June 16, 2025 • 38 mins
Discover how Mario Wissa transformed from a confused teenager in Cairo to a published author and military veteran in Nashville. His remarkable story showcases the power of resilience as he overcame language barriers, cultural challenges, and personal obstacles to build a meaningful life in the United States.
Through tears and determination, Mario mastered English, served in the military, and eventually published three books. His journey took unexpected turns, from working in IT at Expedia to trading stocks, and ultimately led him on a spiritual quest across Asia. This five-year exploration taught him the profound difference between "filling our pockets" and "filling our hearts."
Mario breaks down human motivation into four categories, exploring how our subconscious drives shape our actions and life choices. His insights on gratitude and self-awareness, gained through his diverse experiences, offer valuable lessons for anyone facing life's challenges.
🎧 Listen to this episode to discover how one man's journey from Cairo to Nashville became a testament to the power of perseverance and personal growth.
Through tears and determination, Mario mastered English, served in the military, and eventually published three books. His journey took unexpected turns, from working in IT at Expedia to trading stocks, and ultimately led him on a spiritual quest across Asia. This five-year exploration taught him the profound difference between "filling our pockets" and "filling our hearts."
Mario breaks down human motivation into four categories, exploring how our subconscious drives shape our actions and life choices. His insights on gratitude and self-awareness, gained through his diverse experiences, offer valuable lessons for anyone facing life's challenges.
🎧 Listen to this episode to discover how one man's journey from Cairo to Nashville became a testament to the power of perseverance and personal growth.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
What do you do when life takes you on a
journey across continent, cultures, and the intricate landscapes of the
human hearts Today? On Life Tack the Resilience Podcast, I'm
diving into the transformative story of Mario Wisa, whose life
journey began amidst the vibrant chaos of Cairo, Egypt. In
(00:21):
two thousand. Marios set his sights on Nashville, Tennessee, driven
by a first for knowledge and new experiences. From mastering
the English language to navigating diverse career paths in restaurants,
the military, and the corporate world, Mario's life has been
a rich tapestry of growth and discovery. His passion for
(00:42):
communication led him across Asia and culminated in the publication
of three insightful books. Join me, Doctor Rowe as we
explore Mario's incredible journey of resilience, including the personal challenges
of marriage and divorce, and his mission to empower others
through effective communication.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
Sometimes life gives us lemons, Sometimes it gives us lemonade.
Other Times it gives us something entirely out of left
field that makes us say w T F. But no
matter what obstacles come there is most often a way
out on the other side, and we are once again victorious.
(01:29):
My name is doctor Rome and you are listening to
my podcast about resilience. Every guest shares a tragedy to
triumph story to give listeners like you the inspiration to
push through every single day. Listen now as my next
guest shares how they were like jacked.
Speaker 1 (01:53):
Hi, Mario, welcome, Thank you for measuring a guest on
my show. How are you?
Speaker 3 (01:58):
I am doing fantastic, feeling awesome, and I'm really glad
to be here.
Speaker 1 (02:03):
Well, like I said before, I'm really glad that you
were here as well. Now, Mario, your journey began in
Cairo and then it took you across the world to
the United States in Nashville, Tennessee, which is the home
of a country in Western so who definitely totally different cultures.
(02:24):
So how did you navigate between such different cultures?
Speaker 3 (02:28):
Honestly, looking back, I am wondering the same thing, how
did I do it?
Speaker 1 (02:32):
Because stock and I.
Speaker 3 (02:35):
Came here as a teenager, and it was not really
my dream or like my desires from a young age
to like go to the US, travel to America. That
was not really my thing at all for me is
pursuing the proficiency to learn the English language. It was
that simple. And the reason why it was Nashville, Tennessee
(02:58):
because my older brother moved to the US two years
before I did, and he was actually studying English as well,
and that's where he resided in Tennessee at the time,
and that's why that's why I landed in Nashville, Tennessee
and stayed there for a few years until I joined
the military. Now how did I navigate? Not even joking,
(03:23):
it was extremely challenging. There was a lot of tears,
especially coming here as a teenager.
Speaker 1 (03:30):
And no friends.
Speaker 3 (03:31):
The only family member I have is my brother. And
to be frank with you, I know this is like
the topic of our podcast. It goes perfectly like this
was the beginning of me to learn what resiliency is
because I remember many nights honestly I went to sleep
like crying because the culture shock and the language differences
(03:54):
and even going to school and the US was really challenging. Obviously,
English's language. I don't understand many of the phrases that
American people use every day, like what's up? When someone
asked me at the time twenty five years ago. First
time I was at the grocery store and the cashier
(04:16):
person asked me, Hey, what's up. I literally looked up
at the ceiling. That was a long time ago.
Speaker 1 (04:21):
So yeah, bless your heart, hey, and bless your heart.
That's another saying. That's a Southern saying. And we say
bless your heart.
Speaker 3 (04:30):
Bless you. Oh yeah, bless your heart or what's the
other one? I'm fixing to go.
Speaker 1 (04:35):
Yeah, fixing, that's it. That's our pina.
Speaker 3 (04:39):
So you know, living living, like the first five years
of my experience in the US was in Nashville, Tennessee
was definitely I want to say it was a gentle
introduction because now I lived in Seattle, Washington, which is
like fast paced technology. It is like a whole different
If I had moved to Washington when I first came
to the US, I don't I think it will be that.
(05:01):
I mean, I don't think it will be a lot
more challenging for me. But you know, in the country Nashville,
it was a little bit more laid back, easy going.
That helped in some ways. Can you imagine it helped?
Yet still it was really challenging, and.
Speaker 1 (05:17):
I definitely understand that the work that I do. I'm
a multi lingual educator and I'm a administrator, and so
that is the population that I work with is high
school or secondary students who are coming to the United States.
And they are, of course, some of them are coming
with their parents and others are coming unaccompanied. And yes,
you know, every day I talk to them and I
(05:39):
visit the classrooms, and I you know, helped to support
the teachers in my program. And yet a lot of
it takes a lot of tenacity, a lot of resilience
to come to a new country as a teenager, because teenagers,
it doesn't matter what country you come from, teenagers all
have certain you know, obstacles that they have to go
through with puberty and just learn. You know, Okay, I'm
(06:02):
not quite old enough to be an adult, but I'm
too old to be a young kid. And so You're
trying to find your way in this grand life that
has ups and downs all the time. So yes, I
do understand that journey and to take that journey as
a teenager to come from one environment and culture to another.
(06:24):
And the United States is not always kind, you know,
although we are a nation that was built on you know,
with immigrants in mind, but we're not always kind.
Speaker 3 (06:35):
I don't know how to agree or disagree with you
because I mostly agree. Yes, the first couple of years
were pretty tough, to be frank. Quite a few times
I was told go back to where you came from,
and I didn't know what that meant at the time, right, right,
But you know, those experiences I definitely made me stronger.
For sure, I'm still here. I didn't go back.
Speaker 1 (06:58):
Well, we are glad to have you know, we are
glad that you didn't go back. Now, ex for various
career paths, which included going to serve in the military,
which thank you so much for your service in the military.
I mean, it was one thing that comes to a
country that you didn't know anything about and it's new
to you in the environment, but then to go out
(07:19):
and then serve and protect for that country, that is
absolutely amazing. So what made you decide to en listen
to the military.
