CHAPTER 7Fast Forward to 2020
BY THIS TIME, I HAD STARTED MY LEADERSHIP CONSULTING firm and wrote and published the first edition of this book. I appeared on many podcasts to promote my book and company. One of the podcasts I appeared on was former Navy SEAL Mark Divine's “Unbeatable Mind.”
I felt a great deal of trepidation around this podcast appearance because I could count on one hand the number of Navy SEALs I had spoken to in the twenty-plus years since I left the Navy. Because of the shame I felt after all the years, because of how I left the SEAL Teams, I considered canceling the appearance. My wife convinced me not to cancel.
There is a reason Mark Divine is so successful and has such a loyal following. It is because he is an awesome human being. I'm not sure where I would be had I chickened out and not appeared on his podcast because he may very well have changed the trajectory of my life.
About halfway through recording with Mark, I was telling the stories that led to my injuries. I had never gone into that amount of detail about my injuries before. It was ironic that the person I finally shared with was the type of person I was so afraid would judge me the harshest: a Navy SEAL. I could not have been more wrong.
At one point, he interjected and commented that perhaps my series of bad decisions and downward spiral when I left the SEAL Teams were all a result of my head injuries. Mark mentioned Traumatic Brain Injury and the effects it has both short-term and long-term. ...
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