The Dr. John Delony Show - How Can I Learn to Love the Body I Have?

Episode Date: July 8, 2024

On today’s episode, we hear about:  ·      A man wanting to improve his health and physique ·      A man struggling to let his family celebrate him after losing his own dad ·    ...  A woman concerned about her sister’s upcoming marriage   Offers From Today’s Sponsors ·      10% off your first month of therapy at BetterHelp ·      Three free months of Hallow  ·      25% off Thorne orders  ·      20% off Organifi with code DELONY ·      Up to 30% off + two free pillows at Helix Sleep   Next Steps 📞 Ask John a question! Call 844-693-3291 or send us a message. 📚 Building a Non-Anxious Life 📝 Anxiety Test   📚 Own Your Past, Change Your Future  ❓ Questions for Humans Conversation Cards  💭 John’s Free Guided Meditation    Listen to More From Ramsey Network 🎙️ The Ramsey Show 💸 The Ramsey Show Highlights    🍸 Smart Money Happy Hour 💡 The Rachel Cruze Show 💰 George Kamel 💼 The Ken Coleman Show 📈 EntreLeadership   Ramsey Solutions Privacy Policy https://www.ramseysolutions.com/company/policies/privacy-policy   

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Starting point is 00:00:00 Coming up on the Dr. John Deloney Show. I've always thought negatively about my physique, never really felt confident. I'm probably in the best shape I've ever been in, but I still think I have room to grow. I believe it's okay to have that desire to improve your overall health and physique, but I want to feel comfortable and appreciate my body in its current state without thinking I'm giving up on myself or settling. What up, what up, what up? This is John with the Dr. John Deloney Show. I'm so glad that you're with us. Talking about your mental and emotional health, talking about your relationships, what's going on in your homes, what's going on outside of your homes, what's going on
Starting point is 00:00:44 in as you're trying to repair marriages or heal from divorce, whatever's going on in your homes, what's going on outside of your homes, what's going on in, as you're trying to repair marriages or heal from divorce, whatever's going on in your world, kids, all of it. If you want to be on this show, give me a buzz. 1-844-693-3291. It's 1-844-693-3291 or go to johndeloney.com slash ask, A-S-K and huge man, I've got a problem with this. I don't like doing it, but I can't not do it today. It's so cool. One of my oldest mentors, Jean-Noel, he reached out and he
Starting point is 00:01:14 had seen that we hit number three on the Apple podcast. Top trace. Unidos trace. He said, congratulations, and I gave like an aw shucks. And he said, no, you don't get to do that. Like, you got to celebrate this one. And I thought, you're right.
Starting point is 00:01:31 This is cool. So for all the gang, all the gang in the booth, Nate Dogg, Sarah, Kelly, Ben, Taylor, and everybody in the club getting tipsy. Thank y'all for making this whole thing work. And for everybody there in America who listens. That just brings my heart joy. Well, thank y'all for making this whole thing work. And for everybody there in America who listens. That just brings my heart joy. Well, thank you. I mean, this doesn't happen without you. Well, I appreciate that.
Starting point is 00:01:52 I'm even going to accept that. I'll accept it. Look at me going to therapy. I accept. I accept your kindness, Kelly. That's a once-a-year sentence that I say. Once a year, I say, except for kindness, Kelly. And the rest of the time, it's like the Matrix dodging the bullets.
Starting point is 00:02:08 All right, let's go out to Atlanta, Georgia and talk to the great and wonderful Michael. Hey, Michael, what's up? Hey, Dr. John. Thanks for taking my call. I really appreciate it. You got it, brother. What's going on, man? So I'm 24 and I've dealt with body image issues since high school or maybe a little bit before that.
Starting point is 00:02:26 I've always thought negatively about my physique, never really felt confident. So currently I'm probably in the best shape I've ever been in, but I still think I have room to grow, get better shape. I believe it's okay to have that desire to improve your overall health and physique, but I want to feel comfortable and appreciate my body in its current state without thinking I'm giving up on myself or settling. So I don't think it's an either or. So how do I live in the both hand? Oof, man. Great question. I just was on the phone with Jordan Syatt, who's, if you can follow him on Instagram and he's got a YouTube show. And I've talked on this show at length about my friendships with Mind Pump guys and Lane Norton and others. But I was just on the phone the other day still talking through that.
Starting point is 00:03:10 I'm still working through that. So I'm going to talk to you very personally. Is that cool? Yeah, for sure. All right. Some of the things in your language I want you to begin to get a hold of. And if you can do this at 24, man, then I'm going to save you 20 years of being haunted. Okay? Yeah. this at 24 man then i'm i'm gonna save you 20 years of of being haunted okay yeah um you can chase a physique and almost all the time it comes at the expense of your health okay if you chase
Starting point is 00:03:39 health you will be on the road to getting this physique that you want, but it's, it's, it's, it takes, it comes at a cost. Okay. And so if I can give you one gift, it would be number one, chase health, which means sometimes you skip the workout or you dial it back. And if you follow a lot of these influencers,
Starting point is 00:04:01 if you follow lane and want to do lane, Dr. Norton's workouts every day, you have to understand he's training for the world championship. And he will win the world championship. And I'm not going to do that. I'm a YouTuber and I'm a father of two. He's a father of two also.
Starting point is 00:04:18 He's a great dad. But I'm not doing that. So to follow that is insane. It literally is insane okay so number one is we're going to start thinking about health over an obsession with physique physique will come the second thing is is the i want you to go back and listen to how you described your situation you describe your body as something separate from you and i need you to integrate at the age of 24 if you don't like your body you're looking in the mirror and saying i don't like me and until you heal that part you're
Starting point is 00:04:53 going to be the the fin the the finish line for physique will continue to move oh you got to eight percent body fat cool i bet i can get to 6.5 i'll get 6.5 i bet i can get it to four oh i got it to four now i'm going gonna try to see how big my veins like it's never gonna stop and then you're gonna have to load up and you're gonna start you're gonna start peptides and trt at 27 years like you start doing wild insane stuff yeah because you're not chasing a better physique you're chasing looking in the mirror and saying michael, do you still like me? And the answer is going to be no, until you deal with that. Now I'll ask you, why don't you like Michael?
Starting point is 00:05:30 What is it about Michael inherently that you don't like? I'm not really sure. That's a great question. Something just came to mind. What do you think it is? No, I'm trying to process that and think through it. I've always just felt that that was, you know, the physique was the root of it, but it seems like that might not be the case. Does that ring true to you? Yeah. I mean, it might, yeah. There might be something I don't like about myself. Well, not like about yourself. You keep distancing. I'm talking about you. Why don't you like Michael? You sound like a great guy. Uh, I don't know.
Starting point is 00:06:07 I just feel like I can always get better. Always keep going. You probably can, but, but, get better, like,
Starting point is 00:06:15 but, I'm trying to think, like, um, you've made better a value statement about you, about who you are, your personhood. Where does that story come from?
