THE ED MYLETT SHOW - How to Rewrite Your Story and Overcome Life’s Hardest Challenges w/ Titus O’Neil

Episode Date: January 21, 2025

FROM RAGS TO RING GLORY: TITUS O'NEIL'S UNFORGETTABLE JOURNEY How do you rise above a beginning steeped in unimaginable pain? Titus O’Neil’s story starts with heartbreak: his mother was a victim of sexual assault at just 11 years old, and from that traumatic event, Titus was conceived. Yet, what could have been the start of a lifetime of despair became the foundation for an extraordinary life of impact and inspiration. Today, I sit down with this WWE Hall of Famer, philanthropist, and beacon of resilience to uncover how he turned his pain into purpose. Born from an unimaginable trauma, Titus faced challenges that could have crushed most people. He grew up amidst chaos and anger, grappling with feelings of hate and insignificance. Yet, through faith, resilience, and the belief of a few key mentors, Titus not only survived—he transformed. From troubled beginnings to NFL aspirations, WWE fame, and even fatherhood, Titus is proof that your story doesn’t have to define you—your decisions do. This conversation is packed with lessons about forgiveness, belief, and creating lasting impact. Titus talks about his relationship with his mother, whose sacrifice taught him love and courage, and the pivotal moments when people believed in him and changed his trajectory. He also opens up about his unique path to becoming a father, even adopting a daughter and redefining what family means. But it’s not just about personal success. Titus reminds us of our responsibility to pass it forward—how we can take our scars, our victories, and our faith to empower others. Key Takeaways: Why belief matters: How the simple words “I believe in you” can change a life. Turning pain into purpose: Learn how Titus reframed his trauma into a driving force for good. The power of forgiveness: Letting go of anger to find peace and clarity. Building a legacy: What Titus learned from his mentors and how he's breaking generational curses. Finding strength in vulnerability: Why transparency and authenticity are essential for growth. Titus is living proof that no matter where you start, you can rewrite your story. His message? "Our mess becomes our message." Let this conversation inspire you to rise, no matter how many times you fall. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

So hey guys, listen, we're all trying to get more productive and the question is, how do you find a way to get an edge? I'm a big believer that if you're getting mentoring or you're in an environment that causes growth, a growth based environment, that you're much more likely to grow and you're going to grow faster. And that's why I love Growth Day. Growth Day is an app that my friend Brendan Burchard has created that I'm a big fan of. Write this down, growthday.com forward slash ed. So if you want to be more productive, by the way the way he's asked me I post videos in there every single Monday that gets your day off to the right start he's got about five thousand ten thousand dollars worth of courses that are in there that come with the app also some of the top influencers in the world are all posting content and they're

on a regular basis like having the Avengers of personal development and business in one app and I'm honored that he asked me to be a part of it as well and contribute on a weekly basis, and I do. So go over there and get signed up. You're gonna get a free, tuition-free voucher to go to an event with Brendan and myself and a bunch of other influencers as well. So you get a free event out of it also.

So go to growthday.com forward slash ed. That's growthday.com forward slash ed. Calling all sellers. Salesforce is hiring account executives to join us on the cutting edge of technology. it. Let's create the agent-first future together. Head to salesforce.com slash careers to learn more. Clear your schedule for you time with a handcrafted espresso beverage from Starbucks. Savor the new small and mighty Cortado. Cozy up with the familiar flavors of pistachio. Or shake up your mood with an iced brown sugar oat shaken espresso.

Whatever you choose, your espresso will be handcrafted with care at Starbucks. This is the end. All right, welcome back to the show, everybody. Well, today I thought I had the deepest voice in all of podcasting, but I think you're about to hear a deeper one. We were just joking about that off camera. My guest today I have wanted to talk to for a long time after seeing him speak and obviously I've watched him on TV for so many years.

Most of you know him as Titus O'Neill, but I know him as an all-time WE Hall of Famer. He's a philanthropist. He's an author of a book that we're going to talk about today. And one of the most incredible stories you will ever hear in your life. You're about to hear right now in the next hour. I'm going to spend with Thaddeus Bullard. So Thaddeus, welcome to the show, my friend. Good to have you.

Thanks for having me, man. Yeah. Uh, I'm glad I beat you in something, uh, in the adores to having the deepest voice on the podcast. Well, I've also stood next to you and I'm a pretty big dude, but it's not even close. You've beat me at a lot of different things. This is one of the biggest men and strongest men

you will ever meet in your life. And we might as well get into it. It's a perfect segue because I can't, I want to get right into your story because it's frankly, it's awe-inspiring and it's like out of a movie. It's in fact, it'll be a movie. So I got to ask you about this. So I've watched you forever.

You know, you and I both talked off camera. I have a lot of friends in the WWE. I've had many of the wrestlers on. Stephanie McMahon's been on. Kristen Prouty worked there for a long time as one of my dearest friends, and I did not know your story. And so it required tremendous internal strength to become who you are, not just the external physical strength you've had.

So would you tell us kind of the, your whole story's incredible, but you know where I'm going with this, about fatherhood, which is gonna be a major topic of today's show, Fatherhood in Life. But talk about your own journey and learning about how you were even conceived, because it's just shocking.

Yeah, so I'm the product of a sexual assault. My mother was raped at 11 years old, had me at the age of 12. She was driven from St. Augustine, Florida, which is up by where you are in Ponte Vista, down to Boynton Beach, Florida to have an abortion. And she jumped out of the car and months later, I was born and life was very difficult for me

in a lot of different ways. My mother was a very young mother, trying to raise kids, working. And I didn't realize this and a lot of things that were, you know, kind of unrealistic to think about growing up as a kid. But then once I started writing my first book,

which, you know, is, there's no such thing as a bad kid. That, those words are uttered to me at 12 years old. I went to a place not too far away from, from St. Augustine and I called Live Oak, Florida. And there I went to the Florida share of the Boys Ranch and that place changed my life. And more importantly, a conversation at 12 years old

when I was essentially destined to go back home to Boynton Beach where, you know, me and my mom had a horrible relationship as a kid. And I say all the time, I hated my mom for greater part of my young adult life until, you know, my mother came up, you know, the conversation happened with Patrick Minogue, who was the youth ranch director at the time, I had just signed a contract that I wouldn't get into another fight and 30 minutes later, I got into another fight and the decision had been made

that I would be sent home to Boynton Beach, Florida. And Patrick Minow called me into the room and he, I had my head down and he said, you know, the decision's been made for you to be sent home. As you know, you signed a contract that you wouldn't get into any more fights and you know, the decision's been made for you to be sent home. As you know, you signed a contract that you wouldn't get into any more fights. And you know, here we are. He said, I'm gonna ask you a question

and I want you to give me an honest answer. He said, why do you think you get into trouble all the time? And I had my head down and I said, I don't know, man. I'm just a bad kid. And he said, lift your head up. He said, there's no such thing as a bad kid. And I looked at him and I said, how can you say that? You know, I've been told I'll be dead or in jail by the time I was 16. I'll never graduate from high school, which at that point,

no one in my family had graduated from high school. I'll never go to college. I'm too uncoordinated to play sports. The list went on and on and on. And he said that he's not going to give me the answer because he truly believes that I'm gonna turn things around and I'm gonna figure out the answer for myself. In the meantime, I wanna tell you something and I want you to believe it. He said, I love you and I believe in you.

