#Clockedin with Jordan Edwards

#205 - Surviving Against the Odds with Frank Parisi

• Jordan Edwards • Season 5 • Episode 205

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What happens when a life defined by chaos and adversity leads to profound transformation and resilience? Join us on a remarkable journey with Frank Parisi, whose story takes us from the vibrant streets of Little Italy, Manhattan, to the heart of a wellness revolution in San Antonio, Texas. Raised amidst the influence of crack cocaine and organized crime, Frank shares his candid insights on navigating a tumultuous upbringing, the values instilled by his father, and how they ultimately paved the way to sobriety and clarity over a decade ago. Frank's reflections offer a powerful testament to the impact of loyalty, resilience, and the determination to give back.

Frank's tale takes a harrowing turn when an unexpected health crisis challenges everything he thought he knew about his active lifestyle. Initially misjudged as a simple allergy, his condition quickly spiraled into a life-threatening battle with rare pneumonia and sepsis. In this gripping account, Frank details his miraculous recovery, fueled by a heart transplant from a 19-year-old donor and the unwavering support of his family. Discover the poignant moment when a photograph of his son became his beacon of hope and the profound connections that guided him through his darkest hours.

Through these trials, Frank Parisi emerged not just as a survivor, but as a beacon of growth and service. Parnering with Emotion Wellness with his brother Jason Turner, Frank now empowers others using storytelling, fitness, and holistic practices to tackle mental health and substance abuse. His journey from adversity to international bestselling author is nothing short of inspirational, encouraging listeners to shift their focus from obstacles to opportunities. Connect with Frank through his book, coaching, and social media to explore how his openness and insights can inspire growth and fulfillment in your own life.

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Speaker 1:

Hey, what's going on, guys? I got a special guest here today. We have Frank Parisi. He's a beacon of light today as he's sober over 13 plus years. He's a heart transplant survivor last year and he's an international bestselling author, embrace Abundance. But his upbringing was the complete opposite of what you would expect. And then, towards the end of the podcast, we're going to discuss about Frank's new business venture, emotion Wellness, which is the center he's at and he's building in San Antonio, texas. So, frank, tell us a little bit. What was the childhood like? How was it? How was the upbringing?

Speaker 2:

Well, first, thanks for having me on today and taking the time and giving me this platform to talk. Yeah, you know growing up, bro. I'll be 45 next month, november 24th.

Speaker 1:

Happy birthday.

Speaker 2:

I know, bro.

Speaker 2:

So I was born you're talking about the late 70s, early 80s in the low east side of Manhattan, a neighborhood called Little Italy, and I grew up above my family's bakery which has been there since 1903, called Parisi Bakery. So just to give you a little background of the neighborhood and my upbringing there was a lot going on for a little dude at that time. You know, crack cocaine had just, you know, just ran rampant in Manhattan, and down the street from where I lived was the crack cocaine spot. Also on Elizabeth Street where I grew up was the first ever Def Jam Studios for all the hip hop heads. And then I also grew up around the corner from an old punk rock club called CBGB, along with the mafia having a lot of influence in that area. I grew up two blocks from John Gotti's social club. So the neighborhood had a lot going on, the city had a lot going on. And growing up in the bakery you grow up in an Italian family bakery it's like its own culture. And then add to it the subculture, uh, the front of the building, where he was like right in the front, by the door, and when any crime would take place, x that they would do it down the street to try to keep it safe for me as a kid. And if they didn't comply, uh, just to give the viewers a little background of where I come from, I would watch grown men at five years old literally get their heads split open with baseball bats.

Speaker 2:

Oh, so that was kind of back and there where I, uh, I grew up, um, and my father was involved, uh, you know, with organized crime and uh, so that whole life was very chaotic. It was very confusing. There was a lot of stuff that went on and it was always keep your mouth shut, don't ever mention nothing, don't speak about anything that goes on in the family, don't ever, ever, let anybody know what's going on with you. Um, so, a lot of confusion, a lot of cool lessons, craziness of it all. Um, you know, I was just discussing today, actually at a breakfast, just about the lessons of you know in the street that you learn as a kid.

Speaker 2:

You know there's street lotto in the net. I don't know if you're familiar with that, but yeah, so there's a number lady that comes around and collects. Uh, you know, you, you could do your pick three or your pick four with, like your regular lotto. Whatever state you're in, new york has a street lotto. So there's the number lady that comes around to the different business who wants to play the lotto for the next day and how you figure out what the numbers are. It goes off of the last three races at aqueduct in new york. Get the new york post or the daily news the next day and you see the last three races. Those are the numbers. So the number lady would come and like when my father would hit. I would always ask him like why are you giving her that money? And in the, in the twistedness of of, there's a great lesson.

Speaker 2:

And he always said like whenever you make money in the street you have to give back to the street, and I just find that true in life, like if I'm doing well in life, I always believe in paying it forward and giving tidings to others. So in the chaos of life, you know my father was a guy that actually paid a dead man's debt.

Speaker 2:

One of his buddies that he owed money to was killed and uh, he owed him like 100 grand and he paid a dead man's debt. He paid the family. That's like another thing unheard of. And again it's like twisted yeah, and the twistedness of it is actually valuable lessons of being honorable and loyal. I don't find that as being any form of a defect. Maybe in the context of like living in the street, like that life isn't the values that I stand for today, but the values that my father passed down.

