Speaker 1: 0:00

Hello everyone and welcome back to another episode of 1000 Gurus, where it is my mission to have conversations with unique and interesting guests from various fields, backgrounds and walks of life, and I am your host, jr Yonacruz. So today's episode is my good friend, dr Andy Ho. Dr Andy Ho is an occupational therapist, dancer, powerlifter, runner and student of life. He attended Loma Linda University to pursue occupational therapy, where he received both his master and doctor of occupational therapy and currently works as a pediatric occupational therapist. A proud UC Irvine alum, andy began dancing at the Irvine Dance Company with Breaking, eventually leading him to join Cabo Modern. He is currently a company dancer for Culture Shock LA and is a director of Awesome Shock Los Angeles, an occupational therapy led dance program for kiddos with diverse needs.

Speaker 1: 0:53

Outside of his life as an OT and dancer, andy is a competitive powerlifter and runner where he continues to hone his mind, body and soul to be better every single day. Andy and I go way back about 15 years ago, to our first year in college. We were also roommates for a period of time, so we reminisce a bit on the days of living in our five-bedroom party house, fondly named Titan Tower. Andy also gives us a look into his career path into occupational therapy, his unorthodox dance journey, fighting against the negative mental scripts that he's had throughout his life, getting into powerlifting, and how dance and dance mentorship shaped him into the force of nature he is today. Andy is one of those guys who lives by example, which is honestly the highest compliment I can give. So, without further ado, hope you enjoy this episode with Dr Andy Ho. All right, hello and welcome back to 1000 Gurus. Today's guest is Andy Ho. Hey, nice Thanks for being here, man, I appreciate it.

Speaker 2: 1:53

Yeah, thank you so much for having me Really appreciate it.

Speaker 1: 1:55

Yeah, I was excited to have you on the show because I know it's been several years since we've been able to reconnect. But we go way back, obviously First year. Mesa right, but we go way back, obviously first year.

Speaker 2: 2:05

Mesa right, Mesa court. That dance I will never forget. When I stepped into that cypher and then JR comes out of nowhere, I'm like who is this guy? Why is he giving me the smoke right now?

Speaker 1: 2:17

And.

Speaker 2: 2:18

I just accepted it. It was memorable.

Speaker 1: 2:21

Yeah, it's all good. We all have starting points. You know, like freshman year was so much fun I don't know if we so quick like reminiscing man. I know it's new for both of us, right, and we're both freestyle dancers backgrounds and eventually we get into our whole collegiate dance career with ermo and kaba modern and also this bba and whatnot. But it was so surreal. They're just going in with a fresh, new lens, like what? We're 18 or something like that and it's then we just go for stuff, we try new things and then we make these connections like 15 years later still here and we get to follow each other's journeys and you're doing amazing things, as we'll get into.

Speaker 2: 2:52

But it's just so crazy how it just starts off with a fresh new experience yeah, I feel that when we first got to uci it was, you know, yes for the education, for the college degree and stuff, but like we knew we wanted to dance. You know, like that was like the thing that everybody wanted to get into and even though we all came at different points of life in dance, we all connected through that and continued to just grow together throughout the years in college and I'm glad to see that it just continues to manifest itself. You know, as you said, just being connected 15 years later, it's honestly surreal, yeah, pretty surreal, pretty surreal. Yeah, yeah, that's crazy.

Speaker 1: 3:27

Quick tangent before we get into the actual scheduled programming. But like I don't know the reasons why you went to UCI or your major and whatnot, but I was telling someone in another interview that I just had that I went to UCI solely for dance, right. So like I'm from norcal and you know, I had a friend who went to uci and then I heard a couple modern and all the other dance teams and I wanted to dance. So I was like, yeah, I'll go to uci, I'm gonna be away from home, which I want, and then I want to dance. It wasn't for school, it wasn't for a major or a degree, I'm just like, well, all my friends are going to uc, so I'll go to uc. Oh, uci has this crazy dance community. Well, u, uci, socal, oc area, right, has all these crazy dance teams. So that's what I went and then eventually joined Carbon Modern, but I don't know what was your? I mean, you're from OC, right? Like SoCal.

Speaker 2: 4:11

Yeah, I'm from OC. I'm from Garden Grove. Honestly, I never told my mom this, but I did solely go to UCI because of dance.

Speaker 1: 4:19

Dance.

Speaker 2: 4:20

University. You know, we grew up around the time of the ABDC era, right. So I remember being a freshman in high school, first watching season one and you know, seeing Cabo Modern, and thinking to myself like, wow, like that looks so amazing to see people that look just like me being able to be sharing on this platform with dance and such like that. But I wasn't a dancer at the time and I think it just kind of killed two birds with one stone. I really wanted to go to a UC that was close to home and just be around my mom to be able to take care of her and such like that. I grew up in a single parent home, so I always kind of kept her in my mind as I made decisions along the way and it just kind of worked out that way.

Speaker 1: 5:00

Yeah, I think another, as you're talking, another thing that kind of threads it all together is, I don't know what is in the water of like dancers like us or people in the dance community, freestyle dancers, whatever but I've seen a lot of times that it translates into stuff like outside of that dance. Maybe it's because of the mentors we've had growing up in, you know, at UCI our oldies, super oldies, you know, mentors and stuff like that that just instilled that sort of mindset that we're able to translate into these other like paths and career fields. But I think that's something that I'm really grateful for is people who invested into us, guided us, and now we're taking that to like our own career fields, like yourself.

Speaker 2: 5:36

Definitely agree with you on that one.

Speaker 2: 5:38

I think what's so rare about the dance community in Irvine is it's honestly such a special hub in itself. It's like one of those experiences. You know where, like you're around it all the time. Sometimes you can be like, wow, am I really dancing with this person, am I really connected with this person? And honestly, it's crazy, when you take a step outside of the community, you know, like you see that, wow, it's so special with all the people that encompass that community, that have not only cultivated but mentored, as you said, just different paths of life so that we can be able to be our best and most truest versions of ourselves. So it's not just dance. It starts with dance right, but it cultivates and manifests into whatever aligns with our truest self.

Speaker 1: 6:22

So I've always seen it that way. Yeah, we'll get into mentors and stuff later on as well and, like I mentioned before we start recording, I'm scheduled to have Arnel, who is dear to both of us, shout out, shout out to Arnel, dr Arnel Cavario-Rubin.

Speaker 1: 6:35

Yes, so if that works out, hopefully we have something scheduled. That'll be a great episode as well. All right, so let me go into how I know you real quick, just get out of the way. So we met as first years at UCI, as I mentioned. At Mesa we both danced in BBA in Irmo, in Couple Modern, separately a few other project teams and we were also roommates for a bit in the house in Irvine which was Shout out Titan Tower, yes, titan Tower, oh, my God like.

Speaker 1: 6:58

Titan Tower and a refugee. I also refer to it as the refugee house at one point because we had how many of us? Six, seven roommates okay.

Speaker 2: 7:05

So when it first started, there was six of us okay, six, all right. Somewhere along the way it turned into like 10 people and, just to give context, it was a two-story house. We each had our own room. Besides me, I shared it with my best friend, who I'm so connected to to this day shout out, mikey tran. We had a second living room. Yes, yes, and it came with a double-decker couch A double-decker couch. So, as it sounds okay, it was a couch built on top of a couch, and I remember it was so sketchy that the landlords, on the first day of like move-in, they like printed a picture of it and then they were like hey, can you sign this, just to make sure we know you're okay with inheriting this couch and you know us being young and post-college we're like why not yeah, let's do it.

