Jono, Ben & Megan - The Podcast - BONUS: Brad Smeele On His New book 'Owning It: The Ride That Changed My Life'

Episode Date: August 29, 2022

Brad Smeele is a quadriplegic who's faced big challenges - he's written a book called 'Owning It: The Ride That Changed My Life', and talks about his journey, and changing his perspectives. It's an inspiring chat, check it out.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Welcome to a bonus podcast from Jono and Ben on The Hits. Oh, it's doing well, thank you. How are you guys? Oh, it's really nice to talk to you. The book being out now, how's it feel? It's a bit surreal. I mean, it's one of those things I've put just so many years of work into it that it's incredible to finally have it out in bookstores and people's hands and then finally reading it. I imagine it was quite therapeutic for you writing this. Yeah, it was both cathartic and also very challenging

and also at times kind of sort of sent me toward a state of depression, just kind of like the amount of time I had to spend digging through the past, kind of reliving the best years from before my accident. And so there was a lot of ups and downs on the journey. Overall, it was really quite healing and, you know, helped me process everything and helped me, yeah, helped me to really heal. Well, the book is called Owning It, The Ride That Changed My Life.

That ride in particular, you know, the moment, and I'm sorry to bring this up again to talk about, but, you know, everything changed from that moment. What was the trick that you were trying to do on the wakeboard? So, I mean, the name for it is Double Tantrum to Blind, which a tantrum is basically just a straight backflip. So it's a double backflip with a backside 180 rotation, and the main difference was it was on a mega ramp.

So similar to your freestyle motocross type setup, you've got a big ramp to land down. So it means you can go a lot bigger. And the landings, in theory, were supposed to be a bit softer. But yeah, so unfortunately, I wasn't crashing into the water. You crashed into the ramp. Yeah, bowed out at the wrong time and went head first. Because you'd nailed the trick a couple of weeks before.

You're the only person ever in the world to have done it. Yeah, it was one of my best achievements, and I ended up winning trick of the year for that trick, but I was in the spinal unit already by that point, by the time the trick got awarded or the award got given. And do you know instantly, uh-oh, this is bad? Not quite, almost. So, I mean, yes, I realised it was bad instantly

from even the moment I backed out of the trick. You know, everything slowed down and I had time to kind of think and try to save it. But then, yeah, I was knocked out immediately and then my friends got to me. They had like a stand-up paddleboard there that they brought out to get to me and that already kind of pulled me half up onto the paddleboard to try and start to do CPR because I was unconscious face down in the water when they rolled me over, eyes wide open, blue in the face.

One of them kind of thought I was already dead. Yeah, so obviously you went in for like a nine-hour surgery after that and then got some pretty life-changing news. Do you remember that moment? Yeah, and it kind of dawned on me already by that point before the surgery. I knew I'd messed up. I knew this was pretty serious. But, yeah, it was all pretty heavy Once I finally woke up and really realized everything, it sent me to a pretty dark place.

I can imagine. But what you've done, though, is just incredible. You've got a massive social media following, a public speaker. You've written this amazing book. So inspiring. I mean, it must feel awesome at the same time to inspire so many people around the world. Yeah, and I guess that's the thing that we never really know where things will lead. And while the injury was kind of the worst thing to ever happen to me,

it led me to some pretty cool things as well that I would have never been able to have the opportunity to reach as far as I can with inspiring people. And I would have never been able to do that as a wakeboarder. You've got to make the best of the situation we're in. All I really wanted was to pass on what I've learned over the years and get people to learn what I've learned without going through what I've been through. It's given you a new purpose in life, hasn't it? Yeah.

I don't know how many more books I'll write you know But how did you like to write it must have been a challenge too like to physically actually write it. Yeah so I was offered a ghost writer to actually like sit there and write it for me Can I just clarify a ghost writer not an actual

ghost? Is it just an I think it's just someone that helps you, yeah, writes along and doesn't take the credit for it. Yeah, exactly. You know, I've had so many things taken away from me with my injury. And so this was just something I knew I wanted to do on my own. And I didn't know how to write a book. I just kind of brain dumped my whole story. And that's how I ended up with like 450,000 words. Yeah, I wrote the whole thing on my phone using a sort of a long stylus that I hold in my mouth and tap away at the buttons.