Speaker 1:

A lot of them were really good man, even though it was in the chaos of all of that yeah, and I think that's beautiful, because you sit there and you think, oh my god, upbringing dangerous area, a lot of violence. You would think all of these negative things would come from it. But whether it's goody two shoes on one side, where the people never get to have any experiences and they're closed off and they're helicopter parents, or it's yours, where there's everything going on, there's pros and cons to both of them and you get good values out of different things. So I think anyone in the audience listening you realize if you're in a bad situation or a good situation. There's definitely some value to be found there, which I think is absolutely incredible, because most people can't find the light light, even when it's shining bright on them. Yeah right, find it through the darkness is like incredible only looking back now, you know gotta be honest.

Speaker 1:

Gotta be honest.

Speaker 2:

The experience of it. It was very confusing. My upbringing, you know, which led me towards addiction. You know using drugs, because my home was in a state. My father was in a closet, you know cocaine user. He would binge from time to time and you can't go talking about that stuff. You know doing the stuff that he was doing, being involved in that life. So it was even more Just.

Speaker 2:

We don't talk about anything, wow, but the instability and we were seeing it in the house. Yeah, I would, I would. I would know my dad would be like a lock himself up for two days, like India. He had a appointment. The apartment that I grew up and actually was like his days, like in the. He had an appointment. The apartment that I grew up in actually was like his spot and I was the hangout and it was actually the spot at some point later on and he would lock himself in there, man, you know, as I got older and, uh, it's just an ugly thing.

Speaker 2:

You know, addiction in a home it's an ugly thing. It robs the whole family of like love and holidays, uh, stability, and uh, it's just. You know, especially watching your father, you know, suffer in silence is hard for a child, um, and then to come with it also. You know the the chaos of the home that comes with that as well, the instability of the home that comes with that. It led me down my own road of destruction because I didn't know how to process any of that stuff. You know I didn't know how to process the violence and the confusion because my father was also a very loving man. He took me everywhere, everywhere, good and bad. You know I from a little kid that most men will never be able to like, still never see in their life.

Speaker 1:

So I already have this wide range of experiences good and bad. You're seeing people have these different things and that that affects people and those experiences are good and they are bad. Like it's a very interesting way of processing it all because you're trying to sit there going like, is this a good thing or a bad thing? And it's very challenging because there's just so much going on and it's so conflicting.

Speaker 2:

I'll give you a perfect example. I went to the 1994 Stanley Cup, the New York Rangers against the Vancouver Canucks. I went to game seven.

Speaker 1:

Oh, wow.

Speaker 2:

Huge get. We sat center ice last week. Not much that he took me to this game, but at the game is my uncle and his friend and my uncle's friend smoking crack in the bathroom.

Speaker 1:

Oh, my God.

Speaker 2:

You know what I mean. And they're all fucked up, my uncle, my dad, you know popping pills like at the game. So here I am at this, like my dad loves me so much, but everyone's high, you know. Then we go back to the bakery after and he gets into a fight with a bunch of guys, pulls out a machete I'm like 14 years old, starts chopping up a bar with a machete, you know, and it's like the confusion of that. And then he drove and it gets crazier. He drove me home that night and went back to Manhattan and then I woke up in the morning like oh, the Rangers won the Stanley Cup. Like I've been around that crazy stuff. The machete, like that was like all right, it was a night out with that.

Speaker 2:

But then when I woke up in the morning and then he was in a complete blackout and he destroyed my whole house.

Speaker 1:

Oh, my God.

Speaker 2:

And chased my mom and me out of the house, and then he made me get in the car and drove me to school. I'm thinking he might kill us. And then he made me get in the car home to school. I'm thinking he might kill us. That's how much of a blackout he was in.

Speaker 2:

So, that was the confusion of my home and my life, and then it would be like everything's okay. After all this happened, we're not going to even talk about this. Just everything's okay, but everything's not okay. So it led to me to be like man I smoke this weed every day and then once I found the pills because that stuff, jordan went on for my whole life.

Speaker 2:

From when I was born, that craziness I could give you that I've been a victim of, and then that I've watched others be a victim of the violence and the chaos, and it just led me down a destructive road of addiction.

Speaker 1:

You know once I found the pills, it just it led me down and it was like man, I can deal with anything well, it's these, these things and these drugs like anything, because you start to realize that everything is a feeling and everything's an emotion and it's like how do we handle certain emotions and feelings? And sometimes we build associations to different drugs and everyone does it from time to time. Where you sit there and you go, I'm associating a very positive thing to this Like. For me, it would be like when I was in college I would go out have a night out and then I'd go eat pizza and it's like I understand we're comparing them as different, different, but I'm kind of explaining what association means, where it's like you eat the pizza and you're like this is the best thing I've ever had, and then you start to want to lose weight and you're like whoa, I can't have pizza at three in the morning. It's not good for me. I think pizza makes me fat.

Speaker 1:

And it's these change of associations. It's the same thing that happens with drugs. It's the same things we do with everything. We're just bringing these associations to our awareness level instead of us being like I need to smoke pot till I chill out, or I need to drink to relax, or I need to take this to get more focused, and it's like we're constantly, you can create that on your own guys, and that's like what I think is a very important thing to realize here right and I just didn't at the time.