Starting point is 00:06:30 I don't know. I honestly don't know. I'm really trying to think hard. Does it come from dad? Does it come from coaches? Does it come from a church? Where does the story come from? You got to do these things or you got to be this thing or you're less than or some buddies?
Starting point is 00:06:49 Yeah. I mean, I've, I had, uh, one thing that, you know, just comes to my head was I was, uh, I had a friend in high school who had a girlfriend at the time who looked at me straight in the face and said, if you just had your friends physique, if you had a friend's body, I mean, you would just be the whole thing, the whole package. Can I tell you why I'm laughing, Michael? Yeah. I had a girlfriend look at me when I was 16 years old,
Starting point is 00:07:11 and dude, I was head over heels. And she said, my goodness, dude, if your teeth weren't so yellow, you would be so good looking. Yeah. And to this day, I still smile with my mouth closed. I'm in my forties. I've got two kids.
Starting point is 00:07:29 I'm married to somebody else. To this day, it still haunts me. Yeah. You know what I mean? Yeah. Yeah, for sure.
Starting point is 00:07:36 Now, why are you giving that high school girl like a room in your head for free? She rents there. She lives there. She doesn't even pay rent. Yeah. Rent free. Um, man, I don't know. I, uh, I don't know why I give her so much. Yeah. So much space. She wasn't even your girlfriend, right? Yeah. She wasn't even a good girlfriend. Yeah. So it's, here's the deal. I'm a huge believer in pulling the string on these stories and really getting to the author. Who's the person that said that? And why am I giving
Starting point is 00:08:15 that person a vote? Why does she get a vote? Because here's what happens. Those voices over time replay and replay and replay. without us even knowing it they become our own voice we start speaking to ourselves in that voice so it went from man if you were just do this you'd be the total package if you could just get more attractive if you could just lift weights if you could just if i could just i could just lose this weight if i could just get bigger muscles here if i could just get abs if i get a could just get bigger muscles here, if I could just get abs, if I get a six pack, I need an eight pack. If I could,
Starting point is 00:08:48 and suddenly an I statement becomes an identity. And you don't feel good when you're at 6% body fat. You just don't. Like the dieting it takes to get down to that. You're cutting out of hanging out with your friends, or you're that guy at the bar that's like, I'll just have water. Not because you don't want want to drink alcohol but you're like trying to bro up and you kind of have everybody's respect but you're also kind of that guy you know what i mean
Starting point is 00:09:14 yeah yeah for sure and then you wonder why like why is that dude who's like kind of balding and he's got kind of a belly why is she with him right because yeah he's not electric he feels safe he's securing himself now does he need to probably go to the gym yeah but you you started this path of believing a story from somebody who didn't even have you didn't even give authority to speak into your life and she did and you just took it and usually that story is, when that happens in high school, usually that's confirming something
Starting point is 00:09:50 somebody else told us about us early on. Did your parents die at a lot? No, I don't think so. My mom got pretty healthy, health-oriented when she was diagnosed with cancer when I was in middle school. Okay. She never really pressed that super hard on me.
Starting point is 00:10:10 Okay. This is something that our household kind of... Is she still alive? Yeah, she is, yeah. Did cancer scare you when you were a kid? Oh, yeah. I mean, when they say she won't live to see you graduate, it's pretty scary. And so I'm totally fishing here,
Starting point is 00:10:26 and you and I would have to spend a long time, but I'm totally fishing, okay? So don't take this as gospel, but... No, that's fine. There could be a chance that when mom said, I'm sick with cancer, and I might not see your high school graduation, so here's what I'm going to do,
Starting point is 00:10:43 that somewhere in your middle school body that locked into this is the way to stay safe. And then a few years later, somebody told you this is also the way to be loved. Yeah. And now you're 20. How old are you now? 24?
Starting point is 00:10:57 24. Yeah, you're 24, man. You sound tired. Are you just tired? Yeah, I am. I am tired of always, you know, I feel like I've kind of plateaued on my fitness journey, so I feel like I'm just keep trying.
Starting point is 00:11:12 Bro, you haven't even stopped growing yet. Yeah. You haven't even hit dad strength yet, right? You know what I'm saying? Like what you're plateauing is I think you're tired of hating, Michael. Yeah. My buddy Sal with Mind Pump, and I've told this story on this show before,
Starting point is 00:11:30 but I think it's worth reiterating. Him and I were talking privately about my struggling with my body image issues and body dysmorphia that I'd just wrestle with forever. And he said, hey, John, you can't hate yourself into better shape. And I was like, what are you talking about? And he said if you go to the gym every day
Starting point is 00:11:49 To try to not look a certain way Or if you go to the gym every day Because you think you're gross And you're gonna do x y and z so you're less gross or less unattractive He said you will always% of the time burn out because disgust and hate is a jet fuel. It is a propulsion. It gets you out of a situation, but it's not long-term. But he said, if you wake up every day and you say, dude, I like this guy. And I'm worth an hour of feeling amazing.
Starting point is 00:12:28 You'll do that the rest of your life. And I'm going to tell you that's probably in the top two or three most important things somebody's told me over the last 10 years. Because I work out, I still work out every day because I love it, and it feels good, but more importantly, I'm doing it because I get to. I'm doing it because I like John Deloney, and I'm doing it so that I can be a good dad and a good husband,
Starting point is 00:12:58 and I can show up for my family, and yes, the aesthetic part comes with it. I like being in shape, and I like my clothes fitting and all that kind of stuff, but I'm not doing it because I like being in shape and I like my clothes fitting and all that kind of stuff. But I'm not doing it because I think I'm gross anymore. And I'm not doing it
Starting point is 00:13:09 because I don't like myself anymore. And do you see the difference? Yeah, that's a big difference. And so here's the exercise. I would love for you to write out on a piece of paper, not with a computer, unless you're just so 24
Starting point is 00:13:24 that you don't know how to use a pen. Because I know some 24-year-olds, they're like, what's that clicking technology you have? But I want you to write down on a piece of paper, here are the things I love about Michael. I'm a good man. I work hard. Here's where I'm going with my career. I love well. And here are the reasons i get to go exercise here's here's
Starting point is 00:13:47 i'm exercising for 50 year old michael yeah because i want 50 year old michael to be able to roll around on the floor with his kids i want 50 year old michael my son and i have a race this week in the mile we race every year once a year I'm going to lose for the first time this year. He's passed me and he's gotten real fast, but I want you training so that when you're 45, you can be like, I can still race my high school kid. You see what I'm saying? Yeah. Like you're playing a long game now. And then I want you to do an exercise that a therapist made me do. That was one of the hardest things I've ever done, but I want you to put your chest in your fist. And I want you to look in the mirror and say the words, I love Michael.
