080 Taking Back Control and Going Alcohol Free w/ AVP Beach Volleyball Player Christian Honer

If you've ever been curious about what being an alcohol free athlete looks like then you're going to be interested in this episode. 

Christian Honer is a Christian is a professional beach volleyball player, certified hypnotherapist, mental performance coach, certified recovery coach, a sales and marketing growth specialist and an amazing human committed to personal growth.

In this episode Christian and I discuss:

• His journey into beach volleyball and living an alcohol free lifestyle
• His mindfulness routine
• How nasal breathing helps his sleep and performance
• His favorite  tools he used to manage his mental health issues
  
  

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Kerri

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Christian's links: Instagram @christianvball

https://athletesmentalhealth.com/

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Transcript

Hi, I'm Kerri Bicskei, professional athlete, licensed therapist and mindset coach. I created ReadySet Mindful as an online mental health resource for athletes and high performers like you. And this is the ReadySet Mindful Podcast.

 Yeah. Hello everyone. Welcome back to another episode of the Ready Set Mindful podcast. I'm your host, Kerri Bicskei, and  I'm so excited to have my guest today. I've been following him on social for a while. He is very inspiring with all of his mental performance training. He is a mindfulness beach volleyball player.

All of my favorite words, right? So welcome to the podcast, Christian. Thank you so much. I'm super excited to be here and yeah, everything I've seen from you is awesome and what you're doing for a living and the the ways you're able to help people is, is a, is a great place to be and it's a, it's inspiring to me cuz it's a lot of the stuff I, I inspire to be able to do at some point as well.

So you inspire me very much so as well. Thanks so much. Aw, right back at you. We'll be a good, it'll be a good conversation. It'll be a good match. We're both absolutely volleyball players, appreciate mindfulness and mental training and I'm super excited to get into Athlete Mental Health and hear a little bit more about your journey and all that good stuff, so For sure.

Thanks for being here. Thank you. I don't wanna butcher your last name too. Is it? It's Honer. Honer. Honer. H O N E R. Yeah. A lot of people I've, I've gotten so many everyone's honor owner, Homer. Yeah, it's honer. It's, but it's like the, they have like harmonica and guitars from Germany, but I think it's like two, I think it's like two R's or two Ns or something.

But that's, yeah, that's the pronunciation. That's the way you kind of like, okay. I love it. Yeah. My, my last name is not super for anyone that's listening to the podcast, if you ever wanted to know how to pronounce my last name, it's Bisque. Yeah. Mine is always, I get all the fun things for mine too. People are like, I can imagine.

Yeah. Carrie Bisque or Bisque or whatever. I'm just like, yeah, just roll with it. Sure. We'll go with it. Yeah, exactly. Same here, owner. I was like, okay, I can only go so bad with this, so. Yeah, exactly. That's awesome. And Christian, where, where are you at right now? Where are you living currently? I live in, uh, cave Creek, basically Cave Creek, Arizona.

It's like kind of like a. Uh, west Wild, west Town. It's kind of in the desert of Arizona. I grew up on, on the west side of town, but Arizona's been my home as well as California when I was pursuing beach volleyball. But currently, uh, yeah, cave Creek slash North Scottsdale, Arizona. Love it. That's awesome.

Yeah. Okay. Um, yeah, I wanna get into it and hear a little bit about your journey. I kind of, with how you fell into beach volleyball, your trajectory as an athlete. Why don't you tell me, tell me about that. Did you grow up in, in California, No. So I, I was born and raised in Arizona and then I played, I played all the, all the sports as a kid would play baseball, basketball, and then I found golf.

My dad was big in golf and, and baseball. So baseball, baseball, basketball and golf were my main sports growing up. And I was homeschooled my whole life. So I kind of did my, my, my homeschool, we, we had our park days on Thursdays and I would play middle school sports like baseball, basketball and golf for my, my middle school, my high school locally.

It was cool cuz I could kind of pick the ones that had it, like locally to me. And so I was able to play sports as well. And so, yeah. And then I, I found volleyball actually later than most people do. But I'm kind of thankful because I, I think for me, I got a little, cause I was playing from like five till I was like 15, 16 of those sports.

And then I was just like, kind of like in that mode of like, I love these things, but I really wanna find something new that I can kind of dive into. And that's, I think that's kind of in a story of my life is finding, finding like going, diving into something for some time and then being like, oh wow, I want something new.

So I found beach volleyball. About, I think I was 16, 16 years old. We were, we started playing it at my park day with my homeschool friends, and I fell in love with it. I was just like, man, I, this is such an awesome sport. But so many of my friends were like, oh, it's a girls sport, like you can't play that.

I'm like, no, it can't be. And so I kinda like dove into the avp and I was like, no, there's a way for me to do this. So I started just going to the park, riding my bike to the park at night and just trying to find a little bit more competitive, uh, like players and people. So I would just go there like every couple nights and, and bring my volleyball and kind of join in with them.

And then I found, I found a, a open tournament, and you probably know what open is, and in beach volleyball is the highest level of beach volleyball. Like there's like A or B, A aa, triple A and open. Yeah. And what I thought it was at that time was, Was open gym, I was like, oh, it's open gym. I can just sign up.

And so I was like, oh sweet, I'll just sign up. And my first tournament, I played against the best players in Arizona and they just, I don't think, I think if I remember correctly, I don't think I got more than three points in any of my matches. And we didn't know the rules of like the hand setting or like anything cuz we were just having fun with the sport at the time.

And so, gosh. Which is a beautiful place to be cuz we were just like, oh, we were having so much fun where they were getting crushed. I was like, this is great. Like, oh my gosh. Everyone's like, oh these guys lost a bet and that's why they're here. Exactly. Exactly. And so they put us down into the sea level and then we got last in the, in the sea level, but we were like, we love this game.

And then for some reason these guys invited me to come play cuz they would play like once a week at like the higher level guys. And I started playing with them and kind of getting better and better and, and, and kind of just trying to find coaches and people to help me cuz I was like, man, I'm really bad at this, but I wanna get better.

And so that's kinda where it started. It came from. Playing those other sports and then, and then ultimately finding beach volleyball, which, which, uh, yeah. Has been, has been incredible. I've been playing over the last 10 years or so, and it's, uh, it's been awesome. That's so much fun. I love that. I mean, yeah, that really says something.

If you can go into an open tournament and still have a good time getting your ass handed to you, then you know, there's still that joy in the sport for you. Yeah, exactly. And, and sometimes it takes, I mean, getting, I, I found volleyball a little bit later too, like my freshman year in high school. Mm-hmm.

Which, I mean, lots of people start playing way earlier than especially women. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Yeah, for sure. Like they're kind of, yeah. Br bred into it, but I, I was just had that incentive of like, oh my gosh, I'm already starting from a deficit or starting from behind and did all these other sports.

Right. But then there's this drive, this internal drive to just get better and grind and, um, for sure, you know, work your way up. Right. Absolutely. That's a beautiful thing, Matt, doing the hard things like you say on your shirt. Yeah, absolutely. That's so funny. So those guys must have like seen something in you like, oh, either this kid's super ballsy, like entering this part of it, or I wanna work with him.

He has some potential, so that's kinda awesome that they reached out to you. Exactly. Yeah, those guys tell those stories every time they see me now they're like, when they're coaching kids, they're like, oh, I just used to beat the crap out of this kid and now he is crushing me. But fair enough. That's just how it works.

Oh my gosh, that's so funny. That's awesome. What do you attribute to you getting better? I mean, was it that those genuine connections that you met and just people swooped you up in the volleyball community, like what do you attribute to you getting, you know, so, so good, so fast? Or how would you kind of describe your, your transition?

Yeah, that's, no, that's a great question. I would say in the beginning it was, I was watching so much video. I watched this guy, Ty Tramline, Sean Rosenthal. I would watch so much video and yeah, a lot of the Arizona guys kind of took me under their wing. And they really helped me a lot. And then I think my, my senior year, once I graduated high school, I found this guy on Instagram.

My buddy named Dayton and he lives in Texas now. And he was moving to California to do the USA program and whatnot. And he's like, Hey, I've got a space for you if you want to come crash for the summer. And I was just right, a fresh homeschool kid right outta right outta high school. And I was like, oh, this is a great opportunity.