Speaker 2:

That was my solution. I didn't have it, so at that time, that's what it was, you know, uh, to deal with the chaos, because I was in it too, jordan, like I became my dad, you know of course you mimic children, always mimic their parents and like what else are you supposed to do?

Speaker 2:

yeah, yeah, and I love my dad like I'm not here to my father the greatest influence on me ever, even through all the chaos of it all, he's. He was a great man and had a major positive influence on me as well, with all that you know. Um, even just growing up with my name on a building, you know I never wanted to ever really work for anybody. You know what I mean? Yeah, up there wasn't my bakery, it still had my name on it. Just that in my mind that I want to ask another man like for like vacation time. You know what I I mean? No, but I'm just saying you know. So it's like there is a lot of good in all of the chaos. Looking back, looking back?

Speaker 1:

Yeah, but in the moment it's so hard.

Speaker 2:

It was so hard, but it was all part of the path and journey and it led me to be the man that I am today, so I wouldn't have changed anything. You know, I think that our world is very soft right now and I think that we need to challenge ourselves and put ourselves, because it's become so soft, into experiences that make us uncomfortable. But my life has always been uncomfortable.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, a hundred percent. I actually I just did a podcast with this guy, matt, and he talked, uh, stress exercises and how to breath, work and all that kind of stuff he does work with he's like one of the top teachers, with wim hof, and he was basically talking about he's like the whole idea of what we do in our day-to-day lives is to free stress ourselves, like pre-stress ourselves. So like you work out or you run or this intense breathing or any physical activity, it's basically psychologically stressing ourselves out, but your body becomes more comfortable with this and you become stronger and stronger and stronger. So all of those experiences throughout your childhood kind of brought you and made you ready for that moment when you started to having these health, these health challenges, challenges. You know what I mean. You're already like, been there, done that. So how was it for you handle, like, what ended up happening with with all the health things? Cause it's.

Speaker 2:

So I wind up getting sober over 13 years ago and that completely transformed my life. It gave me a whole new pair of glasses. I was able to look at myself, take accountability for everything in my life, where I had been in my life, and just constantly focus on my evolution and elevation, service of others and my recovery right and as a result of that, my life got abundantly better, brother, successful, I started a family. I mean, there was hiccups along the way, don't get me wrong. I lost my father, my grandmother, one of my best friends. I've herniated discs, I've torn tricep, I've torn a bicep.

Speaker 2:

I've had a lot of stuff happen in my recovery over the past 13 plus years, but it's always been in an upward trajectory.

Speaker 2:

You know it's kind of like an IRA, like we might do this a little bit, but over the past 13 years I've become very successful. And then last year and I always say Jordan, it's important for us to keep our swords sharp, like the reason that I became the man that I am today is because of four things. It's one God, the universe, whatever this is. It's because of recovery, personal development and service of others, and I say that keeps our swords sharp. Others, and I say that keeps our sword sharp. And last year I got to practice keeping my sword sharp and through this process of developing a new human being, through the four things that I just told you, because, coming from where I came from in my upbringing and going through addiction and then finding recovery, in order to become successful in life you have to become a different human being. The, the drug addict street guy is not going to be the guy sitting here at emotion wellness right now.

Speaker 1:

I was gonna say I, I'd imagine that all a majority of your friends from high school and younger are just like who is this guy? You know what I mean.

Speaker 2:

No, they don't know. Yeah, it's a completely different human being. Yeah, and I always talk about we got to get the download so we can get the upgrade. We got to constantly get the new iOS put in there.

Speaker 1:

You know what I mean.

Speaker 2:

It's like the iPhone needs the upgrade, so do we, and as long as we continue to do that we're going to continue to evolve and elevate.

Speaker 2:

You know, even putting my doves in rooms that I didn't belong. That's where I belong. So then last year, I mean investing in mentors, paying people that have proven winners. They've done what I'm trying to do, you know. So it's all of that. But last year I developed this cough, jordan, and I'm a fit guy. I've been working out I'll be 45 next month and I've been working out since I'm 14 years old. That's 30. At the time I was 43 when this all happened. So 30, almost 30 years, 29 years. I'm in the gym, even in addiction, and I developed this cough. And I'm traveling, because I travel for business. I'm in different regions and they're telling me, because I'm in central Texas, that it's allergies. So I take this medication and the medication is again making me better.

Speaker 2:

So I'm like I want to go to a different doctor, go to another primary care physician and they give me a pregnant zone and they said they should clear it up. It doesn't. So now it gets worse. I'm down in, down in Florida and and the cough is getting worse and I come back and I tell my wife, like listen, this is enough. For five months I got this cough. We have to go see some specialists now because it's not getting better. You know, it's not allergies, because I've been in LA, new York and Miami and it's the same cough. So it's not. It's not, it's not the region. So I go to a gastrointestinal, everything comes back fine. And then I go to a pulmonologist and a week after I have a cardiologist, uh, the pulmonologist does testing on me and says that I have the rarest form of pneumonia called organizing pneumonia, that like three percent of the population has it after culvert. And they're gonna start me on this high dose steroid 60, 60 milligrams of pregnazone and they're going to give me 2000 milligrams of amoxicillin. So I start the therapies, I go home, I get worse. Now I start coughing up orange stuff.

