September 25, 2023 • 42 mins
In this captivating episode of the "Stuck In My Mind Podcast," host Wize El Jefe sits down with the inspiring Daniel MacQueen, a remarkable individual who has navigated the depths of adversity and emerged stronger than ever. Daniel's story is one of resilience, triumph, and the limitless power of the human spirit. Recounting his arduous journey, Daniel highlights how he was able to rebuild himself gradually with the support of others. Motivated by a burning desire to assist those who may lack the same level of support, Daniel passionately shares his experiences and offers a guiding compass for those facing their own struggles. A key theme that runs through the conversation is the incredible power of mindset. Daniel firmly believes that it's not what happens to you but how you respond to it that shapes your destiny. By adopting this empowering mindset, he maintains that anyone can navigate any challenge and emerge victorious from the most difficult situations. Changing one's perspective is a central idea Daniel puts forth. He explores the concept that altering our viewpoint can lead to significant changes in how the world responds to us. He elucidates how something as simple as shifting our mindset can have a profound impact on our ability to overcome obstacles and achieve our goals. Daniel underscores the crucial role of mental strength in the recovery process. While acknowledging the limitations of recovery for individuals with brain injuries, he emphasizes the importance of taking care of one's mind through practices such as meditation, exercise, and self-building. Drawing from his own transformational experience, Daniel attributes his progress to immersing himself in a positive mindset and unwavering belief in his own abilities. The conversation also delves into the inherently unfair nature of life, with Daniel sharing personal losses he has endured, including the death of his wife and the passing of his father, brothers, and uncle. However, rather than succumbing to bitterness or self-pity, Daniel chooses to confront these challenges head-on, understanding that life's hardships do not define him. He implores listeners to question societal expectations, prompting introspection about what should be expected when nothing like his experiences has ever happened before. Throughout the episode, Daniel draws upon his own traumatic experiences and highlights the stories of other remarkable individuals who have faced similar challenges. In doing so, he invites listeners to tap into their own reserves of strength, resilience, and hope. His talks at rehabilitation centers, aimed at inspiring those transitioning back into the real world after therapy, focus on the themes of perspective, hope, and resilience. He emphasizes the importance of adapting, trying different approaches, and continuously refining our efforts until success is achieved. Daniel's desire for continuous growth and improvement is evident throughout the conversation. He discusses employing "hacks" in his daily life, recognizing that small actions can accumulate over time, leading to substantial results. Additionally, Daniel shares a poignant anecdote about a documentary he watched, where a prominent figure grew bitter and jaded towards past opponents and critiques. He expresses his determination not to let resentment consume him as he ages and to transition his motivation towards helping others and offering service. Raised with a perpetual chip on his shoulder, Daniel's journey has been fueled by a fierce determination to prove others wrong and rid himself of insecurities. However, as he confronts setbacks and embraces the statistical improbability of his own existence - one in 400 trillion - Daniel's perspective shifts. He realizes that his driving force now lies in assisting others on their journey, demonstrating that they too have the strength and capability to rise above their adversities. This episode of the "Stuck In My Mind Podcast" is a powerful testament to
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:41):
And welcome to another live episode. I am your host, w I z
e, And I'm and my
next guest has an inspiring story, and I'm so excited to bring him on.
So Let's just get started. Welcome to the
show, Dan McQueen. Pleasure to be here. Thanks
for having me. Oh, brother, man. When I when I
(01:03):
read your story, I was like, oh, he definitely
fits in what I'm trying to do because You have an inspiring story,
and let's just jump into it. Can can you
Tell peep tell the people what happened to you. What what what what is your
story? Yeah. So my story takes place in,
(01:25):
Joel Yolng, London. On 2014, I
was having these headaches that were getting progressively worse
over a few weeks. So I was taking painkillers like candy for the 100 was
pounding. Went to
A&E twice. A and E is accident and emergency in the UK. The
first time they thought it was vertigo, they sent me home. But they told me
(01:47):
if the headaches were to continue, I could always get my eyes checked at an
optometrist. So,
you know, midway through the exam really the next day, my headaches were getting pretty
bad, so I went to the optometrist. He stopped the exam
midway through. He left the room, which was not a casual
move, and he came back over 5 minutes later with a sealed envelope.
(02:09):
Like, Sealed like it was I couldn't open the envelope. It was sealed. And
he told me he went directly to Morefields Hospital, which I'm like, oh,
because this doesn't sound casual at all. So I didn't do that. I stopped
at home first to grab a Jack Reacher book by Lee Childs. I figured I'd
be in for a bit of a wait and wants them to read. But I
ended up going to Moorfields Hospital. They ran the same test, and that's for me
(02:30):
to Charing Cross Hospital. It turns out
I had a dangerous buildable pressure my brain caused from a noncancerous
system ahead. It turns out it required emergency
branch surgery tomorrow. It turns
out my world went to change altogether. So after
a frantic back and forth with the folks in Canada, I was, I
(02:53):
love to be known that I was having a surgery. My mom was in there
flying to London on June 21, 2014 when I was on the operating table.
Something went wrong. I had a horrible bleed in the brain, a brain hemorrhage, and
the cyst burst when they operated. The one lines and finds
them in critical condition. I was in a coma 4 weeks. Well, I was
in out of consciousness for months after this. Things were dicey, touch and go.
(03:16):
When all of a sudden, then I was gonna have a walk, talk,
and smile again. And, that's
kinda where things kicked off from. Wow.
Wow. And and and the thing was
sorry about that. You you you you
suffered another one. You You you you suffered another
(03:39):
brain hemorrhage. It
it's it's It's amazing that you're here sitting here with me and
talking and and and do and still
after the second hemorrhage, Was it right right after the first one, or
was it Yeah. So it's,
(04:01):
After the 1st hemorrhage, the guy was in a walk, talk, and smile again. It
took me about a year to get back to to doing this, back to work.
Made it back to my job at Hootsuite, a tech company based in London,
England. I worked on the implementation team, so I helped new clients
Start up on the platform, use the tool, and be successful on social.
(04:21):
It took months to learn how to walk again, to to get back
to Vocational therapy, vocation speech therapy,
physical therapy. I built myself back up slowly but surely. Eventually,
I made it back to work. Eventually, I made it back to work. I was
back at work for 2 half days, then 3 half days.
I remember before work, Before I went to the tube the tube station to make
(04:44):
sure it was up and on time, and she'd go off and get breakfast somewhere
in London, and I'd take off to go to work. 1 morning, I didn't show
up, So she had brought up to my flat
and made herself got let herself in the flat and found my found me unconscious
on the floor of my flat. What had happened was a shunt that's in
my brain had blocked leading to hydrocephalus or water in the brain.
(05:08):
It's pretty serious, and I had to have emergency brain surgery. So I was rushed
the hospital and ambulance. They stormed up the the stairs of my
flat, took me to the hospital, and I woke up in the hospital bed
after, You know, I've been working for a year to get back to work. I've
been working for a year to get back to talking and walking and living a
life of normalcy again, Only to hear that beeping noise, the,
(05:28):
the the hardware monitor going off, pinging in the background, just pinging
away, and being told, hey, man. You just had
emergency brain surgery again. Like, what? Again? You gotta be kidding me. It's
like, yeah. Well, we had a blockage. We had to get in there and get
it. But we got the blockage. You're fine. And I asked him, like, hey.
So so all my progress is washed away for the past year. Well, we got
(05:48):
the blockage, man. So you're okay. But I've been working for a year
to get back to work, man, a year to get back to a life of
normalcy and some sort of some sort of life that was mine. And I and
I worked so hard to get back there, man. And to have the
the carpet rip underneath your legs like that just killed me.
That was I don't know how hard I can make this to
(06:09):
your listeners, but, like, In the 1st
bad the 1st setback was bad. I had to recover the good w. So the
1st setback was, like, the first tip of the w. I climbed back up
to work about halfway back up. The 2nd setback is not where the first one
was, but much lower. I call this the depths of the
human experience where your hopes and dreams are snickered at, where you thought you had
(06:30):
a chance there, but Not today, fool.
It was super difficult, super frustrating,
super, in my own head. I realized
about early on that, you know, this this setback didn't kill you, but
it's gonna be how you respond to it that's gonna matter. It's not what happens
to you, but how you that matters. That's a stoke through line I carried through
(06:53):
my talks as well. And that mindset is what allowed
me to get back to a life that you see before you today.
I understood that it wasn't what what happened, but how you responded to it. And
I realized I could I could build back better. I already done rehab once before.
I knew to do this. I need the game. So I got to
work. I got to work and just built myself back 1 piece at a time,
(07:14):
and I had a lot of help. I had a ton of help, and that's
why I'm driven to speak now is because maybe you don't have the help I
had. Maybe you don't know how do you
navigate this. So I'm trying to offer you a compass, Not a map because your
map's gonna be different than my map, but the compass is true, man. And the
compass starts with the mindset. That's why that that that mindset of it's
not what happens to you, but how you respond to it is so key. If
(07:36):
you can adapt that mindset, the compass will serve you anywhere you go.
And So that's kinda what I'm trying to preach in my talks is that adopting
a mindset that will serve you and see through the difficult part
because The brain the brain hemorrhage didn't kill you. Right? So you tell me there's
a chance. They're all dumb and dumber line.
It's, It's a very important part to have improved vibe
(07:59):
there.
So so Having your positive mindset, it contribute a lot to
your resilience and a bit your ability to rebuild your life.