So you've written this book using your mouth? Yeah, most celebrities, athletes or people like that, they'll end up having someone else write it for them. And I was just like, no, I want to tick this box and become a published author, which I never thought I would. Well, it looks like an incredible read. What I love that they've been flicking through the last couple of days is you're so honest about everything. I mean, you talked about things before the accident, even to the point of you had maybe 100 ladies.

Things like that, you go into detail. 100 ladies? Yeah, like when you were a pro wakeboarder. And then you talk about other- I've never even seen 100 ladies. And then you talk about things that, really honest about things that could go wrong, have gone afterwards with accidentally going to the bathroom

and things like that. You put it all in the book. Yeah, and I think that's kind of where the title came from is owning every part of what life is you know we so often glaze over things and just try to only show the good stuff and you know i just wanted it to be a really real read and and even you know talking about sex and women and everything before the accident, kind of may almost verge on feeling like bragging, but kind of by design to just show the importance that I put on that and then the effect that it had on me afterwards. And I think to have that taken away kind of forced me to, yeah,

to change my perspective, change my focus, and do things a bit differently. And your priorities as well. You've lived that life, but now you've got a different path in life. Do you find, and this is a bit of a weird question, that the life you're leading now is more fulfilling? Yeah, I guess I'd say it's more fulfilling because, you know, it's about helping others and not so much about just me going out

and having a great time wakeboarding, which, you know, obviously that was an amazing life and lifestyle. And, you know, I wouldn't change that for the world. But it's, yeah, it's kind of one of those things that almost was like a blessing and a curse. You know, I'm so grateful for that life. But it also gave me a lot to compare my current life and situation with, which, you know, it's one thing i learned over the over the process of writing the book is you know comparison is kind of the the death of joy it really um

draws away from the focus on just being and enjoying the moment and what we have and being grateful whereas you know especially with social media we're constantly comparing against these photoshopped highlight reels and it's just not real what was it like because you went back to the lake uh a couple of years after the accident you saw the nurses that cared for you what was that experience like going back to the place that it all happened it was i mean it was part of the healing journey it was it was tough sitting there and looking and knowing that that was where everything changed and you know and some tears came out and that was obviously because we had the uh reporter there and i was journalist there pretty much drawing the emotion out of me as they do but he sold us junos

um but no it was just amazing to go back and see all my friends over there and i did some some rehab at a really amazing gym. So, yeah, it was just great to go back. And that first trip as well, I got to go to the Wake Awards where I would have been given and awarded that award for Trick of the Year. And I missed out on that feeling of being on stage and everyone cheering. So, yeah, I got to go back and host the awards and got to feel that love from the community again. So that was kind of the coolest part.

And I'm sure, because she's not the biggest sport in the world, I'm sure it's a pretty tight-knit community, the wakeboarding one. It really is. And it's pretty tough going, trying to take on an e-sport and make money out of it, especially coming from New Zealand and going off and taking on the world. It was all the challenges, the details in the books, the ups and downs, responses and injuries.

But yeah, I mean, it was the lifestyle I fell in love with. And yeah, it was just such a, I mean, you know, days under the lake, babes in bikinis and just good times. And it was, you know, what's not to love for a guy in his late teens, early 20s. It's an amazing, amazing story, amazing book. Everyone should get a copy of it. But the other thing I was looking at about you online last night, you know, you talked about the cure and you do a lot of work to raise money for spinal research and stuff.

But the cure always seems like it's just around the corner. Yeah, it's one of those things where, I mean, I guess it depends who you ask. But, you know, it's like when I had my accident, it was like, oh, you know, it's probably about five years away. And I was chatting with a friend of mine who had an accident 25 years ago. And that's what he was told as well, five years away. And so it's one of those things, you know, the research is progressing. And there's some really great stuff happening even here in New Zealand. And it's just something that I've kind of just put like to the side.

I'm not living my life in hope and needing that in order to be happy and to be able to continue on with life. It's just something that, hey, if something comes around and it can give me some movement back, then that would be amazing. But I'm just going to do what I can to live the life I've got now.