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Shine On Success
Welcome to "Shine On Success," the podcast dedicated to exploring the journeys, challenges, and triumphs of today's entrepreneurs. Each episode from your host, Dionne Malush is crafted to inspire, educate, and empower you, whether you're just starting out or are a seasoned business owner.
Shine On Success
From Battlefields to Ironman: A Journey of Resilience and Triumph Over Adversity
In this compelling episode of Shine On Success, host Dionne Malush sits down with Eric McElvenny, a former Marine infantry officer, Ironman competitor, and motivational speaker. Eric's story is one of extraordinary resilience, from overcoming the loss of his leg in Afghanistan to triumphing in the grueling Ironman triathlon.
Listen as Eric shares the pivotal moments of his journey, the importance of gratitude, and how setting goals helped him rise above adversity. Whether you're facing challenges or seeking inspiration to push through tough times, Eric’s insights will empower you to keep getting back up and pursue your own path to success. Tune in for an inspiring conversation that will leave you ready to take on the world with renewed determination and purpose.
Connect with Eric here:
- Website: https://ericmcelvenny.com/
- Facebook: Eric McElvenny
- Instagram : ericmcelvenny
- Recent news about Eric: https://www.post-gazette.com/local/westmoreland/2024/08/15/paralympics-eric-mcelvenny-paratriathlon/stories/202408140105
Connect with Dionne Malush
- Instagram: @dionnerealtyonepgh
- LinkedIN: /in/dionnemalush
- Website: www.dionnemalush.com
- Facebook: /dmalush
- LinkTree: https://linktr.ee/dionnemalush
Have you ever faced a challenge so big that it seemed impossible to overcome? How would you approach it if you knew you had the resilience to turn it into a triumph? Welcome to Shine on Success. I'm your host. Dionne Malish, Our speaker today, is a lucky husband and proud father of three. He has been teaching resilience to audiences for nearly a decade. He has delivered hundreds of presentations across the nation. Following graduation from the United States Naval Academy, he was injured in Afghanistan while serving as a Marine infantry officer. He went on a journey from his hospital bed to the Ironman finish line and then to the Paralympic Games. He's about to show the tools you can use in your own journey when not racing and delivering inspiration. He can be found with his wife and three kids in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Speaker 2:Please welcome.
Speaker 1:Eric McIlvaney. So welcome, Eric. I've been waiting so long to have you on this show. I've been a fan of yours for many years and I saw you speak once and was just mesmerized by your speaking and I wanted to talk to you because I know you have a lot to share with our audience, so welcome.
Speaker 2:Thank you so much and thanks for having me on. I really appreciate it.
Speaker 1:So let's talk about your journey. It's been quite the journey, right, and can you share something interesting about yourself that most people wouldn't know? Let's start there.
Speaker 2:Something about myself that most people wouldn't know. That's a good one. Let's see. I mean, that's hard, I don't know.
Speaker 1:It's hard. I like to start off at the heart of it.
Speaker 2:No, I like it. I played rugby for three years. Usually like when I say that people are like well, that's not even an American sport.
Speaker 1:So you did in this area.
Speaker 2:In college I went to the Naval Academy and played for three years and loved it. And that just popped into my mind because my son was doing flag rugby this year and when I told someone at our church they're like what he's crazy? I was like it's just flag rugby and they just, I don't know, weren't used to hearing rugby.
Speaker 1:Ah, I just didn't hear that, so have you lived in the Pittsburgh area your whole life.
Speaker 2:I grew up in the Pittsburgh area. I went to Bell Vernon, graduated Bell Vernon Area High School and then I was out and about for about 15 years and then moved back and landed in the South Hills in Bethel Park, and it's good to be back. I came back in 2017.
Speaker 1:So I went to Bell Vernon as well.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:I graduated long before you, so it's been a while, so thank you for your service. I wanted to make sure I said that, so let's talk about that a little bit. So tell us about your time at the United States Naval Academy and what inspired you to become a.
Speaker 2:Marine Infantry Officer. Oh, awesome yeah. So I ended up going to the Naval Academy, but I wanted to be a Marine before that. I don't know I think I was always interested in the military growing up and in the eighth grade I did a homework assignment. It was a career research report and we couldn't do it on being a professional athlete. So I ended up choosing the military and choosing the Marine Corps because they had the best commercials on television.
Speaker 1:Oh they did?