So And and and it's it's amazing
because, like you said, these are 2 major brain
(08:20):
surgeries back to back A year after you
had gotten back to what you said was some sort of
normalcy, And now you hit again with the with
the next hemorrhage.
And any normal person would have probably given up.
A lot of people would have probably given up after that second one thinking like,
(08:43):
oh, man. I just worked so hard,
and now Hits me again.
But you looked at it as, I did this already
one time. This didn't kill me. I can
get back up there. Where did you get that
mindset from? Well,
(09:06):
I think growing up is like a guy who's been a bit
undersized his whole life. I've always kinda had a chip on my shoulder.
I've always kinda dated up the hierarchy in the world where I've always dated girls
who are probably a bit more out of my league than I probably should've. So
I've got this bit of a dog in me to prove people wrong. People really,
hey. I'm good enough to be here, and I can do this.
(09:27):
So when this 2nd setback happened,
I kinda realized, man, it's, this little stat that
I wanna share with you and your listeners is, the odds of you being a
human being on this earth are 400,000,000,000,000 to one.
400 trillion to 1 for you to have a chance to live a life,
and you've gotten that bad. So do you. Everyone else got that bad. And
(09:48):
I've got 1 bad card in my hand, and I wanna cut the whole hand
because of that. I don't think so, man. I'm stubborn as hell.
I'm driven as hell. How
do you get that? I mean, I don't know. I I
wasn't gonna go gently into that night, man. I was gonna kinda fight to my
everything. There's a lot of times during this fight, man, where I can tell you
(10:09):
it was not looking good. It wasn't looking like I was gonna make it through
this. They told my parents he may not make it through this, like, straight up
to their face. Because I told my parents they'd probably be talking again. Here
I am talking to the speaker full time now, That's a bit of a slap
in the face, but it was,
tell me I can't do something and watch me bend the world and make it
happen, man. I am driven by something that's,
(10:34):
beyond anything else. Like, it's it's proving me wrong is the biggest part of my
vibe now, I think. Well, The base motivator from 0 to 1
is proving you wrong. I can't do this. Cool. Watch me. You watch me,
bud. I said it's my talk. He's always a good reaction,
so I'm sure you and your listeners, if you listen if you watched The Last
Dance Michael Jordan documentary? Yeah. Not
(10:56):
well, no. That's, that's a lie. I'm a New York
Knicks fan. I I I I experienced first
one. Yeah. I did. I, No. I've ex I experienced The
Last Dance firsthand. Okay? I I live through
that trauma of The Knicks and the
Bulls and Michael Jordan and all the greatness that he's did.
(11:18):
He is I am not a fan of Michael Jordan. So I'd no. I I
have not seen The Last Dance. So not every I see
clips, but I haven't sit I have not sat down. I look
at it this way. I've experienced it. I lived it firsthand. I saw it
firsthand. I don't need to go relive my childhood
nightmares. So I have no work. I respect that, man.
(11:40):
I respect that. I wasn't trying to, to bring you
back some flashbacks there, man. I'm not saying That that's that's a sore
subject me, buddy. I'm sorry. Alright. Alright. Fair enough. Fair enough. Fair
enough. I'm just saying watching that documentary, and you notice how he
motivated himself was quite Like, someone says he can't do
something or, like, he's better than this guy or someone says, nice game, Mike, and
(12:01):
he goes, cool. I got you next game, buddy. Like, that
that sports church policy of, like, cool. I'm gonna prove you wrong. Mhmm.
I got a bit of that inside me. Listen. I am I listen.
I like I said, I am no fan, but I do
acknowledge his greatness. I acknowledge that he is one of
the greatest of all time. And
(12:25):
as far as competitive, there there's no one only one I could think
that is as competitive as Mike is Kobe.
And so I I'm as much as I
do not like Michael Jordan, I still respect what he did
for the game. I respect that.
And I think, like, what I'm trying to get across here is, like, the mindset
(12:47):
that Michael Jordan had of, like, you don't think I can do this, Kaye. I
got you. I got a lot of that inside me. Now
I'm not comparing myself to Michael Jordan. Okay? But I'm not I'm
not not comparing myself to Michael Jordan as well, so there's a bit
of a double entendre there. But,
being told you can't do something,
(13:08):
Hey, man. I'm coming at you full steam. Now one thing
that was quite apparent in that documentary as well was how bitter and jaded he
was to, like, these past opponents and people that said he couldn't do shit.
And I noticed how jaded and angry and bitter he was, and I'm like, I
don't wanna be that guy when I'm older. That means I'm not destined to
be as good and as great as he was, but, like, that's okay, man. I'm
(13:30):
gonna run that inside me. I don't wanna be that bitter jaded guy. I'm
now transitioning my motivation to more of, like, helping it lending the hand service is
what I transitioned to. But I don't want you to get confused with this. Like,
my motivation to get off the mat 0 to 1 did not come from a
holistic help you place. It came from a nephew attitude of, like, hey, man. The
only thing I can do is keep watch me. I'm gonna torch you. Now it's
(13:51):
more service helping you build you back up. Because when I help you, your success
is my success. My success is your success. And that's
What I wanna instill in my my audience is is like, look. Don't judge
the motivation, man. Where it comes from is where it comes from. But, like, I'm
now trying to be intentional with how I harness that and bridle that motivation now
to more of a service place, if that makes sense. Yeah. No. It makes
(14:13):
sense. I it's It's something that I'm
I I wanna I'm striving for is to is to coach and and
come from From a more
just from a place of just being myself and being
able to
(14:35):
Give my story and and share with people and and allow and and help people
go. Listen. Because I was widowed at 30 I I was widowed at 31. My
wife died in a car accident, and it it devastated
me. I was Very self destructive. Very many years
lost, and so it took me some time to
get my life back together. And So doing
(14:57):
my podcast gives me a platform to share share my story and
share stories like yourself where you've
overcome some Traumatic
stuff, man. Like, no 2 brain hemorrhages that, like
I said, anyone else like you said, you got that dog in you.
Anyone who fought that dog would have probably given up on life
(15:20):
with because with me, it was I lose my wife.
I reunite with my dad after 25 year a year right after I lose my
wife, I reunite with my dad after 25 years
Only to lose him father's day weekend.
I had 2 brothers passed away. I had a uncle that raised me,
passed away. Aunt that raised me. So and it was all
(15:43):
within 6 years. And it was just It was
just 1 tragic loss after another, and I just felt
the attack. I felt I felt that why
me? Why am I being punished? Instead of me looking at it as this
is life, is the I'm god isn't just choosing isn't
and it's not but I was you don't think it like that. You
(16:06):
just No. I don't. So for
people like yourself who suffer these, did
you ever question your faith? Did you ever question, like,
why me? Why me? Why is this happening to me? Am I such a bad
person I'm getting infected with these hemorrhages.
Yeah. Like, I'll be honest with you. Like, I got pretty low after the first
(16:27):
one. Like, the first one took about a month. I was, Woe is me. Woe
is me. This isn't fair. It's it's not fair. But, like, the thing is you're
you're right. It's not fair. But the question you gotta ask yourself after
that is is and what? And what do you expect to have
happened because of that? Well, never nothing like this happens at Jim like I'm a
and well, why is nothing never happening? And why is, you know, why is this
(16:48):
happening at and? Eventually, you spin out of ads and, like, I call this
this pity spiral because the pity spiral is so toxic. It's like,
you're not wrong to think this way. You're not wrong. Let me get that clear.
I'm just saying it doesn't serve you to think that way because I'm
not special. I'm not gifted, but I choose to go forwards. No one's coming to
save me, but you gotta save yourself.
(17:10):
There's a story I'd love to share with you and your audience, if you don't
mind, about dropping a clicker in the hospital. Can I share that with
you? Sure. Alright. Cool. So this kinda
shows like this like, no one's coming to save you. You gotta
save yourself kinda vibe. Right? So I couldn't walk
when I got out of the hot in in the coma. I was my leg
(17:31):
froze at an angle, so I couldn't walk. I had to wear a splint on
my left leg to stretch it out. The splint that get cast rub your
leg. Okay? Now the 1st time I wore the splint through
the night, no issue, no stress. This will be easy. I thought this will be
easy. Boy, was I wrong? The 2nd
night after 20 minutes, it was painful. After 30 minutes, it
(17:51):
was dreadful. After 4 minutes, it was
unbearable. I took this blunt off. It's like a rash nest had descended on my
leg, and they're biting, clawing, and scratching my leg. And And
it's the most horrific pain I can even describe it to you. It was it
was horrible. Well, the 3rd night, they wrap up my leg.
I told them, hey. We're doing this for now. I'm a walker. I can do
this. I'm a walker. Famous last words. Right? They wrap
(18:14):
my leg. They give me the click of the nurse call button, and
they set the time on the phone for 1 hour. And they go to patrol
the Wilson Ward. Now the Wilson Ward is an o six. They're short on this
side, longer on this side. Alright? Short on this side, longer on this side.
And they leave me in the hospital room that smells like only a hospital room
can smell. Sterilized, sanitized.
(18:37):
It's clean, but you're like, why are you hiding? Why are you covered up here,
man? This is not a good clean smell. Kinda like some
nuts and some lemon zest, something like this, Some pretty harsh chemicals.
Right? After 10 minutes, the leg's
painful. After 20 minutes, the leg's dreadful. After 30 minutes,
it's unbearable. I start passing a clicker back and forth from the from
(18:58):
the pain, trying to distract myself from the pain. Now one thing
I didn't mention was after the brain hemorrhage, I have double vision, which means I
get the pleasure of seeing 2 of you, which means I can't see shit of
this thing. Right? I'm passing this back and forth.