Speaker 3 (07:29):
So this is very interesting experience because I served four
years active and four years reserve between two thousand and
five until twenty thirteen September two thousand and five, to
be specific, like one week after my birthday. Basically I
was working at companies. It's called NCR. Have you ever
(07:51):
heard of it? National cash register. Basically, I was working
as an IT yes, okay, computers register servers at Walmart
and fast food restaurants. I was doing this for about
a year or so, and I thought it might be
time to like change, honestly accept the military, where I
spent so many years. Every other job I spend like
(08:12):
a year or two and I just move on, like
I get enough of my experiences and I reach a plateau,
then I jump on to the next experience. So I
literally put my resume online and looking for an IT job, exploring,
and that's my truth. So that's exactly what happened. A
few days later, I get a phone call by a
(08:33):
recruiter Petty Officer second class, so and so, this is
US Navy. You're looking for IT job. And obviously I
was like stundem like maybe what's going on? Then obviously
you know they made me the offer. You know, you
look for IT job, We welcome you. You have an
experience with second language that we might be able to use,
(08:54):
and you know we'll teach you and train you to
be an IT. I'm like, I'm really overwhelmed. I'm at
the time, what was I That was like twenty three
years of age, So I was till you know, two
twenty three years of age, still young. And at the
beginning I was like taken back by like serving in
the military. I never really considered that before. But the
(09:14):
thing about me one of the reasons why I came
to the US, and I do what I do from
young age, I am an experience junkie. I love to
have new experience. I love to go try risk it.
And what I learned about the military was will take
me places, have me have different experiences, go out and serve,
(09:34):
have this sense of pride as you mentioned, and make
an impact, you know. And it was interesting because at
the time I only had my green card. I was
not a citizen at the time, and they did not
tell me to become an IT I have to be
a citizen. So they basically yeah, So basically they took
(09:55):
me and and within like six months they stripped my
Egyptian citizenship and I became an American citizen a year later.
I have top security clearance to do my it. IT
just basically you become government property and they just do
whatever they wish with you and I am really grateful
that I've gone through this experiences, and I have to
(10:16):
tell you it was another challenging experience because you'd be
surprised how the military is like a melting pot like
the US They recruit from so many places. They want
to have this variety of character, mentality and challenges. It
(10:36):
was an amazing experience. If you were to ask me,
would I do it again, I would say no, it
was too hard. But I am so glad that I
did it well.
Speaker 1 (10:44):
You know, I know that a lot of people say
that the military is the most integrated place, at least
the United States military is the most integrated place that
although it has gone through its times of women's rights
and overcoming segregation between you know, African Americans being allowed
for the officers and all these different different being in
(11:04):
different companies and regiments, but and of course the LGBT
community and all of that. But I have heard from
many persons who have served in the military that when
they were in the military, they were fighting side by
side with all different types of people. Like it's just
it's the most diverse type of organization that anyone could
(11:27):
ever experience, you know, And I think that's absolutely phenomenal
because you meet people from all around the world. You
think of college getting at a college education kind of
themes like that that you meet you know, lots of
different people from all over the world or different places
and all walks of life. But the people say, in
the military, you really and truly meet all different types
(11:48):
of people.
Speaker 3 (11:49):
Absolutely. Absolutely. The thing about the military was, even though
you brought up a very valid point about you know,
some discrimination here or there, they're still working on it
and to develop to develop the rules for it. The
two things I noticed that are the most important when
it comes to like serving in the military and getting
our job done is one, what is your job? What
(12:12):
is exactly that you do? Two? What is your rank?
Because your rank determines your responsibility. Like for me, i
was payostro second class within three years, I'm responsible of
a platoon of few people. But those people, what is
their job exactly as an IT or maintenance, airplane captain,
(12:33):
maintenance or QA or ordnance. So your job and your rank,
what color you are, male or female, it doesn't matter.
You're trained to do the job. You reach that rank,
let's get it done. That's that's my experience for the
most part.
Speaker 1 (12:48):
Yeah, yes, So I have to ask you because being
in the military, I mean, they train you to be
involved in all different types of situations in although you know,
not everyone goes into combat right when they serve in
the military, but they train you for that.
Speaker 3 (13:06):
True.
Speaker 1 (13:06):
And so when it comes to resilience, because a lot
of times this particular podcast is mostly about mental toughness,
right and have resilience. But with the military, what type
of approach does the military have when it comes to resilience,
Because you have to be physically resilient, you have to
be mentally resilient, you have to be emotionally resilient. So
(13:26):
I mean there's there's resilience lessons running, I mean, resilience
training running rampant obviously right throughout the military. So what
is it that they do to prepare you and prepare
our soldiers, you know, to serve our beautiful country.
Speaker 3 (13:43):
At night, we most of us do not get more
than three and a half to like four hours sleep
at one time because we had schedule every night pretty
much for us to do a rover watch for about
hour every night after like ten o'clock. So let's say
(14:04):
you go to sleep at ten, you wake up at twelve,
you do your rover, You finish at like one p thirty,
go to sleep, wake up at five o'clock and that
is your night. That's when you sleep. So every night
having this rover, it can be random time, different time,
it changes all the time. Just being dedicated to that
position and that job and you can make the sleep
(14:26):
secondary was really challenging and that really was something different
that I was not used to. And the second thing
is which something we're not supposed to talk about, but
it's been a while. At the end of the training,
the graduation is basically three days with no sleep of
training where we when we marsh we save other sailors
(14:52):
from a sunking ship or a building that's on fire,
or finding bombs in a building that's five floor building.
There are three bombs we need to find them. We'll
only have flashlights. Those kind of experiences we at the
end of the training before you graduate, three days no sleep,
spray water on us, wearing the same boots, wearing the
(15:14):
same clothes, plaster feed You can imagine that was really
test for our endurance and resilience. And actually you'll be surprised.
It's not large percentage, but maybe five to like ten
percent of every group or squadron, about eighty to ninety
people they actually do not make it or they have
(15:36):
to go through the training again.
Speaker 1 (15:39):
Wow, No, I did not know that. I did not
know that. So it's like they just put you in.
Just these are traumatic advice.
Speaker 3 (15:47):
Yeah, billion, yeah, absolutely, and no doubt they feed us plenty,
but you cannot eat that much because if you eat
that much, you would throw up from the exercises and
the running and the push up and the marshing. And honestly,
as I'm sharing this with you, I feel like I'm
talking about someone else. I'm just wondering how I made it.
Speaker 1 (16:09):
No, but I mean, but that's the true testament that
you have that you know what, No, I really am resilient,
like I have been in situations that you know could
have been deuced severe trauma. But I'm here and you
survived and you made it through, and that's phenomenal. I
love that you describe yourself as an experienced junkie because
(16:30):
I really do believe in when it comes to personal growth, right,
the only way that you can grow is through experience.
Because you can read all the books in the world
about doing something. But I truly believe that once you
actually are boots on the ground, no pun intent, because
I know you were in the military, right, but until
you were boots on the ground, you're down in the
(16:51):
trenches and you're actually experiencing whatever it is that you
need to experience. I feel like that's where the post
personal growth come and you can do that through experiences.
And I think that one of the things about it
about resilience is that that is the only way to
build it, is that you got to go through some stuff,
(17:12):
Like you can't build the resilience. You can't become mentally
tough and physically tough and emotionally tough unless you go
through things that you don't really want to go through.
Speaker 3 (17:21):
So true, so true.
Speaker 1 (17:23):
Yeah. Now all right, so you're from Cairo, Egypt. You
make it to Nashville, Tennessee.