Speaker 2:

On May 8th I cough up a half a bottle of like this, a half bottle of blood. So I called the doctor. Doctor, I'm losing weight. They say come on in, I come in, he goes. What happened here? I said, listen, I've been telling everybody. I told everybody. I feel like I'm dying. I even called the doctor back to tell him. I feel I feel like I'm buying any more vacation. So I go see him. He goes all right, what we're going to do is we need to admit you. So now we, they admit me at a bailout Scott and white and Lakeway in Austin. Yeah and uh. Now who would I ever thought? On May 8th I think I got this call, I don't know, maybe like I'm, like they're going to fix it.

Speaker 2:

I mean like I'm definitely going to get you know what I mean like I'm not tripping, like I'm like this sucks, but we're gonna get it fixed. And so I go in and they say that I have sepsis. My wife has to leave, okay. So now they're treating me for sepsis because I have a six-year-old son. In walks a nurse and puts the wrong pick in my arm and the medication that she did infiltrates my arm from the inside out. I get a third degree burn from the inside out from the medication.

Speaker 2:

Then in walks a doctor and he goes Mr Parisi, you don't have sepsis, you have 9% ejection fraction and your kidneys and your liver's failing, and we need to ship you of all places. This is where the story gets weird. Of all places, we need to ship you to Temple Texas, not Austin, not San Antonio, not Dallas, not Houston, not one of the major cities in our nation, a town of 30,000 people called Temple Texas. So I drive up with the ambulance guys and I'm like you could imagine what's going through my head now. I'm like what do you mean? Save my life? I was just working out in the gym two weeks ago yeah, doing 20 pull-ups yeah yeah and uh.

Speaker 2:

So I drive up and there's jordan. There's a team of doctors and this is what I'm talking about keeping our swords sharp. There's a team of doctors waiting there for me, all all right. And out comes my wife. My brother okay, and I didn't know when I was getting sober 13 years earlier that it wasn't about me. Out comes my wife with this picture. My brother okay. You see this.

Speaker 2:

I want the audience to see this. This picture saved my life. It's a picture of my son and she's sitting there begging me to live my brother for my boy, sonny. I got 10 minutes to sit with her and discuss our life without me. So they take me in the back and they say that we might not make it and I die. And then they saved me. There was a doctor there, and that's the reason why this hospital is is one of the best cardiothoracic units in the country, cause there was a doctor named Dr Ready there, one with my doctor, dr. And the shout out to you I love you so much, dr Ready. Dr Ready was there. He was from Mount Sinai. All my doctors were from New York. He brought them all over, he watched everything and he saved my life. I don't know if you want me to talk about everything that happened.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, keep going in.

Speaker 2:

We talked about this on recall it is an incredible story.

Speaker 2:

I literally code and I leave my body, brother, okay. So when I left my body, everything was dark and I'm looking down now at me on a ventilator and my wife on the bed next to me and I have my friend that had passed away years ago that I was telling you about, next with me. Wow, and I had a voice, like we communicate telepathically when we're over there there's nobody, but I know he's with me, as if I know I'm talking to you right now, I know there's stuff around me right now. And there was a voice that said he, but I know he's with me, as if I know I'm talking to you right now, I know there's stuff around me right now. And there was a voice that said he's there and he's here to take you to us. And at that time, bro, I had a vision of my son.

Speaker 1:

Yeah.

Speaker 2:

I had a vision of my son growing up without me and I said I have to come back for him and at the time the voice told me that I'm going to suffer. So I come back, bro, and I'm like maybe that didn't happen. You know, maybe that didn't happen. You know, maybe that didn't happen because maybe this is just delusional stuff. When this happens, you die. Maybe this stuff happened. Maybe it's my brain. Now I'm in the bed, bro, for nine days. This is why people got to keep their swords sharp. I'm in the bed for nine days and I got doctors walking in there with hazmat suits, bro, because the orange stuff I'm coughing up they think might be tuberculosis. And I'm in a bed for nine days and I got this thing called atrial fibrillation. I don't know what this is, but I feel like I want to jump out of my body and they're telling me I might need a heart transplant. Jordan.

Speaker 1:

Oh, my God.

Speaker 2:

And I'm like what are you talking about Heart transplant? So I joined an entrepreneur group and that's why I was in Miami before I went to the hospital and I'm supposed to be at this entrepreneur group on a yacht in Miami. And when I was sick and they told me I had the organizing pneumonia, I started to wanna be with my mother and my father and my father passed away. So I had made an appointment with a medium five months in advance. What's the odds that I'm in this hospital in Temple, texas think of the name and I got an appointment on May 18th with this fricking medium and I'm supposed to be in Miami, but I'm fighting for my life in this hospital bed.

Speaker 1:

Oh, my God.

Speaker 2:

So my wife's like I don't want you talking to this lady and I said I don't care, this doesn't make sense. I got hazmat suits here to tell me I might need a heart transplant. No one knows what's wrong with me. Nobody knows what's wrong with me.

Speaker 1:

They don't know why this is happening.