Speaker 2: 7:48

you know, so yeah, and then eventually that second living room just housed like three to four of our friends.

Speaker 1: 7:56

So great it was straight out of. Two things come to mind. It was like in one of the Lego movies there was like a double-decker couch.

Speaker 2: 8:08

I don't remember which one, but I'm like that looks like our couch, and then also in, I think, stepbrothers or something like that. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, was that a?

Speaker 1: 8:11

double-decker or was it like a bunk bed? It was like a bunk bed, okay, but then it like collapses on him, and that also reminds me of our we, we did make sure it was sturdy right.

Speaker 2: 8:17

We tested it. We tried to fit as many people as we could on the second couch and we were like jumping on it and stuff and he was thoroughly testing it for research purposes, safety purposes as well.

Speaker 1: 8:29

So, yeah, it was like it was us six, and then our significant others would obviously be there a lot of times, that's right, and then the rest of our dance team and we'd have parties every so often. At one point during the summer it was like every weekend.

Speaker 2: 8:41

Yeah, so probably my most favorite memory of that time, you know. So shout out nick bass support. He was one of our really good friends. He's actually still really connected with me to this day. I'm actually the godfather of his kids. So shout out my godson, nice. Yeah, he missed one party. I remember I think it was like our annual fourth of july thing. Yeah, we were like that type of house that had an open door policy. We wanted people to feel at home and, you know, give people a place to like celebrate, to be with friends and family and such like that. And nick went home for one weekend and he came back and he heard how amazing that fourth of july party was, to the point where he started to oh, that's why that's right, a party every single week.

Speaker 2: 9:23

But, but not only that, I think he got really into writing a story.

Speaker 1: 9:28

Oh, that's right. So Nick will make like a Facebook event page. Yeah, he sent out a whole like thing about it.

Speaker 2: 9:33

Right, Like a description, a story, yeah, and he'll pick like the most random things to celebrate. There was one week where, I think, we picked up an old bench press and so the celebration was for us to get swole. And then another week was two of our like summer housemates got a job at Starbucks, so we were celebrating that they started their first job at Starbucks, and so he had this interesting way of just kind of including all of us in this grand story he would type, so people would sometimes even click attending just to read the story just to see where it goes.

Speaker 1: 10:06

Yeah it was awesome, so funny and to that point too, the fourth of july party was amazing. It was pretty fun I remember it being like all day we had barbecued in the park, yes, and it was so late, and then it went out to like late at night.

Speaker 2: 10:17

Yeah, that was super fun, so I can see why we had like subsequent a series of parties after that it was definitely wholesome activities for sure, and again it was like just a hub for a lot of our family and friends to just get together, those who couldn't go home for the weekend and stuff. I'm glad that we were able to be that for other people.

Speaker 1: 10:35

You know what I'm saying yeah, definitely. All right, so going back to it so, the Titan Tower, aka Refugee House, college. So since college you've been getting into like fitness, powerlifting, running, you danced with Culture Shock, la and now, along with your career journey through occupational therapy, anything else you've been up to other than those things you want to add to it, probably the most important thing.

Speaker 2: 10:54

I'm now an engaged man. Yes, congratulations, shout out my lovely fiance Melinda Chuen. Love her to death. She's like my rock, my number one fan, my greatest supporter, and so I could not do all those things without her belief and faith in me.

Speaker 1: 11:10

We love that. Do you guys have a time date?

Speaker 2: 11:13

set already, not yet. We just got engaged this past June in Japan, in Kyoto. I saw that, yeah, it was our favorite city in Japan, but we haven't planned anything yet. I think we're just also tying up a couple loose ends before we begin all that.

Speaker 1: 11:26

So yeah, awesome, we'll get into some of those things too. All right, so we'll look into our first topic. So, origin story, main influences and getting to ot basically, I wanted to know if you wanted to connect the dots looking backwards, right, so you know you went to uci for well, to dance, but then obviously I know you probably had some career aspirations as well. So, looking back to where you are now and then, you know, to that first year in college, can you connect the dots of how you, what led you to ot and maybe made main influences?

Speaker 2: 11:54

oh man, all right, I'm gonna try to condense the story because it's it's just so many chapters behind it, right, but essentially, when I first came to uci I knew I wanted to do something in healthcare. But I was like that type of person where I just go with the flow. Actually, it was my very first girlfriend in high school. She was kind of just giving me ideas and was like, why don't you go down the pre-dentistry route? And I was like, sure, so I was pre-dent for I want to say maybe like two or three years of my college career and then realized that wasn't for me. And then our mutual BBA friend, he actually challenged me in regards to that pre-dent route. We were driving to like a Def Jam poetry thing one night and he was like, yeah, your pre-dent stuff is like a load of baloney. I don't think that's what you're passionate about. So I think that was the first time I was challenged as to, you know, is this what I want to do, or is it because someone else was giving me implanting that seed of an idea, right? And so because I was dancing so much you know he was like, hey, I think you'd be a great physical therapist. So after that I just kind of transitioned all gears to going down this pre PT route, graduated, continue just developing myself as a future PT, and I essentially applied to school twice.

Speaker 2: 13:08

So for those of you who don't know, when you apply to graduate school there's like these cycles that happen every year. My first cycle, I applied to eight schools, didn't get into any. And then my second year, I applied to 12 schools I didn't get into any. So I was rejected from 20 schools. So that was definitely a PR. I remember getting my last rejection and feeling so defeated, you know, you know, doubting myself. Am I meant for grad school? Was it really what I wanted to do? And that question came up again. You know, was I just put on this path because someone told me I'd be?

Speaker 2: 13:42

good at it. But was it something that I truly had a passion for? Right, and I thought, you know, dance, being physical together, right, but you know, maybe it wasn't for me, and during that time it was my return a year on Cabo Modern.

Speaker 1: 13:56

So really quick. What was the timeframe so you graduated? What were the times between that first round and the second round?

Speaker 2: 14:02

So graduated and then the first round, I want to say, was in 2015 or 16, so a couple years after you graduated yeah, about two years after, I would say and then I immediately applied, right after that, for my second cycle. So you know, during that time I was still dancing. I would say I have a very unorthodox dance journey as well. I continued dancing a lot, a lot after college, and I want to say, even more so than I did during college. And I was very, very fortunate to pursue that dream and make Cabo Modern. And I can literally sit here and say that Cabo Modern led me to becoming an occupational therapist and it just manifested so organically because around that time my return year was my second year on the team and I was somewhat connected with Arnel. We just kind of shared a couple messages with one another and, for those of you who don't know, Arnel Calvario is the founder of Cabo Modern, so he always did an amazing job connecting with the newbies and so that's how we were connected. And you know, one day I was just like, you know, let's just grab lunch. And then we had lunch together and he kind of just asked me about my story, shared about his story. And then that's when he said hey, you know, I think you're meant to be an occupational therapist. You know, just by the way your mind works how artistic you are. You know, if you're willing to, I would love to mentor you.

