017: Branden McWilliams - Ninja Warrior First, Cystic Fibrosis Warrior Second

Branden McWilliams has Cystic Fibrosis. He's also a Ninja Warrior. Literally. 

As in incredible athletes who combine obstacle course training with elements of gymnastics & parkour. You have to have incredible strength, problem solving-skills, endurance, stamina, impulse control, and confidence. 

And interestingly enough, despite his CF, Branden is one of the only athletes to reach the end of the obstacle courses and hit the final red button. 

Being diagnosed with CF at a young age, he was challenged finding a way to stay focused, and decided instead to reject the limitations that come with CF.

In this episode not only do we talk about the many trials and tribulations with having Cystic Fibrosis, but we also speak on the limitations it creates for men when attempting to have kids, speak on the side effects of the new drug Trikafta, and everything in between. 

Here's our chat. 

You can follow Branden and his Ninja Warrior journey on instagram : @Cystic_Ninja

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Welcome to the Choose Your Attitude Podcast. My name is Nicholas Strand. I will be your host, and as always, I am super excited to have you guys do us a favor if you love what you're hearing. We are broadcasting on YouTube and all the major platforms. Please subscribe to us, like us, leave us a comment, share us, let the word out so that way we can make this community stronger. As always, don't forget to leave us reviews so that way people can hear your thoughts. We love to read them and we love the world to read them as well. Alright, today's podcast is gonna be very exciting. I have a person by the name of Brandon McWilliams. Brandon McWilliams has cystic fibrosis of lung disease. Uh Brianna, as you know, uh, my late wife, had cystic fibrosis. Um but Brandon's different in the fact that he was also a ninja warrior. Now, by all means, Brianna was a superhero, but Brandon is an actual ninja warrior. He has taken his journey uh through, you know, conquering cystic fibrosis and found an outlet through ninja warrior skills. Uh so much so he created a uh a gym in his backyard and has taken over and even made it on live TV in the semi-finals in Vegas. Um on this podcast, we're gonna talk about that. We're gonna talk about some of the struggles of cystic fibrosis for men, um, and in the struggle of trying to have children. Um at the same time, just having a lung disease um at all as a human and uh trying to get through that. So I'm excited for that, um, and it's gonna be great. He's always great to have become a huge supporter. So I'm excited to speak to him, but first, a word from our sponsors. This episode is brought to you by the Choose Your Attitude Podcast, a premium encouragement brand. Choose your attitude is a community that champions the idea that attitude is a choice within everyone's grasp. A brand isn't good without a logo, and boy does choose your attitude have a meaning. Turn it on its side, it's an hourglass for time. Two hearts for community, the one on the left is your past, while the one on the right is your future lifting up your past. And of course, that butterfly effect. Although we can't control the trials and tribulations we go through in life, we do control how we approach them with the power of choice of our attitude. Juju Attitude is a premium encouragement brand that offers men's and women's apparel and accessories. Lots of selections, continuing to drop out more, and as always, get 20% off your first order for our podcast listeners. Use the code podcast20. That's podcast20 and get 20% off just for our podcast listeners. So I appreciate you guys being here. Go shop, go take a look. We love that. But first, let's keep listening. Um, you can shop at chooseyourattitude.com. Again, that's chooseyourattitude.com. If you would like to be a sponsor on this podcast, please email us at podcast at chooseyourattitude.com. We are always open to share others. Now, let's get started, please. Let's roll the intro.

SPEAKER_00 3:23

Let's step back a little. Take a look inside our true self, get comfortable in the uncomfortable, and let's embrace that reality. Life is tough, but so are you. Welcome to the Choose Your Attitude Podcast with Nicholas Strand. Join Nick, author of Loving Someone Who's Died, as he shares his experiences of life lost to life on the road as a traveling roadie. He is guests will get into real topics while encouraging you to let go of the past, lift up the present, and fiercely build your better tomorrow. Let's get through this together. Now, here's your host, Nick Strand.

