The Chris Voss Show - The Chris Voss Show Podcast – Sean Swarmer, 7 Summits to Success Book

Episode Date: March 13, 2021

Sean Swarmer 7 Summits to Success Book In addition to sharing his story with the world, Sean shares the guiding principles that made his own dreams a reality. This book begins with Sean’s story of survival, adventure, and cliff-hanging suspense, and concluded with a section containing simple, practical steps you can use to fulfill your own dreams and goals. you’ll learn how Sean managed to make the impossible possible, and incorporate those same simple, but powerful steps into climbing your own personal Everest.

You wanted the best. You've got the best podcast, the hottest podcast in the world. The Chris Voss Show, the preeminent podcast with guests so smart you may experience serious brain bleed. Get ready, get ready, strap yourself in. Keep your hands, arms and legs inside the vehicle at all times. Because you're about to go on a monster education roller coaster with your brain now here's your host chris voss hi folks chris voss here from the chris voss show.com the chris voss show.com hey we're coming here with another podcast oh my god it's another one thank you for tuning in. Those of you who have tuned in and are checking out, listening, being those loyal subscribers, we certainly appreciate

you. We love you. Virtual hug to all you folks out there. Today, we have the most amazing guest. He's going to blow your mind. This guy will blow your mind. He will give you inspiration. If you think your life is challenging, he may challenge your challenging or not. It's a variable, but I think he will definitely inspire you. Anyway, to go see the video version of this, go to youtube.com forward slash Chris Voss. Go to goodreads.com forward slash Chris Voss. You'll see all the clubs and channels and all that kind of stuff we have on Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram as well. Today, I invited a really brilliant gentleman. I've met a lot of really

cool people on Clubhouse, just brilliant people that I would unfortunately never meet on any other platform. And Clubhouse is just such a brilliant thing where you can meet people, you can get to know them better, you can get to dig through their bio and find out and go, wow, I really like who that person is. And yeah, so I invited him on the show. His name is Sean Swarner, and he has an epic tale to take and share with us today. Welcome to the show, Sean. How are you, sir? I'm doing great, man. I wish I had a sweet mic like you, but I'm down in Puerto Rico on my laptop. But you said the word brilliant, and I was thinking, is he introducing me? i do the same thing when i guest on shows they start introducing me and i'm like where he's there's someone yeah am i missing something here

welcome to the show though so give us a rundown of your bio you can give us a long one actually since i'm not reading you you've done some uh interesting things with your life extraordinary absolutely yeah it'd be my pleasure how far back do you want to go because we could go back far enough that mom and dad got together nine months later we can skip mom and dad all right so we'll skip no offense to your mom and dad i'm sure they're wonderful people but it's not that kind of show we do that podcast and only fans all right cool so i don't want that visualization in my head anymore. You started it. So let's go back.

Eighth grade. How about I introduce it this way? I'm the only person in history to climb Mount Everest, the highest mountain on every continent, key to both the North and South Poles, and complete the World Championship Ironman triathlon in Hawaii. That's freaking awesome. That's throwing down the gauntlet right there. But I also, and you would never be, you'd never know this next part. I did it all after surviving

two terminal cancers, a prognosis of three months, 14 days to live a medically induced coma for a year. I was read my last rights and i only have one functioning lung holy judas that is amazing and you've done all this climbing and all this hiking and stuff i'm tired already in the show i might have to take a nap this is this is dude this is amazing so tell us a story about how you let's start from the area where you either developed cancer, lost the lung and everything else. And this medically induced coma and where you rose from that. Absolutely. So I was born and raised in Ohio.

Midwest guy, regular kid, just like everybody else. That's a tragedy in and of itself. So you overcame that. So that's good. No, I'm just kidding. I just lost the Ohio crowd. I'm sorry, Ohio. I didn't mean it. I'm just kidding. Go ahead.

