Action Alleviates Fear

Thank you for tuning in to the True Grit and Grace Podcast. I'm Amberly Lago, and I'll be sharing inspirational stories of resilience and empowering ideas to elevate your business and your life, ignite your passion, and fuel your purpose. Hey, it's Amberly here. And first of all, I just want to say thank you so much for tuning into the show. I appreciate you being here. of you, True Grit and Grace is top 1% globally, y'all. That's amazing. I appreciate you. So make sure if this is your first time listening, I'm happy you're here. Please subscribe so you, uh, don't miss out on inspirational guests that I have coming up on the show. Like Ed Mylett is coming on soon. So I wanted to drop in today and just talk about how to reclaim your happiness and get through fear and anxiety, because that has been coming up a lot for me. So I have some exciting news. I got asked or invited to play in the Celebrity Softball Classic. It's here in Dallas, Texas next month. And I was like, oh my gosh, how amazing. Yes, I'll do that. And then I was like, oh, but there's just one thing. I really don't know how to play softball. In fact, I'm actually really scared of the ball. And so I said yes. And my friend TK Lund asked, and I, I messaged him back and I said, hey, I'd love to do that, but there's only one thing. I'm really terrible at softball. I'm not sure you want me on your team, but I could go and cheer you on. He's like, no, no, no, we want you on the team. So y'all, it's happening. I'm on the roster. I'm playing at the home of the Rangers at the Globe Life Field. I'm doing this. So I told my husband Johnny, I was like, like, hey, I'm playing in the Celebrity Softball Classic. And he was like, are you crazy? You're gonna get hit in the face. Well, that is my fear. And I don't know if any of you listening actually tune into my Instagram, but you will see that I went to the store. I'm serious, man. When I, when I'm committed to something, I will give it my all to do my best at whatever that is. Even if I don't know what I'm doing, I'm like, I am gonna learn how to do this. So I went to the store. It's called Academy here in Dallas. And I went to Academy and I got a softball. I got a mitt. Didn't know what kind of mitt, right hand, left hand. That's how much I don't know about baseball. Got a mitt. And I said to my husband, I was like, well, I need a bat. And he goes, well, don't they have bats? And I said, well, they have bats, but I need to practice hitting with that bat. And so bought a bat in the store. We start practicing the next day. We start practicing. We went, I took Ruby as my coach. Thank you, Coach Ruby. And so she's at the park with me and she's practicing with me. I'm like, wait a minute, how do you know how to hold a bat? How do you know how to do this? And she's like, Mom, just listen to me. I know what I say. Just listen. So she's been coaching me. That night we got home, it's getting a little dark outside. She throws the ball. I hold the glove up. I miss. It hits me. Oh my gosh. Right in the face, y'all. I'm not kidding, bloody nose and all. So it kind of confirmed my fear of getting hit in the face and the fear of the ball. But you know what, we were able to kind of laugh it off. My nose is not broken. But I wanted to talk to you about what I've been doing to get rid of the anxiety. Now, a lot of times anxiety is a word we use for like types of fear that usually have to do with a threat of something, or maybe something going wrong in the future. Maybe some of you feel like this, like your heart starts beating. You may sweat a little bit. Your muscles feel tight. Maybe you're short of breath. Maybe you're breathing fast. Maybe you're like me and you're like, oh my gosh, I'm forgetting to breathe. Maybe you feel frozen. Maybe you feel stuck. But I will tell you what has helped me through the fear. And I mean, I, I still— Have a lot of fears, like sometimes even doing a solo cast here. I'm like, oh, solo cast. Oh, I'm not going to be talking to someone. This is on my own. Okay. Oh, I'm doing an event in Denver soon. I'm going to be speaking in front of hundreds of people. Oh, that fear comes up. And what I have to remember is action alleviates fear. Action is what combats anxiety. And so what you can do is to, instead of feeling just frozen in your fear, is what action steps can you take? Because let me tell you, you're one decision away, you're one new emotion away, you're one more meeting, one more relationship, one more decision of being able to be your best and also inspire other people to overcome those fears that you might have. And so what I have done is take action steps. And this goes all the way back to when I first did my TED Talk. I was scared to death. And so what I did to alleviate the anxiety and fear is I took action steps. I remember when I was giving my talk, I would go upstairs in my office and pace back and forth and prepare for that talk, which just dissolved the fear because I was taking action steps. What I'm doing about, you know, just having some fear about playing softball in front of 15 1,000 people, by the way, is I am practicing every single day. No, every single day. I have not missed a practice. Ruby's been throwing the ball to me. My nephew, Teagan, has promised me he's going to help coach me. He's an incredible baseball player. But Ruby just cracks me up. She makes me laugh because she is on me like you wouldn't believe. She's like, Mom, when I want to stop and when I'm like, okay, I think that's enough for today, she's like, Mom, do you realize you going to be playing in front of 15,000 people. You better get it together. And so she will make me bat one more time. She will make me catch one more time. She's pushing me to the limit. And you know what? I always feel better. So just taking action step and thinking about sometimes our fears connects us with other people. For me, it has become something really fun to do with my family. So while my husband is kind of shaking his head and laughing in the background, Ruby and I are having a good time and we are practicing every day. And I think even after this softball tournament, we're going to continue this and just have fun together. Now let me tell you, one time at the park, I hit the ball so hard, the actual ballpark area of the park was closed. So we were outside of the ballpark. I hit the ball so hard it flew over inside the ballpark. So I knocked it into the ballpark. So we lost that ball. Last night we were practicing and I hit the ball into the neighbor's yard and had to go ask the neighbor if we could get that ball. And along the way, instead of freaking out and being full of anxiety and fear, Ruby and I