10: Championship Courage: Speaking Your Truth with 3x Patriots Super Bowl Champ Teddy Johnson

Hello, friends, and welcome to Grief Guts and Green Smoothies. I am your host, Melissa Dugalecki, and I am so excited to be here with you all to chat about ways in which we can all get through different adversities, challenges, and loss and how getting outside of our comfort zone and maybe having a green smoothie or two can help us do so. We will cover different topics ranging from interviews to recipes, to sharing my own stories of my grief journey and the loss of my daughter Layden. Honored to be able to share her light in hopes of helping you spread yours. Now let's dive in. So excited to welcome Teddy Johnson to the show. For those of you who don't know Teddy, he doesn't need much of an introduction. He's a former New England Patriot star linebacker. He has three super bowl rings, and I'll let him talk about how each of those were earned with a really different team and coaching staff and how that really impacted his experience and contributed to it. He is a good friend of mine and I am really excited to allow his story to help you here in your own journey. So, Teddy, welcome.

Hey, Melissa. Thank you. It's good to be with you.

Yeah. Great to have you here. Thanks so much. So I'm excited to have you on and let the listeners hear about your story. I really loved learning about it and just talking a lot about on this podcast. We do a lot on grief guts and green smoothies, which are three things that are really interrelated for me but not really too as interrelated for other people as well. So I would love to hear for you. When you hear Grease Guts and green smoothies, what jumps out to you?

I like, I'm hungry right now. I mean, first thing I think is that I'm hungry. So I'm looking, I'm looking for a smoothie right now.

Are you a green?

I'm always hungry. I'm always hungry.

Do you have green smoothies? Is that in your.

Yeah, I do, actually. I mean, I supplement smoothies a couple times throughout the day and usually they are green, as a matter of fact. So there you go.

That's awesome. I love that so much. And then one other question I just need to know before we get going, your very favorite taco.

I have a taco with that. I use that. My favorite taco is probably. It's a meat that my family came up with a recipe for chopped beef. We owned a barbecue restaurant outside of Houston, Texas, 34 years. So we start our sliced beef. We ground up our sliced beef into chopped beef with Our sauce that everybody absolutely loves, and it was marinated in that sauce. And so any taco with my family's chopped beef in it is my favorite taco.

Oh, I love that. That sounds awesome. Are we gonna get the recipe?

I swear, so many people have asked their parents for the recipe for the sauce, and there's no way in this lifetime that the recipe for our family sauce is ever getting out, unfortunately. So I wish I could share it with you, but I can't.

I won't take that.

Definitely not.

Yeah. For everyone tuning in, I'm sure they would love to hear more about story and your journey and how you ended up, you know, what you're doing now. So you just mind sharing a little bit about how you pursued football and the coaches who really impacted you and encouraged you to get to where you are now.

Oh, wow. Yeah, I mean, I've had some phenomenal coaches. I think the best. You know, I think great coaching can really be the difference in propelling your career forward or not. And I had some great ones along the way. You know, good high school coaches that believed in me. And then I went to University of Colorado, had excellent coaching. Bill McCarty was my head coach, and then Brian Cabral was my position coach. Both believed in me. And I think I might have shared this with you, Melissa, but it's important that sometimes a really good coach sees something in a player that you don't see in yourself. And I think that, at least at those first two levels, I had coaches that saw something in me that I didn't see in myself and verbalize that to me. I think it's important for coaches to, you see a certain player have a certain ability to go tell him, because that player might struggle with confidence. That player might have maybe not be, you know, believe in himself to the level that he needs to. To really take advantage of the, you know, the talents that he has, if that makes sense. So I had great coaches that helped me along the way. Takes a little bit of luck. Takes a lot of passion. It takes, you know, a lot of hard work. Nothing came easy for me at the. At any level, the collegiate level, at the NFL level. So, you know, I was, you know, I worked very hard at my craft, and I was very fortunate, though. I was very fortunate to set myself up and prepare and get myself to eventually be drafted in the second round by the New England Patriots.

Amazing.

