Breaking Barriers as Congressman Smith Tackles the Silent Struggle of Military Mental Health

Welcome back everyone. We are here on the holistic leadership podcast, and we are so excited, to have all of you with us again Doctor Travis Hern and I are really excited to have with us today. Congressman Adam Smith, from the state of Washington. And, you know, really excited, congressman Smith is a member of Congress that has represented the ninth district of the state of Washington. He was reelected to his fourteenth term in twenty twenty two. And has been the top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee since twenty eleven. He served as chair of the committee from twenty eighteen to twenty twenty two. When the Democrats controlled the majority in the US health. He is the author of lost and broken. My journey back from chronic pain and crippling anxiety. Congressman, thanks again for being here, and we're we're super excited to to talk about you, your book, your journey, and and I know you've been talking quite a bit about that this summer. And so thanks for thanks again for for giving you time. Yeah. Well, thank you. I appreciate the opportunity. Congressman, I I wanna first begin with you unpacking what in your book you describe as a six year journey. Where you are looking for the right diagnosis and treatment while facing the severe shortcomings of our nation's healthcare system, and mental health stigmas. Talk to us about what that was like, and how did you work through it as as a husband, as a father, as well as serving as a well known leader, in Congress. And what I mean by that, obviously, for our listeners is is you're not just a member of Congress. You are a committee leader. All week on TV. I see you all the time. And even during this, you were a very, very well known member of Congress. And so talk to us about what that was like. Yeah. And that was a very public thing. I remember when one thing happened in the middle of it. I was on the Benghazi commission, and we had our very long hearing with Hillary Clinton in which the Republicans just basically attacked her for twelve hours. And Frank Lonse had tweeted watching it because I was in that I was getting up frequently and and pacing back behind there. And he's like, ah, that's very rude and everything. It's like, because I just, you know, I forget where I was on my hip surgery journey. But I was in so much pain. I couldn't just sit there for twelve hours and listen to this. So, yeah, it was it was a juggling act. But the way I structure it is I start in the book. From what I think of as my lowest point, which is after my third hip surgery, my, total replacement of my hips. So at that point, I had two, artificial hips. And I just wasn't getting better. I wasn't getting better physically. I wasn't getting better mentally. You know, I was taking a whole bunch of different occasions that were stressing me out as much as they were helping me. And I just did not see a path forward at that point. And then I go back and explain how I got there and then crucially how I, you know, get got out of it. In terms of finding that right treatment. Oh, sorry, that right diagnosis and right treatment to go forward. So so that's the way I structure it and and mix in between that is while I'm trying to figure this out, living my life as you described. You know, with two at the time still relatively young children, you know, with my wife going back and forth to DC, you know, one of the things I wanna try to emphasize in this is that was sort of my circumstances, but that's not really unique. Anyone who's dealing with this has a life. Okay. And and I think it's a frequent phrase that a lot of us use who go through this type of mental or physical challenge. I just want my life back. And what that means is what it used to be. And meanwhile, it's still there and you're still trying to figure it out. But that's what you wanna get back to is that sense of routine and sense of what your life is that anxiety or depression or chronic pain or some combination has just smacked you right upside the head and you're reeling trying to figure that out. So that that's sort of the way I I structured it and and walked through the path of how I found my way out. But crucially, part of finding my way out was going back and figuring out, okay, what had been happening in my life all along the way that led me to this point? It really is, you know, it's a it it was a problem solving exercise, if you will. So, you know, it's like we got a problem. How do we figure it and I know, Doctor. Hern from your experience in the Marine Corps, you know, with some life or death struggles there as well. It's the same sort of thing. Okay. How do we get out of this alive? How do we solve this problem? And in under under a lot of pressure. Congressman Smith. You I mean, you you hit it on the head. Me, and and you give me chills, and it's a little bit of this this internal feeling of, like, man, I remember that. Coming out of Iraq and Afghanistan for me is I spent, eighteen months in Iraq and Afghanistan and in situations that I came home with a lot of trauma. And it was that always this focus of, like, man, I I wanna get back to where I was before. I wanna get back to this happy, go lucky, marine is happy go lucky as we can be. I wanna be I wanna be that before. And then my and my my wife and I walking through that with young kids