Facing Adversity Head-On: Leadership Insights From Charmeachealle Moore

Leading people well is tough, even in the best of times. But what do we do when it gets really, really tough? How do we, as leaders, respond to adversity in a healthy and productive way? How can we continue to succeed in business and in life through the storms of leading well? You know, when dangerous storms have begin to brew over the horizon, most herd animals and even humans have a tendency to take cover or move away from the storm, but not the buffalo. The buffalo, instead of running for cover, will gather its herd, take a few last bites of whatever food is out there, and head directly through the storm. As leaders, we have to do the same thing. We're all faced with different storms that come with leading well. Modern day leaders face leadership storms that can cripple an individual, a team, or an entire organization. Our guests are resilient leaders, some of the best resilient leaders our country has to offer. They'll walk us through how they actually got through these storms and how they became better on the other side. So join us on the Through the Storm podcast. Well, good afternoon, good evening, good morning, whatever time it may be. Welcome to the Through the Storm podcast. Ladies and gentlemen, we have an amazing guest, and I'm we were talking before we start to hit the record button, and we could've whole we could've recorded the entire conversation before we hit the record button. But we had to stop, and we wanna bring this to you, because this man is someone that you need to meet. So a little bit of background about him. If you were to look up the word resilient in the dictionary, affectionately known as Mike Moore. His life story reads like a testament to unwavering determination and perseverance. This guy's a stud. Mike's a survivor in every sense, from battling brain tumors to championing mental championing mental health as a certified first aid responder. His journey includes a stint in the NFL with the chargers where he showcased not only, athletic prowess, but also his resilience in in the face of adversity. A devoted husband and a father of five, Mike is also a member of the six percent club, having navigated divorce just days before his draft only to only to get remarried again in twenty twenty. Since retiring from professional sports in two thousand nineteen, Mike Moore has dedicated himself to a noble cause, creating supportive pathways for fellow athletes transitioning into life after the game. Through this initiative, these athletes find purpose in education and community service, and they make a profound economic and social impacts wherever they go. And I'm pretty sure some of you have seen it in your communities. Mike's latest mission with the heroes project aims to transform American schools into safe havens, rebuilding the village support system that COVID nineteen disrupted. His goal is nothing short of covering every school in the nation, ensuring every child has the environment that they need to thrive. And, like, you can't get those missions that you have, Mike, you can't get any better than that, man. So welcome to the show. Thank you for being here, brother. Man, thank you, Travis, for having me. I'm telling you, man. You right there like a pearl, and that is for you to be able to be my announcer coming out in everything that we do, man, that is phenomenal, man. This is fun. Thank you for having me on the show, and I'm just blown away by having this opportunity. Thank you, man, so much. Yeah. Mike, I'm a be your hype man. You can you can you can sign me up. I'll be your hype man. Whenever you come out on stages across the globe, man, I'll just come out and I'll just I'll hype you up. That's gonna be my new job. Brother. Yeah, man. So what what this show is all about is storms. You know? To give the list the the listeners kind of a recap of why we are here and why, Mike, I invited you onto the show was we are leaders who have faced storms. For me, it was military storms. It's business storms. For you, it's so many different storms, which we'll get into here in a minute. But it's my opinion that leaders need to be able to to they need to be able to face storms. They need to they need to, like the buffalo, charge straight into a storm Mhmm. Tackle it head on, bring its herd with it through the storm so that it can come out on the other side better equipped for that next storm. Because you are in this life, you were you were in three phases of life. You were either going into a storm, you're into the storm, or you're preparing for the next storm to come. Mhmm. So this show is all about showing people that, hey. We've been through storms. Some of the worst storms imaginable that you can think of. Mhmm. We've learned from them, and we've come out on the other side better human beings that were making the world a better place because of the storms that we went through. So, Mike, man, I I don't know where you wanna start in your journey and your story Okay. Because there's a lot of great there's just a lot of goodness in there for a lot of people. Yeah. But tell us about some of the storms that you have been through. Okay. And we would do it like this. I'll take you from storm after storm after storm, starting at when I was going into college. I'm leaving high school, graduating from tech Skyline High School with top fifty, player out of state of Texas, and I committed to the University of Minnesota my junior year. Tim Brussel was the head coach, and I've received twenty plus offers, but I was committed to Minnesota because it's the big ten. I play linebacker. You thinking about going to the NFL. Big ten linebacker ball back in the day, baby. Come on. Sign me up anywhere. On top of that, I had four Skyline Raiders alumni already up there. And when I went up there, talked to Tim Cross, Tim Cross, coach Bruce, they was like, hey. You are a guy. You gonna fit right in between the, the Sam and the Will. You our Mike. Let's run it. And I'm like, man, sign me up all day. Not knowing that year that Minnesota had just built the the outdoor stadium. Like, what was we thinking? We went up there in the screen, saw the campus. It was beautiful. They showed me my dream. I'm like, hey. Sign me up all day. But so that was my junior year when I committed that summer. Now coming into my senior year, around that September, things had got a little shaky, at the University of Minnesota. They went on the losing streak, and they was losing bad. And so Tim Bruce got fired in the middle of the season, and I still stayed committed because I was committed to the school. What year was this? This was in two thousand eleven. Okay. Gotcha. Back in two thousand eleven. And so I was committed to the school, and that I was, hey. Hey. I'm going to Minnesota. I'm a golden gopher, baby. And my whole family had we we was bleeding maroon and gold. And so a week before signing day well, two weeks before signing day, Jerry Kiel got the job. Got on the phone with Jerry Kiel, linebacker coach, and he called me. At school, I'm answering questions, you know, talking to how I'm excited to get there. And he was like, no. I'm looking through your paperwork, and, you know, we're having a little trouble with your scholarship. You can't get in from an academic standpoint. Now, Travis, mind you, I made sure my grades was good. At the same time, I took the SAT, and I took the I took the SAC the SAT twice and the ACT once just to make sure that my grades were superb. And I already submitted my academic scholarship to the University of Minnesota before Jerry Keough got there. So when he tells me that I'm having a hard time getting into the academic side of it, I go home and literally, Travis. As soon as I get home, I check the mail. I have a offer acceptance letter from the University of Minnesota. Hey. You have been accepted from the University of Minnesota, Golden Gophers. We can't wait to have you. I'm going crazy. I called Coach. I'm like, hey, Coach. I just got my letter, from the academic campus saying that I got accepted. What's this what's this about? He was like, oh, no. You know, let me figure this out. I'm