High Performance Athlete Reveals Their Burnout Secret

Welcome to Beyond Diagnosis. I'm Rita De Michele, and in this episode we explore why burnout is not always a motivational problem, why discipline requires a system, and how simple repeatable habits can support better mental well-being and recovery. I'm speaking with JD Tremblay, an engineer, naturopathic practitioner, ultra-endurance athlete, and director of high performance and mental resilience at Hungry Warrior Academy. Welcome, JD.

Hello, Rita. Thanks for having me.

You're welcome. Well, we've had such a great chat before I press record and getting down into the nitty-gritty of your mindset, how you operate your life, and it's phenomenal. Most people can't even grasp a tiny bit of what you do, never alone everything you do. I guess that's how you became one of only 3 people in the world to complete the Epic Deca Ironman event. So you really do have a deep understanding of discipline and stress management. Your understanding is undeniable. How do you engineer your life to perform at such a high level without burning out, and how can other people do the same?

We have to go back to the basics and making it really simple. For me, uh, I did not even understand it of what I had accomplished, even after the Epic. People were asking me, what did you do? How did it come about? What are your systems? And I was not even able to answer these questions because I never pondered on them. All I did was, again, create this somewhat naturally over the journey. It really came with the military. The military gave me Again, a structure and these systems. They placed a mission in front of me, and then I just accomplished it, and that was it. But again, when the task was complicated, a lot of soldiers were not able to understand the task. And so we had to, again, go back and break down every single task. So that gave me an idea as to how to create these structures. And when I got into engineering, And I looked at these kids that were trying to solve difficult equations that really did not need to happen in the first place in order to solve issues that did not even exist. It's almost as if they were trying to reinvent the wheel to create somewhat of a new problem to solve another one. And by doing so, they were creating even more problems for them, which was just packing on to anxiety. So when I looked back at the very basic of engineering, I looked at creating a plan. That's what the military had. It was go do the mission. That's it. Very simple. Just go do the mission. What's your mission? There's your plan. That's it. For me, it was the Epic Deca. Just go finish it. Now, that was the big picture. Now I had to strategize for it, and I made a 30-page report on exactly what was necessary to achieve the mission. So it wasn't now just, this is the goal, this is the mission. Now, how do I complete the mission? And so that's what I broke down into several pieces. Then I, again, in terms of the engineering functions or this, the scientific method, It's create a prototype. And so I broke down each part. For example, the running part. Well, I created a prototype in some case where I used different types of shoes, which one would hurt me, which one was much better. And so I saw that the ones— there's one that are called the Nike Vaporfly. And so I bought a pair. I said, these ones are hurting me.

With the—

in the long run. And I need to use another pair. So I did not use these ones, even though those at the time were some of the best shoes on the market. And so I used other ones. And then I tried them when I trialed the prototype, saw that it hurt me, tried some other shoes. I did that with the bike as well. I did that with the swimming component as well. And then I had to implement it, which I would say a lot of people are lacking in this realm in creating a system. They go to the drawing board and then they go into this cycle all the way to prototype and they create all of these calendars of tasks to perform. And in the end, they don't— it doesn't lead or yield any result and they get Sad, and it creates a lot more anxiety in their life. And that's because they're not creating momentum or a certain type of action that would lead them towards the final goal.

It's having a plan, being able to implement it. When someone is— say, we're going to be talking about under pressure and stress today— and what do you usually see in the people that you work with, or generally, what usually goes first? when they are under this? Is it their body that goes first? Is it, you know, they give away their recovery, like, or they have no structure, or if they did, they just let all that go? What is it that happens with them?

