Thriving on and off the Skateboard: A Journey of Resilience with Beaver Fleming

Episode Transcript
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(00:19):
Hey, Welcome to another episode ofStrive three sixty five, the podcast dedicated
helping you push through challenges and thriveevery day no matter the odds. We're
here to helping guide you to livea better life. Would we mentally,
physically, emotionally or spiritually? AndI'm your host, Justin Arnold on the
Amazing Rock Vox Studio. And today, Man, we just have this cool
dude. His name is Beaver Fleming. I want to feel like I met

(00:39):
him pre COVID, so we've knowneach other for a few years. He's
a professional skateboarder, motivational speaker,advocate for personal growth. When I met
him, it was he was hereon Oh my God, what's that called
the uh? The uh? What'sthe tour you go on? I just
had a brain nitro circuit, whichif you have never been, you have

(01:00):
to go, and you have togo, and he's there. I mean,
there's other cool dudes too, butBeaver's pretty amazing. But anyways,
Beaver embodies the spirit of resilience anddetermination through his journey. He has overcome
obstacles how in a positive mindset,and that's one of the things that attracted
me to him and discover the powerof setting intentions. So let's join join
us today here as we sit back, relax and have a great conversation with

(01:22):
Beaver. So, Beaver, Iwant you to introduce yourself to the wonderful
listeners viewers. We're on all channels, so go ahead, what is up?
Justin appreciate you big time again forhaving us on. Super grateful,
just always fun watching you as well, and just all the encouragement that you
do just by how you live.Man, it's amazing and inspiring. Literally
you embody striving three hundred and sixtyfive every single day, be your post.

(01:46):
You're doing something, whether you're atthe gym, whether you're hustling,
or you're doing stuff with your family. And so it's really cool. And
I'm just grateful man, to knowyou and like minded people that just want
to live an epic life but alsobuild others as well, not just do
it for them themselves, but sharewhat they do. So wow, man,
I introduced you and you just likegave me some props and I'm like

(02:07):
bleushing over here, and I'm appreciative. And this is why I love this
guy. Man. He's just acool dude and he's very humble, and
he's married, and he well,where are you living at? You still
you're out west right, I'm inSan Diego, Carlsbad, Okay. And
yeah, he's a father. Let'stalk about that. Let's just start with
that. He's a dad, anew dad. Tell me how that's going

(02:30):
and what's up with that. Ithas been the most incredible thing. I
think everyone says, like, yeah, becoming a parent like changes you.
You step into this whole nother dimension, and I think it really does it.
I don't know if it necessarily changesyou as much as it uncovers like
real passion and purpose and what life'sall about. You know. I've just
experienced a new level of joy thatI didn't know as possible in these last

(02:53):
couple of months, and just gratitudeas well, just being grateful for a
happy, healthy baby, happy healthywife. Like she was amazing during the
whole process. And I just realizedhow much stronger I feel she is than
me at times because going through andwatching and just supporting her in that.
It's insane, man, what theygo through. And can only encourage as

(03:14):
much as I can, but atthe end of the day, it was
on her to make it happen,and yeah, we've been enjoying it.
Thankfully. We got a little manthat sleeps really good. So two and
a half months in and we're justso pumped. Yeah, two and a
half months. I was gonna ask. I couldn't remember, but yeah,
like birthing, like I've been throughthree and it's just you know, the
first they're all great, but Ijust remember, I didn't know what you

(03:37):
know, you watch video. Idon't know if you did this, but
like we went like did the videothing. We wanted to be prepared as
possible, read like a book ortwo, but it was like I was
like the videos didn't. It wasjust weird. And then when it actually
happens, it just felt spiritual.I was I like wept and I was
just like this is the most beautifulthing and you feel like energy room and

(04:00):
the connection and like when you holdyour baby, there's I don't know,
it's a hard feeling to describe,but I can't compare anything to it.
I mean, yeah, right,okay, yeah, yeah, it was
wild. The crazy one for metoo was I mean I haven't really watched
videos, but I guess in moviesor whatever, you see like as soon
as it comes out there already screaming, but like our baby boy was like

(04:23):
literally lifeless, like you know whatI mean. I saw him take his
first breath and go like and thenstart the screaming, and I was like,
I thought they were screaming as theywere coming out, you know what
I mean. But he came allthe way out and then like took the
breath and I literally saw life enterhim. And like you're saying, it
was just the spiritual moment, unlikeanything I've ever ever experienced. Well,

(04:45):
and it was just it was powerful, man, And in an instant,
it's like wow, like everything isjust new and you're so in love with
something, and it's yeah, youcan't describe it, you really can't.
It's gotta So are you still prettymuch still traveling too with your career and
everything? Yeah, thankfully I've beenable. I've only had one trip so

(05:08):
far. I leave next week foranother trip and things start to ramp up
for the summer. But thankfully wehad kind of a slower spring season this
year and got to be pretty muchbeen present for the whole first little bit.
Are they going to travel with youat all in any of these or
is it pretty much. That's thegoal. Okay, yeah, that's the
goal. This one coming up nextweek is just a quick weekend one,

(05:30):
so I'm going to go out.But we're doing our big tour this fall,
and I think we're going to lookinto just getting the old motor home
and bully full send in it,bring the family along for the ride,
do it. We've got a camperI mean, we're not living out of
the camper per se, but itwas it was my choice in my career
work out that way that I couldjust have a traveling thing. That would

(05:53):
be awesome. I totally am supportof that. I'm glad you could do
that because yeah, I mean thereyou probably already know it. Even two
and a half months is fulling byI've got a thirteen year old, and
I was like, what, Istill feel like a thirteen year old and
I've got one in the house,and it's like the craziest, So what's
the plan? Like, you know, two and a half months, you're
gonna just as soon as it startsreally fast crawling, you're just gonna put

(06:15):
on a skateboard, right, Imean, I feel like I have to,
you know what I'm saying. He'llbe skanning before he's walking, Like
figure, as long as you're standing, we'll get him going. Yeah,
I'm honestly excited for it because Igrew up I didn't even know what a
skateboard. Was still kind of olderin my life. So I'm excited to
kind of build and train up thisdude would just you know, a different

(06:36):
different growing up than I had.You know, I grew up in Tennessee,
which we don't have an ocean.Right now, we're living half a
mile from the beach, so I'mexcited for that. Like, going to
the beach was a thing when Iwas a kid. It was like this
whole ordeal. You got to makea trip, you got to plan it.
And now it's like, hey,do you want to go to the
beach, And we can literally wehave the privilege and blessing of doing that

(06:56):
every single day if we want to. Like I served this morning, and
my wife is a big surfer.She taught lessons in Maui for like five
years. So I'm just excited tokind of, yeah, develop new new
family dynamics. That's totally different fromI guess my lineage in a way because
we grew up just living differently.I was the first one to kind of
break out into the action sports world, and so it's gonna be fun to

(07:19):
kind of start a new chapter.And this is going to be his normal,
going to the skate park, goingto Nitro Circus, and it's gonna
be fun. Yeah. And obviously, people who listen to this or know
me, I'm a big person onmovement. I don't care what it is,
just some kind of movement practice.And I think that's so cool that
that's your lifestyle, that's how youmake your living, and that you can
put that into the child's life.Like here, I didn't grow up ice

(07:42):
skating, but I do play hockeynow and I got a daughter and a
son who are hockey players that aregetting pretty good at it. And it's
kind of the same thing here.It's like, oh, they're running jokes
as soon as you know the kid'sborn, you're strapping some skates on it.
As soon as they can like getpast crawling. So that's why I
had to ask that, because it'slike, man, as soon as you
can get them into stuff that's justchallenging their mind and their body and then

(08:03):
just stuff you can do with themtogether. But that's amazing. I think
that's gonna be cool. I'm gonnadefinitely enjoy the ride and watching that.
So yeah, yeah, anything elseabout fatherhood before we shift the gears here
that you'd love to share in thenew stage of your life new season,
Yeah, I mean just everything aboutit has just made me feel more passionate

(08:28):
and purpose for everything I'm doing,which I think is powerful. Right when
something it's like now I've got iteven bigger, like why behind it?
Like now I got to provide foran entire another life. Right, It's
like you're single, you're doing yourthing, You're on your own, your
goals are a little bit different.And then once you're married, it's like,
okay, I got to have Likenow it's not just me, it's
my partner as well. We're becomingone. Now we got a family,

(08:50):
you know, like little man,we got him till you know, he's
at least eighteen. And I alwaysjoke and was telling my wife Gabriellis before
we had a kid, I waslike, once a kid, we're never
not parents, you know what Imean. It's like you're never not a
parent. So just trying to enjoythe most out of these seasons, and
I think that's where I'm at rightnow with this season of fatherhood. Like
he's already growing so much in thefirst two months, and I'm like,

(09:11):
man, like, it's you justgotta really. Everyone always says, right,
it goes so fast, but Ithink I think a lot in our
culture we don't enjoy and treat itwith the respect that it necessarily deserves.
So, you know, I wasso thankful I've had these couple months to
be present, be home, notbe on the road, and be able

(09:31):
to be here for all those littleyou know, now he's got his eyes
open more. Now he's making noises, all the different things, and so
just trying to enjoy the present,being present and h and yeah, take
it for all it's well, yeah, And I can't say, like it
wasn't an I had that attitude thatyou have such a great attitude starting out.