have been able to laugh at the situation, laugh at myself. Even if you check out my Instagram @AmberlyLagoMotivation, you will see how we were laughing even about my bloody nose. Okay, I did a Reels about it. So, um, another thing. Number 2, what you can do when you start to get a little anxious or you're a little scared Have faith. Have faith. You can choose. If you have the ability to feel anxious or feel fearful about something in, in the future that you don't even know what's going to happen, you also have the ability to choose faith that there's endless possibilities. Something really incredible could happen after the situation. So something that I remind myself often is I ask God, God, come with me. God, be with me. God, let me hand you my worries. God, I need to come to my God with some problems and have some support around that. Know that you're never alone. So one thing that helps me with that is having a morning ritual where I wake up at 5:00 AM before anybody else wakes up. So I have my time to set my intentions, to prepare my day, to journal. to do a gratitude list that I share with a few friends, and to pray and ask God to be with me. Number 3, don't be afraid of hard work. Like, don't be allergic to hard work. You know, your hard work puts you where your blessings can find you. And everything I've done in my life, um, from the time I was younger as a dancer when I had my fitness, fitness career to the time when I started coaching clients and doing the mastermind. And I have people that ask me all the time, well, how did you fill up your mastermind group? I worked hard and I show up for people and then I give them value and I show them how I can help. And when you work hard, it doesn't matter exactly how talented you are, or it doesn't matter how much money you have. It That none of that matters. It matters how much work you put into it. And I promise you that your hard work— I don't think it's about being the best. I think it's about your attitude around it and how you show up and how you are kind to other people and that other people know that you really care. And number 4, choose purpose over pleasure. You know, it'd be really easy just to sit and binge on Netflix instead of going after your goals. And I have people ask me all the time, well, how did you write your book when you didn't even have a computer? And here's the thing, I wrote every day. People like, how did you build your Instagram following? I made time in my schedule because it was important to me to post something of value and then connect with other people and go comment on their post and respond to them when they comment on my post. People ask me, how did you get booked for all these speaking gigs? And I'm like, because I reach out to people. And when I show up for a job, I show up early and I'm the last one to leave. I ask, you know, the event planners, how can I help? And so choose your purpose. Like, really, what is your purpose? I encourage you to ask yourself, what is your why? And, you know, we're not always going to be motivated. I'm not always motivated. I know people think, oh well, you're just so motivated. No, I'm not always motivated. In fact, I think you should really rely on your healthy habits more than motivation and, and more than willpower, because let me tell you, willpower will go out the door if you are too hungry, too lonely, too tired. So you have to rely on Your healthy habits. And so really put those healthy habits in place, which leads me to number 5, don't try to escape your problems. Whether that's like I talked about binging on Netflix, whether that's drinking too much, shopping too much, scrolling through Instagram too much and calling that research or getting your inspiration. I really, really believe escaping your problems. And I say this because I did that. I did that for so long when I was younger. I ran from all my problems by working out. Like, I would physically run. I became a runner and I was a really good runner. I ran from everything. And it wasn't until I was in a hospital bed and I couldn't run anymore and I couldn't run from those problems that I started to go, wow, things that I thought that I had dealt with, like sexual abuse, physical abuse, Being mugged, when my apartment was broken into, all these things, whether it's big traumatic events or little traumatic events that I ran from, we heal what we reveal. And so by allowing those feelings to come up and addressing them and acknowledging them, then we're able to take the right action steps to move forward. So it'd be easy to drink away all my problems, but guess what? They're going to be there. They're going to be there the very next day, but it's only going to be multiplied because if you're anything like me, I would wake up and feel a lot of shame. And so don't try to escape your problems from ignoring them, putting blinders on, pretending they're not there, maybe opening that bottle of wine and drinking and thinking you're going to deal with it tomorrow. Instead, it's just going to create more anxiety. Instead, you need to face your fears, go towards your fears. And you know, you've got a choice. You can either avoid them and then they start to build up and cause more anxiety, or you can face them. In fact, I was just talking to a friend today who is really having some relationship problems and struggling with it. And I'm like, easy solution. You have to communicate. You've got to face that. You got to talk to them. You've got to tell them what's going on. And then you've got to stick to what you're saying. You have to have that integrity and mean what you say. And make sure you're connecting, which is the next point. Number 6, connect. Now you hear me talk a lot about the importance of community, but it is so important to reach out to others. It used to be so hard for me to ask for help. And now I, I really consider myself to be a really, a really good— I'm not, I don't have a lot of great qualities, but I have a few. And being able to see other people's superpowers and being able to connect them with other people is kind of like something I've become very good at. Like, I'm really good at seeing the good in people and knowing when I can connect them with someone else. And so, for instance, you know, I have my God Squad, so we connect. And when I did my TEDx talk, my God Squad flew out and flew to Berkeley to go support me on that. I've got my gratitude list squad who we text each other every day, 10 things that we're grateful for. I've got my sober community. I've got a group of women that I actually put together. We, I named it Legendary Women. And I have, you know, kind of handpicked some women and I don't know, a nudge that these