#18: Dr. Andy Ho - Dance to Occupational Therapy, Overcoming Negative Mindsets, and the Discipline of G.R.I.N.D. - One Thousand Gurus Podcast

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello everyone and welcome back to another episode
of 1000 Gurus, where it is mymission to have conversations
with unique and interestingguests from various fields,
backgrounds and walks of life,and I am your host, jr Yonacruz.
So today's episode is my goodfriend, dr Andy Ho.
Dr Andy Ho is an occupationaltherapist, dancer, powerlifter,

(00:21):
runner and student of life.
He attended Loma LindaUniversity to pursue
occupational therapy, where hereceived both his master and
doctor of occupational therapyand currently works as a
pediatric occupational therapist.
A proud UC Irvine alum, andybegan dancing at the Irvine
Dance Company with Breaking,eventually leading him to join

(00:41):
Cabo Modern.
He is currently a companydancer for Culture Shock LA and
is a director of Awesome ShockLos Angeles, an occupational
therapy led dance program forkiddos with diverse needs.
Outside of his life as an OT anddancer, andy is a competitive
powerlifter and runner where hecontinues to hone his mind, body
and soul to be better everysingle day.

(01:03):
Andy and I go way back about 15years ago, to our first year in
college.
We were also roommates for aperiod of time, so we reminisce
a bit on the days of living inour five-bedroom party house,
fondly named Titan Tower.
Andy also gives us a look intohis career path into
occupational therapy, hisunorthodox dance journey,

(01:23):
fighting against the negativemental scripts that he's had
throughout his life, gettinginto powerlifting, and how dance
and dance mentorship shaped himinto the force of nature he is
today.
Andy is one of those guys wholives by example, which is
honestly the highest complimentI can give.
So, without further ado, hopeyou enjoy this episode with Dr
Andy Ho.
All right, hello and welcomeback to 1000 Gurus.

(01:46):
Today's guest is Andy Ho.
Hey, nice Thanks for being here, man, I appreciate it.

Speaker 2 (01:53):
Yeah, thank you so much for having me Really
appreciate it.

Speaker 1 (01:55):
Yeah, I was excited to have you on the show because
I know it's been several yearssince we've been able to
reconnect.
But we go way back, obviouslyFirst year.
Mesa right, but we go way back,obviously first year.

Speaker 2 (02:05):
Mesa right, Mesa court.
That dance I will never forget.
When I stepped into that cypherand then JR comes out of
nowhere, I'm like who is thisguy?
Why is he giving me the smokeright now?

Speaker 1 (02:17):
And.

Speaker 2 (02:18):
I just accepted it.
It was memorable.

Speaker 1 (02:21):
Yeah, it's all good.
We all have starting points.
You know, like freshman yearwas so much fun I don't know if
we so quick like reminiscing man.
I know it's new for both of us,right, and we're both freestyle
dancers backgrounds andeventually we get into our whole
collegiate dance career withermo and kaba modern and also
this bba and whatnot.
But it was so surreal.
They're just going in with afresh, new lens, like what?
We're 18 or something like thatand it's then we just go for

(02:43):
stuff, we try new things andthen we make these connections
like 15 years later still hereand we get to follow each
other's journeys and you'redoing amazing things, as we'll
get into.

Speaker 2 (02:52):
But it's just so crazy how it just starts off
with a fresh new experience yeah, I feel that when we first got
to uci it was, you know, yes forthe education, for the college
degree and stuff, but like weknew we wanted to dance.
You know, like that was likethe thing that everybody wanted
to get into and even though weall came at different points of
life in dance, we all connectedthrough that and continued to

(03:15):
just grow together throughoutthe years in college and I'm
glad to see that it justcontinues to manifest itself.
You know, as you said, justbeing connected 15 years later,
it's honestly surreal, yeah,pretty surreal, pretty surreal.
Yeah, yeah, that's crazy.

Speaker 1 (03:27):
Quick tangent before we get into the actual scheduled
programming.
But like I don't know thereasons why you went to UCI or
your major and whatnot, but Iwas telling someone in another
interview that I just had that Iwent to UCI solely for dance,
right.
So like I'm from norcal and youknow, I had a friend who went
to uci and then I heard a couplemodern and all the other dance

(03:48):
teams and I wanted to dance.
So I was like, yeah, I'll go touci, I'm gonna be away from
home, which I want, and then Iwant to dance.
It wasn't for school, it wasn'tfor a major or a degree, I'm
just like, well, all my friendsare going to uc, so I'll go to
uc.
Oh, uci has this crazy dancecommunity.
Well, u, uci, socal, oc area,right, has all these crazy dance
teams.
So that's what I went and theneventually joined Carbon Modern,
but I don't know what was your?

(04:08):
I mean, you're from OC, right?
Like SoCal.

Speaker 2 (04:11):
Yeah, I'm from OC.
I'm from Garden Grove.
Honestly, I never told my momthis, but I did solely go to UCI
because of dance.

Speaker 1 (04:19):
Dance.

Speaker 2 (04:20):
University.
You know, we grew up around thetime of the ABDC era, right.
So I remember being a freshmanin high school, first watching
season one and you know, seeingCabo Modern, and thinking to
myself like, wow, like thatlooks so amazing to see people
that look just like me beingable to be sharing on this

(04:40):
platform with dance and suchlike that.
But I wasn't a dancer at thetime and I think it just kind of
killed two birds with one stone.
I really wanted to go to a UCthat was close to home and just
be around my mom to be able totake care of her and such like
that.
I grew up in a single parenthome, so I always kind of kept
her in my mind as I madedecisions along the way and it
just kind of worked out that way.

Speaker 1 (05:00):
Yeah, I think another , as you're talking, another
thing that kind of threads itall together is, I don't know
what is in the water of likedancers like us or people in the
dance community, freestyledancers, whatever but I've seen
a lot of times that ittranslates into stuff like
outside of that dance.
Maybe it's because of thementors we've had growing up in,
you know, at UCI our oldies,super oldies, you know, mentors

(05:22):
and stuff like that that justinstilled that sort of mindset
that we're able to translateinto these other like paths and
career fields.
But I think that's somethingthat I'm really grateful for is
people who invested into us,guided us, and now we're taking
that to like our own careerfields, like yourself.

Speaker 2 (05:36):
Definitely agree with you on that one.
I think what's so rare about thedance community in Irvine is
it's honestly such a special hubin itself.
It's like one of thoseexperiences.
You know where, like you'rearound it all the time.
Sometimes you can be like, wow,am I really dancing with this
person, am I really connectedwith this person?
And honestly, it's crazy, whenyou take a step outside of the

(05:57):
community, you know, like yousee that, wow, it's so special
with all the people thatencompass that community, that
have not only cultivated butmentored, as you said, just
different paths of life so thatwe can be able to be our best
and most truest versions ofourselves.
So it's not just dance.
It starts with dance right, butit cultivates and manifests

(06:18):
into whatever aligns with ourtruest self.

Speaker 1 (06:22):
So I've always seen it that way.
Yeah, we'll get into mentorsand stuff later on as well and,
like I mentioned before we startrecording, I'm scheduled to
have Arnel, who is dear to bothof us, shout out, shout out to
Arnel, dr Arnel Cavario-Rubin.
Yes, so if that works out,hopefully we have something
scheduled.
That'll be a great episode aswell.
All right, so let me go intohow I know you real quick, just

(06:42):
get out of the way.
So we met as first years at UCI, as I mentioned.
At Mesa we both danced in BBAin Irmo, in Couple Modern,
separately a few other projectteams and we were also roommates
for a bit in the house inIrvine which was Shout out Titan
Tower, yes, titan Tower, oh, myGod like.
Titan Tower and a refugee.
I also refer to it as therefugee house at one point
because we had how many of us?

(07:03):
Six, seven roommates okay.

