Why Not Me: 9/11, Cancer & the Inner Work That Changed Everything with Craig Sotkovsky

What does it take to go from “why me” to “why not me” — and mean it?

In this episode, Heather sits down with Craig Sotkovsky — 9/11 first responder, cancer survivor, entrepreneur, and coach — for a raw and powerful conversation about what it actually looks like to alchemize the worst experiences of your life into something that helps other people.

Craig was at the World Trade Center for two days in the first five days after 9/11. Thirteen years later he’s still navigating the health fallout. He’s had multiple surgeries, been told he might be dying when the doctor hadn’t even looked at his paperwork, and had a moment where his throat closed completely and he had to slow his whole body down just to breathe. And through all of it, he found his way to peace.

In this conversation, Craig and Heather get into:

•  How epigenetics and the reticular activating system explain why your mindset literally changes your biochemistry

•  Why doing the dark work — really facing your shadow — is where your light begins

•  The difference between your story and your emotional attachment to it — and why releasing that attachment is true healing

•  Why nobody is coming to save you — and why that’s actually the best news you’ll ever hear

•  What it means to be the villain in someone else’s story and the hero in your own

•  Why 2026 is the year the old systems collapse — and what comes next

•  How relationships change when two people are actually healed

Craig is currently based in Merida, Mexico, preparing for a national mental health and cancer awareness tour for the 25th anniversary of 9/11, and writing his new book Coming from Jersey.

This one is for anyone who has ever felt less than, like they’re letting people down, or like the obstacles keep coming. They do. And you can become someone for whom obstacles are just problems to solve.

To find Craig: https://www.craigsotkovsky.com

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:02

Welcome to Everything You Need to Know About the Ascension of Humanity, the podcast where ancient wisdom meets modern science and spiritual evolution gets real. I'm Heather, an energy healer, channel, and spiritual coach with Divine Ascension Company. Each week, we're diving deep into the mysteries of human consciousness, spiritual awakening, and the profound transformation happening within us and around us. But here's the thing: we're not doing this with our heads in the top. We're bringing neuroscience, psychology, quantum physics, and cutting-edge research to the table, alongside meditation, energy work, and timeless spiritual teaching. Because the truth is, the effect of humanity is a far-off cosmic event. It's happening right now in the choices we make, the awareness we cultivate, and the healing we do within ourselves. Whether you're curious about how mindfulness literally requires your brain, why shadow work is backed by depth psychology. Or what coherence between your heart and mind actually means scientifically. You're in the right place. We'll explore practices like breath work, meditation, and emotional alchemy. Not as abstract concepts, but as tangible tools grounded in obstacle, wisdom, and scientific understanding. And here's where it gets even better. In our bonus episodes, you'll hear from real people sharing real stories. These are the warriors, the healers, the everyday seekers who've walked through their own darkness and found their light. They'll share their breakthroughs, their struggles, and the resources that actually help them along the way. Because personal growth isn't a solo journey, and you deserve to know you're not alone. So whether you're just beginning to question the nature of reality, or you're deep in your spiritual practice, this podcast is your companion on the path. It's time to expand, to awaken, and to rise together. Let's begin. What does it actually look like to stop asking, why me, and start asking, why not me? Because that one word can be the difference between someone who gets consumed by their circumstances and someone who alchemizes them into something that helps other people. My guest today is Craig Sotkovsky. Craig was a 9-11 first responder who was at the World Trade Center for two days in the first five days after the attack. He spent the last 13 years navigating the health fallout, cancer, multiple surgeries, a moment where his throat closed completely and he genuinely thought he was done for. And he came out the other side not just surviving, but teaching. What I love about this conversation is how Craig bridges the scientific and the spiritual in a way that feels completely natural. He talks about epigenetics and the reticular activating system, the actual mechanics of how your mindset changes your biochemistry, and it maps perfectly into the energy work and inner healing that I do with my clients. Because when we talk about shifting your frequency, this is part of what we mean. Your body is listening to everything you believe about yourself. We talk about doing the dark work, detaching from your story without dismissing your pain, what it means to be the villain in someone else's story and the hero in your own, and why 2026 is the year the old systems crumble so something better can take their place. This one is for anyone who has been going through something hard and is still figuring out what to do with it. Let's get into it. Alright, guys, welcome back to another episode. Today we have Craig. He is someone that I really enjoy speaking to. He has an amazing transformative journey, lots of ups and downs, and I'm really excited to have him here today. How are you doing today, Craig?

