Speaker 1: Christ Yeah, Welcome friends to the Christian O'Connell show podcast.
Speaker 2: Jackie Boy, tell me how you feel in today? This
Speaker 2: is an interesting and exciting moment for you. Jack's got
Speaker 2: an interview on a podcast, a brilliant podcast, one of
Speaker 2: the biggest ones in Australia called Imperfect and Jack is
Speaker 2: a very deserved special guest on the brand new episode
Speaker 2: out today.
Speaker 1: Thank you for saying. Man, If I'm honest, I have
Speaker 1: a not in my stomach right now about it coming out.
Speaker 1: It's a podcast I love. It's very vulnerable and open,
Speaker 1: and I'm very happy to listen to other people be vulnerable
Speaker 1: and open. But when it's you in that hot seat,
Speaker 1: it's a very different experience, and I guess to that
Speaker 1: I'm worried about just what the reaction would be for
Speaker 1: people hearing it for the first time. I've spoken a
Speaker 1: little bit about on this show about what I went
Speaker 1: through when Gordon was born and I struggled with postnatal
Speaker 1: depression and it was something that I didn't know what
Speaker 1: it was at the time. I was very confused about
Speaker 1: what was going on. It was very hard for me
Speaker 1: to come into the show. It was a difficult period
Speaker 1: of my life. And it's one thing to speak on
Speaker 1: this show for ten minutes about it, but it's another
Speaker 1: thing to sit down with those boys and speak at
Speaker 1: length for over an hour about everything I've been through
Speaker 1: over the last two years with Gordy and I don't
Speaker 1: know you've been on the show. How did you feel
Speaker 1: when it was coming out?
Speaker 2: Terrified? Really really terrified, you know when I went on,
Speaker 2: and they do a great podcast and they're really friendly guys,
Speaker 2: But honestly, when you go into this room, it's like
Speaker 2: an interrogation room, and it's not them. It's just that
Speaker 2: it's black curtains everywhere, and then there's lights in front
Speaker 2: of you, then there's cameras, and so it's one thing
Speaker 2: to like write a vulnerable post or even you know,
Speaker 2: write a book that I did a couple of years
Speaker 2: ago about having panic attacks, then to go in there
Speaker 2: and talk about it for about two hours right being recorded.
Speaker 2: You're being vulnerable as well. You're aware that people are
Speaker 2: going to be able to watch me cry, not just
Speaker 2: hear it. Yes, and it's all happening in there gently
Speaker 2: basically an open heart surgery.
Speaker 1: It's like the integratory irrigation scenes out of Sas, except
Speaker 1: they're not yelling at you. They're going tell me your
Speaker 1: deepest keep going, story.
Speaker 2: Going, keep going, and it's I found it. I feared
Speaker 2: what people would think about me, and actually, I think,
Speaker 2: what really is going on? Actually you're not worried about
Speaker 2: other people think about There's still probably some shame around it.
Speaker 2: There was so many a couple of years ago when
Speaker 2: it came out and I actually found it. It was
Speaker 2: equivalent to a couple of years of therapy. I feared
Speaker 2: judgment Jack, and all I got was so many emails
Speaker 2: still getting today about my episode two odd years ago.
Speaker 2: I just got more and more connection because actually you
Speaker 2: realize the more vulnerable you are, the deeper we connect
Speaker 2: to people. And I've heard Jack's episode. I heard it
Speaker 2: last week. It is incredible. This is a story of healing,
Speaker 2: and you bravely go to heal. There was a loss
Speaker 2: and a longing that you were feeling in your heart
Speaker 2: for what happened when your son was bored. And it
Speaker 2: will help people hear in this. They will I think
Speaker 2: you'll normalize what it's like when we have tough times
Speaker 2: in life, and no matter how you try and build
Speaker 2: your life, to try and fly under the radio where
Speaker 2: tough times won't come for you, they will. You're going
Speaker 2: to find yourself from Tomas. You're going to find yourself
Speaker 2: one day waking up and it feels like there's a
Speaker 2: dark forest in your life and you don't know the
Speaker 2: how a you're going to get out. Then you don't
Speaker 2: even know how to go back to how it was.
Speaker 2: And so the best thing you can do about that
Speaker 2: is you've shared your story now. I mean, where you
Speaker 2: are now is a magical pas karaoke with Gordon.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I know it's I'm a hugely different person who
Speaker 1: I was two years ago in that moment. And that
Speaker 1: is one of the feelings you feel when you struggling
Speaker 1: with mental health or depression, is you feel so lonely
Speaker 1: and isolated. You honestly feel like you are the only
Speaker 1: person who feels this way. And the strange feelings I
Speaker 1: had when I became a dad for the first time,
Speaker 1: and you and pattern with lots of people I love
Speaker 1: in my life who are parents, were saying, you'll love
Speaker 1: Gordy so much, or you'll meet this new baby who
Speaker 1: comes into your life and you'll love them like you've
Speaker 1: never loved anything before. So I felt really strange when
Speaker 1: that love and connection didn't come straight away from me,
Speaker 1: and that made me feel really ashamed and made me
Speaker 1: feel really isolated and a very difficult thing to talk about.