Speaker 2:

So I get on with the medium and you could Google my name. You could Google all that. Get on with the medium and you could google my name. You could google all that. You could see my father, all that you could. You could go on facebook, you could. You could. Nowadays, we could, like I could find information about you and regurgitate it back to you about yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2:

So she, she's on the. She gets everything right about my dad. I'm talking to my father. She had two things wrong, but the one thing that's crazy, Jordan, I grew up my father was involved with organized crime. All the doctors that were there were from New York. That Dr Reddy was. There was one of the PAs that was there, that his father. I'm in a town of like 20,000 people. There's like cows everywhere. One of the PAs there. His father-in-law was a mayor guy.

Speaker 1:

Really.

Speaker 2:

What's the odds of that? What's the odds of the fact that one of the other PAs went to the same college as my wife in Staten Island and she baked her her favorite rainbow cookies?

Speaker 1:

Oh, wow.

Speaker 2:

The medium goes are all your doctors from New York? And I said, yes, they are, she goes. Your father sent them there. Oh my God, it could be a coincidence, bro. She had two things wrong. She kept talking about a pendant and a chain and she kept talking about a birthday. So the next day is May 19th. My mom comes in. I tell her everything that happened. I tell her about the medium that all the doctors she knew were here. She knew everything about daddy. I said she had two things wrong. She kept saying a pendant and a chain and a birthday. My father's mother died when he was 14. I never knew my grandmother. May 19th was her birthday oh, wow and the pendant and chain.

Speaker 2:

When my dad died, my aunt dolores gave a pendant of his mother and a chain to my mom. She gave it to my Aunt Camille. I didn't know about this. I FaceTimed my Aunt Camille and she's wearing the pendant in the chain bro, oh wow. This could be all coincidences. Let the audience decide. It all could be coincidences. So now I'm in there and I'm like this is all happening, whatever you guys think I know this happened.

Speaker 1:

Yeah.

Speaker 2:

And I'm at my lowest of lows in life, and we're magnets. I know this through my personal development. When I'm low, what do I need more than anything? I'm facing my death right now. What do I need? Love yeah and the only way I'm gonna get love is by giving it yes so now I start to buy all the nurses like breakfast, lunch, dinner, I start to get up and I'm learning to walk again, bro and I'm taking one step.

Speaker 2:

I the first day was like 10 steps, because when you're in bed for nine days you lose like 40 50 pounds and you gotta learn how to walk again so now I gotta get up, bro, and my mind is you haven't been here before, frank, but you've been here before that's why people have easy lives nowadays.

Speaker 2:

You gotta make yourself like. I've had a hard life my whole life. I came out to a hard life, so I've been in jail, I've been in rehabs. I've been in situations and experiences where I didn't know if I was going to get out of them. You haven't been here, but you've been here. This isn't so far into you, because you've been in really fucking weird situations in your life.

Speaker 2:

You've been here Give love and get up. Get up. I start, start to walk. Jordan, now they put this pump in my chest, 13 staples up and hella pump, it puts me at the top of the list, just in case I need a heart transplant, which I'm like, I don't need no heart transplant. So I got 13 staples.

Speaker 2:

Now, remember, I'm in recovery, I'm sober, so I take ibuprofen because I'm not trying to mess with none of this stuff. But now I start to walk and, my dude, you're here in this facility. It's a hospital. I'm in the ICU, people are getting heart transplants here. You're here in code blue. That means someone died.

Speaker 2:

You hear this all the time, why you fight for your life. So I start to walk, bro, one mile, two, three, four, five miles in the ICU unit, while I hear cold blue and I'm thinking to other patients get up, get up and walk with me. And then they got me the Superman cape. This is what I'm talking about Keeping your sword sharp in life. Cause here's the difference of me and everyone else.

Speaker 2:

I just lived through this shit. It's coming for everybody, it's all coming for all of us death it's coming for everybody. It's how we respond. It's the man or woman that we develop that could respond in the manner that I did in the darkest of times. I started to walk five miles and they got me the superman cape and they started to play the superman music. Every time I walked out they got a plaque of me in the hospital now, and in that it wasn't victim, it was Victor. I already envisioned what my life was going to look like over the next year. I am radically accepted where I was currently in my life and I saw where I was going to go, bro.

Speaker 2:

I had the vision and I started to walk and bring other patients up. They started to walk, they started to walk. So now I got to get this arm debridement, bro. June 1st, I get the arm debridement, I go in. I got to get a heart transplant. Dr Hassan tells me your heart's dead. So imagine this. Now you've got to think someone's going to have to die so I can live. How am I going to tell my son all this? What is my life going to look like? What's my future going to look like? But yo, you've got to pull out all your tools, right? You've got to pull them all out. Complete abandonment and surrender to God, to the universe. The universe is always working in our favor. Why? Because I believe it is so. It is Because I believe it is. I love that, yeah. So here I am, bro. Here I am Now I'm waiting on someone to die to give me life.

Speaker 2:

June 1st they do my arm debridement. They say you're an O positive, so it's going to take you six to eight weeks. I'm already in here. Four weeks I haven't seen my son. They still don't know what's wrong with me. They find out I have a rare gene, but they don't know why the gene was activated. It's called Titan TTN. So now they debride my arm. They tell me it's going to be six to eight weeks. The next day, june 2nd, they come in. They say you're getting a heart transplant tomorrow. We got a heart for you.

