July 7, 2025 • 50 mins
In this powerful episode of The Asset Mindset podcast, host Daniel Fielding sits down with retired Green Beret Ryan Hendrickson, a combat veteran turned global humanitarian. After surviving an IED blast in Afghanistan, Ryan chose to turn trauma into action—dedicating his life to removing landmines in post-conflict zones like Ukraine.
Ryan shares his compelling journey of recovery, purpose, and service, diving into the long-term impact of landmines on civilian populations and the emotional toll of war. He opens up about overcoming adversity, rejecting the victim mentality, and redefining what it means to live a life of service after the uniform comes off.
This conversation explores the mental resilience, leadership, and grit it takes to transform failure into fuel—and why veterans are uniquely positioned to lead in humanitarian crises. If you’re looking for inspiration, purpose-driven action, or a mindset shift—this is your episode.
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Chapters
00:00 Introduction to Ryan Hendrickson
00:37 Ryan's Journey to Humanitarian Work
02:27 The Impact of Landmines on Civilians
06:36 Reconstruction Challenges in War Zones
10:13 Mental Resilience After Trauma
18:08 Finding Purpose Through Adversity
22:41 The Importance of Service and Helping Others
26:33 Finding Purpose Beyond Service
29:47 The Danger of Victim Mentality
32:13 Taking Control of Your Life
35:59 Using Pain as a Teacher
41:15 The Importance of Risk and Regret
47:39 Writing Your Own Story
Connect with Daniel on social media!
LinkedIn: Daniel Fielding
Instagram: the_asset_mindset
Facebook: The Asset Mindset
Learn more at:
Follow Ryan on Social media and check out his nonprofit!
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ryanmhendrickson.tipofthespear/?hl=en
Website: https://landmineremoval.org/
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
Welcome to today's Asset Mindset podcast.
We have an extremely specialguest, an amazing man, one of my
fellow seventh group guys.
So it's an honor to have himhere and I got to give a shout
out to Red Empire.
But I have Ryan Hendrickson,who is an amazing man, done so
much and a lot of people don'tknow.
He's served not just in thearmy, he served in other places
(00:32):
too, but he's most known forbeing an 18 Charlie or a Green
Beret with seven special forcesgroup.
Ryan, it's a pleasure to haveyou here.
Thank you for coming on theAsset Mindset, and why don't you
tell people about yourself andwhat you got going on now?
Speaker 2 (00:47):
Yeah, brother, no, I appreciate you having me on
skids to you again and, uh, love, love what you're doing, man,
really do so.
Um, yeah, I retired out ofseventh group in uh 2020 and, um
, you know, a couple of years ofgovernment contracting in
Afghanistan left AfghanistanJuly 2021.
And then it's kind of undecidedwhat I wanted to do.
(01:10):
Full scale invasion of Ukrainekicked off.
I headed over to Ukraine towork with some missionary
organizations, evacuating women,children and the elderly out of
areas the Russians were cominginto.
And then, as the Russians movedeast, people started to come
home, hit landmines.
I started to put my 18 Charlieknowledge back into work again,
(01:34):
helping clear landmines andexplosive hazards in civilian
areas.
So, you know they didn't, youknow they didn't have to worry
about their next step or live infear of that next step, and I
decided to devote my life tohazardous I guess you'd call it
(01:56):
hazardous reduction in extremeenvironments and areas.
And so I've been working inUkraine.
I have 10, 11 missions over toUkraine now and it's all been
for a landmine removal andthat's yeah, that's what I'm
doing now and it's it was madepossible because of all the
(02:18):
experiences I had from sevenspecial forces group as an 18
Charlie eight deployments toAfghanistan and hundreds of IEDs
and landmines removed.
So I just decided to turn thatinto a humanitarian endeavor,
and now that's what we've beendoing in Ukraine.
Oh, that's amazing.
Speaker 1 (02:38):
I so support your work, as you know, but I want
people, the listeners they mayjust think of, like, oh,
landmines and military stuff.
Can you explain how much itaffects the civilian populace?
And I think a lot of peoplewould be surprised who more than
50% of the victims of alandmine are.
Speaker 2 (02:59):
Yeah, so the problem with landmines is landmines are
going to continue to injure andkill long after the last shot of
the war is fired, and themajority of the victims are
(03:20):
going to end up being civiliancasualties farmers.
Although very effective, itcreates a humanitarian crisis
and a refugee crisis, because alot of people are not able to go
back to their homes againbecause of mine contamination,
and so now you're looking atinternally displaced people,
idps, you're looking at refugeesthat other countries have to
(03:43):
bring in.
So that's some of the globalimplications.
The other global implicationsare the second and the third
order of effects of landminesare mined because these large
farm fields, if you can drive acombine tractor over them, you
(04:08):
can drive mechanized militaryequipment over them as well, and
so what landmines are for isterrain denial.
I'm going to mine this entirearea to deny you this terrain
(04:30):
terrain.
And also in Eastern Ukraine,the majority of the roadways are
target reference points forartillery, and so if you're
going to use the roads now,you're going to be dialed in by
either Ukrainian or Russianartillery, and if you're going
to use the fields to avoid that,now you're going to deal with
landmines, and so it's not.
There's a misconception that theRussians are targeting
(04:50):
Ukrainian farmers, which is notthe case.
They are mining everything inorder to create terrain denial,
and the Ukrainians do the samething, and it's very effective.
The problem is is, after thelast shot is fired, the cleanup
from all that?
And there are internationalrules that regulate the use of
(05:12):
landmines in warfare, but we allknow not everybody follows
those rules, and so the secondand third order of effects, with
these farm fields being mined,is the fact that now grain
production, agricultural exportsfrom Ukraine to countries that
in some instances depend onUkrainian agricultural exports
(05:35):
for their very survivability,like in Africa, that is now been
stopped or greatly limitedbecause of landmines been
stopped or greatly limitedbecause of landmines.
And so you're looking at theuses of landmines for war and
now, all of a sudden, the secondand third order of effects for
it.
It has global implications.
Speaker 1 (05:59):
Yeah, that's incredible and I love when we
were in Dallas at your gala man,which was an awesome event
Anybody that didn't get to go.
Next year you got to look forthe tip of the spear land mine
removal gala event.
It's awesome.
I event amazing people, but youshared something that I think
was very powerful analogy orjust a story similar to that.
(06:21):
You know, if we have ahurricane or a tornado comes
through here and rips throughareas, well, look at a war zone
looks very similar.
But what do you get to do aftera tornado or hurricane?
Here, people come together andthey rebuild.
You can't just go back to anarea that's mined and rebuilt.
So I think people need tounderstand that aspect as well,
(06:44):
and I don't know if you want toshare any more on that, or yeah,
another.
Speaker 2 (06:48):
Another effect of mining for landmine usage in war
is the reconstruction effortsafter the war, and so
reconstruction beforereconstruction can even start,
you have to be able to clearthose areas of explosive hazards
and landmines, and Ukraine, aswe know, right now is the most
(07:10):
mined country in the world.
Well, something else that a lotof people don't take into
account is there's moreunexploded ordnance in Ukraine
than there are landmines, and sonow you also have landmines,
and now you have the UXO problem, and it's just, it's an entire,
it's just, it's a, it's anextremely contaminated area.
(07:34):
So, for instance, 175,000kilometers of Ukraine is
considered, is consideredcontaminated, and, to give
reference to that, that isroughly the size of Florida.
Or you can take England, wales,scotland, ireland, and it's
still bigger than all those puttogether.
That's the contamination areain Ukraine right now, and I'm
(07:56):
not saying that that's all mined, but it's all contaminated
because that's where conflicthas been.
So there's going to be UXOs,there's going to be landmines,
there's going to be any numberof things that are going to
inhibit reconstruction,agricultural revitalization, all
the way down to civilians goingback to their homes to rebuild.
(08:16):
So, unlike a natural disasterwildfires, tornadoes, hurricanes
when the area is safe and thestate authorities lift the ban
on people coming back in, peoplewill come back and they'll see
what's left and start to rebuildtheir lives again and their
support for rebuilding and allkinds of other things like that.
That's not necessarily the casein Ukraine.
(08:38):
Sometimes people are looking at10 plus years to be able to go
back to their home or the areasthat they used to live because
of landmines.
And I get another question quitea bit Well, why isn't the
Ukrainian government doing moreabout it?
Well, it's because case is theRussian Federation, nonprofits
(09:26):
like ours, tip, the Spirit,landmine Removal or other
organizations are over there andable to do the work that we're
doing.
Is because, you know, ukraineis busy with other things
currently, right now, and that'swhat's also causing the long
delays in people being able togo back to their villages and
homes again.
Is because there's just notenough manpower to address the
(09:49):
world's largest minefield andthat's Ukraine.
Speaker 1 (09:53):
Yeah, crazy, it's incredible and hats off to you,
brother, all the work you'redoing.
I want to get now into yourmind a little bit.
As far as you know, in my bookI talk about, hey, your mind's
your greatest weapon.
Or you know, in my book I talkabout, hey, your mind's your
greatest weapon.
Or you know, you're yourgreatest asset.
You obviously have firsthandexperience getting blown up and
(10:14):
dealing with that.
Can you share some of the storyon how mentally you know,
because obviously you were avictim of an IED and stepping on
, uh, you know a landmine, so tospeak.
You were a victim of an IED andstepping on, you know a
landmine, so to speak.
So how were you able to turnthings around?
Speaker 2 (10:33):
Like, how can listeners learn from your story
and your mind.
Yeah, it's, I mean it.
It is definitely a.
It was definitely a long roadand it wasn't.
There were more failures thansuccesses.
That's absolutely the truth.
And I did.
Mentally, I had a very, verytough time.
(10:53):
I struggled greatly mentally inthe beginning.
But so, September 12, 2010, Istepped on an IED while we were
conducting a clearance of theChitoo River Valley, basically
bordering Aruzgan and HelmandProvince.
