Mark Bell's Power Project - Challenging The Unknown For A Life Unimagined - Lessons Learned From Life and Death || MBSS Ep. 54

Episode Date: January 14, 2024

In Episode 54 of Mark Bell's Saturday School, Andrew Zaragoza fills in to talk about the death of his mother and what we can learn about the risks she took for a future that was immeasurable.   Official Power Project Website: https://powerproject.live Join The Power Project Discord: https://discord.gg/yYzthQX5qN Subscribe to the Power Project Clips Channel: https://youtube.com/channel/UC5Df31rlDXm0EJAcKsq1SUw   Special perks for our listeners below!   🥩 HIGH QUALITY PROTEIN! 🍖  ➢ https://goodlifeproteins.com/ Code POWERPROJECT to save up to 25% off your Build a Box ➢ Piedmontese Beef: https://www.CPBeef.com/ Use Code POWER at checkout for 25% off your order plus FREE 2-Day Shipping on orders of $150   🩸 Get your BLOODWORK Done! 🩸  ➢ https://marekhealth.com/PowerProject to receive 10% off our Panel, Check Up Panel or any custom panel!   Sleep Better and TAPE YOUR MOUTH (Comfortable Mouth Tape) 🤐  ➢ https://hostagetape.com/powerproject to receive a year supply of Hostage Tape and Nose Strips for less than $1 a night!   🥶 The Best Cold Plunge Money Can Buy 🥶  ➢ https://thecoldplunge.com/ Code POWERPROJECT to save $150!!   Self Explanatory 🍆  ➢ Enlarging Pumps (This really works): https://bit.ly/powerproject1 Pumps explained:      You Need Greens in your Life 🥦  ➢https://drinkag1.com/powerproject Receive a year supply of Vitamin D3+K2 & 5 Travel Packs!   ➢ https://withinyoubrand.com/ Code POWERPROJECT to save 15% off supplements!   ➢ https://markbellslingshot.com/ Code POWERPROJECT to save 15% off all gear and apparel!   Follow Mark Bell's Power Project Podcast ➢ https://www.PowerProject.live ➢ https://lnk.to/PowerProjectPodcast ➢ Insta: https://www.instagram.com/markbellspowerproject ➢ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/markbellspowerproject   FOLLOW Mark Bell ➢ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/marksmellybell ➢https://www.tiktok.com/@marksmellybell ➢ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MarkBellSuperTraining ➢ Twitter: https://twitter.com/marksmellybell   Follow Nsima Inyang ➢ https://www.breakthebar.com/learn-more ➢YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/NsimaInyang ➢Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nsimainyang/?hl=en ➢TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@nsimayinyang?lang=en    Follow Andrew Zaragoza on all platforms ➢ https://direct.me/iamandrewz   #PowerProject #Podcast #MarkBell #FitnessPodcast #markbellspowerproject

We have a special Saturday school for everybody today. Unfortunately, it involves the passing of Andrew Zaragoza's mother. And in her honor, we're doing this show for her today. I did a similar show a few years back when my mom died. And I just kind of took it upon myself to just kind of normalize a lot of things. I mean, death is a normal occurrence. Everything that's alive is going to die. And so the sooner that the people listening to today's show can understand that, the better. And we should be somewhat prepared for death, even if it's premature, just because everything that's alive will soon enough be dead.

And it just depends on, it's simply a matter of time. No one has ever survived this world without death occurring, right? So it is something that happens. And in Andrew's mother's case, she had cancer. I will allow him to explain more details and more information. But the reason why we wanted to share this with you today is that I think it's really important that the things of the person that you love that died, I think to try to carry those things on, those traits, that is the person's legacy. And hopefully that is something that can live within you that you can pass on to your children, that you can pass on to friends, family, people that you love and people that you care about. So you get to propagate that person and that person's spirit in some way can kind of live

on forever. The bad traits of the person, those are things you can leave behind like I did with my oldest brother Mike who was bipolar and addicted to drugs and obviously my mother had some traits that weren't great either because we all have good and bad traits but try to take those traits that you really feel are awesome from the person that died. And rather than thinking about such a tragedy of the person dying, I think sometimes the way that I felt about it in the past is that it was almost selfish for me to want my brother here. He had so much suffering going on. And same with my mother. And I believe the same is true with Andrew's mother.

Although she lived a very, very healthy life for a very long time, the last couple of years of her life were unfortunately compromised. Without further ado, one of the people that I have the most respect for in my life these days is my buddy, Andrew Zaragoza. He is an outstanding person, man, husband, dad, and son. And I'll let him take this away. Catch you guys later. All right, everybody, let's sit down. Saturday school is in session. I'm sure you were anticipating some great knowledge from our teacher, the great Mark Bell. And I really, I'm grateful and thankful that you are still listening right now, despite the teacher's assistant taking over class today. We have some cool stuff to talk about. Unfortunately,

yes, as Mark said, my mother passed away. And I think there's some really, really cool stuff that I think I can share with you about her story. and it's things that we can implement in our lives today. Uh, just based off of, you know, going back and learning from what she went through. And of course, Mark,

thank you so much. Thank you to the entire bell family. Um, they've been supporting us and, you know, uh, sending love our way and support. So I'm super duper grateful and thankful.