You do. I'm a big Michigan fan. I did not belong in Ohio. Now we have lost the Ohio crowd. That's good. Lost that Ohio contingency. Bo Schembechler was my third cousin and Woody Hayes was a family friend. So we just

pulled back the Ohio crowd. Okay, there we go. We saved it. So born and raised like I said, normal Midwest kid. Wow, even like on the cross-country team, we would TP the coaches out

back before toilet paper was worth more than gold. You could actually find it. I trade it for Bitcoin these days. Oh, there you go. So eighth grade, basketball injury, my knee snapped. Every joint just swelled up so much. And if you can imagine what it sounds like when you're at Thanksgiving and you're eating the turkey bone, the turkey leg, that's what my knees sounded like. And I was born and raised in a super small town called Willard, Ohio. My backyard was a bean field or a corn field, depending on the season. And they didn't have the technology to figure out what I had. Initially, they thought I had pneumonia and it's pretty difficult to cure cancer sucking on a nebulizer.

So that wasn't working. They took me to Columbus, Ohio. And as a 13 year old, they diagnosed me with advanced stage four Hodgkin's lymphoma. And that's when I told my parents, your first born son has three months to live. Jesus. So I don't, I don't know if you have any kids who are, who are, you know, teens, but, or who were teens or whatever, but can you imagine the doctor coming up and saying, hey, I'm sorry, but your child has advanced fourth and final stage cancer and they only have three months to live. Yeah. I don't have any kids, but I have my dog kids and that would be devastating. It was devastating actually when it happened. Yeah. It was just no thank you. So

I ballooned up 60 pounds, lost all the hair on my body. In fact, I remember one, there was a moment when I was probably three months into the cancer and into the treatment. And I remember being on my hands and knees in the shower just sobbing. And because all my hair came out in that, that, that's the time that I was in the shower. And I was thinking of what my friends were going through getting ready for school the same day. Because I developed a different perspective. Imagine you're super overweight as a 13-year-old, bald from head to toe. You're sobbing and just pulling chunks of hair out of the drain, crying your eyeballs out, pulling chunks of hair out of the drains so the water could go down. You know, it's just not a pretty picture.

But I was thinking of, like I said earlier, what my friends may have been going through the same day. They were worried about being popular. They were worried about being with the in crowd. They were worried about chasing girls, whatever it might be, their first kiss, whatever. I was worried about fighting for my life. So even at a young age, I developed a different perspective than most people.

That will give it to you. That's for sure. Absolutely. And I went through about a year of chemotherapy. And I think thanks to the miracle of modern medicine, family support, prayer, and just an inner will to get up out of the hospital, I walked out a hairless, happy, bloated young man. And I was back into being what I guess if there is a normal for a teenager, but I was back to being a normal teenager.

So did you just overcome it with the treatment that they were giving you? I think it was a combination of everything. It was almost like the perfect storm came together, but with good things. So I had the right doctor. I had the right treatment. I had the right diet. I had the right exercise. I had the right mental attitude. I had the right support system. Everything came together all at once at the right moment. I don't think it was just one thing. It was everything. So I was normal for quote unquote normal for about a year. Then going in for a checkup for the first cancer is when they found a second cancer and in one day they found a tumor on an x-ray the size of a golf ball they did a needle biopsy where they threaded a needle i don't know six eight inches through

between my ribs to aspirate part of the tumor they took out a lymph node in my neck put in a hip and catheter which is like a permanent IV. They snapped open a few ribs, removed the tumor, put in a drainage tube, and started chemotherapy in less than one day. Holy Judas. So, yeah. This time around, they actually diagnosed me with a type of cancer that affects three out of

a million people with a prognosis of 6%. Wow. So, out of 100 people, people 94 die you're definitely unique oh my god dude you and this time what this story is just going to get better i know so let's get through this part yeah this this time around the doctors diagnosed me with advanced stage askin sarcoma. And that's when they told my parents.

But not only did they hear the first time, your son has three months to live. This time around, they said your son has 14 days. Wow. You're poor parents, man. And you, you climb this mountain with cancer, fighting cancer. You think you got a beat and then back again in it. Absolutely. But it kind of goes back to that shower story where I think that was a turning point in

my life because I decided that I can either fight for my life or give up and die. What are the options there? And I didn't want to give up. I didn't want to give up. I didn't want to die. But I also changed how I looked at life. And I wasn't looking at it from the perspective of, hey, I don't want to die. I was looking at it from the perspective of I wanted to live. So that's the attitude I had going into it. That's the attitude I have for everything now.

