135. The Hero's Journey

“What if stepping out of your comfort zone could unlock your true potential? Today, we challenge the conventional wisdom of staying safe and comfortable. Join us as we embark on a journey of self-discovery, pushing past the limits we’ve set for ourselves. We discuss the metaphor of breaking free from the ‘chicken coop’ mentality to discover what we are truly capable of. By embracing discomfort, whether through intense workouts or daring creative endeavors, and undergoing transformative changes, you can find your authentic path and purpose. Learn the importance of knowing yourself and the shifts in relationships and perspectives that come with personal growth.

In another powerful segment, we dive into the hero’s journey, emphasizing the growth that stems from overcoming formidable challenges. From healing emotional wounds to facing fears head-on, we cover the crucial skills necessary for personal development. Listen to our guest’s inspiring monologue on resilience, where he shares his experience of bouncing back from setbacks and ignoring naysayers. This episode is a testament to the power of mutual support, perseverance, and the relentless pursuit of your dreams. Whether you're aspiring to greatness in strength competitions, fatherhood, or any other endeavor, this episode serves as a powerful reminder that life’s hardships are simply opportunities for growth.”

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Chapters

• 0:00 Embrace Discomfort, Find Purpose
• 4:30 Warrior's Journey
• 10:44 Rise Above Adversity

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:08

Anybody going to plan on being uncomfortable today, because I sure as fuck am. Fuck, yeah, I am going to do something that's difficult to myself today. I have hard workouts that I don't like to do. I've got writing that is fucking so challenging to me. I have things I do on a daily basis that are not comfortable and that makes me fucking qualified. Not comfortable and that makes me fucking qualified.

Speaker 1: 0:38

So if I'm going to conform to comfort, enjoy the fucking chicken coop. There's so much sky up here for all of us, fellas. There's so much fucking open sky because there's a lot more guys who are worried about being uncomfortable than being courageous. There's so much sky for all of us. None of us are in competition because 99% of these motherfuckers don't know what their wings are for. There is no competition up here. If you fly higher than me, that's awesome. There's tons of sky, fellas, and most people aren't even trying to do it. You're starting to figure out what your fucking wings are for man. It's not for chicken coop and it's not for clipping, so that way she feels more secure.

Speaker 1: 1:23

Have the awareness that when you stop acting like a caterpillar and you cocoon into butterfly, caterpillars won't understand. You're like you know what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna fly, dude. Oh man, there's this whole monarch thing down in mexico. I'm gonna be doing. It's gonna be awesome. Butterfly caterpillars won't understand. You're like, you know what I'm going to do. I'm going to fly, dude. Oh man, there's this whole monarch thing down in Mexico. I'm going to be doing. It's going to be awesome. They're like Mexico, that's impossible. It's impossible Not to us butterflies, not to us eagles. See you there, bro, it's going to be awesome. Yeah, motherfucking eagles, ty, so it's.

Speaker 1: 1:52

It's something there where courage is a big part of what you're doing, but you're breaking out of conformity to make it so that you can find purpose, and it's very different when you look at things from a high point of view than when you're trying to assess the world from inside the chicken coop, inside the pecking order. It's hard. It's hard to see more than just the, the four walls you have in there and then their name tag bosses. That sounds like prison to me and you guys. There's a lot of transition that we have to have. The old us is going to die and there is a funeral that's required. There's a funeral required for the version of me who isn't here anymore.

Speaker 1: 2:33

I can show you, guys, some of my old images, back when I was doing just a mile a day and I still had my spirit side was shut down. My heart was completely repressed. I was only partially complete. It was like me trying to train in 50 times gravity but I haven't gone super saiyan at all. That's from my nerds Not able to transcend. I'm not able to ascend yet because I'm only doing partial training.