This is where the sport kind of is and where it all began and where everyone trains and stuff. So I would say attributing it to just, Immediately after that, I was just like, I'm going out here. And I, I tried out for the U S A V team a couple times in Arizona, and I didn't make it either time, but that summer that I went with him, he was on the team and I was just sitting there at practice.

And Jose Loyola, one of the best guys to play the game. Awesome dude. And he's a Brazilian, I think, I think he won a couple medals, but, um, he, he was the coach of the USA program and so I would just sit there and watch my buddy every day and, and they invited me to play and then I ended up being actually on the USA team.

And so I think just like going out and just like being like, I have no idea what I'm doing. I'm just gonna go to California and I'm gonna figure it out and, and just kind of surrounding myself with those people. And showing up at the beach. Like that summer, if I remember correctly, I was, I was at the beach from probably six, 7:00 AM till sunset at night.

And I'd just be going around trying to find people to play and I'd, I would probably eat like one or two pop-tarts a day, just very unhealthy. At that point, I was not into the mental health journey. I was not into, you know, eating well or, or really any of that. It was really just volleyball if I just get all the reps and get better and be out on the beach all day.

So just me being out there, uh, that summer just really opened my eyes and was, and just, I think gave me the belief in being like, okay, like I see these guys that have been doing this for a long time. They live here. I think if I really just surround myself with the right people, I think I can, I can make this happen.

And, and then as I kinda since then, I, I basically spent every summer from then on in California, cuz I knew that was the place I needed to be. I would go home, I'd make money, and then I'd like get in my g gym and kind of work on my mental training. Then I would go out there and, and for the summer, just try to get better.

And I had a couple, well, one big mentor that really helped me a lot. I think I met him in like 2017. Um, but yeah, I would say the biggest thing was just like going all in and just like not thinking twice about it and just being like, I need to get out to California and this is where all the best are and this is where I need to be.

And so committing to that and having all these other people that really helped push me and, and was willing to, to help me when I was terrible, which was really awesome. That's so cool. I love that story. I think that's so, uh, that's so amazing. Just going there with like what confidence you have to go there and be just like totally raw, totally vulnerable, un unashamed to ask for coaching and reps and asking anyone to play.

I think that's amazing. Cause volleyball, I mean especially beach volleyball can be. Kind of intimidating right, when you're starting. Oh, for sure. There's, everyone has their, their, their niche and their partners and their training groups and things like that. So for clicks and all that, breaking into that, being home in guy, like, I don't know any of these guys.

Yeah, it was, it was tough. But that blind confidence when you're a young kid, it's just fantastic. Get you everywhere. I love it. Oh my gosh. So you spent your summers in Hermosa, or No. You spent your summers in California. Where were you at playing? Uh, yep. Hermosa. Yeah. Yeah. Hermosa Manhattan Beach. Right around that area.

Yep. Yep. Okay. Fantastic. Yeah. I have a, I had another guy, I had a friend, I have a friend who I played, we played overseas together at the same time too. Same thing. He went, he went to Hermosa. Packed up his stuff in his car, lived out of his car, I think for a while. My friend Mark, mark, mark Barrick. Um, oh yeah, Bewick.

Yeah, I know Burrick did great, dude. Yeah, he just had a kiddo as well. Yeah. That's awesome. It's so funny. So back in the day, yeah. We played, we played volleyball. Uh, our, our, we had our first years together. We were both playing in Sweden and Yeah. Traveled around Europe together and, uh, yeah, after I continued to play overseas for quite a while and he was kind of doing his thing and ended up having super successful training camps and doing his thing over there, but absolutely.

Yeah, same thing. All the confidence and just packing up, living outta your car and just, you have vision. Just Committ committed to it. Yeah, exactly. Full blind commitment. Oh, man. That's right. Have you always had that much confidence? Like where do you feel like you, you've got that drive and that just desire to, to get better?

Yeah, I think that's a great question. I think growing up, just as a homeschool kid, I think I was always looked at like as a, like a different kinda kid out there a little bit. And so I think, yeah, I think I just, I just found my way with, I just found my way to just be like, you know what? The worst thing that can happen is I'm already still where I'm at, so it's like I just need to go all in, whatever it is.

So yeah, I think as I get older, um, especially like. I think you get a little more timid and you like, you have more to lose. So I think maybe as a kid just being homeschooled and being like more of a unique individual and, and, and, and that, I think that just gave me some confidence to be like, you know what, like this, I, I just gotta use this uniqueness in, in, in the way that I can and just kind of build that confidence from there.

So, yeah. Yeah. That's awesome. Yeah, I think you're right. Like there's a lot more to lose and unfortunately we're a little bit more, as adults, a little bit more hesitant to make certain decisions or to take leaps that we wanna take. But I think yeah, having your experience as a reference point, I mean, gives you a lot of confidence to probably Absolutely.

Be, be fearless in a lot of your, your life decisions, right? Absolutely. Yeah. That's so cool. So I wanna get into when you, you know, so you spent your summers training, training in Hermosa back in Arizona. Talk to me about some of the things that you. Overcame or encountered as an athlete with your own mental health.

There had to have been some barriers along the way, I'm sure even as you were grinding as a kid with that blind confidence. I'm sure there were some things that popped up like, I'm not good enough. Should I be here? Like, all these, all these, uh, thoughts that kind of pop up. So talk to me a little bit about your mental health and, and things that you've kind of overcame as far as that goes, for sure.

Absolutely. Yeah. So I think the, the biggest thing that I realized when I got out there as speech volleyball is such a, a party sport and just such a, like a clique and, and very, very party atmosphere. And so for me, knowing that my dad was an alcoholic personally, like I, I went into that and I was just like, you know, I'm gonna stay out of it.

And I thought I was able to stay out of it, but. I think the, the highs and lows of beach volleyball because there's just not a lot of money in it. You have like a really good tournament and then the next tournament you just tank and you just, like, for me it was, it was such a point of self-sabotage because my identity was really into my, in my sport at that time.

And so I think for me it was like after a tournament. All my buddies and all my coworkers, I guess you could say, were all like, that was the first thing they would do is like, oh, we lost two. All right, let's head to the bar. You know? And I'm like, I'm, I'm 17, 18 years old out there, not really supposed to be at the bar, but these guys are like, I'm gonna get you in.

Don't worry. Let's make it happen. Let's do da, da da. You know? So I think for me, the, the immediate struggle that I found when I got out there was, was the alcohol, the partying, the self-sabotage after when I, when I really had my identity and my outcomes and the results when I was really more focused on that than the process.

So I think that's when I really got caught up in that. And it was just like, yeah, it was like every, on Mondays people were like, oh, like we would still feel the, the loss that we had, you know, on Friday or Saturday, and I get a text like, Hey, let's go to this bar. Let's go to this. And I just found myself getting so caught up in, in the alcohol and the partying and, and the self-sabotage and just, just, yeah, really, really like these extreme highs and lows and not really being able to find that middle ground.

It took me a really long time to find that, and I think. The hardest thing was, was really just, yeah, my identity was in it and I was really so focused on the outcome. So any time I did not get the result that I really desired, I would go straight to self-sabotaging behaviors, whatever that looked like.

Typically it was alcohol, it could be pornography, it could be just, just anything that really, yeah. Was a detriment to, to my, to my life. And I think it kept me from making money on the side. It kept it, it just, yeah. I think just, just being so outcome oriented at the time and having my identity so stuck in that and, and.

Having those self-sabotaging behaviors like alcohol was, was just the outlet that I just kind of immediately went to and got caught up in probably for, until I was probably 22 or so. So every summer out there, I think, I think that was just a, just a, a just beat me up and I didn't even realize it. I thought I was, I thought I was, I thought I was living the dream.

I thought I was having fun with friends and, and, and all that. And, and just, just delusional I guess would be, would be where I was at at that point. Right. Well, at 22, did you say at 22 you kind of had that, that wake up call? So from 17 to 22. Mm-hmm. So 22 is even quite early for you. Were probably like, oh my gosh, those were still years in that, in that space.

But that's still for sure quite early to kind of have that realization. I think so many people like. I always refer to Hermosa as like the Yeah, it's like Peter Pan Land, right? You have like these Yep. People that have been there forever. They're staples, their institutions, they're at shell backs. They're, and they somehow figure out how to have six pack abs and be totally quote unquote functional.

But we never see these people behind the scenes. Like we don't know for sure. Right. Like so I'm like, oh, how are they doing what they're doing and keeping everything seemingly together. Yeah. This can't be sustainable. Yeah. It's not sustainable. But some of, some people are, so some of those athletes are older.