SPEAKER_01 4:03

Alright, ladies and gentlemen, I'm excited to have Brandon McWilliams. Thank you so much for coming to the show today. Well, we I I met you uh on social media. We saw you um in in the connection of Cystic Fibrosis Circle. And um I had to have you on, and we we started talking because uh you have this history of uh ninja warrior training. Um but uh at the same time you have this really unique uh you know to to also have cystic fibrosis and that connection um is is you know quite an amazing uh connection. Um and so I wanted to bring you on today and and uh you know talk about that. But um first off, I'd I'd love people to kind of hear a little bit about you and uh you know kind of explain um you know who you are and and the history of you know your CF.

SPEAKER_02 5:01

Yeah, uh yeah, like I said, my name is Brian McWilliams. Uh with CF, I was diagnosed pretty much right after birth. Actually, I love my mom's story about it. She always says when the whole pregnancy went great and the birth went great, and she goes, I just didn't understand why you cried so much, because it just seemed like something was wrong. So she always had to call my grandma to come over and help out, and she goes, I just can't get you to sleep, and you're always crying. And and she said, then it after two months I finally decided, you know, we gotta go to the doctors, and they took me in, and right away my pediatrician said there was definitely something wrong, so I got my sweat test done, and it turns out I had cis of the nursing. She's like, I knew there was a reason you always cried. So it's like, yeah, because I I couldn't breathe. Oh wow. That's kind of how it all started. And uh my my parents split when I was pretty young, and my mom started dating a guy that lived on a farm, and I pretty much grew up on a farm, and uh like with my sissy vibrosis stuff, I never really even knew that that was a thing. I just thought that every kid had to be doing breathing treatments and taking all these pills, and I always had to put them in my applesauce because I was always stubborn with taking them, but I just kind of never really knew anything was different with that. So I kind of just that was like my norm. But doctors always said that I shouldn't be in dirty areas with a lot of dust because it can affect my lungs, and that's kind of honestly where I love to be. I love to be in the barn, and I was always the first one to help do hay. And so growing up, like I never really thought of cystic fibrosis as something that would hold me back. I kind of thought it was a normal. So I kind of more or less grew up like that until I was in middle school, and then I started my mom started telling me more about it, and then I realized it was really something serious that I really appreciate she took the time and did all my treatments with me and made me stick to that certain schedule. And then I I I wrestled all the way through second grade through high school, and then like I said, middle school is when I really started to notice like I'm really a little bit different than everybody else. My lungs didn't feel like they were working quite right, and I really noticed it then, and I was I wouldn't say it made me mad, but it kind of made me made me like more uh uh how do you say it? I was just like intrigued by it almost. Like I I want to be able to do what they're doing, so I tried to push even harder, try to keep up. And obviously sometimes you just literally can't, but I always gave my 100% interest to try to keep up with everybody while still sticking with all my meds, my nebulizers, everything I could to stay healthy. And that led up to being in high school, I wrestled all the way, like I said, through graduating. Did pretty good, but yeah, you could always definitely tell something was wrong. But I I always loved like the challenge of almost being like kind of like the underdog, like somebody you you know you have something wrong, but yeah, I always use that as like fuel to be better in a way. So kind of like then with my stupid fibrosis after uh high school and went to college, and uh a little bit later I always kept up with my medicine, and actually I got very lucky. I never really had to be hospitalized until I think it was just a couple years ago, it was like 2015 or 2016, I had one of the worst lung infections of my life, which I was kind of weird. Then I had to do the whole pick line, and it was just a lot of different stuff was thrown at me at once before. When I was younger, I might have had a lung infection, but my I was always just kind of like coming to order by antibiotic and it was done. But this was like completely different. It kind of really made me realize that this can be very serious, and I've been lucky for a very, very long time. So I kind of just used that and got healthy, and then all of a sudden I was like, you know what? I want to be the healthiest I've ever been in my life. So then I took up my ninja warrior skills and started doing competitions here and there, and one thing led to another, and I just kept setting my bar higher and higher and higher, and luckily my CF has been right there with me. I haven't had anything too bad, and I just got on the new latest and greatest drugs that they came out with called Tricafta, which is doing amazing, except it's making me gain a lot of weight.

SPEAKER_01 9:18

But that's a good thing for uh cystic fibrosis, people with cystic fibrosis.

SPEAKER_02 9:23

I recommend anybody that can get on it, they they try to get on it because it's a great, amazing drug.

SPEAKER_01 9:29

That's amazing. Um I I have to ask, how did you how did you transition into the Ninja Warrior stuff? Uh where did that come from?

