Rising Above Challenges Jarrod Bruce Lee's Story of Growth and Fitness

Transcript

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All right, and we're back.

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Hey, it's Brad Minus with Life Changing Challengers, and I am so excited because, all the way from New Zealand, we are meeting with today Jarrod Bruce Lee, who is the CEO of the Daring Academy.

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He's a fitness and nutritional expert and he's got an absolutely amazing story.

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So hello, .

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Brad, thank you for having me here.

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I'm excited to dig on in and see what we uncover and find today.

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Yes, me too.

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I always start out with the same question every single time.

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So can you tell us a little bit about your childhood, the complement to your family, where you grew up, and what kind of environment that you grew up in?

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Yeah, so my parents were raised in Taiwan and I was born in Taiwan, taipei.

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At the age of four we migrated, immigrated to New Zealand, auckland, new Zealand.

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There's a bit of backstory there with my parents.

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There's some dramas I won't get into too much of that because that's their story which caused us to get to go to New Zealand.

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Part of it was also obviously for education as well, a different environment.

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My brother, he's a burn survivor, so he that was part of the situation which got us to move.

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And then, at age of four, we being in a new country, I wasn't consciously so much aware of it, but looking back I am very much aware.

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Now, being in a new place, not speaking the language, feeling kind of out of sorts, that was quite stressful.

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I mean, being young, right four, you can adapt a lot quicker, you can learn the language and all that.

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And yeah, so age of four grew up in Auckland, new Zealand.

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I remember at first I would say first maybe three, four years, five, potentially even of my childhood probably I haven't thought about this for a long time now, brad, actually, but making friends was probably a.

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It was challenging for me, so it wasn't an easy thing.

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I almost felt.

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Isolated, yeah, isolated, and being at school, I almost felt isolated yeah, isolated and being at school and there was a there's like a disconnect where almost like a true personality is going on, because it's like me at home and then there's me at school.

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So do you attribute to the fact that maybe it's because you spoke Chinese at home or Taiwanese at home and and then they were speaking.

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Now in New Zealand, they speak English right.

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English yes, absolutely yes.

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So was that your disconnect?

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Do you think?

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I mean obviously at four, five, six, that's very our brains are very malleable, so obviously you can pick up English, but do you feel like that was probably you know where there was a disconnect and isolation?

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There's a language barrier, right.

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And then there's also like a culture thing.

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So when my parents they had to adapt, but my parents they didn't really speak that much english, they learned but feeling, yeah, there's a culture.

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I still remember now a culture clash, almost even at school.

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Right, I'm expected to be someone completely different to someone I'm at home there.

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There's that going on.

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Yeah, oh, and there's a lot of that still.

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We've got people that immigrate from in here in the United States.

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They come from Mexico, or obviously we've got this issue going on right now, but they speak Spanish only, and so we have that.

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It's still going on today.

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So obviously you just experienced the same thing.

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Yeah, yeah, I guess maybe it's interesting to speak about this now, brad, because I guess I had this minor we're talking about between the body side of things yeah, this was something I really dealt with maybe my more mid and teenage years and early 20s was a massive deal for me.

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But remembering now it's quite interesting because I think I've gone past a lot of it, but at some point there was that and there was some racism going on at school, right?

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So some maybe it's comments laughing at the food I brought to school, or I still remember being at age of age 10, wanting to play with a lot of the other guys.

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They were playing soccer and doing these things, but I was not invited.

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I wasn't allowed to be there because of I look different and I.

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There was this moment where I had to.

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There was this bubble gum from Taiwan that I brought to school and one of the guys was like, what are you having?

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So I gave him one of it and then some of the other guys were curious too, and then I shared that bubble gum around and that was the initiation of like hey, this guy's okay, he can join us.

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Oh great.

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But I remember like just different moments if you carry on, even to the age of was 13 at high school when I was, you know, in the rugby fields playing rugby with my classmates and some other guys and one of the other guys was.

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I want to share his name.

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I remember his name.

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He was looking at me.

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It was like what's this fucking asian doing here?

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What's he fucking doing here?

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And all these moments add up right where it's really stung to my heart, where I carry this message for such a long time that being me was wrong, that my skin color was wrong.

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Like I'm not okay, this is like I'm I'm not okay, and I guess that really fed in later on to some of my journey with body changes okay, so.

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So, speaking of the body, so what do you think that you were?

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What were you?

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What would you look like back then?

