Pursuit of Wellness - IVF Results & Tell All w/ My Husband Greg: What It’s Really Like

Episode Date: February 13, 2025

Ep. 174: In today’s episode of Pursuit of Wellness, Greg is back and we’re tackling one of the most intense, emotional, and transformative experiences of our lives: IVF. We’re opening up about t...he mental weight of constant waiting, the reality of putting everything else on pause, and what this journey has actually felt like beyond the highlight reel. We also talk about how this has shifted our relationship—what’s made us stronger, what’s tested us, and how we’ve shown up for each other. Leave Me a Message - click here! For Mari’s Instagram click here! For Pursuit of Wellness Podcast’s Instagram click here! For Mari’s Newsletter click here! For Greg’s Instagram click here! Sponsored By: Give your skin the care it deserves—right from home. Go to boncharge.com and use code PURSUIT to save 15% on your order today! Control Body Odor ANYWHERE with @lumedeodorant and get 15% off with promo code POW at Lumedeodorant.com! #lumepod Eat healthy without the hassle! Get 40% off your first box + a free item in every box for life at Hungryroot.com/pow with code POW. Take control of your finances with Rocket Money! Track spending, cancel unwanted subscriptions, and save more at RocketMoney.com/POW. Save on clean-ingredient groceries with Thrive Market! Get 30% off + a FREE $60 gift at ThriveMarket.com/POW! Show Links: Boost strength, build muscle, and support your mind with Bloom Creatine! Available in Raspberry Lemon or Unflavored. Try it today! Topics Discussed 00:00:09:12: Welcome 00:02:06:19: Relationship advice for someone in their early 20s 00:03:38:18: How did we decide that it was time for IVF?  00:12:34:12: How do you best support someone going through IVF? 00:15:36:22: Embryo gender call 00:18:57:19: How has Greg’s experience been with IVF? 00:20:36:05: Any fights during the fertility journey? 00:26:59:12: How to deal with insecurities in marriage? 00:27:27:09: How does Greg feel about being a dad? 00:27:57:09: How do we find moments together while being so busy? 00:29:25:17: Mari and Greg are different 00:30:41:09: What do you do when you need space, but you live together? 00:31:56:09: Hardest part of life they’ve been through together?

Transcript
Discussion (0)
Starting point is 00:00:00 This is the Pursuit of Wellness podcast and I'm your host, Mari Llewellyn. What is up guys? Good morning. Good morning, Greg. Good morning. We just had quite the morning. We did. I haven't been this rushed in a while. I'm like a little stressed, honestly. I don't really know how you keep up with this lifestyle. You're strained. I'm a little strained. First of all, I'm kind of under the weather, so I apologize in advance for my voice, but we had a Walmart photo shoot at 9 a.m. all the way in Cedar Creek Rock, wherever we were.
Starting point is 00:00:33 So 9 a.m. in Texas, something might be 30 miles away. Yeah. I feel like our cars are getting major mileage on them living in Texas. I mean, I drove all the way to Dallas this past weekend. Exactly. But we had a great photo shoot. It looked good. Yeah, it looked really good. Our energy drinks hit Walmart. We have the variety pack there. We have the drinks in the cold fridge.
Starting point is 00:00:55 That was really crazy to see it like by the checkouts. For some reason, you could have the biggest display in the center of the store. But if you just see you're drinking a fridge, but nothing's better than seeing somebody drinking in the center of the store. But if you just see you're drinking a fridge, but nothing's better than seeing somebody drinking in the wild. A guy walked in in front of us drinking a blue absolutely is not our demographic. I don't wanna say that we have like a particular demographic. I mean, obviously, generally people are drinking bloom
Starting point is 00:01:16 are like women 20 to 30 ish, but like to see a guy drinking bloom with his hoodie on like kind of crazy. Greg is here today because we're gonna talk about all things relationship, marriage, supporting each other, fertility journey together, IVF, how to be the best support for your partner, going through something hard.