It's usually, um, the problem is, uh, with their body, but the problem as well is with the energy regulation that they have. So they're not able to regulate all of their systems. Like, we're talking about your system, your nervous system. They're not able to regulate them to the task that they are trying to achieve. That's because they're trying to compare themselves to certain TikTokers, influencers, or other people in the world, which to them it might work well, but to me or to another person that is watching it might not fit. For example, A person that is an athlete, a sore human athlete, a person that lifts cars. Now, I don't have the body shape of a person that lifts a car. Can I lift a car? Maybe in certain life-saving conditions, or I would use a tool prior to it. I would not go into these types of competition unless I was pushed or driven to it. I would. Still be able to reach a certain level of strength that would be, uh, extreme for an ultra triathlete, or for any triathlete for that matter. But I would not be solely based in my capacity to be lifting birds and lifting big giant rocks. That's not my morphology. But that person is regulating their system and their energy completely different than me. Their eating pattern is different. Their types of inflammation is going to be different. And so again, trying to keep it simple and digestible for everybody, we created the Hungry Warrior Academy, a system called BRAIN. And so BRAIN, B-R-A-I-N, is also an acronym. The acronym stands for B for blood chemistry, R for recovery, A for attention, I for inflammation, and N for nervous system. Once you're able to regulate these systems, then with your specific, with your specific condition and goals, then you're able to avoid burnout for the majority of the tasks that you're going to complete. And it goes even further when you were looking at, let's say, the blood chemistry. Well, the blood chemistry, we're looking at glucose swings. So for example, glucose swings, someone that is watching on TikTok, these influencers that are Taking in a nice shake in the morning. Now we know from science that when you wake up, cortisol levels high, which is the stress hormone. And then they take in a shake. The shake is nice strawberries and nice fruits. And maybe you're gonna put in some honey because you want to go healthy. And that's what they're claiming, that it's all gonna be tasty and also healthy. This is also filled with carbs. This is filled with fructose. Which is a type of sugar. That sugar heightens your insulin level. And then once your insulin is high, cortisol level is high. Now you're just a ticking time bomb. Now bear in mind, if all of a sudden that influencer is again, cortisol level's high, insulin is high, and they go to the gym immediately after, or they go under the sun right after. So they're by the beach and they just, then they're burning that, those, those calories immediately. So because they're burning it, somewhat of a workout, then it's beneficial for them in their particular goal. However, let's assume that for the normal person, you're not going to be an influencer going to the gym right after, and you're not going to have a workout immediately after you eat your shake or drink it. What happens is you're in your car, insulin level is high and cortisol, and you're just a ticking time bomb. It just takes one person to honk the horn or I'm on their break real quick. And all of a sudden you snap and you're out of control. And for some people it ruins, or they allow it to ruin their entire day. Now, would they— let's assume we take the exact same person and that individual cortisol level is high, does some meditation, which now are able to decrease cortisol slightly. We're not talking about all of it, okay? But we're talking about— slightly. And let's say that they're able to regulate it over time, maybe they do some cold plunging, or even just plunging their face into cold water or doing some cold showers, and there's a process to it. So they understand how to regulate their system and get back to its normal much faster than the normal person, then you're looking at, again, decreasing it even, and even not more, but faster than the normal person would in the previous case scenario. That's just cortisol. Now insulin, the person understands, I'm going into traffic, I don't need quick energy at the moment. I'm going into traffic, I just need a slow gradual energy. That person, if able to fast, would. Or what about protein and fats? So maybe if they're not vegan, maybe some eggs, or maybe Meat in the morning, which might seem controversial for some people to eat meat in the morning. But again, you're having fat and then you're having protein instead of having it— having that shake that seemed healthy. And so now insulin level is not high. You're having beautiful energy. And so all of a sudden, the exact same situation, which should be surprising to most, is happening. Able to regulate their energy much faster. Slams on their brake, you're able to— I'm not saying they won't react in the same way, but there's a high likelihood that they will react in a much different way as a result of regulating their energy. And so right now we talked about one block, which is the blood chemistry, and inside of the blood chemistry we only talked about glucose swings, which a lot of people are, uh, having an issue with. And And so it's not about saying, well, cut all sugar, or how about you decrease the amount of sugar? No, it's about timing. It's about environment. And it's about what is the goal that you want to achieve. My best advice in this case would be eat for a purpose. What is your purpose? So that, again, going back, circling back to that guy who lifts a car, the guy might eat an entire chicken. And to Some, if they met a doctor and the doctor said, how about you eat an entire chicken? You'd lose your license in most cases. The guy is lifting a car. The guy needs that chicken. The guy needs to eat that big chicken. So again, it's about timing. It's about purpose. It's about what do you need? And so now you're making it custom based on what do you need? And so now that person, let's say we circle back to the main topic of this conversation, which is burnout, which is recovery, which is, well, let's look at that person that now cortisol, insulin is high. In the first case, the guy shows up, slams on his brake, which is just a, it's a, it's a sad event that just unfortunately happens to many people. No accident. Okay. We're still within the realm of no accident. Person is out of control and has difficulty controlling their themselves because of the energy regulation, because of that again blood chemistry and glucose swing, and maybe it's going to ruin their entire day and then create a certain type of anxiety, which again now they're not able to function, which now they have to overwork, which now maybe they have to stay later, which now like this all piles up, and when you compound interest. It's a beautiful thing in finance, but it's a sad thing when you're compounding all of these stressors and not able to properly regulate.