And a lot of people had told me that they loved me at that point. Yes. And they'd turn around and abuse me, beat me, curse me, etc. Nobody had ever told me that they believed in me in any regards. I was never going to be, I was never going to do, I was very insufficient to so many people at that time and insignificant to a lot of people at that time. There's a lot so far to unpack. So first off guys,

the book that he has is called Wrestling with Fatherhood, the new book. You need to go get it. It's not just about being a dad. It's about being a leader, being a human being, being a compassionate person who makes a difference. But I want to go back because it's your story, but for about two million people right now, they just heard it. What in the world did he just say? So let's just unpack this just for a second. Did you hear what he said everyone? His mother, he's conceived from basically a sexual assault of an 11 year old. And his mom's a 12 year old mother.

But there's a little part of that that hasn't come out yet that I want you to talk about. You did not know that the better part of your childhood. This didn't come out till later. So I want you to talk about. You did not know that the better part of your childhood. This didn't come out till later. So I want you to imagine this. There's this precious little boy who is the product of a sexual assault, was going to be aborted, sideways relationship, his mother was a child trying to raise him. And you were raised with all this turmoil, which we're going to go back to, especially the boys ranch that you went to because we're going to meet in the middle on something there

but how old were you when you finally found this out and what was that like that had to be a moment of shock to hear this and obviously wondering why you weren't told sooner yeah i was told at 17 years old uh at the boys ranch uh i essentially didn't end up getting sent home. Mr. Minogue said, I'm gonna go against the wishes of a lot of people and it's probably gonna piss a lot of people off,

but I love you and I believe in you and I think that you're gonna turn things around. And I ended up supposedly was gonna stay there for 18 months and I stayed there for five years, not because I was bad, but because it was the best place for me to learn and grow. I went from being an underservedserved kid, under-performing kid, to being one of the top high school players in the country. And my mom came up, I'm

17 years old, she came up. Normally with the youth ranches they try to keep the parents and the kids kind of separate except for around holidays, simply because while the kids are getting help at the youth ranch, so are the parents getting counseling and et cetera, so that when they both come back together, they both have a better understanding of how to have a better parent-child relationship.

And so my mom came up, we were sitting in Mr. Minogue's office, and it was Mr. Minogue, Patrick Bichard, and my mother. And I remember her holding back tears. And she said, I wanted to share something with you. And she said, you know, Charles isn't your dad. And Charles is a guy that, I knew he wasn't my dad, but he was trying, you know?

And me and my brothers, I have three younger brothers and they all, my three younger brothers have the same father, but a different father than me. I kind of grew up with their dad, but I didn't have much respect for him as a father and as a man because of the stuff that I witnessed at home. But Charles was someone that my mom had dated for a bit, but I'd never felt like he was my dad.

And she said, you know, I was raped and that's how you came into this world. I remember just being silent for I was raped and that's how you came into this world. I remember just being silent for at least like 30 seconds because I'm shocked. My mom asked me how I was feeling and I'm kind of reliving it now as I'm speaking about it. And I asked her, was she okay? She said, I'll be okay.

She said, are you okay? And then I said, no, not really. Do you know who it was? And she said, yes, I know who it was. Would you like to meet him? And I said, I said no, because I'd probably kill him. And at that moment, you know, I'm 17 years old,

I'm at the top of the world, I'm an honor roll student, I'm one of the top players in the country, I could go to any school in the country, and I get hit with this news, and as I tell people all the time, growing up I hated my mom for a lot of reasons. Once she disclosed how I came into this world, all that hate that I had towards my mom instantly turned into love because I realized that my mom was a kid trying to raise kids. And even till this day, I understand,

because of that conversation at 17 years old, my drive and my passion for so many things, like especially with youth, is through the roof, simply because number one, I was one of these kids that I'm trying to help serve. But number two, my mom never got a chance to go to a prom. She never got a chance to walk across the high school graduation stage.

My mom never did a lot of things that 11, 12, 13, 14, 15 year old kids should have the opportunity to do. And it really shaped my mindset when it comes to kids in general. And people know, that know me, you know, I help a lot of people, but kids are definitely, they're everything to me. My kids, your kids, everybody's kids,

simply because as a kid, as an eight year old kid, the things that I had to endure and see, didn't realize as I got older and a late teen that my mom, the things that I, even as bad as the things that I had to endure at 11 years old, I never had to deal with what my mom had to deal with. You're helping people on a lot of levels right now, but one of them as a child myself of some dysfunction, let's just say that with my dad and drugs and alcohol People ask me often, you know, how are you able to forgive your dad?

When my dad earned it my dad got sober, but even prior to that You know those of you that been harmed by somebody Maybe give them grace even if it's invisible grace and you can't tell them because you don't know what what they've gone through. And for them to be acting out towards you the way they are, they're a child of God too. Something's happened to them. Hurt people hurt people. And in our lives, it's really important that we give people grace. I mean, who would have imagined that this precious little girl at 11 years old is violated that bad? From that moment on you almost can't judge and assess somebody's behavior from that point. I can't even imagine what that's like to lose your childhood like that. So everybody just pick that one part of the story apart.

I want to ask you a couple things about all of this before we even shift because there's there's going to be a bunch of lessons about life guys not just fatherhood here today. But I want to jump back on something that you said earlier, because it's part of the work that I do. By the way, just to meet in the middle with you, just because we've got to know each other a little bit recently. My first job that I spent most of my career with young was I worked at a boys camp. Your story reminds me of my boys.