It's the same thing climbing Everest. When I did that with half my lung capacity, which they thought was physiologically impossible, I wasn't focused on don't fall in the crevasse or hey, don't fail. I was focused on making it to the top. There you go. So how did you lose the other lung in this coma thing that you were in? So I had three months of intense chemo, one month of radiation, and then 10 more months of chemo. And the chemo was so harsh on my body. Every time I went into the hospital, it would be like a week at a time. That's when the doctor put me in a medically induced coma because the treatments were so hard. They didn't want me to remember it.

Jesus. So I remember my 16 year old, my 16 year old self in that year when I was there for the radiation treatment only because I was lucid. I went in Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, you know, and I literally, I drove 90 miles one way, had a 30 minute treatment and 90 miles back the next day or 90 miles back home the same day. So in one day, I'll do 180 miles driving just for a 30 minute treatment. And because of that, I have both my lungs, but only one functions because there's so much scar tissue from the radiation treatment. Oh, wow. Wow. And so they put you in a medically induced coma for a whole year. Wow.

Yeah. I have moments that alcoholics would call a moment of clarity. And I remember certain things. And it's super weird because everywhere I go, I also try to visit local hospitals and share my survivorship story with the patients. And the memory that's the sense that's closest linked to memory is the sense of smell. And I'll be visiting a patient and I will smell something like saline, for example, that'll trigger a memory I didn't even know I had. Well, your brain's usually, I think,

still working in a coma, at least the subconscious brain is keeping everything going. So you come out of the coma. Do they tell you that you beat the cancer at that point, or what happens next? Yeah, I beat the cancer again, the second one. Again, they're both two primary cancers, completely unrelated. The chances of me, I've done the math on this, the chance of me surviving both Hodgkin's and Atkins is equivalent to winning

the lottery four times in a row with the same numbers. Holy moly, moly. That's got to be, yeah, those odds have got to be nearly impossible. That is crazy, man. So I was placed in remission and then I went on with my life. I went to Westminster College, small liberal arts school in Pennsylvania. I turned into militia from Animal House. I had a wonderful Pennsylvania. I turned into Belushi from Animal House. I had a wonderful time. I was reliving my high school years. I was going to say I had discovered beer.

No, beer discovered me. I had a great four and a half years of school. There you go. And so when did you decide to start this journey where you go start climbing the highest peaks in the world? I was in grad school. I was working towards my master's and my doctorate. I wanted to be a psychologist for cancer patients. And I figured I had a lot to offer, but I couldn't help somebody else until I helped myself. I never took the time to stop and stare myself in the mirror and ask myself, hey, who are you?

What do you want from life? Let alone looking back at how did the cancer affect me? Because anybody who goes through something traumatic, it affects you somehow on some level. But it's up to you to figure out how you want to move forward past that so i i could have sat there for my entire life thinking why me why me why did this happen the fact of the matter is it did happen there's nothing i can do about the past but i i have every i have every bit of control over my future so understanding that i decided okay i'm done with this something happened in grad school maybe change directions and i decided all right i want to be the first kansas survivor to

climb on everest i was looking for a platform to literally give back hope and and scream hope from the largest platform in the world there you go that's that's pretty awesome that's an awesome thing to go for. I was actually living in Florida when I came up with the idea. I was going to school down there. After doing some research, I found out that not too many, coincidentally, not too many mountaineers live in the state of Florida. The highest point down there beaches the highest point down there is the the top of the four seasons hotel in miami if you do the

stairs that's a climb yeah a thousand times so what made you where did you go from there move to colorado there there you go mile high that'll teach you i've had offices and and places that in in colorado and and that's that area alone just you're mile high man when you first get there you're like what the hell and then you see the hail what's that and then you see the hail and that's a whole other story. Yeah, we're approaching hail season here pretty soon. Oh, God. I remember one time when we first opened our offices and I moved. I had a place in Denver to stay at when I'd fly out there for office.

