Good Life Project - Chris Bosh | Letters to a Young Athlete

Episode Date: June 1, 2021

What happens when the thing you’ve loved since you were a kid, the thing that led you to become an 11-time NBA All-star, and two-time champion, playing alongside the best in the world, comes to a cataclysmic end at the age of 31? Leaving you to figure out what to do with the rest of your life? That is exactly what happened to this week’s guest, Chris Bosh. He fell in love with basketball at an early age and earned the prestigious “Mr. Basketball” title while still in high school in Dallas, Texas. A year into college, Chris was drafted to the Toronto Raptors, where he played for 7 years, before joining the Miami Heat and winning two championships. But, a handful of years into his time in Miami, he was having trouble breathing and found himself in the hospital with blood clots in his lungs. A year later, the clots returned in his leg, officially ending his career, and launching him into an exploration of who he was, beyond the sport that had defined much of his life and his career. Chris shared many of his awakenings in his new memoir, Letters to a Young Athlete (https://amzn.to/3wrUfi4).You can find Chris at:Website : https://www.chrisbosh.com/Instagram : https://www.instagram.com/chrisbosh/If you LOVED this episode:You’ll also love the conversations we had with rock icon, Peter Frampton about his profound passion for guitar that led to an album and career taking him to the top of the charts for year, but then leaving him to reimagine who he wanted to be in the context of an industry that pulled him to be someone else : https://tinyurl.com/GLPpeterframpton-------------Have you discovered your Sparketype yet? Take the Sparketype Assessment™ now. IT’S FREE (https://sparketype.com/) and takes about 7-minutes to complete. At a minimum, it’ll open your eyes in a big way. It also just might change your life.If you enjoyed the show, please share it with a friend. Thank you to our super cool brand partners. If you like the show, please support them - they help make the podcast possible. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

So what happens when the thing that you've loved since you were a kid, the thing that eventually would lead you to become an 11-time NBA all-star and two-time champion, playing alongside the best in the world, what happens when that comes to a cataclysmic end at the age of 31, leaving you to figure out not only what to do with the rest of your life, but who you are. That is exactly what happened to my guest this week, Chris Bosh. He fell in love with basketball at an early age and even earned the prestigious Mr. Basketball title while still in high school in Dallas, Texas. And a year into college, Chris entered the draft and ended up

on the Toronto Raptors where he played for seven years before joining the Miami Heat and winning two championships. But a handful of years into his time in Miami, he was having trouble breathing and found himself in the hospital with blood clots in his lungs. A year later, the clots returned to his leg, officially ending his career and leading to a season of reckoning and re-imagining, launching him into an exploration of who he was beyond the sport that had defined so much of his life and career. Chris shares many of the awakenings and insights and stories in his great new memoir, Letters to a Young Athlete. And we go deep into some of the early moments of awakening and then exploring in his career, what do you do when the thing that has defined so much of who you are and

how you move through the world and earns your living and supports your family when it just magically goes away? How do you change and re-identify who you are in the world and what you're here to do? So excited to share this conversation with you. I'm Jonathan Fields, and this is Good Life Project. The Apple Watch Series 10 is here. It has the biggest display ever. It's also the thinnest Apple Watch ever, making it even more comfortable on your wrist, whether you're running, swimming, or sleeping. And it's the fastest-charging Apple Watch,

getting you 8 hours of charge in just 15 minutes. The Apple Watch Series X. Available for the first time in glossy jet-black aluminum. Compared to previous generations, iPhone XS or later required, charge time and actual results will vary. Mayday, mayday. We've been compromised.

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So you came up in South Dallas. Yeah. Which it's kind of funny because when I think when a lot of people, especially when you're not from Texas and you think of Texas and you think of athletics, like when you're younger, the first thing that comes to mind is football. It's like the religion is football. Of course. So it was interesting for me to learn that actually there's a huge basketball culture in Texas too, which I didn't really know all that much about, but you were sort of like

dropped into that from the early stage. Yeah, absolutely. That's one of the funny things that my dad always says. He always, you know, I don't care. We went to the pinnacle of NBA basketball. His heart is still in those days, you know, of, of going to the games, you know, having the fan bus from the high school take everybody to the games and the parents and, you know, wearing that, having that, you know, Tiger pride. We called it Tiger pride back in high school, wearing the purple and white, having your Letterman jacket, you know, and watching the kids compete. I truly do believe that's some of the best times for a lot of people, especially in South Dallas. We were lucky enough to compete in a football state. We know we were never trying to be bigger than football.

It was always about sports for me. And with my high school team, we were able to win the state and national championship in my senior year. And that was so crazy because usually if you see a news crew in your neighborhood during that time, it's for the wrong reasons, you know. And it was just great to see the community come together around a sport, to see people happy and the teaching staff and everybody from the janitor to the principal, everybody was involved, you know, and it was something to do a couple times a week. And it just brought so much positivity.