Starting point is 00:14:27 I love this guy. I want you to say it 10 times a day for 30 days. And that sounds so cheesy. And if anybody hears you doing it, they're going to call the authorities and do a well check on you. Yeah. But I want you to begin to practice
Starting point is 00:14:40 loving Michael. Because then, and by the way, when that voice comes in your head, loving Michael because then and by the way when that voice comes in your head oh I see this little pudge here this vein went away here or
Starting point is 00:14:51 oh no the scale moved up six ounces here or two pounds here I want you to exhale and smile and say she doesn't get a vote anymore yeah I'm going to practice listening
Starting point is 00:15:02 we're going to stop listening to her how's that all sound nah sounds like it definitely rings true um yeah
Starting point is 00:15:12 I totally feel like I've you know separated my body from me so that's something I can just you know objectify and kind of if I can just mold this
Starting point is 00:15:22 then then I will you know yeah and I hate to tell you, then I will. Yeah. And I hate to tell you this, man. I'm with some of the strongest, most in-shape men on planet Earth. They're my friends.
Starting point is 00:15:37 And all of us are still trying to figure out who we are as dads and husbands. You know what I mean? Yeah. There's no amount of shape you can get in that's going to make you feel okay if you're not okay on the inside and it was a it was a troubling yet mind-blowing conversation the day this is a few years ago now my wife said like she she had told me about the money part like like you can't make any more money for me to love you i'm not gonna love you anymore if you go make more money like i just love you that part's full. You've provided. And you can't get any better shape.
Starting point is 00:16:12 Like, another vein is going to start getting gross after a while. I wish you would work out a little bit less and come hang out with us. I wish you would stay in great shape and eat healthy, but also on pizza night when your eight-year-old daughter makes pizza, have some. No one's going to, you know what I mean? And so it's been a great exercise for me to realize that I'm worth being loved despite my exercise routine. And then I have to ask myself, why am I still working out? And then I have to look in the mirror and say, because I love this guy and I'm worth feeling good and I'm worth laughing and having joy and I'm worth playing a long game
Starting point is 00:16:45 so that 80-year-old John can still move around and his knees and his hips and his shoulders still work and he can be a great grandfather. Playing a long game. But all of it starts with you, Michael, looking in the mirror and putting your hand in your chest, your fist right in your chest and saying, I love this guy.
Starting point is 00:17:03 And I'm not going to tolerate me talking bad about me anymore. Hang on the line, brother. I'm going to send you both Own Your Past, Change Your Future, and Building a Non-Anxious Life, my two number one bestselling books. It's going to be my gift to you, brother, as you start this journey. And check out my friends, Sal and Adam and Justin on Mind Pump and Doug. And check out my buddy, Jordan Syatt on Instagram.
Starting point is 00:17:28 He swears a lot, but he's hilarious, and his insights are just extraordinary. I love you, good man. Take care. Hey, and follow my buddy Lane Norton. He'll bust up the signs for you, too. Those are the guys I lean on, man, and they have changed me from the inside out. And hopefully they can change you, too. Appreciate the call, brother. We'll be right back. Hey, it's Deloney from my friends at Helix, makers of the best mattresses in the universe. Listen, I've slept everywhere and on every type of mattress surface imaginable.
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Starting point is 00:19:03 And it's going to take less than two minutes. And here's the best part. Helix offers the Dr. John Deloney Show listeners 20% off all mattress orders. Go to helixsleep.com slash Deloney for 20% off. That's helixsleep.com slash Deloney. With Helix, better sleep starts right now. All right, let's go to Raleigh, North Carolina, and talk to not Lionel, just regular Richie. Hey, Richie, what's up? Hey, Dr. John. How you doing, sir? I'm good, brother.
Starting point is 00:19:35 What's up with you, man? I'm doing all right. Well, happy Father's Day to you. I hope you had a really good day yesterday. Thanks, man. You too. Thank you. I wrote something had a really good day yesterday. Thanks, man. You too. Thank you. I wrote something down just to give you context
Starting point is 00:19:49 quickly, and then I'll go with my question. All right. So in October of 2019, my dad passed away after a two and a half year battle of this rare form of liver cancer. What was his name?
Starting point is 00:20:05 My Richie as well. Um, so he was my world and, um, I just, I just always wanted to grow up being just like him. Um, and when I was in high school, I, I wanted to continue what my dad started. And what I mean by that is he was a successful small business guy. And I eventually wanted to take over the family business. But unfortunately, due to his illness, economic factors, and just tensions between business partners who are extended family, the family business ended up closing down. So since that has occurred,
Starting point is 00:20:48 I've pretty much just felt lost. I feel angry. I feel guilty, kind of just wondering what my purpose is or anything like that. And since I've spent all my time and energy to learn the family business and just to be just like him. So five months after he passed, my son was born and he's just amazing. And he brought light into this difficult time. And I just want to be the best dad for him, just like my dad was for me. So here we are. We're in Father's Day season. And I just dread this day because it just reminds me that my dad's gone.
Starting point is 00:21:35 I live in this constant state of numbness. And just from grief and feeling of like a failure. And I don't want to be celebrated. I just want to be alone. And these past few years, Father's Day comes, I somehow find a way to deflect the attention on me and put it somewhere else. So my question for you is, how do I work through this grief and this feeling of failure and allow myself to be celebrated by my family, but most likely, of course, my son? Man, what an amazing question, dude.
Starting point is 00:22:19 For those listening, yesterday was Father's Day. So we're actually recording this the day after Father's Day. But man, there's, just for whatever it's worth, man, people reached out to me on social media and there's a lot of hurt around Father's Day. Like where was my dad? My dad wasn't here.
Starting point is 00:22:33 My dad's passed away. My dad left us all when we were kids, all that kind of stuff. So Father's Day is a range of emotions. And then on the other hand, I had the best day I've had in probably a year yesterday, right, just with my kids and my wife. So the arc is so big.
Starting point is 00:22:50 I'm trying to think of where to start here. Let's put the business completely aside for a second, okay? All right. What made Richie, like when you think of your old man, Richie, and you think of the word warm, what are some things he did that made you feel warm or safe man
Starting point is 00:23:12 the the biggest thing that comes to my mind is I just remember we had we moved into this new area when I was a kid and this new neighborhood and I was, you know, I was being bullied as this new kid in school. And there was this one particular kid
Starting point is 00:23:34 that was just like getting other kids to gang up on me, make fun of me. Um, they jumped me in the gym locker room one time and I told my dad about it and I just remember my dad's like alright we're gonna go meet this kid somewhere and we're gonna settle this so after school one day I get
Starting point is 00:23:56 me and this kid arranged like a date of fight it's messed up but we did that's why we used to do it I know people listen and they're like what it used to be be a date and time and you show up and that's where the fight's gonna be yeah absolutely right so so that's what happened we picked a day and time and me and this bully we met at the place and he's like i'm gonna get all my friends there and um he had he brought like three guys and i had my dad and my dad showed up and
Starting point is 00:24:28 he went up to these three kids. He's like, you guys are going to step aside. He goes, you're not going to do a thing. These two have a problem. They're going to duke it out, work it out. And if you guys get involved, there's going to be problems. And that's what happened me and this bully we duked it out um and then we never had a problem again and that was just the greatest moment just because i had him by my side yeah he believed in you huh yeah and he did that uh they call it scaffolding and i know uh research nerds like me are going that's not scaffolding not scaffolding. That's, uh, that's abuse or whatever, but it's, he's, he, he provided enough protection that you were safe and then he let you get in
Starting point is 00:25:15 the ring. Right. Yeah. And then did he, uh, after it was all settled, did he walk you home? Yeah, we went home and we talked about it. And he just told me, he goes, sometimes you got to go through tough crap. And, but I got you, man. I'm going to be with you, whatever that is. Okay. And now think about your son.