Speaker 3 (17:30):
Oh boy, oh my god. Yeah, so there's definitely a
large gap there. So so yes, as you mentioned, I
served in the military. I got out honorably discharged in
two thousand and nine. After that, I worked at Expedia,
you know expedia dot com, the travel agency. I did
(17:50):
that for about a year. Yeah, I was actually it there. Yeah,
And after that I worked at Bank of America another
core it for about a year and my night already.
And for after Bank of America, which I only worked
there for about a year and a half, I did
(18:11):
traded stocks and options for like four years. I basically
knew the ins and out of money to just color
paper that we were meant to believe that it's something
so valuable, So trading it was just kind of fun
for a few years, where I eventually learned that there
is a clear distinction between filling our pocket and filling
(18:32):
our heart. So quit trading. I stopped my jobs and everything,
and I really took some time to reflect on the
meaning of my life because the at this point, by
twenty fifteen, sixteen, I have spent half of my life
in the US and half of my life in Egypt.
Am I Egyptian? Am I American? Who am I? What
(18:52):
am I doing? I have so many experiences? What am
I going to do with this? So in twenty seventeen,
I basically give away everything. I have everything you can
imagine except a backpack, and I took off and I
went to India to deep in my understanding and my
experience in yoga and meditation and my plan was to
(19:13):
go and see universe. Is funny. Even though my plan
was just to go there for three months, I ended
up by spending a year and a half in India
and total five years in Asia. India, I went to Nepal, Katmandu,
went to Sri Lanka and also went to Indonesia, Bali,
so many different places in Bali, Indonesia. And yeah, it's
(19:36):
just amazing, like taking a step in a direction with
faith without really knowing what the outcome might be, but
you know it's gonna be good. It's amazing. I really
I had my return ticket to travel to Asia and
come back for three months. Leave in June, come back
in September. That was twenty seventeen. I came back in
(20:01):
five years later.
Speaker 1 (20:03):
Wow wow. And then you were over there and during
COVID too.
Speaker 3 (20:08):
Well, it's not like I knew COVID is gonna happen.
Speaker 1 (20:10):
It just happened to me.
Speaker 3 (20:12):
It's so true.
Speaker 1 (20:13):
There's another experience.
Speaker 3 (20:16):
Indeed. Oh my god. You know when you say like
we need to really be careful of what we're asking
for because sometimes the sky is open.
Speaker 1 (20:28):
Yes, most definitely. You know. I love what you said
that we need to learn the distinct difference between filling
our pockets and filling our hearts. It's such a profound
statement because a lot of what we do espeakally Americans.
And you know this because you are Americans. We spend
(20:54):
so much time with money as our focus to define
the things that we do, or to make it a
purpose for what we do. Right, it's it's and I
know that a lot of other cultures and countries they
don't really do that. I mean, yes, they make a
living and earn money, and you know, because you do
(21:15):
have to in order to survive. But I feel like
as Americans, like we we seem to have this thing
where it's like, I guess it's the capitalistic society that
we have and the consumerism, but it is, it is.
I I do agree with you. We do need to
learn that difference and instead of just constantly finding ways
to fill our pockets, but find ways to fill our hearts.
(21:38):
Because I know that for this show, this show definitely
feels my heart. I'm definitely not making a.
Speaker 3 (21:48):
We understand right.
Speaker 1 (21:50):
Right, You're like, what am I doing for? But you know,
recognize it feels my heart. Every story, every guest like
yourself that comes on that's able to share their journey
with the world to say, hey, I went through some
really tough stuff, but I came out on the other
side and I didn't quit, and I'm still going. I'm
(22:12):
still going, right, So, what are some of the insights
that you gained while you were, you know, throughout your
travels in Asia?
Speaker 3 (22:22):
Many many to be frank So, I have been working
on my own research for over a decade and a
half and it all started by reading this book. You
might be familiar with it, The Power of Your Subconscious
Mind by Joce Murphy. Okay, this book. The book, it's
(22:47):
called The Power of Your Subconscious Mind by Joseph Murphy.
It is a small book. It's maybe like two hundred pages,
like the size of the palm of your hand. You
probably can read it like one night or two nights
at the time, Like back in two thousand and five
when I read it, it took me a couple weeks
(23:07):
to read it. And this is like, honestly the one
book that I read like over six times over my lifetime.
And this book basically talks about the reason behind our behavior.
Ninety percent of it is subconsciously. And this subconscious was
put together the first two years of our lives. It's
actually not really up to us. And to try to
(23:27):
tap into that and hack into it, it really takes
a lot of work, effort and mindfulness. Now part of
the reason why I took off to Asia because as
I was having every single job and I'm still doing
my research, I discovered something really interesting behind why people
(23:50):
do what they do. And from my interviews and the
information that I collected, most of us fall in one
of those four categories why we do what we do.
Number one, to basically survive, put full food on the table,
pay the rent, pay the car, and just go from
one day another, one week, another, one month or another,
just going on, just going with the flow, you know,
(24:11):
not a big purpose, just you know, I want to live.
I want to survive. The second reason is I'm basically
some people are doing what they're they're following their parents
and their family footsteps. Oh my mom did that, she's
a doctor. I became a doctor. My dad is a lawyer.
Now became a lawyer, following the family steps. Third category
is actually this some people do not know why they're
(24:33):
doing what they're doing. That's a different category in itself.
The fourth category that really impacted me is the reason
why I sold everything, I give away everything and I
just took off to India. Was people who love what
they do so much that they're willing to live on
the streets even if they don't get paid. They love
(24:54):
what they do so much. It fills them so much
that the money for them is not you can pay
them ten dollars, you can pay them ten million dollars,
They're still going to do what they do because they
just love it so much.
Speaker 1 (25:05):
That's a passion.
Speaker 3 (25:07):
It's a passion. It's something I could not comprehend at
the time because for me, it was just about like
working money and driving my Lexus and being fancy and
all this stuff. So I'm like, what does that mean.
I've always been like an experienced junkie. So this idea
really triggered me in a way, intrigued me. Not triggered me,
(25:28):
intrigued me in a way that I realized people who
are happy and satisfied with what they do, as you said,
they follow their passion and their interests. And I thought
to myself, what is really interesting for me? What is
really my passion? Well, i know I've been studying communication.
I know I'm researching communication. Is this really my thing?
I'm not sure. I know that yoga. Oh I didn't talk.
(25:50):
This is the first time I talked about yoga. I
started practicing yoga in twenty twelve and I realized yoga
such a it has such a profound impact all my life,
and yoga's my interest. At the time, I thought, you
know what, I'll go and explore yoga. Where do I
go India? Have you been to India before? Yeah?
Speaker 1 (26:10):
I have not.
Speaker 3 (26:11):
I Oh, okay there. I was just going to mention
a place called i'm a cla gunj and Rishi Cash
place where you can go like get trained, yoga and
all this stuff. So with that in mind, trying to
pursue my interests and what intrigues me, I was observant
taking everything around me, taking it all in. Obviously, it
(26:32):
was another culture shock, and the culture shock that I
had coming from Egypt to the US. It's a reverse
culture shock going from US to India. And two things
that really came up for Actually, there's so many things.
For the sake of time and this podcast, I'm going
to share two primary things. One ignorance. What I mean
(26:55):
by that is I have experienced such a level of
ignorance during my traveling in a way that it humbled
me because I realized with observing other people ignorance and
I'm happy to elaborate in there if you want me to.
