Stay Tranquilo - You're Exactly Where You Need to be with former NFL Tight End Devon Cajuste

Episode Date: January 25, 2020

Our first episode of the year and we could not have asked for a better episode. Our fist guest of the year is former NFL Tight End Devon Cajuste. Devon is now a Energy and Crystal Healer and Personal Trainer in LA.  Devon speaks about his life in football and some of the great moments and not so great moments through out his career. Devon explains how certain hurdles in the journey impacted his life, such as his decision to leave the NFL and live a more impactful life outside of football and the health issues his father experienced. This was one hell of an episode and we are extremely thankful to share this message with all of you. Make sure to follow Devon @devoncajuste86 on Instagram and us over @staytranquilo for endless positivity and good vibes for all of you to enjoy! Stop Stressing, Start Living!  Stay Tranquil'o Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

What is up, everybody? You're listening to the Stay Tranquilo podcast where we're going to help you stress a little bit less and enjoy a whole lot more. Today we got a hell of a guest on. His name's Devin Cahousté, and I'll kind of leave it there and let him do his intro. But, you know, stay tuned for a hell of an episode. We got a great message for you guys. And I know we haven't been around. But, you know, for Devin's fans, I kind of want to give a background of what we do.

And I'll do that a little bit later in the podcast. But this is all about Devin and his message and kind of like spreading. awareness out there for everyone. So, Devin, I'll leave it to you. Hey, what's up? Thank you so much. I really appreciate you having me on big time. With that being said, I love this. You brought back some good memories. I remember when I was playing football first year in college, go to the Rose Bowl, and I have this block for Stefan Taylor and he scores a touchdown. And the announcer goes, Devon Gaiuspe with de Blok. I think that I'm Hispanic. And it's, my last name is Devin Kajus. And it's funny. It's like, no, no, no, don't worry.

I actually want to keep that on just because it's so innocent, and I love it because so many people just jack it up and I haven't heard Kahou Stay in a long time. Damn. So I appreciate you, freaking pack. I'm glad that worked out that way because I definitely butcher it. Yeah, no worries, my friend. Yeah, could juice.

Cidious silent, no worries. Got it. But hello, everybody. I appreciate y'all taking a listen here. I can feel nothing but good energy from this man. So appreciate to share some wisdom. And if y'all have any questions, give me up on the Instagram. We'll probably browse that out at the end.

Yes. And let's move on forward. Oh, yeah. So, you know, I kind of, you know, just to give a little bit of background of, you know, what state tranquilo is, I know we haven't really discussed that either. But, you know, for anybody that's a new listener or old listener, I love to. All right. So, yeah.

Kind of just to give a background of what the state tranquilo message is and spreading, you know, positivity and, you know, for lack of a better term, good vibes. But what Stay Tranquilo stands for is, and kind of to your point about the Spanish and all that, is that we want people, you know, to remember that life sometimes you don't have to take so serious that some of our problems are problems that we create in our mind and not necessarily real problems that are out there. You know, kind of that reminder that everything that happens happens for a reason. So, you know, that's kind of the framework of this message and, you know, somebody by the name of George Polo, who's a really good friend of mine, is the one that connected me with Devin. So he showed me what, you know,

what he stood for, his kind of rituals during football and after football, and we'll get into that. But, you know, he's really about spreading that same positive message, understanding that it comes from a mindset. It comes from a way of rituals and certain actions that we take on the daily and that really shifts our mindset in our life. So, you know, with that being said, one of the first things, and I don't want this to be, you know, to Q&A, but, you know, something that I'm sure a lot of people want to ask is, like, what was your kind of ritual for the pregame

when it came to for game days? So honestly, the only real ritual that I had when the game was happening was I'd be on the field with, it was Coach Doug, who was the tight-hand coach at the time. time. But I would always do this. I'd also call Teddy Bruske was the other guy. He was the equipment manager, but he had to do other stuff on the field. But I'd always go into the field and I'd make sure I'd do the same little active warmup with the way that I caught the ball. And I'd do this nice little like running routes, stand in place, catch one-handed

catches, two-handed catches, flip and turn. And it would be the same like 15-minute warm-up before every game in the back right corner of the end zone on our side. And we always just made sure that that was the one thing that I kept consistent. Outside of that, I didn't care about the socks a little, like the socks. Maybe I always had to have a fresh pair of gloves. It was the superstitious one. Okay. But the cleats sometimes maybe, but it was always just making sure the way that I caught this ball in this routine.