And once I finally got back tothe States and, yeah, it almost
(11:15):
took my life I had expired twiceat the first rural facility
that I made it to from bloodloss and just a bunch of other
complications that went alongwith it.
But when I finally made it backto the States and you know, 28
surgeries later now it's time tostart to do this rehabilitation
(11:36):
and mentally I was in a verybad place, not only because I
felt like I had let my team down, um, by stepping on, you know,
the IED.
And I felt that my entire lifeyou know, here's Ryan
Hendrickson, us army green beret.
And now what am I?
(11:57):
You know I'm laying in ahospital bed.
My life has changed forever.
Um, I don't know what tomorrowis going to bring.
I'm going through thisextensive limb salvage process
(12:20):
because when I got blown up,they were trying to save more
limbs than just hacking limbsoff, and so I was kind of a
pilot program or a test subjectfor this limb salvage, because
my leg was going to be the worstone that they were going to try
to salvage and the percent ofit working was.
I was given 10 to 15 percent,and if it doesn't work it's not
a big deal.
You just chop it off, get aprosthetic limb and you're on
your way.
(12:40):
And so, you know, I agreed togo through the program because
it would enhance medicaltechnology and help other people
.
But, um, this entire time, I'm,I'm, I'm battling these demons,
um, inside of failure, and I'mbattling, you know this, this
victimized mindset where youknow I, I an entitlement, an
(13:03):
entitlement mindset where I feltlike I deserved something for
what I perceived that I've done,like, look at what I've done
for you, I'm owed, and thenvictimization is impossible to
fill.
You can't fill that victimizedvoid in yourself, and so
victimization turns into I'msorry entitlement.
(13:24):
You can't fill that entitledvoid in yourself.
Entitlement turns intovictimization, and then from
victimization it's a really badspiral down, and so now I'm
laying in a hospital bed.
I have no purpose.
I'm an entitled, wounded guythat is victimized by my own
circumstances.
This is all self-induced isvictimized by my own
circumstances.
This is all self-induced.
(13:46):
And my dad had a talk with meand he basically said you're at
a crossroad right now in yourlife and he said there's two
directions you can take.
The first direction is you cancontinue to let this injury take
you over.
(14:06):
You can continue to be a victimof this injury and you'll never
leave September 12th 2010.
You will always be victimizedby it.
And what's gonna happen isyou're going to demand that
people understand what you wentthrough, and it's impossible.
Even if they were there,they're not you.
And so you're gonna demand thatpeople understand what you went
through, and it's impossible.
Even if they were there,they're not you.
And so you're going to demandthat people understand and
(14:30):
sympathize with what you wentthrough.
And then, when you don't getthat, you're going to start to
push people away because theydon't understand.
That's the victimized part ofit, and you're going to seclude
yourself.
And then you're going to go tosomething to numb your mind,
numb the thoughts, numb the pain, numb the depression that
you're in.
And then from there, he said alot of that is what adds to the
(14:54):
22 a day with veteran suicide.
And he said I'm very scared forthat because I don't think you
have the power not to blow yourown brains out.
I was like, okay, he said, oryou can use this situation for
what it is.
It's painful, you're in a darkspot right now, but let's be
realistic.
(15:14):
This isn't the worst injurythat's ever happened.
It's not going to be the lastinjury that ever happens.
And reality check for you,you're not the most important
person here.
You know you need to get overyourself.
You are so entitled by what youthink you deserve because you
think you're something thatyou're not.
He said you need to get overyourself and you need to take
(15:37):
control over this.
Use this situation, use thisexperience to make yourself
stronger, but don't do it foryou.
Make yourself stronger to helpother people.
He said you're not going tounderstand what I'm talking
about right now because of thepain and everything else that's
going on, but if you use thissituation to make yourself
(15:57):
stronger to help other people, Ipromise you you are going to
see God's work in this.
Sometime in the future you willsee how you can use this pain
and this experience that youhave to help other people.
And when you become an old manand you're sitting back and
you're looking at how you livedyour life and the major things
(16:18):
that happened to you in yourlife, you have two things that
are going to happen.
You're either going to beashamed of how you dealt with
September 12th 2010, or you'regoing to be proud of how you
dealt with that day because youused it to make yourself strong
and to help other people.
And so, um, that started me onthe path of mentally healing.
(16:41):
And no, I didn't pop out of bedand, like a like a baptist
preacher, you know put a snakein my face and rub my head and
said you're, you're, you know,you're good and I'm jumping
around and everything's good.
It doesn't work that way.
This is life.
Yeah, I mean, you get, you get.
You get.
You get this great victory andthis moral boost and life's like
watch this and knock you downagain.
You're going to continue to getknocked down, because that's
(17:04):
what life does and life.
Life isn't fair and life can.
Life can oftentimes be ugly,but once you accept that, life
becomes a lot easier and itbecomes a lot more clear to you
because you know you're not,you're, you're not, um, do
anything.
You know that nobody owes youshit.
They just don't.
And you're not the mostimportant person in the world
(17:26):
Other people, they have lives tolive, families to feed, things
to do.
You are not on the top of theirlist, okay.
So get over yourself withthinking you're owed something
and use this experience, thisgolden experience you got.
Not a lot of people get asecond chance at life after an
(17:49):
injury like this.
Use this and go out and make adifference in the world for the
better.
And again, as I was layingthere, you know listening to him
, obviously, I mean I stillremember the conversation and so
it had a great impact on me,but I didn't realize how much
(18:10):
what my dad said was actuallygoing to come true until I
started working in Ukraine lovehow you acknowledge, like a lot
of people want to just talk like, oh, everything's great, you do
this, you do that.
Speaker 1 (18:29):
You focus on no, the struggle is real for everybody.
It doesn't matter what stageseason you are in life.
You're going to struggle.
But do you want to let thestruggle define you and own you
and continue to be a victim, ordo you want to move on and just,
hey, that happened in my story,but that's not my story?
And I think that's one of thethings we have in common that
(18:50):
we're trying to share andempower people is that, yeah,
you're going to have rainy,stormy, shitty days in life, but
you know what?
Drive on, focus on the positive, do the best you can.
And if you serve others, focuson the positive, do the best you
can.
And if you serve others, man,there's some powerful stuff out
there and you are doing it.
And for anybody out there youwant to know more about ryan,
(19:12):
please check him out.
Hit pause, go in thedescription, check out.
Tip of the spear, get the book.
I got it right up here and, uh,I do, and thank you by way for
sending a copy to my mother.
That was so special, who's nolonger with us.
But, man, she told me she'slike your friend Ryan.
I told him there was a problemwith the book and he just sent
(19:33):
me another one and signed it andI was like so yeah, thank you
for that Again.
I think I might've already saidit, but I could never thank you
enough, cause that was for mymom.
Speaker 2 (19:46):
So anyway.
Thank you enough Cause that wasfor my mom.
We're family man, we're family.
That's what family does.
So back to what you were sayinga second ago.
One thing I do want thelisteners to understand is, as
dark as the times are and as badas your situation may seem,
time keeps.
Time keeps moving on.
It really does.
You can't stop time.
(20:07):
And how you deal with thosesituations, how you deal with
the moment that you're in, asdark and as painful as it may be
, there is one thing that isguaranteed in life you are going
to reach a point in your life,usually when you're older, that
you're sitting back and you'rereflecting on everything you did
and you will have to answer forhow you handled or acted in
(20:34):
certain situations orexperiences.
And those answers could beextremely painful or it could
bring you joy and you can beproud of yourself, fulfilled and
content.
And so when I'm faced withsituations that I just feel is
(20:57):
just like, why is this happeningto me, poor me.
Go down the list of everythingthat is so easy, because
victimization is it's it's, it'seasy, it's comfortable and we
kind of celebrate it as a nationnow, unfortunately.
But turn on the news and tell mewhat you think.
But you are going to have there.
(21:17):
There's there.
You cannot avoid it.
There will be a time in yourlife where you will reflect back
on how you handledlife-altering situations.
And I just ask the listenersdon't allow yourself to look
back and be ashamed of yourself.
Take control.
Understand that time doesn'tstop.
This situation will pass, it'sguaranteed.
(21:41):
Regardless of how painful it is, it will pass.
But how you deal with it,that'll stick with you forever,
guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (21:49):
Powerful stuff, ryan Super powerful, and that's why
you're on here to share thosepowerful messages.
I was just with Brandon Webb onanother podcast and we talked
about being the 80 year old man,looking back or looking at
things you know with your lifelike oh, I have this problem now
, or whatever.
When you're 80 years old, areyou going to care about your
kids made a mess on the floor,or are you going to miss your
(22:12):
young child running around, orwhatever it may be?
Oh, something went wrong inbusiness or your car broke down
when you're 80.
You're not going to care about,oh, your car broke down or you
got a flat tire on the way towork.
So don't let those littlethings in your life bog you down
.
Focus on positive things.
Find things that are going tomake you smile, not things that
(22:35):
are going to drag you down ortrigger you.
We don't want to get triggeredover stupid stuff.
You need passion and purpose,and if you build those things,
man, I mean, how much better isyour life with passion and
purpose?
Speaker 2 (22:51):
Purpose is everything .
I think one of the biggestcontributors to the mental
health crisis, especially inveterans, is the lack of purpose
, the lack of service, and so,without purpose, you're just
left, right, lefting throughlife and life is living you.
(23:12):
Life is controlling you.
All you're doing left, right,lefting through life and life is
living you.
Life is controlling you.
All you're doing is just movingon, wake up, eat, do whatever
you do, sleep, repeat that's allyou're doing in life, without
purpose.
You have to find something thatyou're passionate about and
(23:32):
make that your purpose, andthere's something extremely
powerful about helping otherpeople.
There are very few people inlife I don't know any but there
are very few people in life thathave ever gone through life not
needing anyone, not helpinganyone, and feeling that joy and
(23:56):
what that does for you as ahuman being.