And also, also, you know, of course, thanks for letting me take the wheel today. In a previous Saturday school, it was very early on when we discovered that she even had cancer. I think, you know, I already had known for a while, but it was the first time that I was like being verbal about it. but it was the first time that I was like being verbal about it. And, you know, I just, I took it upon myself to just have full belief that she was going to get through it. And I, you know, I kind of, um, I declared that she would beat cancer, you know, right then and there on the spot. And I actually encouraged my, my siblings to do the same thing. And it was very helpful in that moment because it was like, well, what other option do we have? Like,

are we just going to be realistic and look at the numbers? It's like, well, you know, like that's, that's not really gonna, how's that going to serve us? Right. And how's that going to help us be supportive and, and, and help her and help her stay positive. Um, cause she was a fighter and we're like, I'll get into all that in a second here. But in order for me to really share exactly how impactful this story is, we do have to go back a little bit. I'm not going to do like a crazy long life story or anything like that. I promise there's going to be some really cool value in it. But in order for that to happen, we got to go all the way back to 1956, a much slower time. Cars were about to get really, really dope, right? Thinking about cars

in the 60s, you got the Impalas, Camaros, Mustangs. What an amazing time. And actually, fun fact, my mom's first car, I don't know the year, but it was a Ford Falcon. I'm sure it wasn't in the best condition and whatnot, but I always just thought that that was cool that she, you know, her first car was a nice, nice little bucket, but yeah, she was born in 1956. She was actually born in Mexicali. So Mexico, if you're, if you're, maybe you are familiar, maybe you're not, but if you've ever been on the U.S.-Mexico border, on the Mexican side, they have Mexicali. And then on the California side, we have Calexico. So they kind of like mash the names up. And so they're right on the border.

They're like literally just separated by a line. So my mom was born right there, just like a few feet away from being a U.S. citizen, I guess. She was one of eight siblings. She had an awesome mother. Her dad died pretty early in her life. I don't remember exactly when, but it was like probably right, like around 12 years old, right before she became a teenager. And obviously I didn't get a chance to meet him. I didn't get a chance to meet my dad's dad. So I've never once, uh, you know, been able to hang out with my grandfather. So if you have that opportunity, definitely do it. But anyway, so here's where the story really kicks off. So back, who knows, somewhere when she became a teenager, some of her siblings had already crossed over and were living in the United States. So it was just her, her youngest brother and her mother that were living in Tijuana. So we'll call it TJ because it's a lot shorter and easier to say when don't get tongue twisted and whatnot. So the three of them

would live in TJ. And then my aunt lived in Northern California and every summer, my mom and my uncle and my grandmother, they would, um, they would travel to Winters, California and they would work all summer. So, uh, and then real quickly, cause like, you know, I know things with like, uh, uh, immigrants and illegals and all that stuff gets kind of like weird. Um, every single summer they applied for work permits. So they never once actually entered the United States illegally. They were always here on a permit. They would apply, they would get approved, they would have a certain timeframe, and then they would come back. So anyways, they would go

up Northern California. And yes, my mom as a teenager would work every day, all summer in the fields, right? And if you've been out here in Northern California, it gets hot in the summers, it gets kind of gross. And so, you know, she did this work that not a lot of people were super pumped to do. Um, and as she did that, my, my grandmother would babysit as many kids as possible. And my uncle, he was probably too young to really do anything. So he was just, you know, hanging out, but they would do this and they would save every penny that they got. They would just keep stacking chips and working, stacking, working, stacking until summer was over. So again, you know, thinking about being a teenager in the summer, it's probably like the best times of our lives really,

or at least we think that is, you know, some of the funnest times as kids is during the summer because school sucks and, you know, we never wanted to go back. But here's a teenager that would work every single day of every single summer. And so what they would do is they would take all the money that they earned, you know, here in America when their work, um, permit was, was out or was over, they would travel back to Mexico. So back to TJ and they would survive the entire winter off of what they earned that summer. They didn't have jobs or any way of actually creating like a lot of income the way they could, you know, in comparison in the States, they couldn't replicate that in Mexico. So my mom was telling me she was like, yeah, we would go work and save as much money as possible.