Starting point is 00:25:41 How old is your son now? Four. Four years old. You would burn down a building for that kid, wouldn't you? Dude, I'd do anything for him. Why won't you let him love you like your dad let you love him? I don't know. I've been asking myself that for a little while now.
Starting point is 00:26:06 I just... Is your dad proud of you? You know, I think he is. Don't say that. You know the answer to that. Was your dad proud of you before he passed? Yeah. Did he raise you well?
Starting point is 00:26:20 Yeah. Yeah. Did your dad ever lie to you? Never. I don't think he is. I'm just putting, I put high standards on myself. High standards are good. But it sounds like you're meeting them.
Starting point is 00:26:50 It sounds like a bunch of family knuckleheads closed a business down, but your dad wasn't that business. Your dad was the warm dad who hugged you. Your dad was the dad that said, I believe in you. We're going to go handle this scuffle. Your dad was the dad who showed up and said, I got you. He wasn't a business. And somehow you've wrapped up love and connection and success and that warmth of fatherhood into a job, that's not you anymore than it was him. What do you do for a living right now? I work in banking. Okay. Do you hate that job? I could tell you do by the way you said banking.
Starting point is 00:27:24 I could tell you hate it, man. Why are you doing that? Um, so I did it, um, when, when the business was struggling, I needed to find work. So it was the best thing to pay the bills. Okay. Stop right there. You know, that's a Richie move, a Richie Senior move right there. I'm going to keep my kids safe, and I'm going to go do something that I don't like every single day to provide for them. That's manhood.
Starting point is 00:27:56 That right there is a father, and that is Richie Senior coming through your, not through your hands in a small business, but through your eyeballs in a small business, but through your eyeballs in a spreadsheet, whatever you're doing at the bank, right? Yeah. Yeah. You're doing whatever you got to do.
Starting point is 00:28:10 It just looks different. It's a new century. What do you want to be doing? I've been trying to figure that out. Okay. Well, I'm going to hook you up with some resources from my buddy Ken, but I'll hook you up with that stuff before we leave. Now, let me ask you this.
Starting point is 00:28:23 I actually. Go ahead. I actually did Ken's assessment. Okay. How'd that work? Well, the results are pretty spot on. I just don't know what to do next with it. I don't believe that. I think you're scared to. Why are you scared to? I just don't want to fail. I don't want to make a mistake. Okay. How many mistakes did your dad make starting a small business? To be honest, I'm not sure.
Starting point is 00:28:53 A ton. A ton. I work for Dave Ramsey right now, which is just a huge family business with a thousand employees. And when you sit down and talk about the things he's done over the years where he invested millions into something that didn't work out, he's got stories like that for days. You don't get a successful business without a lot of failures. You just don't. The only thing that's going to truly keep you from doing what you want to do is you never
Starting point is 00:29:25 start. Yeah. Let me ask you this. I guess. Go ahead. Go ahead. Yeah. Well, I guess, um, you know, I guess what's difficult is I, growing up, you know, as a kid, my dad worked, you know, starting this small business, he worked a lot, a lot of hours. So I really only got to see, it wasn't until maybe middle school, high school that he was around more because it was more established. So sometimes I'm afraid of taking time away from my son because I didn't have as much time with him, my dad as a kid. Now we're getting to it. Every minute's precious and you know that more than most. You know that more than I do. My dad's still kid. Now we're getting to it. Every minute's precious, and you know that more than most. You know that more than I do. My dad's still alive.
Starting point is 00:30:10 Yeah. You know how super precious those things are. And let me challenge that. Because now you're looking back and saying, I would do anything to have T-ball season back with dad while he was building that business when he was five, right? Yeah.
Starting point is 00:30:27 But then I look at the guy who the business folded that you were supposed to take on and you went and got a job that you don't love to provide for your family. And I see Richie senior living on through you. So he's still with you. You don't feel that warmth and you don't see his hand behind you saying, all right, we're here at the Hills or behind the school or wherever we're having the fight,
Starting point is 00:30:46 but I'm here. Go. Go do what you got to do. But he's right in the middle of your chest. Now, let me ask you this. Why won't you let him go? You are hanging on to him like your four-year-old hangs on to you at the pool. Why?
Starting point is 00:31:04 Why won't you let your old man go rest? Um, I don't know. I've never, it's never been put that way to me. So all this grief, brother, all this grief and anger and like pausing and pausing and pausing.
Starting point is 00:31:22 It's because your hands are gripped so tightly around the memory of your dad, as though if you let him go, suddenly he's going to disappear from you, and he's not. He's not going to leave you. He never will leave you, ever. Here's what I want you to do. Here's your homework assignment. Will you do it if I tell you? Yeah.
Starting point is 00:31:43 I want you to, I tell everybody to do the same thing and it's somewhat magical okay I want you to write your old man a letter to dear Richie or dear dad and the first letter you're going to write three of them
Starting point is 00:31:59 and the first letter is how much you miss him how much you hate cancer how How much you hate cancer. How much he's missed. Like you had a son and I want you to write this stuff down. Dad, I had a son and his name is such and such. And he's hilarious and he's just like you in these ways
Starting point is 00:32:16 and he's just like mom in these ways. And I feel so lost trying to be as good a dad as you were. I want you to write all that down. And then about a week later, I want you to write a second letter. And this letter is going to be a hard one. And this letter is how pissed off you are that he left so soon. How he spent all those years working, and then he got cancer. And now when you need him, he's not there.
Starting point is 00:32:46 Because that's the part of grief that most of us skip over, and it's not dishonoring. It's holy. It's right. And you're mad that he's not with you, aren't you? Yeah, and, you know, to throw a little something extra in there, you know, I knew the business was eventually going to fold. It was just a matter of time. And I feel guilty saying that I'm mad at him for a portion of it because I just remember he's in the hospital bed and, you know, he's fighting so hard and I was proud of him for his fighting. But I said, dad, you know, I just want to, can we just close it down? Let's just let it fall because I just want to spend these last moments with you, you know, because I, we know that time is running out and I just want as much time as I can get. And, um, he told me, he's like, he goes, well, I don't want to, he's like, I worked so hard for this.
