The Viall Files - E158 Improvise, Adapt, and Overcome with Paul de Gelder

Episode Date: July 29, 2020

What if just showing up for work one day changed your life as you knew it? How would you react? Today Nick is joined by author, motivational speaker, and host of Shark Week, Paul de Gelder. As a Royal Australian Navy clearance diver, Paul was in the water working one morning when a bull shark attacked him, resulting in the loss of his right hand and right leg. Nick’s conversation with Paul covers the changes in your mindset when adapting to a new normal, the importance of facing your vulnerability, and the power of choice which can help you decide, “do I want a good life or a shit life?” Dating, overcoming, terminators and sharks; it’s a conversation not to miss. “Going to the gym with one hand and one leg can really throw out your bench press and squats.” Make sure you subscribe so you don't miss an episode and send your relationship questions to [e-mail].  THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS: ROTHY'S: rothys.com/viall ISSUU: issuu.info/viall THERAGUN: theragun.com/viall Episode Socials:  Viall Files @viallfiles Nick Viall @nickviall Paul de Gelder @pauldegelder See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

hi guys how are you figured i'd start this podcast something new um i don't know i don't know i hope you guys are having a wonderful day thanks Thanks for joining us on this glorious hump day, if that is when you decided to listen. And if not, thanks for finally getting around to us. I know you've been busy. We appreciate you taking the time. Yeah. What a fantastic episode today,

if I don't say so myself. Our guest today, Paul DeGelda. I'm not even going to attempt it. Paul DeGelda. He's Australian. He sounds much better than I do trying to sound Australian. What a fascinating guy. He's been through so much.

He has an amazing story. I don't want to give too much away, but Paul's dealt with some tragedy in his life, some personal conflict, and he survived it, and he is thriving, and he is spreading his story to help other people with their trials and struggles and personal conflict. And he's also the host of Shark Week. And Shark Week is upon us for you Shark Week fans out there. And yeah, what a great conversation. Also, thank you, Chrissy, for getting Paul to do this. I have you to thank. But I think think once again, just kind of another interesting guest in the lineup of guests that we've had on recently. And I just enjoyed so much

talking to Paul and hearing his story. It's fascinating. It's thought provoking. And it's certainly like a lot of people who've had their struggles really gives us some perspectives in how we face our own lives, you know. And just kind of like Paul kind of talked about, just, you know, choosing to have the frame of mind we need to, you know, be happy and stay motivated. Choice is power, I think. Choice is power. So yeah, it was, I really enjoyed it and i think i'll

just stop rambling and get to paul can't stop rambling we did our poll there was an overwhelming consensus vi-fi's it was well we had other suggestions which by the way thanks for all the litany of violettes liked it like it's a bttes? Violettes? Well I mean listen But there is that 10% out there Our audience is very much female So that would make sense But then I feel like we're leaving out You know?

Yeah So there's violators Well I had I used to have a We met in football tournaments And I would make t-shirts for my fake team, my, my,

my video game football team. And we, I called myself the violator. So that, that's been around in my life for a while. But I love that everybody got into it and sent in so many like suggestions and so many names and people like really had fun with it. So I appreciate that as well.

Yeah. And as always guys, we thank you for listening. And before we get to Paul, obviously, we always appreciate your reviews on iTunes if they're five stars. And if you're listening and you take the time to do that, just know that I personally appreciate it. Yeah.

It means a lot. Those Wi-Fis, they got you. Yeah. Wi-Fis get to it. it yeah it means a lot those wi-fi's they got you yeah uh well if there's nothing else i say we uh we get to paul and uh i think you're gonna enjoy this one paul thanks so much for coming my pleasure mate i'm uh i'm really excited to have this chat with you um i learned a lot about you through through chrissy and all your accomplishments and then I did some more reading and it was like, wow. I could really talk for hours.

And then you have this Australian accent, which let alone I think my audience will just appreciate listening to you for the next hour. Yeah, I mean, let's just kind of start by, you know, maybe letting the people know, my audience, who you are and your background and kind of how did you get to be to where you are now? Oh, man, that's such a long, complicated story. We have time, Paul.

Yeah. Well, like you said, I'm Australian. I actually moved out here to the US about four years ago when Discovery Channel gave me a contract. And that was pretty cool because it was always something I wanted to do. You grow up in Australia watching American movies, watch American TV, and then to come out to LA and see all the signs and you see places there. So, it's just awesome. I'm so blessed to be able to live out here. But I- as a young kid, I got into a lot of

trouble. You know, normally as you're pretty good until you hit about 14 or 15 and then you discover girls and drinking and smoking. And my hometown was the only state in Australia where marijuana was decriminalised. And so there was weed everywhere. How long ago was that? Oh, 70ss 80s yeah

funny enough it's where the politicians sit as well it's the capital of australia also fireworks and uh other things are decriminalized there as well so it was a funny place to grow up they've lived there but then tell everyone else they can't yeah exactly. And it was such a hotbed of – it wasn't really racial unrest. It was just everyone had their clique. Like, everyone's stuck in their groups. Very segregated. Yeah. And so, like, I grew up in a neighbourhood of majority Aboriginals,

and there was a lot of Islanders there. And so, I had a very mixed friendship amongst all realms. But it was, you know, we'd go out on the town and it'd be the Tongans fighting the Samoans, the Aboriginals fighting the white guys, the Serbs fighting the Macedonians. It was all crazy. It was just rolling brawls all weekend. And so me and my friends got into a lot of trouble and drinking and all that sort of stuff. And I ended up getting kicked out of home at 17. And I flunked, you know, my last two years of high school.

But not because I'm a dummy, but just because- Just because you're an applier. Yeah, I didn't apply myself and I just wasn't interested. But I was really, really well read. I read all the time. And so, I knew about this amazing world out there, but I didn't know how to be a part of it because I was stuck in Canberra. And it all came to a head one night.

I went to a party for a farewell for a friend of mine who was being deported out of the country for criminal activity. And I got jumped by 20 guys. So that no- Not your life. We had to come out. Look, this is the quality of friends I had. I was working behind a bar that was run by an outlaw motorcycle gang. And I'm like

I wasn't a big guy or anything like that. So you weren't the kind of intimidating figure that you are. Not at all. Not at all. I got bullied at school. It wasn't until about 15 I started doing Muay Thai, like kickboxing and learn how to fight and look after myself. But I got jumped by 20 guys and I'm like, I can't do this anymore. I got to get out of here. I'm going to be dead or in jail by the time I'm 23. And so, I removed myself from this environment that I'd become a product of and I threw everything I owned, which wasn't much, into a tiny little car that I had no license for. And I drove 12

hours north to a town called Brisbane. And my friend Matt had a job waiting for me there behind a bar in a strip club. And I became a rapper, as you do. As one does. This is the best part. This is the best part. Nick, your upbringing is so similar. We did some cool stuff.