Speaker 2: 15:30

And I just kind of took that leap of faith you know, I didn't have anything to lose and just kind of went under his wing. And, yeah, everything kind of fell into place. Because when people think of occupational therapy right, it's one of the three rehab therapeutic sciences. Right, you have physical therapy, you have speech therapy and then you have occupational therapy. And occupational therapy has so many different definitions because it's so broad. But essentially what we do is we help an individual get back to a meaningful occupation through rehab right, so that could be anything. You know, there's so many different settings of OT and through this journey of being mentored by Arnell, my own definition of occupational therapy became helping somebody realize their highest potential in what they love to do. Right. And so through that mentorship with Arnell, I started to realize, you know, you know this is aligning with my values.

Speaker 2: 16:21

This is aligning with my perspectives. And that year, that same year, I applied to school and I somehow made it in, and I made it into Loma Linda University. And that year, too, was I look back on it and I would say that was like my come up year, you know, like that was a year where I felt like I not only developed myself mentally, physically, but emotionally as well. And so by the time I got to OT school, I was completely ready for it, and so did OT school for two years, got my master's graduated in June 2022. And then, actually, I would say by the time this podcast comes out, I will have officially received my doctorate in occupational therapy. So, thank you, thank you. Yeah, I went back into school part-time, still working, working full time as an occupational therapist, but wanted to, you know, push the boundaries of my growth as a clinician and continue forward in that.

Speaker 1: 17:11

So nice guidance from Arnell. You know, I think what you're meant to do is occupational therapy, so I'm sure that was invaluable. But for you, what do you think were like the key defining factors? Maybe characteristics, if I'm thinking of this?

Speaker 1: 17:32

the right way of you know getting rejected from PT school twice or, you know, multiple times in those two rounds, and then it all of a sudden clicking for OT. Was it something? What was it about? Maybe your journey? Maybe were you not ready for that sort of schooling yet, or obviously the career fields are different, so maybe something clicked more with you for that. Or could you walk us through your thoughts?

Speaker 2: 17:53

I think, when I reflect on it, it was one of those things where I just kind of let the universe take over, you know.

Speaker 2: 18:00

You know there's always that saying of like us pushing against the tide right, and I've always been like that growing up. You know there's always that saying of like us pushing against the tide right, and I've always been like that growing up, you know, in a single parent home having a lot of responsibilities as the only son, I've always kind of thought to myself I have to prove myself, I have to go against the tide right. And I think that journey of going transitioning into ot just made me realize to finally accept the flow right, but also accept myself right, like I think it was like using a puzzle piece and trying to jam it into a board that it doesn't fit in you know wrong place. Yeah, it's the wrong place. Not that I, you know, wasn't meant to be a pt, right, but maybe it wasn't the best option for me and I think I was so uh, career path that I wasn't accepting of anything else that came around me.

Speaker 2: 18:55

You know, and then, finally, when OT came along and I dived into, you know, what it meant to be an occupational therapist, what it meant to serve people through OT, it just resonated with me, you know. It felt like that puzzle piece. I finally was flush and just stuck in, you know, and by the time I went to school and started to learn all the concepts and the ideals and morals behind the profession, that's when I had that aha moment in class and was like this is why I'm here. Oh I see.

Speaker 1: 19:22

Were there any sort of I imagine you know there was years of separation between when you first applied to PT school and then eventually getting into OT school and then your master's and then your doctorate. Were there any sort of things, characteristics, habits that, like you believe, or mindsets that set you up to do well in those fields afterwards, like getting your master's and your doctorate?

Speaker 2: 19:44

It kind of relates to just accepting myself, right. I think you know I'd say it's like when you hit rock bottom, the only direction is to go up, right. And you know, when we lived together, that was when I first started that PT journey and I just knew that it was already going to be an uphill battle because I kind of shifted my journey last minute before I graduated, right, and so I just knew that I had to believe in myself.

Speaker 2: 20:09

But the thing is I didn't you know, it was like one of those things where I'm telling myself that I believe in myself, but I didn't believe it completely.

Speaker 1: 20:18

You didn't actually like completely yeah.

Speaker 2: 20:20

And so I think that was the biggest journey that I had, just kind of those years from PT school, applying to PT school, going to OT school, right, learning to accept myself, learning to love myself, to be forgiving of myself and to give myself grace for just going on my own timeline. I think I was seeing so many friends just get into school, specifically PT school, that I felt you know almost behind.

Speaker 2: 20:45

And then you know at the time still dancing right. And again, it was very unorthodox seeing someone post-college continuing to dance, but not only continuing to dance but continuing to go competitive right. So I was immersed in dance and I think that also just taught me to again accept. You know, this is the way my mind works, this is the way my soul resonates and I just have to continue to cultivate that. And if I couldn't believe in myself, then I had to believe in those who believed in me. Right? I've always told people that I'm never self-made. I'm not self-made. I am the product of so many people that have supported me and believed in me.

Speaker 2: 21:29

It takes a village to just create who I was, and for that I'm so grateful you know, and so just being able to believe in them who believed in me eventually led me to this route of hey, you know, it feels easier today. It feels easier that I can look in the mirror and accept who is looking back right, yeah, I like it.

Speaker 1: 21:53

So then my question was and maybe you answered it was like how did you move from okay, I'm saying this, but I don't really believe it, I don't like half-heartedly believe it, but maybe, like you said, part of it was like continuously giving yourself grace and, you know, building that muscle of believing in yourself but also have being fortunate enough to be surrounded by people who believe in you and then slowly, over time, you know accepting that and seeing it as true. Do you feel like that's just the process? It just takes a while to intentionally get to that point.

Speaker 2: 22:20

I think that's part of the process, but also you have to seize it right. There's this quote that forever will resonate in me. I remember being a seventh grader in Taekwondo class Out of all classes it being shared with me and it was a quote by charles swindle.

Speaker 2: 22:36

I'm convinced that life is 10 of what happens to me and 90 of how I react to it we are all in charge of our own attitudes, and so I felt that, yes, I was learning to believe in myself and also believing in the people around me and what they saw in me, but I also knew that I had to take my own action right. I think the one quality that I'm so proud of that I manifested, I want to say, through those years going into OT school was developing discipline. Discipline creates habits. Right. Habits create your values, what you believe in. And it could be anything you know from just trying to get myself to the gym every day, right. And it could be anything you know from just trying to get myself to the gym every day right To giving my all in a dance class, right. And those little building blocks continue to be the foundation of who I knew I could be, even though I couldn't see it just yet.

Speaker 1: 23:26

I like that a lot. You can have those beliefs, but I think putting the action behind, like what you say you want to do, and then those actions develop the consistency, the habits, the reality, the results that you get, and that truly builds your confidence because you can look back and be like, okay, maybe I don't believe myself, but I look back and I have actually accomplished a lot through my discipline, through my habits. So I think that's a good point is is the actions and then the resume you build up of what you do is really what's important.

Speaker 1: 23:50

So again, doing things right, like we said, and you've done a lot of things that we'll get into as well, and we've gotten to some of that. Also, another thing that you've mentioned that was that quote was amazing. I'll link to it or quote it. But also, have you read the book Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl?

Speaker 2: 24:04

I have not, but I've heard of it, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1: 24:06

So in the one of the podcasts I listened to, most of the guests referenced that book and it is exactly the whole life is how you respond to it, sort of thing.