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Just to give us an idea of where you got, where you started and where you came, where you went to.

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Yeah.

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So I wasn't.

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I was probably not a.

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I wasn't physically fit, my fitness wasn't really a big part of our family.

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I was on the part of our family.

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I was on the.

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I wasn't like big, but I was on the chubbier side.

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So at ages from five to maybe 13 14, I would get teased, often by family, friends or people around me.

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Not, it wasn't terrible, it wasn't like you're terrible, it wasn't really intentional shaming, but with simple things like squeezing my cheese ah, you're so chubby, it's so cute.

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My dad would tap me on the stomach like, oh, your stomach's getting rounder, it's getting bigger, and all these different comments.

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Right as a kid like that to me I remember just being like this is a lot of shame was around my body.

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With that.

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I remember getting really angry and frustrated, feeling like no, I'm not, like'm not like I'm not this chubby, I'm not this.

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I don't want to be this cute chubby kid.

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People were squeezing me and, yeah, it was anger, there was resentment around that.

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There was that frustration from there.

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That caused any issues between you and your parents.

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That wasn't.

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Oh.

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So, the parent side of things, my starting from around the age of eight or I can remember more clearly, but I came from a family where there's a lot of codependency.

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If the audience don't understand the term, it's just emotions, everything's just intertwined.

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But my parents would fight, so argument, and sometimes it was physical, sometimes verbal.

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There was a lot of love in our family at the same time, because there was a lot of beautiful moments, because I want to make this really clear when I share this story, people might see my story and go, oh, he just had this terrible childhood.

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No, there was a lot of it.

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We went traveling, we had loving moments, but those fights would happen, I would say, say, every sometimes a few weeks, sometimes a couple months.

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And what started from then which I only started, truly uncovered that only since 2020 so three, four years of this emotional component was there was a lot of fear, anxiety, this feeling that at any moment, um, something can blow up and go wrong.

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And I still remember being a kid with my siblings.

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I've got a brother and a sister, I'm the youngest of three.

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We were maybe hiding in our rooms hearing all the screaming matches, crying and just feeling.

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I remember my body just feeling in terror of when is this going to end?

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Wanting to mediate, fix my parents' relationship I want them to be okay Feeling like my family's breaking down in front of my eyes.

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And all these different feelings fear, right, anxiety of any moment.

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Something could snap, something could go wrong, and this is only since, obviously not the time.

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But I, my parents, my dad, he had a really rough childhood and that was shown in our family.

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So yeah, they bring the kind of bring the baggage into the family and it just shows up at certain points and obviously it affected you.

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He cared about your dad, so obviously this bringing some of this in would probably have just affected you in that way.

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At what point did your, the body shaming, come to a point where you really started to think something's got to change?

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yeah, the body shaming really.

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So it grew worse.

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I would say actually.

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So first it was the I think it was the combination of things, right so the family environment, the um, shaming about the chubby side of things, some of the race things.

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At age 13, I started to come to terms of my sexuality, so being gay, I didn't want, I hated it.

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At the time I was trying to shove that away, pretending that was unreal.

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There was a lot of shame and judgment around that.

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So all that combined, almost I felt I wanted to control my body.

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At that point, being 13, I still remember it was terrible.

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I went to school and I did this weird game with my friend.

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What was like how we'll make these sandwiches pretty much out of, how low calories we can make these sandwiches and how crazy I would bring.

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It would just be a teeny bit of bread and it would just be cucumber and carrots.

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And at 13, 14, that's not the nutrition you need.

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And I started to go on these diets wanting to fix myself, right.

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I think really there was other stuff going on, but I was trying to fix things and then it got truly, I would say, and then then was compounded.

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I started putting myself out there age of 16, 17 in the dating world, and then having being rejected for on the dating scene, right and for by rejected I mean so maybe there was like online dating where but there's so much coming up so take your time.

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This is good, because a lot of people go through this.

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So online dating me coming to terms with my sexuality and it's almost me trying to escape.

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I wanted to find love somewhere.

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I wanted to find acceptance somewhere, like somewhere I could be seen and heard.

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At ages of 12, 13, I think as a teenager, I started to.

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With the fights at home, I probably closed off a lot of my thoughts and feelings from my parents.

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There was no real freedom, especially with the sexuality too, to just be myself and I can just share everything.

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And then imagine going on online dating because that was the only way.

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I was like how else do I meet people at age 16?

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Sending messages, getting nothing back.

