April 21, 2024 • 55 mins
Sam Webb, co-founder of Livin, and I delve into the profound impact of suicide on our mental health advocacy. In this heartfelt discussion, we explore our emotional journey through grief, the societal pressures on expressing pain, and the power of community support.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Have you ever wondered when it's time to move
on or how to communicate betterabout your mental health?
Well, you're in the right place.
Welcome back to the man thatCan Project.
My name is Lachlan Stewart andtoday we have an awesome guest,
sam Webb.
He's not just an actor and aTEDx speaker.
He is also the co-founder ofLivin, a mental health
(00:20):
organization that is breakingthe stigma around mental health.
I've been mates with Sam sincearound 2015.
We actually ran an eventtogether in Brisbane, and
following his journey andwatching it evolve and the
impact that he's had on not onlyhis own mental health but
mental health around Australiaand then branching out into the
United States has been nothingshort of remarkable.
So I'm excited to finally havehim on the show to be able to
(00:43):
dive a little bit deeper.
This episode does come with astrong warning we will be
talking about suicide and mentalhealth and mental illness.
So if yourself or anyone thatyou know is struggling, make
sure you please reach out.
This could be triggering.
So if you're in that position,I would highly recommend
skipping this episode.
So we're going to be talkingabout how to communicate better
(01:05):
around your mental health andsome lived experience where Sam
had a mate take his life thatled him to co-founding Libin,
amongst a heap of other things.
We record this episode from LA,where we're both living in
America now.
So buckle up for this episode.
It is going to be an insightfulone and a very, very inspiring
one so.
Sam welcome to the show, mate.
(01:26):
I've been trying to organizethis one for a number of years.
I've been following yourjourney since we first connected
back in I think it was 2015.
We ran that event at functionalyeah yeah, I got that and that
was the first time I wasinspired by the work you were
doing with living and the storythat you had behind that.
So you've been on a massivejourney in the last decade.
Like it's crazy how quicklytime's gone.
(01:48):
Both over here in la at themoment you're doing some cool
stuff, but I'd love to give theaudience a bit of a background
around who you are, why youstarted living, and then we can
dive into where we're headed nowyeah, mate for sure, and you're
dead right about this last 10years it's been a quick 10 years
.
Speaker 2 (02:02):
It's.
It literally goes so fast andit makes you wonder.
You know what's most importantin life.
And and it's kind of the seguewhich I'll speak about after I
share about why living started.
Um hi, my name is sam webb, Iam, I was one half of living.
So, with living started in uh,2013, september 15, 2013, after
(02:24):
I lost a very good friend, or welost a very good friend to
suicide, dwayne Lally.
From an outside, looking in andI'm talking about it now because
it's been 10 years.
Time, as you mentioned, goesvery quick.
There's been a lot of time toreflect, there has been a lot of
time to decompress, to thinkabout things a lot more and now
(02:47):
that I'm kind of stepped awayfrom living formally, I'm able
to really appreciate the journeyand what it taught me and what
Dwayne's death taught me.
And, looking back so I was withDwayne the night that he took
his life.
Looking back, so I was withduane the night that he took his
(03:10):
life and the impact that hisdeath had on an unquantifiable
amount of people changedeverybody's lives and, as I
mentioned, from the outsidelooking in, duane had it all.
He was the life of the party.
He was very charismatic.
He was.
People just were drawn to himlike he was.
It was a.
It was a kind of like an alphamale guy.
He was a boxer, played rugbyleague.
(03:31):
Growing up we played touchfooty together.
We always versed each other,were very competitive and you
know he would have been the lastperson that you would have
thought that would have beenstruggling with anything
mentally, let alone suicidalthoughts Like there is just no
way.
If you would explain that tosomeone, it would have been like
are you out of your mind?
(03:52):
Like what are you talking about?
That is just you're talkingshit.
Dwayne, he's playing very well,like most males do, especially.
I can talk from people inAustralia and I think the
culture is quite similar here inthe US.
Do, especially, I can talk frompeople in australia and I think
the culture is quite similarhere in the us.
Uh, men, as men, we, we hideour vulnerabilities, our weak
spots.
Uh, we hide them extremely well, very easy.
(04:15):
We try and pretend things areokay.
We smile through the toughtimes.
We look at people and we'relike nah, man, I'm sweet, I'm
cool, everything's great, I'vegot my shit together, but behind
closed doors, very differentand unbeknownst to me at the
time.
I knew that Dwayne had sufferedwith some kind of mental health
challenge I didn't know to theextent of how serious it was and
(04:38):
Sam Webb, at that moment in mylife of 2013, I was actually
just coming out of a pretty bigrelationship breakdown.
I actually lived in America in2012 and I moved home and I was
on antidepressant, anti-anxietymedication for five or six years
for my own mental healthchallenges, but I still, for
(04:59):
someone who had experienced itmyself, I couldn't really tell
it in someone else and Icertainly couldn't really
articulate it enough.
Speaker 1 (05:10):
So that it makes sense if that makes sense, yeah,
definitely, and I was just likeI never spoke about my
challenges ever.
Speaker 2 (05:18):
I never went to speak to someone other than a
psychologist or my girlfriend atthat time, briar but I never or
my mum, or the people I reallytrusted right in my life the
people I really trusted or amental health professional.
Yet I didn't know the warningsigns and symptoms.
I only knew it for myselfbecause you're so invested in
how you're feeling.
You're trying to escape thosefeelings right.
(05:38):
Dwayne suffered with bipolarand depression for a number of
years.
I didn't know how severe it wasuntil the night that I was with
him and I remember Dwaynesaying to me Webby, webby, webby
, come over mine.
So I was meant to catch up.
We were meant to do a doubledate Him, his girlfriend at the
time.
(05:58):
They were together for six orseven years and he tried to set
her friend up with me and we'dgo and do a dinner and it was
all going to be a great night.
Those dinner plans gotcancelled.
Dwayne's like you're coming tomy house having a little party.
The ball was on, he was a bigBulldogs fan and it's just the
close friends of his place inPalm Beach.
I remember it like it wasyesterday.
So I come on over and I'm likeyeah, sweet, get, they picked me
(06:19):
up.
Headed to his house, dwayne wasthe happiest.
He answered the door, Iremember in a TNC shirt with a
beanie on.
His Converse is on.
He's like come on in.
He's happy as just like anyother time, very happy, had a
couple of drinks.
The night was great.
And not long later he's likeduring the night, he's like
where are you coming?
I want to talk to you.
(06:40):
So I was talking to him in hisroom and, out of nowhere, dwayne
opened up to me about hismental health problems and on
this level I didn't even knowwhat to expect.
I'm like what do you want tochat about?
Yeah, we're having a chat, justa boy, a lad's chat, just him
and I.
And he's like Webby, I've youknow, no one really knows this.
But yeah, I've tried to take mylife before and I was like in
(07:02):
my mind I'm thinking why is hetelling me this?
Why is this getting told to menow, when we're under the
influence?
And then he's like not once,but twice.
I've tried to take my lifetwice before and I'm like what
do I say?
My mind's going on a mile anhour.
What should I say what's right,what's wrong?
What would I want to hear inthis situation if I was in his
shoes?
I'm thinking what should I say?
What's right, what's wrong?
What would I think in thissituation?
(07:24):
What would I want to hear inthis situation if I was in his
shoes?
I'm reassuring Dwayne man.
What do you mean?
Talk to me, bro.
I'm here, you're in safe space.
And he's like yeah, I tried totake my life before twice and
I'm the kind of guy that woulddo it Like no suicidal, and they
(07:50):
get down, I'm fucking gonnakill myself.
All this stuff that people saywhich doesn't help with the
stigma, and um, he's like butI'm kind of pretty twisted, like
I'd probably be one of the guysto do it, and I'm like I'm
sitting there thinking what do Isay next?
I'm listening, I'm trying tolisten as best as I could, I'm
trying to listen as best as Iknow you know in that moment,
having a few drinks and whateverelse and I try to reassure him.
You're okay, man.
Like is everything good?
Like, where are you at now?
No, webby, I'm fine.
(08:11):
I just want to share it withyou how I was feeling.
Like it was a lot.
I could never do it.
I could never let my familydown.
I never let my mum and dad downbecause they were so close to
his mum.
His whole family was he's.
Like I can never do it and butI just want to let you know
where I'm at.
Like I'm pretty twisted likethat, like I've got the balls to
do that, if, if I needed to.
(08:31):
But I wouldn't do it again.
It was like yeah, I, I, I made,I don't even know how to say it.
I was like what do I say?
Trying to listen, I'mreassuring him.
You know, don't ever.
If you're ever feeling low inyour life and at a point where
you feel like that is an option,you can call me anytime, you
can phone me.
I don't care if it's at 3 am,whatever time of the night.
You've got a thousand peoplewho would line up at a door
(08:52):
waiting to help you.
You've got your family, who arethe best things ever and we're
all here to support you.
Ah no, I'm sweet.
I promise everything's good.
I'd never do it.
Everything's life's great.
Um, we started talking aboutdifferent medications.
He was on and I'd been on someof them in the past and you know
, I started sharing about howI'd felt in the past and that
you know I'd been on mentalhealth medication for a while,
(09:15):
up and down, and met, you know,anxiety and mild depression for
a number of years.
And we were just talking, man,and it was at the end of it.
I'm like you're sure you'reokay, man, remember, you can
always call me, no matter.
And it was at the end of it.
I'm like are you sure you'reokay, man?
Remember, you can always callme, no matter what.
And I was at this party with himand I sat there and we were
having a hell of a time.
I was with him basically allnight because I knew the other
people at the house and they'rehis friends and my friends, but
(09:39):
I wasn't as close to them and soI remember the last thing he
said to me.
I left that room and that was alot of conversation, a lot of
weight that we probably bothwore.
I left and I remember sittingat the front door that night.
There's a big couch right nextto the front door, front door's
to my right.
I'm sitting there with thisgirl and we're just chatting,
having a good night and party'sgoing on Not too loud music,
(10:01):
people having D&Ms, conversationthis is a long-winded one.
Speaker 1 (10:03):
I'm giving you the full story.
Speaker 2 (10:04):
Mate, I'm very interested in this and I see his
girlfriend at the time come outfor me.
I'm like, what's he trying todo?
Dwayne's going to kill himself.
He just told me he's going tokill himself and I think he's
going to do it this time.
And I sat down.
I'm like, well, where is he?
I was just like, oh, let metalk to him.
And he didn't come past mebecause I was having a
(10:27):
conversation that we had, likemy eyes were dialed in and I
didn't see him.
Come, she goes, he's escaped.
He ran out the back door orwhatever, and I was looking
around the house everywhere forhim.
I couldn't find him anywhere.
She's like, he said he wasgoing to do it and he's done
this before, but I feel likethis time is for real.
He's going to do it.
He said he was going to do it.
He promised all my life he'sgoing to do it.
And I'm like and so, mate I?
(10:49):
I was pretty drunk at the stageand I remember jumping in the
car with with the girls by the,and we drove halfway around the
gold coast that night lookingfor him from palm beach and no,
no responses on the phone.
I was texting please answer,bro.
Don't do anything stupid.
Man, I'm here.
We have said this greatconversation.
I'm here for you, I'll listento you, I'll do whatever I can
to get you the support that youneed to get back on track.
(11:11):
Your mom, his mom, was trying tolike we learned her and I
didn't want to freak her out andshe called him.
He didn't answer.
I'm like, fuck, this isn't good.
When he's not answering hismom's calls, things.
This isn't good.
No one was closer than him andhis mom were the um, nobody and
but and but.
He was so tight with his wholefamily like they they were first
(11:31):
in his life, always.
And, man, I remember going tothe palm beach, the the bridge
there still tell about to driveand sam did a u-turn under the
bridge, drove back out.
And, man, it was the next day.
Him and Sam did a U-turn underthe bridge, drove back out.
And, man, it was the next dayhim and I went to watch at the
(11:52):
Shark Bar, miami Shark Bar,canelo Alvarez versus Floyd
Mayweather.
He's a huge.
He was golden gloves in hisprior boxing days and he loved
fighting Like he was aprofessional athlete in that
regard.
And I'm like he's going's gonnashow up like I couldn't sleep
that night, thinking the worstbut not trying to think the
worst.
Yeah, so I don't think theworst.
(12:12):
He's gonna be okay, but he toldyou it's very heavy.
I hope that wasn't quite thehelp.
And then, mate, I rememberseeing faces of duane on
facebook and on Instagram.
Please, or let the police orlet us know if you've seen him
around anywhere.
And I knew this started to getserious.
This was like there was no, hewasn't coming to shop.
I didn't get any missed calls.
(12:33):
The next day there was ananswer in my call was nobody,
nobody's.
The message is nothing.
I'm like this is super fuckingweird, mate.
I got a call at 5 o'clock.
I think that afternoon.
