Emotional turmoil can create a physical impact on your life. In this episode I’m speaking with Scott McGee about the emotional impact of serving as a law enforcement officer and the different coping strategies that are available to mitigate that trauma. We also discuss the stigma surrounding reaching out for help and the kind of strength it takes to break that silence.
Scott McGee is a mindful warrior on a path of service and gratitude. He is the founder and podcast host of The Sisu Way. He is also a 15-year police officer and SWAT team member in Southern California. Scott believes that health is wealth, there is vulnerability in strength, and that strength is a choice. He believes that you are the master of your fate, that you are the captain of your soul, and that you should get up strong and be unconquerable.
Episode Transcript:
00:26
In this episode of Octo Non Verba, we hear part two of my powerful interview with Scott McGee from the CCWA, Strength is a Choice. In part one, Scott talked about some of his encounters as a police officer.
00:55
and the overall emotional toll felt by members of law enforcement and military. You can find that interview by checking out episode five of OctoNomber of a podcast. In part two, we will continue this raw and real conversation with Scott as we impact some additional challenges that he’s faced and some of the ways that he found to better deal with and find the gift in his adversity. Here’s the rest of my powerful interview with Scott McGee, strength is a choice. Well, there’s something to be said about the culture part of that. And that is like…
01:23
Whoever decided to have a stiff upper lip and not have emotions, somebody decided that at some point in time and then started, that was a culture that was given to you. Right. And that’s not like a scientific fact in the way it is. That’s not like, it’s not gravity. Like someone you were born, but you didn’t get to choose your language. But you, and even having that awareness and how it affects, even affects the way you dream, the part of the world you were born into, you didn’t choose the family you were born into, you didn’t choose.
01:52
There’s a whole bunch of stuff in our lives that we had no choice of. We were, this culture was thrust upon us. But you might’ve been born into a family of Raider fans and you’re a Raider fan. You didn’t choose that part. And so you kind of have to look at culture a little bit. Like, is it Beth, are we, is it, are we succeeding in suppressing our emotions? I’m going to say no. Face this off of all these suicides and.
02:20
the other lists of health issues that I have mentioned. But there obviously there is a time and place to compartmentalize doing a certain task. But having the strength and the vulnerability, like I said, to actually admit, it’s not even admit, it’s just take off that fake mask that you’re okay and actually talking about it and having a supportive cast around you that is in the.
02:47
the same type of culture of like, hey man, like you dealt with the death of a two year old yesterday. How are you doing? Are you able to focus? Like I can open that up a whole thing. And that should be part of the culture across the board, like showing empathy and actually talking to people because we’re not machines. We’re not machines. And that stuff can weigh on us over time and eventually could possibly lead to suicide, which I’m sure is stuff that happens. Absolutely. And I say that because I dealt with the death of a two year old and it messed me up for a really long time.
03:17
because the kid looked exactly like my son. Oh my God. You know, it’s kind of a derailed conversation too much, but there was parents, they put their kid to bed, their only kid in a crib, and then they wake up the next morning and he’s purple, cold, and rigid. So, of course they freak out, they call the fire department. Fire department comes, they do their thing, and eventually transport the kid to the hospital. At that time, I was in detective, so we responded to.
03:46
Anytime something like that suspicious that like some investigators are kind of come out and look around a little bit. So we get to the house, the parents are still at the hospital and looking in the house, there was all the same like colors and all the toys that are same as my house. But then it was also like a bunch of the plastic and little things that the paramedics take off the tools to try and save a life. So it was a little bit of like paramedic mess with that. So it was like a weird combination. And then we’re there.
04:14
For the first time, the parents come back home. And now they’re coming back home without their son. They’re coming into their home without their son. And we’re there. So just that combination of noises and cries and stuff, like, is difficult to deal with. There’s the sound, and not just that case, but there’s the sound a mother makes when she loses their child, that we have to be exposed to a whole bunch. And it’s not a sound that I recommend or would really like.