a hang up, call you back. Jared Kiel now calls me. Hey, coach. He's like, hey, Mike. I'm the new coach up here. We got a couple of your Skyline alumni, and things not really going well from academic side up there. I pushed your scholarship through and just to see if it was gonna get accepted, but you're not one of my guys. And literally, this is a week before signing day. And now Oh, gee. What I wanna be able to educate the viewers on how scholarships works, in high school. Like, you can have twenty plus scholarships, and you get offered by so many schools, but they have a number of scholarships that they have to be able to give out. And so if you don't accept those scholarship, those offers get pulled away because some other kid has accepted them. And so at that time, I only had Kansas State University left on the table, and then I had to wait to App Assign and date for Texas Texas Tech and the University of Miami. Both of those are my top two, top two schools. I went down to Kansas State, had a meeting my junior year with Bill Snyder, and I fell asleep in the meeting. And I was like, oh, man. I am not coming down here. How the scholarship works is I go back to where I was at. I had Texas Tech, the University of Kansas State, as well as we had my University of Miami. But when I went down to Kansas State University in my junior year, I fell asleep in a meeting, and Bill's not gonna kick me out. So I was like, you know what? We are not going to Kansas State. Like, it's it's it's it's not the perfect fit. But a guy worked everything out. Texas Tech and University of Miami was like, hey. You have to wait till I have to sign in. They we had a scholarship for you, but you were still committed to the University of Minnesota. We gave those scholarships away. Let's figure out and see where these guys sign at, and then after signing day, if they don't sign, we're coming to get you. Well, Kansas State had a gray shirt there, and a gray shirt was, we're gonna sign you, but you don't come on to the the following year scholarships in that wintertime. So I wasn't on the two thousand eleven scholarship row. I was on the two thousand twelve scholarship row. And I could have been on that two thousand eleven scholarship row depending on how my play and how my character was in the summertime. That's right. When I went down to Kansas State University, it was a rough transition. It was rough. Yeah. I was fighting. I was, going back and forth with coaches. Like, it was a big culture shock for me coming out of Dallas, Texas, an inner city school, going up in Manhattan, Kansas, the middle of nowhere in a little apple, and I had, what, twelve white coaches, and I never had a white coach growing up. And I was growing up in Texas. Like, that was it was a big culture shock, and it wasn't for Sean Snyder, Bill Snyder's son. When I came back, he said, Mike, you are a good player. You have a bright future ahead of you. I want you to do something for me. I was like, what is that, coach? He said, take the information that's given to you. Don't look at the skin color that it's coming from. And when he told me that, that changed my whole trajectory, and they changed my stance and my look on how to be able to take those tough conversations because, like, when you're in college, their job is to mentally break you down and build you up in a way that they want. Now at high school and down here in Texas where I was at with coach Todd and coach Sample, Reginald Samples, both Texas, state championship win it. Like, Texas ball is real big down here. The mindset in the culture that they brought us up in as well as my father, I don't care what man, who he is. If they talking trash to you in a respectful way, you don't let no man or no no boy belittle you. You make sure that you come at them full speed and and you show it up with your play. Not only do you talk, you're not, are you able to show it up with your play? And that's what I was doing down at Kansas State. I was showing up with my plate, but at the same time, we'd be in workouts and, you know, they're heckling you. You, you know, you slow. You you falling behind, this and that. And I'm like, put whoever you want up here against me. I will smoke all of these boys, and I'm going through who else you got? You get out here like, that is not the right thing to do. Me thinking, like, I'm showing, hey. I'm resilient. I'm powerful. Like, I don't care who you thought, but what I was showing the coaches is this guy's uncoachable. This guy has a this guy's untrustworthy. So that was the first thing that I had to navigate through and learn. Now after going through what I played my first year, played my second year, and we was going into my junior year. And this is when the medical term has had the medical storm came through. So I went through the recruiting storm, told you about that. Then I went through the medical storm, In the medical storm, man, that was that was crazy. So leading into my junior year, after my first game, my body went through rapped and myelisis. And if you don't know what rhabdomyolysis is, that's when your muscles start breaking down in your kidneys. And so after my first game, we played against Steven f. I had a lot of eleven tackles, had a good game, and I was still fighting for the lead in mic position. I was already the Sam backer, but I wanted that mic position because the mic never leaves the field. The Sam backers are on the field so many plays, and the goal is to make it to the NFL. Like, that is the ultimate goal that we had in front of us. And so after that game, I started having back pain, but my father and my mom always told me, hey. It's a difference between pain and injury. If you injured, you sit down, you go get treatment. But if it's a little pain, hey. We work through that pain, and we'll deal with it later. Right? And so when I had that back pain, went home, I pissed blood, and didn't say nothing to no trainer, didn't say nothing to anybody. And I came back that Monday, and we went to practice. Came back that Tuesday, and we had a hard practice. Now I go home right now. My wife, my girlfriend at the time, which is my wife now, but my girlfriend, she was pregnant with my first son. And I'm cooking dinner at home. I'm leaning over, and she's like, hold on. Something's wrong. Like, you need to go to the hospital. And you know me. Hey. Baby. So it's I just got a lot of pain in my back, difference between pain and injury. I go and see my trainers in the morning. She say, no. You need to go to the hospital now. I've never seen you this way. And what does she do? She called my mom and dad. Yep. That's what happens. So she called my parents and but he's like, hey. I never seen him like this. You know, Mike and Mike do a lot of things, but I never seen him like this. We need to I need him to go to the hospital. Can y'all talk him into it? Get on the phone with them, long story short. Did you tell your trainers? No. You need to go to the hospital. Just see what's going on. And, man, I tell you, Trav. Taking a step back, let me touch hold. Let me stop you for one sec. Rhabdo is one of the most painful experiences that you can live through, and you went to practice two days with it. Mhmm. You went to you did full practice this two days Mhmm. With rhabdomyos and you, like and that's that's that's insane. That's insane. Yeah, man. Looking back, I was Alright. Sorry, man. Yeah. You get to the hospital. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. We did some crazy stuff. Like, me and my wife talk about which I get into it later. But, yeah. So, finally, call my trainer. My trainer, like, hey. Yeah. Just come. I'll meet you at the hospital. Let's go. I I get to the hospital. It's where my creatinine level is at a three point five. If your creatinine levels get to a five, that's when your kidney starts shutting down and you have to go on dialysis. And so they immediately put me in a room, start flushing me with IVs and trying to figure out why is this got preadling level so high? Well, had me in the hospital for a week. I missed the game against Iowa State. Bill Snotter thought that I had kidney stones. Nobody's really telling about the coaches and things of that nature, what's truly going on. So nobody really knows the severity of my situation. Mind you, we're getting ready to play Auburn that Thursday night, the following Thursday night. And so we have a bye week, and my coach is like, hey. We need you back for Auburn. Like, what's going on? What's the status update? Me trying to be a player, hey. Like, I'm ready to go, but, look, Trav. I couldn't keep no food down. I could barely walk. Like, I didn't have no equilibrium. I was getting blood drawn out of my body, like, for two weeks straight, just trying to figure out why is this levels all over the charts. I had testosterone level as a seventy seven year old man. Like, they are freaking out. Like, what's going on with this guy's body? And that happened for two weeks. We get to the game week of Auburn, the week before the game week, and my mom was like, hey. Ain't no way you're going back out there. Like, we don't understand it. Let's get a full MRI in the body, full MRI and a CAT scan so we can really get down to the nitty gritty and figure out what's going on. We have that CAT scan and the MRI. I go I remember like it was yesterday. Went into the the practice facility on Saturday because the team had a practice that morning. Went into there, sat down with my trainers, and that's when he said, hey. We got some news for you. I'm like, okay. Bet. When can I get back to playing ball? Tell me what it is. You know, I'm ready to work through this. I know we got all of them coming up and ready to go back, you know, getting to the playbook. I need to study family, these guys. He like, like, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh. We did a find, and then it showed that you had a pituitary tumor. I'm like, alright. What they mean? When can I get back to playing ball? I mean, I'm look Yeah. I'm look I see my mom at the corner of my eye, but I'm really not paying attention. I'm trying to figure out when can I get back to playing ball? And he like, no, Mike. I don't think you understand. You have a brain tumor, and you cannot play football with that. And I'm like, a brain tumor? Where did this come from? How did this form? Where did this come from? What are you talking, man? You you're tripping. I don't have no brain tumor. I feel fine. Like, yeah, my equilibrium is off a little bit, but what are you talking you ain't talking about that. And I'm like, okay. When can I get back to playing ball? And he's like, well, football is done with it. You're done with football. Football is out of the room. You can't play football with a brain tumor. We're gonna, keep you on scholarship so you can finish out this academic year. But, now you're just a cheerleader. You're gonna be a support coach, and you go on, cheer, ride, ride your teammates on it. You're still a part of the team, but we really need to figure out this situation. Now me, Trav, when I went down to Kansas State, I had a coach, Mike Smith. And he brought me into his room with my parents, and he sat me down. And he said, Mike, you coming to college to play football? I don't know you see the academic stuff. I know you see all this, but you coming here to go to the NFL. That's the goal. He looked at my mama, he looked at my daddy, and I looked at them and they shook their head. Yes. That's the goal. So my mind said is, hey, NFL. That's all we know. That's all we're going. And now you're trying to tell me I have to bring to him, and I got a son on the way. How am I supposed to provide for him? Yeah. I'm about to graduate, but I didn't think I was gonna do nothing with this degree. Like, that's later down the line after I go through the football, like, football. Yep. Well, he says, no. We have to start thinking about things outside of football. First time I ever heard that in my life. First time, wouldn't be the last. Right? And so they set me up with an endocrinologist, doctor Charles Lee Sender. Love her, love her, love her down in Topeka, Kansas. I went down there and met with doctor Cinder, and she said, you know, I'm looking at your chart. Had my baby at the time, my, my first son, Chance, and she's like, you know, your reading's off the charts. Are you sure your son is yours? You know, you're not supposed to be able to produce kids with your testosterone level this high. You're not supposed to be able to play ball at this high level. Like, how are you able to do these things when your body is off the charts? Right? We need to figure this out. So she said, what do you what is what is your goal? And I said, hey. My goal is to play in the NFL. I wanna be able to go back to playing football. So she said, okay. We're gonna put you on some medicine, and you gotta be careful with taking this medicine because if you take it out at the wrong time, it'll harden your heart. But you gotta take this for six months and come back with the six months. And within that six months, this should decimate your tumor, remove it, and you can get back to plan bio. We'll do a MRI, CAT scan, and come back, follow through. What we did that in Triad, I literally got bigger, faster, stronger, went to winning conditioning, leading the pack, back, leading back on the Yeah. Captain. Like, I'm strong. I'm big and everything. Getting ready to go in the spring ball, and she says, go back MRI, CAT scan. Hold on. Your tumor didn't shrink. It grew. And I'm like, shit. Oof. Alright. What's going on now? Like, what what does that mean? She's saying, okay. I reached out to my colleagues. Eight out of nine of my colleagues said it. You're done playing football. We had to crack your skull. But you're still I just say, even though it grew, you're still bigger, faster, stronger than you were before even though the tumor was growing. That's crazy. Man. Eight out of nine doctors, my colleague said that we're gonna have to put you in surgery, pull your whole pituitary gland, and you'll be on medicine for the rest of your life. Now I'm a send this case to where I did my residency at at the National Institution of Health. It's a government official hospital. The only thing is you have to get accepted into this hospital, and I hope and pray that they take their case because I've never seen anything like this. Send my information over to them. I had to get accepted. The brain tumor guy wanted to do it, but I had to get accepted by the endocrinologist down there. Got accepted by the endocrinologist, and I flew out to, Bethesda, Maryland, April seventeenth. I had brain surgeons to where they cut under my lip. They broke my nose, moved it to the side, and went to my nasal canal to cut my tumor out piece by piece. And that's kinda common now, but at the time when I did it back in two thousand and seventeen, that was an experimental surgery that they had, what they called. And I did it up there in Bethesda. And so they told me after having that brain surgery, that, hey. After you have this surgery, your test your testosterone level is gonna revert back to a thirteen year old boy. So don't be surprised when you come back within six weeks for your follow-up if your wife is not pregnant. Well, I'll be damned, Brad. Well, I went back within the next six weeks. My wife was pregnant. But lo and behold, my vision had cleared up because where the tumor was, it was pressing down on my optic nerve, so I had to start wearing glasses. And then it was messing with a lot of stuff, but my blood level's off the charts. I'm doing well. I'm ready to go back, and now I can finally start back working on that journey going to play football. And so when I went back to Kansas State, that Jones, man, it was hard. Like, literally, I couldn't even make it a full hundred yards walking down up here. I can only walk fifty yards, and then I had to sit down. And they said, hey. We're gonna build this baby up piece by piece. We got the whole year. I'm thinking that I only got the I only got this summer. I ain't got the whole year. I'm trying to play this year. Like, we on the clock, baby. What we doing? We're trying to get to the league. And so my trainer, Mindy Hoffman, she said, baby boy, let me tell you something. I understand what you went through. Don't be walking around