women would really connect with each other. And we meet and we see how we can support each other. And so we meet once, once a month. So find the people that are positive and inspiring. After you leave them, you feel better, you feel energized. And really set boundaries with the people who are energy vampires, and they leave you feeling depleted, and they leave you feeling drained. And I'm I'm huge on constantly learning and growing. You know, nobody has it all figured out. Don't do it alone. Yeah, you can, but stronger— you're— when you're stronger when you're together with other people. And so look, I'm a coach and I have a coach. I'm excited. I'm actually going to be flying to California. I just hired, uh, Bedros Koulian, who y'all have heard him on the podcast, but I have just hired him to help me with my business and I'm flying out to California to work out with him. And so I have a mastermind. It's called Unstoppable Life Mastermind, but I also invest in other masterminds. So I'm in Ken Joslin's mastermind. I've been in Greg Reed's mastermind. And so I think it's really important to create that community. A lot of people go, well, you're lucky. You've got a lot of friends. I said, no, no, no. You have to be of service and add value to people and show them that you have integrity. And it takes— I mean, I feel like I just had a conversation with a friend yesterday who is a very successful entrepreneur, and I treasure the friendship that we have, that we can talk and be honest and open with each other. And we talked about how important it is to align yourself with people that have integrity. That is everything. It's my number one value is honesty and integrity. And so the thing that helps you with that is that starts with you. So if you promise yourself you're going to do something, let's say you set your alarm for 5:00 AM and you get up at 5:00 AM, that not only builds the trust you have with yourself, it builds your confidence. But if you're constantly pushing snooze, pushing snooze, It is really taking down your trust that you have with yourself. It's reinforcing those limiting beliefs of, see, I told you you're lazy. See, you can't even get up when you set your alarm. So the first thing that you can do to start to really build back confidence with yourself is to keep those promises that you make with yourself. And then last thing I want to talk about is your health. And so I really had to get back to basics with this. So when I say basics, I'm talking I had to remind myself to get enough sleep, to move my body, to eat nutritious foods, to take supplements. And so, I mean, I got my drink right here, uh, not the drink drink that I used to drink, but I've got my magic juice drink here on my office. But I also had to get back to really putting it in my schedule. So I encourage you to put it in your schedule to make your health first, because health is wealth. Without your health, you can't enjoy all the things that you've worked so hard to achieve. Without your health, you can't do the things that you want to do. And I say that from a place of when I was stuck in a hospital bed and couldn't do the things that I really, really wanted to do. And so put your health first. I have made it my mission to get enough sleep. And when I say enough sleep, I don't just think about the hours. I look at the quality of sleep that I'm getting. I've made, made sleeping and resting a business strategy. And so when I wake up in the morning, I don't look at my phone except for one thing. I check an app that I have that allows me to see how much REM sleep I have, how much deep sleep that I have, what my heart rate was during the night. And let me tell you, if you think anxiety does not affect your body physically, let me tell you, I've had a little bit of anxiety and I'm combating it with action and breathing and meditation and healthy habits. But my heart rate shows that there's some anxiety there. My heart's not recovering as fast as it could. And so that just makes me more intentional about what I'm doing throughout the day to prepare for the night and get that good sleep. And so it's so important to Put your exercise on your list. And when I say exercising, moving your body, that doesn't mean you have to go to the gym and work out like a maniac for an hour or 2 hours. Today I had a choice. I was like, okay, I have enough time. I can check my email or I can go to the gym and move my body. And guess what? I was like, you know what? Email is going to have to wait. I need to move my body. This is the only time of the day that I am going to be able to move my body. And when you move your body, it moves your mood. It releases endorphins. that combat pain. And I have a lot of people that reach out and they're like, well, Amberly, I don't know how you move when you have CRPS. I was able to move even when I was stuck in a hospital bed because it was that important to me. And I thought about why I wanted to move, not how, but why. So when you're feeling stuck or you're feeling not motivated, think about why you want to do that certain thing and it'll allow you to get through almost any how. So for me, the reason why I have to work out is because I know If I don't work out and if I don't keep my body strong, I won't be able to walk. If I don't work out and I don't keep my body strong, the CRPS will get more flared up. I'm going to be in more pain. So it is my solution to pain, is to move however I can. Each day is different. And also, I used to work out because I wanted to look good. That's not my why anymore. I mean, I, of course I want to look good. I want my husband to be attracted to me as well. But I work out because I know it's going to move my mood. I know it's going to fight sadness and depression. I know it's my solution to anxiety. Movement moves your, your mood. It moves your emotion. It gets you feeling unstuck. It, it makes you feel confident. In fact, there's— they did a study and statistics say that going into the gym and just doing the chest press, even if you just went to the gym and did the chest press, it boosts your confidence. So whatever you can do to move your body, maybe that's just, you know, a walk in the morning. Maybe that's if you're stuck in the bed like I was for so long, getting a pull-up bar installed over your bed like I did. Maybe it's getting some light dumbbells. Maybe it's sitting up and doing some breathing exercises, but also there's a difference between sleep and getting that good rest and then refueling your body. So refueling your body means to not just about mindset, not just about, you know, physically feeling better, but it's your soul set and your heart set. So do things that fuel you up. Go