Speaker 1: 24:13

So victor frankel is like a holocaust survivor. He was in like one of the concentration camps and he's like a psychotherapist or something like that and one of his big things is like life is what happens in between the stimulus and how you respond to it. Right, and as someone in such a dire situation of being in a concentration camp, obviously your world is outside of your control. However, the thing between your ears, your mind and how you see things is in your control, because they can't take that away and that's how people like him survive through that and that's when he goes through his clients and psych like the psychotherapy for them. It kind of rephrases that and he's like a whole school of thought and therapy about that. So I really like that. It's that idea of, yeah, you can. You know, being the victim will only go so far, and we also understand that there are systems in place in our society that you know are out of your control, but what's in your control is always how you see things.

Speaker 2: 24:58

Yes, definitely hit a lot of points that resonated with me even now. So, right like when I got my last rejection from PT school, I remember how exhausted I felt. I felt like, am I not meant for this? You know, should I just give up on it? And, you know, try something else, you know, but I knew that I could only take a small amount of time to just be in my feelings, the process of what I needed to feel until I had to take the next step right.

Speaker 2: 25:30

Life continues to move on and you know, know, am I gonna continue to feel left behind? But essentially, you know, everyone's on their own pace you know, and um, I think I had to realize at that moment that you know I'm not behind, I'm just on my pace right, yeah, I love that.

Speaker 1: 25:47

Last question on your career path in ot schools people who are interested in occupational therapy and maybe want to go to school for that or become an occupational therapist like you. Do you have any advice or insights or tips? As someone maybe, let's say, going through college and wants to pursue the same career path as you, any tips that you would give them or advice?

Speaker 2: 26:05

Yes. So the first thing I would say is definitely find mentorship. I think my trajectory changing to OT significantly changed when I found mentorship right.

Speaker 2: 26:16

Whenever I thought of my mentors leading up to that point, you know it was Arnell, it was Jason Bueno. Shout out, Jason Bueno. It was Jay Kalanog. Remember Jay Kalanog? Shout out, Jay Kalanog.

Speaker 2: 26:29

These are all people who were amazing individuals or are amazing individuals and examples, but also people who continue to support me, right. And so just by receiving different perspective on people who had a different outlook on life, I think it really kept me in a humble and hungry place, right? And the second thing I would say is definitely immerse yourself in the experience. So by that I mean, you know, either volunteer either, you know, see how an occupational therapist works, because there's so many different settings. It's just like physical therapy or even speech therapy. There's so many different settings you can take that career path into, and so not only deciding on what you want to do, but also what does that look like for you? Right? And so the only way you can experience that is by just being hands-on, immersive. And so, definitely, I would say the combination of those two can definitely lead anyone to their dream of going to grad school, whether it's in OT or anything else, right?

Speaker 1: 27:28

I love it All. Right Now segue I think into from going OT school and your career journey is. I wanted to touch upon finding balance. So I know that you have a lot of different interests and you do all these things with a full heart, very passionately, and you enjoy that stuff and I think that's inspiring for myself and other people. But again, you were saying post-college you're doing competitive dancing, which is very hard, and then you know getting into powerlifting, power lifting, still dancing. And then you mentioned also running and I'm sure you know other things, that having a relationship and you know eventually getting engaged. So how do you well, I'll open up to how you want to tackle it, but how do you feel like you can find balance? Or how have you found balance in pursuing these different interests and how they come into your life and deciding between choosing one or the other, doing all of them, and then how do you do it well enough so that it's not just draining you?

Speaker 2: 28:17

uh, I would definitely say that it's still a work in progress. You know, it's never perfect, so I just want to put that disclaimer out there first. I'm still figuring it out as I go, but I want to say where that all started. Was, you know, really really deeply rooted from?

Speaker 2: 28:34

I want to say like my childhood right, like again, growing up in a single parent home, being the only male, the household I had a lot of responsibilities. I had a feeling of all the time to prove myself right and you know, that daunted me for the longest time and I felt like I could have taken that in a more negative light. I could have rejected that responsibility or reject that ownership of. I don't need to take all these things on my plate, but I think just watching my mom balance everything that she did in order to provide for me made me see that I can do that too, you know.

Speaker 2: 29:15

And so, yeah, you know, going through college and then graduating college, finding so many interests, I think it just really manifested through just where I come from. And you know, having people who really support you definitely helps as well. Right, and that just kept this purity inside of me where I was like you know, I'm going to bring the best that I have to everything that I do. And so, you know, with dance, obviously, it was such a huge part of my life post college I felt like, even though things weren't going the best or weren't going well in terms of my grad school path or like my career, I was still figuring it out. The one consistent thing I had was things that I loved, right, so one was dance.

Speaker 1: 29:59

And I just kept pouring everything.

Speaker 2: 30:01

I had into it, you know continuing to dance on. I remember when we, when I graduated, I joined, now known as Irmo Urban Modus at the time, and that kind of just opening up a whole new doorway from freestyle dance because going through college just mostly did b-boying right with BBA and then eventually, you know that team helping me develop connections that were meaningful and intentional, you know helped me. You know continue to believe in myself and know even if things again weren't going well outside of dance.

Speaker 2: 30:37

I just knew the one thing I had was dance and so continue to pour into it right, going for a copper modern, my dream team ever since abdc right and to be able to finally share that experience with them. You know, I think it continued to show me that you know, as long as I pour myself into things that I loved, it would bring out the truest version of myself. You know, as long as I pour myself into things that I loved, it would bring out the truest version of myself. You know, and that even now. So you know, going through OT school and being an occupational therapist now taking those lessons that I learned back then of discipline, of believing yourself, I think applying it to anything that I've always wanted to do just felt really natural, right.

Speaker 2: 31:13

So powerlifting, for example, I love powerlifting. I know it looks sometimes boring to people where it's just, you know you're just squatting, benching, deadlifting, right. But for me it was like a test of myself. It's like setting the bar higher and higher. Every single time you hit a PR, great. What's next? You know, I felt like it was the perfect sport that fed my soul, and so continuing to just pour myself into different avenues that I felt worth contributing to, the truest version of myself, helped me want to even balance it even more right.

Speaker 2: 31:47

And you know where I'm at right now. I feel really grateful to be to say that I'm busy, right, because it's not every day we have those opportunities to do what we love and to be able to pour our time and energy into it. So I love that.

Speaker 1: 32:03

That was gold. That's all. I answered the entire question, some of the takeaways just to reiterate, I guess, for the audience. If it's necessary, it's probably not, but doing the things that you love, because that brings out the truest version of yourself. And I think the spirit of the question is more of like people who say I come across people who are like oh well, I graduated, now I have to work and I can't dance anymore, or I can't do A, b and C the things that I enjoy and I'm always an advocate of.

Speaker 1: 32:27

Well, if it charges you up, if it brings out the truest version of yourself, like you said, why would you stop doing it? Because it allows you to do those things more fully and build your self-awareness, got orient your compass where you should be going. So why would you ever stop that? And then you end up being busy, but in a good way, because you're not being busy with things that are stressing you out or overwhelming you. You're doing, you're being busy with things that bring color to your life, that you want to do, yeah, so I think I want to stress that point for the audience as well. It's like you can do multiple things and love doing them. But you have to be able to find those things and then just try new things, like you said.