04:44
Hope people hear and those sounds man gets stuck in our heads So then we go to the hospital because we’re waiting for the corner and to do our like little check because the sad part is Sometimes people do weird things to kids. Sometimes people do weird things to their Adults, you know, there’s little signs will check like your lips Like if somebody gets a pillow put over the lip their head Like you can see on the inside of a lip
05:11
There’s different parts, petechia in the whites of the eyes. There’s like little signs that we can kind of like do a little cursory checkup. Just the fact that we have to do that sucks, but that’s the world. So the kids there on the bed, he’s got his PJ pants and he’s on the thing, like laying back on his back, those arms, like out of the slide like this. And it looked just like my kid. So we were there for like, in that room for like two hours with them, waiting for the corner. So finally the corner came.
05:41
she did her thing and we left. Well, of course, now I go home and I’m with my kid and it looks, so every time for long, for like two years, every time my kid like lift off his shirt and he’d say, get my belly, like just tickling, I would see the other kid. I had a hard time putting my son into his crib at night. Like, I had a hard time, I had to sit and stare and watch him all night long. Because there was no sign that that was gonna happen to those parents. They just put their kid in bed at night.
06:08
So I would put him down in there and then like, eventually like force myself to walk out of the room. And it was almost like I had forgotten how to walk. I was like, move the left foot, move the right foot, and you’re just like, you obviously can’t stay up all night long, watch your kid, like not die. It’s like a weird, weird thing.
06:28
So that took a while to get over, but that’s like one fault. This is still one fault.
06:33
Fast forward like another year, my youngest son ends up having to get transport to the hospital. This is a whole other side story. My youngest, we’ve had all kinds of stuff with my youngest son. So he was having trouble, his blood oxygen levels were low, he’s having trouble breathing from sickness. So he actually got transported from the pediatrician’s office by ambulance to this hospital. So I’m working and I meet them over there. And we’re like, same like room, but like a different bed.
07:02
like on the other side of the wall away from this room where this kid was. Wow. So I tell my wife, I’m like, you see that room over there? That’s where the kid was. I was like, I’m glad we’re not in there. Freaking five minutes later, you get moved into that room.
07:16
Yeah, now my kid is in the same room and same bed as this poor kid. What did that do to you? I was like, ah. Well, what ended up helping me is I stood in a different part of the room. I changed my perspective of the room. The best thing I could do in that moment. Technically, that room is better, afforded some privacy, and it made my wife and son more comfortable instead of just kind of being out in the open. And so the best thing I could do is change. I talked about it.
07:46
I told my wife about it and I again, I stood on the opposite side of the room and made it visually look a little different to me. But then you carry that for a long time and that’s just one in particular call. And for a lot of us, when we go around the cities that we work, we generally have bad memories in a lot of locations. Like, oh, I remember the domestic violence here, I remember the rape here, I remember the death there, I remember the murder over there. And people tend to forget that stuff. And then like, we’ll go to like, something terrible like that.
08:16
and then try and just relax and maybe finally go get a cup of coffee. And then someone makes comments to us. You can imagine all the silly comments like, Oh, don’t you have something better to do? Oh, is this what my tax dollars are paying for? And he’s kind of look at them just, just trying to make it through this day, you know, and I was not all calls are like that, but there are, there are these calls that are very impactful. And so, and the reason I bring them up is we have the physical component, right.
08:46
the internal environment, but then there’s also the emotional environment. And that is a huge component of something that we need to identify, talk about, and then understand how to self-regulate or take care of them. And then not only that, have it recognized that is a good thing to step forward and take care of us. It’s okay. Like, it’s okay. Like, it’s okay. It’s okay to hurt. It’s okay to cry. It’s okay to be in pain. It’s okay to not recover from something. You’re not less of a man. You’re not less of a woman.