Speaker 2:They still do. Yeah, so I wanted to be a Marine and you know, about halfway through high school, my grandpap he's an Army veteran and he served in the Korean War he kind of pulled me aside, knew that I wanted to become a Marine said, hey, you should check out the Naval Academy. You know, you can go to the Naval Academy and there's the big three, you can get a good education, you can keep playing sports which sounded good to me and then when you graduate you become a Marine and a Marine officer and you go from there. I've just been fortunate that I've always had mentors in my life that have helped guide me in a good direction, and so he kind of guided me that way. At the Naval Academy, about in between 20 and 25% of graduates become Marines. So I went to Naval Academy wanting to be a Marine and went there.
Speaker 1:That's not too many.
Speaker 2:Yeah, no, no, but I knew that that was the goal and only so many people want to do that. Some people want to fly aircraft, some want to be navy seals or drive ships, and you know, I just want to be marine ground.
Speaker 1:That was that infantry my favorite thing on tiktok is watching the planes and the military flying. I'm mesmerized by the whole idea of it. So I have never been in one, but I think before I die someday I would like to do it, just because why not? It's amazing to watch and oh yeah yeah, so very creative too, just watching the creativity in the air. So I'm a very creative person watching that, just it's so.
Speaker 1:I just don't know how they do it so timed perfectly oh yeah, anyways I'm sure you've seen a few yeah you know, this show is about having adversity and pushing through it to get to the other side, and and you've had some adversity in your life, right- yeah, a little bit.
Speaker 2:I guess we all have right.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so you were injured in Afghanistan. At that point, what was your mindset like and how did you find the strength to begin your journey from the hospital bed to competing in the Ironman and Paralympic Games?
Speaker 2:Yeah. So I was injured end of 2011, where I stepped on an IED in Afghanistan and lost the lower part of my right leg. From there, six days later, I was in a hospital in San Diego. It started with the people around me. At that time my oldest daughter was five years old and just still looked at me like I was the same person. You know, even though I was having doubts. You know, she's just like. She saw dad and was happy I was home. My wife, my family, my parents, sisters they flew out home. My wife, my family, my parents, sisters they flew out. And then I have friends. I just had the support network that I needed. And I kind of always go back to that moment where you know, if I was alone in that hospital room, how would things have went? How would they have went differently. So I just you know we can do that. Surround ourselves with good people. You know good people that are going to be there for us, and then you know also, we can be there for those people. It's, you know, to be a friend is you have to be deliberate. So I had people in my life that were deliberate about being there for me. I knew that my family was all right. You know, now it's just okay.
Speaker 2:I was a little bit different, I was ready to accept it. You know, it's like that's a good point. Let's set a goal and let's start heading towards it. So I was just thinking big and I set a goal because I think that that's important as well. I had that support network and then set a goal, something that you have to attack.
Speaker 2:And then, you know, I set this goal to finish an Ironman triathlon. So that ended up. You know it's crazy, but that was my rehabilitation. You know, before I could walk, yeah, I had this goal. So we had to break it down to those milestones, but it's like, okay, milestone one I have to be able to walk if I ever want to fancy an iron man. So like, let's focus on this for the next couple months. And now we have to figure out how to swim, let's focus on this. So, really, like, sport ended up being my rehabilitation, not just physically but mentally as well, because now I had something to focus on so how long did it take from the time you were injured till you did the Ironman?
Speaker 2:that was 22 months 22 months. Yes, yeah, I could say two years, or I could a little bit less than two years, so it was October 2013, yeah, which would have been 22 months which was faster than I thought.
Speaker 2:Yeah, when I set that goal, like I thought this could be like a very long-term goal and we'll eventually get there, but then again, like I had the support network that just started introducing me to the sport and to people who've done it, cause this was all very new to me and we were just going, all of a sudden I'm running and I'm on a bike and it's like wow, it just happened.
Speaker 1:That is amazing. You're like Superman, like amazing. I love this story and you know from this point then, when did you get into motivational speaking? Like, when did that become something that you thought I'm going to get up there and I'm going to share my story and I'm going to help people going through?
Speaker 2:what I'm going through. Yeah, it's crazy. I definitely did not ever picture myself doing it or ever wanting to do it. I mean, I was always a little nervous getting in front of people and it just it started to just naturally happen. Where there's, I met an individual, a gentleman I became friends with, who he had two kids and a Boy Scout troop, and you know, he said, hey, can you come and give a talk to my Boy Scout troop? And I was. I was like that's actually one of the last things that I want to do in my life right now. And but I was like, you know, yeah, okay, I'll come and do that. And I did that.