Speaker 2 (07:05):
So when it first started, there was six of us
okay, six, all right.
Somewhere along the way itturned into like 10 people and,
just to give context, it was atwo-story house.
We each had our own room.
Besides me, I shared it with mybest friend, who I'm so
connected to to this day shoutout, mikey tran.
We had a second living room.
Yes, yes, and it came with adouble-decker couch A

(07:27):
double-decker couch.
So, as it sounds okay, it was acouch built on top of a couch,
and I remember it was so sketchythat the landlords, on the
first day of like move-in, theylike printed a picture of it and
then they were like hey, canyou sign this, just to make sure
we know you're okay withinheriting this couch and you
know us being young andpost-college we're like why not

(07:48):
yeah, let's do it.
you know, so yeah, and theneventually that second living
room just housed like three tofour of our friends.

Speaker 1 (07:56):
So great it was straight out of.
Two things come to mind.
It was like in one of the Legomovies there was like a
double-decker couch.

Speaker 2 (08:08):
I don't remember which one, but I'm like that
looks like our couch, and thenalso in, I think, stepbrothers
or something like that.
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, was thata?

Speaker 1 (08:11):
double-decker or was it like a bunk bed?
It was like a bunk bed, okay,but then it like collapses on
him, and that also reminds me ofour we, we did make sure it was
sturdy right.

Speaker 2 (08:17):
We tested it.
We tried to fit as many peopleas we could on the second couch
and we were like jumping on itand stuff and he was thoroughly
testing it for research purposes, safety purposes as well.

Speaker 1 (08:29):
So, yeah, it was like it was us six, and then our
significant others wouldobviously be there a lot of
times, that's right, and thenthe rest of our dance team and
we'd have parties every so often.
At one point during the summerit was like every weekend.

Speaker 2 (08:41):
Yeah, so probably my most favorite memory of that
time, you know.
So shout out nick bass support.
He was one of our really goodfriends.
He's actually still reallyconnected with me to this day.
I'm actually the godfather ofhis kids.
So shout out my godson, nice.
Yeah, he missed one party.
I remember I think it was likeour annual fourth of july thing.
Yeah, we were like that type ofhouse that had an open door

(09:03):
policy.
We wanted people to feel athome and, you know, give people
a place to like celebrate, to bewith friends and family and
such like that.
And nick went home for oneweekend and he came back and he
heard how amazing that fourth ofjuly party was, to the point
where he started to oh, that'swhy that's right, a party every
single week.

(09:23):
But, but not only that, I thinkhe got really into writing a
story.

Speaker 1 (09:28):
Oh, that's right.
So Nick will make like aFacebook event page.
Yeah, he sent out a whole likething about it.

Speaker 2 (09:33):
Right, Like a description, a story, yeah, and
he'll pick like the most randomthings to celebrate.
There was one week where, Ithink, we picked up an old bench
press and so the celebrationwas for us to get swole.
And then another week was twoof our like summer housemates
got a job at Starbucks, so wewere celebrating that they

(09:53):
started their first job atStarbucks, and so he had this
interesting way of just kind ofincluding all of us in this
grand story he would type, sopeople would sometimes even
click attending just to read thestory just to see where it goes
.

Speaker 1 (10:06):
Yeah it was awesome, so funny and to that point too,
the fourth of july party wasamazing.
It was pretty fun I remember itbeing like all day we had
barbecued in the park, yes, andit was so late, and then it went
out to like late at night.

Speaker 2 (10:17):
Yeah, that was super fun, so I can see why we had
like subsequent a series ofparties after that it was
definitely wholesome activitiesfor sure, and again it was like
just a hub for a lot of ourfamily and friends to just get
together, those who couldn't gohome for the weekend and stuff.
I'm glad that we were able tobe that for other people.

Speaker 1 (10:35):
You know what I'm saying yeah, definitely.
All right, so going back to itso, the Titan Tower, aka Refugee
House, college.
So since college you've beengetting into like fitness,
powerlifting, running, youdanced with Culture Shock, la
and now, along with your careerjourney through occupational
therapy, anything else you'vebeen up to other than those
things you want to add to it,probably the most important
thing.

Speaker 2 (10:54):
I'm now an engaged man.
Yes, congratulations, shout outmy lovely fiance Melinda Chuen.
Love her to death.
She's like my rock, my numberone fan, my greatest supporter,
and so I could not do all thosethings without her belief and
faith in me.

Speaker 1 (11:10):
We love that.
Do you guys have a time date?

Speaker 2 (11:13):
set already, not yet.
We just got engaged this pastJune in Japan, in Kyoto.
I saw that, yeah, it was ourfavorite city in Japan, but we
haven't planned anything yet.
I think we're just also tyingup a couple loose ends before we
begin all that.

Speaker 1 (11:26):
So yeah, awesome, we'll get into some of those
things too.
All right, so we'll look intoour first topic.
So, origin story, maininfluences and getting to ot
basically, I wanted to know ifyou wanted to connect the dots
looking backwards, right, so youknow you went to uci for well,
to dance, but then obviously Iknow you probably had some
career aspirations as well.
So, looking back to where youare now and then, you know, to

(11:47):
that first year in college, canyou connect the dots of how you,
what led you to ot and maybemade main influences?

Speaker 2 (11:54):
oh man, all right, I'm gonna try to condense the
story because it's it's just somany chapters behind it, right,
but essentially, when I firstcame to uci I knew I wanted to
do something in healthcare.
But I was like that type ofperson where I just go with the
flow.
Actually, it was my very firstgirlfriend in high school.
She was kind of just giving meideas and was like, why don't

(12:15):
you go down the pre-dentistryroute?
And I was like, sure, so I waspre-dent for I want to say maybe
like two or three years of mycollege career and then realized
that wasn't for me.
And then our mutual BBA friend,he actually challenged me in
regards to that pre-dent route.
We were driving to like a DefJam poetry thing one night and
he was like, yeah, your pre-dentstuff is like a load of baloney

(12:38):
.
I don't think that's whatyou're passionate about.
So I think that was the firsttime I was challenged as to, you
know, is this what I want to do, or is it because someone else
was giving me implanting thatseed of an idea, right?
And so because I was dancing somuch you know he was like, hey,
I think you'd be a greatphysical therapist.
So after that I just kind oftransitioned all gears to going

(12:59):
down this pre PT route,graduated, continue just
developing myself as a future PT, and I essentially applied to
school twice.
So for those of you who don'tknow, when you apply to graduate
school there's like thesecycles that happen every year.
My first cycle, I applied toeight schools, didn't get into
any.
And then my second year, Iapplied to 12 schools I didn't

(13:20):
get into any.
So I was rejected from 20schools.
So that was definitely a PR.
I remember getting my lastrejection and feeling so
defeated, you know, you know,doubting myself.
Am I meant for grad school?
Was it really what I wanted todo?
And that question came up again.
You know, was I just put onthis path because someone told

(13:41):
me I'd be?
good at it.
But was it something that Itruly had a passion for?
Right, and I thought, you know,dance, being physical together,
right, but you know, maybe itwasn't for me, and during that
time it was my return a year onCabo Modern.

Speaker 1 (13:56):
So really quick.
What was the timeframe so yougraduated?
What were the times betweenthat first round and the second
round?

Speaker 2 (14:02):
So graduated and then the first round, I want to say,
was in 2015 or 16, so a coupleyears after you graduated yeah,
about two years after, I wouldsay and then I immediately
applied, right after that, formy second cycle.
So you know, during that time Iwas still dancing.
I would say I have a veryunorthodox dance journey as well

(14:23):
.
I continued dancing a lot, alot after college, and I want to
say, even more so than I didduring college.
And I was very, very fortunateto pursue that dream and make
Cabo Modern.
And I can literally sit hereand say that Cabo Modern led me
to becoming an occupationaltherapist and it just manifested

(14:45):
so organically because aroundthat time my return year was my
second year on the team and Iwas somewhat connected with
Arnel.
We just kind of shared a couplemessages with one another and,
for those of you who don't know,Arnel Calvario is the founder
of Cabo Modern, so he always didan amazing job connecting with
the newbies and so that's how wewere connected.
And you know, one day I wasjust like, you know, let's just

(15:07):
grab lunch.
And then we had lunch togetherand he kind of just asked me
about my story, shared about hisstory.
And then that's when he saidhey, you know, I think you're
meant to be an occupationaltherapist.
You know, just by the way yourmind works how artistic you are.
You know, if you're willing to,I would love to mentor you.