And I know a lot of people look back fondly on that time, but that was kind of like the introduction. We were just trying to be the equivalent to football. Now, we knew it wouldn't happen. Texas will always be a football state, but just sports and school pride, that was always a huge, huge thing growing up. So we wanted it. We appreciated it. Those Friday night games at the football stadium or those Friday night games at the field house with basketball. I mean, it was always very spirited. It was always serious. And I mean, it was always a lot of fun. You know, we always just

wanted to go out there and represent our communities and our families well. Yeah. No, I love that. And that makes so much sense to me. It's interesting. I don't tell me if this is true or not somewhere in our research, we saw that basketball touches down earlier in your life, but you're also a multi-sport person. And, and was, was there actually a window where you were into gymnastics as well? I don't know where you heard that. Yeah, I did it for, I was four or five years old. So it's real young. Yeah, it's real. My parents put me in gymnastics. I was in gymnastics. Went to a lot of classes, but it was a community college. It was Cedar Valley Community College. That was kind of like the place for a while we went to

for activities and they had karate there. I did karate there at one point in time. Um, and yeah, gymnastics, gymnastics was definitely one of them. They had us, uh, or yeah, I had a swinging on the walking on the balance beam. We just started on walking. We started, you know, doing the movements and the stretches. And then they even had us on the high bar a couple of times. So, you know, it was an interesting experience. Yeah. Very, very splotchy memories, but yeah, it's correct. I did gymnastics for a little bit. That's pretty funny. Yeah, it was interesting to stumble upon that. You and I have like almost nothing in common from our upbringing, except for I was sort of aggressively competitive as a gymnast through the end of high school. And I remember in my senior year, so like hanging out

in the front of the high school and there it's sort of like, you know, we were the ones who were walking around in tights and leotards and we're hanging out with football players and the football players are like you guys aren't real athletes and i remember and we're just kind of like fun playful ribbing and then i showed him my hands and as gymnast you have you have no skin on your hands like you're competing that aggressively it's just and i remember him sort of recalling be like oh, oh, sorry, man. No, we're good. Like what you're doing is real. No, yeah, absolutely, man. Absolutely.

I've gotten the chance to, in my experience with the Olympics, I got the chance to, you know, meet a couple of gymnasts and, you know, have those conversations. And really athletes from all over the world who do those obscure sports that you could, you know, compete in the Olympics and win a gold medal in. And the crazy part was, you know, they had jobs and they had, you know, responsibility and things. And this was pretty much their vacation. The Olympics was their vacation. But it was one young lady in particular, She was a part of the rowing team and her arms, like the rowing team's arms were just, oh, man, like touching a book. You know, but just the sacrifice that those athletes make and have made. And, you know, it's always been like that from the beginning. But, you know, that's when I truly understood all the way that people give their life to these things and the training and the sacrifice that you make to get to that point.

Boy, just like you said, showing your hands. As soon as you said that, I said, man, gymnast, boy, that's a body takes a beating. And, you know, that's only because I knew gymnasts and had conversations. But, you know, that's why I love, you know, talking to people from different places, because you can always get a different perspective and a different respect. And it enhances a little more of what you thought you knew, you know? Yeah, for sure. I mean, it's interesting because, you know, for anyone who's sort of followed your career or follows sports, there are certain assumptions that people make, I think, about athletes

in general, about pro athletes in different sports. And what's always been fascinating about you is you're somebody who seems like has been focused definitely fiercely on the pursuit of sport, of excellence within a particular sport, but also from the earliest days, there's been something bigger. It's like the pursuit of the human being of the, the more well-rounded your commitment to study and reading and academics at the same time. It's like, that's been a part of you from the earliest days as well. I grew up in a very, uh, uh, not strict. Uh, my family was very big on education and very big on speaking properly and very big on going to church and doing all these things, that sense of family, sense of community. That's where I learned these things.

And, you know, they, they, we had a standard, you know, and there's a certain floor, I suppose, that you have as a requirement for an athlete. Ours was not the floor. Ours, we had to meet here. We had to be at the ceiling, you know? So it was very, all of my aunts, so to speak, are retired teachers, just to give you a thought of where it is. And it's four of them. And one of them was a cop, you know, a female cop back in the eighties in Dallas, you know, so they made sure, of course, the whole family made sure that we were always paying attention in class. You know, my grandma, rest her soul, she would always say, did you get your lesson? You know, that was pretty much the first question that she would ask pretty much every day after school. And,

you know, for us, it kind of became, and for me in particular, it kind of became something of a challenge. I always wanted to meet and exceed the expectations because in doing that, I saw how important it was to get an education just by the look on people's faces when I started to speak or I said I got an A or I'm on the A-B honor roll or the A honor roll. And one of those things that really, really encouraged me early on was because I was on the A honor roll, I was in the fourth grade. I got to go to a Mavericks game. No, they got three tickets, three or four tickets for the Dallas Mavericks and for being on the honor roll. And it's, you know, in a small town, Hudson's elementary fourth grade, you know, they didn't say it would be a prize.

It just, someone just gave me tickets one day and I was, oh, wow. And my dad couldn't take me, but my older cousin could. And we had just one of the best times. And then that kind of clicked. And I got that instant, not instant gratification, but you know what I'm saying, like kind of one of the things to say, wow, things can happen. If you pay attention in class and do good stuff, good things can happen. And I took that to heart. I still can remember that night that we had. We had the best time.

We were all the way in the back. It was the old reunion arena. They tore it down best time we were all the way in the back it was the old reunion arena they tore it down and um we were in row s it's the last row so it's so small they couldn't even go to z and our head was against the concrete on our seats and it was just the best time. And I was obsessed with basketball and, you know, just that pursuit of excellence. I think that's where it started. And ever, ever since then, I mean, you know, I saw how important it was to be a student athlete and how important it was to continue, you know, your education. Um, and, and I eventually, you know, just recently with writing the book and everything to, to, to knowing like you know, your education. And then I eventually, you know, just recently with writing the book and everything,

to knowing like, you know, the what can be taken away, but the why cannot. You know, my what was basketball. That's what I played. That's what I identified as. That's what I did. But my love for it, my friendships that I made, you know, the lives that we were able to touch, hopefully, the example that I was able to set. Those are the things that continue to go and continue to live on and, you know, just have such a wonderful lifetime. So I was lucky enough to