Speaker 2:And then, like my daughter's school, went in and talked to them, and then, I think I was on a radio and then someone asked me to talk to their company and I just even though, like I was nervous, I didn't really want to do it I just kept saying yes.
Speaker 2:I kept saying yes and yes and yes until, like, it started to get more comfortable and until I realized that there's something that I could say that can actually impact the audience's life and journey, instead of me worrying about all right, everyone's looking at me, I'm nervous, am I going to mess up? Now it's like, okay, what can I actually say to impact someone's life? And that's when I turned it around and start looking at the audience like, okay, this is awesome, this is such a cool opportunity, so I'm just going to lean into it. I leaned into it and, you know, from there I got a little bit better, continue to get a little bit better, a lot of experience and something that I just really enjoy. It's very, very rewarding to be able to go around and, you know, share a message, impact someone and meet a ton of people and stay in touch with a ton of people.
Speaker 1:Do you find that you still get nervous when you, before you, get up on a stage?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I guess I do a little bit. I guess there are some jitters, and maybe it depends on the stage and the audience. It's definitely different, though. Now, like I feel the energy and I'm comfortable with doing it, I would say that being nervous for something is healthy, because, you know, if I wasn't at all nervous then I probably wouldn't prepare for it. So like I don't want to get to that point where it's like, okay, I'm just going to go do it and leave.
Speaker 2:Like I want to put in a little bit of work, you know, and I've been sharing my story a good bit, so it comes naturally. But I want to know who I'm talking to. I might be talking to a high the next day. So the message has to change a little bit to meet that audience. So like I'll be getting introduced and like, kind of looking around the room and like, okay, who's? How am I going to really get this going on? And I want I want them to be engaged. What can I say? That's entertaining to them, and I want them to laugh a little bit. And hey, this is going to get emotional. It's just, it's a ton of fun. I love doing it.
Speaker 1:I just became on the board of directors of the National Speakers Association of Pittsburgh and I'm learning to like I'm not there but I'm learning and I have to speak in Vegas in a couple of months. So I keep thinking like, how far out do I have to really practice? And you know, I know my stories. No one else knows it right. So if I do what you're saying, if I look at the audience and think how can I help them versus just telling my side of the story, and think how can I help them versus just telling my side of the story, I think that makes it. It'll make it a lot easier for me to do.
Speaker 1:I am a little bit nervous, but the worst case is I fail, right, and I just pick myself back up, get up and do it again. So I'm good at failing and getting back up and I think that's just part of success and why we've grown and our company is growing. Because of that reason, because we do fail and we pick ourselves up and we have things that happen in our lives that aren't amazing, right, there's a lot of stuff in the world that happens and you went through a lot. And to sit here and look at you and see your smile and your excitement about speaking and sharing your story. It's great and I'm glad you're doing it, and I think that I've seen you speak and it was years ago, so I can only imagine how much even better you are today. Did you have a mentor Like? Was there someone that taught you how to be a professional speaker?
Speaker 2:I went through a little bit of a process. There was a point that I was working with a gentleman like this was like year one or two, just for a few months, like he basically said hey, here's a good idea, write a couple of stories out, you know, and each one, like, has a different message, like maybe something about when you set a goal and who impacted you to do that, and you know should be about five minutes or so. Write me 10 stories. So, and so I did. Like I wrote a handful of stories and when I tell a speech or when I give a speech, it's more of a storyteller. That's what I do, and some of those things that I wrote early on. Now they're a little bit more polished, but it came from the same thing and so that helped me out. So having having that advice and mentorship early on was big. And then I had a gentleman who wanted to help me out and he said you know you need to do so. You're an amputee and you're an athlete, so go on to Google and make a list of 20 amputee athlete motivational speakers. I was like, all right, that can't be too hard, you can do anything on Google. So I did, and then I had a call with him the next week and he said all right, now I want you to reach out to each of them and tell them your story and or just a quick little, you're an amputee, I'm an amputee and an athlete and trying to get into speaking, do you have any advice? It was very, very helpful.