And then we would just live off of that all winter. And we had no idea if that was going to be enough. Right. If an emergency popped up, if something broke and they had to pay for something to get fixed, it could, I mean, they could go hungry. They had no idea if it was going to work. And she just said that like, yeah, we just hoped and prayed and, you know, everything happened to work out every time. Thank goodness. But I couldn't even imagine, you know, going and working and coming back and kind of just so much unknown, right? I kind of

have a little panic attack if I realize that we don't have any food prepped for dinner tonight, right? The steak is still frozen. Like, what are we going to do? Oh my gosh. And here they are going an entire, you know, winter without knowing what was going to come next. And I don't know, man, I just, um, when, you know, when I talk about my work ethic, I always just associated it with my dad because I mention this all the time on the podcast, but I watched he was always up early and doing all that stuff and, you know, being mad that we're still in bed and stuff. But I, I, I also watched him get sick. I told this story before, but I'll say it again. Um, we got sick at the same time. And I remember, man, I don't want to get too graphic, but it was bad. I couldn't even stand up. I would get dizzy. I would get super, super duper nauseous.

And then he's going to work and he comes home like, man, I, yeah, I'm really dizzy. I'm feeling sick. And I'm like, dude, you're a freaking superhero. Like, I don't, this doesn't make sense. But after I learned this about my mom, I'm like, well, wait a second here. Like, I'm really lucky, you know, lucky to have two parents with amazing work ethics to have that just simply ingrained in me. You know, like I didn't have to figure that stuff out. Although, you know, okay, maybe I did. I did suck like, you know, early jobs. Like I was really lazy and I just didn't like it, but it's just because I didn't dig it. But whatever the case, I had the work ethic inside

of me somewhere to get me to where I am today and where I'm going tomorrow and all that good stuff. So I'm super grateful. I'm super lucky that both parents were amazing examples. I just, you know, again, I saw my dad's work ethic more so than my mom's, but knowing this story, I was like, well, I guess I, I said, I wasn't going to cuss my bad. Um, well, you know, dang, it looks like I get it from both sides. Anyways, moving on into the, uh, the story here. Um, so she would do this again every summer until she was 18 when, um, one of her brothers, so my Tio Lalo, actually invited her to like, you know, just, hey, come to SoCal instead and I'll find you a job. And, you know, maybe you can even just live here. So like he, you know, gave her another option to just try something

different. So she took him up on his offer again on a work permit and what's really cool is at this time her brother was actually going to get married in northern california so it's like well hey okay i i guess we'll go visit um so her and my uncle they they drove up you know that's like a from where he was living. I'm assuming at the time it was about like an eight to 10 hour drive, um, for sure for her from Mexico, probably even a little bit more. But anyway, uh, you know, they came to have fun at their brother's wedding. And now here's where if family, if you're listening, you know exactly what happens next. This is where it gets really fun.

So my uncle, so my, it's a little tricky here. My mom's brother, so my Tio Jose, was marrying my Tia Marta. And it's even more confusing because my mom's name is also Marta. So, you know, I had my Tia Marta and then we have my mom who's Martha, right? So there's Martha Zaragoza, so my mom, and then my aunt Martha Trujillo. So it adds more fun to the story. All right. So check this out.

My tia Marta happened to have a brother named Juan. And if you, I mean, I don't think anybody knows my parents' names, but my mom, Martha, again, sister of my tia Jose, and then my dad, Juan, brother of my tia Marta. So yes, at my uncle's wedding, my parents actually met. So my dad, again, it's a little confusing, but on paper, yes, my dad married his sister-in-law. That's essentially what happened, right? Because his new brother-in-law happened to have a sister, and then my mom's new sister-in-law happened to have a brother. They met.

They hit it off right away. I guess from what I was told, my dad was moving pretty quickly. He asked her out. She, of course, said yes. But, you know, again, she wasn't a U.S. citizen, so time came for her to go back to Mexico because she's like, hey, my my work permits up. I got to bounce. And so my dad was like, well, how about instead of you going back to Mexico, you just we just get married and you just live here now. and you just live here now. So she said, yes. And, you know, like, it's so crazy to me because like, I, I, I, I obviously, I knew that, you know, they were somewhat related as far as like, you know, in-laws or whatever, but I didn't know it went down like that. Like, I didn't know, you know, she was about to move back, you know, again for another winter or whatever. And he was like, nah, let's just get married. I knew she got

married young and all that stuff. And, you know, they did all the things that they tell us kids not to do, like rush into things. But I guess, uh, I guess kids have been rushing into things since the beginning of time and, you know, okay. Okay. so what happens next? Well, they ended up moving around quite a bit because as, you know, young kids without any legit work, it's hard to find places to live. But they ended up living in San Diego. They had my brother and sister here in Northern California move to SoCal where they almost had me there. And then they ended up moving back to Sacramento. And I remember being super duper upset that like, like, bro, like you guys could have stayed in SoCal and I could have been living there. I'm like, nah, but instead we're in

Sacramento. Uh, eventually, you know, someday I would love to, to move, you know, me and my family to San Diego. I always, you know, just super fun memories being down there. But yeah, anyway, so we moved back up. And so again, this one decision to, you know, take up my uncle on this opportunity to go work in SoCal and then them deciding, hey, let's go up to NorCal for a wedding. And that led to three kids and 10 grandbabies. My mom, by trade, she was a hairstylist. She tried a couple different things. I remember she was doing like flower arrangements, and she was always just very creative. She always used her hands with everything. But she found her niche, She always used her hands with everything, but she found her, uh, her niche, I guess we'll say her, whatever, her, uh, her jam and, uh, in, in hairstyling. And what's funny is in junior high

and then high school as well, she was way cooler than me. Um, I wasn't very popular, but a lot of cool kids would go to her to get their haircut. So, you know, like, um, she did like some really awesome high end, you know, hairstyling for, you know, women and whatnot, but you know, they got kids. So their kids then started seeing, you know, my mom. And so they started getting their hair done. And, you know, I would always like, I I'd, I'd walk to her place after, uh, after school and I'd see kids my age and like, oh, dang, like that's your son. Like, yeah, yeah. And then so eventually like word got out.