That day was the slowest day ofmy life, I reckon.
Just thinking, like what'sstill in my mind?
Where is he?
Is anyone down him?
Surely he's just going to turnup.
There's no way he would havetaken his life.
(12:55):
Like, there's just no way.
He just told me that he wouldnever have done it and looked at
me in the eye and promised mehe was fine and he had so much
to live for.
And you know, the future waslooking bright and promising for
him and we were talking aboutthe future and I remember a call
at five o'clock saying Dwaynehad been found dead.
(13:17):
And, man, I remember where I was.
I was sitting on my seat in myapartment in Burley Waters and I
was eating a pizza actually atthe time and I grabbed it and I
just threw it and I just and Ididn't want to believe what I
just heard Dwayne had been founddead, he'd taken his own life.
And I said there's no waythat's happened.
Like I was in shock.
(13:38):
So I got back in my car on aSunday night and I drove up to
the hospital that's where hisfamily were and his close
friends and I didn't believe ituntil I seen it.
Like I had to see this in myown eyes to actually believe
what I was hearing was true.
And, mate, I remember being inthe viewing room and, like
warning from one listening, um,and this is pretty heavy content
(14:01):
, so do it, do it, do I?
Uh, I'll do a warning content,warning at the start.
Um, man, the moment they theywound back those curtains.
I saw a Dwayne there.
He was just lying there, sameclothes except the beanie, same
everything, and I was justfucking with him, like not long
ago, not even 24 hours ago, likewe were just having a
(14:24):
conversation, the fact that I do.
Did I say something wrong?
Did I not give him the supportthat he needed?
And man, he's just.
He was dead, like he was infront of me.
It was just.
I've never, I'll never, be ableto erase that moment in my life.
And it's not about me,obviously, but his family man,
(14:45):
what I saw in his family.
They're never going to be thesame Like I've seen them over
the years.
Not as much as I'd like,because I feel like at times,
you know, being around thefamily and seeing them it kind
of reminds them.
You know, when you're likecertain moments.
He was the last person to havea chat with my son.
(15:05):
It's pretty sad.
Do you feel any guilt?
You know, I felt so much guilt,man, for so many years, and I
think that's what the relentlesspassion and the purpose behind
setting living up was.
You know, duane used to alwayssay we're living, man, we're
living, and for anyone listening, that's that's the segue to
living.
He always used to say we'reliving and I was like we have to
do something about this andduring that time, man, I was
(15:27):
like my wheels are falling offand I'd started sliding deep
back into severe, like darktimes in my life and I was
trying to stay afloat by tryingto do something well and good
for the community in Duane'sname, with Casey and a few other
people.
It was monumental help.
I couldn't have done it withoutanyone.
We couldn't have done itwithout each other.
So I'm sitting there.
(15:50):
We started living long storyshort short and I started with
doing mental health awarenessand suicide prevention
initiatives, you know, likebreaking the stigma around
mental health.
What did we have or didn't wehave?
I should say at the moment inour life that we would have
liked to have had or we couldhave had.
That may have saved thissituation and stop this from
happening.
And yeah, we asked duane'sfamily for permission.
(16:12):
We're like we really want to dosomething in duane's honor and
his legacy.
Can we start something?
And they we sold shirts at hiswake and they all sold duane's
face and he had this song forthe son of the from his avia
right on the shirt and they soldand we got the money and
duane's family donated the moneyto us and said do something
cool with it.
So we literally had like Ithink they'd raised like $4,000
(16:35):
and we used that and turned thatinto living and that was a huge
process of starting a charity,and that's probably a whole
other conversation.
Pitching to a law firm on theGold Coast can you take us pro
bono, like crying in front ofthem and just going, please?
We want to do this, we want tosave lives and so much support.
Live in Woodland, where you aretoday, and I say all the time
(16:55):
without everyone.
Everybody's been involvedequally as much as I've been
involved, and man, I mean.
Dwayne's death was a wake-upmoment for not only me but for a
lot of people in our communityand I wasn't even though I've
(17:16):
lost people in my life prior toeven Dwayne passing away.
That member spoke about it andtalked to you about it at the
start of this episode.
I wasn't really aware about it.
We weren't aware about thestatistics that surround mental
health and suicide preventionand suicide in general until we
started working it with Liverand we started doing the charity
and started speaking at schoolsand going to workplaces and
started really diving into theinto the statistics of the facts
(17:36):
and speaking to mental healthprofessionals, we realized that
this was a big problem, and notjust in australia.
It's a big problem all over theworld, mainly here, obviously,
australia, america, all thesewestern societies, but um
dwayne's death, yeah, itaffected thousands and thousands
of people.
You can't put a number onsomeone's life and, obviously,
(17:58):
if I could take everything back,including that event the night
and all the work that's beendone in the interim between 2013
and up until today, I would ina heartbeat.
But you can't do that, yeah,and we live and we learn and
yeah, it was fucking terribleman as well you guys really I
still remember when they've beensort of started showing up
(18:21):
everywhere a lot of our friends.
Speaker 1 (18:22):
I grew up in toowoomba but was playing footy
down the coast and everythinglike that.
So it just started popping upeverywhere and I first was, uh,
buddy I grew up with committedsuicide when I was 14.
It was on the front page of theToowoomba Chronicle.
No one spoke about it, no oneever asked if I was all right or
if other people were all right,and I just remember keeping
that paper under the bed andyou'd pull it out and cry about
(18:45):
it, but then as a bloke you'relike can't show any feelings
about that, can't talk about it.
And then it started happeningmore and more.
Since you know, since we leftschool, we've lost like nine
mates now from school, which isinsane.
But what you guys did with Libbyand there's a lot of other
charities and organisationsdoing stuff now, but you sort of
paved that way, especially forwhy I related to it was like
(19:07):
ex-football boys doing it andgenerally were the ones that
find different ways to deal withour emotions partying, etc.
So more people started talkingabout it.
And then, um, the learning, thenext tools like how do you
communicate?
How do you, I guess, sit down,have a mate open up to you, how
do you know whether it's a realred flag, all those sorts of
things which, when you sit therelearning you know whether it's
(19:29):
mental health, first aid oranything like that.
You're like why we call this atschool, I think just, or it just
, it's human connection, right.
And then you start recognizingthe importance of it was the
health professionals.
But we also start recognizingthe importance of us as
individuals.
I feel a lot of people don'tfeel they're qualified to help.
(19:49):
Yeah, exactly, but at the endof the day, it's like person to
person.
Building relationships is partof that, and finding purpose and
meaning and making others and,if not yourself, feel valued and
feel heard can go a long way aswell.
Speaker 2 (20:04):
Definitely, man, definitely I think, yeah, you
don't have to be professional tosave someone's life.
Yep, well, that firsthand, andI'm sure you have to with all
the great work you've done overthe years and the conversations
you've had.
Man, I mean, yeah, it's mentalhealth is paramount and it's
definitely something that peopletalk about a lot more these
days.
It's still very complex.
(20:25):
Mental health is complex.
Brains are complex.
Humans are complex.
Man, they not simple.
We're not just simplethree-dimensional characters.
That's not what we are.
It's very complex and what I'velearned, mostly over the last
10 years before I stepped downfrom living, was that there are
a lot of people that you cansave and you can help a lot of
(20:47):
people.
There are always heavy peoplethat fall through the cracks,
unfortunately, and I've, caseyand myself, and the community
that we started living with,we're like we're going to have a
zero policy game here, zerosuicide game.
No one's dying ever again.
We're going to fucking save theworld.
We were very wrong really quick, because it's the great work.
Yet so far, there's always gapsand, as you know, in a of
(21:13):
australia, for the listeners,rural, you almost say to them is
kind of rural, yeah.
Or a country, town, yeah.
Um, access to support, accessto help that tough it up
mentality is even stronger.
You don't get the city.
You don't get access to thesupport that you'd get in a city
of, say, sydney or brisbane.
You know what I mean onmelbourne, yeah, so there are
(21:33):
always going to be people thatfall through the gaps, but our
job as thinkers is humans.
It's just trying to listen,just trying to be there for
people who might be struggling,yeah, and don't try and problem
solve.
I reflect and you asked mebefore right, did I feel guilty?
Of course I felt all right.
(21:53):
Did I feel guilty?
Of course I felt.
There were years of feelingguilt around duane's passing.
Pardon me, should I have donemore?
Did I listen good enough?
Did I say the wrong thing?
Should I stay with him allnight, not let him out of my
sight?
There's so many things thatcame into mind, but I can't take
back what had happened and Ionly knew what I knew in that
moment of time, with theinformation that I had right in
that moment.
There was nothing that I couldhave done anything else.
(22:14):
But, yes, I beat myself up.
Why didn't you do more?
Why didn't you listen?
Why didn't you listen more?
You shouldn't have beendrinking, there shouldn't have
been drugs at the party, allthis stuff.
But I can't take that back andI didn't know.
I can't foresee the future.
But what I can do is see whathappened.
Where did did it go wrong?
What can I change for thefuture?
And the biggest takeaway fromDwayne's passing for me is like
(22:41):
stop trying to problem-solveeverything, especially in these
kind of conversations, even withyour loved ones.
Right now, if you have a son,daughter I don't have families
yet, hopefully one day, but I'vegot a wife and it's the same
thing Like, stop trying to be aproblem solver all the time.
Because sam webb's brain kickedin that knife, I was like how
can I help?
Where can I fix?
Fix it, fix it, fix it, fix it.
Maybe dwayne just wanted me toshut the fuck up and listen more
(23:01):
.
Listen non-judgmentally.
I wasn't being judgmental atall, but it was like maybe I
could have listened more.
And so these are the thingslisten non-judgmentally.
Stop trying to problem solve.
You're not supposed to have theanswer to everything and you
aren't People.
And I can tell from my ownexperience as being at the
depths of life many times islike what I'm looking for in
(23:24):
those moments is someone to say,okay, here's a grand, big,
special plan and life is laidout in a platter and this is the
way forward.
It's not about that.
And life is laid out in aplatter and this is the way
forward.
It's not about that.
It's about someone justshutting up, listening to you
with open ears and trying tohelp you however you can.
For example, lockie, I see thatyou're struggling.
Is there something that I cando right now that may be able to
(23:46):
help you?
You might be like nah, sammy,I'm sweet, life is great, I'm
fine man.
Yeah, okay, don't worry.
Be like nah, sammy, I'm sweet,life is great, I'm fine man.
Yeah, okay, no worries, man,just want to let you know, as a
good friend, I'm here wheneveryou're ready.
There's no pressure, no rush.
Just let me know when you'reready.
Just give me a tap, give me atext, give me a call, whatever.
Whatever works for you, noworries, man.
Now you know as a friend thatsam's listened, he's opened up
(24:09):
the space and he's provided thesegue for you to get the support
you need whenever it's time foryou.
There's no pressure, there's noproblem solving and there's no
shoving information andeducation and self-help tips
down his throat.
Go to the gym, fucking.
Go for a run.
Sit in a sauna.
You'll feel better in 30minutes.
I know you feel better in 30minutes and I go for runs almost
every second day.
I know it makes you feel better,but for some people they can't
(24:31):
run like you and I, yeah, theycan't get on a treadmill, they
can't get on a fucking bike,they can't go to the gym, they
can't sit in the sauna.
That's shit too hard.
What can I do right now?
That's going to help you, andthat's just shutting up and
listening and just being an openear.
That's it.
And you do not have to have amedical degree for that, and
that's the one thing I'velearned that's a massive
takeaway, like the fact for them, that big thing is actually
(24:53):
just opening up.
Speaker 1 (24:54):
I remember we're in uh, bali, but we're on a
beautiful island over in papuanew guinea amazing couple of
minutes.
Go out on the boats andwhatever.
And I was depressed.
I was having a really really,really low day.
I was like I just need to belocked like, not locked in.
I didn't get locked in, butjust stay in the room.
You guys go do your thing.
And I was sitting there thinkinglike why the fuck do I always
(25:15):
have these big mood swings?
And I sat in it for fuckinglike six hours.
And then I remember at onepoint I was like I don't, my
goal wasn't to go run oranything like that, but it's
like if this happens again,instead of being six hours, it's
going to be five hours.
What do I need to do todecrease the time of these mood
swings?
And over time I've developeddifferent habits.
(25:36):
I still have, um, massive highsand lows and all that sort of
stuff, but I'm a lot more awarearound triggers and causes.
That's the reason why I wassaying I don't drink a heat like
I used to, because that's notreally good for me, um, and
various other things, but itwasn't the fact that I'm like,
get your ass off and go for arun in your lazy bicycle,
because that just makes me feelI've already.
(25:56):
I'm already feeling like afailure, so I'm so sad in the
fact that now I can't run, I'llget in the sauna.
It's like now I feel like areal piece of shit.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
So to your point, like the factthat someone's opening up to
you is a really big, huge thingfor them.