When you say you became a rapper rapper you say it as if you're like you fell into it but did you have a passion for it were you like into the music like what made you think my first album was run to mc tougher than leather on on cassette and after that i was just hooked okay um and so i grew up on rap music. And so I dabbled in it a little bit in Canberra with my best friend, but it wasn't until I went to Brisbane and the guys that I moved in with were from LA, from New Jersey, from the Philippines, from Sri Lanka, and they were all into this. They had this rap crew going and they were running the community hip hop shows and running nightclub Saturday night hip hop shows. And so I kind of fell

in with them and put a more concerted effort into it and uh you know we put out an ep which was awesome we opened up for snoop in in 98 uh okay hold on time i i've i've i went to a concert with snoop that was cool yeah what do you mean you you opened up for yeah yeah we did a hour and a half opening concert for snoop in 1998 did Did you get to hang with him? No, no. He said it was his wife's birthday. And so we were running the official after party. So he didn't come, but the rest of the crew came.

Did you get to smoke with Snoop? No, with his crew. Me and the mixer or producer or something on some of his tracks had a joint rolling competition. And I beat him. I rolled a 16-paper joint. He didn't see, but I was actually rolling it around one of those glue sticks. And then I just poured it in and so I won. But yeah, it was a good time. You know, I thought, you know, this is it. I made it. I'm going to be a rapper. Do you still rap? No.

I still love it. Can you drop some? Hell no. That was 20 years ago. Okay. So you're opening up for Snoop this is like you're i'm gonna be a rapper yeah uh-huh um i've made it not a lot of money in white rappers in australia in 1998 and so as much as we tried we just couldn't get a deal or anything and we didn't have enough money to do the independent albums and it all just fell to pieces and i was back to working behind a bar and i was just like shit is this it is this is as good as it gets and um i was just lost and so uh as you do sometimes when you're a bit lost i called mum and asked for some advice and she said she you know she recommended i talk to my brothers who are in the army and so i called

them up and they just laughed at me they went there is no way you were going to make it in the army like ridiculous they said look but it is great if you are going to make it in the army. Like, ridiculous. They said, look, but it is great. If you're going to join, just don't join infantry. It's too hard. You won't make it. And so, I joined infantry. Did you do that because it was, you felt the challenge, the doubt?

I did it because they said I shouldn't. I did it because I didn't know much about the army. So, I didn't know you could go in and join as an officer and get a degree and that would set you up for life. I just, you know, saw war movies and thought, I just want to be a soldier. You know, and so, I wish I'd had a little bit more guidance than that. I could have got a free degree and whatever. But yeah, I became a soldier, went through basic training, infantry training, got posted to the Parachute Battalion in Sydney,

did that from 2001 to 2005. Had amazing experiences, you know, things that people in the real world don't get to do, like sniper courses and jungle warfare and parachuting. I got my first overseas trip as a United Nations peacekeeper and served overseas for six months, which was incredible. You know, seeing how the other side live, you know, coming from a country like Australia and America, we have everything at the tip of our fingertips.

Clean water and electricity and food. And these guys, you know, they collected their water from a tap in the main street. And some of them collected it from the river depending on the villages you were in. And so, it just gave me this incredible appreciation for everything that I had. So, I went home with this, you know, newfound happiness and drive. But it was just training and training and training. And so, I decided to branch out and look for something more rewarding. And I stumbled across these guys called the clearance divers.

And they're kind of like special, you know, the top of the Navy. And I thought, you know, I want to do that. I could have tried out for Army Special Forces, but I was just sick of being dirty and smelly and in the hot-ass Australian bush all the time. And so, I thought I'll just, I'll go, you know, I grew up, my dad was a swimming coach. I was a state swimmer. I'll give this underwater thing a go. Is that like the equivalent of like a Navy SEALs that we're familiar with? It's similar, but it's not the same.

We don't do as much soldiering. You know, we're not getting dropped in by helicopters. And that's more like the commandos. We do things like maritime tactical operations. So, we'll swim in into enemy terrain in the middle of the night on rebreathers so you can't see the bubbles and we'll do bombing raids or clear beach heads for the ships to come in, gather intelligence. And then we do mine countermeasures where we strap mines with plastic explosives, you know, might jump out of the helicopter,

swim over to it and blow it up. Underwater battle damage repair, which is like using all the tools you can think of underwater, like welding and cutting and drilling. And then EOD, so like the move of the hurt locker. So, we get trained to do that as well. Jeez. Yeah.

And then you can go and do special forces tactical assault group, which is the military SWAT team. Wow. It's like one of the best roles because it's so varied. You never know what you're going to be doing from day to day. You might be jumping out of a helicopter. You might be swimming in the middle of the best roles because it's so varied. You never know what you're going to be doing from day to day. You might be jumping out of a helicopter. You might be swimming in the middle of the night. It's just really, really awesome. And then you turn up to work one day and your whole life gets flipped on its head.

Yeah. And that's kind of where you're at now. That was the shark attack you're referring to. Well, if you've been watching my instagram i've been roller skating the shit out of my body and it's been fun but i'll tell you what i'm getting a little sore my hips are a little tight and uh i've i i woke up this morning immediately turned on my theragun just rubbing it out rubbing it out and by rubbing it out i mean using the theragun on my my well that could have that could out, I mean using a Theragun on my, well,

that could have, I've been using my Theragun. That's all I wanted to say. I've been using my Theragun. That's what I mean by rubbing it out. It's truly, it's a godsend. It's having the, and it's so easy to use. You would think, you know, to apply it on yourself, it takes minimum effort. It helps with muscle tension muscle pain stiffness tightness and all of your body whether it's your neck by it feels amazing yeah um i've been using it on my glutes my butt because you know the the roller skating any real muscle on your body it's very easy to uh um use uh it's soothing It's at different speeds. I can't recommend it enough. It's so great.

I actually have their small kind of mini handheld one. I love that one. And it works I want to say just as good as my other the main one. It's so great. You could travel with it. Yeah, it's their travel one.

It's like on a plane. That's nice. If you get a k like on a plane. That's nice. If you get like a kink in your neck. It's amazing. It's amazing. You got it. I know you love it. You got it good.