And I remember when I first went out there, I saw this car walking into 7-Eleven. It looked like somebody took the round part of a ball-peen hammer and just whacked the car all over. And I grew up in California. And then my teen years, we moved to Utah. And I'm used to seeing stupid, these multifamily kids that are jumping on the cars and hitting their parents' cars with hammers out on the street. It's just, they have 10 kids. It's like Annabelleville out here so i i saw this car and i'm like somebody's kid went and ball peed and hammered their car that is hilarious i was joking with the 7-eleven guy and he goes he goes no that's the hail and i go what what

and i was about to bring one of my bmws out to stay for the office so i'd have it when i fly in and out and i was like i was like no i'm not bringing my bmws out here no that's not that's not freaking out not with that hell we'll just keep renting jags and budget that fortunately budget around a car had jaguars so which are still pieces of garbage but yeah so i we're looking at it going oh my god and i i pulled over many a hell storms and hidden under like a hotel things uh hotel like the entrances and stuff because i'm like oh my god it's gonna break the car and i'm gonna have to pay for it yeah that that denver stuff something else but moving on so what happened

after you moved to denver i moved to denver for was there for a little bit and then went up to efton park colorado where we there's a mountain out there called Long's Peak, which is, if you do the normal route, it's 18 miles round trip, 14,256 feet high. Wow. I did that once a week with 100 pounds of rocks in my backpack. Wow. So you're just warming up, practicing up, getting good for the thing?

Yeah, getting my chicken legs in shape. I get some chicken legs yeah they're fat chicken legs too my whole audience is like why do why is that now on our head thank you so you practice climbing the mountain yeah up and down up and down i did that once a week i just kept pushing my body further and further and further because obviously i didn didn't start with 100 pounds. I worked my way up to there. And then I started approaching Everest organizers, and they told me that there was no way there was going to be anyone who's going to take a one-lung, two-time cancer-surviving lunatic up the highest mountain in the world. Yeah, I can't tell you how many doors closed in my face, but for 99 doors that

closed, I finally found one that was open and I jumped on it. And then literally nine months after moving to Colorado and training, I flew to Kathmandu. And you pulled it off, huh? Well, my first attempt, man, it was insane. We got to base camp April 8th. I summited May 16th. So I was there for roughly over a month, almost a month and a half, living in a tent. I don't know if you've ever gone a month and a half without showering before, but it's not pretty.

I'll bet. They don't have, like, anything to spritz yourself off of there or anything? You can get, like, those solar showers and stuff, but we weren't even on a shoestring budget. We were on a Velcro budget. We didn't even have shoelaces. So what is that like? You have one lung, and there's already a lack of oxygen up there. If you have two lungs, it's still not a fun riot party.

What is that like? I've gotten to know what it's like with one lung since i was 16 so flash forward 10 years later i've been living with my one lung for for 10 years and that's when i climbed Everest 27 27 years old and for the longest time i was just conscious about how i was breathing and most people when you nervous, you start breathing up here through your upper chest. And I've consciously taught myself how to use my diaphragm to breathe. And I had to. And going up on the summit night from Everest, the last camp's at 26,000 feet.

It's called the death zone. You literally, the body deteriorates. The brain cells die. Fat melts away. Muscle melts away. I was 6'2". I'm still 6'2". 6'2", I weighed about 180, 185 pounds

going over there. When I came back, I weighed 150 pounds. I need to go climb Everest. It's the best diet in the world you can eat anything you want as much as you want anytime you want and still lose weight wow i just move in so you climb everest you get done with that you reach the highest peak what do you decide to do then you because you've done it right climbed everest ever yeah everest is the pinnacle in the climbing industry but there's also something called the seventh summit which is the highest mountain i've ever gone and i and i i started with everest

and the purpose behind it was to reach around the world and help people who've been touched by cancer which kind of seemed like everybody in the world knows someone touched by the disease. And when I summoned it, I actually had a flag that was about that big, you know, maybe a foot, two feet, whatever. And it had names of people touched by cancer. That was my hope, my inspiration to get up there. And I left that flag at the top of the world. And then I wanted to do the same thing for the highest peak on each continent.

And then I did the same thing after that to the South Pole. Then I did the same thing when I trekked to the North Pole. Wow. So now you hold the record for – tell me the record that you hold. I'm the first Kansas survivor to climb Mount Everest, first Kansas survivor to do the seven summits, the first Kansas survivor to do the Explorer of the Grand Slam, which is, it sounds like a Denny's breakfast platter.