Speaker 2:

Wow, could be a coincidence, bro. All of this could be coincidences. I let the listeners decide. It all could be coincidence. So here I am, man, I go in complete abandonment of my son, my wife, my finances, my future, my life, to the universe, to God, and I go in and I get blessed with this heart transplant, bro. And then now I got to flirt with the devil. So I survive, but I'm in so much pain that I gotta take the pain meds. Yeah, I have no choice, and these pain meds destroyed my life. So it was like a spiritual battle going on while I'm fighting for my life. Yeah, and I gotta take this stuff because my body's in such shock.

Speaker 2:

When they saw your chest open, they saw it open with a sword. Yeah, you're in such shock that you need to take it. And I'll be honest with you, jordan, I'd rather have my chest sword open than the 25 days of them cleaning my arm, because when they cleaned my arm they had to take this much of a chunk of it missing. So then they got to wait for that to grow back and clean it every other day. This little Filipino nurse would come and clean my arm every other day and it would literally feel like someone would take a flamethrower to my arm for 24 hours. This is what the pain meant. I would take Dilaudid and Oxycontin 10 milligram and I would still, and they would wrap it with ice and for 24 hours it would feel like it was on burning on a flame the most excruciating pain. But in that I was honest with everybody and I knew this was the devil. I knew that it was, and when I was done with it, I was done with it. When I left the hospital I got the skin graft surgery on July, I think 7th, and when I was done, I was done, brother, you understand.

Speaker 2:

And then my mindset was what's next, bro? I joined that entrepreneur group. I met a kid, nick Santanasaso. I always got to mention your name, nick, and I love you forever because the money I spent on that group was worth it just for your coaching me. And he said whenever we go through the hardest times of life, we have to ask ourselves these two questions what's the gift in what you're going through and what are you going to become because of it? And the entire time in the hospital, that was my mindset and what I started to do. Jordan, I said if I'm going to die, my son needs to know where his dad started from, because, as I told you earlier, I didn't realize that I was developing a new human being at the time and getting sober. It wasn't about me, bro, it was about Sonny bro. It was about his future generations. Sunny bro, it was about his future generations. It was about changing the DNA and paradigm shift for his future generations and how they think and behave. So I started to write a book. I started to write a book in the hospital about my life. I wrote the book, bro. It became a bestseller in three countries in the darkest of times this year.

Speaker 2:

I had to go through 16 biopsies where they go into my neck and they take three pieces of my heart out. I do it wide awake and I take no pain meds. I'm like the only guy and I signed a waiver saying that I could die every time. Wow, I did that 16 times, die every time. I did that 16 times. My message to the world, my brother, is it doesn't matter where you start in life or what your current circumstances. Start developing a human being that could withstand anything and then still come out and thrive. You know what I'm saying. In this past year, this past 12 months, they took my heart. Then I had business dealings that I helped the company grow and expand and that fell apart, and what I did with all that was what's next? So many beings get caught up in the story? Oh, my heart transplant. Yeah, radically accepted. And what's next?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I coached this with my seven year old and his old flag football team. There's two things I care about in life. I don't give a shit and I tell them this, and I, I coach clients to fitness and mindset. I don't care a shit and I tell them this, and I coach clients too fitness and mindset. I don't care about anything, except two things. Did you put 110% into that play or did you put 110% into your day? Okay, that's all I care about. It doesn't matter if we lost the play or won the play or won. You put your effort in. The second thing is I don't even care if you won the play or won. You put your effort in. The second thing is I don't even care if you won the play or lost the play or won the day or lost the day what's next? And the sooner you can move to what's next, the faster your life's going to go.

Speaker 2:

I don't look at the story, I create the story.

Speaker 1:

Yes, yeah, there's too many people. First of all, incredibly, I am so grateful that you shared all that because it's such an inspiring mission and it shows us that the hard stuff are not bad things. But the hard stuff makes us harder, so we become harder to kill and we become that much more resilient and we're all our own supermans here. We're all that people that are inspiring and the faster that we can go from what is the problem that we're facing to what's next, it gives us that ability to get out of that sulk and sorrow and into action, which is really going to create the human being that you want to be and what you're seeing with Frank today Literally had the open heart surgery, an international bestseller. He's part of Emotion Wellness. Now he's rebranded his whole life. He's getting around the right people, he's raising his son like. He's doing all the things where people would be like, wow, what an incredible year without the heart surgery and I got jacked yeah, you got to see this guy he rips.

Speaker 1:

I have a six pack I have.

Speaker 2:

I have to show the audience. I literally died last year. Okay, what is your excuse? There is no excuse. You know what's crazy about society, jordan? Like I'm gonna probably go to a buddy's house this weekend and watch ufc and I'm gonna probably be the only guy they're not drinking and everyone's's going to ask me why don't you drink, like the question should be why do you drink? Why are you putting poison in your body?

Speaker 2:

Why are you not working out Like the high achieving person that is doing stuff that's pouring into their health, that's pouring into their personal development, that's sober, is the strange person in society today.