as well, it was very much like this. It's not gonna it's just not gonna be the way it was before. It's just not gonna it's just not gonna happen. So how do we create the best new, new normal. That's a big buzz word. How do we create the best new life for us and our family that we can using the experiences that that that have been given to me that I've that that been through to to help to walk others through this, to be able to help walk my family, to be a healthier person. But in the military, that was we still act after I I rack in Afghanistan, I still was in the military for another four years. So just just your opinions, like, how to to to us folks who who are coming out of the military who were looking for this, the kind of this, this mental health, expansion, if you will, because it was tough. Being an active duty marine and asking for help meant with mental health. So what are some of your, I don't know, tips, some of your your your advice to folks like me coming out of the military that are kinda stuck in that pre military way if I can't get help. But now now we're open to it and we can and we can get it. Several things are occurring current to me. I mean, first of all, ask for help. And that that is for and there are and I think we're there's there's more and more messaging on this. I forget who it is who's advertising it, but I see the advertised about situations where people are in, like, dire, jeopardy, a guy who's, like, bench pressing and he can't lift the weight off, but he doesn't wanna ask for help. Guy comes over and asks to lift it off. So I don't know. There's no shame. Oh, you don't know my family and everything. So number one, ask for help, but we need to make it clear that mental health really isn't that you know, different from physical health. It's your brain. It's like would anyone with a broken arm go? No. I'm good. You know, I'm not gonna ask her out. No. You would. And you wouldn't feel any stigma about it whatsoever. Well, the brain is the same way. So ask for help. I think the second big message for a lot of folks is to understand that help exists. You can get better, because I think a lot of people, particularly with with the military mentality. And just to be clear, I haven't served, but I've been on the committee twenty seven years. And I've spent a lot of time around the military. It is a can do attitude. It is let's it's one of the things I love about it. We had couple of army liaisons on my trip to Latin America, make an old thing work, fix them, you know, flights delayed, you know, they canceled your seat, whatever. They figure it out because that's their mentality. And it's okay to have that approach to mental health as well. I think a lot of more sort of type a conservative people like, oh, mental health. That's all just a bunch of people sitting around and talking about how they can't do anything because of their trauma. You know, I wanna do things. Well, mental health will help you be able to do things. You can get better. You can be productive. It's not about sitting around and whining and explaining why your life is unfair. It's about finding a way through that to get back to the productive, healthy life that you want. So those are two big things. And number three is that the trauma that you deal with is something that really needs to be honestly addressed. And this is a lot of new science emerging this, and there are a bunch of different ways to do this. I did a, you know, not I wasn't really hypnotized, but they tried to take me back to some of the childhood things that were troubling me because the the the theory and it seems to be playing out is that when you experience something that is deeply troubling to you, your first instinct is to bury it and never think about it again. And that isn't good for you. That really makes it it can create clinical anxiety and clinical depression. So in a safe environment, you need to bring these things back out and honestly address them. And there's a bunch of different ways to do it. Hippnosis is part of it. There's also, and I'm forgetting the name of the medication, but apparently there's a new med occasion out there that you only take for, like, a month or two. I'm very skeptical about antidepressants and anti anxiety medication, which we can get into in a minute. But there apparently is a medication that can help your mind open up and experiencing your trauma in a safe way, deal with it and move on has had incredible success. With with PTSD. So experience that trauma, and then, you know, be honest with yourself about what you've gone through in your life and where you're at. So it's a basic lesson. The big one there again is that you can get better. You can. Because I think, you know, when I was going through my thing, I was like to psychiatry. What the hell is that? I mean, they sit down and talk to you for a while, and then all of a sudden, I'm gonna think different. You know, I was really skeptical, but it does help. I did three and a half years where the psychotherapy got me to a much better place. Yeah. And there's what there's an amazing book called The Body remembers, that I went through. And it says it talks about childhood, how childhood trauma enhances adult trauma, So it's just some people could have walked through the same thing that I walked through in Iraq and Afghanistan and been, been been fine. And but some of the trauma from my childhood