Determined Society with Shawn French | Adversity & Mindset - Journey of a Cancer Survivor: Jody Younker's Story Addressing Trauma and Healing for Success

Episode Date: June 3, 2024

Jody Yonker shares her journey as a cancer survivor, discussing the emotional impact, family dynamics, and the transition from corporate life to entrepreneurship. Shawn French reflects on his own health scare and the challenges of corporate culture. The conversation covers a wide range of topics including health challenges, entrepreneurship, personal growth, and mindset. Jody shares her journey of overcoming health issues and the importance of advocating for oneself in the medical system. Shawn discusses the transition from corporate sales to entrepreneurship and the mindset shift required for success. Both speakers emphasize the significance of personal growth, self-awareness, and the impact of trauma on one's journey. Key Conversation Points The emotional impact of a health scare and the importance of family support. The transition from corporate life to entrepreneurship and the challenges it presents. The significance of mindset and surrender in facing life's challenges. Advocating for oneself in the medical system is crucial, especially when dealing with complex health issues. Transitioning from corporate sales to entrepreneurship requires a mindset shift and a different approach to leadership and mentorship. Personal growth and self-awareness play a significant role in overcoming challenges and achieving success. The impact of trauma on one's journey and the importance of addressing and healing from past experiences. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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Just know I'm a go for mine because I earned it. They watch and I know it's time. I confirmed it. A whole society determined. What is up, everybody? Welcome back. I am your host Sean French and I have with me today a cancer survivor, a freedom forager, a faith-driven leader.

She's an ultimate, ultimate entrepreneur and she is so incredible. I cannot wait to share with you guys my guest today. Jody Yonker. she is currently going through her own cancer journey, thyroid cancer, and the tumors are shrinking, and she is feeling great and looking unbelievable. So without further ado, I want to welcome Jody to the show. How are you, my friend? Well, thank you so much, Sean. I have admired you from afar for years. I just love your journey and your TED Talk and just all the things that you show up every day and do for the world. So I am super excited to be here. Thank you for having me. I got to tell you that just made me

emotional. Everybody knows I'm a softy. Did someone tell you how to really get me to almost cry? You know, it's funny because it's, it's, no, it's, it's funny, but it's not. But it's like, we go through this journey and we're doing things every single day because we feel it's what we've been led to do. And all the while, a lot of times I have felt like no one notices. and when someone like yourself whom I also respect and admire comes on and gives me that that little bit of an affirmation, that external validation, I tell you, I do crave it and I do appreciate it. So thank you. It makes me feel, makes me feel very happy. You're so welcome. I think when we're very driven, we forget to allow ourselves grace

and to give ourselves accolades or just to remember like I really did do that. you know, and I really am showing up in a powerful way. So. Well, because we don't know, right? Because like everything on the internet is so skewed. We, we don't know based on analytics or, you know, I cannot believe, you know, how hard it is to even reach just the community that I fought so hard to build on Instagram. So if I post something, you know, it just kind of goes, you know, hand in hand with my original thought process, right? It's like, no one's seeing it, right? If the bulk of the consumers are non-followers that are not currently in my community,

it's like, then what I build this big following for? Like what's going on? Like how do I, how do I engage you? And it's so funny because like, I just don't know the answer. You know, I don't know the answer. I don't think any of us do, right? Instagram isn't a human. It's not our friend.

No, it's good. that we're constantly battling with. But I think all we can do is just be authentic and show up true to ourselves, right? And some days it's going to hit as far as algorithms go. But oftentimes it's hitting, even if the algorithms aren't showing it, it's touching that person. And I think at the heart of it, that's why we put the content out there, right? We do it because we want to make a difference.

It's funny because someone said to me the other day is like, hey, I've been watching all your stuff. I see it all. It's one of my former baseball players. He came over from dinner. He's a good friend now. Jake Gibson. He's like, bro, I've been paying attention. And ask him, like, you don't, like, can you engage? So I know you're there. It's like,

but you know, it's funny because that's for me. And so I sat there and I thought like, immediately after I said that, I said, dude, I'm sorry. No, I shouldn't have said that because you're consuming the content and you're getting what you need out of it. And, you know, the likes and the comments or

the shares, whatever, that's just for the creator, right? That's that external validation to say like, okay, you're doing a good job, buddy. Keep going. There's your pat on the back. But anyway, we're not going to talk about it. I say, okay, if we go to the grocery store, which I am an extroverted introvert, right? Like, I love stuff like this, but in real life, like we were telling you like space, you know? So if I went to the grocery store and 20 people came up to me and was like, oh my gosh, hi. Thadipan said all these things to me. I'd be so overwhelmed. But if I get 20 likes, I was really shooting for 60. I know. No, it's funny because like I, I'm very extroverted, but what people don't know about me,

I'm a closet introvert. And it just, it gets that way sometimes. And if I see three people at the grocery store, that's just not the time I want to connect. You know what I mean? It's just, it's like, dude, like I got to, I got to get up out of here. You know, I don't, I don't want to go through this conversation. And, and I always try to end it with like, oh, man, like, hey, let's give me a shout. call me. If I'm running to you in the grocery store is probably, you know, you probably have my number. If I'm talking to you in a grocery store, right? And it's so funny, they still don't want to let you go.