Speaker 1: 2:58

And then once you start leveling up out of that stuff, once you start getting out of that that realm, the guys who used to relate to who you were will start becoming unrelatable. Not because you are worse, but because I am not what I was. When you start finding who you are remember I told you guys, I tell this all the time when you go inside and find your authenticity and know thyself. Once you know thyself, it is impossible to not be on your journey to find your purpose. You can try and get around it all the ways you fucking want. You can try and hide it, obfuscate it, push down, suppress it, but when you know yourself and you watch the chickens going, hurting this way and you go, that doesn't feel right to me. You're going to struggle every day because you know yourself too well to conform to things you know are inauthentic. You will be forced on your journey and you find your purpose on the journey. You'll start off with a certain set of whys, but the further up you go and the higher your vision is, more clear your why will change. You may go over multiple whys. You may go over a why that gets me to this point, and then a why that gets me to this point, and then a why that gets me to this point, until you end up unlocking some element of yourself you didn't even know was there. And when you guys find your fucking purpose, it's a punch in the dick.

Speaker 1: 4:31

Everybody I've ever met who has journeyed far enough in word and done enough action to make something happen when they find their purpose, they're like that's fucking hard. I don't like this job and I'm like usually when you find you God does not ask easy things you will find something difficult as a part of what makes us live, and the stronger the responsibility is, the harder the mountain is, the more gratifying it is when we fucking beat it. The most proud you guys have ever been tell me true or not true the most proud of yourself you've ever been is when you did something that was really, really hard. You know what I mean, like man. It took me fucking six months to do that. Well, I fucking worked for two years to get that, or that took me fucking every day, every night, dedication, and I fucking did it. Tell me, the most proud of yourself you've ever been was when you overcame something that was really difficult. Versus something that was really difficult, versus something that was just like given to you for free. Even if it's like I bought something that took me months to save up for your first car, your first house, your anything where it's like that first fucking bicycle when you're 10 years old, I don't give a shit, I worked for that.

Speaker 1: 5:53

There's something in the story for the hero's journey that the higher the responsibility, the higher the reward. There's a reason why when they look at the proverbial stories that dragons are always guarding treasure. There's a reason why is because the greater the treasure usually the greater the danger or the more difficult the challenge is, and having to fight a dragon is a personification of one of the hardest things you'll ever do. And some of us in here have fought dragons, whether it's addiction, whether it's suicide, isolation, betrayal, abandonment, abuse, molestation. Like some of us have gone through fucking evil shit, and when you beat that fucking dragon, you look in the mirror, go fucking proud of you.

Speaker 1: 6:41

Man, you are on a hero's journey and there are skills that we talk about to make you proficient as a warrior. Whether it's heal your broken heart, that's a skill. Whether it's calm the h Hulk inside of you so you can be more responsive than reactive, that's a skill. Raising your awareness to take the blinders off so you can see more possibility, versus staying limited in your belief systems, that's a skill. Becoming introspective and looking inside instead of blame throwing everybody else, that's a skill. Been looking inside instead of blame throwing everybody else, that's a skill. Facing fear, declining doubt, challenging conformity, being empathetically disagreeable, having radical acceptance, having presence in the presence, defeating addiction, finding your purpose these are all skills that combine to reveal you to you. And there is a fucking way to do it. It's not, you're born that way. It's because I trained that way. I make choices to develop. I will push authentically into the version of me that makes me feel like I'm the hero in the fucking story.

Speaker 1: 7:47

The man you're meant to be will not be on accident. For my researchers, it's not found in books, it's found on the battlefield. You will find you when you fucking fight something. That's what we're here to do, and this is the thing I want to remind all of you guys. Every guy in here is a hero in his story. Every guy in here. You have a fucking purpose, but it won't come and chase you. Fucking purpose, but it won't come and chase you.

Speaker 1: 8:19

Some of you have realized that dreams and goals and visions you have to go for them because they don't chase you back. You have to go get them. If you have a fucking dream, go for it, because dreams don't chase you. You have to chase dreams, and that's why we support each other here. That's why we lock shields here. That's why we lock shields here. You fight alongside somebody else who's also got the fucking courage to go for their dreams too, and each one of you is fucking worth fighting for. Each one of you guys is worth fucking.