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I still remember this very moment where someone I think I had a name was that Sweet Boy or Cute Boy Calvin was my alias name.

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Someone actually went out of their way and was like, hey, there's nothing cute about you.

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Like there's nothing, you're not attractive, there's nothing cute about you.

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And then the crickets for us, like when you're trying to put yourself out like come on, like you're almost like, or seeking, like seeking validation.

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So so much.

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I needed approval, because I didn't have that approval within on myself, um, and that made things worse.

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Like I got to change my body to be accepted.

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But what that actually did, brad, was terrible.

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I did things.

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I went on these, the dieting side of things.

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I would go on these long half marathon runs.

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I've done marathon runs too, but half marathon runs every weekend just to like, like, lose.

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I'll try all these different things with workouts.

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That just didn't work.

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But then what was what I was doing was I would starve myself almost, and then I would binge like crazy.

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I still remember very clearly age 20 I think it was 2020.

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I was an accountant.

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Back then.

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I was following the path of what's the right thing to do.

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So I was an accountant, I was good with accounting and I was sitting inside my Toyota Corona car where, after work I was so fed up, I would go or even in between, I would drive to the supermarket, or even in between I would drive to the supermarket.

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I would go in, buy a big bag of chocolate hokey pokey crunchy we call it in New Zealand chocolate.

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I would go into my car Within 10 minutes.

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I would scoff the whole thing down, gone and that binge eating.

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I would do things like that with ice cream, with crisps, everything, and it was terrible.

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So I was on this crazy cycle where there was this huge addiction, obsession with food.

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Every thought was food.

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Like what do I need to do to control this?

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But it just made things worse because I would go nuts on food, go on this diet.

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I'll shame myself.

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You're not, you're terrible.

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You're a terrible human being.

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You're looking like shit.

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I look at myself in the mirror and just shame myself.

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It's like, well, again I go for a 20k run and if it just think about it now, it feels it's so foreign to me now but I still remember it and it feels so upsetting for my body oh, I can understand.

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Now I I have to ask this because you've been, you've already alluded to your parents and you've alluded that things were tough.

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So I'm just going to ask is when did you come out to your parents and what was that like and did that affect you?

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Yeah, I only came out to my dad in 2020, at age 30.

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Oh, wow, I came out to my mom.

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I first came out to my sister.

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I remember my bedroom at age 15.

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And shortly after I came out to my mom and then my brother.

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I was very fortunate because I was actually a phone counselor for kids.

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So there was this program where I could learn to be a phone counselor and I had a supportive environment where all the phone counselors was gathered together there's like 30 of us, all high school students, and then we would talk about our stuff, so our emotions, what was going on.

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So I came out in that space which made me feel there's the most confidence in doing that.

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So I was very lucky, fortunate, brad, my mom probably.

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It was a bit of a shock and adjustment.

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She didn't think she knew anyone that was gay in her life.

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I was like no, mommy, just we don't know they are gay.

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But she gave me a hug, she loved me, she loves me.

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I'm so grateful for her.

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My sister, brother I'm very blessed in that.

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They were very accepting, so that in itself was fantastic.

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On the front of my dad there was a lot of fears that if I came out, I don't know what could happen.

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If I came out, I don't know what could happen, so I kept that for so many years.

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Yeah, I can imagine that, the fear there.

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Yeah, I had a little bit of fear of my father as well.

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It wasn't for that, unfortunately, it was for me.

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It was a, it was a brain thing.

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I felt like I wasn't smart enough for him to make him proud of me.

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So I it's totally on a much lower level than that.

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But, but I can understand that fear.

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I totally understand the fear.

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So where was so you got the acceptance of your sister, your brother, your mom still had this fear going on with your dad, which is totally understandable and it's not, it's not abnormal where, and you're still fighting this, that you're still fighting this body, shaming how you see your body, and you're not satisfied with that.

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And then you said that you went on the binge purge not purge as in what we think of it, but as diet and exercise to the point where you burn all the calories and then put them right back in.

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You burn the calories and put them right back in.

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I have clients that do that all the time, understandable.

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Where's the calories?

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And put them right back in?

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I have clients that do that all the time, understandable.

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Where's the point?

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Where's the shift and how did it shift when you finally said all right, enough's enough, I'm going to crack down, I'm going to learn and I'm going to do this for me.

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Where did that happen and how did it happen?

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Yeah, thank you for that.

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So I remember that moment very clearly.

