Speaker 1: Welcome to the Good Stuff.
Speaker 2: I'm Jacob Shick and I'm joined by my co host
Speaker 2: and wife, Ashley Shick.
Speaker 3: Jake is a third generation combat Marine and I'm a
Speaker 3: gold Star granddaughter. We work together to serve military veterans,
Speaker 3: first responders, frontline healthcare workers, and their families with mental
Speaker 3: and emotional wellness through traditional and non traditional therapy.
Speaker 4: At One Tribe Foundation, we.
Speaker 2: Believe everyone has a story to tell, not only about
Speaker 2: the peaks, but also the valleys they've been through to
Speaker 2: get them to where they are today.
Speaker 3: Each week, we invite a guest to tell us their story,
Speaker 3: to share with us the lessons they've learned that shaped
Speaker 3: who they are and what they're doing to pay it
Speaker 3: forward and give back.
Speaker 2: Our mission with this show is to dig deep into
Speaker 2: our guest journey so that we can celebrate the hope
Speaker 2: and inspiration their story has to offer.
Speaker 4: We're thrilled you're joining us again.
Speaker 1: Welcome to the Good Stuff.
Speaker 3: We're so excited for today's show because our guest is
Speaker 3: Roy Tuscany. He was a professional skier and is the
Speaker 3: founder of the High Fives Foundation, which provides hope and
Speaker 3: resources for athletes with life altering injuries. From all walks
Speaker 3: of life. He's such an inspiration to us on so
Speaker 3: many levels. He's a dear friend of ours and we
Speaker 3: are excited to bring our conversation with him to you today.
Speaker 2: From a skiing accident that left him paralyzed to excessive
Speaker 2: drinking and alcoholism, like so many of us at some
Speaker 2: point in our lives, he found himself in a very
Speaker 2: dark place, and because of his strength to press on
Speaker 2: and through many lessons learned, he's now on a path
Speaker 2: to live life to the fullest while being completely present. Now,
Speaker 2: please keep in mind that Roy is a true friend.
Speaker 2: In this conversation, we drop more than one F bomb,
Speaker 2: so if that is something you're sensitive to, please keep
Speaker 2: your ear muffs handy. But I promise you this story
Speaker 2: will touch your soul.
Speaker 3: We are so excited today to have our good friend.
Speaker 3: He's the founder of High Fives Foundation, a father, a husband,
Speaker 3: and just a really great dude. Roy Tuscany, thank you
Speaker 3: so much for joining us here on the Good Stuff.
Speaker 5: Oh good day to you.
Speaker 6: What a great name for a podcast too, And well,
Speaker 6: we'll make sure we use the word good a lot today,
Speaker 6: more than the words we sometimes find in our fun talks.
Speaker 2: Absolutely Roy. I mean we go way back, like Cadillac
Speaker 2: seats and you know, man, my brother from another mother.
Speaker 3: We're so excited to share your story with our audience,
Speaker 3: which really starts in your childhood.
Speaker 4: You grew up in Vermont.
Speaker 5: I did.
Speaker 6: I grew up in Vermont. Every moment I was trying
Speaker 6: to be outside, and outdoors was everything. And we got
Speaker 6: a lot of snow. I remember as a kid, we
Speaker 6: got way more snow than we got now. I think
Speaker 6: it was also so shorter. But I remember, like in
Speaker 6: third grade, my mom like I had nothing to do
Speaker 6: in the winter. I was terrible at basketball. I was
Speaker 6: about forty two pounds in third grade. And my mom's like,
Speaker 6: all right, you need to pick a sport, and you
Speaker 6: can pick this afternoon ski program or you can play hockey.
Speaker 6: And I remember that moment my mom said hockey, like
Speaker 6: I got this envision of like three dudes that in
Speaker 6: third grade were like the size of Jake, and I
Speaker 6: was like the math and I just remember just like
Speaker 6: the word like smear. That's all I could think about
Speaker 6: was smear, and I thought that's how hockey was gonna
Speaker 6: go for me. I mean, I'm a huge hockey fan now,
Speaker 6: like let's go Bruins and the VM Catamounts where I
Speaker 6: went to college. I'm a huge follower of their hockey program.
Speaker 6: But God, hockey is not for me.
Speaker 3: So you clearly chose skiing. And what a great thing
Speaker 3: that you did. Tell us about that.
Speaker 6: I remember going the first night and you know, third
Speaker 6: grader goes up there. All my buddies had skied, and
Speaker 6: I was like, oh, I'll just hang out with my friends,
Speaker 6: Like skiing can't be that hard, it can't be that challenging.
Speaker 6: I'd ice skated, I'd played basketball and baseball. I mean,
Speaker 6: what are we talking about here? And I got to
Speaker 6: the top of the lift and my buddies were like,
Speaker 6: all right, let's go. And I was like in my
Speaker 6: like bamby legs, like knees are buckling in all that.
Speaker 6: And the next thing I know, I look up and
Speaker 6: they're gone, and you know, I'm like, all right.
Speaker 5: Cool, Like what should I do?
Speaker 6: And you know, being intuitive, I saw a sign that
Speaker 6: said practice slope.
Speaker 5: I was like, oh, let's go practice. Like sounds good.
Speaker 5: Alan Iverson doesn't believe in it, but like I do.
Speaker 6: And you know, got to the top of the practice
Speaker 6: slope and realized that it was the practice slope for
Speaker 6: ski racing, incredibly steep.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 6: I barely got there, and I remember this vividly. And
Speaker 6: it's night skiing too, so it's dark, and it's like
Speaker 6: so you go from like light to dark to light
Speaker 6: to dark. So now sitting on top of this hill
Speaker 6: looking and I'm like, all right, I gotta make it
Speaker 6: down to the base. Like if I get there, I'm home,
Speaker 6: and like maybe skiing isn't for me. And I just
Speaker 6: pointed it, and you know, I was like, all right,
Speaker 6: I'll figure out how to stop. And I didn't, and
Speaker 6: I just went straight and the bamby legs like went away.
Speaker 5: I like got into this like structural standset.
Speaker 6: Unfortunately, I think I froze and I couldn't get out
Speaker 6: of I took that positioning all the way into the
Speaker 6: base lodge. And I hit that base lodge at like
Speaker 6: forty miles how or like a linebacker, and like took
Speaker 6: it sideways and like and then dropped to the ground
Speaker 6: and like I'm not even kidding, like cartoonish like snow
Speaker 6: from the roof like came.
Speaker 5: And fell on me.
Speaker 6: And I remember looking up and my buddy's dad's there
Speaker 6: and he like dust me off, and he's like, hey,
Speaker 6: you're coming with me, and he's like, I'm gonna make
Speaker 6: sure you understand how to ski, and he like dragged
Speaker 6: me over to the beginner area. And for the next
Speaker 6: like four weeks, I freaking pizza and French fried until
Speaker 6: I like escape, and then from there I just just
Speaker 6: started skiing and loving it. But oh my gosh, that
Speaker 6: that first introduction was definitely.
Speaker 3: Rough baptism by fire. Truly, that is amazing.
Speaker 1: You know, I could totally envision young.
Speaker 2: Roy and then down the mountain and then like, Okay,
Speaker 2: well this might hurt a little.
Speaker 4: Bit, but this is also going to be my life's past,
Speaker 4: you know what.
Speaker 2: And that's why I told the boys Roy all the time.
Speaker 1: And you see him climbing on stuff or doing dumb stuff.
Speaker 2: You know, you're dad, and it's like, hey, trust me
Speaker 2: when I tell you that at some point, gravity will
Speaker 2: inevitably win.
Speaker 6: Oh my god, I can't wait to you know, try
Speaker 6: to explain gravity to Gunner. The alliteration alone is nice,
Speaker 6: gravity Gunner. But I'll tell you what, Like I have
Speaker 6: tried so hard for so many years to defy gravity,
Speaker 6: and I will tell you what.