09:14
take care of yourself. Those are normal human reactions to that. It honestly takes more courage to come forward and say, I am hurting, or I know that this happened two months ago, but I can’t get this out of my mind or, and again, there is a stigma attached to it. That conversation is one that people don’t want to have, whether it be on the outside or inside the profession. And if you can’t have that, and just like you’re saying too, I know a lot of law enforcement and a lot of people in the military, they don’t want to talk about that with their spouse because they don’t want to bring them into that. They don’t want to transfer that residue.
09:44
onto them. They want to have that as a sacred place where they can get away from it. But yet the deleterious effect is still there. It’s still with them. Yeah. And this is something I’ve learned through experience. A couple of things. One, I don’t want other people making decisions for me and not telling me something because they’re deciding to make a decision that I don’t want to hear it. Like who am I to say my wife doesn’t want to hear it? Please give her the opportunity to make that decision.
10:09
The other thing is, if you don’t heal what hurt you, you’ll bleed on people that didn’t cut you. So even if you’re trying, and I’m a complete work in progress here, I’m not perfect at this, but if I don’t take care of that or even articulate what’s going on with me, then I’m still injuring that relationship or I’m being distant from my kids or I’m being distant from my wife. But it’s okay for me to say, hey, I’m having a hard time, I’m gonna go to the garage for a little while. Even that’s a step.
10:39
But it’s still recognizing instead of fighting through it and then being short tempered and not paying attention and being distant, at least you’re allowing them in to be part of the team with you. Cause we can’t do this alone. I mean, I found that doesn’t work. No men’s an island. And if you want to continue this longterm or even if you’re in law enforcement for a little bit and you leave, because it’s the same thing, like you said, veterans come home and it’s the same thing. Their physicality goes away. They get into alcohol, they get into whatever it is, is a distraction.
11:09
that coping mechanism is no longer there. And now they have to figure something out. Yeah, so even, and I don’t have this fully thought out and I’m still on this path of trying to figure out life. Like, why don’t I tell my wife certain things? Or a lot of things rather, over the years. I used to just come home and not talk about my day at all. And I used to think like, oh, I don’t want to tell her these stories because I don’t want to, again, transfer this pain to her or have her like, I’m like, if she knew the truth or the stuff that we deal out there.
11:39
that’s gonna affect her and how she sees the world. So I’m making all these decisions to protect her but in turn I’m potentially hurting our relationship. So I’ve experimented and I’ve talked with certain things with her I brought up things to her and you know what man like she is super quote-unquote strong. I don’t know our friends and family that there are friends and family for a reason and they can cope with things pretty well.
12:05
and don’t underestimate their ability to be emotionally resilient to those stories. And then even if you don’t need them to do anything, just for you to articulate and tell the story and emotions that you’re going through is going to help you heal or anything that’s going to create an understanding between the two of you. So she or he kind of gives you some space and has some understanding on why you’re not being super excited about the new curtains. It robs you of your presence. It robs you of that joy. It robs you of the capacity to communicate.
12:35
Again, this is the anti-fragile mentality. Every time I have a disagreement with somebody, if there’s somebody that I truly care about, if we can clear the air and just be very honest about this is what I felt, this is what I thought you did, and this is what it meant to me. If we can do that and then they’re like, that’s not at all what I intended. This was what was going on. Now that’s an opportunity for us to get stronger. But like you’re saying, if we are doing the pseudo, the false stoicism, where it’s like, oh, I’m going to have a stiff upper lip. I’m just going to suck it up and step on.
13:03
again, that burns everything around you. You have squished earth by the time you figure it out. Yep. Even certain little things I’ve learned, like when I come home, I don’t immediately go in the house. Like I’ve noticed I need like a little buffer because even especially in LA, driving, so traffic isn’t really the best way to decompress. I’ve gotten better at it. Like there are ways you can make traffic a great opportunity. Like it’s a great time to listen to podcasts, you got time, or listen to books on tape, or listen to Ted Talks, you know.