(09:52):
It's such a young father, likeI didn't know I was going to
be a dad, and then whenI became one, it's like, oh
my goodness, everything you just saidlike popped into my head, like it's
not about me anymore. My wifejust became bigger. And it continues to
be that way as they get olderand they get more expensive, like just
to know, but they're motivated.Like not to say that, I would
have just sat at home and donenothing. I've always been a driver,
but it it gives me more motivationto get up in personal development professional development,

(10:18):
Like I'm working towards something big andsomething I started saying, I can't
remember when I'm forty two. Now, it had to be in like my
mid or early thirties, I startedsaying outside being a great husband obviously,
like my number one job is beingdad, it really is. And all
vehicles, Yes, you can havea career in skateboarding. I own a
gym. I'm a trainer, andthat doesn't mean I don't care about my

(10:39):
clients or the gym is important,but it gets me to work harder at
those things knowing that my number onejob is dad, and then everything is
a vehicle to be better at that, whether it be the money coming in,
the things that are going on andaround it. And so that's always
been my motivating factor, even whenI've had challenging days or hard days or
like even during COVID where my businesswas shut down, It's like, wellman,

(11:01):
number one job's dad. So whatcan I do to do that?
So and then everything started working out. So it's like, you know,
so I love that attitude. Ilove that you're saying big why and we
just have to remember that. Andlike something else you said I really really
want to touch on, was younever stop being a parent once you're a
parenting your parent. Like I wasreading a book recently and it's talking about
the different stages and it's like,even when they graduate and they move out

(11:24):
of the house, you're still aparent. They're still calling you up.
And I'm like, that's so true, because like my wife and I still
check in, you know, andand you know there's still advice and there.
It's almost like a life coach forlife. You know, you're going
to be your son's best life coach, right because like he's gonna be in
stages that you've already surpassed, thatyou could help him out from your screw
ups or your good moments and belike, actually I went through something similar

(11:45):
son, right, Yeah, yeah, right, So your attitude, and
that's what I'm excited for too,is just more so leading by example as
well. Like I had an incredibleexample. I believe my parents did the
best they could with what they had, and God, you know they've had
well over thirty years of marriage andgrew up in a Christian home. So
we'll dive into the faith a littlebit. But yeah, for sure,

(12:07):
I'm excited to really just lead byexample, like I know, just in
life and from what I've seen andexperienced, and like the fathers that I
look up to as well as myown father, the things that I really
admire or the things that I'm like, monkey see, monkey do right.
We're creatures of habit, we're creaturesof structure, but really we're creatures of

(12:28):
knowing, like, Okay, I'mnot gonna do what you say, I'm
gonna do what you do right.And that's where the habit's really transformed.
So even for me, it's likea higher level of accountability. For me,
it's like if I tell my son, Hey, clean your room,
I better make sure my room's clean. I better make sure my cars clean.
Like if I want respecting our homeand house, like, I better
lead that by example. If Iwant to develop the culture and habit of

(12:50):
like I don't know when he's gonnaknow, but almost every morning I'll take
him with me in the morning.So my wife can get a little more
sleep, and I'll start reading withhim on my lap, like I just
want him to know from his veryfirst memory, like that's what Daddy does.
So that's what I'm going to do. I'm going to take time to,
you know, get into the word, get into the Bible, get
yourself filled up spiritually so that thenyou can go out and do the other

(13:11):
things. And again same thing withlike doing things with like good intentions,
but doing them well as well,having a spirit of excellence. So not
just having like core values written ona board in our house that look nice.
It's like, no, these areactually the core values that we take
everywhere we go. And I thinkthat's one of the things later in my
life now, as I feel calledto so many different spheres from skateboarding to

(13:33):
speaking to entrepreneurship with businesses, allkinds of fatherhood, husbandry, I'm like,
Okay, I can have all theselike tangible written out like metric goals,
or I can say no, Iwant to be faithful. I want
to be passionate. I want tobe disciplined. I want to be diligent,
because if I'm passionate and disciplined andfaithful, that's going to show up

(13:54):
in my skating, it's going toshow up in my business, it's going
to show up in my family.And that's what can kind of train and
since So it's kind of like shiftingthe mentality of metric goals where it's like,
realistically, it's never going to beenough, no matter if you hit
X amount in your bank account ordo every trick in the book or win
every X games. It's like,no, this is what's actually going to
outlast that. These values and structuresI want to create not only for myself

(14:16):
but also for my family. Man. I love that you basically pointed at
what I talk about and like they'realways watching. They're not always listening,
they're always watching exactly. Yeah,they're mimicking you, and and hey,
so I'll give you this. Andthere was I actually just included it in
my second book a little bit becausethe importance of like kids and watching and

(14:39):
enjoy and all these things. Butthere was like research a show why it's
so important to play like peekaboo andplay different games with your kids. It
seems silly. There's actually hearing avideo about that video. Okay, yeah,
yeah, I think somebody did aTed talk on it or something like
that. It was a little girldoing the Ted talk. Oh yeah,
yeah, yeah, so like sevenor eight years old and she's talking about

(15:01):
it. It was it was prettyimpressive for her whole speech on that.
So I remember reading the study,and the study had caught me to that
video that you're probably talking about,because I remember watching that, and I
was just curious about these things.Why we do these things? That's just
so me, like just in anutshell, like not that I have dead
time, but I have probably addbut I'll be doing work and then I'm

(15:22):
like something top of my head,why do we start playing Peekaboo, Like
that's that's what goes on in Justin'smind, Like oh, where did pikaboo
come from? So that's that's justthings I do. And then I it
was anyways. Then I was like, well, there's a massive scientific basis
of why this is so important andso cool thing you watch us, so
like I don't even need to bringthat up for you, but yet these
things are important. These things itseem silly, especially as Dad's I imagine,

(15:46):
because it's what I see and whatI hear in the clients that I
work with and the fathers, andyou know, we're put on this thing
on the it feels like in cultureto yeah, provide and prodact, which
we should definitely do, but it'salso like, you know, I feel
like and correct me if you feeldifferently, because I feel like there's a

(16:07):
lot of pressure on us to bea certain type of man and women are
maybe there's still some of those stereotypicroles, but I feel like we're to
be the best dad. We needto be present and have you talked about
you know, we need to beactive, We need to play with them,
We need to do these silly,little weird games with them. Like
the dad role is massively important.And not just the dad role and the
providing and and the protection, butalso in like the being there and watching

(16:34):
them and like I said, beingsilly with them or skateboarding or whatever it
might be, right, enjoying life. Right, I go. I'll just
go back to the Bible, right, it talks about the fruits of the
spirit. I love our joy,like those are the first too, is
love and joy. And I justthink man as a believer, there's so
many people in the church that justreally don't look that happy or joyful.

(16:56):
They're not experiencing a lot of joy, but like that's a part of the
spirit, that's the holy spirit,Like the holy spirit inside of you is
meant to produce joy. But wealso having the spirit within us, need
to be tending that garden and makingopportunities for joy to be available. Right
if we're so rigid, we're sostrict, we're so focused on all these

(17:17):
little things and doing them a certainway, we're going to miss out on
the joy and the beauty and kindof the dance of life. And so
it's the same thing like you're talkingabout with a kid. It's like,
yeah, we need to be thatprotector, we need to be that provider,
but we also need to provide joy. We also need to provide fun
and show them not to take thingstoo seriously at times. But actually you
need to enjoy what you're doing.Like we can go to work just to

(17:38):
get a task done, or wecan actually enjoy what we're doing. And
it's hard to find that balance,especially when you turn your passion into your
profession like I've done in my life, like skateboarding. I'm in a ten
year career right now, I've hitthis is my eleventh year as a professional
skateboarder, and we used to alwaysjoke like it's better than a real job,
and I'm thankful for that lifestyle let'spresented. But also I think when

(18:00):
you do turn your passion into yourprofession and it becomes your job, it's
easy to kind of like lose thatjoy in what you're doing. And then
again I had to check myself nottoo long ago, because I'm like,
wait a second. The Bible evensays the joy the Lord is your strength,
but I'm not having fun right now. I'm not having joy right now.
And to be honest, I don'tfeel that strong. I feel like
I'm trying to force things and Ican get them done, but they don't

(18:22):
look done well, they don't lookas joyful. There's not this grace on
it that's allowing me to actually enjoywhat I do and give me that freedom.
So it's finding that kind of realdelicate balance of yeah, tending your
garden, your spiritual life, yourmental life, your relational life, that's
going to bring back into your passion, and knowing that when you have your

(18:45):
job, don't just see it asa means to get by, like your
life right it's like, yes,it does that, it does provide that
for you. But when that's allit is, then you're just trying to
suck stuff out of it. You'renot trying to give anything back to it.
And it's a constant life in myhead, it's attending the garden.
Right, it's like to have ifthe fruit of the spirit is joy,