Right. And you're like, it's wild how your body adapts or what, I don't understand. I'm like, it is wild. Well, and speaking of adapting too, I think, you know, I'm really impressed with how you were able to kind of come to and realize that. You know, hey, I'm in an unhealthy space here. Cuz I think so often it's, it's normalized and it's glorified.

And I mean, that's just societally, you know, in society that's a way that we are kind of groomed to, to cope right? With, with some of these unhealthy tools. And whether we get that from parents or peers or, um, you know, our, our culture, whatever it is, we kind of identify with that. And so to have like a wake up call and to be, um, Like outside of the herd, so to speak.

Yeah. Like is a challenge, like how did you get there when everyone else maybe was doing one thing and it had accepted that as the norm and you're just like, nah, I'm okay. Totally, totally. Yeah. No, I couldn't have done it alone. And I, the, the mentor I talked about, uh, a little bit earlier, I really didn't go into, he was kind of the guy that really gave me that wake up call.

I met him in Seattle I think, of 20, 20 15 or 2016. And he was, he was, uh, exercise physiologist. And he's worked with UFC fighters. He was a professor at Minnesota. He had, he had a lot of things on his resume and he just found beach volleyball and he was like, this sport is cool. And so he found me at like an N V L.

He found me on like Twitter or social media or something. And he was like, you know what? I really want to help you, like create this structure and what it looks like to be a professional athlete if you wanna really go for this. But he's like, the one thing that I say that you have to do if I'm gonna work with you for free, cuz he was, he was doing it pro bono.

He wasn't really, uh, saying he would, wow. He would, uh, have, I would pay for anything. And so he said, Hey, you need to, you need to put down the booze because I know that's hindering you for, from everything that you're doing. And so he is like, if you're gonna work with me, he is like, you're gonna, you're gonna have to get rid of that, because I know that's, that's just, there's nothing good that happens to it.

And for him being the exercise pH or exercise physiologist, he was able to explain to me, And just give me that 10,000 foot view of like, look at all these other guys and look at, look at your life if you were to do this for 10 years, and just gimme those perspectives and just like, just look, just go to the bar today for the first time and don't drink and see what's going on.

And just like observe and just be there. And I was like, this is hard. But it's like, these are all zombies. These guys are just doing stupid stuff. This is just a waste of time. You know? So he, he just gave me these little things and kind of just explained to me like, this is poison. You're putting poison in your body.

You're a professional athlete that wants to be your best physical and mental self, and you're doing all these things to your body that is just destroying your body from the inside out. And then you're getting no sleep and then da, da, da, da. And it just went on and on and on. It was just like, these are the reasons why not to drink.

And if you want my help in order to become your best self, You're gonna have to put that down and we're gonna have to commit to that. And if not, no worries. All good. But, uh, you're gonna have to commit. And so it took me a couple weeks and a couple months to just like, think on that and soak in it and just be like, man, like, yeah.

And just realize, wow, what have I been doing for these last five years? Like, how did I just get caught up in here, in here knowing that I have this in my blood coming out here? I was like, oh, I would never do this. And somehow I got wrapped in it for, you know, the five years. And then luckily to have this mentor and guy named Scott to come into my life and be like, you know what?

I really wanna help you become your best self, but you gotta eliminate that. And I was just like, you know what? I don't think there's anyone out there that's gonna be willing to gimme their time, effort, and energy and resources to help me become my best self. So I'm like, I, I, I just have to get rid of it.

And so I, I just committed and I was like, I, I can't do this anymore. Wow. Just cold Turkey. Just, yeah. Done. Yeah. I was, it, it, it, it took like a couple weeks I think I would go out and I would like not drink and just observe, and then the next time maybe I'd get caught up in like a couple beers or whatever.

And yeah, it was, it was probably like a, a two to three week, maybe a month process. Um, but it was a lot faster than I expected it to be. And I, I think just realizing and seeing those perspectives was just like, man, what have I been doing? You know? I think I just, like, it just opened my eyes and it, it's just so crazy how you can get caught up in it and just thinking that you're doing all the right things when you're not, it's just wild.

Right? Yeah. It's, it's so true. I think the autopilot is something that a lot of athletes get caught up in, myself included. We have to have this disruption in our routine and in our. Behaviors to realize when something's unhealthy for us, especially when we're surrounding ourself by people who normalize those behaviors or justify them in some way.

Because whenever we're justifying them or we have our friends or partners around to justify them, we're just re like, we're just subconsciously like recommitting to those behaviors. Right? Exactly. Exactly. Um, so the autopilot, so, man, that's a challenge I wanna talk about. I mean, it's, it's the alcohol free.

I'm, I'm super curious. I've been reading a lot of books too about, yeah. Um, sober Curiosity and like the alcohol free movement and like all these different things. Yeah. It's so, it seems to be big as of lately. A lot of people are talking about it, which is awesome. Which is really awesome. It's super cool.

And I shout out to Athletic Brewing. If you would like to, uh, yeah. Be a sponsor for the podcast, you'd let me know. Um, they're awesome. I met them years ago at the Yeah, they're great. My dad now, he's been having them too, and I pass 'em on to everyone. I'm like, you guys totally take advantage of these people cuz they're awesome.

They're, you're so fantastic. Like, the flavor. Um, because sometimes, I mean, after you're, you know, you're working out, you're putting in like a. You know, sauna sesh or you know, sweat sesh, whatever. Yep. And you just crave that kind of carbonation and it's really the ritual, right, I think too. And so that, that's a very healthy alternative for people who are still wanting to not have all those calories and all that alcohol and not good stuff that comes with that.

But, um, absolutely. It's, and it's so funny. It's, it's great too because it's been, I've been noticing that pop up at a lot of, I'm over here in Tampa, Florida. Um, but it pops up at a lot of places too. Um, totally just bars where like, really, I mean even like three years ago that just wasn't the norm. Exactly.

There was no non-alcoholic beverage ginger beer or like Coca-Cola and like that's it. Like five. Exactly. Yes. Good luck. You don't have many choices here. Right. Those are trying to be more inclusive for, hey, you wanna hang in our space? We'll, we'll make fun, you know, fun mocktails and different things for, for you to enjoy.

So that's, that's a cool part of it. Absolutely. Um, walk me through like the, the perspectives piece of that. It's such an interesting exercise to go to a bar, um, you know, or to a brewery or whatever and, uh, I think a bar especially, cause if you go at certain times it's a little bit more interesting cuz people's intentionality is very different.

Um, for sure. But, but what were you, what were some of the things that you were noticing where it was, it made it easier for you to be a little bit more put off or more committed to being alcohol free? Yeah, I think, I think the first thing was like when I got in there and I spent a couple hours in the bar and wasn't drinking, I just saw so much more darkness and I just saw so much more.

Like I just saw the people that I spend the time on the beach with and train with and all this, and I'm just like, man, these are awesome people. And then I see them then like a couple hours into it and I'm like, man, these are awesome people. Like how did they get there? And it's literally just from putting this substance in their body that makes them think a certain way and turns off certain receptors and whatnot.

And so I think I just saw like the, the more of just the, the energy of that place and I was just like, man, there's nothing good happening here. Like, there's literally zero, like maybe someone's gonna get a business deal or something out of it or whatever, but who knows if you'll hear from that person in weeks?

Like you don't even know if they'll remember it, you know? Sure. So I think for me it was just, it was just seeing the darkness of it and just, and then I think just re like in that moment seeing like, man, if I was doing this right now, like. If I was drinking right now while I was, while I was going out there alcohol free, like remembering the times where I woke up and I missed practices and I woke up and I felt like crap.

And just like remembering that and being like, okay, I left the bar at 11 today and I watched all these people go really dark and they're still there and I'm in bed by 11, which is way better than normal. And I think just, yeah, just kind of remembering the times there while in, in, in the scene, but not doing the thing that kind of hindered me and kept me from, from, you know, where I wanted to go.

Yeah, that's a good point. What an excellent exercise for anyone to do. I think I would, I would definitely encourage people listening. If you're an athlete, you're listening to this and you feel like drinking has slowed you down in some way and you don't know really where to start, I mean, Here's Christian here.