13:32
The great opportunity, again, it’s an external thing. It doesn’t need to control your internal environment. But understanding that, okay, I still park and I still am not going immediately into my chaos, which is my five and seven year old and wife. But when I go in, I’m ready to give them attention and presence, because you really boil down to it, man. That is such an invaluable currency, and you don’t get that stuff back. It’s like, I’m gonna be here.
14:01
I’m present, I’m gonna give you my attention. And ideally, I’m distracted. And that’s another thing I’m working on, like the distraction part. And obviously the tie to the phone and all the other shenanigans that comes up and the holy scroll of the social media is understanding your hormonal attachment to those things. These are all components of where I’m improving on and trying to do better at. I highly recommend people figuring out what they need.
14:26
so they can give what is very much needed to their loved ones. It’s so important because the emotion that we’re trying to not experience is the one that we probably most need to experience. And then that will help pull on that thread to see where else we need some help. That’s the symptomatology of this underlying issue. But again, if we’re not able to do that, if we’re not able to communicate even with ourselves, you know, if we can’t be honest with ourselves, then how in the hell are we supposed to talk to somebody else and create that sort of trust, that sort of rapport?
14:54
Again, with ourselves even, right? If I’m telling myself I do this and I know deep down that I’m not, or if I say that I uphold the standard and I know deep down that I’m going to fall down in the heat of battle, that’s a way for me to, I’m literally just setting myself up to fail. And I know we can tee off on this one on how important self awareness, self knowledge or knowing myself. And you’ve been here, you see above me, that’s what that sign is up there. And understanding that like the
15:21
Our biggest enemy and the biggest battlefield of our life is in our own minds. So having an understanding of that and even understanding that what is negative thought bias, just be aware of like that voice that is like your own self-hater is always there, but it doesn’t mean he needs to drive the car, put the hater in the back seat, put the fear or the negative or the one that says it’s okay to be lazy and not work out or whatever it is that your goals, part of you is going to try and stop you.
15:48
It doesn’t matter what it’s something good or something’s going to try and stop you. So even having aware of that, I tell you a story that I, my offensive line coach told in college. I played football and we were in camp and like, we’re all beat up and sore and hot. We’re tired. There’s all kinds of stuff, like a bunch of reasons to complain. If you choose. It’s a great opportunity for you to choose to complain. Should you want to do that? And so he was telling this whole story and it will be a cuss word coming up for you kids out there.
16:17
But he says that he’s given his whole story about the voice inside your head, the little man on your shoulder that’s whispering in you. Like it’s okay to eat that cheeseburger at 12 o’clock at night. It’s okay to not work out. It’s okay to even cheat on your test, whatever it is, that little slack. He’s like telling you it’s okay to be lazy. It’s okay to whatever the thing. Right. So he’s like, sometimes you got to look over that shoulder and say, cute little man, till ever since he said that I’m like.
16:46
Yeah, sometimes you sometimes that’s what you got to say to that little devil on your shoulder. The switching gears, another thing to point out when it comes to the emotional aspect of all the stuff that we deal with. And a lot of these things are not necessarily military and law enforcement. Like human beings, we all go through some nasty stuff. Law enforcement tends to deliberately put into a whole bunch of stuff. But there’s a bunch of tactics and tools and things out there and people that are really good at helping people cope with stuff. And so I think in law enforcement and the military.
17:16
Uh, you know, I’ve heard, I haven’t done it yet. Maybe you have any experience from all of that, but the EMDR, I have heard of the EMDR, right? So eye movement, desensitization and reprocessing. I’m not exactly sure how it works, but I’ve heard great things about it and how it deals with, you know, especially when it comes to like specific traumatic events and emotionally being able to work through that and recover yourself from them. So that’s a tool, you know, if anyone listening or knows somebody.
17:45
that’s an asset out there. It’s a powerful asset for sure. So from all this experience that you’ve had, is that what led you to trying to cultivate a philosophical notion, the ability to reframe the Sisu way? Because I know that it’s an amalgam of everything from Zen to Stoicism to Buddhism to Taoism to anything that’s functional and pragmatic. Is that what led you down this path? Part of it. Even if everyone has their own definition, but what is philosophy?
