Wind Down with Janet Kramer and I'm Heart Radio Podcast.
Hi honey, Hello, can you please its almost Christmas issue?
Kind of as in your way into persuade and meet to put decorations up for the November.
Yes, can we agree on a date?
Like?
Can we can? We can we put it in the calendar and agree on a date because last year we put it up before Roman was born. Well, we put up about sixty percent of.
It because Roman was going to be born and we have no time afterwards.
Yeah, but I still like them being up before Thanksgiving and because we're leaving too for Thanksgiving, So I feel like what if we did, like, let's just do some planning right now, let's just go on the calendar to a little planning. Can we do the second week in November? That sound good too?
You want that way?
It just feels like a mutual thing.
Well, it's a week, it's a week of putting them up.
So I would like I would not like to solid see if we could like condense it to like a two day process, that would be awesome.
Yeah, that's a twenty year old day for two days.
I do all of it. Oh wow, I do you help me bring the boxes down, But I really did you put any I mean minus minus the garland on the on the railing, babe, which part of it, besides the garland and the tree.
Besides the garland which stretches the whole span of the house, and the garland on the outside staircase, and the tree which is like a redwood tree in the north of California.
Yes, thank you so much, one hundred feet tall.
It's true. True.
Okay, Well, it's going to be great. Anyways, how's your week been.
It's been good because my little big man has been here.
Yeah, it's been awesome.
My heart feels cool when they hear.
Yeah.
As you know, he leaves tonight.
So we had a little training session this morning, not taking them for lunch. It's afternoon before he goes to the airport. It's been good. It's been busy since he's been here. Yeah, I felt like since he's arrived, it's been something every day.
It's been awesome.
And we've got no food in the fridge because he never stops eating. I just made I just made this four eggs each with some beef in the eggs in half an ab caddle right, and he said it wasn't enough and made another four eggs and five slices of tucky bacon.
That now I feel fool.
As my mom used to say that my brother was going to eat us out of house and home. So I guess it's just the thing when you get older, you know.
Yeah, my mom dad used to say that I had the worms, worm worms for the Americans, worms worms, worms, whatms?
Bottoms? Okay, okay, I had worms.
I don't is what does that mean?
Well?
Does having warms mean? Basically means you've got a parasite that eats all the food that comes into your stomach, so you constantly feel hungry.
Speaking of parasites, I'm going to do a parasite clans which is going to be very interesting, and you have to do it over the full moon. That's that's the weird part about it. But apparently you have to do it like the day to have it synced up to a full moon, which to me is just again a little weird, but they say that's how you're supposed to do it, and that's when the parasites come out.
So sort of wear wolves. They want to come out on a film moon.
I know, it's it's weird. I'm going to look into it a little bit more. But there is a full moon coming up very soon in November.
So you know what happens with parasite cleans, don't you?
It doesn't. It's they're all very different. It's not like everyone's cleanse is different. But they say you get so much more energy after a parasite cleanse, and I got to figure out this fatigue. So because it's just a lot, but you know.
Are you gonna do it? We can run about, run about.
And parasites up the reels and gross pose or whatever.
I I would pass out if something. If a parasite came out of my ear, may come out your hoss.
They they come out your hoss. Parasites.
Did you have watched bay Watch.
Teams of Subject? Yes? Absolutely, every of the night.
Yeah, did you really?
Yeah?
Oh so then you you know, then you've seen our next guest. Do you watch them?
A legend?
He's one of the big watched legends, isn't he? Palm Lands and y Love Interest?
Did you watch like every season?
Well, probably not every season because I was eight when it started.
That was gonna say, you're quite young to be watching they watch.
Yeah, but as soon as my hormones kicked in and at eight, No, a little bit, a little bit later than eight.
Like your parents, let you watched that at ate?
I've probably seen it because my dad was probably watching it in the background, so I was exposed to it eight, but probably started watching it like eleven twelve.
Really, I feel like that's so young?
Was it so young?