(19:06):
joy is the fruit. I've gotto make sure that my tree, right,
the tree of life, is inan environment that can produce that joy.
I got to make sure that it'sgetting the right nourishment, it's getting
the right things. It's not gettingtoxic water, right, it's making sure
it's in the right spot, gettingwhat it needs. If it's not producing
good fruit, all right, let'sprune that out. Let's prune that thought
out, take every thought captive,and then let's get back into alignment to

(19:30):
where we're able to really produce funjoy. And I think for us as
believers, that's what's going to bemore attractive in this next generation. It's
people that are having fun. They'repassionate, but they have this level of
joy that the world doesn't have,and that's what's going to be attracting people
and getting them grafted in to arelationship with God. You just covered several
points in my book because it's aliterally like that's crazy, because well,

(19:55):
you talk about the garden, andI actually have a subsection in there about
your mind is a Garden and thingslike that, and they talked on similar
things you just talked about. SoI just found that fascinating, man,
that you really covered some really coolstuff. Plus I just love your passion
and that's why, like, thisis one of these guys and I get
this sometimes, but this is oneof these guys like he just walks in
her room and like he's going tobring the energy, bring the joy,

(20:18):
And that's that's why I'm so gladyou're here and you're bringing that on here.
This is truly who this guy is. Something you also said earlier I
want to touch on it remind meof my daughter. So, our oldest
daughter, she's thirteen. She doeslacrosse and she does FCA. I don't
know if you're familiar with FCA.Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. So
one of the things we got intowe weren't real familiar with it. We
had never heard of it, butshe made the travel team and we know
it was about like faith, uhto a point, but we weren't sure.

(20:41):
But one of the things I loved, especially a recent meeting, is
they just getting parents talking about whatit was. Doesn't mean you need to
be a Christian to be an FCA, but they're just letting us, letting
everyone know that this is what we'regoing to talk about. We're going to
talk about Jesus because what we're tryingto do, and now it's men women,
but they were specifically talking to women'slacrosse parents and they said, we're

(21:04):
trying to build women past the sports. Some may play in high school if
they're blessed up, they will playoff in college, but after that,
you know, they may not beplaying except for maybe some fun stuff,
but there's not a whole lot.So we're trying to build young women,
young ladies, and into something biggerpast the sport of lacrosse. And so

(21:26):
you know, mindset and all thedifferent things and like values and just strong
women. And I really love that. And they're like whether they continue to,
you know, be a Christian oreven practice Christianity, the point is
like we're building some life skills hereand that's our mission. And I was
like, I've been to other sports. I've been to other things and I

(21:47):
hear sprinklings, but not to themagnitude that I heard that, And that's
what made us just fall in lovewith it. And you're talking about that
just from your own family perspective oflike, you know what you're trying to
do. And so I'll connect thedoubts here. You know, I sent
out a question here to my guests, and one of the things that he
mentioned, one of the most meaningthings that he's ever done or ever happened

(22:07):
in his life personally or professionally,is the constant changes and new things happening
God. So we've talked about faith, but could you lever in how these
changes in the presence of God haveimpacted your life and contributed its meaning and
significance for sure, And honestly,it's it's just I always have to go
to the Bible, right because that'sGod's word and that's just what inspires and
encourages me. And it's fresh ona daily basis. You know, it

(22:29):
was fresh thousands of years ago,it's still fresh today, and it's going
to be fresh for every day thisearth exists. And I just think about
his mercies are new every day,So like every day what that means,
like mercy is actually a gift,and it's a given to us to experience
something new. It's given to usto experience like the fullness of life.
I've had incredible experiences, and someof them have been in front of thousands

(22:51):
and thousands sold out arenas all acrossthe world, you know, Like I
remember this one show we did inParis and I nailed Nooric and won the
contest at the Nitro Show and wasjust the energy was so electric. But
then like this morning, I wasjust having fun in the ocean with my
boys and we were just skating likesurfing and having fun, laughing at each
other, like goofing off in thewater. And it's just finding that contentment,

(23:15):
you know, whether it's in thehighest of highs or just something so
simple, or even like last nightjust watching a movie with my wife but
being present with her and enjoying itand being there, or waking up and
hanging out with my kid, likeevery every day, Like I find it
hard to put like moments and encapsulatethem and put them on such a high
pedestal, like oh, that wasthe greatest thing. That's ever happened,

(23:37):
because it's like, all right,well, isn't there more Like life's constantly
a journey. It's gonna have moreopportunities, and I think giving things the
respect that they deserve, right Likeactually, and this is again one of
the things I've learned the most withbecoming a father. Like one of the
first things we did when we tookhim on a walk, I was like,
he's never seen any of the stuff. I don't know how far his

(24:00):
vision is right now, but I'mlike, that's a mailbox, and that's
a tree, and that's a tire, Like just explaining all these things because
you'd never like here, and thecuriosity, but also the reverence and respect
that we have for right, We'revery entitled in our culture. We get
in our car, we just drive. We forget where we're going, we
forget what we're doing, and weforget what's all around us. But I

(24:22):
think if we can slow down alittle more and actually appreciate things like right,
even meals, Like how easy isit to go and just eat a
meal without even thinking about it,Like, oh, I just need to
feel my tank. It's it's allabout the getting, not being like,
man, I'm so grateful that,like someone actually farmed out this you know,
this cattle and got me this massivesteak that I can enjoy right now,
seizing up, cook up girl.But just that level of appreciation,

(24:47):
I think can help make those momentsmean way more but also give you more
moments to look forward to. Itdoesn't have to be the biggest, baddest
trick you've ever done. You canfind that same passion and fire for life
even in just cooking a steak orhanging with your family, Like, how
how can we develop that? It'sit's interesting you said steak. I just

(25:08):
read a page out of something.What's up? Now? You're making me
hungry up saying, honestly, I'ma Midwest guy, so I'm from the
Chicago suburbs. When you're talking aboutbeaches, like we got excited we went
to like Lake Michigan, which wasnot the cleanest in the world. You're
talking about California anywhow. But there'sa bordain. I don't know if it's

(25:29):
cool, but it's just how helived his life. We all know he
lived it in a like you know, he succumbed to his vices of sorts
and amazing man very positive travel theworld. But one of the things he
would say his I'm paraphrasing off thething I read, but it is essentially
his best moments were in the backyardgrilling burgers with his kids and his family.

(25:55):
Like he did all these amazing things, and we can only see it
from like, you know, lookat this star on TV doing these incredible
things. But it's just a perspective, like you know, and I was
like, man, what if hejust came up with an idea of like
hometown favorites and just went around hishometown so he could stick around hometown at
least for a month, like hehad control of that show. But he
didn't. He chose to travel,and you know, and during that he
really missed his family. And thenhe you know, he had addictions and

(26:18):
things like that. But I bringthat up because it's just even this guy
who had what we would have seen, had everything going. He's you know,
all the money, all the things, and the most best moments in
life wasn't some vacation. It wasyou said, steak, but burgers and
he could cook anything. Like thisguy's a yeah, you know, he's
a professional foodie, chef, thingslike that. So it's like I just

(26:41):
read that the other day, soI had to bring it up, and
it's just something to remember. Yeah, you're talking about all these like endorphin
highs, like if you if thoseare listening right now, are watching that
have never been to a Niger's circuit, even if you're sick. Like for
example, my wife not like beforewe went, I got her ticket and
she's like, I don't think I'mgonna be in this. I'm not in
this. This is you, yourson, maybe the girls, and she's

(27:02):
like she took so many pictures ofher. She's like that was awesome,
Like she left the energy. Thethings you see. You don't have to
be into the things at night rare, so you don't even have to know
what they're doing or using you.You don't even know the word skateboard or
even what that is, and justgo and watch and like it's just as
positive, supportive, like even thepeople in the show, people in the
stands. You'll see in an arrayof people and it's just a massive thing.

(27:27):
So I bring that out because it'slike it's got to be an endorphing
rush, especially if you win,like you said, and I think Paris
and hit these massive tricks, butwe know you can't sustain that high.
You can't sustain it. So howdo you when you're on these you know
you kind of touched on it.But for the there's people because we struggle,
Like I get these highs and thenyou know you can't stay there.