Speaker 1: And it took me a long time to open up
Speaker 1: to people in my family. It took me a long
Speaker 1: time to and I thank god I finally told you
Speaker 1: as well, because I was coming in here every day
Speaker 1: pretending that I was fine, and I wasn't fine. So
Speaker 1: we had a lot of long chats in this studio
Speaker 1: after the show, and I'm very thankful for those conversations,
Speaker 1: and it helped me realize that by talking about it,
Speaker 1: you'd lift a lot of that shame off. And when
Speaker 1: I talked about it for the first time on this
Speaker 1: show and I got instead of people feeling like that
Speaker 1: was a weird thing, I got a lot of messages
Speaker 1: of support or messages of saying, hey, I went through this,
Speaker 1: or my husband went through this, or my partner went
Speaker 1: through this, and you're right, it only built connection.
Speaker 2: Yeah, And I'm an order of you what you've been through, Jack,
Speaker 2: And also what a gift is When you've been through
Speaker 2: a tough time and you heal and you grow, it
Speaker 2: doesn't diminish you it actually makes you more of you.
Speaker 2: You're you're a you're a more loving, open empathetic person
Speaker 2: because of what happened to you. And when I heard
Speaker 2: the interview right and I ased you order to hear
Speaker 2: it today, right, this is a joyful story Jack. It's
Speaker 2: like you had a tough time and then you went
Speaker 2: and got help. Something wasn't right, and you actually did
Speaker 2: the brave thing that most people don't want to do,
Speaker 2: is you want you wanted to go and face yourself
Speaker 2: whatever was there, and actually sit down opposite yourself and
Speaker 2: work out what is happening here, what's going on? And
Speaker 2: then you grew through it and actually, you know what,
Speaker 2: I know. You know a couple of weeks ago, when
Speaker 2: you first invited to go on, you must have thought
Speaker 2: about saying no.
Speaker 1: I did, like, screw that definitely the first thought when
Speaker 1: the invite came in.
Speaker 2: Yeah that no, No, an invitation to be vulnerable. No
Speaker 2: fary easier to let your other people on the radio
Speaker 2: about the importance of being vitable read my book. I
Speaker 2: don't want to go and talk about it again. I'm
Speaker 2: scared of being vulnerable, I said. He realized my wife
Speaker 2: is going so let me restrang you. You've written a
Speaker 2: book about the power of vulnerable. Yes, you talk about
Speaker 2: it on the radio, but you don't want to go
Speaker 2: and be vulnerable. No, but you expect other people to
Speaker 2: be vulnerable. But you've done it, Jack, And what you
Speaker 2: get throughout the whole chat with the boys is your
Speaker 2: deep love for Gordon and your amazing wife as well.
Speaker 2: Be glad, Oh my god. It shines through right a
Speaker 2: from the beginning. And also because it's our boy, Jackie boy,
Speaker 2: this is a very funny chat as well, all of
Speaker 2: Jack is there. You will get something from the interview.
Speaker 2: It's called the Imperfect, and I think it's a great title.
Speaker 2: Sometimes we feel that we're broken and flawed in life,
Speaker 2: but you're not. It's messy, it's hard being a human,
Speaker 2: and sometimes the best thing we can do is share
Speaker 2: those messy, hard stories where we feel like we're coming undone.
Speaker 2: But you weren't coming undone. It was actually just you
Speaker 2: were breaking through to the new Jack post. And as
Speaker 2: I sit in front of you now, even us having
Speaker 2: this conversation, Jack and I last week went for a
Speaker 2: walk and sat on a bench talking about how you
Speaker 2: might feel today and over the next couple of days.
Speaker 2: But I think you might be surprised by the messages
Speaker 2: you get as people will hear your story. It's a
Speaker 2: beautiful story, mate, and I am in awe of the
Speaker 2: people that you may never even meet, who are who
Speaker 2: are going to get something from that chat chat so
Speaker 2: well done. It's one thing to go through and grow
Speaker 2: through it, and then to go and talk about it
Speaker 2: for a long time with those boys and share it
Speaker 2: with wait, the entire country and the world. That's some
Speaker 2: real powerful vulnerability. So good on you, mate, You're a
Speaker 2: shining example of what it is to be a man
Speaker 2: to Gordon as well.
Speaker 1: Oh, I appreciate it, and I appreciate the ongoing support
Speaker 1: and even right up until the point where I did
Speaker 1: the interview where you walked me from the radio station
Speaker 1: here in Richmond to their studios in Collingwood, like mum
Speaker 1: dropping me up at school on my first day of
Speaker 1: being vulnerable, Your mum, what could you call me that?
Speaker 1: I really appreciate the supply.
Speaker 2: I love our friendship, and I am in awe of
Speaker 2: what you're what you're doing as well and showing up
Speaker 2: for yourself and other people. Jack. It's called the imperfects.
Speaker 2: Wherever you get your podcasts you'll find it. Check it
Speaker 2: out The Christian Connell Show podcast