Right to meet them wherethey're at and just then,
hopefully, whatever that nextstep is for them, they'll, you
know, feel comfortable takingthat when they're ready.
(26:16):
But even depression and anxietyand you mentioned bipolar,
while we label all of thesethings it's like that experience
for everyone is so unique it is.
It's one of the things I hateis like when people say I've
been depressed, I've beenanxious, this is what it's like,
this is what I did in my yeah,but that was your experience.
You're completely disregardingwhat you've discovered.
(26:37):
It's like just listen, don'tjam your experience down my
throat, or anything like that.
It's helpful when I'm in a goodmood.
Speaker 2 (26:44):
I write now, just potentially listen, yeah, and
that's it man, and that's it man.
I mean, no one has the answersto everything.
Mental health is complex andyour experience is very
different than mine.
Your anxiety is different thanmy anxiety.
You might have some similarsymptoms, but it affects us
differently.
It's unique and what works foryou may not work for me.
(27:06):
Maybe some of the things workfor me, like, yeah, just a hot
shower, feel relaxed.
Yeah, that definitely works forme.
Like, yeah, just a hot shower,feel relaxed.
Yeah, that definitely works forme.
This one, being in a creativeplace, um, super anxious, isn't
probably the best place for me.
Maybe it's a good distractionfor you, you know.
So it's very different.
It's extremely unique.
Don't judge someone'sexperience.
Just be there and listen, likeyou mentioned, be with them at
(27:28):
that same level and just listen.
Mental health is hand on myheart is the most important
thing in life.
In order to get your physicalhealth at its optimum and its
highest potential and yourspiritual potential.
Everything I feel like revolvesaround your mental wellness.
(27:50):
So, whatever you can do to feelgood in life between your ears
and sharp, and feel confidentand uplifted and satisfied and
maybe even content, you'realready miles ahead of where
(28:11):
most almost most people are yeah, because like, yeah, it's a
funny thing, you know this.
This whole this is a biggerconversation than suicide
prevention.
This is this is a conversationof.
It's a mental health game we'relooking at here.
Life is a mental health game.
Everything that you do is allabout how you react to
situations under pressure, howyou react to situations under
(28:34):
stress.
What are you saying back tosomeone in the road right, like
in cutting off in traffic, likethis is all mental related.
It's not how big you are, howmuch weight you can lift, how
far you run, how hot's your,your wife, or how successful you
are in your business.
It's how you react tosituations and that all starts
(28:55):
with the way that your brainbrain is kind of functioning at
that moment.
So it's what you can do tostrengthen that that brain, that
muscle that you can show up inthis world and be the best
version for yourself.
But then you're going to be thebest for everyone else.
You know best for your mates.
You need best for your.
Be the best for your wife, yourpartner, your son, your
daughter, your cousin, yourniece, whoever it is your
(29:15):
colleague.
You're going to be better atwork.
You're going to be better inthe gym because you feel cleaner
, like you feel clearer, so youknow what you want.
You know how to lift, what tolift, you're more motivated so
it just affects everything.
You know what I mean, a hundredpercent.
So that's why I'm verypro-mental wellness.
It's not.
(29:36):
Mental health is like acontinuum.
Yep, we all sit on a continuumof zero to ten, for example, and
we slide and come up and downon a day-to-day, a
minute-to-minute, hour-to-hourbasis.
We might be doing cool rightnow we're on a podcast, we're
having a good chat talking aboutwellness and how to help people
(29:57):
and experiences, but maybethere's something that breaks
down this afternoon.
Maybe there's a big businessdeal that goes wrong, or a house
falls through that you wantedto buy, or the missus is in an
accident.
God forbid, it doesn't happen.
You know what I'm saying?
Yeah, and that might get youoff guard, and then shit happens
and then you might slide andthen you might be now stressed
and you might be slipping.
Speaker 1 (30:17):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (30:18):
But it's when we sit too far down on the bottom part
of the spectrum, because mentalhealth and mental illness are
two very different things.
We've all got mental health.
It's just where we sit on thatspectrum.
Mental illness is a diagnosablemental health challenge which
changes the way that you behaveon a day-to-day basis.
It can affect your day-to-daymoods, your decision making and
(30:38):
all that sort of stuff.
So it's actually a diagnosableillness like a broken arm or a
leg, but we all have mentalhealth.
So it's important to make youmake mention that, because
they're very different.
Mental health and mentalillness, two different things I
did.
Speaker 1 (30:49):
Yeah, I don't think people cover that enough.
So for me it's like mentalhealth as well, semi-physical
health.
You could be the absolutesports star, like how often
you've probably seen you go backhome and the start of the
fucking school football team wasjacked, and now he's, you know,
40 kilos overweight and hasn'tlooked after himself.
And it's like, okay, well,health doesn't matter.
(31:10):
Whether you've got pinnaclemental health, spiritual health,
financial health.
Today it can be taken away fromyou with things out of your
control, but also things thatmaybe you're doing right, and
that's why, for me, it's likelearning these, these tools and
resources and communication is amassive one for well-being and
I think, moving anything towardsrelationships, finances.
(31:33):
The better you can communicate,people can understand you, you
can understand them, youunderstand yourself better,
which is key to going, like howI feel like I'm heading towards
a bit of a slippery slope.
Do I need support?
Do I need, you know, myprofessional help?
Do I need tools?
And you know medications, atool, exercises, a tool, some
like there's so many fuckingtools, just like there's so many
(31:53):
diets, and it's like you've gotto choose the ones that work
well for you.
Yeah, but you know the toolsthat work for you 10 years ago
may not work for you today.
That's why it I said you'reconstantly, you know, chipping
away at it and I think you'resharing your story and what you
guys have done with living hasbeen huge, because there's more
people than ever.
You know, man, this is myexperience with it.
This is what works for me.
I'm not saying it's going towork for you, but if you have a
(32:15):
tool, you want to test that outand add it to your life.
Awesome, like test a crack.
Yeah, exactly, but you've saidit a couple of times now you've
obviously stepped away fromliving.
I was listening to a podcastthat you were on recently and I
was very curious as to why andsort of what's next for you,
because you've obviously putyour heart and soul into that
for 10 years and I do rememberyou saying like it gave you
(32:37):
purpose, right, and I'm a bigbeliever and I actually wrote
down here like purpose is thereason for which something is
done and created and for whichsomething exists, and you were
doing that in memory.
But also it then gave youpurpose to stop other people
taking their life, so forsomething that was your vehicle
and I want to really highlightthis, because a lot of people
think that a decision they'vemade is something that's going
(32:59):
to stay for the rest of theirlife.
Yeah, it know, it's like that'swhy so many of those don't make
decisions and I'm like, fuck,what if I don't like that?
Or what if that's the wrongdecision?
It's like you were 10 yearsinto something and now you've
made a new decision to trysomething new.
What you know, I guess,inspired that and were you
nervous as well about leavingbehind something that had been a
big part of your life for thelast 10 years.
Speaker 2 (33:20):
It's a great question .
I appreciate you asking and youknow what.
It was a very hard decision Forme.
I think a big catalyst of itwas leaving Australia Yep,
leaving Australia to come toAmerica Living.
Yes, I credit living and Dwayneand this whole movement for
(33:40):
saving my own life a number oftimes, to be honest, and it gave
me everything that I have inlife and service in my being, my
purpose, my mission and, yeah,it really was an incredible
experience.
It was great to be a part ofMet some of the most beautiful
people along the way.
People changed my life, Ichanged their life, we changed
(34:02):
their life.
I was their life, we changedtheir life.
I was involved in some coolinitiatives, every life
remembrance man.
I'll never forget it and I'llalways be a part of it in some
way, shape or form, whether I'mjust advocating for them or
whatever.
Moving to America in 2019, Idecided obviously I wanted to
come over here.
I did want to pursue living inAmerica because I realised
(34:23):
living would be needed in theStates.
It's probably needed everywhere.
But also, you know, I've gotother dreams and aspirations,
too that I want to achieve in mylife, and you know one of them
is acting and I moved to theStates with my now wife and it
was just, it just naturallyhappened.
I feel like man.
(34:44):
I mean, being here and being sofar removed from the team,
trying to work remotely wasn'treally beneficial for the team
or myself and them and probablyeveryone's mental health.
Yeah, it's not great working indifferent time zones by
yourself.
It was very hard and I kind ofwouldn't say that I lost my love
for it, but I wasn't doing thework that I was doing on the
(35:06):
cold face, like so.
When I lived in america, I wason the ground, I'm sorry.
When I was living in australia,I was on the ground, right, I
was meeting people, speaking atevents, um, seeing people's
change by having interactiveconversations, whereas when I'm
in america, I didn't realize itat the time, I was like, no,
it's going to work, I can makeit work, but no, I mean, I was
very wrong.
It was coming to the states.
I was basically fully removedand then just working on high
(35:29):
level tasks, operational stuff,which I'm not good at and I'm
not the the greatest person tobe doing and I didn't.
I don't enjoy it, to be honest.
So I guess for me it was that,but also knowing that I'd been
doing it for 10 years.
I loved what I did, this legacyas a leader.
I think it's important torecognize when, when your time
(35:50):
is up and knowing that it's okayto to leave something behind
that you you might have had ahand in creating and you were so
passionate in, and you changedlives and you changed your own
life it's okay to be able to sayyou know what?
I'm in a place now where I feelhealthy enough to walk away
from it and I'm going to trysomething else.
I'm going to pass that on tosomeone else, pass the baton to
(36:13):
someone else, and they can flythe flag with their own new
visions and their own newmissions and their way of life,
and they're going to be morehands-on because they're back in
australia.
I wasn't doing it justice beingan american man, unless we
started it here, and it just fora lot of different reasons.
It's it wasn't meant to be andhere I am, man and in america.
(36:33):
As I said, it was the mostamazing experience I had.
I love, I love it.
I love everyone involved in it.
I'm very grateful to have gotthe opportunity to be a part of
it for 10 years and my goal wasgetting into.
It was changing one life,saving one life.
We've saved thousands of livesand I want living to outlive me.
I want it to teach other peoplea legacy.
(36:55):
I want it to be a thing peopleremember in their own day-to-day
lives and their own behavioralchanges.
So I feel like for me it was asuccess.
I'm now on to my next missionsand I'm still advocating for
wellness and mental health andeverything that I do and I'll
always do that and that's just apart of my life and my DNA, and
(37:16):
I'm very grateful and lucky tobe able to do that from afar.
Speaker 1 (37:19):
That's awesome, man.
It's exciting.
I was thinking about in my head.
I'm like wondering why I wasthinking about your potential
responses, and there was a quotethat probably hits that well,
where it's the purpose of lifeis to discover your gift.
The work is to develop it.
The meaning of life is to giveit away, and that's sort of what
you've done with living, andnow, obviously, moving into that
(37:41):
next, next chapter of your lifeis pretty bloody exciting as
well, and I've been looking atthat back.
As for for mental health as well, I know when I was, I guess, at
my rock bottom after footy, Ididn't have a purpose, or I
didn't think I had a purpose,but I hadn't explored much
outside of that, because for solong my identity was I'm a footy
(38:01):
player, that's it.
And then when that's taken awayfrom you, so my purpose is done
, my life stuff.
But what I've recognized overthe last 10 years is by just
trying new stuff, trying to findpurpose, I found even the man
that can project.
People ask me are you going todo this for everyone?
Like I don't know.
I'm not attached to it anymorelike I used to.
(38:21):
I love it, it's everything tome right now, but I don't, if I
believe it's everything that'sdefines me, if I ever do step
away from it or walk away fromit, you know, find myself in
that same position I was 10years ago.
Yeah, it's like I'm a husband,I'm a.
Consider myself an athletestill, I'm a you know business,
but there's so many elements tome I think that's for everyone.
(38:42):
We just don't give ourselfenough acknowledgement or shine
the light on those aspects ofourselves.
So when one thing's taken away,we're like fuck yeah, I think.
Speaker 2 (38:51):
I think it's a super important thing you brought up
actually, man, I think.
And to your point about thetransitional stuff and how you
get stuck up in this identity,one thing I did did really, and
yes, the whole transition andliving has been difficult as far
as finding my real strong,happy purpose, where I wake up
every day and I'm fuckingchipper and I'm poverty.
Yes, it's difficult but, likeyou said, you try things, you
(39:13):
test things, you find things.
It doesn't happen overnight.
It may take years, buteventually it will come.
But not wrapping yourself up inan identity like I'm Sam for the
live and do, that's not whatit's about.
I'm Sam who's generous.
I'm Sam who's kind, I'mcompassionate.
I'm a good listener.
Now, maybe when I was younger Iwasn't the best listener, but
(39:35):
I'm a lot better than now.
I'm a very hard worker.
I don't take no for an answer.
These are things that we shouldidentify with as opposed to I'm
.
I'm a banker, I'm an actor, I'ma musician.