SPEAKER_01 4:02

Fantastic. How are you?

SPEAKER_00 4:04

Awesome. I'm doing well. I'm doing well. So why don't you go ahead and jump in and tell everyone a little bit about yourself and all of the amazing things that you've been through?

SPEAKER_01 4:14

So my name is Craig Sakovsky. I've been an entrepreneur my whole life. And I've been in cancer recovery. And I was a 9-11 responder to the World Trade Center. And egotistically, I thought I was going to get famous for something that I've done in business. And what I what I truly believe is like I have a message to humanity, and it's simple in its complexity. It's like you don't have time. Whatever it is that you're looking to do, start executing on your plans now. And what I've realized during this battle for the last 13 years is I've been an entrepreneur my whole life. And I and I really believe that being an entrepreneur has helped me battle cancer. And I think beating cancer has made me a better entrepreneur. And, you know, the things that I talk about, some people find a little woo, but I help people tap into the quantum field and the human Wi-Fi and why we are able to actually get out of our stinking thinking once we apply, you know, the time and energy into the dark work. And I'm here to disturb the comfortable and comfort the disturbed, and that's my story, and I'm sticking to it.

SPEAKER_00 5:27

I like it. So tell us a little bit more about your your battle with cancer and how that changed, you know, who you are and how you live your life.

SPEAKER_01 5:39

I I tell people I think it's one of the best things that's ever happened to me because it woke me up and into the realization that I don't have time. You know, I'm I'm clean now, but I'm still following spots on my lungs. I I look at my life entirely different. I started studying epigenetics because I couldn't get over the pain, the physical pain, and I was taking all kinds of medications, diluted morphine, you know, percoset, percadana, stuff that goes along with all of that stuff, and I wasn't doing anything.

SPEAKER_03 6:07

Wow.

SPEAKER_01 6:08

And I was becoming I was becoming a very bad, bad attitude kind of person. It was it was a lot of woes me until I woke up to why not me? You know, instead of looking at life like why is this happening to me, I started to realize it was happening for me. And that has radically changed the way I think.

SPEAKER_00 6:31

That's amazing. Some people can't do that, even with you know, the scare of dying, they just seem to live in that woe is me state of mind. And the fact that you were able to turn that around is really something amazing. And I wish more people would would take the time to look at life that way because it it really does change a lot of things.

SPEAKER_01 6:56

I I think it's hard. You know, life is hard all on its own. Everybody's going through something. I think what's even harder is when you have to look at yourself as accountable and responsible for your healing. And a lot of people, they don't want to look at themselves in the mirror, they don't want to take that accountability because it's hard work, right? Yeah. I mean, looking at yourself, it's not about it's not about the story, it's the emotional attachment that you have people have to stories. And looking at yourself and being accountable and responsible for changing your healing, I think is is a lot, it's very devastating to people. And you know, I encourage people to actually do it because when you when you really start to understand your dark side, everything starts to change. You know, that's where your your light starts to become the beacon, you know?

SPEAKER_00 7:44

Yeah, it really shows you who you are and what you're capable of. And I for me, like when I started doing my shadow work, I did a lot of other inner work before that, a lot of healing, a lot of past life healing, inner child healing, stuff like that. So my shadow work was actually fun. It it really showed me both the lightness and the darkness and the dual spectrum of who you are as a person. And it's not, it doesn't have to be scary if you approach it with the right mindset.