always, even if I didn't know what I was doing, just try to aspire to be a decent human being on top of being the best basketball player I could be. Yeah. I mean, it's curious also, I mean, you end up at Lincoln, you know, like stellar high school career. And then that, um, and then you end up starting out at, uh, Georgia tech and you're one year in, you know, and you're shiny, like you're, you're playing ball and you're also like diving at the academics and you're one year in, you know, and you're shiny, like you're, you're playing ball and you're also like diving at the academics and you make this call, like you make it given what you just shared, you make a really interesting call, right? Because you're like, okay, so I could go through the four years. Um, or I can like, I feel like I'm good enough. I'm ready. I could declare

eligibility for the draft now, which is what you did. And one of my curiosities was sort of given where you came from and given that family focus, I have to imagine that wasn't the easiest decision for you. It was not. A lot of people don't think I'm telling the truth when I say that. They say, man, no, man, it's easy. It was not easy at all. Pretty much what happened. I mean, just like anything, I had those growing pains of getting to college. You know, you know, full disclosure at Lincoln, we did not have the resources. We didn't have the resources that other schools had or have. And, you know, basketball was the outlet. And so when I got to college, you know, I was I was a little bit too ahead of myself and thinking

I'm smart without doing the work. And then I noticed like, OK, I have to catch up in the classroom. And and I had never my ego took a hit. You know, I never had to do that before I never had to drop a class because you know I'm not on par with the standard of passing that class you know so I had to drop a couple classes I had that experience and that was embarrassing a little bit but basketball was always that you know thing to to fall back on and I eventually got to it, eventually learned the ropes. And I'm telling you, as soon as I learned the ropes, as soon as I got used to college, the weather starts breaking,

everybody's going to parties again, we're back. And that's when I was informed that, hey, you'll be a top five draft pick. And so the NBA was something that I aspired my whole life. It was my dream. And that's what I wanted to do. I put everything into accomplishing that. And in that, I guess I did a pretty good job.

And that wasn't even my focus in college. Of course it was. But I said, OK, that'll happen later. Let me just go to practice. I was too busy, you know, adjusting. And then, I mean, as soon as I'm getting used to it, as soon as I've got the flow and saying, you know, and saying to myself, like, you know what, I'm this is all right. I'm finally in the saddle. I'm in the pocket. I feel good when I'm going to tutor and I've got my homework done. It's time to go. And I was, you know, my friends and, you know, everybody we had to, I let them know. And, you know, it was a hard decision because I had built a bond and we had a team and it was a family. And I knew that I was leaving a point of being in the dorm room and having, you know, just that camaraderie of three roommates and the rest of

our team is staying above us and under us, man, that's so much fun. But when it was time, it was a tough decision to make, but you know I told myself like okay look this is what you've been waiting on they said you're number four it's now the time is now and we gotta go the Apple Watch Series 10 is here. It has the biggest display ever. It's also the thinnest Apple Watch ever, making it even more comfortable on your wrist, whether you're running, swimming, or sleeping. And it's the fastest-charging Apple Watch,

getting you 8 hours of charge in just 15 minutes. The Apple Watch Series 10. Available for the first time in glossy jet black aluminum. Compared to previous generations, iPhone XS or later required. Charge time and actual were a kid. You've got family, like you said, four aunts who are teachers. And you're at a great school, too. And at the same time, everybody knows that in the world of professional sport,

you just don't know. You don't know if and when you're going to get in. You don't know what's going to happen when you're in. You don't know how long it's going to last, even if you're there. So there's so much that goes into that decision. And meanwhile, you're what, like 19 at that point? 18? 19 years old, man, just turned 19. That is a tough call. So you end up going in, you had to declare in the next year, you become a part of what's known as maybe one of the most iconic drafts in the history of NBA drafts. LeBron comes out, then Mello comes out, then Dwayne comes out then. And you're like, you're the top four, you know, um, you end up going, um, growing up in Dallas, spending a year in Georgia and then dropped into Toronto. Yeah. What's that like?

It was a culture shock, um, on so many levels, of course, fast forward, you know, end up loving it. And I got used to the cold and made friends and got used to and learned to love it. But when I first got there, I thought I knew what snow was. I thought I knew what a winter was. Had no idea. spoke, seeing kilometers per hour as opposed to miles per hour, you know, different television networks and stuff like that. Everything was different. And I kind of felt you can kind of get to a point where you're feeling like, man, things are moving too fast and I can barely keep up. But that was just a part of the gig, you know, and I just really just fell into it.

And luckily, I had the game to just really, really keep pushing and make things happen. But, you know, even on the court, I'm playing against grown men. I've been playing against my peers my whole life, and I'm 19. Now I'm playing against guys who could be my father, you know? And I mean, even on that, like I was, you know, alluding to that next level in college, it was another level in the NBA. So I just felt like I was never, the ground and the target was always moving and, you know, dealing with those tough times, having to build up that perseverance to get to the point to say, okay, this is what I'm doing. I remember, I remember we were in Washington one night

and, and like back-to-back games were just like a new thing. Like, wait a minute, we got a game tomorrow in the NBA. I didn't even know you do that. And we were playing, you know, back-to-backs, those were the toughest things to do. And I remember after a while, my coach, I'm just 19 years old, you know, in Washington, having another bad game and another rough start, the back to back. He would get on me like, you got to start playing better back to back. Like, yo, I'm trying. I can't even. What am I doing? I'm just in a fog, you know, and just dealing with all those things. But in that, you know, there's a beauty in that because while I was doing those things, I'm making friends in Toronto. My family get to come and see me and we're going to basketball games in another country.