Starting point is 00:01:39 Are we ready to do that? Yeah, we threw this in last minute, but you'll get my organic take. We didn't throw it in last minute, but I'm, I'm, you'll get my organic take. We didn't throw it in last minute. It was always gonna be recorded, but then I got sick. It was gonna be next week, but now it's this morning. But that's okay. Yeah, but we're always ready to chat. Sometimes this is the best perspective.
Starting point is 00:01:56 It'll be kind of a deep episode, guys, but let's see. And people always just ask rogue questions, which I'll never skip a rogue question, so why not? Best relationship advice for someone in their early 20s. That's so hard, I feel like I was a completely different person in my early, I mean we met in our early 20s, I was 20 years old when we met.
Starting point is 00:02:18 We had our 21st birthdays together. Well. Give or take. Definitely not together, but we were talking. We did mine together. Yes, but I but we were talking. We did mine together. Yes, but I'm older than you. Yeah, good point. So I wasn't with you on my 21st birthday.
Starting point is 00:02:30 No, that was like 10 years later or before. But anyway, early 20s, it's tough to give relationship advice because my advice is honestly to have fun and just find yourself and like lean into friendships and experiences and I would lean into like finding out more about yourself so that when you're ready for a relationship, you know what you want. Yeah, I think just finding a relationship that if you do
Starting point is 00:02:55 want to be in a relationship in your younger years, finding somebody who still allows you to progress on an individual level. Yeah, totally. Right, so if you are super into fitness and she's not, that's okay, but you can go pursue that lifestyle and she just hopefully supports you having that lifestyle. Or maybe that's the career, maybe that's art,
Starting point is 00:03:15 maybe that's whatever it is. Yeah, I mean, that was kind of us. Like when we first met, you were so into fitness and I wasn't at all. That's something that you wanna do. So you don't wanna ever have like a potential for future resentment or something like that. Supporting each other's goals, making each other better.
Starting point is 00:03:29 But I do think for most people, it's like a great time to have fun and like learn who you are. Yeah, fun school. We just have such a unique situation. How did we decide when it was time for IVF? We always kind of had like milestones, I would say,
Starting point is 00:03:45 that we had penciled into the calendar, timeline milestones. I don't wanna speak for you, Mari, but I know you really wanted to like, try to get to a successful point of this journey while you were 30. Okay, it wasn't so much about that for me. I get what you're saying. Like in my head mentally
Starting point is 00:04:05 I always wanted to have kids like buy up the time I was 30 Which honestly wouldn't recommend like putting a timeline on it like that's very stressful and like puts pressure on it's okay That's not recommended Here's how actually how I thought about it and you chime in I want to hear your perspective in my head I was like I want to try naturally for a full year. So we started trying naturally November of 2023 for context, because we moved to Austin early 2024. And now we're in 2025. So I wanted to get to like a full year of trying.
Starting point is 00:04:42 And that was when I started exploring IUI, which is like kind of the step before IVF. It's like when you take medication and they, what they say is they basically give the sperm and Uber ride to the right place and they clean it and just help the chances. And then I think I also told myself I wanted to do three IUIs before then going to IVF. For us, I think it was so much about the mental exhaustion of it. I think we feel very ready. We have felt very ready to have children.
Starting point is 00:05:14 For a long time. Yeah, for a while now. And I think we don't have any type of, I don't know, I don't think you do. We don't have any type of like moral reserve to not pursuing doctor intervention. And so if it's something that we are ready for and we want and we think right now is the perfect time,
Starting point is 00:05:33 it's like, why wouldn't we take this not only expedited version of this, but also potentially a superior to natural way of going about it, which is what IVF seems to be. I mean, I know that's maybe not how you're thinking, that's how I think about it. And then on top of that, this sounds silly, but we found it very difficult to follow
Starting point is 00:05:54 the timeline constraints for IUI or natural contraception. So I travel all the time. Time and travel is always an issue regardless of what you're doing. So if there's like this one week window where we're supposed to be trying naturally and or preparing for an IUI and I'm in LA or Arkansas or whatever it may be or Mari has you know brand commitments as well of course it seemed to always fall on times where we were separated. But that's going to apply during IVF also. Yes.