My boys were all actually removed from their families from sexual assaults or their parents were incarcerated or dead. So it's interesting that the two of us end up here today together to help some people. So hey guys I want to jump in here for a second and talk about change and growth and you know by the way it's no secret how people get ahead in life or how they grow and also taking a look at the future. If you want to change your future you got to change the things you're doing. If you continue to do the same things,

you're probably going to produce the same results. But if you get into a new environment where you're learning new things and you're around other people that are growth oriented, you're much more likely to do that yourself. And that's why I love Growth Day. Write this down for a second, growthday.com forward slash ed. My friend, Brendal Bruchard has created

the most incredible personal development and business app that I've ever seen in my life. Everything from goal setting software to personal accountability, journaling, horses, thousands of dollars worth of courses in there as well. I create content in there on Mondays where I contribute as do a whole bunch of other influences like the Avengers of influencers and business minds in there. It's the Netflix for high achievers or people that want to be high achievers. So go check it out. My friend Brennan's made it very affordable, very easy to get involved. Go to growthday.com forward

slash ed. That's growthday.com forward slash ed. All right it's that time here it's cold out. One of my favorite things I've gone back to is hot chocolate. I'm doing that all the time right now and I love laying on the couch with a blanket on when it's cold out. Watch a little football or some Netflix. Yes, I do do those things in my downtime, but you probably need more than that for the cold weather and that's where the ultimate cold weather necessity company comes in. Quints. With quints you can treat yourself to true quality at an affordable price. Their super soft fleece sweatpants are major upgrade to whatever you're lounging around in right now. They're comfy and cozy. I wore them Sunday watching football.

All Quince items are priced 50 to 80 percent less than similar brands. By partnering directly with top factories and cutting out all the middlemen, Quince passes the savings on to you. Luxuriate and coziness without the luxury price tag. Go to quince.com slash ed for 365 day returns plus free shipping on your order. That's quince Q U I N C E dot com slash ed to get free shipping and 365 day returns quince.com slash ed. This is a message from sponsor Intuit Turbo Tax. Here's the thing, you got to handle your taxes and waiting around and worrying if you're going to

get money back or what you owe and then waiting and wondering some more. You don't have to do that anymore. Right now you can get a TurboTax expert who can do your taxes as soon as today. An expert who gives your taxes their individual undivided attention as they work on your return while you get real-time updates on their progress so you can focus on your day. Isn't that what you want to be able to do? Have an expert get your taxes done. Figure out whether you're getting any money back and when you're gonna get it back and doing it the sooner the better for everybody. An expert who will find you every possible deduction and file every form, every investment, everything with 100% accuracy so you don't need to worry about it. All so you

can get the most money back guaranteed. No waiting, no wondering, no worries. Now this is taxes. Get an expert now on TurboTax.com. Only available with TurboTax But I want to know about this belief thing because I think a lot of parents, a lot of people, a lot of leaders neglect to ever tell somebody that they love them. Love is like almost this word, you hear it so often, I don't even know if it feels anything anymore. Belief, even like your spouse, to have a spouse who believes in you, not just loves you, that's like a different level altogether. I'm wondering your thoughts about belief in people and your

intentionality about that and how it affected you beyond just love but belief because that's a to me that's a much deeper level. I think it really for me comes down to my relationship with God and I think everybody has their interpretation or their own relationship with God. I was introduced to the church as a youth. I went to church all the time, but I never really understood a lot of things in regards to relationships with Christ because even in the church, things are manipulated.

The Bible's manipulated. People are, in my opinion, kind of feel like they walk out of their convicted every Sunday if they're dealing with certain things or whatever. And I know that there are a lot of believers that live throughout the globe, but I don't think there are a lot of people of faith. What's the difference?

To me, people of faith move on action. They move with love, they move with obedience. And obedience is greater than sacrifice. I learned that at a very young age that sometimes what we feel like we're sacrificing, when it comes to God, there is no sacrifice because he has already told us in Jeremiah 29, 11, for I know the thoughts that I have for you,

are thoughts of great things, you know, and a great ending. And so I don't need all the details for I know the thoughts that I have for you are thoughts of great things, you know, and a great ending. And so I don't need all the details to move on what God's told me to do. And before, even as a kid, you know, it was that I love you and I believe in you message that stuck with me so much because as you said before, a lot of people don't really get told

that they are believed in or that people have faith in them. And if I say I have faith in God, then I can't respond to world-elite issues the same way everybody else does. I can't be far right or far left when it comes to politics. I can't be far right or far left when it comes to religion. I can't be far right or far left when it comes to politics. I can't be far right or far left when it comes to religion. I can't be far right or far left

when it comes to sexual orientation or any of that stuff because for me, so many people invested in me when they had nothing to gain in return from all different walks and all different backgrounds that I have no fight or skin in the game when it comes to like being anything less than a great human being. And I think when people know that you believe in them

and that you believe in what they can do, it gives them a strength and a courage to go out and try something that they normally wouldn't try. Your testimony, my testimony, like sometimes I think, even for me at a certain point in my life, I was kind of hesitant to tell my story my testimony, like sometimes I think even for me at a certain point in my life, I was kind of hesitant to tell my story because I didn't want to be viewed a certain way that I was weak, you know?

But I'm vulnerable to the obedience of God. I have submitted, you know, like I don't have to be perfect. Nobody in this world has to be perfect at anything. We all serve a perfect will or God has a perfect will and a purpose for all of us. I got empowered by knowing that this homeless guy at 13 years old telling me that God's gonna use you in a mighty way.

And at that time I was on a football field and I'm walking and I said, well, man, yeah, I wanna go to the NFL, I wanna make a lot of money so I can help a lot of people. And he said, no, it has nothing to do with the NFL. It has everything to do with you. For a guy that's essentially homeless, for some people they look at that situation as hopeless.

For me, a couple of weeks later, I come to ask him, how did you end up in this situation? And he said, if I told you I was the CEO of a Fortune 500 company, I had a big home, a yacht, a beautiful family, would you believe me? And I said, I would have no choice, like if that's what you told me. And he said, that's exactly what my life used to be.

But drugs, alcohol, and gambling ripped me away from my family. And, wow, you know, as I think about like how believing in someone, I believe that this guy who spoke life into me at a time in which I didn't know him, he didn't know me. But I ended up speaking life into him as well, as well as asking one of my teammates,

who dad was a very successful businessman, in trying to help him not only get reintroduced to the church, because my teammate wanted me to go to his church all the time, but he was Catholic and I didn't know that. And he had always wanted to get back and go to church. And so since I had this invitation to go to church, you know, I asked if I could invite, you know, this gentleman to church and next thing you know he's going from going to church to now working for my

teammates dad to getting back on his feet to being reconnected with his wife although they she had moved on and got married. He hadn't seen his kids in like three years. God used me at 13 years old to help this person that told me that God is going to do use me for mighty things. Let me ask you a question. The belief thing everybody I want to just put a bow on that. If you ask the average person, hey, who's loved you in your life? I bet that you could name 10, 12, 15 different people that have loved you, grandma, grandpa, coaches, you know, your

your sisters, your brothers, but if I asked you who's believed in you, I bet that list is shorter, and when you believe in somebody, you are, you fit on one hand in their life more than likely, where they really feel your belief, and that is a deep difference you make as a father, as a mother, as a friend. I'm not just a friend of my friends. I let them know I believe in them and then I let them know why I believe in them as a leader in business and I just want you all just to just take that one piece of this away. Here's a big question for you brother. By the way, remember this, this man goes on to be dominant college football player at University of Florida, ends up eventually in the WWE. He's a Hall of Famer in the WWE.