I believe human beings aregeared to be servants to each
other, to help each other.
You know, you look at themilitary.
You look at our firstresponders, police officers and
anything like that.
We're all servants of somethingbigger than ourselves.
(24:17):
Well, in the military, forexample, our service to the
country and the life and libertythat we cherish so much and
defend, including to die for isthat.
That's the kind of service thatwhen you finish in the military
(24:38):
, it's very hard to get thatkind of purpose back, and so you
do.
You have to.
You have to find something thatyou're passionate about and
something that can really make adifference in helping other
people.
Because if you look at themilitary veterans um,
specifically, if you're lookingat that, we've spent our entire
(25:02):
careers serving others.
That's what we do.
We serve in the defense of theUnited States of America.
We're serving the population.
You're a servant, and so to tryto find something you're
passionate about that doesn'tequal service to others is very
(25:23):
difficult, because you've spentyour time in the military of
service, and so that's what Ilike to tell a lot of veterans
is like find a way to help, youknow, find a way to help people,
find a way to make this worldjust a little bit better place
than when you came in.
And I mean, that's that'sessentially what we're doing in
(25:43):
Afghanistan or, I'm sorry, inUkraine.
Afghanistan may come later on,but the security situation needs
to improve a little bit beforewe go over there and start
removing IEDs and landmines.
But that's essentially whatwe're doing.
It's a life of service and thereason why it speaks to so many
veterans is because of the levelwe used to work at.
(26:05):
Well, now, instead of pullingtriggers, we're pulling
landmines and we're saving livesand limbs.
You know, people are able to goback to their homes again
without fear of their next step.
People are able to start torebuild after losing everything.
And that also does somethingelse for veterans, because now
(26:28):
you're seeing war on a levelthat we don't necessarily see it
at, and that's the humanitarianlevel.
Now we're starting to seebecause, as war fighters, we're
really good at creating thehumanitarian crisis, and I don't
mean that in a negative way,it's just that's the way war is.
Homes get destroyed, people'slives change, that's war.
(26:49):
But to be able to come in andwork as a humanitarian um on the
other side of war that wehaven't really experienced a lot
of as war fighters.
It's extremely powerful andthat really is the purpose
behind it, and the sense ofservice and giving back to
(27:11):
something that's bigger thanyourself.
I mean, that's that's what it'sall about and that's that.
That's what veterans need.
You gotta have that purposethat's bigger than yourself, and
it usually revolves aroundhelping other people, because
we're all servants.
We signed up for it, regardlessof what you think, in the
military, you're a servant.
(27:31):
No, absolutely, and I I agreewith that wholeheartedly.
Speaker 1 (27:32):
Regardless of what you think, in the military
you're a servant.
No, absolutely, and I agreewith that wholeheartedly.
I think that's one of theproblems and I talk about it in
my book or other people I'mworking with is you need to find
your next mission.
Like you're used to gettingorders or hey, my team's doing
this, or I need to do that andwe're deploying here, you get
out and you had this nice, youknow chain of command that gave
(27:56):
you purpose.
Well, guess what?
Now you're your own commander.
So people need to take chargeand figure out what their next
mission is.
Because when you go from doingI mean heck, look at the old
first blood rambo movie he talksabout that.
You know, used to be I was incharge of millions of dollars
equipment.
Now I can't even get a job,like you know.
(28:17):
They've been highlighting thatstuff for a while and I just
wish people would realize thatthey can give themselves a
mission they can find.
If you're sitting at home, guesswhat it's not going to happen.
You need to get out there.
Go to at home.
(28:40):
Guess what it's not going tohappen.
You need to get out there.
Go to a church, go to anorganization, go to the VFW.
Go to your kid's school,volunteer somewhere, just get
out of the house and startinteracting and you know God's
got a plan, it's out there.
But if you're just sitting onyour, you know, oh pity stool,
poor me.
Well, you know you're, you'renever going to get anywhere and
you don't want to do what Briansaid and look back on your life
and be like that's what I did.
Speaker 2 (28:58):
Yep, and that that is something, unfortunately, that
a lot of veterans are facingright now.
And it's the hard truth?
Um, it's not.
It's it this?
This isn't, um, tell aeletubbyhug a bear time.
The hard truth is, a lot ofveterans are victimizing
themselves.
It's self-induced victimization, from an entitlement standpoint
(29:22):
, of what you think you are owed, and it is so much worse after
the withdrawal from Afghanistanbecause of how it went down.
I went down this road as wellin 2021, until I went to Ukraine
.
What was it for?
What was the bloodshed for?
What was you know, puttingbuddies on helicopters for their
last flight home?
What was this all about?
(29:42):
Why?
How come this happens?
That's not up to you.
That's up to higher levels thatyou cannot affect.
There's nothing you can doabout it.
It happened, this is how ithappened, and a lot of veterans
unfortunately, they are stillvictimizing themselves because
(30:05):
of how Afghanistan happened andended.
And I'm not saying that there'snot a right to have grievances.
I'm not saying that there's nota right to have grievances.
I'm not saying that there's nota right to have opinions on how
effed up the whole situationwas, because, lord knows, I do.
But if you allow that tocontrol you, if you allow those
(30:29):
mindsets to become you and thatentitlement to take you over,
there is nothing that is goingto fill that entitlement void,
especially with Afghanistan.
It is impossible.
You will become a victim and wedo have a victimization crisis
in our country right now which,in my humble opinion, is
(30:49):
directly leading to the amountsof suicides that we have.
It's because you're not gettingthat entitlement void filled,
that victimization.
It is a dangerous, dangerousmindset because you will see no
options.
(31:10):
As a victim, you will feel owed.
You will feel owed, you willfeel cheated, you will feel like
you're not getting what youdeserve.
And then there's going to comea point in time when enough is
going to be enough.
And we've seen it already.
A lot of veterans have chosen.
You know what this isn't worthit Because a lot of these
(31:31):
mindsets and I do understandtraumatic incidents, I do
understand, you know, pts andPTSD, I got all that, but you
have control of yourself.
This is your life, not somebodyelse's life.
And another problem a lot ofveterans are having is they want
somebody else to fix them, andthe VA is really good at pushing
(31:55):
out drugs.
You know what I mean.
Like, oh, you're having theseissues.
Here's pills, pills mask andmake the situation worse.
It doesn't help you.
It makes the situation worse.
You have to take control overyour own life.
You have to take your life back.
(32:16):
You have to be the commander ofyour life and you have to live
life, not let life live you.
And that's one of the biggestissues we're having, in my
opinion, in the veterancommunity right now is we do
have a rightful about how thingshappen in Afghanistan and also
(32:39):
in Iraq, but it's becoming whoyou are and it's consuming you
and it's ruining you because youwon't take control over your
own life.
And that's what veterans theycan't move past it.
Speaker 1 (32:56):
They're having a hard time moving past it.
Speaker 2 (32:58):
That's what veterans have to do.
You have to take control.
If you can take control, youdon't forget about it.
It's not something that's like,oh okay, well, I just want all
this to be like it neverhappened.
It's impossible.
Take control over it.
Take control over your life.
Find out how you could makeyourself stronger to help other
(33:19):
people, and then you're going toslowly start to heal mentally,
because you are You're doing theultimate mental health workout
and that's helping other people.
It really is.
But before you can help anybodyelse, you have to help yourself
.
You're a liability until youcan help yourself, and that's
(33:44):
what we need to get control over.
That's what programs like whatwe're doing and a lot of other
amazing organizations are doingis helping veterans take control
over their lives again.
But the problem is it's not easy.
It is extremely hard.
Easy is entitlement andvictimization.
Simple.
It is extremely hard to takecontrol over your life and
(34:11):
that's where veterans needavenues that they can do this.
They need ways of betteringthemselves or volunteering, or
even doing their own thing,Starting up something that will
help do this.
They need ways of betteringthemselves or volunteering, or
even doing their own thing,starting up something that will
help other people starting upsomething that's going to give
them that purpose, that service,that drive that makes the world
a little bit better place.
Then you're going to look backand you're like, wow, this has
(34:37):
been amazing, because you'regoing to see the positive
impacts of what you've done.
Or you can get to a certain agewhere you look back like you're
saying the 80-year-old man andyou may be ashamed because
you're looking back on all thenegatives and the tornado-sized
path of destruction you caused.
It's up to you, but there willbe a time when you will have.
(34:59):
It's up to you, but there is.
There will be a time when youwill have to reflect on how you
acted and how you took charge ordid not.
Speaker 1 (35:07):
No, absolutely that simple it is, and it's.
It's simple but it's hard.
And if you're someone out therethat's stuck in the victim
mentality, please understand.
Nobody can get you out butyourself, like you are a victim.
Okay, we'll honor that.
Bad things happen, shit happens, but guess what?
(35:29):
You're the only one that cankeep yourself a victim If
somebody victimized you or hell,what you went through, ryan,
stepping on the IED.
Yeah, you were a victim of anIED attack.
You know what Does that defineyou right now, in this moment.
Yeah, you were a victim of anIED attack.
You know what Does that defineyou right now, in this moment.
No, you're doing something elsenow and moved on.
That was an event that happened.
So, whatever thing that'shappening in your life right now
, audience, realize that thatthing, that victimization that's
(35:55):
happening or happened, is goingto be gone tomorrow unless you
hold onto it.
Stop holding onto it.
You need to learn to let go and, like Ryan and I are talking
about, find your passion andyour purpose.
Speaker 2 (36:09):
But the biggest thing is is use.
Use these experiences, use thispain.
Pain is the greatest teacherHoly cow, it is the most amazing
teacher in the world.
But use these experiences, usethis pain, use whatever you are
going through right now.
Use this as a tool to makeyourself stronger to help other
(36:30):
people.
You can always find lessons inevery single thing in life.
I don't care if it's slammingyour fingers in a car door to
you know, stepping on an IED,like.
There's lessons in everythingin life.