It's like, dude, like, listen, man, I got to get these eggs, you know. And I make, hey, I got ice cream at the very bottom of the cart, man. You can't see it, but I got to get this home. My kids can be pissed. It's melted. So he's trying to. It's hot out. It's hot.

But no, you're right. If, you know, you look at a reel and you're like, okay, well, 300 views, this sucks. But if 300 people walked into your house right now to listen to what you're saying, you'd be like, whoa, you know, back up. You know, and that just gets into the whole vanity metrics and comparisons and, you know, all that kind of stuff. But, you know, the road I really want to go down right now, though, is I would like for you, for the audience that hasn't connected with you and hasn't learned about Jody, tell them a little bit about yourself, what you do and what you're going through right now so they can have some contacts. Okay, awesome. So I for 20, the past 20 years, worked in the corporate world, corporate, you know, leadership, sales. It was like my, like, that's what I did, right? And the last five, six years, I've really focused on more of an entrepreneurial journey, having multiple streams of income, really lifting my lid, meeting different groups of people, mentorships, all of the things. And last summer, almost a year ago, I, I wasn't feeling right. I'm very healthy. I do a lot of certain things. I hired a distance nutritionist.

And she was like, you're kind of like, in a kind of way. She's like, you're kind of crazy. You can read most people. Like you do like 90% of things that most people don't do, right? I'm like, I know. But I'm still feeling like bloated and fatigued. And I just couldn't figure it out. And she ordered, she was able to order blood work.

And she ordered TPO antibodies. And she said, I don't want to scare you, but I have hypothyroid and Hashimoto's. And I'm kind of thinking this, but I don't want to scare you. So it came back. they're really high. So I walked into my PCP and said, I have these high numbers from a nutritionist. I have family history. You know, I haven't been feeling well. And so he immediately ordered an ultrasound from the ultrasound. He called me. I'll never forget it. You just don't forget this kind of stuff, right? I'm driving in a car. It's like a movie. The sun shining down in the back

of the car. The doctor calls it almost 7 o'clock at night. I'm like, hmm. Like, you know, you're so like, he ain't calling me at 7 p.m. to tell me anything good. No. And he, And he, you know, it was like, it starts off with, I'm so sorry. I'm like, oh, Lord. And it's like my soul already kind of knew, you know, like when I seen those antibodies, like things just kind of started to make sense. And from there, I had a biopsy done. And in the biopsy, he goes, don't worry, 90% of the time I tell people good news.

My job isn't that bad. And when he turned around, my husband, I said, then you could see like, shoulders kind of go down when you look under the microscope. And I was like, you don't have to say it. And he said, I do. It's my job. And I said, well, I can tell. you know, by your body language.

And he said, I am so sorry. You know, it's definitely cancer. And from there, I, you know, scheduled the surgery and decided to do a low back to me. Like, you can see my battle scar. I decided to do a lobectomy, which is removing half. And we removed the half. And I was like, okay, I made it through it. It's going to be okay.

I'm not going to have to take meds. Like, kind of had it. You know how it is. We make a game plan, right? Yeah, of course. It's in our control. Yeah, of course. Yeah.

We're in control here. Yeah. Of course. I'm like, this is what I'm going to do. I can really control my calendar. Like, it's not, something like this would be way out of my depth. But anyway, go ahead. And, you know, honestly, I do think with as much time as I've had in stillness and

surrender, that that is what God was doing this whole time, right? Because here I thought I was just going to like everything else. Okay. I'm putting it in a box with the lid on it. This is what I'm going to do. And I went to the appointment with the E&T, like for a follow up. And he is a surgeon. He's not an emotional guy.

right? And I looked at his white coat and there was a crucifix on it. And he got need to knee with me and he said, I can't do the neck surgery. And I was like, what, why? Like, why would you not do the next surgery? And he said, because your cancer is metastatized to the other side of your thyroid, to the lymph nodes in your neck and to the top of your collarbone. And I just sat there. Like, what did you just say? Like, you know, the first time I was told I had cancer, like your whole world kind of shifts. And then that time I was just shook. right like it just dumbfounded like then it was like hmm what's going to happen yeah you know like what does this mean where else is it and i kind of asked him those questions and he said i'm going to

order a CT scan you know we're going to see where all else everything is and he's going to send me to the university of michigan i live in ohio so it's like a really good um hospital in the next you know in michigan um so when up there and the doctor was really great he was like one of the head cancer surgeons up there. And he said, it has metastasized. I am going to remove it. But I don't think, because I thought I was going to do a full neck dissection, which to me, the thought of it, and this is, I'm not saying

this is accurate, but do you know what a dispatch cock chicken is? No. Cut the chicken down the middle and lay it like this. And I felt like that they were going to be doing with my neck. You know what I mean? To get all of that out. And he said, I don't think that I have to do that. So we just did the full removal.

and I then went in for follow-ups and they said, you know, things look good. There was still some positive lymph nodes. So I did radiation with a nuclear team. It was a week long, you know, different series of tests, different things. And the radiation will be in me for six months. And it is shrinking. So that's amazing, right? It's great.