Speaker 5: It always wins gravity.
Speaker 6: No matter what you do, it always wins, and like
Speaker 6: it has a decision of how hard it wants you
Speaker 6: to remember how powerful it is. It's it's like mother Ocean,
Speaker 6: like when you go out in the waves and like
Speaker 6: all of a sudden you're like, oh, this isn't so bad,
Speaker 6: and then like you're like, I love this, and then
Speaker 6: out of nowhere's rogue wave comes in. Oh gosh, what
Speaker 6: just you have like sand coming out of every orifice.
Speaker 3: Really exactly clearly that day a love was born for skiing.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean it hit me literally like a hammer, Yeah,
Speaker 5: it really did.
Speaker 6: But I think it was really like that learning process
Speaker 6: and like I think, like I remember like how fast
Speaker 6: it came once they gave me a couple techniques of
Speaker 6: little things to practice understand, and then from there, I mean,
Speaker 6: that's all I did. I mean legitimately, Like in high school,
Speaker 6: I didn't go to parties because I wanted to go
Speaker 6: skiing on all the days. In college, like my schedules,
Speaker 6: I had classes on Tuesday Thursdays. I'd leave campus on
Speaker 6: Thursdays and go ski everywhere.
Speaker 5: From you know, Friday to Monday.
Speaker 6: And it was just like it was a vehicle to
Speaker 6: get me to a place that I wanted to go,
Speaker 6: and then ultimately, you know, chose where I went to
Speaker 6: college in Vermont and then immediately graduating college, moved out
Speaker 6: west to coach skiing at you know, this pristine mountain
Speaker 6: in an academy. And I'm not kidding you, Like I
Speaker 6: used to get to like up the line on the
Speaker 6: interstate being like, oh, I got to get to coach
Speaker 6: skiing today, Like oh, that's an important job. I'm like yeah, totally,
Speaker 6: And like I would cut the line, get to the
Speaker 6: mountain at like seven in the morning, and then like
Speaker 6: get to ride the lift and like ski untracked you know,
Speaker 6: perfect powder by myself for like an hour and a half.
Speaker 6: And like that's what that all was, Like, this whole
Speaker 6: journey of what it was all worth was.
Speaker 5: Like no matter where I am at life, like I.
Speaker 6: Always remember like those moments of absolute Christine and it
Speaker 6: took so long to get in. That's like that's like
Speaker 6: a thing for life. Like you're not going to freaking
Speaker 6: find happiness tomorrow, Like you got to work towards this shit,
Speaker 6: and like you're not also going to find you know,
Speaker 6: feeling emotions until you realize like are you feeling emotions
Speaker 6: or you're just like hopeless in life, Like there's so
Speaker 6: many things, but skiing, you know, skiing's given me and
Speaker 6: taken away everything.
Speaker 5: You know. It's like it's that weird fricking thing.
Speaker 6: I mean, it's very similar with you, Jake, Like you know,
Speaker 6: the military, it is everything, it's your family. But at
Speaker 6: the same time it took everything, it also gave you everything.
Speaker 6: When you think about that, like do you celebrate it?
Speaker 5: Is it truly that love.
Speaker 6: Hate relationship like that you can actually be like, I
Speaker 6: know what love hate relationship?
Speaker 5: It is here.
Speaker 3: It is well absolutely, and your mother clearly steered you
Speaker 3: correctly in giving you a choice. You have to have
Speaker 3: something to apply yourself to that young roy and you
Speaker 3: chose this path. Talk about growing up in that household,
Speaker 3: I think.
Speaker 6: Like truthfully, skiing was like the best thing that ever
Speaker 6: happened for my household. My parents got like a bit
Speaker 6: of their freedom back. I mean, the mountain was my babysitter.
Speaker 6: They would drop us off, you know in the morning,
Speaker 6: myself when I meet up with my other buddies, and
Speaker 6: then they knew it time to pick me up. And
Speaker 6: it was like really simple, you know, like here's your
Speaker 6: money to run out, like you run out.
Speaker 5: I'll be here at this time.
Speaker 6: And it was before cell phones too, so it was
Speaker 6: very much like we'll see you at five o'clock right here,
Speaker 6: and it meant like show up here at five o'clock.
Speaker 6: And you know, looking back on it, and now, just
Speaker 6: like the little bit that I'm doing now and knowing
Speaker 6: it's gonna ramp up is gunner gets more involved in things.
Speaker 6: But gosh, my parents made a sacrifice, And like, you
Speaker 6: don't realize all the sacrifices you do until you become
Speaker 6: a parent, and then you really realize how much of
Speaker 6: a little selfish, pricky.
Speaker 5: Person, right right, Why didn't you drop me at nine?
Speaker 4: Why other things to do like try to put food
Speaker 4: on the table.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I agree, our parents really do sacrifice. And I
Speaker 2: tell you, bro with our boys them being in sports
Speaker 2: and having to get.
Speaker 1: All the equipment, you're able to really.
Speaker 2: Empathize and sympathize with what your parents go through as.
Speaker 4: A parent so much.
Speaker 1: Oh my goodness, So tell me what kind of student
Speaker 1: were you growing up?
Speaker 5: Oh?
Speaker 6: Man? I think, like you know, I'm obviously like dealing
Speaker 6: with it now and like I'll say it now, like
Speaker 6: therapy is the best shit in the world. Like, if
Speaker 6: you don't go to therapy, like then like I hope
Speaker 6: you have an outlet that allows you to find your answers.
Speaker 6: It's so funny to look back at how much therapy
Speaker 6: is figuring out the points that were beneficial and then
Speaker 6: thinking out the points that unfortunately have caused some issues
Speaker 6: within who you are now, but recognizing them. But you know,
Speaker 6: as a student, like fuck, my dad did not let
Speaker 6: me have a chance at failing. He ensured in a
Speaker 6: very militaristic way that my homework was done that before
Speaker 6: a test. I like literally in high school before Like
Speaker 6: my dad knew when I had tests, I think more
Speaker 6: than I did.
Speaker 5: I don't know how, but like.
Speaker 6: I had to know the answers the night before before
Speaker 6: going even into the test, and like that created like, unfortunately,
Speaker 6: this ideal of perfectionism. It also created, you know, the
Speaker 6: idea that I should get everything right.
Speaker 5: So there's two things.
Speaker 6: That I have to unfortunately unwind and figure out where
Speaker 6: are the boundaries to put those. But then it also
Speaker 6: gave me the ability to be everything I do. I'm
Speaker 6: that I'm not going to half ass anything, you know.
Speaker 1: It's just about the same.
Speaker 2: It's like a part of that is your work ethic
Speaker 2: is second to none. You were one of the hardest
Speaker 2: working human beings I know, like you grind to the degree,
Speaker 2: and I think that's the caveat to the everything else
Speaker 2: you just said. You know, and just like you said earlier,
Speaker 2: you alluded to it, we got to take the good
Speaker 2: with the bad.
Speaker 1: And I love that you said therapy. Yeah.
Speaker 2: I mean, anyone who doesn't have a healthy outlet find one.
Speaker 1: It's such a necessity.
Speaker 2: It unlocks so many doors and it shed so much
Speaker 2: light on why we are who we are.
Speaker 6: But you just said the most important word there is healthy.
Speaker 6: What's healthy? Let's define that is healthy? Like how many
Speaker 6: bars you can visit in a day, and how many
Speaker 6: relationships you can create with bartenders, and how many people
Speaker 6: like when you walk into it, Like you think in
Speaker 6: the moment that when you walk into a place and
Speaker 6: someone puts a shot in a beer down because they
Speaker 6: just know that's why you're there and that's who you are.
Speaker 5: Is that the identity you want?
Speaker 2: I would hope not. And that's not love, by the way,
Speaker 2: that's called capitalism. They're not putting the beer and shot
Speaker 2: down because they're like, I genuinely love this human being,
Speaker 2: and you and I both know because we're going to
Speaker 2: get into it how that goes.