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sydney harbor and stuff but you just kind of ignore it and go, no, no, that wasn't a shark. It was just my dive buddy's fin. Really? So, you're like, this would happen? Oh, yeah, yeah. Like, we would swim for hours all through the Sydney waters in the middle of the night. Some of it is amazing. You know, you'll have three guys tied to you in formation, and then you'll have another four guys swimming up and behind you in formation as well and we'll swim like that

for hours, you know, going to do reconnaissance training and stuff like that and you might look across and you won't be able to see anyone next to you but depending on where you are, you might see the green glow of luminescent algae as it hits your dive buddy and it's just beautiful to swim through. But... Occasionally you'd bump into something yeah yeah yeah so we had a small dive team up in Cairns which is northern Australia as well where the crocodiles are and a few of the guys have had their fins snatched off by crocodiles over the years as well so you know Sydney's well known for its sharks and uh so it's just, you know, it could potentially happen,

but because it's never happened before, you're kind of playing that numbers game, like, nah, it's not going to happen. And then I went to work one morning in 2009 and a freaking bull shark attacked me. Pulled your leg and arm. Yeah. Yeah.

So I was on the surface. I was doing what we call surface swimming, like finning. I was on my back in my black wetsuit and a pair of black fins just kicking my legs, going from point A to point B for some testing some new equipment. And a bull shark came up from underneath me and grabbed me from the top of my right knee all the way up to almost my hip on the back of my right leg, and it got my hand in its mouth at the same time. And so I couldn't even fight it off because it had my hand,

and I couldn't reach the eye with my left. I tried to grab it by the nose and sort of lever it off my leg, but that just pushed the teeth of the lower jaw deeper into my hamstring. And I went to punch it in the nose but i guess it decided i was food at that point and decided to eat me for breakfast before i'd even had breakfast do you have any idea how big this shark was the scientist measured the bite mark in my leg in my wetsuit and they said it was a 2.7 to 3 meters so anyway around nine foot yeah it's giant bit bigger than me yeah yeah wow and these things are made of muscle you know that's 600 pounds yeah and they're designed to kill things it's like a angry bitey water missile

do you like i'm assuming in traumatic situations i haven't experienced anything remotely close i did that last week holy holy starbucks you just paul paul just spilled his starbucks in the closet yeah i did that literally last week literally seriously how does that happen it just pops off by itself you think i would have noticed at the first drop it's fine it's fine um do you think back and like is it all a blur or did it, did things slow down where you have a vivid recollection of the attack? Over the years I've had, cause I travel and I speak a lot, you know, used to be on stage. Now it's a lot of virtual conferences, but because I've had that time to sort of talk about it on stage and I went back and I spoke to my teammates that did all the first aid on me. it on stage and I went back and I spoke to my teammates that did all the first aid on me I've had the opportunity to delve into my memories a little bit more and try and piece it all

together I do remember when I was underwater getting eaten it wasn't like everything slowed down it was like all the adrenaline and all the chemicals in my brain just sped it up and I was thinking a thousand things in a second I'm like I, I'm going to die. I'm not going home today. I'm going to die right now. And I remember thinking to myself, am I ready to die? And I look back on my life from where I started out as that lost kid to what I'd achieved in the Navy. And I just thought, man, I've lived 10 lives in these 31 years and I have no regrets. If I'm going to die, I'm ready to go. And so I just basically let go and I was just waiting to die and then the shark ripped the hamstring out of my leg and ripped off

my hand and so it wasn't attached to me and my wetsuit made me buoyant so I popped to the surface and I saw my safety boat and I thought shit I'm not dead I've got to get out of here before it comes back and finishes me off so I start swimming and I take a stroke, but my hand is totally gone and my arm ended at my wetsuit. And so- And you remember looking and having that realization. Yeah, yeah. Like, all of this I remember.

Jeez. But every- like, it's just- I've talked through it so many times. Like, I know pretty much everything that happened. And it was a huge event. Like, so many different moving parts. You know, I'm swimming back to the safety boat with one hand, my arm out of the water trying to stem the bleeding. I've got to keep it above my heart. Not knowing what's happened to my leg.

Just knowing that I can't feel it. And so, I'm swimming back to the boat with one hand and one leg through a massive pool of my own blood. The guys in the safety boat said it was so thick in the air, they could taste it. Like the metal. Yeah. And so, they pulled me out of the water, put me in the boat, started first aid. And I'm just thinking, all I got to do is see my mate Tomo's face. I just got to – as long as I can see his face, I'm still alive.

So my laser-like focus was just keep your eyes open. I think I cracked a couple of jokes. I was trying to – It's a sense of humor. I didn't want everyone worrying too much. So I was trying to like, bro, can you make sure someone looks after my motorbike? I don't think I'm riding home today. And he's just laughing at me.

And they got me to the wharf and we had all the scientists that were conducting the study and my chief who was running the day was there and he already thought I was dead. But then he saw me move and, you know, the boat was an inch deep in my blood. And so he located an artery in my leg. And I still didn't know what was wrong with my leg at that point. Like my training was good enough to know that if I looked at my leg and it was horrific i'd probably go into shock and die so i against all natural instincts like kind of the the way the brain yeah plays and you're surviving yeah yeah the military trains us really well to be able to

deal with um very stressful situations like that so part of you being able to survive was your ability to remain calm. Absolutely. Yeah, totally. Just to think through each section, you know, one, get to the boat, two, keep your eyes open, three, don't look at your leg. What is the psychology behind that? Is it because the body like it cold itself together or had you, had you went into shock, would you have lost more blood? Like what what how's

that work um i was already losing a lot of blood and so when you go into shock when you see things like that you know even even when we hear things like that you can pass out i've had people pass out listening to my presentations while driving a van around new zealand like just for me telling the story listening to this podcast in a car put your seat belt on so you're not wearing if you look up and you see your own body torn to shreds that you know our mind is is such a powerful tool um what can happen is it'll take all the blood away from your external limbs drive it to the organs that need it but if you don't have enough blood to operate all that stuff anyway then you can just die that's it your heart will just stop your organs shut down wow so anyways you had this kind of wherewithal which yeah that even in itself is

incredible that was a real shit day and then your your buddy of like identified the organ and he shoved his hand like up your leg right like i think i saw that yeah the the new guy as well um my chief was like locky you gotta you gotta stop that bleeding so he had to stick his hand into my leg and grab the artery that was squirting blood and hold it closed for 10 minutes until the paramedics arrived so he's like something he said he never ever wants to do again three the guy two of the guys so it was three guys in the boat there was locky um there was tomo and darty we have like all very australian nicknames loco tomo and darty um two of them never dove again yeah as a result of watching that experience and so paramedics finally arrived.