As the pain ratchets up, my throat is getting more
enthusiastic. Till eventually, Inevitably, I dropped
(19:21):
the clicker on the floor, and it lands in the hard linoleum floor 3 and
a half feet down the ground. I can see the click of their
line. They're looking at the face. Like, it's right there. If I can get that
clicker, I can solve my issue. Only problem was the fall from that height
might break my arm. In fact, I figured
about a 5050 chance you'd break them out of a coin flip. Not the best
(19:42):
odds. So I changed tack on pawn to a split, but
I cannot do it at the ankle, not at the hip. I
can't reach. I'm not that flexible. Help.
Help by all. The world was Wilson's in L shape. Right? Short
on this side, long on this side. Short in
this ad, long in this ad. They're the farthest of the world that can't even
(20:03):
help. I decide, you know what? I'm gonna go for the
clicker because even if I break my arm,
That's the solution to my problem. I'm sure my my
my problem will change quite drastically when I break my arm. Right now, that
clicker is the only thing that I care about in this world. That clicker getting
that clicker in the split up, I like. I lower myself off the edge of
(20:24):
the bed. Dude, I smashed down in a yard sale.
A yard sale is like a skiing term where there's craps going everywhere, man.
I got wires, cables, blankets. There's everything's a goal. The arm of mine,
Would you believe that it holds? In the hammer, the clip, you're expecting
the nurses to come bursting in the room to come to a rescue. You
kinda stroll in 5 minutes later. Oh, what are you doing in the floor, love?
(20:49):
Let's not worry about it. Tell us it's been top of my leg, please, and
tell you all about that. It's not what happens to you, but how do you
respond to the matters. Right? The reason why I'm telling this story is I learned
3 lessons from this experience. The first and probably most obvious is let's not
pass the clock back and forth. I mean, like, that it's
a slow burn sometimes. Right? The second was less than the splint up at
the hip, not the ankle. That way, I can do this shit that's happened going
(21:11):
forwards. I can solve my own problem. The 3rd was let's
always, always, always be solutions oriented from the get off the
hop when this stuff happens in the future. How can I fix my problem?
After you fix the problem, then go back and look at why it happened in
the 1st place for sure, but always be solutions urgent when the problem comes up.
She's not faffing about with, well, how else can I get help? No. The clicker's
(21:32):
only I care about, man. There's a great expression that, I heard
a little while ago that goes, The sick man wants
one thing. The healthy man wants a 1,000 things.
When you get yourself down to, like, what you need, what you what you want
to be one thing. Everything goes in that. You can really achieve that and acquire
that. That clicker was that thing for me. The solution to my problem is
(21:55):
right there. So when you start looking into
your, like, accepting of your fate and, like, well, the splint's on my
leg For at least 30 minutes until the when they come back from the
this patrol the wolfs and more. Right? Maybe they're gonna come back sooner. Maybe not.
But I'm getting that clicker, man. And if I break my arm, so be it,
but I'm getting that quicker because that's the most important thing in the world to
(22:17):
be right now. If you can get your mind to that kind of thinking,
You can move mountains, man. That's an example of just
how painful the click the the split was to wear my leg, But I
was willing to break my arm to get the splint off my leg, man.
And, like, I tell that story because I want you to know how bad and
tough was, man. It wasn't like rainbows and butterflies to get back to scratch here.
(22:39):
This is like like, there was some dog meat that was like,
hey, man. This is gonna be some hard stuff, but that's okay because this is
what hard feels like.
Yeah. So so now
You you you use the public speaking.
What what what what made
(23:01):
you wanna go and do Is this something you've
always wanted to do prior to to brain hemorrhages, or it's
just you feel like your story needs to be shared? This
is the way I'm a do it. Yeah. Hell no. Didn't wanna be a speaker
before this at all, man. Not at all.
Because
(23:24):
My experience was so traumatic and so off the board ridiculous.
Like like you said, I could've been like, I should've died a number of times.
Like, Easy. Easy. Easy. Mailing the chips here, like, mailing
and mailing and mailing and but I didn't, man. I kept going. And,
like, I'm a speaker now because I want you to know that you're
stronger than you think, that you can do hard things, man.
(23:46):
Gotta keep going there. You can put one from from the other. I
didn't stop. I didn't stop. I didn't allow myself to fall down this space spiral.
I didn't allow myself to be negative. I didn't allow myself to, like, To stop
and give up. Like, I didn't allow myself to do that because there was
times when the thought crossed my mind, man. I'm hanging on to that wall. I'm
like, dude, am I making up this wall? I don't know. I'm not letting go
on my accord. So if you're gonna take me, you're gonna take me with, like,
(24:08):
my hands holding on to this wall. So I'm speaking now because I maybe you
don't have the help that I had. I had a lot of help to get
back up through Matt, man. Like, my family came over from Vancouver to London. For
2 years, I stayed in London to help me get back to work. Work was
super accommodating. My friends in Vancouver and London were amazing to me. I had
a ton of help, man. Like, maybe you don't have that. I speak
(24:29):
now because I would have loved to know the stuff that I'm speaking about had
I been through this injury. My my talks now are pretty raw, pretty
candid, pretty pretty real, man. Like, I'm not pulling punches. Like,
this shit's hard and, like, Not gonna make it seem
like it's easy, but I'll make it seem like it's simple. Because it's simple to
know that you wanna walk in, simple to know you wanna talk in, Simple.
(24:51):
No. You wanna do this, but, like, it's just this happens to you straight uphill
now. You wanna do that? Cool. It's a right hand turn. Right straight up the
hill. Good luck. So I speak now because I wanna share
the knowledge. I don't wanna leave these lessons open on the sidelines of life. That
makes sense. Yeah. That's why I speak.
That makes plenty of sense, man.
(25:13):
So you You mentioned the role of the support of your friends and
family in the recovery process.
And 2 years It's a long time for them
to to to leave their life in Vancouver and come help you in
London, man. And Oh, for sure. And to see that
(25:34):
That motivates you to offer that for other
people now with your story and your talks and everything else.
So I I I see why you would head
down this path because you had that support, and now I you you
feel If you can help someone with
your story and that's and that's a that's a great thing, man. That's a
(25:56):
great thing to So wanted to share your story and
and and do it the way you know how. This this
is you. You know? This is your raw authentic self, And I love
that, man. The fact that you can just be as that's why I love doing
my podcast. That just could be myself. I could be me. I do me,
Have a great conversation and get inspired by your
(26:17):
story, and and my audience hopefully get inspired by by you sharing
your story. Well, I'd like to share one more thing if
I may. It's, like, I We're not done yet. We still got time. We got
time, brother. We got time. Alright. Share share another story with us.
Alright. So, like, I had some friends come to me and visit me from Vancouver
to London. Right? And they would come back to Vancouver. They see me in the
(26:38):
hospital. I'd be all crump, like, So we're an eye patch, and, you know, I
wasn't walking. I was in a wheelchair for a few months. Right? And my friend
Claire came to visit me, and then she went to Scotland for for a week
to go see her friend. And when she came back down, I was walking. Not
like fully walking, but I don't know the zipper frame, which is like a walker
you kinda hold and you can wander around with. So, yeah, that was
pretty impressive to see you to move from, like, not walking to walking. And I
(27:00):
was like, yeah. Thank you. That means a lot. Because I want to show you
that I'm trying here. I wanna show you that I'm worthy of the praise and
the love that you're giving me because I'm trying my ass off to make this
happen. Growing up, I always felt never like to show that I tried, that I
was trying. Right? I always wanted to make sure I was like, Cool. Not trying
that hard, but I try really hard secretly to, like, to, like, get up and
and speed up and get to where I'm at. Now it's like, I don't
(27:23):
know. You should've seen me try, Meg. It's like, you're never gonna hear
me fail for lack of effort ever. I'm gonna try. In my
talks, I say try. That's the most important bit because it's easy to not try.
It's just like, well, the world's against me. This isn't fair. And it's like, it's
not you're right. It's not fair, man, but no one's coming to save you. And
if you wanna get through this, you gotta take there with your
(27:44):
own 2 feet, man. And it's not easy to hear that. Believe me. It's not
easy to hear that. Like, it's not, Like, even seeing it all, like, people are
really, well, damn. This guy doesn't know what I'm going through. Hey, man. Maybe you're
going to the hardest stuff in the world. Maybe you are. Maybe you can find
a way to turn down the suck. I wanna share a story with you and
your audience about learning to walk and tune in Broadway, if I may.
Yeah. Cool.
(28:08):
So toon Broadway, I'm in a wheelchair.
I'm going to walk in toon Broadway. The main streets of toon Broadway. So
have you have you been to London? No. Alright. Cool. So 2 and
bogs in South London, they're they call up and coming, which
means it's dodgy as thick loud sirens, drugs, gangs, dirty,
(28:28):
hectic, busy. It's a full on experience. It's a full on ride. It's a it's
a wild spot to learn to walk on. Walk with a cane and walk with
an eye patch on Bambi on ice. I turned
the corner on between both for the first time. I mean, they get slammed into
my cell phone. When I stagger back from the feet,
someone screws past me on the right hand side. Someone had been stabbed
(28:48):
in the sidewalk over here. I'm walking around this dude. This is a
pretty wild place under a walk, man. This place
sucks to walk. After a few days, this is again. This place sucks to
walk, man. Can't they see I'm trying to walk here? Can't they see I'm trying
here? And then one day, my perspective
shifted. Navy isn't the worst place to ever walk in the
(29:10):
world. Maybe it's the best place. If I can walk here, man, I can
walk anywhere. Now tune in, but we didn't change. Right?