(15:30):
And I just kind of took thatleap of faith you know, I didn't
have anything to lose and justkind of went under his wing.
And, yeah, everything kind offell into place.
Because when people think ofoccupational therapy right, it's
one of the three rehabtherapeutic sciences.
Right, you have physicaltherapy, you have speech therapy
and then you have occupationaltherapy.
And occupational therapy has somany different definitions
because it's so broad.
But essentially what we do iswe help an individual get back

(15:56):
to a meaningful occupationthrough rehab right, so that
could be anything.
You know, there's so manydifferent settings of OT and
through this journey of beingmentored by Arnell, my own
definition of occupationaltherapy became helping somebody
realize their highest potentialin what they love to do.
Right.
And so through that mentorshipwith Arnell, I started to

(16:18):
realize, you know, you know thisis aligning with my values.
This is aligning with myperspectives.
And that year, that same year,I applied to school and I
somehow made it in, and I madeit into Loma Linda University.
And that year, too, was I lookback on it and I would say that
was like my come up year, youknow, like that was a year where
I felt like I not onlydeveloped myself mentally,

(16:41):
physically, but emotionally aswell.
And so by the time I got to OTschool, I was completely ready
for it, and so did OT school fortwo years, got my master's
graduated in June 2022.
And then, actually, I would sayby the time this podcast comes
out, I will have officiallyreceived my doctorate in
occupational therapy.
So, thank you, thank you.

(17:01):
Yeah, I went back into schoolpart-time, still working,
working full time as anoccupational therapist, but
wanted to, you know, push theboundaries of my growth as a
clinician and continue forwardin that.

Speaker 1 (17:11):
So nice guidance from Arnell.
You know, I think what you'remeant to do is occupational
therapy, so I'm sure that wasinvaluable.
But for you, what do you thinkwere like the key defining
factors?
Maybe characteristics, if I'mthinking of this?

(17:32):
the right way of you knowgetting rejected from PT school
twice or, you know, multipletimes in those two rounds, and
then it all of a sudden clickingfor OT.
Was it something?
What was it about?
Maybe your journey?
Maybe were you not ready forthat sort of schooling yet, or
obviously the career fields aredifferent, so maybe something
clicked more with you for that.
Or could you walk us throughyour thoughts?

Speaker 2 (17:53):
I think, when I reflect on it, it was one of
those things where I just kindof let the universe take over,
you know.
You know there's always thatsaying of like us pushing
against the tide right, and I'vealways been like that growing
up.
You know there's always thatsaying of like us pushing
against the tide right, and I'vealways been like that growing
up, you know, in a single parenthome having a lot of
responsibilities as the only son, I've always kind of thought to

(18:14):
myself I have to prove myself,I have to go against the tide
right.
And I think that journey ofgoing transitioning into ot just
made me realize to finallyaccept the flow right, but also
accept myself right, like Ithink it was like using a puzzle
piece and trying to jam it intoa board that it doesn't fit in

(18:37):
you know wrong place.
Yeah, it's the wrong place.
Not that I, you know, wasn'tmeant to be a pt, right, but
maybe it wasn't the best optionfor me and I think I was so uh,
career path that I wasn'taccepting of anything else that
came around me.
You know, and then, finally,when OT came along and I dived

(18:59):
into, you know, what it meant tobe an occupational therapist,
what it meant to serve peoplethrough OT, it just resonated
with me, you know.
It felt like that puzzle piece.
I finally was flush and juststuck in, you know, and by the
time I went to school andstarted to learn all the
concepts and the ideals andmorals behind the profession,
that's when I had that ahamoment in class and was like

(19:20):
this is why I'm here.
Oh I see.

Speaker 1 (19:22):
Were there any sort of I imagine you know there was
years of separation between whenyou first applied to PT school
and then eventually getting intoOT school and then your
master's and then your doctorate.
Were there any sort of things,characteristics, habits that,
like you believe, or mindsetsthat set you up to do well in
those fields afterwards, likegetting your master's and your
doctorate?

Speaker 2 (19:44):
It kind of relates to just accepting myself, right.
I think you know I'd say it'slike when you hit rock bottom,
the only direction is to go up,right.
And you know, when we livedtogether, that was when I first
started that PT journey and Ijust knew that it was already
going to be an uphill battlebecause I kind of shifted my
journey last minute before Igraduated, right, and so I just

(20:06):
knew that I had to believe inmyself.
But the thing is I didn't youknow, it was like one of those
things where I'm telling myselfthat I believe in myself, but I
didn't believe it completely.

Speaker 1 (20:18):
You didn't actually like completely yeah.

Speaker 2 (20:20):
And so I think that was the biggest journey that I
had, just kind of those yearsfrom PT school, applying to PT
school, going to OT school,right, learning to accept myself
, learning to love myself, to beforgiving of myself and to give
myself grace for just going onmy own timeline.
I think I was seeing so manyfriends just get into school,

(20:41):
specifically PT school, that Ifelt you know almost behind.
And then you know at the timestill dancing right.
And again, it was veryunorthodox seeing someone
post-college continuing to dance, but not only continuing to
dance but continuing to gocompetitive right.
So I was immersed in dance andI think that also just taught me

(21:03):
to again accept.
You know, this is the way mymind works, this is the way my
soul resonates and I just haveto continue to cultivate that.
And if I couldn't believe inmyself, then I had to believe in
those who believed in me.
Right?
I've always told people thatI'm never self-made.
I'm not self-made.

(21:23):
I am the product of so manypeople that have supported me
and believed in me.
It takes a village to justcreate who I was, and for that
I'm so grateful you know, and sojust being able to believe in
them who believed in meeventually led me to this route
of hey, you know, it feelseasier today.

(21:44):
It feels easier that I can lookin the mirror and accept who is
looking back right, yeah, Ilike it.

Speaker 1 (21:53):
So then my question was and maybe you answered it
was like how did you move fromokay, I'm saying this, but I
don't really believe it, I don'tlike half-heartedly believe it,
but maybe, like you said, partof it was like continuously
giving yourself grace and, youknow, building that muscle of
believing in yourself but alsohave being fortunate enough to
be surrounded by people whobelieve in you and then slowly,
over time, you know acceptingthat and seeing it as true.

(22:15):
Do you feel like that's justthe process?
It just takes a while tointentionally get to that point.

Speaker 2 (22:20):
I think that's part of the process, but also you
have to seize it right.
There's this quote that foreverwill resonate in me.
I remember being a seventhgrader in Taekwondo class Out of
all classes it being sharedwith me and it was a quote by
charles swindle.
I'm convinced that life is 10 ofwhat happens to me and 90 of
how I react to it we are all incharge of our own attitudes, and

(22:40):
so I felt that, yes, I waslearning to believe in myself
and also believing in the peoplearound me and what they saw in
me, but I also knew that I hadto take my own action right.
I think the one quality thatI'm so proud of that I
manifested, I want to say,through those years going into

(23:01):
OT school was developingdiscipline.
Discipline creates habits.
Right.
Habits create your values, whatyou believe in.
And it could be anything youknow from just trying to get
myself to the gym every day,right.
And it could be anything youknow from just trying to get
myself to the gym every dayright To giving my all in a
dance class, right.
And those little buildingblocks continue to be the

(23:24):
foundation of who I knew I couldbe, even though I couldn't see
it just yet.

Speaker 1 (23:26):
I like that a lot.
You can have those beliefs, butI think putting the action
behind, like what you say youwant to do, and then those
actions develop the consistency,the habits, the reality, the
results that you get, and thattruly builds your confidence
because you can look back and belike, okay, maybe I don't
believe myself, but I look backand I have actually accomplished
a lot through my discipline,through my habits.
So I think that's a good pointis is the actions and then the

(23:47):
resume you build up of what youdo is really what's important.
So again, doing things right,like we said, and you've done a
lot of things that we'll getinto as well, and we've gotten
to some of that.
Also, another thing that you'vementioned that was that quote
was amazing.
I'll link to it or quote it.
But also, have you read thebook Man's Search for Meaning by
Viktor Frankl?