here feeling sad and weary and lonely about your what you're going through. You show your teammates how strong you are, and you come in here and you be positive. Because the only way for your body to heal up correctly and fast as you want it to be is you being positive. You don't need no negativity. So if you have to fake it, fake it so that everyone around you can be built and they can be motivated just by living through you. And that's where we go back, Trav, at the beginning when we talk about our testimonies and our stories are sometimes not for us, but it's for the individuals that are around us and that are coming behind us because it gives them so much power and strength by seeing somebody that's going through something like that and still able to be positive, still able to be happy. And that's what we did in Triad. Literally, from going to live for bar, I was already back by the end of the summer, back to where I was, three sixty five, four zero five, going. I'm already back leading the pack, a back starter in my position group. And so we was coming up this summer in college. You have to do a conditioning test at the summer workouts. And for Kansas State University, it was two, three hundred yard shuttles, and I hated it. Everybody and their mama hates it because of how they do it. And so me, of course, thinking, okay. Clearly, they understand what I went through. They're not gonna make me go through this goddamn, strength and conditioning test. I'll be damned. My my I'm sitting here, like, I know for shit damn show. Oh, excuse me. I'm sorry. This I'm I'm using bad prophetic. I know for dang That's right. It it's okay for this one. You're good. Okay. I know for dang sure that they're not gonna have me run this three hundred yard shuttle. Like, they understand what I just went through. I'll be dang. My coach comes to me and say, hey. We got you on board to run this time, and, you know, we just wanna see how you do. Just go through it, and and we'll just work on it. We'll build on it. Well, that's right. I went home and I worked because what's the goal? Make it to the NFL. And we worked. With me? Yep. We beat that time within three seconds of what we're supposed to. By the end of that camp, we was back starting, and we was back starting at the Sam position linebacker, but, of course, I want that mic position because the mic never leaves the field. And so we start playing ball this season, played in three games, had an okay game. I well, I had a good game my first game. The second two games, I only played, like, five snaps. And so I'm looking at it from a standpoint, forget this. Like, I'm here to play ball. I done went through all this. I'm not here to sit on the sideline. I'm like, I'm about to transfer. You're not gonna play me. I'm a transfer because I I graduated. I was on track to graduate. I graduated in two thousand and fourteen, and that was this is in two thousand and fifteen. And so Yeah. I say, if you're not gonna play, man, I'm a transfer. And this is around September. Now when September came around that year, it was September thirteen, we went down to Denver, Colorado for Yom Kippur. It's a Jewish holiday. Me and my family traveled down there every year with our rap. And we went through Yom Kippur Yom Kippur. The following day, we was coming back to my family was flying back to Dallas, and I was flying back to man Manhattan, Kansas. And I had a sick feeling in my stomach the whole time. Didn't wanna leave, didn't wanna leave my family. And, me and my father had a conversation, which would be the last con well, it wasn't the last. It was a conversation before the last. And he was like, hey. You know what we always talk about? You got a commitment. You go down there. You handle your commitment. It's me and you against the world. Go down there, show them what you're about. And if it's time to transfer after this season, we'll transfer, but we're gonna finish it out, and we're gonna rock it out. Go down there and show them why they need to play you. So I was like, alright then. Okay. Alright. I'm I'm geeked. I'm hyped. Mind you, my wife was pregnant with our second, my sec our second child was D'Shyya, so she's flying back to Dallas with my family, and I'm flying back to Manhattan. Landing, landing in Kansas City, Kansas, because I got an hour and forty five minute drive. I land, talk to pops. Hey, pops. I landed. He like, hey. Remember what we said? Go go home. Get your nap, baby. Wake up. Go hit them weights and show them why they need to play you. I gotcha. You. We if me and you are against the world, let's rock it out. Okay. So we wake up. We go work out, and my partner, Cody Cody, he was like, hey. What's going on? Like, you just gonna send yourself. And I was like, bro, I just I don't wanna be here. Like, I really just I'm struggling right now. He was like, bro, we need like, damn that. We need you, bro. And I was like, okay. Yeah. So we work go through the workout, take a shower, go upstairs now. My partner, Deontay, is coming inside with Deontay Burns. Shout out to Deontay, playing for the cowboys. Deontay is coming to me. He's like, hey, Mike. You need to go upstairs right now. Some stuff going on at home. Go up there and see your coach. So I walk up to coach Cox's office, who's with my line back coach, and he just sitting on his desk just stunned. And I'm just like, I I kinda guess. I'm trying to thinking about what's going on. My mom had Graves' disease at the time. She had got sick up in Denver, so I'm like, okay. Something need to happen to my mom or something happened to my wife because my wife is pregnant. You know, elevation change coming back and then with the Dallas. You know, something had to happen with them to never cross my mind. It was something wrong with my father. So coach said, hey. Some some happened. We're gonna send you home. They they promised me not to tell you what happened. Just we're gonna send you home. Don't worry about it. And then we you know, I love you. He hugs me. He's you know, got tears coming. I'm just like, shit. What the hell? So immediately, who I call? Call my daddy. No answer. No answer. No answer. So I'm like, okay. And he's probably busy trying to deal with stuff. You know? Call my wife. No answer. Call my like, calling everybody. Nobody's answering. And so then my brother finally called, hey. Your father had a heart attack. They're working on them right now. Just get down here, and we'll work it you know, we'll work everything out when you get here. So I'm like, okay. Cool. Like, I'm good with a heart attack. My grandfather, he was seventy five, still living, just had a heart attack, years before, and he was fine. He living with a stick. He's moving forward. And I'm like, man, my daddy is strong. Like, I ain't no little simple heartache or take him out. Well, I get home, come to find out. When I get home, I start getting text messages, and I start getting calls that, hey. I'm sorry for your loss. Your dad isn't real. And now that I remember, my coach brought this to my attention. When I was leaving out Kansas, when I was leaving Kansas State, coach Snyder was like, like, man, we're so sorry for your loss. We love you. This, this, and that. And coach Cox is just looking like, what the fuck? You do it. You're lots of us. But Oh, man. No. Me just zoned in about, okay. I gotta get home. Economy tomorrow. Like, none of that really hit me until I saw the message. And then we pulled up at the house. And so, you know, I go through the whole emotional stand. I break down. I cry. I do, I'm I'm devastated. Like, literally devastated. We I have now another child on the way. We got a family business that has to be run. How is my mama gonna do all of this with, you know, with running the business and maintaining and keeping her sanity because my dad just left. Like, he handled everything. How are we supposed to do this? And I came up with a decision on, I was forced to make a decision on, hey. Do we go back to school and play ball, or do we quit and just say fuck fuck football and run the family business? And that was a hard decision. I was considering fuck football because I was not playing. They was not