What I try to emphasize now is like stick to some routines, general outlines and guidelines, but don't make them the end-all be-all. Right. Exactly. Is that makes sense? Yeah, yeah, for sure. So, you know, like being a little bit flexible and not being so strict on your regimen, I guess, right? Yes, because you have to allow flexibility and change. And if you don't, if you aren't willing to change and you stick to the same routine, if you keep doing what you always got, you're only going to get what you always had.

Yeah, that's a great point. I mean, to me, one thing that I kind of use, like, as a foundation in my life is, you know, if my life seems stagnant or things are kind of staying the same, that means there's some. something that I need to change, you know, because that, that I guess for lack of a better term is, you know, that energy is kind of stuck there and you're not doing anything to kind of keep that moving. So I think, you know, that consistent change and that consistent, you know, shifting. It doesn't have to be anything crazy, but I think, you know, even the minor things make a huge difference. Dude, it's always about the little things. Like a lot of people think that it's always about

actually the big thing, but the big thing is a culmination of a thousand little things. And people always want to think about these overnight successes, and they're like, I just need this one big, great idea. But it's actually just doing all of the little things right over and over and over and over again. And until you do that, then you're always going to, if until you do that, like the big thing really won't come together as smooth as it's supposed to. Right. Because you're rushing the process. I don't know how many times you probably all have heard now with social media. It's all about the journey.

Yep. Are you there? Yes. Can you hear me? Yeah, yeah, I can hear you. So you were saying, yeah, all about the journey, right? Yeah, so it's like really remembering that it's, again, all about the journey, keeping it smooth, but start with the little things.

It's got to be starting small. You know, one of the greatest things that I've learned is this thing called the domino effect. Right. And with that, you know, a domino will knock down a replica domino that can be 50% heavier. And it will continue if you keep raising the next domino by 50%, 50%, 50%, you know, the impact that you can have 10 dominoes down is pretty significant, but you have to start small. There's no way you can knock down that 10th domino if you just try to hit that head on. You know what I'm saying?

For sure. And a lot of people just try to do that. They want that's what their big ideas or the next big app or, you know, they're just going to come out with the next big invention. And it's because they're not starting small. Yeah. They're not starting with the concepts. And I think a part of that too that kind of leads to that is, you know, that desire for instant gratification where you know no one's no one's willing to put in the work or put in the time and

put in the you know the sweat and tears to get that sweet satisfaction that comes at the end you know they want that right now before before anything else but in reality nothing tastes as good until you put in that work and you put in that time that's why it tastes so good you know and and i'm sure and and football and playing in the programs that you played in like you you felt that in some of those because you know you're you're working your ass off and and every day every practice you know every game and sometimes the outcome doesn't i guess follow but you know that loss makes that wind feel so much better right and that's the thing is like people try to make it black and white they look at every loss as a failure and like oh woe is me and they're like back to the drawing board

and then they just completely start over right they don't and there's nothing wrong with that to an extent, but you're still missing half of that picture. You have to, the reasons of why you failed and look at, like, what did you achieve in that failure? So then when you go back to the drawing board, you take what did work and then just take out what did it. Or just again, look at like how can you refine what was so close, you know? And so when you start over, now you have an even better and more improved version of yourself if you do that reflection. Right. No, thousand percent. I think, I think you can have said that any better. So one of my next questions that I had for you, and I know it's something that, you know,

I don't know how much you want to get into it, but it's something that obviously hard knocks brought it out. And that was, you know, the time when you were playing football and your dad. I don't know, you know, if you want to get into that, but I'm sure that was a difficult time. And something that, you know, transparency sometimes can help people. and I think this is a moment that that people can definitely, you know, relate to in terms of it being very difficult, but also something that, again, to your point, you know, something that you learn from and you come out stronger from at the end. So in which aspect of that?