And then, yeah, it was. It was the greatest day of my life. It really was. And then, you know, be able to turn into a pros. Pro you know, I was able to play 10 years. I thought about playing into my 11th year, but retired because of concussions. And. And so, you know, it was. I beat the odds. I certainly beat the odds. And I was fortunate enough to the play and, you know, the biggest game, you know, four Super Bowls in 10 years, won three of them. And so, yeah, I mean, it was. You know, when you get drafted, there's 30 teams. At the time when I was drafted, there's 32 teams. Now draft. There's 30 teams. And you can go to 29 other town. You could have gone to 29 other teams and 29 other. Other cities, but I was drafted by the team that eventually is going to be looked at as the greatest dynasty of all time. And it's. It's pretty awesome when I think about the odds, right? The odds of me getting drafted by the team that was. This is going to be looked at as the greatest of all time. For me to say I was part of the core group to kind of help get it started is pretty cool.

It's amazing. I mean, think about that. I mean, you talk about the odds of being drafted by the Patriots, and like you said, you. You put yourself in that position, right, to earn what you call the save your life. But what are the odds of, you know, a 40% Super bowl appearance, you know, 33% Super bowl winning during a career? I mean, how many athletes can say that they've had that?

No, it's. It's not a lot. I mean, there's. There are. There's some guys that have had, you know, you know, players that played for the Cowboys in the early 90s, you know, guys that actually played for the 49ers in the late 80s and for the Cowboys in the early 90s, like Charles Haley, he's got, like, five championships. But to your bigger point, it's. It's very rare. The guys go once, let alone multiple times. Like. Like, guys got to experience. So it's. I'm in. I'm in an elite class in a special group in that sense. And it's. It's cool. I'll be honest. You know, I run into, you know, pros or former pros, and, you know, they. They just say to me how. How much they wish they had a ring. You know, we're all. We're all men that play this game, and we all mean, for the most part, our bottom. Our biggest kind of thing that we want to achieve is to try and earn a living for our family and do our, you know, set ourselves up for success after football. But really, it's not the first thing on your criteria that you want to accomplish in your career. It's the second thing, because everybody wants to play for a championship and get a Super bowl arena. And for me to get three, let alone one, is pretty awesome.

Yeah, it's really amazing. It's really amazing. Now, one of the things that you alluded to is that you chose to, you know, retire after your 10th year, which is amazing to have that decade there as successful as you were. And you chose to do that because of concussions. And one of the things that, you know, really drew me to your work was, you know, you speak really openly and honestly, and I think that transparency takes guts. Right. On this podcast, we talk about grief, guts and green smoothies. And, you know, I talk a lot about grief, and it's a topic that people are very uncomfortable around. Like, they don't like that it makes them nervous. They don't want to talk about it. And my stance has always been that, well, just because something's uncomfortable or we don't necessarily like the information being shared doesn't mean that we shouldn't talk about it. And actually talking about it just empowers kind of the power of it and empowers us to make more informed decisions. And I feel like you do that in your own sense, but in your conversation, work around concussions, and I'd love to hear more about that.