So imagine this, one of the great all-time Hall of Famers in the WWE was conceived in a sexual assault of an 11 year old girl. Now, what can you accomplish in your life if that's where this man comes from? He's talking about church. He doesn't just walk the walk. He's actually in the studio at his church right now as we're talking. So the other thing people literally they fall down. They don't know what the heck they're gonna do, right? And getting up is its own story.

And like I'm just gonna let you take the floor on this because it's one of my all-time favorite stories. Like when I was prepping for the interview and talking to our mutual friend at WWE, I'm like I gotta ask him about this slip and fall and story. So you gotta tell him this and give us kind of like tie it together with what it means. This is crazy. Yeah, so we're in Saudi Arabia.

First time we're in Saudi Arabia. We just signed this huge deal with them to bring our entertainment over to Saudi Arabia. And it's the greatest Royal Rumble. And we have legends, the Undertaker, we have so many people that are coming in for this show. And it comes up to my time to run out to the ring. And I had all the things that I was gonna do in my head and I run full speed down and I slide right underneath the ring, fall, slip and fall in front of millions of people

under the ring and I get under the ring and I'm like, oh, you know, like, I can make a decision at that point. Do I just make it look like it was planned and I stay under there or come back down and just kind of go through everything and I did and come back to the back and everybody first and foremost asked me,

was I okay? Am I hurt or whatever? And I said, no, I'm good. And I looked over at Vince McMahon and I said, I get a t-shirt, right? And he said, absolutely. And they ran, we ran with that for so many things. I made SportsCenter not top 10.

I was ahead of Tom Brady who stumbled and bumbled and, you know, his way into a run as well. So I tell people this all the time, like, there are folks that, you know, they stub their toe and nobody sees it, you know, or they fall down and nobody sees it. You know, they fall down and nobody sees it. Millions of people saw me slide underneath the ring. It was hilarious to so many.

I thank God that I'm still here. I thank God that I have every moving organ in my body. But it's kind of the on brand with my life, you know, where I've had to fall down, get back up, fall down, get back up. And not only get back up, but get back up with a smile. And I think for any listener out there, there are gonna be times that you're gonna fall down,

it's embarrassing, you know, and people are gonna make fun of you, but at the end of the day, it's how you continue to move forward and how you capitalize off of that fall. So, we're showing a clip of it on the YouTube right now so people can see it, but hey, if you ever wanted the ultimate life metaphor of you're going to fall down, you got to get back up. It's what this dude did in Saudi Arabia was awesome. Thank you for telling them. This is so good. Yes, sir. But here's what didn't happen to you. And I want to know, I want you to help a couple million people right now with this.

How did you not make that your identity? In other words, for most people, brother, they, a trauma in their life becomes like a stamp. That's who I am. I'm the victim. I'm the underdog. I'm always, I'm not this smart. I'm not that. My family's that, and they end up with an identity from a trauma. If anybody in the world had an excuse or a reason, and maybe even for a while, you did do that. How does somebody get past their old story? Right? How do they do that? How did you do that?

Well, first and foremost, I think it's a decision that needs to be made that we all have a chance to make every single day. I do this twins exercise with young kids where I basically have a twin A and a twin B. They both come from the exact same background, you know, abused background. Their father was an alcoholic. They got into the foster system.

One foster parent, one went to one foster care parent, another went to another foster care parent family, and one just continuously gets in trouble, goes to jail. We actually had to bail him out for the actual exercise of these kids getting a chance to interview these two twins. They can ask them whatever they want, but they gotta be respectful to both sides. One, the other twin goes off to be this highly successful,

great father, great husband, et cetera. They both come from the same exact environment. And the kids ask at the end of the exercise, you know, why do you think you ended up where you ended up? And they both simultaneously saying, well, with a father like mine, I had no other choice. So it is a decision at the end of the day. And sometimes our help comes from a source

that we would never imagine it coming from. And some people accept that help and they try to use it and recover and go from it. And then some choose to stay in that space. And, you know, I shared this on the Pivot podcast. You know, I always went through a very deep depression when I got divorced for so many different reasons. Yeah, the loss of the relationship was one thing,

but how I grew up, you know, I took a great sense of pride in winning. I've won in every single thing that I've done in life. I've never been on a losing team. And the most important aspect of me is my family and I lost my family. And I beat myself up for that for quite some time to the point where I was like,

I got me a vasectomy, I'm not having any more kids. I never wanted to have kids outside of wedlock. I grew up in that and I grew up around that. And so I never thought I would be married again. You know, I just went again, I kind of minimized every single aspect of myself as a man. And there's a building up process to do that. And I think my relationship with Christ

and just really diving into the word and kind of rediscovering who I am as a person, realizing that I don't have to be perfect, realizing that God chose 12 of the most imperfect breakthrough in the Bible to be disciples, you know what I'm saying? And they were chosen disciples. The folks that he sat around the table with for the last supper were the worst of the worst.

And so I look at, you know, when we go back to this word belief, and that is like a pivotal word and action to me. Like I, you have to believe in yourself, you have to believe in God, you have to believe in God, whatever God that is you serve, it could be Allah, it can be I serve Christ, somebody else may serve Allah, another person may serve Buddha, other people may say that they believe in something else and that's fine with me.

I just think that at the end of the day, whatever faith you have, it should lead you to be a better person. It should lead you to be able to understand who you are as a person, so that you can go out and equip other people. I think the greatest gift that we can give to one another, especially as men, is great discipleship, and women too.

When you have the ability to grab people from different walks of life in the places that they may not necessarily be at your level, and you can disciple them to greater, and they can get higher levels than you. But it's really a decision at the end of the day of saying, hey, this happened to me. This is how I grew up.

This is the way I came into this world. These are the things that I had to endure, but I'm not the only person that was brought into this world via rape. But I also, as I say this all the time, and I try to use every platform to say this, because I'm not really wanting to talk about pro-life, pro-choice.