Starting point is 00:06:25 So we said, okay, if we enter IVF, it's we're not leaving the house. And so we stayed home for Thanksgiving, we stayed home for Christmas, and we're staying home for most of January. Very intentional. That's not true. You're traveling constantly in January. Fair, but my part's done. Okay.
Starting point is 00:06:38 Yeah. You are less important, but just for context, like I see girls talk about this and they're like, how am I supposed to do IVF? I have a wedding here this here this here I decided to do IVF during the holidays, which I think was really great timing because there was not much going on Everyone was away We decided to not travel like I fully just said I am doing IVF in this window cancel everything that I have It was pretty crazy. I've never really seen Mari pull a trigger like that before.
Starting point is 00:07:05 Like Mari, you know, hosting the pursuit of wellness, Mari intentionally tries to increase her wellness initiatives in her day-to-day life. And we'll say, you know, I'm gonna try to have more balance or I'm gonna try to, you know, work less or whatever it may be. I've never actually done it. She's never actually done it, right?
Starting point is 00:07:22 Sorry for this little call out right now. This last three months, Mari has said no to everything that wasn't completely necessary, whether that was power-related, bloom-related, social life-related, family-related, holiday-related. We didn't travel to the holidays that our family were participating in. Mari has totally committed to it. And travel is stressful, especially for you But like I think even if you don't feel like travel stressful like when I travel I sleep like shit Yeah When I travel I eat like shit when I travel like I eat out and I drink and like, you know
Starting point is 00:07:55 I'm all over the place like that's our life as entrepreneurs my biggest piece of advice for girls listening who are like How do you fit it in the calendar like whether you're trying naturally or IEY or IVF, you need to just decide what is most important to you. And I just had this moment where I was like, this is the most important thing to me. Nothing else matters compared to this. Like I'm gonna put this first and I'm gonna clear my entire schedule. And you just kind of need to make that decision and I think you're gonna look back and be I mean you're gonna be so grateful that you did that beyond grateful like
Starting point is 00:08:31 it needs to happen and if you keep delaying I don't know doesn't it depends where you're at in your journey but for me and where we were at I knew that this needed to happen and even now looking looking at our year calendar, for me, everything's temporary because I'm like, if I need to go in for an embryo transfer, if I need to be home for appointments, if I need to be doing medication, I'm not going anywhere. Everything's penciled in.
Starting point is 00:08:57 Everything's penciled in. Like I have some really fun girls trips planned. We're going to Colorado in the summer. Like we do have some fun things going, but in my head I'm like, if something's going on with me or our future baby, like I will not be going anywhere. So I think it's just like a priority shift for sure. It's also been really nice because Mari's like been
Starting point is 00:09:17 publicly, I don't know if everyone has this luxury, but Mari's been very open, needless to say. You know, in terms of career and or family commitments, we've just been like, no, we're doing IVF right now. And everyone just immediately understands. It is like the best excuse. It's been a great excuse. You guys know, I absolutely love red light therapy. It has been such a game changer for me with my acne scars, for fine lines and so much more. And Bond Charge is my favorite brand to use. They offer the world's widest
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Starting point is 00:12:37 I saw this question in here and I'm gonna answer it now. People were like, how do you best support someone going through IVF? And I think what people don't, first of all, me sharing it and posting on TikTok and sharing the injections every night and every morning and the appointments every day and just how rigorous and intense that the process is and the egg retrieval and the recovery,
Starting point is 00:12:59 I've had a lot of people say to me, I had no idea how intense it was and thank you for posting about it because now I know what my friend's going through. If you know someone going through it, like a lot of people don't understand what it actually entails. And just because it may or may not be common does not mean it's not intense. Yes, for sure. And then I think the other piece that people don't realize is the mental burden I think has been the most significant. Like number one, you are a full-blown science experiment.