Absolutely. And there are, like you did mention meditation, there are so many therapies that you can do. You can do breathwork, you can go do a walking meditation through the bush or along the beach, and there are so— yoga. There are so many things that you can do to help regulate. It's whether we're prepared to actually bring that our life. Like, I like the way you said about, you know, it's, it's also the mindset and how you mentioned about the protein. It's, are we willing to look at our mindset and change our mindset? Like I mentioned to you before, my son's an athlete as well. When he comes back from swimming first thing in the morning, 8:30 in the morning, he's already finished his training. He will have protein and vegetables and rice. And when we say that to our friends They think it's crazy. They go, "Why on earth? How on earth can you eat a main meal at that time of the morning?" But it's just getting. He's not going to go for a shake. He goes for the shake that you were talking about before he gets, you know, like two hour, an hour or so before he gets in the pool. So it is developing and changing your mindset to adapt to what you're doing. Like what you were saying, if you're not exercising, don't have that big shake. But it's also about what we mentioned before. I actually press record. which I think is so important to what we're talking about today. We were talking about sort of like sabotage. People have a goal, they say they want something, but then they don't do the action that actually gets them to the goal. So it's like, is that why most people— why do most people tend to fail at discipline? What do you specifically teach them or help them to build consistency that stops this sort of sabotage? And because the failure, the sabotage feeds one into the other.

What we do is we have a foundation and we live by them. And we have some amazing coaches as well. And then they help the man again, follow this system, which again is at the pragmatic level for right now, this conversation. And then we go more in depth when we're discussing in details with them. We have the acronym EPIC, which stands for the EPIC DECA that I finished, and I'm one of 3 people. And so EPIC is our foundation and DECA is our system. EPIC, which stands for Eternal Restoration. P is for Physical Temple. I is Identity. And C is also— So E, Eternal Restoration. There are some variables that we cannot control in this life at the moment. When I did the Epic Deca, I tried to control all those variables that I could, even to the point where when I showed up to Hawaii, I understood that I was swimming in the ocean and there might be sharks. So I paid professionals anyway, I think they were professionals anyway, but they had a boat and they asked me for money.

Close enough.

