Words of Wellness with Shelly

How Hitting Rock Bottom, A Former Pro Pitcher Eric Mark Fischer Rebuilds A Life Of Wellness And Purpose

• Shelly Jefferis • Season 2 • Episode 138

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The highlight reel doesn’t show the cost. Eric Mark Fisher went from an eight-year run in professional baseball to producing films in Los Angeles, stacking wins that looked impressive from the outside. Underneath, surgeries, lawsuits, back pain, and volatile family dynamics collided with a relentless drive that had no brakes. Alcohol didn’t arrive as a stereotype; it crept in as “one more” and became a progressive escape until a terrifying psychotic break, a hospital wristband, and a vow in a quiet hotel room forced a different path.

We dig into what it takes to rebuild a life from the inside out. Eric shares how inpatient detox introduced him to vulnerability as strength, how studying Jung, Rogers, and modern psychology helped him name the shadows he’d been avoiding, and why identity must be rooted in principles rather than titles. We unpack the difference between perception and perspective, the trap of white‑knuckle 30‑day challenges, and the power of starting so small you can’t fail. And by applying practical tools such as journaling, you can help yourself create sustainable change.

Wellness here isn’t a trend; it’s a lifestyle. We talk health span over lifespan, simple nutrition that actually works, daily movement you’ll keep, and sleep as non‑negotiable. More importantly, we explore how to author your future with clarity: map your aims, choose tradeoffs on purpose, and build momentum through tiny, repeatable wins. Eric now coaches clients through lifestyle design and addiction recovery, turning hard‑earned lessons into a path others can walk with fewer detours and more grace.

If this conversation moves you, share it with a friend who needs hope, subscribe for more grounded wellness stories, and leave a quick review to help others find us. Your next step can be small—just make it today.


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Thank you for listening to the Words of Wellness podcast with Shelly Jefferis. I am honored and so grateful to have you here and it would mean the world to me if you could take a minute to follow, leave a 5-star review and share the podcast with anyone you love and anyone you feel could benefit from the message.

Thank you and God Bless! And remember to do something for yourself, for your wellness on this day!
In Health,

Shelly

SPEAKER_01:

Change is hard. Change is progressive. Just like alcoholism, entering the life of the person is progressive. Nobody wakes up want it wanting to be an addict. Nobody. It's gravitational, right? And so the devil doesn't chase what it's already got.

SPEAKER_00:

Do you get confused by all of the information that bombards us every day on ways to improve our overall health and our overall wellness? Do you often feel stuck, unmotivated, or struggle to reach your wellness goals? Do you have questions as to what exercises you should be doing? What foods you should or shouldn't be eating? How to improve your overall emotional and mental well-being? Hello everyone. I am so excited to welcome you to Words of Wellness. My name is Shelley Jeffries, and I will be your host. My goal is to answer these questions and so much more. To share tips, education, and inspiration around all of the components of wellness through solo and guest episodes. With 35 plus years as a health and wellness professional, a retired college professor, a speaker, and a multi-passionate entrepreneur, I certainly have lots to share. However, my biggest goal and inspiration in doing this podcast is to share the wellness stories of others with you, to bring in guests who can share their journey so that we can all learn together while making an impact on the health, the wellness, and lives of all of you, our listeners. The ultimate hope is that you leave today with even just one nugget that can enhance the quality of your life, and that you will, we all will, now and into the future, live our best quality of lives full of energy, happiness, and joy. Now let's dive into our message for today. Hello, everyone. Welcome back to Words of Wellness. My name is Shelly, and I will be your host. And my guest today has a very, very full background to share with us a lot of exciting things he has done and a lot of lifestyle experiences he has overcome to bring him to what he's doing today. He was a professional athlete, and that certainly caught my eye, having two boys who are baseball players. He's a father, he's an entrepreneur, he's a lifestyle coach, and I'm sure there's many more things he's going to share with us. So welcome, Eric Fisher. I'm excited to have you here.