Speaker 1: 8:51

Hey, I see you got knocked down. Grab my hand, get up. Come on, let's go. Let's go fucking get this thing, man. Yeah, you got knocked down. It's just your. I got knocked down last week. That's when fucking Brian pulled me up or Mike pulled me up Fucking one of you guys. We all grab each other, we all get blasted. Life doesn't take it easy on any of us. We just get stronger. Just want you guys to remember. You guys are the fucking hero in your story and some of you are still stuck at the beginning of the story going, hey, everything's happening to me, it's like that happened for a fucking reason. You were stuck in your habit house and you need to get kicked out of the fucking door. Time to go on the journey, because you're about to find two very important things, and the first one is you. And when you find you, it's impossible to not figure out where your purpose is, because you will be on a fucking hard climb. All right, that's the end of my Rick rant. Harry Redman, what do you got, brother?

Speaker 2: 9:45

Kind of going off everything what you just said and talking about doubt and what are people offering? You know you're talking about. You got dreams, man. You got goals and you know you got. You got somebody in your ear telling you that stuff's not gonna happen, man, you think you just gotta run out and do it. Okay, like like we were saying, doubt doesn't offer you anything. You know, I've had to say I fought down whenever I first got into this program and Rick helped me understand that I just need to go and do it. And the thing is it's not to achieve what I set out to do.

Speaker 2: 10:16

Would my shoulder be hurt right now if I had just given up and listened to everyone that told me that I can't be one of the strongest men in the world? Yeah, I probably. I probably wouldn't be hurt, but I'd still be sitting there in the nest. I'd still be sitting there in the nest. I'd still be sitting there where I started, accomplishing absolutely nothing. And in the time before I hurt my shoulder, I have set multiple Missouri records. I've made it to 26 in the world as far as strength athletes go, all because I set out to do it and I got fucking hurt. But I'm not done. I fell down, but it's all part of the fucking journey, man. The failures are part of it, and right now I'm sitting here in a sling.

Speaker 2: 10:53

I just had surgery on tuesday and I've had messages after messages, after messages. Oh, you're finally gonna give up that strongman thing. So you don't get hurt. Fuck, no, fuck you. I'm not giving up. Just because I got fucking hurt, you guys can suck my dick. I'm not doing it. Just because I got fucking hurt, you guys can suck my dick. I'm not doing it. Just because I got hurt doesn't mean I'm done, and that's what you everyone here needs to remember. Whatever your goal is, whatever you set out to do, if you fail, you learn something from it, and I learned from what fucking happened to me. I'm learning from this experience right now and I'm excited because I get to start. I get to rebuild my shoulder and prove every one of these motherfuckers wrong that told me that I need to quit because I got hurt.

Speaker 2: 11:30

I deadlift cars, I pull fire trucks. I am one of the strongest motherfuckers walking the face of the planet, and all these motherfuckers that are chickens are trying to tell me that I can't eat. You shut the fuck up and I'm going to prove it to them, and that's the mentality that every man in here needs to fucking have. You need to understand that these motherfuckers are going to try to stop you because they can't see the vision, they can't see what you see. They can't see from the ground what an eagle sees from the sky.

Speaker 2: 11:55

I see my goal, I see where I'm going, I know where the fuck I'm headed. So why would I listen to someone that can't see it? They don't know. Deadlifting a car is not supposed to be something the human body can do, but I do it because I can see it. I know what my goal is. So, whatever your goal is, whether it be strength, whether it be being a dad, whether it be traveling abroad, helping people, whatever your fucking goal is don't listen to the people on the ground when you're somewhere above them, because they can't see what you see. Don't let them stop you just because you fell down one time. Okay, yeah, I fell down, I'm going to get back up and I'm going to keep going.

Speaker 1: 12:32

Prove them wrong, that's my spiel Fuck yeah, perry, that's powerful dude. Well said, man. Fucking chickens can't tell you what to see when you're looking from the sky. They don't see it. Man. Fucking powerful dude. I love it, man.

Speaker 2: 12:47

Fuck yeah.