They watch They're like they like covered? I mean I didn't even watch it because it was two.
Maybe twelve, maybe twelve. I don't know.
You need to ask my woman and dad. Hum, interesting, you obviously watched it.
I didn't watch it at all because I was too young from when it started.
This is this is how big it was.
So listened to this, right, so every week it got at least one point one billion viewers?
Did you google that?
I'm a plethora of data and statistic.
Yeah, because you and your shark data is wrong.
So let's go near that again. Right, So one point one billion viewers every week.
Imagine the week. That's just five point six five point six billion people on.
The planet at that point. That came straight from David's knowledge when I was in strolling freeze Instagram. So listening to this to put that into context, right, you're listening, you're listening.
So to put that.
Into context, the highest view of the weekly show modern show is what weekly? Not a show can be a tea like a sport as well.
Say that one more time, sorry, I is it the highest weekly?
What? So bay Watch got one point one weekly? Yeah, and it's prime exactly right, Now, what's the most watched show on.
TV right now?
In today's it can be a sport as well?
Yeah, I mean I feel like football gets what ten ten million viewers?
So Sunday Night Football, Yeah, ten million, eighteen million plus eighteen and that's the highest. So compare that to one point one billion. So I then went back, yeah to nineteen ninety eight, Yeah, when Baywatch was its prime. And even then, right even then on ESPN and NBC, Sunday Night Football was only getting like ten eleven million viewers.
Interesting, Friends was around the same time when it averaged twenty five million viewers each week exactly. I'm just having a hard time when you say billion because I grew up in this stage where we were lucky to get when we were on One Tree Hill like five million views, or when I was on Dancing with the stars, like
you know, ten plus million views. You know, it's like you're you're luck like you're now in this day and age, or just you're so lucky to get a certain amount of views, like if you get over a million, it's like considered a win.
Like the social media in nineteen ninety five to ninety eight.
I don't know the fact too. I was reading So We've got David Chokichi coming on, who was a cast member of Baywatch, and so he This is interesting because I was listening to a few of his podcasts that he was doing with other people, and he was saying how he tore his or he hurt his achilles, the achilles and that's like a year rehab process and how
he fell into depression. And it's so interesting because you and I have been both dealing with So I have an elf El five dispulge hitting the nerve in my back from Roman when I put him down, and that happened in August, and it's I felt that like it's like that depression of that constant and it still hurts, like I'm like it's been months now and it's just that constant ache. And I don't know how people deal with chronic pain because it's just there all the time
and it's just so frustrating. And so we're going to talk a lot about mental health this episode, a lot about how he is going back to the roots of things and getting away from the medicine and more, you know, truly rooting yourself in the ground and how that's helping, and which I believe in a lot of that stuff. Anytime I have anxiety, it's like shoes off, socks off, feet in like the grass, the earth, and how that
roots you. And but I think it's great to have, especially especially having a man talk about I don't I just love and you know me, I love in the conversations about mental health. But when a man opens up about depression, and because there's I'm going to go off on the stats here, but middle aged men are the most likely to commit suicide. Really yeah, My therapist was telling me that in this well this at least in
this area, that was the middle aged men. And I think it's just I know a lot of women listen to the show, but that we also also deal with depression. So hopefully, you know, we can find ways to help and get some insight from him. So we'll take a break and then get him on.
Are you guys, how are you doing good? How are you doing great? Thank you?
I'm so excited to have you on. I I just found this out that my husband was a big bay Watch watcher, which I just had no idea about. And and and I'm also like he was watching it quite young, so.
He's probably like, what like twelve before I was on the show.
Yeah, probably so, Yeah, I was born in Ethy and we're just trying to figure out when my mom and dad actually let me watch it at what age?
Yeah?
Did you remember my character Cody Madison?
Yeah, I remember all the characters because in Scotland everyone watched it because it was the only chance to see Sunshine.
And the Yeah Sunshine and big boobs.