It's a, it's a great exercise to do, to just kind of put yourself, it's hard, right? Yep. To put yourself in that situation. Um, yeah. But just be an observer and Yeah. That's really what I mean. I practice what I preach all the time with mindfulness, right. The, the goal of mindfulness, you're, you're just being an observer of those thoughts and those behaviors and what's working and what's not.

Um, but to be like an active participant in your life, right? Yeah. Um, and if you're an athlete with specific goals and really ambitious, like high performance goals, then it's, it's like, okay, what's. What's slowing me down here, and oftentimes alcohol's really, I mean, I get a lot, I get a lot of shit for sleep too.

People always, my athletes always try to justify to me like, I'm good. I'm good on four hours, I'm good. I'm like, you're not good, I swear. So no way. But it's hilarious. So everyone always wants to justify their alcohol consumption and their's sleep, right? Um, yeah. And I think it's the best bang for your buck.

Like a lot of people are like, okay, can I, can I do more cold plunges? Can I do more this? Can I get more training? It's like I can just eliminate one thing and then I'm gonna, you know, so many better things are gonna happen. And, and one thing, one other perspective that really help me through along that journey is my, my mentor.

He's like, all right, instead of Friday nights when you typically would go to the bar, what we're gonna do is we're gonna have your toughest workout of the week on Friday nights. And so it's called, I call it the Friday night workout. I probably did it for three years straight. Every Friday night I would show up to the beach, wherever I was at.

And I would put on a weight vest, I would try to ask other people like, Hey, do you not wanna drink tonight and come to the beach with me and get a workout in cuz we're gonna be so much better. And so it was it that, that really changed. I think a lot of it too is because I was out there and I was getting better ending the week when everyone else was slowing down after they had a good training week and they would go to the bar and they would slow down and then that would progress to crushing the rest of the week and destroying the rest of the weekend.

And when I had that Friday night workout every Friday night, I would go home, I would get a great meal in, I would get to sleep at night and I'd be like, you know, my competitors are drinking and I'm getting better. Look at this, I'm gonna take them down. So that was kind of, that was a big mindset shift too, is like, all right, let me finish my week strong and basically eliminate that habit, which is easy to do, or well, not easy to do, but easier than pushing yourself and doing all these other things.

Um, and then just train, like transitioning that to be like, all right, this is my time to just get. Even better, you know, finishing my week strong. That's awesome. I think there's something so satisfying about that. Like, I remember doing extra reps when I was playing overseas and I was constantly afraid of someone coming in and taking my spot.

If I were to get injured or I had a bad game, they're like, oh, you won't get your bonus this week and this person's gonna start over you, whatever. So I was like, I'm just gonna grind. Like probably to an unhealthy extent, right? Um, yeah. But yeah, once the jump counters stopped and everyone went home, I would just stay and, and do all these reps.

Cause there's something so addictive. I'm like, oh, I'm gonna make my addictive personality work for me and like rep this out. Exactly. Cause it's so satisfying to. You know, know what that other people are either sleeping or, you know, icing or drinking, taking the night off or whatever. Yeah, exactly. Exactly.

Relaxing. You're like, I'm not here. Grinding, like, so satisfying. So how much pride did that instill? I'm sure there was so much momentum that, you know, kicked in. Like you said, that Friday turned into probably pretty productive weekend and definitely productive workout week. So you're just constantly building this confidence for Yeah, for the, you know, grinding it out.

Yeah, it was, it was the, the best way for me to finish the week. Like I would, it, it was so cool too, cuz it added so much camaraderie and it just, I, I, I remember I would like, I, we would do like medicine ball stuff. We would chuck these heavy chairs. It would just, it would be the most creative workout of the week.

It'd be awesome. And I just remember like crushing x, y, Z person, like I'm crushing them right now. Like, I would just literally like have that mindset of like, you know what they're drinking out there at the bar and I'm just getting better. And I think. Every single tournament that I came to after that was just like, you know what, like every time these guys are like, wow, I was competing.

I was just like, every Friday night these guys are doing something that's hindering them. And every Friday night for the last two years, I've been just crushing. And so that, that gave me just so much more confidence. I'm like, you know what? If I, if I do that every Friday for a whole year, that's 52 extra workouts that all these other people are probably not getting.

You know? Cuz most people don't work out on a Friday night, to be honest. Like even if you're an athlete, most people finish their week, maybe a Friday morning workout, or maybe they're Monday through Thursday or whatever, and you're like, all right, the weekend's here, whatever. I think we can do that in other ways too.

In business or whatever. We, we kind of take the foot off the gas, let's kind of just chill. Right? And I think, yeah, that just brought some, just. Confidence and like you said, that adrenaline of just being like, you know, I'm putting in more work than these guys and I'm finishing my work week off really strong and I'm replacing it with something that I did terrible.

So that has to make, give me some incremental, huge gains from going to drinking to crushing a Friday night, you know? Oh, for sure, for sure. I'm super curious how you're. Circle changed if that changed. And what objections you maybe faced from people who were like, oh, you're not drinking now. Like what, what kind of things were you, were you hearing after that choice?

Totally. There was a lot of, lot of obstacles there. It was just like, oh, Christian doesn't drink anymore, da da da da da, and like, whatever. And I think for me it was, it was the language that I used. It was just like, you know, like, cuz it'd be easy to just be like, yeah, I don't like to do that because da da da da.

But if I was just like, I'm finishing my week off strong and replacing it with something better. And yeah, it just, it, it was hard definitely for the first couple months because all these people I thought were really my friends I found out, truly weren't, I think they were really just people that wanted to party with me and have, have fun and whatever.

And so it was, it was definitely hard in the beginning, but I think after a couple months I realized like who my true friends are and actually like, I. If I'm doing these Friday night workouts with these people that are joining me, like those are my true friends that are really trying to push me and help me become better.

It's like if these other people are trying to encourage me and being like, oh, Christian doesn't drink anymore, I'm like, okay. Like I don't really need to be around those people anyways because they're not really wanting me to be my best self. So I think that was the biggest thing, is just like the intention there was like, I, I thought these people had my best interests at heart, but in reality, I don't think they did.

I think they wanted me to join me, me to join them in their self-sabotage. And I think I saw myself when I was in that place too. It was like, oh, come join me cuz I'm, I'm ruining my body and mind too. Come join me with that. It's, and then now I'm like, come join me with my Friday night workout. I'm getting better.

So I think, I think that was a, a big piece of it, right? Yeah. It can be really sad and lonely realization, right? When you think you have friends and, um, think people are in your life for the right reasons. And then you get a little bit of a wake up call, but it sounds like you're in a. Better spot with people who are truly invested and, and supportive of what you're doing for, for the right reasons, you know, and you're, you're probably better off.

Uh, what kind of benefits do you, yeah, physical, mental, emotional kind of benefits did you gain, did you notice, um, once you stopped drinking? Yeah, I would say all the above. Financially, even too, I feel like financially, I feel like my brain just worked better. I felt like, I felt like every part of my life got better.

Like all my relationships got better. I think I was able to sit in silence and, and being by myself and get more journaling in and just, I, I just had more time on my hands to be able to, to do the things I know would actually help me get there, versus doing the thing that's taking me 10 steps back. So I think, yeah, physically I just always felt way more energy mentally.

I just felt way clearer and it just, I just wasn't. There's just no, like, it just felt heavy. Like honestly the, when I was, when I was like partying and drinking and things, it just felt like mentally, emotionally and physically very heavy. And it just, it just, I think it was, just felt like I was always escaping my, the, like, the real life that I wanted to live, but I was just escaping it and I think it really allowed me to dive into my emotional health and dive into my mental health and dive into my physical health even deeper than I was at that point.

And, and financially too. Yeah, just every piece of my life improved when I, when I set it down. And it's just crazy cuz in the moment and when you're in it, you just don't see that. But after you're just like, wow, every little thing has improved. Like, why didn't I quit the suit earlier? You know? That's how we always think too, as humans, but, right.

Absolutely. Yeah. It's so funny. You just need that space to really, I think that's where people get. You know, don't get it right. A lot of the times is, is unfortunately just because they don't allow themselves enough space to really have that clarity and have that disruption cuz everything's spinning and life is full.

Your day is full of stressors. No matter what those things are, things aren't gonna go your way. You're gonna make mistakes and, and so people who don't have those tools like journaling and meditation and outlets like beach volleyball and lifting and. Sand dune training, all the fun things. Yeah. Um, they're gonna be the ones that are reaching for alcohol, unhealthy relationships, porn, like you mentioned, all the, all the unhealthy, um, coping, coping tools cuz it's easy, right?