SPEAKER_02 9:38

So that was kind of just like a weird thing I did. Me and my wife always watched on TV, and I always kept sitting back, I'm like, man, I feel like I can do stuff like that. I've always been kind of strong in that area with my grip and my pull-ups and living on a farm. I was always jumping between rafters and climbing trees or doing something that involved like grip and strength. I just kept telling me, I'm like, I feel like I can do that. And then one day on Facebook, my one friend he posted something about how he was gonna be doing a local competition. It wasn't for money or anything, it was just kind of just a fun thing to do. And I I I messaged him about it, and one thing led another. He took me down to the gym, and I remember it was in the summer, it was one of the hottest days I've ever seen in my life. And we went to this gym, it was all inside, and I remember I got on my first obstacle, and I think I finished my first one, and my second one, I completely whiffed it. I fell flat on my face. And then we got a little bit of a break, and I came back with my second wave. I tried it again, I fell on the first obstacle, so I had to wait for the other wave. I fell on that first obstacle, and I left there, and I just felt like so defeated. And I told my wife, I said, I know I'm better than this. I said, I just feel like I left so much out there. And then it almost, like I said, it fuels me because I love being challenged, and I just kept saying, I know I can do better. And then I built my first obstacle in our backyard. It was a salmon ladder, which is the bar where you jump up the rungs, and then after that, I just kept building, kept building until our whole backyard was pretty much an off-school course. And I just kept at it, and I I love the workouts, it's a a lot more fun than just lifting weights, like I was more prone to doing. It got my whole body into every exercise, and I just love seeing the new techniques that I learned week by week by week, and it led to me pretty much training every Friday night, and then it involved to training two times a week, and then it was three, and it just went from there and to pretty much from falling on every obstacle to where I am now.

SPEAKER_01 11:38

All the way to the point where you actually were on one of the seasons uh as a season finalist.

SPEAKER_02 11:45

Yep, season eleven when I got my big break. I thank God I got chosen. It's super hard to get uh chosen to be on the show. And uh I got chosen for season eleven for the Baltimore region, and the first night you have to do five five or six obstacles, and then if you hit the buzzer, or if he plays top thirty, you move on to the second night. Well, I think I was ninth, I think, after the first night, which was amazing. I I hit the buzzer, and uh Matt Eisman said I was the first CF uh patient that was able to hit a buzzer. So I felt very confident with that, and I kept that rolling into the second night, which was very, very tough course, and I fell on an obstacle called Angry Birds. But luckily I got there quick enough that I punched my ticket to Las Vegas for the national finals. So then that same season I went down to Las Vegas where I made a mistake on stage one and I fell in the water on a uh obstacle called diving boards, which was two obstacles from the end. So I was this close, but that's the way it is sometimes, and now I'm just trying to get back, get in better shape, and just try to get another call next year.

SPEAKER_01 13:08

Has in that journey have you felt uh cystic fibrosis kind of challenge you or even inspire you, I guess, through uh you know that process?

SPEAKER_02 13:22

I'd definitely say it's actually both. I mean, obviously I'm getting older, my my lungs aren't as good as they what I want them to be. Uh I can definitely notice it. We're doing some kind of cardio course. I I definitely get winded a lot quicker. I gotta take a little bit longer for for my breaks, but I I I try not to worry about it too much. I if I get in my own head, then I I start thinking about it where I I want to be thinking about the obstacles. But yeah, it's definitely playing a part with my my lungs. And now I guess new drug tricapta, I've gained I think it was like 15 pounds within like a month. So it definitely hurts your like muscle to like mass ratio, but I'm working that out. But yeah, it I mean it definitely plays a big part. Uh I try to overlook it, but you just you just can't sometimes. But at the same time, man, like I love using that as like my encouragement. And I I really like being able to say, you know, I I have this disease, but I'm still gonna come out here and give my 110%. I just I love doing that.