It's so funny. We did like a big press tour when I first got on the show, and we went to England and then we went to Scotland, and Scotland they just went crazy. It was like we were the Beatles and they had a proper and we went to like a proper like haugas Vest, like we were all dressed up and killed and we had to taste the hog gus and say yes, or no, and it was.
Did you like it or not?
It wasn't bad. I'm not a fraid of anything really, so it was all right, yeah.
That's so funny. Well I'm curious because well he was, you know, we're as we're you know, researching more and you know, learning about your story and and just Baywatch and Whold too, because obviously that docu series is out on Hulu. And yeah, I I it's not that I doubted you when you told me how many viewers it got, but I did. I'm like, there's that's not possible that they got one point five billion, Like that's one point one billion, Like that's just not like, especially especially in
today's age, and even back then. I'm like, okay, fine, I'd maybe think like twenty five million, but like billion, Like I just I'm like and then I googled and I had to google it the Google check him, and I was like, wait, what.
It's like one point one billion a week. That's wild and there was only five point eight billion people on the planet. So it was like, it's the numbers are insane.
What did you think it? Like? Why why do you think it was?
Like?
What made the show work the way that it did that hugely and successfully.
I think it's just like a lot of countries or like European countries or landlocked they would use it as like an hour of escapism, like they could turn it on and actually, like forget that it was twenty degrees outside and it was dark. It's whatever Eastern Communism or whatever is happening at the time, and it just like it. You know. They also translated it into I don't know how many different languages they dubbed it, you know, or like I speak, like twenty languages, which is hilarioious, like,
and you know it, it just permeated the globe. Obviously, back then there was less content, and there was less There wasn't a three hundred channels to choose from.
What do you mess most about the show? Well, do you messay anything?
I miss? You know, when I look back on that show, it was a really physical show. I grew up on the ocean on the East coast and my mom was a sailor and she started us sailing at like age five, and I really I took sailing kind of to the next level. I ended up becoming the head sailing instructor.
I went to the Junior Olympics and windsurf racing like triangle racing, and I raced like these other boats, these two man boats were with a spinnaker called four twenties and went to like the Nationals and those, and so I had all this ocean experience and it translated when I got on the show, like I already knew how to drive boats. I know how to like handle them really well. I knew had to drive wave runners. I knew was a certified scuba diver. I was already certified CPR.
So I had all these skills. And so when they discovered that, and I was on a swim team and my character was an Olympic hopeful, and so when they saw like I had all those skills and I could actually swim like a technical swimmer like in the pool and actually look like an Olympic guy, it was kind of like a like a no brainer in terms of the casting. And then as they saw my skills in the water, they just kept writing these more elaborate action scenes and I got to do like some of them.
You know. They would let me drive these scarebs, which are the speedboats, the big yellow ones you know that are super fast but they don't handle well. And then we would come in really hot to like the Venice peer and then want us to kind of like you know, almost like spray the pier, come around, stall it and someone dive off, and you know, there's only it was only me and like the O this so other guy Mike Newman, who they would who they would let drive
the scarebs and even the wave runners. Man, they set up the cameras in the rocks, and you have a lot of scenes where you know, you pull up, you got to spin the wave runner and kind of stall it close to the camera and then deliver your lines
off camera. But if you don't know how to like spin it install it, you're like crashing into their camera crew or you're going to the rocks, and like the majority of the cast can like do it was just comedy and unfortunately that jall Man I just talked about Mike Newman just recently passed away, which was really hard.
Yeah, yeah, sorry to hear that.
Yeah, when you were going back to the success of the success of the show, I read somewhere that you guys were only making thirty five dollars an episode, which was that then fought because I know, Friends was obviously obviously very successful, and then they were making a million dollars an episode, So were there conversations where you guys were fighting for more money? And then was it that
across the board? Because I make up that. I'm like, there's no way that David or Pamela, you know, you guys were Was that just for the recurring people or was that across the board?