Right? So close enough, right? So they brought me to a place where they knew there was sharks. And I jumped in the water with them. And they taught me about the hierarchy of sharks and how to interact with them. And then in the event of An attack, of how to behave, when they would, or even when to notice a certain type of behavior, and really when to get out of the— when is it time to get out of the water. They even taught me that very often sharks are there, and unless they are present to attack, very often the dolphin will come and they will push the sharks away. I had no idea about that. And when I got to the 10th Ironman, there were sharks. Other swimmers saw them, and when I noticed the sharks, I did not panic. I understood that well. There's my training, and it was good because a dolphin came, pushed the sharks away, and I never saw the shark again. So there are variables that I will not be able to control. There might have been a shark that just said, "Look, I'm really hungry. How about we just make it a feast?" There's this swimmer; he's in his suit. He's right there. He's not going to get out of the water. There's nobody there. How about we just Right. So that might have happened. There might have been a storm. There might have been— there are athletes that— there was one, one year that did Ultraman World Championship, an Australian actually, and he came to Hawaii to do Ultraman World Championship. It's a great documentary. But the guy showed up in Hawaii and got stung by a jellyfish. Now he was unable to complete the race as a result of This animal's contact. There are variables that we will never be able to control, and so we are to believe in some higher power, in something that is much higher. Having faith is definitely something that anyone needs, whether you're a business or an athlete or anyone on Earth requires a certain level of faith. You want to achieve a goal, there will be variables you won't be able to achieve, to control. And so having this connection to be able to have a conversation with this divine being. Now I'm a Christian guy, so obviously it's for Jesus Christ. So we are a Christian organization. So definitely for us, it's having faith in Jesus, understanding that you must again allow him to have all these variables in control. Then the P is physical temp. Your body and your mind are It's not just part. We see people that are pastors where they have that connection, but their their physical body and sometimes their mind is left aside. And so having that pillar, well, that one is really strong where the eternal restoration is fine. You don't even need restoration. You have that connection, but that physical body is not taken care of. And so by not taking care of your physical temple, that will harm you and put you more prone to being in burnout because you're not working on mind games, you're not working out. So that's part of it. Then the third pillar is identity. Rooting your identity in something that is— that will lead you towards that goal is definitely something that we must be seeking. That's, that's the definition of life. itself. Men are always seeking this level of purpose, these goals, and so we're always being hungry. So having this identity to be hungry and to be pleasing that divine, to be pleasing yourself, to be pleasing others, and to do it in an equilibrium, or at least equilibrium for your specific goal is necessary. And then, as we spoke before the podcast started, having this community, these like-minded individuals that are trying to seek that higher purpose— there's always something more— trying to achieve that other level. Well, that next level to me has been achieved in most cases by hanging out with the right amount of people. And when I wasn't able to to be in the room for free because of my skills than I had to pay to be in these rooms. So even coaches, I had to pay for certain coaches, certain business coaches. I had to pay for it. Why? Because, well, I was not at a certain financial level to be or have these skills. And so I wanted to learn from them. So having this community of like-minded individuals that will drive you to be better is definitely a foundation.

Absolutely, that's a fantastic answer. And I'm also curious, you know, especially when you said about putting yourself in the water with sharks, like the first thing I would have— I would have been able to run on water if that was me, you know. I'm so frightened of, you know, being around sharks.

Mhm.

So is building this resilience that you talk about that helps, um, develop more of a, a mindset or a discipline Is it by putting ourselves in environments where we may be fearful to go? Does that— how can someone who's listening to this podcast who is maybe a bit fearful, um, of life, doesn't, doesn't have a great strong sense of resilience and, you know, collapses at the first sign of, um, hardship—

Yeah.

What would you say to them to start building a, you know, a bit of a different mindset and stop sabotaging everything they want to achieve because they just collapse?