Speaker 2:A lot of them didn't get back to me and I understand now. Like when you open your inbox and it's totally full, it's like, oh, I want to respond to everything, but I can't get to everything. But a few people responded. Sometimes it was just a one quick little piece of advice. I have to go back and like, remember names. But there's a gentleman from Australia that, like you know, we hopped on a phone call or a WhatsApp call or something and we went back and forth a couple of times for a few months.
Speaker 2:But that was huge as well, cause that again was one of the last things that I wanted to do is reach out to someone who has made it and they're done it and they're doing great, and to say, hey, I don't want to be like you. What are they going to say? They're going to say no, it's like no, there's tons of speeches out there. That's what I say, and if someone's getting into speaking, it's like hey, we're not a competition, like we're going to help each other out, like I can push you some clients, I can give you some advice, you can give me some advice, we could work together. So that was very helpful as well. I've never like had a one-on-one coach, though it definitely wouldn't hurt. Maybe it would make sense to do it for a year and help them develop into even a better speaker, or help me with the business side of things, which that's where I kind of struggle a little bit.
Speaker 1:I mean it's because there's a lot of pieces and parts you don't realize. You don't just get up on stage and do it and then it's over. You know, I studied personal development and thinking, grow Rich, napoleon Hill, and one of the big things that one of my biggest takeaways in all these years of studying was seek expert counsel. So you know, if you look at someone like Henry Ford he didn't know how to make the motor. He found the people that are successful, and that helps you become more successful.
Speaker 2:So that's why I love coaching and learning from people, because I can get pieces and parts and I was just on a call, just a little bit ago with someone about you know football and Ben Roethlisberger.
Speaker 1:I always use him as an example on how many coaches that he had. He had a mindset coach, a throwing coach, a running coach. You know there's all kinds of things that they do because they believe and they need that help in all of those. So you might need that A business coach wouldn't be a terrible idea, right, and how to catapult. But you're such a great speaker I think your opportunity is huge. So, when it comes to resilience, do you have a top strategy for that? How do you push through?
Speaker 2:I like to say that the top principle and you know there's a lot of principles of resilience right there. You can go through a whole list but I think the first one is gratitude and just having something's going wrong. Or maybe you get knocked down and you go through that failure and I love how you brought that up, because failure is not a bad thing. It's like your response to it is what's good or bad. But you know, whatever happens, first what's going well in my world, like what am I grateful for? Like I Like I still have a house to get to sleep under a roof. I have a family. You know we sit down at dinner together, like recognize what I'm grateful for helps me start. So I think that's one of the first, most important principles is that gratitude.
Speaker 2:And my daughter she was five when I was injured. She taught me that. She taught me that because it was negative. You know I got injured. My wife got the phone call. My wife called my parents and my sisters. Like everyone was upset. My friends were like, oh man, this is horrible. My daughter, she smiled, she said daddy's going to be home for Christmas and when you think about it it's like wow, it's a kid's way of thinking, but that was just her being grateful for what she had. She still had her dad, and now she gets him home for Christmas.
Speaker 1:And it didn't matter. None of that matters. The mindset of children is so amazing.
Speaker 2:I know we need to take notes.
Speaker 1:I know we just need to study them and try to live in that. It's so beautiful. Outside of this, has there been a significant challenge or adversity you've faced during your recovery or any other time in your? Life that you've overcame that our listeners would like to know. Because you know this, you've been through something that many people do not go through.
Speaker 2:So let's talk about another life issue. That happened All right, all right, let's see. I guess it happens a lot in my triathlon career. I'm going to get a little vulnerable with you. It was so. It was my wife and I. We both graduated from the Naval Academy. We graduated from the Naval Academy. A lot happened really fast. We had our first daughter moved out to the West Coast, started deploying. We were in offsetting deployment cycles In the first, like three or four years, we were under the same roof, maybe for a few months, and it was hard.
Speaker 1:It was hard to the point where you weren't used to spending time together.
Speaker 2:Yes, exactly.
Speaker 2:And then when we were together, it was just like we weren't parenting the same.
Speaker 2:We were fighting, like we got to the point where we were talking about separation and potential divorce and for me, like that was a pretty low point. It was low. That was actually harder for me than losing my leg, you know, almost breaking up the family, and we ended up just going to a new church. It helped me in my heart and I realized like, wow, maybe I'm not, you know. It helped me in my heart and I realized like, wow, maybe I'm not, you know, valuing my family and my wife the way, the way I could be. And it like changed me and went through a couple of months of really like rehabbing our marriage and it's still, at this point, even getting stronger every day. Like when you brought that up, that was just such a challenging time when we were at that kind of rock bottom and to have pushed through that, not given up and become better and stronger and, you know, a better parenting team just fell back in love Like that meant a lot.