It was. Yes. As hard as this has been in ways it truly is miraculous. You know, like I still. and functioning. I have my hair. Like there's so many things that it's changed my life so much. But it's also,

I think it was a surrender. Like that's my word for 2024. That's awesome. Like, yeah. It's just been wild. Yeah, you still have your beautiful red hair. Like, it's still there. I mean,

I'm so thankful for that. It's falling out, kind of, but it's, well, if that's falling out, you're doing pretty well. Thank you.

So, so the radiation will be, within your system for six months. How, where are we on that timeline right now? So I had it done in February. Okay. Okay. All right.

So till August. Well, yeah. Like September. Well, it was middle of February. So like October-ish. Yeah. Okay. When they'll actually do the retesting.

I go back and they won't do the same things, obviously, but they're going to do a series of tests and make sure. And they did, they did blood work in April to make sure and testing to make sure that it was shrinking. And the numbers are half. of what they were before. That's awesome. That's fantastic.

We're going to celebrate. Look at that. We're going in the right direction and I have no doubt you'll continue in that direction. Let me ask you this though because, you know, I've had my own scare before and I'll give you the background. So I was doing life insurance tests at some point and my liver enzymes were elevated. And so I couldn't get qualified for the amount of insurance that I wanted. And so I just kind of let it be.

It's like, no big deal. I'm not sick. I don't, I was very overweight at the time. And I figured that might be it. And I was, I was doing, I was doing some drinking. Okay. So I figured like, well, hell, you don't have very healthy life habits right now. Surely my blood work and all everything within my, you know, organs is not going to be happy with me.

So I let it chill for a while. And then I got to a point where I was really tired. I couldn't put on muscle mass. I wasn't burning fat. So I went up my blood work done. I found that I was extremely low in the testosterone area. And, you know, I played sports, Division I one baseball. I never supplemented testosterone back in the day.

If you catch what I'm saying, I never did steroids or anything like that. So it was odd to me that my test was so low. But that wasn't my main concern. They came back and they said, like, dude, your liver enzymes are like really high. Like, you need to go get checked out. I'm like, dude, I'm freaking fine, man. good and so I went down this journey. They did an ultrasound.

They say found some polyps on my gallbladder, right? But that's even, you know, they can take that out as long as you catch it. It's quick. It's easy, right? But then they saw like, okay, your liver's inflamed a little bit. And, you know, it's a little angry. So then they did more appointments. Like they did a, what was it?

We did an MRI with contrast, a cat scan. contrast or some crazy stuff like that and it really got down to a point where they could not figure out what was wrong. We can't. They don't, they didn't know. And so they said, well,

we want to do a transjugular liver biopsy. I'm like, what are you talking about? And they started saying, well, you know, we got to, you know,

we got to make sure your pancreas is good. I'm like, whoa, what the fuck? Like that for me right there is a hard stop. Like my grandmother passed away of pancreatic cancer in 1990. seven. My first love, my first girlfriend passed away, gosh, 15 something years ago from pancreatic cancer. And she was actually my girlfriend when my grandma died of pancreatic cancer.

Crazy. Major trigger for me. You know, at that point, I was crying in the corner all night. I couldn't even put my youngest daughter down to bed without losing my mind, right? And so, fast forward, did the liver biopsy. There's like, hey, we'll have the results, you know, in a couple days a couple days goes by nothing i'm like oh shit i have liver cancer i'm done like i am done and um i finally got a hold of the records department like oh well we sent it we sent the specimen to johns hopkins i'm like what in the world like y'all and they're like no no no no i should have said it's normal we send all of our biopsies there i'm like okay so came back minor scarring.

Like they called it what minor fibrosis, right? It looks like I just went to college. I do not have fatty liver. There is no cancer. My liver enzymes are still high and no one can tell me why. To this day. To this day, they're still high. They're high.

They go up. They go down. They go up. They go down. But dude, yeah. So long story long, you know, I had to go through this liver biopsy. And it was just the most terrifying. moment. And so my next question is, it wasn't a reality for me. You know, for you, it was a reality.

You have a husband. You have children. How many children do you have? One son. One son, about to be a senior in high school. Dude, walk me through that because I think that's everybody listening right now. That's what they want to hear, right? Because we all take our loved ones for granted at some level every single day. Right. We do. It's human nature. It's hard. But to get that news, walk us through that. I think that was the hardest part, right? Like when I was told initially that I had cancer, my husband was sitting in the room and he's not a real emotional guy, right? And I couldn't even look at him because I thought, okay, I kind of knew this. This is true. And I knew if I looked over

at him, I would lose it. Right. And I did not want to lose it in front of this gentleman that did the biopsy. So we get in the car, you know, and he's just like, I can't believe it. And he, you know, obviously has been there for me. I think for me the hardest part when I found out that it had metastasized. You know, and like you said, it's human nature for us. When something wrongs is we're like, oh, worst case scenario. I'm not going to see my kids grow up. I'm just having.

What is my wife going to do with your whole husband? Like we just, we spin, right? And that's why mindset is so important. But one day after a couple days after I found out that it had metastasized, my son came home and he was like, we have a long couch and he was leaned up against it. And he was like fumbling around with his foot. and he's like, I want to ask you something. And I was like, you can ask me anything.