Because we did end up talking about a lot. So just give me a little bit of what you're looking for here. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I think like, you know, how it affected, I guess, you know, your future decisions, if it had any, you know, effect on that. Or, you know, when you were playing football, was it, you know, how distracting was it? And how was it something that you were able to overcome and kind of come out stronger at the end? I guess I may not be following from.

Yeah, yeah. Is that in relation to my dad being there or not? Or like his health issues or the relationship? So, you know, if you want to kind of tell the story. Yeah, I don't mind. I'm just trying to make sure I understand what you're asking. Yeah, yeah, no, for sure. No, I mean, right, I guess while you were in football and kind of like when the health issues started to arise and then, you know, after, you know, that whole journey of that.

Gotcha. Yeah. Honestly, it's because my dad has told me since I was 13 years old that he may pass rather soon. Okay. It's kind of always been in my mind. And, you know, we learn a lot at a young age and don't forget, like hearing you may lose your dad, the impact that that kind of has. You know, I've had time to kind of process that. So at that moment, you know, he had three heart. That was his third heart attack, you know, a stroke, two heart attacks.

He had a pacemake. He has a pacemaker. He had a tracheotomy dealing with lung cancer, dealing with stomach cancer, like dealing with all of these battles, right? And so it became this long, grueling process of like, damn, like another thing coming. And at first, it was tough for the moment because you're like, man, like, it was just another thing building on top of his situation. And then at the same time, it's like, but I've been prepared for this.

He's been telling me thing after thing. He's been in the hospital up and down, back and forth over and over and over again. And so what made it hard was like, yo, this is my dad who could pass any second. But then what made it easy was like, look at what he embodies. This man embodies like what fight is. This man is constantly waking up every day or going to sleep every day, not knowing if he's going to wake up the next. and yet he just knows how to just keep trekking on.

And his will is one of the strongest wills I've ever seen with regards to that fight. Okay. And, you know, I know, I don't know exactly the timeline, but how long was it when, was it? So I know something that you were battling at, you said 13, right? Yes. So, you know, when, I guess towards the end of the career, do you think you leaving football? Did that have any part to do with it? Or is that more solely like just kind of like,

because I know that I guess Hard Knocks was towards the end, right? Or am I wrong there? Yeah, no. Hard knocks was the last segment. Last segment. Like when I got released, it was like making a decision about a month or so after that. Okay.

So I mean, I guess was it like kind of, because I know Hard Knocks kind of brought out the story out there. So, you know, you were reaching people and you were impacting people. And I know that's kind of the person that you are today. And obviously, I'm sure that's the person you've always been. But, you know, was I guess that trajectory of when Hard Knocks came in, was that kind of like what pushed you out of football? Or I guess talk a little bit of what got you to make that decision? So actually Hardnock's had nothing to do with it other than one moment.

It helped me realize the impact I can have on people outside the game. Again, I did something like playing football. I started that because I wanted to make my dad proud. I wanted him to smile I wanted him to love me I wanted him to show me more affection I wanted anything to do to get that smile from him you know

yeah and many of us do that yeah no I could definitely you know because all we want is again and again it's that love and so I when I had to decide to leave that it was because I had this epiphany

I had saw in one of the episodes you know talking about the crystals the most and the type of impact that it had. And so when people reached out to me on Instagram, I'm so intrigued about what is this. I want to understand this. You helped change my life. Like I want to learn all about this. And just that was making a greater impact on anybody than any play on the field. I was getting more questions about crystals and stones than I was about like, what do you think about the game? And that's where I'm like, why am I forcing myself to do something that I don't truly love? I like the game, but I was never really

in love with the game. I had loving moments. Don't get me wrong, beautiful experiences. Yet when I was done with the game and I was working in a crystal store and I did my first healing on somebody, when they opened their eyes and they looked at me with this like awe or like profound experience in healing that they did. I'm the conduit. I was a facilitator, but they did this healing. You can't you can't do that with football. You know, you can like, you know, lead by example like, I want to be you.

