Who Would Have Guessed It?!? It Can Happen To Anyone.

Hi Cadre, how are you? I'm doing a rare Sunday live. I'm excited about this, really excited to share the story. It's not the best of stories but I think a lot of individuals might be able to relate, resonate with especially on Sunday when we're speaking about sobriety, recovery and all the things. So here we are, Cadre family. I'm excited to be here. Six o' clock Sunday. Let's go. Hope everybody is having a wonderful weekend. Just got done working a bunch outside and after working outside I'm back inside and I am going to be hopping on the treadmill so getting some miles in which will be good.

I got a big run coming up here in a little bit so. Well, not a big run, a big walk actually. My buddy Jason Lennox and I are going to be walking from Ohio to Nashville. 307 miles. It's going to be awfully amazing. So I'm excited about that. But thanks for coming. Thanks for showing up here everybody. I'm excited about this conversation so I just want to share. I just got back from visiting a friend of mine who's in a treatment program. Something you might not know about this individual. He is a former NFL player, probably one of a franchise best.

Has been retired now for about five years but he's really struggled ever since he's wrapped up his NFL career and he is struggling with the ability to find his identity, figure out who he is. I mean he's played, played football since he's been 12 years old, you know, and then he wrapped up football and he's done and like I said, he's franchise's best player. He was kind of like on a pedestal Superman when he played and then all of a sudden, you know, the game ends and you know, he'll definitely go in this franchises.

You know, he's probably top 1015 player of all time for that franchise. He's got all the stats, signed a 50 million dollar contract. All true. But now he's dealing with life post the NFL and he's struggling and he is most likely going to be going through a divorce. He has three children. He's in and out of treatment right now and it was, I think it's an interesting conversation right now with him because you know, we really sat down and we just kind of like peeled back the layers of this and I was just asking him very bluntly and I'm like what do you value?

Well, you know, my kids and this and this and this. And I said let's, let's start this over, what do you really value? Where you spend your time and where you spend your money is what you, what you value. Let's talk about it. And we talked about it. We were just very blunt. And he gave me his rundown of his last two, three, four years. And it was anything but his family and it was anything but the things that he was talking about is about where he's spending his time, where he's spending his money.

So sometimes you got to be honest with yourself. You got to really be honest with yourself and say, am I actually doing what I say I'm going to do? And I'm going to go after what I say I want and my values line up accordingly. My wife has always said over and over to me again, she's like, where you spend your time and where you spend your money is what you value. So we talked about that. Then after that we talked about post NFL identity. You know, what are you going to do post NFL that gives you this type of kind of quote unquote rock star feel where Nothing can reproduce 65,000 screaming fans and all these other things and you know, living that life and there's nothing probably that can replicate that.

But maybe helping people is something that make you happy. Maybe doing this could work, maybe starting a non profit, maybe building your own residential treatment program someday. But we just talked about it all and we were very open, real and raw with each other and we went deep. And you know, he's 22 days sober and I'm super proud of him. But you know, this isn't probably should be happening in treatment. But he still has his phone. But he texted me last night and he said for the first time I'm proud of myself.

So think about that. Playing in the biggest conference in the world in college, being a rock star at one of the biggest collegiate football places in the world, becoming a top pick for a franchise, become a franchise's best player, one of his, their best players, signing a huge contract, life changing, money forever, Captain over and over again, leading stats in the NFL. And just yesterday said, this is one of the first times that I'm proud of myself. Let that sink in. And remember, when you're putting people on a pedestal, there's a lot of stuff on the layer of that onion.

Sometimes people may not even want to play football. Sometimes that's not even their jam. It's a means to an end where what they really want to do is find their next thing. I encourage you all to listen to this today and I think that, you know, we watch games on Sunday, on Saturday, and we do all these things. And at the end of the day, a lot of these guys, gals, coaches, are struggling and they're struggling with their mental health and they're struggling through alcohol and drugs and trying to make it through a week.

So just be really, really careful of your words, your thoughts, your feelings, you name it. You know, some of these celebrity athletes, because at the end of the day, they're just humans and a lot of them are just trying to find their way, being proud of themselves. And I'm glad my buddy is getting there and I can't wait to see what's next for him in this life that really is going to make a difference. The NFL is long gone, but this life is just starting for him. So I'm excited to see where it goes.

But I hope this hit home in a different way for you. Maybe there's something in this story that you can take in and go, me too. Has nothing to do with NFL. It's nothing to do with celebrity status. Has nothing to do with any of those things. But maybe it's one of those things where, you know, I've got to figure that out too. My identity, I'm, I'm struggling with or, you know, where am I spending my time and my money? Because that's really what you value. And last but not least is just remember there's countless individuals in this life that are just looking for a friend that needs help.

I mean, think about this, like all of his friends across the country, NFL sports player, celebrity status, and here's this, you know, mid 40 dude from Minnesota that's coming to visit him. None of those friends showed up. Nobody else showed up for him in that two hour block. No coaches of his former athlete teammates, nothing like that. It's long gone, that history's over. But what is, is being the best person he can be today and moving forward. So we had an awesome chat for about two hours and it's something I'll always remember.

And I am off to hit the treadmill now. But I wanted to share that story with you all because I think it's really important. All right, peace. Have a wonderful week. I will see you bright and early in the morning. I can't wait. I just wanted to share this story as this work is very important to me. And you never know behind the walls, behind the phone, behind a screen, behind a picture, behind a sports game, what's really going on with somebody. But it can be deep. All right, you guys, peace. And have a wonderful night.

And I will see you in the morning, bright and early. Okay, Bye. Bye. Thanks for joining. It's always the best to see you guys today. Bye. Bye.