Speaker 1: And I had well more than one watering hole that knews.
Speaker 1: Yeah exactly.
Speaker 4: So where did that start for you? Roy?
Speaker 3: Where did your discovery of alcohol begin?
Speaker 6: I think like it's actually from again that strict household.
Speaker 5: You just brought that up.
Speaker 6: It's like I think my parents instead of like talking
Speaker 6: about their downfalls because now like looking at it, I
Speaker 6: think my dad got into trouble a lot as a
Speaker 6: young kid and drinking and he's never really talked about it.
Speaker 6: My mom like now looking back as like yeah, my
Speaker 6: mom was the life of the party, but now thinking
Speaker 6: about it, like holy shit, did my mom drink a lot?
Speaker 6: And like what I thought was healthy, Like my mom
Speaker 6: loved jyd and Tonics. I as she got older, you know,
Speaker 6: would recognize that like like some weeks there'd be like
Speaker 6: three empty Hendrix.
Speaker 5: Bottles out at the house, you know, just.
Speaker 6: From her drinking at night. At first, you're like, oh,
Speaker 6: that's just how it is. And then later in your life,
Speaker 6: wait a second, that's developing how I view it. And
Speaker 6: then you know, later when she got cancer, and she
Speaker 6: was drinking one of those night who gives a shake,
Speaker 6: do whatever the.
Speaker 5: Hell you want.
Speaker 6: I don't care, Like party on, party the hell on.
Speaker 6: If that's what you want, that's your outlet, I don't care.
Speaker 6: You know, now looking back on it, it's like, holy crap.
Speaker 6: My parents never talked to me about it. And you know,
Speaker 6: we won this state championship for running like we were
Speaker 6: this underdog kind of like Disney movie. Like literally, we
Speaker 6: had this awesome coach who's still like one of my
Speaker 6: biggest mentors and randomly shows up in my life at
Speaker 6: the most mint like literally almost still like a Disney movie.
Speaker 6: Like it's not like we had this awesome training program.
Speaker 6: We were underfunded. We just ran every day, and we
Speaker 6: ran with this like approach that wasn't like running, like
Speaker 6: we would do mud runs where you'd like run through
Speaker 6: the mud and just get fricking destroyed and wrestle. We'd
Speaker 6: run through these old dead forests and knock down trees.
Speaker 6: Like he added fun into running, but you had to
Speaker 6: run really far to get to the fun.
Speaker 5: And then once you had fun, then you had to
Speaker 5: run back.
Speaker 6: And it was like it was this pride thing he
Speaker 6: instilled all this stuff, so Whin the state championship, we
Speaker 6: go to New England's highest ranked team in New England's
Speaker 6: we end up nationally ranked as the highest public dranked
Speaker 6: high school in America. Cross country running went from nothing
Speaker 6: to like like this blip on the map. So we'd
Speaker 6: go and celebrate this huge party. Like first time ever drinking.
Speaker 6: I drink a six pack and I didn't know I
Speaker 6: drank a six pack in literally twelve minutes. I thought
Speaker 6: it was like soda and I was like, oh, go go, go,
Speaker 6: go go, and then all of.
Speaker 5: A sudden, like just destroyed, and I was like, I
Speaker 5: need food. I need food.
Speaker 6: So we take my car, my buddy drives to sober Unfortunately,
Speaker 6: we have a missing light in the car.
Speaker 5: You know, we get pulled over.
Speaker 6: After we went to the store and I got like
Speaker 6: six orders of hal of Panio poppers. And let me
Speaker 6: tell you something, hal Of Paniel popper is a six
Speaker 6: pack of hard apple cider and a cop are a
Speaker 6: bad mix. And I puked all over this cop. I
Speaker 6: ended up like hugging the cop and all this embarrassing shit.
Speaker 6: You know, it became a laughing stock of the school.
Speaker 6: That was my introduction to drinking. So that's introduction one.
Speaker 6: Don't drink. I'm like, drinking is not for me.
Speaker 4: How did it wind up? After you hug the cop?
Speaker 5: So at the cops mom because I'm from a small town.
Speaker 6: The CoP's mom was the high school librarian, and like
Speaker 6: we were the cross country team was very like nordurized
Speaker 6: at the time, you know, like we're very recognized and
Speaker 6: like scene. And he just dropped me off in my parents'
Speaker 6: house and like, you know, told me not to have
Speaker 6: it happen again, you know, and on his shoes. Yeah,
Speaker 6: I had more puke on me though. I told him
Speaker 6: I loved him too, you know, it's awesome.
Speaker 5: Let me tell you.
Speaker 4: Okay, sorry, So then what happened?
Speaker 6: So then, don't drink, win some more state championships, graduate
Speaker 6: high school, still don't drink.
Speaker 5: Go to college. First weekend at college, let's start drinking again.
Speaker 5: Everyone's doing it. Let's go for it. Go to this party.
Speaker 6: So first we can randomly meet the head of the
Speaker 6: unh you know, row team, and he's like, you want
Speaker 6: to take a shot, and I was like again, you know.
Speaker 6: Then we start going shot for shot and this dude's
Speaker 6: like four foot eleven and I'm like five foot eleven.
Speaker 6: I'm like, I got you buy a foot Like, what
Speaker 6: is this like stupidity? So anyways, I get drunk again.
Speaker 6: I go out back once again to puke. So now
Speaker 6: you know, two times drinking puking, so obviously this is
Speaker 6: a good score. Consistent puke. This time, someone's like, you're
Speaker 6: coming with me? I turn around and push the person.
Speaker 5: It's a cop.
Speaker 6: I get thrown on the ground, I get hog tied,
Speaker 6: and I get brought to what was supposed to be
Speaker 6: the detox on campus, but it was, folks, it's opening weekend.
Speaker 6: So I had to go to the Dover State Prison
Speaker 6: and I got put in a prison cell with eighteen
Speaker 6: other individuals that were like wild and crazy. They took
Speaker 6: my shoelaces, my belt. I had to sit in there
Speaker 6: for like thirty eight hours until I blew a zero.
Speaker 2: And apparently that coup had no connection to your school librarian.
Speaker 6: Yeah, it'd only been on campus for like a day.
Speaker 6: So had it met the librarian at UNH Yeah? Yeah,
Speaker 6: and me and drinking, Me and drinking went really well
Speaker 6: right out of the gate. But I think it really
Speaker 6: came from like a place of my parents, not you know,
Speaker 6: introducing it to me in a safe manner and me
Speaker 6: always thinking it was forbidden, and then given the keys,
Speaker 6: and I was like, it'd be like, you know, giving
Speaker 6: me the keys to a trophy truck, Like let's go
Speaker 6: see how fast we can go across the woods.
Speaker 5: Like I've seen it in videos. I can do it too.
Speaker 3: I definitely identify with that. Jake and I had very
Speaker 3: different upbringings when it comes to that. But I grew
Speaker 3: up in a very strict household where alcohol was just
Speaker 3: not discussed, like we didn't talk about it. My parents
Speaker 3: didn't drink that. I so then you know, same thing
Speaker 3: when you get to college it's like, oh I actually
Speaker 3: like the taste of beer.
Speaker 1: Huh.
Speaker 2: Definitely different upbringings. I think the thing that Roy, you
Speaker 2: and I have in common is it's hereditary. You know,
Speaker 2: it's the like, oh, well, yeah, this is a gnarly
Speaker 2: experience in a bad way. Yet it could be a
Speaker 2: crutch and a numbing mechanism to help me just not fill.
Speaker 2: And then I go out of my way to try
Speaker 2: and fill anything, and then all of a sudden I
Speaker 2: become this walking, eating, breathing contradiction. And then you look
Speaker 2: back on it and growing up and you're like, man,
Speaker 2: but everybody it just was the norm, Like it was
Speaker 2: just what people did.