You know, you're my only kid. And he's like, I don't know if I can ask you. And I said, what do you want to ask me? Just ask me. And he, like, bit his lower lip a little bit. And he's like, mm. And I was like, so hard to say to this day. I'm like, you want to know if I'm going to die?

And he was like, yeah, I do. And I was like, no. And he's like, are you sure? And I was like, I'm sure you're like, you're my mom. Like, you're my best friend. And I was like, I'm sure. So I think when you go through something like that, that's the hardest thing I've ever been through. That makes everything else seem so small.

You know, when you have to look at, I mean, you know how much you look at children, the only one you got. And you're like, no, in your head, you're like, I hope not. You know what I mean? And that forces you to lean on God. There's so many times to this. Like there's things you need. You know what I mean? Then you're just like, I'm not, I don't feel what I need from someone else.

and it's forced me to lean on God. I've had to beg God, like, please love me the way no one else can. Please show me that unconditional love that I need right now because, you know, there's times where my husband's not capable, my son's not capable. I'm just a human. I don't even know sometimes what I need. You know what I mean? I think when you go through a surrender like that, it forces you to think differently.

it forces you to think this life is just this life right and then what we're constantly doing every day what we should be doing is working towards being the best version of ourselves for where we're going to be someday right what we're leaving behind so that people realize like wow she made that a little bit better right like or if she can show up this way through this I can do right yeah um Dude. It just changed you. I mean, there's no way around that.

You got me there, my friend. I promise. Like, I got a tissue, but I'm like, I'm going to keep it together. No, no, listen. I mean, listen, we, if not anything on the show, we can be 100% authentic with our emotions. I just, I'm like listening to this. And I'm, and I'm, and I don't know why. anytime that I start worrying about myself, I always think, what's my son going to do?

Then I have two beautiful daughters, a seven and a five. But for some reason, I'm like, what's that little man going to do if I'm not here? And I think it all boils down to my son has a very special name. My mom, when she was six years old, was driving up in Northern California. I mean, she wasn't driving, but my grandfather was. And my grandma was in the car and then her brother, David, and they were hit head on by a drunk driver, killed my grandfather and killed my uncle before I even knew him, obviously. My grandmother, my grandmother and my mom survived. And my grandfather's name was Bobby Lee Doster.

And, you know, I looked just like him. I ended up playing the same position as him. I was a catcher. He was a catcher. His actual friends that played with him came and watched me play a fall ball game. When I was in junior college, I said, you are your grandfather. You look like him. You play just like him.

Like, you are a mean, son of a bitch. I was like, thanks. And it meant a lot to me. Anyway, my son's named after him. And so there's just like this weird, emotional, you know, overlaying loss to the family with that name. And for me, it was bringing that name back. And so it's weird. Like I, you mentioned your son, you know, and it's just for me that that really connects

with me because of course, I worry about all my children. But for some reason, like it goes straight to him. I don't know if it's because he was my first or if it's because of the name or what it is, man. But it is, it is heavy, you know. And the one person that I think, the one, the one child that I think, would be completely toast if I were to leave this earth would be my youngest. She would, I don't know what she'd do. I don't know what she would do.

My wife had a really hard time when she lost her dad to lung cancer and she was 14. And I feel that that relationship with her father has transmutated to, I don't even know if that's the right word, But sounded freaking cool. Sound cool, right? Well, IQ is low, people. I don't know what you want for me. I have a good voice. That's it.

But like my daughter and I have that close relationship, like that inseparable close relationship that my wife and her father had. So, you know, I don't know. I'm rambling now, but that those are the things. Like I'm going through these emotions, you know, as your, you know, son's asking you, like, mom, are you going to live? Are you going to die? Like, that shit's heavy, man.

It's heavy. You know, it's fun. That's not funny. But I used to always pray. I'm divorced. I'm married now, but my, I've been with my husband for 10 years, but it's not Dom's father. And I used to always pray once we had to Lord, let me live until that man, that boy's grown, you know?

No. When this happened, I'm like, this is not what I meant. No, no, no, no. I meant like 75. Like grandkids. All the things. Yeah. He has aspirations.

He's a very good football player. He wants to play D1 or D2 college ball. And, you know, this is a pinnacle for him. We're actually going to a camp on Saturday. And I just want to show him also like, you know, you can do anything regardless of what happens to you. Right. Yeah. For me, it gave me the strength.

like I've been miserable and corporate sales and leadership for years. Terrible. I was in the name. It's terrible. Terrible. Terrible. Terrible. How to go no matter what I do.

Worst shit ever. We can get to that. I want to get. That is the worst stuff ever. Yeah. And like as much as this has been hard, it's a different kind of hard. Because it gave me the courage to be like, I was sitting in a board meeting. And it sounded like the Muppets.