that popped up just kinda, it it it it made a a level playing ground for me to just for that trauma to interact with the other trauma. And for those things that I shoved down in early childhood to come back up and that just it the the it's a perfect title for the book, the body remembers because it always cut it does always come back to haunt you. So, yeah, thank you for those. And that's a great point and one that I hadn't really thought about. You know, or sorry that didn't mention there is you also have to understand that people are different. I think a lot of also, you're like, well, I got my buddy. Gosh, he's still worse than I did. Alright. He's fine. What's wrong with me? Okay. And you're right. Can be. It it's an entire string. Okay? Everything that's gone on in your life affects who you are at that moment, So it's not a matter of comparing yourself to other people. It's a matter of understanding yourself. Congressman, in your book, you talk a lot about, you know, really hitting rock bottom. But then through your journey and and recognize, this was a six, a six year journey. You you found self love, self worth, and understanding. And now, obviously, you wrote the book really with this intention to share your journey to give other people hope. I'm curious. Talk to us about that. I mean, because to your point, you you had a a a very intensive surgery. And then you were dealing with, you know, this pain that just crippled you. Yet you were still getting up every day. You know, still doing your work, still being a father, still being a husband, that grueling aspect, talk a little bit about about that. Because to your point, there's so many people, probably, you know, one out of three, one out of four, that are dealing with, some aspect of this literally as we speak. What would what would you share within that experience? Yeah. Well, I think a lot of what we just talked about in terms of there there is a path forward and never doubt that. I think you also do have to find you have to find resilience and that was really helpful to me. Just the very simple concept of I'm not gonna give up, you know. And and the thing is it's not that I'm not gonna whine about it. I wind about it a lot. Okay. And I complained about it a lot and I cursed a lot and, you know, a whole lot of other things. So, you know, and that's okay. I mean, just, you know, you gotta get through it however you can get through it. But use whatever you have to help yourself get past that tough point. I see these are sort of two things here. One, How do you how do you keep going? How do you not give up? And then the second part is what we talked about earlier is how do you get help? I think part of how you don't give up is you know, one refused to, just, you know, keep moving. And second, find the things that bring you some joy in life. And I always Well, Satya, the the three things that I've always described is like, you know, sort of bringing me joy in life just in general, are exercise, sports, and humor. Exercise was kind of off the table at that point. I mean, I still I walked. I still tried. I just couldn't walk that far, and I couldn't walk up hills. But then if something strikes me funny, it gets me through the day. Okay. You know, I don't know. I anything that's humorous, clever, or whatever. Just, you know, so maybe, you know, I don't know, you like watching cooking shows or whatever. And then, you know, if the mariners are doing well, it makes me feel better. And they're on a seven game one streak right now. So I'm at a good good place You know, so you're fucked. Whatever it is, get creative, but don't give up. And then the second piece of not giving up is there is a path to getting better, and I I've said this many times, but a big part of my problem when I described, you know, lying in bed there in twenty sixteen, you know, I'm fifty years old. I'm atrophied, my brain's out. I'm on this drug that I've tried. Well, I'm on, like, three or four different drugs that I I every every single one of I had gotten off of at one time or another during during the journey. So I knew how hard that was. And I was like, I I I, you know, I don't see a path. You know, I was like, I I didn't think I could get better, and this is the final point. The mind and the body are unbelievably resilient. They have a capacity to heal and get better that goes beyond anything you can imagine. And I I I didn't understand that, and I doubted it. But it is absolutely true. You know, I have to say too, I'm sure humor gets you through Congress these days too. You know, I had I had to throw it in there. I was just like, oh, here he goes. But but, I No. It does. Seriously. I think, you know, I make jokes all the time about it. A lot of times people misunderstand it. You know, it's like, you know, I'm not all these meetings and everything, but things occur to me that are funny. I mean, I just give you a minor example, but I was meeting with one of the governments we were meeting with about, you know, what sort of military equipment they need, and the guy said they needed super two cons. Okay. And right away, I flashed an image of, two cons, Sam, Sam, from the froot loops that And that strikes me funny. Okay. Now what the guy's talking about is a particular type of, of, a fighter attack aircraft. So I get what he's talking about, but it's still funny to me. And that just it. It made the meeting go