Speaker 2 (24:04):
I have not, but I've heard of it, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1 (24:06):
So in the one of the podcasts I listened to, most of
the guests referenced that bookand it is exactly the whole life
is how you respond to it, sortof thing.
So victor frankel is like aholocaust survivor.
He was in like one of theconcentration camps and he's
like a psychotherapist orsomething like that and one of
his big things is like life iswhat happens in between the
stimulus and how you respond toit.
Right, and as someone in such adire situation of being in a

(24:29):
concentration camp, obviouslyyour world is outside of your
control.
However, the thing between yourears, your mind and how you see
things is in your control,because they can't take that
away and that's how people likehim survive through that and
that's when he goes through hisclients and psych like the
psychotherapy for them.
It kind of rephrases that andhe's like a whole school of
thought and therapy about that.
So I really like that.
It's that idea of, yeah, youcan.

(24:50):
You know, being the victim willonly go so far, and we also
understand that there aresystems in place in our society
that you know are out of yourcontrol, but what's in your
control is always how you seethings.

Speaker 2 (24:58):
Yes, definitely hit a lot of points that resonated
with me even now.
So, right like when I got mylast rejection from PT school, I
remember how exhausted I felt.
I felt like, am I not meant forthis?
You know, should I just give upon it?
And, you know, try somethingelse, you know, but I knew that

(25:19):
I could only take a small amountof time to just be in my
feelings, the process of what Ineeded to feel until I had to
take the next step right.
Life continues to move on andyou know, know, am I gonna
continue to feel left behind?
But essentially, you know,everyone's on their own pace you
know, and um, I think I had torealize at that moment that you

(25:42):
know I'm not behind, I'm just onmy pace right, yeah, I love
that.

Speaker 1 (25:47):
Last question on your career path in ot schools
people who are interested inoccupational therapy and maybe
want to go to school for that orbecome an occupational
therapist like you.
Do you have any advice orinsights or tips?
As someone maybe, let's say,going through college and wants
to pursue the same career pathas you, any tips that you would
give them or advice?

Speaker 2 (26:05):
Yes.
So the first thing I would sayis definitely find mentorship.
I think my trajectory changingto OT significantly changed when
I found mentorship right.
Whenever I thought of my mentorsleading up to that point, you
know it was Arnell, it was JasonBueno.
Shout out, Jason Bueno.
It was Jay Kalanog.

(26:26):
Remember Jay Kalanog?
Shout out, Jay Kalanog.
These are all people who wereamazing individuals or are
amazing individuals and examples, but also people who continue
to support me, right.
And so just by receivingdifferent perspective on people
who had a different outlook onlife, I think it really kept me

(26:47):
in a humble and hungry place,right?
And the second thing I wouldsay is definitely immerse
yourself in the experience.
So by that I mean, you know,either volunteer either, you
know, see how an occupationaltherapist works, because there's
so many different settings.
It's just like physical therapyor even speech therapy.
There's so many differentsettings you can take that
career path into, and so notonly deciding on what you want

(27:09):
to do, but also what does thatlook like for you?
Right?
And so the only way you canexperience that is by just being
hands-on, immersive.
And so, definitely, I would saythe combination of those two
can definitely lead anyone totheir dream of going to grad
school, whether it's in OT oranything else, right?

Speaker 1 (27:28):
I love it All.
Right Now segue I think intofrom going OT school and your
career journey is.
I wanted to touch upon findingbalance.
So I know that you have a lotof different interests and you
do all these things with a fullheart, very passionately, and
you enjoy that stuff and I thinkthat's inspiring for myself and
other people.
But again, you were sayingpost-college you're doing

(27:50):
competitive dancing, which isvery hard, and then you know
getting into powerlifting, powerlifting, still dancing.
And then you mentioned alsorunning and I'm sure you know
other things, that having arelationship and you know
eventually getting engaged.
So how do you well, I'll openup to how you want to tackle it,
but how do you feel like youcan find balance?
Or how have you found balancein pursuing these different

(28:10):
interests and how they come intoyour life and deciding between
choosing one or the other, doingall of them, and then how do
you do it well enough so thatit's not just draining you?

Speaker 2 (28:17):
uh, I would definitely say that it's still a
work in progress.
You know, it's never perfect,so I just want to put that
disclaimer out there first.
I'm still figuring it out as Igo, but I want to say where that
all started.
Was, you know, really reallydeeply rooted from?
I want to say like my childhoodright, like again, growing up in

(28:38):
a single parent home, being theonly male, the household I had
a lot of responsibilities.
I had a feeling of all the timeto prove myself right and you
know, that daunted me for thelongest time and I felt like I
could have taken that in a morenegative light.
I could have rejected thatresponsibility or reject that

(29:01):
ownership of.
I don't need to take all thesethings on my plate, but I think
just watching my mom balanceeverything that she did in order
to provide for me made me seethat I can do that too, you know
.
And so, yeah, you know, goingthrough college and then
graduating college, finding somany interests, I think it just

(29:22):
really manifested through justwhere I come from.
And you know, having people whoreally support you definitely
helps as well.
Right, and that just kept thispurity inside of me where I was
like you know, I'm going tobring the best that I have to
everything that I do.
And so, you know, with dance,obviously, it was such a huge

(29:44):
part of my life post college Ifelt like, even though things
weren't going the best orweren't going well in terms of
my grad school path or like mycareer, I was still figuring it
out.
The one consistent thing I hadwas things that I loved, right,
so one was dance.

Speaker 1 (29:59):
And I just kept pouring everything.

Speaker 2 (30:01):
I had into it, you know continuing to dance on.
I remember when we, when Igraduated, I joined, now known
as Irmo Urban Modus at the time,and that kind of just opening
up a whole new doorway fromfreestyle dance because going
through college just mostly didb-boying right with BBA and then
eventually, you know that teamhelping me develop connections

(30:25):
that were meaningful andintentional, you know helped me.
You know continue to believe inmyself and know even if things
again weren't going well outsideof dance.
I just knew the one thing I hadwas dance and so continue to
pour into it right, going for acopper modern, my dream team
ever since abdc right and to beable to finally share that

(30:47):
experience with them.
You know, I think it continuedto show me that you know, as
long as I pour myself intothings that I loved, it would
bring out the truest version ofmyself.
You know, as long as I pourmyself into things that I loved,
it would bring out the truestversion of myself.
You know, and that even now.
So you know, going through OTschool and being an occupational
therapist now taking thoselessons that I learned back then
of discipline, of believingyourself, I think applying it to

(31:09):
anything that I've alwayswanted to do just felt really
natural, right.
So powerlifting, for example, Ilove powerlifting.
I know it looks sometimesboring to people where it's just
, you know you're just squatting, benching, deadlifting, right.
But for me it was like a testof myself.
It's like setting the barhigher and higher.
Every single time you hit a PR,great.

(31:30):
What's next?
You know, I felt like it wasthe perfect sport that fed my
soul, and so continuing to justpour myself into different
avenues that I felt worthcontributing to, the truest
version of myself, helped mewant to even balance it even
more right.
And you know where I'm at rightnow.
I feel really grateful to be tosay that I'm busy, right,

(31:53):
because it's not every day wehave those opportunities to do
what we love and to be able topour our time and energy into it
.
So I love that.

Speaker 1 (32:03):
That was gold.
That's all.
I answered the entire question,some of the takeaways just to
reiterate, I guess, for theaudience.
If it's necessary, it'sprobably not, but doing the
things that you love, becausethat brings out the truest
version of yourself.
And I think the spirit of thequestion is more of like people
who say I come across people whoare like oh well, I graduated,
now I have to work and I can'tdance anymore, or I can't do A,

(32:24):
b and C the things that I enjoyand I'm always an advocate of.
Well, if it charges you up, ifit brings out the truest version
of yourself, like you said, whywould you stop doing it?
Because it allows you to dothose things more fully and
build your self-awareness, gotorient your compass where you
should be going.
So why would you ever stop that?
And then you end up being busy,but in a good way, because
you're not being busy withthings that are stressing you

(32:45):
out or overwhelming you.
You're doing, you're being busywith things that bring color to
your life, that you want to do,yeah, so I think I want to
stress that point for theaudience as well.
It's like you can do multiplethings and love doing them.
But you have to be able to findthose things and then just try
new things, like you said.