We get to have all these cool experiences that I probably wouldn't have in Texas, you know, and looking back on it, that's the thing. Those are the things that I really, really came to appreciate. And the more that they happened, the more I got used to it. And I found the uniqueness in that. And I eventually became, you know, the franchise player and I just wanted to be successful in basketball. That was the main thing. But in

that, all these great peripheral things were coming to me and it was just, just an amazing thing to experience. Yeah. I mean, the whole time you're there, um, like you said, you become the franchise player for those who sort of like don't follow. That means you're effectively the person who's front and center on the team. Yeah.stone yeah and you're there for seven years and like you just said i want to play i want to win um that's not happening with the raptors so you're seven years in right and you have an interesting you know and you're like okay so you know i put in my time you know i and you're like, okay, so, you know, I put in my time, you know, I'm not, I'm not a kid anymore. I'm not sort of like green. Um, and I really want to understand like what's next for me. And you end up in conversation with Pat Riley, who's this legendary coach at that

point, like Miami heat, uh, New Yorker and me. So I know him in a different way, right? But here's the interesting thing, you end up joining the Heat. Pat is, you know, he's one of those coaches who is known as being like all about the complete human being too. It's not just about the complete player, it's about the complete human being and very, very focused on mindset as well, which seemed like suited you really well, especially at that moment in time. It did. You know, I do have to say my dad, when we were in during the recruiting process and free agency, it was funny to watch. It's funny to watch your dad geek out over, you know, over over somebody. And it's like, oh, look, put your poker face on, man. You know what I mean? It's the business, dad. You know, it's like, oh, look, put your poker face on, man. You know what I mean?

It's the business, dad. You know what I mean? It's the negotiation. Yeah, you know, come on. We got to be stern. We got to let them know. But, you know, Pat, he, I mean, obviously he's an icon. And when you get to know him, you see why.

And it wasn't until later that we were able to have those conversations because, of course, during that time, you know, you get to a point when you see the moment of opportunity to be great. That's what everybody's focus was, you know. And as we got to know each other better, we made the decision to come down, went to Miami, you know, we started competing. That's when, you know, those those knocks on the door at the office and just having a sit down when times are tough. Or I remember one time during I went over, he would always have a Christmas party over his house.

You know, the Heat are very close knit family. And I mean, having a Christmas party over Pat's house every year. And one particular year, I found myself, it was just me and him after the party had ended. And he has this amazing guitar collection. And we were just talking and I'm looking and we're sitting at his bar. He has a very, very beautiful home. And we're sitting at the bar. I'm just admiring, you know, his stuff. And he gets like this special whiskey and he pours it out. He said, yeah, me and Springsteen drink that every time,

you know, we get together, you know? And then it's like, wow, that's so crazy. And then, you know, we just would talk about life and talk about, you know, trying to get the best out of yourself every day. You know, that was, that was always the crux of our conversations. And sometimes we just, you know, just talk about the kids or talk about what's going on as much of a competitor he is and as much of a winner and a champion that he is, he's very much so into his family. And so, you know, just having those conversations with such a great person who's

done so much, I, you know, I recorded all of that stuff and I just wanted to keep it for myself and just keep it in my brain and say, okay, this is the thing. This is what I'm doing every day. When I wake up, this is the, this is the motivation. This is what we're trying to achieve. Having that goal, being spirited about going after something that everybody says is impossible, you know, and doing it over and over again, just his excellence and his mind frame was always, always, always infectious. And I just, you know, I cherish those conversations that we had. Yeah.

And I mean, that's something that had to have been so important at that window in time too, because not only is this a big change for you, but you're also, you're going from being the franchise player on one team for the better part of seven years to a team where now two of those guys who came out in the draft with you are on that team and, and they're the franchise players on that team. Like you drop

into like a team. So all of a sudden you become sort of like one of a threesome that people, you know, like start to know as a big three, but rather than you being like the front and center person, like there's, there had to have been a psychological and emotional period of adjustment for you. I would have to imagine, be like, okay, so this is a whole different dynamic and I'm going to have to figure out like, who am I in this new context? Absolutely. And you know, me, Dwayne and Bron, I mean, we've been knowing each other since we were teenagers, you know, LeBron and I pretty much met on the on the AAU circuit back in 2001, you know, and he was 16, I was 17.

You know, you're just like a kid. And then he's at the next weekend. And so am I. And we're at this tournament. And so am I. And he's here. And we're just keep being in the same places. And then, you know, then the draft thing happens. And Dwayne and I had the same agent, the late, great Henry Thomas. And we, you know, we built a connection through there. So we were always in each other's atmosphere. And that's one of the things that I think that really made it work because we always were familiar with each other. And then for me, when I got to the point of, you know, saying, okay, hey, you know, there was a bit of naive, naive mind frame to say, oh man, this is going to be so easy. Once I get here, yeah, I know it's three of us, but I'll probably be doing this and he'll probably be doing that. And yeah, it'll all

be equal. And it was going for the wrong things because I was thinking in terms of attention and notoriety and that pat on the back. And that was a mistake. You know, you always need to focus on the task at hand, what the goal is, helping aid your team to that goal. But with that said, you know, with the struggles that came with being the third peg in a th threesome or whatever it is you know I learned to fall into the team more I learned to be uh I learned to actually like play basketball yeah I learned more about basketball because at first it was just give me the ball and get out the damn way you know that now it's I have to talk to guys and and we have to figure things out. There was always this, you know, kind of moving intelligence that we always had to really figure things out. And, you know, late night conversations,

a lot of dinners, a lot of film sessions, a lot of treatments where we're just trying to figure things out. And that's when I really understood that it takes a whole team to be successful. You know, there's not just one person. You know, I think sometimes we glorify too much that we don't understand. So everybody sees Michael Jordan and phenomenal, amazing player. That's obvious. And we see him getting the trophy every year and people make a mistake by saying, yes, Jordan against these guys. No, no, no, no, no. It's the Bulls. And he has a really good team. He has a great team. And a lot of people miss the fact that even when he was talking, he talked about team. You know, he talked about filling in the plugs, being that person to lead the team, getting his team to do it, because he understood that, you know, he, you know, just by himself, he could not accomplish much at all.