We're from the worst to the best in my mind and moment.
What are you looking at in your life you're convinced is the worst? Convinced is
the absolute worst. Hey. Maybe it is, man. Maybe it is the
worst. Maybe you can find a way to turn down the suck a little bit.
(29:32):
You can find a way to shift your perspective a little bit, because when you
change the way you look at the world, The world's looking at changes.
The reason why I'm telling this story is you can change the way you look
at the world now. And,
Like, this this recovery game, man, is,
like, 80 to 9% mental. Now that's not fair to say because with the brain
(29:52):
injury, You some people can only recover so far. Right? Like, you've
got limitations with your brain. Some people can't recover back to our mat
today. That's just facts because, like, that's just the hand that we dealt with with
the brain injury they had. No matter how hard they work, they're not gonna get
here, and that's not fair to say. But, like, for vast majority of people,
It's mostly a pure amount. And none of the sensors in your brain, like, it's
(30:12):
more of a limiting beliefs you believe about yourself.
This talk was born after Talks I give at
rehabilitation centers like the Wolfson outpatient therapy. I give talks
for patients that are leaving their therapy and coming back to real world
Life. It's quite an adjustment coming from the hospital to come back to,
(30:33):
living back in the real world. So I give talks about perspective,
hope, resilience. And hope not in the sense of,
like, Holding your breath, hoping for something to get better, but hope in the sense
of like, hey, man. If this doesn't work, like, pivot and iterate pivot and
iterate until it works. Like, find your way through. You gotta keep moving forward. Right?
It's not gonna happen by accident. It happens by movement. My whole
(30:56):
talk now, I think my goal of my talk is to get you to take
the next step. Doesn't matter if it's the right direction. Just take the
next step, and, like, you'll find out once you step the plant where you're
at then to reevaluate. Then take the next step, then the next step. But keep
moving forwards, man. If you stop and you go, well, it's me and you you
stop moving. The momentum is so key. Momentum is a huge part of my vibe
(31:16):
now. Right? Like, I really Lead momentum's key to my recovery,
and that takes many forms. Like, I'm coming from work, throw a load of
laundry, and start charging before I sit down and take a load off because that
wheel's still moving. To stop the wheel and to start it up again is so
difficult to do. When you keep the wheel spinning, You can get a lot more
stuff done. Momentum's huge for this, and that's why me and my talk
(31:39):
is, like, keep moving forward, man. Some days, it'll be 3 steps
back, 1 step forward. Other days, it'll be 5 steps forward, 10 steps forward,
1 step forward, but always go forwards. So So I'm trying to
get across here. Awesome, man.
Amazing. Amazing. Now you it's You're gonna get the
the the solo screen, brother, and you're gonna let people know where they
(32:02):
can find you, your websites, everything, and
YouTube. Every everything you got, You need to I need you to share that and
let people know where they can get in touch with you. Yeah. For sure.
So you see my name on the screen here, Mcqueen Dan? Mcqueen?
My website is mcqueendan, m a c
q u e n, Dan, .com. And I'm
(32:24):
across all the socials, Instagram,
Twitter, YouTube. But go to the website. Check out
my demo reel if that you like what I'm putting down here. I'd love to
engage in a conversation about talking for your group online or in
person. That's how you can get on me, man.
Awesome, brother. Awesome. I I
(32:46):
greatly appreciate you being on the show. Like I said, it's
Inspiring to see someone who's gone through what you
have, and and look at you,
professional speaker, So going around doing and
like like we said, this is not something this is not something
you envisioned for yourself. You didn't see yourself as a public speaker. Hell no,
(33:09):
man. Hell no. And and look at look at what this path has
set you on where now you're sharing your
inspirational story with people, showing people, like, You can go through some of the
shittiest shit in
life and and and and turn it around, man.
And and, like like, mindset mindset is key. Mindset is very
(33:31):
key. Mindset is key. You you have to it's it's a lot of self
talk. There's a lot of you talking to yourself and and
and letting yourself know that you are you have greatness
within within yourself. Is that something what that we
don't realize is that we talk we self
talk is is very Harmful. And when you
(33:54):
start saying stuff to yourself that, I'm worthless,
that when you start pitying yourself And and all these
things because of everything you've gone
through, it's it's just not it's not Stop on the fish. It's
not gonna help you. It it it's just gonna the negative energy and negative vibe
is just gonna drag you down. Kitty is one of those things that's,
(34:17):
like, the most toxic shit you can have, man. Like, you don't
it's not healthy for anybody. You don't want it. You
don't wanna give it. It's horrible. Can I ask you a couple questions before
we end the call today? Yeah. So you've done a few interviews now. How
many interviews have you done, do you think? Probably close
to 400. Are there any common themes you see through people
(34:39):
that have been through resilient stuff that you can kinda piece and put your thumb
to? Mindset. Mindset. Hey. That's a big thing. It's
it's a it's it's it's them it's them wanting
To change and and overcoming whatever
it whatever is the obstacle
(34:59):
and and and developing a more positive mindset,
more like, alright. Yeah. I've been through this in my life,
but now I'm working towards building. And it
and it's it's a lot of continuous
learning. Yeah. That that's another thing.
It's it's a lot of continuous learning. People wanting
(35:21):
to improve, wanting to to just get better.
I have this line from my talk that said continue continue to refine and streamline.
The work is never done. Like, everything I do in my life now
is always it's a bit tiresome because I'm always trying to tinker and
work on the levers and Improve stuff and improve this, and I can do this
(35:42):
a bit better and a bit better. Never never done or never satisfied, but that
also drives me better. It moves me forward because
It can be better than yesterday for sure, and that's what I wanna instill on
your listeners is, like, you can be better than yesterday. And every day, like, 1%
better over the course of your, man, that stacks up big time. I've got hacks
that I do that, you know, stack on temperature. They they don't the results aren't
(36:02):
there after a day, week, or month, or day after months weeks
years of of doing this. Like, they compound year over year, month over month, day
over day. Make keep practicing and keep pushing forward. Right? I
didn't I didn't start off like this. This I
I didn't I didn't I wasn't capable of hold holding a
conversation from for as long. It took time. It took time
(36:25):
me building up My confidence in in in
building up what and I'm still learning. Like I said, I'm still learn
I'm still in the process of I'm still watching other podcasters.
I'm still watching other people, and I'm not copying them, but I
if I if I enjoyed their style, And
I take inspiration from it. I'm like, okay. This person is doing what they're doing,
(36:48):
and they're doing amazing work. What are
they doing that I can kind
of take from that and see if I implement it, how is it
gonna affect what I'm doing? So I'm still always learning.
I like that, man. I like that a lot.
(37:08):
But, oh, man, Dan, this has been an
amazing amazing time. It's
it's it's Just great to have people on
like yourself
that you can show that. And like the said,
(37:29):
overcoming adversity, a journey of resilience and
triumph. It it it it's what it is. It's it's what you've done, man.
You you've shown resilience and and overcoming
these 2 major setbacks.
Thank you, man. That's cool. It's cool you say that. I'm like, it's,
(37:51):
look. It's not easy, but it's simple. It's simple to decide that you're gonna keep
going. And what do you how do you keep going? Will
you go again? How do you keep going? Will you go again? How do you
keep going? Will you go again? I'm, And, like, I'm not gonna be denied by
this. Right? So, like, just keep going, man. Like, it's not over until they throw
dirt on top of me, man. It's not like There's a few times, but,
like, honestly, like, there wasn't wasn't sure to make it through this point. This needle
(38:13):
had this little the little a cute little spot here. How can I get through
the spot? And here I am making through there, man. It's,
now as a speaker, like, this is a pretty audacious goal, like, to be a
speaker. I'm like, hey, man. Yeah. I'm fully sending this right now. I was speaking
because why not? Because you listen to the story. Look at my look at
my background. Look at my story. Look at my perspective. Like, You tell me someone
who's got more perspective than that. There's some for sure, but, like,
(38:37):
not many. You know, they like, that's kind of What we need in this world
is to know that you can get through hard stuff, man. You're stronger than you
think. Yeah. And I think that's what I wanna try and get a bunch of
solutions. Like, look. You can Do this, man. You can do hard stuff, but you
gotta really lean into this. I did this, brain scan a little
while ago wise In this, like, proper clinic across town
in Vancouver, one of the best in the world, they do proper brain scans for,
(39:00):
like, big footballers and then, like, soccer players in in Europe. They follow
from Europe to, take a brain scan. They're a church for professions and stuff,
and they scan my brain. One request. Like, I was like, hey.
Can you do a brain scan? I look to see how we're performing. And the
results came back as shocking. Well, they didn't say shocking the average, but they were
average. And I say shockingly because I always heard there'd be some big
(39:21):
outliers, some big, like, spikes where you're phenomenal in this area and, like, really good
in this area, but this area is quite lacking in this stuff here. My average
my my results were average across the board. Right? Which is a brain
to survivor. That's a great news because that means that your brains are covered and
healed. The meditation, the exercise, size, you build yourself back up to a brain
that's working as it should be. That goes to show me that, like, the reason
(39:43):
why I've been able to recover as much as I have is because I've been
able to lean over my board, Toes over the nose of my
board riding this wave down, everything leading into this
mindset, this this this methodology of getting better, has been
leaning into this, which means that I'm no better than you or anyone else in
this this podcast right now. You can do this too. Like, I'm only there because
(40:03):
I've into this and, like, lean on my beliefs and what I'm trying
to accomplish, my mindset. But that means that you can do it too, which is
pretty empowering and pretty cool. So that
made me feel, you know, this message is for everyone because, you know, you can
do this too because I'm no especially different than anyone else here.