SPEAKER_01 8:18

Well, that's the whole thing. It's the it's the right mindset, right? I think there's levels of healing. And I think once you introduce that, once you introduce that adult to the child, you know, and the the child looks at the adult and appreciates the adult, and the adult looks at the child and appreciates the child, you're no longer in fear, you're no longer in self-sabotaging mode, you're no longer thinking that you're less than. And that's when I believe you you develop that heart and brain coherence. Yeah, and it's like the inner child is actually proud of the older person that you've become, you know, once you once you level out the playing field. I think it's really important because there's so much mental health problems in this world today. And I believe once we once we can come together as a collective, yeah, everything starts to change. You know, you look at all the bad stuff that's going around the world right now, and it's just horrible.

SPEAKER_00 9:14

Yeah. Every day there seems to be a little bit more hope, though. Things are are crumbling as they're supposed to, so that better things can take their place.

SPEAKER_01 9:26

Absolutely. You know, I I mean things need to things need to crumble, they need to fall apart, you know, and it's like I believe now, more than anything, 2026 is gonna be an amazing year for that. No, because we're watching, we're watching the systems collapse, the old boys' club collapsing. Yeah and it's it needs to, it needs to, uh, because right now we're in the age of Aquarius, right? So I mean, all the good things that we thought were promised years ago have now coming to fruition. And it's gonna be painful, it's definitely gonna be painful. I mean, it's human behavior is painful all on its own, right? You know, and I think collectively, once we start looking at each other as problem solvers, as no longer looking at cultures and people differently, and we start looking at people as humans, human beings, I believe that things start to change.

SPEAKER_00 10:27

Absolutely. Couldn't have said it better myself. So you mentioned something when you were telling us about yourself, epigenetics. Do you want to dive into that a little bit more? It's a really interesting topic and fascinates me.

SPEAKER_01 10:41

Sure. Epigenetics is based off of the placebo effect. I think it's like pharmaceuticals, like pharmaceutical industry is like 70 or 80 percent or whatever. It's a very high percentage where it's placebo. And it's it's kind of giving yourself a sugar pill and saying that it's gonna cure us, cure cancer or whatever, right? And our body, through the reticular activating system, wants to please us. So as we're taking these sugar pills, our body starts to change our biochemistry. And when you're when you're really deep down into your being, the reticular activating system doesn't know the difference between fantasy and reality, doesn't know the difference between between time, you know. So, I mean, as we're going through this stuff, you start to realize, yeah, your body can take over. And I've I've studied it for such a long time. I'll give you an example. I was two years out of my surgery, which was nine hours. They took my mid and lower lobe of my right lung out, and you know, I was going through all of this pain and stuff. And I went to a 9-11 doctor who was giving me an annual physical, and she took an x-ray and she came into the room and she's like, Hey, have you ever had a bad x-ray? And this is one of the reasons why I don't come to conclusions anymore, because what she was looking at, saying I had a bad x-ray, was actually her not even having my paperwork. Number one, number two, she didn't have my own my old screens, she didn't have my surgery reports. So she was looking at this thing and she was like, Oh man, this guy, you know, he's gonna be dead soon. And it was actually it was actually post-surgery, you know. So she didn't even have my paperwork. But when she came in, she's like, Have you ever had a bad x-ray? I was like, you know, oh, she's gonna tell me I'm gonna be dead by Tuesday or something ridiculous. And come to find out, she didn't even have my information. So I realized that whatever she said was not gonna change my smile on my face, it wasn't gonna change my biochemistry, and it actually worked, and that's when my life really changed. It changed on a dime, like instantaneously, because I didn't have the that adrenaline and cortisol pumping through my body.

SPEAKER_00 12:58

Right. That's amazing, and it's funny because people, when they get like calls from the doctor or whatever, and they're like, oh, they just had a test done or whatever, and they're like, you need to come in so we can talk about your results. And people always go to worst case scenario. They always are like, Oh my god, let me look this up on WebMD or which is a death trap, or you know, just thinking about worst case scenario. And it's like, man, like doctors aren't allowed to talk about this stuff over the phone, whether it's good news or bad news. Like, don't always assume it's the worst case scenario. There's nothing you can do about it right now. Why, you know, get that cortisol pumping, why go into that fight or flight response when you haven't even heard the news yet?