have a conversation, go be of service to someone. Go play ball with your kids. Believe me, if I can do it, you can do it. And I can't tell you the joy that it has brought me. It's like this new thing that I can do that brings me actually joy. So I went from being so scared of the ball and that it was going to hit me in the face, and I was like, okay, so it hit me in the face and I got a bloody nose. I got right back out there and I faced my fear the next day. And I had to tell Ruby, I was like, can we start easy? And this is how we started, y'all. We started baby steps. And I don't want you to forget that baby steps are still steps in the right direction. So we started back so simple, and Ruby stood in front of me— I'm not kidding you— about 2 feet and would underhand throw the ball to me, and I would catch it. Every time I could catch the ball, she would scoot back a little bit more and a little bit more and a little bit more. Before long, She was full-on hurling that ball as fast as she could at me. And so I don't want you to think that you have to be like massively successful right away, or you have to be a superstar hero softball player right away. It takes time. It takes work. It takes a willingness. It takes getting up off the sofa And going for it, it takes that dedication, it takes grit. And again, that's where your passion and your perseverance come into play. So whenever you're feeling like, but oh, I don't know, I, I just don't know if I can do any good or if I can be of service or I can really overcome this fear. I just want you to know that whatever that you're going through, and I've gone through quite a few messes in my life, your mess qualifies you to help someone else. You know, my messiest part of my journey when I was drinking every day qualifies me to help someone else who wants to get sober. And I want you to embrace the fact that God wants you to use— he wants to use you in service of other people. And I want you to really operate in your dreams and in your curiosity and in your imagination, just like you did. Imagine like you did when you were 8 years old and you were just curious and you had these big dreams. And stop operating from your fears. You have a choice. Your destiny is to do something great with your life. It's to have joy along the journey. You can make an incredible message out of any mess. I'm living proof of that. And you are closer to the life that you want, even closer than you think maybe that you have. You know, it's kind of a depth perception that, again, you're one decision away. You're one decision away. You're one emotion away. Just keep those promises to yourself. And raise your standards to have a better life. Anyway, I hope that helps with any kind of maybe fear you're having, any kind of anxiety that you might be having. Always, always— I also reached out to a therapist recently. I'm waiting to get that appointment, but I'm a huge believer in therapy. Works incredible. I did therapy before, and I think, you know, maybe I need to do that again just for my own mental health. We have to take care of our mental health. It's not just our physical health; it's our mental health. And I think it's it's you know when you we can bring awareness to that and and break the stigma of oh you need a therapist. It's like I think everybody needs therapist. That's a that is like a necessity instead of like a luxury. Sometimes that's a necessity. And one last thing is. You know, I used to really think that we— that I didn't need supplements or I didn't need to take anything to help with my immunity, that I could get it all from my food. Well, I have started really fine-tuning what I'm taking for my supplements. In fact, if you were thinking about really, you know, getting serious about your gut health, and because that's connected to our brain, it's connected to how we feel emotionally, if you I started healing my gut, and it really has helped with inflammation. I've been able to kick my sugar craving. I used to be addicted to having frozen yogurt every single night. So if that's something that you're interested into, I've put a link for a quiz that you can take in the show notes, and it will help you decide what is going to be best for you as far as your health, whether it's your supplements for gut health, whether it's for gaining weight, losing weight, energy, hormonal balance, because I want you guys to feel the best that you can feel. And so I've always made a promise that if I find something that helps me, I'm going to shout it off the rooftops and, and really in hopes that it will help you. So reach out to me if you want to know more information about that, or you can just take the quiz that's in the show notes and that'll allow you to kind of see where you need to start as far as your health is concerned. And now next, I'm going to introduce you to my friend TK, or Tim Lund, and Klund. And he is a new friend of mine. He's the one who asked me to participate in the Celebrity Softball Classic, and he's going to hop on and just share a little bit about what to expect Y'all come to Dallas at the home of the Rangers at the Globe Life Center. Oh my gosh, I used to always think of it as the Rangers Stadium, but it's not. It's called Globe Life Field. So it's, I mean, fun just to hang out at the, at the stadium. So if you want to come out for a good time and to support a good cause, you're going to find out next when TK comes on and shares a little bit more about that. But I want to say thank you for tuning in. And for being here, and again, please reach out to me if you have any questions. If you have anybody you think that would be a good fit for the show, you can always text me at 818-214-7378. And if one point of this really touched your heart, take a screenshot and tag me. Whether you're listening or you're watching, take a screenshot, tag me at Amberly Lago Motivation or True Grit and Grace. And I will share that in my story. That's how we start to build those collaborations and build our tribe. I want to hear from you. And, um, next let's hear from TK. Hey y'all. So I wanted to bring my friend Tim, or otherwise known as TK Klund, here with us to talk about the big event coming up that I've been a little excited and a little bit scared about. It's a Celebrity Softball Classic, y'all. He is the author of Stop Whining, Start Winning. He is doing some incredible things out there in the world, but I am just so impressed by this softball classic for celebrities. There's going to be— it's all for veterans. I wanted to bring him on to just share a little bit more about this because I'm so impressed with how you've put this together, and it's going to be so much fun. So TK, thank you.