Speaker 2 (32:59):
Yeah, yeah, and I almost feel like it keeps this
purity inside of you, right?
No matter what life throws yourway, you still have this
essence of what brings youwholesomeness, what brings you
joy, what brings you happiness.
Right and continuing to pursuewhat you love to do.
You know, and that could bedifferent from what you do

(33:21):
professionally, right?
Sometimes we also have toaccept that what we do
professionally isn't what bringsus joy or what brings us
passion you know, but it's to beable to make time to pursue
those passions?

Speaker 1 (33:34):
Yeah, I like it.
Making time, prioritizing,right?
Yeah, yeah, I guess my lastquestion on that is so how does
one find what they're passionateabout?
How does one lock into thosethings and balance it with a
full-time career or going tograd school or something like
that?

Speaker 2 (33:48):
I think honestly, just first and foremost, just
follow that dream you know,follow what you love to do and
picture yourself where you canbe with it you know, if I were
to like speed run through thethings I love to do right now.
Right, like with dance, likeI've always wanted to dance with
common modern, or I've alwayswanted to dance with culture
shock la and to be able to, youknow, finally be there.

(34:11):
It just made me want to danceeven more, made me want to work
towards that more.
For powerlifting right, likeI've always envisioned myself,
you know, competing on anational stage.
You know, being on the platform, you know.
And to be able to hit PRs whenit mattered, you know.
Now being able to say that Ican make that a reality, that
just makes me even hungrier topursue that, you know.

(34:31):
And even for OT, you know.
Like how do I want to be ofservice to others?
You know what is my purpose withbeing an occupational therapist
and to be able to connect itwith my love for dance and to
share that with others and toheal others.
That just brings me even morejoy and passion to continue to
cultivate it for others.

Speaker 1 (34:53):
I like that.
I think one thing, too, thatstood out for me is I feel like,
as we're a kid and as we growup, there are those childhood
dreams, there are those desireswithin us that we either listen
to or we kind of silence it orkind of put it in the closet, so
to speak, and then we pursueour career, we go to school and
all this other stuff, but thenit's kind of like the book the
Alchemist have all this otherstuff, but then it's kind of
like the book the Alchemist.

Speaker 2 (35:14):
Have you read it?
Oh, no, not yet, but yeah, it'son my list, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1 (35:16):
It's one of those famous books that you know,
people say like you hear about alot and I recommend it.
I can have a book summary, youcan check it out.
I always plug my book summarywebsite, but it's the core of it
is really just like you.
There's that voice.
Eventually it's going to goaway and then you're going to
regret life.
But the whole adventure of thismain character is to pursue

(35:39):
that voice calling out to him ofwhat his real dream is and
finding that sort of quote,unquote treasure.
And I think it's.
I believe that we all have thatsort of calling within us, but
what are we doing to open ourears up, to listen to that sort
of inner voice that's whisperingto us of what we should be
doing?

Speaker 2 (35:53):
Yeah.
And then, with that too, youjust never know where that voice
and that dream is going to takeyou.
Right, whenever people ask me,you know, did you ever feel like
you were behind, going to gradschool a little bit later, or
did you ever feel like you weretoo old when you were dancing on
Cabo Modern?
And you know, I always tellpeople that you know, if it
didn't happen the way it did, Iwould have not been where I'm at

(36:17):
right now, like I would havenot met Arnell, I would have not
met Melinda if I went to gradschool early and I wouldn't be
who I am.
And so sometimes, justaccepting the natural flow of
what the universe has in storefor you, it can honestly just
show you the most beautifulversion of yourself.
Yeah, I love it, thank you forthat Now.

Speaker 1 (36:38):
So a little quick thing.
I know one of the other topicsI want to talk about or touch on
if we have time is.
You mentioned specificallyperseverance, work ethic and the
acronym GRIND G-R-I-N-D.
Did you want to clarify any ofthose sort of topics or
statements?

Speaker 2 (36:51):
Perseverance I mean we kind of dove into it a little
bit with my OT school journey,but I guess I'll briefly share.
So, like growing up in a singleparent home, you know, my mom
and I, I used to always getdifferent remarks of oh Andrew's
not going to be successfulbecause he doesn't have a dad,

(37:13):
or he won't know any betterbecause he doesn't have a dad
teaching him.
And so again, that was kind ofengraved into me that I had to
be something to represent myfamily, right, represent the two
strong women that raised me,which was my mom and my grandma.
And then going to college,applying to PT school I'll never
forget this.
But like, I remember applyingto physical therapy school and I

(37:36):
had a friend who was applyingaround that time as well and we
kind of fell out of friendshipjust from different morals and
values.
But I remember when this persongot into school but I didn't and
I shared they said youshouldn't be dancing because
it's such a waste of time andthat's why you didn't get into
school, and for a brief moment Ialmost believed this person,

(38:01):
you know.
But again, what was natural forme and what was natural in my
heart was to follow what I loveto do.
And again, as I said earlier, Ican say that dance got me to OT
school.
It led me to who I'm supposedto be.
So persevering doesn't matterwhat anybody else says.
It's your journey, it's yourown pace and you are in charge

(38:24):
of your own fate.
Work ethic wise, I think theone quality if I ever have to
say that I'm so proud of myselfis my discipline.
Like I love, I thrive off ofwaking up at 330 in the morning.
You are crazy.

Speaker 1 (38:39):
I just in a very respectful.

Speaker 2 (38:41):
I admire you way, so okay briefly, this started
actually in grad school, becausemy second year of grad school I
was offered a TA position andit was around the pandemic.
So I was still commuting toLoma Linda after I moved back to
Irvine to kind of be shelteredin place and such, and then I
was driving to my powerliftinggym in Garden Grove right after,

(39:03):
TAing all day from eight tofive.
So I wouldn't get home untilnine or 10, right, and I thought
to myself there has to be amore efficient way to do this.
And so I was like you know,let's just try working out in
the morning, see what happens.
So I started at 5 am.
It was hard, really hard in thebeginning, but then slowly
again, just kind of surroundingmyself with a great community.

(39:24):
There was like a morning crewthat we had.
I found myself wanting toimmerse myself with these people
earlier and earlier.
So now I'll come at 4 am, oh mygod.
Then I'll come at 3 am.
There's one time I came at 2,which was insane, but you have
to get it done right.
So when do you sleep?
Now I sleep actually at a nice8, 30, 45, which is because

(39:45):
sleep is important.
Everybody sleep.
But yeah, I felt like just thatact alone of just waking up,
driving to the gym, getting mytraining done and then going to
do whatever I needed to, wherethat's work or school, right
after that, it just made me feellike I could do anything.
So, yeah, definitely, whateverwork ethic manifests and looks

(40:07):
like for you, definitely just gowith it.
It doesn't have to be waking upearly, like early like I am.
You know, sometimes people arenight owls.
They work, you know well, intothe night way more efficiently,
you know.
But find something that worksfor you, that is consistent and
sustainable yeah, yeah, I wantto stress sustainable, yeah and
then grind oh man, okay.
So for those of you don't know,in the hip hop dance community,

(40:31):
when you're a freestyler, youget named by your crew.
You get a dancer name right,and so back in college I had
this little crew that came offfrom BBA called T crew and shout
out my crewmate, ken AnayaMelogrito.
He was the one that named me'tname a lot of people he named a
lot of people.
Yeah, we had this phase, I wantto say, like 2011, 2012.

(40:53):
Everyone was like give me aname, you know give me a name,
but then the thing is.
the thing is you're not allowedto name yourself.
Right, right, right, peoplehave to name you, and so I was
helping ken go through he's kindof going through it and I kind
of shared with him this songthat got me through so many hard
times, and it was a song calledGrind by Asher Roth, and grind

(41:14):
stands for get ready, it's a newday.
And in the song, at the veryend, there's a little epilogue
that says you know, happiness isabout getting what you want all
the time.
It's about loving what you have.
So get ready, it's a new day andI share that with Ken, just to
you know.
Let him know hey, every day isa new day to reestablish
yourself, to try something new,to connect with someone new.
And then he just looks at meand goes, that's your name.