(40:23):
And and and thank you, man. Thank you for sharing your story. I
I greatly appreciate it. Don't leave just yet. I wanna close out
the show, but I I still wanna chat for you a little bit off the
air if that's cool. For sure, man. All the best. Alright.
Once again, Dan McQueen, man. He's amazing.
(40:43):
Alright. So now it's time for for shout outs, man. Big shout
outs to Big my real wise fam, anybody who checked us
out on on live. Big shout out to the boss lady. Love
you, babe, and I appreciate you. Big shout out to Dan McQueen for
coming through and sharing his inspirational story, man. It's
it's listen. If believe it.
(41:05):
The man told you himself, if he can overcome
the trap the the the the the the
2 brain hemorrhages and and turn his life around and
become a more, inspiration public speaker.
You can you can Do what you wanna set your what you
want do you can do what you wanna do in your life. So
(41:28):
take Dan's story and and and run with it and and and Let it inspire
you because it's an amazing story.
So thank you, everyone. And And as
always, a big shout out to all the essential workers out there. God bless y'all.
Be safe. Tomorrow, we'll be back
at 5 PM. Tune in, and,
(41:51):
thanks everyone once again. Peace out.
And welcome to another live episode. I am your host, w I z
e, And I'm and my
next guest has an inspiring story, and I'm so excited to bring him on.
So Let's just get started. Welcome to the
show, Dan McQueen. Pleasure to be here. Thanks
for having me. Oh, brother, man. When I when I
(01:03):
read your story, I was like, oh, he definitely
fits in what I'm trying to do because You have an inspiring story,
and let's just jump into it. Can can you
Tell peep tell the people what happened to you. What what what what is your
story? Yeah. So my story takes place in,
(01:25):
Joel Yolng, London. On 2014, I
was having these headaches that were getting progressively worse
over a few weeks. So I was taking painkillers like candy for the 100 was
pounding. Went to
A&E twice. A and E is accident and emergency in the UK. The
first time they thought it was vertigo, they sent me home. But they told me
(01:47):
if the headaches were to continue, I could always get my eyes checked at an
optometrist. So,
you know, midway through the exam really the next day, my headaches were getting pretty
bad, so I went to the optometrist. He stopped the exam
midway through. He left the room, which was not a casual
move, and he came back over 5 minutes later with a sealed envelope.
(02:09):
Like, Sealed like it was I couldn't open the envelope. It was sealed. And
he told me he went directly to Morefields Hospital, which I'm like, oh,
because this doesn't sound casual at all. So I didn't do that. I stopped
at home first to grab a Jack Reacher book by Lee Childs. I figured I'd
be in for a bit of a wait and wants them to read. But I
ended up going to Moorfields Hospital. They ran the same test, and that's for me
(02:30):
to Charing Cross Hospital. It turns out
I had a dangerous buildable pressure my brain caused from a noncancerous
system ahead. It turns out it required emergency
branch surgery tomorrow. It turns
out my world went to change altogether. So after
a frantic back and forth with the folks in Canada, I was, I
(02:53):
love to be known that I was having a surgery. My mom was in there
flying to London on June 21, 2014 when I was on the operating table.
Something went wrong. I had a horrible bleed in the brain, a brain hemorrhage, and
the cyst burst when they operated. The one lines and finds
them in critical condition. I was in a coma 4 weeks. Well, I was
in out of consciousness for months after this. Things were dicey, touch and go.
(03:16):
When all of a sudden, then I was gonna have a walk, talk,
and smile again. And, that's
kinda where things kicked off from. Wow.
Wow. And and and the thing was
sorry about that. You you you you
suffered another one. You You you you suffered another
(03:39):
brain hemorrhage. It
it's it's It's amazing that you're here sitting here with me and
talking and and and do and still
after the second hemorrhage, Was it right right after the first one, or
was it Yeah. So it's,
(04:01):
After the 1st hemorrhage, the guy was in a walk, talk, and smile again. It
took me about a year to get back to to doing this, back to work.
Made it back to my job at Hootsuite, a tech company based in London,
England. I worked on the implementation team, so I helped new clients
Start up on the platform, use the tool, and be successful on social.
(04:21):
It took months to learn how to walk again, to to get back
to Vocational therapy, vocation speech therapy,
physical therapy. I built myself back up slowly but surely. Eventually,
I made it back to work. Eventually, I made it back to work. I was
back at work for 2 half days, then 3 half days.
I remember before work, Before I went to the tube the tube station to make
(04:44):
sure it was up and on time, and she'd go off and get breakfast somewhere
in London, and I'd take off to go to work. 1 morning, I didn't show
up, So she had brought up to my flat
and made herself got let herself in the flat and found my found me unconscious
on the floor of my flat. What had happened was a shunt that's in
my brain had blocked leading to hydrocephalus or water in the brain.
(05:08):
It's pretty serious, and I had to have emergency brain surgery. So I was rushed
the hospital and ambulance. They stormed up the the stairs of my
flat, took me to the hospital, and I woke up in the hospital bed
after, You know, I've been working for a year to get back to work. I've
been working for a year to get back to talking and walking and living a
life of normalcy again, Only to hear that beeping noise, the,
(05:28):
the the hardware monitor going off, pinging in the background, just pinging
away, and being told, hey, man. You just had
emergency brain surgery again. Like, what? Again? You gotta be kidding me. It's
like, yeah. Well, we had a blockage. We had to get in there and get
it. But we got the blockage. You're fine. And I asked him, like, hey.
So so all my progress is washed away for the past year. Well, we got
(05:48):
the blockage, man. So you're okay. But I've been working for a year
to get back to work, man, a year to get back to a life of
normalcy and some sort of some sort of life that was mine. And I and
I worked so hard to get back there, man. And to have the
the carpet rip underneath your legs like that just killed me.
That was I don't know how hard I can make this to
(06:09):
your listeners, but, like, In the 1st
bad the 1st setback was bad. I had to recover the good w. So the
1st setback was, like, the first tip of the w. I climbed back up
to work about halfway back up. The 2nd setback is not where the first one
was, but much lower. I call this the depths of the
human experience where your hopes and dreams are snickered at, where you thought you had
(06:30):
a chance there, but Not today, fool.
It was super difficult, super frustrating,
super, in my own head. I realized
about early on that, you know, this this setback didn't kill you, but
it's gonna be how you respond to it that's gonna matter. It's not what happens
to you, but how you that matters. That's a stoke through line I carried through
(06:53):
my talks as well. And that mindset is what allowed
me to get back to a life that you see before you today.
I understood that it wasn't what what happened, but how you responded to it. And
I realized I could I could build back better. I already done rehab once before.
I knew to do this. I need the game. So I got to
work. I got to work and just built myself back 1 piece at a time,
(07:14):
and I had a lot of help. I had a ton of help, and that's
why I'm driven to speak now is because maybe you don't have the help I
had. Maybe you don't know how do you
navigate this. So I'm trying to offer you a compass, Not a map because your
map's gonna be different than my map, but the compass is true, man. And the
compass starts with the mindset. That's why that that that mindset of it's
not what happens to you, but how you respond to it is so key. If
(07:36):
you can adapt that mindset, the compass will serve you anywhere you go.
And So that's kinda what I'm trying to preach in my talks is that adopting
a mindset that will serve you and see through the difficult part
because The brain the brain hemorrhage didn't kill you. Right? So you tell me there's
a chance. They're all dumb and dumber line.
It's, It's a very important part to have improved vibe
(07:59):
there.
So so Having your positive mindset, it contribute a lot to
your resilience and a bit your ability to rebuild your life.
So And and and it's it's amazing
because, like you said, these are 2 major brain
(08:20):
surgeries back to back A year after you
had gotten back to what you said was some sort of
normalcy, And now you hit again with the with
the next hemorrhage.
And any normal person would have probably given up.
A lot of people would have probably given up after that second one thinking like,
(08:43):
oh, man. I just worked so hard,
and now Hits me again.
But you looked at it as, I did this already
one time. This didn't kill me. I can
get back up there. Where did you get that
mindset from? Well,
(09:06):
I think growing up is like a guy who's been a bit
undersized his whole life. I've always kinda had a chip on my shoulder.
I've always kinda dated up the hierarchy in the world where I've always dated girls
who are probably a bit more out of my league than I probably should've. So
I've got this bit of a dog in me to prove people wrong. People really,
hey. I'm good enough to be here, and I can do this.
(09:27):
So when this 2nd setback happened,
I kinda realized, man, it's, this little stat that
I wanna share with you and your listeners is, the odds of you being a
human being on this earth are 400,000,000,000,000 to one.
400 trillion to 1 for you to have a chance to live a life,
and you've gotten that bad. So do you. Everyone else got that bad. And
(09:48):
I've got 1 bad card in my hand, and I wanna cut the whole hand
because of that. I don't think so, man. I'm stubborn as hell.