SPEAKER_01 14:21

It's uh it's definitely a challenge um that that I've you know when I saw you doing that, I I know that that's something, you know, knowing uh as you know, my wife with her going through it and knowing um you know the battle, um, you know, it that that was something that I saw uh within you that that I thought was very encouraging um, you know, to see you uh you know not not be defeated uh because of that. Um and I think you know one hard thing about cystic fibrosis is not many people see it, um, you know, but it's definitely uh within. Um going through that um and and getting through the CF, how how has that challenged you as a person at home? Have have you felt um, you know, going a little bit deeper uh you know into those challenges? Um how do you process that? Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 15:21

Uh it's definitely it's a little harder to process. I mean, like being at home, uh you mean for like the family wise.

SPEAKER_01 15:28

Yeah, all of it.

SPEAKER_02 15:31

It it it definitely I hate to say it like it scares me because I know CF like the life expects the isn't that great, even with the new drugs. And I mean, I I I have two kids that I absolutely adore, and a a wife that I love, and losing my father at a young, young age. I was very lucky to have a great stepdad, but still it's it's not the absolute father figure. And I I look at them and I'm like, man, it's like if something would happen, I'm not gonna be here. And my two-year-old, he every night we get home and I chase around the house, and I I feel very blessed that I'm able to do this stuff with him, but I'm like, I just keep thinking, like, if I'm not here, I can't experience these wonderful moments in his life. And my other son was just born a little less than two months ago, and he's just starting to smile. I'm like, I just look at him like it might get that bad that I I I can't enjoy these moments with them anymore. And it definitely scares me, but it also at the same time it makes me realize that these moments are irreplaceable. You have to enjoy them, you have to realize that you're you might not get it again, and it just makes you cherish these moments just so much more.

SPEAKER_01 16:40

Do you do you find yourself having you know more in-depth conversations uh with your your wife and family members that maybe others uh not challenged with the same challenge uh wouldn't have?

SPEAKER_02 16:58

Yeah, I definitely think so. Most people think like CF, they don't know much about it. They they they look at me and I'm I'm in pretty good shape and they just kind of say, Oh, yeah, okay. It's it it is what it is. But with my wife, yeah, we sit down and we definitely have discussions about it and uh kind of talk more, and she's always yelling at me, make sure I'm doing my medicine, and she's always the one that says, Hey, you know, you just worked out, time to go do your other workout. So she's definitely trying to keep me on track, and because obviously the goal is to stay around as long as I can, be with her, be with the kids, but yeah, it definitely was weird uh hearing her talk about it when we first started dating because she didn't really know what it was about. And we've been together ever since uh don't get this wrong. It was 10th grade, my 10th grade in high school, and she actually did like a report on it. And at the time, like I was I knew what it was, but she was telling me more information about CF than I did. I was like, Well, I didn't know I couldn't have kids, or I didn't know this was the leg inspection. I was like, Thank you very much for telling me all this. But yeah, it it's definitely weird because she tells me all this stuff, or we talk about it, it it does weigh on the relationship, but yeah, I I I really do love my wife, and she she stood by me through everything, and she knows what the the outcomes possibly are. And we've it really helped strengthen our relationship over the years. She's always been there. Actually, when I was when I got my lung infection, it was on her birthday, and she came to the hospital and with with me right by my side when I got my pick line, and it it really showed that she was the one that's always gonna be there for me no matter what, thick or thin.

SPEAKER_01 18:38

That's that's amazing. I I I think um you know, I I heard you say, you know, it strengthened your relationship. Um I I I was gonna ask kind of in the same sense. Um, you know, I it's a challenge by all means. But at the same time, I did find that the communication uh actually opened up a little bit more. And uh it you know, it for Brian and I as well is you know, it it strengthened because of those deep conversations or the reality that kind of is surfaced uh to where those that maybe don't have a life-threatening challenge like that that they have to think about all the time. Um would you agree with that? Do you do you see kind of the same type of Oh yeah, yeah, definitely. Yeah, I I think that's you know one of the important things that I'm I'm you know I learned and am trying to understand as well, is you know a lot of us that don't have those challenges um are a little bit uh more relaxed or uh you know the goal is is that that quality of life and like you said, time is short, um and sometimes we take that for granted, and I think that's you know a huge thing that you know with with doing the ninja stuff and um you know fighting through. Um you also mentioned with your your kids, um, you know, be being a a male CF patient, um, you know, it's difficult to have kids. How did you guys go through that? And um, you know, how how I mean that's a lot to go through as well.