Like won't want. want me. I'm just like, this is so ridiculous. My boss is the only one that knew at the time. I looked at him. I'm like, I'm done. Mm-hmm. It was pain. And I was like, I'll bring my stuff Monday. I walked out of that building. And when I seen the light, I was like, I felt so free. I had no idea what I was going to do. But it gave me the courage to be like, I'm not going back. Yeah. Life short. That corporate racket, man, I tell you what, I lived it for a lot of years. I walked away in January. Walked away for my own payroll company. Well, I have a partner. And then, of course, my show and we have a whole massive relaunch coming.

Partners are in now and it's going to look different. But, you know, that was scary. I bet on myself, though. And I just, for me, I can't stand when my phone rings when someone's calling me just to check in or say, hey, just check it in. Say, what's going on? Like, how are you? And then it goes into a whole 35 minute conversation of my business and where it's at

and what I'm doing and how I'm doing it and who I'm seeing today. I just feel like there's a time in place for that. And I feel that's like when you're at the quadrant of level one sales skills. But once you reach a point where you understand the product, whether it's a medical product, you got to know the clinical efficacy or if it's just selling payroll, you know, you got to know your product. And once you know it, you got to, you should be trusted with a little bit of freedom. But I also understand when people aren't out there doing their job, right? You have to keep your tabs on those people.

But then the problem dies when, you know, those people, those people aren't doing their jobs. And, you know, now the top producers are being hounded more because they know, okay, I do, I do, I do. Yes, yes, yes. And we'll go out. Like, I need four more deals to make up for this. Like, you don't get that for you tomorrow. No big deal. Boom.

Right. But that's the problem, right? Like corporate, the corporate environment, I think is great to get started. I think it is awesome to have benefits that, you know, you can trust. I mean, because, you know, as a self-employed individual, the benefits suck. Like, you're, you know, it's hard because you're not a part of a big group, right? But do you want to know the last thing that I did? I was a health insurance broker.

Oh, God. On, but after being on this side of it and knowing what I know versus what. families don't know. I mean, that breaks my heart open. I can't. There's, there's no way. Like, it was one thing to sit on it thinking I was making a difference. And now being on this side, I'm like, no, there's just no way. Corporate is everything you said. It's, it's insane. It just like, I pride myself, like, you know, with my employees and the people that I deal with it to not be like that. But the same time, we need to run business. right and we need people that are going to go out there and get stuff done that's just that's just the way it is

and what you find is you can't always depend on other people right you got you got to do it all yourself so but um all right so listen so you're you're going through it um everything's shrunk by 50% from what I gather um how are you feeling every day and what's kind of you know what what are you doing you know in your life for others right now because I know you're focused on other people and you you know, you do a lot of amazing things. So why don't you share with the audience what you do? So I, you asked me two parts there, the question. The first part, that's the ADHD.

I'm sorry. This had happened. You're going to get a taste of it every now and again. Deal with it. So I have ADHD. You said, what the heck did you say, though? I don't know. I don't know.

I don't know. I forget. So I think I said some of the ones of, you know, you know, you know, you. Everything's shrunk by 50%. You know, so what are your days looking like now? What are you doing? You're an entrepreneur, so how are you helping that? Yeah.

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to have had things metastasized as much as they did, I was living with this for eight to 10 years. Like 2014, I lost my hearing and developed a fish allergy. I think it was all related to this and I didn't know. Um, 2018, I had my gallbladder out. You talked about a gallbladder because they told me that's what it was. So I did it. It was really this. I didn't know. Um, 2040. 2021, I had a miscarriage. It was because of this. I didn't know. You know what I mean?

Like there's so many things that my body was saying, please help. But my numbers were within normal limits and my panels said nothing was wrong. Even when I went in, if I wouldn't win in with that test that I did, my TSA, which is like your thyroid marker, was within normal limits. And it was riddled with cancer. Wow. So that's part of why I show up every day and try to help educate people. because if I would have just went in and said, I think something's wrong with my thyroid,

they would have been like, no, you're fine, go home. So what do you tell people? I mean, like, let's think about that because we are trusted.

Like, I'm sitting here, I just got my blood work done. My PSA for prostate came out normal. All my levels are normal. But how the hell do I know? So how do you help, how do you instruct people to find out what's really going on?

Because that sounds scary as hell. Right. So when you have, so what, I mean, obviously, I have surgeons, I have neurology,

nuclear teams, endocrinologists, all these doctors. But I sought out a functional doctor. And I kind of like, I say it's like dating, right? Like I interviewed probably close to 10 overall across the United States. And through those interviews, I decided I wanted a woman. I wanted someone I could look in the eyes. So I wanted her to be local. And I wanted to have had Hashimoto's and know what it feels like to be me.

And, you know, maybe not thyroid cancer, but thyroid activity, something very similar to me. And I found one and she's been so helpful. They think differently. She's willing to let me play an active role in my treatment. I educate myself on, okay, if you want to put me on this or you think this, let me do some research and let me figure it out. I think so many of us are guilty of just being sheep. You go in and they say, well, this is this. And you're like, okay, bye, let me go home.

No. Yeah. Yeah. You have to research like, okay, if your liver enzymes are high, you have to research, what would cause them to be high? How do I find a doctor who understands this and who can figure it? out what it means because I will tell you our bodies don't just do something like that for no reason. Something's off. Yep. Yep. Right. And that's the thing, dude, I went to internal meds. I'm through everything. It's like, damn. Now, here, I didn't mean to interrupt you, but I did, I did find one thing.