Starting point is 00:13:27 Like my hormones have been getting effed with for the past three months at this point. Like you're given a ton of hormones and then they're taken away and then you get them back and then they take them away again because you're on birth control and they're trying to regulate your cycle and then all this stuff's happening, right?
Starting point is 00:13:42 And I'm about to start injections again for the embryo transfer. Like, so number one, your hormones are messed up. And then number two, you're just waiting phone call to phone call about your fricking future. Like these are, these phone calls are life or death. Like that's how it feels. You're constantly for context, you're constantly waiting for feedback on your blood work. And then, you know, like that's how it feels. For context, you're constantly waiting for feedback on your blood work,
Starting point is 00:14:05 and then you know that day's results, you're constantly waiting for feedback on the success of the egg retrieval, and there's, you know, every couple of days, there's a new update, and so let's say you start with whatever number of eggs, you're quite literally like watching them diminish each day, which is part of the process,
Starting point is 00:14:23 as they go through different barriers of, health markers we'll call them. And so you're just like hoping that at the end of this, there's some left. It's crazy. You're just praying that you have an embryo. It's crazy. It's not automatic.
Starting point is 00:14:36 Absolutely not. There are so many people who go through IVF and get nothing from it. And to go through all of that and get nothing, I can't even imagine the heartbreak. Also it's super expensive. Super expensive, but like the heartbreak. So even if your friend or your partner is done with IVF,
Starting point is 00:14:54 they're still waiting. Yeah. So like my mental state the past few months has been really different. And I feel like I've had a new level of, I haven't been sleeping well. I feel like I'm not really present level of, I haven't been sleeping well, I feel like I'm not really present in my work as much as I used to be.
Starting point is 00:15:09 Like I'm just, I don't have much of an emotional capacity. I was explaining this to you last night. Like I feel like I don't have much to give to other people right now because I feel so stretched thin. I mean, I feel guilty about it, but I don't know if I've been the best, like I try to show up for people in my life the best way that I can, but I forget to call people.
Starting point is 00:15:30 Or you know what I'm saying? Like I'm not the best version of me right now, because I'm just holding on by a thread kind of. Oh, also the calls come out of nowhere. Like this last call that you just got that was the biggest one came out of nowhere. I've basically been holding on by a thread and you guys know I've like started going to church
Starting point is 00:15:44 and just like doing whatever I can to feel like okay. One came out of nowhere. I've basically been holding on by a thread and you guys know I've like started going to church and just like doing whatever I can to feel like okay. It's probably one of the hardest things I've ever been through honestly, from like a mental capacity standpoint. So if you're listening and I have hurt your feelings over the past couple months, I'm super sorry about that. I don't think that anyone feels that way.
Starting point is 00:16:05 No, I don't think so either. You've been doing great. So I was in Dallas with Myron Crosby, which is a cowboy boot brand. I was there for the rodeo. It was so fun. And my best friend, Taylor and I were shopping at a vintage store and I was not expecting a call. I mean, it must've been, what a Saturday?