Thanks for being here. No, thank you. I'm big time. No, Now I'm finally on your show.

Oh my goodness. You know what? As soon as I moved to Dallas, I had 2 different people when I first moved here say, do you know TK? And I'm like, who is this TK guy that I need to meet? And, um, then I, I actually reached out to you on Instagram. I think I sent you a DM. Uh-huh. And then you were like—

It's kind of funny, you did. Kaylee Ocampo sent me. Another person's like, hey, you need to meet Amberly. So at the same time they're telling you, you need to meet me, people are calling me saying, hey, you need to meet Miss Amberly. She just moved here. You're going to love her. And like, okay, great. Who— let's, let's talk to this Miss Amberly. Who is she? And then all of a sudden, boom, there it was on IG. Like, well, there's Miss Amberly. All right, sweet.

Meant to be. It's destiny.

Yeah.

Well, I'm an action taker. And, um, you asked me to actually play in this, um, classic, the Celebrity Softball Classic.

Of course.

And, um, I said, well, I'm not very good. But did you know I was that bad? I mean, I know you saw my Instagram Reels where I got hit in the face. Did you know I was that bad? And is it still okay that I come and play?

It's still okay to come in. Let's put it this way, participate. Maybe not as much play, you can come participate. We don't like ER visits or anything like that, so it's just more come have fun and, and just mix and mingle and expand your brand. And, you know, that's the other big thing with what you're doing with your platform, you know, there's so many great stories out there from the celebrities and individuals that are playing in the game, and of course the veterans that are playing in the game, right? I mean, every one of them has an amazing story, and it is co-ed, which makes it more fun. Um, unlike my OU-UT game we do in October with McConaughey, Toby, and Roger Clemens and all those boys, you know, it's all testosterone, you know, it's all guys, and it's just not as much fun as it is with the co-ed. So the co-ed game's so much more fun.

Yeah, well, it's— you've got a lot of people participating. I'll be there to cheer people on, participate, but I want you to know I've been practicing every day.

I've seen— I've been getting the reports from Academy Sports, like, we got this crazy lady in our aisles here, like, throwing balls and hitting off tees. And, uh, yeah, your poor husband. I mean, I know he's filming most of it just shaking his head like, oh my God. Oh my gosh.

He was like, you are crazy. You are crazy. Why did you say yes to doing that? I'm like, because I think it's, it's fun and it's for a good cause. Tell us what it benefits.

