The Chris Voss Show - The Chris Voss Show Podcast – Antoinette Lee’s Journey: From Injury to Inspiring New Normals

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Starting point is 00:01:37 It's anyway, an amazing young lady on the show. We're going to be talking about her experience, her knowledge and her uplifting message and the thing she's going to inspire you for. And if she wasn't planning on that, well, I just put a lot of pressure on her. Antoinette Lee, MBA, is with us on the show today. She is an 11-year U.S. Army veteran and outdoor industry influencer, model, consultant, health, and wellness, call on this. at Cultures Magazine. She is the founder of the American Adventure Sports Club nonprofit and motivational health and wellness speaker delivering the new, normal, big life, talk, blog, and podcast. Aside from an amazing recovering journey from using a walker, a service dog, a full-time caregiver after a traumatic brain injury, spinal injury, and PTSD, she shows others how to create their new normal and live the best life they can dream.

Starting point is 00:02:31 She usually can be found in the north woods with her family, stewarding the forest and river around their homestead while living the adventure sports lifestyle. Boy, she's got the pictures to show it. She's out whitewater rapid kayaking. Antoinette, welcome the show. How are you? Hi, Chris.

Starting point is 00:02:48 I'm so stoked to be with you here today. We're stoked to have you as well. And thank you for your army service. Give us your dot-coms. Where can people find you on the interwebs? You can find me at NNBL.blog at New Normal Big Life podcast on all of the platforms. NNBL podcast on Instagram, NNBL blog on X. So give us a 30,000 overview of what you do there and how you do it.

Starting point is 00:03:19 Well, I was sick for a very long time. And so what I do is show people how to get answers. for their most pressing health and wellness problems. But I also teach you how to be prepared for anything because life is suffering. And it comes for us all. Life is suffering. We're leading off on a high note, folks. No, I'm just saying.

Starting point is 00:03:46 But, I mean, there is. I mean, part of life, the journey is work, right? I mean, it's not, it's not easy. Like, no one just kind of walks up to and goes, Here's a billion dollars. Here's your spouse and here's, you know, you're set. Just to sit and eat Cheetos in your beanbag and knock yourself out. Right.

Starting point is 00:04:06 Everyone thinks that life is supposed to be this easy journey, but the human condition is that life is suffering for us all. But the beauty of it is because you've gone through some difficult times, you really appreciate the good times. And so the thing to remember is just like eventually winter always turns, to spring, sometimes a little early, sometimes a little late, your good times will come back around eventually. It's how you handle the bad times that positions you to thrive during the good times. And that's a great message, you know, in Stoces, and they talk about that. It's your

Starting point is 00:04:45 perception. It's how you, it's how you handle things. I mean, you can have something bad happen to you, and it's okay to grieve. It's okay to be like, you know, feel like you're a little beat up Sometimes, you know, it's okay to go through that moment where you're like, why me and what the hell, the universe has it out for me, but you can't get stuck in that place because otherwise you just end up in a victim mindset. You've got to get empowered and go like, okay, well, you gave me a lemonade life. Let's sell some, or you gave me lemons, let's sell some lemonade. Exactly. And, and you know, 51% of Americans are calling to Gallup's Life Evaluation Index in 2025, 51% of Americans said they're struggling and suffering.

Starting point is 00:05:28 And over a billion people worldwide suffer daily with chronic pain. 56% of Gen Ziers said they're lonely and one in five millennials have zero friends while 5% of seniors are depressed. Yeah. Yeah. Well, I mean, teenagers will do that to you. No, I'm just kidding. I'm kidding about teenagers.

Starting point is 00:05:49 I think we just lost the two that listened to show that I've been wondering what this whole thing is about what does he mean a telephone what is that so yeah this i mean life is a struggle and part of you're right if it wasn't for the good times if it wasn't for the fact that you know we could all experience our loss or someone else's loss where you know in an instant we can be gone our loved ones can be gone or we can be gone you know life can change in a moment you know an accident an incident you know i had a friend who every day he walked kind of down some streets of San Francisco up, and then he did a mountain hike. He was, like, eight years old, and 82, I think he was.

Starting point is 00:06:27 And he was killing it. His health was, you know, fairly good for 82. He could go walk more than I could. He could go walk a mountain. And he would do that, like on a day basis and keep his health up. He went out for a walk. He was crossing the street. I guess there was a bus or something that was there,

Starting point is 00:06:44 so no one could see him crossing outside of the bus and someone blew the light and did enough damage to, he died a few weeks. later. You know, this is a guy healthy, he's climbing mountains, you know, he's doing all that thing. And you just, just blink of an eye instant. Life was taken from him. And so that can happen. Let's talk about your journey. You evidently got, you know, involved in the military to young age. What was it like for you growing up? What were some of your influences or some of the things that shaped you into the mindset you have now? And what was the journey? Tell us about your injury as well. Well, I come from a legacy of that.