SPEAKER_01 13:44

Well, that's the whole thing. It's the anticipation, right? Because you're you're there for cancer testing. You know, I did a biopsy, I never do a biopsy ever again. I did a biopsy, or they did that on my carcinoid tumor, and the biopsy put me in the hospital for seven to ten days. Oh my god. They nicked it, and it just started pumping all of this crazy stuff throughout my body, and and it almost killed me. And you know, I look at I look at the stuff that I've been through, and I I start laughing now. I really do. They told me four different times that I possibly being treated for cancer, and they were only right once, yet I got the scars for all four times. And this is something like this is what I profess to people is you need to change your stinking thinking to control your inner environment because your inner inner environment is going to change your external world. So doing the work, it's gonna start reflecting in your people, places, and things that are gonna show up in your synchronicities, and and things are gonna start changing for the better of who you are, just by doing the work and understanding that you are you have greatness within. We all do. You know, for the longest time I was self-loathing, self-sabotage, thinking I was less than, letting down my family, you know, because I was sick. And now on the other side of it, you know, I'm I'm for myself, I'm a giant. You know, whenever I run into obstacles, it's never about, you know, oh, I have a problem. It's like, no, I have an obstacle, so let's figure it out. Give it a response instead of a reaction. I used to be very reactionary.

SPEAKER_00 15:23

So you said also earlier that you became infamous rather than famous for your business skills, if you will. How how did that come about? What made you so infamous?

SPEAKER_01 15:40

So I was part of the 9-11 community and I was asked to do a Fox Fox News interview, and I didn't realize then that doing that interview and how that was gonna change my life, how it was going to catapult things in my life to make me who I am now, because it became public, right? And once it became public, then I started getting noticed over to the right side, the left side, down the center, you know, do this interview, do that interview, and not realizing because when when I got sick, I didn't even really know why I got sick, because I was only at the world trade center for two days. However, that being said, I the problem was you needed to be at the World Trade Center for four hours of the first five days. I just hit the wrong lotto, I was there for two days in the first five days, so it was whatever we ingested. Like I have Barat esophagus. I had an incident last week where I almost died, my throat literally just closed. I was asphyxiating myself for 30 minutes, and it you know, it's a continuing thing, however, I'm able to control it without completely freaking out because I've been through it so many times. I mean, it was scary as hell. I mean, it was I really thought I was gonna be done. I really did because you know when it happens, I I I have to grab my throat and I'm choking. I'm also like I'm also half vomiting, right? And there's no there's no exit, there's no enter, and I have to slow everything down to just shallow breathe and control my internal clock, my chemistry set. And it's very painful. However, that being said, I think if I didn't keep my shit together, it would be very painful for my daughter, you know, having her father, you know, die. So I mean, we I know we're all going through stuff, we really are. And the reason why I say that infamous is because again, ego and pride. You know, I thought it would be something about the businesses, but now I had my surgery in 2017, three surgeries in 2017, and it is now what nine years? It's gonna be nine years in October. I realized that I had to change my path in entrepreneurship, and what I ended up doing was creating a marketing company for myself. I had to learn how to just keep just keep moving forward, but in a different direction. I was a carpenter and mason my whole life, so I've always put things together, and now I'm putting myself together. I'm in Merit in Mexico, I'm here for I'm here for getting healthy and to get back on stage. And that's something that I encourage people to do. I I really want them to understand the power that they have within themselves. And it's gonna require work to turn your life around, but do it anyway. Because either way, whether you want to think big or think small, you have to think, right? So why not think think about things that are gonna scare the shit out of you and make you a better version of yourself?

SPEAKER_00 19:05

Yeah, you know. Is that what you speak about on stage?