Well, yeah, I. I talked. I talked about my. My struggles with concussions, at least just, you know, the head trauma from playing football in a New York times article in 2007. And I talked about my struggles and the, you know, you know, the concussion stuff leading to addiction issues. And at a time when I told the story in 07, this was all brand new and nobody really was talking about was something that a lot of players believe the NFL knew but maybe didn't tell us. And so it was. But as far as mainstream, it was not being discussed. And so when I shared my story, there was a lot of skepticism and a lot of opposition and questioning that, you know, that what I was telling was the truth. And it. It was my willingness to share my story was because the genesis of me telling my story was for me reading an article in the New York Times about Andre Waters, who was a safety for the Philadelphia Eagles, his strong safety who committed suicide. And they did an autopsy on his brain, and they detected this brain disease that they now know is linked to guys that have multiple hits they had. It's called cte the brain disease linked to people who have multiple concussions and chronic traumatic encephalopathy is the scientific name for it. And anyway, they autopsied Andrea Waters brain. They saw he had CTE based on all the hits to the head from playing football. I heard, I read that story, and I'm like, I have to. I felt compelled to tell my story. It was a very scary time in my life because the last thing I wanted to do was to bring any, I don't know, just bad publicity to the team that I love playing for. But I felt compelled to tell it because this. I just felt like there's just guys out there that are suffering in silence. I was for the longest time, because there was no name for what it was I was fighting. And so, you know, there's nothing worse than having a problem and not knowing what it is. I remember going to a lot of different doctors, Melissa. Neuropsychologists, neurosurgeon, psychologist, family therapist, on and on psychiatrists that they had to get answers to what I was dealing with. And there was one doctor I'll never forget, who asked me all my symptoms, how I got them, how I was feeling, all. And then I told him all the different doctors I've been seeing and then what they were recommending. He said to me, I'll never forget it. He just looked at me, says, dad, you've. You've reached new research territory. It's kind of like we're not sure what. I don't know what to do with you. And I said, doc, thank you for being honest. Thank you for being honest for it was with me not throwing stuff on the wall to see if it sticks. And so that was a very. And that was in probably 2006. And so two years after I left the game and I left the game not knowing what any of this was, I just knew my head hurt. I knew my personality was changing. I knew I wasn't the same guy. I knew that every time I went out there that I was doing more damage to my head. I just didn't know to what extent, and I didn't know what the long term, maybe potential ramifications are. So now we know. We know there's a name, we know what potential, what it can lead to, a progressive thing. It doesn't mean it's a guarantee that I'm gonna end up with one of the brain diseases that are linked to this Eluke garage disease is the most terrifying one that is linked to players that have cte, but also, you know, it's led to believe that Alzheimer's, dementia, Parkinson's, besides Lou Gehrig's disease, is all linked. So we don't know. So we don't know for fact. But we just. There's. There's a lot of science and data out there that suggests maybe that's the case. So we're at the very beginning. And. And so it's. It's a little daunting in that. In that regard. But, yes, to get back to your original point was scary for me. I felt compelled to do it after reading that Andre Waters story, and it's really sad. There's been my. My biggest hero was Junior Seattle, and Junior Seau played middle linebacker in the NFL at the highest level. One of the absolute best ever played for almost 20 years. Nicest guy you'd ever meet. Like, really was an iconic figure in the San Diego community, in the Samoanson community there in Oceanside, where he went to high school. Like, I went to his rival high school in Carlsbad. I looked up to Junior se out and he killed himself. He shot himself in the chest so that his brain could be the autopsy to see if he had what I think he knew in his heart he had. You know, and so it's just. There's. There's just. There's some really sad stories about this. But what I'm really thankful for is that guys are making educated decisions now. You know, I. I did. You know, there's guys that played in my era before me didn't know what the ramifications were to maybe these multiple concussions. And so, you know, now they know so they can make informed decisions. And I just love that there's. There's just more information out there so that guys, you know, the money's greater, they don't have to play as long they can play smarter, they can be their own advocates now. And so the thought of me maybe being helping and getting all that accomplished makes me feel good because at the time when I shared my story, it was not a popular opinion to have, or at least my story was not well received because of, I think, just the unknown factor of it all.

Yeah. No, and that's why, you know, as I said, I think it takes such guts, right, to share what you've shared. And it was interesting. Something I heard you reference reminded me of my own experience in that you felt almost a level of guilt, right, in owning your story and honoring and respecting the place that had been your family and your home and your career. And I felt something very similar for my Daughter Leighton. Her case was termed a catastrophe. Right. And, you know, that's actually what one of her cardiologists called it. And that was really hard. And so I felt this level of guilt when I started kind of speaking out on Layden's case and on her behalf. Not in a way that was pointing a finger, Right. But that was rather just educating. Like, how does. How do we prevent this from happening again? Because Boston Children's Hospital was my family. They were my home. I literally lived there. And so I felt that very similar. It just really struck me when you said, like, you felt this weird kind of guilt. And I think it's so important for anyone listening who might feel similarly to how you felt or to how I felt to recognize, like, we can use the word and. Right. Like, we can respect and honor, you know, the NFL, Boston Children's Hospital, and we own our truth. Right. And we can own our story and do it in a way that's about empowering and educating. Not blaming, not finger pointing. But, like, how do we do better? Right? How do we do better?

I mean, that's. I love that. And that's. And, you know, you just. You just. It's hard to, you know, the other. The entity that maybe you are highlighting, it's just sometimes it's not going to be well received. You know, you just. You hope that everybody involved kind of ease it the way you're. You're suggesting they see it, you know, and that's what you hope, that it's really all about, educating and understanding at the bottom line, at the end of the day, not pointing fingers.