And so like some of these cool like popular kids were like, oh, dude, your mom's the best. Like she cuts the best hair. Like I can't go anywhere else. And so, you know, again, it was like, oh, this kid that like, you know, he's a cool kid. You know, I'm not. We got nothing in common. But because my mom cuts his hair, he's like, yo, your mom's dope. Like she, you know, she does, you know, a really good job. And so again, that like, that always made me feel really good. Because like I said, it's like, dude, that's a, you know, it's kind of like a rich kid over there. And he's like, super popular. And you know, I'm nobody, but yet he says what's up to me.

Like, that was cool. And so, like I said, my mom and I, I wasn't like ever offended or whatever. Like, it was like, they probably would do on like some TV shows. Like I always thought it was great. And I was like, super proud and grateful that my mom, you know, had like an in with the cool crowd anyway. Um, so moving on, um, again, we're not going to be able to go into every detail, but I did want to lay out, you know, kind of the beginnings and how things came to be. But, um, unfortunately, so she started getting like just nauseous all the time, like, man, everything I'm eating, it kind of wants to come back up. Went to the doctor several times, hooked her up with a couple different people that I know. And nobody even, you know, nobody could really diagnose and figure out what was going on.

Unfortunately, it was she had a, you know, the stomach was in her, the stomach, the cancer was in her stomach. And where it was, was right where, like, the food would come down. So, excuse me. So, she would eat. It would get aggravated and stuck. And since it can't go any further down, it would just come right back up. Now, here's something that's a, uh, I don't want to make anybody like more sad if this is, you know, making you feel that way.

And I definitely don't want to make myself more sad, but her last meal was September 4th, 2021. Uh, we threw a birthday party for my dad here at our house, which was, you know, that was such a huge win for me and my wife. You know, like we felt really accomplished at that point. But I had smoked, I think, steak and tri-tip because, of course, you guys know this. We're going to be chowing down on some steak. But I also remember because she, you know, she she loved fish and she loved chicken, my buddy Casey, who's been on the podcast before, he had just gotten a bunch of wild halibut. So there was like bricks and bricks of halibut. I've never had it. I made it. I loved it. And I made it for my mom

that day. And she absolutely loved it. So thank you, Casey. But that was her very last meal. Like that was the last meal that she was able to eat and enjoy. After that, everything just kind of went south pretty quickly. But, you know, I'm laying this out there because some of us, myself, especially myself, you know, if I don't go, if I miss a meal, like a planned meal, like, dang, I didn't get breakfast. Now I got to fast. I'm okay. But I'm always staring at the clock like, man, when am I going to eat again?

This woman went years without eating, right? September 2021, and she died in January 2024. She could not consume food at all because there's no way. It couldn't get in. So she had tubes. So she would get her nutrition through a bag and not like a feeding bag, like literally just like IVs. And, you know, she would just get vitamins. She wouldn't get actual food. And so I'm just, I'm laying it out there because I want to give her props and, you know, just showcase just how strong she was. She never once signed a DNR. And then even going back to that, I remember when they gave her a date, they gave her, a DNR. And then even going back to that, I remember when they gave her a date, they gave her,

I want to say like just, I think 18 months and she blew right past that. She surpassed that by at least two years. I think I could be wrong, but, or I mean, whatever, whatever the date was, she, she blew right past it. And she was like, I don't want to date. Like, don't tell me that. But, you know, again, because it's scary and it's, you know, it's an unfortunate scenario. So, you know, it's like, well, like, damn, I guess we have to know, we have to acknowledge it somewhat. But also she was like, screw that. We're going to get past it. And then, so again, like when things started getting worse, she never signed a DNR. So a do not resuscitate form. And I knew it when I saw it because that's what I used to do before you guys ever heard my voice or before you ever heard anything I produced is I used to file those documents digitally.

It was super tedious, annoying, and I very much did not like it. But I knew what it was and I was very proud of her for not signing it. So do not resuscitate just in case means if you are starting to die, basically, the doctors will see that, oh, they signed a DNR. We just have to let them die versus we got to do everything in our power to revive this person. She never once signed it. Even when things got really grim, like, you know, we kind of were starting to get prepared to say goodbye. She never signed it.