You know, all these things iswhere people go wrong, because
when that stuff's taken awayfrom them, or it fails or they
(39:57):
don't succeed in it, it's like,well, fuck, what am I?
You know?
Then you feel lost, then youimplode.
So I did a pretty good job withthat, with living, because I,
because I spoke to so manypeople throughout- the 10 years
and throughout my lifeexperiences.
I've seen it on podcasts, heardprofessional athletes struggle
with this transition of identitycrisis and I was like I can't
do that.
Speaker 1 (40:16):
I can't do that, I can't do that so I trained
myself pretty well, so I withthat part I've been very blessed
.
Speaker 2 (40:22):
I've been great because I positioned myself well
enough to.
I'm not Sam that I help with it.
That's not who I am.
Speaker 1 (40:30):
It's a good point, though.
Everyone's going to experiencetransition at some point in
their life.
So, whether you think it's notgoing to happen to you, you need
to start getting prepared forit, because it will happen,
whether it's.
Kids leave the home.
We've got a big portion of dadsin our community and I
literally jump on all theircalls because I'm like, oh, I
want to be a dad one day,obviously, and the stuff that
(40:51):
they're talking about some ofthe you know ones just become a
granddad.
So it's like it's veryinteresting hearing different
stages of life and learning fromthem what they wish they knew,
and I'm like, well, I wasthinking about that on the way
over.
I'm like, fuck, all the, allthe advice we you know.
If I knew everything I knew nowwhen I was younger, I wouldn't
have made the same mistake.
Yeah, so that's never going tobe reality for any of us.
(41:11):
We have to learn through ourexperiences, but if we have
people who are older than us inthe position we've been in and
we have the ability to talk tothem and learn from them, why
the fuck are we doing that?
And when we do talk to them,why don't we actually listen to
what they're saying rather thanoh no, stupid, exactly, I'll do
it.
It's wisdom.
Yeah, yeah, literally that's theword I was looking for.
I was hoping it would come out,but I don't have enough of that
(41:36):
yet.
But you've mentioned acting aswell.
So over in la, acting betweenthe little that I know about, it
is a, not a sport, a careerwhere you'd face extreme
rejection.
Has that been part of yourexperience and, if so, what has
inspired you to continue going?
Because rejection is somethingpeople just won't do anything in
(41:59):
their life because they'refearing it.
They, they aren't evenexperiencing it, they're
experiencing the fear of it.
So, for you as an actor andyour experience, how have you
been inspired to continue towork through?
Speaker 2 (42:09):
that 99.99% have been no's made rejections, and
that's the industry I've got tothe bed with.
I guess that's just what I'vesaid before.
I love doing it.
I feel like for me, and part ofthe story is I love doing it, I
feel like for me, and part ofthe story is I started pursuing
acting.
I should have done it a lotearlier.
I was doing it as like an extraand as a kid my family used to
(42:34):
try to push me into it, but Iwas always into sports.
But when Dwayne passed, it wasactually part of my first ever
performance.
It was a 12-show performance onthe Gold Coast.
Actually, it was halfwaythrough rehearsals when Dwayne
passed.
It's what kept the glue togetherand it's what made me feel
alive, made me feel reallypresent.
I could forget about everythingin life and just be super in
the moment.
(42:54):
It's kind of like that samething.
You'd feel back.
You know, as an athlete, whenyou're in the zone, it's the
same feeling.
I feel in the zone when I'm ona set or I'm in a class.
It's the same feeling.
It's very addictive.
I love it Very hard.
I'm here in LA.
This is the mecca.
(43:16):
This is a Super Bowl ofentertainment.
So I've signed up for thehardest gig in the world but,
mate, I feel like I've got whatit takes.
I don't take no for an answer.
I love working hard.
I love hard work and the actingacting's cool because you can
it's.
You've got to be veryempathetic, you're very
(43:38):
compassionate, you've got tounderstand different types of
people, what you are and whatother people are and how you can
become that person, in a way,by using your instrument being
myself.
So you get a very good side inunderstanding other people from
a psychological point of view.
Yeah, and I like it, man,because it's a very big
(43:59):
challenge for me and it makes Ilove being present, because it's
something I big challenge forme and it makes it just I love
being present because it'ssomething I struggle with in
life.
I'm always thinking about things, my mind goes pretty quick, it
doesn't really slow down untilthe night and like it's one of
those things that really slowsme down and makes me really
present and appreciate things.
And I know I'm going around thesurface here.
(44:22):
But yeah, acting is the hardest.
It's it's been nothing butrejection, but you got to take
the small wins, what's in yourcontrol and you just keep
getting back up and if it'ssomething that you want, well
enough and a lot you make youfind a way.
It's whatever it takes, andthat's the mindset that I'm in
right now.
It's whatever it takes for meand I've got, no, I've got.
I.
I'm literally yeah, it's, it's.
(44:44):
It's not an option to fail init it's it's.
Speaker 1 (44:48):
There's two things that I take away from that that
I get excited about.
One is obviously the experienceof who you become in that
process, like the being present,something I also struggle with.
I'm always doing something andI'm like it's coming tomorrow or
whatever, and I'm very aware ofthat.
But one thing that I'm veryuncomfortable with is is like
dancing and acting and saying,well, this is hate it and I
don't do it.
(45:08):
But as you're explaining itthere, it's like you get in your
body and it's the one time youare fully present, because
you've got to notice how, maybeas an actor, like how your
facial expressions are, how yourbody language is breathing,
like all these things that send,and we hear it with meditation
and a lot of other things, butacting in itself is probably a
great way to do that, and thatliterally just hit me down.
(45:29):
I'm like, fuck, maybe I shouldTake some classes.
Speaker 2 (45:31):
Yeah, acting is meditation.
That's exactly what it is.
Speaker 1 (45:35):
Yeah, well, I think, for people who struggle being
present, maybe that's like arandom tool, but a tool to get
in your body and learn to becomemore aware of it, because, yeah
, when you can do that mentally,it's going to help you as well.
Speaker 2 (45:48):
And more comfortable too, man.
I mean, I've become morecomfortable.
It's very hard.
It's a very hard craft.
Acting looks easy when you lookat like experts doing it, but
they're very hard.
It's a very hard industry, bothprofessionally as a craft and
both from a business perspective.
It's very hard to do anything.
Speaker 1 (46:07):
So I made up, I'm here for the ride and yeah, I'm,
I'm excited and you're gonnahave these life stories as well
that so many people won't have,because if you did that
traditional, I know or you saidyou were in banking right yeah,
because I don't know no kidding,there's a bankers like you know
.
If you stand on that path, it'slike you know what your life's
probably going to look like,right, yeah, I think most people
aren't taking many risks orcreating that life resume.
(46:29):
I don't know if you're familiarwith Jesse Itzler.
He talks about building thatlife resume and it's like, yeah,
he's an amazing dude.
But anyway you look back on yourlife.
Even to me, my business waspumping back home very
comfortable, living a dream, andthen to move out here just to
support my wife.
One left a lot behind, but it'slike we're making the gnarliest
(46:53):
memories ever.
We've just been on like 22 stateradio tours.
That's amazing.
It sucks but also fun.
Yeah, like, when are you goingto get a chance to do that?
Actually, it's the stuff you'lltalk about and I think it's
very important.
It's what gives me purpose andalso excitement in life because,
like, even though it's notalways fun, it's like looking
back, the stories are fun.
Yeah, a lot of people don'thave good stories because
(47:15):
they're not trying new things orexperiencing rejection or
failure, and it's like one thingthat's cliche saying to her
there's no failure, it's just anopportunity to learn or failure
.
And it's like one thing that'scliche saying to it there's no
failure, it's just anopportunity to learn or whatever
it is, and that's all.
It is right, because it showsyou who you need to become to
get the result that you want,rather than it's just like that
association with failure You'rea failure.
It's like that's completebullshit.
(47:36):
You're only a failure if youbelieve that Exactly.
Speaker 2 (47:38):
You need to change the narrative.
Just change that, changing yourrelationship or the definition
of what failure means to you.
I guess, take it as a learningexperience, not as you've lost
your shit, you suck, becausethat's just degrading.
Speaker 1 (47:52):
Yeah, exactly, and so you've also got involved in
something exciting here in SanDiego.
Yeah, pretty pumped about that.
Speaker 2 (47:59):
Yeah, I am.
It's a very new industry for me.
Still, health and wellnessrelated.
So I'm still having an impact onpeople's lives.
Hopefully I'm sure we will.
It's called Air Locker Training.
It's obviously started inAustralia, but the boys who I'm
working for and with havebrought the concept to the US
(48:20):
and we're opening up our firstever us uh studio in san diego.
That will be the head officeand for those people who don't
know what air locker training is, it's the first ever simulated
altitude group fitness training.
So cool, so essentially, it'slike people like what do you
mean?
What do you mean simulatedaltitude training?
Well, it's basically prettysimple.
You walk into a room and it'slike you're training at 12 000
(48:42):
feet above sea level.
So it's like you're at top ofcolorado, one of the mountains
out, so your oxygen intake's alittle lower, um, so it's it's.
You notice that there's nomasks, there's none of this
sinus pressure and all the stuffyou'd get if you were to climb
base camp in colorado, becausewhat we're doing is manipulating
the oxygen molecules in the air.
Very simple we breathe at, say,21% oxygen at sea level In our
(49:08):
rooms or in our studio.
You're breathing at, you know,14.5% oxygen.
Yeah, basically.
So your blood saturationsdiminish, okay.
So what that means is you'rebasically when we're breathing
right now we're at about 98 99right yep blood sats in our in
(49:28):
our studios.
When you're walking out in agroup setting, in a team setting
which is unreal your blood satstry to be around about the 83
to 85 percent mark.
So you you only notice it afraction on your breathing.
People like, oh, that soundsscary and dory not at all.
It's a very minor adjustment toyour breathing, but the
(49:50):
positive mental benefits andphysical benefits are insanely
amazing and there's a lot ofscience.
Now, as you probably heard,athletes have been doing this
for decades, so now we'rebringing this to the masses so
that everybody can train safelyin a simulated altitude training
environment and increase theirresults in less time and safer.
(50:13):
So you actually get more likeless wear and tear in your
muscles because you're notactually able to train at such a
high intensity because thereduced oxygen environment.
So it's better on your muscles.
The recovery is outstanding andwhat I love most about our
sessions is we always finishwith breath work and meditation.
So it's a real.
(50:33):
You've got this real super likealtitude high, that you
actually experience an altitudehigher.
But then the end of oursessions is very relaxing.
It's very calm and verycentering.
It gets you back into thatstate of zen.
So you you're ready to take onthe day.
But I guess the biggest takeawayfrom what I love most about
this it's it's about creatingmental composure.
(50:56):
It's been increasing yourresilience in life, so we call
it kind of like like.
We call kind of call like acontrolled stress environment.
Yep, so it's a big focus in oursessions and we've got a number
of sessions.
Strength, lean boxing, all thatsort of stuff is about
controlling your breath.
Same way you do when you'reacting, same way you're doing
(51:17):
when you're performing or whenyou're meditating.
What are you doing in astressful situation, in a
controlled stress environment?
If you focus on your breath,you can actually slow down your
heart rate, you can actually bemore aware, you can increase
resilience.
That is what we lead first withit's brain training.
Our studios is brain trainingfirst and then physical training
(51:40):
second.
Speaker 1 (51:40):
That's such a cool resource and obviously the team
component.
You cannot be it's why,crossfit was so successful and
even like higher ups now withthe teams and stuff, um and any
group training being take off,because you got that camaraderie
and it's so hard especiallyafter for those who are athletes
or played team sports rightafter that you're like you're
always looking to fill that void.
So when you can find a grouptraining experience that brings
(52:03):
that back, it's hard to man,like it is a proper challenge.
Speaker 2 (52:06):
Like people get into each other.
You're training in sometimespairs, sometimes a little team,
and it is a.
It is honestly and I say thisnot just because I'm involved in
it it's, it's really fuckingcool and it's and it's it's a
great way to take and transformskills that you learn inside the
gym aka breath work, controlledstress, composure into an
(52:31):
everyday life.
In a situation where you mightbe under stress, you might be
under fatigue.
What can you do in thosesituations in your life?
You can transfer those sametools that we're teaching in the
gym.
Yeah, that's awesome.
Speaker 1 (52:43):
So, so good.
Sam Webb, everyone, mate, wherecan people find you if they
want to follow along with yourjourney and all the stuff you're
doing?
Speaker 2 (52:49):
They can find me just on Instagram probably is the
easiest place, that's Sam Webbor they can see my website,
samwebbcomau, and follow thejourney and I appreciate the
support that people have had onthe Living Project over the
years.
And, yeah, if you want tosupport, thank you, I appreciate
it.
Speaker 1 (53:05):
Awesome.