I mean no, David and Pamela were getting paid. I don't know how much you're getting paid. They definitely were getting paid. Yeah, everybody else was getting just nothing like we. I mean they I forget my initial I think I started at like thirty five hundred. But for me, I was so excited to be like on that show and have my first TV series, you know. And when I got on the show, I thought, oh my god, yeah I'm on. But then they're like, yeah, we're only guaranteeing
you six out of twenty two. You got to kind of prove yourself and if you do, we'll write more for you. And luckily, like I saw quickly like how to succeed, and I worked my ass off. I worked with an acting coach. Every night. I would work on the set, I'd go to the gym and I work with a coach, and I would just do it every day. And I was super fit and like probably one of
the most fit males. And I'm not bragging, but I'm just saying I saw how the audience respond and when the audience responds to your character, they right into the producers, and the producers go, oh wow, they're they're paying attention to paying attention to Chokichi, and really quickly like my character kind of like popped, and so much so that they gave me the option. They were like, who do
you want to be your girlfriend on the show? You could have choose between Yazmin or Pamela, and I was like, really, you serious? And I love Jazmine and they're both hilarious and both gorgeous, but pam was like, you know, kind of a little more like well.
She was this the star, so mean, yeah, that's that's hard not to turn down being the love interest of the main character. I know it was a ensemble, but still, I mean it was. When I think of Baywatch, I think of Pamela Anderson totally, and.
Her and I were super similar, especially in the beginning before she had like kind of marriage things happening. Our spirits were like very alive, we were very self deprecating. We had a lot of fun. Our scenes were super fun, and the chemistry just like like popped off the screen.
Was that hard for you kind of you know because obviously again reading things how Tommy was upset about the relationships that I mean because though you guys were on screen, you know, relationship off screen. You know. I read quotes that you were saying, she was like a sister and we had such a a friendly, like truly just a
friendly relationship. I feel like I make up that that's super hard to be on set and then having this boyfriend and then causing any of just not good energy in that because that doesn't that doesn't fuel a good day for anyone working.
No, and for her, I could it started to definitely. I could see the stress on her, the anxiety and her He would call that he would call one of the crew members and try and find the locations would be at, and the crew members would have to lie to him and say, oh, no, we're shooting over Marine Delray. Wouldn't it be shooting up in Zooma or something? And he would try and find us all the time, and and he was just you know, he made her life miserable,
like and it should have been in the beginning. The probably the first season with her was super fun. There
was no stress. And then when that piece came out, that came out pretty early when he trashed her trailer, but I don't think he It just seemed to kind of slowly build and she became kind of you know, less, I don't know to say it, like she just wasn't enjoying it as much, you know, she was just I think she was constantly like, yeah, at the end, I'm running in the set right now and like start punching out people or what, you know. So just like a
shitty situation like he should have, you know. And I said, like, they're they're a married couple whatever. I was never looking across the line, but you're like, dude, you're married to an actress. And and as Baywatch is about as simple as it gets, the most of you doing is making out. There's nothing else. It's not like today's CV where they're really like going for it. It was so PG and he just like couldn't deal with it and took it
the wrong way. And I think it wasn't. I think it was also to his you know, not to his credit, but to hit you know, not throw him under the bus totally. But there was so much attention on her at the time, and the paparazzi was so all over her, and like it became like it was just like a
very stressful time. And it was. The weird thing is after the whole trailer incident, and we ended up going out to dinner and it was like Tommy pam yas me and myself and just like two others, a buddy of mine, and we had like and Tommy was completely cool with me and like my buddy. You end up
like partying and doing shots at the bar. And then we ended up going to the viper room after and it was the same night that so we leave the viper room, come out of the viper room, the doors pop open, and the paparazzi like it's just like explosion up white, like you can't even see because they're trying to pop so many photographs of them. I'm like, I ditch out right and they go try and go straight and that's when he pushed that paparazzi dude, And I think broke his hip that same night.
It's crazy.
