things that you perfect and it's like it's all the details, man.
Speaker 2:It's the details, right, the devil's in the detail. It's like this huge puzzle and all of a sudden, you that's the journey. And that's what's so fun about the journey and that's why more of us should appreciate the journey is. It's like that's the fun part is finding those missing pieces and then like putting them all together. So, working out wise, let's just say working out Okay, well, you got to drink your water. Okay well, now you got to take your supplements. Now you got to learn this exercise. But you learn how to do it properly Now.
Speaker 2:Okay, now with the exercise you got to use a different tempo, different mindset, different rep range, different weights like as far as the amount of weight that you're lifting and then there's the posing aspect and then just stage presence. There's just so much that goes into it and it takes so much discipline. And what I love about that is just like it doesn't matter what sport it is. It's once you learn how to go from one level to the next, the next, the next to the next. Once you just learn that process, you apply it to everything. I'm talking being a father, being a husband, being a friend, being a brother. It all comes down to choices, actions, discipline mindset.
Speaker 2:I know I just went on a crazy rant there, but that's what I'm fascinated about. That's what has fascinated me my entire life. And you and I, we have not grown up around that. Nobody taught us this stuff. So how, how is it that you and I have the same mentality, like that we're so connected right now because we share these ideas with each other? Like, how did that even happen? How did you become that?
Speaker 3:I would say we kind of have similar trauma in a sense that kind of. I think early on in life it kind of triggers you to want to prove the people that are saying those things about you wrong, and then it kind of becomes your identity. That's how I feel. At least. Now is where I. I kind of do things now for myself, but I just built this standard that I'm going to constantly always try to be better. I don't care if it is for anybody else or not, Like I'm going to, it's just. It's just my mindset. Now. At first I think the shift was it was unhealthy in the beginning but then I shifted it to be healthy and it's just. It's just who I am. But in the beginning it was, it wasn't from a healthy place. I will say that.
Speaker 2:That's a huge point. That's a huge point and I will say that just real quick to cut in a little bit on that. Everything that I was doing in the beginning it was very unhealthy behavior. I was sacrificing things, ruining relationships. The approach is wrong, right. One of the most powerful shifts that I saw in my life was when I stopped trying to prove other people wrong and just have I don't know if there's a proven, just more so, just proving yourself right, like, like. I believe confidence is keeping the promises that you make to yourself over and over again, and that's what builds true confidence and not arrogance. You know, there's a big difference between arrogance and confidence, and I believe confidence comes from that discipline and keeping those promises to yourself. But, yeah, that that's. That was a crazy shift.
Speaker 2:I do remember that I cause a lot of it came from. It's like anger, right, it's like that anger, like it can? That anger is so powerful, but it only will get you so far. And then you have to say, okay, how do I level up even more? And then you realize, in order to level up, I have to let go of that anger. Yeah, that anger is now. That anger that elevated you is now holding you back a little bit now, for sure.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and I think for me, growing up in the Midwest, basically kind of growing up in the suburbs, I'm the minority in every school that I was in and I think that also kind of played a part of like wanting to prove myself to everybody because I was like, oh, this Mexican kid isn't going to be doing this, this or that, yeah, so that kind of played a part in it. But I think that was more of a mental thing for myself because, yeah, even though I didn't need to go to special classes because I was Mexican, I was kind of forced to go to these like special classes for like reading or things. Yeah. But I just think it's funny because I was, I I was more educated on like the states, just like history of anything of the us, more than citizens so I didn't know this.
Speaker 3:You were in special education classes pretty much like it was like I had to go for, like for english. It was mainly for english and reading, things like that but I just always kind of thought it was disrespectful to me because I didn't need it. It's not that I was like I had a, an accent or I was struggling in class or anything like that. It was just kind of like a formality for anybody that was of a certain ethnicity or foreign student. They put them in these classes, yeah, and literally like we. All we were doing in there is playing like games on computers like, yeah, like word games, so it fun.
Speaker 3:But at the same time it was just kind of like I felt disrespected. Yeah, so it was like, okay, I got to show myself, even just in education. But for me sports is always that thing where I had that mindset of like just because I'm Mexican doesn't mean that I'm not good at football or basketball, like whatever. Whatever sport doesn't mean I'm not good at those American sports. So to me it was always kind of like I'm going to show you, but kind of touching back on, what kind of drove me too. Like when we were kids you were really hard on me with sports.
Speaker 2:Dude, I don't know if you remember that. I actually want to know your perspective on this. I have changed so much that I don't even really remember the old me. Like, who was that old me at that time? Because, you have to understand, I was a hurt kid, I was a confused kid, but how did I treat you during that phase? Like, I mean, I don't associate myself with that person anymore, but what was the reality of that timeframe?
Speaker 3:I think, reflecting back and kind of seeing it for what it is now, I would say that I could see that you were a hurt kid.
Speaker 3:I think in the moment I was just kind of more like oh, this is my cool brother, like the like, this is just how, like he's just a tough kid. But now we're going back and like thinking about it, I could just now see like no, like he was going through some stuff that I didn't even really realize at the time. I guess I didn't really even understand what you were going through with hemophilia, anything like that, and then also just our family dynamic thing, all those things kind of play into it. But at the time I just remember you were always athletic, you're always good at sports, and for me I remember I kind of was decent at things, but you push. I mean, we have it's a five-year age difference, so you got to put that into perspective. Like you're a teenager, I'm a kid at one point and you're throwing like bullet passes at me and I'm having to learn how to like, catch and react and like.
Speaker 2:But that triggered something in my mental that was like I kind of like this, though, because this is going to make me better than my peers I do remember getting in trouble at times, like I don't know if it was from your mom or something, but I think I'm pretty sure there's been time for you. I hurt you, um, like, whether it was. I wouldn't even say that I was hurt.
Speaker 3:I was just saying like I got a bruise or like yeah, but to me it was like I liked it because I was probably your best yeah, but like I would watch football and I loved football, so to me it wasn't like, oh, like I'm crying about it, it was just like they'd see, like a bruise on me and they're like did you what?
Speaker 2:did you enjoy it in the beginning or did you come later to enjoy it?
Speaker 3:in the beginning I was scared because I'm like dude, I'm not ready for this, yeah. But I think again that mentality, I think that's everything that you start, like anything that you start, you're scared, you don't want to do it, it just feels like it's too much. But then it kind of starts slowing down and you start like learning the little details that make you better. And I think I got to a point where I was like bring it on, yeah, and then we would have battles, even with our age difference. Yeah, but that came with some time.