SPEAKER_01 19:11

Well, I was speaking about real estate and real estate finance back in the day. And I would walk off stage and I'd get accolades and stuff for the information. I'd walk off stage and I and I felt like I felt less then because I wasn't dealing with you know being molested as a kid, being a drug addict. I never really confronted any of that stuff in my life. And it was in my like mid-40s, I started, you know, and it's like I and this is when I really started to understand human behavior because I didn't realize how many people are struggling mentally with the things that have happened in the past. I'm just able to recall things differently now without the emotional attachment. And the experiences that I've been through, I look at them and just tell my story. I don't have the recall where it changes my biochemistry set anymore. And this is what I this is what I teach people, and this is what I hope that people understand that you could change the way you are right now, regardless of your story. It's just the emotional attachment to the story. And I don't mean to seem callous, but it is true, it actually works. You could take the person from the worst to the worst and have them change their life around.

SPEAKER_00 20:29

Absolutely. And and that's the thing, that's true healing, where you're not gonna forget what happened. You you can't forget because it's a learning experience that there's an opportunity for growth, depending on how you look at the situation. But when you truly go back and you heal that that experience, then you are able to talk about it without that emotional attachment. You are about to have like not experience it again in the same way, but be able to answer questions or share what you've learned without going into PTSD triggers or the fight or flight response, that emotional aspect of it has been healed. So now it's just like a normal memory that you can use to maybe help other people who have been through it or to share your story in whatever way works for you. But that emotional attachment is getting rid of that, healing that, releasing that is really what healing is all about.

SPEAKER_01 21:30

Yes, a hundred percent. And like, and the thing is, I have to trigger people when I coach them or mentor them, right? And I don't do it, I don't do it like facetiously. I want them to understand how to because I can bring them back real quick, but I want them to feel that change in their biochemistry because when you get that, ah, you know, that feeling and and you're you got that queasiness in your chest, you're able to control that once you tap into the reticular activating. system because it just wants to please you. Call it the cyborg, right? The human Wi-Fi. It just wants to please you. So whether you're thinking in a in a positive direction or a negative direction, externally it's going to give you those experiences. And it's so it's so profound. It really is. I it still blows my mind that I this is what I do. Every day. I wake up every day and I'm like, wow man, this is really cool. I'm still waking up.

SPEAKER_00 22:33

Well that's certainly a step in the right direction, right? So you mentioned your daughter. How has your whole experience impacted her?

SPEAKER_01 22:44

Positive and negatively, definitely, because she was very young. And it was like it was within the last couple of years, my me and my daughter had really engaging conversations. I used to tell her all the time because we raised her a certain way to where I told her, you know, look, you and dad are going to have conversations daddy and daughters don't have simply because I grew up in the streets. I don't want you going to the streets for anything. You know, you're going to do knucklehead stuff like everybody else, right? Because you're a kid and now you're a young adult. And I just want you when you get jammed up call me rather than go into the streets because I know the streets only have very few answers and they're not correct at all. Right? And and her and I like for the longest time I felt less than I felt like I was letting her down. And then it was like nah but dad you know I used to come home and you were always there. So we used to have conversations. And she remembers when we lived in Mexico and I used to come home every night to read her stories before she went to bed and you know give her the give her the influence that I wanted to influence her with you know as well as as well as her mom. And these are things that I hope people learn to deal with their kids and don't put their failures onto their children in the hopes that those become the kids' successes because it doesn't you know it leaves people wanting to hurt themselves unaliving themselves being anxious and depressed and it's like if if somebody doesn't have the true intention of who they want to become right it's going to leave them feeling less than this is an amazing human experience I mean I love the whole experience I really do because it's taught me so many valuable lessons and I used to think like I said I was less than it's like nah man giant or giant yeah so how's your relationship now that you've completely changed your life basically have you taught those things to her is she like the master of her emotions as well absolutely but she's also 20 right so she's got she has a lot more stuff to learn on her own right like I show her the road I don't show her the on-ramps and off ramps you know I'll be there for her for everything however that being said I'm in Mary to Mexico she's in Atlanta right so we we FaceTime we text every day FaceTime every other day but our conversations are now two hours you know three hours I love FaceTiming and just watching her grow and to the young lady that she is it it leaves me in awe you know because she's actually a grown ass adult now and whenever I see her I'm always thinking like you know she's a three year old kid. Yeah but yeah I we have a we have a really cool relationship you know and her friends see it and her friends see how we interact.