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But just before that moment I was going to the gym.

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I started going to the gym, there was this all-amounts running and gymming and I remember seeing there was this personal trainer, jo, she's a beautiful woman and I remember she just had this beautiful smile really just a lot of good energy.

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And I just remember having this casual conversation.

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I just asked her so hey, um, what is it like being a personal trainer?

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And then she asked me so what do you do?

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And I told her I was an auditor.

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It was like a big four fancy accounting firm which all my family, friends and people were like, yeah, joe's doing amazing, but I was my soul was not doing great.

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I was really upset, I wasn't happy with what I was doing.

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But I remember her saying to me like hey, you've got so much energy and you've got so much personality, like I see you doing something different.

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Anyway, she gave me this card to this fitness nutrition school.

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Long story short, I was on this phone conversation with a consultant where he asked me all these questions like, hey, so what if you could be healthy, fit?

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What if you could change people's lives?

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What if you could do these things?

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And I remember sitting in the office on the phone and they're hanging up and they're just sitting there asking myself what if I could really change my life, what if I could not just transform my own health and well up and then just sitting there asking myself, what if I could really change my life?

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What if I could not just transform my own health and well-being but then change the lives of others?

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Even if I change one person's life?

00:17:32.806 --> 00:17:34.750
Wow, how incredible would that be.

00:17:35.559 --> 00:17:38.205
There were a lot of fears and doubts, right Like hey, who are you?

00:17:38.205 --> 00:17:42.106
You're not in great shape, you're not healthy, who do you think you are to help other people?

00:17:42.106 --> 00:17:47.000
But that, what if brad?

00:17:47.000 --> 00:17:47.342
Was so powerful?

00:17:47.342 --> 00:17:56.181
It completely opened my mind up and I made this decision from that point of hey, you know what, I'm going to quit accounting, I'm going to leave this thing, I want to just pursue helping other people, I want to go all in.

00:17:56.942 --> 00:18:06.539
And when I made that decision, that's probably the first real, that's probably the solidifying moment in my life, right where I just I just said for the first time I was going.

00:18:06.539 --> 00:18:17.971
I'm doing something just 100% on my own accord, trusting my instincts at the regards of anything else outside of me, because I remember people was like Jared, what are you doing?

00:18:17.971 --> 00:18:22.258
My partner, my manager at the time, was like are you sure you want to do this thing?

00:18:22.258 --> 00:18:25.348
You've studied so much, you get your qualifications, degrees.

00:18:26.121 --> 00:18:30.342
I had a lot of doubt thrown at me Out of good intentions, right, they're afraid.

00:18:30.342 --> 00:18:35.041
Like, hey, personal trainers or nutritionists, they don't make a lot of money, you can't.

00:18:35.041 --> 00:18:37.009
What are you going to do if it fails?

00:18:37.009 --> 00:18:46.922
But I remember the moment telling myself you know what, if I can change my life, okay, I'm going to do everything I can to try and I'm going to fall flat on my face.

00:18:46.922 --> 00:18:54.761
I'm going to keep on trying If I, if everything fails, that's okay, cause I've at least said to me that I've gone in and did it.

00:18:54.761 --> 00:19:01.398
I don't want to be at the end of life looking back and say I just stuck with something cause I had to and never tried.

00:19:01.398 --> 00:19:06.095
And that was probably the defining factor what changed everything of my life.

00:19:06.935 --> 00:19:08.238
And so you just quit.

00:19:08.238 --> 00:19:09.900
You talked to this guy on the phone.

00:19:09.900 --> 00:19:14.906
You said hey, we're going to start this school, and you went to your job and said okay, this is what I'm going to do.

00:19:16.031 --> 00:19:19.661
I'm done yes and no, Because there's like a notice period what I had to give.

00:19:19.781 --> 00:19:20.202
Right right.

00:19:21.509 --> 00:19:23.673
So I started studying and then I had six months of.

00:19:23.673 --> 00:19:24.913
I gave a six month.

00:19:24.913 --> 00:19:26.876
Six month beforehand I said hey, I'm leaving.

00:19:27.416 --> 00:19:28.479
Well, you have six months.

00:19:28.479 --> 00:19:32.083
Wow here You're lucky if they tell you that you can have the two weeks.

00:19:32.763 --> 00:19:32.983
Yeah.

00:19:33.305 --> 00:19:33.965
That's interesting.

00:19:40.490 --> 00:19:40.810
But I had to.