You know my husband, you know, he has never well, like he's dated other actresses. But I mean, you know, I'm an actress, and so it's it's not it's it's difficult for you when I'm having to do makeout scenes, and it's I understand it being foreign and it's it's not something that you're used to. But from our sides, it's like, this is the least unsexy thing, Like those
scenes kissing and everything are the least romantic. That's not it's I always say, it's the things that are offset, you know, the closed door in the trailers, like that's where it gets dodgy on set. It's how you handle those situations. But when it comes to the on screen kissing and anything like, it is the least romantic thing ever.
There's no feelings, there's no you know, nothing, it's always just what happens when you yell when when it's cut, you know, then then that's where the lines can get blurred if you're not knowing the boundaries of certain things and you know you're being young and dumb. But yeah, so I get how it could be hard for dudes. But you know, he shouldn't have gone in like trash trailers or made it awkward because then it just puts
everyone in a bad situation. Then you just don't even want to be there because you're like, well, I'm just going to get for this when I get home.
Yeah, And she was like she was asking them to stop writing scenes, like stop writing makeout scenes with Chokichi, and they're like, we can't. The audience loves this, they'd love your they'd love c J and Cody, and that's the show. Like we can't like change Baywatch because Tommy can't like deal with this, Like sorry, you know what
I mean. I mean, I remember so many times I would just go sit in her trailer and she'd be like crying and freaking out, and I wouldn't I wouldn't be like hands on, I'd just be sitting there as a friend. I wouldn't be saying I just like just being there, just have it like and just like to support her because I can tell like it was it
was really tough. And I think a lot of other guys would have taken advantage in that situation because there's I easily could have gone another direction and been a scumbag, and you know, she was super vulnerable. But I was like, that's what kind of guy I am. And I just wanted to be a friend to her and somebody, you know, someone's gone through a rough time and you know, try and help her out.
Yeah.
So touching on rough times. You had a rough injury recently.
Yeah, yeah, oh god, Well we were just kind of talking about that because we have like I just pulled, we both pulled our back out. We both have bulges in our back. He just he what would you do to your ankle?
I roughediled my parents on the outside of my ankle.
And so we've got like these injuries going on, and just the mine's been for a couple of months, him the same. And it's like there's this depression that sets because there's the constant pain every single day and it's like you're spending money going to this chiropractor and the pet and this, that and the other. And I just was like, I'm so sick of a feeling this but then making like letting it affect me. So I've just
recently I'm like screwed. I'm going to start running again because I need to run because it's good for my mental state, and yeah, I was so excited to talk to you because you fell into depression because of your injury.
Correct.
Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, so I'll try to go through it pretty quickly. But yeah. I was shooting a movie back east and it was I was playing a cop. The whole movie was talking except three dighths of the page. I chased the dude down a hallway and it was like one in the morning. It was super humid, and I was in like these combat boots and it was just stupid. I was like, it's all I can do is sprint, but I was just laying. I was laying on my back in my waiting room, just like tell
me when you guys are ready. I wasn't stretching because I'm like, I just gonna run down the hallway. Yeah, I won't do that again. We did it once. I just have to kind of walk up at a high speed. I said, I see the dude. I hit a mark and then I yell at him to stop, and I spread and the camera kind of just coming at me and I run past camera. And we did it once and everybody was like, God, perfectly got it. Let's go home. Everybody's tired, and then someone and it wasn't the director
and it was the DP. But someone goes, I don't know, we're set up for the store home town.
The producer someone, Yeah, so we do it one more time and I go to Sprint and it was just instant, and I knew it because I had done my left one.
During Baywatch and like my heatus a Baywatch playing paddle tennis, so I knew exactly the feeling. And it's I've broken my femur in eighth grade. That was pretty horrific feeling. But every time i've I've had a major injury, I'm like, that did not happen. And I jumped up and I put all my weight on it, and I'm like, oh my god, no way, and They're like, maybe it's spring. Maybe it's spraining. I knew anyway. Cut to I'm stuck on the East Coast and with Achilles, and I'm sure
you know. I'm like, with there's like a fourteen day window that you have to have repair otherwise there's a lot of complications. So I only owed one more day on the movie. My flight was the following day. I'm like, I'll just finish the movie and a cat in a boot because on't you tear it. There's no pain after like one night. But I had to get on. I had to find a surgeon, get on his schedule, get a physical, get an MRI, get all that lined up within fourteen days, you know. So I went with this guy.
