When Stress Shows Up in Your Body: Burnout, Identity & the Cost of Hustle Culture with Wade Simmons

What happens when hustle culture doesn't just burn you out mentally — but starts attacking your body? In this episode of Hustle Rebels, host Renae Mansfield sits down with Wade Simmons: filmmaker, funeral service professional of 16 years, and former pro wrestling trainee whose relentless drive led to a stress-induced vocal disorder called spasmodic dysphonia.

Wade opens up about juggling film school, funeral work, and wrestling training — and how chronic stress caused his voice to literally give out. He shares his journey through misdiagnosis, rejecting Botox injections as a quick fix, and how stepping back from hustle culture allowed his voice — and his life — to heal naturally.

In this episode, we talk about:

• What spasmodic dysphonia is and how stress physically triggers it
• The warning signs of burnout Wade ignored before his body forced him to slow down
• Why the "go-getter" mindset can work against you
• How working in funeral service shaped his perspective on life, death, and purpose
• Finding balance between ambition and self-preservation
• Lessons from straddling the worlds of film, grief, and professional wrestling

If you've ever felt trapped in the hustle, ignored your body's signals, or wondered whether the grind is worth it — this episode is for you.

Connect with Wade:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wadejedi99/

Vimeo: https://vimeo.com/wadefilmmaker777

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/wade.simmons.148

Follow Hustle Rebels for weekly conversations with unconventional thinkers who are rewriting the rules of success.

Transcript

Meet Wade Simmons

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Shit, like, wait, but you're a filmmaker and now you're doing the pro wrestling thing. And I know you're working in the funeral business, but maybe you ought to kind of take a step back for a little while and just focus on your creativity. Because they were trying to get me to do like these Botox injections, and I'm like, no, because I I don't want the temporary fix. Because spasmatic dysphonia really, from what I know, they say they don't really have a cure for it. But I I do believe that our bodies can naturally heal themselves at times, though. And so when I've stepped away and I eliminated the stress, over time my voice got better.

SPEAKER_00 0:34

You just heard from Wade Simmons, the man that loves cinema. He's a filmmaker of almost nine years, funeral service worker of almost 16 years, and he also trained for pro wrestling. He's a graduate of both Mortuary College and film school, but mainly his motto is love and kindness, which to him are the two most richest things in the world. Wade also developed a vocal disorder called spasmodic dysphonia that was directly related to his stress, which is why I'm so excited for Wade to share his story, because it will reveal how burnout not only affects us mentally, but also resides within our body as well. So without further ado, I'm excited to let Wade share the rest of his story. This is Hustle Rebels, a podcast for people who know how to grind, but are starting to question the cost. I'm Renee, and here we talk about success, burnout, and nervous system regulation without glorifying exhaustion or sacrificing your health, relationships, or your sense of self. And without pretending ambition is the problem. Let's get into it. Welcome back to Hustle Rebels. Today I'm sitting down with Wade Simmons, a filmmaker of nearly a decade, a funeral service worker of over 15 years, a former pro wrestling trainee, and someone whose life experience spans both creation and grief in a way most people have never had to hold at the same time. Wade's story isn't about chasing status or scaling at all costs. It's about ambition, burnout, and what happens when stress doesn't just live in your head, but also lives in your body as well. We're going to be talking about the hustle culture, identity shifts, and how Wade developed a vocal disorder directly tied to stress, forcing him to slow down, listen, and redefine what stress actually means for him. So, Wade, I'm really glad that you're here. And before we get into it, I would love for you to tell people who you are in your own words.

SPEAKER_01 2:44

Well, I'm Wade Simmons. I'm a just a person that believes in sharing love and showing love to people. But I've been in the funeral business for about 16 years. Um, been doing the professional wrestling thing, kind of doubling dabbling that a little bit. I've I've been a part of it for about six years now, but I trained for two years. And then I've just been doing stuff in film for about nine, but went to college for mortuary science and film, but that is not who I am. I'm just I'm just a man that loves to share love and show love more than anything because careers don't make you who you are, you know? Yeah.

Childhood Roots And Calling

SPEAKER_00 3:24

I love that. Now, you've lived in worlds that don't typically overlap, you know, film, funeral service, wrestling. How did those path all come together for you?