Mm-hmm. But what happens with that is like when you, the first image that came to mind is like, I cook on cast iron pants, my husband and I, yeah, we like, that's collect them from antique stores and we just love cast iron. Um, but like, if you don't wash your payout and you're just like letting things like accumulate on top, right?

Like it never goes away. Um, yes. So, I mean, I think with. Alcohol with those decisions that you're making, when you're in that space, you're waking up feeling heavy because you're literally not having that cathartic release that your body and mind really, truly crave, right? Mm-hmm. Alcohol's just like such a bandaid for that, and so you wake up feeling, yeah, like, oh shit.

Here we are again. Everything's even heavier. When if you would've journaled, done the meditation, done the weight vest. Done the cold plunge, well shit, how much lighter are you then? Exactly. Tremendously lighter and yeah, no, I like that visual of the cast iron, just like it just stacked up. And I think over time, not that I, I've clean my pants.

I clean my pants. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, they're always clean. Yeah, exactly. But yeah, no, that's a great visual. I like that. That's really good. It's just the body. Have you ever read that book? Um, the Body Keeps the Score. I have a meaning to get that. That's on my list. I have way too many books and that's what I wanna, I definitely need to dive into.

It's good. I'm also, yeah, I'm a book junkie. There's so many. I'm like, okay, audible should really like, cut me off. Like I've already exceeded my, like, credit count. My bookshelf is all full. But anyways, the body keeps the score. I've ha I've managed to read that one twice. Um, awesome. Cause it's so fantastic.

Uh, I'll link that in the show notes. Bessel VanDerKolk, um, Dr. Bessel VanDerKolk, he's a, he's a Dutch, uh, researcher and talks just all about trauma and how we, you know, we store that in our, in our cells and in our body. And he did a lot of work with veterans and um, people with ptsd. Uh, And did a lot of like cathartic exercises to release the trauma because mm-hmm.

Literally, if we don't do things like yoga, meditation, we're working out, especially yoga and meditation, because we're releasing that trauma, we're releasing that negative emotion from, from a cellular standpoint, right? We're we're mm-hmm. You know, changing our, our brain and rewiring it. It's just the coolest thing.

So once you realize that, okay, my body holds on to those losses, and when I don't fully allow myself to process like the grief of that loss, I mean, you know, it can feel devastating and you work so hard and, um, the grief of anything really, and you're moving too, too quickly in order to process something, you're not really processing it, um, for sure.

And your body just holds onto it. So it's better to just Yeah. You know, do all these exercises to help you get to the right place where you wanna be. Right. Totally. Yeah, no, I heard that recommendation from this guy, Dr. Rob Kelly. I went through like a recovery coach program with him and he, he's awesome.

He is one of the worst, best like addiction coaches out there. And uh, yeah, I just learned a, about like neural pathways and how the brain rule and I was just like so intrigued. And that was the number one recommendation he had for me to read. So that's, yeah, that's, that's powerful. Cause I think he says everyone has trauma and it makes sense.

We all, whether it's like for someone, it could be, you know, your, your brother dying at a young age or someone, it could be your mom just slapping you when you're a kid. It could be, it could be anything really. And I think, yeah, having those ways to, to eliminate those and reprogram the brain is, is powerful.

Yeah, absolutely. I'm super curious cause I know you're really big into mental performance and mental health, and you've talked a little bit on, uh, athletes mental health.com, is that right? Yep. Mm-hmm. Yep. Um, and opened up and kind of shared some of your. Struggles with mental health. Uh, I wanna hear how you have kind of managed your anxiety and managed your, your low points.

What are some of the tools that have really gotten you through and into a better spot? Absolutely. Yeah. I think the first thing that opened my eyes is I got this, uh, hypnosis program when I was, uh, probably, I think that was probably early 2019. And, uh, this guy, Joseph Clo, he has this, this program that, um, yeah, basically just reprograms their subconscious mind.

And a lot of it comes down to the feeling of not feeling good enough. And I think that's where everything really stemmed from for me, is, is just when, when those outcomes and results didn't happen, I immediately went to that, that feeling of not being good enough and not feeling capable and not feeling, you know, enough.

All those, all those feelings that we get and. He had, he created three hypnosis tracks for me after going, we went through like a bunch of questions and answers and things that I went through with him. And he created three different hypnosis tracks for me. And I would, I would listen to all three of 'em, uh, every day for probably like six months or so.

And it really started to reprogram my brain to really find more of a middle ground, cuz I know I, I felt like I was just having these severe highs and lows. Mm-hmm. And I think it was just because of those feelings of not feeling good enough. And then when I was on top of the world, I felt like I was like the best in the whatever and then bam tank.

And so I think that really helped me find, uh, a middle ground. And then once I found hypnosis, then that kind of dove me into, into meditation. I got, I dunno if you've seen those, the muse thing, that's where I started my meditation journey is using that muse. And it was crazy cuz it's like real time feedback is crazy.

And so, uh, yeah, that's, that's kind of like after, after kind of quitting alcohol. I was just like, all right, now I gotta really find ways to just improve my, my mental health and my mental performance. Cuz I know this is still gonna be tough. Not just when I quit alcohol, everything's not gonna be good. You know, I'm still gonna have my, my depression.

I can still have my suicidal thoughts, I can still have my, my self sabotaging behaviors in other ways. And so the hypnosis and then meditation and journaling I think were my three main outlets. That really just opened my eyes to how my brain is basically a computer program and everything. I've fed it over time and, and over the, the last 20 years is, is where I am now.

And so I really need to take the time to reprogram those. And even that six months there, that's not enough. I gotta continue with that. So, so for me, just, just realizing and I think just having the awareness of, of the brain, having that, that kind of power. Um, and just, just like I. I think as a kid everyone was like, oh, mindset matters.

Learning mental stuff matters. But nobody gave you the tools to do it. They're like, oh, in baseball, they're like, 90% is mental. And you're like, yeah, cool. Great, thanks for telling me, but let's keep hitting this baseball that does no good, cuz that's not gonna help me. And any which way to, to my mental performance.

I love hearing that, but I, I need like, actual things to do, like, what do I do? So I think finally finding or, or just understanding that hypnosis can really get, dive into the subconscious and then meditation can kind of just help me kind of organize my thoughts and, and really just be more present and, and in the moment.

And yeah, just finding those couple tools at that point just really severely helped my mental health and was able to kind of rid me of a lot of those self-sabotaging behaviors. Yeah, I mean, I'm so glad that you. Mentioned, yeah. The journaling, hypnosis, and meditation, like the rewiring of your brain. I love everything that you just said.

Like we, we do, we feed ourselves this, this narrative of who we are and what we're worth and what, you know, what's normal and what we're gonna accept, and the types of relationships that are healthy and what's, you know, and what's not. Yep. And it's like eventually you have to get reflective again. That's allowing yourself to have some space, like enough space so that you can kind of make these, you know, answer some of these questions and get reflective.

But the biggest question I always tell my clients to ask themselves is, is this still working for me? Right. Mm. Is it the relationship? Is it. The workouts, is it the behaviors? Like it was serving me at one point, but for what? And for why. Yep. Right? Mm-hmm. Like, okay, I was escaping, I was hiding, I was, I didn't have the tools.

So, so drinking maybe was, was filling a gap, right? Um mm-hmm. But then is it still working for you now that you have this like, new awareness of how your brain works and what people look like when you're sober and they're not, right? Yeah. So it's still working for you. Um, so I, I love, I love that you, you're just so in invested in taking the time to be reflective.

I think it's, it's super refreshing. Um, and one thing that I'm really passionate about with Ready, set, mindful is, you know, obviously like as an athlete, I. College athlete and, uh, you know, playing, playing in college and playing overseas. I heard the same thing, right? Like mental, like mindset's, everything.

Like all about mental performance. I'm like, how the, how the, how the hell do, like, we actually do these things though. Like who's, who's teaching me like how to do these things. It was just like the thing that you say as, you know, a broken record and you just send everyone home to like, figure this shit out.

And so I was like, I'm gonna create readys@mindful.com. I'm going to, you know, that's awesome. Work with athletes so that we can talk about how we can, you know, what tangible tools look like for athletes, what reframing. Your mindset actually looks like what starting meditation looks like. What meditation is, right?