00:19:40.810 --> 00:19:41.191
I was.

00:19:41.191 --> 00:19:43.034
I started getting things into motion whilst that was happening, but it was.

00:19:43.034 --> 00:19:49.525
I was very fortunate because the philosophy where I was learning at, we learned a lot of the science, the physiology, all of the above.

00:19:49.525 --> 00:19:57.040
But there's a big component on the mental side of things, the mindset and one of the things of nutrition was enjoy your food.

00:19:57.040 --> 00:20:01.576
There's no bad foods, even for tea.

00:20:01.576 --> 00:20:05.338
Some people didn't like this, but I thought that was great for me mentally.

00:20:05.338 --> 00:20:08.272
They would have chocolate like tip chocolates.

00:20:08.272 --> 00:20:12.666
It wasn't just salads right tea or serve chocolate or serve.

00:20:13.107 --> 00:20:20.088
And I remember this freedom of being told you can get in shape, be healthy and still enjoy your foods.

00:20:20.088 --> 00:20:22.733
You don't have to just diet.

00:20:22.733 --> 00:20:26.682
So that's the first time in my life going oh wow, is that really possible?

00:20:26.682 --> 00:20:42.423
And that changed things, because giving me that permission to enjoy things almost took away a lot of that attachment and that weird thing with food where I naturally there was a bit of a period, was like, okay, I'm just gonna have a lot of chocolate, I'm gonna do all those things.

00:20:42.423 --> 00:20:48.837
But some point I was like, actually, you know what I actually want to eat healthier, because I want to start nourishing myself.

00:20:48.837 --> 00:20:54.392
Yes, it was no longer about fixing my body to look a certain way.

00:20:54.392 --> 00:20:56.800
It was no longer about cutting things out.

00:20:56.800 --> 00:21:01.852
I was going how can I serve my body the best so I can feel at my best and function at my best?

00:21:03.132 --> 00:21:12.377
yeah, there's a definite connection with starting a challenge or building up your body and food.

00:21:12.377 --> 00:21:16.401
It's to a point where one offsets the other.

00:21:16.401 --> 00:21:28.228
So and I talked about this, I talk about this all the time, and this is so my biggest thing that I found is that when people go out on challenge so I deal with people that are using some sort of challenge.

00:21:28.228 --> 00:21:29.994
That's why this is called Life Changing Challengers.

00:21:29.994 --> 00:21:39.433
They use some sort of challenge where they challenge themselves, but in such a way that they get fit and they learn nutrition on the way.

00:21:39.433 --> 00:21:40.738
Those aren't the goals.

00:21:40.738 --> 00:21:44.830
The goal isn't aesthetics or nutrition or learning about that stuff.

00:21:44.830 --> 00:21:46.256
It's about the goal.

00:21:46.256 --> 00:21:50.417
So, for instance, one of my clients was 240 pounds.

00:21:50.417 --> 00:22:10.472
She was five one and instead of going, okay, well, I'm going to go to the gym, I'm going to learn about nutrition, I'm going to, I'm going to do this diet, she goes I'm going to do an Ironman, I'm going to do a full Ironman and 18 months later, man, I'm gonna do a full iron man.

00:22:10.492 --> 00:22:14.044
And 18 months later he was 120 pounds, sitting on the beach in a size small wetsuit, ready to jump into the ocean.

00:22:14.044 --> 00:22:14.726
Yeah, you know what I mean.

00:22:14.726 --> 00:22:16.834
She took and she learned it on the way.

00:22:16.834 --> 00:22:21.791
But the thing was, is that while we were doing the biking and the swimming and stuff, she's like, well, you know what?

00:22:21.791 --> 00:22:32.119
I just burned so many calories, I just just worked myself, I'm not putting back in, I'm not going to put back in into my body stuff that is not good for it, right?

00:22:32.119 --> 00:22:40.692
So here you're on this big, you're on this challenge for yourself to feel better about yourself, both inside and outside, and you're.

00:22:40.692 --> 00:22:52.480
Then they gave you the permission to enjoy your food and you're like, okay, I'm going to enjoy my food, but I'm not going'm gonna enjoy my food but I'm not gonna put crap back in, because I just worked myself and I've been striving to get better.

00:22:52.480 --> 00:22:55.554
So I'm gonna enjoy my food, but I'm gonna enjoy good food.

00:22:55.554 --> 00:22:58.701
Is that kind of the way that you were thinking about that point?