Adulting Needs Boundaries

SPEAKER_01 3:35

Well, actually, it I it really starts with childhood because I was always a big fan of like wrestling. I used to love movies like watching Star Wars and you know, Spike Lee and George Lucas are two of my favorite filmmakers, but I kind of drew inspiration from him. And then as far as being a funeral director, I went to a lot of funerals. And then when I was a child, I like drowned kind of like literally. And it was like, I don't, I don't want to say like I left my body or anything, but I believed as a child I saw some pretty unusual things, and that let me know two things. Like, one is that God is real and that it's a it's another realm that we can't see. But you know, after that, I'm just like, I think I want to be a funeral director, and so I pursued my passion of being a funeral director in high school. My teacher, Ms. Anderson, she called a local funeral director and said, I got a young man that wants to work in the business, and he told me to come. And so I volunteered and I ended up working there for about 13 years. This is kind of like in between the time when I went to school for it. But yeah, I've always been passionate about what I do. But I think that as a child, you understand having a dream, but when you become an adult, you understand that a lot of times things are not, it's a lot more to things than what you see, you know? Right. So as a child, you're like, what do you want to do when you grow up? Well, I want to, you know, I want to be a funeral director and a filmmaker. But you know, once you pursue these things and you start adulting and living life, you're like, wait a minute now. It's nice to do what you love, but no matter what you do, you have to create boundaries and a balance with yourself. And I didn't quite understand that until a couple of years ago.

SPEAKER_00 5:17

Yeah, and it's interesting as a child because you're always a lot of kids are told you can do whatever you want to do when you grow up, you know, but we then absorb a lot of conditionings and beliefs and identities as we become adults. And then we're like, oh, well, now we need stability and now we need to have financial security, and now we have a family, you know. So then your beliefs and your dreams that you thought that you could always attain are now limited to like, well, now I need a nine to five, and now I need this, and now I need that. And so we start putting these limiting beliefs on ourselves. It's interesting that you had such a near-death experience as a child. How did that weave itself into your adult life as you got older?

Death Perspective And Compassion

SPEAKER_01 6:02

You know, it made me a God-fearing person. I'm not gonna say I'm a perfect person, but it it kind of helped me to have more love and compassion for people, actually, because it's like, you know, a lot of people, put it like this, because like when I look at the world, right? Like it's some beautiful people in this world, but I noticed that in society a lot of people are against each other, you know? And I don't know what it is or whatever, but for instance, like when you see something, even it can be something positive if somebody finds something bad and negatives, and so like I'm like, wait a minute, I know we have a choice as people, but it's like why is it that people find it in their heart? Like, I don't want to be that way, and so it kind of taught me just be more loving towards people and to really like you know help people and just realize that we we're all on this journey called life, trying to just figure things out, and and so once I started kind of understanding that it kind of really helped me to have a really different outlook on life, and even with life, because like with me, I wanted to be a mortician and a filmmaker. Now, the pro-wrestling part that kind of I did wrestle in high school as well, but the pro-wrestling part kind of came out of nowhere. But as far as me wanting to be a filmmaker and a funeral director, I pursued it. And so when I would meet other people, they're like, This is what I want to do. I always just told people, like, it's your life, you know, because life is like a movie. Like you, you create the narrative for yourself. So that's that's up to you. So there's no need for us to criticize another person. Everybody's just learning for themselves, and everybody's life is different. And so, like with me, that's why I never got caught up into comparing myself to other people, because once you start to see how things really are, you never know what people are really going through. You know, even some of the most successful people in the world may have a lot of money and stuff like that, but everybody has problems, you know.

Funeral Work Life Lessons

SPEAKER_00 7:53

So it's funny that you mentioned how even something positive, someone can spin it, right? And we have this thing. I don't know if you ever heard of the RAS, the reticular activating system in our brains, but it's something that is like programmed in our brains that we have trained ourselves individually to pre-program to visualize something that our brain already looks for. So it's even something that could be negative. You and I can see the same exact thing, I can perceive it negatively and you can perceive it positively, but it's because of our own backgrounds, it's going to create it in something different. So it's so it's so crazy to think that because of my background, I'm gonna perceive it in such a completely different, and in your background, you're gonna perceive it in something completely different, which is like thinking of the environments that you are in, the filmmaking, the pro wrestling, especially as a funeral director, those environments, what do you think that they have taught you that most people in other careers haven't been shown or taught?