He's a shoulder specialist who does orthopedics. I tried to find the guy who did my left achilles because my left achilles was really bad rupture, and he was a trauma surgeon in Saint John's and Santa Monica, but he was older at the time and I couldn't find them, and I was like, I just got to go with this guy. A year later. It took a year to figure this out, and I knew I would grind. I worked on the PT you know, six weeks, no wait at all, full, your isolated, you're on the couch. That
was fine for this whole section. But after a year, I'm like, my foot was loose, it was not like connected, it wasn't tight. And my family thought I was insane. They thought I was obsessing about it. All my buddies, well stop saying. I went and saw three specialists and two of them were like one was like, dude, I don't want to go back in there. That's a really tough surgery. To go in back into an achilles or revisions or revisionist surgery is very difficult. I would try
and see if you can pete it. The second guy goes, yeah, let me see you try walk on your toes. I couldn't walk on my on my red toes at all. And he's like, David, listen, I can tell you're it. Dude. If you do this, you know you're starting over at day one, and I can tell you know you're into exercise and outdoors. He goes, you're gonna lose your fing mind. I guarantee it. The third guy met in Pasadena, goes, who's a young guy, sir for our family. Guy goes, yeah, David,
your your attendon is too long. Unfortunately surgical error. There's nothing humanly possible to fix it without me going in and cutting out a chunk, reattached it and starting over, and that was it. And he I was like, let's do it. I have to do it, and he took out like an inch in an eighth. It was that far off, like that's how loose it was. But during the second period. I just found myself going dark, and it was like, I mean my entire life. I've grown
up playing sports. I played football all the way through college and to base College in Maine and Pop Warner high school college football, lacrosse all the way through. I wrestled. I've always maintained like physical activity has been a thing, like like trail running, I serve, yoga, weightlifting, I was doing. I was just gotten back into jiu jitsu right before
I ruptured it, like all these things I do. Like that's how like my body and mind has been working for years and then for two years basically it's stripped away and not only like the so all that physical stuff is stopped. So I'm not getting any of the positive feedback from my brain. I can't work as an actor. I'm isolated at home, and I just like I found myself in a depression. I had saw a psychiatrist. They put me on meds that didn't work at all, that
that made it worse. He's like trying to add more that made it worse. Nothing was working, and I was and I've told this like I was scared to death that I would never find my way back to the person I was like the personality, like the drive I had in life, Like I was the guy who was like, let's go, let's go surf, Let's go night surfing, like dancing with my like crazy but crazy fun, like dancing with my dog, dancing with my daughter on the table. Whatever,
is like I'm that guy. And then all of a sudden, So I've never been a depressed person, and so to find me in this place, people are like, WHOA, what's going on with him? And because yeah, right now, and I knew it, but I was like I could not find a way out at all, until all of a sudden, I started cold plunging. We bought one cold plunging so ona and I started doing it pretty extreme because I kind of do things that way. And my wife's like, you're going crazy again, what are you doing there? It's
like forty one degrees. You're in there for ten minutes, three times a day. But all of a sudden, I felt like a spark inside my soul, like ignite that was like a critical part of coming out of this. And at the same time, I just made the choice. I safely got off all the medication he had me on.
So for you that then with the depression. What so the main things that helped you were the cold plunging you said, sauna? What else? It was something that things that helped you naturally.
This is the one benefit I think about social media is like on Instagram, like is it it's Andrew Huberman, right, that's how you pronounce it to do you just follow him?
Yeah, he's got to follow him all about them?