I nearly died in the back of the ambulance because I had lost so much blood and they'd given me so much morphine for the pain that my blood pressure was so low and I started not being able to breathe. And one of the paramedics, amazing guy, coached me through it, kind of like turned into a bit of a Lamaze class in the back of the ambulance, and they got me through. And then I just went straight into emergency surgery. Luckily, the hospital was only about 10 minutes away. And then that recovery process was a whole other battle. Yeah.

Well, the worst part was I had my leg still. The whole hamstring was gone, but I could see my leg. And I had it for a week, but it was just the foot was going darker and darker and so I started preparing myself for a worst case scenario and then the doc came in and it's like you know you gotta you gotta make this choice I can't do this for you you know we can save the leg and cover it with a skin graft but your life will suck you know you'll never run again you'll walk with a limp it'll just be horrible you can't even feel your leg and so we can potentially have your leg taken off and have you walking on a limp, it'll just be horrible. You can't even feel your leg. And so we can potentially have your leg taken off

and have you walking on a prosthetic and even running potentially within a year. And so I just looked at him high on morphine and ketamine, said, Doc, you can take my leg. Turn me into a Terminator. Have you watched Terminator since and like felt more relatable to? I see some of these awesome movies like Robocop where the guy's on the treadmill running with these two robot legs. And I'm just like, damn, I wish technology was that good now.

Oh, wow. I mean, it's gotten better. Oh, it's absolutely gotten better. It has stalled somewhat though. Yeah. So, and now like this is your new normal right yeah and your life you know watching some of your speeches and interviews i don't want to sound like an over but do you feel as like a rebirth almost in terms of how you've approached uh life and how this has

affected your life whether it's from a negative or a positive aspect uh not really like a rebirth you know i'd had so many changes previous to that you know getting shuffled around with my family because dad was a cop and then you know leaving home and then you know thinking i'm gonna be a rapper then that dream shut down and then joining the army and then so many things i was used to change okay and i actually realized that change can be a really great thing if we embrace it. In saying that, I bawled my eyes out more nights than I can even tell you with pain and frustration and, you know, because I was looking down the barrel of losing my whole career and that was everything I'd fought so hard for and I didn't know what else I would have if I didn't

have that. We're living in a content creating world and i'll tell you what you got all this content you're putting it together and then you have you put all this hard work into it you want to make it beautiful and then oh god then you have to change it for all your different platforms at twitter instagram facebook god only knows what other platforms i don't even know exist well if you're any type of content creator whether you're in marketing, whether, you know, you're just a civilian who's like wants to get their gram going and your other stuff going, I'll tell you what issue is the platform for you. You live to create, but you don't live to worry over the last nitpicky details involved in putting final touches on content. So do what you do best and let Issue

handle the rest. There also can rhyme. Issue is an all-in-one platform to create and distribute beautiful digital publications, from brochures to magazines to sales collateral and more. It's perfect for creators, marketers, designers, educators, publishers, salespeople, or anyone who wants to make eye-catching content. Issue is used by millions of people to discover new content. You'll reach even more readers once you publish with Issue. Best of all, it's free. To get started with Issue, go to issue.info slash V-I-A-L to sign up for your free account. That's I-S-S-U-U dot info slash V-I-A-L to sign up and let them know you heard about it from our show remember that's

dot info not dot com very important go to issue dot info slash v-i-a-l-l to set up your free account today so here you've lost your leg you've already lost your arm and and most of it was your thought processes are like what do i do next yeah? Yeah. No, it was, I got to get back to work. Really? That was it. There was no even a mindset of. No. Two days after I had my leg chopped off,

the surgeon came into my room and found me doing one arm chin ups on the bar above my bed because I'd had two days to think about it. And I'm like, I can't lay here being a victim. You know, if I don't do something, I know the slippery slope of depression. When I was a teenager, I was a self-harmer because I was so depressed, getting bullied at school, the house was so strict, all boys' Catholic school was so strict and I had no control over my life. And I used to go home and I used to slash my arms up with a hobby knife.

And so I know how slippery that slope is and I was not going to let myself go down that rabbit hole there's so many things about my life you know as a teenager and stuff I always regret it and I was always sad about but it's amazing how powerful those things and those struggles that we've been through can come into play to help you be more resilient in your future lives and so that actually helped me to to not allow myself to stick with the negative thoughts so much because they are really sticky you know they're really easy there's so much easier to be negative than it is to be positive and see everything through rose-colored glasses but i knew the more i practiced it the better I would get at it.

And so I just started training. So for the people listening in this world, because we live in this kind of world right now where it feels negative, it feels like we get in our thoughts, who haven't lost their arms and legs. Well, it's a hand. It's not an arm. Yeah, it's just a hand.

Okay, fuck off. All of this has to hold it off. Well, then you have nothing to complain about. Exactly. All right. But for the people who like we, you know, and I fuck, we, self-pity, you know, is a real dangerous thing that we all,

I know I do, but, and from your perspective, it's a big part of it is just trying to make that choice to not do it and fight through it. And then just, you know. Well, that's the only power we truly have. Our power of choice. Yeah. So, how are you going to utilize that power? Are you going to choose a shit life?

Are you going to choose a good life? Like, it's, you know, working out what I was going to do while I was in hospital and how I was going to get my job back and all that sort of stuff. It was so complicated. I was scared of people staring at me, of self-pity. Like, how am I ever going to get a girlfriend? No woman's going to want a one-legged, one-handed guy. Just all of these horrible thoughts in my head. But it was so complicated.

But I'm not a complicated guy. And so, I stick to my strengths. I'll i'll make it simple okay i need a simple choice what do i want and we can make this choice every day of our life what do i want do i want a good life or do i want a bad life it's that simple and if you want a good life then you figure out how to make it good and you follow that path you practice it you get better every time you practice it it's like playing a sport or doing a podcast you know the more you do it the better you get at it now emotions are no different to a physical movement we practice it we get better at it so you practice your happiness you practice your joy you practice your motivation and positivity

like you were saying you get up in the morning you go to the gym and we're talking earlier offline like it becomes habit if you don't do it then you feel shit it's the same with with your emotions if you don't practice your motivation your happiness seeing things through a light like you know everyone wants to be around people that will uplift them or why don't you be that light that you want to see in other people and then you you can uplift them. And then there's two of you. And so it just gets easier the more you practice it, just like anything else. Makes a lot of sense. That's great.