So my EBV levels were high. So at one point, I had mono, right? That's what that means. I've seen bar virus. Now, I know there's the different stages of Epstein Bar. Right. And one of the stages is like, four stage and it's not like cancer people so don't you know right now say state yeah it's say and i tested negative for autoimmune okay however stage four of ebstein bar settles into your liver and let me just tell you this okay i'm not a doctor not claiming to me but ebstein bar is an autoimmune i wish you were a doctor figure this thing out because if if you have one autoimmune you have more okay so you probably have other autoimmune issues because i've seen bar is autoimmune related and low dose nelotoxone l d help so much with that.

Helps with inflammation. Helps with Epstein Bar. Because Epstein Bar, what can happen when you're saying your levels are high and then they're low, Epstein Bar can flare up.

Mm-hmm. And Epstein Bar can come back down. When the flare's up, do you get really tired and just not want to do shit? Mm-hmm. Yeah. So it all goes back to this one moment for me.

And I don't know that it was this because I drank a lot that weekend. I might have been dehydrated. My best friend in the world got married. I think maybe in 2008 or nine at Megan's Bay in St. Thomas. Justin Higgins, I grew up with a guy. I married beautiful woman, Brooke Higgins, who's now one of my closest friends. I've known the kids since I was 11 years old.

And I got back from that trip and I couldn't leave the couch for like two weeks. I don't know what happened. I was just my body hurt. I was dizzy. Like I got the week, the two days after I got back, the night I got back, I went out with my friends. Everything was fine, slept, went to a baseball camp. And when I woke up, I felt like when I woke up, I walked and I hit the wall. I'm like, what the hell is this, right?

That's strange. And then I got to the baseball field and I was spinning. And I looked at the guy that I coach with, I'm like, Josh, bro, I got to go home. I can't, I can't see. I was driving on the interstate. I felt like my body was going like this. And then I was just out for two weeks. I got really bloated, really big.

And I don't know. Like that's when it started for me. Like there's multiple times throughout the year that I'll get really like, I just can't. I can't today. I got to sit on my ass and watch TV or lay down all day. And it's not me being lazy. It's like I literally can't.

move. I mean, that's definitely something, right? Something is happening to your body where it's like, hey, help us. And that's, that's something I've learned is like our bodies will tell us that. One of the doctors, like the internal medicine doctor or someone you're seeing, I mean, I would talk about low dose and taxone because I think that I take that every night and it's helped me a lot with inflammation and just, and I totally changed my diet, right? Like I don't eat any gluten. I have very limited dairy. I know what my triggers are now. And before all this time, the last 10 years, I was just living my life thinking I could do whatever I wanted. I had no clue I had any of this wrong.

You know, nutrition plays a big role. I was doing the complete wrong exercises. I'm type A doer driver. So, of course, I love hit workouts and heavy, like, if more intense, better, let's compete, you know. And my doctor is like, quit. You can't do that anymore. You need to walk and do strength training. I feel so much better.

I bet. I've lost like 20 pounds through all this because I'm like actually paying attention to what my body needs. You know what I mean? That's cool. So I try to show up. I try to tell people that. I try to help people with, you know, different things that are going to be relatable that are going to help them, that are going to

educate them, just like this, you know, that are going to help them live a better life. I am a huge believer in Kagan Water Machine. Like, I think anything you can do to change your lifestyle and stop so many toxic products from being in the home and being on your body, it all matters. I mean, what you put on your body, what you put in your body. I'm just kind of like walking through that organically. Because I basically was forced to. Yeah.

I think if you go through, like the people who go through something like this and just think, eh, I'll be fine. I'm going to go right back to that lifestyle. You know, we'll go somewhere. I'll be like, do you want to drink? And I'm like, no, it's not because I won't drink, but it's because I already have poison in my body. Yeah. Yeah.

How am I going to put more poison in my body? You know, it's, it's funny because like I don't see anything wrong, you know, for, for day-to-day people, like if they're not going through what you're going through to have, have some drinks. Like I. Right. I don't either. I think the other night we had like a little bit of a party and I had one beer and I'm like, yeah, I'm done. Like I just don't crave that like I used to. I don't like how it makes me feel. And a lot of it is because, you know, if my liver enzymes are high, it means it's not functioning like it should. So I'm not metabolizing alcohol like I used to. Right. So it makes me feel really bad the next day. If I have more than three alcoholic beverages, it doesn't matter. It could be spread out the next day. I do not feel well. Like it just so for me that plays a big role. It's like to your point like if it makes me feel like this, why am I going to do it?

Exactly. And it's not going to do it, right? Now if I can only get to that part with pizza, like then I would be probably shredded. Okay. Because I love pizza. But to your point, like I've learned if I have pizza, I have two pieces and that's it. Because if I have more. more the next day, I can't function. I just don't feel good. There's too much. There's the gluten. There's the dairy. Right. There's just a ton of stuff in there. Probably that's, you know, not very good for, for my body and my system. So, you know, I think it's important, like you said, just to walk through things that you're putting on your body, putting in your body, and being more aware. I think a lot of times, you know, like I was thinking like, okay, what would be, what would be the pushback on this, right? And the pushback is, like, dude, something. going to kill me, right? Like the sun's dangerous for crying out light. Something's going to take me out.