And if you, and if you, if yourmind is correct, and if you are
want, and if you are living alife of service and you have
(36:54):
that purpose of helping otherpeople, then you're going to use
these experiences to figure outhow to make yourself stronger,
to continue helping or to betterwhat you're doing, because
that's what life's all about.
Right, it's about failing flat,you know, falling flat on your
face, failing, getting back up,learning from those failures,
coming back and succeeding,trying things, risking, taking
(37:17):
risks, jumping into the unknown.
That's what life's all about,because without that, it's just
left right.
Left through life, yeah, andeverything's a risk.
Speaker 1 (37:29):
People you know don't realize that when you don't do
something, you're risking yourfuture.
When you do do something,you're risking.
Ooh, maybe it'll be successful,maybe I'll fail, who knows?
But no matter what, you got todo something.
You have to act, you have to bemoving forward, you have to
have purpose and any of thosebad things like Ryan's talking
about let that be fuel, let thatfan the fire in you.
(37:51):
Take that anger, twist it intopurpose.
Speaker 2 (37:57):
Yeah, failure is a taboo word.
People look at failure as anegative, but that's because you
don't understand how to usefailure.
If you prop, if you know how touse failure, then failure is
the greatest tool.
I forgot who said it.
It could have been, uh, couldhave been, uh, steve jobs or
somebody, somebody else withmore money than God.
(38:18):
But they basically said I havefailed more times than I've
succeeded.
I've fallen flat on my face somany times and had to pick
myself up off the ground moretimes than I can count, way more
times than I was walkingwithout falling on my face.
But every single one of thosefailures I use it as a tool to
(38:42):
make myself better.
And then, all of a sudden, youstart to get successes.
And now you know, look at whata lot of these people that you
know have failed so many timesin their lives and came back and
just owned it because they usedfailure properly.
Failure is an amazing tool.
(39:02):
It's a lot of people hate thatword, especially in the military
.
You know failure is this badword in the military, but if
used properly, it's the greatesttool in the world.
It really is.
Well, that.
And pain Pain is a great tool.
Speaker 1 (39:15):
First attempt in learning right Fail that's one
of the acronyms I use.
First attempt in learning rightFail that's one of the acronyms
they use.
First attempt in learning.
When you fail, you will learnfrom that If you use it properly
.
Speaker 2 (39:26):
If you don't, then you're going to be a victim of
your failure and you'll never goanywhere.
Speaker 1 (39:33):
Yeah, ben Franklin pretty much said the same thing
when he was doing the light bulb.
They're like you've tried likea thousand times, why don't you
give up?
Well, I've learned a thousandthings that don't work as a
light bulb.
Yeah, you know like you learnand you know what.
He figured it out eventually,you know and I love to go to the
sports analogies too.
Right, all right.
(39:54):
How many shots does a hockeyplayer take to get in the net,
you know.
Or shots on goal, and you mightwin by two, you know.
Or baseball player you have a400 batting average.
That's insane.
300 is good.
Well, that means they only gotthree hits out of 10 tries, like
they're still striking out orgetting out even the best ones.
(40:16):
So don't worry about yourfailures, you know.
Use them as stepping stones,move ahead, you can do it, and I
mean Ryan.
You are a testimony to all ofthat and I'm so honored to call
you my brother.
I'm honored to have you here,I'm honored to spend time with
you and just support the workyou're doing.
I'm very grateful.
(40:37):
The world's lucky to have menlike you.
People say you know, I servedand I walked among giants.
That is absolutely how I feel,like you, Nick Lavery, other
guys on my team that have doneamazing things Like I.
Just I've looked to my left andright and I just want to say
I'm proud of you, man.
Keep it up and you know you'reyou, man.
(41:02):
Keep it up and you know you're.
You're doing great things.
So, before we really slow downand wind things out.
Please share with me a goodstory that you had in an
epiphany from when you were likea kid, or something happened in
your life that really startedto trigger.
Hey, how I think and interpretthings is how it affects my life
(41:24):
.
Speaker 2 (41:25):
Well, I, I mean I got , I got the greatest advice
given to me from the greatestman I've ever.
Well, he's still alive.
So I have never known and stillknow, and it's my dad.
And so in 1996, before I wasjoining the military I know I
look like I'm about 25, but Idid join the military in 96.
So 1996, before I joined themilitary, my dad you know, we
(41:49):
were, we were having you knowconversations and he was excited
because I was going to, youknow, get out, see the world.
And and I was scared and hesaid look, let me have a talk
with you.
He said so there's two old menthat are sitting in their
rocking chairs and they'rewaiting on death.
(42:10):
And he said the first old manis miserable because he let life
pass him by, he did nothingwith his life, he never tried
anything that he could fail at,he never risked anything, he
never stepped out of his comfortzone, he didn't do anything
(42:30):
that would be uncomfortable forhim or could result in failure.
He always lived on the safepath and outsiders looking in
they could say, oh wow, this guyhas everything together, he's
done it all.
Look, he's got money, nicehealth and all this other stuff.
But the old man is miserablebecause he let life pass him by
(42:53):
and now his final days arefilled with regret and I wish I
would have.
I wish I would have at leasttried.
I mean, that's how I got toUkraine in the first place.
But I'll tell you that in asecond.
The second old man.
The second old man was content,he was happy, he was fulfilled,
and it's because he's doneeverything there was to do
(43:17):
possible for his life.
He's failed multiple times,he's succeeded some, he's taken
chances, he's risked it all.
He's, you know, he's doneeverything there was that he
could possibly do.
And, as I said earlier, timekeeps ticking on.
You can't stop time.
And so now he's an old man andhe's reflecting back on
(43:37):
everything and he's happy, he'sfulfilled and he's content.
My dad said which old man doyou want to be?
He said don't ever, don't everpass up an opportunity to do
something, don't ever pass upthe chance to fail or to be
great.
He said do it all, don't worryabout it, because time keeps
(43:58):
ticking on and you are going tohave to reflect back on
everything you did in your lifeor everything you did not do in
your life.
And he said that's a deathsentence.
He said do it all.
Who cares about failure?
Learn from it and keep movingon.
And so that has guided a lot ofmy life and decisions that I've
(44:34):
made in my life, like threebranches of the service.
You know other things, but justrecently a full a lot of the
listeners were as well that I'mwatching the full scale invasion
unfold and I keep having thisnagging feeling in my chest.
I wonder if there's somethingthat I could do.
I wonder if there's a way thatI can help.
No, no, no, ryan, it's a war.
It's Ukraine.
And like where?
(44:54):
Eastern Europe?
Like, no, get real, get.
You know you're good, you havea contracting job, you're making
really really good money.
Um, no, but this naggingfeeling wouldn't let me.
It wouldn't let me go, itwouldn't let me sleep, it
wouldn't leave me at peace,because there's something that I
(45:15):
could be doing over there.
And that nagging feeling issomething all green breweries
have.
It's called de oppresso libero,to free the oppressed.
And finally, I just made up mymind.
I was like you know what, if Idon't go, I'll never know.
And if I don't know, that'sbecause I didn't go and that's
(45:35):
on me and I'm going to have toanswer for that at some point in
my life.
And so I did.
I had an amazing job as acontractor, making really good
money, and I quit and I wentover to Ukraine as a volunteer
and started evacuating women andchildren, which turned out to
(45:57):
doing what we are right now withlandmine removal in civilian
areas, humanitarian landmineremoval.
And I will know when I'msitting on my rocking chair and
life is.
You know, I'm waiting on death.
I will know that I did it.
I will have no regrets.
I went to Ukraine, I riskedeverything, I took the chance, I
(46:23):
accepted that this is probablygoing to um, this could end in
failure.
I did all that, but I didn'tlet any of that hold me back.
And, like you, you're an author,I'm an author.
Well, like you, you're anauthor, I'm an author.
Well, I don't know if I'm anauthor, but we both wrote books.
And if you think about life,the beginning chapter and the
(46:48):
end chapter has already beenwritten.
When you're born and when youdie, that's up to God.
That has been in the cards longbefore you were ever even
thought about.
But those middle chapters, thosemiddle pages, that's up to you.
And in the end, how's yourstory going to read?
Is your story going to be oneof triumph and victory?
(47:14):
Because triumph and victorydon't happen without multiple
failures and falling on yourface and pain.
You know leaders I've heard theterm multiple times natural
born leader.
I don't agree with that.
Leaders are.
They are made through theinferno, iron sharpens, iron.
Leaders fail multiple times andthen they turn that failure
into success.
(47:35):
That's what leaders are.
And so if the beginning and theend chapter of your book has
already been written, it's up toyou to fill in those middle
pages.
And in the end, how's your bookgoing to read?
That's on you and only you.
Speaker 1 (47:56):
No great analogy, brother.
Great analogy Cause it's's,it's.
You're speaking the truth, man,and people need to hear the
truth.
They need to understand.
You need to take ownership ofyour life.
Your your own author, like ryansaying for your book whatever
your name is, guess what that'syour book.
And whatever career, job,things you do places you.
(48:18):
You want to go see, guess what.
You're where you're at becauseof your choices, your decisions,
your habits, your work.
But the great thing is you canchange every one of those things
.
You're a creator.
You know that you create yourlife, you're creating your story
.
So get out there and do it.
(48:38):
Just please realize that Listento Ryan, listen to me, listen
to anybody else, but understandyou are your greatest asset.
You need to take control andown your life and once you start
doing that and then yousurround yourself with good
people and you become an assetto others you have passion and
(48:59):
purpose, like Ryan's doing yourlife will be a completely
different life.
Would you ever imagined you'rewhere you're at right now, ryan?
Speaker 2 (49:08):
No, not at night?
Speaker 1 (49:10):
No, never Me either.
But you get out there, you jumpinto the fire, you get burned a
little bit, but you gethardened.
You get burned a little bit,you get hardened.
Just keep pushing forward.
You can do it.
It, ryan?