And so now you are active. I saw a video of talking about breathing and running. You were saying you used to do marathons before your accident and there's something in your message which i really appreciated or like whether you're talking about running or whether you're talking about surfing the challenge might be a little harder now you know giving your accident um but you really emphasize the experience of doing it you know know it might be harder to surf or whatever but just going out there in the the attempt the effort just kind of being out there is something

you've really learned to appreciate yeah yeah i think as we get older we become more impatient with ourselves because we just want to be able to do everything straight away but we don't feel like that as kids do we like when you know i guess that's a great point when you're learning to skateboard or you're learning a new sport you're roller skating right now paul how's that working out for you quite well yeah i've been getting good yeah do you live down by the beach as well i live in venice beach i'm at marina del rey oh yeah we'll have to hang out so yeah i'm always down at venice walking my dog but um yeah i see like everyone out on their rollerblades and roller skates and all that sort of stuff but yeah i've uh but you're right i'm

thinking about that and there's like a frustration of or there's more as an adult what i've gotten worse at that i've i've gotten worse but challenged myself to do better where as adults you're like well i'm too old or like i'm never going to learn that. So I don't try. But as kids, we're just like, yeah, sure. I'll try. I don't care. I'll fail. I'll fall.

And we'll just figure it out. But as adults, we just decide that we're too old or it's too late to do anything new. We'll take that feeling and then multiply it by a thousand. Because I'd come from a guy that could physically do anything that was asked of me. Like you said, like I ran a hundred kilometers up and down the biggest mountains in Tasmania as a race for part of the Navy team. And I didn't train for it. And I beat everyone on my team. You know, I was that capable. And then I couldn't walk and I didn't have a leg and I didn't have a hand. I couldn't tie my shoelaces. I couldn't cook. I couldn't do a leg and I didn't have a hand. I couldn't tie my shoelaces. I

couldn't cook. I couldn't do anything. And so, one of the biggest lessons I had to learn was patience and perseverance. You've got to give yourself time to learn how to do these things, whether it be work, whether it be becoming a better parent or a better partner or things like that. You have to be more patient with other people as well because I had to learn to walk, I had to learn to drive a car, you know, everything. Going to the gym with one hand and one leg can really throw out your bench press and squats. Really?

Yeah. And so I had to relearn how to use my whole body. The army taught me a really good mantra back in basic training and that was improvise adapt and overcome and so I had to utilize that I couldn't wait bear on the end of my arm to do push-ups and so I thought I'll adapt I'm sorry I'll improvise and I I grabbed a bench and I pulled that in I put my elbow on it and I did push-ups like that I couldn't hold a dumbbell and so I went on to the internet and the wealth of the world's knowledge where you can learn to do everything like so I found a lifting hook that the bodybuilders use

for deadlifts and I put the the loop around my forearm and then the hook would hang down and I could put a dumbbell in it to do curls we all know curls get the girls so you've got to work those pipes and so you know the the patience and perseverance really, really is an important part of not limiting yourself to what you can achieve because we are far greater and more capable than what we give ourselves credit for. We just, we don't apply ourselves like we did when we were younger because we want everything like this. It's an instantaneous world now. Self-limiting beliefs. Yeah. It's an instantaneous world now. Self-limiting beliefs. Yeah. That's.

And so that's like, that's why I do everything I do. Yeah. I don't go into the gym to inspire people. I go in there to work out. But a byproduct of that is people seeing me with this big steel hook on my arm and my robot leg and they train harder and they come up and they say, thank you and compliment me. And that's, I didn't expect it.

I just wanted to work out. But it's an awesome byproduct. Sure. Yeah. And so, obviously, as you kind of mentioned, people are reacting to you differently by seeing your prosthetics. Is there a downside to that ever? I mean, obviously, the motivation. But do you get a lot of annoying questions

all the time? Yeah, yeah. What are some of the most annoying questions you get asked? Did it hurt? Did it hurt? I hope you have just a smart ass answer to that. I mean, that's amazing.

Listen, in my, not to compare your tragedy but like i had i've lived some unique experience in that show i get a lot of silly questions and it's hard for me i i don't i some of my friends do a better job than i do because i'll just get asked questions and i'll just like my face just yeah looks a certain way like a dick i'm like really did you ask me that i couldn't imagine someone asking you did it hurt seriously they're probably being serious when they well you know what i after a while i thought about and you know they their mindset is all the adrenaline would have cancelled out the pain and so i'm like okay i understand it a bit better now um and i've i try

to be more patient but you know some days you just don't want to talk about it and so you it doesn't matter if you know me from shark week or whatever like if i'm walking down the street everyone's staring at me because how often do you see a half robot dude walking down the street and so i realized i could either like hate it and be sad and angry and have a scowl on my face or i could pin my shoulders back and embrace yeah and like instead of people going oh that poor guy they'll be like holy fuck look at that cyborg you know and i can shift their perception like that you look really badass right yeah you do like i mean it looks really cool i don't you know but it's it's pretty good technology you know it's a no better time to be an amputee than now but i can't wait for what the future

brings out but yeah i get the stupid question sometimes like i won't go to parties and barbecues because i don't know the majority of people there and i don't want to have to go through the same yeah right it's the same there's always that moment in the night where like even you go out everyone's pretty sober it's 11 o'clock. All of a sudden it's 1230. And you're probably like, I get the fuck out of here. Because then all of us, it's that liquid courage of. Nothing good happens after midnight anyway.

You know what? I have the best question for him. We're going to be best friends. Yeah. And then they come up to you and ask you if it hurt. I think part of it is a panic too. Not knowing what to say. And then there's a like

you know and some people are just rude as well now i had a guy come up to me in whole foods one day stare me right in the face say what up into your leg and it's like what happened to your fucking manners yeah so i was dating a girl um in the early days and she was all about it and she was amazing she stuck with me through a whole you know year and a half of crap um but then it was like she wanted the standard thing she she wanted to move in then she wanted to get married uh sorry get engaged and then get married and then have kids and by a minute i i'm at that point in time i just couldn't do it i was like no i don't that's terrifying to me i need to prove to myself that I can be more than what I am right now

because I went back to work with the Navy after six months and they said you can go work three half days a week and I was like, no, I've got to prove myself. So, I just went five full days a week and worked my ass off for three years, but it was just slowly killing me, trying to keep up with everyone all the time, you know, sometimes 80-hour weeks. We'd go to bed at two in the morning, up at 6 to go back to work after, you know, doing push-ups.

When you get punishments at the Navy dive school, you get push-ups. And so we were doing, you know, 1,200 push-ups after midnight and then I got to go home and then get up and go do PT in the morning. So I was just – it was killing me. And so I just – I had to prove to myself that I could be by myself. And so we ended up breaking up and then it was just me. I was just kind of bouncing around and I've actually had more success with girls since the shark attack. You know what?