00:22:59.612 --> 00:23:01.476
absolutely and I love that story.

00:23:01.476 --> 00:23:02.719
Right, that's the biggest.

00:23:02.719 --> 00:23:03.800
That's fantastic.

00:23:03.800 --> 00:23:04.883
Where so she must.

00:23:04.883 --> 00:23:11.041
That's exhilarating on the beach and that goal and having something exciting that she's going towards, that's beautiful.

00:23:11.041 --> 00:23:12.384
That's exactly right.

00:23:12.384 --> 00:23:20.539
When, having that mindset, I started competing in powerlifting as well as part of starting to run a personal training studio.

00:23:20.539 --> 00:23:26.442
I very much believe in if you want to help people practice what you preach.

00:23:26.442 --> 00:23:38.760
I had my own train, I got my own help and then one of the trainers that I was helping me actually run the studio with my business, with my workouts, saw potential in me with powerlifting.

00:23:38.760 --> 00:23:44.059
So he got me into that and that was exciting too, similar to the story that you just shared, brad.

00:23:44.059 --> 00:23:47.011
So I started to feel my body to get stronger.

00:23:47.011 --> 00:23:54.378
I feel my body to perform and do better in the sport, and that was a big, powerful factor in the journey.

00:23:55.319 --> 00:23:58.162
So yeah, so like I use this experience.

00:23:58.162 --> 00:24:02.926
You said you use powerlifting and you probably saw I mean powerlifting.

00:24:02.926 --> 00:24:09.837
I know I see it with some people in the gym that started it and their body changes so fast when you're doing powerlifting.

00:24:09.837 --> 00:24:14.298
So I can imagine so you use that as as your challenge, as powerlifting.

00:24:14.298 --> 00:24:15.202
That's fantastic.

00:24:15.202 --> 00:24:20.598
So can I want to step back here, because all of a sudden you just start talking about no, that's fine.

00:24:20.618 --> 00:24:22.310
Hey, under you told the story.

00:24:22.310 --> 00:24:24.494
I'm cool but I'm interested on in so.

00:24:24.494 --> 00:24:39.298
So here in the states most people they'll start, they'll get their personal training certificate and then they'll go work in a gym and then if they've got it, if they got enough going on and they got enough finances and they can get it, then they'll start their own studio or they'll start a gym or whatever.

00:24:39.298 --> 00:24:53.839
But you're saying what it sounded like is you got your certificate, you got trained in it and you opened a studio yeah, yes, so it was, but there was no factors there, so I it was a home studio, so I okay from space of home.

00:24:54.280 --> 00:24:59.394
I also started running boot camps in the park, but I just yes, I've never.

00:24:59.394 --> 00:25:02.199
I think I just yeah.

00:25:02.199 --> 00:25:07.905
When you ask that, right, that's true, but I just I didn't see myself paying rent at a gym.

00:25:07.905 --> 00:25:16.330
I didn't see myself, um, I think that was a deciding factor for me at the time was I want to do my own thing?

00:25:16.330 --> 00:25:27.559
I really I had that taste of what if I could create this thing according to my vision and I just ran with it and I never, I just didn't look back from that nice.

00:25:28.181 --> 00:25:36.511
Yeah, so was that the birth of the daring academy no, so it started with Bruce Lee personal training of course, capitalize on it.

00:25:36.511 --> 00:25:37.693
You go man.

00:25:37.693 --> 00:25:39.037
I, yeah, I get that.

00:25:39.037 --> 00:25:40.298
If you got it, use it.

00:25:40.298 --> 00:25:43.104
I totally agree at first.

00:25:43.344 --> 00:25:48.962
a lot of the coaching when I did was primarily fitness, personal training, nutrition.

00:25:48.962 --> 00:25:56.458
Obviously, as you build relationships with clients, they will share personal challenges too, and I would be there to listen and that.

00:25:56.458 --> 00:25:59.378
But the coaching I do now has transformed.

00:25:59.378 --> 00:26:05.141
The Daring Academy is, I would say, 10, 20, 30 steps ahead from that.

00:26:05.161 --> 00:26:06.703
Okay, all right.

00:26:06.703 --> 00:26:14.718
So you started with bootcamps and turning out of your own home and I know plenty of people that do that so it's a regular progression.

00:26:14.718 --> 00:26:16.273
How long did you end up doing that?

00:26:16.273 --> 00:26:17.417
What was the next step?