Starting point is 00:16:22 It was a Saturday and I don't have my appointment for another few days. I was, it was Friday because I was at work when you called me. It was Friday. Okay. I was not expecting to find out until later this week and I'm shopping around and I look at my phone and I missed a call from a five one two and I have their phone number memorized at this point, the facility clinic and I see a missed voicemail and it said, you know how it tells see a missed voicemail and it said, you know how it tells you what the voicemail said? It like messed up the word genetic testing and it put like automobile testing. But I knew I was like, I literally said, Taylor, I have to go. And she kept shopping and I ran out. And I'm like crouched down in the parking lot. And I call them
Starting point is 00:17:01 back. And it's my girl, Caitlin, who always answers the phone. It's so funny the tone they use. Wait the voicemail said you had you had the results? Yes. Oh my gosh. I know my heart fell. Normally they just say like hey call us when you have a chance. And I was like Caitlin and she was like we have the results of your genetic test you have time to go over them and I'm like she sounds worried like she sounds concerned like what do you mean I have time to go over them? Like, yes. As if it's like a long story. I was like, yes. Then she was like, I'm very excited to tell you
Starting point is 00:17:29 the good news. And then she told us the good news. We have our final embryo count after genetic testing. The nurses know that I don't wanna know the gender that's being inserted. And I told them that from the beginning. I don't wanna know the gender. And they said, okay, the question you're gonna ask is,
Starting point is 00:17:47 are both genders represented? Because then you'll know whether you have all of the same gender or different. Because there's more than one embryo, needless to say. Share the number of embryos, because I feel like that's when people get upset and they compare, but we have more than one. And she goes, you don't want to know the gender, right?
Starting point is 00:18:03 And I was like, no, I don't, but can you tell me are both genders represented? And she goes, yes, they are. And I just kept going, oh, wow, oh, wow, oh, wow, oh, wow, oh, wow. Freaking out because I don't know why mentally in my head, I thought we would have all girls.
Starting point is 00:18:23 Our embers would all be girls. Like I always assumed that because I don't know why I just envisioned myself as a girl mom. I always have but I would be so happy either. Genuinely if I was gonna have a boy I'd be so happy. Like I feel this I feel equally happy with both but I just always thought that I would be a girl mom and Greg would be a girl dad. But when she said both were in there I was like oh my god okay this is crazy so then obviously I immediately called Greg so that was exciting and I feel like we're not all the way there yet but I feel like way more relaxed than I did before. Definitely the biggest milestone yet. Yeah for sure. Greg how like how has your experience been
Starting point is 00:19:02 through IVF as the guy? It's definitely just had a major change to the dynamic of our day-to-day. Both needing to be home to do the shots. I've been giving Mari the shots on a daily basis when we were going through that protocol. The procedure was far more invasive than we slash I expected. Obviously, as men in this part of the journey, our job is, is
Starting point is 00:19:27 quite simple, but, uh, so it's been, it's been very much trying to be home more, uh, being far more communicative throughout the day, trying to create a relaxing home to be at all the time. No rap music, blasting. No rap music blasting. No rap music, no action movies, warm food, like constantly baking and cooking for Mari. Bringing me my Stanley cup, I think little things, like making dinner, filling up my hydroflask,
Starting point is 00:20:00 if I ask you to, like little things, like putting Arnold away for me, or just like offering help, I feel like as much as possible hydroflask if I ask you to, like little things like putting Arnold away from me or like Just like offering help. I feel like as much as possible and Emotional support and just letting me like cry sometimes or being okay with the hormonal fluctuations Yeah It's one of those things where someone gets upset and you're like trying to give somebody a solution like there's only a solution That you can like tell somebody if they're having a tough moment in a journey like this. Don't even try.
Starting point is 00:20:26 So I can't like sit down and immediately start trying to help her problem solve, which normally isn't a good solution anyway. But so just truly comfort all the time. I saw someone ask if we have been like gotten in any fights during the fertility journey and like, yeah, there's been some like really hard stuff going on. Well, nothing's as important as supporting each other through this, but like, obviously you still have
Starting point is 00:20:53 life happening. Like, I actually feel like we were closer than ever during the fertility journey and like really became a team, especially during the injections and stuff. But then like complicated things happen. Like both of our emotions are so high around fertility and this topic and things kind of come up that we've never encountered before. It's weird. Like we're at an age where like people around us are like also trying and you know it's just like tensions are high and emotions
Starting point is 00:21:25 are high and both of us are in this period of life where we're like so close to getting what we've wanted for so long things just hit harder so like yes like disagreements are going to happen like you're going to have to have discussions about things you've never encountered before and like I think the male female dynamic is confusing like Greg said like there's not so much that they can do They show up for one day and I think as the woman it's like really hard to not feel resentment Like I just want to be super honest and upfront about that. You're just kind of like What the heck like I just did all this and he's Chilling and it's hard to not be resentful. But at the same time, like it's obviously not Greg's fault.