Yeah, so first of all, it's at Globe Life Field where the Texas Rangers actually play, which makes it even more fun because, you know, not everybody gets to get on the field of Texas Rangers and play in a celebrity softball game and mix and mingle and have fun. So that's really the first thing. Uh, second thing is being a veteran, um, being on a lot of boards of a lot of different philanthropical, uh, companies or foundations, groups, whatever, um, I don't know if it's OCD, ADHD, I can't sit in a chair very long on a black-tie party, especially if I'm already having a good time at the VIP pregame. VIP, and then you want me to come and sit down and like, where's my cocktail? I'm dry. I cannot listen to this anymore. And, you know, my wife's always grabbing my arm like, do not leave me. Don't leave me. I'm like, I'll be back when the music kicks in. So, um, as much fun as those are, and then even like golf tournaments, you know, you get to a celebrity golf tournament, you're only playing with, you know, 4 or 5 guys the whole round for 4 or 5 hours. And, you know, usually when you come back in, that's pretty much the only people you're hanging out with the whole time you're doing golf. So So in the Air Force, I was very fortunate enough to play on, uh, the All-Air Force softball team and play on some civilian teams too at a very high level. And then I got out of the Air Force and got into corporate world. And, um, you know, you get married, you have kids, and then, you know, all your stuff goes wayside. Like, you know, there is no more weekends for that. It's Little League and everything else. So, um, after my oldest went to Tech, my youngest went— my middle child went into high school, it was kind of like, okay, what can we do? to have some fun? And softball just kind of kept coming back up. So Marcus Luttrell, the Lone Survivor, and his foundation, Lone Survivor Foundation, he and I were talking and I was like, you know what we should do, brother? We should do a celebrity softball game and let's make it co-ed. You take the celebrity team, I'll take the co-ed veteran team, and let's have some fun. And it was a blast. You know, we had 3,500 people at Rice, pretty much a sellout for Rice University in Houston for the first one we did in 2015. You know, Taylor Kish, Willie Robertson, Jenny Finch, Clemens. I mean, there's so many great celebrities, and there's so many— what I love about the veteran side, there's so many of my friends that came and played that were kind of still starting their careers, like Scott Brown and Scooter Brown Band, who has gone crazy now. Um, and now he's even doing, uh, traveling with War Hippies. Um, then you have like Joey Jones, who, um, a double leg amputee who's doing so many of his own shows on Fox Nation. And he's on Fox all the time. And Pete Hegseth, who's on, you know, the Good Morning Fox, I think, whatever it's called, Friends with Fox or Fox with Friends or something on the weekends. And Jacob Schick, who is now the executive director of the One Tribe Foundation and, you know, and helped start 22Kill. Just so many of those guys and girls that, you know, again, just starting their careers and are off doing amazing things within themselves. So that was really, really fun. And then we did one in Colorado Springs the following year. And it was great, but it was the worst event ever I've ever been at. I mean, we're in Colorado Springs, August 22nd, and it was a beautiful 78-degree day. And by the time the game kicked in, it was 48 degrees.

Oh, wow.

And we were all freezing to death out there. And, uh, yeah, it was just— and then I started thinking, like, why would I do anything outside of Dallas-Fort Worth? Like, this is just nuts. Like, we're flying people in. This just doesn't make any sense. It's not a good business model to raise money. So, um, In 2016, that was in 2016, beginning of 2017, Clemens and I were talking about something. That's when I originally was like, hey, we should do a softball game, brother, to kick off OU-UT weekend. And he was like, man, put it together. And so we started doing that probably a week before that game. And that's at Frisco RoughRiders Stadium up in Frisco. So—

I love Frisco, by the way, too. That's where I go to church out there.

Yeah. Yeah. And that's probably one of the best stadiums, honestly, minor league stadiums in America. So much fun. It's so, uh, you know, crowd-friendly and fan-friendly. But, um, yeah, so a week before that, he called me, says, hey, what do you think about Matthew and Toby playing? I'm like, great, Matthew and Toby who? Like, I'm thinking of athletes. And he's like, McConaughey and Toby Keith. And I'm like, yeah, of course they can play.

Wow.

So that game took off after our second year in 2018 of that game. We, we sell that stadium out every year, 10,000 people. Um, and we will be back this year finally after a 2-year break because of COVID and a scheduling mishap last year. All my other celebrities, guys and girls, started coming going, TK, that's such a cool event. What about us? This sucks. What about us? And, um, so that's kind of how this game came about. We did it in 2019 at Grand Prairie Airhogs. Um, it has a 5,000-person stadium. It was awesome. And then 2020 came, COVID knocked it out. Airhogs sold their stadium, made it a cricket stadium. And then at the end of 2020, the Rangers called me and said, hey, would you and Jessica like to come to the rodeo? We got a sweet, you know, a couple sweet tickets for you. I'm like, sure, I guess we will. And I mean, I didn't even have my Mickelove Ultra open yet, and they were like, hey, you should have your celebrity softball games here. And I'm like, what? And they're like, wow.

Wow.

And man, I don't know if I can afford you guys. And they've been an awesome partner in working with us to help us be able to have this game. We kind of went for it last year. Last year was kind of crazy because we were still kind of in COVID. They still had COVID policies going on. We couldn't use the locker rooms. There was just a lot of strategic deals we had, opportunities we had to deal with last year. And we did 2 games last year. We did a veteran co-ed game first, and then we did the celebrity game. And the veteran co-ed game is always fun, but it usually pushes our timeline back that we can never get the celebrity game finished. So this year it's like, let's just have the one game so veterans can participate, play in it as well. The game itself benefits Vets for Child Rescue, which was created by SEAL Team 6 member Craig Sawman Sawyer. It's all about helping stop sex trafficking trafficking, which my wife is very, very passionate about. And I knew Saw Man for a long time. I just didn't really understand what his foundation was. And my wife was the one like, why aren't you helping Saw Man's foundation? Well, what do they do? And she told me. I'm like, oh yeah, we'll get them involved. And the other one is by another great friend of mine, Major Scott Husing, who wrote the book Echo in Ramadi. He was one of the first— he led one of the first teams in Ramadi during the war. And he— there's a foundation they got called Save the Brave. SaveTheBrave.org and BestForChildRescue.org. And, um, SaveTheBrave.org is about suicide awareness, but they also give back to a lot of other foundations and help. Like, if, you know, so, uh, let's say a fishing— a foundation that takes people fishing, deep sea fishing or something, but they need money to bring veterans, you know, Save the Brave will actually make that happen. Or, you know, they'll work with different foundations to make sure veterans are getting what they need outside of their own foundation. And that's why I love working with those guys as well. So, but then even on top of that, they're the 2 beneficiaries, but then, you know, we'll have the Children's Cancer Fund. We'll be giving them some exposure, 60 Foot 6, with Derek Collins Foundation, who does everything with the Children's Cancer Fund. We'll be doing something for them before the game. We also be working with Hounds and Heroes, which Bonnie Jo Laughlin, we'll be showing a video from her. And just, she rescues dogs, gets them trained, and then donates them back to service members. with PTS that needs a service dog that might be on a waiting list. We have Cowboys Helping Cowboys, which is outside of the veteran scope, but it's an organization that helps rodeo stars who, you know, might've been injured that can't deal with—