SPEAKER_01 9:03

Well, I think for the most part, it teach you to not focus on things that you really don't care about or things that you don't like to mean working in a funeral home, because a lot of times, like right now, me and some of my other colleagues, like my role right now currently is bringing the loved one into the care of the funeral home. So a lot of times I go to the nursing home or to the hospital or to the home to receive the loved one to take them into the funeral home. And so, like when you really think about that, any day, any of us can leave here. So it's like when you think about that, why would I spend my time worried or wasting it on things that really don't serve me? And so, like working in that business, I think that gives you a good outlook on that, you know, because none of us know when we're gonna leave here. So it's that's not that's not a necessarily a bad thing. It's just life is so precious. So why waste it on things that are not beneficial to us, you know? And to me, that's why if you see something that you don't like, uh find something you do like, you know what I'm saying? Like, like, why waste your precious time on something that is it doesn't really make sense to me, you know? So I think working in a place like that definitely has shown me that.

Spasmodic Dysphonia Story

SPEAKER_00 10:13

Yeah, I love that. And I feel like so many people need to hear that too, because we spend our lives grinding so hard in a job that we hate, and we think that we need to do that out of like we were talking about, stability, financial security, and stuff like that. And speaking of which, I would I'd love to just talk about how you realized that ambition ultimately led to stress in your body and how that affected your voice. So if you want to just talk about that for a little bit, I know I I don't want to misspeak. Yeah, I know I asked you how to say it before the spasmatic dysphonia. Yeah, go ahead and just talk a little bit about that and your experience.

Saying No to Botox

Stepping Back to Heal

SPEAKER_01 10:56

Yeah, so that all started, I believe it was when after I graduated Montrerary College, we had to take these exit exams. I call it, I call it the exit career exam. Because that literally what it almost did. But it's like you gotta take a test before you take the national board. So here I am, I'm finished with school. But I couldn't get my degree yet because I hadn't passed the exit exam. So, like for seven months after I graduated, I was going out there taking that test and taking that test and just failing and failing. So I'm like, you know what? I done went to school and paid my money. And if I don't get this degree or whatever, it's like I wasted my money. So now I gotta do something. So I was already kind of having stress from that. So I was work because I was already working in the funeral business before I went to school. So, but it's kind of like here it is, this is what I want to do, but it's like I'm stuck because I can't go forward without this. So I'm like, but I'm gonna go to film school. So I went right to film school seven months after trying to pass the test. And this is the funny part about it. I ended up passing the funeral director part of the test, the art section, right when I went to film school. It's crazy because the owner of the funeral home was like, Why would you go back to school and you ain't even took care of this? I said, Time don't wait on nobody, as we can see, right? So I ended up enrolling at film school. So while that time was I was going to school and working, but at the same time, it's like I just life stress and all this stuff. And then I noticed my voice started to change. And a lot of and I and the and the crazy thing about it was I didn't really notice it at first, but then I noticed like, what the world's going on with my voice? Like when I talk, I would sound like a like an old man, like it was weird. My voice was strained really bad. And people like, what's going on? You need to get that checked out. So for a while, I didn't I just thought it was normal, eh? So I finally started doing some research, and I'm like, let me just go on to the doctor. So they sent me to a specialist to check me for throat cancer. Thank God it wasn't throat cancer. And they like, well, your vocal cords uh maybe a little tighter or whatever, but we don't see anything. So I went to another person, and then like I said, but it took me doing my own research as well. So eventually, my doctor was telling me about her grandmother would have when she would get anxious or whatever, her voice would just change. And so I noticed something, it was a pattern. When I was at the funeral working, and it got a little stressful sometimes. And I noticed that when I would get to work, my voice would strain really bad, or I get stressed, and I'm like, okay, I'm seeing the pattern now. But when I'm happy and uplifted, my voice was normal. And it's crazy because some people thought I was like faking it, because they like you just playing around. I'm like, no, this is like what what and look, I'm a man and like woman, what man you think gonna want to sound like this to the ladies, right? So I would be thinking that, yeah. So at that time, I'm like, look, no, so eventually when I went to my voice therapist, we was doing like these exercises, drinking water and singing and having a little fun. And she's like, wait, but you're a filmmaker, and now you're doing the pro-wrestling thing. And I know you're working in the funeral business, but maybe you ought to kind of take a step back for a little while and just focus on your creativity and do what you gotta do. And because they were trying to get me to do like these Botox injections, and I'm like, no, because I I don't want the temporary fix because spasmatic dysphonia really, from what I know, they say they don't really have a cure for it, which I don't know. They say a lot of things, right? But I I do believe that our bodies can naturally heal themselves at times, though. And so when I stepped away and I eliminated the stress, my voice got better. And I noticed that. So I took so I when I made the decision to leave the funeral full time, I left the funeral home. I was going back and forth between um Missouri and Illinois at the time, and then I was doing a lot of traveling, went to Arizona, kept going to California and just trying to get some things together. And over time my voice got better. And so once my um my funeral directing embalming intern license finally came, I decided that instead of me going back into the funeral business full time, that I would just do it part-time. And so when I started doing it part-time and I got my license, I started really enjoying what I was doing more because I started doing it with a balance, and so I learned that you gotta take time to take care of yourself because you we need these vessels to live in this world, right? So you gotta take you gotta take care of your body, and it's you gotta have love for other people as well, but you also got to take care of yourself, and so once I kind of learned that it helped me to have a better balance, yeah.