I grew up, but you know what? Everyone wants to be LeBron James, Steph, Curry, Covey Bright. Like, there's so many people doing that, right? Like, putting in the work and the hard work. But to show somebody what they have within themselves, and they can truly heal what that is, like, you cannot replicate that, and there's nothing that comes close to that.

And so being a conduit for that, leaving is what was the greatest experience. And hard-knock, the only thing that it gave me again was to show me the impact I can have on people, to really be the greatest mirror to themselves. That's awesome. And, you know, you can't even ask for, I guess, better timing. You know, I'm a very big believer that the timing in life, you know, flows for a reason the way it does.

And I think, you know, you coming to that realization was the perfect timing for that, you know, just laid in, you know, a few years into your career. So you, you know, don't have to look back and say, hey, wow, you know what? Do I miss that? You know, am I still one foot in, one foot out? And to me, you know, that's one of the hardest things is when you're so torn between two things, you know, you can't exert that energy both ways. You know, you've got to be committed to one or the other because the moment that you're committed to, you know, 50% here, 50% there, you're basically paying a tug of war battle with yourself. Yes, you end up fighting yourself and you're wasting energy and then you're not giving the full potential to either or.

And what I would advise people if you're sitting right now and you're thinking like, am I doing that? My real question to you is like when you decide to change or leave whatever it is that you're doing, is your fight or your resistance to stay because of the things around you? What people will say, what society will say, the money you quote unquote may lose. If that's your reason, then I would say it's in the wrong space. But if your reason to stay is because it's your passion, it's an expression of self, it's your self-worth and value and it's what makes you truly, joyful, not just happy, then you're in the right space.

And so that's where I'm trying to advise you. And you're like, well, then what do I do from here? How do I go and step forward? Well, that's that step into the unknown. You know, I think to your point, that's, you know, what you're holding on to is fear-based. And nothing good comes out of fear. So when you're stuck in that, you know, what if that right there is already you creating a scenario that doesn't even exist, you know?

And that's the part that people I feel like get busted. It's having that sense of awareness saying like, hey, you know what? I'm not doing this because I'm creating a fake scenario in my head that's not necessarily true. And those are the moments right there where you just got to go do it. Fear is not real. Fear is just the illusion. And I know a lot of people struggle with that. Trust me, I struggle with that as well.

Yeah. And we recognize because we run, like, what do we react actually more to? What's more sustainable? Is it the expression of love? What do we crave? Love. We don't crave fear. You know what I'm saying?

And so when you experience fear, it could be really intense. It could be damaging. There's PTSD. I understand that. But when we chase something, it's after love. When we feel joy, it's on a level that fear cannot even reach. It cannot even, it doesn't erupt in your body, like making you feel the highest of highest. Fears will never do that.

And so when we remove the illusion of self-doubt, man, the things that we're capable of achieving. and when we have that mode of confidence, keep recreating that, keep going through that, you know what I'm saying? Yeah, hell yeah. So it's like, that's what I want to say

is just really diving into that. So, and a lot of people don't want to do that. A lot of people will just meet with their own obstacles. And the only one recreating that fear is themselves. For sure.

