Brad Smeele was a world champion wakeboarder at the top of his game. His life was an endless summer of travel, competing, modelling, building and meeting women when a catastrophic accident changed his life and left him a quadriplegic in 2014.
Brad talks about the astonishingly raw and honest book about his journey – Owning It – The Ride That Changed My Life. The mental and physical challenges of losing mobility, the realities of life without the use of limbs, his sex-life, what it looks like now and why he included so much of it in the book, the darkest thoughts he had – and how he overcame them, and his incredible path to happiness, fulfilment and being present. And how he got there.
This is a chat that really left us speechless. Brad suffered just about the worst possible thing that could happen to a young man in the prime of his life – and has found a way to turn it into a positive. It certainly put our own struggles into perspective and we both left the episode feeling incredibly inspired.
Show notes | Episode 95 | Brad Smeele
2:03 A busy week for Brad Smeele: the book launch, media appearances, and going head-to-head with Ross Taylor
5:00 Sex (and other reflections on the book)
11:42 Painting a picture of pre-accident Brad Smeele
21:59 A pause for breakdown on naming conventions for wakeboard tricks
24:29 A preamble to the accident: opening up, shitting yourself, and having real conversations with your mates
31:40 The accident
40:16 The initial recovery post-accident
53:12 Steve loops back to sex chat
55:36 Finding inspiration from tragedy: transitioning back to life in New Zealand
1:13:33 Helping other people deal with their shit
1:17:46 Owning It: the process of writing, editing, and launching the book (and Steve triples down on sex chat!)
1:22:30 Looking back at the accident
1:26:05 Last words from Steven, Seamus and Brad
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