Even in this situation recently, she still didn't sign it. She's like, no, I got too much to fight for. She really wanted to continue fighting and she wanted to be around for her grandkids. And, you know, my son and the younger ones, so like my four nephews, they got to hang out and spend a lot of time with her. So I'm really grateful for that. You know, good job on my sister and my brother for doing that. My nieces, um, the two older ones, definitely, uh, the third oldest, most likely the youngest, just like my son, hopefully, you know, we can, uh, we can keep her memory alive as long as possible. Um, or sorry, not as long as possible,

but as accurate as possible. So that way they can still, you know, get some experience and, um, you know, or get to experience her. Um, so there, but those two little ones are the ones I'm the most saddest for just because she was taken too soon and they're not going to, you know, get to hang out with her the way everyone else did. But, um, something that I do, I just have to say to get off my chest, I wholeheartedly believe that the current system that is supposed to take care of her, that was supposed to take care of her, is just extremely flawed. Even some of the basic things that, and I'm talking basic, like elementary stuff that I know, a lot of the more advanced stuff that I've learned

on this podcast that we've learned together would go way against some of the stuff that they were doing to her. And I'm talking about like, you know, I think we can all agree that if somebody, you know, is battling cancer, staying away from sugar is probably going to be a really, really good option. I'm not going to stand here and say like, oh, go keto and it's going to cure everything. But if you have stomach cancer, uh, I don't think it's a good idea to eat ice cream, but they told her ice cream is totally fine. Um, they, they told her to stay away from, uh, certain, whatever, I'm just going to say it. So I had recommended that she take MCT oil powder, um, that she take collagen protein and a couple of other things, uh, some sodium packets and stuff, because I'm like,

mom, like you need fat and you need hydration. Like you're not getting anything anymore. And it was, it was all in liquid form. So stuff that she could have, I, um, I probably had the wrong approach here. And I told her like, Hey, if you tell your doctors about the stuff that I'm recommending and the stuff that another doctor that I had hooked her up with are recommending, they're going to tell you we're crazy and don't do it. And so I told her like, hey, maybe you don't want to share this information with them. You know, I'm not going to say like, oh, I should have did this, should have did that. But maybe I should have been a little bit more open in saying like, hey, let's go ahead and tell your doctors that this is what we're going to do.

When she went and told them, they instantly were like, no, don't do any of that. Take this Ensure that we have in stock right now. So again, Ensure, if you look at the ingredients, there's a lot of sugar. There's a lot of just other things that just make no sense to be given a cancer patient. I'm not bashing the entire medical system. I am just saying right here in this moment, I feel that with my very, very elementary knowledge on all of this, I think I would have had a better approach and that's not okay. However, we need doctors, we need hospitals, we need all of you. Like, it's not, I'm not trying to say anything else other than, man, I think the current model for a cancer patient is very, very much flawed. The protocol, I mean, not necessarily model.

So this is my experience with my mother that just died. And this is how I feel. And I just, again, I have a microphone in front of my face. And so I want to tell you exactly what's on my mind. But yeah, so I don't with prostate cancer, and he is standing up and fighting against his doctor's recommendations. So if you want someone else with a similar mindset or wavelength, whatever you want to call it, you know, he was kind of thinking the same thing. Like, hey, like I'm not, I don't want to do this thing that's going to essentially kill me. I want to approach it the way that I know, the way that I've studied. And, you know, at the end of the day, I don't know what the statistics will show, like what the final document, the death certificate on my mom, but she did not die of cancer. So I don't know if this new experimental chemo is going to get a win. because, well, you know, if somebody else's mother is in this situation and they look at these numbers saying like, whoa, there's a 50% success rate, which is what we were told, I don't know if they're going to chalk this up as a win for this chemo and potentially hurt somebody else. Hurt's not the right word, but, you know, whatever that word is, I just hope that this doesn't affect anybody else. And then just because again, I want to put this on, on record. So that way I don't

forget it one day, but, uh, and you can, you can totally disregard everything I'm about to say. If you are, uh, if you don't believe in anything outside of what science can prove, but check this out. So I was getting ready to head into the studio, um, you know, getting all my stuff together. And just before 9am on January 11th, 2024, I started getting a nosebleed. I was like, dude, what the heck? Like out of nowhere started bleeding. Then it starts gushing. Like it starts bleeding really, really bad. And I'm like, what is going on here? So I'm, I have to, um, you know, I'm stuffing toilet paper in my nose. It, the blood's just going straight through it, right? Like I stuff it in my nose and then if I could, you know, I look down and I see blood just

coming out of the toilet paper. So take that out and I'm just bent over the bathroom trash can, filling it up with blood. Like, dude, whoa, this is crazy. Like it wasn't to the point where like I got lightheaded or anything, but it was a lot. this is crazy. Like it wasn't to the point where like I got lightheaded or anything, but it was a lot. Um, shortly after that, I got the phone call, you know, my dad's calling me. Um, my wife was, she was, you know, cutting up my ear hair. I'm 38. As you, as youngins get older, uh, you start getting spiders crawling out of your ear for no reason. It's actually just your hair. But anyway, she's cutting. My phone rings. See, it's my dad. Hey, what's up? Hey, Andrew,