Warning Signs and Limits

SPEAKER_00 15:44

That's so crazy, and a lot of people don't realize too that it that stress manifests in your body, and we go straight to those Western medicine type things, you know. We listen to the doctor because we think that they know what's best, and we take those Botox injections because it's that band-aid fix, you know. But I know in my burnout experience, there was a lot of signs leading up to the point where my body started to fail before that. In hindsight, for you, looking back, were there some signs that were leading up to before it started to affect your voice?

SPEAKER_01 16:24

I noticed that I was kind of getting a little frustrated and I started kind of feeling stuck because again, when you have this thing that you want to do, and then you go to school and all this stuff, like people really don't think about this. Because this because this actually happened to one of my former high school classmates where he went to school to be a barber. And like me, I was also labeled with a learning disability. That's another subject, but and there was an another student who I believe he was in school to be a I don't know if he was doing was going to like barber college or something like that, and he kept trying to pass the test and couldn't, and he ended up committing suicide. Oh wow, and I think that a lot of people don't understand, like a lot of people actually deal with that because we're taught to go to school, get education, hope you get a better job. But you know, life, life, as they say, life be life for everybody, you know what I said. Like that's the term they use nowadays, but like I said, it don't really matter what you have in life, you gotta, no matter what situation you're in, you gotta have peace in your heart and in your mind because that's the first thing, because all these other things don't matter if you don't have that. And so I think that people have to create boundaries for themselves because sometimes just trying to be a go-getter, you you gotta take care of yourself because we're taught that yeah, you gotta get up and you gotta, but sometimes you gotta slow down at times, and you gotta really look at things because if we're not paying attention to certain things, that's how people's health start declining. And if our health decline, then we ain't no good to nobody or ourselves. So I think it's just important to like really sometimes slow down and pay attention to things and find joy in life because joy is a powerful thing, and so once I started focusing more on not doing it the way that other people think I should do things, I started doing it as Frank Shinacha said. I started doing it my way, and uh it it I think it works a lot better for me, to be honest with you.

Redefining Success and Joy

Redefining Success And Hustle

SPEAKER_00 18:21

I love that, and I think too that people don't realize the pressure that people have internally. You know, if you're consistently failing that exam or failing school, that builds up a lot of pressure in, especially if they're conditioned to believe that that equals failure, right? If you're constantly failing, you think in our heads, it's just an exam, it's just an exam, it's just an exam. But if you equate that worth to failure, then you're failing as a human, you're failing as a person, you're failing as a husband, as a wife, as a son, you know. And when you lose that worth that's tied to productivity as hustles, you know, as we are hustle rebels, hustle people, it leads to something as catastrophic as potentially suicide or something like that. And we can't we just don't know what someone is internally struggling with. So thinking of something like that and the stress that you endured, and then you realizing this is related to stress, I need to take a step back. How did it change the way that you relate productivity, identity, or your worth?