(27:48):
So how do you how do youcome down from that? How when it's
not sustaining, how do you maintainjoy or what goes on in your mind?
And what tips can you provide listenersand viewer is that it might struggle
with that they get on this highand then they're always searching for it,
right because they love that feeling,right, but you can't. Yeah,
I mean, and I wish Ihad the strike answer, like perfect solution,

(28:11):
but I think I think it's differentfor everybody and kind of a theme.
It's funny, what do Yeah,well, that's what I'm getting into,
like so the way the spirit worksand something that I really need to
go even deeper on. Felt challengedwith this thought kind of at the beginning
of the year, and it wasmore less about routine and more about rhythms
and understanding because a guy like me, I know, for my life some

(28:33):
days I'm going to escape. Somedays I'm going to speak. Some days
I'm going to be competing in frontof thousand. Some days I'm just going
to be in the backyard with myboy. So it's not necessarily like the
routines of that. That's just notmy personal life, and I honestly don't
know if it's anyone's life really,But how can you find rhythms that are
still going to help you achieve that? So basically, like the word I
was meditating on was what are therhythms that let you flow? What are

(28:56):
the remedies that help you grow?And how can you, rather than using
these things, actually have them bein harmony with you? Like what are
the rhythms that we need in ourdaily life? So for me, it's
prayer, time with my wife,time with my son, time in some
sort of water, like whether itbe a shower, cold, plunge,
ocean. I need I need that. Like that's a that's a rhythm and

(29:19):
a remedy for me, Like that'sthe honey hole. Like non negotiables.
It sounds like non negotiables, yeah, like but more so like rhythms like
and having that joy in it andfiguring out like all right, what food's
gonna nourish me? You know whatI mean? Like there's constant there's all
kinds of food around, everything's accessible, but it's actually gonna give me what
I need right now. And beingreal with yourself, Like there's some days,

(29:41):
man, I need a fat steak. Some days I actually need a
salad or a green juice, youknow what I mean, Like there's different
things that we need a different dude, I'm telling you that's my next Instagram
post and be like, what that'sI just wanted to be honest. I
need at like you need it.I did a video last You're like we
were from tour and it was likeyou know, in your head, You're

(30:03):
like, oh, I need toget back out of your crush, and
I'm like, dude, I justcame off like two flights, we did
three shows this past weekend. Ineed to take a nap, and so
I like did this whole video aboutlike take the nap, but earn the
nap, you know what I mean. Like, if your body's telling you
you need to wind down and takea nap, take it. Like let
that be a rhythm. Don't beatyourself up on it. If that's actually

(30:23):
what you need. So I thinkhaving that grace for yourself, but being
in tune with yourself, Like,Okay, do I really need to push
it one hundred percent today or doI maybe need to focus, Like if
we're taking it into you know,personal development. Do I need to work
on mobility stretching. Maybe I needto be a little more limber. Maybe
I was too tight in my lastworkout. I couldn't quite get the range
of motion I wanted. Maybe Idon't hit weights again today. Maybe I

(30:45):
actually work on mobility and make surethat my body is getting into these positions
that I want to do so Ican perform well. So finding out what
that rhythm looks like and it's constantlygoing to change, and then you know
what, some days, man,I might need an extra coffee this day.
Like that's like the remedy, right, It's like you can use something
to help in hit tool what youwant to do or achieve. If you're
grogging a little bit, you don'thave time to nap because you actually have

(31:07):
a deadline or something. You knowwhat, Slug that cup of coffee,
but know what its purpose is.Don't just use it to use it.
Have purpose behind the decisions you're makingand figure out like what be just I
think self awareness, right, andif I think about our world today and
again what we're talking about, it'sleaning towards the fatherhood and kind of my
biggest goal as a father is todevelop a content secure human, right Like

(31:33):
I want my son to be contentand secure and who they are. I
don't want them to wonder because rightnow we see chaos and confusion everywhere in
the world, and I believe it'sbecause families are broken. They don't know
who they are. How can theyhelp develop their kids into who they are
going to be If they don't knowwhere monkeys see monkey do, if daddy
doesn't know who he is, youknow, that's why kids are wondering what

(31:53):
am I am? My boy andmy girl? Am I both am I?
What? Like I mean, it'sreal, it's real. We're going
there because this is the fight thatwe're called to right now. But I
believe if we can be more contentand secure and who we are, you
know, my boy is gonna beable to look at that and like,
no, that's who we are.We're faithful, we're courageous, we're passionate,
we're integrists, we operate excellence Likethose are things that outlast goals,

(32:15):
and those are again we talk aboutvalues, those are values that are going
to show up in everything they do. And so I think for us,
like that's our number one job isto get find that security, find that
content. Man, who God says, we are live that out Because again
you're talking about the Nitro Circus show. You don't even have to know what
action sports is to love it.Because courage is contagious. You see guys

(32:37):
flying in the air sixty feet onsome of these jumps, slamming on their
face, rolling around on the ground, and then running back up the stairs
to do it again. There's somethingabout that that's contagious. It's that courage
that we all look for, andit's a way to share that with the
world. Man, he talked aboutso many things. I could probably have
a podcast on its own. Butyeah, man, well the nap thing

(33:01):
totally down, so I was likeagainst it for a while. But I'll
tell you this. So I've beenrunning since five this morning. I got
up, did my thing, mymorning routine, but then hit work because
I had I was doing this photoshoot. He knows about it, but
I was doing a photo shoot formy upcoming book for a cover, but
it was about an hour away andthen I had to drive an hour back

(33:22):
and I had a little bit oftime. But I want to be fully
present for this podcast. I alwayswant because for those that have never like
done our podcasts or created it orbeen on one, it takes a lot
of energy. We're having fun andI love this and I'm passionate about it.
But I always tell you I haveto sit for a few minutes after
a great podcast like interview with Beaver, because it's like it's a draining,

(33:45):
but it's a good draining, Likeit's a good thing. But for me
to be energized and ready, Itook a little bit of fifteen not really
a nap, but I put onsome motivational tunes fifteen minutes, put in
alarm to make sure I didn't passout, which I did actually, and
I popped up and I was readyto go. It's like so like he
talked about caffeine and coffee, likethese are tools. Let them have a

(34:05):
purpose, but don't depend on themso much that anything else working out.
It can be a tool. ButI talk about it in my book about
uh, you know, I Iin my twenties, I was chasing pain
when it becomes a problem, Solike, just address have that self awareness.
Life is constant journey, as yousay, listen to your body,
give it what need, but reallymake sure you're being honest, Like if
you don't regularly work out, likeoh I'm tired, Well maybe workout could

(34:30):
actually energize you. So let's behonest here too about everything like like moving,
yeah, the engine, I'm sureBeaver's got people in his corner.
Have people in your corner that supportyou, man like and he said something
about kids and I and I don'tknow if you use this term. I
don't hear it very often. It'ssomething I use and try to like drip
on people, especially new parents.It's like people say I'm raising kids,

(34:52):
and I like to say we're raisingadults because eventually they're gonna be where we're
at. Right, So when youthat just changed my mindset, like like
I'm raising a future better than me, justin is how I look at it,
like or the girls, like Iwant that's what we're doing, that
they're gonna be where we're at quickerthan we you know, the snap of
the fingers my producers Scott's and therehe's got grown kids and he knows exactly

(35:15):
what you're talking about. And it'slike we're trying to do the best.
Yeah we can, and so youknow you're gonna mess up, but just
make sure you show up and Ihave that self awareness to Okay, how
can I do better the next day? Because if you are a mother or
father, that's worked for me asfar as when I have that mindset.
And also how I treat and talkto my kids, you know, and

(35:37):
am with them and not talk downto them, you know, not that
I'm treating them asdults per se,but just knowing they're eventually being my shoes,
you know, and like what I'mgearing them up for. So I
don't know, but that's some greatstuff. So Nitro circuit that extreme sports,
you're a faithful man, and Ithink I know. I talked to
you this off like the first timeI met you, and I still get

(36:00):
this feeling there. You've got tobe a unicorn, a rarity or am
I wrong in assuming that, youknow, being a believer, a follower
of Jesus in extreme sports? Idon't see it. I see it in
other sports. And then I seeit not exist in sports, so I'm
just curious. Yeah, there's afew of them. And actually one of
the top guys, Ryan Sheckler,recently the past three like three years ago,

(36:22):
really came to his faith and ison fire by the Lord right now
and it's it's pretty amazing. Sothere's guys in it. I would say,
I think it's so rare because Iwas talking to someone at the skate
park about this yesterday. Skateboarding bynature is a rebellious sport, right,
that's what That's why I did itwhen I was a kid. Right,

(36:44):
There's not no football signs, nobasketball signs anywhere in the world. There's
no skateboarding signs on almost every sidewarkin the world. You know what I'm
saying. They're literally like government goesinto building a city, Okay, we
need to implement skate stoppers right onthe ledge as you see them all the
time, like these little bricks thatthey put to stop people from skateboarding.

(37:05):
So skateboarding by nature is a rebelliouskind of act and a lot of the
people it's not a you don't needa team to do it. You just
need yourself and a board and I'mgonna do it my way. It's very
ego driven for the most part,and it can be beautiful, but again,
you can use that and get addictedto it and let it wreck your
life, which unfortunately a lot ofskaters have and have taken their own lives
through depression and suicide or it's drugs, alcohol, all that kind of stuff.