Speaker 1: You know, You party.
Speaker 2: All night Saturday night and show up church Sunday morning,
Speaker 2: your Sunday best and everything's like all rainbows, roses and lollipops.
Speaker 5: Like yate was opened.
Speaker 2: Absolutely, everything's great. Nothing to see here, like we're perfect. Yeah,
Speaker 2: I'd definitely relate. And you know, you and I, you
Speaker 2: and I have lived it, that's for sure, together in
Speaker 2: our in our own alcoholism and our own just embracing
Speaker 2: our crutches.
Speaker 6: You know, a couple of these come to mind. I mean,
Speaker 6: the most hungover I've ever been is when was that
Speaker 6: was with you? Actually it was in your old house
Speaker 6: in the theater. We watched whatever that movie is with
Speaker 6: Kevin Hart and Will Ferrell Get Hard and Get Hard
Speaker 6: Too and.
Speaker 5: Whatever it's called.
Speaker 6: I think we like. I think it took us nine
Speaker 6: hours to drink a gatorade. Chris the night before our
Speaker 6: buddy face palmed someone we were supposed to fill. I
Speaker 6: remember that didn't do that. I ghost rode a car
Speaker 6: that night that I stole from someone. I mean, these
Speaker 6: are yeah of a car that I stole from someone
Speaker 6: that night that we met at the bar.
Speaker 5: I mean, these are just the stories.
Speaker 1: Holy shit.
Speaker 5: Yeah remember the face bombing everything?
Speaker 1: I remember you did you? You took a car too? Yeah?
Speaker 1: I can't. And how are we not in prison or dead?
Speaker 5: I don't know, I really don't.
Speaker 6: But you know, he brought up something in that last
Speaker 6: part that is so incredible. And it's been a relative
Speaker 6: so hard in my life. The last week, one of
Speaker 6: my closest bodies guy started with high fives.
Speaker 5: He took his life last Monday.
Speaker 1: And yeah, it's bro I saw that.
Speaker 5: It's been a really hard one. I actually called my sponsor.
Speaker 6: I've got an amazing sponsor, sober twenty eight years and
Speaker 6: I called him and I said, man, I just what
Speaker 6: is the outlet right now? And he said, well, I
Speaker 6: want you to think about something. I said, all right,
Speaker 6: hit me. He said, when you were drinking, You're outlet
Speaker 6: was drinking and all you could result out of drinking
Speaker 6: was being hopeless. You can't in that moment find an emotion.
Speaker 6: Yeah you could be hopeless and sad, you could be
Speaker 6: hopeless and happy, but the problem is hopeless is what
Speaker 6: you always led with in regardles of what the feeling was.
Speaker 6: It was just you expressing the feeling I am hopeless
Speaker 6: and sad. Okay, now you're sad man, And I said,
Speaker 6: I'm fucking gutted. And he's like, all right, now, let's
Speaker 6: try a word combination. Let's try sad and gut it.
Speaker 6: And I was like yeah, and he's like, you know
Speaker 6: what the difference is. I was like, what he goes?
Speaker 6: You feel it, don't you? And I was like, it hurts,
Speaker 6: and you're not just like going and being like, man,
Speaker 6: I'm hopeless and sad and drinking away. I'm sad and
Speaker 6: gutted and I'm sitting in.
Speaker 5: It and I'll take this.
Speaker 6: Over the idea of leading with being hopeless, and that
Speaker 6: to me has like been the most resonating thing that
Speaker 6: has come out of like sobriety in the last six years,
Speaker 6: is like this idea that like, you don't lead with
Speaker 6: hopeless anymore because you can lead with hopeless and happy,
Speaker 6: but you're still leading with fucking hopeless drinking a beer.
Speaker 5: I'm so fucking happy right now.
Speaker 1: Now you're not.
Speaker 6: You're being hopeless in the moment and you're telling yourself
Speaker 6: that you're being happy. You unfortunately do not have the
Speaker 6: ability to create the separation and it also comes with
Speaker 6: who you and I are. We have addictive personalities, which
Speaker 6: unfortunately translate into other addictive things, and we can decide
Speaker 6: where we want our addictive personalities to land. And I
Speaker 6: think that's like the realization that's come out of a
Speaker 6: lot of this is it's like, I'm not going to
Speaker 6: give my addictive personality to exactly what you said, that
Speaker 6: bartender that knows my shot and a beer. You're happy
Speaker 6: because I leave you at twenty because you're not charging
Speaker 6: the full amount to your owners. You're not being accountable
Speaker 6: in the role that you were hired in. And you
Speaker 6: think that me and you have some bloy to make
Speaker 6: it that I benefit from spending time with no fuck
Speaker 6: that yep.
Speaker 3: Take us back from that day in college, the second
Speaker 3: time you chose to get drunk, and now you're in
Speaker 3: the slammer. How did alcohol then become a theme throughout
Speaker 3: your career, your adult life, and then how did you
Speaker 3: get to that point six years ago?
Speaker 6: Being set free in an environment that gave me the
Speaker 6: opportunity to explore without any boundaries is a dangerous place skiing.
Speaker 6: I knew the consequences if I went too fast, I'd
Speaker 6: hit a tree that would hurt even you know, as
Speaker 6: my drinking progressed through college, where like it was literally
Speaker 6: like Thursday through Sunday, it was guarant like I had
Speaker 6: like that weird like I remember going to see my
Speaker 6: dentist and he was like, what's wrong with the back
Speaker 6: of your teeth? I was like, I don't know, like
Speaker 6: what is wrong with the back of my teeth? And
Speaker 6: he's like, there's this weird like acidic build up and
Speaker 6: I was.
Speaker 5: Like, I don't know, I don't know. It's like do
Speaker 5: you throw up a lot?
Speaker 6: And I was like yeah, and like I had like
Speaker 6: acidic build up on the back of my teeth from
Speaker 6: so much if that tells you like, and it was
Speaker 6: seen by my dentist, so that was like a Shirtell sign.
Speaker 6: And then you know, like I got married to a
Speaker 6: really beautiful lady and like it was all built around drinking,
Speaker 6: like she worked for a beer company and.
Speaker 5: Like it was awesome.
Speaker 6: And then my mom passed away, went through a divorce,
Speaker 6: like all these things that were like Okay, your mom
Speaker 6: and your relationship is all built on like how drunk
Speaker 6: you've gotten together, and like you barely remember these moments.
Speaker 6: Your relationship is built on in fueled on like anger
Speaker 6: from drinking. Like I remember just like sitting down, like
Speaker 6: going through divorce, sitting in a lawyer office all by myself,
Speaker 6: like at a freaking like big conference table, like after
Speaker 6: the lawyers left and everything, and just being like you
Speaker 6: thought you hit rock bottom. Huh, and like you're signing
Speaker 6: away things and like you know what you thought was
Speaker 6: this life? You're just like it's literally just like you're
Speaker 6: signing these baby, I'll do this, I'll do that, and
Speaker 6: you're like, where the hell have I been? And then
Speaker 6: like you start to see like all right, this foundational
Speaker 6: item of your life is starting to crumble. Let's check
Speaker 6: in on some other buckets. And you look at these
Speaker 6: other buckets and you're like, all right, this is going
Speaker 6: to be a lot harder. Now, what's what is my
Speaker 6: financial Like take into this and you look at it
Speaker 6: and you're like, you know, I have a thing.
Speaker 5: You know, ever since quit drinking. I think I'm just shy.
Speaker 6: I have one hundred thousand dollars saved and drinking in
Speaker 6: the last six years, and that's just from what my
Speaker 6: annual spend was, you know, on average. Then you're like, okay,
Speaker 6: so financial. Then you look at friendship?
Speaker 5: All right? How many of these people could I call
Speaker 5: to go get a drink with me? All right? Cool?
Speaker 5: All of them? Check ten because they know I'll buy
Speaker 5: the drink for them. All right.