Speaker 1:I mean, you know, I've been through the exact same thing. My husband and I had a horrible 2015 and that year I ruptured my Achilles and so, yeah, that hurts. I spent three months just sitting crying and so sad, but he was right by my side through the whole thing and, honestly, I swear it happened for the reason to bring us back together. And after that we went to church and we started realizing how important it was to get married. We hadn't been married yet.
Speaker 2:We've been together 17 years at that point.
Speaker 1:So when I look at that, I think many people would have gave up that year. I can say 90% of people would have gave up that year. I can say 90% of people could have gave up what we went through. And then the fact is I was. I couldn't walk or drive or anything you know, for 12 weeks. You know what that feels like. Right, 22 months later, you're running, yeah, you're doing amazing things and I also walked if 12 weeks.
Speaker 1:It was difficult. You know that kind of surgery puts a lot of people men out of football. Right, mine was from a spanish dancing class, which is the first time I ever did it in my life and I took this amazing class. I was having the time of my life and, all of a sudden pop oh my goodness have you done?
Speaker 1:spanish dancing since yeah, no, no good, I don't even. I mean, I'm a terrible dancer as it is. I definitely don't have the moves, but I wasn't really having fun with that. Yeah, and that was, that was crazy time, but you know, it's all in God's time and I think you know I don't think he purposely ruptured my Achilles, but I think that happened to bring us to a place where we could fix what was broken, and we got married and we have a great relationship and it really healed us.
Speaker 1:You know again, adversity, push through, get up again. You got to keep getting up and that's the thing we have to do is keep getting back up. And there's a lot of people that don't, and it's it's sad, and I wish I could help them and that's why I wanted to do this podcast, because there are many people that give up and I want to be able to help. If we can help one person every single time, it's a success, right, but I want to help way more than one person. So let's talk about mindset and how you navigated through those times. Like, what did you do? Is there you have a morning routine, a night routine? Is there something you do to keep your mindset on track and positive?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I guess it's related to what we were just talking about. You know, as a Christian, like, I'm always kind of doing a Bible study. So for me in the morning, first thing like wake up, and that's where I spend the first part of my morning in the Bible and then I go to my first training. So like, as far as routine, that's important in my life. And there's times where that falls off and it's like okay, what's going on? I need to get back on track and be deliberate about that. Yeah, so I don't know. As far as morning routine, that's very helpful and and really being deliberate about managing time is important.
Speaker 2:If I spent most of my time training for my next triathlon, I would be a good triathlete, but I'd probably be a pretty crappy dad and probably not knocking it out of the park as a husband and my speaking job might not be as good. So it's, you know there's a lot. There's a lot going on in my world right now. So making sure I know what my priorities are is important. So like really knowing the schedule, having like a family calendar, making sure my wife knows what days I'll be out of town, just so she can plan for that and I know when I can fit my trainings in over here and when I can do the business. It's just, it doesn't just happen. It's like when you want to do something well, you have to be deliberate with it and I want to prioritize well, you know, I want my kids to know that they're my priority.
Speaker 2:So you have to be just very deliberate about things that you want to do. Well, would you do Ironman again? Oh, of course, yeah, yeah, so I I'm finishing up. I qualified for the Paris Paralympics, which my race is September 1st, but that race is only a sprint triathlon. It's like an hour long race and it's just. The training is different. You know, I thought I would be able to do Ironmans and continue to do these races, but this has taken up a lot of my time. I've raced in the past year. I've raced internationally nine different races.
Speaker 1:So it's a lot.
Speaker 2:But after Paris I'm probably going to go back to more of getting into the distance. I like just doing that one or two races a year the Ironman and getting back into that training.
Speaker 1:That's awesome. So what advice would you give to someone that is facing a significant challenge or setback right now in their life?
Speaker 2:Yeah, well, of course, understand that it's. You're not the only one going through something. You know it's. Sometimes we get like that. It's like why is this always happening to me? But if you, just if you talk to anyone on the street anywhere, they have something going on in their world or they just got through something or something's going to happen in their future. Like challenges just is part of life, and since we get to make the choice, how we're going to respond to it.