I just know that my mom made a decision that ultimately was very difficult for her to make and our life was difficult. But don't point and look at me and say, well, look how he turned out just based on my circumstance of how I came into the world, because I am an anomaly. Everybody that comes into this world like this does not turn out successful. that comes into this world like this does not turn out successful. But I can say that everybody that has tragedy

or trauma in their life of any sort has the ability to make things better simply by the switch of a mindset. And however you go about shifting that mindset, whether it's a spiritual shift, whether it's working with a mental health and wellness coach, whether it's just, you know, diving deeper into dealing with your own traumas

and your own insecurities, becoming more vulnerable so that you can be more open to all the change, the positive change that can be reactionary in your life because of the actions that you took. All of a sudden, you become this insignificant figure in your mind to this very significant figure to other people. And that's where I'm at in life.

Like I'm not trying to be successful. You're Ed or I mean, you've got a couple million people watching this podcast all the time. You have been very successful as a speaker, very successful as a businessman, and you still have that trauma that you, I'm sure, that's right, sometimes wants to rear its ugly head and you have to address it and make a decision.

Am I gonna allow this to put me in a space when I got all these people around me depending on me, or am I gonna look this son of a bitch in the eye and tell them, you know, I know the enemy's plan is to seek to kill and destroy. And you haven't done it up to this point, and I won't let you allow you to do it now. I was thinking about the people in my life

when you were talking. So making me a little bit emotional, because God sent some people into my life that you were talking. So making me a little bit emotional because God sent some people into my life that believed in me. And for some reasons you were just talking. Obviously you had these men at the camp that made a huge difference in your life, right? I mean obviously they were they were huge influences. I don't know why I want to ask you about this, but I do because it's just coming up. This show is sponsored by BetterHelp. So what do you want your 2025 to look like? Think about that for a second. Every January brings you 365 blank pages

waiting to be filled and in 2025 you may be ready for a plot twist. Maybe there's a part of your story you've been waiting to revise and if you ask me what all the guests on my show have in common, not all but most, they go to therapy or have been to therapy in their life including me. Life isn't about just sort of navigating things on your own. It's about picking up a pen and being the author of your own story and have God's blessing in your life. Think of therapy as your editorial partner helping you write new chapters and create the meaningful joy you deserve so you don't just keep writing the same chapter over and over again. Better Help's fully online, making therapy more affordable and convenient. They have over 5 million people worldwide already using them.

Access a diverse network of about 30,000 credentialed therapists. Write your story with BetterHelp. Visit betterhelp.com slash ed show to get 10% off your first month. That's betterhelp.com slash ed show. What makes a leader? It's a tough question, but one thing's for sure. A true leader leads by example, and a true leader takes risks, too. They plunge into life with determination. For those who lead by example and who approach life with a palpable passion, there's the Range Rover Sport. Each Range Rover Sport model offers a dynamic, sophisticated take on sporting luxury.

The Range Rover Sport offers focused on-road performance and world-renowned off-road capability with industry-leading features like adaptive off-road cruise control that monitors ground conditions and acclimates to the present terrain. Agility, control, and composure are achieved with dynamic air suspension, and adaptive dynamics reduces unwanted body movements to deliver smooth and composed handling. True sophistication and excellent maneuverability all in a seriously stylish package. Sophisticated refinement meets visceral power in the Range Rover Sport, a new dimension of sporting luxury. Build your Range Rover Sport at LandRoverUSA.com.

at LandRoverUSA.com What about this man who raised you though also? You said that he raised you, I know that you were gone at the camp for a while, but how do you view that he raised another man's child, right? And I assume did his best with you. What's your relationship like with him and how do you how do you feel him? What that's an unselfish act to raise children that in your case wasn't his. So Charles Blaylock is the person that essentially kind of took me in as a father figure. He was the first African-American to be superintendent in two different counties in the state of Florida. He was a family grad. He was a former athlete and he had a former athlete, and he had three kids

himself, two daughters and a son. I played with his son Chuck on the football team at Suwannee High School. Chuck's a couple years older than I am. And I was walking down the hallways at Suwannee High School my ninth grade year, and he's this towering figure, big dude, comes in, I'm palming a basketball, I'm walking down the hallway, palming a basketball, and he comes up and he bumps me and he looks at me and he says, do you think you could beat me in a fight? And I said, what do you mean?

He looked at me and he said, do you think you could beat me in a fight? And I don't know who this guy is at the time and I'm like, I don't know who this guy is at the time. And I'm like, you know, I don't know what your deal is, but you know, I don't think I can beat you. And you're a grown man. It's like, well, you're gonna have to fight me

if you don't wanna turn your life around because I heard that you're a great kid and I'm gonna be attached to your hip. Wow. From now until eternity. And he absolutely was. I mean, and this is the superintendent of schools, you know. My first experience with HBCU football was with him at FAMU.

He would take me to homecoming every year. He allowed me to stay at his house on the weekends, which was kind of like a new tester program for the youth ranch because we all had to stay on campus. And he's the only person of two people in my life that I call dad. I still call him dad to this day. That's awesome.

He's also, I would say, the proponent in me being a father to my daughter who I adopted a few years ago. Yeah. Yeah. So, yeah. So my daughter, her mother was having, her mother's a very close friend of mine. Carrie's a very close friend of mine

and she was having some health issues. I won't go into depth about those. And, you know, she didn't And she asked me, could you just check on Leah if things don't go well with this procedure I'm getting ready to have? And I said, well, what's going to happen with her if things don't work out? Because Leah's at this point one of the top basketball

players in the state. And her mom's from Canada. And she said, well, she'll probably have to go back home because that's where all my family is. And I said, well, what if I adopted her? And she looked at me and she said, what? And I said, yeah, I've always wanted to have a daughter. I'm not physically able to have any more children. Vasectomy 2012 is my Bible verse,

personal Bible verse. And I said, you know, if I had a daughter, you know, and I've known Leah since she was seven years old. Her and my kid, my two sons, they've known each other, they play with each other. She's been to my house numerous times. And I said, well, let me check with my boys first to make sure they would be okay with this

and talk with TJ and Titus. And they were more than happy to welcome her into the family and incredible. I remember FaceTiming or calling back and my daughter Leah says, you know, why are you doing this for me? And I said, because I've always wanted a daughter and if I had a daughter,

you would be everything that I want in a young lady. And she said, well, you know I'm gay, right? And I said, I don't give a if you purple with streamers flying out of your ass. I'm not here to make you be a certain way. I'm here to help you be the best version of yourself. And at the end of the day, the biggest and only requirement for you and this family

is to be a great human being. And, you know, we started going on this journey and her last name is my last name now. And my gosh, prospering in college. She's at Oakland University playing basketball at Oakland University on scholarship, full scholarship. And I'm extremely proud of her. I'm extremely proud of my oldest son and my youngest son.