Speaker 2:But it's cool though. It's cool to see the evolution of it now and stuff. Just because we're both we love sports so much. He is a huge Packers fan. He played quarterback in high school and he did. He did for a little bit and he was good, he's good. He's just a good, he's good and he you know he didn't pursue those things from from my perspective because of religious beliefs.
Speaker 3:I would say it was a mixture of that and also my parents were very protective of me because I was smaller and they wouldn't like I wanted to put in the work and weightlifting and doing all that stuff. But I think they were also protecting me so that I didn't get hurt. Yeah, so I get it.
Speaker 1:And at the time too.
Speaker 3:I still don't know there really wasn't athletes that were at that level at my size.
Speaker 2:I still don't know what the reason is. I don't know that, like you didn't do that stuff because you've always felt this calling that, that that you're just supposed to live a different life of leadership and discipline and to exemplify yourself in a different manner of some sort, to live a different life of honor that is different than others. Which is me saying all this? And total respect, because I, you know, he's my younger brother, but I've respected him in so many different ways because he, he's chosen to live a different life that's outside of the norm. It's not, it's not the normal life that you guys are going to see, of an everyday person who just is, you know, watching porn, doing drugs, you know all these things like, yeah, maybe we'll have a drink or two, and but what? But I'm telling you guys, he's like, he's the cleanest slate of a human that that I know, I don't know, and he's lived an honorable life.
Speaker 3:Um, I mean, I'm not perfect. I've made a lot of mistakes, we're all.
Speaker 2:We're all human beings. But he's definitely somebody I look up to in that manner. I'm not. And what's awesome is there's no jealousy or envy, and I think what happens is that's because you, you know, I've reached a certain when you're a certain level of a human being, you don't look at these people and get jealous of them. You say I want that person in my life, I want to be more like that person. I can take little things from that person and apply it to my life and make me a better person. You know, that's that's what success is.
Speaker 2:I think there's just too many people now that that they see these things. You know, like you know, through my experience in the hemophilia community, I've got more awareness and through the awareness comes comes envy and and nitpicking, and wanting. And you know, I remember, for the longest time, I mean, I've been posting content for years and years and years, and there's, there would always be, this group of people that they would never like, never comment, never nothing. But then if you, if you said one thing that was semi-controversial, I mean, just like clockwork, here they are here, they are here, they are here, they are. So it's like those people that just want to jump on that right. I've never associated myself with that. Those kinds of humans I don't. I don't act in that manner. I don't feel like I even have enough time or energy to even make those kinds of comments about other human beings.
Speaker 2:I've always pride myself on being the person who's there to tell you yes, you can, yes, this is possible for you. If you have a dream, you have a vision, come to someone like myself who's going to say, absolutely, you're never going to find somebody that is more successful than you tell you something is impossible. It's always the people who've never accomplished things telling you that it's not possible because they've never done it themselves. So it's in their minds. It's not, it's not possible, it's not, it's not a capability. But, guys, we all provide energy into the world and you have to wake up every single day and choose what kind of energy and vibrations you want to give, give off to people. But that, yeah, that's why. But that's why we we connect so well.
Speaker 3:But kind of going, kind of going back. We were talking, you were talking about. You asked me about, like, what my perspective was, kind of seeing you back at that time. Yeah, I would say that, even though you were older, yeah.
Speaker 3:I remember there was times where our dad would tell us hey, take it easy on him, even though, like he might be rough on you, like you don't know what he's going through and I didn't really even know. Again, I didn't know the details, I didn't know exactly what was going on, but they were always just kind of like, take it easy on him. I'm like he's being hard on me though. Like what do you want me to do? Like I can't reciprocate back, like I can't reciprocate back. Like to me at the time it didn't make sense. But again now, with time and all that and understanding, like it all makes sense. But at the time it was just kind of like dude, this dude I'm not saying that you were bullying me, but it was just kind of like you were, you were hard on me.
Speaker 2:I can see myself being a bully for sure.
Speaker 3:But again, that was seeing where you were coming from. I didn't even know what all you were going through with your with your stuff and, um, as we've gotten older, we've talked about things and, like, I've seen more of your perspective. So I understand, I have more understanding, but at the time it's just like dude, yeah, I don't understand, I don't get it. Hurt people, hurt people, right? Yeah?
Speaker 2:yeah, and but we were kid. When you're kids and you're going through that, you don't comprehend that and we, and that's what like when we're looking back it's like dude, nobody with a high level of thinking was there for us to, to guide us, like to even guide our relationship as a, as brothers, like to help us understand each other. Like I had no, what I mean? When I I was told I had hemophilia and like that's it. Like like hey, if you hurt, tell somebody, like, but then you know, my dad went off, you know and and started his own life, my mom started her own life, and it's just like, hey, just let us know, just let us know if you're hurt. Hemophilia is way further than just wait.
Speaker 3:There's so much I don't think they understood it that early on either yeah, there's so much more that goes into it.
Speaker 2:There's so much more health. I mean, going into that rant real quick is just more. You know, feeling a little guilty as he's speaking, saying you know how big of a bully I was. Then it's just me being a little bit, I'm not trying.
Speaker 3:I kind of. I kind of just saw you were being hard on me and I was like I liked it though, because I mean, if we're going to be really real, like we didn't really have a father figure for real, yeah, so like to me, the fact that you were being hard on me and like pushing me, I feel like that's what I wanted, that's what I needed to get better. And I'm not saying that it was done in the best way, perfect way. I'm not saying that. But I'm saying the fact that it was getting done pushed me and that set that mindset that I knew that I had for myself, because from a very young age there were just certain things that would come easier to me. I saw later on that came to most. Certain things that would come easier to me, I saw later on that came to most.
Speaker 3:And I think that's where you kind of start seeing that some, like there are people with gifts. I never understood that and even into now, like it still kind of takes me a little bit. There are certain people that have gifts that others will never have. There are certain things that just come easier to me. Singing is one of them. Right. I wish I could sing Like my dream, justin is to be an artist.
Speaker 2:I wish I could sing. What would it be just be like?
Speaker 3:so amazing at singing, just like singing all day like michael jackson, like when I see stuff, like when him breaking down his, his musicality, like beats, everything that's such an art.
Speaker 2:It's so crazy, you know, but but the thing is is like you just gotta like appreciate it, you know, you just gotta. And that's what's so cool about life and that's why, like we people shouldn't get so envious and jealous of other people. It's just like we all have our gift and it's up to you to find out what that is. You know, and, and that's what I want to like kind of a message that I would like to share to the chronic dysphoria community is, like guys, like it might not be easy and you might not have been dealt the best cards, right, but I promise you you have a gift, so there's something about you, and you might not find out what that is in one year, two years, three years, five, 10, 15. But I promise you this if you don't stop searching for it, you will find it. You search what you search for, you will find and it'll, it'll come. And obviously, you know we talked about faith a little bit. If you ask me, you know, the bigger the better your connection is to to God. I truly believe that you'll have some guidance and vision coming from that, you know.