Yep. The different types. Mm-hmm. Like just answering, fill in the gaps a little bit. Cause I think it can be so elusive. Oh, and for sure. And people get lost and they're like mindfulness. Like what is that like? Yeah. Is that like being outside? Yeah. Do I just like do my thing like a Buddha just chilling out there outside or whatever?

Yeah. Right. 100%. And it's always so, it's always so nice to talk to clients that I'm giving them examples of like, what it can look like. They're like, oh, like I can do that. I'm like, yeah, it can be really accessible. It doesn't need to be, don't need to go to the Himalayas and like, you know, sit, sit down in the dirt.

And I don't know. So it's exactly. But um, I'm super awesome. I'm always super curious like, uh, what other people's mindfulness routines and what their daily routine looks like. So I wanna know what your, your routine is that keeps you. You know, performing at an optimal level, like from the time you wake up till the time you go to bed, like, tell me, tell me all your things.

Absolutely. Yeah. So I, I've toyed around with so many different, I think, um, mental, you know, everybody's like, this is the morning routine. No, this is the morning routine right now. This is, it's just like everyone else. Yeah, exactly. Um, but I think for me, like as, as of recently, I, I found breath work, um, as well, like over the last probably year or so, oxygen advantage, I've been really diving into a lot of the stuff with breath work, um, which has been really fun.

But yeah, my, my, my routine currently is, Is really waking up. I try to get outside as soon as I can. I try to eliminate my phone for my, the first hour, hour and a half of the day. Um, because just that, that like every, I, I notice every time I go on my phone in the morning, like it just, it just takes me into the route that my phone's taking me.

It's not the route that I want to go. You know? It just like, yeah. So I know my, my, my brain is just like programmed and so it's like if I immediately go to that, then it's like, oh this, oh, this idea, oh, I should do this. And then my, it just goes off into, and the rest of the day is just not nearly as as productive or I'm not as nearly fulfilled and I just don't feel as, as, as good.

Uh, if I, if I start my morning with my phone. Cause that, that, that's been a big thing for me is, is trying to keep that hour, hour and a half in the morning getting right outside, getting my, getting my. Shoes off, or those feet prisoners or whatever people call 'em. And, and getting, getting, getting my feet into the, into the earth.

I just watched one of those documentaries on grounding and so yeah, I'm kinda intrigued by that and that's been pretty powerful. So, so fascinating. Yeah. I, I, I love to just get outside, not have the phone, have the phone in the other room so I don't even have to think about it. Uh, cuz earlier on, or even a couple years ago, or even like a year ago, six months ago, I would imme that would be the first thing I would just reach for that.

And it's just like, I felt like I was being productive and it was just like, no, this is not productive at all. So, yeah, so I would, I would get outside, I would do my walking. I, I would do a little walk, a little grounding, and then I like to do just some movement. I love animal flow and I just kind of do some animal flow, which probably looks weird to people.

They're like, what are you doing out there? I'm like, I'm being an animal as long as I don't. Make any weird noises. I think it's fine. Totally make the noises. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. And then, uh, and then I'll do a little, a little breath work. I've been trying to increase my bolt score, so I, I do, I do a little breath work and then, um, yeah, I'll have my bible with me.

I'll do a little reading of the Bible. And then I used to listen to my affirmations from my phone, and then that would keep me on my phone. So I was like, all right, let me, let me just create some affirmations on the top of my head. Cause my brain's super powerful. So I, I do do a couple affirmations off the top of my mind, and then I either have my John Wooden Pyramided Success book that I'll read, or, uh, a couple, couple other books that I'll kind of just at least a page or two.

And then, and then, yeah, that's, that's basically how I, I start my day. I'll maybe do some pushups. Um, but yeah, the walk, the grounding, little bit of journaling, little bit of breathwork, little bit of movement, little bit of bible, and then some, some affirmations as far as like where I wanna go and, and just to kind of try to program my mind to.

To go in that direction that day. I love it. And then sleep. You sleep, you prioritize your sleep, right? Oh yeah. Absolutely. This aura ring. You're early sleeper. Super helpful for me or yay. Yeah. I love Aura. Yeah. I go, I, I'd say typically 9 30, 10 o'clock is the latest I go to bed. I try to get to bed even early than that.

But yeah, ear early to bed early to wear eyes. Makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise, so. Right. I love, that's very, very important. Love that. Oh my gosh. Yeah. Not to brag, I went to bed at seven last night, so. Oh, that's incredible. That's a brag. That's a great brag. Brag. That's the best brag ever. Yeah. I love that.

Cause I just feel so good in the next day. So you just, it's the best kind of brag. So exhausted. It was my husband and my um, second. Wedding anniversary, uh, yesterday. And so we were like, should we go to dinner? Should we do the thing? And we were both just like exhausted. Cause we just drove back from Vermont to Tampa, did like 20 hour road trip with our dogs.

Wow. And we're just like, we're spent, like, we're order, you ordered Thai, we're in bed by seven. And we're like, this is what, that is a pause though. Marriage looks like. I'm like, are you okay with that? Are you okay with that? We're both just pretty stoked on it. So I think there's maybe That's amazing.

Future dates to come. The old set. Absolutely. Yeah. I'm the same way. I'm like, the earlier I can do things so I can go to bed is essential because sleep is, is, yeah. It really is. Is is a performance enhancing drug? I really believe 100%. And the people, you know, I found that. With that lifestyle shift for me too, and I started going to bed definitely earlier and not going out as much.

Different things like you, you do find your social circle shifts and the people that are wanting to be in your life and joining you for those early workouts and aren't shaming you for being lame and not going out. Um, they're the people that also have similarly aligned goals. And they're the ones that fill you up, right?

Like, um, exactly. So those are, you find your, you find your tribe one way, one way or another. Sometimes it's those tough, tough decisions, but Exactly. Yeah. The hard thing now for me is I'm, I'm a nerd with sleep, so I'll like tape my mouth. I have my nose spacers on my mouth tap too. I dislike all the above.

Let's talk about it. I love it. You're a mouth taper. Oh my gosh. Yeah. I, I love it. Did you read, um, did, have you read James Nestor's book Breath by any chance? The Breath? No. I did Oxygen Advantage, that book, but I haven't read the James Nestor one yet. No. Oh, so good. And I haven't read Oxygen Advantage, so we'll just challenge each other.

You read Breath? Absolutely. And I'll read Oxygen Advantage on it. It's on my, that's on my, uh, my Amazon cart. Oh dude. It's so, it's so good. Uh, it's fascinating. It talks about the history of like, I mean even how like our jaw lines and our facial features have changed because we, our mouth and chest breathers versus diaphragmatic and, and nasal breathers.

It's so fascinating. Uh, it really is. And it really goes into like all the science of. You know, why we breathe the way that we do. And, uh, it's, it's just fascinating. Uh, and I, I talk to my clients about that a lot cause I work with a lot of anxious athletes who really, you know, struggle with their performance and anxiety.

And we talk about breathing as the number one thing, like where to start, right? So if you can pay attention to how often you're breathing from your chest or from your mouth, when you're getting anxious and you're feeling, those thoughts start to come up, right? Like, Tapping into your nasal breath and your, your belly breathing is gonna be absolute so, so helpful for you.

Absolutely. So all my anxious athletes out there, yes, nasal breathing and diaphragmatic breathing has changed my life, honestly. Like, just that simple thing of shutting my mouth and trying to be conscious of breathing through my tummy, like it's crazy how much more present we can be and just in the moment, and it's just, yeah, like you said, the facial features.

There's this book I think I saw, I haven't read it yet, but it's called Shut Your Mouth and Save Your Life. And it's, it's like from the 18 hundreds or something like that. Oh. And they talk about nasal breathing. Yeah, it's wild. I'm like, We think about like, we're, we figured it out now. There's nothing new under the sun.

These people knew, like they knew. Right. 100%. It's, it's so wild. And how many problems like that can solve? I mean, from sleep apnea to Yep. You know, insomnia, all of these, all of these issues that we have with sleep and anxiety especially. Yeah. Like a lot of co-occurring, um, disorders that, you know, can be just tape your mouth.

So I have, uh, absolutely some, uh, Uh, there's a really, there was really good tape on Amazon for a while. It was bamboo tape cuz I don't like Okay. Any chemicals really? Yeah. On your face. Smart. And, but uh, yeah, it was a bamboo tape. I think they're out of it now. So I, I'm subbing with KT tape actually for the moment.