I'm not going to spend my life auditing every single thing that I put on or inside my body. And what people don't realize is you may have to do that for a week or two. That's it until you have a baseline and you get the readings back. You understand what's going on. So it's something that I've been really toying around with as well. So it's interesting that you brought that up. A lot of the reason I haven't circled back with the liver is just because it's traumatizing. You know, it's just, it's very traumatizing. Speaking of trauma, that's another thing, right? Like, I do help, like, for years I've been a mentor as far as, like, trauma healing

because this all stems from. And it's crazy when you can blink the pieces. I grew up in fighter flight. I have adrenal fatigue. I take DHA for that now. Like, I grew up in this fighter flight situation where I was doomed from the beginning and just had no. idea because you don't know, you know what I mean? So trauma is huge when we don't deal with trauma.

It comes out in other ways. I do think, yes, there's family history, but growing up that way and here's something else I'll tell you. This is the first time in my life. My whole life I was running from, I never want to be like my mother, never want to do everything I did. Corporate ladder, this, that success, well, never want to be like my mother. This was the first that I put in the work these past few years and really let all of that go. And now I'm not running from anything. I'm running to who I'm supposed to be unapologetically. I love that.

And that's attractive. That's very attractive. It's funny because a mentor of mine, he was my leader at Paychecks, Kurt Cushing. You always said, I just want to make sure you're running towards something and not from something. So true. I mean, and I'm like, you know, and when he first said it to me and, you know, our relationship has gotten much better, right? Like we, you know, we went through a tough, a tough spot. I resigned from the company one time and I blasted him.

And, you know, we circled back around. You know, I ate crow. We built this amazing relationship. Love the guy more than anything. And, you know, I just feel that when he said that to me the first time, It offended me. And not because he said anything wrong, was all because of my weak mindset and my scarcity mindset. Really what it probably boiled down to is pride.

You don't tell me, like, you know, I'm going to go figure this thing out. You know, was I right? Yes, I was right. I was running towards something, right? Also, away from something as well because I didn't like the way things were going with that company. But that statement, that quote, I just feel like if you all can just stop right now that are listening, write that down. Please, you know, always make sure you're running towards something, not away from something. And what Jody's saying is she's running towards the person she is going to be who is she's supposed to be unapologetically.

And I think that that's what I've learned lately is unapologetically. I don't worry about how people are going to take me anymore. Because I know I don't have any bad intentions. I know I'm not acting. Yeah, I'm not acting disrespectfully. You may not like me and you may not like what I put out. But it's funny how I never catch hate. Never.

Like other creators doing what I'm doing, they're putting things out that are less controversial than the things that I say and I never get hate for it. And y'all listen, like I'm not asking you to come hate on me, right? But I think it's because people can actually see my heart. I feel that. I felt that through you over time. Absolutely. And I think that's it too. It's when your heart is pure. It's when God knows your heart. It's when your intentions are good. It's when your intentions are right. Like five years ago, I'm pointing over here because that's where I sit for my AM intentional time.

People say, how can I pray for you? And then maybe you pray in that moment and you forget, I have a prayer book. It's so long. It takes, I feel like my grandma. You know what I mean? Like, she used to get up in the morning and she'd go through all these prayers. But I feel like it's so important. Like if you're going to say you're those things, you need to really be the. things. And when you start integrating yourself with that and the word and things just start to look really different. And if I didn't have that, I could never have the grace and elegance that I've had through this situation. Because it's flipped my life upside down. Right. And I'm just trying to use it for the good. I know that God has a plan. And I'm just trying to be a good disciple in the sense of like, okay, this is how it's made me stronger. This is where you want me to go and just

praying into that every day and your belief right i was just this morning when i was getting ready i even said this in my stories today it's it's your belief the times in my life like i don't know if you can see like those shiny things back there yeah i've been in the corporate world and got all these you know awards and different things i had this relentless belief that it was already done i started at the bottom like i want to get it to the top i'm going to show you i'm going to do it in six months and and that's what it takes yeah right yeah and i think we lose that sometimes or we have this comparison thing one of my bosses one time i'll never forget this sometimes he was great sometimes he was an ass but he said this and it was so true he said don't compare relate don't compare yourself to where

anybody else is at relate to the fact of how did they get there how do they do it what did it had to take so it's so amazing because you talk about the shiny things i have mine in a box somewhere um but it's like and just because i can't put it behind anywhere so the There's no way to put it. I love your wall, though. It's cute. Thank you. I'm going to.

With the awards. Like every month. Every, they come out with, you know, sales conference. You got to hit this revenue, this many units, and you're going here. Here are the bonuses. I'm like, fuck, bet. Done. It's a game.