Speaker 2:I, I I believe in just, you know, forming my personal relationship with God. You know, I didn't have guidance, I didn't have structure, so I didn't live my life the same way that Gabe did. But I I. There's nobody in this world that's going to tell me that I don't have a relationship with God. And if God hasn't spoken to me, that God hasn't moved in my life, that God hasn't shown me things and got me through some times that I never thought possible, that I would get through some failures, he's done too much for me in my life for me to not believe. I know there's some people I've got blood brothers out there who don't believe. I would say test him, test it, try it, try him.
Speaker 2:Before you write it off, try him test. But he's he's done too much in my life for me to to not live my the rest of my life as a god-fearing man. Um, and, like I said, you know, gabe has a little bit more structure and knowledge to the bible um than I do, and I and I go to him for that kind of guidance as well.
Speaker 3:Um, there's a purpose for you and you know there's kind of going off of that, something that is a personal thing that I just don't like. I don't like when people say that like things happen to happen to them for a reason, I don't believe. I don't believe it. There's just a lot that goes into that. But things don't happen to you like out of destiny or like if you have free will and you're making your own choices. Sometimes you make mistakes and things happen because of those choices or you are dealt a bad hand and you find purpose through that. But I don't think that there is a reason, like there isn't a reason for your suffering. That doesn't make sense.
Speaker 3:I think, that this world causes us like you're either born with some, like there's just so much that goes into it. But I think that you world causes us like you're either born with some, like there's just so much that goes into it. But I think that you can find purpose and meaning through your life, even through pain. But it's hard, like recently. I've gone through a lot and I've found for me what I can use that pain and that suffering, those challenges, to help other people. Because I wasn't, I didn't have the best support, even through my challenges growing up. So it is what it is.
Speaker 3:No, you're good you're good, you're ready to cook. You're pretty good so far no, it is, it is.
Speaker 2:It's been really really good. Um, I'm not sure where we left off, though, guys. Sorry, I got interrupted. We got interrupted rudely. I mean I mean I'm talking rude. That was the rudest behavior I've ever seen. That was my girlfriend. She's pregnant. She's allowed to do that. Um, yeah, man, I'm gonna be a dad again. I'm telling you, man, I'm a old beat up hemophilia. I'm a fighter man. I'm fighting and fighting and fighting and fighting and fighting to live the best life and my most fulfilling life. To be the best dad, best boyfriend, best husband life. To be the best dad, best boyfriend, best husband one day, best everything, best brother. It's a struggle, it's a struggle and so let's just transition man, like this is what I want to this is kind of what I want to talk about. Give me one second. Give him one second.
Speaker 3:Give him one second. He's about to pull something.
Speaker 2:So man like, you know, we I haven't got a chance to share this with you yet at all, but throughout the past 10 years of my life I've struggled. Like I said, we didn't have any mentorship. And then here's what happened to me I started to work in the hemophilia community and I started to tell my story. That was the first stage. Right First stage was tell my story. That was the first stage. Right First stage was tell my story in the store. My story at that time was depression, you know, heartbreak, being defeated, being victimized. You know that was the first part of my story. But then, but then there was this piece of but I'm not going to give up, I'm going to fight. I don't know who I'm fighting for, but I'm fighting for you. I don't know, I don't know who that person is yet, but somehow I'm fighting for you. I don't know, I don't know who that person is yet, but somehow I'm going to get involved and make my life worth living for.
Speaker 2:And I started going to the gym. I saw this men's physique poster and it just looked like a superhero to me and I was like man, that's just like such a powerful look. You know it. Just, it demands so much respect and, and it seems so at that, at that time it seems so unattainable for someone like me. And then that left that question in my head. But what if? What if I could do that? I know I'm not supposed to do physical activity, I know that that's. You know, I have a limited belief at that point of that. That's not even possible for me. That's like a, it's like a some, a different life. That's, somebody else would get that, not me. But what if? Right, what if? And I, just I went on that journey and I, I became the first person with, you know, severe hemophilia, to step on a men's physique bodybuilding stage. I accomplished that goal, but I came in. We talked about it earlier, we alluded to it earlier, but I came in last place.
Speaker 3:I remember how disappointed you were, though I do.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and but I kept on getting back up and I would. I did it four more times in last place. I still remember a post I made saying, oh, for four, you know, and. And then it just piqued that interest again of me that little boy being, you know, homesick with bleeds, watching sports center, watching the elite of the lead and just dreaming, being like.
Speaker 3:I'm right, something clicked.
Speaker 2:Why are they? It's just that it's that curiosity right, like, why are they better? Is it, and you know, is it because they had better parents, they had more money, they're physically in better shape, they have better DNA, better genetics, you know, they went to a better school, they have whatever, whatever it is, it was like those are. Those are all the limiting beliefs that we get ingrained into us, especially if we don't have mentorship or leaders in our life to guide us through each one of these stages that are so imperative in our life. And I was just like okay, I'm a, I have kids now and I am sick and tired of this. I am not. I am not going to. I'm going to stop this trend in our bloodline. Essentially, I'm going to be the last in this bloodline to say we are only good enough to go this far.
Speaker 2:Somebody has to find the answers, because we don't have the answers, our family does not have the answers. We are okay with poverty. We are okay with just, you know, middle-class, you know just getting by struggling and struggling and struggling, and you know what guys like financially when you struggle, you know, because finances they're not everything. But I promise you there's something. It causes stress on your relationships and your family and you can't do the things that you need to do. Even if you like have ideas of doing great things in the community or in your world with other people, you can't pour from from an empty cup. You have to fill your own cup up and to get to that point, what I will say, though, is I think this is where we go different.
Speaker 3:Okay, so I wanted you to keep saying what you're saying, but I think this is where we go different.
Speaker 3:We like split off into our own ideas shoot, shoot tiger I think, I think that I think a lot of us, especially, especially in this country, get caught up in what you're saying. It's really about the ego. At the end of the day, my upbringing it was always about putting God first and he's always going to take care of you. I think this country doesn't tell you that it's about figuring out ways to make money to have all these experiences and do this, this and that. But the way that I grew up, it was always about putting God first and putting people first, because giving I mean it's biblical.