But with the team, that's when, that's when things become great. And if he's the best player on the best team, then boy, sky's the limit. But he kind of gave that projection that it was very easy and just, which he did make it look easy, but he put a lot of work into it. And that's, that's one of the things that I learned being with end up there, have kind of a heartbreaking first season, but then boom, boom, back to back after that, you guys actually take the title. And then, you know, the team changes. LeBron is no longer on it, but you're sort of like still all in.

But then everything turns upside down in your world. Like you're, I i mean you're playing it's what uh 2016 when stuff starts to go wrong with you with your health it's 2015 2015 uh yeah 2015 um the first instance was very very serious of course they're both serious. But the first one, you know, I was focused. You know, LeBron is gone. I'm in a mode in my career where I'm trying to prove that I am still one of the best players in the world. That our team can still be successful despite anything. And we were working to get back to that championship form. A little bit of a down year in 2014, 2015. But then I started having shortness of breath and, you know, a little pain.

It started out as a little pain in my left side, you know, my ribs. Like, man, man, I must be having cramps or something. And it got worse and worse and worse to the part where it was just debilitating. I went to the hospital and two weeks later, after a surgery, I go home. And, you know, came within inches of my life, I've been told. And, you know, they were putting, when I got there, you go from, okay, let me just get checked out, make sure I'm good. Then they were, you know, sticking the oxygen thing in my nose and telling me that the next

24 hours are crucial. What's going through your mind at that point? It was crazy. It's kind of disbelief, kind of like, no, this isn't happening. I'm looking on the TV and we just made a big trade for Goran Dragic. It's like, oh, man, this is looking good. That's when they're relaying the information to me that it's, you know, we're going to have to keep you here. You can't go home.

You know, I was just going for a routine checkup and going from A to B to C to D to E, you know, just doing what the doctors asked me to do. And then when I thought I was going to get out a few days later, they gave me more bad news and told me they would have to perform surgery on me and that I would have tube drain drainage tubes in my lungs. I had like two openings in my lungs and they put the tubes through there to drain my lung. And that would be for another week and a half, you know. So, you know, I just went from, you know, thing to thing. And then after that, I was able to still return to all-star form that next year, still able to be an all-star. And, um, this particular instance, um, we were, I felt we could have competed for a championship. We're focused. We're back. I've got this little soreness in my calf just came out of nowhere.

I start freaking out. I do the right thing and go to the hospital and say, hey, let me make sure it's not a blood clot. And it was, you know, and that was the last time pretty much that I had played basketball, you know, and it was a very, very tough thing to get over. But in the moment, I thought I was still going to be able to play. And for the next two years, I pursued playing. And, you know, obviously I did not play, but it was kind of a surreal moment to be going from the highest of highs and trying to get back there and having an actual opportunity. You know, I was like, man, I'm not saying we'll win a championship, but boy, you're going to have to beat us.

And wouldn't that be so cool if we play Cleveland in the Eastern Conference Finals? If I play Toronto in the second round of the playoffs, it's kind of shaping up like that. Wouldn't that be great? And that's the part of my career that I didn't get to experience. But, you know, it just kind of just happened very fast. And, you know, it's unfortunate, but, you know, I just kind of just happened very fast and you know, it's unfortunate, but you know, I wouldn't have it any other way. I love where I am now. And I still love the game of basketball. It was just at that time, things got crazy. Yeah. Cause I mean, you go like you

go in the first time you find out pulmonary embolism, there's the clots, but you have a surgery and you're like, okay, so, so that's behind me. Like that wasn't fun, but it's behind me. And then a year later you have this comes back again, but then, you know, in your leg and it's like, oh, so maybe this isn't a one and done. And then those around you, um, and then the team basically says, no, we're actually telling you you're out. Yeah. I mean, you know, you, uh, I, you know, ended up, uh, it's an unfortunate situation, but it ended up with conversations with doctors and lawyers and, and agents and, you know, nobody wants to be in that situation, but pretty much if you get blood clots twice, you, you know, I was radioactive, you know, it was, uh, it was nothing else to talk

about. The treatment is blood thinners for life and you cannot compete in physical contact sports on blood thinners, you know, and that became the paradox, you know. And I gave it all college try. We went through all kind of different types of research and I tried things and tested things. And and, you know, I had to realize that sometimes things don't end the way you want them to. And that was a very, very tough pill to swallow. Yeah. The Apple Watch Series 10 is here. It has the biggest display ever.