I'm driven as hell. How
do you get that? I mean, I don't know. I I
wasn't gonna go gently into that night, man. I was gonna kinda fight to my
everything. There's a lot of times during this fight, man, where I can tell you
(10:09):
it was not looking good. It wasn't looking like I was gonna make it through
this. They told my parents he may not make it through this, like, straight up
to their face. Because I told my parents they'd probably be talking again. Here
I am talking to the speaker full time now, That's a bit of a slap
in the face, but it was,
tell me I can't do something and watch me bend the world and make it
happen, man. I am driven by something that's,
(10:34):
beyond anything else. Like, it's it's proving me wrong is the biggest part of my
vibe now, I think. Well, The base motivator from 0 to 1
is proving you wrong. I can't do this. Cool. Watch me. You watch me,
bud. I said it's my talk. He's always a good reaction,
so I'm sure you and your listeners, if you listen if you watched The Last
Dance Michael Jordan documentary? Yeah. Not
(10:56):
well, no. That's, that's a lie. I'm a New York
Knicks fan. I I I I experienced first
one. Yeah. I did. I, No. I've ex I experienced The
Last Dance firsthand. Okay? I I live through
that trauma of The Knicks and the
Bulls and Michael Jordan and all the greatness that he's did.
(11:18):
He is I am not a fan of Michael Jordan. So I'd no. I I
have not seen The Last Dance. So not every I see
clips, but I haven't sit I have not sat down. I look
at it this way. I've experienced it. I lived it firsthand. I saw it
firsthand. I don't need to go relive my childhood
nightmares. So I have no work. I respect that, man.
(11:40):
I respect that. I wasn't trying to, to bring you
back some flashbacks there, man. I'm not saying That that's that's a sore
subject me, buddy. I'm sorry. Alright. Alright. Fair enough. Fair enough. Fair
enough. I'm just saying watching that documentary, and you notice how he
motivated himself was quite Like, someone says he can't do
something or, like, he's better than this guy or someone says, nice game, Mike, and
(12:01):
he goes, cool. I got you next game, buddy. Like, that
that sports church policy of, like, cool. I'm gonna prove you wrong. Mhmm.
I got a bit of that inside me. Listen. I am I listen.
I like I said, I am no fan, but I do
acknowledge his greatness. I acknowledge that he is one of
the greatest of all time. And
(12:25):
as far as competitive, there there's no one only one I could think
that is as competitive as Mike is Kobe.
And so I I'm as much as I
do not like Michael Jordan, I still respect what he did
for the game. I respect that.
And I think, like, what I'm trying to get across here is, like, the mindset
(12:47):
that Michael Jordan had of, like, you don't think I can do this, Kaye. I
got you. I got a lot of that inside me. Now
I'm not comparing myself to Michael Jordan. Okay? But I'm not I'm
not not comparing myself to Michael Jordan as well, so there's a bit
of a double entendre there. But,
being told you can't do something,
(13:08):
Hey, man. I'm coming at you full steam. Now one thing
that was quite apparent in that documentary as well was how bitter and jaded he
was to, like, these past opponents and people that said he couldn't do shit.
And I noticed how jaded and angry and bitter he was, and I'm like, I
don't wanna be that guy when I'm older. That means I'm not destined to
be as good and as great as he was, but, like, that's okay, man. I'm
(13:30):
gonna run that inside me. I don't wanna be that bitter jaded guy. I'm
now transitioning my motivation to more of, like, helping it lending the hand service is
what I transitioned to. But I don't want you to get confused with this. Like,
my motivation to get off the mat 0 to 1 did not come from a
holistic help you place. It came from a nephew attitude of, like, hey, man. The
only thing I can do is keep watch me. I'm gonna torch you. Now it's
(13:51):
more service helping you build you back up. Because when I help you, your success
is my success. My success is your success. And that's
What I wanna instill in my my audience is is like, look. Don't judge
the motivation, man. Where it comes from is where it comes from. But, like, I'm
now trying to be intentional with how I harness that and bridle that motivation now
to more of a service place, if that makes sense. Yeah. No. It makes
(14:13):
sense. I it's It's something that I'm
I I wanna I'm striving for is to is to coach and and
come from From a more
just from a place of just being myself and being
able to
(14:35):
Give my story and and share with people and and allow and and help people
go. Listen. Because I was widowed at 30 I I was widowed at 31. My
wife died in a car accident, and it it devastated
me. I was Very self destructive. Very many years
lost, and so it took me some time to
get my life back together. And So doing
(14:57):
my podcast gives me a platform to share share my story and
share stories like yourself where you've
overcome some Traumatic
stuff, man. Like, no 2 brain hemorrhages that, like
I said, anyone else like you said, you got that dog in you.
Anyone who fought that dog would have probably given up on life
(15:20):
with because with me, it was I lose my wife.
I reunite with my dad after 25 year a year right after I lose my
wife, I reunite with my dad after 25 years
Only to lose him father's day weekend.
I had 2 brothers passed away. I had a uncle that raised me,
passed away. Aunt that raised me. So and it was all
(15:43):
within 6 years. And it was just It was
just 1 tragic loss after another, and I just felt
the attack. I felt I felt that why
me? Why am I being punished? Instead of me looking at it as this
is life, is the I'm god isn't just choosing isn't
and it's not but I was you don't think it like that. You
(16:06):
just No. I don't. So for
people like yourself who suffer these, did
you ever question your faith? Did you ever question, like,
why me? Why me? Why is this happening to me? Am I such a bad
person I'm getting infected with these hemorrhages.
Yeah. Like, I'll be honest with you. Like, I got pretty low after the first
(16:27):
one. Like, the first one took about a month. I was, Woe is me. Woe
is me. This isn't fair. It's it's not fair. But, like, the thing is you're
you're right. It's not fair. But the question you gotta ask yourself after
that is is and what? And what do you expect to have
happened because of that? Well, never nothing like this happens at Jim like I'm a
and well, why is nothing never happening? And why is, you know, why is this
(16:48):
happening at and? Eventually, you spin out of ads and, like, I call this
this pity spiral because the pity spiral is so toxic. It's like,
you're not wrong to think this way. You're not wrong. Let me get that clear.
I'm just saying it doesn't serve you to think that way because I'm
not special. I'm not gifted, but I choose to go forwards. No one's coming to
save me, but you gotta save yourself.
(17:10):
There's a story I'd love to share with you and your audience, if you don't
mind, about dropping a clicker in the hospital. Can I share that with
you? Sure. Alright. Cool. So this kinda
shows like this like, no one's coming to save you. You gotta
save yourself kinda vibe. Right? So I couldn't walk
when I got out of the hot in in the coma. I was my leg
(17:31):
froze at an angle, so I couldn't walk. I had to wear a splint on
my left leg to stretch it out. The splint that get cast rub your
leg. Okay? Now the 1st time I wore the splint through
the night, no issue, no stress. This will be easy. I thought this will be
easy. Boy, was I wrong? The 2nd
night after 20 minutes, it was painful. After 30 minutes, it
(17:51):
was dreadful. After 4 minutes, it was
unbearable. I took this blunt off. It's like a rash nest had descended on my
leg, and they're biting, clawing, and scratching my leg. And And
it's the most horrific pain I can even describe it to you. It was it
was horrible. Well, the 3rd night, they wrap up my leg.
I told them, hey. We're doing this for now. I'm a walker. I can do
this. I'm a walker. Famous last words. Right? They wrap
(18:14):
my leg. They give me the click of the nurse call button, and
they set the time on the phone for 1 hour. And they go to patrol
the Wilson Ward. Now the Wilson Ward is an o six. They're short on this
side, longer on this side. Alright? Short on this side, longer on this side.
And they leave me in the hospital room that smells like only a hospital room
can smell. Sterilized, sanitized.
(18:37):
It's clean, but you're like, why are you hiding? Why are you covered up here,
man? This is not a good clean smell. Kinda like some
nuts and some lemon zest, something like this, Some pretty harsh chemicals.
Right? After 10 minutes, the leg's
painful. After 20 minutes, the leg's dreadful. After 30 minutes,
it's unbearable. I start passing a clicker back and forth from the from
(18:58):
the pain, trying to distract myself from the pain. Now one thing
I didn't mention was after the brain hemorrhage, I have double vision, which means I
get the pleasure of seeing 2 of you, which means I can't see shit of
this thing. Right? I'm passing this back and forth.
As the pain ratchets up, my throat is getting more
enthusiastic. Till eventually, Inevitably, I dropped
(19:21):
the clicker on the floor, and it lands in the hard linoleum floor 3 and
a half feet down the ground. I can see the click of their
line. They're looking at the face. Like, it's right there. If I can get that
clicker, I can solve my issue. Only problem was the fall from that height
might break my arm. In fact, I figured
about a 5050 chance you'd break them out of a coin flip. Not the best
(19:42):
odds. So I changed tack on pawn to a split, but
I cannot do it at the ankle, not at the hip. I
can't reach. I'm not that flexible. Help.
Help by all. The world was Wilson's in L shape. Right? Short
on this side, long on this side. Short in
this ad, long in this ad. They're the farthest of the world that can't even
(20:03):
help. I decide, you know what? I'm gonna go for the
clicker because even if I break my arm,
That's the solution to my problem. I'm sure my my
my problem will change quite drastically when I break my arm. Right now, that
clicker is the only thing that I care about in this world. That clicker getting
that clicker in the split up, I like. I lower myself off the edge of
(20:24):
the bed. Dude, I smashed down in a yard sale.
A yard sale is like a skiing term where there's craps going everywhere, man.
I got wires, cables, blankets. There's everything's a goal. The arm of mine,
Would you believe that it holds? In the hammer, the clip, you're expecting
the nurses to come bursting in the room to come to a rescue. You
kinda stroll in 5 minutes later. Oh, what are you doing in the floor, love?