SPEAKER_01:

Thank you, Shelly. I'm excited to be here with you. Yeah, have a good conversation and balance two-way when-win, you know. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, for sure. And I again, I just, you know, I love doing these interviews because it's such a great way to meet people like yourself that I wouldn't have met otherwise. I know we have a lot to dive into, and we were talking a little bit before we got started. But of course, one of the things that caught my eye was the fact that you were a professional athlete and you were an athlete professionally for eight years, did you say?

SPEAKER_01:

Eight years, yeah. Yeah. Eight years with the White Sox and twins. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

So that must have been pretty exciting, right?

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, it it was. It was something. So I had always I'm I'm 45 years old. We have two daughters and who are 10 and 13, and so life is busy. And and now that I'm on the other side of alcohol addiction, I I have the ability to look back, you know, and and looking back into my life, I had always wanted to do, only wanted to do two things, one of which is play it, you know, play professional baseball, make it to the major leagues. And I had this teacher, Miss Bailey. I don't remember much when I was a child necessarily, but I do remember this. And um, you know, we were in second grade and and filling out that sheet of paper, like what are mom and dad do, and and and what do you want to be and do when you grow up? And I put major league baseball player, and she she stood over top of me and crossed it out and said, put something down more realistic. Yeah, see, I have yeah, and so I I did what most boys would do, or most kids in general, just like you know, be felt brokenhearted. And I went back and probably cried to my mother and what have you, and she encouraged me. I have great parents and they're still together, still alive, and all this. And and um, and she said, Well, write it down again. And so I did, and you know, I still have that in one of my offices framed, and so I had always wanted to be a pro athlete since I was very young, and I was gifted with the talent. Um, talent will take you so far, you know, and then it it comes down to what? It comes down to work ethic, uh, relentlessness and perseverance, and just because you fell doesn't mean you're hurt type mentality, right? It's a go, go, go. And that served me quite well, but it all, but but that's sort of sharp on both sides. And so um I I was a I went to Mollar High School in Cincinnati, which is a well-known school for athletes. It's a private all-boys Catholic prep school. Ken Griffey Jr. went there, Barry Larkin went there. I'm a I'm the low man on the totem pole, so to speak, coming out of that school. But nonetheless, it put me on a platform for for you know, being recruited and and all of this. And I signed at the University of Tennessee for a baseball scholarship and then got drafted. I was the 83rd high school pick in the country in 1998 by the Chicago White Sox. And after negotiating, I ended up signing. So I forewent college and went into the minor leagues and um, you know, kept that gas pedal down. And I ended up having four surgeries, and I was flying through the minor leagues, and then I was a starting pitcher, left-handed starting pitcher, and I wasn't used to that workload. Um, being an amateur pitcher and playing multiple sports as well, which I think is a whole different conversation because I'm still in the sports, youth sports world as a coach. And and these kids are are focusing, uh, you know, the sports have turned into it's all data driven, and um, which has its own set of you know pros and cons to that. But um, I was a multi-sport athlete and it and also a division one college basketball uh prospect. And so I had a lot going on in my life and I wasn't used to the workload. And so my arm when I got into the minor leagues, it's it's you're playing every day, and I was pitching every five days, and so my my and my mechanics were off a little bit, and um, so I my arm was breaking down and I got I got rule, I had three surgeries with the I had two surgeries with the White Sox, and then I got what's called rule five drafted over to the Minnesota Twins, which is a basically for those who don't know what a rule five draft is, it's it's a draft within professional baseball, and it's basically essentially it's a money trade. So the Minnesota Twins, after five, I think it's five years, you become a free agent. And then depending on where you're protected in the system in the big leagues, 40-man roster, downwards into AAA, double A, they another team can come and purchase your rights. And so the twins purchased my rights, and now I'm in instead of being in Tucson, Arizona for spring training, I'm down at Fort Myers. And it's funny because we were in our early 20s and we used to call that, you know, Fort Misery. Because you're well, because you're you're young and you're kind of, you know, you're a pro athlete, but you like to have some fun, and Naples is right there, so there's all the retirement folks and and whatnot. But yeah, so my career was over after eight and a half years due to largely due to four arm surgeries. And I was I was certainly one of those those athletes that was that was uh definably defined by the game, um, in terms of who I was and why I was playing the game and what else was in my life that gave me a sense of purpose and a sense of meaning. And and so I I lacked that. I you know, I traded one high octane industry for another because when I got done with baseball, I I remember sitting on the trunk of my car, a little BMW convertible in my parents' driveway, actually. And my agent called me and said, you know, the twins are probably going to release you. And sure enough, the GM called me and said, you know, Eric, you you need two more surgeries. You're 25, 26 years old. I had signed when I was 18 out of high school. I just turned 18. And so now you fast forward those years, and I'm 26 or so. And and um my career was over, and I had that moment of, what do I do? What am I gonna do? And um, I had some money, but nothing, nothing that's gonna retire you. You know, I still and I'm a worker by trade. I mean, I it's like, what does money really give you at the end of the day? Money comes and goes, and you can't leave with it. So um I knew I needed and wanted something else. And the only other thing that I'd wanted to do was make movies, you know, and um I found myself I moved to LA. I rented out or sold, I rented out my condo that I just purchased. I just had this thing downtown Cincinnati. It was sweet, it overlooked the city, the stadiums. And um, but I didn't really even live in it. And I enrolled, see Major League Baseball. When you when you get drafted out of high school, Major League Baseball will will will kind of gift you, you have to negotiate it a little bit, but a scholar a college scholarship. And so I took that money, I had$109,000 to go to college, um, university of my choosing, and I thought to myself, you know, like I'm single. I know college education for me has always been a priority, and I can go where better to go than Southern California, LA. And so I packed my bags, you know. I put my keyboard and my guitar in the back of my car and packed as little as I knew I needed, clothes mainly. And I knew one other actor in LA that was doing the whole, you know, waiting tables and bartending and auditioning and on the grind that way. And I I known that world because of baseball. And um, so yeah, I enrolled into Cal State Northridge, rented out my condo, sold my baseball facility to another pro guy, and um, and I drove across the country with a mindset of Spielberg's not gonna come knocking on my door, but damn it, I'll find his and those, I'll blow those hinges off. And it worked, you know. I mean, I made I've made a lot of movies and and then opened up a finance division and got married and had two two beautiful, healthy little girls, and um, and um yeah, so that was like that took me up until about 35 years old.