I don't think it's got anything to do with me. I think people are attracted to confidence and happiness. Sure. And so, I had been practicing that in abundance. And so, even though I didn't feel confident on the inside and I wasn't always happy, I was constantly trying to practice it and get better at it. And so, even if I was faking it, you know. Fake it till you make it. Yeah, fake it till you make it, you know. The more i was faking it you know fake it till you make it you

know the more faking it is just practicing yeah and so um yeah i've had a couple of great girlfriends over the years i ended up dating um miss delaware for two years yeah she most beautiful girl i'd ever dated in my life loved Loved her to death. Delaware. Yeah. Delaware. But she was a triplet too, so she had these two stunning sisters. But then, you know, she moved out to Australia and things just got a little bit awkward as relationships do. It just wasn't working out. And so I moved on from that.

Met another great girl when I moved out here. Dated her for about a year and a half and she's incredible. We're still great friends to this day. Well, when I moved out here, I dated her for about a year and a half and she's incredible. We're still great friends to this day. And then, you know, I was just like, I'm not going to even look. And then, you know, that's when you stumble into someone special. And so now I've got this incredible girlfriend. And I think the biggest takeaway of all that is, like you said, I mean, for all the fears that you had right after asking about your dating life and things like that, that really sounds like it really had no actual effect. It was really just more of a mind frame and whatever problems you had in your dating life or if it just didn't work out because of compatibility, it was just like any other person.

But it had more to do with your approach to it and your mentality towards it. Yeah. Yeah. person but it was had more to do with your approach to it and your mentality towards it yeah yeah and obviously i had probably not serious but moderate um self what's the word i'm looking for self-confidence issues um because of you know my robot limbs and all that sort of stuff but and i try and hide it and sometimes i don't sometimes i just can't be bothered um and you just those moments are actually better than when you try and hide it when you just let your walls down and i was just about to ask that in terms of like have you been able to

your confidence in showing vulnerability has that drastically changed since this happened it's everything yeah yeah um one of my good friends i was doing speaking in australia and my friend lane lane beachley who's a seven times world surfing champion and i have so much respect for her because of not just surfing stuff but what she's achieved afterwards with her foundations and public speaking and stuff and so i spoke at one of her charity events and it was one of my early ones and I met up with her the next day. I said, you know, what did you think? And she said, oh, it was good. But I could see there was something in her eye. I'm like, all right, come on, spill it. She said, well, look, it was great, but you're just so damn military. You just, this happened and this happened and this happened. She's like, you've got

to give more of yourself. And she said something I'll never forget. She said, in vulnerability there is strength. So, I went home after that and I'm like, what the hell is she talking about? Does she want me to cry on stage? Fuck that. I'm a soldier. We don't do that. But, you know, I respect her so much. I took it on board and I really thought about it. And the next one I did, I really opened up about my fears and tried to relate more to how my feelings and my experience directly relates to the audience and all of the struggles that we all go through in life.

And men were crying, women were crying. I've had 68 people pass out, 65 of them men. But yeah, that vulnerability, you know, allowing the walls to come down is actually such a great strength and has taught me how to be better in a relationship because of it yeah it's like one of the most confident things we can do is to in at moments say i don't feel confident right now i don't like that takes a lot because oftentimes we have a hard time just putting that out there because that that's the scary part. Just like what bugs you? Oh, nothing.

I'm not just like. Yeah. That's the old way. But we all know where that path leads because it's been leading there for generations before us. The silent masculine male leads, you know, it's just not healthy at all. It leads to depression and PTSD and alcohol abuse and possibly domestic abuse and all those sort of things. So, why would you want that? Just let it go.

Like, put it all out there into the universe and let the fucking universe deal with it instead of keeping it in here in your little universe. Yeah. Have you- Has your approach on masculinity really changed? Oh, yeah. Yeah. Dude, I was like the epitome of a fighting grunting swearing soldier like we don't show feelings what are they they're for civilians uh you just fight through the pain

shove it down deep um so yeah totally man like like you just said you know one of the most confident things you can do is let down your walls and be vulnerable. And I totally agree with that. And so now in your career, you're one of the hosts of Shark Week. You're doing motivational speaking before we kind of have some fun and finish things off with Shark Week. But, you know, what are some of the things that are a big focus when you're speaking at corporate events? And how do you kind of tie it all in to the men and women that you're speaking to? Well, I don't, I'm not the sort of speaker that jams information down your throat. I like to be a lot more subtle than that. And so, I go through the stories a lot like we have today,

but a little more in depth. And I try and make each section a bit of a lesson so that it ties directly into people's lives. So, the reason I do the bit at the start when I'm talking about me growing up is because either people in the audience have gone through that as well with the self-harming and the bullying and so they can identify with that and feel like they're not alone. And two, like it's not normal and they can let go of that. Two, a lot of them have got kids that are going through it right now and they don't know how to deal with it. And so, I give them a little bit of relief to think that if they just

keep loving their kids, then eventually it'll all work out. And so, not to panic, you know. So, every little part of that journey has a lesson that hopefully will identify with my audience and they can just take what they want out of it. And so everyone just everyone goes through. My story is no bigger or better than anyone else's. It's not better than yours. It's just different. But the tools that we can use to get through these struggles and bad times are all the same. You know, sometimes you just need the right tools and often that tool is simply the

right mindset. And so, I try and help people with their mindsets of looking at struggles, looking at change as an opportunity for growth instead of an uncomfortable thing you should fight against. So, all of it, you know, sort of ties in really well and I get incredible responses. All of it, you know, sort of ties in really well. And I get incredible responses. Every job I've had in America when I was on stage was standing ovation, had lines of people across the room to get the book. And so, that makes me feel like I'm doing my job right. I feel pretty good.

Yeah. How have you adapted to kind of the new normal that we're in right now with the climate being what it is? kind of the new normal that we're in right now with the climate being what it is i mean do you do you use the lessons you've learned in life to apply that to what's going on in the world today i try um it doesn't always work it's such a a huge shift for a lot of people um not so much for me because i'm not a lot changed i stick to my very close-knit group of friends and I spend a lot of time with my dog, a lot of time exercising. My biggest gripe was I couldn't go to the gym. And so, you know, all the home gym workouts and, you know, it was fun for a week and then you just get sick of working out

on your apartment floor and then the lack of funds coming in. But I was fortunate that I knew I was going to be on my own in America. And so, I'd saved up a lot of money just in case I needed a buffer there. But a lot of my friends out here don't. Some of them are actors and they can't work. And, you know, the restaurants have shut down so they couldn't get work. And so, I feel better through comparison, as bad as that sounds. And, you know, I try and help them out as much as I can.