Speaker 2: 32:59

Yeah, yeah, and I almost feel like it keeps this purity inside of you, right? No matter what life throws your way, you still have this essence of what brings you wholesomeness, what brings you joy, what brings you happiness. Right and continuing to pursue what you love to do. You know, and that could be different from what you do professionally, right? Sometimes we also have to accept that what we do professionally isn't what brings us joy or what brings us passion you know, but it's to be able to make time to pursue those passions?

Speaker 1: 33:34

Yeah, I like it. Making time, prioritizing, right? Yeah, yeah, I guess my last question on that is so how does one find what they're passionate about? How does one lock into those things and balance it with a full-time career or going to grad school or something like that?

Speaker 2: 33:48

I think honestly, just first and foremost, just follow that dream you know, follow what you love to do and picture yourself where you can be with it you know, if I were to like speed run through the things I love to do right now. Right, like with dance, like I've always wanted to dance with common modern, or I've always wanted to dance with culture shock la and to be able to, you know, finally be there.

Speaker 2: 34:11

It just made me want to dance even more, made me want to work towards that more. For powerlifting right, like I've always envisioned myself, you know, competing on a national stage. You know, being on the platform, you know. And to be able to hit PRs when it mattered, you know. Now being able to say that I can make that a reality, that just makes me even hungrier to pursue that, you know. And even for OT, you know. Like how do I want to be of service to others?

Speaker 2: 34:36

You know what is my purpose with being an occupational therapist and to be able to connect it with my love for dance and to share that with others and to heal others. That just brings me even more joy and passion to continue to cultivate it for others.

Speaker 1: 34:53

I like that. I think one thing, too, that stood out for me is I feel like, as we're a kid and as we grow up, there are those childhood dreams, there are those desires within us that we either listen to or we kind of silence it or kind of put it in the closet, so to speak, and then we pursue our career, we go to school and all this other stuff, but then it's kind of like the book the Alchemist have all this other stuff, but then it's kind of like the book the Alchemist.

Speaker 2: 35:14

Have you read it? Oh, no, not yet, but yeah, it's on my list, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1: 35:16

It's one of those famous books that you know, people say like you hear about a lot and I recommend it. I can have a book summary, you can check it out. I always plug my book summary website, but it's the core of it is really just like you. There's that voice. Eventually it's going to go away and then you're going to regret life. But the whole adventure of this main character is to pursue that voice calling out to him of what his real dream is and finding that sort of quote, unquote treasure. And I think it's. I believe that we all have that sort of calling within us, but what are we doing to open our ears up, to listen to that sort of inner voice that's whispering to us of what we should be doing?

Speaker 2: 35:53

Yeah. And then, with that too, you just never know where that voice and that dream is going to take you. Right, whenever people ask me, you know, did you ever feel like you were behind, going to grad school a little bit later, or did you ever feel like you were too old when you were dancing on Cabo Modern? And you know, I always tell people that you know, if it didn't happen the way it did, I would have not been where I'm at right now, like I would have not met Arnell, I would have not met Melinda if I went to grad school early and I wouldn't be who I am. And so sometimes, just accepting the natural flow of what the universe has in store for you, it can honestly just show you the most beautiful version of yourself.

Speaker 2: 36:35

Yeah, I love it, thank you for that Now.

Speaker 1: 36:38

So a little quick thing. I know one of the other topics I want to talk about or touch on if we have time is. You mentioned specifically perseverance, work ethic and the acronym GRIND G-R-I-N-D. Did you want to clarify any of those sort of topics or statements?

Speaker 2: 36:51

Perseverance I mean we kind of dove into it a little bit with my OT school journey, but I guess I'll briefly share. So, like growing up in a single parent home, you know, my mom and I, I used to always get different remarks of oh Andrew's not going to be successful because he doesn't have a dad, or he won't know any better because he doesn't have a dad teaching him. And so again, that was kind of engraved into me that I had to be something to represent my family, right, represent the two strong women that raised me, which was my mom and my grandma. And then going to college, applying to PT school I'll never forget this. But like, I remember applying to physical therapy school and I had a friend who was applying around that time as well and we kind of fell out of friendship just from different morals and values.

Speaker 2: 37:45

But I remember when this person got into school but I didn't and I shared they said you shouldn't be dancing because it's such a waste of time and that's why you didn't get into school, and for a brief moment I almost believed this person, you know. But again, what was natural for me and what was natural in my heart was to follow what I love to do. And again, as I said earlier, I can say that dance got me to OT school. It led me to who I'm supposed to be. So persevering doesn't matter what anybody else says. It's your journey, it's your own pace and you are in charge of your own fate. Work ethic wise, I think the one quality if I ever have to say that I'm so proud of myself is my discipline. Like I love, I thrive off of waking up at 330 in the morning. You are crazy.

Speaker 1: 38:39

I just in a very respectful.

Speaker 2: 38:41

I admire you way, so okay briefly, this started actually in grad school, because my second year of grad school I was offered a TA position and it was around the pandemic. So I was still commuting to Loma Linda after I moved back to Irvine to kind of be sheltered in place and such, and then I was driving to my powerlifting gym in Garden Grove right after, TAing all day from eight to five. So I wouldn't get home until nine or 10, right, and I thought to myself there has to be a more efficient way to do this. And so I was like you know, let's just try working out in the morning, see what happens. So I started at 5 am. It was hard, really hard in the beginning, but then slowly again, just kind of surrounding myself with a great community. There was like a morning crew that we had.

Speaker 2: 39:31

I found myself wanting to immerse myself with these people earlier and earlier. So now I'll come at 4 am, oh my god. Then I'll come at 3 am. There's one time I came at 2, which was insane, but you have to get it done right. So when do you sleep? Now I sleep actually at a nice 8, 30, 45, which is because sleep is important. Everybody sleep.

Speaker 2: 39:47

But yeah, I felt like just that act alone of just waking up, driving to the gym, getting my training done and then going to do whatever I needed to, where that's work or school, right after that, it just made me feel like I could do anything. So, yeah, definitely, whatever work ethic manifests and looks like for you, definitely just go with it. It doesn't have to be waking up early, like early like I am. You know, sometimes people are night owls. They work, you know well, into the night way more efficiently, you know. But find something that works for you, that is consistent and sustainable yeah, yeah, I want to stress sustainable, yeah and then grind oh man, okay. So for those of you don't know, in the hip hop dance community, when you're a freestyler, you get named by your crew. You get a dancer name right, and so back in college I had this little crew that came off from BBA called T crew and shout out my crewmate, ken Anaya Melogrito. He was the one that named me't name a lot of people he named a lot of people.

Speaker 2: 40:50

Yeah, we had this phase, I want to say, like 2011, 2012. Everyone was like give me a name, you know give me a name, but then the thing is.

Speaker 2: 40:57

the thing is you're not allowed to name yourself. Right, right, right, people have to name you, and so I was helping ken go through he's kind of going through it and I kind of shared with him this song that got me through so many hard times, and it was a song called Grind by Asher Roth, and grind stands for get ready, it's a new day. And in the song, at the very end, there's a little epilogue that says you know, happiness is about getting what you want all the time. It's about loving what you have.

