When Mindset Becomes Survival

Have you ever considered that the battle raging inside your mind might actually be a matter of life and death? Not just for you, but for everyone your life touches?

This deeply personal episode explores the profound truth that success isn't created through external achievements but through winning the daily battle within ourselves. I share the heartbreaking news of losing a 39-year-old former client to cirrhosis of the liver, leaving behind two young children who will now grow up fatherless – a pain I understand all too intimately from my own childhood with an alcoholic father.

The contrast becomes even more striking when compared with another client who faced identical health challenges – cirrhosis, pre-diabetes, and a doctor's two-year death sentence if he continued his behaviors. Yet this man completely transformed his life, lost 90 pounds, reversed his medical conditions, and now runs marathons while inspiring his community. Same diagnosis, dramatically different outcomes – all because of internal choices.

Through raw emotion and hard-won wisdom, I explore how we often get caught up in meaningless distractions while missing what truly matters. The greatest freedom, I've discovered, comes when we remove ourselves from ourselves – when we transcend our petty needs and desires to focus on serving others. This is what spiritual traditions have taught for millennia: liberation comes through selflessness.

If someone in your life is struggling with addiction or other demons, don't give up on them. Sometimes people need others to fight for them a little longer until they reach that moment when they're finally ready to change. Your persistence might create the opportunity for their redemption, just as others did for me during my darkest times. Reach out today with a call, a visit, or just your presence – it might be the lifeline they need to keep fighting one more day.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
This battle that you face each and every day, you
versus you, is a matter of lifeand death.
What I found out a long timeago is that's where success is
either created or it's defeatedit's inside your own mind.
One of the most freeing momentsis when you remove yourself
from yourself and you realize,dude, I can be so much more than
I am by being selfless and justdedicating my life to being an

(00:22):
example for others.
Just keep fighting for a man,because sometimes we just need
people to fight for us a littlebit longer until we get that
opportunity to change.
Welcome back to another episodeof the Unstoppable Mindset
Podcast.
I'm your host, sean Crane, andyou guys.

(00:43):
Very simply put, I want to letyou know that this is life or
death.
This battle that you face eachand every day, you versus you,
is a matter of life and death,and what I mean by that is on
one given day, you canexperience so much gratitude, so
much love, so much abundancethat it feels like the best day
of your life.
And in the same week, you canexperience such lows that it
feels like the best day of yourlife.
And in the same week, you canexperience such lows that it

(01:05):
feels like one of the worst daysof your life.
Human beings are constantlybattling within themselves.
We all have this good inside ofus and we all have this bad.
You know the yin and yang ofthe universe.
It's good and evil, it's Godand the devil.
It's very apparent, right, andyou can probably experience this
or testify for yourself thatyou have days where you have

(01:26):
positive thoughts and you feelamazing, and then days where you
feel the opposite, and what Ifound out a long time ago is
that's where success is eithercreated or it's defeated.
It's inside your own mind, it'sinside your own being, it's
your energy, it's your spirit,it's the way that you think,
it's the way that you live.
But for me, the ultimate formof success is how I feel each

(01:47):
and every day, because if I feelexcited, happy, inspired,
purpose-driven, if I feel allthose amazing qualities, I'm
bringing such an infectious andpositive energy into the world,
to my family, to my wife, to mychildren, to you guys, to my
messages, to my clients, toeverybody.
But when we're afflicted andwe're suffering and we're
struggling, we do the opposite.
We bring apathy, we bringpessimism, we bring just

(02:09):
negative energy, complaining,just like stuff that people
don't want to feel and the worstis that at times when we're
suffering internally, we can'thelp but affect other people
negatively.
Right, it bleeds into the waythat we show up in our lives and
you know, I'm reminded by thattoday, like the good and the bad

(02:30):
in this life.
I got a really sad text messagethis morning from one of my
past client's wives and she saidthat you know he passed away.
I'm not going to say his namehere on on this, but one of my
past clients died of cirrhosisof the liver man and he was 39
years old and he had twochildren.

(02:51):
And and when I think of hischildren I get so emotional
because a lot of what I do andwhat I'm driven by is to make
the wrongs of my own past right,to be the best dad, to heal my
own pain and my traumas by beinga good man, by being the man I
needed as a kid.
I know that pain of having analcoholic father and just that

(03:12):
struggle growing up I know itall too well and when I see it
play out in other people's livesI can't help but get emotional.
And, yeah, I'm sad that thisman left this planet early.
I'm sad for his wife.
They were divorced but theywere still close.
But my heart is really brokenfor his children because they're
like 12 and nine and this boy,like, needs his dad more than
ever and now he doesn't have hisdad and I couldn't help but

(03:37):
feel like I failed this manbecause we worked together about
three years ago and hestruggled to maintain sobriety.
He struggled to establish thehabits I was trying him to
develop.
He struggled to shift hismindset and his thinking.
Ultimately, I couldn't save him.
I couldn't save him and hiswife texted me the same thing.
She's like Sean, we did ourbest but he couldn't be saved.
You know, and it's a verydifficult thing as a coach, as

(04:00):
somebody who cares about otherpeople, as somebody who works
with a lot of other people tosee that happen, I've never lost
a client like that.
I'm like fuck dude, like that'swhat's at stake here, like it
is life or death.
Some people die quickly, somepeople die over decades.
But if we can't fix this inhere and here, some people die
over decades.
But if we can't fix this inhere and here, it could be such
a painful slow death for a lotof people.