I'll put all of that in theshow notes, but thank you guys
for tuning in and if you gotvalue from the episode, make
sure you share it with yourfriends and leave a rating
review.
Thank you.
Have you ever wondered when it's time to move
on or how to communicate betterabout your mental health?
Well, you're in the right place.
Welcome back to the man thatCan Project.
My name is Lachlan Stewart andtoday we have an awesome guest,
sam Webb.
He's not just an actor and aTEDx speaker.
He is also the co-founder ofLivin, a mental health
(00:20):
organization that is breakingthe stigma around mental health.
I've been mates with Sam sincearound 2015.
We actually ran an eventtogether in Brisbane, and
following his journey andwatching it evolve and the
impact that he's had on not onlyhis own mental health but
mental health around Australiaand then branching out into the
United States has been nothingshort of remarkable.
So I'm excited to finally havehim on the show to be able to
(00:43):
dive a little bit deeper.
This episode does come with astrong warning we will be
talking about suicide and mentalhealth and mental illness.
So if yourself or anyone thatyou know is struggling, make
sure you please reach out.
This could be triggering.
So if you're in that position,I would highly recommend
skipping this episode.
So we're going to be talkingabout how to communicate better
(01:05):
around your mental health andsome lived experience where Sam
had a mate take his life thatled him to co-founding Libin,
amongst a heap of other things.
We record this episode from LA,where we're both living in
America now.
So buckle up for this episode.
It is going to be an insightfulone and a very, very inspiring
one so.
Sam welcome to the show, mate.
(01:26):
I've been trying to organizethis one for a number of years.
I've been following yourjourney since we first connected
back in I think it was 2015.
We ran that event at functionalyeah yeah, I got that and that
was the first time I wasinspired by the work you were
doing with living and the storythat you had behind that.
So you've been on a massivejourney in the last decade.
Like it's crazy how quicklytime's gone.
(01:48):
Both over here in la at themoment you're doing some cool
stuff, but I'd love to give theaudience a bit of a background
around who you are, why youstarted living, and then we can
dive into where we're headed nowyeah, mate for sure, and you're
dead right about this last 10years it's been a quick 10 years
.
Speaker 2 (02:02):
It's.
It literally goes so fast andit makes you wonder.
You know what's most importantin life.
And and it's kind of the seguewhich I'll speak about after I
share about why living started.
Um hi, my name is sam webb, Iam, I was one half of living.
So, with living started in uh,2013, september 15, 2013, after
(02:24):
I lost a very good friend, or welost a very good friend to
suicide, dwayne Lally.
From an outside, looking in andI'm talking about it now because
it's been 10 years.
Time, as you mentioned, goesvery quick.
There's been a lot of time toreflect, there has been a lot of
time to decompress, to thinkabout things a lot more and now
(02:47):
that I'm kind of stepped awayfrom living formally, I'm able
to really appreciate the journeyand what it taught me and what
Dwayne's death taught me.
And, looking back so I was withDwayne the night that he took
his life.
Looking back, so I was withduane the night that he took his
(03:10):
life and the impact that hisdeath had on an unquantifiable
amount of people changedeverybody's lives and, as I
mentioned, from the outsidelooking in, duane had it all.
He was the life of the party.
He was very charismatic.
He was.
People just were drawn to himlike he was.
It was a.
It was a kind of like an alphamale guy.
He was a boxer, played rugbyleague.
(03:31):
Growing up we played touchfooty together.
We always versed each other,were very competitive and you
know he would have been the lastperson that you would have
thought that would have beenstruggling with anything
mentally, let alone suicidalthoughts Like there is just no
way.
If you would explain that tosomeone, it would have been like
are you out of your mind?
(03:52):
Like what are you talking about?
That is just you're talkingshit.
Dwayne, he's playing very well,like most males do, especially.
I can talk from people inAustralia and I think the
culture is quite similar here inthe US.
Do, especially, I can talk frompeople in australia and I think
the culture is quite similarhere in the us.
Uh, men, as men, we, we hideour vulnerabilities, our weak
spots.
Uh, we hide them extremely well, very easy.
(04:15):
We try and pretend things areokay.
We smile through the toughtimes.
We look at people and we'relike nah, man, I'm sweet, I'm
cool, everything's great, I'vegot my shit together, but behind
closed doors, very differentand unbeknownst to me at the
time.
I knew that Dwayne had sufferedwith some kind of mental health
challenge I didn't know to theextent of how serious it was and
(04:38):
Sam Webb, at that moment in mylife of 2013, I was actually
just coming out of a pretty bigrelationship breakdown.
I actually lived in America in2012 and I moved home and I was
on antidepressant, anti-anxietymedication for five or six years
for my own mental healthchallenges, but I still, for
(04:59):
someone who had experienced itmyself, I couldn't really tell
it in someone else and Icertainly couldn't really
articulate it enough.
Speaker 1 (05:10):
So that it makes sense if that makes sense, yeah,
definitely, and I was just likeI never spoke about my
challenges ever.
Speaker 2 (05:18):
I never went to speak to someone other than a
psychologist or my girlfriend atthat time, briar but I never or
my mum, or the people I reallytrusted right in my life the
people I really trusted or amental health professional.
Yet I didn't know the warningsigns and symptoms.
I only knew it for myselfbecause you're so invested in
how you're feeling.
You're trying to escape thosefeelings right.
(05:38):
Dwayne suffered with bipolarand depression for a number of
years.
I didn't know how severe it wasuntil the night that I was with
him and I remember Dwaynesaying to me Webby, webby, webby
, come over mine.
So I was meant to catch up.
We were meant to do a doubledate Him, his girlfriend at the
time.
(05:58):
They were together for six orseven years and he tried to set
her friend up with me and we'dgo and do a dinner and it was
all going to be a great night.
Those dinner plans gotcancelled.
Dwayne's like you're coming tomy house having a little party.
The ball was on, he was a bigBulldogs fan and it's just the
close friends of his place inPalm Beach.
I remember it like it wasyesterday.
So I come on over and I'm likeyeah, sweet, get, they picked me
(06:19):
up.
Headed to his house, dwayne wasthe happiest.
He answered the door, Iremember in a TNC shirt with a
beanie on.
His Converse is on.
He's like come on in.
He's happy as just like anyother time, very happy, had a
couple of drinks.
The night was great.
And not long later he's likeduring the night, he's like
where are you coming?
I want to talk to you.
(06:40):
So I was talking to him in hisroom and, out of nowhere, dwayne
opened up to me about hismental health problems and on
this level I didn't even knowwhat to expect.
I'm like what do you want tochat about?
Yeah, we're having a chat, justa boy, a lad's chat, just him
and I.
And he's like Webby, I've youknow, no one really knows this.
But yeah, I've tried to take mylife before and I was like in
(07:02):
my mind I'm thinking why is hetelling me this?
Why is this getting told to menow, when we're under the
influence?
And then he's like not once,but twice.
I've tried to take my lifetwice before and I'm like what
do I say?
My mind's going on a mile anhour.
What should I say what's right,what's wrong?
What would I want to hear inthis situation if I was in his
shoes?
I'm thinking what should I say?
What's right, what's wrong?
What would I think in thissituation?
(07:24):
What would I want to hear inthis situation if I was in his
shoes?
I'm reassuring Dwayne man.
What do you mean?
Talk to me, bro.
I'm here, you're in safe space.
And he's like yeah, I tried totake my life before twice and
I'm the kind of guy that woulddo it Like no suicidal, and they
(07:50):
get down, I'm fucking gonnakill myself.
All this stuff that people saywhich doesn't help with the
stigma, and um, he's like butI'm kind of pretty twisted, like
I'd probably be one of the guysto do it, and I'm like I'm
sitting there thinking what do Isay next?
I'm listening, I'm trying tolisten as best as I could, I'm
trying to listen as best as Iknow you know in that moment,
having a few drinks and whateverelse and I try to reassure him.
You're okay, man.
Like is everything good?
Like, where are you at now?
No, webby, I'm fine.
(08:11):
I just want to share it withyou how I was feeling.
Like it was a lot.
I could never do it.
I could never let my familydown.
I never let my mum and dad downbecause they were so close to
his mum.
His whole family was he's.
Like I can never do it and butI just want to let you know
where I'm at.
Like I'm pretty twisted likethat, like I've got the balls to
do that, if, if I needed to.
(08:31):
But I wouldn't do it again.
It was like yeah, I, I, I made,I don't even know how to say it.
I was like what do I say?
Trying to listen, I'mreassuring him.
You know, don't ever.
If you're ever feeling low inyour life and at a point where
you feel like that is an option,you can call me anytime, you
can phone me.
I don't care if it's at 3 am,whatever time of the night.
You've got a thousand peoplewho would line up at a door
(08:52):
waiting to help you.
You've got your family, who arethe best things ever and we're
all here to support you.
Ah no, I'm sweet.
I promise everything's good.
I'd never do it.
Everything's life's great.
Um, we started talking aboutdifferent medications.
He was on and I'd been on someof them in the past and you know
, I started sharing about howI'd felt in the past and that
you know I'd been on mentalhealth medication for a while,
(09:15):
up and down, and met, you know,anxiety and mild depression for
a number of years.
And we were just talking, man,and it was at the end of it.
I'm like you're sure you'reokay, man, remember, you can
always call me, no matter.
And it was at the end of it.
I'm like are you sure you'reokay, man?
Remember, you can always callme, no matter what.
And I was at this party with himand I sat there and we were
having a hell of a time.
I was with him basically allnight because I knew the other
people at the house and they'rehis friends and my friends, but
(09:39):
I wasn't as close to them and soI remember the last thing he
said to me.
I left that room and that was alot of conversation, a lot of
weight that we probably bothwore.
I left and I remember sittingat the front door that night.
There's a big couch right nextto the front door, front door's
to my right.
I'm sitting there with thisgirl and we're just chatting,
having a good night and party'sgoing on Not too loud music,
(10:01):
people having D&Ms, conversationthis is a long-winded one.
Speaker 1 (10:03):
I'm giving you the full story.
Speaker 2 (10:04):
Mate, I'm very interested in this and I see his
girlfriend at the time come outfor me.
I'm like, what's he trying todo?
Dwayne's going to kill himself.
He just told me he's going tokill himself and I think he's
going to do it this time.
And I sat down.
I'm like, well, where is he?
I was just like, oh, let metalk to him.
And he didn't come past mebecause I was having a
(10:27):
conversation that we had, likemy eyes were dialed in and I
didn't see him.
Come, she goes, he's escaped.
He ran out the back door orwhatever, and I was looking
around the house everywhere forhim.
I couldn't find him anywhere.
She's like, he said he wasgoing to do it and he's done
this before, but I feel likethis time is for real.
He's going to do it.
He said he was going to do it.
He promised all my life he'sgoing to do it.
And I'm like and so, mate I?
(10:49):
I was pretty drunk at the stageand I remember jumping in the
car with with the girls by the,and we drove halfway around the
gold coast that night lookingfor him from palm beach and no,
no responses on the phone.
I was texting please answer,bro.
Don't do anything stupid.
Man, I'm here.
We have said this greatconversation.
I'm here for you, I'll listento you, I'll do whatever I can
to get you the support that youneed to get back on track.
(11:11):
Your mom, his mom, was trying tolike we learned her and I
didn't want to freak her out andshe called him.
He didn't answer.
I'm like, fuck, this isn't good.
When he's not answering hismom's calls, things.
This isn't good.
No one was closer than him andhis mom were the um, nobody and
but and but.
He was so tight with his wholefamily like they they were first
(11:31):
in his life, always.
And, man, I remember going tothe palm beach, the the bridge
there still tell about to driveand sam did a u-turn under the
bridge, drove back out.
And, man, it was the next day.
Him and Sam did a U-turn underthe bridge, drove back out.
And, man, it was the next dayhim and I went to watch at the
(11:52):
Shark Bar, miami Shark Bar,canelo Alvarez versus Floyd
Mayweather.
He's a huge.
He was golden gloves in hisprior boxing days and he loved
fighting Like he was aprofessional athlete in that
regard.
And I'm like he's going's gonnashow up like I couldn't sleep
that night, thinking the worstbut not trying to think the
worst.
Yeah, so I don't think theworst.
(12:12):
He's gonna be okay, but he toldyou it's very heavy.
I hope that wasn't quite thehelp.
And then, mate, I rememberseeing faces of duane on
facebook and on Instagram.
Please, or let the police orlet us know if you've seen him
around anywhere.
And I knew this started to getserious.
This was like there was no, hewasn't coming to shop.
I didn't get any missed calls.
(12:33):
The next day there was ananswer in my call was nobody,
nobody's.
The message is nothing.
I'm like this is super fuckingweird, mate.
I got a call at 5 o'clock.
I think that afternoon.
That day was the slowest day ofmy life, I reckon.
Just thinking, like what'sstill in my mind?
Where is he?
Is anyone down him?