better. You know, so yeah. So I think you have to have a sense of humor even when you're dealing serious subjects, and just because you have a sense of humor doesn't mean that you don't understand how serious the subject is. Yeah. My mind went straight there too, congressman. I I was, like, super two cans, big bill, bigger bill, the lasers, it's gotta be they they gotta be the super two cans. Yeah. They have the the army guys with me joked that we should send him like a like a Costco sized box of fruit loops and says, is this what you were looking for? So, yeah, anyway. No. So, yeah. No. It's a difficult struggle. Alright. You know, but but but you have to understand that it is part of human existence, and you are very much not alone. And there is a path. Yeah. I I mean, to me, the humor aspect of without humor one, my my wife probably wouldn't be able to get get to tolerate days with me. I'm I I crack jokes as she sometimes doesn't understand Jeffrey. Poor Jeffrey has to deal with me quite a bit and my my humor and my my quit But I I mean, I go back to the military, but also in the workplace, that's the we and I talk about rehumanizing the workplace. We have to especially, you know, I I wrote a book on hybrid work and how to lead hybrid remote teams. And I think people take them so that's another whole different ballgame altogether, but people people take themselves way too especially when you are in a hybrid remote work world, when there it's it's just this meeting after meeting after meeting and it's lost the sense of humanity. In in the workplace. So and this is a little bit off topic from the military and everything else, but in the in the workplace, as we've moved post pandemic, and we are kind of we have people coming back big organizations are telling the people to come back to work. Other organizations are saying stay put. How do how do we how do we help our employees' mental health when it comes to if they are if they're fully remote, whether they're hybrid, and they're like me and like you and like Jeffrey, we're sitting in our home offices right now. And if I'm not careful, I'm gonna sit here for nine hours a day. I'm not gonna get up. I'm not gonna look around. I'm not gonna go out and play catch with my kids. So when when if you were to give advice to some of those employees, some of those those companies, how do you help people move through that? Three things. I mean, first of all, don't sit there for nine hours. Don't work remotely. I think we've got don't work remotely as much. I mean, when most places are not going back to your eight hour or five day work week, and that's fine. But I know some places are like, well, what's the point in coming into the office? You know, let's just do, you know, no. You you you have to get up and do human interaction. Second, and actually, I just spoke two days ago to a a professor at Yale who teaches a class on happiness. Doctor Santos. I think it's Laurie Santos. And and and she mentions that, you know, what makes you happy is to be productive and engaged. Alright? So but the second thing that she says that is so crucial is it is not our first instinct Okay? I think there's a lot of people to your point. Once you sit down and you get in front of a computer or you get in front of TV, I always use the example of of of football. Because on a weekend, you can watch football for probably twenty four hours in two days. And if you ask me what I'd like to do, When I'm sitting on the couch and I'm watching the game, I'd like to keep sitting on the couch and keep watching the game. Alright? Your your your instinct does not to get up and be productive, And I think a lot of people feel like, well, other people like to do that. This is what I like to do. No. You have to overcome that instinct. You have to force yourself to get up and be active. Once you do that, You're like, cool. I'm going. It's good. Alright. So it's not your natural instinct to get up and and be productive. And then the third thing that's really important me is when we're dealing with mental health, we need to focus on resiliency, not dependency. Alright? Something somebody said to me a long time ago before I understood it when I was going through my mental health challenge was it's not the amount of stress in your life. It's how you process it. At the time that she said that, I was like, that's insane. Forget me. It's like, of course, it matters how much I was all for how do I reduce my stress? How do I make my life more simple? And certainly, you can take steps to do that, but stress is gonna come. And if you act like you're gonna be able to avoid it, you're not going to be able to deal with it. And I think a lot of the workplace interactions, you mentioned people taking themselves too seriously, You know, I mean, you hear a joke and it's like, well, wait a second. That's kind of personal to me. You know, so that's not funny. It's like, okay. But that people don't know that and better just to get over it and move forward. You know, I have a horrible example, which I'm just gonna I'm gonna throw out there. I was in law school one time. We had a particularly bad professor. And, you know, walking out of the class, a couple of my class. I heard one of my classmates just said to the other one, my god, it's like watching somebody have a stroke. Okay? My father had died of a stroke, like, a year and a half before that. Okay. And I've been in