Speaker 6: Now, let's call my car's broken down on the side
Speaker 6: of the road. I don't have anybody to call. How
Speaker 6: many of these people they're probably already drunk, so they
Speaker 6: can't help you. They're probably you know, wanting to know
Speaker 6: what the benefit is from them. How are they going
Speaker 6: to benefit by how coming to help you?
Speaker 3: So?
Speaker 6: Okay, friendships are crumbling, you know, relationship we already know
Speaker 6: is crumbling, and you look at it and it's like
Speaker 6: the grout that was the foundational you know, hold on
Speaker 6: all the things you build, you know. Unfortunately it's kryptonite
Speaker 6: as alcohol, as you realize. And I'm not saying everybody
Speaker 6: in this world needs to be sober, No, there's just
Speaker 6: certain individuals that, unfortunately like they're not good at drinking.
Speaker 2: You're right, there's a lot of people that can go
Speaker 2: and have a glass of wine or beer with dinner
Speaker 2: and be just fine, you know. But I know, for
Speaker 2: me personally, last three I would say definitely the last
Speaker 2: two years before God told me, you're going to be
Speaker 2: the next one they bear if you don't stop drinking,
Speaker 2: because that's literally how it happened with me five years ago,
Speaker 2: the last couple of years. I mean, it was as
Speaker 2: soon as it hit my lips, like I was going
Speaker 2: to blackout, I was going to failure, no doubt.
Speaker 1: That's that all gas s noo breaks mentality.
Speaker 2: Just like you said, When we can channel that into healthy,
Speaker 2: it's amazing what we can accomplish. And I love the
Speaker 2: spin on words that your sponsor gave you, because that's
Speaker 2: something that you don't have to be a recovering alcoholic
Speaker 2: to think about. That's something that anyone could think about.
Speaker 2: And it's like Ash and I, you know, when we
Speaker 2: go through hard times because of stuff that happens in
Speaker 2: our families or together, and it's like, hey, listen, it's important,
Speaker 2: like let's fill this. We got to fill it. We
Speaker 2: got to fill it authentically, you know, so we can
Speaker 2: learn and grow from it. You can't just put a
Speaker 2: band aid on an amputation. It's not going to hold.
Speaker 2: You know, it's not going to hold.
Speaker 6: We haven't figured out how to be starfish yet either.
Speaker 6: And you know, regrow things. So it's like yeah, it
Speaker 6: would be nice.
Speaker 3: Yeah, So, speaking of regrowing, you had a tipping point
Speaker 3: in your career. You became a professional skier, then you
Speaker 3: became a coach. Tell us about the significant injury that
Speaker 3: put you on the path that you're on today.
Speaker 6: April twenty nine, two thousand and six. You know, nine
Speaker 6: oh five am, I hit a jump that was one
Speaker 6: hundred feet long.
Speaker 5: The problem was what one hundred and thirty feet on?
Speaker 6: It came down from thirty feet in the air, and
Speaker 6: the resultant impact into the snow first fractured my T
Speaker 6: twelve vertebrae into my spine, left me paralyzed from the
Speaker 6: belly button down. And I was super lucky. I got
Speaker 6: I got life flight of amazing care, amazing surgery, and
Speaker 6: was given the gift of you know, what you put
Speaker 6: back into your recovery is what you're going to get
Speaker 6: in your return.
Speaker 5: And I took that as much as I can. You know,
Speaker 5: I saw massive complications.
Speaker 6: I've had some bad medical doctors along the way that
Speaker 6: haven't been the best too, and you know, and they.
Speaker 1: Are, they exist, they exist.
Speaker 6: Oh my god, it's okay, Like people can make mistakes,
Speaker 6: but you know what you're messing with my life.
Speaker 5: But I think like one of the biggest takeaways.
Speaker 6: Is just has been like, all right, well, you know,
Speaker 6: what are the goods that I got out of it?
Speaker 6: And I think like the one that I remember and
Speaker 6: it's it's just been hitting me so hard is the
Speaker 6: day like hit the ground. What felt like this out
Speaker 6: of body what was an out of body experience of
Speaker 6: like hovering above my body and then you know the
Speaker 6: next thing is this ski patrol put this mask on
Speaker 6: my face and I sucked back in as the air
Speaker 6: came to my body. Was just like in that moment
Speaker 6: what you know, could have been a minute, could have
Speaker 6: been a half.
Speaker 5: Hour, whatever it was.
Speaker 6: I think that was like that moment that shows that
Speaker 6: I have the ability to fight through any adversity. I
Speaker 6: remember just like hovering above and being like you're going
Speaker 6: that way or this way?
Speaker 5: Which way you want to go?
Speaker 6: Bro? And I was like, you know, pressing the button
Speaker 6: as hard as I can to get back down. Hit
Speaker 6: the elevator button down. I want to go back to him.
Speaker 6: I want to go back to him.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 6: It's really funny, like I've had this realization after I
Speaker 6: don't know if you've watched cars on the road with
Speaker 6: either of your boys.
Speaker 5: It's on Pixar right now.
Speaker 6: It's just like the continuation of Lightning McQueen and you
Speaker 6: know of Mater And unfortunately Mater gets dressed up as
Speaker 6: a rocket ship to set the Lances speed record across
Speaker 6: the salt flats and he blows up and he actually
Speaker 6: dies and he gets set up and like the All
Speaker 6: Above like car is like like made.
Speaker 5: Or like I'm sorry you're here, but you're coming with me.
Speaker 5: He's like I don't want to go. Yeah, May and
Speaker 5: May and Lot didn't have so many more adventures.
Speaker 6: And he literally tricks the All Above to like sneak
Speaker 6: around him and go back down and like get back
Speaker 6: in his body in the car and save the wreck
Speaker 6: and come out and does set the speed record.
Speaker 5: And it's like I'm watching that with Gunner.
Speaker 6: I'm like, oh my god, like that's me, Like that's it,
Speaker 6: like let's go, and like it was that moment. It's
Speaker 6: like I don't know, I have relentless tattooed on my
Speaker 6: chest for a reason. It's like I have a relentless
Speaker 6: pursuit to get everything I want to accomplish, and I'm
Speaker 6: just I'm not gonna and if I fail. It's it's
Speaker 6: only me, and I know that if something doesn't happen,
Speaker 6: I know internally it's me. If I didn't fight that day,
Speaker 6: it wasn't like, you know, if this was an epiphany,
Speaker 6: this was some like bigger thing, It doesn't matter. There
Speaker 6: was no one else in that exact moment except for
Speaker 6: myself that was like, dude, you need to fight to
Speaker 6: get back down and if you don't fight, you're going
Speaker 6: to go up there. And that's like at the end
Speaker 6: of the day, Like it's such a moment to realize that.
Speaker 6: It's like, dude, it's all on you. Don't just talk
Speaker 6: the talk, walk the walk or limp the limp whatever you.
Speaker 5: Want to say. And I'll just limp the limp because
Speaker 5: I don't walk that good.
Speaker 2: You know what, You walk a lot better than they
Speaker 2: thought you were going to.
Speaker 3: So how did your recovery go once you made that
Speaker 3: ultimate decision? Like, no, I still won't be in this fight.
Speaker 3: I still want to do this life thing. Tell me
Speaker 3: about your recovery and what happened from that and how much.
Speaker 1: You thought it was.
Speaker 6: You know what, Like looking back on it, I think
Speaker 6: like the best thing were the mean nurses because it
Speaker 6: makes you really realize, like how amazing a nurse, a doctor,
Speaker 6: a physical therapist, an occupational therapist, anybody along the road
Speaker 6: to recovery were so beneficial, but you really don't realize
Speaker 6: it untill later when you're like, holy shit, that one nurse,
Speaker 6: Like I had to get this ner rotten shot, so
Speaker 6: like I wouldn't get you know, decreased blood thinning, so
Speaker 6: I wouldn't get you know, blood clots and stuff like that.