Surely he's just going to turnup.
There's no way he would havetaken his life.
(12:55):
Like, there's just no way.
He just told me that he wouldnever have done it and looked at
me in the eye and promised mehe was fine and he had so much
to live for.
And you know, the future waslooking bright and promising for
him and we were talking aboutthe future and I remember a call
at five o'clock saying Dwaynehad been found dead.
(13:17):
And, man, I remember where I was.
I was sitting on my seat in myapartment in Burley Waters and I
was eating a pizza actually atthe time and I grabbed it and I
just threw it and I just and Ididn't want to believe what I
just heard Dwayne had been founddead, he'd taken his own life.
And I said there's no waythat's happened.
Like I was in shock.
(13:38):
So I got back in my car on aSunday night and I drove up to
the hospital that's where hisfamily were and his close
friends and I didn't believe ituntil I seen it.
Like I had to see this in myown eyes to actually believe
what I was hearing was true.
And, mate, I remember being inthe viewing room and, like
warning from one listening, um,and this is pretty heavy content
(14:01):
, so do it, do it, do I?
Uh, I'll do a warning content,warning at the start.
Um, man, the moment they theywound back those curtains.
I saw a Dwayne there.
He was just lying there, sameclothes except the beanie, same
everything, and I was justfucking with him, like not long
ago, not even 24 hours ago, likewe were just having a
(14:24):
conversation, the fact that I do.
Did I say something wrong?
Did I not give him the supportthat he needed?
And man, he's just.
He was dead, like he was infront of me.
It was just.
I've never, I'll never, be ableto erase that moment in my life.
And it's not about me,obviously, but his family man,
(14:45):
what I saw in his family.
They're never going to be thesame Like I've seen them over
the years.
Not as much as I'd like,because I feel like at times,
you know, being around thefamily and seeing them it kind
of reminds them.
You know, when you're likecertain moments.
He was the last person to havea chat with my son.
(15:05):
It's pretty sad.
Do you feel any guilt?
You know, I felt so much guilt,man, for so many years, and I
think that's what the relentlesspassion and the purpose behind
setting living up was.
You know, duane used to alwayssay we're living, man, we're
living, and for anyone listening, that's that's the segue to
living.
He always used to say we'reliving and I was like we have to
do something about this andduring that time, man, I was
(15:27):
like my wheels are falling offand I'd started sliding deep
back into severe, like darktimes in my life and I was
trying to stay afloat by tryingto do something well and good
for the community in Duane'sname, with Casey and a few other
people.
It was monumental help.
I couldn't have done it withoutanyone.
We couldn't have done itwithout each other.
So I'm sitting there.
(15:50):
We started living long storyshort short and I started with
doing mental health awarenessand suicide prevention
initiatives, you know, likebreaking the stigma around
mental health.
What did we have or didn't wehave?
I should say at the moment inour life that we would have
liked to have had or we couldhave had.
That may have saved thissituation and stop this from
happening.
And yeah, we asked duane'sfamily for permission.
(16:12):
We're like we really want to dosomething in duane's honor and
his legacy.
Can we start something?
And they we sold shirts at hiswake and they all sold duane's
face and he had this song forthe son of the from his avia
right on the shirt and they soldand we got the money and
duane's family donated the moneyto us and said do something
cool with it.
So we literally had like Ithink they'd raised like $4,000
(16:35):
and we used that and turned thatinto living and that was a huge
process of starting a charity,and that's probably a whole
other conversation.
Pitching to a law firm on theGold Coast can you take us pro
bono, like crying in front ofthem and just going, please?
We want to do this, we want tosave lives and so much support.
Live in Woodland, where you aretoday, and I say all the time
(16:55):
without everyone.
Everybody's been involvedequally as much as I've been
involved, and man, I mean.
Dwayne's death was a wake-upmoment for not only me but for a
lot of people in our communityand I wasn't even though I've
(17:16):
lost people in my life prior toeven Dwayne passing away.
That member spoke about it andtalked to you about it at the
start of this episode.
I wasn't really aware about it.
We weren't aware about thestatistics that surround mental
health and suicide preventionand suicide in general until we
started working it with Liverand we started doing the charity
and started speaking at schoolsand going to workplaces and
started really diving into theinto the statistics of the facts
(17:36):
and speaking to mental healthprofessionals, we realized that
this was a big problem, and notjust in australia.
It's a big problem all over theworld, mainly here, obviously,
australia, america, all thesewestern societies, but um
dwayne's death, yeah, itaffected thousands and thousands
of people.
You can't put a number onsomeone's life and, obviously,
(17:58):
if I could take everything back,including that event the night
and all the work that's beendone in the interim between 2013
and up until today, I would ina heartbeat.
But you can't do that, yeah,and we live and we learn and
yeah, it was fucking terribleman as well you guys really I
still remember when they've beensort of started showing up
(18:21):
everywhere a lot of our friends.
Speaker 1 (18:22):
I grew up in toowoomba but was playing footy
down the coast and everythinglike that.
So it just started popping upeverywhere and I first was, uh,
buddy I grew up with committedsuicide when I was 14.
It was on the front page of theToowoomba Chronicle.
No one spoke about it, no oneever asked if I was all right or
if other people were all right,and I just remember keeping
that paper under the bed andyou'd pull it out and cry about
(18:45):
it, but then as a bloke you'relike can't show any feelings
about that, can't talk about it.
And then it started happeningmore and more.
Since you know, since we leftschool, we've lost like nine
mates now from school, which isinsane.
But what you guys did with Libbyand there's a lot of other
charities and organisationsdoing stuff now, but you sort of
paved that way, especially forwhy I related to it was like
(19:07):
ex-football boys doing it andgenerally were the ones that
find different ways to deal withour emotions partying, etc.
So more people started talkingabout it.
And then, um, the learning, thenext tools like how do you
communicate?
How do you, I guess, sit down,have a mate open up to you, how
do you know whether it's a realred flag, all those sorts of
things which, when you sit therelearning you know whether it's
(19:29):
mental health, first aid oranything like that.
You're like why we call this atschool, I think just, or it just
, it's human connection, right.
And then you start recognizingthe importance of it was the
health professionals.
But we also start recognizingthe importance of us as
individuals.
I feel a lot of people don'tfeel they're qualified to help.
(19:49):
Yeah, exactly, but at the endof the day, it's like person to
person.
Building relationships is partof that, and finding purpose and
meaning and making others and,if not yourself, feel valued and
feel heard can go a long way aswell.
Speaker 2 (20:04):
Definitely, man, definitely I think, yeah, you
don't have to be professional tosave someone's life.
Yep, well, that firsthand, andI'm sure you have to with all
the great work you've done overthe years and the conversations
you've had.
Man, I mean, yeah, it's mentalhealth is paramount and it's
definitely something that peopletalk about a lot more these
days.
It's still very complex.
(20:25):
Mental health is complex.
Brains are complex.
Humans are complex.
Man, they not simple.
We're not just simplethree-dimensional characters.
That's not what we are.
It's very complex and what I'velearned, mostly over the last
10 years before I stepped downfrom living, was that there are
a lot of people that you cansave and you can help a lot of
(20:47):
people.
There are always heavy peoplethat fall through the cracks,
unfortunately, and I've, caseyand myself, and the community
that we started living with,we're like we're going to have a
zero policy game here, zerosuicide game.
No one's dying ever again.
We're going to fucking save theworld.
We were very wrong really quick, because it's the great work.
Yet so far, there's always gapsand, as you know, in a of
(21:13):
australia, for the listeners,rural, you almost say to them is
kind of rural, yeah.
Or a country, town, yeah.
Um, access to support, accessto help that tough it up
mentality is even stronger.
You don't get the city.
You don't get access to thesupport that you'd get in a city
of, say, sydney or brisbane.
You know what I mean onmelbourne, yeah, so there are
(21:33):
always going to be people thatfall through the gaps, but our
job as thinkers is humans.
It's just trying to listen,just trying to be there for
people who might be struggling,yeah, and don't try and problem
solve.
I reflect and you asked mebefore right, did I feel guilty?
Of course I felt all right.
(21:53):
Did I feel guilty?
Of course I felt.
There were years of feelingguilt around duane's passing.
Pardon me, should I have donemore?
Did I listen good enough?
Did I say the wrong thing?
Should I stay with him allnight, not let him out of my
sight?
There's so many things thatcame into mind, but I can't take
back what had happened and Ionly knew what I knew in that
moment of time, with theinformation that I had right in
that moment.
There was nothing that I couldhave done anything else.
(22:14):
But, yes, I beat myself up.
Why didn't you do more?
Why didn't you listen?
Why didn't you listen more?
You shouldn't have beendrinking, there shouldn't have
been drugs at the party, allthis stuff.
But I can't take that back andI didn't know.
I can't foresee the future.
But what I can do is see whathappened.
Where did did it go wrong?
What can I change for thefuture?
And the biggest takeaway fromDwayne's passing for me is like
(22:41):
stop trying to problem-solveeverything, especially in these
kind of conversations, even withyour loved ones.
Right now, if you have a son,daughter I don't have families
yet, hopefully one day, but I'vegot a wife and it's the same
thing Like, stop trying to be aproblem solver all the time.
Because sam webb's brain kickedin that knife, I was like how
can I help?
Where can I fix?
Fix it, fix it, fix it, fix it.
Maybe dwayne just wanted me toshut the fuck up and listen more
(23:01):
.
Listen non-judgmentally.
I wasn't being judgmental atall, but it was like maybe I
could have listened more.
And so these are the thingslisten non-judgmentally.
Stop trying to problem solve.
You're not supposed to have theanswer to everything and you
aren't People.
And I can tell from my ownexperience as being at the
depths of life many times islike what I'm looking for in
(23:24):
those moments is someone to say,okay, here's a grand, big,
special plan and life is laidout in a platter and this is the
way forward.
It's not about that.
And life is laid out in aplatter and this is the way
forward.
It's not about that.
It's about someone justshutting up, listening to you
with open ears and trying tohelp you however you can.
For example, lockie, I see thatyou're struggling.
Is there something that I cando right now that may be able to
(23:46):
help you?
You might be like nah, sammy,I'm sweet, life is great, I'm
fine man.
Yeah, okay, don't worry.
Be like nah, sammy, I'm sweet,life is great, I'm fine man.
Yeah, okay, no worries, man,just want to let you know, as a
good friend, I'm here wheneveryou're ready.
There's no pressure, no rush.
Just let me know when you'reready.
Just give me a tap, give me atext, give me a call, whatever.
Whatever works for you, noworries, man.
Now you know as a friend thatsam's listened, he's opened up
(24:09):
the space and he's provided thesegue for you to get the support
you need whenever it's time foryou.
There's no pressure, there's noproblem solving and there's no
shoving information andeducation and self-help tips
down his throat.
Go to the gym, fucking.
Go for a run.
Sit in a sauna.
You'll feel better in 30minutes.
I know you feel better in 30minutes and I go for runs almost
every second day.
I know it makes you feel better,but for some people they can't
(24:31):
run like you and I, yeah, theycan't get on a treadmill, they
can't get on a fucking bike,they can't go to the gym, they
can't sit in the sauna.
That's shit too hard.
What can I do right now?
That's going to help you, andthat's just shutting up and
listening and just being an openear.
That's it.
And you do not have to have amedical degree for that, and
that's the one thing I'velearned that's a massive
takeaway, like the fact for them, that big thing is actually
(24:53):
just opening up.
Speaker 1 (24:54):
I remember we're in uh, bali, but we're on a
beautiful island over in papuanew guinea amazing couple of
minutes.
Go out on the boats andwhatever.
And I was depressed.
I was having a really really,really low day.
I was like I just need to belocked like, not locked in.
I didn't get locked in, butjust stay in the room.
You guys go do your thing.
And I was sitting there thinkinglike why the fuck do I always
(25:15):
have these big mood swings?
And I sat in it for fuckinglike six hours.
And then I remember at onepoint I was like I don't, my
goal wasn't to go run oranything like that, but it's
like if this happens again,instead of being six hours, it's
going to be five hours.
What do I need to do todecrease the time of these mood
swings?
And over time I've developeddifferent habits.
(25:36):
I still have, um, massive highsand lows and all that sort of
stuff, but I'm a lot more awarearound triggers and causes.
That's the reason why I wassaying I don't drink a heat like
I used to, because that's notreally good for me, um, and
various other things, but itwasn't the fact that I'm like,
get your ass off and go for arun in your lazy bicycle,
because that just makes me feelI've already.
(25:56):
I'm already feeling like afailure, so I'm so sad in the
fact that now I can't run, I'llget in the sauna.
It's like now I feel like areal piece of shit.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
So to your point, like the factthat someone's opening up to
you is a really big, huge thingfor them.
Right to meet them wherethey're at and just then,
hopefully, whatever that nextstep is for them, they'll, you
know, feel comfortable takingthat when they're ready.