Yeah, it does. It's the Seven Summits and the Two Poles. And I'm the only person to do the Grand Slam and the Hawaii Ironman. Oh, wow. And you did an Ironman, too. The Hawaii Ironman. Yeah. Are you a masochist or a sadist? no, you're a masochist? That's

crazy, man. But props to you, man. I'm just having trouble getting up in the morning and lifting this coffee cup to my face. So what an inspiration. And so many people, cancer is like the worst thing ever. So many people suffer from cancer, lose loved ones to cancer. I lost one of my favorite dogs to cancer, did a year and a half with hospice care, had to watch it grow on the back of her, which is, it's one thing to see somebody and you're like, you look fine, but they have cancer inside them. It's another thing to see the cancer grow on something and see the evilness of it. But so you've also written two books about your experiences and things to try and inspire people. Yeah, the one by Simon & Shoes

is called Keep Climbing, How I Beat Cancer and Reached the Top of the Road. You can get all of them on Amazon. The other one's called, it's part of the Seven Summits to Success, Everest Becoming Unstoppable. And I'm finishing up Kilimanjaro Into the Self. And while you're on Amazon,

you can go check out true North, which is a film about my expedition to the North pole. And somehow they got some amazing footage and made 40 below look almost, almost tolerable. Wow. And so you have a movie about your experience. Yeah. When you,

when you watch it though, man, keep in mind with, with any documentary, first of all, you, usually they stop at like the top of the mountain or at the destination. How the hell do they get back home? Yeah, that's true.

You're going to fight way back down the mountain, right? Exactly. And not die. You're halfway. Exactly. That's the most dangerous part. I thought there was just a helicopter up there waiting for you and you just leave no I'm just kidding at the North Pole that's what we had though

it's just like an escalator back down the backside along zip line that's what they should do they should just set up a zip line your brain would probably explode it's probably divers if you come up too soon air embolism you get the thing embolism you

get the thing so so now what you do is you go around the world you inspire people you share your story you go to hospitals and things like that yeah visit hospitals the biggest thing i really love is being a keynote presenter a keynote speaker at conferences and in corporations but i've also put together what's called the Summit Challenge. And it's, in all honesty, I think it's the next step in self-empowerment. Because if you look at, just go back like the past 50, 60 years in that industry, it's always been some guru who's been saying, hey, if you do this and this, this will be your result. You do those two things, you'll make a million dollars in three days. The only, you're going to make a million dollars in three days.

The only person who's going to make a million dollars in three days is the person you're paying to tell you how to do it. It's not going to work. It's usually all good. Exactly. So that's a load of garbage. That's not going to work. So what mine is, is it's because everybody's different. Everybody has a different perspective on life.

Everybody has different personal core values. This actually helps you hone in on your personal core values to help you live a life on your terms and value what you live a life that you value based on what you want most and what you value most. So like I said, it's called the Summit Challenge, seven different challenges where I work people through this linear stage, this linear path to the top of their own peak based on their personal core values, making conscious and mindful decisions on what means most to them. First one, I mean, a great one would be, say, you're waking up in the morning, right? So you're having a hard time getting up. How often do people hit snooze? That's true. Over and over and over again. You know what you're telling yourself every morning? You're like, eh, I'm not excited about my day. Eh, I'm not excited about my day. But when your alarm goes off, if you get out of bed and make it a habit, you're psychologically telling yourself

over and over and over again that you're excited about what's coming up during that day? I'm fortunate. I have two Huskies that are excited about what they're doing in the morning. And so they actually get me up and they have, they work on a clock and I have to get up or else there's going to be pee on the floor. So they, they have their own way of, they're, they're excited. So I just kind of share in their excitement. That's awesome. I don't get a snooze button, unfortunately, with them. You hit the nose. Yeah, I get the nose, the licking, the jumping up and down on Chris.

And they have invented different ways to bother me, to get me up. So maybe everyone should invest in some Huskies. Maybe that's the new alarm clock right there. Ditch maybe everyone should invest in some Huskies. Maybe that's the new, there you go. Dish the alarm clock, get some Huskies and you get free hair with it too. So that's awesome. You can keep you warm at night.

Yeah. Yeah. Technically. Do you do coaching too, or do you just do the speaking and the books and stuff? Do the coaching as well. In fact, I'm putting together,

I've been up kilimanjaro which is the highest modern africa 20 times now and i do it every year as a fundraiser for a cancer charity and what we do is we actually we fund a survivor's trip it's completely paid for and it's the responsibility of that survivor to raise funds for next year's survivor oh wow keeping in the family paying it forward anyone can go anyone's more than welcome to go we just cover a survivor's trip a survivor's expedition to join the rest of the group but i'm turning into i'm turning that into because the idea behind it is the average success rate on kilimanjaro is 48 percent so 52 people out of 100 from all the groups who attempt the summit don't make it.