Starting point is 00:33:55 I, I, I don't want it to go away. Yeah. And think of it this way. And so you're seeing that on your side of the fence as, um, my dad in his last few days, last few weeks, last few months, chose the business over me. And if your dad's like most men his age, he grew up in some significant economic insecurity. Was money tight for him growing up? Yeah, he grew up in the slums of New York City. That's exactly right. So here's what he did.
Starting point is 00:34:24 To his dying breath, he was going to make sure his son had a road. To the moment he quit breathing, he was going to keep fighting so that Richie would have a life that he didn't have. And does that look like love to you then? No. It looks like I'm missing my dad.
Starting point is 00:34:44 But he opened his toolkit for how to love a son, and I guarantee you his old man didn't give him a lot of tools, and he used every tool he had, and he only has about two of them, and he tried to continue to make sure you were going to be okay financially. Yeah. And I want you to be mad at him because you want to hug him. And when you finally go through that anger on the other side, it's going to be, he just did the best he could
Starting point is 00:35:10 with the tools he had in his toolkit, man. You get what I'm saying? Yeah, I do. I want you to sit in that letter, and it's going to be really uncomfortable. Okay? Here's the third letter. A week later, it's a three-week project. The third letter is, I want you to write with a smile on your face, dear dad, you're not going to believe the How you're going to take some of the lessons you learned and apply them to your son
Starting point is 00:35:47 and how you can do some things differently. I've told my dad, who's still alive, things I'm going to do differently with my son and I have done. And my dad's excited for me. He's not like, whoa, we're not. He's proud. He sees the, like, continuing on the legacy of change.
Starting point is 00:36:01 But I want you to let him know, you go rest, old man, you put in your fight. You did your, you gave me a shot and I'm going to use that shot. All right. You see what I'm saying? And here's, here's the whole thing. You got to go through it. You got to, you got to weep until I'm a miss you. And you got to bang your fist on the table and say, I'm so mad that you're gone. And then you got to open your hands and say, go sit with the angels. Oh man, I got it from here. And bro,
Starting point is 00:36:30 you're going to be scared and you're going to not know what the next step is. And you have to understand he didn't either. He just kept getting in the ring and hitting the next guy there. Yeah. Right. Yeah, man. And then every, every Father's Day, I want you to write him a letter and say, or a card. It doesn't even have to be a letter.
Starting point is 00:36:52 It can just be a card. Dear old man, we miss you. Put a picture of him up. That's all right. And then turn to that little boy and to that little boy's mom. Say, it's my day. It's Father's Day. Let's do something rad.
Starting point is 00:37:06 And you have to work. Your mission in life is to learn how to let yourself be loved as you loved him. And it's going to be uncomfortable and wonky, and you're going to want to move the spotlight. And if you go back to the beginning of this episode, I'm still learning this now. Kelly said, hey, John, you did a good job on the show. And I exhaled and said, thank you. I'm still learning this now. Kelly said, hey, John, you did a good job on the show. And I exhaled and said, thank you. I'm still learning to accept it because it's hard, but that's our job now. In this new 21st century of being men, we have to learn how to go do hard stuff and provide and all that, protect all that stuff. And we have to learn how to accept love. And most of our dads didn't have time for that stuff. They were too busy trying to provide. Cool. That's our job. You're going to practice it. Because when you pass away, which you will
Starting point is 00:37:53 someday, I want your son to say there was no hug left ungiven. And my dad held my face every night and said, I love you. And I'm so proud of you. And my dad was a banker. I saw him put a tie on every day and it was strangling him to death, but he went and did it to provide for us. And then one day he, when he saved up enough money, he quit and started his own business and he was kind of wonky, but he did it.
Starting point is 00:38:16 Now you're on to the next. I'm proud of you, Richie. You're the man that your dad prayed for that you would become. But you have to let your old man go. It's time. And instead of looking to the past, you got to look to the future and say, all right, I'm going to take this baton that you handed me. I'm going to run with it. This family tree that you planted, I'm going to water that tree and I'm going to fertilize the soil. This thing's going to get big and the roots are going to grow deep. Appreciate you, Richie. Thanks for the call,
Starting point is 00:38:50 brother. We'll be right back. Hey, good folks. Let's talk about hallow. All right. I say this all the time. It's important to get away for times of prayer and meditation by yourself with no one else around. But one thing you might not think about though is maintaining a sense of community when you pray or meditate. And this is especially if you don't consider yourself religious, if you question things, or if you've been burned by a church experience in the past, it's hard to want to get together with other people. And that's another reason why I love Hallow. You can personalize your prayer experience with Hallow and they give you three free months to do it. You can pray or meditate by yourself, or you can connect with friends,
Starting point is 00:39:30 with family, a prayer group, or some other community that you choose. And this way, you can share prayers, share meditations. You can even share journal reflections to grow in your faith together with others. And with Hallow, there are other ways you can personalize the app. They have downloadable offline sessions and links ranging from one minute up to an hour, and you can listen where it works for your schedule. You can choose your guide, your background music. You can create your own personal prayer plan and more.
Starting point is 00:39:59 I've made it a personal point to begin my day every single day with the Hallow meditation on the scripture of the day. It's a discipline and it's a practice. And here's what I'm learning. As with anything of importance and meaning, prayer takes intentionality, practice, and showing up even when I don't feel like it, and even I don't want to. This is discipline. Sometimes you do this by yourself, and sometimes you do this with a group, and ha Halo helps you with both. Download the number one prayer app on planet Earth, Halo, right now. And listen, viewers and listeners of this show,
Starting point is 00:40:32 get three free months when you go to halo.com slash Deloney. It's amazing. Three free months of the app when you go to halo.com slash Deloney. Go right now and change your life. All right, let's go out to Baton Rouge, Los Angeles, and talk to Lauren. Hey, Lauren, what's up? Hello, how are you? I'm so good. How are you? I'm doing well, thank you, and congratulations.
Starting point is 00:41:00 Thank you, thank you, thank you. We're all just glowing in here. It's pretty cool. Okay, perfect. Okay, so my question is, how do I address concerns about my little sister's fiance before their wedding in just over a month? Ooh, that one's tough. Tell me about your concerns. Right. Well, there's a lot. So I try to shorten the list down to like maybe five from 50.
Starting point is 00:41:27 Give me the one that is the one or two that are deal breakers. Okay. Okay. Well, the first one is that she has worked her entire life to go to medical school. Our dad's a doctor. She has studied literally since high school. She gets into medical school. She has been dating this guy for about three-ish months, I guess, at this point. And she just doesn't really mention anything
Starting point is 00:41:55 about medical school. My dad and us, we just think she had it heard back. And then we find out that she just doesn't want to go anymore because it will take too long. And she doesn't want to be in her 30s when she starts her family. And we were like, okay, anyway. And then that was one of the first huge life changes that we were like, that's out of left field. It could be coincidental. But at the same time, his parents were very, very traditional. Mom stayed home.