Speaker 3:Biblical, I mean it talks about there's more happiness in giving than receiving. And at the end of the day, it's true Anytime that I receive compliments, gifts, I don't even know how to take it because I don't know, and I've been working on that. But you always feel good when it's like, even when you are barely able to give somebody something from your own pocket, made them something. It always feels good to give somebody else something that came from you than you getting something, and I stand by that and I think we always kind of go into wanting to go on to these different ventures for other people.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:But I think it always is selfish at the end of the day, it's hard, though right it is hard. It's hard to manage that.
Speaker 2:It's hard because you do like I just said you do have to fill your own cup to give to others. You can't pour from an empty cup. I can't give my kids something I don't have. So you do at some point have to take, in my opinion, selfish actions to build yourself up. But here's the thing, guys, there is an order to life.
Speaker 2:Where we mess up, in my opinion, as our American people today is, we have lost the order right, the order of maturity, from going to school, doing things properly, dating properly, not having sex before marriage, getting married like truly understand things, and going through that chronological process where order is supposed to take place, based off of Bible standards. I guess we put our pleasures way before that order and then, because that order gets so messed up, we're having all these failures all around and then just they stack upon each other and ultimately lead to like just crazy sinful life where it's almost like you're playing catch up after that point because you did, you've already messed up the steps. But, that being said, there's always. You know, we're not perfect humans. We all come from different environments, different backgrounds, so you can't expect every single person to live that lifestyle and you can't live a life where you say, well, now it's impossible for you to have redemption and to live a fulfilling life, to live a life that would make God proud and all that stuff. But I do agree with a lot what you said there, because a big shift in my life happened when I did build a platform for myself and then I told myself, okay, I've got my following, I've reached a lot of people, I've helped a lot of people. But what if I could create a platform Hemolife, stuff that I've done where other people can share their stories and help even more people?
Speaker 2:And that was the shift that became the most fulfilling to me. And even working in the community now I the most fulfilling to me, and even working in the community now. I wake up every single day and I have to think about all the patients that I service and say what are their needs? How can I help them? Where are they struggling in their life? And that's where this chronic physique blueprint workbook comes in. Throughout my experience of working in the community, the number one thing that I saw with patients all throughout the nation was that they were going through very dark times, some depression times of depression times where they felt like there was no way for them to improve, because of lots of different factors, whether they didn't have the family support system, the friend support, the financial support, whatever it was. No matter what the excuse was, it was a victim mentality.
Speaker 3:And this isn't just in your community. This is people in general.
Speaker 2:Yeah for sure. And here's where it hurt me. This is where I knew this was my. You start to find your purpose when you find the things in life that hurt you for other people, and I got hurt when I saw you know what. That's not fair.
Speaker 2:This guy right here, he's on disability, he can't pay his bills, he doesn't have a family support system he doesn't have, and he's living with a severe, chronic disorder. He didn't choose this, he didn't ask for this. He didn't go through life and say, and with a perfectly healthy body, and say you know what, maybe I want to do drugs, maybe I want to, maybe I want to, maybe I want to do this, maybe I want to make a bad choice. And then you make a bad choice and something bad happens to you. Then you deserve it, right. Like you, you made that choice.
Speaker 2:These people are growing up. They didn't make that choice and they didn't make the choice for you know all these other factors. And so I look at them and say why, why, why does the rest of their life they have to live like this? What did they do to deserve that? So, as a human being I'm not God, but as a human being I have to ask myself what can you do in your life that would give you purpose, that maybe one day you can help those people that you feel their pain. And I, you know, I'm proud, guys. I'm very proud of what I've created, because God gave me a vision a long time ago, and he's you know cause. I asked myself if I still wanted to live, who would I live for? And I was like I would. If I can use my story, my adversity, if I can overcome these challenges and document the entire process and help other people, eventually that would give me a reason to live. You know, I now have lots of reasons to live with my kids, the community, everything.
Speaker 2:But in this chronic physique blueprint, guys, I go over everything that I personally have used, and not just used to get by, but used to thrive and perform at an elite level. I can now say that I performed and competed against the best athletes in the world with the severe chronic disorder that I went through. I'm one of those people who's like what do they call that word that I'm looking for right now where you go like crazy hard, like it's like I'm not excessive isn't the word but like Obsessed? Yeah, I'm obsessive. Yeah, I'm obsessive. I'm obsessive Like when I do something I go hardcore right Like it's like all or nothing and so, but that can hurt you in life and it could be a benefit.
Speaker 3:I don't know the exact word, but.
Speaker 2:but you are passionate, though, but I wanted to see like I was going to push my limits to the furthest, because I here's my here's, here's my, my take. If you have a chronic disorder, you have no choice but to develop elite characteristics in order to live just the base, just the standard life of somebody, without anything else. Like you need you, you don't have a choice. I'm sorry, I'm sorry that those cards you don't, you didn't get dealt the right cards, but now, because you do, you were dealt those cards. You have no choice but then to develop these elite skills so that you can just live a normal, fulfilling life. And and what I did was I went on this journey and I proved it to myself, guys, I didn't just talk about it, I put it into practice every day for 10 years and I reached my goals. I mean, I wanted to do slightly better, right, like, yeah, did I want to win the Arnold Amateur? Yeah, absolutely, I came in second place, so you were still amazing, right, like, against the best, I mean people from brazil, mexico, kind of like. Like, I still did it. I still did the damn thing, but it got and like.
Speaker 2:And what's really cool, though, about this workbook, the chronic physique, the chronic warrior blueprint workbook is that it's it's small daily actions and behaviors and mindset shifts that make the big difference. And so back to what I saw in the community was I saw a lot of these guys struggling and in their mind they thought like because when you're in depression and you're suffering, it is a weird thing where you see nothing but like darkness. Like darkness isn't, it's just, it's an accurate way to just describe it Because you, just you don't see, you don't see hope. There's, like your, your hope is gone and you think in your head that something drastic has to happen. Right, like I got to win the lottery or I got to do something crazy. Right, something crazy has to happen. But it's really not crazy steps that need to happen. It's a very small, daily, consistent, actionable steps, but you have to learn them all.
Speaker 3:So what I will want to say is I think this is where we're different, because Wow.
Speaker 2:You're going to flick me as I'm promoting my book.
Speaker 3:No, no, no. I think that this just gives people an opportunity to see that there's a difference to get to the same thing that you're talking about. But I want you to go because we've I mean, I've recently gone through things that are very difficult. I was in a depression and I will probably say that I didn't do the steps that he did, because this book wasn't even written yet.
Speaker 3:So I went through my own steps. But I think that talking about the steps that you took and you going through your stuff and then me talking about what helped me, I think is going to give people perspective through your stuff, and then me talking about what helped me, I think is going to give people perspective, because I think that's what I think everybody talks about, like, oh, this is the one thing that helps anybody to get. No, everybody's different, everybody has a different journey, everybody has different beliefs. So somebody that is going through something similar to you might resonate with you and somebody might resonate with me, or they might not resonate with any of us. Who knows?