(41:37):
And I was like, no, it's not,Like I refuse to accept it.
But little did I know that thatname, that saying, has carried
me through so much, so muchthroughout my life and it's
something that I firmly believein.
You know, every day is a newday for you to try something new
, for you to connect withsomeone, to be with and be

(41:58):
intentional, be compassionate,show empathy, right, and it just
still defines me to this veryday.
So I'm very happy that it's youcould say, my alter ego, right,
but it's who I am as well.

Speaker 1 (42:12):
Nice, I like that a lot.
All right, anything else onthat sort of topic Perseverance,
work ethic, grind, anytakeaways that you'd like to
have the audience have in thatfield?
I mean, the last 10 minuteswere gold.
But any last thoughts or ideasthere on giving advice to people
who maybe want to take awayfrom your story?

Speaker 2 (42:31):
I will say that everything starts with how you
see yourself right, how youaccept yourself, how you believe
in yourself.
And if you can't, do that justyet, then believe in the people
that believe in you.
You know, I truly think that ittakes a village to cultivate
and help someone grow to whothey're meant to be Right, and

(42:55):
that's how we keep the cyclegoing.
You know, we continue to createopportunities for people who
are like-minded or who want toresonate with what we believe in
Right, and in turn, they willalso pass that on, you know
there's a saying in hip hop eachone teach one right.
So you know, it's yourresponsibility to pay it forward

(43:16):
, to give opportunity and to seeit manifest in the younger
generation, you know.
And so in turn, they will beinspired to do the same, and
that's how we keep the cycle ofpositivity going.

Speaker 1 (43:29):
So last question for you when is your ted talk?
You're like, I feel like youhave a good what.
How long it's a duck's?

Speaker 2 (43:36):
15 minutes, 20 minutes, something like that you
know, I actually never thoughtabout doing one, but actually
maybe that might be a goal.
Manifest it, I'm manifesting itfor you.
The seed has been planted.
Yes, there you go and it willmanifest.

Speaker 1 (43:47):
Nice cool, are you guys?
Are you ready for rapid firequestions.

Speaker 2 (43:50):
Let's do it.

Speaker 1 (43:51):
Nice, All right.
First one billboard question.
If you could put up a sign formillions of people to see, what
would it say?

Speaker 2 (43:57):
I'm a huge anime fan.
I'm a huge anime nerd.
There's an anime called GurrenLagann.
Have you heard of it?

Speaker 1 (44:04):
Oh yeah, yeah, the big mech one, right?
Yes, it's a universal size Avery over-the-top mech anime.

Speaker 2 (44:10):
Okay, if you're listening to this right now, you
have to watch Gurren Lagann,because it will teach you so
much about yourself and there'sa quote from that show that I'll
never forget.
And again, I've been kind ofsaying it throughout this entire
podcast.
The story is about a littlebrother and a big brother.
The little brother is the maincharacter.
He's really shy, anxious, kindof an introvert.

(44:33):
And then the older brother isvery charismatic, extroverted,
he could command a room andinspire people.
And he tells his little brotherbelieve in the me who believes
in you.

Speaker 1 (44:45):
That's where that's from.
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (44:47):
And then eventually he tells his little brother,
when he's ready believe in theyou who believes in yourself.
So I would say my billboard islike a two-parter, so like on
one side it'd be, you know,believe in the me who believes
in you.
But then you'll look back at itand it'll be believe in the you
who believes in yourself.

Speaker 1 (45:04):
Nice, I like it.
That's the Tengen Toppa GurenLagan.
Yes, sir, that's just crazy.
Yes, sir, that's a throwbackman.

Speaker 2 (45:12):
You have to watch it.
If you have not watched it,I'll link it in the show notes.

Speaker 1 (45:16):
All right.
So next one is what is one ofthe hardest challenges you face
in your life and what did youlearn from it?

Speaker 2 (45:22):
Maybe we've covered it or maybe we didn't.
I would say, long story short,forgiving my dad.
So my dad, I want to say, leftmy household around when I was
in sixth grade and so for thelongest time I had to again just
kind of be the man of the houseto look after my mom, my twin
sister, and I just never thoughtthat I would see my dad again.

(45:44):
You know, and I growing up Ihad all this anger, thinking
about what I would say to him orhow I would never want to see
him until I was completelygrounded and also developed
right, professionally,holistically, as a human being.
And there was one day I had thisopportunity where I was
inviting to my cousin's wedding,and it was right at the very

(46:06):
end of OT school, right when Igraduated, at the very end of OT
school, right when I graduated.
So I couldn't help but feellike it was the universe telling
me that for me to move into thenext chapter of my life, I had
to accept this part of myselfand also forgive not only my dad
but myself for carrying thisburden.
And yeah, so I met him for thefirst time in about 18 years and

(46:29):
I remember that feeling.
I thought to myself, you know,am I going to be angry?
Am I going to say all thesethings?
You know?
at a wedding right, but littledid I know.
I looked at him and all I canfeel was nothing.
I just felt like I finally letit go and I was able to just,
you know, be who I was meant tobe, for myself and for the

(46:50):
people that I loved.

Speaker 1 (46:52):
Nice, I love that All right, self-inflicted wound.
Do you have a story aboutsomething that's gone wrong in
your life, that's your own faultand you can't blame anyone else
because you did it to yourself?

Speaker 2 (47:02):
Honestly, I definitely think it was just
honestly, I definitely think itwas just I don't know, the PT
school journey comes to mind,right but also I think it's
because I just kind of ran withit and believed in what someone
told me to do.
You know, like people thoughtthat it was what I was meant to

(47:23):
do and I just believed it soeasily.
You know, I didn't question it,I didn't do my own research,
you know, I didn't even lookwithin, and so I think for the
longest time that kind of led medown so many different dead
ends, right.
But again, it's kind of weird.
It's like I don't regret it atthe same time, you know, because
it just led me to where I'msupposed to be.

Speaker 1 (47:44):
So it's a lesson learned, but you don't regret it
.
On that topic, if you couldredo one thing, what would you
do differently?
And I know maybe a lot of myguests are like you know.
I don't regret anything andthat's fine.
But as a thought experiment, ifyou could redo one thing, what
would you redo?

Speaker 2 (48:00):
honestly, it would probably have pursued
competitive dancing sooner, andnot just in the choreography
scene, but even the freestylescene.
You know, I think just pursuingdance at an earlier age might
have made me more adept incollege and I would have battled
more.
I would have gone to more jamseven though we went to a lot of

(48:21):
jams, you know, or you know,taking the leap of faith and
audition for kabo modern right.
But I was always just so amazedby everybody in that space that
I never thought that it couldhappen to me too.
And so yeah, but if I were todo it again earlier, I think
that would be crazy.
Maybe we would have been on theteam together.

Speaker 1 (48:42):
Yeah, same time.
Yeah, that would have been atrip being in the same class.

Speaker 2 (48:45):
Yeah, that would have been so crazy?
Yeah, because I would alwayshear all the amazing stories
from JR and, you know, I neverreally thought to myself oh yeah
, I can see myself doing thatLike then three years later, you
know so.

Speaker 1 (48:58):
I'm so glad that you made it on because I feel like
it was it's, you know, forfriends it's you know you're
doing something and then youother friends, you tell them
about it, and then when theyhave that same experience,
you're like, wait, that makessense.
You know, like I totally sawyou on Common Modern and I was
like, yeah, that's such a goodfit for you.
And then now you're in CultureShock and I feel like that's
such a good fit as well.
If you could give your youngerself advice, what would it be

(49:19):
now?
Any age, any time period.

Speaker 2 (49:23):
Honestly, probably, you know, just continue
believing in yourself.
You know, yeah, I just rememberbeing the most, believe it or
not.
I was very introverted, veryanxious, didn't believe in
myself and I would just tell myyounger self to just keep
believing.
You know, just as simple asthat.
You know, believing is so easyto do on one context, but

(49:49):
another hand it's easier saidthan done right, it takes days,
months, years to just kind ofeven believe in yourself, even a
little bit more.
And if I were to have believedin myself even earlier, I can't
imagine what the potential wouldhave been, you know.