Speaker 2: 41:24

So get ready, it's a new day and I share that with Ken, just to you know. Let him know hey, every day is a new day to reestablish yourself, to try something new, to connect with someone new. And then he just looks at me and goes, that's your name. And I was like, no, it's not, Like I refuse to accept it. But little did I know that that name, that saying, has carried me through so much, so much throughout my life and it's something that I firmly believe in. You know, every day is a new day for you to try something new, for you to connect with someone, to be with and be intentional, be compassionate, show empathy, right, and it just still defines me to this very day.

Speaker 2: 42:05

So I'm very happy that it's you could say, my alter ego, right, but it's who I am as well.

Speaker 1: 42:12

Nice, I like that a lot. All right, anything else on that sort of topic Perseverance, work ethic, grind, any takeaways that you'd like to have the audience have in that field? I mean, the last 10 minutes were gold. But any last thoughts or ideas there on giving advice to people who maybe want to take away from your story?

Speaker 2: 42:31

I will say that everything starts with how you see yourself right, how you accept yourself, how you believe in yourself.

Speaker 2: 42:45

And if you can't, do that just yet, then believe in the people that believe in you. You know, I truly think that it takes a village to cultivate and help someone grow to who they're meant to be Right, and that's how we keep the cycle going. You know, we continue to create opportunities for people who are like-minded or who want to resonate with what we believe in Right, and in turn, they will also pass that on, you know there's a saying in hip hop each one teach one right.

Speaker 2: 43:12

So you know, it's your responsibility to pay it forward, to give opportunity and to see it manifest in the younger generation, you know. And so in turn, they will be inspired to do the same, and that's how we keep the cycle of positivity going.

Speaker 1: 43:29

So last question for you when is your ted talk? You're like, I feel like you have a good what. How long it's a duck's?

Speaker 2: 43:36

15 minutes, 20 minutes, something like that you know, I actually never thought about doing one, but actually maybe that might be a goal. Manifest it, I'm manifesting it for you. The seed has been planted. Yes, there you go and it will manifest.

Speaker 1: 43:47

Nice cool, are you guys? Are you ready for rapid fire questions.

Speaker 2: 43:50

Let's do it.

Speaker 1: 43:51

Nice, All right. First one billboard question. If you could put up a sign for millions of people to see, what would it say?

Speaker 2: 43:57

I'm a huge anime fan. I'm a huge anime nerd. There's an anime called Gurren Lagann. Have you heard of it?

Speaker 1: 44:04

Oh yeah, yeah, the big mech one, right? Yes, it's a universal size A very over-the-top mech anime.

Speaker 2: 44:10

Okay, if you're listening to this right now, you have to watch Gurren Lagann, because it will teach you so much about yourself and there's a quote from that show that I'll never forget. And again, I've been kind of saying it throughout this entire podcast. The story is about a little brother and a big brother. The little brother is the main character. He's really shy, anxious, kind of an introvert. And then the older brother is very charismatic, extroverted, he could command a room and inspire people. And he tells his little brother believe in the me who believes in you.

Speaker 1: 44:45

That's where that's from. Yeah.

Speaker 2: 44:47

And then eventually he tells his little brother, when he's ready believe in the you who believes in yourself. So I would say my billboard is like a two-parter, so like on one side it'd be, you know, believe in the me who believes in you. But then you'll look back at it and it'll be believe in the you who believes in yourself.

Speaker 1: 45:04

Nice, I like it. That's the Tengen Toppa Guren Lagan. Yes, sir, that's just crazy. Yes, sir, that's a throwback man.

Speaker 2: 45:12

You have to watch it. If you have not watched it, I'll link it in the show notes.

Speaker 1: 45:16

All right. So next one is what is one of the hardest challenges you face in your life and what did you learn from it?

Speaker 2: 45:22

Maybe we've covered it or maybe we didn't. I would say, long story short, forgiving my dad. So my dad, I want to say, left my household around when I was in sixth grade and so for the longest time I had to again just kind of be the man of the house to look after my mom, my twin sister, and I just never thought that I would see my dad again. You know, and I growing up I had all this anger, thinking about what I would say to him or how I would never want to see him until I was completely grounded and also developed right, professionally, holistically, as a human being.

Speaker 2: 45:59

And there was one day I had this opportunity where I was inviting to my cousin's wedding, and it was right at the very end of OT school, right when I graduated, at the very end of OT school, right when I graduated. So I couldn't help but feel like it was the universe telling me that for me to move into the next chapter of my life, I had to accept this part of myself and also forgive not only my dad but myself for carrying this burden. And yeah, so I met him for the first time in about 18 years and I remember that feeling. I thought to myself, you know, am I going to be angry? Am I going to say all these things? You know?

Speaker 2: 46:34

at a wedding right, but little did I know. I looked at him and all I can feel was nothing. I just felt like I finally let it go and I was able to just, you know, be who I was meant to be, for myself and for the people that I loved.

Speaker 1: 46:52

Nice, I love that All right, self-inflicted wound. Do you have a story about something that's gone wrong in your life, that's your own fault and you can't blame anyone else because you did it to yourself?

Speaker 2: 47:02

Honestly, I definitely think it was just honestly, I definitely think it was just I don't know, the PT school journey comes to mind, right but also I think it's because I just kind of ran with it and believed in what someone told me to do. You know, like people thought that it was what I was meant to do and I just believed it so easily. You know, I didn't question it, I didn't do my own research, you know, I didn't even look within, and so I think for the longest time that kind of led me down so many different dead ends, right. But again, it's kind of weird. It's like I don't regret it at the same time, you know, because it just led me to where I'm supposed to be.

Speaker 1: 47:44

So it's a lesson learned, but you don't regret it. On that topic, if you could redo one thing, what would you do differently? And I know maybe a lot of my guests are like you know. I don't regret anything and that's fine. But as a thought experiment, if you could redo one thing, what would you redo?

Speaker 2: 48:00

honestly, it would probably have pursued competitive dancing sooner, and not just in the choreography scene, but even the freestyle scene.

Speaker 2: 48:10

You know, I think just pursuing dance at an earlier age might have made me more adept in college and I would have battled more. I would have gone to more jams even though we went to a lot of jams, you know, or you know, taking the leap of faith and audition for kabo modern right. But I was always just so amazed by everybody in that space that I never thought that it could happen to me too. And so yeah, but if I were to do it again earlier, I think that would be crazy. Maybe we would have been on the team together.

Speaker 1: 48:42

Yeah, same time. Yeah, that would have been a trip being in the same class.

Speaker 2: 48:45

Yeah, that would have been so crazy? Yeah, because I would always hear all the amazing stories from JR and, you know, I never really thought to myself oh yeah, I can see myself doing that Like then three years later, you know so.

Speaker 1: 48:58

I'm so glad that you made it on because I feel like it was it's, you know, for friends it's you know you're doing something and then you other friends, you tell them about it, and then when they have that same experience, you're like, wait, that makes sense. You know, like I totally saw you on Common Modern and I was like, yeah, that's such a good fit for you. And then now you're in Culture Shock and I feel like that's such a good fit as well. If you could give your younger self advice, what would it be now? Any age, any time period.