It made me realize my own personal ignorance, no matter
(27:17):
what I know is really limited, and what I don't
know is infinite, is really really really humbling. Number two gratitude.
And we all hear about this this gratitude journal. There's
a practice, you know, start your morning with like five gratitudes,
to write them down or speak them out loud, or
(27:37):
maybe gratitude before you go to sleep. You know, these
are actually very very powerful tools when we use them
because we want to use them. It's not because someone
imposes on us. So I became more aware of my
own personal ignorance. No matter how much I know, will
(27:57):
never be enough, because there's so much to know and
to be grateful for wherever I am in life, whatever
universe is providing me with whatever circumstances I'm in to
be grateful because I can tell you some people out
there that I've experienced and lived with for some time,
(28:19):
and they have less than maybe one percent of the
average American person have and they are so happy and grateful.
Speaker 1 (28:29):
Oh my god, Oh no, absolutely absolutely. You know a
lot of times people speak about, you know, feeling lost
like you did, like you said you at one point
in time you're like, yes, my Egyptian or who am I?
What am I supposed to be doing? Do I need
to be in the military? Do I need to be
in corporate America? Do I need to write you? A
(28:51):
lot of I think a lot of us have those
types of moments where we're just trying to find ourselves
and we're just trying to especially when we take all
these different paths, right, and sometimes you take one path
and you know exactly where you're going, and then the
other times you take another path and you're like, I
really don't know where I'm going, but I'm just gonna
just keep going, keep walking this way, right, You're like,
let's just say where I end up. But the two
(29:13):
things that you brought up that personal ignorance, because a
lot of people think that they just know everything, or
they think they know a lot about something, and sometimes
you find out you really don't know much until you experience,
and you have certain experiences and you recognize, like WHOA,
(29:34):
I really didn't know that much about that, like I
thought I did. And then the second thing that you said,
that gratitude, You know, it takes nothing. It's free to
be kind. It takes nothing to be kind and to
be grateful just for tiny little things and express gratitude
for the breath and your body that you can receive
(29:55):
into your body, into your lungs, the beautiful landscape that
is around owned us, of this beautiful world, like you said, traveling,
meeting different people, communicating with all different types of people
and cultures, and learning and immersing yourself into these cultures.
I mean, you know, I think your life is something
(30:16):
a little bit more than an experienced junkie. But I
know you're saying that, but it just seems like that
this is your purpose, right, this is who you are
to kind of navigate and integrate yourself throughout these different cultures.
Like that is a purpose, to just go throughout the
world and learn and experience these different types of cultures.
(30:38):
I think, I think that is simply amazing. Now I
want to talk about support systems because some people have
said that, you know, when they were going through challenging times,
if they hadn't had a support system, they don't know
how made it through. So be important to have a
support system. And if you did have one, like, how
(30:59):
did how did your support system contribute to your journey
of resilience?
Speaker 3 (31:05):
Yes, so actually when I traveled from you mean just
during my trip or you mean just in general life?
Speaker 1 (31:13):
Just to be clear, life, Yeah, in general general life.
Speaker 3 (31:18):
Oh my goodness, this is tough one, honestly, because I
have a very small circle of people. It's like, this
is kind of sounds strange, but it seems like the
more you learn about life and the more you learn
about humanity, the more like your circle of people kind
of like shrinks. So throughout my life, I usually have
(31:42):
like two or three friends max in my life that
are like closest to me where we like like go
out for some tea or coffee, or go for a
walk around Green Lake, or I really like enjoy walk
and talk with my friends. Having close friends where you
can be genuinely vulnerable when is really empowering. Example of that.
(32:04):
I was actually living in a shared housing for about
a year and a half before I lived and I
took off to Asia and one of my roommates, I
feel like I want to mention his name, but maybe not. Basically,
him and I decided together that we're going to go
to India. Okay, we traveled together. A month and a
(32:25):
half later, he came back to the US and I
stayed in India and I continued. He came back there
because there was a relationship that was awaiting him to
be very frank. And I'm not sure how much this
would be helpful for so many other people. I have
found that the best support system that I can have
(32:47):
is the one that I look at in the mirror. Wow. Wow,
the one that go every morning when I brush my
cheeth and go like, hey, how are you doing to
you know, you actually did really good. When I'm brushing
my teeth at night and before I go to sleep,
you know you actually did really good today. Yes, you
(33:08):
think you could have done better, but you survived every time.
When I drive my car and come back home, I
hang my keys, and I go in the kitchen, and
I go in the kitchen, I go in the bathroom,
I look in the mirror, is like, hey, you made
it home safe. Five Hi five. Yeah. I don't know
if this is from like yoga or meditation practice, or
(33:28):
maybe my research and communication or what the best supportive
system I have found so far is that person that
is looking back at me in the mirror. We can
talk hard to heart. Sometimes I just tear in the
mirror and just like cry. I don't have anything to say,
just letting my emotions out. It's not easy to do
that with any other human being unless you hire someone professional,
(33:49):
as we all know.
Speaker 1 (33:51):
So maybe that's well, I was gonna say. You know,
I think that's so true because oftentimes we can compliment others,
Like it's easy for us to compliment others and tell
other people you did a great job, but when it
comes to ourselves, we can be incredibly hard on ourselves. Right,
It's like we forget like, you got to also support yourself.
(34:13):
So I support that. I agree that sometimes yeah, just
looking at yourself in the mirror and saying great job
or you got like you said, high five, you can
high five yourself in the mirror, like and you know
it is it is something that you know, we we
forget that you can give your own self encouragement. You
(34:33):
can you can tell your own self great job and
be your own support system. So that's very true, very true.
Now I can't believe our time is almost up already.
But because if yea a wonderful problem, and so I
have to ask you, what advice would you give to
our listeners about building resilience, especially when it comes to
(34:54):
spending quality time with oneself.
Speaker 3 (34:58):
I really like this question a lot because part of
my research at some point I was focusing on mindful
resiliency and to have that as one of our values
or a virtue that we used to go on about
our lives is really important. So we all know resiliency
(35:18):
is like basically bouncing back to get back up. And
the one advice, now I don't like the word advice.
The one input I am no one to give advice.
The one input and thought I'd like to share is
you will be surprised how much you're capable of doing.
Yes you can. You blow yourself away the more you
(35:41):
try and the more you accomplish. Yes you can. We
are actually resilient species. Just our mind gets in the
way sometime. That's how I see it. I love it.
Speaker 1 (35:54):
Yes, our mind most definitely gets in the way. Well,
thank you Mario for sharing your incredible journey insights with
us today on Lifejack The Resilience Podcast Your story of
resilience and dedication to exploring the world and being an
experienced junkie is truly inspiring. So how listeners fine and
(36:14):
connect with you?
Speaker 3 (36:16):
Oh that's an exciting part. Thank you for asking that.
So I have an incredible team that's working with me,
and they basically put this cool website together a few
months ago. It's basically my first name and last name.
So it's www dot Mario WESA dot com. That's m A.
(36:37):
R Io w I s SA dot com. And you
can find my books there. They're not being sold on
the website, but you can see the books that I've published. Also,
people will they can contact me my email there and
they also have the option to book thirty minutes free
session with me to help them with their communication skills.
Speaker 1 (36:59):
Wonderful. Do you have any last words of encouragement for
the listeners?
Speaker 3 (37:04):
Yes, most of us do not need encouragement from the outside.