18:13
Like if I can articulate something in a organized way, in something that something’s easily unpacked for them to absorb it and then maybe elevate their character or ability to cope with adversity or challenges. And that’s kind of like the goal. To really have the, you know, you have a person and then eventually you’re gonna have something that the person can have to go through. And so to have the awareness and the tools and the ability to deal with that, it’s kind of simple. But this easy way was pretty specific.
18:43
And it goes back to my own self-like state. I’ve always kind of been into reading these books, you know, like the art of living, you know, meditations, the art of war, like the pretty standard list. And those books ultimately are the ones I keep reading. I don’t just read a book once. Every time I go through and read it, it’s like a new book to me, because I’m at a different point in my life and what I’m going through. So my dad got cancer when my wife was pregnant with our first son.
19:13
So this was going to be his first grandson. So he’s fighting through cancer. He has tongue and throat cancer, was smoking, his face was swollen through, he had gone through a whole lot. And my dad was the kind of dad that was always my coach. He coached, always involved in the sports aspect. And luckily I had a mom that helped with the others, like the schoolwork and the school side. But he also was almost like this Irish stoic guy.
19:41
So I remember him crying twice. And he never was really articulate with his emotions. I didn’t really know that much about his childhood. We were like close, but there was a whole lot of stuff missing. And so at some point in time, it looked like he was not going to make it. And so it’s a trippy thing, because sometimes death builds up, which obviously it does for all of us. Sometimes it just happens right away. Sometimes it’s coming, but you don’t admit it. And so in this particular case, cancer.
20:11
when the chemo and the radiations and all the stuff wasn’t working. It’s like, okay, like it’s not working. He’s going to die. And that is a weird like road to cross. So not only did I have that awareness, but then I had a conversation with him. And this is a hard conversation to have with your dad. Like dad, can you write to your grandson? Just start writing. I was like, just start writing. I was like eight years later, I still get all like choked up by it. And telling him was like,
20:40
I’ll give it to him when he’s old enough. Like when he has the awareness, when he’s like 18, I’ll give it to him. So I was like, just start writing. Tell him whatever you want, tell him about your childhood, like just start writing. Then my son’s born. A week later, I get a call from my mom and she’s calling and all she’s doing is apologizing. And she’s apologizing, not because she’s telling me that my dad died, but apologizing because he didn’t finish writing. So my dad ended up writing, and he started writing.
21:09
two paragraphs in on the iPad, coughs up blood and died. So eventually I get ahold of that iPad and even in those two paragraphs was information I never knew about him. He was like articulate with his emotions and those information about childhood and it was just so beautiful and then gone. And so, you know, over time that kind of like changed how open I am and then eventually I just kind of like let go, I’m like, I have to let it all go. Like I gotta start writing.
21:39
I got to start sharing stuff and I need to start making it public. Cause I had, I had for a while, I was like, even social media, you know, growing up, even in being a law enforcement, like the culture is to be quiet, don’t say anything. Yeah. Suffering silence. Yeah. And you know, that’s eventually not working. So a lot of, if you were to go and look at my, um, even my Instagram, now I share like, if something bubbles up and I have a thought, you know,
22:08
Generally, I’ll write that emotion, I’ll pull over, I’ll stop and I’ll just write and then I’ll put it in the books. But the gigantic reason for not only the articulations on social media, but also in the podcast is in case something happens to me, I’m leaving stuff for my kids and I’ve seen death happen in too many ways and I see how sudden it is and I see sometimes how slow it is. There’s one thing for sure and that our time is not a guarantee.
22:37
And I know you know that, but like, we’re not like, I can go to the grocery store and not come back. And that is a reality that I see all the time. So having that and then trying to figure out like, well, how do I start leaving stuff for my kids? Like, do I write on an iPad? Do I write an email? So for a long time, I was trying to figure out how to do that. Even if you use like a evergreen app or something like that, like maybe that business goes, that goes out of business. Or if I, if I write in a book, like what if there’s a fire or it gets lost or.