Speaker 6: And like I had these three nurses that were just like, oh, Roy,
Speaker 6: like it's so nice to see you today, Like do
Speaker 6: you want some apple sauce?
Speaker 5: Like so nice? And they're like, Roy, look outside, there's a.
Speaker 6: Birding like and I was like, oh, there's a like
Speaker 6: don't even realize it. And then not even kidding you,
Speaker 6: I her name was Helda, which I'm not making up.
Speaker 1: And because it wouldn't be anything like yeah, and it's.
Speaker 6: Not like her name's like Samantha, right, so Helda like
Speaker 6: comes in and I'm not kidding. Like the white thing,
Speaker 6: you know, like the like Hollywood version of a scary
Speaker 6: like nineteen fifties military like nurse, like the way they portrayed.
Speaker 2: It a different Disney Pixar movie.
Speaker 5: This is not from Disney.
Speaker 6: Helda like comes in and she's like, you're not doing
Speaker 6: well to that. You look like you're going to die.
Speaker 6: No blood caught today, but bye see you tomorrow. At seven,
Speaker 6: You're like, what just happened? And like you get a
Speaker 6: black and blue So every time you look down, you're like, oh, helda,
Speaker 6: Oh helda. It's like, you know, but then years later
Speaker 6: you're like, Jesus Christ, thank God for her. Like imagine if,
Speaker 6: like you imagine if it was the other way around,
Speaker 6: you had ninety percent Helda and ten percent like Samantha's
Speaker 6: or whatever.
Speaker 5: Name you think.
Speaker 6: Yeah, but that's like one thing that I always think
Speaker 6: about in that recovery. But you know, recovery for me
Speaker 6: was like it wasn't until like again I hit another
Speaker 6: rock bottom and another rock bottom that like I actually
Speaker 6: decided that again it was me. I was so codependent
Speaker 6: on my girlfriend at the time. I was so codependent
Speaker 6: on whiskey that like the two of them were a
Speaker 6: deadly combination. During the day, I like, basically her life
Speaker 6: was my life, you know, disappointment, that appointment, all these things.
Speaker 6: Didn't know what to do when it was just me.
Speaker 6: Then at night when she would go to work, like
Speaker 6: I would just drink and it's like, okay, so I'm alone,
Speaker 6: but I'm not feeling things. And it wasn't until like
Speaker 6: you know, that kind of ended, you know, we broke up.
Speaker 6: I went to live with my parents in a completely
Speaker 6: unaccessible house, and I'm like I realized, like right then,
Speaker 6: like all right, nothing about quality of life is where
Speaker 6: you want. I was sleeping on a couch, you know,
Speaker 6: and it's just like, what the what are we doing?
Speaker 6: And I had met this dude, this trainer, his name
Speaker 6: was Wayne Burwell or his name is Wayne Burwell, and
Speaker 6: he's like just you know, this sod after trainer and
Speaker 6: African American David Vebora is a great way to put it.
Speaker 6: He like randomly saw me and I was like, you know,
Speaker 6: I was at the bottom. And he's just like, dude,
Speaker 6: you show up every day at ten fifteen, I'll train
Speaker 6: you every day for free. Every day you show up,
Speaker 6: you get free training. Well, skip a day with you,
Speaker 6: skip a day without a train, you skip a day
Speaker 6: without a reason, it's over.
Speaker 1: Wow. And I was like I never knew that, man.
Speaker 2: Yeah, we've never talked about tell me that wasn't a
Speaker 2: god Bill.
Speaker 5: Dude.
Speaker 6: This guy, I mean, he's Wayne's fifty plus now, he
Speaker 6: has like one percent body fat on him. He's a saint,
Speaker 6: and I think he saw that in me every day
Speaker 6: I showed up and then he made me a bet.
Speaker 6: He's like, dude, the first day you go skiing, I'll
Speaker 6: be there and I'll tell you what, dude, Skiing is
Speaker 6: such a humbling thing because Wayne is like as I said,
Speaker 6: he's like a physical phenom.
Speaker 5: He came out skiing and he had that Bambi leg
Speaker 5: all over. I don't know what I'm doing approach to skiing.
Speaker 6: And it's just one of those mentors that it's not
Speaker 6: like I see Wayne that often, but every time I
Speaker 6: need Wayne in my life, Wayne shows up. You know,
Speaker 6: from that moment of like realizing it's only you in
Speaker 6: this fight you got to fight to get back to
Speaker 6: your body, but then realizing as you go through it
Speaker 6: that like you can't be dependent on others. You need
Speaker 6: to allow people to be dependent on you. And so
Speaker 6: if someone says, hey, you show up every day at
Speaker 6: ten fifteen, I'll train you for free, all right, they're
Speaker 6: depending on you'd show up at ten fifteen and when
Speaker 6: you when that happens, you know, a bond creates and
Speaker 6: I think that's like one of the biggest takeaways from that.
Speaker 6: And then that moved into my physical therapist.
Speaker 5: This guy named Lad Williams.
Speaker 6: Why you know, it was this Native American that like
Speaker 6: did more healing, you know through a I don't know,
Speaker 6: hold your hands over it, and all of a sudden,
Speaker 6: warm camp fire feeling shows up.
Speaker 5: In your kneecap type thing.
Speaker 6: It was same thing with him, Hey, show up every
Speaker 6: day at two and we'll do physical therapy for six hours.
Speaker 6: And it was like, you know, every day at two o'clock.
Speaker 6: Once I moved back out West, was you know, dedicated
Speaker 6: to the dependency of me showing up.
Speaker 5: And I think that's really like, I don't know, it's
Speaker 5: free to show up. It's free. There is no cost
Speaker 5: to showing up.
Speaker 4: I think that's such a beautiful thing.
Speaker 3: As you're sitting here talking, I think about your recovery
Speaker 3: wasn't done by you. Yes, the majority of it was
Speaker 3: your grit, your tenacity to work through it, but you
Speaker 3: had other people that truly stepped in, Like I think
Speaker 3: about Vic Miller, who's one of Jake's good friends, you know,
Speaker 3: quintessential marine and a good friend of ours. Vic showed
Speaker 3: up for Jake. Not only did he have the friends
Speaker 3: and family that came and spent the time with him
Speaker 3: in the hospital, but Vic was so consistent. And that's
Speaker 3: such a beautiful thing. And I think it's important for
Speaker 3: us to recognize, like, hey, sometimes when you're in that
Speaker 3: strong place, go be that for someone else, because there's
Speaker 3: a point in time when you need that, when you're
Speaker 3: at your low. So how was high fives birthed?
Speaker 6: Yeah, so the name of high five's it's got a
Speaker 6: kind of a funny story. The next day after my surgery,
Speaker 6: the surgeon came in, this guy that bedside manner was
Speaker 6: not what I would say he was really sought after
Speaker 6: surgery was. And you know, he gave me this great
Speaker 6: news and said, you know, hey, whatever you put into
Speaker 6: your recovery, you'll get back in your return. And I
Speaker 6: didn't know what else to do other than to put
Speaker 6: my hand up and ask for a high five, because
Speaker 6: at this moment can't move in my bed, I can't
Speaker 6: jump out of joy, you know and stand up. So
Speaker 6: I put my hand up and literally I'm just sitting
Speaker 6: there for what I swear it felt like thirty minutes,
Speaker 6: but you know, Lo and Behold, it's it's probably like
Speaker 6: five seconds. But you know, in that moment of just
Speaker 6: like despair, like come on, you know what to do.
Speaker 6: You can hit my hand, please just slap it. Well,
Speaker 6: have this positive exchange. It'll be awesome. Lo and Behold,
Speaker 6: he didn't know what to do. I had to literally
Speaker 6: explain it to him. And then, you know, years later,
Speaker 6: when we're trying to come up with a name for
Speaker 6: the foundation, the first few like let's call it the
Speaker 6: Roy Tuscany Foundation. No, and then I was like, hey,
Speaker 6: I remember this moment, and I was like, how about
Speaker 6: high fives? And I was like, whoa, that's what we're
Speaker 6: gonna do in this process. We're gonna give out high
Speaker 6: fives to individuals when they have life changing injuries and
Speaker 6: help them through the recovery process.