We all have it and we just need to find it,
capture it, cultivate it, use it, and make it work
for you.
Speaker 1 (37:18):
Wow. Yes, we do have it inside inside of us.
Look in that mirror right. Yes, Well, Mario, I wish
you continued success as you empower others to unlock their potential.
To our listeners made Mario's journey encourage you to embrace
cultural diversity and personal growth as keys to resilience. Mario,
I wish you and your family nothing but blessings and abundance.
(37:41):
Please take care.
Speaker 3 (37:43):
Thank you so much, Mario Wesa.
Speaker 1 (37:45):
Everyone. Be sure to join me next time for more
uplifting stories and insights on resilience. Until then, keep pushing forward,
embrace the journey, and remember that every setback can lead
to a greater comeback. Doctor Roe signing off no
What do you do when life takes you on a
journey across continent, cultures, and the intricate landscapes of the
human hearts Today? On Life Tack the Resilience Podcast, I'm
diving into the transformative story of Mario Wisa, whose life
journey began amidst the vibrant chaos of Cairo, Egypt. In
(00:21):
two thousand. Marios set his sights on Nashville, Tennessee, driven
by a first for knowledge and new experiences. From mastering
the English language to navigating diverse career paths in restaurants,
the military, and the corporate world, Mario's life has been
a rich tapestry of growth and discovery. His passion for
(00:42):
communication led him across Asia and culminated in the publication
of three insightful books. Join me, Doctor Rowe as we
explore Mario's incredible journey of resilience, including the personal challenges
of marriage and divorce, and his mission to empower others
through effective communication.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
Sometimes life gives us lemons, Sometimes it gives us lemonade.
Other Times it gives us something entirely out of left
field that makes us say w T F. But no
matter what obstacles come there is most often a way
out on the other side, and we are once again victorious.
(01:29):
My name is doctor Rome and you are listening to
my podcast about resilience. Every guest shares a tragedy to
triumph story to give listeners like you the inspiration to
push through every single day. Listen now as my next
guest shares how they were like jacked.
Speaker 1 (01:53):
Hi, Mario, welcome, Thank you for measuring a guest on
my show. How are you?
Speaker 3 (01:58):
I am doing fantastic, feeling awesome, and I'm really glad
to be here.
Speaker 1 (02:03):
Well, like I said before, I'm really glad that you
were here as well. Now, Mario, your journey began in
Cairo and then it took you across the world to
the United States in Nashville, Tennessee, which is the home
of a country in Western so who definitely totally different cultures.
(02:24):
So how did you navigate between such different cultures?
Speaker 3 (02:28):
Honestly, looking back, I am wondering the same thing, how
did I do it?
Speaker 1 (02:32):
Because stock and I.
Speaker 3 (02:35):
Came here as a teenager, and it was not really
my dream or like my desires from a young age
to like go to the US, travel to America. That
was not really my thing at all for me is
pursuing the proficiency to learn the English language. It was
that simple. And the reason why it was Nashville, Tennessee
(02:58):
because my older brother moved to the US two years
before I did, and he was actually studying English as well,
and that's where he resided in Tennessee at the time,
and that's why that's why I landed in Nashville, Tennessee
and stayed there for a few years until I joined
the military. Now how did I navigate? Not even joking,
(03:23):
it was extremely challenging. There was a lot of tears,
especially coming here as a teenager.
Speaker 1 (03:30):
And no friends.
Speaker 3 (03:31):
The only family member I have is my brother. And
to be frank with you, I know this is like
the topic of our podcast. It goes perfectly like this
was the beginning of me to learn what resiliency is
because I remember many nights honestly I went to sleep
like crying because the culture shock and the language differences
(03:54):
and even going to school and the US was really challenging. Obviously,
English's language. I don't understand many of the phrases that
American people use every day, like what's up? When someone
asked me at the time twenty five years ago. First
time I was at the grocery store and the cashier
(04:16):
person asked me, Hey, what's up. I literally looked up
at the ceiling. That was a long time ago.
Speaker 1 (04:21):
So yeah, bless your heart, hey, and bless your heart.
That's another saying. That's a Southern saying. And we say
bless your heart.
Speaker 3 (04:30):
Bless you. Oh yeah, bless your heart or what's the
other one? I'm fixing to go.
Speaker 1 (04:35):
Yeah, fixing, that's it. That's our pina.
Speaker 3 (04:39):
So you know, living living, like the first five years
of my experience in the US was in Nashville, Tennessee
was definitely I want to say it was a gentle
introduction because now I lived in Seattle, Washington, which is
like fast paced technology. It is like a whole different
If I had moved to Washington when I first came
to the US, I don't I think it will be that.
(05:01):
I mean, I don't think it will be a lot
more challenging for me. But you know, in the country Nashville,
it was a little bit more laid back, easy going.
That helped in some ways. Can you imagine it helped?
Yet still it was really challenging, and.
Speaker 1 (05:17):
I definitely understand that the work that I do. I'm
a multi lingual educator and I'm a administrator, and so
that is the population that I work with is high
school or secondary students who are coming to the United States.
And they are, of course, some of them are coming
with their parents and others are coming unaccompanied. And yes,
you know, every day I talk to them and I
(05:39):
visit the classrooms, and I you know, helped to support
the teachers in my program. And yet a lot of
it takes a lot of tenacity, a lot of resilience
to come to a new country as a teenager, because teenagers,
it doesn't matter what country you come from, teenagers all
have certain you know, obstacles that they have to go
through with puberty and just learn. You know, Okay, I'm
(06:02):
not quite old enough to be an adult, but I'm
too old to be a young kid. And so You're
trying to find your way in this grand life that
has ups and downs all the time. So yes, I
do understand that journey and to take that journey as
a teenager to come from one environment and culture to another.
(06:24):
And the United States is not always kind, you know,
although we are a nation that was built on you know,
with immigrants in mind, but we're not always kind.
Speaker 3 (06:35):
I don't know how to agree or disagree with you
because I mostly agree. Yes, the first couple of years
were pretty tough, to be frank. Quite a few times
I was told go back to where you came from,
and I didn't know what that meant at the time, right, right,
But you know, those experiences I definitely made me stronger.
For sure, I'm still here. I didn't go back.
Speaker 1 (06:58):
Well, we are glad to have you know, we are
glad that you didn't go back. Now, ex for various
career paths, which included going to serve in the military,
which thank you so much for your service in the military.
I mean, it was one thing that comes to a
country that you didn't know anything about and it's new
to you in the environment, but then to go out
(07:19):
and then serve and protect for that country, that is
absolutely amazing. So what made you decide to en listen
to the military.
Speaker 3 (07:29):
So this is very interesting experience because I served four
years active and four years reserve between two thousand and
five until twenty thirteen September two thousand and five, to
be specific, like one week after my birthday. Basically I
was working at companies. It's called NCR. Have you ever
(07:51):
heard of it? National cash register. Basically, I was working
as an IT yes, okay, computers register servers at Walmart
and fast food restaurants. I was doing this for about
a year or so, and I thought it might be
time to like change, honestly accept the military, where I
spent so many years. Every other job I spend like
(08:12):
a year or two and I just move on, like
I get enough of my experiences and I reach a plateau,
then I jump on to the next experience. So I
literally put my resume online and looking for an IT job, exploring,
and that's my truth. So that's exactly what happened. A
few days later, I get a phone call by a
(08:33):
recruiter Petty Officer second class, so and so, this is
US Navy. You're looking for IT job. And obviously I
was like stundem like maybe what's going on? Then obviously
you know they made me the offer. You know, you
look for IT job, We welcome you. You have an
experience with second language that we might be able to use,
(08:54):
and you know we'll teach you and train you to
be an IT. I'm like, I'm really overwhelmed. I'm at
the time, what was I That was like twenty three
years of age, So I was till you know, two
twenty three years of age, still young. And at the
beginning I was like taken back by like serving in
the military. I never really considered that before. But the
(09:14):
thing about me one of the reasons why I came
to the US, and I do what I do from
young age, I am an experience junkie. I love to
have new experience. I love to go try risk it.