Just Okay, nice. Bring true to the old athlete vibe. I'm like, KT tape would be good. That's awesome. Yeah, I got it. Right here is a line is mine as well. I have a few rolls, so while, while I'm out. That's awesome. I'm awesome waiting. That's awesome. So, yeah. Awesome. You don't have to start, start small and start with the KT tape and if it's too like Yeah.

It, you know, intimidating for you can cut it into like a smaller strip. A lot of people are like mm-hmm. I don't wanna feel suffocated, but it can be just like, for sure. You know, pretty small amount of your lip. So Yeah. And there's this, the Oxygen Advantage company. I just got my first kind, cuz I used to use the Saex I think it's called.

And it actually goes over your mouth. Gotcha. But now this one that I've got now from Oxygen Advantage, I forgot what it's called, but it doesn't go over your mouth, it literally just goes around your mouth. And so I think the idea behind that is subconsciously training you to shut your mouth. And, uh, it's been, it's been interesting.

Like, it's weird cuz it's like, it's not shutting my mouth, but I think over, over the time, I think over time, a couple years of using it, I have a good feeling that I'll be able to do it subconsciously versus having to have that tape. Right. Um, which would be really awesome. That's so cool. Well, that's what it's all about too, right?

It's like we can be, um, yeah, like it's the, it's the wiring, the default wiring that we're really trying to, to change. So when you're conscious of it Sure. In those moments, but like, how can I do this? All the time or more of the time than not. Mm-hmm. So, yep. That's cool. And it's funny, even, even throughout my, yeah, even throughout my workday, I'll have my nasal spacers in, cuz I think just having that there or like the, the breathe right.

Yeah. Just makes me more conscious of just shutting my mouth throughout the day. Cuz at night obviously you're not you. Yeah. It's not, it's not gonna be the same. But throughout the day, if people are looking to try to implement that, just having something on your nose just makes you think about it more and makes you, and then I'm like, okay, I gotta breathe through my nose.

Okay, let's breathe through my, my diaphragm. And it just, those little things, if I can be, you know, five more conscious breasts throughout the day, that's gonna make a difference. So much better. Yeah. It's that my friend Rachel and I always say, and I have these, uh, my shirts. I'm not wearing it right now, but I have a 1% better shirt.

And, uh, my friend Rachel, uh, I interviewed her on the podcast a little bit ago. She's a lieutenant colonel and she's a beach volleyball player too. Awesome. And we're always talking about. Yeah. How can we be like 1% better? Right? And so that 1% is, uh, oftentimes like a visual cue. Like I'll have clients also with like post-it notes, like I'm all about visual cues.

Like what's going to, what's gonna cue that trickle of, again, the, the breath right strip is then gonna, okay, oh, oh crap, I gotta breathe through my nose. Okay, now my diaphragm. And then you're queued, you're queued up for at least, you know, absolutely. At least a little bit of intentionality. And then next time you get a work break or something, you're looking at that hot pink po post-it note or something.

Or your breathe Right. Strip Exactly. Cues you again, but Exactly. Yeah. That's awesome. Those little triggers that we can remind ourselves to, to keep these habits and, and to work on it is, is, is big. It's true. Cuz we're just all about autopilot, right? We, we do so many things on autopilot throughout the day.

Yep. So we have to disrupt that pattern. We have to disrupt those moments to be in intentional, to be mindful, to be present, otherwise. Those days. I mean, I think it's the saddest thing in the world when people are like, where did, where did the time go? Or like, where did, where did those years go? Or how did things pass so fast?

And I'm just like, yeah. My goal always is to like, how can I savor this? Sure, you have shitty days and shitty moments and, and things happen, but like, how can we kind of savor and, and move at a slower pace so that we're not like really, truly feeling like so much time has passed without any intentionality, you know?

Mm-hmm. Being absolutely. Yeah. Your goals. Amen. Yeah. Um, what do you feel like are the biggest, like the biggest impact factor for your. Um, just overall mental performance or mental health, like what's your bare bones thing? Maybe like one or two things that you really need that you feel like if I don't get this, like I'm, I'm kind of screwed for the day.

Yeah, no, that's a great question. Um, I think, Hmm, that's funny cuz Yeah, for, for us there being nerds about it, it's just like, there's 25 different things but it's like all, what are those few things? Yeah, exactly. Um, I know you can gimme a top three. I'll, I'll allow. Yeah, fair enough. Yeah. So something that is, it's tough cuz it's like, I started doing jiujitsu like two years ago.

Okay, cool. And it's been phenomenal for me. The only thing is we have night classes, so it's like six to eight 30 and so I have to shower and get to bed and like, it kind of like puts my night and sleep not as good. But yeah man, the community and like, I feel like the therapy that I get out of it and just like the.

Comradery that I've never experienced, even though the volleyball I've played and been around awesome people and whatever, I've never experienced that kind of community or comradery like, and just doing a really hard thing every day, like just showing up to that. I'm like in the parking lot, I'm like, do I really want get choked out today?

Like do I really wanna get like bruises all over my, but do I really wanna roll with a guy a hundred pounds heavier than me? Probably not, you know, but Right. Every time I do it, I'm so thankful that I did and I just feel better for it. And. Yeah. So I think that's, that's something that even if I don't do it, like I try to compete a couple times here and even if I don't do it that way, I think that's something I'll wanna do.

Honestly, it feels like therapy to me. Like I went through a lot of therapy myself and counseling myself, but honestly it feels like therapy just cuz it's such a good community and it's endless learning and it's a really hard thing to do. And you know, there's just like so many bangs for your buck I think in that one thing.

Um, and then I'm, I'm working on my breath work there. I'm really trying to shut my mouth even though it's really hard when someone's about to strangle you, you know, just to be like, for sure I'm okay. Like Right. Get through, get through. Yeah. Cuz then everything else in life, you know, if something, something happens tragically in my life or whatever, I feel like I can deal with it so much better now because of that tool of like, putting myself through hard things and, and, and, and so yeah, I would say that would be, that would be one.

And then I think, I would say it's hard between breath work and meditation. Like, it's hard, it's hard for me to like, because I like to do both of them throughout the day. But if I were to choose one, I would probably say, I would probably say meditation, just because for me, breath work seems a little more active.

Mm-hmm. And so meditation for me just slows me down and kind of gets me, gets me kinda more prepared. So I would say, I would say meditation and, and jujitsu, if that would be, that would be my two, I would say. Yeah. Good for you. For narrowing it down. I gave you three and you chose, you like, oh, you did three.

Oh dang. That was good. No, you're good. I, I changed it cuz you were like, you were, I could feel, I could feel the pole. You're like, I was just gonna spit like 20 hours. Well the juujitsu is like, I mean that's kind of the, and. That's why I asked you that question. Cause I'm like, okay, I'm super curious how, you know, if your brain works in the way that I, I feel like it do, you're trying to do the things that give you the most bang for your buck, right?

So mm-hmm. The jiujitsu is also, it's like nine different things, you know, that there's Yeah, exactly. Mental training in that. It's the breath work, it's the, you know, mental fortitude and like, you know, um, putting yourself in a position that feels uncomfortable. Um, mm-hmm. So, yeah. And then the meditation is like, you're so active and mm-hmm.

Athletes are so active. We have to have that, that balance, that other side, that reflective time and that observer time to just, you know, really just sit, sit and sit in the uncomfort and observe sometimes. Exactly. Yeah. Discomfort. Yeah. It's so rare. I think it's so rare in, in the athlete's life, I think, to, to have those moments.

There's a lot of resistance. I'm, I'm encountering, I mean, I'm working with a lot of like. Younger athletes right now too. Okay. Which is really interesting. It's like the younger, they are like, I'm like always so impressed by them, like how articulate and mindful and interested in mindfulness, like these 12 to 15 year olds are.

That's amazing. I'm like, you guys are cool, badass. Like, I'm obsessed with how productive and ambitious you are. So I'm just like, oh, so much hope for really, truly like these younger athletes. That's amazing to hear. That's really cool. Yeah, I know. So, because usually it's like so much resistance from like the college athletes or like pros I work with, they're just like, yeah, ugh, it's not what I wanna hear.

I wanna like still kind of like in that older mentality of like grinding things out, ripping things out, and the resistance to rest and doing the things that feel, you know, counterproductive to that. Yeah. Um. Mm-hmm. But that's, that's why we're changing things Christian. That's why we're exactly making meditation accessible and Yeah.