And that's what I really want to emphasize because the only perception of reality you have is yours. Nothing else. Yeah, everything else that you kind of pull in. Once it becomes an outside, person making the influence on your decision right there is already step one of you know the wrong decision right because that's the decision outside of it's nothing within you it's not your energy

it's their energy and so if you allow their perceptions to affect your energy i mean i'd still be in sopah yeah i would still be suffering and that's when pain becomes suffering you know you could take pain and then create it into endurance which becomes your strength or you can let it destroy you and then it becomes your suffering does that make sense yeah no dude That's freaking spot on. You couldn't have said that any better. I'm going to write that down. I'm going to write that down for me right now.

So I guess, you know, kind of transitioning there. I guess what was one thing that you miss about football? And that's what's one thing that you definitely don't miss about football? One thing I definitely miss is playing with my teammates. I love competing in the weight room, going on the field, fighting the good fight. You just, like, that's the game, right? You're just watching your brother succeed and that's, like, unite and, like, the nitty-gritty-grine. You guys grind together.

No one else goes to that grind like you guys do. You all share it. One thing I don't miss about the game or the concussions, I don't miss smashing my face and, like, can't chill it. Or, like, my mind goes absent, or it would mess up the way that I speak to people or my memories. Which is the nature of the game. Don't get me wrong. But I don't miss it. Of course.

And I know it's, and we won't get into it, but I just know, you know, obviously there's a big ordeal going on in the league with that. So, you know, if to hear you speaking about that, you know, obviously add some, some clarity there for people that, you know, because, you know, some people that have never played football at that level, obviously don't understand the physical component of the, of the game, you know? And. And obviously, I think the NFL is taking steps to, to fix that, but I think it's just like, to your point, it's the nature of the game. And, and that's why it's so important to just. take care of yourself outside of football. Yeah, it's very important. So, and then I guess what is something that you don't miss is the concussions and best football moment, right? From when you were a pee-wee to the day you ended. In the 16 years, man, that's tough. I know.

I'll give three mini moments. First year I ever played football. We went to what's called the Super Bowl. Okay. And we were against Kopeg and we were down by two touchdowns with two minutes left. and we came back and went up Michael Sile ended up catching this huge

pass down field and you know in pop morning he didn't throw in the ball on but he catches it on his butt and then we go in there and we score

and we end up 1917 um second one I got to throw this in in high school because you know I'll just do it each step of the way high school was my freshman year that holy cross team

we went eight and no and um Mike in I think it's Mike Intake into not in Takeda not in Tenthal Lippo I'm bling on his last name, right, but Mike caught the game winning interception. And my friend Nick and Denisopoulos, a few plays before,

ended up doing this huge sneak pass play where I went from the left side of the field, ran to the right, ran a wheel route on the left side line, caught it, and then ended up scoring, and we went up in one of the game because of it. So to go 8 and O, and Holy Cross hadn't gone 8 and 0 in 40 plus years, that was wonderful. That's it. College level, shit, man. The Rose Bowl, first year we won the first year.

Rose Bowl. And the super story behind that, born January 31st, and that was the day the Dallas Cowboys won the Super Bowl against the Buffalo Bills. So the Super Bowl has always been big. My mother and I, when I was also 10, 11 years old, I asked, what is the Super Bowl of college? And I said, and she goes to the Rose Bowl, the granddaddy of the mall. And I'm from Long Island, New York. And I didn't know anything about how the Rose Bowl would work or how you get into that.

But I remember saying, what would be the chances that you could play in the Rose Bowl and the Super Bowl? you know the two championships and to go into my collar and all of a sudden to play in the Rose Bowl and then we win that moment I had with my mom was truly spectacular something that was created eight years earlier and the other moment was in my final college career that where I end up having one of my biggest games in my life against Notre Dame and that was a school that told me out in the offense they were want to give me an opportunity or a scholarship to do so i can't be a receiver and i had my career high and to have the game winning patch over the middle of the field to set up the field goal for connor and eucina um to take him out of the playoffs was just that's awesome dude yeah no i mean one you know obviously never could it's hard to nail them down to one because there's so many different expressions and i'm like those top four just wow they stick out to you no and and you know that's one thing like i i i never played sports to the professional level but i played a little bit of baseball up to