And what I learned about the military was will take
me places, have me have different experiences, go out and serve,
(09:34):
have this sense of pride as you mentioned, and make
an impact, you know. And it was interesting because at
the time I only had my green card. I was
not a citizen at the time, and they did not
tell me to become an IT I have to be
a citizen. So they basically yeah, So basically they took
(09:55):
me and and within like six months they stripped my
Egyptian citizenship and I became an American citizen a year later.
I have top security clearance to do my it. IT
just basically you become government property and they just do
whatever they wish with you and I am really grateful
that I've gone through this experiences, and I have to
(10:16):
tell you it was another challenging experience because you'd be
surprised how the military is like a melting pot like
the US They recruit from so many places. They want
to have this variety of character, mentality and challenges. It
(10:36):
was an amazing experience. If you were to ask me,
would I do it again, I would say no, it
was too hard. But I am so glad that I
did it well.
Speaker 1 (10:44):
You know, I know that a lot of people say
that the military is the most integrated place, at least
the United States military is the most integrated place that
although it has gone through its times of women's rights
and overcoming segregation between you know, African Americans being allowed
for the officers and all these different different being in
(11:04):
different companies and regiments, but and of course the LGBT
community and all of that. But I have heard from
many persons who have served in the military that when
they were in the military, they were fighting side by
side with all different types of people. Like it's just
it's the most diverse type of organization that anyone could
(11:27):
ever experience, you know, And I think that's absolutely phenomenal
because you meet people from all around the world. You
think of college getting at a college education kind of
themes like that that you meet you know, lots of
different people from all over the world or different places
and all walks of life. But the people say, in
the military, you really and truly meet all different types
(11:48):
of people.
Speaker 3 (11:49):
Absolutely. Absolutely. The thing about the military was, even though
you brought up a very valid point about you know,
some discrimination here or there, they're still working on it
and to develop to develop the rules for it. The
two things I noticed that are the most important when
it comes to like serving in the military and getting
our job done is one, what is your job? What
(12:12):
is exactly that you do? Two? What is your rank?
Because your rank determines your responsibility. Like for me, i
was payostro second class within three years, I'm responsible of
a platoon of few people. But those people, what is
their job exactly as an IT or maintenance, airplane captain,
(12:33):
maintenance or QA or ordnance. So your job and your rank,
what color you are, male or female, it doesn't matter.
You're trained to do the job. You reach that rank,
let's get it done. That's that's my experience for the
most part.
Speaker 1 (12:48):
Yeah, yes, So I have to ask you because being
in the military, I mean, they train you to be
involved in all different types of situations in although you know,
not everyone goes into combat right when they serve in
the military, but they train you for that.
Speaker 3 (13:06):
True.
Speaker 1 (13:06):
And so when it comes to resilience, because a lot
of times this particular podcast is mostly about mental toughness,
right and have resilience. But with the military, what type
of approach does the military have when it comes to resilience,
Because you have to be physically resilient, you have to
be mentally resilient, you have to be emotionally resilient. So
(13:26):
I mean there's there's resilience lessons running, I mean, resilience
training running rampant obviously right throughout the military. So what
is it that they do to prepare you and prepare
our soldiers, you know, to serve our beautiful country.
Speaker 3 (13:43):
At night, we most of us do not get more
than three and a half to like four hours sleep
at one time because we had schedule every night pretty
much for us to do a rover watch for about
hour every night after like ten o'clock. So let's say
(14:04):
you go to sleep at ten, you wake up at twelve,
you do your rover, You finish at like one p thirty,
go to sleep, wake up at five o'clock and that
is your night. That's when you sleep. So every night
having this rover, it can be random time, different time,
it changes all the time. Just being dedicated to that
position and that job and you can make the sleep
(14:26):
secondary was really challenging and that really was something different
that I was not used to. And the second thing
is which something we're not supposed to talk about, but
it's been a while. At the end of the training,
the graduation is basically three days with no sleep of
training where we when we marsh we save other sailors
(14:52):
from a sunking ship or a building that's on fire,
or finding bombs in a building that's five floor building.
There are three bombs we need to find them. We'll
only have flashlights. Those kind of experiences we at the
end of the training before you graduate, three days no sleep,
spray water on us, wearing the same boots, wearing the
(15:14):
same clothes, plaster feed You can imagine that was really
test for our endurance and resilience. And actually you'll be surprised.
It's not large percentage, but maybe five to like ten
percent of every group or squadron, about eighty to ninety
people they actually do not make it or they have
(15:36):
to go through the training again.
Speaker 1 (15:39):
Wow, No, I did not know that. I did not
know that. So it's like they just put you in.
Just these are traumatic advice.
Speaker 3 (15:47):
Yeah, billion, yeah, absolutely, and no doubt they feed us plenty,
but you cannot eat that much because if you eat
that much, you would throw up from the exercises and
the running and the push up and the marshing. And honestly,
as I'm sharing this with you, I feel like I'm
talking about someone else. I'm just wondering how I made it.
Speaker 1 (16:09):
No, but I mean, but that's the true testament that
you have that you know what, No, I really am resilient,
like I have been in situations that you know could
have been deuced severe trauma. But I'm here and you
survived and you made it through, and that's phenomenal. I
love that you describe yourself as an experienced junkie because
(16:30):
I really do believe in when it comes to personal growth, right,
the only way that you can grow is through experience.
Because you can read all the books in the world
about doing something. But I truly believe that once you
actually are boots on the ground, no pun intent, because
I know you were in the military, right, but until
you were boots on the ground, you're down in the
(16:51):
trenches and you're actually experiencing whatever it is that you
need to experience. I feel like that's where the post
personal growth come and you can do that through experiences.
And I think that one of the things about it
about resilience is that that is the only way to
build it, is that you got to go through some stuff,
(17:12):
Like you can't build the resilience. You can't become mentally
tough and physically tough and emotionally tough unless you go
through things that you don't really want to go through.
Speaker 3 (17:21):
So true, so true.
Speaker 1 (17:23):
Yeah. Now all right, so you're from Cairo, Egypt. You
make it to Nashville, Tennessee.
Speaker 3 (17:30):
Oh boy, oh my god. Yeah, so there's definitely a
large gap there. So so yes, as you mentioned, I
served in the military. I got out honorably discharged in
two thousand and nine. After that, I worked at Expedia,
you know expedia dot com, the travel agency. I did
(17:50):
that for about a year. Yeah, I was actually it there. Yeah,
And after that I worked at Bank of America another
core it for about a year and my night already.
And for after Bank of America, which I only worked
there for about a year and a half, I did
(18:11):
traded stocks and options for like four years. I basically
knew the ins and out of money to just color
paper that we were meant to believe that it's something
so valuable, So trading it was just kind of fun
for a few years, where I eventually learned that there
is a clear distinction between filling our pocket and filling
(18:32):
our heart. So quit trading. I stopped my jobs and everything,
and I really took some time to reflect on the
meaning of my life because the at this point, by
twenty fifteen, sixteen, I have spent half of my life
in the US and half of my life in Egypt.