(20:49):
Let's not worry about it. Tell us it's been top of my leg, please, and
tell you all about that. It's not what happens to you, but how do you
respond to the matters. Right? The reason why I'm telling this story is I learned
3 lessons from this experience. The first and probably most obvious is let's not
pass the clock back and forth. I mean, like, that it's
a slow burn sometimes. Right? The second was less than the splint up at
the hip, not the ankle. That way, I can do this shit that's happened going
(21:11):
forwards. I can solve my own problem. The 3rd was let's
always, always, always be solutions oriented from the get off the
hop when this stuff happens in the future. How can I fix my problem?
After you fix the problem, then go back and look at why it happened in
the 1st place for sure, but always be solutions urgent when the problem comes up.
She's not faffing about with, well, how else can I get help? No. The clicker's
(21:32):
only I care about, man. There's a great expression that, I heard
a little while ago that goes, The sick man wants
one thing. The healthy man wants a 1,000 things.
When you get yourself down to, like, what you need, what you what you want
to be one thing. Everything goes in that. You can really achieve that and acquire
that. That clicker was that thing for me. The solution to my problem is
(21:55):
right there. So when you start looking into
your, like, accepting of your fate and, like, well, the splint's on my
leg For at least 30 minutes until the when they come back from the
this patrol the wolfs and more. Right? Maybe they're gonna come back sooner. Maybe not.
But I'm getting that clicker, man. And if I break my arm, so be it,
but I'm getting that quicker because that's the most important thing in the world to
(22:17):
be right now. If you can get your mind to that kind of thinking,
You can move mountains, man. That's an example of just
how painful the click the the split was to wear my leg, But I
was willing to break my arm to get the splint off my leg, man.
And, like, I tell that story because I want you to know how bad and
tough was, man. It wasn't like rainbows and butterflies to get back to scratch here.
(22:39):
This is like like, there was some dog meat that was like,
hey, man. This is gonna be some hard stuff, but that's okay because this is
what hard feels like.
Yeah. So so now
You you you use the public speaking.
What what what what made
(23:01):
you wanna go and do Is this something you've
always wanted to do prior to to brain hemorrhages, or it's
just you feel like your story needs to be shared? This
is the way I'm a do it. Yeah. Hell no. Didn't wanna be a speaker
before this at all, man. Not at all.
Because
(23:24):
My experience was so traumatic and so off the board ridiculous.
Like like you said, I could've been like, I should've died a number of times.
Like, Easy. Easy. Easy. Mailing the chips here, like, mailing
and mailing and mailing and but I didn't, man. I kept going. And,
like, I'm a speaker now because I want you to know that you're
stronger than you think, that you can do hard things, man.
(23:46):
Gotta keep going there. You can put one from from the other. I
didn't stop. I didn't stop. I didn't allow myself to fall down this space spiral.
I didn't allow myself to be negative. I didn't allow myself to, like, To stop
and give up. Like, I didn't allow myself to do that because there was
times when the thought crossed my mind, man. I'm hanging on to that wall. I'm
like, dude, am I making up this wall? I don't know. I'm not letting go
on my accord. So if you're gonna take me, you're gonna take me with, like,
(24:08):
my hands holding on to this wall. So I'm speaking now because I maybe you
don't have the help that I had. I had a lot of help to get
back up through Matt, man. Like, my family came over from Vancouver to London. For
2 years, I stayed in London to help me get back to work. Work was
super accommodating. My friends in Vancouver and London were amazing to me. I had
a ton of help, man. Like, maybe you don't have that. I speak
(24:29):
now because I would have loved to know the stuff that I'm speaking about had
I been through this injury. My my talks now are pretty raw, pretty
candid, pretty pretty real, man. Like, I'm not pulling punches. Like,
this shit's hard and, like, Not gonna make it seem
like it's easy, but I'll make it seem like it's simple. Because it's simple to
know that you wanna walk in, simple to know you wanna talk in, Simple.
(24:51):
No. You wanna do this, but, like, it's just this happens to you straight uphill
now. You wanna do that? Cool. It's a right hand turn. Right straight up the
hill. Good luck. So I speak now because I wanna share
the knowledge. I don't wanna leave these lessons open on the sidelines of life. That
makes sense. Yeah. That's why I speak.
That makes plenty of sense, man.
(25:13):
So you You mentioned the role of the support of your friends and
family in the recovery process.
And 2 years It's a long time for them
to to to leave their life in Vancouver and come help you in
London, man. And Oh, for sure. And to see that
(25:34):
That motivates you to offer that for other
people now with your story and your talks and everything else.
So I I I see why you would head
down this path because you had that support, and now I you you
feel If you can help someone with
your story and that's and that's a that's a great thing, man. That's a
(25:56):
great thing to So wanted to share your story and
and and do it the way you know how. This this
is you. You know? This is your raw authentic self, And I love
that, man. The fact that you can just be as that's why I love doing
my podcast. That just could be myself. I could be me. I do me,
Have a great conversation and get inspired by your
(26:17):
story, and and my audience hopefully get inspired by by you sharing
your story. Well, I'd like to share one more thing if
I may. It's, like, I We're not done yet. We still got time. We got
time, brother. We got time. Alright. Share share another story with us.
Alright. So, like, I had some friends come to me and visit me from Vancouver
to London. Right? And they would come back to Vancouver. They see me in the
(26:38):
hospital. I'd be all crump, like, So we're an eye patch, and, you know, I
wasn't walking. I was in a wheelchair for a few months. Right? And my friend
Claire came to visit me, and then she went to Scotland for for a week
to go see her friend. And when she came back down, I was walking. Not
like fully walking, but I don't know the zipper frame, which is like a walker
you kinda hold and you can wander around with. So, yeah, that was
pretty impressive to see you to move from, like, not walking to walking. And I
(27:00):
was like, yeah. Thank you. That means a lot. Because I want to show you
that I'm trying here. I wanna show you that I'm worthy of the praise and
the love that you're giving me because I'm trying my ass off to make this
happen. Growing up, I always felt never like to show that I tried, that I
was trying. Right? I always wanted to make sure I was like, Cool. Not trying
that hard, but I try really hard secretly to, like, to, like, get up and
and speed up and get to where I'm at. Now it's like, I don't
(27:23):
know. You should've seen me try, Meg. It's like, you're never gonna hear
me fail for lack of effort ever. I'm gonna try. In my
talks, I say try. That's the most important bit because it's easy to not try.
It's just like, well, the world's against me. This isn't fair. And it's like, it's
not you're right. It's not fair, man, but no one's coming to save you. And
if you wanna get through this, you gotta take there with your
(27:44):
own 2 feet, man. And it's not easy to hear that. Believe me. It's not
easy to hear that. Like, it's not, Like, even seeing it all, like, people are
really, well, damn. This guy doesn't know what I'm going through. Hey, man. Maybe you're
going to the hardest stuff in the world. Maybe you are. Maybe you can find
a way to turn down the suck. I wanna share a story with you and
your audience about learning to walk and tune in Broadway, if I may.
Yeah. Cool.
(28:08):
So toon Broadway, I'm in a wheelchair.
I'm going to walk in toon Broadway. The main streets of toon Broadway. So
have you have you been to London? No. Alright. Cool. So 2 and
bogs in South London, they're they call up and coming, which
means it's dodgy as thick loud sirens, drugs, gangs, dirty,
(28:28):
hectic, busy. It's a full on experience. It's a full on ride. It's a it's
a wild spot to learn to walk on. Walk with a cane and walk with
an eye patch on Bambi on ice. I turned
the corner on between both for the first time. I mean, they get slammed into
my cell phone. When I stagger back from the feet,
someone screws past me on the right hand side. Someone had been stabbed
(28:48):
in the sidewalk over here. I'm walking around this dude. This is a
pretty wild place under a walk, man. This place
sucks to walk. After a few days, this is again. This place sucks to
walk, man. Can't they see I'm trying to walk here? Can't they see I'm trying
here? And then one day, my perspective
shifted. Navy isn't the worst place to ever walk in the
(29:10):
world. Maybe it's the best place. If I can walk here, man, I can
walk anywhere. Now tune in, but we didn't change. Right?
We're from the worst to the best in my mind and moment.
What are you looking at in your life you're convinced is the worst? Convinced is
the absolute worst. Hey. Maybe it is, man. Maybe it is the
worst. Maybe you can find a way to turn down the suck a little bit.
(29:32):
You can find a way to shift your perspective a little bit, because when you
change the way you look at the world, The world's looking at changes.
The reason why I'm telling this story is you can change the way you look
at the world now. And,
Like, this this recovery game, man, is,
like, 80 to 9% mental. Now that's not fair to say because with the brain
(29:52):
injury, You some people can only recover so far. Right? Like, you've
got limitations with your brain. Some people can't recover back to our mat
today. That's just facts because, like, that's just the hand that we dealt with with
the brain injury they had. No matter how hard they work, they're not gonna get
here, and that's not fair to say. But, like, for vast majority of people,
It's mostly a pure amount. And none of the sensors in your brain, like, it's
(30:12):
more of a limiting beliefs you believe about yourself.
This talk was born after Talks I give at
rehabilitation centers like the Wolfson outpatient therapy. I give talks
for patients that are leaving their therapy and coming back to real world
Life. It's quite an adjustment coming from the hospital to come back to,
(30:33):
living back in the real world. So I give talks about perspective,
hope, resilience. And hope not in the sense of,
like, Holding your breath, hoping for something to get better, but hope in the sense
of like, hey, man. If this doesn't work, like, pivot and iterate pivot and
iterate until it works. Like, find your way through. You gotta keep moving forward. Right?