Speaker 1 (50:04):
So, younger self, it gets better yeah, yeah, younger
selves or any any other youngerversions of Andy out there who
are listening to this.
You know, believe in yourself.
One thing that comes to mindnow that you mentioned that now
I'm reflecting on first, secondyear, Andy, you know, when we
were friends and I do rememberyou know you've always been a
great guy, but I do rememberspecifically that you had this

(50:25):
sort of what's it calledInsecurity, you know.
Know, like you were goingthrough a breakup or you know we
talked about relationship stuffa lot and you know it hit you
really hard when you were goingthrough certain breakups or
something like that.
And then now I'm just comparing,you know, that slice in time to
now where you are like thisforce of nature who you're so
like disciplined.
You know you dancecompetitively at such a high

(50:46):
level, you're really big intofitness and your own like
physical health, and now you'relike have your doctorate and
stuff like that and you're goingthrough all these other things
and so to see your growth fromthere from then to now is like
insane and I think it's atestament to again like your
work ethic, your discipline, andfor me that's inspiring because
it gives a lot of people hopethat they can be in such like a
dark place like you probablywere back then, similarly like

(51:09):
not knowing where to go and notfeeling sure of yourself.
But then give yourself time,give yourself grace and patience
and you can like have crazyresults, just like andy.

Speaker 2 (51:18):
You know you just gotta be patient and believe in
yourself and you know findingmentors and people who believe
in you right yeah, yeah, man,yeah, it's, I don't know first
and second year andy definitelyagain just coming from, you know
, high school still carrying alot of, you know, childhood
trauma, still carrying thatfeeling of you know I have to

(51:39):
prove myself.
You know that's why, wheneverwe connected, you know, I think,
yeah, when Jer and I firstconnected, it was mostly on like
relationship stuff.
You know, I felt inadequate, Ifelt like I wasn't good enough
for my partners at the time andsuch like that, you know.
But I think it just revealed tome that, you know, I just
didn't accept myself yet, youknow, and the moment I, you know

(52:01):
, started to accept myself alittle bit more, I think that's
where my, my real friends showed, my real supporters came out,
my real passion started aligningwith me.
You know, it again led me tothe truest version of myself and
that's an ongoing process.
Even now it's still an ongoingprocess.

Speaker 1 (52:18):
So, yeah, I love it and you don't need to hear this
from me, but I'm so proud of you, dude, Because now that I've
just looking back on that, it'slike you.
It was like there's a seedinside of you and then now
you're just like this oak treeof people can learn a lot from
you and your journey and yourwisdom.
And then if they saw the Andythat I saw when we first met and
you'd be like, wow, that'scrazy, that's a crazy story.

Speaker 2 (52:36):
My gosh, Now that you put that into perspective, man,
it was right.
Yeah, it's crazy, you know.
But yeah, I also just want totake a moment to just also give
you your flowers as well.
You know, I Well, you know I'veknown JR again since freshman
year of UC Irvine and I won'tsay it was our fourth year.
It was when we got really,really close, Like we were
inseparable, and you know, I'mjust really grateful to see how

(52:59):
far you've come.
I'm so proud of you continuingto pursue your own passions and
for you to continue to make yourdreams a reality, and so I'm
really proud that, you proudthat we made it this far as
friends, and I look forward towhere it goes over here.

Speaker 1 (53:15):
Nice Thanks, man.
I appreciate that All right, solet's keep continuing this on
this train.
In the last few years, what newbelief, behavior or habit has
improved your life?
Again, maybe we touched uponthis already.

Speaker 2 (53:25):
I would say fitness related.
I would say probably disciplinecoming from adhering to a diet.
So just to give context, that2018, when I was kind of saying
that was like my come up here,that was the year I also
committed to losing weight.
So I remember so clearly it waslike july 4th that year I

(53:46):
wasn't happy with sitting at 190pounds and I was that type of
person where I'd go to the gym,I'd hit the weight super hard
but I never saw improvement andI had a oh.
I have a very good friend shoutout, kevin Liang.
He was willing to kind of justcoach me through macronutrient
dieting and it was hard.
It was really hard justcounting every single gram of

(54:06):
protein, carbohydrates, fats,but honestly, it's that
discipline that carries overright.
And then pretty soon, afterseven months, I lost 40 pounds.
I was 150 pounds on the dot andthat's when the diet changed.
But also that was when myconfidence was like through the
roof.
You know, I felt like you know,if I could do this, I could do

(54:28):
anything right, and so takingthat habit of just that simple
diet and applying it toeverything that I did after, I
think was so essential increating who I am today.

Speaker 1 (54:40):
I like that.
It's funny because I was alsoon the same sort of like fitness
journey of trying to loseweight and get to a place where
I can be happy with myself In2018, I had my first fitness
coach too and I think to theaudience never underestimate the
power of really honing in andtaking control of your physical
health right, Like your fitness,and seeing how far you can push
your body and if you can get tothat ideal configuration of

(55:03):
your body type and stuff likethat.
That will skyrocket yourconfidence a lot and then
translate to other things, likeyou said.

Speaker 2 (55:10):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I still I remember could not
believe that.
I think I was pretty much like10 body fat or below.
You know, I don't want to saylike six, that's like that was
ripped dude.

Speaker 1 (55:20):
I'll link a photo of his abs dancing on stage with no
shirt and a comp set like thisoh my god, oh no, where'd my
shirt go?

Speaker 2 (55:29):
no, I can't believe I did that, no, but yeah, it was
just.
I'm so grateful for that sevenmonth journey.
And also, you know, shout outMelinda.
She stuck by me through thatentire diet.
Whenever she wanted to go outto eat dessert I'd be like no, I
can't, I can't, you know.
But you know it was worth it,yeah, worth it, yeah, love it.

(55:52):
Who would you call successful,and how do you define success?
Success to me is doing what youlove.
Right, it's always going tomanifest differently in people.
You know, however, they gaugesuccess being in terms of value,
but for me, as long as you'redoing what you love and you're
content with it, I think that'sthe ultimate end goal, right To

(56:13):
being content with doing whatyou love, your passions, and
finding so much fulfillment andjoy out of it.
That is success.
And that's going to bedifferent in everybody, right?
So, yeah, just be happy withwhat you're doing, your passions
and you're successful.

Speaker 1 (56:31):
Nice, anyone come to mind that you want to shout out,
that you're, like you know,props to you I think you're
successful oh man, honestly,there's so many people that come
to my mind right now top three?
I don't know I'm sure the listis longer, guys, so don't be
offended if you didn't.

Speaker 2 (56:44):
Oh my gosh, be offended, be offended well, you
know, you know, I'm kind of alsothinking about, like, with this
question I want to say peoplethat are coming after me, right,
because you know, obviously mymentors, I would say are, I deem
them as successful, and stufflike that.
You know, but, you know, I firstwant to say I believe that my

(57:04):
fiance, melinda is successful,you know, keeping true to who
she is.
I know the trials andtribulations that she's gone
through in order to manifest herdreams and I'm so proud to just
be able to share thoseexperiences with her.
And actually, the next personthat I just comes to mind is my
mentee.
I want to say shout out, brianLay.
I don't know if you know whoBrian Lay is, but you know I

(57:25):
continue to see him pursue hispassions and achieve his
milestones and I just want tocontinue to pour into that.
You know it being in a role asa mentor, right.
And then, finally, you know, thelast person that comes to my
mind actually is the last twogroups of people my old DB from
Kaba Modern, michael Kasai.

(57:45):
I saw him since he was a Kabakid and now he's in PT school
and like to see him still stayconnected with me.
You know, again, it just reallyshows, like the impact of our
relationship and what it coulddo by having just one person
believing in you, right.
And then, you know, I just wantto say my godsons, you know,
cyrus and Eli.
Like whenever I see them, man,I just get so reminded of what

(58:10):
it feels like to be a kid andyou know that is successful
right, like their purity andtheir view on the world, like
just in taking it with a smile.
I think it's a reminder for usto, you know, not take life too
seriously at times and to reallyjust take in whatever has in
store for us.