Is there anything else you wantto leave the listeners or you'd
like to share, or where theycan get a hold of you?
Speaker 2 (49:29):
yeah, I mean, we are at landmineremovalorg and that
has um all of my social mediaplatforms and everything like
that and um, pretty, pretty easyto find, um, pretty easy to
find on the internet.
So, but, um, yeah, justremember, there's going to come
(49:50):
a day when you are going to haveto reflect back on what you did
or didn't do.
Don't allow yourself to beashamed.
Take control.
It's never too late.
Take control and be that personthat you be, that book that you
want to read in the end,absolutely.
Speaker 1 (50:08):
Amen, brother.
Well, thank you for listeningto the Asset Mindset Podcast.
Please share this with peoplethat need to hear it, because
there's a lot of powerfulmessages here.
I hope you got a lot from it.
Don't forget to like andsubscribe, and have a wonderful
day.
God bless, own your power.
Welcome to today's Asset Mindset podcast.
We have an extremely specialguest, an amazing man, one of my
fellow seventh group guys.
So it's an honor to have himhere and I got to give a shout
out to Red Empire.
But I have Ryan Hendrickson,who is an amazing man, done so
much and a lot of people don'tknow.
He's served not just in thearmy, he served in other places
(00:32):
too, but he's most known forbeing an 18 Charlie or a Green
Beret with seven special forcesgroup.
Ryan, it's a pleasure to haveyou here.
Thank you for coming on theAsset Mindset, and why don't you
tell people about yourself andwhat you got going on now?
Speaker 2 (00:47):
Yeah, brother, no, I appreciate you having me on
skids to you again and, uh, love, love what you're doing, man,
really do so.
Um, yeah, I retired out ofseventh group in uh 2020 and, um
, you know, a couple of years ofgovernment contracting in
Afghanistan left AfghanistanJuly 2021.
And then it's kind of undecidedwhat I wanted to do.
(01:10):
Full scale invasion of Ukrainekicked off.
I headed over to Ukraine towork with some missionary
organizations, evacuating women,children and the elderly out of
areas the Russians were cominginto.
And then, as the Russians movedeast, people started to come
home, hit landmines.
I started to put my 18 Charlieknowledge back into work again,
(01:34):
helping clear landmines andexplosive hazards in civilian
areas.
So, you know they didn't, youknow they didn't have to worry
about their next step or live infear of that next step, and I
decided to devote my life tohazardous I guess you'd call it
(01:56):
hazardous reduction in extremeenvironments and areas.
And so I've been working inUkraine.
I have 10, 11 missions over toUkraine now and it's all been
for a landmine removal andthat's yeah, that's what I'm
doing now and it's it was madepossible because of all the
(02:18):
experiences I had from sevenspecial forces group as an 18
Charlie eight deployments toAfghanistan and hundreds of IEDs
and landmines removed.
So I just decided to turn thatinto a humanitarian endeavor,
and now that's what we've beendoing in Ukraine.
Oh, that's amazing.
Speaker 1 (02:38):
I so support your work, as you know, but I want
people, the listeners they mayjust think of, like, oh,
landmines and military stuff.
Can you explain how much itaffects the civilian populace?
And I think a lot of peoplewould be surprised who more than
50% of the victims of alandmine are.
Speaker 2 (02:59):
Yeah, so the problem with landmines is landmines are
going to continue to injure andkill long after the last shot of
the war is fired, and themajority of the victims are
(03:20):
going to end up being civiliancasualties farmers.
Although very effective, itcreates a humanitarian crisis
and a refugee crisis, because alot of people are not able to go
back to their homes againbecause of mine contamination,
and so now you're looking atinternally displaced people,
idps, you're looking at refugeesthat other countries have to
(03:43):
bring in.
So that's some of the globalimplications.
The other global implicationsare the second and the third
order of effects of landminesare mined because these large
farm fields, if you can drive acombine tractor over them, you
(04:08):
can drive mechanized militaryequipment over them as well, and
so what landmines are for isterrain denial.
I'm going to mine this entirearea to deny you this terrain
(04:30):
terrain.
And also in Eastern Ukraine,the majority of the roadways are
target reference points forartillery, and so if you're
going to use the roads now,you're going to be dialed in by
either Ukrainian or Russianartillery, and if you're going
to use the fields to avoid that,now you're going to deal with
landmines, and so it's not.
There's a misconception that theRussians are targeting
(04:50):
Ukrainian farmers, which is notthe case.
They are mining everything inorder to create terrain denial,
and the Ukrainians do the samething, and it's very effective.
The problem is is, after thelast shot is fired, the cleanup
from all that?
And there are internationalrules that regulate the use of
(05:12):
landmines in warfare, but we allknow not everybody follows
those rules, and so the secondand third order of effects, with
these farm fields being mined,is the fact that now grain
production, agricultural exportsfrom Ukraine to countries that
in some instances depend onUkrainian agricultural exports
(05:35):
for their very survivability,like in Africa, that is now been
stopped or greatly limitedbecause of landmines been
stopped or greatly limitedbecause of landmines.
And so you're looking at theuses of landmines for war and
now, all of a sudden, the secondand third order of effects for
it.
It has global implications.
Speaker 1 (05:59):
Yeah, that's incredible and I love when we
were in Dallas at your gala man,which was an awesome event
Anybody that didn't get to go.
Next year you got to look forthe tip of the spear land mine
removal gala event.
It's awesome.
I event amazing people, but youshared something that I think
was very powerful analogy orjust a story similar to that.
(06:21):
You know, if we have ahurricane or a tornado comes
through here and rips throughareas, well, look at a war zone
looks very similar.
But what do you get to do aftera tornado or hurricane?
Here, people come together andthey rebuild.
You can't just go back to anarea that's mined and rebuilt.
So I think people need tounderstand that aspect as well,
(06:44):
and I don't know if you want toshare any more on that, or yeah,
another.
Speaker 2 (06:48):
Another effect of mining for landmine usage in war
is the reconstruction effortsafter the war, and so
reconstruction beforereconstruction can even start,
you have to be able to clearthose areas of explosive hazards
and landmines, and Ukraine, aswe know, right now is the most
(07:10):
mined country in the world.
Well, something else that a lotof people don't take into
account is there's moreunexploded ordnance in Ukraine
than there are landmines, and sonow you also have landmines,
and now you have the UXO problem, and it's just, it's an entire,
it's just, it's a, it's anextremely contaminated area.
(07:34):
So, for instance, 175,000kilometers of Ukraine is
considered, is consideredcontaminated, and, to give
reference to that, that isroughly the size of Florida.
Or you can take England, wales,scotland, ireland, and it's
still bigger than all those puttogether.
That's the contamination areain Ukraine right now, and I'm
(07:56):
not saying that that's all mined, but it's all contaminated
because that's where conflicthas been.
So there's going to be UXOs,there's going to be landmines,
there's going to be any numberof things that are going to
inhibit reconstruction,agricultural revitalization, all
the way down to civilians goingback to their homes to rebuild.
(08:16):
So, unlike a natural disasterwildfires, tornadoes, hurricanes
when the area is safe and thestate authorities lift the ban
on people coming back in, peoplewill come back and they'll see
what's left and start to rebuildtheir lives again and their
support for rebuilding and allkinds of other things like that.
That's not necessarily the casein Ukraine.
(08:38):
Sometimes people are looking at10 plus years to be able to go
back to their home or the areasthat they used to live because
of landmines.
And I get another question quitea bit Well, why isn't the
Ukrainian government doing moreabout it?
Well, it's because case is theRussian Federation, nonprofits
(09:26):
like ours, tip, the Spirit,landmine Removal or other
organizations are over there andable to do the work that we're
doing.
Is because, you know, ukraineis busy with other things
currently, right now, and that'swhat's also causing the long
delays in people being able togo back to their villages and
homes again.
Is because there's just notenough manpower to address the
(09:49):
world's largest minefield andthat's Ukraine.
Speaker 1 (09:53):
Yeah, crazy, it's incredible and hats off to you,
brother, all the work you'redoing.
I want to get now into yourmind a little bit.
As far as you know, in my bookI talk about, hey, your mind's
your greatest weapon.
Or you know, in my book I talkabout, hey, your mind's your
greatest weapon.
Or you know, you're yourgreatest asset.
You obviously have firsthandexperience getting blown up and
(10:14):
dealing with that.
Can you share some of the storyon how mentally you know,
because obviously you were avictim of an IED and stepping on
, uh, you know a landmine, so tospeak.
You were a victim of an IED andstepping on, you know a
landmine, so to speak.
So how were you able to turnthings around?
Speaker 2 (10:33):
Like, how can listeners learn from your story
and your mind.
Yeah, it's, I mean it.
It is definitely a.
It was definitely a long roadand it wasn't.
There were more failures thansuccesses.
That's absolutely the truth.
And I did.
Mentally, I had a very, verytough time.
(10:53):
I struggled greatly mentally inthe beginning.
But so, September 12, 2010, Istepped on an IED while we were
conducting a clearance of theChitoo River Valley, basically
bordering Aruzgan and HelmandProvince.
And once I finally got back tothe States and, yeah, it almost
(11:15):
took my life I had expired twiceat the first rural facility
that I made it to from bloodloss and just a bunch of other
complications that went alongwith it.
But when I finally made it backto the States and you know, 28
surgeries later now it's time tostart to do this rehabilitation
(11:36):
and mentally I was in a verybad place, not only because I
felt like I had let my team down, um, by stepping on, you know,
the IED.
And I felt that my entire lifeyou know, here's Ryan
Hendrickson, us army green beret.
And now what am I?
(11:57):
You know I'm laying in ahospital bed.
My life has changed forever.
Um, I don't know what tomorrowis going to bring.
I'm going through thisextensive limb salvage process
(12:20):
because when I got blown up,they were trying to save more
limbs than just hacking limbsoff, and so I was kind of a
pilot program or a test subjectfor this limb salvage, because
my leg was going to be the worstone that they were going to try
to salvage and the percent ofit working was.