00:26:18.279 --> 00:26:20.577
Yeah, so I did that for good.

00:26:20.577 --> 00:26:22.015
You know what I love, brad.

00:26:22.015 --> 00:26:23.035
I was thinking about this the other day.

00:26:23.035 --> 00:26:28.352
Actually, there's nothing like starting and just going all in on something.

00:26:28.352 --> 00:26:32.692
I remember that excitement and buzz of the fears of the unknown am I going to get a client?

00:26:32.692 --> 00:26:34.215
Is this going to work out?

00:26:34.215 --> 00:26:38.670
But that lasted for a good two, three years of just building.

00:26:39.490 --> 00:27:02.997
But at some point I think I probably my dating life got in the way for a little bit where, maybe for a year or so, there was a bit of a almost like a passion, maybe not lost, but I got into the grind of things where it became I wasn't.

00:27:02.997 --> 00:27:05.392
I was running it by myself, right, and I wasn't.

00:27:05.392 --> 00:27:14.961
I had personal training, friends, but I was almost in a bit of a plateau where I felt like I was stuck just going through the motions for a year or so.

00:27:14.961 --> 00:27:22.762
This is going to take on a complete detour, brad, but I started singing, performing, when I was 15, 14.

00:27:22.762 --> 00:27:34.528
And the same mentor from the fitness college she saw, she's heard me sing, she loved what I was doing and she, every single time she saw me, she saw leadership potential in me.

00:27:34.528 --> 00:27:35.854
But I remember she would always ask me.

00:27:35.854 --> 00:27:38.446
So why are you not performing professionally?

00:27:38.446 --> 00:27:39.632
Why aren't you doing this thing?

00:27:39.632 --> 00:27:42.865
Every single time I'll say, hey, I've got personal training clients.

00:27:42.865 --> 00:27:43.248
I have to.

00:27:43.248 --> 00:27:44.792
I'm doing this studio thing.

00:27:44.792 --> 00:27:46.155
I can't leave them behind.

00:27:46.155 --> 00:27:59.673
But at one point I remember cracking, she asked me it's similar question to when I started training studios like hey, if you were offered a performing contract right here, right now and you can be the leader in the show, would you do it?

00:27:59.673 --> 00:28:03.240
And I remember like, okay, damn it, I think I would.

00:28:03.240 --> 00:28:13.981
So I did it all over again, brad, I packed up and I decided I was going to audition for schools in London to go perform in central London, west End and do this thing.

00:28:13.981 --> 00:28:15.713
I made that decision back.

00:28:15.733 --> 00:28:16.978
I think it was 2016,.

00:28:16.978 --> 00:28:19.384
Start of January 2016.

00:28:19.384 --> 00:28:22.217
No, it was end of 2015.

00:28:22.217 --> 00:28:33.663
But within three, four months I sent off these applications, was accepted into three of the top schools in london and then by september of 2016 was 2016.

00:28:33.663 --> 00:28:41.342
That year I flew, I packed up, left everything, had support of amazing people my friends, family, social, sport, new zealand.

00:28:41.342 --> 00:28:47.721
They were super great with this and I went to london to study for a year of master's in musical theater.

00:28:48.624 --> 00:28:55.459
Um bit of a detour, sorry, no, you have no idea how similar you and I are.

00:28:55.459 --> 00:28:57.702
Okay, no clue.

00:28:57.702 --> 00:29:01.251
So I, I got out of the military the first time.

00:29:01.251 --> 00:29:14.215
Well, I had done musical theater and studio theater prior, and then I went into the military and I, just towards the end of the military, I went and I saw a show.

00:29:14.215 --> 00:29:15.219
I was living in DC.

00:29:15.219 --> 00:29:17.994
I saw a show and I was like, oh my God, I need to get back on stage.

00:29:17.994 --> 00:29:24.012
And so I started going back on stage and so right afterwards, yeah, for the next year it was show after show after show.

00:29:24.012 --> 00:29:27.881
So I get it, I totally get it.

00:29:27.881 --> 00:29:30.632
Now I was more of an actor, more studio theater.

00:29:30.632 --> 00:29:32.876
I did do musicals and I love to dance.

00:29:32.876 --> 00:29:36.671
I grew up ballet, tap and jazz modern.

00:29:36.671 --> 00:29:38.535
So I get it.

00:29:38.535 --> 00:29:39.656
And I did musicals.