My oldest son plays football at the University of Central Florida. And my youngest son Titus plays at the University of Florida, my alma mater. And so when I look and when you go back to this entire University of Florida, my alma mater. And so when I look and when you go back to this entire question of belief and what does belief do? Well, belief helps you break generational curses.

Belief helps you be the human being that other people never thought you could be. Belief helps you and positions you for success that you never could have imagined. If you tell me that I would be in the WWE Hall of Fame as a Warrior Award recipient, as a kid, I watched it every Monday. My mom and my grandmother used to fight every Monday night about me staying up late. My grandmother loved wrestling.

And so she always won that argument. And I, you know, because it was a school night, I say this all the time, but my kids saved my life at a time in which I was the most depressed. I felt the least as a man. The worst thing I felt like you could ever go through in life was a divorce. My sons gave me a reason to live and I'm forever grateful to have them in my life and to have them as my sons. I'm extremely proud of them.

I'm extremely grateful for them. I'm extremely grateful for my daughter who has given me a completely different perspective on raising women and having a daughter as a child, as a parent. I enjoy the fact that I can have conversations with my boys now, and I've always been able to have open lines of communication,

but at this point now in our life, my boys have always been able to talk to me about any and everything, and I think that parents need to, when they're explaining to their children why they should not be doing something. Don't give them this bull****** answer of, because I said so. And then get pissed off when two months later

or three years later, you gotta get them out of rehab or you gotta bail them out of jail or you gotta go to a funeral. Because if you would have answered the questions that they had when you told them not to do something, not to be somewhere, not to hang out with certain people. You give them a reason why you give them an explanation as to why, while they may not agree with it, they don't have to search somewhere else for that answer. I just thinking about your story.

I was just thinking, I don't know if everyone's hearing this, but this, this man was conceived the way he is. And then ends up being someone who adopts this little girl. By the way, he's being humble, but he was named mega dad of the year. He was named celebrity father of the year. And when I talked to my friends at the WWE and I know the people that really know in the WWE and I said, Hey, give me the list of the three people.

I've asked this all the time. Like the best human beings, you know, his name came up to me for years and years and years. And what I was seeing was this just like phenomenal athlete. I had no idea about your story. Then I didn't have any idea until right now that you ended up adopting this little girl and how important fatherhood is to you and being a leader is to you. It's just, you know, sometimes I do the show, brother, and I'm like, I am just not nearly as good a person as some people.

Like, and I don't say there was any false sense of humility. Just like you're such a remarkable man. And when I first looked at you, I'm like, okay, God gave him a gift. It's clearly his athletic ability and his physique. And not knowing that, yeah, it's one of your gifts, but your real gift is your heart. God gave him a gift. It's clearly his athletic ability and his physique. And not knowing that, yeah, it's one of your gifts, but your real gift is your heart. Your real gift is your resiliency and your toughness

to overcome the adversity that you've been through. Can I ask you how your relationship is with your mom now? My relationship with my mom now was 10,000 times better than it was before. You know, we still have our challenges, but at the end of the day, my mom made a sacrifice, a very courageous sacrifice that I'll ever be indebted to her for.

I have frustrations with my mom, just like any other person has frustrations with their parents when it comes to addressing your health or the way you talk to me sometimes, this and that. I'm 47 years old now, you're not gonna talk to me like I'm a kid anymore. You know what I'm saying? But at the end of the day, that's my mother. And I will always love her and honor her as my mother.

And I think a lot of people have strained relationships with their parents or with their children. And I will tell you this, after losing my brother, my younger brother, my younger brother a couple of years ago to, he actually passed away up near you in Jacksonville from having a seizure, fell, bumped his head. My mom actually was the person that found him dead.

So you can only imagine the trauma that she was already dealing with, with what she experienced as a kid, and then to have to endure seeing her own, one of her own sons pass away before her, and being the one that found him dead. My mom's been through a lot, and my relationship with my mom is, in my opinion,

no different than any, I mean, some people have a greater relationship, some people have a relationship that's okay. My relationship is built on the respect that, like, once my mom told me how I was conceived at 17 years old, any opportunity for me to hate my mom like I did as a kid went completely out of the window. I love my mom, she is one of the greatest human beings

that you'll ever meet. She has her traumas and her issues, just like I have mine, and you have yours, and other people have theirs, but at the end of the day, you only get one mother, and you only get one father. The Bible says to honor thy parents, I will always honor my mom.

I don't always have to agree with her. She doesn't have to always agree with me, but I will always honor my mom. I don't always have to agree with her. She doesn't have to always agree with me, but I will always honor her, especially knowing what she endured to bring me into this world and all the people she said, all the folks that told her not to have me, she can look them in their face with pride

and a big F you because you try to kill something and take something away from this world. And I've helped raise millions of dollars, helped hundreds of kids go to college. I got a public school that bears my name on it. All that started with the decision that my mom made at 12 years old. By the way, you have honored your mom, by the way,

in major, major ways. You said earlier, I just want to stop and say something to you. I really admire you. Just wanted to know that, brother. I really admire you. I admire you, too, Ed. Thank you, brother. You're special, obviously.

Transapp presents a couple trying to beat the winter blues. We could try hot yoga. Too sweaty. We could go skating. Too blues. We could try hot yoga. Too sweaty. We could go skating. Too icy. We could book a vacation. Like somewhere hot.

Yeah, with pools. And a spa. And endless snacks. Yes! Yes! Yes! With savings of up to 40% on Transat South packages, it's easy to say, so long to winter.

Visit transat.com or contact your Marlin travel professional for details. Cond air trans at travel moves us But the other thing I want to ask you about has nothing to do about being a father But it is a life thing because I think a lot of people come to the show today at the end of a dream And you've had this happen a couple times It's very difficult when a dream ends in life, right? Whether that be a relationship or your first sport or a business or something's failed. You had, and I say this with respect because I want to know how you've done it.