I love the question because it comes up a lot with our clients. Discipline is a word that a lot of people are even fearful of even embarking on that journey. As soon as they hear the word discipline, a lot of people say, I don't have that discipline. And I would be able to look at anyone's life and say, you have discipline. In that part of somewhere in there, you have that discipline. So why do you have discipline in that part of your? But you don't. Sometimes it stems from the perspective that you have. Sometimes about words, about experiences. When we're looking at discipline, the way I like to look at the word because and I learned that from my military. In the military, there's no military in the world that I know of, and I've worked with a lot of nations and exercises. And operations, uh, right now at the moment, not that I, uh, know all of them, I don't know any military member gives you boots, gives you a uniform, and then just chop your head and just implants a chip and says, well, this is the discipline chip, there you go, we're gonna put it in your brain and then you have this. There's just not a single military member that has that at the moment. What they give you in the military is they give you a structure and they give you a system. Once you follow the structure and you follow these systems, you are able to have discipline. If you do not, you will end up being a slob. You will not be disciplined. Now, there are lots of research out there, and that's one of the main problems with a lot of military right now at the moment is because they have lowered the standards they have changed the structure and changed those systems that were rigorous and strict to induce a certain level of discipline eventually. And because they have decreased these standards and allowed individuals that are undisciplined or were not able to meet these criteria to be disciplined and to make it easy, then they are now paying the price, which where we have over 28% of the Canadian forces that is unable to be deployed because of, for the major part of them, undiscipline. So there are lots of undisciplined military members and there are disciplined members. So what makes the difference? Okay. And so the difference is how you look at it. So there are, and again, how you follow the structure in this system. So I'll break down the system and I'll share a perspective of how I tend to look at discipline from the lens of someone who was in a complete depressive state. Now, I was not at the level that, again, Dr. Jordan Peterson talks about it in his book, The 12 Rules of Life. Wonderful book. One chapter is dedicated to making your bed. He talks about making your bed, and that's for someone who is in utter, complete depression, depression, a depressive state. And that's because that person is unable to take care of himself or herself. That person requires a certain level of discipline. And so they would wake up, make their bed, and then that would create some dopamine because now they have a reward. And then they might be able to— again, it might be trickling down to other parts of their life as a result of doing that simple. Now, that's for someone, as I said, that is unable to function in society, okay? But for the major part of people, they're at least able to wake up, cook some eggs, or make a bowl of cereal. They're at least able to function and have some level of brain function. So for these people, here's the perspective. Very simple. It's called non-negotiable. And so that non-negotiable is unique to You in a certain sense. Okay, for some people it is, uh, known right away. For some people, it might take them a bit more time to adjust to what their non-negotiable is. It does not have to be fitness, but it has to be a healthy behavior, not something like, I'm going and my non-negotiable is I drink beer every day. Okay, so let's just make that clear.

I'll swap beer for wine.

Your non-negotiable is something, some healthy behavior. Now, it might be dancing, might be cooking. What is my non-negotiable? If I had to ask you, and you would not be too far off if you would say something that is related with fitness. So my non-negotiable just so happened to be fit. You don't have to ask me. Within the 24-hour period, there was something that had to do with this somewhere in my 24 hours. It is part of my non-negotiable. It will happen within my day. And then that happened one day, one day, 2. It's my non-negotiable and I'm enjoying it. Like, I do enjoy it. And there's different types of fitness. I understand it. There's zone 1 where you can talk and run at the same time, or you have these hard workouts where I can't breathe. And there are different types of workouts. And there's different types of levels of fitness. So I'm not always just working out really, really intensely. I am also slowing it down and making sure that I really recover well and train. But fitness is within my day. I might go for a walk. That's fitness. There you go. I might do a couple of pushups. That's called fitness. You see? So again, it's based on what goal I want to achieve, but it's part of my non-negotiable. Which, would you say I enjoy my non-negotiable? Well, for the major part, I do enjoy it. So now I'm building discipline, but I'm also enjoying it. Like, it's enjoyable. I am enjoying building discipline. And once you build it over time, you understand that, and it makes sense when you look at it, that eventually it goes to other parts of your life. And you say, well, if I was able to have fitness, enjoy it for 365 days, how about I switch it to maybe— and not just switch, but add something where I, I'm gonna add some looking, where now I'm going to change a little bit my nutrition. And so now you're learning about nutrition, or you're learning about something that is correlated with your non-negotiable. So again, it's very basic, but now it's understanding, having a different perspective of what the word discipline is and making it fun. Like, it is fun for people. One guy was, uh, one of our clients was reading, and he did not see a correlation with multiple— running multiple businesses and then reading his book. He said, well, what Why, why would I read books? That is not like— I already read so much at work. Why would I read on top of that books, which is not correlated with my work? And then he started reading books and it calmed himself. And then now he's less stressed and able to function at a much higher rate. Because again, these high-intense individuals, these high achievers, are not always flooring it. There are people that are able to recover, but they already understand, be disciplined in my non-negotiable, enjoy discipline, and then it goes to other parts of your life. And that's why it gets easier over time, where now I'm able to be disciplined to shut off my phone, go on a podcast. I'm able to be disciplined in other areas of my life, whether it's reading if I don't like Or for me, it was mathematics. And I'm an engineer, imagine, right? Like, I did not like mathematics, and I still don't. I do in a sense somewhat. We have a good relationship. But again, I was able to be disciplined in that sense. Therefore, I'm going to be disciplined in other areas. So it's again going to other parts of your life. And I would say even your kid is going to learn that, or if he already hasn't, is that he, he will be an athlete and he will learn eventually that because he's learning that discipline and that he's loving it and he's enjoying it, even at some point if we remove the swimming— and I don't wish it on him that he gets injured or— but for any reason it gets removed, that level of discipline, it will be able to go to other parts of his life. He might not realize it yet, but he's building discipline and he's enjoying building discipline.