00:29:39.656 --> 00:29:41.260
I enjoyed studio theater more.

00:29:41.260 --> 00:29:42.963
But I totally understand.

00:29:42.963 --> 00:29:48.558
I've been in this, I've been in triathlon and stuff for a while and I keep telling myself you know what?

00:29:48.558 --> 00:29:52.330
I'm gonna take a season off and go do some theater and then come back.

00:29:52.471 --> 00:29:57.842
It's because I guess so I yeah, no, I get it that you just come back, so all right.

00:29:57.842 --> 00:30:01.857
So how long were you singing and how did you find your way back?

00:30:02.439 --> 00:30:03.201
yeah, thank you.

00:30:03.201 --> 00:30:04.329
Thank you for sharing that bread.

00:30:04.329 --> 00:30:13.996
Sometimes I almost when I especially especially when I Instagram or that I don't share too much of that because I sometimes think it confuses people who is this guy?

00:30:14.490 --> 00:30:25.976
But what happened was, after I started performing in London, I did a few shows in Germany and then I started touring around the world on a cruise ship as one of the lead singers.

00:30:25.976 --> 00:30:30.413
This was when COVID happened was, but then COVID happened and then COVID happened.

00:30:30.413 --> 00:30:49.073
So I was sent back home to New Zealand and just backtracking a little bit, brad, during my year studying at the Royal Academy of Music was probably another massive light transforming part of my life, because I think what happened was I grew very comfortable with the personal training studio.

00:30:49.073 --> 00:30:50.075
I knew what I was doing.

00:30:50.075 --> 00:30:51.839
Everything just made sense.

00:30:51.839 --> 00:30:55.997
Right, a lot of those feelings that I've experienced in my childhood.

00:30:55.997 --> 00:30:58.142
I never truly addressed it.

00:30:58.142 --> 00:31:07.464
I never really addressed or healed that side of myself, but at this, when you're training for acting, you can't not be vulnerable.

00:31:07.464 --> 00:31:10.491
So there was a lot of Plus.

00:31:10.491 --> 00:31:22.640
I was 26 and I was surrounded by these incredible 20, 21, 22-year-old performers who were just more experienced, and I felt like I was going backwards.

00:31:22.640 --> 00:31:29.471
But it stripped away a lot of my armor and shell, where a lot of those feelings started to come up.

00:31:29.471 --> 00:31:38.655
I cried the most ever, probably in 2016, 2017, in that year, just from everything like the pressures of this, everything life-changing.

00:31:38.655 --> 00:31:49.201
But I think that led on to a few things that which takes if we take go to 2020, now with COVID um, with all of that, 2020 I was.

00:31:49.201 --> 00:31:52.287
I started 2016.

00:31:52.287 --> 00:31:54.490
I started meditation.

00:31:54.490 --> 00:31:57.576
So I started to learn how to meditate because of my dating struggles.

00:31:58.278 --> 00:32:02.615
But I remember the moment in 2020 I was spending back home.

00:32:02.615 --> 00:32:07.311
I was thrown back home, leaving my parents again at the age of 30, turning 29, turning 30.

00:32:07.311 --> 00:32:08.044
I was leaving my parents.

00:32:08.044 --> 00:32:09.299
I was meditating back home, leaving my parents again At the age of turning 29, turning 30, I was leaving my parents.

00:32:09.299 --> 00:32:10.836
I was meditating a lot.

00:32:10.836 --> 00:32:14.441
There was suddenly eight months of nothing, being unemployed.

00:32:14.441 --> 00:32:24.038
I was spending a lot of time with myself, and then I remember my parents got into another fight and I was brought back a lot of things.

00:32:24.038 --> 00:32:29.080
But there was this moment, in this conversation with my father.

00:32:29.080 --> 00:32:35.221
So my mum got into a car crash and she was fine, but she some whiplash, but she was okay.

00:32:35.221 --> 00:32:36.784
But my dad he was.

00:32:36.784 --> 00:32:38.294
There was often a fight, right.

00:32:38.294 --> 00:32:55.105
So my dad I think he's probably going through guilt, maybe like he caused it, and there's a lot of stuff and I remember seeing my dad in tears in front of me and my usual old self would have tried to fix their relationship again, do the same thing.

00:32:55.105 --> 00:32:56.010
That never worked.

00:32:57.032 --> 00:33:04.952

Rising Above Challenges Jarrod Bruce Lee's Story of Growth and Fitness

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