Speaker 2:So I'd say first off is, even if you're upset, try to find that place of gratitude. Like what is it that you're grateful for? Even if you're sad, even if those emotions are taken over, you can still look at what you're grateful for. Even if you're sad, even if those emotions are taken over, you can still look at what you're grateful for. And that can help frame things, because things you know, times could be worse, times could be harder, but yeah, you get there. What are you grateful for? And then, how can we move through this? And who's the support network? Who can you reach out to? We do life better as a team, right? When we try to do things ourselves, it's going to be harder and we're probably not going to do it as well. So if we can just pull in that support network and say, hey, this is what's going on in my world, it's told me back like this happened. What do you think Like, how can I get past this?
Speaker 1:And you're going to get some help or you're going to get a hug or you're going to get something that you need from that team and we just set a goal and start striving for that. Hugs are good. I like hugs. They really help. What are some goals or aspirations that you have coming up in the future for Eric.
Speaker 2:I'm right now. I'm short and I'm thinking short term, so I'm headed right. I'm in a training cycle to go to the Paris Paralympics and compete on September 1st. So, like right now, my day to day is very focused on trying to get as fit as I can to try to go and actually get a medal for Team USA. That's the goal. So that's what I'm focusing on now.
Speaker 2:And while doing that, because I've kind of stepped back a little bit from traveling, I do have a couple of trips, a little bit of speaking coming up, but I know that I can't totally ignore it because after I come back, you know that's my job. So we're kind of leaning into the fall a little bit to set up a schedule I don't know after Paris. So I guess athletically is go to Paris. You know, professionally it's very rewarding impacting people, and I do want to become better at the business side of things so I can get in front of more people. You know I'm inspired by you. Having this podcast Like that's awesome, I love it. Maybe something like this is in my future. It inspires me.
Speaker 1:You know, when I first started doing it, I kept thinking you know, I want to have a hundred thousand downloads and all these cool metrics. And then one day I realized that this really isn't about any of that. It's about the network of people that I am meeting all over the world that now that I have a connection to and I didn't think about that six months ago when I started this, I was grieving. My dad passed away last September and I was grieving, my heart was broken and I thought I need to do something. That's soul satisfying, right. It fills in that time, maybe. So I didn't have to grieve as much.
Speaker 1:So I didn't think about it, which you know probably is not good either. But I have a friend who is a Navy SEAL, I mean, and the Marines I'm sorry, In the Marines we don't grieve, we honor, and so we see a lot of people die right, and if we spent our whole time grieving we wouldn't be able to get onto the next thing. So we can't sit there and do that, but we honor them. So honor your dad and do everything you do in his honor and you'll see such a tremendous shift in the grief process. And I did. So probably didn't look to some people that I got was really grieving, but I am and I am and I'm. I'm devastated. I miss him terribly, but I am also doing all of this for that reason and to I mean I get to, I get to talk to you today. How cool is that?
Speaker 2:yeah, that's awesome. I I really love that. I love that a lot me too.
Speaker 1:It helped me a lot. I saved it. Honestly, I listened to it over and over again, him saying that understanding it, because I I wish I went to the military, like as a 56 year old woman now. I wished I did when I was young. I think it's amazing. I just I love America, right, I love this country. Why didn't I do it, I don't know. But anyways, thank you, and is there any way you can share how people can get a hold of you if they want you to speak in front of their company, if they want to talk to you?
Speaker 2:yeah, you can just reach out to me. I have a website's just my name, ericmacklevennycom, and I'm not extreme. I need to get a little bit better on social, but I'll be updating my Instagram at least a little bit of support and a little bit of speaking so someone could follow and reach out to me through that. But you can. If you go on the website, you can find emails and reach out to me as well.
Speaker 1:Is there any last thing you would like to say to our audience today?
Speaker 2:I don't know. I guess I'd say, like you know, be that person. That when you look in the mirror in the evening and you see that person looking back at you like you're proud of it. You gave it everything that you could that day and you're proud of the person that you see because you get to make that choice throughout that day to be that person.
Speaker 1:It really is about life right, the choices that we make, life right, the choices that we make. So thank you, Eric, I appreciate it so much, and everyone, if you could share, like and subscribe this episode. That would be amazing and remember if we just help one person, this podcast is a success.