Speaker 2: 49:23

Honestly, probably, you know, just continue believing in yourself. You know, yeah, I just remember being the most, believe it or not. I was very introverted, very anxious, didn't believe in myself and I would just tell my younger self to just keep believing. You know, just as simple as that. You know, believing is so easy to do on one context, but another hand it's easier said than done right, it takes days, months, years to just kind of even believe in yourself, even a little bit more. And if I were to have believed in myself even earlier, I can't imagine what the potential would have been, you know.

Speaker 1: 50:04

So, younger self, it gets better yeah, yeah, younger selves or any any other younger versions of Andy out there who are listening to this. You know, believe in yourself. One thing that comes to mind now that you mentioned that now I'm reflecting on first, second year, Andy, you know, when we were friends and I do remember you know you've always been a great guy, but I do remember specifically that you had this sort of what's it called Insecurity, you know. Know, like you were going through a breakup or you know we talked about relationship stuff a lot and you know it hit you really hard when you were going through certain breakups or something like that.

Speaker 1: 50:36

And then now I'm just comparing, you know, that slice in time to now where you are like this force of nature who you're so like disciplined. You know you dance competitively at such a high level, you're really big into fitness and your own like physical health, and now you're like have your doctorate and stuff like that and you're going through all these other things and so to see your growth from there from then to now is like insane and I think it's a testament to again like your work ethic, your discipline, and for me that's inspiring because it gives a lot of people hope that they can be in such like a dark place like you probably were back then, similarly like not knowing where to go and not feeling sure of yourself. But then give yourself time, give yourself grace and patience and you can like have crazy results, just like andy.

Speaker 2: 51:18

You know you just gotta be patient and believe in yourself and you know finding mentors and people who believe in you right yeah, yeah, man, yeah, it's, I don't know first and second year andy definitely again just coming from, you know, high school still carrying a lot of, you know, childhood trauma, still carrying that feeling of you know I have to prove myself. You know that's why, whenever we connected, you know, I think, yeah, when Jer and I first connected, it was mostly on like relationship stuff. You know, I felt inadequate, I felt like I wasn't good enough for my partners at the time and such like that, you know. But I think it just revealed to me that, you know, I just didn't accept myself yet, you know, and the moment I, you know, started to accept myself a little bit more, I think that's where my, my real friends showed, my real supporters came out, my real passion started aligning with me. You know, it again led me to the truest version of myself and that's an ongoing process. Even now it's still an ongoing process.

Speaker 1: 52:18

So, yeah, I love it and you don't need to hear this from me, but I'm so proud of you, dude, Because now that I've just looking back on that, it's like you. It was like there's a seed inside of you and then now you're just like this oak tree of people can learn a lot from you and your journey and your wisdom. And then if they saw the Andy that I saw when we first met and you'd be like, wow, that's crazy, that's a crazy story.

Speaker 2: 52:36

My gosh, Now that you put that into perspective, man, it was right. Yeah, it's crazy, you know. But yeah, I also just want to take a moment to just also give you your flowers as well. You know, I Well, you know I've known JR again since freshman year of UC Irvine and I won't say it was our fourth year. It was when we got really, really close, Like we were inseparable, and you know, I'm just really grateful to see how far you've come. I'm so proud of you continuing to pursue your own passions and for you to continue to make your dreams a reality, and so I'm really proud that, you proud that we made it this far as friends, and I look forward to where it goes over here.

Speaker 1: 53:15

Nice Thanks, man. I appreciate that All right, so let's keep continuing this on this train. In the last few years, what new belief, behavior or habit has improved your life? Again, maybe we touched upon this already.

Speaker 2: 53:25

I would say fitness related. I would say probably discipline coming from adhering to a diet. So just to give context, that 2018, when I was kind of saying that was like my come up here, that was the year I also committed to losing weight. So I remember so clearly it was like july 4th that year I wasn't happy with sitting at 190 pounds and I was that type of person where I'd go to the gym, I'd hit the weight super hard but I never saw improvement and I had a oh.

Speaker 2: 53:57

I have a very good friend shout out, kevin Liang. He was willing to kind of just coach me through macronutrient dieting and it was hard. It was really hard just counting every single gram of protein, carbohydrates, fats, but honestly, it's that discipline that carries over right. And then pretty soon, after seven months, I lost 40 pounds. I was 150 pounds on the dot and that's when the diet changed. But also that was when my confidence was like through the roof. You know, I felt like you know, if I could do this, I could do anything right, and so taking that habit of just that simple diet and applying it to everything that I did after, I think was so essential in creating who I am today.

Speaker 1: 54:40

I like that. It's funny because I was also on the same sort of like fitness journey of trying to lose weight and get to a place where I can be happy with myself In 2018, I had my first fitness coach too and I think to the audience never underestimate the power of really honing in and taking control of your physical health right, Like your fitness, and seeing how far you can push your body and if you can get to that ideal configuration of your body type and stuff like that. That will skyrocket your confidence a lot and then translate to other things, like you said.

Speaker 2: 55:10

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I still I remember could not believe that. I think I was pretty much like 10 body fat or below. You know, I don't want to say like six, that's like that was ripped dude.

Speaker 1: 55:20

I'll link a photo of his abs dancing on stage with no shirt and a comp set like this oh my god, oh no, where'd my shirt go?

Speaker 2: 55:29

no, I can't believe I did that, no, but yeah, it was just. I'm so grateful for that seven month journey. And also, you know, shout out Melinda. She stuck by me through that entire diet. Whenever she wanted to go out to eat dessert I'd be like no, I can't, I can't, you know. But you know it was worth it, yeah, worth it, yeah, love it. Who would you call successful, and how do you define success? Success to me is doing what you love.

Speaker 2: 55:55

Right, it's always going to manifest differently in people. You know, however, they gauge success being in terms of value, but for me, as long as you're doing what you love and you're content with it, I think that's the ultimate end goal, right To being content with doing what you love, your passions, and finding so much fulfillment and joy out of it. That is success. And that's going to be different in everybody, right? So, yeah, just be happy with what you're doing, your passions and you're successful.

Speaker 1: 56:31

Nice, anyone come to mind that you want to shout out, that you're, like you know, props to you I think you're successful oh man, honestly, there's so many people that come to my mind right now top three? I don't know I'm sure the list is longer, guys, so don't be offended if you didn't.

Speaker 2: 56:44

Oh my gosh, be offended, be offended well, you know, you know, I'm kind of also thinking about, like, with this question I want to say people that are coming after me, right, because you know, obviously my mentors, I would say are, I deem them as successful, and stuff like that.

Speaker 2: 56:59

You know, but, you know, I first want to say I believe that my fiance, melinda is successful, you know, keeping true to who she is. I know the trials and tribulations that she's gone through in order to manifest her dreams and I'm so proud to just be able to share those experiences with her. And actually, the next person that I just comes to mind is my mentee. I want to say shout out, brian Lay. I don't know if you know who Brian Lay is, but you know I continue to see him pursue his passions and achieve his milestones and I just want to continue to pour into that. You know it being in a role as a mentor, right.