(37:31):
It just it's rebellious by nature,So I think that's why there's not
that many believers. But again,I think it's an incredible opportunity. Right
where the darkness is, the lighthas all the more opportunity to shine bright.
And I've noticed it's been an amazingopportunity to and it's a beautiful harvest.
And people, whether or not theybelieve what I believe, it's gotten

(37:52):
to the point where they respect thatI'm so convicted in my faith that that
actually they appreciate that and respect mefor that and opens the door to a
lot of conversations to just kind ofchange people's mindset on it. Like I
hate the word religion, I thinkit's all about a relationship with God.
You can't behave your way into believing. You have to believe so much because

(38:13):
God is so good. It's goingto change the way I start behaving.
And that's what That's exactly what faithis. Well, you touch on something,
you know, I guess I couldhave assumed, but I didn't realize,
you know, the depression, thevices, the the addictions, the
suicides, and I mean I wouldattribute to it what we previously talked about,
like the endorphin rush, right,like, yeah, it's got to
be such a with what you're doing, because like I remember kids so like

(38:35):
and even to talk about the relious, rebellious stuff of it. When I
was younger and on my skateboard,I remember I was like proud of it
or something. I had my TonyHawk stuff pain job, but I had
my anarchy, the a with acertain goal on it, like on my
skateboard. Like and I struggled withmy faith early on and and and it
wasn't I went to a point whereI was in believing. So I totally
get what he's talking about. Andthat's why I asked, because when I

(38:55):
grew up in the skating community,it was like that, you know where
I was at, And it waslike even my parents who were against they
weren't actually against skateboarding, but theywere against what it seemed to represent in
the eighties and nineties when I wasdoing it, and so that's why I'm
just curious. But I love thatyou that it seems there's a respect people

(39:15):
may not be following Jesus. Andthat's why I tell people it's not a
religion, it's it's it's a relationship. I mean. And when you get
that wrapped in your head, youknow it's it's the most incredible thing.
And it's your relationship. It's notJoe Schmoe's across the street. It's not
your pastors, it's not it's notthe person sitting next to you that you
feel is judging you or whatever.It's yours. And I tell my kids
that it's your relationship, and andI love the respect. So similar here.

(39:39):
I started playing hockey last year.I wanted to get in it.
I learned the sport and now Iplay in a couple of leagues and it's
it's so much fun. But Istarted to see a lot of things.
Yeah, most guys I play with, uh don't don't go to church and
summer atheists claim it claim that title. Some just don't believe. But I
just you know, it was actuallyterrifying first, and I just said,

(40:01):
hey, can I pray before wego out on the ice and it was
pretty cool and we were just like, hey, those that want to leave
can leave. Nobody left, Andto this day, I still pray in
locker rooms and for the most part, people are receptive of it. You
know. I've gotten one or twopeople to like join a church, and
it's just opening the eyes of justlike this is love. I just sat
down and I always correlated, butjust popped in my head, so I'm

(40:22):
going to bring it up. Ijust sat down. I would love to
hear your thoughts with my kids thisweek and we watched Jesus Revolution and it
was just have you seen it?Are you familiar with it? I'm familiar
with it. We've gone actually somestuff up at Gloria's church Harvest, but
I haven't seen it. I wasnever I didn't know that happen, Like
I didn't realize there was a differentmovement. It was just interesting where my

(40:45):
kids, my kids actually got emotionaland at the end they said, I
want to go to heaven. Butit was just to see people who were
searching for something else and were brokenand really just preaching the spirit and love
and what it was about and similarthings even talk about. So I just
just wanted to bring that up too, for people that maybe haven't heard of
the movie or just curious that thatshows like what happened and what it's a

(41:09):
really good movie that I would encouragepeople that it was a massive movement.
I mean, that's why so manychurches exist here in California today. Like,
yeah, and as what I said, it was, it started there
and when you look at it,these people were broken too, Like these
people still struggle with addiction. Andyeah, like the Frisbee guy, like
he ended up dying in the eightiesfor age. You can look him up
and but it's just where he wasand if you learn more about his history,

(41:30):
and you know, we're all we'reall broken people trying to do our
best, and they were just tryingto help other people and bring people in.
So I just thought it was acool story speak, So let's touch
on that. Like, you know, this podcast theme is a lot about
resilience and overcoming and still striving despiteSo you know, how have you developed
resilience in your life and what advicewould you give listeners maybe facing challenges maybe

(41:52):
give an example of some really toughstuff that you've been through and just had
to overcome. I would love tohear it. Yeah, I mean,
I think life's always challenging, rightit's it's but I think our perspective in
it, and we can choose tosee it as hard and tough and frustrating
or man, it's an opportunity andit's all in our perspective. I love

(42:14):
that quote. When we change theway we look at things, the things
we look at change and so resilientthat for me, resilience isn't so much
about trying to prove that I canovercome all these things as much as it's
like I just want to is itpossible? You know, like finding what's
possible and being willing enough to gofor it regardless. You know. That's

(42:35):
I think my biggest challenge I'm stilldoing right now, proving my dream from
a you know, thirteen year oldboy to want to be a professional skateboarder.
I'm still proving that right now,and I think that's been my biggest
challenge and I'm still doing it.And I think those challenges are the most
inspiring, the ones that aren't justquick like I've had a lot of injuries.

(42:55):
You know, I got metal inmy arm. Here there's a nice
scar a few years ago, rightbefore one of the biggest tours we've ever
done, and was out like thinkhere, I got in to X Games
all that kind of stuff, andin the moment, it feels like,
man, it's just breaking you down. But I think, look for the

(43:16):
longer term, don't get so caughtup in like the the the hit,
the traumatic thing that just hit you. Look at the longer term, Well
am I still here? Do Isell breath of my lungs? Do so
I'll have a purpose that I canaccomplish. Like that's the more resilience to
me, and to me it takesmore faith, Like can God just mend
a busted up knee? Absolutely?Can he revive the dead? Absolutely?

(43:38):
Can he do these miraculous things ina moment? Absolutely? But I think
it takes more faith sometimes to say, you know what I'm going to go
through and then take whatever I'm supposedto get out of this process, but
continue pressing on even through that resilience, because that to me shows true faithfulness
that like, yeah, this crappysituation happened, but I am going to

(43:59):
overcome going to take time. It'snot going to be a quick fix,
but every day like that's the faiththat's getting stacked on and added on to
you, which then builds that resiliencebecause you're like, man, it's been
this process of building faith. Itwasn't just like one prayer, Okay,
now there's peace like no other.It's like, no, I'm going to
do that prayer, but I'm alsogoing to believe that that prayer is coming

(44:21):
true as I continue to work outmy faith throughout day to day interactions in
life. And I would just haveto say my biggest challenge has been,
Yeah, a lot of opposition whereI grew up. Skateboarding is not going
to get you anywhere. You're notgonna be able to do anything with it,
Like do you really think you'll bea pro skater, and being like
no, I'm committed to doing whatI feel God has put in my heart
to do. I'm going to dowhatever it takes. So I'm going to

(44:44):
say no to all those things myfriends are doing. Now, I'm going
to say yes to more time atthe skate park. I'm going to say
yes to figuring out how to moveto California. I'm going to say yes
to figuring out how to make moneyon a skateboard, Like I'm going to
just keep saying yes to what Ifeel called to. And the more you
show up, the more you sayyes to the things that you feel called
to, builds resilience. So youtalk a lot about faith and it's a

(45:07):
big party life. Did you growup in a faith household this this always
been part of your life or didyou have your challenges with it? I
grew up in a Christian home,but I talk about it a lot in
my testimony, like when I speakat churches. The church I grew up
in was probably the most play theplace I was most discouraged of skateboarding and

(45:28):
pursuing a career in that. Andthen I'm reading the Bible for myself,
and again I think my parents theydid the best they could with what they
had. They knew the community inthe church and that was just where we
were. But my dad, Iwould see his Bible was always on his
desk, my mom would always praywith us before Ben and they had a
deeper relationship than a lot of peopleI saw at the church. So I'm
reading the Bible for myself, andI'm like, all right, the Bible
says, commit to the Lord.Whatever you do, your plans will succeed.

(45:51):
That God is able to do beyondmore than we could ever ask,
think or imagine Ephesians three twenty,Like, this is what the word of
God says, But you're telling meyou can't really make a living riding a
skateboard. Well, I'm going tochoose to believe the word of God,
not the word of man. Andso when I hitched my faith to the
word of God, that's what allowedthat to produce because again, religiosity crept

(46:12):
into that church and broken people.You know, they never made their dreams
happen, So why should they encourageyou to make your dreams happen? Just
you know, do the normal,get a nine to five and live a
life. I don't even know ifyou can say you're necessarily proud of if
you didn't never go for it.So that's what I was around, and
so you had to break that mold. And that's why I say I think
that was my biggest challenge that Iovercame was just the words that you hear

(46:37):
in your life of you'll never youcan't whatever proving what you know in your
heart to be true is so muchharder than any physical thing I think that
we can ever face. And sosame thing for those that maybe grew up
in a divorced home and they're like, well, this is the patterns of
it. No, the biggest challengeyou're ever going to overcome is being faithful
to your wife to the day youdie, because that's going to be something

(46:58):
that you're continuously pursuing to break anentire generational cycle and curse. And so
I think that's where that faith comesin. Again, faith without works is
dead. I'll show you my faithby how I work. I'll show you
my faith because I believe that Godis for me. I'm gonna do things
the way they need to be done. I'm gonna honor this opportunity. I'm
gonna honor this time. I'm gonnahonor my child, my wife because I