Injuries.

Yeah, so we throw a bunch of different foundations and charities who at least get exposure throughout this entire event. But the 2 that will benefit from this one is Save the Brave and Best for Child Rescue. So, and there are a ton of people playing. Well, great. There's about 80 people per roster.

But I saw, I saw that. I saw the roster and I was like, oh good, I probably won't have to go up to bat.

You probably won't. There's probably 50 people on each team that just want to come to participate and just be a part of it. You know, there's a lot of legends like Kenny Gant, the Shark, with 2 Super Bowl rings. Kevin Pup Smith, who, 3 Super Bowl rings. Uh, you know, Emmitt, uh, might even come and play now. Emmitt Smith, actually, let me back up. Emmitt Smith might come and participate now that he knows he wouldn't have to play, that he could pretty much stand on the— over in the dugout with Michael Irvin and have fun. When he found out Michael didn't have to play last year, he was like, oh, you know, I can probably do this then.

Okay, well, you know what, I'm not even gonna tell people that I'm not gonna be up to bat because I have my whole entire family that has bought— they are like coming. They're, you know, some of them have already—

Oh, you're back. I can promise you, you're, you're getting in there. You're going.

So they're, they're all like, oh my gosh, we've got to see this. Yeah, we are coming. Because— and my husband was like Amberly, you don't want to do that. You're going to get hit in the face. You're going to make a fool out of yourself. I'm like, you know what, honey, I may not be the best softball player, but I'm going to go out there and have some fun and show some support to— and, and try to bring awareness to all these incredible causes that you are integrating.

The big thing is, like, even all these pro athletes, trust me, it's not even like our MLB stars, right, that played in Major League Baseball that are playing A slow pitch softball is a little bit different for everybody. Like, there's a lot of guys and girls in there that, you know, that play professional sports that you'll be like, go sit down, you just struck out. You know, wow, from NWA, he struck out last year and he's like, oh, his most embarrassing thing. Then he came up and got a hit the second time and he was like, yes, redemption. Um, but it's fun. And you know, last year it was a little bit easier when we had 6,400 people show up. We, we only opened it up to 5,000, had 6,400 people show up.

How many are expected? Yeah, that's what I thought last night. I'm playing in the backyard. My daughter's been coaching me, and she was, you know, she was having me practice catch first, and then, you know, getting over the fear of the ball hitting me in the face again. Then we— I was practicing batting, and, um, she goes, come on, Mom, you better get it together. There's gonna be 15,000 people there. You better get it together. And so, you know what, it has just been so much fun practicing.

Oh yeah.

It's such a—

Well, it's already brought your family together, right?

It has.

And you're all having fun probably doing something you'd never be doing if it wasn't for the Celebrity Game.

Oh no, I had to go. I bought a, I bought a bat, I bought a, um, I bought a ball and a glove, and my husband's like, why are you buying a bat? Don't they have bats? And I'm like, yes, they have bats. I was like, but I need to practice hitting the ball with a bat.

You gotta go to D-Bat. You gotta go get in the batting cages up at D-Bat, up at wherever. There's always a D-Bat close to you, so go, go get in the batting cages. And put it on slow pitch and yeah, start practicing.

And I just had, um, Ed Mylett on the podcast and he was a ballplayer. I was like, okay, Ed, I've got one last question for you. I was like, any advice? I'm playing in this Celebrity Softball Classic. And he goes, you are? That's so cool. I'm like, I know, is it so cool that I get to do that? Like, this is really awesome. And he said, my advice is just hit that ball where no one's standing. And I'm like, that's probably the If you think I can hit the ball, but I am going to go to the batting cages. I've been practicing every day with my daughter. Um, my husband has been shaking his head a lot, but you know what, it's always entertaining over here. Um, but tell people, you know, I'm—

I—

everything that you're sharing, it's like, wow, what behind the scenes, all the effort and the experience and the collaboration and the conversations and the texting, the emails, everything that goes into play. to bring this together. I just really admire all that you're doing. I admire you and all that you're doing. And, and that's why I really just wanted to have you on to just share a little bit about it and what this actually, you know, who it benefits. But tell people where they can get their ticket. And it's— they're very inexpensive. I mean, you can come and have some fun.