Speaker 4: And we're not gonna leave them hanging.
Speaker 3: You're gonna yeah, awesome, tell us about your journey to sobriety.
Speaker 6: So high Fives in the first couple of years got
Speaker 6: growth of like two hundred and twenty five percent annually
Speaker 6: on average. So it went from this idea of like
Speaker 6: helping one to helping now five to then twenty to
Speaker 6: then all of a sudden, like literally everything it was
Speaker 6: high Fi's Roy Roy High Five's High I's Roy Roy
Speaker 6: High Iive's Roy High I's Highfi's Roy. There was no
Speaker 6: boundary between my identity and it became this immerged almost
Speaker 6: like new persona where I couldn't be anything but this
Speaker 6: like public figure, and it took this toll. I was
Speaker 6: in a really unhappy relationship at the time, my mom
Speaker 6: was dying of cancer. All these things were just stacking up,
Speaker 6: and instead of actually allowing myself to feel it was
Speaker 6: just so much easy. I I you know, it's so
Speaker 6: funny like talking about this stuff now, it's like, at
Speaker 6: what time was it okay for me? Like like my
Speaker 6: first shot, I'd take a shot, be like see you later,
Speaker 6: and like thinking that was so cool, like see you later, Like.
Speaker 5: What the hell are you doing?
Speaker 6: And so you know, massive growth, massive instantaneous success, but
Speaker 6: like small pond success, but a big fish in a
Speaker 6: very small pond, massive ego that then developed into like
Speaker 6: almost like you can't touch this, you know.
Speaker 5: Twenty sixteen, like I was.
Speaker 6: At I had went with you know, you know, I'm
Speaker 6: uncle Scott unfortunately passed away drinking is what, you know,
Speaker 6: took his life.
Speaker 5: He's one of the greatest humans I ever known.
Speaker 6: And if his heart was his only thing he had
Speaker 6: in this world, oh my god, the world would be
Speaker 6: the best place in the place ever. But unfortunately drinking took,
Speaker 6: you know, was what ended Scott's life, and it was
Speaker 6: going to end my life. It was going to end
Speaker 6: a lot of people's lives. And you know, I could
Speaker 6: have ended someone's life too, which is the scariest thing
Speaker 6: out of the whole coincidence. But Scott had so much money,
Speaker 6: you know, it was endless. We had a you know,
Speaker 6: an American Express black card. You know, we had this
Speaker 6: beautiful RV. We had tickets to all everything. It was like,
Speaker 6: you know, we were living like the I don't even know,
Speaker 6: like the Billionaire Boys Club almost. I remember going and
Speaker 6: this is like how fucked up like an addictive mind
Speaker 6: can be. Is I remember going to the liquor store
Speaker 6: and being like, dude, let's drink a whole bottle, a
Speaker 6: whole handle a cass amigos in one night and you
Speaker 6: can do it. And I was like, this is gonna
Speaker 6: be awesome. And I did it, did it without a problem.
Speaker 6: Actually I don't even remember what time I went to bed.
Speaker 6: I woke up at like six forty five in the morning,
Speaker 6: like half on a couch in between like a table
Speaker 6: and a couch on an RV, like in my clothes,
Speaker 6: just like that's not life.
Speaker 5: That moment right then and there, I said like, all right, dude,
Speaker 5: you did it. Congratulations, you accomplished your goal.
Speaker 6: What's next? The only thing bigger than a handle is
Speaker 6: a keg? What are you gonna drink a keg in
Speaker 6: a night? Dumbass? Not possible. And so from a competitive mindset,
Speaker 6: I originally was like, all right, dude, you gotta take
Speaker 6: thirty days going through a divorce, Mom's cancer just escalated,
Speaker 6: Dad's in a new relationship, all these things, and like
Speaker 6: I wasn't feeling any of them. All these things were
Speaker 6: stacking up, and the root of everything was the idea
Speaker 6: that I just I wasn't feeling anything, and like I
Speaker 6: was masking everything. And I think that was that takeaway
Speaker 6: and that idea of that competitive mindset, and like being
Speaker 6: honest with myself for like the first time in so long,
Speaker 6: are you really going to put all your talents into
Speaker 6: how much consumption you can put forth?
Speaker 5: Or are you gonna like.
Speaker 6: Just be real and help people and you know, be
Speaker 6: genuine and.
Speaker 5: Figure out who the fuck you are.
Speaker 6: And you know, it's like six years later, it's it's unreal, man,
Speaker 6: it's unreal.
Speaker 5: The conversations with your therapist, it's unreal.
Speaker 6: All these all the conversations you can have, you know,
Speaker 6: and it's just like you reflect back on it and
Speaker 6: it's like you can't everything is so frickin poisoned that
Speaker 6: like you can't find the remedy for it until the
Speaker 6: only remedy is you. And when you realize that, you
Speaker 6: start to empower yourself. And like the journey over the
Speaker 6: last six years, like, oh my god, I think it's
Speaker 6: been harder than the first thirty six years of my life.
Speaker 6: But I'll take it because with every growth, I am
Speaker 6: coming off of a mistake. With every growth, I'm feeling
Speaker 6: why I'm growing from it. And when I grow now
Speaker 6: it's not being masked, it's actually being a tablished and
Speaker 6: being built into that foundation. And unfortunately, you know, I
Speaker 6: know that the grout that holds my foundation together dissolves
Speaker 6: when alcohol is put into it.
Speaker 5: And if I want to have.
Speaker 6: A stronger foundation, well then I guess three cups of coffee.
Speaker 6: Is you know, I'll take that. I might just get
Speaker 6: a little energized and I might get more done, but
Speaker 6: I can feel what I'm getting done, and I take
Speaker 6: that every single day.
Speaker 5: So I mean, that's been my journey.
Speaker 3: I want to thank you for being so vulnerable and
Speaker 3: for sharing the beautiful words that you just shared, for
Speaker 3: the journey that you did, for choosing life and now
Speaker 3: for choosing a clean life and all that you're able
Speaker 3: to accomplish because of that. So thank you for sharing that.
Speaker 3: That was really touching. If you can think back on
Speaker 3: your life's journey, is there an individual or an organization
Speaker 3: that's made a huge impact on you.
Speaker 6: I think like one that has made an absolute huge
Speaker 6: impact on me is make a Wish. I think like
Speaker 6: they set a standard for a lot of what myself
Speaker 6: and Jake do. Now, do we provide a trip for
Speaker 6: a family to go to Disneyland. Maybe we have a
Speaker 6: couple times, but that's not at the root of what
Speaker 6: we do. But at the root of what we do
Speaker 6: is we provide hope to those that unfortunately don't really
Speaker 6: have hope in their timeline. And I think that really
Speaker 6: all comes from the model of make a wish, And
Speaker 6: so I think, like thinking back on it, thinking about
Speaker 6: what was that first you know nonprofit organization that really
Speaker 6: resonated within me was make a Wish. So I think
Speaker 6: that make a Wish is something that has built a
Speaker 6: catalyst for other organizations.
Speaker 5: At that time, we're not being around. There wasn't a.
Speaker 6: Mental health therapy group for armed services in the nineteen
Speaker 6: eighties and nineties. It was sorry, you're a wuss, fill
Speaker 6: out this paperwork and deal with it.
Speaker 5: Like that's how it was, you know.
Speaker 6: But now that idea of like you know, providing hope
Speaker 6: to people from the catalyst of what we make a wish,
Speaker 6: I think is what really has set me into the
Speaker 6: role that I am now in using that as a
Speaker 6: platform to you know, in a nutshell what h fhives does?