Speaker 1:

I, I completely agree. I mean, it's just a lot. I find a lot of people and I've spoken to a lot of a lot of different podcast guests and whatnot and it's they're like dude, people just aren't awake, they're not active in their own lives and they just sit there in the next mundane day, in the next mundane day. And for me, what I've always realized is there's a planning day and there's an action day. And most people they do the planning day once where they're like I want to be a teacher or I want to be whatever a cook, whatever that one career is and then they never plan again and it's like what a travesty, there's no execution. Well, they just keep doing the action of like hey, I'm a base level chef, okay, well, you got to lift your head up and go.

Speaker 1:

Now I want to go be a five star chef. You got to lift that plan up and adjust the action, adjust the goal, Otherwise you're just going to be in the same place for the next 5, 10 years, 15 years, and if you're not working on yourself like I think that was one of the biggest things, the four, which is god, recovery, personal development and service of others like I use this as my personal development. This is how I learn. I have other books I read and stuff like that, but when I get to interact with the people, that's my personal development and then I have these groups where it becomes a service of others, where I do the coaching and and helping people and you.

Speaker 1:

Just I think it's so important to just integrate these into your life somehow. I'm not saying everyone do the same thing. I'm saying find activities or habits in your life that allow you to grow or allow you to serve others. And serving of others can be the group dynamic, but it could also be volunteering at the homeless shelter, like it can be.

Speaker 1:

I'm in Tampa, so it can be the group dynamic, but it could also be volunteering at the homeless shelter, like I'm in tampa, so it can be the hurricane cleanup, it can be anything right right focus, sole focus in my life is evolution and elevation in service of others.

Speaker 2:

That's it, brother. You know, I want to get better so that I can help the next man and woman to get better.

Speaker 1:

Yes, and the other thing I want to bring up for everyone sitting there going like Frank, he's incredible. I can never be like that. What Frank talked about when he was talking about to have love, you got to give love, and that's where he started walking and started inviting others to walk. When I go on runs, it is easier for me I have this six mile loop and it's easier for me to wave at everybody. Do it like seven in the morning and I'll just say good morning to everyone.

Speaker 1:

It is easier to do that run than to try to do it on my own, where I'm like I literally everything, because now I'm thinking about the other person and I just ran 200 feet and I'm not even thinking about myself and you're just, your body just gets into it because you diverted the attention of like I'm tired, you're not tired, you have to wave to the next hundred people, so you better show up. And it's because I do that, because I go, I might be the only wave they get today. They might not have anyone say good morning to them, they might not have anybody in their life, and I'm like I don't have to sit there. It's not a sit down, have a whole conversation. It's just hey, what's up? Hope you're having a great day, keep going. And I'm going faster than them, so they never. It's just like oh, that was pleasant, oh, I appreciate that, because people don't do that anymore, and that's a way of being.

Speaker 2:

I've lived in the world, absolutely. I've lived in the dark and the light. Yeah, I love the light, bro, and how we stay in the light is we have to give light.

Speaker 2:

We're magnets and antennas bro, and what we admit out is what we get back. And that's why I also love the 12 steps, the 12 steps of Alcoholics Anonymous. I love them because I operate from, I know we're we're molecules and and and atoms that vibrate. We're vibrating beings and creative beings and we create in a place of gratitude, always in a place of gratitude, and, like the 12 steps, get you out of all the negative vibration and into good vibration so that you get the intuitive thought and then, through the intuitive thought, you take the action to execute and make the actual vision or reality. I always say have the vision, but most of us don't even have a vision because we're so wrapped up in self. How?

Speaker 1:

I get out of self is by serving.

Speaker 2:

And when I get out of serving, then I get the intuitive thought, which is the vision.

Speaker 2:

With that vision, the reason that man in that bed did everything he's doing now is because he had the vision. But the vision is backed up by the agreement, the fucking contract that I make with myself that, regardless of what's going on, this is the version of yourself that's going to show up every single day, even if you're facing a heart transplant, it doesn't matter. And then I'm going to shut all the fucking noise off, like I kept saying to myself in the hospital. I'm not paying attention to myself, I'm focusing on my vision. I'm focusing on the evolution and elevation. I'm focusing on life, my son. I'm not focusing on the darkness, I'm focusing on the evolution and elevation. I'm focusing on life, my son. I'm not focusing on the darkness, I'm focusing on the light, the vision. So then I shut the noise and then I start to take massive action every day and make sure to audit my circle and only allow the energy that is vibrating on the same frequency as me that's helping me with fulfilling the vision and making it a reality. Yeah, that's the blueprint towards embracing.

Speaker 1:

I love that. Yeah, it's find the light and you got to embrace abundance and it's finding that light in that vision and then getting around those people. So it's literally set the plan and then take action on it. I love that. Yes, execution.

Speaker 2:

That's what it is Execute every day, and it doesn't matter. Some days it doesn't feel like anything's happening. Like 10 steps didn't feel like anything was happening. But then it was five months and the first workout didn't feel like anything. But now I'm shredded.

Speaker 1:

So this is something that I've been talking to my coaching groups about and I've been thinking a lot about it's. The biggest challenge is that whenever we're starting a new activity whether it's the walking you feel the worst about yourself. Like if you work out the most, like if you're, if you want to be a big, strong working out person, you are going to feel the worst that you felt that first. Like if you're, if you want to be a big, strong working out person, you are going to feel the worst that you felt that first time Cause you're going to be so sore. Like if you start investing in yourself and investing in different in the stock market or crypto or whatever you're going to feel the poorest you've ever been.