Well, yeah. And I think, to your point, you hope everyone understands, but the reality is that's unlikely. And so I think you had to be. And I had to be really clear in my heart about my intentions and my goals and the way I was doing it, so that when people maybe disagreed or didn't feel comfortable or pushed back a little bit, that I didn't doubt, question, and quit. Because I think when we're not clear in what we're pursuing, that's when we. When we are met with doubt, that's when we can quit. So I just think it's obviously a testament to how clear and certain you were and what you were pursuing and why you're pursuing it, that allowed you to break through those barriers.

Oh, yeah. No, here's the thing is, it's almost to a fault. I tell the truth. I'm honest about a lot of my own personal struggles, and it's, you know, if I Have a platform to share something that I think is going to help somebody. I just. I don't know. I gotta live in my own skin every single day. And it's very difficult. It would be. It's just very difficult for me that when. If something happens in my life, an opportunity presents itself that, where you can help people or you could enlighten something and really educate people on something or just whatever, if it's to do the right thing. When this opportunity, this opportunity comes, you will do it. I just, I. I honestly think about that all the time, was the work. If there's something that happens in my life, I see something. Something happens where, you know, I could keep quiet or I could do the right thing. And even though it might hurt me initially, but at the end of the day was the right thing to do, I hope, I hope that I do the right thing. Every time I think about that stuff that hasn't happened in my life down the road, that it's gonna. Inevitably something's gonna happen where I'm gonna, you know, I'm gonna. Do I take the easy way out or do I do the hard thing and tell the truth? I. I just, I think about that a lot. And I was presented with the opportunity. It was really hard, but I needed to tell the truth, and I did. And it's helped a lot of people. And that's. At the end of the day, that's. That makes me feel really good.

Yeah. And that takes bets. I love that so much. Now, you referenced the adversities that you've gone through, whether it was the concussions, whether it was subsequent addiction challenges. And one of the themes I really talk a lot about here on the podcast isn't the expectation that we're going to go through life without adversity. Right. It's, you know, not trying to go through, like, doing everything perfectly and, you know, in a glass ball. Because when that happens, we're constantly. That's where anxiety really spikes. Right. Like, we are so attached to everything, looking a certain way that we can't own our truth. And so it sounds like. And what I've seen is you channeled a lot of that adversity into growth, which is something I try to coach and teach here on this podcast. So how would you encourage others or how did you, you know, decide to take all the adversities that you've been through and channel it into growth?

Well, I think. I think I had no choice. Like, I was. I was on a path of self destruction there most recently, you know, and it was kind of a life or death thing for me in a way. I mean, that sounds pretty, maybe overly dramatic, but when you're dealing with addiction, for me, it was. It was. I had to either learn or I was gonna die. I had to either decide to change or I was gonna die. Right. So that was, you know, that's kind of how it was for me. And so, you know, but there's a lot of things that have happened in my life where I wasn't gonna die. Maybe it's not a big, you know, related to my addiction, but it's, you know, you have to learn from it, I think. But part of my. Part of what I'll say about addicts, I think most addicts, I think a lot of them are kind addicts that are in recovery and addicts in general that are struggling are, for the most part time thoughtful, sweet, caring people. And those kind of people in life go realize it's a dark world sometimes, that it can be me, that there's people that aren't like you, that aren't as nice, they're out to get you, that there's just. There's darkness out there, and you get disappointed and you get hurt by people that you trust. And so. And I think it's hard for people to maybe realize that. Right. And so a lot of times they, you know, they turn to addiction to cope. I think you just have to. What I think is the best advice I can give is you. You have to, I think, just learn to protect yourself and learn to probably what your weaknesses are and maybe what your insecurities are and so that you don't, you know, make. Make as many mistakes, but we're all going to make mistakes. And I think, honestly, you just have to kind of keep getting back up. Keep getting back up. I mean, that's just life when you fall down. I've been injured so many times. There's a point, Melissa, in my career, I get injured all the time. I was pull one bicep, and then the other year I pulled the other, and then I broke my foot. And you're just like, man, is this even. Is this even like in my. In my. In the cards for me? And I'm supposed to be playing this game, but, yeah, I just kept coming back, and I kept coming back. And that's all life is, man. It's just. It's just getting knocked down and getting back up and every single time. And that's basically the best thing I can maybe say about that, you know?