SPEAKER_01 19:34

It taught me to just focus on being me and just having joy because I think that what people have to understand that all of us are where we are for whatever reason. And things do work out, but I think that what a lot of people have to realize is that you don't have to just do one thing. And you don't have to do everything the way that people think you should do it, because your story is not their story. Like with me, I didn't even pass both tests until after I graduated film school. It's weird because once I graduated from uh completed film school and graduated, this is I kid you not, I had a dream because I was I I do a lot of praying and talk to God a lot, but I prayed, I was praying for years, and one day when I wasn't thinking about the test, I had a dream that I passed the science part of the funeral director. And this was after I finished film school. And then when I wasn't thinking about it, and I had that dream. I went out there, I'm like, okay, God, I'm gonna just trust you today. And I went out there and I passed it. It's very strange, like how I feel like that's when it works the most. Yeah, well, one thing I have learned is that everything doesn't have to happen right when we want it to. And I learned that success is not a destination, it's a journey. Because how many times have we seen people who had a lot of things in life and then they lost it? And it and so to me, success is not defined by just things, it's to me, it's more about the journey. And I had a good friend, John, in pro wrestling. He used to always say, because we would always ask each other, what do you want to do? Like, you want to travel for WWE or TNA or AEW? And my friend John would just say, you know what? I'm enjoying the journey. I'm not really worried about the destination. And and I like what he would say that it like ever since he said that, I just I just borrowed that quote from him, and I know he got that from you know some other great source, but I believe that's so true about success. Like, we make it more about a destination of reaching these pinnacles of I got this, and but it's more than things, it's joy. It's just being able to wake up every day and just have peace. And I'm doing what I love. I may not have everything that I think I should have, but then the what people don't realize with this whole this hustle culture is that when you get so many things, now you got to work overly hard to keep the stuff. So I think that to me, it's nothing wrong with. Being wealthy, and it's nothing wrong with living and I because I do a lot of traveling, like I love traveling, but to me, I just learned to not be so materialistic and to not compare myself to anybody else because my story is not the next person's story, their story is not my story. So to me, I live by the saying that everybody is somebody. And so once you look at that, then people are not so caught because a lot of times we get discouraged because we're looking at other people's life like, oh my God, I want this, and they're able to do this. But the truth is you don't really know what their life is really like. You know, you're just seeing all the superficial things, and but you don't see the other things that's going on. You may not see people uh struggling to keep what they have. And so to me, I just learned to I don't bite off more than I can chew. I tell you that much. That's one thing I learned. Like, I'm not, I'm gonna do what I'm comfortable with doing, and I'm gonna do it the way that I like to do it or the way that I believe my heavenly father gives me to do it. But other than that, I don't ain't I'm not gonna kill myself trying to keep things, no, because people can have things, but do you have joy and peace? I've had money in my pocket, I I've had no money. I I've been on both sides of the fence. I I think you gotta just have love for other people and love for yourself and just not to me not be so materialistic. And if you can free yourself from that, I think that a lot of more people probably will find more joy in life. Because it's not about just seeing myself happy. I like to see everybody happy. I don't have to know a person to be kind to them. I just like seeing everybody happy. I'm not the type of guy that just, oh, I wish success. Like, no, like I I wish success on everybody, but I would tell everybody that success is more than things because okay, you buy things and then what? It's just about enjoying the journey.

SPEAKER_00 23:43

Right. I always think of it as abundance. You're entitled to the abundance of everything, and it's how you always were utilizing it in your resources and everything. But um you had mentioned how you never know people are struggling, and I think about how social media has shifted that in so many ways in the facade, and you have no idea what's going on behind the social media and what people are struggling with. But um, it's also interesting to think if someone is listening and feels the stress in their body, but they keep pushing anyway, and they keep thinking that they need to get that next step for that money, and their body is just slowly failing. What do you want them to hear right now?