Speaker 1 (58:29):
If you knew you couldn't fail, what would you
try or what would you be doingnow, man?

Speaker 2 (58:34):
there's a lot of things I would try, but I think
the first thing that comes to mymind is running a full marathon
.
Okay, I've told this to manypeople.
My fiance is actually an avidcompetitive runner.
She's done multiple marathonsand I would always tell her that
I don't think I would do itright now, because the most I've
done is a half.
Right, and I don't mind doing ahalf, but the moment I crossed

(58:55):
the finish line, my body breaksdown and I think to myself I
would have to do this again forit to be a full.
But, if I, you know, you know,if my body wasn't breaking down,
I wasn't feeling then, then Iwould totally do it right now,
you know, and maybe eventually Iwill, you know.
But I think if I were to do itright now and not feel that
essence of failure, I wouldtotally do it nice, nice.

Speaker 1 (59:17):
How many marathons have she?

Speaker 2 (59:18):
has she done man, let me see she's done.
This would be her third lamarathon coming up.
Yeah, she's done a bunch ofhalf marathons and then actually
next weekend of this recording,she's running her first ultra,
oh, which is 32 miles in themountains.
So I I don't know if I wouldever have the balls to do that,

(59:38):
but you know, kudos to her yeahbut yeah, you know, I feel like
endurance sports is a completelydifferent beast, and if I
didn't have that body breakdown,I think I would totally do it.

Speaker 1 (59:47):
You know that's crazy so running, like you know,
endurance sports has always it'sbeen like interesting to me,
yeah.
So I've never quite explored ityet, but I'd be super down to
interview melinda if she wouldbe down.
But we can talk about thatafterwards because I would be
curious to see what that processis like of preparing for
marathon, going through it,because some of the books,
biographies, autobiographies Iread about like endurance

(01:00:08):
athletes is insane.
I just want to see someone'sperspective on that yeah, yeah
cool, if you sorry.
What is one of the most or bestworthwhile investments you've
ever made in either time money,energy, etc honestly I think I
touched upon it already it'sjust fitness, honestly, actually
.

Speaker 2 (01:00:26):
no, not just fitness, I want to actually say just
investing into my health.
Right, it's really true whatthey say Health is wealth and us
getting older, you know, ourbodies are starting to feel it,
you know our minds are startingto feel it and continuing to
reinvest ourselves intoourselves every single day by
keeping ourselves healthy andwhatever that may be.
You know, health and fitness isdifferent to every person, you

(01:00:48):
know, and so, as long as you'restaying active and investing
into your health, I think that'sone of the best things you can
do for yourself.
I love it.

Speaker 1 (01:00:59):
Favorite recent purchase in about $50 to $100
that has impacted your life themost in the last six months.
You can change the parameters,but a recent purchase,
relatively cheap, a recentpurchase.

Speaker 2 (01:01:07):
Oh man, that's real $50 to $100.
Man, I don't know honestly,because I don't really think
about buying stuff.
I'll be honest.
But if I were to think aboutsomething that's really just
benefited me, what comes to mindis I want to say my lifting

(01:01:27):
belt, yeah, I was thinkingsomething like that you know,
because, you know, I don't know.
It's like, whenever I put thaton, I feel like I put this
persona on to hit this weight,you know.
But it's also a reminder of allof the times I failed to,
because I failed so many liftsas well.
And it's just a reminder thatI'm human, that I'm still
growing and that every time Iput it on, it's just working

(01:01:47):
towards a better self.

Speaker 1 (01:01:48):
I like every time I put it on, it's just working
towards a better self.
Last rapid fire questionFavorite books, movies, videos,
articles or media that you shareor recommend the most?

Speaker 2 (01:01:56):
Man, okay, so I already said Gurren Lagann.
I'm a huge anime fan, so youhave to watch Gurren Lagann.
That will teach you a lot aboutyourself.
You have to watch Fullmetal,alchemist, brotherhood Classic,
and it will just also teach youa lot about life as well.
In terms of books, I still havea list, but I still want to get

(01:02:16):
more into it once I finish mydoctorate.
That's actually my nextendeavor.
I want to read more.
And then movie-wise man, Idon't know, because I watch a
lot of horror movies, so I'm notsure if I would recommend any
of those.
But honestly, I I watch a lotof horror movies, so I'm not
sure if I would recommend any ofthose, you know.
But honestly, I would justrecommend to just following

(01:02:36):
different podcasts and differentinfluencers that you know you
may look up to Like.
For me, when I was on thatweight loss journey, I was
watching a lot of fitnessYouTubers and that really helped
kind of reset my mindset as towhat I'm capable of, and so yeah
, yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:02:52):
Nice, I like it.
What you put into your brain isjust as important as what you
put into like your mouth, right,yeah, cool, all right.
Well, that is it for rapid firequestions.
Now, these are the endingquestions.
So first question is gratitudeShout out to my mom for teaching
me this.
But, andy, what are yougrateful for?

Speaker 2 (01:03:08):
Well, first and foremost, I'm just grateful to
be doing what I love.
I think you know we mentionedit throughout this entire
podcast about my life as agrowing up in a single parent
household.
I always think to myself mylife could have gone very
differently, you know.
I could have gone down a waydarker path, but I'm very

(01:03:29):
fortunate to be able to be hereand to be able to do what I love
.
And, secondly, just gratefulfor all the family and friends
that have supported my journey.
And again, you know I'vementioned this before.
You know it takes a village andI think a lot of times when
people become successful, theyforget about the people that

(01:03:49):
helped them get there, and forme, I never want to be that type
of person.
I always want to give honor andgrace to the people that have
paved the path for me, and Iwill do the same for those that
are coming after me.

Speaker 1 (01:04:05):
Any final ask from the audience or any final
takeaways you would like them tohave from our conversation.

Speaker 2 (01:04:10):
Believe in the you who believes in yourself
Honestly.
That really, really resonateswith me.
Belief is such a powerful forceand even if you can't believe
in yourself right now, believein the person or the people that
believe in you, because thatsupport system will get you
through anything and eventuallyyou will reach your highest

(01:04:34):
potential.
And however that looks foranybody, I'm excited for them to
just engage into that own theirown journey of self-discovery
through believing in themselves.
So fantastic.

Speaker 1 (01:04:47):
All right, andy, so we'll up, but where can people
find you if they want to checkout what you're up to and
connect with you if possible?

Speaker 2 (01:04:53):
Yeah, you can follow me on Instagram at Andy Hoster,
just Andy Ho and S-T-E-R.
And actually I have a movementlog Instagram.
Call it my liftstagram now,just because I mostly post my
powerlifting training there.
But before, when I used to takemore dance classes and such, I
would post different classes andpieces.
I've choreographed and such,but it's at grind, underscore

(01:05:16):
grind, so it's underscore grind.

Speaker 1 (01:05:21):
Nice, yeah, nice, love it, love it, cool, all
right, well, andy, thank you somuch for being here.
Thank you for sharing all ofthat insight and wisdom.
I know I personally learned alot and I'm inspired by your
journey, and I'm sure ouraudience will be too.
So thank you for being here.
And final sign off for theaudience.
Thank you, guys for tuning in,as always.
As, uh, just a friendlyreminder to always be kind to
other people, especiallyyourself, and reminder that you

(01:05:43):
can always learn something fromsomeone if you just take the
time to listen.

Speaker 2 (01:05:46):
So thank you for tuning in oh yeah, thank you, j
JR, for having me had a blastand believe in the you who
believes in yourself.

Speaker 1 (01:05:54):
Yes, let's go, let's go.

Speaker 2 (01:05:56):
Let's go, let's go.

All Episodes

#18: Dr. Andy Ho - Dance to Occupational Therapy, Overcoming Negative Mindsets, and the Discipline of G.R.I.N.D.

Episode Transcript

Popular Podcasts

Stuff You Should Know

Dateline NBC

On Purpose with Jay Shetty

.css-15opob5{left:0;position:absolute;top:0.8rem;} All Episodes

.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}#18: Dr. Andy Ho - Dance to Occupational Therapy, Overcoming Negative Mindsets, and the Discipline of G.R.I.N.D.