(26:16):
But even depression and anxietyand you mentioned bipolar,
while we label all of thesethings it's like that experience
for everyone is so unique it is.
It's one of the things I hateis like when people say I've
been depressed, I've beenanxious, this is what it's like,
this is what I did in my yeah,but that was your experience.
You're completely disregardingwhat you've discovered.
(26:37):
It's like just listen, don'tjam your experience down my
throat, or anything like that.
It's helpful when I'm in a goodmood.
Speaker 2 (26:44):
I write now, just potentially listen, yeah, and
that's it man, and that's it man.
I mean, no one has the answersto everything.
Mental health is complex andyour experience is very
different than mine.
Your anxiety is different thanmy anxiety.
You might have some similarsymptoms, but it affects us
differently.
It's unique and what works foryou may not work for me.
(27:06):
Maybe some of the things workfor me, like, yeah, just a hot
shower, feel relaxed.
Yeah, that definitely works forme.
Like, yeah, just a hot shower,feel relaxed.
Yeah, that definitely works forme.
This one, being in a creativeplace, um, super anxious, isn't
probably the best place for me.
Maybe it's a good distractionfor you, you know.
So it's very different.
It's extremely unique.
Don't judge someone'sexperience.
Just be there and listen, likeyou mentioned, be with them at
(27:28):
that same level and just listen.
Mental health is hand on myheart is the most important
thing in life.
In order to get your physicalhealth at its optimum and its
highest potential and yourspiritual potential.
Everything I feel like revolvesaround your mental wellness.
(27:50):
So, whatever you can do to feelgood in life between your ears
and sharp, and feel confidentand uplifted and satisfied and
maybe even content, you'realready miles ahead of where
(28:11):
most almost most people are yeah, because like, yeah, it's a
funny thing, you know this.
This whole this is a biggerconversation than suicide
prevention.
This is this is a conversationof.
It's a mental health game we'relooking at here.
Life is a mental health game.
Everything that you do is allabout how you react to
situations under pressure, howyou react to situations under
(28:34):
stress.
What are you saying back tosomeone in the road right, like
in cutting off in traffic, likethis is all mental related.
It's not how big you are, howmuch weight you can lift, how
far you run, how hot's your,your wife, or how successful you
are in your business.
It's how you react tosituations and that all starts
(28:55):
with the way that your brainbrain is kind of functioning at
that moment.
So it's what you can do tostrengthen that that brain, that
muscle that you can show up inthis world and be the best
version for yourself.
But then you're going to be thebest for everyone else.
You know best for your mates.
You need best for your.
Be the best for your wife, yourpartner, your son, your
daughter, your cousin, yourniece, whoever it is your
(29:15):
colleague.
You're going to be better atwork.
You're going to be better inthe gym because you feel cleaner
, like you feel clearer, so youknow what you want.
You know how to lift, what tolift, you're more motivated so
it just affects everything.
You know what I mean, a hundredpercent.
So that's why I'm verypro-mental wellness.
It's not.
(29:36):
Mental health is like acontinuum.
Yep, we all sit on a continuumof zero to ten, for example, and
we slide and come up and downon a day-to-day, a
minute-to-minute, hour-to-hourbasis.
We might be doing cool rightnow we're on a podcast, we're
having a good chat talking aboutwellness and how to help people
(29:57):
and experiences, but maybethere's something that breaks
down this afternoon.
Maybe there's a big businessdeal that goes wrong, or a house
falls through that you wantedto buy, or the missus is in an
accident.
God forbid, it doesn't happen.
You know what I'm saying?
Yeah, and that might get youoff guard, and then shit happens
and then you might slide andthen you might be now stressed
and you might be slipping.
Speaker 1 (30:17):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (30:18):
But it's when we sit too far down on the bottom part
of the spectrum, because mentalhealth and mental illness are
two very different things.
We've all got mental health.
It's just where we sit on thatspectrum.
Mental illness is a diagnosablemental health challenge which
changes the way that you behaveon a day-to-day basis.
It can affect your day-to-daymoods, your decision making and
(30:38):
all that sort of stuff.
So it's actually a diagnosableillness like a broken arm or a
leg, but we all have mentalhealth.
So it's important to make youmake mention that, because
they're very different.
Mental health and mentalillness, two different things I
did.
Speaker 1 (30:49):
Yeah, I don't think people cover that enough.
So for me it's like mentalhealth as well, semi-physical
health.
You could be the absolutesports star, like how often
you've probably seen you go backhome and the start of the
fucking school football team wasjacked, and now he's, you know,
40 kilos overweight and hasn'tlooked after himself.
And it's like, okay, well,health doesn't matter.
(31:10):
Whether you've got pinnaclemental health, spiritual health,
financial health.
Today it can be taken away fromyou with things out of your
control, but also things thatmaybe you're doing right, and
that's why, for me, it's likelearning these, these tools and
resources and communication is amassive one for well-being and
I think, moving anything towardsrelationships, finances.
(31:33):
The better you can communicate,people can understand you, you
can understand them, youunderstand yourself better,
which is key to going, like howI feel like I'm heading towards
a bit of a slippery slope.
Do I need support?
Do I need, you know, myprofessional help?
Do I need tools?
And you know medications, atool, exercises, a tool, some
like there's so many fuckingtools, just like there's so many
(31:53):
diets, and it's like you've gotto choose the ones that work
well for you.
Yeah, but you know the toolsthat work for you 10 years ago
may not work for you today.
That's why it I said you'reconstantly, you know, chipping
away at it and I think you'resharing your story and what you
guys have done with living hasbeen huge, because there's more
people than ever.
You know, man, this is myexperience with it.
This is what works for me.
I'm not saying it's going towork for you, but if you have a
(32:15):
tool, you want to test that outand add it to your life.
Awesome, like test a crack.
Yeah, exactly, but you've saidit a couple of times now you've
obviously stepped away fromliving.
I was listening to a podcastthat you were on recently and I
was very curious as to why andsort of what's next for you,
because you've obviously putyour heart and soul into that
for 10 years and I do rememberyou saying like it gave you
(32:37):
purpose, right, and I'm a bigbeliever and I actually wrote
down here like purpose is thereason for which something is
done and created and for whichsomething exists, and you were
doing that in memory.
But also it then gave youpurpose to stop other people
taking their life, so forsomething that was your vehicle
and I want to really highlightthis, because a lot of people
think that a decision they'vemade is something that's going
(32:59):
to stay for the rest of theirlife.
Yeah, it know, it's like that'swhy so many of those don't make
decisions and I'm like, fuck,what if I don't like that?
Or what if that's the wrongdecision?
It's like you were 10 yearsinto something and now you've
made a new decision to trysomething new.
What you know, I guess,inspired that and were you
nervous as well about leavingbehind something that had been a
big part of your life for thelast 10 years.
Speaker 2 (33:20):
It's a great question .
I appreciate you asking and youknow what.
It was a very hard decision Forme.
I think a big catalyst of itwas leaving Australia Yep,
leaving Australia to come toAmerica Living.
Yes, I credit living and Dwayneand this whole movement for
(33:40):
saving my own life a number oftimes, to be honest, and it gave
me everything that I have inlife and service in my being, my
purpose, my mission and, yeah,it really was an incredible
experience.
It was great to be a part ofMet some of the most beautiful
people along the way.
People changed my life, Ichanged their life, we changed
(34:02):
their life.
I was their life, we changedtheir life.
I was involved in some coolinitiatives, every life
remembrance man.
I'll never forget it and I'llalways be a part of it in some
way, shape or form, whether I'mjust advocating for them or
whatever.
Moving to America in 2019, Idecided obviously I wanted to
come over here.
I did want to pursue living inAmerica because I realised
(34:23):
living would be needed in theStates.
It's probably needed everywhere.
But also, you know, I've gotother dreams and aspirations,
too that I want to achieve in mylife, and you know one of them
is acting and I moved to theStates with my now wife and it
was just, it just naturallyhappened.
I feel like man.
(34:44):
I mean, being here and being sofar removed from the team,
trying to work remotely wasn'treally beneficial for the team
or myself and them and probablyeveryone's mental health.
Yeah, it's not great working indifferent time zones by
yourself.
It was very hard and I kind ofwouldn't say that I lost my love
for it, but I wasn't doing thework that I was doing on the
(35:06):
cold face, like so.
When I lived in america, I wason the ground, I'm sorry.
When I was living in australia,I was on the ground, right, I
was meeting people, speaking atevents, um, seeing people's
change by having interactiveconversations, whereas when I'm
in america, I didn't realize itat the time, I was like, no,
it's going to work, I can makeit work, but no, I mean, I was
very wrong.
It was coming to the states.
I was basically fully removedand then just working on high
(35:29):
level tasks, operational stuff,which I'm not good at and I'm
not the the greatest person tobe doing and I didn't.
I don't enjoy it, to be honest.
So I guess for me it was that,but also knowing that I'd been
doing it for 10 years.
I loved what I did, this legacyas a leader.
I think it's important torecognize when, when your time
(35:50):
is up and knowing that it's okayto to leave something behind
that you you might have had ahand in creating and you were so
passionate in, and you changedlives and you changed your own
life it's okay to be able to sayyou know what?
I'm in a place now where I feelhealthy enough to walk away
from it and I'm going to trysomething else.
I'm going to pass that on tosomeone else, pass the baton to
(36:13):
someone else, and they can flythe flag with their own new
visions and their own newmissions and their way of life,
and they're going to be morehands-on because they're back in
australia.
I wasn't doing it justice beingan american man, unless we
started it here, and it just fora lot of different reasons.
It's it wasn't meant to be andhere I am, man and in america.
(36:33):
As I said, it was the mostamazing experience I had.
I love, I love it.
I love everyone involved in it.
I'm very grateful to have gotthe opportunity to be a part of
it for 10 years and my goal wasgetting into.
It was changing one life,saving one life.
We've saved thousands of livesand I want living to outlive me.
I want it to teach other peoplea legacy.
(36:55):
I want it to be a thing peopleremember in their own day-to-day
lives and their own behavioralchanges.
So I feel like for me it was asuccess.
I'm now on to my next missionsand I'm still advocating for
wellness and mental health andeverything that I do and I'll
always do that and that's just apart of my life and my DNA, and
(37:16):
I'm very grateful and lucky tobe able to do that from afar.
Speaker 1 (37:19):
That's awesome, man.
It's exciting.
I was thinking about in my head.
I'm like wondering why I wasthinking about your potential
responses, and there was a quotethat probably hits that well,
where it's the purpose of lifeis to discover your gift.
The work is to develop it.
The meaning of life is to giveit away, and that's sort of what
you've done with living, andnow, obviously, moving into that
(37:41):
next, next chapter of your lifeis pretty bloody exciting as
well, and I've been looking atthat back.
As for for mental health as well, I know when I was, I guess, at
my rock bottom after footy, Ididn't have a purpose, or I
didn't think I had a purpose,but I hadn't explored much
outside of that, because for solong my identity was I'm a footy
(38:01):
player, that's it.
And then when that's taken awayfrom you, so my purpose is done
, my life stuff.
But what I've recognized overthe last 10 years is by just
trying new stuff, trying to findpurpose, I found even the man
that can project.
People ask me are you going todo this for everyone?
Like I don't know.
I'm not attached to it anymorelike I used to.
(38:21):
I love it, it's everything tome right now, but I don't, if I
believe it's everything that'sdefines me, if I ever do step
away from it or walk away fromit, you know, find myself in
that same position I was 10years ago.
Yeah, it's like I'm a husband,I'm a.
Consider myself an athletestill, I'm a you know business,
but there's so many elements tome I think that's for everyone.
(38:42):
We just don't give ourselfenough acknowledgement or shine
the light on those aspects ofourselves.
So when one thing's taken away,we're like fuck yeah, I think.
Speaker 2 (38:51):
I think it's a super important thing you brought up
actually, man, I think.
And to your point about thetransitional stuff and how you
get stuck up in this identity,one thing I did did really, and
yes, the whole transition andliving has been difficult as far
as finding my real strong,happy purpose, where I wake up
every day and I'm fuckingchipper and I'm poverty.
Yes, it's difficult but, likeyou said, you try things, you
(39:13):
test things, you find things.
It doesn't happen overnight.
It may take years, buteventually it will come.
But not wrapping yourself up inan identity like I'm Sam for the
live and do, that's not whatit's about.
I'm Sam who's generous.
I'm Sam who's kind, I'mcompassionate.
I'm a good listener.
Now, maybe when I was younger Iwasn't the best listener, but
(39:35):
I'm a lot better than now.
I'm a very hard worker.
I don't take no for an answer.
These are things that we shouldidentify with as opposed to I'm
.
I'm a banker, I'm an actor, I'ma musician.
You know, all these things iswhere people go wrong, because
when that stuff's taken awayfrom them, or it fails or they
(39:57):
don't succeed in it, it's like,well, fuck, what am I?