Am I Egyptian? Am I American? Who am I? What
(18:52):
am I doing? I have so many experiences? What am
I going to do with this? So in twenty seventeen,
I basically give away everything. I have everything you can
imagine except a backpack, and I took off and I
went to India to deep in my understanding and my
experience in yoga and meditation and my plan was to
(19:13):
go and see universe. Is funny. Even though my plan
was just to go there for three months, I ended
up by spending a year and a half in India
and total five years in Asia. India, I went to Nepal, Katmandu,
went to Sri Lanka and also went to Indonesia, Bali,
so many different places in Bali, Indonesia. And yeah, it's
(19:36):
just amazing, like taking a step in a direction with
faith without really knowing what the outcome might be, but
you know it's gonna be good. It's amazing. I really
I had my return ticket to travel to Asia and
come back for three months. Leave in June, come back
in September. That was twenty seventeen. I came back in
(20:01):
five years later.
Speaker 1 (20:03):
Wow wow. And then you were over there and during
COVID too.
Speaker 3 (20:08):
Well, it's not like I knew COVID is gonna happen.
Speaker 1 (20:10):
It just happened to me.
Speaker 3 (20:12):
It's so true.
Speaker 1 (20:13):
There's another experience.
Speaker 3 (20:16):
Indeed. Oh my god. You know when you say like
we need to really be careful of what we're asking
for because sometimes the sky is open.
Speaker 1 (20:28):
Yes, most definitely. You know. I love what you said
that we need to learn the distinct difference between filling
our pockets and filling our hearts. It's such a profound
statement because a lot of what we do espeakally Americans.
And you know this because you are Americans. We spend
(20:54):
so much time with money as our focus to define
the things that we do, or to make it a
purpose for what we do. Right, it's it's and I
know that a lot of other cultures and countries they
don't really do that. I mean, yes, they make a
living and earn money, and you know, because you do
(21:15):
have to in order to survive. But I feel like
as Americans, like we we seem to have this thing
where it's like, I guess it's the capitalistic society that
we have and the consumerism, but it is, it is.
I I do agree with you. We do need to
learn that difference and instead of just constantly finding ways
to fill our pockets, but find ways to fill our hearts.
(21:38):
Because I know that for this show, this show definitely
feels my heart. I'm definitely not making a.
Speaker 3 (21:48):
We understand right.
Speaker 1 (21:50):
Right, You're like, what am I doing for? But you know,
recognize it feels my heart. Every story, every guest like
yourself that comes on that's able to share their journey
with the world to say, hey, I went through some
really tough stuff, but I came out on the other
side and I didn't quit, and I'm still going. I'm
(22:12):
still going, right, So, what are some of the insights
that you gained while you were, you know, throughout your
travels in Asia?
Speaker 3 (22:22):
Many many to be frank So, I have been working
on my own research for over a decade and a
half and it all started by reading this book. You
might be familiar with it, The Power of Your Subconscious
Mind by Joce Murphy. Okay, this book. The book, it's
(22:47):
called The Power of Your Subconscious Mind by Joseph Murphy.
It is a small book. It's maybe like two hundred pages,
like the size of the palm of your hand. You
probably can read it like one night or two nights
at the time, Like back in two thousand and five
when I read it, it took me a couple weeks
(23:07):
to read it. And this is like, honestly the one
book that I read like over six times over my lifetime.
And this book basically talks about the reason behind our behavior.
Ninety percent of it is subconsciously. And this subconscious was
put together the first two years of our lives. It's
actually not really up to us. And to try to
(23:27):
tap into that and hack into it, it really takes
a lot of work, effort and mindfulness. Now part of
the reason why I took off to Asia because as
I was having every single job and I'm still doing
my research, I discovered something really interesting behind why people
(23:50):
do what they do. And from my interviews and the
information that I collected, most of us fall in one
of those four categories why we do what we do.
Number one, to basically survive, put full food on the table,
pay the rent, pay the car, and just go from
one day another, one week, another, one month or another,
just going on, just going with the flow, you know,
(24:11):
not a big purpose, just you know, I want to live.
I want to survive. The second reason is I'm basically
some people are doing what they're they're following their parents
and their family footsteps. Oh my mom did that, she's
a doctor. I became a doctor. My dad is a lawyer.
Now became a lawyer, following the family steps. Third category
is actually this some people do not know why they're
(24:33):
doing what they're doing. That's a different category in itself.
The fourth category that really impacted me is the reason
why I sold everything, I give away everything and I
just took off to India. Was people who love what
they do so much that they're willing to live on
the streets even if they don't get paid. They love
(24:54):
what they do so much. It fills them so much
that the money for them is not you can pay
them ten dollars, you can pay them ten million dollars,
They're still going to do what they do because they
just love it so much.
Speaker 1 (25:05):
That's a passion.
Speaker 3 (25:07):
It's a passion. It's something I could not comprehend at
the time because for me, it was just about like
working money and driving my Lexus and being fancy and
all this stuff. So I'm like, what does that mean.
I've always been like an experienced junkie. So this idea
really triggered me in a way, intrigued me. Not triggered me,
(25:28):
intrigued me in a way that I realized people who
are happy and satisfied with what they do, as you said,
they follow their passion and their interests. And I thought
to myself, what is really interesting for me? What is
really my passion? Well, i know I've been studying communication.
I know I'm researching communication. Is this really my thing?
I'm not sure. I know that yoga. Oh I didn't talk.
(25:50):
This is the first time I talked about yoga. I
started practicing yoga in twenty twelve and I realized yoga
such a it has such a profound impact all my life,
and yoga's my interest. At the time, I thought, you
know what, I'll go and explore yoga. Where do I
go India? Have you been to India before? Yeah?
Speaker 1 (26:10):
I have not.
Speaker 3 (26:11):
I Oh, okay there. I was just going to mention
a place called i'm a cla gunj and Rishi Cash
place where you can go like get trained, yoga and
all this stuff. So with that in mind, trying to
pursue my interests and what intrigues me, I was observant
taking everything around me, taking it all in. Obviously, it
(26:32):
was another culture shock, and the culture shock that I
had coming from Egypt to the US. It's a reverse
culture shock going from US to India. And two things
that really came up for Actually, there's so many things.
For the sake of time and this podcast, I'm going
to share two primary things. One ignorance. What I mean
(26:55):
by that is I have experienced such a level of
ignorance during my traveling in a way that it humbled
me because I realized with observing other people ignorance and
I'm happy to elaborate in there if you want me to.
It made me realize my own personal ignorance, no matter
(27:17):
what I know is really limited, and what I don't
know is infinite, is really really really humbling. Number two gratitude.
And we all hear about this this gratitude journal. There's
a practice, you know, start your morning with like five gratitudes,
to write them down or speak them out loud, or
(27:37):
maybe gratitude before you go to sleep. You know, these
are actually very very powerful tools when we use them
because we want to use them. It's not because someone
imposes on us. So I became more aware of my
own personal ignorance. No matter how much I know, will
(27:57):
never be enough, because there's so much to know and
to be grateful for wherever I am in life, whatever
universe is providing me with whatever circumstances I'm in to
be grateful because I can tell you some people out
there that I've experienced and lived with for some time,
(28:19):
and they have less than maybe one percent of the
average American person have and they are so happy and grateful.