the hospital with him, you know, which had the stroke and they have. No. It was a horrific experience in my life, you know, but I'm not gonna go up to this guy and say, how dare you be so insensitive? Was a part of me was like, that's funny. Okay? It's just funny. I mean, it's alright. You know, and I and and I'm gonna learn how to deal with that, and I'm gonna be okay with it. I I think as we're approaching mental health, we we we teach people more how to feel traumatized than we teach them how to deal with that trauma and be resilient because I think it's possible and it leads to a better life. Yeah. And, Jeffrey, I'm gonna jump in one more time here. I think it's funny that Jeffrey's wearing a red shirt, and I'm wearing a blue shirt at this point. Because I I lean more towards the conservative side, and Jeffrey leans more to left side. And it's like, but but we are able to have amazingly productive and and and cordial conversations. So how do you go about having those in your position, just having those cordial conversations, your mindset into being able to have cordial conversations with somebody who does not may not have the same, I idea or same viewpoint as you. Two things. Well, three. Actually, number one, I choose to engage. Okay. You know, I was just actually before this, I did a radio show with Bill Martinez. Who I confessed I'd never heard of, but he's apparently a big conservative radio talk show host. I had a great conversation with him. Okay. I'm actually gonna go on Jordan Peterson's podcast. Us next week. You know, and I don't agree with everything. You know, but so don't get afraid of engaging with people whose views you you disagree with. Is I I think the the the number one most important thing. Second, treat people with respect even if you don't agree with them. And and people have such a hard time with that. And I've gotten so far in dealing with people. And by the way, treating people with respect doesn't mean that you agree with them. You know? In fact, in many cases, placating people is the most disrespectful thing you can do. You know, be honest, but don't be dismissive. Okay? Be respectful in terms of how you interact with folks. And third, always keep one very important thing in mind. You could be wrong. And I I I don't know why people have such a struggle with that. I think a lot of times, I've seen this particularly in young people. I will see interactions where, you know, they they have a policy position, and then somebody disagrees with their policy. Position. And they they react as if they're almost physically wounded. Okay. Like, oh, they because it's threatening their world view. Always approach things from the standpoint of I've got more to learn. Okay? And look, someone says something you disagree with. There are two possibilities. One, they're right. And you've got something to learn, b, they're wrong, and you need to learn how to make it clear that they're wrong. It's an opportunity, either way. It's not a threat. Okay? But we've just changed our mentality here. So I think, you know, engage, be respectful, be willing to learn. You know, congressman, I I, this past weekend, I had the opportunity to go to president, John f Kennedy's presidential library. And, as I knew, you know, we were having this conversation, it reminded me so much of of Senator Kennedy's work, on mental health. And, and, obviously, his his grandson, who you served with, you know, work too. Or no, his his son, right? His son. I think it was his son Ted. Yeah. It was his son's work, on mental health, but interestingly enough it brought me back down. Actually, it was his nephew, if we're gonna be technically accurate here. I had to sift through it in my brain too, Patrick. You've got it. Yes. You got it right. And, and it reminded me actually of, Mark Salter's book as well, with, former senator John McCain. To Travis's point because when Senator McCain came back after his, wounds, in, in Vietnam, the impact on his mental health, and it was a fascinating fascinating read that for anyone that hasn't read read it to me is is fascinating and talk about a person who truly acted with civility. I was also reminded, while I was there, recently saw the four year video which, you know, to this day, will always be one of my favorite videos of when the senator came on the senate floor and and gave the thumbs down, to the Republican attempt to get rid of, of the Affordable Care Act, which, you know, was a great moment for for Senator McCain. But, I'm curious, you know, from your vantage point, because I know you touch on this in your book. And and obviously, you also have been a leader in this space. I mean, We're talking about the mental health parity act signed in nineteen ninety six, by then president Clinton. Obviously, the Affordable Care Act by president Obama, and a whole lot of work, from a policy perspective. But yet, we're still at a time when we talk about mental health where access treatment is still quite limited, especially when you get into some parts of the United States. We've seen some movement in telepsych, and and that's definitely been encouraged. And, but but we're still at a time when when it seems like we have such a shortage of of resources. Is there are there things we need to see, you know, are there things the payers need to do to really change this? And I know you dealt with this in your book as well. Yeah. No. There's