Follow Your Hunches

SPEAKER_01 24:30

Well, you gotta be here to make the money, don't you? True. So you gotta so you gotta take care of yourself because you know you you have to listen to your body because that's important. And I learned that, you know, I get it because people have children and families, and I get it. But you gotta, if you really want to be there for your family and stuff, you gotta take care of yourself and just learn to have boundaries. If we learn, I'm not gonna say you, but if as people, I learned for myself to have boundaries. And so it's okay to do nice things for yourself and want more for yourself, but you have to do it with a balance. Because again, trying to do things the way that everybody else tells you you should and stuff, sometimes that don't even work. Right. And don't get me wrong, people can share their journey with you, but everybody's journey is different, you know. And so I'm like, hey, you gotta, you just gotta have your own journey and just listen to your God-given intuition and just trust your instincts, but listen to your body because your your health, your health is important as well.

Journey vs Destination Trap

SPEAKER_00 25:28

Yeah, I love that. I listened to this guy, David Baer, and um, he has great podcasts, but he talks about following the hunches all the time, and basically what you yourself feel like you need to do, your intuition in your gut. And it it's really mind-boggling how much it can be vastly different from what the conditioning of the society is telling you to do. And even down to like, you know, I'm starting my own business and trying to figure out I'm not a I've never considered myself a businesswoman or a CEO or entrepreneur or anything of that nature. So going into this role has been really different for me. And so I've been trying to do like marketing techniques and following the people that are the, you know, professionals in the field, but it just never seems to work. And so finally, when I'm just like, you know what, just follow the hunches, like do what I feel like I should be doing and what my own voice is. And it's interesting how much more effective that is when you start finally aligning with what you feel like you should be doing, even though it might be so different than what the professionals might be telling you to do, you know, because they're selling you something, they're trying to sell you based off of whatever they think is what's going to work. And it's just the cookie cutter shit that they want you to follow. But when you're actually aligning with what you want to do, it's just following in line with everything. It's your own voice with your own business, and people can smell the authenticity, you know? It's not like you're faking it to make it with whatever someone else wants you to do, but it's not someone else's voice either. And I think that's the biggest thing. And we have to gain the confidence to do it your way, like what you were saying with Pranks and Hantra. I did it my way. And it's okay to do it your way if it looks so much different than what someone else did. And I also love how you talk about it being a journey instead of a destination. I heard this one story about POWs and um people being, you know, kidnapped in other countries and stuff, and they did a study about people who either survived and were kind of messed up in the head or didn't survive, and the people who did survive and were um not as, you know, messed up. And the people that didn't survive seemed to have this mentality that they needed to make it to a certain date. They were like, let's I just need to make it to Christmas, or I just need to make it to like, I just need, you know, and the other people were like, I'm just grateful for this day. I'm just grateful to get through this. I'm just grateful. They had this daily gratitude to just get through the journey, you know, and as dark as that is, it is interesting to see how our brain just needs to have a journey instead of a destination. Because when you view something as a destination, it's like an ultimatum in some way. And then once you reach that destination, what do you do? Your brain is like, I need something else to achieve, and then you're constantly chasing something. So it's interesting to view it like that. So, what do you feel like is so dangerous about viewing something as like a destination as opposed to a journey in this hustle culture as people are just constantly achieving and constantly chasing?