Starting point is 00:07:21 veterans, my dad and his twin brother volunteered. They were not drafted. They served in the Navy in World War II. And then when the Korean conflict kicked off, they volunteered again and served in the army. And then later, when I was in the army, I was attached to the real mash unit, the 65th medical battalion and served in some of the areas where my dad and his twin brother fought. And then my mother's side, all of her four brothers served in the military. And so, military. service was the family legacy, and I wanted to be the first woman in my family to serve, and I was. Congratulations. That's awesome. And, you know, the military's open more roles for women, I think, than they used to have. I'm not sure what's going on this year, but that may be for another podcast. But, no, I think it's great that, you know, the opportunities are there and you're able to

Starting point is 00:08:15 continue the legacy of your family and thank your family for their service. I mean, you guys stand between us and some of the most. evil people in the world and that's my mother-in-law. No, I'm just kidding. I don't have a mother-in-law. That's a joke, folks. Or teenagers. Can we get you guys to protect us from teenagers? That might be good. I have some friends that are going through that right now if you can't tell. I just heard the stories. I'm like, you know, there is adoption. So what happened to you? How did you get in the situation where you ended up with an injury and then you had to do this battle to get, you know, go through some of the things we talked about in your bio?

Starting point is 00:08:50 Well, to understand what happened, you kind of need to understand what I did in the military. So I was trained and served in various roles throughout my 11 years in the Army. Most notably, I was an air assault qualified expert medic, trained in anatomy, physiology, pharmacology, general dentistry, and infection control and disease prevention. I also held other roles. But since 93% of the U.S. population has never served in the military and for, for our international listeners. I'll explain a couple of things that are unique to the American active duty military and veteran experience. So an air assault qualification means that you're

Starting point is 00:09:32 trained to sling load and hoist away using a helicopter. I would sling load it. A pilot would use the helicopter to move equipment from one place to another. You're also trained to repel out of helicopters and down mountains and off buildings. And then as an expert field, medic. I was trained to give life-saving first aid in an emergency situation and then get the patient to a higher level of medical care. And sometimes getting that patient to a higher level of medical care meant that I had to carry a grown man who was sometimes a hundred pounds heavier than me and almost a foot taller on my back using a fireman carry. So I needed to be as strong as my male counterparts to be able to do my job. But one day, I had a devastating injury. I was repelling down a

Starting point is 00:10:26 mountain in Korea. And the same conditions that helped the person that I was going to assist also injured me. I suffered a traumatic brain injury, spinal cord injury. I broke my back. And I later develop PTSD, not from this incident, but from other incidents in the military. Well, I'm sorry to hear that. I mean, PTSD is a real big deal. Brain injuries are a real big deal. I've had some friends that have gotten brain injuries. And, and, you know, for some of them, it makes them really hard just to go out in public and do anything. They can get overwhelmed by some of the things that are there. So it's not fun. So you end up with a walker, I guess, and then eventually graduate through the tier we talked about in your bio. Yeah, well, I went from being injured to being

Starting point is 00:11:17 able to do my job for a short time. But by the time I was 32, I was losing my memory, my ability to learn new things, having difficulty walking and talking. At my worst, I couldn't care for myself. I had to use a walker or service dog and a full-time caregiver. And at my sickest, I thought I was going to die. In fact, I was looking down on myself one day. My service dog was at my side. She wouldn't leave my side that entire day. And she looked as if she was saying goodbye to me. And within my body, I felt like my soul was leaving my body, 100% believed I would not make it to the next day. So I thank God for the life I had lived because comparatively, you know, I had gone from a little kid in Queens to becoming a tech CEO after leaving the military. And I made it.

Starting point is 00:12:14 I was living the American dream, but I was getting sicker and sicker every day until I thought I wasn't going to survive. But I said, God, thank you for the life I've lived. But if I make it one more day, I'm going to figure out why I'm so sick and tired. And I'm going to turn around and help others because there are so many people for which modern Western medicine is just not working for us. And we're just different animals, just wired differently. So we have to approach health care a little bit differently. And that's what I did. I woke up that next morning and set out creating my new normal because I was never getting my old life back.

Starting point is 00:12:54 My brain was never going to be the same. My spinal cord was never going to be the same. So what will I do now? How will I live? How will I show up in the world? And I wanted it to be a big life. Ah. Well, I love that message.