It's not gonna happen by accident. It happens by movement. My whole
(30:56):
talk now, I think my goal of my talk is to get you to take
the next step. Doesn't matter if it's the right direction. Just take the
next step, and, like, you'll find out once you step the plant where you're
at then to reevaluate. Then take the next step, then the next step. But keep
moving forwards, man. If you stop and you go, well, it's me and you you
stop moving. The momentum is so key. Momentum is a huge part of my vibe
(31:16):
now. Right? Like, I really Lead momentum's key to my recovery,
and that takes many forms. Like, I'm coming from work, throw a load of
laundry, and start charging before I sit down and take a load off because that
wheel's still moving. To stop the wheel and to start it up again is so
difficult to do. When you keep the wheel spinning, You can get a lot more
stuff done. Momentum's huge for this, and that's why me and my talk
(31:39):
is, like, keep moving forward, man. Some days, it'll be 3 steps
back, 1 step forward. Other days, it'll be 5 steps forward, 10 steps forward,
1 step forward, but always go forwards. So So I'm trying to
get across here. Awesome, man.
Amazing. Amazing. Now you it's You're gonna get the
the the solo screen, brother, and you're gonna let people know where they
(32:02):
can find you, your websites, everything, and
YouTube. Every everything you got, You need to I need you to share that and
let people know where they can get in touch with you. Yeah. For sure.
So you see my name on the screen here, Mcqueen Dan? Mcqueen?
My website is mcqueendan, m a c
q u e n, Dan, .com. And I'm
(32:24):
across all the socials, Instagram,
Twitter, YouTube. But go to the website. Check out
my demo reel if that you like what I'm putting down here. I'd love to
engage in a conversation about talking for your group online or in
person. That's how you can get on me, man.
Awesome, brother. Awesome. I I
(32:46):
greatly appreciate you being on the show. Like I said, it's
Inspiring to see someone who's gone through what you
have, and and look at you,
professional speaker, So going around doing and
like like we said, this is not something this is not something
you envisioned for yourself. You didn't see yourself as a public speaker. Hell no,
(33:09):
man. Hell no. And and look at look at what this path has
set you on where now you're sharing your
inspirational story with people, showing people, like, You can go through some of the
shittiest shit in
life and and and and turn it around, man.
And and, like like, mindset mindset is key. Mindset is very
(33:31):
key. Mindset is key. You you have to it's it's a lot of self
talk. There's a lot of you talking to yourself and and
and letting yourself know that you are you have greatness
within within yourself. Is that something what that we
don't realize is that we talk we self
talk is is very Harmful. And when you
(33:54):
start saying stuff to yourself that, I'm worthless,
that when you start pitying yourself And and all these
things because of everything you've gone
through, it's it's just not it's not Stop on the fish. It's
not gonna help you. It it it's just gonna the negative energy and negative vibe
is just gonna drag you down. Kitty is one of those things that's,
(34:17):
like, the most toxic shit you can have, man. Like, you don't
it's not healthy for anybody. You don't want it. You
don't wanna give it. It's horrible. Can I ask you a couple questions before
we end the call today? Yeah. So you've done a few interviews now. How
many interviews have you done, do you think? Probably close
to 400. Are there any common themes you see through people
(34:39):
that have been through resilient stuff that you can kinda piece and put your thumb
to? Mindset. Mindset. Hey. That's a big thing. It's
it's a it's it's it's them it's them wanting
To change and and overcoming whatever
it whatever is the obstacle
(34:59):
and and and developing a more positive mindset,
more like, alright. Yeah. I've been through this in my life,
but now I'm working towards building. And it
and it's it's a lot of continuous
learning. Yeah. That that's another thing.
It's it's a lot of continuous learning. People wanting
(35:21):
to improve, wanting to to just get better.
I have this line from my talk that said continue continue to refine and streamline.
The work is never done. Like, everything I do in my life now
is always it's a bit tiresome because I'm always trying to tinker and
work on the levers and Improve stuff and improve this, and I can do this
(35:42):
a bit better and a bit better. Never never done or never satisfied, but that
also drives me better. It moves me forward because
It can be better than yesterday for sure, and that's what I wanna instill on
your listeners is, like, you can be better than yesterday. And every day, like, 1%
better over the course of your, man, that stacks up big time. I've got hacks
that I do that, you know, stack on temperature. They they don't the results aren't
(36:02):
there after a day, week, or month, or day after months weeks
years of of doing this. Like, they compound year over year, month over month, day
over day. Make keep practicing and keep pushing forward. Right? I
didn't I didn't start off like this. This I
I didn't I didn't I wasn't capable of hold holding a
conversation from for as long. It took time. It took time
(36:25):
me building up My confidence in in in
building up what and I'm still learning. Like I said, I'm still learn
I'm still in the process of I'm still watching other podcasters.
I'm still watching other people, and I'm not copying them, but I
if I if I enjoyed their style, And
I take inspiration from it. I'm like, okay. This person is doing what they're doing,
(36:48):
and they're doing amazing work. What are
they doing that I can kind
of take from that and see if I implement it, how is it
gonna affect what I'm doing? So I'm still always learning.
I like that, man. I like that a lot.
(37:08):
But, oh, man, Dan, this has been an
amazing amazing time. It's
it's it's Just great to have people on
like yourself
that you can show that. And like the said,
(37:29):
overcoming adversity, a journey of resilience and
triumph. It it it it's what it is. It's it's what you've done, man.
You you've shown resilience and and overcoming
these 2 major setbacks.
Thank you, man. That's cool. It's cool you say that. I'm like, it's,
(37:51):
look. It's not easy, but it's simple. It's simple to decide that you're gonna keep
going. And what do you how do you keep going? Will
you go again? How do you keep going? Will you go again? How do you
keep going? Will you go again? I'm, And, like, I'm not gonna be denied by
this. Right? So, like, just keep going, man. Like, it's not over until they throw
dirt on top of me, man. It's not like There's a few times, but,
like, honestly, like, there wasn't wasn't sure to make it through this point. This needle
(38:13):
had this little the little a cute little spot here. How can I get through
the spot? And here I am making through there, man. It's,
now as a speaker, like, this is a pretty audacious goal, like, to be a
speaker. I'm like, hey, man. Yeah. I'm fully sending this right now. I was speaking
because why not? Because you listen to the story. Look at my look at
my background. Look at my story. Look at my perspective. Like, You tell me someone
who's got more perspective than that. There's some for sure, but, like,
(38:37):
not many. You know, they like, that's kind of What we need in this world
is to know that you can get through hard stuff, man. You're stronger than you
think. Yeah. And I think that's what I wanna try and get a bunch of
solutions. Like, look. You can Do this, man. You can do hard stuff, but you
gotta really lean into this. I did this, brain scan a little
while ago wise In this, like, proper clinic across town
in Vancouver, one of the best in the world, they do proper brain scans for,
(39:00):
like, big footballers and then, like, soccer players in in Europe. They follow
from Europe to, take a brain scan. They're a church for professions and stuff,
and they scan my brain. One request. Like, I was like, hey.
Can you do a brain scan? I look to see how we're performing. And the
results came back as shocking. Well, they didn't say shocking the average, but they were
average. And I say shockingly because I always heard there'd be some big
(39:21):
outliers, some big, like, spikes where you're phenomenal in this area and, like, really good
in this area, but this area is quite lacking in this stuff here. My average
my my results were average across the board. Right? Which is a brain
to survivor. That's a great news because that means that your brains are covered and
healed. The meditation, the exercise, size, you build yourself back up to a brain
that's working as it should be. That goes to show me that, like, the reason
(39:43):
why I've been able to recover as much as I have is because I've been
able to lean over my board, Toes over the nose of my
board riding this wave down, everything leading into this
mindset, this this this methodology of getting better, has been
leaning into this, which means that I'm no better than you or anyone else in
this this podcast right now. You can do this too. Like, I'm only there because
(40:03):
I've into this and, like, lean on my beliefs and what I'm trying
to accomplish, my mindset. But that means that you can do it too, which is
pretty empowering and pretty cool. So that
made me feel, you know, this message is for everyone because, you know, you can
do this too because I'm no especially different than anyone else here.
(40:23):
And and and thank you, man. Thank you for sharing your story. I
I greatly appreciate it. Don't leave just yet. I wanna close out
the show, but I I still wanna chat for you a little bit off the
air if that's cool. For sure, man. All the best. Alright.
Once again, Dan McQueen, man. He's amazing.
(40:43):
Alright. So now it's time for for shout outs, man. Big shout
outs to Big my real wise fam, anybody who checked us
out on on live. Big shout out to the boss lady. Love
you, babe, and I appreciate you. Big shout out to Dan McQueen for
coming through and sharing his inspirational story, man. It's
it's listen. If believe it.
(41:05):
The man told you himself, if he can overcome
the trap the the the the the the
2 brain hemorrhages and and turn his life around and
become a more, inspiration public speaker.
You can you can Do what you wanna set your what you
want do you can do what you wanna do in your life. So
(41:28):
take Dan's story and and and run with it and and and Let it inspire
you because it's an amazing story.
So thank you, everyone. And And as
always, a big shout out to all the essential workers out there. God bless y'all.
Be safe. Tomorrow, we'll be back
at 5 PM. Tune in, and,
(41:51):
thanks everyone once again. Peace out.
Popular Podcasts
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Therapy Gecko
An unlicensed lizard psychologist travels the universe talking to strangers about absolutely nothing. TO CALL THE GECKO: follow me on https://www.twitch.tv/lyleforever to get a notification for when I am taking calls. I am usually live Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays but lately a lot of other times too. I am a gecko.