Grandfather and Being Present

SPEAKER_01 28:47

Because life is always gonna be filled with different circumstances, and so a lot of times it's a saying, like I I live by this saying too, to enjoy where you are for where you're going. And what I mean when I say that is we don't know what the next few days are gonna bring for the next year, but I learned to take life one day at a time, and I think that it's important to just enjoy because again, we don't know who's gonna not be with us or if we're gonna be there. So, like to me, it's just being present, it's all about being in that present moment because the present is what really matters more than anything. Because a lot of times we think about the past and we always looking for the future, but it's just taking life that God gives us every day, just enjoying this moment that we have now and just being thankful for it and just making the most of it because a lot of times people feel like, oh, when I get this, we're gonna be straight, but we don't know what's coming down the road later in life. So a lot of times having things don't always stop certain situations from happening. You know what I'm saying? It can make certain things better for you in a sense, but it's other things in the world that may come up. So it's just taking life one day at a time. And I and I I don't say that it's like gloom and doom or nothing, but I just say that as being a realist of life that you just gotta be thankful for every day and just take life one day at a time. Because like I I think about was it last, what, 20, what, 20? Was it well we're in 2026 now? Look, I'm getting mixed up. But in 2024, my grandfather, because I was living in, I was living between Illinois and Missouri. So I was coming back to the Chicago area, then going back to the St. Louis area and all that good stuff. And I noticed something around that time when I wasn't here at home in Chicago, when I would be at the residence in in Missouri, for some reason, when I was taking a step back and just reflecting on life, I had a lot more peace there, to be honest with you. I never pictured myself ever living in Missouri, but for whatever reason, but I noticed that it kind of gave me a little more time to kind of focus and really re-evaluate life. But at the same time, this was around Christmas time in 2024. My grandfather, he was 86 years old, still going to work. But he ended up, he he was driving somewhere, he got lost. And then we like, well, we were already kind of noticing some things, but you know, he did not want to quit working. So, you know, thankfully, we was able to locate him and everything. And after that, it's like, no, you got to stop working. That's it. And so then once he stopped working, he stopped eating. And I think he might have got a little depressed, possibly. And I can understand that because look, he was 86 years old, he's been working since he was a child and everything, and he had a good life because he he lived all over the world. He lived in like a lot of places, New York, he was in Florida, he was in the military and the war and stuff like that. But I noticed when he got sick and he was in the hospital while I was in Missouri, I'm like, okay, now I done spent a couple of months up here. I need to go back to Chicago because my grandmother needs help with my grandfather. And so that Christmas, my grandfather was in the hospital and I went up there, and I was just thinking in my mind, like, you know what, this is not a place that I want to be on this Christmas, but you never know. And so my grandfather ended up transitioning in January, I think January 2nd of 2025. And so I said all that to say that it's a lot of things that I've been able to accomplish, but my grandfather's no longer here. You know what I'm saying? It's like, so we have to be very present because money is a money is only a tool for this life to take care of whatever necessities we have, and that's that's just the way it is. But I think that we have to stop defining ourselves by job titles and how much we have or don't have, because all that is nothing if you ain't got no peace of mind, you know, and if you don't know how to treat people. And then, like I say, we can't take this stuff with us when we leave, you know. I I ain't never seen nobody take no money with them, you know. I'm being honest with you. A family may fight over the money, people will fight over property and titles and clothing and all that good stuff. But, you know, so to me, it's more the most important thing is just being thankful for this journey in life. And life is not easy, but I think that if more people show more love and kindness and more willingness to help one another, then we can help ease each other's burdens a little more. We can't solve everybody's problem, but I think one of the biggest problems in this world is greed. That's another subject, but you know, right. Um, that's a subject for another day. But there are things that we can do to help one another, but not everybody has that same concept of life, you know. And then too, you have another problem is that when you find people that will help sometimes, everybody's not genuine. So it's it's a heart condition. It starts with just keeping your heart and your mind in the right place. And I think if people do that, then they're the richest people in the world, regardless of how much a person has or don't have.

SPEAKER_00 33:59

Right. I mean, if money cured happiness, everyone that was million and billionaires would be the happiest people in the world, right?

Show Business Is an Illusion

SPEAKER_01 34:07

Yeah, I put it like this like you know, it's nothing wrong with having wealth, but if you do have wealth, just use it wisely. And like me, I just have a heart for people. I'm not gonna say that I'm a perfect person, but you know, I really do care about people. There's a lot of things in this world that I do question because as humanity, we are intelligent beings and the world don't have to be the way that it is, but because of people's choice, and we don't always make good choices, that's all of us, to be honest with you. But I think if we have more love in our heart for one another, then we would probably see things a little bit differently.

SPEAKER_00 34:42

Yeah. Ain't that the truth? Well, if someone is listening who feels burned out or disappointed with where they are in their life right now, what perspective do you wish that you had sooner in your life that you could relay to them?