playing. Yeah. And so Oh, man. It was like, man, do I you know, I I don't wanna play football. I don't wanna do it, but one of the things that my parents taught me growing up, and this is what I'll tell you that I'm so glad they instilled this in me when I was young, is that whatever you start, you finish. You don't quit Mhmm. Win. You finish it out and you rock it all the way out. And then after that, that's when you switch and make changes. Well, me and my wife sat down and my mom, we said, okay, Bet. We're gonna finish out this season. And after this season, damn that, we're gonna transfer to SMU. It's closer to home. I can do everything. Like, we already graduated. We can transfer. And so I went back to Kansas State University, and I got back TCU week. We was playing TCU that week. Got back on a Thursday, and they was like, hey. You're not gonna play this week, but you're gonna sue that. You know, you haven't been here, but we're so glad to have you back. Let's work on implementing your role in and getting you playing, because we play Texas the following week. So we go to the game, didn't play, but I'm just like, man, I, like, I hated being down there. Like, it was hard. Yeah. It was hard being back at school because I went back to Kansas State University by myself. My my wife was still down there with my mom and, you know, they was helping my mom run a business facilitating. I was literally, alone at the house, but I had my teammates that were around me, Beyonce, Dante, Terrell, you know, Steve. They would come over and hang out, and help me, but it was still a lost there. And just I wanted to do because I looked just like my dad and, you know, dude and literally had his truck down there. So I'm like, everything that I'm looking at is reminding me of my father and the loss that I had. And, man, I just turned bitter. I turned bitter. I turned mad, and I just I wanted to die right then and then. I wanted to die on the field because it was like, damn. What is it to make it to the NFL now? He ain't here. Like, only reason why I fell in love with the game is because of him. And the reason why I wanted to go is because that's the goal that he wasn't able to achieve, and we was gonna be able to do it together. Like, why why should I still wanna do this? But at the end of the day, we had a goal that we set out. And so Yeah. We, I started playing that year, against Texas, and, man, it took off. Like, literally finished the season with seventy five tackles within six games. My last game at West Virginia against West Virginia, we had seventeen well, nineteen tackles, two sacks, fumble recovery. We helped our team go to a bowl game, and that was that was it. And so after that year, we went to the Liberty Bowl, became a defensive player. The, the Liberty Bowl, like, did really well, and I was forced with a decision. Mike, are you gonna stay here one more year, or you gonna go, you know, transfer out, go down to SMU? All my coaches understood what was up before me, and I remember coach Tom Hayes came to me and said, hey. I understand what you're going through. I understand what's before you. You give us one more year, I guarantee you you'll have a better chance of going to the NFL coming from Kansas State University than going to SMU. Promise you that. Give us one more will you give us one more year? Best decision that I ever made being able to say, okay. Yeah. We're gonna stay down here one more year. We fit we we finished the season strong, and it's hard to try to go into another system now knowing, like, hey. I'm a dog now when it come on the field. I'm a beat out whoever I'm a learn the system, but it just made sense coming from a big twelve school outside of coming from a I think they was, like, in the, the Sunbelt or something like that at the time. Like, it was just a few Yeah. Best decision that I made was staying down at Kansas State University. Went through that last year at Kansas State University, and literally, man, like, I was drinking heavy that whole year. Literally killing two seven fifty milliliters of Crown apples. Like, literally one on a dot on the field and literally having a fight with my wife before every game. Like, it was very bad. And Yeah. But still had a great season. Start preparing for the draft and start working out, and that is when me and my wife start going through a divorce. January came. We went through a stuff storm, and it was like, hey. Alright. We gotta do something different. We had a fight before every game this year. We're going into the NFL. We can't have no fights. We can't, you know, we can't have no off day because your off day will be your last day. And you're bringing this to me right now when I'm preparing for the biggest interview of my life, what I've been working towards my whole life, like, literally, Trav, if I would've just sat down and just gave it some time and not made a move, everything would've watched that and would've been good. But that was the only thing that I ever ever gave up on in my life was my marriage, and that was the number one thing that caused me to go into suicide. Suicide was not because when I gained the world, I went into the NFL, got picked up by the charge to sign that contract. I gained the world, gained the dream. This is what we set out to do. Like, we achieved that goal. But now You made it. Yeah. You made it. But now I got my father with me, and I got my wife and my kids with me. Like, literally, we would sit down and watch hall of fame videos, and I'll show my wife, hey. This is what we're working towards. This is what all the sacrifice is going for. And now that I achieved both of those goals, the very two people that mattered the most that wasn't there. Like, what individuals and now we was talking about this before. When you're playing ball and you especially in the league and you get out of camp and you're going during the season and you're going at home and you're hanging out with the older vets, like, you become uncle Mike. You're around their kids. You're around their families when you're not at the facility. And that was hard for me because I'm a full time father day in and day out. Like, I had two kids in college. Like, literally, try we will wait. We will come home, drive down to Dallas and wait till it was twelve o'clock or at eleven o'clock at night to leave and drive back to Manhattan, Kansas, this eight hour drive. We're making it six and a half just to get there in the morning to make workouts. And then after workouts, I'll come home, cook breakfast, hang out, go go train, go work out, go to practice, go to study how I do whatever I need to do. Then after practice, come home, cook dinner, have my wife bathe the kids, put them in there, and then spend time with my wife. Like, man, that was my life. I swiveled all for that. Yeah. Now that that was taken away, come on now, man. Come on now. And I don't It was like your identity was almost taken away a little bit. Something like a little bit or a little piece, it was taken away. Yeah. It was it was kinda without, yeah, without any any any any warning whatsoever. Man, it was something that we put ourselves there. And so the at when I got into the NFL, I had to have back surgery. And that was something that was just bonkers because, like, again, I say, brain surgery, can't tell me why I had to have brain surgery. Back surgery, can't tell me why I had to have back surgery, but I kinda understand why I had to have back surgery because, see, okay, you was drinking heavy your senior year. You know, liquor, alcohol, dries out the body, things that nature. So I understand where that comes from now, but at the time, you couldn't really tell me why I had why I had to go through these things and or have I really feel like I got removed from the NFL because I had vowed to die on the field. My goal Mhmm. Was to die, transpire, doing an action of play. Because my father like, again, I told you, my father was not there. My wife and my kids was not there. I was in California by myself. Like, man, like, this this is all I got. I just wanna die on the field because it I'm not able to really enjoy this with the people that really care and matter. Now