It's like, okay. How fast can I get there? Like, okay, cool. Awesome. You want to play? Let's play. And I would thrive on new people coming. in and they would always go I would be introduced to them like at kickoffs like annual kickoffs

or whatever and like oh like I've heard a lot about you like hey I'm gonna I'm gonna beat you this year I just look at them I go hope you're ready for a ride bud because you have no idea what you just did and they're like what's that I go you just put a target on your back and I will make sure every single day that you feel me and see me coming and they look at me like no I'm just saying. I'm like, no, I'm just saying, here's your first lesson. And within like three months, they'd call me like, hey, I shouldn't have said that to you. Can you help me? I'm like, absolutely, what do you need? Like, I would be the first person to mentor and to take them under my wing and to help them. But like, it was a game to me. It's like, to your point. And it's so funny. And I think you will be

able to relate to this. When you go into entrepreneurship, you still know those principles. And they will work in entrepreneurship too. But we don't, apply them right away. We don't apply them right away because of the trauma of the constant grind on the corporate end and all the things that we did, updating Salesforce, update sales force, update sales force, update sales force. You get to this and you go, yeah, I'm going to do it differently. And what you realize is, no, those amazing things that you were taught in corporate, still do them, but do them under your own rules. And you'll see that she'll get much more traction sooner.

But it's just, I just think it's funny. I didn't operate like that for a long time. Then I started to, I'm like, oh, there it is. Well, I think it's like breaking up, right? Yeah. When you break up, you like, oh, I don't like girls. Oh, I don't like boys. Right.

Like, oh, I'm so over that. That's how it was at corporate in the beginning. Like, oh, no. You know, like, but then it's like, okay, that stuff does really work. Yeah. I mean, for a while, though, you're right. It's just like you just do not want to do anything that was associated with with corporate America, even with some of the people that are maybe in your new organization that you are trying to coach through. You're like, I don't want to be like that.

I'm going to give them more leeway. Then you realize, dude, you gave them an inch. They took 17 yards. Like, now you got to fire them, right? Because it was my fault. Right? Because I didn't set the expectation because, you know, I thought that we. could do this differently, but then I have to realize not everybody's ready to think like that.

Some people need that structure. Like I, when you first started corporate sales, you needed that structure. You needed that. You needed to be told. I needed to be told. When we get better, it's like we don't need it. But then when we transition into a different venture, we automatically think that everybody else is just like us. And weird, weird too.

It's like no one, I mean, like, if you're going to hire somebody, they're not going to have the drive and the skills that you do. They would be doing the hiring if they did. Right? And so it's like, I'm not saying that they don't have the potential to be that. But it's like, dude, like, you know, we have to realize that everybody's coming to us at a different point in their journey. And we got to be there for wherever they're at in their journey. And it might mean that we have to, you know, keep them underneath the thumb a little bit more than we'd like to for their own good.

Then we can let off. which can't do it in reverse. Right. And learning to accept people, one, learning we need people that aren't like us around us. Because if we're all like us or mama me, right? Me and my wife are relatively the same. It's like, I don't know how this house survives because we're both like super intense. Yeah.

It works. My husband and I are that way. And it's difficult sometimes, right? Like we've always typically ying and yang pretty well, but sometimes it's like we're both doing the same thing. Like, oh, that's not. Yeah. The standoff, right? The standoffs.

Gotta love those. Got to love those. But listen, I really enjoyed having you on the show, chatting with you. One thing that I learned, it's interesting. I thought you lived in Florida. Oh, that would be great. I thought you lived in Florida. Florida, because I'm always at the ocean.

I'm going to have a second house either in Florida or California. I fight with my husband for California, but he's like, no. No. Too ridiculous on the cost and different things there. Yeah. So it probably will end up being Florida, but I love the ocean. It's my favorite place to be. So maybe that's why you thought I lived by.

I just don't know. I thought you lived on the east coast of Florida. I thought you were like in West Palm. They were like two hours from me. I was going to suggest lunch, but it'll be a little bit more of a commute than I thought. I'll be there. I'll be here there soon enough. When you are, you need to let me know.

When you come to Florida, you need to let me know. But interesting. So I learned something new. But thank you so much for sharing your journey. just your heart and who you are with the audience. Before I let you go, tell them where they can find you and how they can best support you. Yeah. So I'm on Instagram, Jodi El Yonker, and Facebook and TikTok and soon to be YouTube.

That is the next thing that I'm going to conquer. YouTube. That's fun. Yeah. Thank you for having me. You are just a light. And don't forget that. The way you show up and pour into the world, it's noticed.

Thank you. I'll absolutely love you. And guys, girls, listen, if you, if this is the first time you listen to show, please subscribe, leave a written review, and share this episode with somebody that you love, know, and trust, or someone that you feel could just get something really good out of the things that Jody shared and I shared. And, you know, until next time, guys, just, you know, stick to your process, whatever it is that you create out there and go out of it with sheer and sadistic.

termination and don't worry about the results. Let's see where you end up. Until next time, guys, peace out. Southwest Florida is one of the most beautiful places on the planet to live. For those of you that are thinking of moving from other states to come to Florida or even just moving to a different part of the state, I want you to think of a big, beautiful luxury home. Contact legacy luxury builders. They are a family owned and operated luxury residential construction company. As a family-owned business, they believe in the power of building not just homes, but legacies. Contact legacy luxury builders.