SPEAKER_00:

It's an amazing, there's so much more to share here and unpack, but amazing where you went from one grind to another, and how you you were able to switch because I'm sure such a big part of this, especially with baseball, like you're saying, that was what you knew and then what you planned to do. So when that is taken away, that's like your entire identity. And to be able to switch it, I think is pretty, pretty incredible. However, I think I'm guessing that along the way, that might have led you into what turned into be more of an addiction and an issue with with alcoholism. Is that right? Do you feel like that?

SPEAKER_01:

Or yeah, yeah. I mean, I I've I've ripped myself apart, you know, like Carl Jung says, you will find what you need most, where you least want to look. And I I read that, I well, I read that. I was told that by a psychologist when I was inpatient rehab, which I'll I'll I'll tell that story. Um so I was defined by the game of baseball, and then I became defined by this whole filmmaker title. So I'm on the red carpet and I'm doing, I'm financing movies and being a part of films like John Wick and Blue Mountain State, and I'm working at a high level, and I earned all that. Nobody gave that to me. And I I think that mindset fundamentally is lacking in today's society. Like there's a whole lot of entitlement, and that you can you can, you know, parents are glass houses when they have young kids because young children do not know how to filter what is true and what is not true. And so, um, you know, I I I give a lot of speeches and and help parents on this same thing is like just because your child, like I mentioned earlier, falls doesn't mean they're hurt. You know, you've got to push your kids out into the world so they understand what resilience is and and uh living a proactive life, not a reactive life, and this whole instant gratification and social media has a role to play in that. But you know, the devouring mother and parent syndrome is real. Um, but so that all being said, I did not I was naive to alcoholism, I was naive to mental health because I I grew up my father, 78 and an entrepreneur, division one football player. He's a product of Vietnam. My grandfather, his father was World War II. And so this mentality, and then you factor in, you factor in being German and being Catholic, you know, like like that's that's that finger pointing, that's that finger pointing male of like, I'm just telling you how you need to act, boy. You know, and I had that in me, and I was surrounded by this mindset of, you know, keep the gas pedal down, shake a firm hand, look him in the eye. If you cry, you're weak, sleep when you're dead. So the vulnerability, and Brene Brown says, without vulnerability, there is no such thing as courage, being courageous. And I find these little little pieces in my studies that that are profound, in my view, and they're and they're and they're true, you know. And so I was I was lacking vulnerability because I my view of it was I was weak. And so when you're in these industries and you voluntarily choose to be in them, that mindset of go get it serves you. But it again, it's it's sharp on both sides because there's what else is with that, right? No brake pad, um, high octane, which is dopaminergic. We're we're we're chasing the high, we're chasing the dopamine, we're chasing the excitement, you know? And that feeling can be likened to when when we're in kind of eighth grade in the early phases of dating, we're attracted to somebody and and it and it's all-consuming, you know, we feel compelled. It's like a spirit. We feel compelled to them. Why aren't they calling me back? Where are they going? Let's take them out on you know on a date to go to the little mall or a movie or, you know, and that's what that's what I had. When I felt like I wanted to achieve something, I I felt palpably compelled towards it. And then alcohol became the same thing. And so three things happened to me uh that that that kind of made me wake up in a way because it it took me to like near death. And and I I had always been a casual drinker, like, like I was mentioning before we you know started recording, is yeah, I was the guy who I I enjoy, used to, I used to enjoy a nice glass of wine and having some beers on the golf course with the guys, grilling out, you know, and and but I never woke up needing a drink. But I'm but so addicts, people with an addiction, um are highly impulsive. They um typically live in a in a my way highway type world. They don't they're not in tune with their vulnerability, and there's a lot of ADHD, so hyperact hyperactive thoughts, kind of like where's the squirrel mixed with hold my beer. And and um I was certainly that. And so I was in a lawsuit. I had financed Paul Walker's uh last movie before he passed away, and at the time he was coming off his most recent Fast and the