now my mom and my sister is still alive, and I and I love them to death. They mean the world to me as well. But it was just something about those two groups not being there, that hurt. And then after working through working through my rehab, working through my back surgery, we get out, get, I asked my doctor to clear me. And so this is going from storm to storm to storm. And so Oh, man. I'm asking my doctor. I'm talking to Anthony Lynn. I'm talking to my physician coaches. I'm talking to everybody, like, hey. Like I said, like I told you, my goal was to down the field and getting back to the field because you have been at the game so long, like, man, you get isolated from the team. Everybody's playing. You're not playing. You're licking your wounds. And a lot of players, when they get hurt, they just go home. Hey. They leave the team. They go home. But Anthony said, no. I need you to stay down here, get in the playbook, you become a coach, and you learn this system because we gonna need you and use you next year. Well, shit. That's what I did. I've had Yeah. I had rehab outside of the facility. I would wake up in the morning, go to practice, go to film, look at everything, go to rehab, come back to the facility, and go to film. Like, I was there learning everything, And I asked them that coming up with the draft coming up, and this is crazy because I got a divorce three days for the draft, and then I got cut three days before the draft. Like, shit. It was crazy. Man. Man. I tell you. So, I was asking. So before the draft three days before the draft, four days before the draft, I went in, asked Anthony Lynn, my linebacker coach, Mike who was my linebacker coach? Coach Mike, and then I had, Gus Bradley. That was, like, DC. I asked all of them, hey. Am I in your numbers for next year? Like, I really need to know. Are you counting me in your numbers for next year? Yeah, Mike. You know, our numbers Yeah. Yeah. We wouldn't have told you to be there, and you've been committed. You've been here. You've been to Nashville. Like, yes. You and our numbers. Okay. Go get a call. Hey. You need to go see your doctor. We set up an appointment. Okay. Cool. Go see my doctor. And literally, the plan was don't get released until after the grad. That was the plan. For me leaving the facility, from talking to the coaches and driving over to, my doctor. I don't know what happened, but my mind was saying, we need to get back to the ball. We need to get released so we can get back playing ball. So I'm sitting down with my doc, and my doc's like, man, yeah, you made some progress, but I don't I don't I don't think you're ready. Like, I think I need you to give me another month. I'm like, man, damn that, doc. I done been out of there for long. Like, the draft is coming up, and they telling me they need me. They telling me they in my I mean, their numbers. Like, we need to go. Like, I need to get back to the field. He's like, just give me another month. You know? And I'm like, hey. Damn that. Release me. So he's like, okay. I release him. Man, the next goddamn day, I will I go, well, let's stay here. I go back to the facility that same day. I see Anthony Lynn, see Mike, coach Mike, and I also see Gus Bradley. I got released. And I told my trainer, I'm released. I'm ready. I'm back, everybody. Hell yeah. Let's go. Let's rock. Now it's time now we can get back to Bob. Okay. We can get back to Bob. Wake up the next day. It's Tuesday. Wake up in the morning, get at the facility, and I'm going into the meeting and they say, you need to go see the trainer. So go see the trainer. My trainer say, hey. You need to go see somebody upstairs. I'm like, who the fuck? Who is that guy? Like, I heard of this guy. But okay. Because it wasn't the GM. Do you know? I know Tom Thalesco's name. It wasn't Tom. And so Yeah. I go upstairs. Who do I see? Anthony Lynn is standing right there. And he say, Mike, what you doing up here? We got a team meeting within ten minutes. What are you doing? I say, shoot. They told me to come see such and such. He was like, for what? I'm like, I don't know. They told me to come see him. So he's like, okay. Oh, yeah. I'm a walk you. He's like, okay, babe. I'm a walk you down here. So he walks me to the office, and he says, hey. Come see me after they talk to you. Let me know what goes on. I go in. I sit down. Hey, Mike. You know? So glad you you, had a full recovery. My time. Hey, man. You can't be seen right now. Go. See you can sit down, but you can't be talking. Okay? That's good. Alright, big guy. And so I asked Anthony, so I go in and sit down. He say, Mike, you know, you're a great player. The draft is coming up. We wanna give you an opportunity to be picked up by the other thirty one teams. You're a great player. This, this, and that. Like, I'm sorry. We're gonna have to release you. And I'm like, damn that. You know, inside. I'm like, what the hell? Like, damn that. But in, you know, you gotta be professional. You gotta make sure you don't Yeah. You know, bad blood or no blood. So it's thank you for the opportunity, and I really understand. I appreciate it. And, you know, we walk out. Go find Anthony. And then he say, what happened? I said, they they just cut me. He like, what? That one's supposed to happen? I'm like, what? She it happened. Like, they like, I woulda never got released if they was gonna if y'all was gonna cut me. I'm like, man, I woulda never got released, coach, if y'all was gonna cut me. Like, I simply asked you what's out in your numbers, and you said yes. He say, Mike, I apologize. Give me the Friday. This was on Tuesday now. Give me the Friday. Let me ask some questions. Let me come around. You I told him you you were in my numbers. This was not supposed to happen. Okay. We're gonna see what happened Friday. I go back up there Friday, sit down, Anthony. He say, Mike, baby boy, I didn't know you had brain surgery in college. And then coming off a back surgery, like, what we doing? You need to think about things outside of football. Second time I heard this. I'm like, no. Hell no. Coach, like, I wanna die on the field. Like, give me whatever paperwork I need to sign. I'll do whatever. Like, this is my life. This is all I know. Like, please, I done stayed down. I did everything you asked me to do. Like, don't take this away from me. He like, my my hands are tied. We just simply can't do it with your medical history. Okay, babe. Ugh. So that chapter closed. All my coaches love me. Went and seen my coach. They goes Bradley called me. My coach Mike called me. Like, Mike, coach Stewart called me. I'm a special team. Everybody called me. Like, Mike, you're a great player. Then, like, this was not supposed to happen. You're a phenomenal player, or we hope you land somewhere. Like, anything you need, you know, just giving me the spirit that you need support. We got you, but hate that this happens. My line back because Mike Cox told me and said, hey. You got fucked by the system. And I was like, damn. How you know? Why you need to give me a heads up? Yeah. Needless to say. Yeah. Okay. So we called my agent. My agent, like, okay. Cool. Let me get on the horn. So he calls Tampa, give me a workout with Tampa. Now Tampa wanted me before I signed with the charges. So, and I had a good relationship with their linebacker coach. Tampa fly me out there, and we go through a workout. There's three of us that's going through a workout, and, I talk myself out of a job. I talked myself out of a job. So How did you do that? I started going through my medical history. They went in, sat down with the trainer, start going through my medical history. And coming to find out, I talked to myself out of two jobs because I was the only linebacker that the Dallas Cowboys brought in during their, their local workout. They literally the only linebacker in the state that they brought in. And when I went into talking to the trainers, what did I talk to them about? My body went through rapped arthritis. I had brain surgery, this, this, and that. And they all they're fascinated and blown away, but me not business side of this football thing, bro, you're a liability. We cannot put no money behind