Speaker 1:

If you try a new activity, you are going to feel the worst at it. Like when you go skiing for the first time, you think you're good at it and then you're like, whoa, I suck and you literally. That's because it takes 20 hours to get good at something. It takes a while to build a foundation, and then by the time you build the foundation, you sit there and go wait, you're so good at that and it's like no Move on, it's all nonsense.

Speaker 2:

So you have to be there. I always say this yeah, discipline plus consistency equals results and success Always.

Speaker 1:

Yes, I love that. I love that Because when you stay disciplined on it, most people at this point have given up on the day. It's Friday, it's 3 o'clock. Most people have given up on the day. We still have meetings.

Speaker 2:

I know of course I got a meeting and I gotta get a workout.

Speaker 1:

I know, I know, but I'm saying most people are giving up. But that's when you bring up that level and you send it to a higher level. It sets the principle of like what you want to do and what's happening. So frank. Before before we wind down, we promise that we talk about the Emotion Wellness Center.

Speaker 2:

What is going on with this? Another beautiful thing I had a business dealing in April. Go sideways, I helped a company and again it was what's next? And it was sit out for six months of the industry, because I've been in the substance abuse and mental health industry since 2012 now, but I started in 2006 and I bounced out. But so a while and, uh, I sat. I sat out and, uh, what's next was this.

Speaker 2:

It was my brother, jason turner, who created this amazing php iop op program in san anton, texas, called Emotion Wellness. He's a Pat Tillman Scholar Award winner, 10-year Air Force veteran, 21 years sober, and he just created one of the most amazing programs. He actually was at the other facility that I was at. We both worked there together and was the reason that I went there to do consulting, but he had left. So it's like all synchronicity, like everything's connected. Jordan, you know everything. You know everything's connected. And then he went on his own and opened this place a year ago and just has blown it out of the water. We do things very differently. Um, everything's based around storytelling. We have a whole CrossFit gym, uh, and we set up different types of uh, uh fun activities for them to do, uh, during the workout, but we also helped them to process during that as well. Um, so we have the cold plunge, we have the sauna. We do things very, very, very different than 90 breath work, um, if you want you to come out here and experience it. But we're doing amazing things. So that's what it was. What next was emotion wellness. It's something that I'm proud of, it's something that I'm marketing for the company nationally, and I became a partner in the organization last month, so grateful to be able to do this, not just because I believe in the program, but also with my brother, like how awesome is that to be able to grow together with one of my best friends, you know? And it's like that's why you always have to.

Speaker 2:

Going back to the story the heart was removed, the business was removed, but the universe gave me 10 X. He put me exactly where I'm supposed to be with, exactly who I'm supposed to be with, doing exactly what I'm supposed to be doing, going exactly where we're supposed to be going. You know and I want to leave with this, bro I think we still don't know why my heart was taken. We know I have this gene, but we don't know why and when I think and I think that my story is like, it's truly like a divine story, bro, because I feel God removed everything in my life, even my heart, because it held trauma and old generational curses, ancestral stuff. And I got to meet my donor's dad and I got to be part of his renewal wedding vow ceremony and they all got to listen to me and I got to find out that my donor's name was Kaylee Bearden dude.

Speaker 2:

I got a 19-year-old girl's heart in my chest. So when I tell you we're all connected, we're truly all connected. I have a 19-year-old girl's heart in my chest and she died to give me more life and my old heart was removed. So her heart, heart, come in so that I can fulfill this mission For my son and now, I believe, for the world. You know, and that's why I say the universe is always working in our favor. It always is. And then the universe removed my heart, and then it removed all my finances To help this company become successful and then, for whatever reason, we separated and then it was like everything was removed yeah but came back 10x because of the one I developed, because of the trust and because of the action brother.

Speaker 1:

Absolutely, absolutely. I love that, and if you guys aren't following Frank Parisi, you got to follow him. He's dropping stuff on Instagram. He's all over the place, but he's really bringing that positive spirit that we're all looking for, because there's so many of us that struggle with that. So the more people you can get around this and I always tell people this, that it's the five people around us that affect us the most the good thing is, nowadays we don't have to be friends with all five of them. Sometimes they can be online mentors, because, it is true, who do we spend the time with? People don't realize that, but we can do stuff like that, and it changed our mindset drastically.

Speaker 1:

Oh huge, absolutely. So make sure to find him, frank. Where can people find you? Learn more about embrace abundance, all of it. Where can they find you?

Speaker 2:

Sure, so you can find my book is on Amazon. Um, I have a mindset and fitness coaching program that's frank-parisicom slash coaching. Our treatment program is in San Antonio, Texas. We're in network with every major insurance. We take TRICARE. We work a lot with the veteran population. You could find us at emotionwellnesscom. You could also find me on Instagram at Frank Parisi 2011, on Facebook, Frank Parisi and on LinkedIn, Frank Parisi.

Speaker 1:

I love it. Thank you so much for sharing your story and just being here with us and super present, because I know that there were so many gems that were taken away from this today. Thank you.

Speaker 2:

Thank you for having me on brother so much. I enjoyed the conversation with you, man.

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Jordan Edwards

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