Starting point is 00:42:28 Dad is a lawyer, all that. So that was number one. And then the second was that he's very, very Catholic. And again, this is like within the first six months. Okay, so he's very Catholic and we are not. We went to Christian school um all that stuff but we never were in like organized religion so they were intimate um i don't know how many times but i guess then he intimate like oh they slept together okay yeah they slept together i didn't
Starting point is 00:43:01 know like how like yeah you could say sex we're all grown up okay um amazing now when you said they're intimate i was like do they like candles and have like john mayer playing in the background okay uh the rosary no um yeah they had sex um and then yeah sorry um and then he i guess i don't know what it was he said actually um you need to to convert to Catholicism because you need to, like, pure yourself or whatever they say, or else we cannot be together. Mind you, like, he is not, I mean, he's Catholic, but I don't, to my knowledge, he's not, like, you know, Latin Mass Catholic. So that was, and then she tells us, like, well, you know, it's South Louisiana. I wish I didn't know South Louisiana, but I spent a chunk of time there in my childhood.
Starting point is 00:43:54 Really? And I've got some amazing stories from South Louisiana. I grew up in Houston. So yeah. Oh yeah. My parents are from there. Yeah. I won't explain it, but yeah, there are some experiences I had in South Louisiana. All right. So what... I keep going. This is fun for me.
Starting point is 00:44:11 What else? Give me two more. It's super fun for me too. Okay. So another one is... Okay. They've never lived in the same city ever until last fall. They've only been long distance and well, she would always go see him because I don't know, he was busy studying or something.
Starting point is 00:44:34 Meanwhile, my sister's also in like biochemistry at LSU. So, but she was changing her exams around because she had to be there for some reason. We also don't know any of this at the time. And so now she moved to Indiana where he is in law school. He is a stay-at-home girlfriend, pretty much. Our dad helped us out financially while we were in school and all that. And then she got engaged and he was like, you have to go live with your fiance. I'm sorry. Um, and so now his parents are paying for both of them, um, fully. And so, which adds an entire new layer of control on multiple aspects. Um, because how are you going to say, have a voice if they, all the people to say back is, well, I don't know if I paid for it. So sorry, you can't go or whatever the case may be.
Starting point is 00:45:34 So, okay. Go ahead. Go ahead. Go ahead. Last one. Last one. Okay. I'm a talker. So no, it's cool. I just feel like you need to get this out. So give me one. Right. I'm like, hello. Um, okay. So just finishing that one, she followed him to DC for the summer for an internship. Um, he's living with his friends. She is staying at his friend's parents' house. Um, don't know why then she had to be there. Then they're going to London next semester. Same thing. Doesn't have a job. My sister doesn't just to be there for him. Okay. So that is that. And then the most recent thing is, so ever since she moved there, me and
Starting point is 00:46:12 my middle sister, we noticed how controlling he had been. Like we, we just kind of thought he like sucked. Um, and he just needed like validation all the time, but we would FaceTime her and she would be hiding in the bathroom. And we'd hear him in the background saying, I have a headache. Be quiet. Be quiet. Or set boundaries with your sisters, which we interpret with everything we know as don't let your sisters in so much because he knows kind of how we feel. And we're all very close.
Starting point is 00:46:47 And so that's happened. And then she. on hold on you're not close okay you're not i'm not what i don't think y'all are that close nope okay not anymore right there you go i think he used to be and so all the things you're telling me are have little to do with him. Now, I'll address him in a minute. It's that your sister is, is she 21, 22? She's 24. Okay, 24. She's making 24-year-old decisions.
Starting point is 00:47:14 She's a grown-up. No, I agree. And you hate them. I do, yes. And you're allowed to hate them. The thing you, you're not allowed, I mean, you're allowed to do whatever you want. You're allowed to hate them. The thing you're not allowed, I mean, you're allowed to do whatever you want. You're an adult. But the thing I think you're killing yourself over is. My whole family, we're about to stand, the wedding's in Napa.
Starting point is 00:47:33 We're about to stand up and say. Okay, but think about this, guys. Y'all waited so long. I know. And hold on, y'all have to own that because she's down the road. And if I'm her and y'all just have an intervention, I would feel so caught off guard. And so, and the fact that you're a sister,
Starting point is 00:47:52 like I'm just telling you, like if my little brother, who's an amazing man, we're all old now, but if he was 24 and he was explaining this to me, I would have gotten my car. And we weren't that close when he was 24. I would have gotten my car and gone to him and be like, dude, what are you doing?
Starting point is 00:48:08 Why haven't you done that? We have, all of us have. My dad sat her down. I mean, for years, we've been saying the very first time she mentioned him, she was like, oh, he's arrogant, whatever, but they're having a party for Christmas, so I'm going to go.
Starting point is 00:48:23 Because she was friends with his neighbor. So that was our first impression. And then we start hearing about it. We start kind of seeing how he treats her, very demanding of her time, everything. And so we're like, hey, this is a little much. She was like, no, it's fine. And she just constantly shrugs it off. And, I mean, we know that, I mean, she knows that no one in our family is on board.
Starting point is 00:48:50 Okay, so at what point are y'all going to, so this guy sounds like a complete jerk. Okay, I'll go with you. Sounds like a jerk and he's super controlling and all that. Yeah. But y'all have all sat her down. Y'all have all said, hey, this guy's not okay. We had different dreams for you. And here's the thing.
Starting point is 00:49:08 She may have been looking for an exit out of med school for years. Who knows? Right. Who knows? And I'm telling you that as somebody who worked at the university system for years, that people would get all the way through and get through with their MCATs. And they'd come to my office sobbing because they did not want to go to med school.
Starting point is 00:49:27 And they felt like they were on a train they couldn't get off of. And you know what they did? They found the first guy or the first girl they could hitch to to get off the train because their whole family had a life planned out for them. Not their whole family wasn't standing beside them, cheering them on, putting jet fuel
Starting point is 00:49:42 into whatever rocket they were getting into. And they end up in these wild relationships because that was the path out because I had no autonomy agency of my own. That may not be your sister, but I'm just telling you, I've heard this over and over and over and over again. Over again.
Starting point is 00:50:02 Do you think she still wants to be a doctor and she's being like silenced? Yes, because now she's talking about maybe going to PA school At first she was just taking like a gap year And then, I mean, the other day She was actually saying like, you know, I'm so bored I wish I was still in school Or I wish I was like doing something with my degree
Starting point is 00:50:22 There you go So did she match when she was going through the... Yes. Okay. Did she defer it or did she drop? She said she deferred. I don't know if she actually did or if she just dropped. Okay.
Starting point is 00:50:35 So if I'm you, I would get in a car and I would drive or I would fly and I would say, we're meeting. Right. And I need two hours of your time. And I would write everything I wanted to say. And then I would say, we're meeting. Right. And I need two hours of your time. And I would write everything I wanted to say. And then I would leave that letter with her. Okay. That I love you.
Starting point is 00:50:54 And if you're stuck, you can come stay with me. And so here's what we're going to offer. We're going to offer a path. Not a, we hate this guy and we think you're throwing your life away and you are going to be all this. You had so much potential in this. Because here's the deal. She's 24.