23:07
I don’t know, even leaving files in a computer. What if the computer crashes? Like there’s so many things that I’m like. And so I was like, well, if I do social media, or if I put it on the internet, by the time that they’re a little older, they’re going to find everything. They’re going to be much better internet stuff than we ever are. And so I just started putting it out there. And then same thing with podcasts. My first episode was titled, For Dad. And it was just me. It was just me talking. And I shared some stories.
23:36
I shared some poems about him or shared letters that I had actually written to him. And a lot of the stuff I was that episode was also to leave that for my kids to find, to understand what happened with their grandfather. Turns out it also helped a lot of people throughout the world, cope, deal with relationships with their parents. I had, I mean, the feedback I’ve gotten from that one episode alone has been fantastic. There was one example, a guy in South Korea hit me up and he’s like,
24:04
As much as I reached out and I’m reconnected with my dad after 10 years of having a disagreement. Like, just stuff like that. And so that type of thing is also why I use the tulip and the skull and the hourglass and the whole memento mori stuff on my social media posts and a lot of the overall, a lot of the vibe I have going on. And it is that reminder that remember you will die. So having that little flicker of a thought helps you appreciate now because nothing’s guaranteed.
24:34
So that is the backdrop for the CCWay. What ended up happening with my second son is my wife got pregnant and then about 20 weeks, 21 weeks in, you know, we do these tests and then they’re like, oh, you don’t hear anything from us, like everything’s fine. Well, we get a call, we go in, turns out he was severely amyemic and kind of long story short, there’s something in my blood along the surface of my red blood cells that my wife doesn’t have.
25:04
It’s called Kel. I’m Kel-positive. It’s a rare thing. Turns out, but it’s not even a thing that you get tested for until a situation like this. So 50% chance that that gets passed on to my kids with my wife. So my first kid turns out, he got it. And at some point during the pregnancy, like some of his blood got into my wife. He cannot find. So now my wife started developing antibodies for that. So baby two comes around, baby two.
25:33
He killed positive, now he’s in an environment where mom’s immune system is attacking his red blood cells and ability to create red blood cells. So essentially, he was dying. Her immune system was killing the threat. So we met with the doctor and we had to make a decision whether to abort or to fight. And when he said fight, he had to know that there’s a chance of the baby is going to be blind, deaf, or some type of…
26:03
you know, genetic disorder, all the things, there’s a high risk. The way we continue is you would get, she would get entry into blood transfusions. So we go in and like this whole surgery thing, and the needle will go through the stomach, you know, into the womb, into a vein on the tiny little umbilical cord to do blood transfusions. So we came to a crossroads like, what do you do in that? What do you do in that situation? It’s a weird position to ask a parent. So we decided to fight. Okay, we’ll fight. We’ll do it.
26:32
Well, the surgery came up and she had thought that the baby had passed because she hadn’t felt any movement. And so we go in for the procedure and all she wanted to do was have the nurse or someone check to see if there was a heartbeat. Just tell me, is there a heartbeat? Luckily there was. So she goes in with the surgery, I’m in the waiting room and eventually all the doctors come out walking towards me and the doctor had all the staff. So I was like, oh, this isn’t good. Like he’s bringing support. Like in case I go crazy.
27:03
Well, he sits down, he’s like, we can only do half the blood transfusion because the baby’s blood was at a level of two, where basically the blood was like water. So they had to sedate the fetus and do half of it. And then we’d have to come back a week later because like that’s how he’s so anemic and so his skull was like enlarged. There was fluid between the scalp and the brain. The heart was like two thirds the size of the chest. Like he was a mess.
27:31
So we’re in the car and we’re all like, defeated. And then eventually we get home and we’re sitting there on the couch and the TV’s on, but we’re both have like a thousand yard spare, just like completely just defeated. And then all of a sudden she reaches over, bam, grabs my arm, pulls it over onto her stomach. And then I feel like the, like the, this is Sparta kick. Bam, just on my hand. And that was the first time I felt that guy move.