My groups are 98%. Nice. That's awesome. Exactly. So I wanted to use what I utilize on the mountain for those groups and turn it into an ultimate Kilimanjaro experience to help people immersively make changes in the moment. So seven days up and down the mountain where it's completely immersive. And then we celebrate with a four day safari. So we're working on that one right now too. That's awesome, man. Can anyone go or do you have to be a cancer survivor?

Anyone can go. Wow. That's awesome. I'm going to work on climbing my stairs every day. See if maybe see if I can go in a year or two or five or ten or something like that so what what's the key to finding the inspiration that keeps you going that got you to want to to do go go the extra distance most people would just be like i'm gonna sit here with my i beat the thing and i'm just gonna ride out the rest of the way we did the we did the fun part honestly i think i think because because i i've seen death numerous times there there were nights i went to bed not knowing if i was going to wake up the next morning well i'll be honest and there were nights i was terrified to close my eyes but i didn't think i would ever open up yet. So I think more than anything, I'm more afraid of not living

than I am of dying. And what I want to do is I want to empower other people to see life the same way I do. Maybe not the exact same way, but I want people to have the passion about life that I do. And it's not complaining about traffic. It's not complaining about the noise outside. It's understanding that you always have a choice in how you want to react in any situation and things can always be worse. But don't go to bed being upset about the things you didn't get done. Go to bed being grateful for all the things

that you were able to experience. That's very true. I remember on my 52nd birthday, I think, or 51st birthday, I posted on facebook some sort of bitch and moan cry and whine thing about turning 51 or 2 and i i write a lot of jokes too so i put up a lot of stuff that has jokes been through it and but it was kind of like oh god here we are and i had somebody write me that just was like a stab in the brain and they wrote chris you really should be thankful there's a lot of people who wanted to be your age and didn't get

to your age man you should really take a different point of view and that really was like a punch in the face that went yeah i didn't really think about that so yeah i really actually there's a lot of people who would trade me for this moment. Shit. I should probably think about the value of that. Yeah, but if you're joking about it, that's fine. And I've always thought that what I say is about me, what you hear is about you. Yeah, it was half a bitch.

It was half a bitch, half a joke. I weave those together quite well. A little sarcastic truth sometimes i i'm bitching but no one wants to hear me bitching totally and so they're just like you better make this funny or else we're not gonna read your little pity party but still it's it's the keys to finding inspiration we don't the sad part is we don't realize how valuable this life is sometimes, many of us. I felt I was immortal all my life until I got to about 50, and I didn't think things would start feeling like they do until I was 70 or 65 at the very least. And I'm like, wow, this starts going south way earlier than I anticipated.

And I thought I could drink and party at least up until I died, and that's gone. The whole body is, yeah, we're not doing the whole half bottle of vodka Friday night having a party. Yeah, that's not working for you anymore. We're not doing that shit. That's out the door. You could, but you'd have to sleep until Monday. Oh, I will feel it. I guess I got tuned into my it's i i will feel it i i i guess i got tuned into my body but i will feel it for three to four days and my body will drag for the first

two or three days and i don't even have to have a hangover i just have to drink a few beers and my body will punish me and it will just say remember what you did friday night yeah it's three days later jer jerky jerk. And I just can't perform. And, you know, I perform at such a tip-top level anyway. So whatever. So anyway, what more do we need to know, Sean, about you, what you're doing for inspiration and your books, et cetera, et cetera? Wow, that's a great question.

Do we get it all in the can? I mean, we just want to give people a good capsule about you. I think so, man. I think that's a great question. Do we get it all in the can? Or do we just want to give people a good capsule about you? I think so, man. I think that's great. The main thing is the Summit Challenge because I want people to start replacing bad habits with conscious good habits. And I don't want people to go through life and then look back at it and think and wish, what if? What if I would have done that? What if I would have done that? What if I would have done that?