Starting point is 00:22:07 And I think learning together and learning to communicate what you need is really important. And just being like, hey, I really just need a hug. Like, I just want to cry right now. You know, that type of thing. Or I need to be distracted. Like that was a big thing for me. I was like, I cannot just sit at home. Yeah. I thought Mara was just going to want to sit at home.
Starting point is 00:22:27 No, I couldn't just wait for this phone call. Seriously. I was like, get me out of this house. Yeah. We had to keep her busy. I know so many of us have goals of eating healthier in 2025. And that's where Hungry Root comes in. It's like having your own personal shopper and nutritionist all wrapped into one. They take care of the weekly grocery shopping, recommending healthy groceries and meals
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Starting point is 00:27:11 I don't know anything else. It doesn't bother me because I feel like you're so wide. I don't know. I don't think about it. I've never thought about it. I don't know anything else. I don't wear heels really. But yeah, I guess if I had to choose, Mari would not wear more than an inch and
Starting point is 00:27:25 a half. If I had to choose, you would wear heels. Um, how do you feel about being a dad? I think, I think it will purely bring joy to my life. Um, you know, I'm used to, I'm used to, I think, who knows what it's going to be like, but I think I'm used to having a decent amount of responsibility. I don't think that my actual lifestyle will change that much. Mostly joy. Famous last words. That's what I think.
Starting point is 00:27:49 I got fucking 70 employees. I got a dog that basically has rabies. You're talking about Arnold? Yeah. How do we find moments together while being so busy? I mean, I don't know, it's kind of lame, but I don't think it's lame. We'll put it in the calendar. So next Saturday, we have a lunch date in the calendar. And again, I don't know, it's kind of lame, but I don't think it's lame. We'll put it in the calendar.
Starting point is 00:28:05 So next Saturday we have a lunch date in the calendar. And again, I keep using this term for some reason, but it's penciled in. But it says lunch date, maybe it means go to a coffee shop. Maybe it means go on a walk. But we always say, hey, I'm home next Saturday, you're home next Saturday, let's make sure we spend the afternoon together
Starting point is 00:28:21 because you have a dinner date. Yeah. Or you have a dinner thing. We live by the Google calendar for sure. It's been great. I think my flight home from LA on Friday is in Mari's calendar, and then she'll know that I'm home that night.
Starting point is 00:28:33 And we just know we'll probably have dinner together, whatever it is. But we're not nearly as busy as we used to be. I feel like you're busier than you used to be. You travel way more than you used to. Greg's traveling every other week for like months. Yeah, it's January. I've been on like 10 flights. Could not be me. Greg travels so much that we have to like be intentional about dinner dates.
Starting point is 00:28:57 When we're both home, we have dinner together every night. Coffee in the morning sometimes lately. I've tried to, I try to make my trips as short and efficient as possible. Yeah. You know, even though that means like a very early flight, like I try to spend as many nights home as possible. And we always, and the night together,
Starting point is 00:29:17 we always go to bed together and more nights than not we eat dinner together. We're actually, I would imagine we spend more time together or a normal amount of time together in the grand scheme of things. Also we're quite different people. Like Greg could be at home alone for like an entire weekend and be super fine with that and I like will lose my mind.