Yeah, so there's always like clips of them and then you can go dive into their podcast. Like he's got so many amazing things that I've learned from him, Doctor Peterson. This anyway, but even your room and alone was like watching sunrise can totally change like your circadian rhythm if you want to start getting up early in the morning. And I always wanted to be I the guy who gets up at like four in the morning. All of a sudden, I started watching. I took my dog and
started watching. I probably saw I swear to you like this in this between June and September, like forty sunrises and your you can watch the sunrise come up over the horizon for like five minutes before it can hurt your eyes. And during that five minute span, the actual the what it like what it does to your brain and your body. It's like it's a really positive bio feedback and does all these amazing things. He talks about it at length, and I would do it no justice.
But I just was like, I took all this information and I just did all and just started stacking it. And then I just became super disciplined about it. I walked barefoot as much as possible. Grounding, I think is a real thing. People are like, what are you doing, dude, Like we're shooting a movie out in like Aguardulce movie ranch. It's all sandy and rocky, and I'm like, now, this feels so good on my feet. You have no idea.
You guys got to try it. But that's another thing, like you're getting vibrations from the earth and all this sounds hokey pokey.
No. I love the grounding. I'm a big I'm a big believer in grounding.
But I swear like I'm living proof that these things work because I was so stuck. I came from like probably a background kind of like yours. I'm not a professional, but physical, mentally strong, everything good to a place of absolute bottom, and such a bottom that I was like and even though my leg is my leg is still screwed up. It's like there's there's like nerve damage and I'm so but I haven't. I've changed my mindset about it, like I don't let it consume me. I just I
work on it. I think I've already been to yoga and I've already ice planted and sad, and I'll go to the gym and.
Well, I think that's the thing. I think it's all about your mind and how you manage it and go, Okay, it's it's a process. But I'm either going to let it affect the entire day or I'm going to do something about it and then enjoy the rest of the day exactly while dealing with it.
So do you completely avoid the Western medicine?
No? Yeah, yeah, I'm just because it just didn't work. And they were adding like it was more like let's add more because that's not and I know a lot of people need them and they do work, but it just wasn't working for me. And I also was on something that was like for sleep, and I didn't even know the side effects. And then this other friend of mine was like, dude, you got to read the side effects of what you're taking. And I did and I'm like,
oh my god. And I was like I got off of that like as fast as I could, because that was like a really bad drug.
David, what was one of the things that your wife did really well doing? And then what was one of the things that was because you know, obviously a lot of women listen to the show, so if their husband is dealing with depression, what is something that she did really great that helped you? And then what was something that hurt it worse or that made it worse? I guess.
I mean, she was a trooper. She hung in there. She tried to give me all the support I needed and also give me the space to try and figure it out, like to see if I can figure it out. And you know, she it's a weird thing because when you're in it, there's no like and I know. And the crazy thing is, I've talked about this on one other podcast. I've had like three strangers come up to me one like just and be like, dude, I'm in
the same situation. I need help, like what worked. And one of them is like a close fuddy of mine from high school and he just called and was like I've never told you this, but this is what's going on and what how'd you get out of it? And I think she was most proud of but to be honest, that I got off like that medication because she saw like like it like it was like a sleep thing.
And also when I was on it, I would be like out cold and like but she didn't even stir me at times, and it wasn't good and the side effects were not good. It took so much, like to get out of bed in the morning. And I think like from once I got off of everything, she was like the proudest she's been with me, and I just became like super dad all of a sudden. I was like, you know what I because I knew. I was like, I can't believe I'm the guy who's like dragging down
my family right now. That's the worst, Like as a dad, as a husband, a father or son, Like nobody wants to be around a guy like that. It's just it's no fun because it's and and but when you're in it, there's none there's no easy way out. It's it's like it's it's a lot of work and you got to find and nobody's telling you to go try these things either, like like western medicine, it's like, okay, go to the psychiatrist, go to the therapist and load up on medication and
do maybe whatever, maybe some breath work. But you know, I think someone needs to be spreading the message that okay, maybe you do need that stuff, but you know, also why don't you try like going to the ocean, like going for an ocean, swim walking in nature, watching sunrises. Like my nutrition. I don't eat any sugar. I eat really healthy, like planting our garden and eating your own like whatever, even we don't need a ton of it, but like we have our own herbs and tomatoes and cucumbers.