Speaker 2:But that's what's cool, though, about life is that my story isn't meant for everyone, but there are guys. We're not reinventing the wheel here, Like all this information that's in my book. I didn't come up with this myself. I'm not. I'm not claiming I did that, but I'm. What I'm claiming is I searched everywhere for years, studying the highest performers, the most successful people that I related to that. I saw that they had the same mindset as me, same struggles as me, and they overcame it. But I documented the entire process and then I put it in the book, and then I put that into practice, because I always told myself I'm not going to be that person who sees something and regurgitates it online without putting it into practice and proving to myself this works. And the cool thing is is once you, once you do that, you know.
Speaker 2:I read a quote one time. It said to be a professional or an expert in any industry, it takes 10 years or 100,000 hours to become an expert. Well, guys, I'm in my 10 yearyear mark and please don't overlook that. That was I'm talking crying, bleeds, pain, suffering, suffering, day after day, relationships lost and broken, I mean my world shattered in front of my eyes. It was everything, but I fought through it because I knew that I could have a purposeful life. But I fought through it because I knew that I could have a purposeful life. And if this helps 10 people change their life, find direction, find hope, find inspiration to give them those steps, you know, like that, I did my job right and we were talking about this the other day.
Speaker 2:I believe that my skill set is breaking things down to an elementary level, because I've never been a highly educated person. I don't claim to been in highly educated person, I don't claim to be a highly educated person. But in today's world, like you know, like, just for instance, like if you had $10,000 right now to invest, okay, Say, you want to start a business, you, I'm going to give you $10,000 and you get to pick out of one out of two mentors. Okay, the first mentor is a professor at Harvard university who doesn't have his own business, but he teaches it. Okay, the first mentor is a professor at Harvard university who doesn't have his own business, but he teaches it. Okay, the second person is a dropout from high school but he owns a you know, $30 million business and he, he runs and operates it and he's been doing it for 20 years? Who are you putting $10,000 into the high school dropout or the Harvard professor who's never run his own business, but he knows the education behind it?
Speaker 3:I mean, obviously, I think your first thought is to go with the Harvard professor, but through my experience, a lot of them haven't. They haven't done anything to earn that certificate or whatever the education they haven't. They're teaching it, but they haven't done anything with business. So, like, what are they really teaching? So then, when you talk to the people that have the experience, even though they weren't educated on that level, they have a lot more nuggets of wisdom. I would go with the second one.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean, that's totally how I feel, that's what I, that's what, at least what I've learned in my life. Right, we were learned, we're we're taught to respect authority and we have for so many, so many decades, you know, and so many eras. But we are shifting and we're becoming smarter as humans and we're understanding that, like I want some real world. You know applicable, you know knowledge. I don't want to just learn the ins and outs that make me seem smart. What are the needle moving actions that truly make change?
Speaker 3:I think that's what we need to get into. Is what was that for you and then what was that for me?
Speaker 2:Exactly, and I'm not going to go through it all. My book is on Amazon and I'm getting it. Listen, I don't care, I don't make a lot of money off of this. This isn't like some kind of money grab for me, this is a purpose driven thing for my, you know, for my legacy and my purpose. But you know I would. I'm getting opportunities now where I'm going to be doing some men's retreats and getting the opportunity to teach this with people.
Speaker 2:And what's really cool Cause I already did a test group in Ohio was that man, the, the dialogue that started getting created, just like this was supposed to be an hour long like session. We went two and a half hours because just over the first two chapters it opened up so many like thoughts that we just kept on like this, like, like we, like we just had a script. Right, we created a script. Are we even? Do we even look at this? Because we have created amazing dialogue and connection. So that's what this does, but at least it gets you on track. And then you know what if, say, we don't get through the book throughout the, the workshop, then you go home and it's super easy, elementary style level stuff and it all it is is daily behaviors, and I'm talking guys like.
Speaker 2:So what this goes through is, you know, mindset. It goes through fitness with. You know, with conscious, you know, for hemophiliacs, it really helps you to gain clarity and on on what direction you want to go towards, to establish your values. What are those? What? What? What defines you? You know you every day. You need to understand what your main values are. You know what things are you grateful for every single day. If you do not prime your day every single one, if you just wake up every single morning, you just get out of bed and go about your day with no, without taking time to gain clarity of who you are, what you represent as a human being, and you expect that just naturally, just because you woke up, that you're just supposed to be this amazing human. I'm telling you right now that's not the case. I'm telling you right now, the highest performers in the world establish that every single day.
Speaker 2:And then you know there's there's, there's habits forming, forming of habits. It's gaining self-awareness, knowing where you need to make changes and adjustments in your life, and then, and you know how do others perceive you? It just I mean, there's just so much that goes into it. But this book is going to cover that. And then, even after that, it goes into brand building telling your story. I've got 10 plus years of telling my story how to do it properly, the importance of it, how to maintain confidence while you're telling your story because I didn't have that I was super scared. Every single day I posted out my story I was scared. But this goes through all of that. And guys like there's a, there's a Chinese proverb that I love and I don't know what it says in Chinese, but what it means is, if you want to know the road ahead, ask those coming back. It's that simple, right? We're not reinventing the wheel here. Guys. All the all these struggles, all these problems that we've gone through, somebody is already walking that road back, right?
Speaker 3:That's something big. I've learned recently.
Speaker 2:So that's what this workbook is, guys, and I'm done talking about this. You'll be seeing more of this in the future, but there's hope out there, guys, and there's just so many amazing things happening.
Speaker 3:I would say I agree with a lot of what you said 100%. I think for me, in the way that I grew up in kind of like this Christian household, was you got to kind of always lead with love. I'm not saying that that's how my upbringing even was, but that's what I was taught. And I think when you lead with love, with anything, you're always again putting other people before yourself. I mean, if you really want to even dissect love and what love is, I think that when you really love somebody or something, you're really seeing what it takes to make that thing happy or make it succeed. Kind of coming from that point of view, I think that you can find success with just doing your best and being okay with that every day. And I think that's kind of like with what I had been going through recently especially.
Speaker 3:I think that my whole thing was I needed to rely on God more than ever because I knew, with what I was going through personally wasn't strong enough to go through it by myself. Yeah, and even though I had some support, I mean you helped me a lot. I mean not a lot of people know that, but you were a big pillar. That I mean we helped each other a lot. We were going through stuff together in a way, but you were a big pillar that has helped me to kind of get through things. I kind of had some friends, some family kind of help out here and there, but for the most part I really kind of felt alone and really the only thing that I've felt that helped me personally was my personal relationship with God, and that was a lot of prayer. At the time I was doing daily walks. I still do my walks, but it's really more like three, four times a week now because I'm doing other things to kind of like I'm doing training, I'm doing all these different things that I just don't have time to just walk anymore. But I think, at the end of the day, what we're both searching for is that inner peace to make sure that we feel like we're doing our best.