Starting point is 00:29:37 Like I need activities, I need to socialize, I want to go out. I've been on social media more than normal lately. I think that's because like the drink launch, I've just been like a little obsessed with checking Instagram. You're like a little influencer lately. I get like, you know, like reels and clips of other guys who like to do nothing. Like the algorithm has realized that I like to do nothing. And because the reality is, it's really nice to just sit on,
Starting point is 00:30:00 like enjoy my home and just be in quiet. Like it's constant chaos generally, it feels like so I I'm on an algorithm of other guys married guys it seems who like to do nothing and who like what do you guys post about they just like talk about how like like how their significant other like wants to do things I find it to be really annoying yeah I do and I'm like please can we go to this bakery, please? That's not true, I love doing that type of shit. Greg won't come to church with me.
Starting point is 00:30:29 Yeah, you know my dad didn't go to church with us growing up either. That's so interesting. Yeah, it's just not my thing. A lot of people have asked if you're into it with me, like praying and stuff. I'm so supportive of you going, but no, it's not my thing, that's okay.
Starting point is 00:30:42 That's okay. What do you do when you need your own space alone, but you live together? Well, we have separate bathrooms pretty much. I don't think they're referring to like when you want to shit. No, they're definitely not referring to that. So other than having more than one bathroom in our house,
Starting point is 00:30:59 ballin', we- Greg, a lot of people do that. Sure. I guess we just go to separate rooms. We uh... Greg, a lot of people do that. Sure. We uh... Like, I guess we just go to separate rooms. You always tell me when you want to be alone. Yeah, but then we just go to separate rooms. This is such a man's answer, seriously.
Starting point is 00:31:15 I never need alone time, so I don't know how to answer that, truthfully. I would want you to do everything with me, really. Same. No, Greg is, it's so obvious when he wants to be alone. He's like, okay. Like he'll kind of do a face and I'm like, all right, I'm out. Like I think cause also Greg grew up,
Starting point is 00:31:35 like you have an older sister, but you guys were so far apart in age that you basically were alone a lot. Yeah, I was. I can't relate to that. Like me and my sister were inseparable growing up and I had like a little bestie with me all the time. So like if you were just with me all the time,
Starting point is 00:31:49 I'd be super chill with that. Yeah, my parents were gone on weekends a lot. Like I had a lot of alone time going on. Yeah, like I hate that so much. Yeah. Like I want you to do everything with me. Hardest part of life you've been through together. Gosh, we've been through a lot of hard things.
Starting point is 00:32:03 The early years of our relationship. Really? By far. Really, that've been through a lot of hard things. Early years of our relationship. Really? By far. Really, that's your answer. Complete turmoil. Which part? Like very early years, college. When I was like, not okay.
Starting point is 00:32:13 Yeah, without a doubt. I mean, nothing compares to that. When you had like full blown BPD, and like all of that, it was, and not that you were the only one bringing discomfort to the relationship by any means Yeah, you weren't great either. No, I sucked. We both kind of sucked. No, I mean, oh my gosh when I think of like Greg Before 25 years old I was thinking about this the other day like I feel like 30. I'm 29, but I feel like
Starting point is 00:32:40 28 to like 35 is probably the most lethal years for somebody who's into their career. If I just think of who I was three years ago, let alone even dare I say two years ago or 18 months ago, my lack of wisdom to what I feel like I have now, but I still kind of don't have anything to lose. You know what I mean?
Starting point is 00:33:03 Like, so someone at our age has so much life experience, post college, into their adult life, or post whatever education they had, into their adult life, plus kind of having nothing to lose. They have kids, they're young. That's just how I feel. I feel like I have the most knowledge that I've ever had, but I still kind of have nothing to lose in terms of,
Starting point is 00:33:23 I can still take some big swings, some risky swings. Got it. I mean, I eat energy drink on the table. I guess the early days of our relationship were probably the hardest for me as well, but they feel so far away and I like black them out at this point. I feel like that's one way to get through it. Just associate some try therapy. They were really bad. I mean, I think I can't even fully grasp
Starting point is 00:33:45 how bad they were, truthfully. My mental health was so bad. I was in so much pain. If we're talking like adulthood, like real life hardship, I think we've had different types of stress. Like we've had starting our business together, which honestly, I look back on it fondly. Like I feel like it's like really cute to think about us
Starting point is 00:34:08 trying to figure it out together and like just doing such a makeshift job. Obviously like some of our business struggles and to be fair, like I think we've been so lucky and like really just had a great experience with business, but we've had some moments that were super duper stressful and like those were really hard. I feel like, yeah. End of 2023.