your mom had a cardiac arrest and it was a little bit too much for her. She just died. And I remember I was just stunned. I couldn't say a word. My wife, she's like signaling like, Hey, what's wrong? I just look and I can't say a word. So I just, I mouthed, you know, my mom just died. And so, you know, that floors her completely. So I just tell my dad, I'm like, cause he's like, Hey, are you still there? And I'm like, So I just tell my dad, I'm like, cause he's like, Hey, are you still there? And I'm like, yes, I'm here. I'll be there right away. You know, text Mark and then see my, Hey guys, sorry, we're about to go live, but I can't

make it because my mom just died. So come to find out the episode that she, so a quick story is so basically she was having shortness of breath, and then as she is getting moved around, she exerts herself a tiny bit. That tiny bit was a tiny bit too much, and that's what started the cardiac arrest and ultimately ended her life. That all started right before 9 a.m. January 11, 2024. right before 9 a.m. January 11th, 2024. So again, superstition or whatever you want to call it, something happened when my mother died that caused my nose to just start bleeding out of nowhere. Again, call it coincidence. Sure, go for it. But that's what happened. And then check this out. This is another, like, so you will call this a coincidence. There's nothing other than,

there's no other way to explain it. So go ahead and, uh, and accept that. I will believe what I believe, but after I find out what happened over the phone, we're getting ready. My wife and my son, they're coming with me. Out of all the toys for him to play with, he grabs the one that she gave him. Again, oh, sure, coincidence, no big deal. It's a little dog. It's got like a string, and you pull it with you and stuff. And I've, again, maybe it's just cause I've never paid attention to this, this dang thing,

but that toy is making all kinds of sounds and noises and stuff. And I'm like, come on kid, like out of all the toys for you to get, you have to get the one that, you know, that, that she gave you. And this toy, I kid you not again, I've never heard it say this, but it said it right when I found out my mom died. It just goes, you can take me everywhere. And so I instantly start bawling because, in my opinion, that was a message from my mom who had just died. So, again, a total coincidence, right? A well-balanced mind would say, that's interesting. That's an odd coincidence. Me and my crazy head, I'm like, nah, that's my mom talking to me. Thank you for letting me say all those things and for listening. You know, I told Mark, like, yes, dude, I would love to take over Saturday school for, one, to honor her, but two, also to kind of help process things for myself because it is so fresh.

So being able to say those things that I just did, I'm really grateful. And again, I thank you for, for listening to that, but getting back to where we can, you know, learn some stuff. I think it's, it's really cool that, and I tell my daughter this, I'm going to tell my son this, but like, you know, we're, we're essentially one person making a tough decision away from not being here, making a tough decision away from not being here, right? Like three kids, 10 grandbabies, like we could potentially not be here had my mom not crossed over to work, literally just to work, not for, you know, she's not thinking, oh, I'm going to go try to find a job in America. And I mean, potentially, maybe she was like, and if I happen to find a partner, you know, obviously, I know some sometimes that that that is the goal. But for her, she was just looking for an opportunity.

She just wanted an opportunity to work hard to make an income, to make a living out of it. But again, it's a completely unknown thing. She went from her home country into a foreign land. That foreign land is our home. But there's no path for this sort of thing. And what she did and what she turned it into, we've heard this before on the podcast, she was risking for the unknown. And when you think about the entire landscape or the cards that she was dealt, it's a very different stack of cards than you and I were dealt, than a lot of people that are around us were dealt, but she played her cards, right. You know, and, and, and it wasn't because she was the best card player. I'm going to stop using the, uh, the card reference cause it's kind of silly, but she just, she wasn't the

best at anything, but she just worked her ass off and put herself in really good situations. and put herself in really good situations. And I know for me personally, I do this, but a lot of us, when we were thinking about making moves, we get a little bit too tied into the strategic side of things, right? It was like, oh, okay, what's the ROI on me starting a podcast, right? What's the ROI on making a YouTube channel or whatever it may be, right? Like we sit there and we think about the risk to reward, like what's the benefit? Like how good is this going to be? We never stop and think that this could potentially lead to something unimaginable. Take my story, for example, I, you know, I picked up a camera. I picked up, it's called the HV20. That's the first

camera, like camcorder that I started working with. It's an old mini DV tape camera, but I started making money shooting videos and stuff. And at the time I was still working, you know, again, kind of sorting those DNR papers and stuff, other papers as well, documents, I mean, but you know, that's where I first saw those, but I was doing that while still, you know, filming and doing this and that. And then I kept improving, kept improving. filming and doing this and that. And then I kept improving, kept improving. And my wife put me in a situation where I got to meet Mark Bell. And I ended up shooting for free. I ended up getting a job at Super Training and Slingshot, ended up filming, ended up becoming a producer of the podcast, ended up being a bit of a co--host here and ended up being able to speak to you