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We've been compromised. The pilot's a hitman later um february 2019 When it all becomes official, which I guess it's a couple years later, February 2019, there's sort of like the quote official retirement, when the Heat basically retires your number one jersey. Yeah. What's that moment like for you? It's surreal in a good way. I mean, man, it's such an interesting thing having all these experiences because I never,

you know, I dreamed about it so much. It felt real. And then when it happens in real life, it's like, oh, OK, yeah. You know, I've been excited so many times and I still am excited. But it's just it's kind of it's almost like deja vu, a sense of deja vu being able to have that. I was a lot older in my memory when I was, or my visualization when I was doing these things. But, you know, it's just a surreal moment just to even have that respect and have that ability to do something like that. I mean, it was such a cool experience to have that.

I mean, you know, I come from Hutchins, Texas, of course. It started out on the concrete playing with my friends, you know, in a basket that's crappy with no net, you know. And that was what transpired from that moment. And I've just really had to sit back and marvel at the lineage of that alone. And, you know, the Heat and, you know, the Arison family and the Riley family being so gracious to be open to doing something like that. And in saying that, I mean, Pat was the one that said no one else will wear the number one jersey. And I couldn't, you know, it was just like, man, wow. I felt that I had so much more work to do to be able to earn that. But I was able to still

earn that. And those are the things that I found that was very special amongst the journey. But more importantly, the friends that I made, the connections that I made, the lessons that I learned. Those were the things that all those things I just were thinking about as we watch the jersey go up. And, you know, most importantly, it having a family name on there, having Bosch on there. My family is very prideful, very big in the Bosch name, you know, most importantly, it having a family name on there, having Bosh on there. My my family is very prideful, very big in the Bosh name, you know, and my grandfather, my dad joked all the time. He said, man, if you know if he died when I was he died when I was like one or two. He said, man, if you if if your grandfather knew how much money you were making from playing basketball, it would have killed him. So, you know, he was, he kind of started the process of that family. He was so proud of his children and putting family first and working hard. You know, I tried to always embody those

values. And now, you know, now his name is up there in the rafters, you know, and that's such a special thing for me. Yeah. I mean, that's so powerful. And then you find yourself 31 years old, you know, like husband, dad, having largely defined your identity, you know, like for the first 31 years of your life as a basketball player, sort of like in this moment saying, okay, so if I'm not that, what am I and who am I? That's an excellent question, isn't it? If I'm not that, what am I? And that's kind of why we always say, you know, we built up a saying like, you know,

they can take away the what, but not the why, you know, we built up a saying like, you know, they can take away the what, but not the why. You know, and what I was was a basketball player. But why I did it was the love of the game, to make friends. Who I am is a good person that's trying to get better. And I can always do that every single day. And that's one of the challenges with athletes and really anyone who has been totally submerged in something for their whole life, you know, especially if they've been lucky enough to be actual, have some accomplishments. I mean, I was able to do all these cool things before 30. And I said, man, I'm off to a hell of a start. Boy, five or 35 is going to be crazy. You know, I'm going to be like this and this and this. You have all these preconceived notions of how things are going to go. And, you know, it didn't happen like that for me. So I had to kind of fall back into discovering, having that rediscovery,

you know, and not having the game can be debilitating. But that is the question. Yeah. Who am I? What do I do? What do I want to do with this thing? And I've been lucky enough. And I talk about it in the book as well. I've had, um, you know, mentors and coaches who challenged me to think that way. Not that I would get it right away, but I had a gentleman by the name of Thomas Hill. He would work me out all the time and we were working out one day and he just stopped the workout. And he was looking at me, just like looking at me. I said, okay, we're going to continue.

And he said, yo, what are you doing? What do you want? What do you want to do with this? What's going on? And it was such an interesting thing for someone to ask me. And I said, well, I want to go to Division I college and I want to be good one day. He said, no, no, no, no, no. Put that to the side.

You got that. You're doing that. That's easy. Think about the people that you want to affect. The reason for doing these things. And that kind of always stayed in the back of my mind, you know, even to this day. So even if I'm, you know, out there scoring 20 points a night or 30 points a night, it's more important that I'm a outstanding figure, a role model to the kids looking up to me. It's more important that I say the right things and be that person that people can look up to, you know, and that was my why, you know,

and that on top of doing what I love and expressing myself and being able to perform in front of people that was just in, in, in being able to be on a team that is tight knit and having fun and, and making each other better. Those were the reasons that I played the game. And, and I had to toughly eventually answer that question like, man, yeah, basketball is gone. It's gone. It's not coming back. You are you will not be a player. And that's, you know, sometimes that could be a very, very, very challenging thing to answer. And and I was I was lucky enough to to find some other things and find some hobbies. But more importantly, just keep pushing toward that goal and have the perseverance to know that everything will be okay if I continue to put the work in.

Yeah. I mean, and so interesting that you had that early experience with that one coach who just stopped you in the middle. And it's like, what an amazing invitation. Like he planted a seed in that moment in time, which sort of like, you know, said, okay, so you may think that this is what this is about now, but you got to go deeper than that, you know, because, and, you know, and he knew, like he didn't know it was going to end because of health reasons at 31. But, you know But the activity itself, like the surface level activity, the expression, it's always gonna end at some point.