Starting point is 00:13:09 You know, starting off the gratitude, I've noticed that when I go through some of my darkest, cathartic moments. Gratitude is something that helps kind of reset me, give me a foundation as well, and kind of re-what's the word, refit the situation, re-re-imagine your outcome? Re-imagine the outcome, yeah. And by doing that, you kind of create a space for yourself to go, you know, what do I have now? You know, I've been through cathartic moments where I've lost, you know, different functions

Starting point is 00:13:42 of my body and old age, my back and hernias and different things, and had to realize that I'm going to have to live with that for the rest of my life. And it's a quality of life situation over just, you know, being able to do whatever the hell I want, run around crazy like. And then the same thing with business, same thing with losing companies or losing friends or or loved ones. And, you know, having a point of gratitude really helps you reframe it to where you can re-approach it. And then, of course, market is a, okay, so let's get on with pursuing the quality of the life that I can have, the best that I can do, and really enjoying life. And it's kind of sad that sometimes things have to be taken from us before we really appreciate

Starting point is 00:14:26 our value them. But the way it is. Yeah. And, you know, what I have found, because I'm also the director of an adventure camp for youth ages 6 to 16. And 11 out of 16 youths in 2021 came to camp and they self-reported to a counselor that they had been thinking about suicide, age of 6 to 16, before coming to camp. And they said, since they've been at camp, they're not thinking about that anymore. They feel more hopeful. Is it being around other people? Is it achieving things? It is You know, sending goals and going out and doing things, getting out there. Well, I'd like to say it's me, really, because I set up, I created the camp and I set it up to take these use through the new normal big life process. An easy process for changing your life, whatever you think is causing you to be stuck in your relationships, in work and school, in your health and fitness, especially health and fitness, we help you to see that.

Starting point is 00:15:38 your old life is not coming back let's move you forward and live the biggest life you can dream and it's not anything magical about it it's just that we're not used to hearing that you can in our culture we hear no no no you can't you won't you'll never so often that it becomes this unconscious memory where when you're trying to excel at something You have this negative talk in your head that says, it won't happen. You're not special. You're not good enough. You should just give up now.

Starting point is 00:16:18 It's easier. Yeah, it's unfortunate. We have that self-talk, too, that sometimes gets us discouraged. And so how often do you hold these types of events or how do they work at the adventure sports club? Well, we have a year-round club. We started in northern Colorado, where I used to live. I live in the Midwest now.

Starting point is 00:16:41 And the camp is yearly. We started off with just children. And then their parents were saying, I've never been to camp. I don't know how to shoot a bow and arrow or kayak or paddleboard or any of the things you're teaching my child. I'd like to go to camp. So then we had to camp for families. And then we brought grandparents along with the families. And then the grandparents said, you know what?

Starting point is 00:17:05 I want to live my best life in retirement. can you hold camps just for us? And so this year, this past summer, we started camps just for seniors. Ah, camps just for seniors. Get them out. Get them doing stuff. You know, it's so hard for seniors sometimes to make new friends to, you know, sometimes they get very isolated.

Starting point is 00:17:26 There's lots of different ways they've, you know, we've had people on the show that have designed apps and events and different things to try and keep them from getting isolated. And depression kills, loneliness kills. And when you're older, you know, having people in your life, it can keep you busy, it can keep your mind active because, you know, one of the things that comes is dementia and Alzheimer's. And, you know, keeping sharp, playing games with people,

Starting point is 00:17:51 evidently, you know, fight off dementia and Alzheimer's using your brain, keeping it engaged, you know, I'm still working to keep my brain engaged because, I mean, you've seen me lately. Anyway, he has no brain, we know. That's why he runs a show. Anyway, so you do these events, and how can people find out about them? How can people on board with them or get more information on future events you're holding? American Adventure Sports Club.

Starting point is 00:18:20 You can find out about events, and also you can donate. We are funded fully by donations and some government grants, which is great, and it's open to anyone with a financial need. And why a financial need? It's a nonprofit, but how does that work? Here's the thing. In America, and a lot of people don't realize this, the majority of people who recreate in America come from a household that earns over $100,000 a year. And it's very expensive. Let's say you wanted to jump into whitewater kayaking tomorrow. You're going to spend about $3,000 for all of the gear to be able to. kayak and icy cold water.