That— I love that because it does sound like it's so personalized, like, and you have to find what it is in you. Because as soon as you say discipline, the first thing people go to, oh, lack of fun, I'm gonna, you know, have to do all this hard work, it's going to be boring, or whatever it is. That's what most people's mindset does go to. That— mine has gone to that so many times. I think, oh, what am I going to be missing out on? It's not what am I going to be missing out on, it's what can I do that I love that's going to teach me how to be. But, um, for discipline, for it not to, you know, collapse for so many people, what about values? Now, should we— and to be able to maintain our goals, most people say, well, coaches say, to know, to have your goals, you have to know where you're going. Well, to know where you're going doesn't have to come from the values you have. And if you ask people, what are your values, they might be able to say something like, oh, I don't lie, or I don't hurt someone else. But it goes so much deeper than that. What do you think about values, understanding your values before you actually try and achieve goals?

Well, definitely we, we must pick values before, because you can achieve any goal you want. But if you're trying to achieve it prior to setting your values, then you will stumble along the way, making it that it's serious about your system of value. The system of value that I would recommend people is a system that has been in place for at least some years that has yielded some amazing results, a system of value that has a in place already so that you can follow these systems of values. And that's what I would recommend. Those— at least just pick a system of value that has a book and has been proven to yield some results that you're trying to achieve. So for us, we choose to— we choose to use the Bible, definitely, because it's a book of individuals that are completely imperfect. That's the basic of Christianity. Is to say, I am a sinner. I am not perfect. Please, God, have enough grace to look on me as a sinner, as a dirty person that isn't worthy of your glory, and allow me to serve. That's the basic of Christianity, to accept the servitude of others and of God. And so that's the foundation of our value system. We are a Christian organization at its core, and so we use this system of value. I haven't yet seen any parents that is against it because, again, the 5th Commandment is honor your mother and your father, and so that would be against our value to dishonor both or either parents, to steal. Well, you You talked about lying. Well, that is the ninth commandment, and so that you shall not make any false witness. So again, all of the if you look at all of the cases that happen in the Bible are able to be related with some form of problems that we currently have in society, and that we can. Fix with this system of value, and so that's why we choose Christianity. That's why I choose Christianity because it's this system of value that again yields the best result. It has a book. It's it it passed the all of those years where we're talking the there are civilization entire civilization that tried to destroy that book, and somehow it made in the hand of individuals. There are people that gave their life so that we can have that book. So definitely it must have and contain a certain type of frequency that is much higher than what we can even comprehend. There must be these values. These people were so— they were willing to die for us to know about these values. So therefore it must be at its highest level. And so that's why we choose Christianity as a system of value. I believe that it is the way, the truth, and the life through Jesus Christ. So definitely for me, it's Christianity. But at the very least, try to find a system of value that will match your level of comprehension that you are okay figuring out. So that's Definitely what I would recommend people definitely to try out Christianity, even if they have some scars, unhealed scars. And we've dealt a lot with a lot with it through our academy, where a lot of people had those experiences with Christianity that that that was the unhealthy side of it. So it's. It's sad, but it does happen.