SPEAKER_01 34:58

I wish I would have known that a lot of things, especially in show business, is more an illusion than reality. And what I mean is that sometimes, especially being a person that works in the media, because I've been doing this for about nine years now. Sometimes you think that you have to do things a certain way, but you realize that just being yourself and being unique, that's the best you can do. Because everything is not what we think it is. Sometimes things look a certain way, but it may not be that way. So that's why with me, I try to be more transparent with people about my journey. I'm not saying I got all the money in the world. I mean, you know, I'm not doing bad, you know what I'm saying? But I don't, I couldn't be doing better. But there's any of us, right? But I think at the end of the day, it's like, well, you don't have to live up to anybody else's standards. I think that you have to create the life that you want to live, but also just take it easy and don't worry so much about trying to portray this image to other people because it's not about to me, show business is about image, but just be you. Like a lot of stuff don't matter as much as we think it do. We're all human beings, we all have good days, we all have bad days, we have wild hair days, we we may have days where our skin is dry. I know me, my lips be dry sometimes. I'm aware of it, but you know, it's life. We're people, and we don't always, we don't always be well put together every day, but that's the way sometimes people try to make it. But we're human and we just here living this journey. And I and like I said, more people worry about the outer appearance. But to me, how you treat people and what you think about other people to me is more valuable than just uh the outer appearance, you know. I think sometimes we worry about the wrong thing. Yeah, that is true.

SPEAKER_00 36:43

And a lot of the times it's in our head, right? A lot of the times we're thinking that someone is thinking something about us, and in reality, they're probably thinking about their grocery list for the day, and they have no idea, they're not even thinking about us at all. It's yeah, a lot of the times, it's all our perspective.

Final Takeaways and Where to Find Wade

SPEAKER_01 37:00

And I always tell people this too don't compare yourself to anybody because you are the person God made you, you are unique, you are wonderful, you are you. So you don't have to be trying to mimic anybody else because that's what makes people that's what makes us who we are, is that all of us are us. So no need to try to be like nobody else. And again, I think that if more people were more transparent about about the journey, then people wouldn't be so worried about trying to get to the destination, they would be focusing on enjoying the journey. Because like you said, a lot of times when you get to a certain place, it's not what is a place without being around people that you love and care about. And for me, I care about everybody. So, you know, me, I like seeing people happy. So what good is it to focus on the destination and the people I care about are not there, you know? So I'll just live and enjoy the moment.

SPEAKER_00 37:50

Well, I feel like that's a great place to wrap up. It's a great sentiment. Well, Wade, I thank you for bringing this level of honesty to the conversation. And conversations like this really do matter. And I feel like people really need to hear this level of joy and gratitude, especially in a culture that rewards silence over this endurance and health and truth. And uh, before we wrap up, is there anything that you want to leave the audience with?

SPEAKER_01 38:17

I'll just say this just stay great and keep loving your heart. And don't let all the problems of the world stop you from being a loving and care person. And don't be afraid to meet people. Like I never meet strangers, I'm a I'm a chatterbox. So if you ever want to reach out, feel free. I'm not shy to reach out to people. One of my friends told me that I she thinks I should kind of not be as friendly like that because I do understand that, like, with social media, it's a lot of you know, things happen online, and as you start growing and you get more popular and stuff, sometimes you gotta worry about people trying to use your identity and stuff. But if I ever reach out to you, I ain't here to scam you. I'm just here to share love and show love. Ain't asking I ain't if somebody asks you for money or something, it ain't me. You know what I'm saying? I would never do that. I'm just all about connecting with people and sharing love and showing love. I don't want nothing from anybody other than just uh know that you're doing great. So I leave you with that.

SPEAKER_00 39:11

Speaking of which, for people who want to follow or work with you or connect with you, where can they go to find you?

SPEAKER_01 39:18

Oh, you can reach me on uh Instagram, way jedi99, or you can reach me on Facebook Wade Simmons. And if you want to check out my film work, it's on Vimeo Way Filmmaker777. Look, you don't have to if you want to. Look, I I don't I don't beg anybody. Look, uh, you don't have to. Your thoughts and prayers are more than enough, but just stay great and stay amazing.

SPEAKER_00 39:40

Well, if anyone does, they're all gonna be in the show notes. So any of those links are gonna be able to connect with Wade in any way that he just listed. And um also if you're just tired of content that tells you to keep pushing harder through all this hustle and bustle, instead of listening deeper, go ahead and follow the Hustle Rebels. You can share this episode with someone who's burning out quietly. And if you want to help keep these conversations alive, there's also a support link in the show notes. Thank you, Wade, again, for keeping this conversation as honest and uplifting as you are as a person. So I hope you guys have a great rest of your day. See you next week. Bye, guys.