Furious franchise movie, and and he had passed away when we were in post-production. That movie's called Vehicle 19, and so a lawsuit spun up, and I was tangled up in that. And then I had been recruited over to um Spearhead. So there's a there's a a prominent film financing company out of LA and New York, and now they have an office in Paris, but they were looking to capture more business in the Midwest. And I'm from Cincinnati, Ohio, and on our we had a three-year-old at the time who's now 13, and a brand new little baby. October's her birthday. She was like fresh baby, and and I worked this arrangement with with this company whereby I would spearhead the the so they were a senior lender in the tax credit space, which is a negative cost to a film producer's budget. And so um, it's highly competitive, they're the leader, and they they had financed a couple of my movies in the past, and our relationship was a was a good one and trustworthy. And so my job was to open up and and expand them into production on the creative side, and so a film producer's brain is dynamic in the in the sense that your your creative prowess um comes to the surface. So you have the ability to understand story and character arc and work with directors and the actors and cinematographers and screenwriters. But then on the business, business side, I'm I'm also in charge with of bringing in the financing, arranging licensing and distribution, product placement um globally. And so that was my job. And so long-windedly, we were gonna move from LA and move in move to Cincinnati and split time between LA, Cincinnati, and New York with sin. And I married a fellow filmmaker, and so um that all fell apart because we on our move to Cincinnati, I was in this lawsuit, and um I on the move, I had I I just got uh done running a half marathon, and I was in pretty good shape. And I I was helping the movers move us into a house, and I shattered my L5S1 back, and so my my disc, and I had this extreme sciatica pain. And then, but you know, the lawsuit and the the back pain, which ended up I ended up having back surgery, um, that didn't break me. And it's and it's interesting, one other piece broke me that was extremely personal. And when I mentioned earlier that I was naive to mental health, my ex-mother-in-law has borderline personality disorder. And I had no idea what that what that really was. But our we were married for 10 years and just south of 10 years, and the attacks, I know that disease intimately now, and but I didn't know what the attacks on our family were vicious, they were intentional, they were comprehensive, malevolent, tyrannical, and targeted. And as a as a as a male who has a wife and two female two daughters, um, provider, protector, lover, like all those things, let's say, um, I lost any sense of who I was over the course of time. And then and then I didn't have the support because my ex is also borderline personality disorder. And so and and then that begs the question, because your listeners, I like when I go on podcasts, I need to be very careful with how, and and when I speak, very careful about this stuff as it relates to addiction, because by no means am I saying, well, I'm a victim, you know, they they outside in forced me to drink. That's not what I'm saying. I do believe, um, which I'll get into my studies here in a minute, how my life has changed, but but it does start and stop with the person who's choosing to drink, or choosing the heroin or cocaine, or the porn, or the scrolling on social media, or the over spending, right? On Amazon. You wake up and they all of a sudden they like everything is so instant. You know, there's over there's addictions to a lot of different things, not just alcohol. Mine was alcohol, there was no cross addiction, there was no violence in the home, there was no punching walls and screaming. I was in a serious bout of depression and isolation, you know, and and us humans are creatures of connectivity. I felt isolated, I didn't feel supported, and I was in physical back pain. And before you know it, I you start drinking, and it and it starts with, you know, having one extra at in the evening, and then it starts, and then it proceeds to be well, today's an early day of work, and and I can just have a cocktail early before I go home. You know, it starts small. Alcoholism is progressive, and people who are having, you know, that one extra at the end of the night, or needing that one before they go to the dinner, or the having the one at the house before they go to lubricate their mind, that's dangerous. That's very dangerous. And and if anybody listening, like I I coach in this space, I I do my best to help as many people as possible because I was the man who on the outside had it all, you know. I mean, money, beautiful wife, healthy children, living in LA, and you know, I mean, on the outside it looked great.