SPEAKER_02 20:14

Yeah, that was actually uh pretty hard to comprehend at the time when me and Kelly started dating, she told me about kind of what we might have to do, and I was like, well, you know, I'm healthy, hopefully I'm part of the 1% that doesn't have to go through all this. So when we got pretty serious about how what kids, I went to my doctor and we he set us up to go get checked out, and it turns out I could not naturally have kids, which they said pretty much 99% of the males can't. So it that kind of was it it hit me hard, I would say, because like I I I don't know, I just feel like CF has hit it has affected my whole life. I was like, I was just hoping kind of one thing that it was I was able to do on my own. Which I mean, it really hurt, but at the same time, we had amazing doctors. We had we go to Penn State Hershey, which they're amazing up there, and they helped guide us through step by step what we had to do, and I had to go through a testicular biopsy and then they had to get my boys out and then freeze them, and then we had to go through the IVF procedure, which is a whole other battle in itself. That was very trying, and I never felt so helpless for my wife because it's really nothing I could do at the time, but we were very blessed when they started the whole process. We ended up with two embryos that uh took and got fertilized. So my wife had to do I can't remember how many shots it was. I think I did put it on my Instagram a little bit, but it was countless shots in her back and her belly, and uh so many different pills, and it it's just a process all on its own. And then all the retrievals and We were very lucky and very blessed that both times it it took and it ended up being two marvelous sons. I love my boys to death. Yeah, the IBF procedure is insane. It's a whole other thing outside of CF that I never thought we'd have to deal with. But yeah, it's it's definitely hard, man. It's hard even just talking about it to like somebody else, but then when you see it and you have to go through it, it takes it to a whole different level. I I have so much respect for my wife for going through all that. I know I wouldn't want to get shots every day, and I hope I never do. But yeah, we were a team from day one, and I helped her with all the shots that she would need my help with. But yeah, it's a very tough, tough uh uh challenge to go through. And people that are going through it, I I just want you to know, like, it it you're not alone. I never I never realized how uh uh frequent people actually do this. I thought it was just kind of something that a small percentage of people have to do is the IVF procedure and well, all the CF mails, but it's actually pretty common and don't feel like you're alone in these challenges. I mean, my wife got on a bunch of Facebook group chats, which help her even still to today. There's a lot of people out there you can talk to, and I hope people at when they if they have to go through this kind of situation, they reach out and uh have somebody else at least talk to because it really does help.

SPEAKER_01 23:25

I I think that's huge. Um, you know, being able to reach out and normalize kind of that struggle, um, you know, and and I I'm finding that the more and more that I talk to people, um, you know, that that seems to be kind of uh the no uh the the common connection is normalizing communication with others about you know the struggles that we're all going through. Because you're right, um, you know, is is uh odd or uh unique that it feels um there's others going through it because it's you know these are these are common challenges. Um how do you process some of this stuff? I know Ninja Warrior and and working out definitely is is one of those things, um but you know it's it's it's tough to um you know put a smile on all the time when you're going through these challenges. Um but how do you process it?

SPEAKER_02 24:19

Uh with me, yeah, I it's it's pretty much step by step. Like there's a lot of stuff that I don't want to do in a day. I I I don't want to get up and go to work every day, and I don't want to come home and spend a couple of minutes with my family, and then I guess this is more of a choice, but I love to work out, so I try to do stuff that I want to do after I spend my family time. I they all usually get on around 7, 7:30. Then I hit the gym for like an hour, and then I know okay, after that, I need to get my treatments done. So that's when I go back into my bedroom and I do treatments for an hour. I mean, it's definitely nothing that I want to do, but I I know that I need to do it. So the process wise, it's pretty much you just gotta stay uh aware of your body. You have to know that this these things are gonna help you have another day, hopefully. I mean, you gotta put your trust in the medicine. But I I'm pretty lucky. I'm I'm usually always happy, I'm always smiling. I I just want to be the kind of person that another person wants to be around. I I don't want to be in a bad mood, even though I might be not having the best of day, you gotta stay grateful for what you have.

SPEAKER_01 25:31

You know, if if you were to you know give a suggestion or or you know the the big word of advice for somebody kind of looking up going, you know, how how would I get through that? Um uh what are some you know suggestions that you would you would share with them as far as you know the whole um the whole battle?