You had football end and this is someone who was destined for the NFL, great football player, but that dream didn't end the way you thought, right? You had your marriage not end the way that you would have hoped it would have ended. And then obviously as we age as a wrestler, that transition is a transition as well. So you've had really three different times, at least that I know of, and I'm sure there are more, where a dream is coming to an end and you got to remake yourself again. You got to find your new way. There's a lot of people that find themselves or almost everyone

will find themselves in that position at some time. How have you done that? How did you turn football into the WWE and adopting a little girl and being father of the year by multiple standards and multiple play? How did you do that? How do you overcome a dream ending? You know, where some people look at things as failure,

I've had enough failure in my life that I have to realize that this is not failure. Like at the end of the day, I still was able to do something that many people were not able to do. So now I just have to transition and pivot to what's next for me. And a lot of people have these five year plans and these 10 year plans, these new year's resolutions.

Man, honestly, I just submitted to what God has planned for me. I couldn't have written or told you anything on a vision board that's happened to me, the people that I've met. I couldn't have envisioned this, me being on this podcast. It just, we all come to a point in life where somebody is gonna like, you know,

my high school coach told me something that I will never forget. He said, everybody gets fired from something at some point. And we all, at the end of the day, we all gonna get fired. What you get fired from, whether it's a relationship, whether it's a job, regardless of what it is, we're all gonna get fired at some point.

But there's a promotion on the other side. And that promotion isn't necessarily something that you might necessarily have dreamed of, it's something that God had in store for you long before you even got fired. And because of my faith, I understand that like anything that I vision, that God gives me a vision for, is gonna come to pass.

But you gotta be real careful with who you, I mean, you know this, for being in business, you gotta be real careful with who you, I mean, you know this, being in business, you gotta be very careful with who you tell what you're getting ready to do. Because all the doubters come, the thieves come, they try to steal your idea and make it their own. The naysayers, like all these negative things that will cause you to like not move

towards what God has shown you. And in a process of recovery, there's always, whether you're recovering, I've never had to recover from drugs or alcohol, but there's always this time of detox and there's always this time of like silence and no movement. And then you get to a point where where you, like if you're used to being busy and you're traveling

and you're doing this and that, and then all of a sudden you gotta get put down. People that have surgeries have to go through this process too. Is when you go from getting up, working out, running and all this stuff, and then to having to just rest. Anytime you gotta reset in life,

learn how to rest, because that's where you learn how to have peace. When you're a hectic and you don't have, you have this imbalanced life where you're trying to manage family, manage your job, manage your career, do this vision, do that vision, help this person, help that person, all these things,

you don't have time to rest or you don't take time to rest. Eventually, even if you have reached the highest of your high, you won't be at peace. Because you haven't learned how to rest eventually, even if you have reached the highest of your high, you won't be at peace because you haven't learned how to rest. And so anybody that's going through a transition in life, understand that part of winning in life is what you think is losing. You're actually winning.

It's giving you a chance to rebuild, rethink, reimagine who you are, what you are, so that the next thing you go into, you take the skillsets that you learned, the experiences that you endured, that you took, and even the people that were beneficial in your life, and that you developed great relationships with, guess what, they gonna get fired too. Gosh.

You know, there's, guess who might be the person that hires them? And I'm not talking about from a financial standpoint, I'm talking about guess who they're gonna have to talk to about making that transition to another field? You. You. Because you did it.

And they will know how to- By the way, I've asked that question before and no one's ever answered it that way and you're right. I've watched too many people when the relationship ends, get right back into another one with no rest, no reflection, no recovery, right back up into something else and sometimes there's, you know, God puts you in that position for you to learn something and if you don't take the time to learn the lesson and heal and And come back stronger. You just break down again. You're very right about that No one's ever answered it that way on the show and after about 54 years on earth I could tell you that you're right about that. I agree with you on it. Let me ask you another question How's nothing to do with fatherhood by the way guys the book. Let me just take you through some of the stuff in here a

Bad kid or a misunderstood one, finding purpose through sports, the power of a mentor's belief, becoming the father I never had. These are chapters in the book. It is so good. Go get the book. It's not just about fatherhood.

It could be motherhood. It could be being a leader. I wanna ask you a question because you're just on the inside of something. Most people may not know this. The WWE is one of the most competitive environments on the planet. To become, to have any heat in the WWE to be well-known is very rare. And then to keep heat for a long time, you're talking about, you know, a few

handful of people ever, and you're one of them. So you have been to the top of the top. You're one of the top football players in the world when you were playing. And then you've been to the top of the WWE and the WWE, we're talking about very few spots there, and everybody's good in Division 1 college football. All these dudes can play. Everybody like your son that's going to the University of Florida, these dudes can play. They're all the best player on their high school team. The WWE, to get to there from all of the smaller federations and stuff, to get there, everybody's good.

What is the thing or things that separate the ones who don't last from the ones who do? What is the thing? You've watched it, I'm sure you watch guys get to the WWE like, this dude's stardom. He's gonna have heat forever, he's gonna get a belt, he's got everything and they don't end up making it long term. They They had short-term heat, short-term success and then you've seen the ones that have lasted like yourself and others. What's the difference between the people that win long-term and the ones who don't at anything? Their attitude. And that's in anything in life, your attitude. And anytime you think you're bigger than the company or you're bigger than the company or you're bigger than the team or you're bigger than the relationship you're gonna lose and it

won't last and I would say that in any aspect in life and I tell folks all the time if you it for anybody that worked if you work in WWE for three years or more you can go anywhere in the world and go be successful. Because for 52 weeks a year, you're on the road in different countries, different states, traveling, in between shows, four or five nights a week, three to five nights a week, whatever it may be. And you have to perform in front of people, whether it's a crowd of 10,000, 20,000, 85,000,

you gotta perform the same, night in, night out. Live television, and you pick up and you go again. The other part is, it's a very, I mean, very few people go to the top and stay at the top. That's right. And so you gotta, like, a lot of guys that I saw that came in, they got that push right away, and next thing you know, they're already a champion.

And then they started believing the hype, not realizing like, guys, we can make this spoon the WWE Champion tomorrow and tell a whole story around it. And these people will believe in this spoon. I mean, our truth has some people believing in an imaginary character called Lil' Jimmy. And they were responding to an imaginary character as if it was a real person, you know what I'm saying?

And that's entertainment, that's production value. But the attitude, I remember hearing time and time again, treat everyone, the CEO to the janitor, with the same respect. And I think a lot of folks get so caught up in their own hype, that now they actually start believing, well, yeah, I'm the CEO, I'm the vice president, or I'm this, or I'm that, I'm better than this person, I'm better than that. No you're not. You just got an opportunity and there's a lot of

people watching to see how you respond in that spot and when you respond a certain way that's beneficial to the company then people trust you but then you respond seemingly selfishly for yourself it's not going to end well. I totally agree with you on that by the way I'm thinking about business and all the people that I've seen do that and fan out. You said earlier if I'm being too personal you said earlier that when she asked you if you wanted to know who dad was your birth father you said no. Did that ever change throughout your life and you decided to at least know who he was? I'm just being transparent here. One of the last disagreements I had with my mother was because I asked her about trying to...