Speaker 1 (28:29):
Oh my god, Oh no, absolutely absolutely. You know a
lot of times people speak about, you know, feeling lost
like you did, like you said you at one point
in time you're like, yes, my Egyptian or who am I?
What am I supposed to be doing? Do I need
to be in the military? Do I need to be
in corporate America? Do I need to write you? A
(28:51):
lot of I think a lot of us have those
types of moments where we're just trying to find ourselves
and we're just trying to especially when we take all
these different paths, right, and sometimes you take one path
and you know exactly where you're going, and then the
other times you take another path and you're like, I
really don't know where I'm going, but I'm just gonna
just keep going, keep walking this way, right, You're like,
let's just say where I end up. But the two
(29:13):
things that you brought up that personal ignorance, because a
lot of people think that they just know everything, or
they think they know a lot about something, and sometimes
you find out you really don't know much until you experience,
and you have certain experiences and you recognize, like WHOA,
(29:34):
I really didn't know that much about that, like I
thought I did. And then the second thing that you said,
that gratitude, You know, it takes nothing. It's free to
be kind. It takes nothing to be kind and to
be grateful just for tiny little things and express gratitude
for the breath and your body that you can receive
(29:55):
into your body, into your lungs, the beautiful landscape that
is around owned us, of this beautiful world, like you said, traveling,
meeting different people, communicating with all different types of people
and cultures, and learning and immersing yourself into these cultures.
I mean, you know, I think your life is something
(30:16):
a little bit more than an experienced junkie. But I
know you're saying that, but it just seems like that
this is your purpose, right, this is who you are
to kind of navigate and integrate yourself throughout these different cultures.
Like that is a purpose, to just go throughout the
world and learn and experience these different types of cultures.
(30:38):
I think, I think that is simply amazing. Now I
want to talk about support systems because some people have
said that, you know, when they were going through challenging times,
if they hadn't had a support system, they don't know
how made it through. So be important to have a
support system. And if you did have one, like, how
(30:59):
did how did your support system contribute to your journey
of resilience?
Speaker 3 (31:05):
Yes, so actually when I traveled from you mean just
during my trip or you mean just in general life?
Speaker 1 (31:13):
Just to be clear, life, Yeah, in general general life.
Speaker 3 (31:18):
Oh my goodness, this is tough one, honestly, because I
have a very small circle of people. It's like, this
is kind of sounds strange, but it seems like the
more you learn about life and the more you learn
about humanity, the more like your circle of people kind
of like shrinks. So throughout my life, I usually have
(31:42):
like two or three friends max in my life that
are like closest to me where we like like go
out for some tea or coffee, or go for a
walk around Green Lake, or I really like enjoy walk
and talk with my friends. Having close friends where you
can be genuinely vulnerable when is really empowering. Example of that.
(32:04):
I was actually living in a shared housing for about
a year and a half before I lived and I
took off to Asia and one of my roommates, I
feel like I want to mention his name, but maybe not. Basically,
him and I decided together that we're going to go
to India. Okay, we traveled together. A month and a
(32:25):
half later, he came back to the US and I
stayed in India and I continued. He came back there
because there was a relationship that was awaiting him to
be very frank. And I'm not sure how much this
would be helpful for so many other people. I have
found that the best support system that I can have
(32:47):
is the one that I look at in the mirror. Wow. Wow,
the one that go every morning when I brush my
cheeth and go like, hey, how are you doing to
you know, you actually did really good. When I'm brushing
my teeth at night and before I go to sleep,
you know you actually did really good today. Yes, you
(33:08):
think you could have done better, but you survived every time.
When I drive my car and come back home, I
hang my keys, and I go in the kitchen, and
I go in the kitchen, I go in the bathroom,
I look in the mirror, is like, hey, you made
it home safe. Five Hi five. Yeah. I don't know
if this is from like yoga or meditation practice, or
(33:28):
maybe my research and communication or what the best supportive
system I have found so far is that person that
is looking back at me in the mirror. We can
talk hard to heart. Sometimes I just tear in the
mirror and just like cry. I don't have anything to say,
just letting my emotions out. It's not easy to do
that with any other human being unless you hire someone professional,
(33:49):
as we all know.
Speaker 1 (33:51):
So maybe that's well, I was gonna say. You know,
I think that's so true because oftentimes we can compliment others,
Like it's easy for us to compliment others and tell
other people you did a great job, but when it
comes to ourselves, we can be incredibly hard on ourselves. Right,
It's like we forget like, you got to also support yourself.
(34:13):
So I support that. I agree that sometimes yeah, just
looking at yourself in the mirror and saying great job
or you got like you said, high five, you can
high five yourself in the mirror, like and you know
it is it is something that you know, we we
forget that you can give your own self encouragement. You
(34:33):
can you can tell your own self great job and
be your own support system. So that's very true, very true.
Now I can't believe our time is almost up already.
But because if yea a wonderful problem, and so I
have to ask you, what advice would you give to
our listeners about building resilience, especially when it comes to
(34:54):
spending quality time with oneself.
Speaker 3 (34:58):
I really like this question a lot because part of
my research at some point I was focusing on mindful
resiliency and to have that as one of our values
or a virtue that we used to go on about
our lives is really important. So we all know resiliency
(35:18):
is like basically bouncing back to get back up. And
the one advice, now I don't like the word advice.
The one input I am no one to give advice.
The one input and thought I'd like to share is
you will be surprised how much you're capable of doing.
Yes you can. You blow yourself away the more you
(35:41):
try and the more you accomplish. Yes you can. We
are actually resilient species. Just our mind gets in the
way sometime. That's how I see it. I love it.
Speaker 1 (35:54):
Yes, our mind most definitely gets in the way. Well,
thank you Mario for sharing your incredible journey insights with
us today on Lifejack The Resilience Podcast Your story of
resilience and dedication to exploring the world and being an
experienced junkie is truly inspiring. So how listeners fine and
(36:14):
connect with you?
Speaker 3 (36:16):
Oh that's an exciting part. Thank you for asking that.
So I have an incredible team that's working with me,
and they basically put this cool website together a few
months ago. It's basically my first name and last name.
So it's www dot Mario WESA dot com. That's m A.
(36:37):
R Io w I s SA dot com. And you
can find my books there. They're not being sold on
the website, but you can see the books that I've published. Also,
people will they can contact me my email there and
they also have the option to book thirty minutes free
session with me to help them with their communication skills.
Speaker 1 (36:59):
Wonderful. Do you have any last words of encouragement for
the listeners?
Speaker 3 (37:04):
Yes, most of us do not need encouragement from the outside.
We all have it and we just need to find it,
capture it, cultivate it, use it, and make it work
for you.
Speaker 1 (37:18):
Wow. Yes, we do have it inside inside of us.
Look in that mirror right. Yes, Well, Mario, I wish
you continued success as you empower others to unlock their potential.
To our listeners made Mario's journey encourage you to embrace
cultural diversity and personal growth as keys to resilience. Mario,
I wish you and your family nothing but blessings and abundance.
(37:41):
Please take care.
Speaker 3 (37:43):
Thank you so much, Mario Wesa.
Speaker 1 (37:45):
Everyone. Be sure to join me next time for more
uplifting stories and insights on resilience. Until then, keep pushing forward,
embrace the journey, and remember that every setback can lead
to a greater comeback. Doctor Roe signing off no
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