27:58
And he hit me and it was like a jolt of energy, like electricity just flowed through me. And I was like, boom, that’s it, we’re gonna make it, we’re fighting, everything’s gonna be fine. To switch, like, I don’t think I’ve ever been as inspired by a human being as I was by that like 22 week old fetus. Like it was like, I don’t know, take like the feeling you get watching a Rocky movie, but like multiply it. So we went through like, I don’t know, five or six more of these surgeries. She was in labor and delivery for a month. Jeez. Living there.
28:27
Um, so I was working, trying to take care of my two and a half year old at the time. Eventually he, when he was born, had to come out early, get an apcar score. Two is wasn’t breathing from bill record was all wrapped around. Well, I’ve got score one, sorry. Wasn’t a good, like he’s had it rough, but he has a strong will, like super strong will, which eventually is why we named him Connor. So he, he fought through and had that like strength and determination.
28:57
face of adversity. And so with him in this process and then he’s been in and out of the hospital with like I said with breathing with him he’s been off like three times I think four. There’s been a whole bunch of stuff that’s going on with him but he’s strong and he’s made the best of all these opportunities. This coupled with my son and having that that resilient little spirit helped with even calling it the CCA and having that unconquerable soul
29:26
indomitable spirit and that’s tied in. So he’s even, so initially I got the poster, it was just CC that had all the poster, that’s actually on my website, similar. I had it up in our living room. So every time we left, it was a reminder. And so this is where this whole thing transformed. It kind of like got in the melting pot. And then me coupled with my creative outlet and how to cope with even my own stuff and cope with stuff at work. And that’s why I even say on interviews or on the openings that I love to connect with unconquerable souls.
29:56
Because people like you, we all have these stories out there. And again, we are what we’ve overcome. And so these are the stories that I like to tell and to share. And obviously, within my own creative outlet, I have solo episodes. I’ve covered stuff on the Four Agreements with Don Miguel Ruiz. I’ve covered some stoicism. I’ve contrasted that with the Toltec philosophy with Don Miguel. I’ve had a grief episode. I’ve covered some Martin Luther King stuff on the sermon
30:26
loving your enemies. So I’m having my own like, it’s almost like doing my own like book reports, but like on a podcast. But it’s kept me as a student. It’s another thing I like about it. It’s constantly pushing and staying in student mode. The thing too is, and everyone, if you’re listening, go subscribe, go subscribe to Sisu Wei, go check out everything. This guy’s got amazing shirts. He’s got framed tenants of the Sisu Wei and these ideas. And that’s why you and I connect so well because we’re cut from the same cloth.
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The people that I know that truly live philosophy are the ones that are not just spouting off adversity as a gift, that helps us move away, yada, yada, yada. They’re literally living it because it means something to them. So that’s a very compelling why for your father. And I love that you are not waiting to start writing. I love that you’re not waiting until there’s no other option for you. And so you have this huge opportunity. Again, you’re writing to your kids. You’re writing to your father.
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But in so doing, you’re helping the world. And that connection is what we need more of. And that fearless ability to look at our inadequacies, that ability to look at us worse than all and see, man, I’m not doing well here. I had a bad day. And it’s not just a bad day. There’s something else that’s going on. And by you standing up and talking about it and not being afraid to open that up, your courage will empower so many people.
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And it obviously is, it’s doing it for millions. And this conversation, you being so raw and just transparent is awe-inspiring to me. Well, thank you. I mean, I would like to say that in the way I write, at no point in time have I thought, like, oh, I’m gonna try and be inspiring, right? I’m not trying to be motivating or inspiring. If somebody feels that way, like if you feel inspired, that decision is yours. Like if I have this piece of art,
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I did this painting and this is what the painting means to me. You can come in and have a totally different feeling, but that’s how you feel. So that’s something I think is important and I tell people, I’m not like a motivational or inspiring guy. I’m a guy that’s like trying to make it through life the best that I can and help people along the way. But that’s what the connection is. I’m the same way. I’m not trying to inspire people. I try to keep most of my stuff laconic and simple. Some of it has to be more eloquent because that’s how I can permeate into people.