I was given 10 to 15 percent,and if it doesn't work it's not
a big deal.
You just chop it off, get aprosthetic limb and you're on
your way.
(12:40):
And so, you know, I agreed togo through the program because
it would enhance medicaltechnology and help other people
.
But, um, this entire time, I'm,I'm, I'm battling these demons,
um, inside of failure, and I'mbattling, you know this, this
victimized mindset where youknow I, I an entitlement, an
(13:03):
entitlement mindset where I feltlike I deserved something for
what I perceived that I've done,like, look at what I've done
for you, I'm owed, and thenvictimization is impossible to
fill.
You can't fill that victimizedvoid in yourself, and so
victimization turns into I'msorry entitlement.
(13:24):
You can't fill that entitledvoid in yourself.
Entitlement turns intovictimization, and then from
victimization it's a really badspiral down, and so now I'm
laying in a hospital bed.
I have no purpose.
I'm an entitled, wounded guythat is victimized by my own
circumstances.
This is all self-induced isvictimized by my own
circumstances.
This is all self-induced.
(13:46):
And my dad had a talk with meand he basically said you're at
a crossroad right now in yourlife and he said there's two
directions you can take.
The first direction is you cancontinue to let this injury take
you over.
(14:06):
You can continue to be a victimof this injury and you'll never
leave September 12th 2010.
You will always be victimizedby it.
And what's gonna happen isyou're going to demand that
people understand what you wentthrough, and it's impossible.
Even if they were there,they're not you.
And so you're gonna demand thatpeople understand what you went
through, and it's impossible.
Even if they were there,they're not you.
And so you're going to demandthat people understand and
(14:30):
sympathize with what you wentthrough.
And then, when you don't getthat, you're going to start to
push people away because theydon't understand.
That's the victimized part ofit, and you're going to seclude
yourself.
And then you're going to go tosomething to numb your mind,
numb the thoughts, numb the pain, numb the depression that
you're in.
And then from there, he said alot of that is what adds to the
(14:54):
22 a day with veteran suicide.
And he said I'm very scared forthat because I don't think you
have the power not to blow yourown brains out.
I was like, okay, he said, oryou can use this situation for
what it is.
It's painful, you're in a darkspot right now, but let's be
realistic.
(15:14):
This isn't the worst injurythat's ever happened.
It's not going to be the lastinjury that ever happens.
And reality check for you,you're not the most important
person here.
You know you need to get overyourself.
You are so entitled by what youthink you deserve because you
think you're something thatyou're not.
He said you need to get overyourself and you need to take
(15:37):
control over this.
Use this situation, use thisexperience to make yourself
stronger, but don't do it foryou.
Make yourself stronger to helpother people.
He said you're not going tounderstand what I'm talking
about right now because of thepain and everything else that's
going on, but if you use thissituation to make yourself
(15:57):
stronger to help other people, Ipromise you you are going to
see God's work in this.
Sometime in the future you willsee how you can use this pain
and this experience that youhave to help other people.
And when you become an old manand you're sitting back and
you're looking at how you livedyour life and the major things
(16:18):
that happened to you in yourlife, you have two things that
are going to happen.
You're either going to beashamed of how you dealt with
September 12th 2010, or you'regoing to be proud of how you
dealt with that day because youused it to make yourself strong
and to help other people.
And so, um, that started me onthe path of mentally healing.
(16:41):
And no, I didn't pop out of bedand, like a like a baptist
preacher, you know put a snakein my face and rub my head and
said you're, you're, you know,you're good and I'm jumping
around and everything's good.
It doesn't work that way.
This is life.
Yeah, I mean, you get, you get.
You get.
You get this great victory andthis moral boost and life's like
watch this and knock you downagain.
You're going to continue to getknocked down, because that's
(17:04):
what life does and life.
Life isn't fair and life can.
Life can oftentimes be ugly,but once you accept that, life
becomes a lot easier and itbecomes a lot more clear to you
because you know you're not,you're, you're not, um, do
anything.
You know that nobody owes youshit.
They just don't.
And you're not the mostimportant person in the world
(17:26):
Other people, they have lives tolive, families to feed, things
to do.
You are not on the top of theirlist, okay.
So get over yourself withthinking you're owed something
and use this experience, thisgolden experience you got.
Not a lot of people get asecond chance at life after an
(17:49):
injury like this.
Use this and go out and make adifference in the world for the
better.
And again, as I was layingthere, you know listening to him
, obviously, I mean I stillremember the conversation and so
it had a great impact on me,but I didn't realize how much
(18:10):
what my dad said was actuallygoing to come true until I
started working in Ukraine lovehow you acknowledge, like a lot
of people want to just talk like, oh, everything's great, you do
this, you do that.
Speaker 1 (18:29):
You focus on no, the struggle is real for everybody.
It doesn't matter what stageseason you are in life.
You're going to struggle.
But do you want to let thestruggle define you and own you
and continue to be a victim, ordo you want to move on and just,
hey, that happened in my story,but that's not my story?
And I think that's one of thethings we have in common that
(18:50):
we're trying to share andempower people is that, yeah,
you're going to have rainy,stormy, shitty days in life, but
you know what?
Drive on, focus on the positive, do the best you can.
And if you serve others, focuson the positive, do the best you
can.
And if you serve others, man,there's some powerful stuff out
there and you are doing it.
And for anybody out there youwant to know more about ryan,
(19:12):
please check him out.
Hit pause, go in thedescription, check out.
Tip of the spear, get the book.
I got it right up here and, uh,I do, and thank you by way for
sending a copy to my mother.
That was so special, who's nolonger with us.
But, man, she told me she'slike your friend Ryan.
I told him there was a problemwith the book and he just sent
(19:33):
me another one and signed it andI was like so yeah, thank you
for that Again.
I think I might've already saidit, but I could never thank you
enough, cause that was for mymom.
Speaker 2 (19:46):
So anyway.
Thank you enough Cause that wasfor my mom.
We're family man, we're family.
That's what family does.
So back to what you were sayinga second ago.
One thing I do want thelisteners to understand is, as
dark as the times are and as badas your situation may seem,
time keeps.
Time keeps moving on.
It really does.
You can't stop time.
(20:07):
And how you deal with thosesituations, how you deal with
the moment that you're in, asdark and as painful as it may be
, there is one thing that isguaranteed in life you are going
to reach a point in your life,usually when you're older, that
you're sitting back and you'rereflecting on everything you did
and you will have to answer forhow you handled or acted in
(20:34):
certain situations orexperiences.
And those answers could beextremely painful or it could
bring you joy and you can beproud of yourself, fulfilled and
content.
And so when I'm faced withsituations that I just feel is
(20:57):
just like, why is this happeningto me, poor me.
Go down the list of everythingthat is so easy, because
victimization is it's it's, it'seasy, it's comfortable and we
kind of celebrate it as a nationnow, unfortunately.
But turn on the news and tell mewhat you think.
But you are going to have there.
(21:17):
There's there.
You cannot avoid it.
There will be a time in yourlife where you will reflect back
on how you handledlife-altering situations.
And I just ask the listenersdon't allow yourself to look
back and be ashamed of yourself.
Take control.
Understand that time doesn'tstop.
This situation will pass, it'sguaranteed.
(21:41):
Regardless of how painful it is, it will pass.
But how you deal with it,that'll stick with you forever,
guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (21:49):
Powerful stuff, ryan Super powerful, and that's why
you're on here to share thosepowerful messages.
I was just with Brandon Webb onanother podcast and we talked
about being the 80 year old man,looking back or looking at
things you know with your lifelike oh, I have this problem now
, or whatever.
When you're 80 years old, areyou going to care about your
kids made a mess on the floor,or are you going to miss your
(22:12):
young child running around, orwhatever it may be?
Oh, something went wrong inbusiness or your car broke down
when you're 80.
You're not going to care about,oh, your car broke down or you
got a flat tire on the way towork.
So don't let those littlethings in your life bog you down
.
Focus on positive things.
Find things that are going tomake you smile, not things that
(22:35):
are going to drag you down ortrigger you.
We don't want to get triggeredover stupid stuff.
You need passion and purpose,and if you build those things,
man, I mean, how much better isyour life with passion and
purpose?
Speaker 2 (22:51):
Purpose is everything .
I think one of the biggestcontributors to the mental
health crisis, especially inveterans, is the lack of purpose
, the lack of service, and so,without purpose, you're just
left, right, lefting throughlife and life is living you.
(23:12):
Life is controlling you.
All you're doing left, right,lefting through life and life is
living you.
Life is controlling you.
All you're doing is just movingon, wake up, eat, do whatever
you do, sleep, repeat that's allyou're doing in life, without
purpose.
You have to find something thatyou're passionate about and
(23:32):
make that your purpose, andthere's something extremely
powerful about helping otherpeople.
There are very few people inlife I don't know any but there
are very few people in life thathave ever gone through life not
needing anyone, not helpinganyone, and feeling that joy and
(23:56):
what that does for you as ahuman being.
I believe human beings aregeared to be servants to each
other, to help each other.
You know, you look at themilitary.
You look at our firstresponders, police officers and
anything like that.
We're all servants of somethingbigger than ourselves.
(24:17):
Well, in the military, forexample, our service to the
country and the life and libertythat we cherish so much and
defend, including to die for isthat.
That's the kind of service thatwhen you finish in the military
(24:38):
, it's very hard to get thatkind of purpose back, and so you
do.
You have to.
You have to find something thatyou're passionate about and
something that can really make adifference in helping other
people.
Because if you look at themilitary veterans um,
specifically, if you're lookingat that, we've spent our entire
(25:02):
careers serving others.
That's what we do.
We serve in the defense of theUnited States of America.
We're serving the population.