You know?
Then you feel lost, then youimplode.
So I did a pretty good job withthat, with living, because I,
because I spoke to so manypeople throughout- the 10 years
and throughout my lifeexperiences.
I've seen it on podcasts, heardprofessional athletes struggle
with this transition of identitycrisis and I was like I can't
do that.
Speaker 1 (40:16):
I can't do that, I can't do that so I trained
myself pretty well, so I withthat part I've been very blessed
.
Speaker 2 (40:22):
I've been great because I positioned myself well
enough to.
I'm not Sam that I help with it.
That's not who I am.
Speaker 1 (40:30):
It's a good point, though.
Everyone's going to experiencetransition at some point in
their life.
So, whether you think it's notgoing to happen to you, you need
to start getting prepared forit, because it will happen,
whether it's.
Kids leave the home.
We've got a big portion of dadsin our community and I
literally jump on all theircalls because I'm like, oh, I
want to be a dad one day,obviously, and the stuff that
(40:51):
they're talking about some ofthe you know ones just become a
granddad.
So it's like it's veryinteresting hearing different
stages of life and learning fromthem what they wish they knew,
and I'm like, well, I wasthinking about that on the way
over.
I'm like, fuck, all the, allthe advice we you know.
If I knew everything I knew nowwhen I was younger, I wouldn't
have made the same mistake.
Yeah, so that's never going tobe reality for any of us.
(41:11):
We have to learn through ourexperiences, but if we have
people who are older than us inthe position we've been in and
we have the ability to talk tothem and learn from them, why
the fuck are we doing that?
And when we do talk to them,why don't we actually listen to
what they're saying rather thanoh no, stupid, exactly, I'll do
it.
It's wisdom.
Yeah, yeah, literally that's theword I was looking for.
I was hoping it would come out,but I don't have enough of that
(41:36):
yet.
But you've mentioned acting aswell.
So over in la, acting betweenthe little that I know about, it
is a, not a sport, a careerwhere you'd face extreme
rejection.
Has that been part of yourexperience and, if so, what has
inspired you to continue going?
Because rejection is somethingpeople just won't do anything in
(41:59):
their life because they'refearing it.
They, they aren't evenexperiencing it, they're
experiencing the fear of it.
So, for you as an actor andyour experience, how have you
been inspired to continue towork through?
Speaker 2 (42:09):
that 99.99% have been no's made rejections, and
that's the industry I've got tothe bed with.
I guess that's just what I'vesaid before.
I love doing it.
I feel like for me, and part ofthe story is I love doing it, I
feel like for me, and part ofthe story is I started pursuing
acting.
I should have done it a lotearlier.
I was doing it as like an extraand as a kid my family used to
(42:34):
try to push me into it, but Iwas always into sports.
But when Dwayne passed, it wasactually part of my first ever
performance.
It was a 12-show performance onthe Gold Coast.
Actually, it was halfwaythrough rehearsals when Dwayne
passed.
It's what kept the glue togetherand it's what made me feel
alive, made me feel reallypresent.
I could forget about everythingin life and just be super in
the moment.
(42:54):
It's kind of like that samething.
You'd feel back.
You know, as an athlete, whenyou're in the zone, it's the
same feeling.
I feel in the zone when I'm ona set or I'm in a class.
It's the same feeling.
It's very addictive.
I love it Very hard.
I'm here in LA.
This is the mecca.
(43:16):
This is a Super Bowl ofentertainment.
So I've signed up for thehardest gig in the world but,
mate, I feel like I've got whatit takes.
I don't take no for an answer.
I love working hard.
I love hard work and the actingacting's cool because you can
it's.
You've got to be veryempathetic, you're very
(43:38):
compassionate, you've got tounderstand different types of
people, what you are and whatother people are and how you can
become that person, in a way,by using your instrument being
myself.
So you get a very good side inunderstanding other people from
a psychological point of view.
Yeah, and I like it, man,because it's a very big
(43:59):
challenge for me and it makes Ilove being present, because it's
something I big challenge forme and it makes it just I love
being present because it'ssomething I struggle with in
life.
I'm always thinking about things, my mind goes pretty quick, it
doesn't really slow down untilthe night and like it's one of
those things that really slowsme down and makes me really
present and appreciate things.
And I know I'm going around thesurface here.
(44:22):
But yeah, acting is the hardest.
It's it's been nothing butrejection, but you got to take
the small wins, what's in yourcontrol and you just keep
getting back up and if it'ssomething that you want, well
enough and a lot you make youfind a way.
It's whatever it takes, andthat's the mindset that I'm in
right now.
It's whatever it takes for meand I've got, no, I've got.
I.
I'm literally yeah, it's, it's.
(44:44):
It's not an option to fail init it's it's.
Speaker 1 (44:48):
There's two things that I take away from that that
I get excited about.
One is obviously the experienceof who you become in that
process, like the being present,something I also struggle with.
I'm always doing something andI'm like it's coming tomorrow or
whatever, and I'm very aware ofthat.
But one thing that I'm veryuncomfortable with is is like
dancing and acting and saying,well, this is hate it and I
don't do it.
(45:08):
But as you're explaining itthere, it's like you get in your
body and it's the one time youare fully present, because
you've got to notice how, maybeas an actor, like how your
facial expressions are, how yourbody language is breathing,
like all these things that send,and we hear it with meditation
and a lot of other things, butacting in itself is probably a
great way to do that, and thatliterally just hit me down.
(45:29):
I'm like, fuck, maybe I shouldTake some classes.
Speaker 2 (45:31):
Yeah, acting is meditation.
That's exactly what it is.
Speaker 1 (45:35):
Yeah, well, I think, for people who struggle being
present, maybe that's like arandom tool, but a tool to get
in your body and learn to becomemore aware of it, because, yeah
, when you can do that mentally,it's going to help you as well.
Speaker 2 (45:48):
And more comfortable too, man.
I mean, I've become morecomfortable.
It's very hard.
It's a very hard craft.
Acting looks easy when you lookat like experts doing it, but
they're very hard.
It's a very hard industry, bothprofessionally as a craft and
both from a business perspective.
It's very hard to do anything.
Speaker 1 (46:07):
So I made up, I'm here for the ride and yeah, I'm,
I'm excited and you're gonnahave these life stories as well
that so many people won't have,because if you did that
traditional, I know or you saidyou were in banking right yeah,
because I don't know no kidding,there's a bankers like you know
.
If you stand on that path, it'slike you know what your life's
probably going to look like,right, yeah, I think most people
aren't taking many risks orcreating that life resume.
(46:29):
I don't know if you're familiarwith Jesse Itzler.
He talks about building thatlife resume and it's like, yeah,
he's an amazing dude.
But anyway you look back on yourlife.
Even to me, my business waspumping back home very
comfortable, living a dream, andthen to move out here just to
support my wife.
One left a lot behind, but it'slike we're making the gnarliest
(46:53):
memories ever.
We've just been on like 22 stateradio tours.
That's amazing.
It sucks but also fun.
Yeah, like, when are you goingto get a chance to do that?
Actually, it's the stuff you'lltalk about and I think it's
very important.
It's what gives me purpose andalso excitement in life because,
like, even though it's notalways fun, it's like looking
back, the stories are fun.
Yeah, a lot of people don'thave good stories because
(47:15):
they're not trying new things orexperiencing rejection or
failure, and it's like one thingthat's cliche saying to her
there's no failure, it's just anopportunity to learn or failure
.
And it's like one thing that'scliche saying to it there's no
failure, it's just anopportunity to learn or whatever
it is, and that's all.
It is right, because it showsyou who you need to become to
get the result that you want,rather than it's just like that
association with failure You'rea failure.
It's like that's completebullshit.
(47:36):
You're only a failure if youbelieve that Exactly.
Speaker 2 (47:38):
You need to change the narrative.
Just change that, changing yourrelationship or the definition
of what failure means to you.
I guess, take it as a learningexperience, not as you've lost
your shit, you suck, becausethat's just degrading.
Speaker 1 (47:52):
Yeah, exactly, and so you've also got involved in
something exciting here in SanDiego.
Yeah, pretty pumped about that.
Speaker 2 (47:59):
Yeah, I am.
It's a very new industry for me.
Still, health and wellnessrelated.
So I'm still having an impact onpeople's lives.
Hopefully I'm sure we will.
It's called Air Locker Training.
It's obviously started inAustralia, but the boys who I'm
working for and with havebrought the concept to the US
(48:20):
and we're opening up our firstever us uh studio in san diego.
That will be the head officeand for those people who don't
know what air locker training is, it's the first ever simulated
altitude group fitness training.
So cool, so essentially, it'slike people like what do you
mean?
What do you mean simulatedaltitude training?
Well, it's basically prettysimple.
You walk into a room and it'slike you're training at 12 000
(48:42):
feet above sea level.
So it's like you're at top ofcolorado, one of the mountains
out, so your oxygen intake's alittle lower, um, so it's it's.
You notice that there's nomasks, there's none of this
sinus pressure and all the stuffyou'd get if you were to climb
base camp in colorado, becausewhat we're doing is manipulating
the oxygen molecules in the air.
Very simple we breathe at, say,21% oxygen at sea level In our
(49:08):
rooms or in our studio.
You're breathing at, you know,14.5% oxygen.
Yeah, basically.
So your blood saturationsdiminish, okay.
So what that means is you'rebasically when we're breathing
right now we're at about 98 99right yep blood sats in our in
(49:28):
our studios.
When you're walking out in agroup setting, in a team setting
which is unreal your blood satstry to be around about the 83
to 85 percent mark.
So you you only notice it afraction on your breathing.
People like, oh, that soundsscary and dory not at all.
It's a very minor adjustment toyour breathing, but the
(49:50):
positive mental benefits andphysical benefits are insanely
amazing and there's a lot ofscience.
Now, as you probably heard,athletes have been doing this
for decades, so now we'rebringing this to the masses so
that everybody can train safelyin a simulated altitude training
environment and increase theirresults in less time and safer.
(50:13):
So you actually get more likeless wear and tear in your
muscles because you're notactually able to train at such a
high intensity because thereduced oxygen environment.
So it's better on your muscles.
The recovery is outstanding andwhat I love most about our
sessions is we always finishwith breath work and meditation.
So it's a real.
(50:33):
You've got this real super likealtitude high, that you
actually experience an altitudehigher.
But then the end of oursessions is very relaxing.
It's very calm and verycentering.
It gets you back into thatstate of zen.
So you you're ready to take onthe day.
But I guess the biggest takeawayfrom what I love most about
this it's it's about creatingmental composure.
(50:56):
It's been increasing yourresilience in life, so we call
it kind of like like.
We call kind of call like acontrolled stress environment.
Yep, so it's a big focus in oursessions and we've got a number
of sessions.
Strength, lean boxing, all thatsort of stuff is about
controlling your breath.
Same way you do when you'reacting, same way you're doing
(51:17):
when you're performing or whenyou're meditating.
What are you doing in astressful situation, in a
controlled stress environment?
If you focus on your breath,you can actually slow down your
heart rate, you can actually bemore aware, you can increase
resilience.
That is what we lead first withit's brain training.
Our studios is brain trainingfirst and then physical training
(51:40):
second.
Speaker 1 (51:40):
That's such a cool resource and obviously the team
component.
You cannot be it's why,crossfit was so successful and
even like higher ups now withthe teams and stuff, um and any
group training being take off,because you got that camaraderie
and it's so hard especiallyafter for those who are athletes
or played team sports rightafter that you're like you're
always looking to fill that void.
So when you can find a grouptraining experience that brings
(52:03):
that back, it's hard to man,like it is a proper challenge.
Speaker 2 (52:06):
Like people get into each other.
You're training in sometimespairs, sometimes a little team,
and it is a.
It is honestly and I say thisnot just because I'm involved in
it it's, it's really fuckingcool and it's and it's it's a
great way to take and transformskills that you learn inside the
gym aka breath work, controlledstress, composure into an
(52:31):
everyday life.
In a situation where you mightbe under stress, you might be
under fatigue.
What can you do in thosesituations in your life?
You can transfer those sametools that we're teaching in the
gym.
Yeah, that's awesome.
Speaker 1 (52:43):
So, so good.
Sam Webb, everyone, mate, wherecan people find you if they
want to follow along with yourjourney and all the stuff you're
doing?
Speaker 2 (52:49):
They can find me just on Instagram probably is the
easiest place, that's Sam Webbor they can see my website,
samwebbcomau, and follow thejourney and I appreciate the
support that people have had onthe Living Project over the
years.
And, yeah, if you want tosupport, thank you, I appreciate
it.
Speaker 1 (53:05):
Awesome.
I'll put all of that in theshow notes, but thank you guys
for tuning in and if you gotvalue from the episode, make
sure you share it with yourfriends and leave a rating
review.
Thank you.
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