But there's only so much you can do. So, you have to try and embrace those spare moments that you have with positivity. And try, you know, if you sit back and just accept it and go, this sucks, lost my job, nothing's going to work out, the world sucks, it's all horrible. Then you're just going to go down that rabbit hole and so you can feel like that there's nothing don't never feel bad about feeling bad but don't let it ruin your whole week or your whole life you know if it sucks work out a plan you know you're not going to be able to get anywhere if you don't see the opportunity in what is happening now um and some people have really risen to that and some people haven't.

But it's understandable because we've never been through this sort of thing before. And I think the biggest struggle for people is the financial thing. If you're not worrying about that, then you've got nothing to complain about. I'm not talking about illnesses and things like that but um yeah the people that have lost all their work and lost their businesses and lost their homes you know they're the people that need our assistance now yep yeah well said um shark week shark week's coming up on a lighter note yeah on a lighter note um it's comes out in first week of August? Yeah, August 9th.

You are hosting Shark Week? I host a couple of documentaries that go on. So Discovery Channel gave me a contract for a bunch of years. I do three new shows every year, which is incredible. And then they replay my old ones as well. So it's almost like poll week sometimes and some days. But it's just such an incredible opportunity adventure. I never thought that my life would be this good. I would literally

pay to do the things that they pay me to do. And it's, you know, it gets better and better. You know, the people that you meet, the adventurers, the people- Like, I got to work with Ronda Rousey. I got to work with Will Smith. This year, I got to work with Mike Tyson, which was the most terrifying thing. I saw that. How was that? I grew up watching Mike Tyson. Same, same, man.

It wasn't terrifying because it was Tyson. It was terrifying because I thought he was going to die. Working with, like, Will Smith and Ronda Rousey those guys like elite athletes still you know pretty well Will you know he's a pretty damn good athlete to be able to do Muhammad Ali and all these sort of things like he's fit as shit those people go into it with an open mind and sort of excited and stuff and so it's great to expose their fans to sharks as well. But Mike went into it with nothing but unadulterated fear. He was throwing up before or after every dive. He was truly afraid of what?

Truly afraid. Wow. And I'm assuming everyone needs to watch it because it's going to be really interesting. It's really interesting. And so the premise of he's kind of going up against a shark kind of thing? Oh, man, look, that's clickbait. Like Mike's kind of going up against a shark kind of oh man look it's that's clickbait like mike tyson's gonna knock out a shark yeah yeah you mean obviously um what what we're gonna do is teach him how to uh knock out a shark without using his fists

how to do it gently and peacefully um but to get him to that point where he can get that close to that many sharks um you can only do it while you're feeding him. Because if you don't have food, they're not going to swim that close to you. So we had to put him in the midst of a feeding frenzy. And I can't say anything to spoil the show because it's really, really good. And it's not just a celebrity. We're not doing this for fun. celebrities we're not doing this for fun one is because we get to bring on a whole generation of mike tyson fans into shark week that will potentially watch it for the first time and

learn about sharks and you know the more people that learn about and see that they're not mindless killing machines the more people will respect them and if you respect something you want to protect it and so that's that's my main goal through working with people like mike is to to spread the shark love. And two, you know, they were putting fin cams on the sharks. They studied their movements, their mating rituals, all that sort of stuff. And so, yeah, it is a good show. Anything else Shark Week related that you want to mention or plug?

I've got my new book coming out soon, actually, as well. Yeah. I wrote a book in uh 2012 um it was called no time for fear and it sold incredibly well but i'm having a lot of problems getting commercial quantities into america and i was selling bucket loads at the presentation so now i'm working with uh one of my best friends grant jones he's a a welshman he's a iraq and afghanistan veteran he's got a bunch of his own books about iraq about roman history working with one of my best friends, Grant Jones. He's a Welshman. He's an Iraq and Afghanistan veteran. He's got a bunch of his own books about Iraq, about Roman history, but he's also a ghost

writer for James Patterson and has New York Times bestsellers with him. So, he's helping me develop and rewrite the whole first part of the story and then add on the last eight years as well. So, everything moving to America, you know dealing with fear dealing with sharks like what it's like to swim 110 feet deep with four great white sharks without a cage you know that sort of stuff parachuting in the cage and i feel like every year it's discovery channel trying to decide how are we going to kill pole this year well like it just as like a regular person so i went to south africa i went on one of those tours it was amazing we went on a boat we were out there for a really long time and they're like okay here's this cage you're gonna get in it and then we didn't even have breathing tubes or anything they gave us a

weight belt actually what so it was like seven people in a cage they gave us like a weight each person had like a weight belt and you kind of held on to this cage on a snorkel not even a snorkel oh my lord and they like threw this bait out yeah and then as the great white shark came and some of them were like 16 feet i think was like one of the biggest ones that we saw but as they pulled the string with the food and the shark comes straight at your face and they say okay go and you drop yourself with your weight belt down to the food and the shark comes straight at your face. And they say, okay, go. And you drop yourself with your weight belt down to the cage. And hold your breath.

And hold your breath. Oh, that sucks. And then as the shark comes at you, then you're like, okay, it went by me. And then they kick yourself back up and you like grab it. Well, Joe Romero, who's another one of the Shark Week guys, an amazing underwater cinematographer. He and I run trips to Guadalupe, Mexico, to take people diving with great white sharks there. It's awesome.

Like, you've got breathing hoses. We had a 16-foot great white turnip. I think the footage from that is actually on a Nat Geo show tonight. She grabbed onto the whole side of the cage. Yeah. And you would think people would be scared. The three girls in the cage didn't blink an eye they were getting closer with their cameras taking photo taking video of this gigantic female shark shaking the whole cage and so me and joe run trips down there

to help people experience and it's pretty awesome i think if anyone's interested we still got six or seven spots open yeah that's super cool that people can just go in like you just jump on my instagram and we have the details on there uh and then as far as when's your book come out um i'm hoping it's going to coincide with the opening of shark week so the start of august can we pre-order uh not at this point it's it's going through final copy editing now and then i've got to get it printed all right we'll make sure to check out uh it's going to final copy editing now, and then I've got to get it printed. All right. Well, make sure to check out- It's going to be called Uncaged. All right.

Make sure to check out Paul's book. Make sure to check out his Instagram. Make sure to check out Shark Week. When does Shark Week start? August 9th. August 9th? Yeah. The Tyson show's on opening night, so don't miss that.

Yeah, that's what I- Yeah, I saw that. I wasn't sure if that was the beginning or the end of Shark Week. Yeah, that's the start. Okay. Do you have time for one more game, Paul? Yeah, absolutely's what I saw that. I wasn't sure if that was the beginning or the end of Shark Week. Yeah, that's the start. Okay. Do you have time for one more game, Paul? Yeah, absolutely. Yeah.