(47:22):
feel God's place them in me.They're they're my you know, property to
manage and make and do well with. And everything's an investment. And we're
called to be stewards of the land. Let's steward our relationships well, our
friendships, well, our life.Well, we are going to be accounted
for. Yeah, I mean ittakes work. Like yeah, I feel

(47:44):
like people know it, but theydon't really know it. Like if you
want to if you want a goodlife in your whatever it is, we
work hard at, you know,whether it's our career, but you know,
the marriage thing, you know,I don't know what the divorce rate
is now, it's always been likefifty or plus. You know it's it's
high, but you got to workat it, and you know, you
got to have like perspective shifts,like I'll tell you I could provide a

(48:07):
whole show on this too, butfor me, for me personally becoming a
better listener for my life for example, and working hard at that, and
just realized sometimes she just wants meto listen, not even say I love
you, just listen, not evenutter the word D. But sometimes she
and sometimes it's like she might wantfeedback, and I'll ask, do you

(48:28):
just want me to listen? Ordo you want some feedback right now or
something along those lines, And thensometimes it's one of the other things that
is also putting things in her perspective, not just what she's saying, but
how she's saying it, Like herlove language is totally different than mine.
I need to be I don't know. Yeah, I'll be honest. So
I love it when she physical affection, hugs, kisses, telling me how

(48:52):
awesome I am Beaver like that thatworks for me, bro. But like
she's different, and even the wayshe talks to me different. But it
took me forever to realize this,like and and and it's still a challenge
some days because I got to lookat through her lens. And so that's
where like, you know, goingback to you know, listening to your
body and being the best possible.And you know, I always come back

(49:15):
to just breathing before I talk,but I fail at that sometimes because I
just want to react. But it'sjust working at it. It's working at
that same thing with the kids.It's a job, but it's the most
important. And I learned it tookme a minute. It's cyclical, like
you know, the more I putinto it, the more I get back
from it. And and and andit's just like anything else in any relationship,
whether it be relationship with your work, your boss, whatever that looks

(49:37):
like. And these can be challengingthings. So and it sounds like that's
what you're talking about and I justwanted to touch on that a little bit
and so kind of on that subject, sounding like your parents supported you,
but it was your church, becauseI was wondering, like, how Tennessee
what it was like, you know, you growing up there to support this
career. It's like going to yourparents and saying I want to get an
art degree, which might they mighthave supported that or than skateboard. Hey

(50:00):
I'm going to I'm going to supportmyself and my future family by doing skateboarding
and extreme sports, and so what'spaint a picture of that? What that
was like? It was one ofthose things that I'm just so thankful for
my parents. My dad played collegefootball, was super passionate about that,
and he always jokes. He's likenot really jokes, but he's like,

(50:21):
if I had the drive you had, I would have for sure gone all
the way. It's a compliment anda half man. That's awesome that he
said that. It's really powerful,and I'm so thankful for my dad and
the relationship we have and just hisyeah, the support because yeah, their
friends were like, why are youbuilding a half pipe in their backyard?
My dad didn't know how to builda half pipe. But thankfully he supported
me enough and figured out how toget it done. There were no YouTube

(50:43):
videos then, right, No,no, there were no YouTube videos nor
he knew he wouldn't be the guyto build it. So he's like,
I'm going to hire people that knowwhat they're doing. That is some glove
man. That's ultimate love and support. It's powerful. It was him seeing
something in me that he didn't understand, and I have to have that great
because he didn't understand why I wasso passionate about it. But once he
realized I was, he's like,all right, I'm gonna do whatever I

(51:05):
can to help him and take careof him. And he made a deal
with me and my brother as longas we didn't get into real trouble,
Like he wasn't that smart in schooleither, and I didn't do the best
and sitting in a classroom all dayand answering a test. So we didn't
have great issues there, thankfully.But he was like, as long as
you're not in real trouble or drinkingyour drugs, I'll support you until you're

(51:27):
eighteen. I will support like financially, if you need skateboards, I will
buy them, Like if you needgas in your car to get to the
skate park. I will get youto the skate park, like he covered
us. And well not my brother. He started drinking, unfortunately a little
young. But I saw that youngerbrother saw that and was like, okay,
well he had to get a jobat the golf course. I don't

(51:49):
have to get a job. I'mgonna stay. You know, I knew.
I knew saying the no then wouldgive me to a better yes,
now you know what I mean.So thankfully learning that and same thing like
I mean, that's what I feelreally kept me grounded in my life.
Was I had a lot of friendsthat I grew up skating with that did
get into drugs and alcohol. ButI saw them showing up at the skate
park and not skating at all,and I'm like, well, I don't

(52:10):
want what you guys are doing toget in the way of what I'm trying
to build. And if I feelcalled to a career in skateboarding and you
guys used to skate but now aren'tbecause you're getting high all the time,
that's not something I want to bea part of. So it actually made
my decisions for me. It waslike, if that's going to lead to
not skating. Then not a chanceI'm going to do that. So it
kept me grounded in that way.But yeah, my parents supported massively,

(52:32):
even at the cost of some friendshipsand people not understanding, you know,
in again in that small town whereeveryone talks, but they believed in it.
They supported it enough to get meto California. And then by the
time I was eighteen, I wastraveling with Nitro Circus. So's it really
happened? Started to happen real quick. It sounds like similar. I love
what you said too. You knowthat's a quote, you know, saying

(52:52):
no then meant to a better yesnow. And I was the younger of
two brothers and I got to watchthem and be aware of their mistakes to
not repeat their mistakes. And itsounds like similar for you. I saw,
for example, one of my siblings. I'm not gonna say which one,
but when my siblings go down achallenging and dark path and just watching

(53:15):
that not do him any service.It's like, I don't I don't want
any part of that. But Imight have been the same thing because we
all went through some challenging things inour childhood. I write about it in
my first book and Purpose through Painand and so it's it's one of those
things where like, you know,if you can have not necessarily a mirror
image, but something to look atso it looks like and it's so cool

(53:36):
to hear that, like that's thatsupport, like supporting you know. I
actually heard a quote this morning.I was listening to a podcast and they
basically talked on that where it saidit was it was talking about loving your
kids so much that you don't understand, but you just support, you know,

(53:57):
and you're just there for them andjust sometimes just listen and say I
love you and I support you.And it was a really powerful thing.
And it's not exactly like what yourdad was doing. He just loved you
unconditionally, and it was a healthything you were doing, even if it
didn't seem like you like a youwant to be a doctor, lawyer or
psychologist or something. And and it'spaid off because you had that belief and

(54:20):
support. And that's huge. That'sso huge. It's powerful. So man,
your energy, we've talked about itthroughout this podcast. It's on your
social media, Like this guy isjust an energetic dude. And I know
you've talked about how per se likefaith and family, they're only like personal
tools that like that you do,whether it be morning routine, discipline or
things that just create that atmosphere.I don't know, you look up at

(54:44):
the sun, you know what,Well, are there any other tools that
just keep you always like this man, because it's infections. I mean,
yeah, getting filled up in prayerevery morning, Like that's the one if
you could call it a routine routine. I pray every single morning, I
read the Word every morning and justget outside in nature, try and connect
with yourself, try and connect withGod and get to just put your mind

(55:07):
in the right perspective and get inthe right place and say like, yeah,
I mean my prayers change every day, but at the end of the
day, I just I love Ihave to go back to the Bible every
single time because that's where I feel, is the Book of life, and
it's you know, enter His presencewith thanksgiving. So I always start with
that, like thanking God for myhelp, my family, my wife and

(55:27):
baby that are sleeping right now,this beautiful house that I live in the
ocean, Like just get thankfulness upand then you just you stop thinking about
yourself so much. You're just like, man, I'm so blessed, and
that again, it just makes youappreciate things more. And I think that's
what we're here to do, isrespect them, Respect people, respect things,
respect this planet, like really takestewardship over your life. And that's

(55:51):
what helps me to do it andfeel passionate about it and give things the
justice they deserve. I was thinkingabout it when I was in the ocean
this morning, because I grew upnot in the ocean every morning. We're
over here in Rochester, New York, and we were just covered in smoke
in like level four hundred, andyou're talking about just Hey, I was
hanging on the ocean rub it in, dude, No get But that's what

(56:12):
I mean, like appreciating and beinggrateful for that because I didn't have that.
And I'm like looking out into likeyou know, the horizon, nothing
out there, and I'm like,man, I don't even know if I'm
going to be out here my wholelife, but I'm grateful that I'm here
right now, and I want toenjoy every bit of this for this season.
You know what I mean, Becauseme and my wife have talked about
at some point moving to Hawaii andstuff. So I'm like, well,
I want to be grateful in theocean here because I can be in the

(56:35):
ocean there. But you know,with these people that I'm around right now
and the things that I'm doing rightnow, it just really brought that back
into everything is seasonal. Even mybaby being a baby is a season.
Like you're saying, you're building actualmen and women, you're building up humans
and adults. You're raising adults.Well, let's enjoy them and have respect
for this season where they're so youngfor so little. You're what you just