You're a servant, and so to tryto find something you're
passionate about that doesn'tequal service to others is very
(25:23):
difficult, because you've spentyour time in the military of
service, and so that's what Ilike to tell a lot of veterans
is like find a way to help, youknow, find a way to help people,
find a way to make this worldjust a little bit better place
than when you came in.
And I mean, that's that'sessentially what we're doing in
(25:43):
Afghanistan or, I'm sorry, inUkraine.
Afghanistan may come later on,but the security situation needs
to improve a little bit beforewe go over there and start
removing IEDs and landmines.
But that's essentially whatwe're doing.
It's a life of service and thereason why it speaks to so many
veterans is because of the levelwe used to work at.
(26:05):
Well, now, instead of pullingtriggers, we're pulling
landmines and we're saving livesand limbs.
You know, people are able to goback to their homes again
without fear of their next step.
People are able to start torebuild after losing everything.
And that also does somethingelse for veterans, because now
(26:28):
you're seeing war on a levelthat we don't necessarily see it
at, and that's the humanitarianlevel.
Now we're starting to seebecause, as war fighters, we're
really good at creating thehumanitarian crisis, and I don't
mean that in a negative way,it's just that's the way war is.
Homes get destroyed, people'slives change, that's war.
(26:49):
But to be able to come in andwork as a humanitarian um on the
other side of war that wehaven't really experienced a lot
of as war fighters.
It's extremely powerful andthat really is the purpose
behind it, and the sense ofservice and giving back to
(27:11):
something that's bigger thanyourself.
I mean, that's that's what it'sall about and that's that.
That's what veterans need.
You gotta have that purposethat's bigger than yourself, and
it usually revolves aroundhelping other people, because
we're all servants.
We signed up for it, regardlessof what you think, in the
military, you're a servant.
(27:31):
No, absolutely, and I I agreewith that wholeheartedly.
Speaker 1 (27:32):
Regardless of what you think, in the military
you're a servant.
No, absolutely, and I agreewith that wholeheartedly.
I think that's one of theproblems and I talk about it in
my book or other people I'mworking with is you need to find
your next mission.
Like you're used to gettingorders or hey, my team's doing
this, or I need to do that andwe're deploying here, you get
out and you had this nice, youknow chain of command that gave
(27:56):
you purpose.
Well, guess what?
Now you're your own commander.
So people need to take chargeand figure out what their next
mission is.
Because when you go from doingI mean heck, look at the old
first blood rambo movie he talksabout that.
You know, used to be I was incharge of millions of dollars
equipment.
Now I can't even get a job,like you know.
(28:17):
They've been highlighting thatstuff for a while and I just
wish people would realize thatthey can give themselves a
mission they can find.
If you're sitting at home, guesswhat it's not going to happen.
You need to get out there.
Go to at home.
(28:40):
Guess what it's not going tohappen.
You need to get out there.
Go to a church, go to anorganization, go to the VFW.
Go to your kid's school,volunteer somewhere, just get
out of the house and startinteracting and you know God's
got a plan, it's out there.
But if you're just sitting onyour, you know, oh pity stool,
poor me.
Well, you know you're, you'renever going to get anywhere and
you don't want to do what Briansaid and look back on your life
and be like that's what I did.
Speaker 2 (28:58):
Yep, and that that is something, unfortunately, that
a lot of veterans are facingright now.
And it's the hard truth?
Um, it's not.
It's it this?
This isn't, um, tell aeletubbyhug a bear time.
The hard truth is, a lot ofveterans are victimizing
themselves.
It's self-induced victimization, from an entitlement standpoint
(29:22):
, of what you think you are owed, and it is so much worse after
the withdrawal from Afghanistanbecause of how it went down.
I went down this road as wellin 2021, until I went to Ukraine
.
What was it for?
What was the bloodshed for?
What was you know, puttingbuddies on helicopters for their
last flight home?
What was this all about?
(29:42):
Why?
How come this happens?
That's not up to you.
That's up to higher levels thatyou cannot affect.
There's nothing you can doabout it.
It happened, this is how ithappened, and a lot of veterans
unfortunately, they are stillvictimizing themselves because
(30:05):
of how Afghanistan happened andended.
And I'm not saying that there'snot a right to have grievances.
I'm not saying that there's nota right to have grievances.
I'm not saying that there's nota right to have opinions on how
effed up the whole situationwas, because, lord knows, I do.
But if you allow that tocontrol you, if you allow those
(30:29):
mindsets to become you and thatentitlement to take you over,
there is nothing that is goingto fill that entitlement void,
especially with Afghanistan.
It is impossible.
You will become a victim and wedo have a victimization crisis
in our country right now which,in my humble opinion, is
(30:49):
directly leading to the amountsof suicides that we have.
It's because you're not gettingthat entitlement void filled,
that victimization.
It is a dangerous, dangerousmindset because you will see no
options.
(31:10):
As a victim, you will feel owed.
You will feel owed, you willfeel cheated, you will feel like
you're not getting what youdeserve.
And then there's going to comea point in time when enough is
going to be enough.
And we've seen it already.
A lot of veterans have chosen.
You know what this isn't worthit Because a lot of these
(31:31):
mindsets and I do understandtraumatic incidents, I do
understand, you know, pts andPTSD, I got all that, but you
have control of yourself.
This is your life, not somebodyelse's life.
And another problem a lot ofveterans are having is they want
somebody else to fix them, andthe VA is really good at pushing
(31:55):
out drugs.
You know what I mean.
Like, oh, you're having theseissues.
Here's pills, pills mask andmake the situation worse.
It doesn't help you.
It makes the situation worse.
You have to take control overyour own life.
You have to take your life back.
(32:16):
You have to be the commander ofyour life and you have to live
life, not let life live you.
And that's one of the biggestissues we're having, in my
opinion, in the veterancommunity right now is we do
have a rightful about how thingshappen in Afghanistan and also
(32:39):
in Iraq, but it's becoming whoyou are and it's consuming you
and it's ruining you because youwon't take control over your
own life.
And that's what veterans theycan't move past it.
Speaker 1 (32:56):
They're having a hard time moving past it.
Speaker 2 (32:58):
That's what veterans have to do.
You have to take control.
If you can take control, youdon't forget about it.
It's not something that's like,oh okay, well, I just want all
this to be like it neverhappened.
It's impossible.
Take control over it.
Take control over your life.
Find out how you could makeyourself stronger to help other
(33:19):
people, and then you're going toslowly start to heal mentally,
because you are You're doing theultimate mental health workout
and that's helping other people.
It really is.
But before you can help anybodyelse, you have to help yourself
.
You're a liability until youcan help yourself, and that's
(33:44):
what we need to get control over.
That's what programs like whatwe're doing and a lot of other
amazing organizations are doingis helping veterans take control
over their lives again.
But the problem is it's not easy.
It is extremely hard.
Easy is entitlement andvictimization.
Simple.
It is extremely hard to takecontrol over your life and
(34:11):
that's where veterans needavenues that they can do this.
They need ways of betteringthemselves or volunteering, or
even doing their own thing,Starting up something that will
help do this.
They need ways of betteringthemselves or volunteering, or
even doing their own thing,starting up something that will
help other people starting upsomething that's going to give
them that purpose, that service,that drive that makes the world
a little bit better place.
Then you're going to look backand you're like, wow, this has
(34:37):
been amazing, because you'regoing to see the positive
impacts of what you've done.
Or you can get to a certain agewhere you look back like you're
saying the 80-year-old man andyou may be ashamed because
you're looking back on all thenegatives and the tornado-sized
path of destruction you caused.
It's up to you, but there willbe a time when you will have.
(34:59):
It's up to you, but there is.
There will be a time when youwill have to reflect on how you
acted and how you took charge ordid not.
Speaker 1 (35:07):
No, absolutely that simple it is, and it's.
It's simple but it's hard.
And if you're someone out therethat's stuck in the victim
mentality, please understand.
Nobody can get you out butyourself, like you are a victim.
Okay, we'll honor that.
Bad things happen, shit happens, but guess what?
(35:29):
You're the only one that cankeep yourself a victim If
somebody victimized you or hell,what you went through, ryan,
stepping on the IED.
Yeah, you were a victim of anIED attack.
You know what Does that defineyou right now, in this moment.
Yeah, you were a victim of anIED attack.
You know what Does that defineyou right now, in this moment.
No, you're doing something elsenow and moved on.
That was an event that happened.
So, whatever thing that'shappening in your life right now
, audience, realize that thatthing, that victimization that's
(35:55):
happening or happened, is goingto be gone tomorrow unless you
hold onto it.
Stop holding onto it.
You need to learn to let go and, like Ryan and I are talking
about, find your passion andyour purpose.
Speaker 2 (36:09):
But the biggest thing is is use.
Use these experiences, use thispain.
Pain is the greatest teacherHoly cow, it is the most amazing
teacher in the world.
But use these experiences, usethis pain, use whatever you are
going through right now.
Use this as a tool to makeyourself stronger to help other
(36:30):
people.
You can always find lessons inevery single thing in life.
I don't care if it's slammingyour fingers in a car door to
you know, stepping on an IED,like.
There's lessons in everythingin life.
And if you, and if you, if yourmind is correct, and if you are
want, and if you are living alife of service and you have
(36:54):
that purpose of helping otherpeople, then you're going to use
these experiences to figure outhow to make yourself stronger,
to continue helping or to betterwhat you're doing, because
that's what life's all about.
Right, it's about failing flat,you know, falling flat on your
face, failing, getting back up,learning from those failures,
coming back and succeeding,trying things, risking, taking
(37:17):
risks, jumping into the unknown.
That's what life's all about,because without that, it's just
left right.
Left through life, yeah, andeverything's a risk.
Speaker 1 (37:29):
People you know don't realize that when you don't do
something, you're risking yourfuture.
When you do do something,you're risking.
Ooh, maybe it'll be successful,maybe I'll fail, who knows?
But no matter what, you got todo something.
You have to act, you have to bemoving forward, you have to
have purpose and any of thosebad things like Ryan's talking
about let that be fuel, let thatfan the fire in you.