I just needed a name, you know, I didn't want her to go down memory lane. I just... To me, I've been harboring hate for a man that I've never met. And I forgave him. But I know in my heart that I have siblings out there, I have nephews and nieces out there. And I'm tired of going to the doctor and filling out these forms and you know, what's the family history on the dad's side, what's the family history on the mom's side.

I have two sons myself, biological sons myself, that I wanna know, like, hey, cancer runs in my family on my dad's side or not in my mom, you know, my grandmother passed away from cancer in 1995, and I don't know if that was something that this continuously happened in my family, on my mom's side, but for me, it's three things, you know, and it really, around the time that I was releasing my recent book, Wrestling with Fatherhood,

my greatest journey to my greatest title, Dad, I was getting ready to throw this Father's Day event here in Tampa, which was amazing. And God had laid on my spirit to just start seeking. And then I did the 23 and me, and I started asking some relatives that are in St. Augustine, just some questions. I mean, I do have a desire to,

I'm almost positive he's probably deceased now, but I am, you know, in that healing process too. Because I don't know the whole story. I don't know much of anything outside of what I've been told by my mom and then my grandmother's not here anymore. So she can't tell me things from a different perspective. I didn't find out until after she was gone how I was conceived.

So there are a lot of questions that I have that I don't want to prod and poke my mom for, because it's going to open her up to traumas that maybe she hadn't addressed yet. So this is a journey that I would tell anyone. Like, hey, if you have some questions, I mean, it's not unlikely for folks to get to a certain point in their life, especially those that come from adopted backgrounds,

to kind of want to know where they came from. And I think everybody should know if they can, where they came from. And it's not a matter of, you know, rehearsing bad history, it's really trying to know your roots and know, like, you know, some prior points, I'm looking for some prior points, even though this guy, you though this guy essentially did what I feel like is the worst of the worst to anyone. I'm not a perfect man,

and I learned about forgiveness years ago, and I learned about God's grace and mercy years ago. I live in it. I live in His grace is sufficient. I live it every single day. And I want any of your listeners that have kind of ran from a historical trauma, especially when it comes to your parents and, you know, things that might have happened

when you were a kid. I mean, your dad was an alcoholic. You're not the only one that had an alcoholic father. There are other folks out there that, you know what I mean? But you also ended up learning to love your dad in a different way. And I think that people need to go on that journey to make them a better person

and have them get a better understanding because they're gonna end up ministering to somebody at some point about that very trauma. And our tests turn into testimonies when we actually take actions with our mess, because our mess becomes our message. It becomes part of who we are, what we are. And I wanna continue to be the best vessel

I can possibly be, be the most vulnerable and transparent vessel I can possibly be, be the most vulnerable and transparent vessel I can possibly be. It's not about Democrat or Republican, black, white, Asian, Christian, Muslim. It doesn't matter to me. Be a great human being. And in order for me to be a greater human being,

being centered with who I am, knowing who I am when I walk in a room, nobody's gonna tell me who I am and who I'm not and what I can't do. And it's not an arrogance, it's a confidence that I, that's firmly rooted in God made me and brought me to this place for a reason. If I wasn't supposed to be in this room,

the door would have been shut in my face a long time ago. But boy, when you get in that room, once you start, you know, I remember President Obama said it on the Pivot podcast, once you get in that room, once you start, I remember President Obama said it on the Pivot podcast, once you get into certain rooms, you start talking to some of these people in certain rooms, you realize like, they ain't really all that. You know what I'm saying? You know that, Ed.

I nodded so hard when I heard that clip from him. I'm like, that is the biggest truth ever. You get in these rooms you're like this is not what I thought these are just human beings that's it with their own flaws and their own frailties let me say one thing to you I hope you find out who your father was I really do and I'm sure there's some like you said story there but you know what the great news is brother your kids know who their father is and they come from a great father. And the great thing I love about you is they not only know who their earthly father is, but you're making sure they know who their heavenly father

is. And we all have that one. And we can all fight sufficient grace and love and belief from him. Today was like an extraordinary conversation. And the whole time you're talking, I'm like, this is going to be a movie. I'm just glad he was on my show first. Because this story is going to be a movie. And those RWD fans, just Google him. You'll figure it out, just Google him. And if you're watching this, you've seen it.

But this humble man that you've heard, who does not have a bone of arrogance in him, by the way, is just like an Adonis physically. So when you hear this humility just realize this is a strong big man and I think it takes a lot to be this vulnerable and this authentic and this open like you've been today brother and it's made me fall in love with you even more so I just want to thank you for being here today. The hour flew by it was like an extraordinary hour of my life and I know it was for everybody else. So thank you for being here. I appreciate the

opportunity man and I definitely don't want to leave here without thanking you for not only this opportunity for myself but just providing a platform for so many people to grow you know in so many ways. Growing thought, growing understanding and grow, and most importantly in how to be the best human being you could possibly be. You have guests on here that have different perspectives and different outlooks on life,

but we all come with the same purpose. And the purpose is on this podcast to educate, to inspire and to hopefully entertain in some senses because it is entertaining to know that a guy that slid underneath the ring, his true backstory is not just sliding underneath the ring. It was just, there's a story behind it. I tell folks all the time that what I do for a living

is one thing, but who I am for a living will forever continue to be growing. And I think that if people looked at that to your point of the question of when people have to reset and restart, like that job or that relationship that you lost, those things aren't who you were for a living, those things, you know, that's what you did at that point in your life.

Now it's time to go on and do something different. And this podcast gives people an understanding and you pull it out and I appreciate you pulling it out. Very easy to talk to and very free flowing to give people a space that can be vulnerable and open about who they are. And I don't have all the answers, you don't have all the answers.

That's why you have a podcast and I don't, so you can get everybody that got all the answers, or at least some nuggets. Yeah, well let's be very clear, all that growing, all that helping, all that contributing was you today, not me. I just got to sit here and listen to go along for the ride. And man, what a great conversation. Geez, I cannot wait for my kids to hear this one. That's the first thing I'm

thinking of right now. So thank you Thaddeus. I still think of you as Titus but thank you and go grab Wrestling with Fatherhood everybody. That's the book you want to get your hands on right now. If you're a parent or a leader go get this book. It'll make a difference for you just like today's podcast did. Alright everybody, God bless you. Max out!