Starting point is 00:19:05 If you want to start ice fishing tomorrow, which is something I love doing and I'm looking forward to to probably very soon, that's going to cost you just getting started about $800. But outdoor recreation is so

Starting point is 00:19:21 beneficial for neuroplasticity, for community, for moving your body. So all of the things that promote longevity, you're probably not going to believe this because my sponsor, didn't believe it. And what I mean by sponsors, if you've ever watched like, I don't know, downhill skiing and they're about to interview a snowboarder, for example, and they'll say, I'd love to tell you about that race, but first, let me thank my sponsors. I'm that girl. But I became a sponsored adventure sports athlete, hold on to your hats at 53, and they thought I was 35. I'm 58 now. I know I'm not your grandma's 58. But I'll be 58 next week and I'm still whitewater kayaking. I'm still climbing and hiking

Starting point is 00:20:12 even after a brain injury. So if I can ditch my walker and create this amazing new life and remember what I said, I told you it was going to be a big life, right? When I was still using a walker, I envisioned the kind of people I would have around me, where I would live, the kind of work that I would do, the kind of things I would do for my good health. Four years after that vision, I was living that life. Not only living that life, but by the fifth year, I was a sponsored athlete in that life. I completely changed careers from technology and became a journalist, and now I'm a columnist at an international magazine. So there's not magical thinking. There's no magical thinking involved. It's a step-by-step plan that you can start tomorrow.

Starting point is 00:21:05 Ah, and you help people achieve that, get their goals done. And then you're going to roll a lot of this out on the podcast as you grow this podcast and expand it. Tell us more about what you plan to do there. On New Normal Big Life podcast, I interview experts from all kinds of disciplines, from epidemiologists to neurologists and more. And we talk about your biggest health challenges. but I also take you through a step-by-step plan to incorporate what you just learn from those experts. Because it's easy to sit back and you hear all this great information and then you wonder, well, how do I do this on my budget? Whether you're, whether you come from a low-income household or you have all the disposable income that you need, you're going to need to know how to get

Starting point is 00:21:56 started and a lot of people are not self-starters. So we take the government. work out of you. So every episode, you can click on the show description and get a plan for what to do next and also on the blog and our newsletter. If you sign up for the newsletter, you can download your step-by-step plans. So for example, if I talk, if you listen to the episode about taking the toxic food ingredients out of your diet and you hear about all of these ingredients and how they show up on your packaging, one ingredient might show up. three different ways. You need to know all the different ways they're on your package. You can listen to it on the podcast, then get the newsletter and download your list of things to avoid when you go to

Starting point is 00:22:42 the grocery store. I love it. In 2026 in January, I'm going to start taking you through creating your new normal and living your big life. And this is all at no cost. I don't charge you for anything because this is my mission. This is my purpose, my passion, one of the reasons that I get out of bed, being an outdoors woman is the other reason I get out of bed. And of course, my family and friends are big reasons too. But on those days, I still have debilitation. There are some days that I get up and my brain does not work. It won't cooperate. And I will have difficulty making sentences, difficulty walking, difficulty with stability. But on those days, I know that eventually I'm going to get back to my new normal

Starting point is 00:23:36 and I'm going to continue with my life. And while I'm struggling, I'm remembering the good times I had with my friends. I'm remembering all the fun that I'm going to have in the future in this outdoor lifestyle. So this outdoor lifestyle that I promote, it's more like what the hunter-gatherer ancestors that we read about in history have done. Getting back to living like that, that's your key to longevity. Well, I love what you're doing there. You know, diet's a big part of it.

Starting point is 00:24:08 That's probably one of the things you've helped to use to heal your health, right? Eating right, eating healthy foods, staying away from the McDonald's. It's good every year. Once a year or something, I don't know. But, you know, one of the things I learned, someone, and pardon me decades ago, is when you go to the store, you don't go down the bad aisles. That's the key.

Starting point is 00:24:31 And if you notice that the layout of a store, any given grocery store has the freshest food on the outside because they have to change it often because it doesn't stay fresh, but it's the live foods, you know, it's your vegetables and all that sort of good stuff, right? And then the closer you move in the store with the aisles, the debtor the food becomes. So, you know, you've always got the chip and pop aisle in the middle, and you've got the freezer aisle. That's like really dead food. And then, you know, and it kind of goes in from there. And so I learned a long time ago to right away, go buy my groceries in the vegetable section, and then, you know, stay off the aisles.

Starting point is 00:25:14 I don't go down the candy aisle. I don't go down the chip aisle. I don't go down the pop aisle. Because if I go down those aisles, you know what happens, right? You buy everything in the store. I'm like, yeah, you start making those, those bargains with yourself, those fustian bargains with yourself. Well, if I buy this 12 pack of Coke, I'll only drink one a day.