(04:20):
And, like I said, thosechildren, like people in our
lives.
They're the ones that areaffected too, and it could be
fixed.
We could overcome these things.
We could conquer our demons.
We can transform ourselves.
We can reprogram the way wethink and operate.
I've done it.
I've seen it happen.
Because then I started thinkingabout another client about a
year and a half ago who he hadcirrhosis of the liver.

(04:42):
He was pre-diabetic.
His doctor told him he had twoyears to live if he continued to
drink and do the things he wasdoing.
And that man got sober, got fit.
He's running marathons anddoing Spartan races.
He's becoming an inspiringindividual in his community.
He lost 90 pounds.
He's completely changed hislife.
He saved his life, in fact.

(05:03):
He went back to the doctor andthey said I don't know what
you're doing, but keep doing it.
You're no longer pre-diabetic,you reversed the fatty liver,
your cirrhosis of the liver.
You're getting healthier as youage.
This is incredible.
All by just making that deepinternal commitment to become
the man he wanted to be andfighting each and every day To
lose the weight, to eat better,to get out and run to just every

(05:23):
day fight his demons, toconquer those demons through
action.
And this other gentleman whoperished.
He couldn't do that.
And it's so heartbreaking, likeif you're a parent or if you
have family members who havestruggled with addiction or just
mental health or anything inlife, like we see this play out
all the time.
There's certain people in lifethat we feel like we can't help,

(05:44):
like we feel like we're justtalking to them and it's like
talking to a wall.
Sometimes you might feel likethat when you're talking to your
children or a significant otheror a friend or a family member.
What I would tell you iscontinue to put forth your best
effort and plant those seeds andbe there for them, because
sometimes it just takes onemoment time for all the stuff
that you've been hearing toclick and resonate and you're

(06:05):
ready to change and now you knowwhat to do, right.
But there's some times wherethat doesn't take place and
people they never change.
My dad was one of them.
My dad never changed.
He died at 49.
My mom died at 49 as well.
They never changed.
My dad was one of them.
My dad never changed.
He died at 49.
My mom died at 49 as well.
They never changed.
They never changed.
They perished to and theysuccumbed to their own demons.

(06:25):
And so did this, this man thatrecently passed away, and I, for
me, I've seen so many peopledie due to addiction.
So many people die fromoverdose, accidental overdose.
Maybe it's suicide, maybe it'ssome other cause that was
preventable, and it's freaking,heartbreaking, and what it does
is it just drives me to want toreach more people and help more

(06:46):
people.
But it also puts things inperspective, because we get so
caught up in the stuff going onin our day-to-day lives.
We get caught up in bills,finances, work-related stuff,
fucking politics, all thesethings and then when someone
dies, you're like damn, timestands still and none of that
shit even matters in the moment.

(07:07):
You're like God, I wish wecould just bring this person
back.
I wish we could have saved thisperson.
I wish we could have helpedthem.
That's what I feel, and I feelresponsible and that'll never go
away.
And it's a good thing because Icare, and if I didn't feel
responsible or if I didn't care,I wouldn't show up the way I do

(07:27):
.
And, dude, this is whatmotivates me to get my ass up
early every day and do the work.
Like some people complain aboutit.
You're tired, you need sleep,like dude, I think.
So far beyond that I don't givea fuck about sleep.
Like I need to think aboutmyself way less and be more of
service to people, sacrificemore, be more of an example, go

(07:49):
way bigger in life to showpeople what's possible.
Like, try so much fuckingharder.
Like you guys think you needsnacks and food or you need your
drink, or you need your TV oryour phone or your sleep Like
dude.
One of the most freeing momentsis when you remove yourself from
yourself and you realize, likedude, I can be so much more than
I am by being selfless and justdedicating my life to being an
example for others.
You don't crave any substancewhen you're in that thought

(08:11):
process.
You don't have these desiresfor pleasure, you don't need
sleep.
In fact, you sleep less, youeat less.
You just have these higherfaculty thoughts, ideas,
internal things taking place inyour life that it changes the
way you live and operate.
So you see it, that's what monksare after.

(08:32):
They're after this peace thatis so pervasive that they need
nothing and they can beeverything to anyone who needs
them.
And that's what I'm after, man,and this is a reminder that I
have a lot more growth toacquire.
I need to get out of myself andmy needs and my wants much more
and be 100% of service to theworld.
Because maybe, if I was thatway, I could have reached this

(08:54):
man and connected with him on anenergetic level, a spiritual
level, to help him to change hislife, and he'd still be here
for his children.
And this is just my thoughtprocess.
I can't help but feel and thinkthis way.
And it's not even about me, man.
It's just like this pain thatpeople experience because a loss
that's preventable.
We can change that and that'sthe mission that I'm on is to

(09:19):
eradicate the pain in youngpeople's lives and relationships
and the struggles we endure sowe can experience life in the
highest level possible.
And so you guys, if there'ssomeone struggling in your life
that you know, with addiction,with other stuff, give them a
call today, go out and meet themin person, give them a hug,
tell them you love them, bethere for them.
And if there's people thatyou're thinking about quitting

(09:39):
and giving up on, just keepfighting for them, man, because
sometimes we just need people tofight for us a little bit
longer until we get thatopportunity to change.
And I'm immensely grateful forall my family members who
continued to fight for me when Iwas going through my struggle,
because they made it possiblefor me to change when the time
was right.
Games when the time was right.
So that's my message for youguys today.

(09:59):
I love you.
Don't take this life forgranted.
Cherish it and cherish thepeople that you have.