And if you don't understand what the deeper drivers are, like you say and you write about in your book, like knowing the why underneath that, then it can leave you in a really, really dark place. But it sounds like you were able to sort of like tap into those deeper, that deeper, why those deeper drivers, um, because that seed had been planted years earlier in your life. So maybe, yeah, there's, there's still this window of transition. There's still probably some

darkness there, you know, you have to kind of grieve what's happening, but at the same time, you're like, all right, so if these are all the things that i got from it and i gave to it like what other channels exist for me to sort of like recreate that to get that same experience that same feeling but differently absolutely i kind of it kind of took me back to being a kid yeah like i was saying earlier um being that kid on the concrete and doing it with your friends. And, you know, you do it because it's fun, because you aspire to be great one day. But most importantly, it's fun. You know, a perfect summer day was wake up, eat breakfast, go hoop,

come back, play video games, eat lunch, go hoop, come back, play video games, watch a movie, do the same exact thing tomorrow. Maybe even go to the dollar movie. I know they don't have a dollar movies anymore. Maybe go to the dollar movie, you know, watch a movie and then we're going to do the same thing again. That was the perfect summer for me. Nobody thought about money or points or anything. I was just with my friends. And so I kind of went back to that place in writing. I had always wrote as a kid. I had been told I had a gift for writing, you know, for my English teachers and stuff like that. I never really paid attention to it because to be honest, I didn't

like it. And it was one of those things I can do it, but I don't like it. And, you know, I just kept doing it. And I found myself sitting down writing every day and trying to get better every day. And it didn't make sense, you know, writing and learning how to play the guitar, you know, did it make any sense? No, but it excited me because it didn't, you know, it, you know, it doesn't make any sense to go out in the Texas heat with a rubber basketball and just be out there with no water. It doesn't make any sense, but I did it because I loved it, you know, and that's where I found myself. You know, I found myself in that same situation afterwards and, you know, just really falling into that and falling into, you know, picking my kid up from class,

dropping my son off after school and doing homework and, you know, writing in my morning pages every morning and, you know, just having that commitment to doing those things, it reminded me of ball. And so then I just started having more reflections on those who helped me and those tough moments that I got through. And so I ended up using those lessons that I learned to help me in some kind of way deal with what was going on with me at the time. I didn't know what was happening. I didn't know what was going on. But like those conversations with Thomas Hill, it equipped me, even if I didn't know it. I was out in the wilderness for sure, and I'm scared, and I'm mad and frustrated, and I'm angry. But I have the tools to survive and thrive and eventually find that next thing and get to work. Yeah, it's so interesting that you turned one of those go-tos was writing

to kind of like help you both as almost like a new pursuit. Like, oh, this is kind of like, this is something that's a craft that's similar to like athletics. It's gonna take time. Even if you have quote talent, it's hard work to write, you know?

And it's over and over. It's interesting. You just use the phrase morning pages. I'm curious whether you're actually referring to like the artist's way morning pages. Yes, sir. That was, yeah, that book was recommended to me by a good friend, Jay Cole, actually. You know, I'm a music lover and we went to his show and it was in San Antonio and we got to see him after and he had mentioned it.

And I said, wow, okay. And I really didn't, you know, think anything of it. But then of course, my wife being the amazing person she is, she ordered the book and I, you know, I started reading it and yeah, those morning pages really hit me. And I said, okay, I'm going to do that. And I did it for months, weeks and months and months, you know, and just notebooks and notebooks of stuff. And, you know, it was tiring. It was frustrating. It was happiness, sadness, euphoria. You know, it was just this whole spectrum of things that, you know, I went to, but went through. But most importantly, I got to see what was in my mind. When it's up here, it's not as dangerous, even if it is detrimental to you.

I got my mind out and said, ooh, I don't like what I'm reading. Let me back up. Man, I am being a little negative, just a little bit. I'm being a little downer right now. I'm having a pity party, and I'm the only dude here. Let me change that. Let me morph it. And, you know, I found myself writing these reflections and these stories and these just remembering things, things just start coming to you. And, you know, that was kind of, kind of in a way, the inception of, of the idea of the book.

Yeah. I mean, the, so the book, The Letters to a Young Athlete, which is kind of, it's a bit of a riff on the letters to a young poet. So what's interesting is as you read it, there were a couple of interesting things that popped out. Well, there was a lot of interesting stuff that popped out. And we've talked about some of that,

like your focus intensely on really understanding your why, like a sense of hunger that drives, you know, what is actually driving underneath it and your intense focus on cultivating your mind, you know, beyond the body and just you, not just you as a player, but you as a, a well-rounded human being, um, you, you end every chapter with your signature. Like each chapter is a letter that you're writing. And there's something I'm about halfway through reading it. Right. And I'm thinking, and I keep seeing this pop up and I'm like, okay, so that was, that was a letter and he signed it. And then this question popped into my mind that I got really curious about, which is who you writing this to, because are, you know, because on the one hand I'm like, okay, so you're writing this to, you know, the potential readers of the book. But then I'm also thinking, you're a dad. And in the back

of my mind is wondering, is there is a part of you that's also writing this to your kids? Oh, yeah, for sure. Absolutely. I more so took an approach. You know, my kids are, you know, they're quite young right now. So I didn't have them. Everybody's like, wait till they're 16. Like, hey, take it easy. I love that. I'm in, I'm taking every baby stage and toddler stage and preteen stage in right now. So pump the brakes. But I, you know, I could say that one of the inspirations was writing it to my younger self, almost in a sense, because I knew if I took that approach and we had that vibe.