For, for athletes all over the place. So. Yeah. And for them to know what to do in that 90% or at least a couple exercises or things. Cuz yeah, like we said, everybody's like, oh, mental, mental, uh, mindset is key. 90%, you know, and nobody knows what to do. So sharing that and giving people the tools to actually sit down and be like, okay, like, yeah, I, if I make a highlight reel of myself and watch that, that's gonna be, you know, an exercise or if I recall the amazing performances I had, that's another exercise.

You know, just like the meditation or things like that. Just people to be able to, and that's really cool to hear that people at that young age are open and willing and diving into it. Cuz I know for me, I've just been a nerd about it recently as well. And I worked with, I only had, I've, I've only had one mindful client or mindset client and uh, cuz I haven't really promoted too much, but, um, And this company, it's called Winning Mindset.

I dunno if you've heard of it. Okay. Um, but they have, they have all these like curriculums and things for, it's like a, it's like a 50, it's like a hundred page thing. And there's a lot of really cool stuff. And so they gave me the curriculum and I worked with a, a client and it was, it was a really cool experience cuz they just gave me a lot of like, real things that I could do right then and there to help, help the kid.

And it was, it was such a, a wonderful experience to share that. Like, so what you're doing is, is really making a difference and, and then helping them dive deeper into it is, that's just really, really cool. Gives me, gives me hope for the future generations. That's incredible. I love it. Well, in conversations like these two, because I think people can pull.

You know, often have, like athletes I work with come and listen to a couple episodes too, because I think there's so much we can draw on from other athletes who figured it out and who are doing things and who didn't have the best start. And they, they really struggled with anxiety, depression, suicidal thoughts, like all of these different unhealthy behaviors.

Um, it's like, okay, well how did that person, and I think for me too, that's always been my thing. Like since I was younger, I, I, I mean since I was like probably four, I was asking the mom the question like, How did that person get from A to B? Like how did that person become successful? My mom says, I was like obsessed with that question and she would get so annoyed.

I'm like, how did you become a business person? What are his steps? And I was always like, very checklist and very steps, step by step. My step. Yeah. So she's like, oh, of course you became a therapist. And like, oh my gosh, of course you work with athletes. She's like, that's your, your, that's amazing. That's your vibe.

Um, but I just, I think it's super important for athletes to have a guide and a checklist and. A framework for, okay, if you really wanna get from, you know, A to B, like here's what we need to do to get there. And so like, yep. With the therapy that I do, even with my therapy clients, I'm just like, you have to have goals.

We have to have intentionality. I'm not just gonna sit here and you're telling me your issues and we're not gonna have a framework for like, sorting some things out, right? Like mm-hmm. You're paying me for a reason. You're not gonna be dependent on me forever. Like, this is a short and sweet. These are these tools I'm giving you so that you can implement 'em in your life.

Because 100% I think, I think everyone's so caught up in the, the doctor mindset or the whatever people, oh, give me this, okay. Take it. And that's it. It's like, no, like you have to actually like, take it and, and almost be a student yourself and, and be able to implement it into your life. And it's like, I'm, I'm giving you the tools.

Yeah, absolutely. And isn't that like the best gift though, when you can feed yourself and be independent and you have these tools and maybe pick them up from a mentor here or therapist here? Your parents over here, or you're reading your Bible over there and it's like, cool. Now I have this like plethora of amazing tools that I can work with to do things for myself.

Yep. Access at any point. Yeah. I don't have to go to the chiropractor every day to get cracked or whatever. Oh my gosh. No. Take all the pills, do all the things. It's like, yeah, you got your own resource book. Exactly. Yeah. Fantastic. And if anyone listening, any athletes, if you want a checklist and you want that framework, as I talked about me being obsessed with, make sure to go, uh, unready set mindful.com, I have a free checklist for athletes who want to manage their anxiety.

So there's that framework for you there. Um, I love me a good checklist, so go and check that out if you haven't already. Amen. Christian, last question for you. What is the best piece of advice that stuck with you? Um, yeah. Maybe something that you got from your mentor or your parents, just something, or maybe like a, a motto that you live by that really grounds you and you feel aligned with.

Yeah, absolutely. Um, so I don't, so I don't miss it. It's ju um,

uh, let's see the quote from John Wooden. Oh. Um, on success. Let me see. I have it, I have my book right here. Yeah, go grab it. Oh, good.

It, it's the, the pocket book of the mindfulness I've brought, I've had like five years. It's all wrecked. That's amazing. It's destroyed, but it's the best weathered. Yeah, for sure. Let's see. Oh, that page might be, let's see. John Wooden. Yeah, that's my guy. That's a guy. Yeah. He, he, it's crazy. A bunch of good ones.

He does the, when I graduated high school, the, uh, that's the first book that I got from a buddy. And then every single coach or the mindset coach, physical coach, they were either like pen pals with him or like something like, it's crazy. Everyone that I know and like has been in my life in any shape or form has like known John Wooden in some way.

Crazy. That's so interesting. Wow. Yeah. So it's super in alignment for you too, just Yeah, exactly. Follow his framework. Exactly. Yeah. So, so here it is cuz I think I got so, so caught up in, in so many other things, but here it is, success is peace of mind, which is direct result of self-satisfaction in knowing you did your best to become the best you're capable of becoming.

Mm-hmm. So I think for me that just means like controlling what I can control, um, because I think so many of us get so caught up in, in so many things that we can't control and, and I think for success, For a lot of people it means maybe material things or result or things like that. But if you could just come back to be like, did I do the best that I could with what I have here?

I think, I think that once, once I realized that, I think that helped me in, in areas of, of an athlete as in relationships and, and business and, and whatever. I think, um, so yeah, that John Wooden quote is I love that. Phenomenal. That's a strong one, a good one to live by for sure. And just the, isn't that the ultimate, like when people are pointing you in a direction, like with this Bessel Vander Cork book now and, uh, yeah.

The breath book. But yeah, if you hear things from multiple people, you're just like, okay, great. Now I can't, like I can't deny it. I gotta go in. Exactly. It's the truth. Yeah, exactly. Gotta go. That's awesome. Well, thank you. This is all the, all of the, the time that we have, , have time for today on the podcast, but thank you so, so much.

I have enjoyed our conversation. Tremendously. , and if people wanna find you on social and athletes mental health.com, like where, where can people find you? Yeah, absolutely. So, , you can find me at Christian V. Ball on, on Instagram and on Facebook, and I'm coming out, I'm starting to build a community athlete's mental health.

Uh, it's kinda, it's kind of in the, in construction, but if you go there, then you should be able to find it. And so, yeah, basically what I want to create with that, with that is just a place where athletes can come and learn from each other and just have, it's basically gonna be like a forum. And then I'll also have like a free classroom where people can, can get access to, you know, some meditations and some, some hypnosis stuff.

And then also like a once a month call that we can all hop in. But basically I want just a place to, people can go and say, Hey, I'm struggling with this. And then have another athlete maybe is like, oh, I've went through this. This is, these are the tools that I've helped. You know, I just think where we're at right now, we need more community than ever, and especially with athletes.

Um, Just struggling in the mental health arena. I just want a, like a hub or a place that athletes can, can improve and whatnot. And so yeah, that's where, that's where I'm at at now and I, I'm building a couple other things like the Friday night workout.com that'll come soon. I'm gonna start doing some group classes every Friday night with people to, to help them crush their week on Friday nights as well.

So yeah, you can find me out over there. Yeah. Cool. I love it. So people can go and work out with you on Friday nights if they live in Arizona where you live. Yeah. That or I'll be doing it virtually. 

Yeah. Oh, that's so cool. Okay. I'll be sure to post all your links in the show notes and we'll get everyone to join you for your Friday night workouts and such an amazing resource for athletes to have that peer to peer network that's so, so, so valuable.  So thank you for putting that together for, for athletes.

I appreciate that. Absolutely. You're awesome. Carrie. Thank you so much for your time. You're awesome to you. I appreciate you. Absolutely. Okay, bye everybody. Take care.

 Thanks so much for joining us on this episode of the Ready Set Mindful Podcast with me, Carrie Bisch Gay. If you like what you hear, make sure to like, comment and subscribe to the podcast. You can also follow us on Facebook and Instagram or visit ready set mindful.com for free resources, courses, and other ways to work with me.

Until next time, be well. Stay mindful.