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so that it gets beyond some of that so that they actually will listen. But in the end, we’re trying to accomplish this goal, this mission to help people. And just like with you, the right people find us and you said they find us at the right time. So Scott, I can’t thank you enough, brother, for being here, for doing what you do, for the work you do, not only in the public sector, protecting others, but trying to protect the mental health and the physicality of other people with your writings, with your work, with the podcast.
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And I look forward to many more discussions in the future, whether they be recorded on a podcast or whether they just be in person or on the phone, my friend. So where’s the best way for us to hear more and learn more about you and what you’re working on with the Sisu Way and the Sisu movement? Well, my Instagram is at Scott McGee. Kind of easy. I very much do my best to stay on top of like any direct message I get because I don’t feel any different than anybody else out there. Someone shoots me a message like I’m going to respond to you and try and do my best to do it quickly.
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There’s also Instagram and Facebook page at the CC way and it’s S I S U. That’s how you spell CCU. The podcast, the CC way is on all the platforms. I haven’t had an episode in the last few months and I don’t look at that as a bad thing either. I do an episode where I’m overwhelmed with the passion and I feel like I need to do it. Over time. I personally don’t want to do any episode.
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or I feel stressed like I need to do it. I don’t stifle the passion. I don’t stifle that generous impulse or anything. So that’s how I do those episodes. I’m just overwhelmed, I need to do it. Yeah, you’re a quality over quantity guy like I am. And that’s where the magic is, that’s where the power is. There are people that can be fooled by superfluousness and bullshit flattery, but the people that we’re trying to connect to are the ones that are actually, they want that. They want that substance. And if it takes them a month or two to get a new episode.
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So be it because I’ll wait for it because it’s worth it. Yeah. And it’s also the way I do episodes. I pour, that’s the best job that I can do in that moment, in that podcast. And I do that out of respect for the guests and the listeners like it. And that takes a lot of time to really prepare for it. And, you know, I got work going on and then family. And so right now with COVID going on, my kids are home all the time.
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And so I’m aware of that attention currency and I want to make sure I’m available for them. And I don’t feel bad at all about it because the podcast will be right there ready to go when I’m ready to hit record. Yep. That’s why I love doing stuff like this. This doing these types of interviews with you, who you get to do the research and prep. And it’s just as you know, it’s much easier to come on as a guest. It absolutely is. But the beautiful thing is I got to meet you in person. I got to experience you. We got to sweat together.
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I got to be interviewed by you and again, you are very meticulous and I’ve been interviewed, you know, over a hundred times and yours stands out in my mind because of that connection, because of that real questioning as opposed to just saying, so blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, which favorite color, you know, I, I don’t have to follow that in my life. And I know that you don’t like it. Well, thank you for noticing. Of course, of course. I mean, for those of you that don’t know, he had his pin and pad out there and it was like
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He was going directly where he needed and he wanted to make sure that he connected everything. And here’s the part of it that people don’t see as an interviewer. There’s an art to that. There’s an art to being able to be present and then saying, wow, this is powerful. I would like to take it this direction. Or there’s a part of it that’s like, so tell us about when you died, Marcus. Wow, that’s horrible. So what’s your favorite food? Again, there’s no continuity there. But by being able to do those things and then weave them seamlessly into your philosophy, into what you’re working on, into what you do every day.
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That is the sign of a great interviewer. So thank you for that time. Well, thank you. And for your listeners, it’s on the CC way, it’s episode 34 in which you were on. Awesome. And we’ll link all this stuff in the show notes, my friends. So, outstanding. Listen, I want to be respectful of your time. Thank you again. And like I said, I look forward to talking to you again soon, my friend. Awesome. Thank you for listening to this episode of Acta Non Verba.