(56:59):
said, and then the statement thatI made about us being here, and
then the recording of this is goingto be out later, But yeah,
we were going through the wildfires inCanada. We're pretty much directly below.
We're one of the more We werein like purple, and we were basically
still told to stay inside and apparentlythe smoke levels are worse than nine to
eleven at a certain point. Wednesdaywas pretty bad. In fact, here

(57:22):
I got what was thinking about thefirst story was moving here to New York.
My brother lived in New York Citysince two thousand and one, and
we moved here in twenty eleven.I moved from Iowa. We' don'ly lived
there yere we met in the Midwest. I got a whole story. But
I was never scared. I wasjust like, I just stereotyped essentially what

(57:44):
New York was. I knew aBuffalo, I've been there, I've been
to Syracuse, I've been to NewYork City. It didn't compute that New
York had the Adirondics, the ThousandIslands. And I'm like, I didn't
realize all this. And I lovenature and I love mountains, and I
love waterfalls. I like oceans too. But as I lived here, it's
like, man like, that's that'sthat's I feel so connected to, you

(58:07):
know, especially like we hiked thehighest peak last year as my daughter when
she turned thirteen, to hike thehighest peak in New York, which is
Mount Marstiy, And we got tothe top and one of my kids teered
up in wife tiered up and theyjust felt like God on top of that
mountain when you see this creation andyou're like, you know, almost six
thousand feet up in the air andwe'd just been hiking. We ended up
hiking like from seven d in themorning till ten thirty at night and it

(58:29):
was over seventeen miles and we hitup three peaks. It's a spiritual it's
an exhausting but when you do thatas a family, it was amazing and
it was just it was cool tosee that and back to that, Like,
you know, I was I wasone. I was grateful to move
from Iowa. But I was alsolike, like when I got here,
I was you know, I didn'tunderstand where we were going, but I
was super grateful once I realized allthe benefits because I opened my mind,

(58:51):
like we're here. But I wasalso grateful. I was like, man,
you know what, this is betterthan Iowa because we lived near a
dog food company. I was like, I don't have to smell dog food.
Everyone ex like little things like that. Yeah, you know, but
I was also thinking, like Wednesday, what happened was I got a newer
truck and they still have it.They seem to think something with all the
emissions, even though these newer vehiclessupposed to help with it. It basically

(59:13):
shut down all the electronics of mytruck. And I was like driving and
my brakes and my steering went out, as thank god, Okay, this
is where I was like, thankyou God, because I wasn't going sixty
miles an hour on four to ninety, which is like the highway. Here,
I was going twenty miles an hourlike a block from my gym.
So I just pulled in the parkinglot and nobody was in front of me.
This is like this weird thing wherelike all these alerts come on my

(59:34):
truck, I'm floor of my brakeand just coasting my steering really doesn't have
control, and it's just like,but I'm thankful that I was able to
get a loaner. I was thinkingI had toe and like like I could
have been in like this really upset, depressed, angry, But man,
this I always always look in thiscould have been way worse. So it's
just in these moments of adversity andyou tell a good story. I mean,

(59:55):
you talk about some broken bones,and you share some like inspirational stuff
on like your Facebook and your Instagram. In fact, why don't we go
there, like is there any likestory or experience, whether it's yours or
not, that you've shared on yoursocial media channels that just stands out in
your mind that that is just apowerful example, especially like overcoming adversity.

(01:00:15):
Yeah, I mean, I thinkovercoming adversity. Injuries are the kind of
the simplest one to do. Imean, skateboarding, it's not it.
It's when you're always gonna have somesort of injury. You're never really skating
at one hundred percent. You're alwaysdealing with a tweet, dankle, wrist
something so like hockey. Yeah right, I got a fat bruise on my
calf from a pucket in it whereI didn't have paddings home on dang dude,

(01:00:38):
those things aren't soft. But yeah, So, I mean a few
years ago, I blew out myknee right before a tour, and it
was really tough. It was dark. It was like, what am I
gonna do? Am I gonna beable to come back on this? You
get surgery and then you can't evenlift your leg, you can't even walk
for two three weeks, and allthese thoughts come into your head. But

(01:00:58):
again it's just all right, whatthoughts. What you feed grows, what
you starve die. So I'm gonnafeed the thoughts of got I can get
through this, I can get better, celebrate the little winds. Okay,
I can finally lift my leg offthe bed. Okay, I can finally
put a little weight on my leg. Oh my gosh, I'm off crutch.
It like celebrating those little winds andlike I've got more flexibility, I've
got more strength in it. Andyeah, just overcoming day by day and

(01:01:22):
moment by moment and knowing that lifeis a journey. Things are gonna happen,
but they're not happening to you.They're happening for you. You can
have all these quotes, but alsowhat's behind the quote is what's important.
Okay, this bad situation happened tome. I got hit with a puck.
There's a snarley smoke here. Okay, Well, how are we gonna
overcome? How are we gonna cometogether? Maybe it's a good thing.
Maybe it's a blessing in disguise,Like all right, yeah God didn't send

(01:01:44):
that fire, but because of thatfire happening now, people are able to
slow down a little bit and actuallyrecognize, man, maybe we're not in
control of everything. Maybe we don'tneed to be so focused on what are
we doing. Maybe we need tofocus on coming together. All right,
we're not safe to go outside.You know that time in COVID, it
wasn't safe to go outside. Theythought, well, maybe we need to
just be more present with the peopleunder our roof. And I think it

(01:02:07):
did help a lot of people thatchose it to help them. And I
saw families get together. I thinkwhen something traumatic or massive like that happens,
it either makes things pop or flourish. Right, Like a lot of
relationships got broken and people were justout. Other people came together and re
fell in love with their significant otherthat they were on the brink of divorce

(01:02:27):
with. Like you hear these storiesand it's all back to perception. Man,
you like, how old are you? I forgot I'm twenty nine.
You have such and you've probably beentold this before, but you just have
such an amazing mindset and you see, I know you're I couldn't remember you're

(01:02:47):
at least thirty, but you're twentynine, and you just have this perspective
and mindset and just of like youknow a place many people don't even reach.
And have you always been this way? Is it's just you? Did
you have like mentors or role models? Are there any mentors or role models?

(01:03:08):
We know Jesus is definitely one,but your dad maybe like there is
there? Yeah is that? Haveyou had coaches? I'm just curious,
like, you know, how haveyou been able at age twenty nine to
just have such a great perspective andwhat's been a contribute to your growth and
success? I mean so many.So I've been blessed to have a lot

(01:03:29):
of incredible people around. I'm veryblessed with the church we go to.
So mentors are like our pastor.The church is called Awaken in San Diego.
They're one of them growing churches becausethey were the only ones open when
the world shut down, which wassuch a blessing to have. And so
yeah, our pastor, Pastor organis an incredible mentor to me and so
many in our congregation. And justhis story coming from Australia with nothing and

(01:03:53):
building a church on a word fromGod, and it inspires me and even
my life like right like come fromTennessee to California with a word that I
felt in my spirit from God.It's it's living it, experiencing it and
not being afraid to fail, notbeing afraid to fall, not being afraid
to test things and see what canhappen, and just again having that mindset

(01:04:15):
of being in the Word of Godin wisdom, right, Like, Wisdom's
a gift and it says, doyou lack wisdom, ask for who God
will give generously. And so Icontinually ask for wisdom and God has been
faithful to provide. And so Ireally appreciate you saying that. I'm just
grateful and I want to share whateverI can with others. That's why I
do Motivational Monday. That's why I'mwriting books, That's why I'm putting out
that's right the top. That's howI found you doing like a motivational Monday.

(01:04:39):
And then on the Bible app too. Yeah, and then we connected
and I was like, this isjust a cool dude. Like, yeah,
it's cool dude, and I justlove your So would you say skateboarding
is a pretty strong community, likein culture, like and would you say
that? Sure? So like,yeah, how is being a part of
that? Like you've talked about someof the influence you had, is it

(01:05:00):
influenced you in any sort of way? I mean absolutely, it's I think
again helped me to think all thingsare. I was watching that video.
I don't know if you've seen it, but it's like Jerry Seinfeld and Chris
Rock and they're they're having lunch andthey're talking about skateboarding and they're like,
I'm actually not too worried about theskateboarders because it's so difficult. You have
to fall and fall and fall onconcrete and then you finally land it.

(01:05:25):
And he's like, they're gonna beokay in whatever they do because they were
willing to fall, fall, falltill they got it right, and it
was just kind of like a powerfulthing. But I think that's the thing
that's you know, influenced me ina lot of ways, is like,
yeah, not being afraid to fall. Like, if you want to get
good at something like skateboarding, it'svery difficult. It's very painful at times,
Like it's not easy to learn howto even stand on a board comfortably.