two things about that. And first, I'll start in a place you might not expect. As a patient, the less time you spend worrying about that, the better off you're gonna be. You got the playing field in front of you. This is what you've got to deal with. And you could sit around and go, oh, it's terrible. I can't find the help I need. So you know, and it's fine. But you better also be trying to work within the system we have. Find your ways around it. You know, be creative. Do what you have to do to get better. Don't sit around and go, well, the reason I'm not any better is because we have a screwed up health care system. Okay. But that's not doing anything for you. I have a more problem solving approach to that. Second, the things that we could do to make a health care system, obviously access is a significant issue. Alright. And a universal health care system where people at least had access to basic health care so that it wasn't a such a patchwork would help. But I mentioned this in my book, and it's an important chapter to read, thinking that, you know, there is some magical solution to our health care. Well, if health care was free, then everything would be fine. There is not enough money in the world to give people access to the health care that they need much less want. Okay? So you're never gonna even in countries that have single payer health care. I did a podcast with a guy from Australia who was saying, yes, it is universal. Yes, they have no health, but there's a waiting A, there's a writing list, b, you get two weeks or three weeks, and then you got a petition, you gotta do this other stuff. The finite resources are always going to make it a challenge The one thing that would help the most is if we did a better job of doing a best practices analysis of where it makes sense to spend the money. Right now, the money is sort of driven by who lobbies most effectively to get, you know, Medicare or Medicaid to cover something. Like, for instance, on the physical health side, you know, muscle activation techniques is a particular group of therapists. Who do muscle activation therapy, save my life. Okay? They finally taught me how muscles work. Started out of Denver, by the way, with full shout out Colorado there. And, you know, it it really it's not covered by insurance. It's not recognized. I mean, I could go see a physical therapist for ten years and never get any better. And insurance would happily pay for that. But that won't pay for the guy who actually cured me. Okay? And and you need to do a better job of announcing. What is working? Where do we spend our money? But I'll make one final point on health care that I don't actually make in the book. The overwhelming majority of money that we spend on on health care is spent on end of life care. If you look at the statistics, There are two things that stand out. The United States of America spends more money per capita than any other country in the world by a comfortable margin on health care. So the notion of people said, oh, there's not enough money in US health care. Well, we're spending more than anybody else, but we consistently rank between thirtieth and fortieth on pretty much every measure of the quality of our healthcare system. So clearly, we're spending a lot of money in an unproductive way. Lastly, nobody spends as much money as we do on end of life care. Now there's an interesting philosophical little debate here as to why, because we're the United States of America. There is no problem that we can't solve. It's our fundamental belief, which is and that belief, by the way, has solved a lot of problems that people didn't think could be solved. Alright. But we include in that death. Okay? That's right. We're we're gonna fix it. We're gonna solve it. What's the cost of that? You know, what what's the balance? How do you, you know, figure that out? That's a pretty dramatic one. But then, unless things, we surgeries and drugs. We spend so much money on surgeries and drugs that anybody who does any kind of even surface analysis will tell you isn't helping. Okay? You know, why can't someone come and say, yeah. No. We're not gonna do that. We're not gonna pay for because understand the way the system works, the doctor and the patient both have incentives to do it. The doctor gets paid, and the patient's like, if the doctor says I need this, let's go. And then you've got the payer over there, the insurance companies, which we all love to hate. And I understand that. But they're the ones paying the bill. Okay? And they're like, well, wait a second. Is this really necessary? So if we had more of a best practices approach, which we tried to put into the Affordable Care Act, but people panic. Wait a second. You're gonna have some unelected bureaucrat telling me whether or not I can get my MRI. And the honest answer to that question is, yeah, we are. Okay. Because we can't afford to pay for all of them. And if we pay for all of them, then somebody over here doesn't have health care at all, and they can't get access to anything. You know, those are the tough conversations that we don't wanna have. And, you know, on the left side of the spectrum, we just wanna say, oh, well gosh, if if health care was free, then we wouldn't have any problems. It's just evil capitalism that's destroying everything. And believe me, that evil capitalism plays a role. Drug companies, you know, pushing, you