Yeah, it's less than $20, actually.

Um, you know, like where the Rangers play.

Yeah, it's at Globe Life Field. So if you've never been there, it's probably the best, easiest, cheapest ticket to come even enjoy the stadium. But, um, so they're less than $20 each. Um, they are, um, you can go to celebritysoftballclassic.org and follow us on, uh, Instagram and, uh, Facebook as well. You know, there's other some really cool stuff. So Don Graves, who's 97 years old, Road last week or the week before. World War II veteran. He survived Iwo Jima. He sings the national anthem for us every year, um, you know, which is amazing. And he's amazing, you know, to know that this guy was standing there watching that flag literally—

Wow.

And, um, it's funny, my niece, who was 3 at the time— I just pushed out on social media—

I saw.

She did the Pledge of Allegiance when she was 3 at her first Celebrity game.

Wow.

And she's coming back. She couldn't be more excited. She finally got a jersey. She's finally big enough to grow into a jersey and a ball cap. And so she's going to come and do that for us again. And, but yeah, they can go to celebritysoftballclassic.org. Expect the unexpected. We're going to have some things going on in the crowd this year. And again, because we've basically taken 2 games and kind of just squashed them together to one, we actually have more time that we can actually spend in doing some fun things in between innings and giving other people exposure and trying to help other foundations. And that's really what this whole game is about. about is it's just bringing everybody together and having some fun, especially the fans. Um, you know, that's really at the end of the day where my heart is, is that I want the fans to leave with an experience that most people couldn't have. And, you know, if you're a foundation out there or, you know, a charity or even a corporate— like, we're donating, um, tickets to a lot of different foundations right now. We have a lot of sponsors, uh, that are coming in going, hey, how can I help? And, and what I've done for them is like, hey, if you just make a $1,000 donation through the website. Just click on the donation button, put your credit card in, make a $1,000 donation, um, which $1,000 at tickets isn't even 100 tickets. Okay, so it'd really be about 50 tickets at $1,000. But if you put in $1,000, we're going to give— I'll give away 100 to veterans, first responders, their families, different other charities, Big Brothers Big Sisters, different groups like that, the police departments, the fire departments, all those great heroes as well. But I'm going to throw in another 100 tickets. So we're actually giving away 200 tickets for every, um, 1,000 comes in. And that's really about a $4,000 donation is what it— you know, so if people were to go to—

That's very generous.

That was. And again, it's not, it's not about the money. It's really about getting people there and letting them have an experience and have some fun.

And I think we need that more than ever, like, to just come together and and have some fun. And look, I've got people flying in for this.

And my— Yeah, there's a lot of patriotic going on and, you know, a lot of patriotism. And, you know, and it's funny because as much as the crazy political world is right now from every angle, you know, everybody on that field has different political views. Nobody cares about politics at that point. We're all just family. We're all having fun. And that's really how it should be in the world altogether. You know, no matter who you're with, who you're around, you should be treating everybody with respect and kindness no matter what their opinions are. Opinions are about anything going on, and that's what you'll see. I mean, we got Dak Prescott playing. We got Zeke Elliott, which I'm scared to death that they're even playing. Honestly, being a Cowboy fan, and I want to win the Super Bowl this year. And and I just found out Cowboys have the least toughest schedule out of all 32 teams. Actually, the whole NFC East has the least toughest schedule out of all 32 teams in the league. So I'm telling my wife, so we might have a chance. Like we've got the easiest schedule. Like if we can. Where we need to be this year, we got bigger problems. So that's one good news. I'm always worried about those guys. There could be a couple other— I'm waiting on, uh, Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce might end up playing on the opposite team of Dak and Zeke. They're just waiting to see if they're— what their OTA date is, um, because there are some teams that will be having OTAs that weekend. Um, so there are still some celebs that haven't been announced that will probably be coming around. You got Casey Donahue, the country singer. Cody Jinks played last year. I mean, it's just all over the place. If you can't find somebody on that roster, on either one of those rosters, that you're excited to see, I don't know what else— what we could do for you.

Yeah, well, you guys go check out the link for this is in the show notes. It's also in my Instagram at Amberly Lago Motivation. Um, you know what, I'd love to see you there. Come have fun. Um, just join, network, uh, really be entertained. Yeah, just say I promise you it'll be entertaining, uh, for me anyway. And then, um, I just really appreciate all you're doing. Thanks for coming on and just telling us more about it. Uh, and I hope to see you— well, I'll see you soon, but I hope to— if you're listening, come see us. Come see us. It's at the stadium where the Rangers play in Dallas, Texas at Globe Life Field. So—

Come on, y'all.

Come on, y'all. Get her done. Let's show them how Go off and have some fun.

Go and have some fun.

Thank you, TK.

Thank you, sweetheart. I appreciate you guys.