(37:51):
Take that anger, twist it intopurpose.
Speaker 2 (37:57):
Yeah, failure is a taboo word.
People look at failure as anegative, but that's because you
don't understand how to usefailure.
If you prop, if you know how touse failure, then failure is
the greatest tool.
I forgot who said it.
It could have been, uh, couldhave been, uh, steve jobs or
somebody, somebody else withmore money than God.
(38:18):
But they basically said I havefailed more times than I've
succeeded.
I've fallen flat on my face somany times and had to pick
myself up off the ground moretimes than I can count, way more
times than I was walkingwithout falling on my face.
But every single one of thosefailures I use it as a tool to
(38:42):
make myself better.
And then, all of a sudden, youstart to get successes.
And now you know, look at whata lot of these people that you
know have failed so many timesin their lives and came back and
just owned it because they usedfailure properly.
Failure is an amazing tool.
(39:02):
It's a lot of people hate thatword, especially in the military
.
You know failure is this badword in the military, but if
used properly, it's the greatesttool in the world.
It really is.
Well, that.
And pain Pain is a great tool.
Speaker 1 (39:15):
First attempt in learning right Fail that's one
of the acronyms I use.
First attempt in learning rightFail that's one of the acronyms
they use.
First attempt in learning.
When you fail, you will learnfrom that If you use it properly
.
Speaker 2 (39:26):
If you don't, then you're going to be a victim of
your failure and you'll never goanywhere.
Speaker 1 (39:33):
Yeah, ben Franklin pretty much said the same thing
when he was doing the light bulb.
They're like you've tried likea thousand times, why don't you
give up?
Well, I've learned a thousandthings that don't work as a
light bulb.
Yeah, you know like you learnand you know what.
He figured it out eventually,you know and I love to go to the
sports analogies too.
Right, all right.
(39:54):
How many shots does a hockeyplayer take to get in the net,
you know.
Or shots on goal, and you mightwin by two, you know.
Or baseball player you have a400 batting average.
That's insane.
300 is good.
Well, that means they only gotthree hits out of 10 tries, like
they're still striking out orgetting out even the best ones.
(40:16):
So don't worry about yourfailures, you know.
Use them as stepping stones,move ahead, you can do it, and I
mean Ryan.
You are a testimony to all ofthat and I'm so honored to call
you my brother.
I'm honored to have you here,I'm honored to spend time with
you and just support the workyou're doing.
I'm very grateful.
(40:37):
The world's lucky to have menlike you.
People say you know, I servedand I walked among giants.
That is absolutely how I feel,like you, Nick Lavery, other
guys on my team that have doneamazing things Like I.
Just I've looked to my left andright and I just want to say
I'm proud of you, man.
Keep it up and you know you'reyou, man.
(41:02):
Keep it up and you know you're.
You're doing great things.
So, before we really slow downand wind things out.
Please share with me a goodstory that you had in an
epiphany from when you were likea kid, or something happened in
your life that really startedto trigger.
Hey, how I think and interpretthings is how it affects my life
(41:24):
.
Speaker 2 (41:25):
Well, I, I mean I got , I got the greatest advice
given to me from the greatestman I've ever.
Well, he's still alive.
So I have never known and stillknow, and it's my dad.
And so in 1996, before I wasjoining the military I know I
look like I'm about 25, but Idid join the military in 96.
So 1996, before I joined themilitary, my dad you know, we
(41:49):
were, we were having you knowconversations and he was excited
because I was going to, youknow, get out, see the world.
And and I was scared and hesaid look, let me have a talk
with you.
He said so there's two old menthat are sitting in their
rocking chairs and they'rewaiting on death.
(42:10):
And he said the first old manis miserable because he let life
pass him by, he did nothingwith his life, he never tried
anything that he could fail at,he never risked anything, he
never stepped out of his comfortzone, he didn't do anything
(42:30):
that would be uncomfortable forhim or could result in failure.
He always lived on the safepath and outsiders looking in
they could say, oh wow, this guyhas everything together, he's
done it all.
Look, he's got money, nicehealth and all this other stuff.
But the old man is miserablebecause he let life pass him by
(42:53):
and now his final days arefilled with regret and I wish I
would have.
I wish I would have at leasttried.
I mean, that's how I got toUkraine in the first place.
But I'll tell you that in asecond.
The second old man.
The second old man was content,he was happy, he was fulfilled,
and it's because he's doneeverything there was to do
(43:17):
possible for his life.
He's failed multiple times,he's succeeded some, he's taken
chances, he's risked it all.
He's, you know, he's doneeverything there was that he
could possibly do.
And, as I said earlier, timekeeps ticking on.
You can't stop time.
And so now he's an old man andhe's reflecting back on
(43:37):
everything and he's happy, he'sfulfilled and he's content.
My dad said which old man doyou want to be?
He said don't ever, don't everpass up an opportunity to do
something, don't ever pass upthe chance to fail or to be
great.
He said do it all, don't worryabout it, because time keeps
(43:58):
ticking on and you are going tohave to reflect back on
everything you did in your lifeor everything you did not do in
your life.
And he said that's a deathsentence.
He said do it all.
Who cares about failure?
Learn from it and keep movingon.
And so that has guided a lot ofmy life and decisions that I've
(44:34):
made in my life, like threebranches of the service.
You know other things, but justrecently a full a lot of the
listeners were as well that I'mwatching the full scale invasion
unfold and I keep having thisnagging feeling in my chest.
I wonder if there's somethingthat I could do.
I wonder if there's a way thatI can help.
No, no, no, ryan, it's a war.
It's Ukraine.
And like where?
(44:54):
Eastern Europe?
Like, no, get real, get.
You know you're good, you havea contracting job, you're making
really really good money.
Um, no, but this naggingfeeling wouldn't let me.
It wouldn't let me go, itwouldn't let me sleep, it
wouldn't leave me at peace,because there's something that I
(45:15):
could be doing over there.
And that nagging feeling issomething all green breweries
have.
It's called de oppresso libero,to free the oppressed.
And finally, I just made up mymind.
I was like you know what, if Idon't go, I'll never know.
And if I don't know, that'sbecause I didn't go and that's
(45:35):
on me and I'm going to have toanswer for that at some point in
my life.
And so I did.
I had an amazing job as acontractor, making really good
money, and I quit and I wentover to Ukraine as a volunteer
and started evacuating women andchildren, which turned out to
(45:57):
doing what we are right now withlandmine removal in civilian
areas, humanitarian landmineremoval.
And I will know when I'msitting on my rocking chair and
life is.
You know, I'm waiting on death.
I will know that I did it.
I will have no regrets.
I went to Ukraine, I riskedeverything, I took the chance, I
(46:23):
accepted that this is probablygoing to um, this could end in
failure.
I did all that, but I didn'tlet any of that hold me back.
And, like you, you're an author,I'm an author.
Well, like you, you're anauthor, I'm an author.
Well, I don't know if I'm anauthor, but we both wrote books.
And if you think about life,the beginning chapter and the
(46:48):
end chapter has already beenwritten.
When you're born and when youdie, that's up to God.
That has been in the cards longbefore you were ever even
thought about.
But those middle chapters, thosemiddle pages, that's up to you.
And in the end, how's yourstory going to read?
Is your story going to be oneof triumph and victory?
(47:14):
Because triumph and victorydon't happen without multiple
failures and falling on yourface and pain.
You know leaders I've heard theterm multiple times natural
born leader.
I don't agree with that.
Leaders are.
They are made through theinferno, iron sharpens, iron.
Leaders fail multiple times andthen they turn that failure
into success.
(47:35):
That's what leaders are.
And so if the beginning and theend chapter of your book has
already been written, it's up toyou to fill in those middle
pages.
And in the end, how's your bookgoing to read?
That's on you and only you.
Speaker 1 (47:56):
No great analogy, brother.
Great analogy Cause it's's,it's.
You're speaking the truth, man,and people need to hear the
truth.
They need to understand.
You need to take ownership ofyour life.
Your your own author, like ryansaying for your book whatever
your name is, guess what that'syour book.
And whatever career, job,things you do places you.
(48:18):
You want to go see, guess what.
You're where you're at becauseof your choices, your decisions,
your habits, your work.
But the great thing is you canchange every one of those things
.
You're a creator.
You know that you create yourlife, you're creating your story
.
So get out there and do it.
(48:38):
Just please realize that Listento Ryan, listen to me, listen
to anybody else, but understandyou are your greatest asset.
You need to take control andown your life and once you start
doing that and then yousurround yourself with good
people and you become an assetto others you have passion and
(48:59):
purpose, like Ryan's doing yourlife will be a completely
different life.
Would you ever imagined you'rewhere you're at right now, ryan?
Speaker 2 (49:08):
No, not at night?
Speaker 1 (49:10):
No, never Me either.
But you get out there, you jumpinto the fire, you get burned a
little bit, but you gethardened.
You get burned a little bit,you get hardened.
Just keep pushing forward.
You can do it.
It, ryan?
Is there anything else you wantto leave the listeners or you'd
like to share, or where theycan get a hold of you?
Speaker 2 (49:29):
yeah, I mean, we are at landmineremovalorg and that
has um all of my social mediaplatforms and everything like
that and um, pretty, pretty easyto find, um, pretty easy to
find on the internet.
So, but, um, yeah, justremember, there's going to come
(49:50):
a day when you are going to haveto reflect back on what you did
or didn't do.
Don't allow yourself to beashamed.
Take control.
It's never too late.
Take control and be that personthat you be, that book that you
want to read in the end,absolutely.
Speaker 1 (50:08):
Amen, brother.
Well, thank you for listeningto the Asset Mindset Podcast.
Please share this with peoplethat need to hear it, because
there's a lot of powerfulmessages here.
I hope you got a lot from it.
Don't forget to like andsubscribe, and have a wonderful
day.
God bless, own your power.
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