Starting point is 00:51:03 She's almost 25. She can do whatever she wants with her life. Yeah, definitely. And if she wants to transition from med school to being a stay-at-home mom, she gets to do that. And what she needs is her sisters to rally around her and use that brainpower and that skill set
Starting point is 00:51:18 to be the best mom on planet earth. And if she doesn't and she's trapped, then she needs an off-ramp. Not just a bunch of people like pointing the finger at her saying, if you're ready to get off the off, it's almost like an addiction, right? Like when you're ready, we will be right here with the car running for you. Yeah. And that we did say that. Okay. We did say that literally last week. Um, and we're not, I'm not knocking on stay at home moms. I'm a stay at home mom. No, I got you. I And we're not, I'm not knocking on stay-at-home moms. I'm a stay-at-home mom. I know you're not. I think you're worried about your sister.
Starting point is 00:51:49 It was just a complete 180 for us. But it's not about y'all. It's not about y'all. No, I know. I know. It's not about y'all. I know. Okay, well, she's the youngest. I know. I know. I know. You love her. I know you love her and you had this vision.
Starting point is 00:52:04 And probably if you're like me, if my little brother had been going to med school, I would have already counted on not having to pay doctor bills. And I would have worked that into a budget. 1,000%. Right? I mean, our dad's retiring soon. Exactly. There you go. So this is y'all's future, but it's not about y'all.
Starting point is 00:52:20 You'll have to stop using that kind of language because you don't get a vote. What you do get is love and connection and friendship and a sister bond that is unmatched in its strength, right? Okay. But if you already sat down and said, hey, if you need out, come with us. Yes, we have. You can live with us. You can stay with us. We'll help you get back on your feet, whatever. Financially, we got you. Yeah. What'd she say? Well, so they were getting married in Napa in the end of July. And then when we come back the following weekend, they are having a 500-person reception in New Orleans. Hey, you got to stop getting all mad about their money.
Starting point is 00:52:59 No, I don't care about that. But I'm saying she is... No, I don't care about that stuff. It's just a lot to, I don't know. I mean, now that I'm talking to you, I'm like, oh my God, I'm making up this story in my head. Yeah, you've made up this whole, you're like, do you listen, do you read like Colleen Hoover? It sounds like that. Like there's like this whole.
Starting point is 00:53:17 No, I do not. But it sounds like there's this whole like series of books you've written about what's happening. I know. I think it's me and my mom and my other sister. It's just been kind of like the elephant in the room. She doesn't come around anymore. Why would she? I wouldn't come around. No, no.
Starting point is 00:53:37 Because you'll hate her. You'll hate her. No. Your life. No, I really... I feel like I'm not explaining this well. No, seriously. Because she'll come home. your life no I really I feel like I'm not explaining this well um because no seriously because she'll come home like she'll come in town and she'll be at my house and our other sister is
Starting point is 00:53:52 in town as well from New York and our mom and he's calling her like 10 times to the point where she answers and says hey is something wrong and then she's like oh I I thought something was wrong why are you calling me so much and then she goes in the other room it's like nine o'clock and she's like, oh, I thought something was wrong. Why are you calling me so much? And then she goes in the other room. It's like nine o'clock. And she's saying, like, why can't I just stay till 915? Like, I'll call you when I get back to my dad's house at 915. She have a curfew? That's what I'm saying.
Starting point is 00:54:16 Sorry. I feel like I left out so much. I told you I have a 50 point list. And then so she's like, and then finally she just says, oh, you know, I have to go. I'm really tired. And then I hear her on the phone saying like, you're not a chore. Okay. I'm not picking my sisters over you.
Starting point is 00:54:35 Like I'm leaving. I'm leaving. So listen, when you, when you talked to her the other day, what did she say? When we talked to her the other day, it was me and my other sister on FaceTime. And she actually listened for the first time. FaceTime's no good, but keep going. I know. She's in D.C.
Starting point is 00:54:48 I know. I know. We're all over the place. Get on a plane and go see your sister. But go ahead. Go ahead. You talked on FaceTime and what she said. We did.
Starting point is 00:54:54 We did. We said, we told her all these things that she said she didn't know about or she tried to cover it up. For example, he never comes around her family, and she's like, oh, he just isn't used to y it up. For example, um, he never comes around our family and she's like, Oh, he just isn't used to y'all. And we're like, okay, that's not true because you told us that he doesn't like, what did she say? What did she say? What did she say? She, she basically said, made excuses for it. We said, that's not true. And then just cried and said, I love y'all. I love y'all. Thank you for being honest with me. Um, and then, I mean, she wasn't, she was crying and yeah. She knows, she knows, she knows. Here's what I would
Starting point is 00:55:32 do. If I, again, I can't tell anybody what to do and I don't know your financial situation and all that. I think that, you know, that your sister is in a situation that she's feels like she's gotten on yet another train that has left the station that she's having a hard time getting off of. Is that fair? Yeah, that's a really good way to put it. Okay. So I think it would be, I'm just telling you what I would do here. This was just me. That's the best wisdom I can give you right now. I'd get on a plane and I'd go sit with her in private. We go to a coffee shop or whatever, and I would slide across the table a plane ticket. And I would say, this is, you can use this at any time. I've bought this. Are you married right now? Right. Yeah, I am.
Starting point is 00:56:16 Okay. So me and my husband bought this for you. Our house is always open and we'll pick you up. If you go through with the wedding, you'll be my sister forever and we'll love you and we'll always support you. But I can't be your sister and not let you know face to face that I'm worried about you. And I've heard this and I've heard this. If there's anything left unspoken, if y'all heard anything over, like y'all have seen text messages or you overheard conversations. A lot, yeah. If you have not said those things so that she knows that you know. Right. I think we have, but I'm sorry. knows that you know. Right. Because a lot of times, a lot of times there's, if you're an abusive or
Starting point is 00:56:47 trapped relationship, the game continues and people know things, but they won't say those things out loud. Right. So at this point it's, it's speak now forever, hold your peace. Well, right. Okay. So I think we had typically danced around it and I felt like the other day we were pretty direct, but at the same time, I agree. We're not face to face. Um, our other sister lives in New York city. Um, and so she is actually next weekend, I believe, um, is going to DC to see our sister. If you, if there's any way you can go, you should go. I will try.
Starting point is 00:57:24 I have a newborn. I know. I know it's hard. I know it's hard. I know it's hard. Bring go. I will try. I have a newborn. I know. I know it's hard. I'll bring him. Bring him. Have an adventure. I will go. And if you can't, that's okay.
Starting point is 00:57:32 I'm not trying to put a ton of pressure on you, but I'm just saying they're so being trapped in a relationship that's unsafe, that is scary, that is, oh gosh, I got off this roller coaster and now I'm in another roller coaster. And I think letting her know we don't care about going to med school. We don't care about any of that stuff. We care about our sister and we feel like we're losing you And just so we're clear we've heard him say this And we heard you saying you're not picking one or the other and we heard you have a curfew You're worth more than a curfew for god's sake The guy you're going to marry should be so freaking happy that his new wife has three or two sisters that are ride or die. What an amazing gift for an incoming husband that she's got people she can just text and call who are a little bit down the road from her. Like when it comes to having kids and jobs and all that stuff, it's amazing.