Well, yes, you, you are a man of faith, which is wonderful. And if someone in my audience, if they're not a person of faith, what do you recommend for them? This is just to finish off today. Would you recommend to stay focused, or even to understand their values, stay focused and disciplined for their goals, that the best thing they could do is to find a mentor a coach that aligns with them, and that— and like you mentioned before, a community. And that's a better way than trying to go alone.

Yeah, well, it's— if they don't believe in Jesus, that's fair. The Eternal Restoration understanding that you must live in faith and not in fear, and that's across the board. No judgment in religion or even faith for that matter. It's walking in faith Not in fear. And so that's stepping outside of your comfort zone to make certain decisions. We're not talking about a person that lives in faith because he puts the left foot in front of the right foot or the right foot. But then, hey, that— we're talking about some life-changing decisions. Uh, will I eat a certain type of food or will I not? Will I, uh, have these types of individuals in my life or not? Uh, will I marry this person or not? You must still have a certain level of faith rather than living in fear. So again, stepping out of your comfort zone is definitely, uh, one advice that I could give someone. Again, removing Christianity out of the equation. So believe— in order to do that, you must believe in some form of, uh, entity that holds all these variables. And so that's why I tried to make it as inclusive as possible for this particular conversation. The physical temple, well, that you believe in Christianity or not, and for that question it was remove it. So therefore you must take care of that body to the best of your ability. And so for you, not just living in faith versus fear, but also to ensure that you're making the right decision for your body and your mind is crucial Because once you have that, then you're able to accomplish a lot more than most individuals. There's a lot of individuals right now that don't have this knowledge because again, they're not listening to the podcast with Rita. So that's why, right? Thank you. Having this identity rooted in you, a lot of people are able to achieve, even if they're alone, they're able to achieve A lot more because they root that identity. So if I say I am a vegan, okay, I'm not, but if I am a vegan and I say I am a vegan, then I have more chances, statistically speaking, than anyone else by placing this identity on me to achieve a level where I will be a vegan. And so that's just placing an identity. Now that might be negative or positive. Where we look at people that go through certain types of addictions, and then they say, I'm an alcohol addict. Well, you just placed an identity on yourself that is a negative one. And so you are more prone to, again, relapse. Now, yes, I understand that all these other pillars are able to hold the structure, but that identity is a negative. So that pillar of identity is definitely not solid or willing to fall, so to speak, because you're not helping it. So community is, as you spoke, a must for people. Getting the right individuals in your corner, getting the people that want your success, that are driven for your success, will help you solidify these goals and these values now that you know, oh, I'm not, I'm not alone thinking that I can talk openly about these topics. Wow, I, I have a community. I have a community of like-minded individuals that want my success. So now you're able to accept love, and you're also able to reciprocate that, that level of love towards them in whatever capacity you're willing to share. So having this community is definitely, in my terms, the foundation I love what you said about the I am.

I am is a very powerful statement. Like you say, you can either say it for the positive or you can say it for the negative. I mean, when I talk to people, because my podcast is about health, and when I have friends who have a health condition, I try to say, maybe don't root your identity in I am a diabetic, you know, just say I have a condition that I am working on. You know, like when don't take possession of these things into the I am if they're not necessarily helpful. JD, this has been amazing. It has been inspiring. It's been motivating, and also it's been as you've been talking, my head has been going over. Yes, I need more discipline in more areas of my life. You know, it's it's very eye-opening. Thank you so much for coming on. For all our listeners. And what people watching, JD's details will be in the show notes, his website, his socials. You'll be able to go there to his website and read about his courses. Lucky you if you're in America, you can get to do that. Otherwise, there are online ones you can take. Thank you so much for coming on.

Thank you, Rita.