Do you know me with Paul DeGalda? That's a terrible Australian accent. You're like Steve Irwin of South Park. Yeah. Can you imagine trying to fake an Australian accent to meet a girl and just sound creepy and weird? People do it all the time. Yeah. I don't.

I don't because I know that I'm not good at it. All right. Question number one. Has Paul or does Paul ever have an imaginary friend as a child? And if he has one now, I'm going to guess no, he doesn't have one now. Probably not now. As a kid, did he ever? I'm going to say no. After hearing the history, I'm going not, no. As a kid, did he ever, I'm gonna say no.

After hearing the history, I'm gonna say no too. I don't think he had an imaginary son. Kinda. Because we lived in Canberra and all our family was in Melbourne, we'd do trips down to Melbourne, which is like a 12 hour, 10 hour drive in the van because there was six of us.

And so to keep me occupied, I had this guy who used to ride along next to the car and he had a bike that could transform into a skateboard or into a surfboard. And he just sort of like do tricks alongside the car as much as I needed some entertainment. And like if we went on a bridge, his bike would turn into a surfboard and go in the ocean. Kinda. That sounds like a yes.

It sounds like a yes. It sounds like a yes. It was a part-time imaginary friend. That's kinda- All right. That was a softball, Paul. Let's see here. Has a-

Let's see. Okay, here's another softball. Has Paul ever popped someone else's pimple? I'm going to say yes, because it's, for for me one of the greatest thrills of all time really i think it's so gross i hope not i'm gonna say yes i'm i have but i agree with you it's i have done it because it's been friends but so satisfying it's so nice like i get chills just thinking about it so gross okay i guess i'm the weird one uh all right uh has paul ever been punished with community service so he said it was a troublemaker but i don't know if you ever yeah or in the army

sometimes if you don't do something or if you like disobey would that be like community no community service is like you're on the freeway picking up garbage they do do that actually yeah yeah they do do that you gotta do community service on the base okay but no no all right i i never got caught and the two times that i did get caught shoplifting um the first time they called my parents out of respect for my dad's position as a police officer, and she said, just call the police. But no, no, I did get, I did go to court once

for smashing an unshatterable bus shelter window during a fight, but I just, I just got a good behavior bond for six months. All right. Question number three. Has Paul ever had sex on the beach? I'm going to say yes. He's around like beaches all the time.

Right? I'm going to say yes. Absolutely. Under the stars on a blanket in the sand dunes. Oh. Nice. Talk about romantic. Question number four.

Has Paul ever had a bowl cut? bowl cut a bowl cut like a bowl haircut we're relatively relatively the same age group you know bowl cuts were real popular when i was a kid me too my mom used scotch tape on our hair um to make the bowl cut i'm gonna say paul has had a bowl cut i'm gonna say no say no. Absolutely. I have. We were Paul, man. Six people on a policeman's wage. I had a rat tail for a moment. A rat tail? Yeah.

It was the hair long on top, shaved around, bowl cut, rat tail coming out from the shaved. I mean, hello, Wisconsin. And it sounds crazy, but I got a lot. It was like, that's so cool, man. I was like, I know. Something to hold on to when the guy's having sex with you. Well, I was nine. Yeah, that went wrong.

So maybe not that time. At the time, but yeah, now I'm sure. Now I'm sure. Let's see. Last question. Can Paul name three characters from Game of Thrones? Cersei Lannister. Oh, shit.

I'm going to say yes. No. I'm going to say yes because immediately he's like, I can do this. Come on, three? Anyone? I never watched it. You didn't watch it all? You never watched it?

I started once and I just didn't. I'm sure I'll get into it. I fought against it for probably two seasons because everyone was talking. I don't like being a part of everyone's, oh, have you seen the new episode? No, I just can't do it. Oh, Lord. All right, so we're just talking between you and me now.

You can't know. You can probably name seven or something. Yeah, I can name a few. I did kick into it and watch the whole thing after about season three. But yeah, Cersei, the Mountain, Arya Stark, Ned Stark. I could just go through the stars. I'm going to do one more because I saw this question. I think it's pretty good.

All right, I'll try not to answer it too quick. Don't. Has Paul ever toilet papered a house? A car. Why did I answer that? Really bad. Come on. Give me one more go.

Give me one more go. I'm so eager to please you. Toilet papered a car? What do you mean you toilet papered a car? It was on base. And my friend parked his Toyota Celica right in front of our barracks. And so we did unspeakable things to it and not just toilet paper we uh we had this thing in high school junior senior wars and you know it was exactly what it was for like the week of homecoming

the juniors and your seniors would toilet paper each other's houses it got out of control where like there was like 20 cars of like driving around to people's houses and we would parents would get really mad and then there was this we were juniors at the time and i'll never forget this he was he was a popular kid and he was we just wanted to and he's like you're not going to get my house and they guard it up so like five of our friends woke up at like four in the morning like you because they were expecting it and we got like just um barrels of toilet paper and we spent an hour toilet papering the whole thing to the point where it was it was bad it was so much toilet paper and trees that it was it took months for it to go away. And we put plastic forks in the lawn.

It was really- Did you come from a well-off family? No, well, middle class, but we weren't, I have 10 siblings, so I don't have a memory. What, 10? Yeah, I don't have a memory of my parents not being stressed out about money, but at the same time, I had a very,

I mean, I was, relative to the world, I was a very i mean i was relative to the world i was a very lucky kid but it just had to get by it sounds like something well-off kids would do we were more like sneaking out the windows in the middle of the night to break into cars to sell things to people like where i grew up was yeah so we could have money yeah where i grew up was very yeah upper suburbia like yeah in relative to the world we had very little to complain about so yeah well probably yeah it was very yeah we had things that we had we had time to tell people so i failed your really simple game it's okay feeling just listen the goal is you didn't fail because we learned we still learned things about you

that's all that matters yeah uh paul i really appreciate it's been a ton of fun um you obviously are an inspiration uh to people out there and and you know so much about life as we get older is about perspective and how we apply our thoughts to our own lives and obviously you do such a great job of that so i really appreciate you taking the time thanks mate uh obviously don't forget to check out paul's uh book when it comes out. Check him out on Shark Week. Follow him on Instagram. Where can people find you on Instagram? Hold a gilder.

And until next time, we appreciate you listening. Don't forget to send in your questions at asknickatcastme.com, cast with a K for Ask Nick episodes. And if there's nothing else, we will see you on Monday.