you. Why would we put money behind you? And there's tons of other players out here that don't have they probably can't And there's tons of other players out here that don't have they probably can't play at the capacity you can play at, but we can get a whole lot more out of them than you having brain surgery, back surgery. Well, damn. What did I do when I went down to Tampa? And the reason, Trav, the reason why I would share my medical history with these individuals is because I was looking at every other player that went through certain medical things, even even, like, they had that same year they had, a commercial rolling through that people had, you know, brain concussions and things that nature to car injuries. Anthony Lynn had a story. So I'm looking to understand it Yeah. How powerful a story can do to be able to help you get paid and help you stay in the league because that's a popularity. I'm looking at it. Hey. That's a popularity that a team can use, Larry, to get fans on board my butt's in the seat. I'm looking at it from that standpoint, but I'm not looking at it from a standpoint of, say, bro, brain surgery, back surgery, what how long will your body hold up, and can we really depend on you? And then if you get hurt or you get terminally ill, that's a bill that we're gonna have to pay for the rest of your life. And that doesn't make sense business wise financially. Right? And so And if you actually die in the field like you wanted to, huge liability. There you go. So I'm sitting there, have a phenomenal workout with Tampa. Like, literally, coaches clapping in the background, everybody cheering. Like, I know I at work both of the guys that they brought in before me. Sat down with the GM. He say, how you feeling? Say, shit. I feel good. So got a little tightness over here, but, you know, I feel good. He's like, no. Literally, how are you really feeling? I'm like, shit. I'm good. I'm ready to sign. He was like, I I don't know about that. He's like, you know, you had a good workout, but it's just some things that we gotta take a look at and consideration and things. It's just not gonna work out. Talk to the line back. Oh, hey, baby. This is fake. You know? I was supposed to come down. You wanted me to come down here now. You have opportunity to give me now. What we gonna do? It's just some things there that we just can't take a bite on. And so I'm just like, man, well, that was the end of it. So in two thousand nineteen, I officially retired, and that's when I had to figure out, okay. What do we do now? Who are we? Where do we go? Where do we start? Football was everything who I was. It was what I and I didn't understand that football was what I did. Football is who, in my mind, football is who I was. That's what everybody knew me as. And, I went down a bad spiral. I went down a battle to suicide, and, the good thing about it, Trav, is I stayed active. Like, I always stay active, and I stay active in the NFL PA trying to figure out their next journey and their next step. They set us up with an internship. Go ahead. No. I was just gonna say, man. Like, it's it's it's that what I'm getting from your story and we got about we got just a couple more minutes left. What I what I what I wanna dive into is, like, the mind like, there's a couple things that you hit on that I want you to unpack a little bit. One is, like, is the never quit when it gets hard. Like, that seems to be the mindset of your entire story. Every storm that, like, that you talked about today, it's that, you know, you never you never quit when it gets hard. Not only do you not quit when it gets hard, but when it gets hard, you try harder. Yeah. And two, it's mindset and how contagious mindset is. Your mindset was never give up, and that's gonna be like, if I'm gonna be with my team, like, they're gonna see me working as working my ass off off to be able to get to the next level and doing what we gotta do. Mhmm. So for the next it's just I want can you unpack those two concepts, and why is that are those two of the things that helped you get through these storms? A thousand percent, man. If you can see it, you can achieve it. That was one of the things that my parents always put in front of me, and that was one of the things that I always kept in the forefront. I could always see the NFL. Like, I don't give a damn what they say we had to come up against and things that they needed to, like nothing was wasn't gonna deter me from making it to that goal and achieving that thing. And literally, shit came up to try to keep me from doing even self inflicting things Yeah. Tried to come up with. It was just when you have a goal and you set that goal, and I understand there's three things that you need to be successful in anything that you go through, Trey. Faith, which faith is happy about and understanding that no matter what you go up against or come into, man, you're gonna you can achieve it. You're gonna achieve that goal. The second thing you gotta have is patience. Man, I had to have patience through that brain surgery and recovering. Like, I wanted to force it. I wanted to rush it, but I had to have patience to let my body formulate. It took me twenty one well, I've been playing ball since I was five, and I got done playing ball at twenty six. Like, well, I only played in the league for a year. Like, let's do the math. You know what I'm saying? Like, it took me that whole time to get there, but I was only there for a short period of time. It took me nine months. It took you nine months to form me your mother's womb. Like, it takes patience for anything that you want to come into place. And then the last thing is just resources. I had great resources that I was able to lean on and that I was able to come into that kept me on track, which is people, doctors, peep money. Like, the resources is what helped me stay on track, and that's why I tell everybody that I come in and I talk to. It's three things that you gotta have to be able to achieve anything. That's that faith, patience, and resources with my parents instilling that within me. And me able to hold hang on to that, I'm just now able to identify what those three things were. Like, let's not get it twisted. After going through a lot of these storms, you know, going through it, it's just like, shit. We gotta do it. Like, literally, me and my wife me and my wife joke around and say, like, babe, what the hell is we thinking going back playing football after having brain surgery? Alright. What was we thinking? What was we thinking going to do these things? And she was like, you know, would you have listened to me? No. I wouldn't have. Because the goal was, you know, it's it's that it's that old saying that old ad is just saying, you know, when you're ignorant and don't know, you just do whatever. Like, I think I'm glad I'm glad that I was able to experience, and I was ignorant to what we was truly doing because of manning. Like you just said, this gives our testimony so much more power, and it gives us tools that we can be able to pass to the viewers and the listeners and others that, man, literally, we have tackled everything that you could possibly go against. The only thing that I haven't experienced, and I thank God, is a drug overdose. But everything outside of that, man, death in the family, close friend. Like, I have teammates that didn't got out the NFL and have died, been murdered on the streets just going through that transition. Like, it's so many things, but you cannot be deterred because if you got that goal set in front of you, believe that you can achieve it, man, come on. Sign me up, coach. What we gotta do to make it happen? Yeah, man. Mike, that like, your story is it's like the whole thing. It's it's it's like you think you're inspired by one thing, and then you go through something else. And then and you just bring that inspiration to that next thing. And it's just that when we this podcast is about going through storms and being ready for the next one. We talk about, hey. You're either in a storm, going through a storm, or you're getting ready to go into the next storm. And and, bro, you'd like if you would just explain and