know, gosh, they were pushing opiates forever just because it made them more money. So there is a role, but it's not as simple as saying, well, if the government just came in and gave everyone health care, then everything would be fine. Diff choices will be there. In any public policy. Man. Yeah. You were so right. I remember so my mom passed away in twenty twenty, from cancer, and it was the the what she was being given in all of the different treatments and the different things that they were trying to do just to make her comfortable for end of life care was it was beyond me about, okay, like, if we focused more on preventative maintenance, we call it in the military, like, the, like, the, like, you talk you talk about the, like, like, physically broken, mentally broken, but being having the resilience to be able to bounce back and to take care of yourself and just it's not a pull yourself up by your bootstrap. Type moment, but it's about taking it's about taking responsibility for yourself and your care and your own and what doing what you can do to make yourself better. So and that to me, that's resilience and grit. So it's a I I love what you said in the and and the way And I'm sure you experienced this. The the way that that that the physical parts of the body, if you're in pain, that plays a big role on your mental health. Those two are very connected. If I I'm the same way as you, if I get up if I if I'm gonna a space where I'm in I'm in so much pain that I can't go walk or I can't go for a run or you can't lift weights. It impacts my mental and my mental health. So there's some kind of equation there that we can combine to be able to help us that are that are that are in that space to to to be able to move forward, to be able to build up that resilience. So I just wanted to make that comment about about that. I'm just that connection between the physical and the mental is so thick. And it's so needed that if we can if we address one, the other one, they they kinda build each other up. And, it's a it's it's a it's it's a great thing. Yeah. No. Absolutely. And it look, there's no easy answers here. I mean, you know, end of life care. I'm gosh, I I'm old enough to remember one of your one of Colorado's former governors Lam who came out with the statement that old people had a duty to die. I remember his his political career didn't last very long after that. And it's like, it literally said that. I'm like, no, that's not what we're saying. I, you know, we we have to to make choices about quality of life and about what what we're doing and how we're helping, but it is absolutely the case that the US spends a lot more money on that. Than any other country in the world. We make a different choice. And if we wanna make that choice, then we should stop whining about how expensive it is. Alright? You know, because that's You know, that's what you gotta do. I just wish we had more of an honest conversation about this. And I think, you know, the right, you know, claims, oh, it's just the government over regulating everything, they're terrible. And the left says, oh, which is because capitalism won't give you the health care. You need new. It's because it's a really complicated public policy to problem to solve. Yeah. Congressman, I, we're we're at a time, but I wanna, just ask you to share with with our listeners, where they can find you as well as where they can find your book. Yeah. Find my book simply on Amazon. Lost and broken my journey back from chronic pain and crippling anxiety. My website. I'm probably gonna get it wrong, but if you just Google Adam Smith, once you get past the wealth of nations, you will find me. That's my dream, by the way. I gotta get to the point where when you Google, I'm the one who comes up first. I mean, come on. It was two hundred years ago. But anyway, come up with it and, you know, so and also I think is, what is it? Adam smith at mail dot house dot gov. I think it's the actual website. And then I'm also I'm on, Twitter and Instagram, though I don't update it that much and I don't even remember exactly what the handle is on that. So, yes, that's roughly how to find me. Thank you very much. I really, really enjoy conversation. Yeah. Well, and for our listeners, you can always catch the congressman on on TV, especially anytime they're talking about military issues. He's a regular. So Carnaceman, thank you, you know, not only for for your story and sharing it, but also for your service. I know our nation, owes you a debt of gratitude too because there's a lot of tough decisions you've made over the years, always in support of our military, and, certainly, we appreciate appreciate all that you've done. And I know your constituents do as well. So thanks again for for you joining us here. I wanna also, encourage our listeners to check out the congressman's book, certainly check out the congressman. He has been a a stalwart supporter of the military and our armed services, and certainly has done incredible work, for the for our country. And so I wanna thank him as well for that. And, we look forward to additional shows, follow us, connect with Hern and I, we look forward to engagement and conversations on all things leadership, but also around health care. And, obviously, we've been having the great fortune of talking about the of mental health as well. So look forward to the next show, and congressman. Thanks again.