That through that, we would be able to reach more people that are aspiring to be great. I'm talking to that person that's aspiring to be great and then do great things and trying to get better. Because there isn't anything I can tell you. I can't say, well, hey, just connect the connector like that. And then you're a champion. It doesn't work like that. And I would never try to even try to tell somebody that that's the secret. The secret is there is no secret. All I can do is tell you what I feel, the things that helped me, and hopefully give you the tools so you can use them yourself and put your own personality on it. So with that, I mean, I was always a kid, you know, aspiring to do decent in class and, you know, excel in the court, the class part, you know, that's not the most popular,

you know, that's not always the best, you know, it's not well received and it should be. And sometimes people can feel a certain way because like, man, I feel alone because I'm here on the internet building all these great websites and stuff like that. And I go to school and nobody cares. You know, I want to speak to that person because I was that person as well. You know, I was basketball home. That was it. Eventually I got to have, you know, go to parties and, you know, worked up my responsibility to do that stuff. But in my neighborhood in Hutchins, Texas, even though if I was going to school in Dallas, we didn't have many neighbors, you know, it was very rural and very wooded area. They used to, you know, make fun of me for that. But, you know, you, you, you eventually, I eventually got to the

point where I wanted to, you know, in, in speaking to my younger self, I knew that so many people would connect with that or hoped that so many people would connect to that. Now, yeah, my children are getting older and, you know, these are, you know, lessons that I would want them to have and to aspire to really build on. And, you know, it's just one of those things to where tapping into that, you know, all these emotions and all these thoughts and stories started coming back to me. We just wanted to craft it in a way to where people could understand and where it made sense. And I, and I always like to say too, I was a very avid reader growing up, you know, before, after games on the plane, on the bus, on the thing, I got a book, you know, before, after games, on the plane, on the bus, on the thing, I got a book,

you know, and this is pretty much the book I'd want to read if I was like getting ready for an important situation. This is the book that I felt that was needed to aid those and people going through some serious times. If you know, all right, I'm about to, you know, go using it as a metaphor. If I'm going into this arena, what am I reading before the seriousness hits? That's what the idea behind it was. Yeah, no, I love that. And it was really cool to see how, you know, you pull on the one hand, you know, you're pulling from a conversation that you had with a player or with some iconic coach. And then on the other hand, you're quoting, you know, like, you find the common pattern, the common thread. How do they weave into one storyline or one, like a point of view that's coherent and helpful in some meaningful way? Yeah, that's what this is about because I got, I received so much information from a book about cooking or a book about the president and what he went through during this time or the 48 laws of power.

You know, those were, you know, or my good friend Ryan Holiday, his book, Obstacle is the Way. You know, those were those were some of the books where I was like, man, this is helping my game on the court, you know, and this is a business book. It's a business book. I'm putting that in parentheses, you know, and I just related so much to it. And I wanted to give that memento back, you know, to society. And hopefully, you know, someone will draw those parallels and they have to draw them for themselves. Right. I mean, it would be naive for me to say, well, this is just like this. No, no, no.

I'm just like, I told you before, I'm gonna tell you my story. You take for it, you know, what you need and you connect the dots. And I know what it did for me in helping me, you know, navigate life and figure things out and try to be successful. And, you know, sometimes it's about confidence too,

because, you know, I want to feed my mind enough to make sure that I'm confident. You know, not only have I worked on my game, but my mind, I feel, is sharp enough to be able to handle what's about to come to me. So if we're in the NBA finals, game seven, and things aren't going well, I'm not going to freak out. Because I know and I have confidence in myself that I have all the tools to make this thing happen right now. I can rise to the occasion right now and make it happen because I put the work in. I firmly believe that. And putting the work in had a lot to do with reading as well and cultivating the mind, like I said in the book. Yeah, I love that. It feels like a good place for us to come full circle in our conversation as well.

So hanging out here in this container of a good life project, if I offer up the phrase to live a good life, what comes up? Man, to live a good life, you know up? Man, to live a good life, you know, treat the person next to you well. You know, figure out a way to have a substantial meal, a good meal, you know, find a way to do that.

You know, hopefully laugh. And, you know, go after something. Have that goal you want to go after. It doesn't mean I didn't, you know, I noticed I haven't said one word about actually attaining that goal. Find that thing that you love and you go after it every day. It doesn't matter if it's one page or one word or one sentence, you'd be surprised what could happen if you just identify that passion and go after it. And if you don't know it, go after finding it. But every day when you wake up, you want to have that thing.

You want to have a good meal. And if you laugh, I think that's a pretty solid day i'll take that day every day and be nice and loving and give some love man i'll take that every day yeah i hear you man it's um it's like uh jimmy valvano's famous uh you know every day laugh a little cry a little and learn something jimmy v and that was, you know, that's always been one of the things that I try to take to heart. I really, I really try to listen to those moments that people have given us, those moments of truth when they tell us something, especially if it's cliche. I listen to the cliche. Oh boy. I have learned to listen to the cliches. And so, you know, with that said, I just, you know, just really, really try to live my life daily by it.

And, and, and, you know, live with the consequences. Love it. Thank you very much. Thank you, man. It's, uh, this has been great. Hey, before you leave, if you love that episode, safe safe bet you'll also love the conversation we had with rock icon peter frampton about his profound passion for guitar that led to an album and a career taking him to the top of the charts for years but then also leaving him to reimagine who he wanted to be in the context of an industry that pulled him and told him to be something and someone entirely different.

You'll find a link to Peter's episode in the show notes. Even if you don't listen now, be sure to download so it's easy and ready to go when you want to click and play on the go. And of course, if you haven't already done so, be sure to follow Good Life Project in your favorite listening app so you'll never miss an episode. And then share the Good Life Project love with friends. Because when ideas become conversations that lead to action, that's when real change takes hold. See you next time. Apple Watch Series 10 is here.

It has the biggest display ever. It's also the thinnest Apple Watch Series 10 is here. It has the biggest display ever. It's also the thinnest Apple Watch ever, making it even more comfortable on your wrist, whether you're running, swimming, or sleeping. And it's the fastest-charging Apple Watch, getting you eight hours of charge in just 15 minutes. The Apple Watch Series 10. Available for the first time in glossy jet black aluminum.

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