(01:05:47):
There's so many people that have neverstood on a skateboard and then they
just try and stand on it andit zips out from behind him they fall
right on their butt, Like it'sso difficult, and then to figure out
how many moves, like it's oneof those you're never going to be able
to master either, Like even ifyou're hitting the highest, biggest ramps,
there's still going to be a stairset that you don't want to touch or
do anything with, or some sortof flip trick maneuver that you don't want

(01:06:10):
anything to do with, so you'renever really able to master it. So
I think it keeps you guessing,it keeps you learning, And that's what
I think keeps you humble in lifeis the willingness to learn and want to
learn and know you don't have itall figured out. So I agree with
you, like I encourage people likeI learned hockey at age forty one and

(01:06:31):
similar thing. There's a lot offear I'm encouraging everybody. Oops, So
that's my that's my I have analarm that goes off every few times a
day and I forgot to turn itoff. But it's it's one of the
things that I like to do andshare with people. It's what am I
thinking and how do I feel?It gets me to say I am going
through a challenging time. It getsme to refocus, like anythink good thoughts

(01:06:56):
and gets me to refocus, especiallyif I'm distracted or or going through something.
And it also saim what am Ithinking and how am I feeling?
So that's what that was but uh, what are you think? What are
you feeling? So I feel greatand I was just thinking about the next
question and going or not question.But what I was going to say about
this and was surfing and ice skatingand what you talked about, because like

(01:07:19):
I encourage for the same reasons learning, being humble and growth. Don't be
afraid, especially in skating. Yougot a lot of pads skateboarding you can
wear pads too. I know somebodythat just learned how to skateboard around my
age rollerblading. You know, I'mtaking on rollerblading now because I'm doing skating
and it's an easy transition. AndI'll tell you this one. It's creating
more memories with my kids. Yeah, you can feel like the brain just

(01:07:39):
firing in different areas. There weresome growing pains initially hockey because it's like
malfascio tissue and I go down thescience route. But in the long story
short, after about six months,my body has never felt better. I
feel great and skating and like probablylike skateboarding. It's like it's like for
me skating I compared to like flyingon ice. Sic, I can't run
that fast, but you know whenyou get even somewhat decent. I still

(01:08:01):
consider myself as I suck, butI'm a lot better than when I was
a year and a half ago.But also surfing, so there was something
who said that that it reminded mewhen I went surfing the first time and
was in Mexico years ago, andwhat I loved about surfing was like,
no matter how good the surfer was, they always had a start over and
eventually you hit the land and itwas just a perspective. So I was
like, they're always going to falloff the board. That even the great

(01:08:25):
some of the great ones that Isaw, and I met one that's like
this youth skater that's like doing thepro circuit making money at like fifteen,
uh well at the time, andhe's probably still doing it, but it's
like they sometimes fall but they getback up like it's it's it's a humbling
experience. And it's also just likelife. You're gonna you might be riding
that wave. And I always compareit to like flow, Like people look

(01:08:49):
at like flow is like everything's goinggood, but it's just it's just things
are flowing well, but you mightcrash, you might fall off the board.
The skateboard the surfboard, but yougot to get back up and continue
that. You're gonna get back up, you're gonna swim back out, and
you're gonna get on the board andyou're gonna take on the ride. But
that's why I love the analogy usedfor that. But I really love what

(01:09:11):
you said because it reminded me ofsurfing, and it actually gave me confidence
because I was the first time Iwent surfing. I was terrified, but
something I always wanted to do sinceI was like two, Like I remember
just loving I lived in the Midwest, but I was fascinated anyone. I
moved out here to New York.People thought I was from California. I
still understand that. But it's like, I love watching surfing, I love
doing surveying. I want to doit more often just because it's also a

(01:09:34):
great community too. I didn't knowanybody, and people were supportive even though
you saw how horrible I was.And it's and that's why I was thinking
about that. And you just touchedon some really cool stuff. Man.
So man, so we're gonna bewrapping it up here. But I got
a couple questions. One, whatare some future things you talked about some
of your travels. Is thying liketo share like you got coming up or

(01:09:55):
projects or share like with the peoplethat are listening, for sure. Yeah.
Next week we are heading to Oklahomafor a Nitro Circus event. They're
doing also rally cross racing with thecars, which will be really cool.
And then yeah, they even havea new ramp I've just seen a couple
photos of. So people are goingto be trying some new stuff out there
will be really exciting. We havea massive tour in the fall starting in

(01:10:18):
October, going all around the UStwentieth anniversary tour of Nitro. So no
twenty years. Wow, that's comingup this fall. Get higher, twenty
years bigger, they get faster.You guys ride the weirdest stuff sometimes it's
just cool. Oh yeah, Soyeah, that's that's what we got coming
up. And this show is allabout striving, especially like you know,

(01:10:40):
striving even on your good days,but especially it's harder to striving those bad
days. So you know, anyother advice that you'd like to give listeners,
you know, to push you tothe challenges to strive every day and
whether it be practical steps or tostart living just a better life. Anything
you like to add here at theend. Yeah, for sure, I
think you're more capable than you evenknow. And I think that's again why
God will always says be strong,be courageous so many times spear not in

(01:11:02):
the Bible, it's constantly in there, because it's God just trying to remind
us, like, hey, you'vegot more than you even realized you have.
You're made in my image, You'remade in my likeness, Like you
have the opportunity to do anything youwant to do. Anything's possible for those
that believe. And I truly believethat. And the only way we can
find out if it's true is ifwe believe it enough to give it a

(01:11:23):
go. And so, you know, be willing to strive, be willing
to pull more out of yourself,and start small, you know, start
small. There's little things you cando to make that happen. I always
say to people, if they're scaredof hide, we'll go up only one
flight of stairs and look over therail. If that's scary, if not,
go a little more. And thenwhen it gets scary, like wait
till you get comfortable there, andthey're like, oh, it's really not

(01:11:45):
that bad and then keep going higherlike everything's a process, everything's you know,
scalable, So figure out how toovercome so one one little thing.
So you seem like a big,pretty creative I mean to do this,
support you. You've got to becreative, you got to be a visionary,
you got to be imaginative. Itruly believe. I was telling Actually
a guy met with at my church. He said, yesterday, he's on

(01:12:09):
staff there and I just want totalk about a few things. And he
said, he said, oh man, I'm not a visionary like you.
I'm a creative like that. Youwant to talk to this guy, this
guy or this guy. And thenI thought about that and I didn't address
it then because I wanted to marinateit on and I text him later and
I was like, you know what, if you're a believer, and even
if you're not, like we're allGod is one of the most amazing visionaries,

(01:12:31):
one of the most incredible creators,and if we're all a piece of
him and a child of him,then that makes us creative visionaries in our
own right. It may not looklike what Beaver's doing, what Justin's doing,
or what some painter is doing,but you've got inside. And I
said that to him and he's like, man, I needed to hear that.
He's like, You're so right.And so with that, if you

(01:12:54):
could take your imagination and dream bigand in the words of my daughter,
Unicorn size dream, what would itbe? Or what would the world?
What would what's coming to your mind? What are you thinking? And how
do you feel? Is basically whatI'm asking big size, Unicorn size,
I mean, unicorn size is reallywhat I'm doing right now, just continuing

(01:13:15):
to see what's possible in my ownpersonal life, raising up my child,
and wanting to share what I dowith others. And that's why I developed
a ramp system that we can taketo schools, take to youth groups,
and I can actually bring what Ido next to show them that all things
are possible and share them with mystory and show them again by faith with

(01:13:36):
works like here's my faith and mystory on faith, but here's my work
and my craft that I've honed in. So I was so passionate about my
faith and bringing that to the masses. And so that's what my goal is
right now, and just inspire anyonewho hears my journey that many maybe they're
more yeah again capable than they thoughtthey were and their dream actually has a
purpose. And back to that creativething. Every single one of us is

(01:13:59):
creative. People have in their creativityblocked by you know, frustration, by
bad breaks, or even self sabotage. So overcome it. It's there for
you to get creative again. Youhave to be creative, do anything,
anything. You have to be creative. So the way that you're not creative
is when the devil hijacks you andmakes you conform to whatever the patterns of
this world are. So again,find yourself connecting with God to find out

(01:14:23):
who you really are and what you'rereally capable of. Well, that's cool
that you got to come to Rochester. I think I think one of my
buddies has reached out to you totry to get you here. But when
you guys are back, you gotto let us know. This guy's just
a cool dude. If you're not, you need to follow him. You
look out for him. We'll definitelyput his social media links in the show
notes and everything. But Beaver Fleming, thank you so much, man.
This has been awesome. Thank youjustin this has been awesome, man,

(01:14:44):
I really appreciate what you're doing andI'm blessed by this conversation as well.
Yeah, yeah, this is socool as a highlight of my day going
to my journal. Well, thankyou for listening to everyone or watching another
episode of Strive three sixty five.We know you found some nuggets and it's
a totally free so do what youcan to support it. And remember you're
not just supporting yourself, You're notsupporting us. You're supporting the others that

(01:15:05):
are listening to this or watching thiscan be find value and even save a
life. We've heard that happen tosome of these episodes, so please like,
share, comment do you can,because it's not about you, it's
about the world and how you canhelp even small things like that get more
notice of things like this and theycan listen to people like Beaver and other
people that have talked on this amazingpodcast and the stories that they'll be told

(01:15:26):
and the nuggets they've shared to helpus really strive where large, large world
community, we're here all to helpeach other out. So thanks again for
tuning another episode of Scribe Greasas Vivetake care

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