SPEAKER_02 25:53

Um you know uh I would pretty much say that everybody has their bad days. Nobody's gonna ever have wake up and say, man, today is the perfect day. You just always gotta look at what you're you're you should be grateful for. I I wake up and I know that I have my amazing wife, my two kids, I have great friends, family. I'm able to actually get up and go to work. That that I I take that for granted a lot that most days I I don't think about that. I'm able to get up and leave the house and uh do whatever I want. I'm I'm able to go to work, work out, I'm able to ninja. I I really take all that for granted a lot, and I it really takes some time, and then I sit back and think about it. But I just want everybody to know that it every all the days aren't bad. You gotta realize and be happy for what you had you have. No matter, like I said, if it's your friends, even just to be able to wake up and say, I'm alive today. Well, whatever it is, just you gotta find something that you're grateful for and just be happy about that. Sometimes it's that simple.

SPEAKER_01 26:59

No, it's um it is that simple. Um sometimes difficult to find the simplicity, but you're right, it is simple. Um and it's when you're in the challenge, I know it's tough. Um, but I've I've found it myself in the challenge where it's you know it feels tough, but as soon as you get to the other side, it's like, oh yeah, no, this was this was simple. It was you know that that simple mindset of um you know pause, take a look at it and be grateful for what you have and realize where you've gone or you know what you've accomplished. Um that's huge. Um so outside of that, I mean, um do you do you partake in any, you know, big CF events or you know, anything outside of Ninja Warrior or uh I'd say the biggest thing is uh me and my wife actually did uh I think it was called ParentCon um about a year ago, and they asked me to help out with the male side of infertility.

SPEAKER_02 28:06

So we did kind of like a like an email, like kind of what we're doing now, just kind of like a group chat with a bunch of parents and help them out. And we just tried doing the Great Strides event last year. That was my first one I ever tried, and then COVID hit and we weren't able to actually get together. But I I used my t-shirt sales through my uh my my ninja shirt, and uh I think we were able to raise, I think it was like twenty five or twenty hundred dollars for the CF Foundation. So I was just glad, even though we couldn't get together and do the walk, and which I was really excited for because I was really had a really cool team of all my friends and family that were gonna come support me. But we weren't able to do that, so I was just happy that we I could even give a donation of my my t-shirt sales, and it it was fun. But yeah, we're definitely hoping I definitely want to get more involved and try to do some more. I think right now they're all doing uh virtual great strides, which if you can check them out, they're it's a great foundation. But really, any anything I can for the CL Foundation, I'm I'm definitely open to.

SPEAKER_01 29:08

No, that's great. I I um I love the activities that they have uh created and um the foundation that they've they've created. It's a huge um Brandon was very involved, um, as as was I. Um, and that that's huge to have you know the support groups that they've created and that you guys participated in. Um, that's huge. Um I have to I have to ask, so uh kind of wrapping it up a little bit, um at the end of each podcast, I usually have to ask about uh you know Brianna's quote, um, choose your attitude, create your life. Um, you know, she created that and kind of left it behind as a an amazing legacy that I didn't even realize and I use every single day. But um I gotta ask you, uh, as I've asked everybody, um if if you were to interpret that in your own words, uh choose your attitude, create your life, um, how would you interpret that and you know share that uh the meaning and how it's interpreted to you?

SPEAKER_02 30:10

So I think about this a lot now, especially since I I met you and I love the brand and I love all the gear. And I just actually bought the the camo hoodie off you guys, and it is by far the best thing I've ever worn. My wife actually got mad because I didn't order her one, so I actually had to buy her one. But I just love choose your attitude. I mean, it really makes you realize, and I I I don't think about it enough, and I really do have to, but only you are gonna be able to tell you how you feel or how you are reacting to a situation in your life. Nobody else or nothing else should be able to tell you that. You have to find it in yourself. And like I said earlier, like it's everybody's gonna have bad days, and the the world's all not always sunshine, rainbows, but it's up to you how you want to interpret everything. And if you can go into a happy, it's a hundred times better than going into it with a negative attitude. It's it's not always gonna happen right away. I mean, if you have a loss in a family or get some bad news, or one of my biggest ones was when I didn't do good at a competition, or it could be hot or it could be big or small, whatever it is. It's just your attitude you go into it with. And just always try to stay positive. Being positive is gonna lead you to more opportunities in life. And I I I think about it as like sometimes if I'm happy, it might actually help somebody else's day out. It just being kind and polite, just being that kind of person might uh influence another person to be to pick them up a little bit. It it's just if I can be happy and I can help somebody else out for one instant, I I'm gonna do it. I I want to be the best person I can be to help somebody else out. So nobody else can tell you how you're gonna feel. It's all about you. And just like I said, even the smallest things in life can be granted for you gotta realize the small things. And just just something small can can help bring me up all the time. Just realizing what you have. Just try to be positive.