would you walk us through and how you got through that, and and and it's just it's inspiring. It's it's amazing. Like, tell the people I wanna I want I want you to tell people, one, where can they find you? How can people how can people look up about what you what about, one, what are you doing now, And how can people find you? So now what I'm doing is since I retired in two thousand and nineteen, when I retired and I go through this real quick because I know we on time. But in two thousand nineteen We're good. The same year that I retired from the NFL was the same year that the hall of fame players presented Roger Goodell with a proposal. Hey, Roger Goodell. Take ten million dollars off your thirty million dollar forty million dollar salary so that only five hundred and thirty one players at the time can have health insurance and a salary. Well, Roger Goodell turned that proposal down because we can't just take care of one group of individuals when the whole twenty three thousand players that are retired are dealing with the same stance. And so that got me looking, and I was like a lot of other players during that time of being broke, bitter, and heart. That's what called it. It was the vice president of the NBA PA. I got a opportunity to meet her doing an internship that I was doing with the NFLPA, And her job is to have to help players transition from the NBA. And I met NBA players. I met so many players because I'm the vice president of the Dallas Fort NFLPA chapter. I'm talking to her like, hey, Crystal. We have a relationship that's really good. And I said, hey. You know, y'all don't do y'all really don't do nothing for us when we retire from the game, football or basketball. She said, baby boy, hold on. Let me stop you right there. What do you expect for us to do? Like, the lead didn't do you wrong. Nobody never taught you about the business side of the game. They only taught you about the physical side of the game. But if you was educated on the business side of the game, you will understand that the league didn't do you wrong. Don't walk around like a broke a broken broke bitter player like all these other players. Lee would love and educate individuals about systems that they're going into. And so that's what I that's what I developed. I educate individuals about the systems that they wanna go into or the industries that they wanna go into, and we take former professional athletes and we provide soft landing spaces so that they can make an economic impact where they live at. I don't need you coming from California down here to Dallas talking in my neighborhood and to my school. No. You can build this community in the education system of where you live while you're figuring out the next phase of life. Because when we go through that transition and I went through the NFL portals. I went through everything that they have for us, the number one thing that we're missing, Trav, is the work experience. Shit. We've been playing all our whole life, and it's hard for a company to take a chance on me. They'll allow me to provide for my family, which I take you, so many employers. I will take them through my store. Jaw drop. Oh my gosh. Blown away. You know, you're a walking testimony. They love the store, but when it was time to sign paperwork or what work experience do I have? Oh, I'm sorry. You don't have a work experience that we're looking for. You know, we love your story, love the testimony, but this is just not the fit that we're looking for. And it's like, shit. Well, how the hell can I provide for my family? And that is the thing that I say, and that was for business after business after business doing the NFL transitional portal. We're missing the work experience. So if I can help Yeah. Gain the work experience at the same time, build the relationships and inspire the next generation, Say, man, what we doing? Let's lock it out, and that is how we make our schools safe. That is how we make our community safe and build a better future for us all. Yeah, man. That's so huge. And I experienced that same thing coming out of the military. Now I've been I was in Iraq. I was in Afghanistan. I come home. Everybody's, oh, I love your story. That's so great. Tell us when you have your MBA or tell us when you've got this work experience, that, that, or the other. Yeah. So I could I I you know, I wasn't the professional athlete you were, but I can still relate in a little bit. But, Man, it's I mean, we talked about that transition assignment from the NFL to, the service. Like, literally, the PTSD, which y'all are fighting and y'all shooting and things that nature. But literally, Trav, we run it. Like, I I dealt with PTSD and still got a slight form that I battle with from running into me and play out the play because I love that. I I that is my thing, running into a full grown man and breaking him and bending him to my will mentally and physically. And then and not being able to do that now, oh my goodness. Goodness. Like, when I first got out You would've made a great marine, man. You would've made a great marine. Look. When I first got out, it was hard not to crash my car just to get that impact because every time you hit somebody, it's like a it's like a car crash, and that's what we get off of. Like, oh, man. Oh, man. That man, I get it. I we could do that. We're gonna so you're gonna hear a lot more from from Mike and I. There's there's gonna be a whole another conversation that needs to happen. There's gonna be some really cool things that you and I can talk about. Yep. Where do you want people to go look for you? You can find me on Instagram, c underscore Moore junior fifty. I'm also on LinkedIn. You can reach out to me on LinkedIn, Shamikyu or Moore. Nobody else out here have my name. So you can find me from this standpoint. I'm on Facebook as well. You can find me on Facebook, and we may be in one of your cities or in your schools bringing our resources to your community. So you can find me anywhere. Please reach out. I love people. And that's the true thing that I can say, Dravid. For one point of time in my life, I hated people. I started to hate people just because I felt like they took advantage of me. But it goes back to what Christian Chen said, and what we've been talking about this, excuse me, this whole time. We cannot be selfish and not share the jewels that God has given us to be able to take somebody else into their destiny, into their promised land. Like, when you look back on my story, some of the stuff I told you, like, it's some of the stuff I still don't understand why I had to go through it, but I need a lady that has my brain tumor. I need a child that's going through this kind of sickness, or I meet, a individual that's struggling, from a manhood standpoint because, okay, you're married, you retired, or you coming from the service, and now you can't physically provide for your family, from the monetary standpoint, but you can be everything else. Like, all that all that weighing on a man in this thing is so, like, understanding my experience is here not only for me, but it's the testimony for others, man. Like, that's where I live my life at. And so however I can help and Yeah, man. That's what we do. Man, that is so that is so good. It's so needed. It's so needed, and and there's gonna be a lot yeah, man. For the listeners, go out, find Mike, reach out to him, get him involved in your communities, get him involved in whatever way you can. You're gonna you're you're gonna be extremely glad you did. Mike, you and I are gonna have plenty of conversations coming up. Yes. Thank you so much for being here, man. It's been an honor. It's been a pleasure. You're a great father, great man, and I'm looking forward to to to to things that you and I can do together. Yeah. Yeah. So I'm looking forward. So thank you, man. Thank you, man. Yeah. So for the listeners, subscribe. Live I mean, we bring this content to you all the time. This is true stuff. These are true stories of men and women who have gone through storms. It's and it's and it's not it's not for the faint of heart, but, leadership never is. So subscribe, and, we'll be sure to see you next time.