Speaker 3:And for me, I kind of took it upon myself to kind of more rely on God in a sense, and I think that my relationship with God is a lot closer than it's ever been because of the fact that, like I know that what I was I was going through a divorce and I was going through all these different things like and it wasn't even just a divorce. I mean, some people that you know in the audience maybe have gone through breakups and things like that. A breakup already is very difficult. But I didn't just go through a breakup, I went through also. I mean my wife at the time. She worked at the places that or knew people at the places that I was at. So I just didn't feel comfortable being there anymore. I felt like I needed to start fresh. I needed to start new.
Speaker 2:And you put your identity into your spouse whenever you get married, and so when you lose that spouse, that relationship, you feel like you've lost part of your identity. That's part of your identity. I think what you're talking about is like the power of submission and submitting yourself to God and how powerful that can be saying I know I can't fight this battle alone. I know I don't have the answers.
Speaker 3:It was a lot. It was a lot. It was kind of rediscovering myself, making sure that, like I said, I had already started a new career path. There was a lot of things that I was doing that was new path. There was a lot of things that I was doing that was new. But when everything was kind of happening, I think I kind of tapped back into okay, am I doing this for the right reasons? Am I actually happy? What do I?
Speaker 3:I was kind of rediscovering myself in a way throughout this whole process and I think the biggest thing that, like very early on cause I was like man, I'm just not going to be competitive anymore, am I going to be this? I'm like, but I'm like that's what makes me me. So it's kind of finding a balance in making it healthy. I think daily prayer, like multiple times a day, bible reading every day, there's so much that helped me personally to kind of get through things and that was my way of getting through it, because to me, I'm like I know that again, if I, if I'm relying on God and I believe in God, and there's so many scriptures that talk about like put your anxieties on him, and there's just so much that you can go into. But, at the end of the day, that's what I was relying on, because I had put him to the test my whole life and I knew, especially in that moment, that I just knew I couldn't get through it by myself. And because I didn't have that support that I necessarily thought I was going to get or that I was whatever. Like to me, that's what kept me sane, like I don't. I don't know how I would have ended up, cause I've heard a lot of dark stories of guys that take their life, that go, they have all these vices, all these different things, and like to me.
Speaker 3:I'm not saying that I didn't, that wasn't my first thought. I mean, I don't know what all we're going to get into, but isn't it crazy? Women was the first thing in my mind. I was like, bro, just being real, yeah, be godly or not. Yeah, yo, this is my chance to go do what I want to do. Yeah, just date all these women or talk to all these women. But that instantly got shut down because I'm like, if I'm really trying to attract the right person, that isn't the right way to go. But again, not everybody has that mindset. They'll go. Like you know what, let me have some fun for a minute. And that's what I was told by a lot of people, a lot of family, friends, like hey, just go have fun. Like let let loose a little bit. You've been in this serious, just go. I'm like that ain't me. That isn't me.
Speaker 2:That's not how I was raised, that's not how, what that's my belief system like dude's why you got to surround yourself around the right people, because most people's solution is going to be the quick fix, and one thing that, when you mature in life, you realize is that anything that's worth anything in life is never quick.
Speaker 2:No, it's always a process and it's always extreme discipline. Anything that takes extreme discipline is usually going to give you a better result, more fulfilling, more lasting result, than any of those quick fixes of just sleeping with somebody else, you know, doing drugs, drinking, and I'm telling you guys, I go out this cat all the time, and he's got, he's got aura, he's got he's, he's got these ladies. I don't know, I don't, I don't. He does, I don't so, and you know what it is, though, is because he is a, is a legit dude. He's different, he separates himself by being different, by being higher quality, and he doesn't even have to do all these like pick up lines. You know what I will say is they just scope it out. They're like okay, this guy is like a little fresh virgin.
Speaker 3:No, what I will say is a lot of girls I've talked to recently not even in like, in that like I'm in a relationship or trying to get in a relationship with them, it's just like just having conversations with them A lot of them were like dude, you do realize that you're a catch for most people out here in the world because I'm straight. A lot of these, a lot of a lot of these guys are out here doing some are playing girls, doing all that. So to me I realized that really getting a girl isn't that difficult, as long as you're just kind of like. I'm not an expert in getting girls, I'm not, I'm not.
Speaker 2:That was the cockiest thing you said on this whole podcast.
Speaker 3:I'm not. But at the same time, I think that, as long as you're okay with getting rejected, that's the key. A lot of guys are scared to put themselves out there, and I'm not. If I get rejected, it's okay. I went through a divorce. My heart's already gone Not for real, for real, but that's as deep as it goes. It's like going through a broken heart. So at this point it's like, okay, you rejected me. That's surface level stuff, I don't care.
Speaker 2:But you've also reached a level in your life where you you've practiced intentional growth, intentional like how do I become the most genuine version of myself? When you reach a certain level of being genuine and true to yourself, then you can go about life and get rejected and be totally fine, because you've already declared what your boundaries are, what your standards are, what you're looking in, what you're looking for. So it's it's easy to get rejected because you're like hey, if this person rejected me, that means we're, we just didn't click, you know, like something's not, something's missing. Who cares? Who gives a shit if it didn't work? Like it doesn't matter, it's not my person. Bye, I'm moving on.
Speaker 3:And that's honestly where I'm at is like, and I'm recently officially divorced, so I like the whole time I really wasn't looking at all, and now though that I'm like back in the game, I'm I'm, I'm starting to look, but I'm kind of realizing that like I need to be picky. I need to be very, very picky because I want to be able to find the person that pushes me to be a better person and, just in my preferences, that I'm looking for in a person. I don't know if I'm going to necessarily find it here in this area. So that's something that I thought a lot about too. And not knocking the Midwest, because I love the Midwest, but I love my Latina women, and I'm not saying that there isn't beautiful women here, but I just have a type of preference, hey here's the thing about Latina women, though I don't even want to get canceled for my opinion on that, but here's what I'll say.