SPEAKER_01 32:07

I love that. No, uh that I mean it's beautiful. That's exactly um, I I mean, uh it's as I say it sometimes it's it's simple to say but difficult to do, like you you mentioned, but it is again, you know, it's a huge uh change. Um and I wanted to connect uh as you said in your competition, um did you or have you found that um in your competition uh you know uh your simple mindset um uh changed the effect or the success of that competition?

SPEAKER_02 32:46

Yeah, I mean, even uh like the the first night I competed, I did very good. I hit the buzzer and I was so proud and so happy, and I kind of used that fuel to go into the second night. And when I got into the second night, I uh I did good, but I didn't do as good as I thought, and then it kind of put me in kind of like a weird slump. And then me and my wife, we were getting ready to go out to Vegas, and I was great, he out there just kept going through my mind like can you do this? I mean, you you fell you already you already got wet. I mean, can you can you go out here and compete with some of the best in the in in the country, in the world? And then I just like I overlooked like a simple thing, like, yes, I know I I I I can compete. I've I've done it. I've I did it the first night. I'm one of the I think it was like 150 that got chosen or got that far to do go out to Vegas. Like, yes, I can. I I I I can do this, I can compete with them. And it just kind of kept building and building and building until I got out there and I used that fuel to do as good as I did in stage one, which I was like, I fell towards the end of stage one, but I was I I hate to say it when I fell, I was still very happy of myself because I knew not all the competitors got as far as I didn't. I got I I went out comp the best in the country. Yeah, I I was very proud of myself. I mean, even though like it didn't look good, I still felt like I did great.

SPEAKER_01 34:16

And you did that with the struggle of CF, which half of those people did not have. So, you know, if you you know, if you put the levels together, you definitely were you know one step ahead even then.

SPEAKER_02 34:26

So uh I hate to say I like it, but I I kind of like being like the person that people don't think is gonna do that good. I always had that like underdog mentality. I love to go out there and people like, oh yeah, here I mean growing up on my whole life, people are oh yeah, here's Brand, he's this skinny kid, and this and that. And I always love going out there and prove him wrong. I I love that. I love that attitude of being like the underdog. That was always my favorite.

SPEAKER_01 34:54

No, that's great. I I think um you know that's huge. It's it's um it's inspiring to see your journey, to see you know everything you're going through, um, to see you keep going, and I love always watching your posts of your you know ninja stuff. Um, you know, especially like I said, with with having cystic fibrosis, because I know what internally uh you know you're challenged with. So, you know, I gotta say thank you for being on the show. Um, you know, it it's an uh honor to have you on. Um if if people want to follow you, uh where where do they find you at?

SPEAKER_02 35:30

Uh yeah, thank you very much for having me on here. It's it's been a lot of fun. But uh I'd say the main thing that I use is uh Instagram uh at Systic Ninja. You go there, all my trainings videos on there, some videos of me and my family, and I just love showing off my life. Anything that I can do that helps inspire somebody else, I'm all for it. I love it.

SPEAKER_01 35:52

That's wonderful. We will uh we'll make sure to put that in the description too, so that way people can find you and follow you and follow along. Um thank you so much for your support. Thank you for being on today. Um I love your story, love following you. Um yeah, I appreciate you.

SPEAKER_00 36:09

Thank you for listening. To reach out to Nick and the Choose Your Attitude community, find us on social media at choose attitude create life. Share your attitude with the world with merch guaranteed to encourage at chooseyourattitude.com. Be sure to share us with friends, family, and colleagues. And while you're at it, leave us an uplifting review. We'd very much appreciate it. Check back for new episodes. Until next time, choose your attitude, create your life.