Starting point is 00:34:31 But I, yeah, that was bad. I have never seen you that stressed before, but for me I would think, I think it's the fertility journey just from my perception. Just not like that it's been hard on our relationship. I just think take going through it together. Yeah, I don't know. I think it's one of those things where like, whatever you're going through right now
Starting point is 00:34:50 probably feels like the hardest thing you've ever been through. Yeah. Not in any way discredit the journey that we slash you are on. I think that, I kind of hope that in three years we look back at it and we're like, that was a really cool experience
Starting point is 00:35:03 or that brought us closer or that was so worth it because it makes it so much sweeter or whatever it is. Well, that's the thing, every hard thing we've been through, my fitness journey, changing my life, our business, hardships in business together, they've always worked out better
Starting point is 00:35:18 than we could have imagined and I know that will happen here. Yeah, it leads you in a weird direction that you didn't expect. I mean, if we didn't go through the hardship at the end of 2023, we probably would have never moved to Austin. Totally.
Starting point is 00:35:29 So I think we have that foresight of being like, this will work out, you know? Or like COVID made us move to LA. Yeah. And we were like, what the fuck? COVID made our business what it is. Yeah. I think it helped.
Starting point is 00:35:40 I think we're just really good at responding to like, extreme, no, maybe, but extreme like culturally relevant disruption that's going on, right? Oh, I think it's stress and pain. We're like very good at pivoting everything that's currently going on to respond to how what's happening culturally. Yeah. And so, for example, what TikTok and and deleted like there was a side of me, although I'm so pro TikTok, I'm so pro entrepreneurship and like the creator community.
Starting point is 00:36:11 I was like, if it does go away, we will be so we will be the best at responding, right? And like how to pivot our business accordingly. Well, I think that's a good place to end. I feel like we discussed a lot of good topics. I hope you guys really enjoyed it. Greg, thank you so much for coming on. Yeah, I guess the last thing that I would say
Starting point is 00:36:29 for like a male, sorry, a significant other to the person going through IVF. Obviously your entire life can't go on hold. If your main responsibility in the household is, for example, mine, that's the only one that I could speak on, where career is one of the top priorities of my life for our household. You need to become a Jedi master at flipping the switch.
Starting point is 00:36:54 When I'm in this office, in fact, it's hard for me to even go on this podcast. We're in a headquarters right now. And you are a full savage killer, taking no mercy for anything that you're going through as an entrepreneur. And then you need to come home and comfort your wife. Or in the middle of the day, throughout the day, receive phone calls, rush home, whatever it may be to comfort your significant other.
Starting point is 00:37:19 You need to become a complete master at flipping that switch. Otherwise you will crumble. Period. Thank you, Greg. Love you so much. Period. Thank you, Greg. Love you so much. Bye. Love you. Thank you for joining us on the Pursuit of Wellness podcast. To support this show,
Starting point is 00:37:38 please rate and review and share with your loved ones. If you want to be reminded of new episodes, click the subscribe button on your preferred podcast or video player. You can sign up for my newsletter to receive my favourites at marielawellen.com, it will be linked in the show notes. This podcast is a Pursuit Network production, brought to you by Michaela Phillips, Joel Contartese, Davielle Waldner, Jen Lauren, and Mackenzie Maisel. You can also watch the full video of each episode on our YouTube channel at Pursuit of Wellness podcast. Love you, Power Girls and Power Boys. I will see you next time.
Starting point is 00:38:14 The content of this show is for educational and informational purposes only. It is not a substitute for individual medical and mental health advice and does not constitute a provider-patient relationship. As always, talk to your doctor or health team.

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