college and you know one of the things that that i definitely miss about the game is just like you know putting putting in that work ethic around people that you know you're sharing that same end goal you know i think that is something that from sports that you could definitely take is that community aspect that like brotherhood aspect and and just when you're working towards an end goal with people that are working towards the same end goal as you, it's just, it's, it's, it's powerful. That's, I, I think that's the best way, way to put it. And, and the way I feel like how I've wanted to translate that in, in my life now is, you know, starting this has been challenging, you know, being by myself and, and, and, and working towards a goal when no one else is really around you when you've played a team

sport your whole life. Like, you know, that's kind of how the way I make that comparison, but then the moment you start surrounding yourself with people that, that are after, kind of the same end goal, you know, same thing. Like in football year after that, that Super Bowl. Here, you know, we're after, you know, impacting as many people as we can, you know, spreading positivity because of, of our personal stories and how we've felt, you know, in our journey, it's like now how can I give back, you know? And we're nowhere near where we want to be, but why not help people while we're picking up

our own journey, you know what I'm saying? So I think that, you know, community is something that from sports alone, that I feel like has to be the biggest reward. Yeah, I mean, it really is. And one thing I wanted to note on your, you know, we're not where we want to be. It's also adding, but we're exactly where we're supposed to be at. And that's what I feel like a lot of people struggle with. It's like, damn, I'm nowhere where I want to be.

And there's nothing wrong with that chip on that shoulder. However, that means you'd be denying where you're at. And so adding that little component, but I'm right on time. but I'm exactly where I'm supposed to be at in order to get where I want to be. When you accept the now, then you can create the future. But if you're only looking at the past, what you didn't achieve, and the future of where you're not at, you're never present. And that's literally the only thing that can exist.

And it's the only thing in that movement that can change and help you achieve where you'd like to be. So if you're only stuck in the front back, well, start focusing now. Yeah. Have you actually read that book, The Power of Now? I have not. A lot of what you were saying is actually like in that in that book. So, you know, if. Simple concept.

Yeah, exactly. Keep it simple. Keep it simple. That's crazy. That's three words on my mom's wrist tattooed. Keep it simple. That's the word she lives by. And every day those three words make more and more sense.

Dude, one of my, good people that I know, he say to me, he's like, I want you to make something as simple as it possibly can and never simpler. And I was like, damn, that's amazing. That's gold. That's gold, man. But all right, man. Well, I think that's it. I know we want to, you know, keep it informative, keep it short and sweet.

But I think we got a lot of good stuff out there. And again, dude, like I appreciate it like crazy for you taking the time to come out here. I know you're based in L.A. right? Yes. Cool. Cool. So yeah, we're down in Miami. So we have that. That's why the Cuban accent exists in us down here. But it's culture down here, dude. So if you're ever in Miami, let me know. And I would definitely be down to link up. Or if I'm ever in L.A., let's see if we can link up down there for sure. Yeah, that'd be amazing, Andre, really. And all the listeners out there again, I really appreciate you. I hope this helps in any way shape of form. Keep listening to this guy, Andre, I could feel his genuine.

soul and there's authenticity to really help many people. So a big shout out to you, man. Like really big shout out. I appreciate you. And dude, the message you're spreading out there, like, I want you to give everyone your Instagram because, you know, if anybody's, you know, dealing with anything, just life, just normal. It doesn't have to be anything serious.

Just he's definitely a good follow. And he's spreading a good message, you know, better than a lot of people out there. That's for sure. Yeah, I appreciate that, man, really. So my Instagram is Devin Kajus, 86. that's D-E-V-O-N-Devin and then my last name C-A-J-U-S-T-E and that's like California C-A the word just letter E at the end with the number 86 I hope this really helps you guys out again and Andre it's been a pleasure awesome man thank you and I'll make sure to tag it you know across social so people can check you out as well all right you got it brother all right thanks man later