on this podcast. If you go back to ask me, hey, why are you filming so much? There would have been no way that I would have been able to say, oh, it's because I want to change my life and be able to provide for my family by speaking on a podcast. There's obviously no way that I could have been able to say that. Even more so, even more so because I've received some amazing DMs. I've seen some amazing comments. I would have never been able to fathom the impact that this podcast can bring. You know, the messages that I receive about, you know, this podcast helping people get through really tough situations, this podcast helping people

get through addictions, all these things, there's no way I could have ever imagined creating something that could do that. And I'm not saying this to toot my own horn or anything like that. I'm just giving an example of what happened because I just never stopped. I never stopped creating. I never stopped getting better. I just I never gave up, even though I had a different goal in mind. Right. The goal was like, I just want to stop working at this medical place and I want to go do something that I love to do, right? That was like the immediate goal. And then it was, well, shoot, I would love to leave this earth with a legit, you know, unique footprint on this planet. And that's what I started doing with photos and videos. Even though it's, you know, I had even told Mark this early on, like, look,

even if they're pictures of you, if those impact people, then that's my work making that impact. That's all I want. And then fast forward to, you know, getting DMs from people saying that my story has helped them. Like, shoot, like, there's no way I could have imagined that. So looking back at my mom's journey, right? She was just working. She was not thinking, I am going to go work my face off, develop this amazing work ethic so that one day my kids will have a crazy work ethic ingrained into their DNA. Obviously, she wasn't thinking that. She was thinking, I need to go make some money or else we're going to starve next winter. That's a very different situation.

But getting those reps in and risking for the unknown. Literally, she had no idea where she was going to end up because she was going to a different country. English is not her first language. She picked it up along the way, but again, she had to put herself out there. She had to be vulnerable and she had to give herself opportunities in order to level up and reap some of these benefits. The obvious unknown was showing up at a wedding and meeting the love of your life. She did not think, let's go to this wedding so that way we can get married and have three kids and 10 grandbabies. And one of them ended up being on a podcast to share my story. Could you imagine? That'd be wild if she like predicted that. So what I'm, I'm trying to,

the message I'm trying to relay to you is what if we just completely stopped worrying about the bottom line, just for, just for a second, just allow yourself to, you know, to have an imagination. Um, you know, again, kind of just because I love creating podcasts and stuff. What if that podcast never pays you anything like, dang, okay. What if that podcast brings you so much fun, enjoyment, happiness, fulfillment, and meaning that you prevent somebody from committing suicide? that side business or whatever puts you in touch with your best friend that you will ride or die with for the rest of your life. For me, that's kind of what jujitsu did. I have some friends that I know I'm going to be friends with them for the rest of my life. In fact, they brought me and my family food. They've brought fruit and all kinds of stuff.

Like, you know, my Waza fam, like, thank you so much, man. I sincerely appreciate you guys. Same thing with, like, my boy Charlie. You know, some of the advice that he's given me over the years. Like, all this because, you know, I started doing something and putting myself out there. I now have friends for life. But if I sat there and looked at the potential ROI on going to jujitsu, on starting a podcast, on quitting a secure job for something that's unknown, I wouldn't be here. I wouldn't be as happy. I wouldn't be living in the house that

I'm in right now. Right? So what I'm trying to say here is, look, sometimes the rewards and the benefits and the things that we get in return, you cannot measure them. They're immeasurable. get in return, you cannot measure them. They're immeasurable. They're undefinable even because there's no way to assess this sort of thing. So I think we get that analysis paralysis or whatever you want to call it, but we sit there and we're like, well, I want to do X, but because of Y, Z will never happen. And that's such a short-sighted way of looking at things. It'd be dope if we just looked at things long-term and started saying things like, I want to do X. I don't know how to get over Y. Sometimes Z can happen, but also there's a bunch of other letters in this alphabet. There's numbers, there's, you

know, symbols and all these other things. I don't know where I'm going to end up, but I'm just going to start and I'm never going to stop. And, you know, it's a really cool thing when, you know, somebody, they venture out and they start doing something and the, you know, the quote, the rubber meets the road, as you would say, that's the saying. Taking somebody like my boy Josh Setledge, he stepped out and started doing his own thing. And then what do you know? Dudes like Phil DeRue and Mark Bell and a bunch of people are now supporting him. And it's like, oh, how come all these opportunities keep happening for him? It's like, oh, maybe, just maybe it's because it's really fun to support somebody when they're actually chasing their dream.

