10 episodes
Experience Rich Rich
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- Health & Fitness
A traumatic mountain bike accident left me with a shattered neck and a severe spinal injury that required my neck to be fused from C3 to T2 with two titanium rods and sixteen screws. Prior to the accident I lived a very active life: surfing, running, hiking and of course, biking. After the accident, it took several days for the doctors to determine the full extent of my spinal injury with no indication of what the outcome would be for future physical ability. After any trauma, the road to recovery through physical therapy is different for everyone. This is my journey. My purpose is to share the physical and mental challenges that I had to push through to get me back on my feet, even completing a half-marathon, swimming and hiking again. It wasn’t an easy journey (and it’s far from over) but I’ve learned a lot about myself, fear, stress, gratitude and the tools I needed to make my comeback happen. I might even say that it took breaking my neck, to get my head screwed on straight. I hope these episodes help you in some way to overcome whatever physical or mental health challenge you are facing today.
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Forever Stoked: Thriving after a broken neck through physical and mental health.
I shattered my neck in a traumatic mountain bike crash. Now, I have two titanium rods and sixteen screws holding my neck together and protecting my spinal cord. Recovery meant persevering through intense physical therapy but I quickly realized my mental health needed focus too. “Forever Stoked” was my life persona before the accident and I used it to get me through the physical and mental challenges of my life’s reset. It’s more than just a sticker on the walker that I pushed for 8-miles whil...
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Being In The Moment: Using focus and intent to persevere through life challenges.
My traumatic mountain bike accident resulted in a twisted, mangled neck and spinal injury. Two titanium rods and sixteen screws made initial physical survival possible but it was mental health . . . focus, intent and surrender . . . being in the moment. . . that taught me how to truly save my life.
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Fear, anxiety and stress: How I harness my mental strength to rebuild my body, my mind and my life.
Fear, anxiety and stress: the FAS. We all have it at different stages, levels and for different reasons. Now, my FAS is due to a traumatic mountain bike crash that left me with a broken neck held together by two titanium rods and sixteen screws. Yours might be brought on by your job, family, finances, physical or mental health and even today with a pandemic and rolling lockdowns. We can manage fear, anxiety and stress and it's simply done throughout our day. I’ve spent 12 months r...
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Write Your Own Life Story: Why breaking my neck didn’t mean my life was over. Ep. 4
There are paths we’re supposed to follow or ways in which we think our life should be but what happens when there’s an unexpected event that changes our path? What do we do? This podcast is about sharing some lessons I’ve learned from my comeback after a mountain bike accident left me with a severely broken neck. Throughout my 14 month recovery, my friends and family were curious about my mental and physical process. There were a lot of questions and lots of learnings and reflecti...
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Learning through pain (mental and physical): Quitting pain meds 5 days after a massive surgery.
Tough situations in life appear for everybody. I’ve learned that taking the easy way out, escape-ism, may not teach, you never move forward. 5 days after my massive surgery I decided to quit all pain meds and learned so much to get my life back, through suffering. This was while dealing with mental trauma and not knowing if I’d ever walk again. The tough road taught me and gave me so much more, even though I suffered. There are ways to quit the pain meds and deal w/ pa...
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Drive and Determination: How to dig deep when the outcome is unknown.
I have learned that the journey brings many experiences, surprises and things we never thought of. They are like small gifts along the way.