So again, not having that expectation that you're never going to get knocked down, but just knowing that like at some point you're going to, and that you're going to get back up. Right?

You have to. I think you just have to. Yeah, you just decide to, you know, like you can. A lot of people like to stay down. A lot of people like to be martyrs. A lot of people like to be the victim. You know, they feel comfortable in that role. You know, that, that, I mean, all that does is that, you know, when you, when you play the martyr, all you do is you're just eating at your self esteem. It just, you know, you think it might feel good for a little bit, but then it just, you know, you know, life goes on. Life goes on without you, man. So you got to just get up and get back engaged as fast as you can.

Yeah, I love that. It's interesting. You know, obviously I love athletics. I do a lot of analogies to athletics. And one of the things you were talking about was reminded me of, you know, in the life coaching work that I do, I really try and take every adversity that clients face and almost like imagine watching film, right? And you sit there and you're watching it not to beat yourself up, not to like berate yourself, but to learn. Like, where can I make a better decision? Where can I improve? Like, what habit is finding me in this result, right? And so it's different, right? It's a different capacity, but it's very similar in that you have to take that time if you want to improve, to reflect and to look at, you know, what choices you made, what habits you have, what energies you're leading with and then decide how you can improve going forward.

Therein lies the rub though, where a lot of people get stuck and, and don't ever improve is they don't want to watch the film. They don't want to, they don't want to turn it on. Like, you know, like, at first it's hard for me. It was hard for me to watch myself on film because I just, I only wanted to see the good things.

And you're talking football film, right?

Football film. Yeah, I'm watching the film and football. I'm watching my practices and I'm like, man, it was uncomfortable early on when I watched myself on film because I, I was just one of those guys that I just, I was very hard on myself and I had to be perfect all the time. I mean, that's just how I was wired. And so the film, it shows the good, bad and the ugly. And it was hard at first, but then you just kind of got used to it. Right. It just gets easier.

Yeah.

So I think what happens is a lot of people, they don't even want to watch the film, metaphorically speaking, in their own lives. They. You know, I just. Those people that make mistakes and they don't want to take the time to learn from. They don't want to talk somebody. They don't want to be introspective. They just want to make that. Make it pain go away and do, you know, keep repeating the same stuff. Take a breath, man. Stop. Talk to someone. If you need to go to a treatment center to really, really, you know, I mean, one thing is, you know, I've gone to different treatment centers, and for the most part, I mean, in almost all of them, I was 100% fully invested in it and wanting to get better and took the time. I mean, it's. All you literally do is think about yourself like all you do for however long you're in there. Been in there for me from 30 days to three months, where all you're doing is thinking and reflecting and writing and thinking about. And those are. Those are memories. I absolutely love that I actually took time to think about my behavior, what I was doing to people, what the root cause of my behavior was, and so that I would stop doing it. Right. I mean, so a lot of people just need to stop and watch their. Their own film and it's not going to be comfortable. I think a lot of people just don't want to do it because of how uncomfortable it is. But you will keep repeating the same mistakes over and over and over again if you don't.

Yes. I love that. Such good advice. Right. For on and off the field. And we all understand it on the field and off the field is harder. And I think you're right because we have to not sit in that place of shame or embarrassment and we have to almost remove ourselves and just kind of be an observer. Right. And let it feed back and really be compassionate with ourselves so we can understand ourselves. Because it's only in doing that that were actually going to change habits and change patterns. And, you know, that's where the power is for growth. So I love that connection.

Yeah, I think you definitely got to. You definitely got to give yourself a break.

Yeah.

I mean, so if you're. If you're. If your person has like the. You're a perfectionist, which there's a lot of people have that. It's part of their profile. Give yourself A break. No one's perfect. All right. And it's arrogant to think you can be right. I mean, everybody screws up.

Yes. Yeah, I know that big connection between perfectionism and ego is huge. Huge.

Yeah.

Now, one of the things that you said earlier that I loved was sharing how those coaches saw something in you. And I forget what you told me. What was it that you were going to be playing on Sundays or what was the reason?