Starting point is 00:25:35 I promise myself when that fucker gets home, I'm only going to drink one a day out of that box. No, and you got, you drink five that day. You're like, it's in your house, it's in your mouth. That's what I learned. Oh, I love that. I'm going to, I'm going to use that. Please do. Please, please, if it's in your house, it's in your mouth, they stole it from,

Starting point is 00:25:52 I think Krierey from Presto Pendulet's book. And yeah, that's one of the lessons. If you bring it home and you play that Fosti and bargain,

Starting point is 00:26:05 I won't eat the whole bag of Oreos in one setting. You know, you play those games with your mind at the store. You're going to do it when you get home. I mean, it's just it.

Starting point is 00:26:14 You get hungry. Maybe you're not even hungry. A lot of people mistake hungryness for just being dehydrated. Like they should just drink some water and some salt. Right. And they're like, no, I'll just eat a bag of Oreos.

Starting point is 00:26:27 That'll hydrate me. You know, and then they wonder why they're crashing and, you know, all sorts of stuff. But health is, health and food and what you put in your body is so important, you know. Health is the way from the crack. Health is wealth. It really is. And healing damage, you know, I may not be able to heal my back or, you know, other things I've damaged in my world.

Starting point is 00:26:48 But, you know, I can help improve the quality of its survival. and health by eating good stuff, you know. I used to drink a lot of vodka, and that's not good for anyone's joints. It's good for a good time sometimes, though. For about two hours, and there's about three days of hangovers and dehydration and bloating. And, man, I used to get bad water gain from days. And eventually you just go, hey, man, you know, this is for the young, this is a game for young people.

Starting point is 00:27:19 And I feel so much better not drinking anymore. I mean, I played my body out for 20 years. I did it hard for 20 years. And then I was like, okay, you did that. We could put that one in the bag and just say we got that one. You know, Chris, I think that you and the listeners out there might be able to level up your good health more than you think you can. And here's why. So researchers Sonja Lubomerski came up with this hypothesis for happiness that your

Starting point is 00:27:51 happiness level, but I'm going to extrapolate it out to your overall life in health and wellness, right? So 50% of what makes you who you are comes from your genetics. And of course, you can turn genes on and off. 40, 10% of what makes you who you are, that's environment. And some of the environment you cannot change. Like, you can't change the rapid piece of cultural change that we've seen over the past 10 years. It can't change the rapid piece of technology that we've seen over the past 10 years. But what you can change are some lifestyle changes. And those lifestyle changes are 40% of what makes you who you are. So it makes you, it's 40% of your good health. It's 40% of your back pain. It's 40% of your cognitive abilities. It's 40% of how successful

Starting point is 00:28:46 you're going to become in whatever career you choose. So by making those life changes, using that 40% that is within your control, you can level up your game. And I'll give you an example that applies to you, Chris. So like me, you've got back pain. It probably stops you from living the life that you want to live sometimes. But there are natural ways to reduce inflammation to reduce your chronic pain. There are ways to move your body to reduce. reduce your chronic pain.

Starting point is 00:29:21 So those are the things that you don't hear at your doctor's office that we cover, along with my experts, on New Normal Big Life podcast. Nice. Well, that's going to be awesome. That's going to be awesome. So where can people find this again and your dot coms and give people the final pitch out? You can find New Normal Big Life on Apple Podcast, Spotify, IHeart Radio, and 10 other platforms. You can find me on LinkedIn at Antoinette Lee MBA.

Starting point is 00:29:50 You can find me on Twitter at or X at NNBL podcast, Instagram at NNBL blog, and also on TikTok at New Normal Big Life Podcasts. Oh, well, this sounds like an exciting podcast to have and eating well, having gratitude, being, being, you know, in your good health. I mean, it's so important because you've got to take care of yourself. I mean, I wish I would have taken care of myself after dealing with hospitals for my injury on hernius. You know, it's crazy out there, man, in the medical field. And when you see the costs of it and some of the craziness you have to deal with, be healthy, folks, trust me. It's not fun. I'm just experiencing it for the first time in 58 years.

Starting point is 00:30:41 I'm just like, what the hell's going on with this? Wow. Yeah. Well, thank you very much, Antoinette, for coming the show. It's been fun to have you and very inspiring. And hopefully people will reach out to you and get involved with what you're doing to lift them up. Thank you, Chris. See you on the other side.

Starting point is 00:30:57 See you on the other side. Thanks for mine for us for us for us for us, Chris Foss, LinkedIn.com, for Chess Chris Foss, 1 on the TikTokati and all those crazy places on the internet. Be good to each other. Stay safe. We'll see you guys next time. And that should have a second.

The Chris Voss Show - The Chris Voss Show Podcast – Antoinette Lee’s Journey: From Injury to Inspiring New Normals

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