This is not a dress rehearsal that we have. We need to go out there and start living. And there's a huge difference between being alive and living. And so many people just don't understand that. And I want people to understand that and know that where we are right now in our lives is because of every decision we've ever made in our past and it could be big decisions little decisions whatever it might be but like i said before we have we can choose where we want our futures to go so you made you made the conscious decision to stop drinking or or or realize that it really wasn't a conscious decision. I just had to.

I'd still be drinking if my body would get along with me, but it's decided it wants to go its own way. Yeah, that's one good reason to stop drinking, right? Sure, yeah. I really didn't have a choice in the matter. It's just too painful

to do anymore, but I really do miss it. I've got other things a choice in the matter. It's just too painful to do anymore. But I really do miss it. I've got other things. So there's that. I think that's it. Having a sense of humor about everything is fantastic too. It's the one thing that keeps me going. So there's that.

Then the podcast. It's been interesting to talk to you, man. You've led an interesting life. You're inspiring people. I love what you're doing. You've got the two books. Give us your plugs so people can find you on the interwebs, order up your two books, check you out, get to know better. And maybe some of these folks can get involved in your Kilimanjaro expeditions. Absolutely. Yeah. Just go to SeanSwaner.com.

Sean, unfortunately, passed away. Sean Connery and then the Wonder Brothers with an S on the front. Or send me a message at sean at cancerclimber.org. And you've got some Kilimanjaro art. What is this about? I saw that on your website. Oh, nice. Yeah, I'm glad you saw that. Because I've been over to Kilimanjaro so many times, I was actually adopted into the Chugga tribe, which is a local tribe over in Africa, the foot of Kili.

They did the whole thing. They sacrificed a a goat literally a member of their tribe wow they call me mizuguki chan swahili which means crazy white man in english that's hilarious that's awesome last time we sacrificed a goat i was in your fraternity for a college thing i don't know it's like an old school reference there the movie and you've had a movie done about your journey too as well well you want to plug that sure it's called true north the sean's wonder story just go to amazon prime or amazon you'll find it right there there you go but the paintings support the people in africa because, they rely a hundred percent on tourism and because of COVID they haven't had anyone.

And they're just, they're amazing paintings. I'll send you one. Yeah. If you want to send us a print. Yeah. We'll share it out. Yeah.

Your address after we get off here and I'll send you a big one out and let me know. It sounds good, man. We'll definitely hook that up. So it's been wonderful to talk to you, man. And hopefully people are listening to this and going, wow, my journey hasn't been quite as difficult.

I should really take a look at the quality of what I'm doing and improve it or try and make a better difference in the world. And I love how you've used this to make a difference in the world and inspire other people. That's really freaking awesome. I appreciate it, man. I definitely am grateful for the opportunity to meet you and inspire other people. That's really freaking awesome. I appreciate it, man. I definitely am grateful for the opportunity to meet you and share my story. So thank you for giving me the platform to do that. And all because of Clubhouse. Isn't that amazing?

I never would have met you if I hadn't have been for Clubhouse. It's a chance, but it's so inspiring, that platform and everything else. Absolutely. I need to get on there again. I actually had to buy a, an iPhone to do it because I'm an Android guy. I fortunately had a friend who loaned me an iPhone cause I hate the, I hate the hell out of the phones.

And so I have a dedicated one for that. So it's just, it's a dedicated 24 seven to, to the unit there on a clubhouse. So Sean, thank you very much for spending some time with us today, sharing your inspiring story and telling your incredible tale. And it just keeps on going from the sounds of it so that's just so awesome cool i appreciate it and next up if you want to join me if i get enough sponsors

i'm in january 2022 i'm running seven marathons on seven continents in seven days let me get back to you on that sean let me get back to you on that i don. Let me get back to you on that. I don't know, man. Give me until, will you be doing anything in 2030? I'm thinking 2030, I might be in shape for that. I got to work out. No, I'm just kidding. So there you go.

Thanks, Sean, for being with us on the show. Thanks, Madis, for tuning in. Go to youtube.com to see a video version of this. And go to goodreads.com, 4-6-Chris Voss. Also, go to Facebook. There's multiple groups and go to goodreads.com. Also go to Facebook. There's multiple groups over there, LinkedIn and Instagram. We certainly appreciate you guys tuning in. We'll see you guys next time.