Speaker 5: You know we grant.
Speaker 2: Hope, great answer and completely agree. So what do you
Speaker 2: do to unwind and recharge?
Speaker 5: My new outlet is adapted mountain biking.
Speaker 6: It has become my absolute savior, and it's because it
Speaker 6: is a real life device, something that is available. You know,
Speaker 6: you can go to any store in America, not any store,
Speaker 6: but you can go to a bike store in America
Speaker 6: and buy an e bike and it's suitable for individuals
Speaker 6: with disabilities. Jake, I got a fleet of them here.
Speaker 6: The next time you're up here will go out. I'll
Speaker 6: never forget it. Got my first E bike for my buddy,
Speaker 6: Paul B. Paul was a Red Bull mountain biker that
Speaker 6: sustained a spinal cord injury at the rampage of It
Speaker 6: in Utah. We became super close over that injury, and
Speaker 6: you know, he helped develop an e bike to get
Speaker 6: him back on. Me and him very similar walking paraplegics.
Speaker 6: So he developed a bike with Scott and he got
Speaker 6: me one of them and he's like, well, you gotta
Speaker 6: try this, and I was like, dude, I don't know.
Speaker 6: Like I'd had my journey with mountain bike and prior
Speaker 6: to my injury and then post injury.
Speaker 5: I got on this bike.
Speaker 6: I remember the first pedal stroke I made as I
Speaker 6: went up the hill and I was like, wait, did
Speaker 6: my spinal cord injury just go away? Like what is
Speaker 6: going on here? And that moment, you know, Matthew McConaughey
Speaker 6: talks about it. He's like, yo, when you feel joy man,
Speaker 6: and it's like that's it. You don't you feel happy
Speaker 6: a lot. When you feel joy, it transforms stuff. Yeah,
Speaker 6: that moment right there, and then that's it adapted. Mountain
Speaker 6: biking on my e bike has become this transformational process
Speaker 6: for me, a new way to explore. I got this
Speaker 6: little seat that I put Gunner on. There, me and
Speaker 6: him go out riding together.
Speaker 5: It's unreal.
Speaker 6: It's giving me the gift of something that it's a
Speaker 6: corny phrase, but dude, you know, I never thought I'd
Speaker 6: be able to fall back in love with mountain biking,
Speaker 6: and I've been given the gift too, So it's really cool.
Speaker 4: That's beautiful. Last question, what feeds your soul?
Speaker 5: Right now?
Speaker 6: What feeds my soul are moments with Gunner and Elena
Speaker 6: that we get to experience.
Speaker 5: Elena and I both have disabilities. My wife's in a wheelchair.
Speaker 6: I walk with a pretty heavy limp and a very
Speaker 6: limited to mobility. But there have been that people that
Speaker 6: have taken Gunner out on the front of the surfboard
Speaker 6: so we can serve with us. We've got a great
Speaker 6: group of friends, from my adopted son Sano, to my
Speaker 6: goddaughter Ruby, to employees Becca and Danny who heather Gunner
Speaker 6: so he can go skiing with Elena and I because
Speaker 6: unfortunately we can't teach him to ski outside of just
Speaker 6: you know, being there to coach him because of our disabilities.
Speaker 6: So it's like those moments that we get to experience
Speaker 6: with Gunner, Like that's the soul feeding.
Speaker 5: You know.
Speaker 6: Last night I was with one of our largest donors,
Speaker 6: who unfortunately doesn't have any kids, and he looked me
Speaker 6: right in the face and he says, Roy, I am
Speaker 6: poor in life, rich in property. You are rich in
Speaker 6: life life and pretty poor and property. It's like joking,
Speaker 6: it's like pretty poor and property.
Speaker 1: To what I got.
Speaker 5: You know.
Speaker 6: He's a funny guy. And I was like, Wow, what
Speaker 6: currency do you want to operate in? And like, yeah,
Speaker 6: obviously we need to operate in the currency of like property,
Speaker 6: because we need a house, we need a car, we
Speaker 6: need these things to operate in our daily life. But
Speaker 6: if like you, operate in the currency of life, then
Speaker 6: all that matters is how you exchange those moments in life,
Speaker 6: and that's how I choose to feed my soul.
Speaker 3: Well, this is one of those moments for us. Certainly,
Speaker 3: thank you for feeding our soul. Just truly touched by
Speaker 3: your story and everything you've been through everything you continue
Speaker 3: to do.
Speaker 4: Roy, thank you for being on the good stuff.
Speaker 6: I love you guys so much. This was so much fun.
Speaker 6: I can't We've been doing this for over an hour
Speaker 6: and forty minutes.
Speaker 2: Now, bro, my bro, I tell you what we do
Speaker 2: go back several years, minion years, and we've spent a
Speaker 2: lot of time together over the years.
Speaker 1: And I got to tell you right now.
Speaker 2: I mean, even though this is for our show and
Speaker 2: you're gracious enough to be a guest, I want to
Speaker 2: thank you for being the most present I've ever had
Speaker 2: the privilege of having you. And that's saying a lot,
Speaker 2: because you you always did show up, no matter what
Speaker 2: I mean, hungover, drunk, it didn't matter.
Speaker 1: You showed up.
Speaker 2: But it is pretty rad for you and I to
Speaker 2: be able to share some time and be ever present
Speaker 2: in the moment.
Speaker 1: I'm very very grateful for.
Speaker 2: That in this time, Roy tuscany great human being there
Speaker 2: will only ever be one. And I'm pretty sure I
Speaker 2: say that about all the people we interviewed.
Speaker 1: But there's a.
Speaker 4: Point absolutely right, I mean, such a great guy.
Speaker 2: These people are not the Diamond dozen people, right, These
Speaker 2: are the people that they unzipp their trescavity.
Speaker 1: They bear their soul.
Speaker 2: To the world and they say, let's roll, let's do
Speaker 2: better together, let's do awesome stuff.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 3: To go from being told you're never going to walk
Speaker 3: again to having this coach show up and say, show
Speaker 3: up every day at ten o'clock, I'll train you for free.
Speaker 1: Yes, it wasn't free. It is his time costs money.
Speaker 4: Exactly most precious commodity has.
Speaker 3: And then for him to go through everything he's gone
Speaker 3: through saying hey, I'm going to start this foundation and
Speaker 3: then getting sober. I mean, I love the parallels between
Speaker 3: the two of you, your life stories and where you're
Speaker 3: both at today and how present you're able to be
Speaker 3: with one another.
Speaker 4: It's just a beautiful thing.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 2: It's proof positive that there is a higher power and
Speaker 2: a higher calling and the fact that we both can
Speaker 2: truly appreciate our victories and truly process our failures now
Speaker 2: in a real way the way it was meant to be.
Speaker 3: Is it's poetic, absolutely, And like he said, when I
Speaker 3: grow now it's not being masked, it's being established into
Speaker 3: my foundation.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: I mean, he's awesome. What an awesome story. Everything about
Speaker 2: it except the nurse.
Speaker 4: Helda she sounds scary.
Speaker 1: What a horrible human.
Speaker 4: That's trying to save my life and make me feel better.
Speaker 4: Thank you so much for listening to this episode of
Speaker 4: the Good Stuff. If it touched you today, please share it.
Speaker 4: Be part of making someone else's day better.
Speaker 2: Put on your badass case and be great today, and
Speaker 2: remember you can't do epic stuff without epic people.
Speaker 1: Again, thank you for listening to the good Stuff.
Speaker 3: The Good Stuff is executive produced by Ashley Shick, Jacob Schick,
Speaker 3: Leah Pictures and q Code Media. Hosted by Ashley Shick
Speaker 3: and Jacob Schick, Produced by Nick Casselini and Ryan kants House.
Speaker 4: Post production supervisor Will Tindy.
Speaker 3: Music editing by Will Haywood Smith, Edited by Mike Robinson,