And then also something that Steven Pressfield gets into in The War of Art, he's appeasing the muse. So when you appease the muse, it's just basically like if you're a writer and you show up every day, despite having writer's block, and you're just writing every day, that muse will see that and be like, hmm, this dude's really trying. He actually cares. He's actually going to go for it. All right. Well, here's this awesome idea. Here's this awesome person that I'm going to put in your life. And guess what? You're successful now. But that doesn't happen if you sit on the couch and you contemplate these things because no one's going to come and support you because who's going to want to invest time and energy into somebody that can't get off the couch? Good things aren't just going to show up knocking at your door, although sometimes they actually do, but you're not in a position to take advantage of that opportunity because you got no work to show and you got nothing to provide that's going to give that opportunity a reason to stick around. So I guess, yeah, the message, once you boil it all down, is risking for the unknown. When you venture out and attempt something new, I know I've been there where I get a really cool idea and I get fired up and then all of a sudden I'm met with criticism from myself usually.

Or if I tell a friend or I tell somebody and they're like, huh, that's weird or that's interesting or how are he going to pull that off? That leads to self-doubt and I talk myself out of it. But after learning my mom's story, after just literally looking back at my story, it's like, well, wait a second. You know, we have no idea what the outcome truly can be. We hope for a good one, right? We obviously can say, oh, if I do this, then there's a really cool chance that that'll happen. But we don't sit and think, oh, I might have a new best friend for life that will be there in a really tough time of need. We don't think that we could potentially meet the love of our life if we travel 10 hours or so in a car, right? Like we don't think about these things because we can't. They don't make sense in that moment. And that's okay. So if there's anything that you can learn from my mom's story, my story, it's that, hey, I don't have to have it all figured out. Obviously,

need to have some essential things figured out and up and running. But I might end up with something so amazing, something so much greater than anything I can imagine. It would be a shame that I don't actually start doing that, that thing, right? That podcast, that YouTube video, writing that book, you know, jujitsu, lifting, the gym, clean diet, all these things. You can't just sit there and check the stats on everything. You have to just go out and do it. You have to just go out and do it. I hope, sincerely hope that my message landed well. It would be cool if, you know, I don't, I do not like when people guilt people into things, especially when someone's trying to guilt me into something. But, you know, I've already accidentally almost text my mom a bunch of times, right?

Like I take a cute picture of my son. The automatic reaction is hit the share button, you know, hit my mom's icon or whatever you want to call it, the thing, and send it. That's happened multiple times already. And I'm like, oh, wait a second. I actually, I can't text her. I also can't call her. It was so recent that it feels like she's still a 30 minute drive away, right? Like that's what it feels like. So again, I'm not trying to guilt anybody, but if you have the opportunity to talk to your mom, to call your mom, I guess you can text her too if you have that ability. Although I would say a phone call is way better. But if you can do any of those things, just please do it because I can't anymore and I never will. I won't be able

to communicate with her in the physical form. You know, I can't text her. I can't start talking to her. I guess I can, but again, because of what I believe, I know I'm going to be receiving tons of messages and I'm going to see her multiple times. So I still, this isn't like, you know, I'm never going to be able to talk to her, but it would be great to hop on the phone and talk to her. It'd be amazing to watch her hold my son again, because, you know, even though we knew this was coming, it still happened too fast. And I always thought we would have more time. Even in this situation, I thought we would have more time. And, you know, I had just, like I said, I talked to her on the phone. She was good. They were about to be discharged the day she died. So it was still sudden. It was unexpected.

It's expected, right? But it was unexpected the way it happened. Her body just said, it was like, you know, she was like, yo, like it's, it's too much. Like we've had enough. The physical form that is, you know, that was my, my mother's gone, you know, the, the soul, the, uh, whatever you want to call it, the, uh, you know, the, the consciousness or whatever, it's still here. I still feel her and I can still communicate with her. And I will see her again very soon once it's my time to get over to the other side. And we call it a veil, right? So everybody, this is what we believe. Everybody that we've lost, that's died, they're just on the other side of this veil that we can kind of see. We can't get

through it, but we can kind of see them and they're always there. And eventually we'll get on the other side of that veil and we'll get to hang out. So if your mom is still here on this side of the veil, just hit her up. She's going to love it. You guys can get close. As a matter of fact, just ask her some interesting question about like, what was your first job? How did you meet dad or whatever it may be? You know, it's just something, something cool to spark conversation and something that you can learn something that you didn't know before. So again, thank you so much. Thank you for letting me hang out with you for a little bit. Thank you so much for listening all the way through this episode. Thank you for letting me get a lot of stuff off my chest. And thank you for just being there with me for upwards of an hour now. And I'm just super grateful that I can do this. And again, thanks, Mark, for letting me take over Saturday school. And yeah, I guess we'll just cut it here, guys.

Thank you so much. I sincerely appreciate you more than you would ever know. And yeah, I'm just super grateful that I have you. Um, and yeah, just, I'm just super grateful that I, that I have you and that, um, you know, I have this, uh, this opportunity to, uh, to share my thoughts and, uh, to let my mom know that I love her and that I'm going to keep pushing anyway. Ah, Oh, okay. Uh, as Mark would say, strength is never a weakness. Weakness is never a strength.

I'm at, I am Andrew Z. I'll catch you guys later. Peace.