Starting point is 00:58:22 And let her know, we are sorry that we put all this pressure on you to be the baby, the baby doctor. We just want our sister. And if you go through with this, we will, or we will not be at that 500 person party in San Francisco. I mean, I'm sorry, in New Orleans. I would suggest you go, go and dance and let her know you're not alone. You're not alone. You're not alone. But man, alone um But man all the stuff about like you got to just be careful about making up stories about like all the catholics this and then This then they had sex and then there's this She's 24 years old What she needs now more than anything is to know that her sisters haven't haven't left that even though she got on a different
Starting point is 00:59:00 different ride for a while Um, and she needs to be able to articulate back to you, I love him. This is the life I'm choosing. And I need y'all to respect my choices. And if she can't articulate that, then man, slide a ticket across the table and say, anytime, anywhere, we got you.
Starting point is 00:59:15 Here's a one-year ticket for a thousand bucks for Southwest or whatever. And you can use it anytime and we'll be there to pick you up. But give her an off ramp. Don't just give her a bunch of lectures and, you know, we're your sisters. Here's a path. But I'm glad you love her, but that's all of us.
Starting point is 00:59:31 And I'm guilty of this too. Be careful of making up stories and then responding to the stories and then getting our sister and our mom and our brother into those stories because it just turns into a jungle of its own. It turns into its own chaos. And then we start trying to work through that. Man, we just complicate everything. This is my sister. I'm going to look you. And then we start trying to work through that jungle. Man, we just complicate everything.
Starting point is 00:59:47 This is my sister. I'm going to look you in the eye across the table and say, I love you. I love you. And I'm worried about you. And here's the path out. If you want to take it, I'm here. And at the end of the day, it's the best you can do.
Starting point is 01:00:00 It's the best you can do. Thanks for the call, Lauren. We'll be right back. This show is sponsored by BetterHelp. October is the season for wearing costumes. And if you haven't started planning your costume, seriously, get on it. I'm pretty sure I'm going to go as Brad Pitt
Starting point is 01:00:17 because we have the same upper body, but whatever. Look, it's costume season. And if we're being honest, a lot of us hide our true selves behind masks and costumes more often than we want to. We do this at work. We do this in social settings. We do this around our own families. We even do this with ourselves.
Starting point is 01:00:35 I have been there multiple times in my life, and it's the worst. If you feel like you're stuck hiding your true self behind costumes and masks, I want you to consider talking with a therapist. Therapy is a place where you can learn to accept all the parts of yourself, where you can be honest with yourself, and where you can take off the mask and the costumes and learn to live an honest, authentic life. Costumes and masks should be for Halloween parties, not for our emotions and our true selves. If you're considering therapy, I want you to call my friends at BetterHelp. BetterHelp is 100% online therapy.
Starting point is 01:01:11 You can talk with your therapist anywhere so it's convenient for just about any schedule. You just get online and you fill out a short survey and you'll be matched with a licensed therapist and you can switch therapist at any time for no additional cost. Take off the costumes and take off the masks with BetterHelp. Visit BetterHelp.com slash Deloney to get 10% off your first month.
Starting point is 01:01:32 That's BetterHelp, H-E-L-P dot com slash Deloney. All right, Kelly, something cool happened. What's up? All right, this is from Paige. I don't know where she's at. I had a girl that I had a big crush on in middle school named Paige. If that's you, I see you. I'm married, so don't be weird, but that's all I'm saying.
Starting point is 01:01:55 It'd be cool if she reached out. All right. Go ahead. All right. An interview about building a non-anxious life popped up on YouTube, and I'm a Ramsey Solutions fan, so I listened. I've never struggled with anxiety per se, but something that Dr. John said about choosing reality struck a chord, and I decided to take the quiz and buy the book. My results were,
Starting point is 01:02:16 let's say, bad. So this is the anxiety quiz I'm assuming that they're talking about, just so everybody knows what that is. I realized that through reading the book and later through listening to the show that I may not have been caring for my body or my mind. I was, quote unquote, checking out of my life throughout the day. I hated my body, and I felt like I was living under a wet blanket, which, ew. Yeah. That's very descriptive. It's very descriptive, but also I totally get it. Yeah. I used to be an athlete, social butterfly, avid reader, and very flirtatious with my husband,
Starting point is 01:02:48 but we've been buried under the stress of being pregnant and nursing for basically the last 10 years, moving a lot and working part-time. Prompted by your book, I told my husband— I'm hoping she has a bunch of kids. I hope so. Otherwise— Yeah. Whoa.
Starting point is 01:03:01 I'm imagining quite a few. Whoa. Yes. Lots of kids. Lots of kids. Otherwise'm imagining quite a few. Whoa. Yes. Lots of kids. Lots of kids. Otherwise, that's a really extended nursing period. Anyway, prompted by your book, I went to counseling 20 years late, but hey, whatever.
Starting point is 01:03:16 I started an exercise routine. I've lost 25 pounds since January. Whoa. My counselor helped me with practical techniques to stop disassociating and had me write letters to my teenage self about all of the abuse. I cried a lot, and I don't cry. I felt the weight lift off my shoulders. My kids told me that they can, quote, see mommy in her eyes again. Whoa.
Starting point is 01:03:37 This was very hard to hear. I'm getting together with friends on a weekly basis. My husband and I can't keep our hands off each other. Gross. Dude, that's pretty rad. And by the way, I say this not to be like oh shucks we don't do anything like we talk on a podcast and i take some phone calls that's somebody who like started making these changes in her home or in the mirror and then with her therapist and then with her husband and then with her therapist, and then with her husband, and then with her kids.
Starting point is 01:04:27 That line, I'll keep that line. I'll put that one away in my storage space in the back of my heart. My kids see their mom again in my eyes. Like, that's beautiful. That's really amazing. Read that line again. She said, my kids said that they see their mom again in my eyes. That's so good. That's amazing.
Starting point is 01:04:43 And kids, man, they can see it. They know when you're there and they know when you're not there. That's beautiful, man. Everybody who is making these changes slowly but surely, thank you. I'm really grateful. And I appreciate you sending these stories in because it puts a little, as the great Vinnie Tortorich says, it puts a little coal in the engine and keeps the train going down the track. It just provides some energy to get up and keep doing the show again.
Starting point is 01:05:09 So thank you so much. What was her name? Paige. Paige. It's amazing. Probably not the Paige, but pretty awesome. Dude, good call. That was a good one, Kelly.
Starting point is 01:05:20 Thanks for reading that. I need that one this morning. It's beautiful. And team shout out. Number three. Next stop. Number one. Love you guys. Bye.

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