Speaker 2:I dated one full Hispanic girl and the culture differences are so big man, we're in a weird culture right now. Just in general, we've talked this whole podcast about having right, and so we're all chasing that viral clip, that silly interaction. It could be a fight, it could be a joke, a prank, it could be sexual, where everything is quick, quick, quick, quick, quick and and I feel like we're losing true leadership and true purpose and legacy. It's just going out the window. Yeah, but I don't know, that was that that was on my heart recently. I wanted to talk about that just a little bit, just because, like, um, I'm tired of seeing everyone.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, it's entertaining to a degree, but like, how come we stopped chasing greatness and like, like really making a difference in people's lives and stuff? Now, you know, and I don't know, like, what are your thoughts on that? And then we even talked about like, maybe, maybe I'm being too emotional about how I make money. You know, maybe it's like one of those times, like you, maybe you can't beat them. Then join them. Right, you can't beat them, join them. So maybe I need to make stupid shit, you know, maybe I need to be dumb and make something silly so I can make thousands of dollars and take care of my family on a better level, instead of being so emotional about how I'm making my money and funds.
Speaker 3:I think that failure is a lot of people's biggest fear.
Speaker 2:Yeah, no, of course, everyone hates failure. Everyone wants to be in their comfort zone, exactly. We're not like that, though. That's not us.
Speaker 3:I'm not saying that Fear is a driving factor for me.
Speaker 2:This right here can be failure.
Speaker 3:this, I mean we don't care like yeah, I don't care how I look, what I sound like. I don't. I really don't care, because at the end of the day, it's like you're only gonna get better yeah but I think that for me, was always the.
Speaker 3:The thing that I learned from sports is like mentorship and coaching is the thing that helps you to get better, like if you think that you got it going for yourself. And I don't know. I've just seen a lot of people have this like self-confidence and they don't like getting criticism, and I think those are the people that kind of taper off and they fall off. But then you see, like people that continue to work on their craft, like Kobe to me the mama mentality there's so many people out there that you can look at that constantly pushed the limit and they worked on their craft to a point where the details of any little thing, anything like he didn't just learn moves, like he was learning moves to go off of what you were going to do Playing- chess while you're playing chess, exactly, and I think that a lot of people kind of get stuck in like, well, if I'm going to do this and it doesn't work, I'm done.
Speaker 3:But that's too simple. I think that you evolve as you learn the business, that you learn your craft, that you learn anything that you do in life. You learn the little nuances that really make it work for you to take it to another level.
Speaker 3:If that's what you want. I don't think there's people out there that they kind of just do things for fun and that's kind of how they always live their life and and there's nothing. I don't knock that, but for me that's not enough. Like, if I'm gonna do something, I'm gonna do it because I really want to be good at it. I want to be great at what I do, not for like praiseworthy things or anything like that, but because, like, why do something if you're not going to be like doing your best at it? Like to me you got. I think you should push yourself to really be good at what you do because it's a representation of yourself. And if you're okay with just half doing things, like that.
Speaker 2:How can you understand that you can get one life to live one freaking life I don't care what you have, what your circumstances on life and you're going to say to yourself I'm okay with just being okay, just average, just getting by, like I mean. But maybe, maybe I'm wrong, though Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe, maybe we are just we just blessed to have a different vision, different mindset, and then, with that mindset and leadership ability, we're supposed to do something different with it. You know cause? I do believe that God gives us all a certain like, like whenever.
Speaker 2:One thing that I had to learn is, just because we feel this way, think this way, dream this way, have these visions, we're not better than the person who doesn't have those things. We're not better than the person that works at McDonald's or that works at these retail like. Whatever we're not, we are all necessary, need and all provide some kind of amazing value to one another, but it's just not for everyone, though, but maybe that's okay too. Maybe, when we're talking, we're having this message and conversation. It's going to go to those people who are like us, though we can't expect to sit here and connect with every single individual, that's listening to us, but what I'm saying is I think there needs to be a level of pride in what you do.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and I don't care if you're working at mcdonald's, you're working at a fortune 500 company.
Speaker 3:You should be doing your best yeah bro, there's chick-fil-a's, there's mc doesn't matter where you go there's. There's even certain places that locations that you go to, where you're like I don't want to go there because they're not good at making this or this or that. Or you don't go to this company or this, it doesn't matter, you don't go there because you know that their level of effort or whatever they put into isn't at the level that you think it should be done at, and I think that's kind of universal. I think that if you are doing anything in life, you should put your best foot, and I'm not saying that you need to be perfect, but I'm saying, like, don't go into a job doing anything that you're doing and just not try because it's not what you want to do. If you're going to do something, do it. It's biblical to me, yeah, and it's something that I live up. It's just something that I like to live by, because I don't know Speaking of it's biblical.
Speaker 2:You just said it's biblical to me. You keep on saying that and stand out to me. One thing that I want to say real quick is a growth hack that I learned that I had to learn personally was how you do. One thing is how you do everything. Yes, okay, so, and I'm talking guys, when you pee on the seat, you grab a piece of toilet paper and clean it off. I'm talking. You drop something on the floor, you pick it up, you put it away. I'm talking. The stranger next to you doesn't put their card away. You put the card away for them. Every single action, every single day make them stack up. But here's what I want to go into. When he says it's biblical is, what's amazing to me is I don't have the upbringing that he has when it comes to structured biblical knowledge, but I do have experience, and everything that I've learned in my life that has been a difference maker can be found in the Bible.
Speaker 1:It's a Bible teaching.
Speaker 3:If you read the.
Speaker 2:Bible all of a sudden, throughout the years of maturing and growing up. You realize, guys, the answers have been here for years. They've always been there, they've never gone away and it doesn't matter what industry, what field you're in, where you're at, they've been there forever, they're not going away and they're always going to stay the same and remain the same, and that's why I think that that's why we connect, despite our differences, is we found different things, but we come to the same conclusion from a different perspective yeah, I love it right there that's it like this, is it that's?
Speaker 3:it and um closing remarks.
Speaker 2:Closing remarks. We've been here for a long time.
Speaker 3:Let's I mean what else we want to talk about?
Speaker 2:we have more points I know, but I want to. We might do another episode later or something, but we're like almost an hour. I want to. You know, if they like us a little bit more, we can, we'll do more.
Speaker 3:Okay, closing remarks.
Speaker 2:I think To my people, to my people, to your people, the chronic disorder.
Speaker 3:Mexican people or no? Okay, we're not talking to that demographic, no just chronic disorder.
Speaker 2:It don't matter if you're Mexican or Chinese or Indian, Mexican, Chinese, Indian, whatever I got all kinds of people like that. It don't matter. What I would say is yeah, and that's where I'm coming from.
Speaker 3:That's where I'm coming from. I'm coming from an outside source looking into this community.
Speaker 2:Let me ask you this before you do your closing remarks no, seriously.
Speaker 1:Seriously.
Speaker 2:We can edit it or whatever. If we don't even have to edit it, why does God allow suffering?