Right. Yeah. I know my head coach at University of Colorado, going into my spring practices, but my last year, he says, you can play on Sundays if you put your mind to it. And referencing, you know, playing in the NFL at the next level.

Yeah.

And I never really thought that that was a possibility, but when my head coach said that, it gave me just a level of confidence that I'd never felt before. And it was. It was. If he doesn't say that to me at that moment in time, and then I go and tell my position coach what he just said, and then he reinforces it by saying, yeah, he's absolutely right. You just need to realize that. So the two of my coaches that I had the most respect for at that time, saying, believing in me, it was like, that was it. I never. I never looked back. I never questioned my talents again. It was as. It. So I just. As a coach, you know, it's a huge responsibility. You know, when you have people that you are teaching underneath you, that you're wise with your words, and if you see something that you don't keep withhold, that you know, that you think can maybe help propel that player to another level, you open up and share that, because you have no idea what those words might mean to that player, that person at that time.

Right. And that's what I wanted to revisit and tell everyone listening right now to, like, grab a pen or grab your notes app in your phone and think about that. Like, write that down. And it's not just on the football field. Right. It's in life, when you see something in someone, you see potential, value, opportunity, possibility. Like letting them know how powerful it is to actually do that. I mean, it literally changed your life, right?

Yeah. No, it does. It does. It's. It really does. And Ellie and I. And I wish there was people were more. More verbal about their feelings. You know, there's. I don't know, everybody's. You know, I don't know, there's different, you know, things that motivate people, why they say, don't say things, but the positive impact you can have I mean, if you're feeling something about somebody and it's just, it's a strong feeling and, you know, it's a, it's a positive thing, it would probably end. You know, don't, don't hesitate to tell them, like, you know, this is a world in which we don't verbally communicate as well as I think we're capable of. And at least from the positive side, I wish more people would spread their positive thoughts to people and tell them what they thought and the world would be a better place.

Oh, my gosh. I agree so much. Absolutely. Now, going further than that, though, so at one point, you were a young guy who had coaches see something in you that you see in yourself. But to get through everything you've gotten through, like in the NFL, in your personal life, overcoming what you've overcome, you've had to learn to coach yourself and you've had to learn to see your own value and worth in yourself. And I'm just wondering if you have any advice or something to share with other people and how they can become their own coaches to believe in themselves and what that was like for you.

Yeah. Wow. You know. You know, I think, I think we have to be our own biggest cheerleaders. I mean, I mean, look, we all need support, but, you know, you got to have that self belief to really, to really achieve, you know, what you want to achieve. It's. It's just gotta. It's gotta, it's gotta. The genesis has got to be from within, you know, and whatever it takes to motivate you, use it. I don't care how silly it is, but if you have a skill set, and I always said the smartest people, they identify what they're good at and then they go to exploit it. Like, I was really good at playing football. Like, I'm okay. I do radio now, you know, I do sports talk radio. I think I'm pretty good. But I was really good at football. Right. I, you know, I'm a. I think I was pretty good at being a public speaker, but not nearly as good as I was as a football player. Right. I think I was just really good at playing football and I like the game and I exploited it. I exploited that, that my skills in that. And it became I just happened to be play game that it seems like everybody seems to enjoy and love. I mean, let's face it. I mean, people were crazy for football and the NFL.

Yeah.

And so I was, I was really good at how, you know, I had the mindset, had the physical attributes she needed. And then I had, you know, I had the heart and the desire. And so I, I just, man, I identified at a very young age that that was really good at that and I exploited it. And so, and I, you know, I was lucky to have the career I had. So I just, it's, it's. I think if you can identify what it is that you really excel at and then go exploit it, you know, it's, it's, there's people that are good at things that maybe they don't have a passion for. It just comes easy. So I, hey, I've played with football players that didn't maybe have a passion for it, but they were just, they've given God given ability. That is, that was just like in genetics that were otherworldly, you know. And so I played with guys that were super freak athletic athletes but didn't really have the heart desire, right? And then you, and then you play with guys that have the God given ability who have the work ethic and the desire and the drive and with a little bit of luck staying healthy, they become hall of Famers, right? Those are the hall of Famers to have that God given ability and they have the work ethic to match.