And there's something about these simple things when you combine them together intrinsically, all of a sudden, there's this this something changes within you that you are not controlling, but it changes, and you feel like a life force come back that you did not have before. And like and also like I said, all of a sudden, I was like, I'm going to the gym, no matter why, Like I don't care if i feel like I'm tired, my leg hurts,
and I just kept going. And all of a sudden I kept going and now like I'm like doubling down and and I do breath work, and I do and I roll on my body and I try and meditate, and like I do. Lard Hamilton has a great app for breath work because you can do it, like there's breath work in the car, breath work on the plane, and it's simple. It doesn't need to be complicated. But the combination of this stuff and it doesn't have to
take all day. But when you put all this stuff together, it can really trigger such a positive physiological effect to bring you out of the state of depression and darkness that like I I would I just think it needs to be out there, this message.
You should write a program, yeah, combining all these things and gathing people through it.
Yeah. I mean I'm serious because like in some of the people on Instagram, I put a little clip and some woman was like, oh my god, would you please help me DM me? And I'm like, I'm no expert. I'm not saying I'm an expert, Like I'm not a like, but I know it worked. And I'm not making any of this up because you know, and my from my background, I know people deal with depression, their whole life. That's
a different situation, and that's a different thing. So I'm talking about someone who's had a situational what a situation, ended up in a depression and then been so stuck and overall, like this went on for two and a half years, you know, the whole thing, and finally, you know, just in like June is when I started kind of coming out, and by July I was like, all of a sudden, it was like I was like hit the bottom and then ricochete off the bottom like a rocket,
And it was like and the craziest thing is, like I used to during this period of darkness, I was like, I cannot f him believe this. This is the worst thing that's ever happened to me in my life. I cannot believe where I'm at. And now in retrospect, I look back, I go because of what I've gained, Like I feel like I've gained a superpower, because I feel like there's nothing, I honestly like, outside of something happening to my daughter, there's really nothing life can throw at
me that would rock me. Now, Like I could take on anything after what I've dealt with.
And be okay, you know what, I mean, which is cool, which is an amazing thing because when you fight your way out of something, so when you.
Feel so trapped and so it's just yeah, it's it's it's scary because you you're like you don't see any light and and then when you get out and all of a sudden, I became like like the real quickly, Like I had this movie that I was doing. I did in September. I did like three movies back to back, and one of them was in particular very like emotionally
and physically demanding role. And I felt like the work I'm doing now because of the experience I had, is a thousand times better than the work I did before. And like even the DP, like after.
I cut one of these scenes where I talk about this whole this very the whole thing that happened in the movie, at sometime my son and he goes, he had I'd worked with them in two other movies, and he goes to the director.
He goes, he goes, Chokichi is good, but Oka what happened? He's like on a whole new level now, It's like like, what's what happened to dude? And the director was like, well, it's a long story, but he's been through Helen back and he popped out the other side and he's basically gained like an insight. And uh and like I think when people go through stuff like this and they come
out it's almost and not just sound corny. And I don't feel like I can like I'm gonna be able to fly with a cape, but I feel like I do have like a little bit of a superpower, you know what I mean.
Well, thank you for shedding that superpower light. And yeah, glad you're on the other side of it. And you know, hopefully listeners that are listening, you know, can take some of the things that you said and try to incorporate that into into their their their life. And and yeah, take the shoes off and go for a walk. So thank you so much, Thank you so much, really appreciate it.
Yeah, thank you guys, and spread the love.
Yeah, no, of course, and thank you so much.
And yeah, we're going to get a cold plunge.
Yeah, cold plunging SNA that's on our Christmas list. Anyways, all right, we'll d M you when we get to California. All right, Okay, thanks David, appreciate you.
Thanks David, have a good day.