Speaker 2: 57:36

And then, finally, you know, the last person that comes to my mind actually is the last two groups of people my old DB from Kaba Modern, michael Kasai. I saw him since he was a Kaba kid and now he's in PT school and like to see him still stay connected with me. You know, again, it just really shows, like the impact of our relationship and what it could do by having just one person believing in you, right. And then, you know, I just want to say my godsons, you know, cyrus and Eli. Like whenever I see them, man, I just get so reminded of what it feels like to be a kid and you know that is successful right, like their purity and their view on the world, like just in taking it with a smile. I think it's a reminder for us to, you know, not take life too seriously at times and to really just take in whatever has in store for us.

Speaker 1: 58:29

If you knew you couldn't fail, what would you try or what would you be doing now, man?

Speaker 2: 58:34

there's a lot of things I would try, but I think the first thing that comes to my mind is running a full marathon. Okay, I've told this to many people. My fiance is actually an avid competitive runner. She's done multiple marathons and I would always tell her that I don't think I would do it right now, because the most I've done is a half. Right, and I don't mind doing a half, but the moment I crossed the finish line, my body breaks down and I think to myself I would have to do this again for it to be a full.

Speaker 2: 59:02

But, if I, you know, you know, if my body wasn't breaking down, I wasn't feeling then, then I would totally do it right now, you know, and maybe eventually I will, you know. But I think if I were to do it right now and not feel that essence of failure, I would totally do it nice, nice.

Speaker 1: 59:17

How many marathons have she?

Speaker 2: 59:18

has she done man, let me see she's done. This would be her third la marathon coming up. Yeah, she's done a bunch of half marathons and then actually next weekend of this recording, she's running her first ultra, oh, which is 32 miles in the mountains. So I I don't know if I would ever have the balls to do that, but you know, kudos to her yeah but yeah, you know, I feel like endurance sports is a completely different beast, and if I didn't have that body breakdown, I think I would totally do it.

Speaker 1: 59:47

You know that's crazy so running, like you know, endurance sports has always it's been like interesting to me, yeah. So I've never quite explored it yet, but I'd be super down to interview melinda if she would be down. But we can talk about that afterwards because I would be curious to see what that process is like of preparing for marathon, going through it, because some of the books, biographies, autobiographies I read about like endurance athletes is insane. I just want to see someone's perspective on that yeah, yeah cool, if you sorry.

Speaker 1: 1:00:14

What is one of the most or best worthwhile investments you've ever made in either time money, energy, etc honestly I think I touched upon it already it's just fitness, honestly, actually.

Speaker 2: 1:00:26

no, not just fitness, I want to actually say just investing into my health. Right, it's really true what they say Health is wealth and us getting older, you know, our bodies are starting to feel it, you know our minds are starting to feel it and continuing to reinvest ourselves into ourselves every single day by keeping ourselves healthy and whatever that may be. You know, health and fitness is different to every person, you know, and so, as long as you're staying active and investing into your health, I think that's one of the best things you can do for yourself. I love it.

Speaker 1: 1:00:59

Favorite recent purchase in about $50 to $100 that has impacted your life the most in the last six months. You can change the parameters, but a recent purchase, relatively cheap, a recent purchase.

Speaker 2: 1:01:07

Oh man, that's real $50 to $100. Man, I don't know honestly, because I don't really think about buying stuff. I'll be honest. But if I were to think about something that's really just benefited me, what comes to mind is I want to say my lifting belt, yeah, I was thinking something like that you know, because, you know, I don't know.

Speaker 2: 1:01:31

It's like, whenever I put that on, I feel like I put this persona on to hit this weight, you know. But it's also a reminder of all of the times I failed to, because I failed so many lifts as well. And it's just a reminder that I'm human, that I'm still growing and that every time I put it on, it's just working towards a better self.

Speaker 1: 1:01:48

I like every time I put it on, it's just working towards a better self. Last rapid fire question Favorite books, movies, videos, articles or media that you share or recommend the most?

Speaker 2: 1:01:56

Man, okay, so I already said Gurren Lagann. I'm a huge anime fan, so you have to watch Gurren Lagann. That will teach you a lot about yourself. You have to watch Fullmetal, alchemist, brotherhood Classic, and it will just also teach you a lot about life as well. In terms of books, I still have a list, but I still want to get more into it once I finish my doctorate. That's actually my next endeavor. I want to read more. And then movie-wise man, I don't know, because I watch a lot of horror movies, so I'm not sure if I would recommend any of those. But honestly, I I watch a lot of horror movies, so I'm not sure if I would recommend any of those, you know. But honestly, I would just recommend to just following different podcasts and different influencers that you know you may look up to Like. For me, when I was on that weight loss journey, I was watching a lot of fitness YouTubers and that really helped kind of reset my mindset as to what I'm capable of, and so yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1: 1:02:52

Nice, I like it. What you put into your brain is just as important as what you put into like your mouth, right, yeah, cool, all right. Well, that is it for rapid fire questions. Now, these are the ending questions. So first question is gratitude Shout out to my mom for teaching me this. But, andy, what are you grateful for?

Speaker 2: 1:03:08

Well, first and foremost, I'm just grateful to be doing what I love. I think you know we mentioned it throughout this entire podcast about my life as a growing up in a single parent household. I always think to myself my life could have gone very differently, you know.

Speaker 2: 1:03:24

I could have gone down a way darker path, but I'm very fortunate to be able to be here and to be able to do what I love. And, secondly, just grateful for all the family and friends that have supported my journey. And again, you know I've mentioned this before. You know it takes a village and I think a lot of times when people become successful, they forget about the people that helped them get there, and for me, I never want to be that type of person.

Speaker 2: 1:03:55

I always want to give honor and grace to the people that have paved the path for me, and I will do the same for those that are coming after me.

Speaker 1: 1:04:05

Any final ask from the audience or any final takeaways you would like them to have from our conversation.

Speaker 2: 1:04:10

Believe in the you who believes in yourself Honestly. That really, really resonates with me. Belief is such a powerful force and even if you can't believe in yourself right now, believe in the person or the people that believe in you, because that support system will get you through anything and eventually you will reach your highest potential. And however that looks for anybody, I'm excited for them to just engage into that own their own journey of self-discovery through believing in themselves. So fantastic.

Speaker 1: 1:04:47

All right, andy, so we'll up, but where can people find you if they want to check out what you're up to and connect with you if possible?

Speaker 2: 1:04:53

Yeah, you can follow me on Instagram at Andy Hoster, just Andy Ho and S-T-E-R. And actually I have a movement log Instagram. Call it my liftstagram now, just because I mostly post my powerlifting training there. But before, when I used to take more dance classes and such, I would post different classes and pieces. I've choreographed and such, but it's at grind, underscore grind, so it's underscore grind.

Speaker 1: 1:05:21

Nice, yeah, nice, love it, love it, cool, all right, well, andy, thank you so much for being here. Thank you for sharing all of that insight and wisdom. I know I personally learned a lot and I'm inspired by your journey, and I'm sure our audience will be too. So thank you for being here. And final sign off for the audience. Thank you, guys for tuning in, as always. As, uh, just a friendly reminder to always be kind to other people, especially yourself, and reminder that you can always learn something from someone if you just take the time to listen.

Speaker 2: 1:05:46

So thank you for tuning in oh yeah, thank you, j JR, for having me had a blast and believe in the you who believes in yourself.

Speaker 1: 1:05:54

Yes, let's go, let's go.

Speaker 2: 1:05:56

Let's go, let's go.