It's so funny, we've actually never talked about this, but something I always coach and always say like when I'm working with clients privately or in group setting, is that, you know, to really find that kind of happiness and to that clarity of what you're good at, it's finding that place where your skill set and your passion align in a capacity where you serve others, right. And where you can literally just said these same things and we've never talked about it, which is amazing. But where your skill set and your passion, where those meet and in a way that you can serve others, right. And then the happiness and the money and all of those things they come. But that takes clarity. I think you said knowing what your strengths are, knowing what they're not, right. Like I'm terrible at technology, right. I tend to be much more of a communicative person. Like I like speaking, I like writing, those tend to be my strengths. Tech stuff, not so much. Right. And so just being okay with that. And like to your point earlier, there is no perfection. So relative areas of weakness, just like accepting it, not almost not taking ourselves so seriously, you know, and if, if.

Yeah, well that's, that's very true. And it's, you know, I'm not saying it's easy and I don't think you're suggesting it's easy is to find what you're really good at, where your passions align. And then also, I like that little last part you put in there where you serve others, because I think, you know, like, I think that's where. I think it's where passionately, if you like. There's just a. I think inherently in all of us, whether people want to be or not, there's something really satisfying about helping people. And, and so, like, I struggled there for a little bit because I played a game, right? Like playing football. How am I serving people? And then. And I. And I had. So I had this kind of altruistic mindset, right? I want to be able to do stuff and have a profession where. Or people are enjoying what it is that I do. And it just hit me all of a sudden. I mean, like, when fans come up to me and we watch every Sunday and these kids want my autographs, like, oh, I got you. So it really in line with what I really wanted in life. So I was like, wow, I'm really good at this game. I have a passion for it and I'm serving people. So it was, it was. The game was very rewarding for me in that sense. Truly, truly rewarding.

I love that. I love that. So I would love to be able to share with the listeners where they can find you. And also if there's any information, you know, around the work you're doing on CTE that you would want to point them in the direction of or encourage, you know, any listeners who want to learn more about that, where do they go? And then any listeners who want to learn more about you, where can they find you?

Well, I think the, the best way to get me is honestly is via Twitter. Like, everybody has different social media. They use media platforms. I should say that they use. I'm. I'm kind of big on. I'm Twitter guy at Teddy J Radio, at Teddy J Radio. You know, and there's, There's. There's a. There's an email. My pr, my publicist. You can. If you want to reach out to me, to talk to me a more on a personal level. You. The. The email is on my Twitter account. You can go to that. People reach out to me through that, through that email, through my publicity email for different things. And it's, it's fun. If I can help you, I can't help everybody, but if I can, if I can lend, you know, a helping hand or I can point somebody in the right direction, I have, I'm enjoying maybe being in that role. You can listen to me on the radio. I do. I'm doing filling work on 95, the sports hub. My. It's random times. I can tell you. I'll be on this Sunday or. Yeah, this Sunday at 10 o' clock with the voice of the Patriots, Bob Socie. We're doing the NFL pre draft show.

Amazing.

For the next. The next two or three Sundays leading up to the draft. So Twitter is usually where I put out when I'll be on the Sports Hub. I'm on NBC Sports Boston every now and again, but nothing. It's kind of set in stone, like a weekly thing. So it's at random times. But I will tweet out when I'm on there. So that's probably the best way to get hold of me. They can find you via Twitter.

Awesome. On Twitter. And we'll post that in the show notes. You do hang out a little bit on Instagram. Thank goodness. That's where I live.

I got to get more active on Instagram. It's where all the cool people hang out. I get it. So I will work. I will work on my Instagram game. It's pretty pathetic right now.

I can coach you up on that. Don't you worry.

All right. Good looking out.

All right. Well, thank you so much for jumping on grief guts and green smoothies and just talking about how guts have been such a big part of your journey and having the courage to speak out on your experience in a way that allows it to help others. Right. And really just taking that stance so clear in what you believe in and how it's going to serve and offering that because that's truly a gift for people in our community.

Well, Melissa, thanks for the opportunity. It's very rare that I had a platform to get this real, you know.

Yeah.

And this authentic and this raw. So I love. I love talking like this and helping people if I can. So thank you.