SPEAKER_00 26:05

Awesome. So what do you I know you said you live in Mexico and and you're still in dealing with some of the the health issues but what are you doing now? Like are you mentoring you said and coaching?

SPEAKER_01 26:18

Yeah mentoring and coaching and I'm putting together a project that I'm going to be presenting in the summer. So I'm gearing up for that going to be traveling around the United States for mental health and cancer awareness because it's the 25th anniversary of the World Trade Center in September. So I'm putting that putting that project together I'm writing another book called The Shaman from Jersey how I alchemized everything in my life I'm just in a different in just in a different way you know at 60 years old I don't need the things that I used to think that I needed right I'm at peace for the first time in my life and I just want people to understand that you can become peaceful for yourself. It's all the external crap that we can't we can't control what life is going to do to us. It's only how we can respond to the situations and outer chaos of people places and things and a lot of people we're we're attached to certain people from love bombing and codependency and you know not being healed getting into a relationship because I don't think relationships are 50-50 I think it's 100% a hundred you know and it's about two people healing together so they can grow together or being healed and growing together. So it requires work. Because I I I talk to so many people about their relationships and it's like no man everybody's pretty much codependent right we have all of these we have all of these bad things about ourselves right that it in the end they're not really bad they're learning lessons they're they're steps in our healing and I believe everybody has to go through it have to so throughout your whole journey what was the most surprising thing that you learned that's you know changed your life the fact that I've lived in different cultures and what I realized was nobody laughs or cries in a different language as much as we like to believe that we're different we might be culturally but as humans like I said we all have a reticular activating system. We all have the ability to have heart and brain coherence we all have the ability to be better for ourselves and once we do become vulnerable emotionally your life's gonna change you know I'm a perfect example of it there's nobody on this planet that's gonna ever say that I wasn't a bad guy you know what I mean we're we're a villain and all we're always a villain in somebody else's story. Why not be the hero in ours? Absolutely awesome all right so last question if there was one piece of advice that you could give everyone what would it be just be accountable for your life just honestly take a look in the mirror stop whatever nonsense that you're doing okay nobody's coming to save you nobody you're gonna have to save yourself so it's gonna require you to sit in your nonsense sit in your own bullshit and write things out talk to yourself in the mirror people people don't want to be vulnerable because they look at it as a weakness right I mean I'm I tell stories about how I was molested as a kid right and I used to be devastated and all and I helped thousands of guys around the world as well as girls. Now I've helped traffic victims I've helped people that just have gone through the worst shit that humans can go through. And it's not so much me helping them it's their helping themselves off information that I regurgitated along the way that I've gotten passed down to me. So I in the hopes of people passing knowledge and wisdom down I want to create an environment where people learn grow and move on and have successful lives and what success defined by whatever you want it to do. It doesn't have to be a monetary shiny thing.

SPEAKER_00 30:24

No I look at success for me I have all the time in the world but yet I don't that makes sense everything in the world is a paradox why wouldn't this be one as well exactly exactly awesome well thank you so much for coming on and sharing your story with us it's a pleasure as always thank you so much I really appreciate the opportunity of course thank you thank you so much for being here today really I mean it if you're in the middle of a spiritual awakening and it feels less like enlightenment and more like everything is falling apart so something real can be built you're in exactly the right place the Self Spirit Method is my 14 step program that I created for empaths and highly sensitive people who have been doing the inner work and are ready to go all the way through the energy body, the inner child, spiritual identity, your actual gifts and your actual purpose you can start for free, join the Divine Ascension Company community on school it's free to join and that's where the program lives. Come in, take a look around and see if it feels like home. The link is in the show notes. I'll see you in the next episode. Until then, trust what you know