Speaker 3:He doesn't, he does, he does, but it's temporary and I mean that's a very, very deep question.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'm sorry if I put you on the spot, but we brought up suffering.
Speaker 3:And it's not even that I can't answer it. It's the fact that it takes a lot longer to answer that question than just you know. There is no just like a straightforward answer. But I would say that he does allow suffering, but it's temporary and there is going to be an ultimate answer to that question. But it's about what you believe in and if you're even religious or not. If you're not religious, then what I'm going to say doesn't even matter to you. But if you are religious and you do follow the Bible, you're going to realize that the Bible is speaking truth. It's speaking and it's telling you literally what's going to happen to humanity. And if you believe that or don't believe that or you think that's extremist or not, like, read the Bible and you're going to find that there is a wisdom, there's very common sense, things in there that make you have a happy life, that have you have a relationship with something, a God, a being that is bigger than you, that you will not understand until you have that relationship. And that's really all that's where I would leave it at, because if I go and answer that question and just answer it, some people will get it, some people won't, but what I will say is he does allow suffering temporarily, but I would highly recommend you to do your homework and figure out what that even means.
Speaker 3:And I would say that the book of Revelation we're living in a lot of the we're living in the times that it's talking about and that book is very, very prophetic and it's very, very deep. And I think a lot of people were kind of scared with even Trump sending those bombs to Iran and doing all these people talking about World War III and all these different things. And it's like the Bible talks about there's going to be wars, but don't be scared about it, don't be anxious about it. So it's like I'm prepared for all these things because I already know what's coming. I already know what's going to happen.
Speaker 3:And if you don't know what I'm talking about, I'm telling you read the Bible because it's been proven. True, I don't care, scientists have proven it. True, there's so much that goes into it and I can go on a rant for it for hours and hours and hours. But what I will say is God does allow suffering for now, but it's temporary and there's going to be a moment in time where all your anxieties, your fears, all that is going to be taken away, all the bad things that you've gone through in your life, that you've lost loved ones, all that stuff. You're going to see something that is going to bring you an inner peace that you don't even understand because we haven't seen it yet. The example of Jesus and what he did on earth when he was here again if you believe in Jesus or not says so much, and I would really want to leave it at that.
Speaker 2:I love it, man. That's powerful, it's powerful, I love it. Thanks for sharing that man.
Speaker 3:I mean, it is what it is, but that's my perspective. That's my perspective, yeah. But what I would say to your community is this I would say, from the outside looking in, I would say that you're not like I know. There's moments of weakness, there's moments of depression, of darkness. We all experience that. I think that from what I saw for you from the outside looking in, is a lot of that was physical causing mental, and then for a lot of other people it's mental causing physical, because there's people that get cancer and all these different things because of the mental stuff. So I think it's all kind of related into one in a sense. But I think at the end of the day, the message that I would say to anybody but I mean to your community especially would be to not when it gets dark because I've been there as well, I've seen it.
Speaker 3:You need to find your support system. And even when you don't have that support system, I feel like we always have that inner voice in our head and sometimes it's negative. But talk to God, talk to whatever, like that's what. That's what I believe in. I believe in God, but there's people that believe in this universe and this I'm telling you talk to God and talk to tell him about the biggest insecurities, the biggest things that you're going through in life, and there is going to be a positive that comes, I promise you Like. I've been there myself, I've seen it with him with so many people. And when you talk to God in your lowest of lows, there's always a light at the end of the tunnel.
Speaker 2:God asked you to test him correct.
Speaker 3:He does. He literally says test me.
Speaker 2:So that's it. That's test God.
Speaker 3:Test him.
Speaker 2:Test him.
Speaker 3:And I promise you, if you're doing it with the right intentions, he's going to bless you in your life and not by being in a time frame that you want immediately, it will happen. I've tested it all my life and I'm blessed. He's tested it, he's blessed, and I would say that just do that.
Speaker 2:Nothing was done. That, yeah, just do that. Nothing was done. When I look back at my achievements or my growth, what I've been able to do nothing is because I was so good, every one of those steps, that I've achieved, those benchmarks, there was a prayer on my knees, crying saying God, I am not enough. I know that I cannot do this through my own will, my own knowledge, my own power, but if it's in your will, if it's what you want me to do, will you open up the right door, the right relationship, the knowledge? Will you bring clarity to me in my life so that I understand what steps I can take next, even through the most dark times, times of adversity? Can you please show me that, if that is what you want from me?
Speaker 3:Bro, and that's deep, of psalms the whole. It's a long book, book of psalms. There's so many moments like that, the way you just said, the book of job. He went through crazy stuff in his whole life. He lost everything. Yeah, and god blessed him yeah proverbs to me also as a man, I think for anybody in general that's trying to gain wisdom.
Speaker 2:The book of proverbs is next level and it's, there's just so much that god, god, used in the bible the, the people, some of the people, with the most you know, messed up like stories nobody's story is perfect, but, yeah, he didn't use perfect humans. He uses the people that that seemed to be, during that time, the most messed up people, and gave them the platform to to achieve things right. I I mean from you probably have more examples than I do, but there's a lot of examples.
Speaker 2:I mean again, this could be I know we can keep guys, you know what. Thank you. Thank you for joining this first episode with me and Gabe. I think that we did an awesome job together, if you ask me. I think the flow is really good and I feel like our deep conversations that we have can inspire and help a lot of people and give direction and inspiration, encouragement. And you know he's, he's been around me, he's seen what I've gone through and the thing is, even if we don't all have a bleeding disorder, we have a chronic disorder of some sort. You know, like maybe none of us we're dealt, probably, the cards, or most of us probably weren't dealt the cards that we we dreamt of, but it's about playing the cards Like. It's about playing the cards like those are the cards you've always wanted, and surround yourself around people who, who, who want to grow, who aren't afraid to fail, who who's going to support you and not bring you down. But yeah, man, that's just my final message for this.
Speaker 3:But yeah, you got to find your community. Yeah, find your community All right guys, love you.
Speaker 2:Peace out, Gabe, awesome, awesome, love it man.
Speaker 3:All right guys.
Speaker 1:Love you. Peace out, gabe. Awesome episode. Awesome episode, brother. Love it man. Love you guys. Thank you for tuning into the Hemo Life podcast. Today's episode hopefully inspired you and provided valuable insights to enhance your journey. Join us again to hear more incredible stories and expert advice from our community. Make sure to subscribe and stay connected with a group of extraordinary achievers and pioneers. On behalf of LA Aguayo and the entire Hemo Life team, keep pushing forward, strive for excellence and remember you are the architect of your own destiny. Until next time, stay strong, stay inspired and continue on your path to an elite life.