SPEAKER_00:

I mean, it just seems like you're the, I don't want to say the poster person for it, but it's that's what you see, right? It's like you see this outside world that they're in or their outside reality that it's not really their their inner reality. So I'm just so fascinated by this because this is something that gradually happened for you and for our listeners too. I mean, this is something that, as Eric is sharing, this is something that he coaches on and works with people in this whole area of addiction. So um, you know, please keep in mind and we'll share his his contact information at the end of the end of the show. But you how long did it take you to realize I have a problem?

SPEAKER_01:

Oh, I knew. I knew you knew right away. Yeah, I mean, well, like I mentioned, it's progressive, you know, it's like, oh, because I again I had the mindset of like if there's a problem, I'll solve it. And that I mean, and that's that's a proactive. I had a lot of proactive, you know, the book of Seven Habits of Highly Affected People by Stephen Covey is a magical book because it speaks to like reactive lifestyles, proactive lifestyles, and and um, and so I knew the addict knows what they're doing is wrong. They know, but there's a big difference between be able knowing it, being able to say it, and then taking action to solve it. And that's and that and and then you know, it's it's it's deep, it's complex, and and I'm around this all the time now. And um, you know, the the and and this is why I I I speak a lot about intrinsic motivators, intrinsic lifestyle. This is a lifestyle somebody's building, it's not a hobby, it's not band-aid fixes, it's that's all that's not sustainable, it's tactical, it's finite. There's an end state to that. And that's part of the reason why at the top of the year, you know, I'm I'm getting the gym membership, that doesn't last. Or I'm going 30 days without alcohol, that does not last. I know the data because because our brain, we always want what we can't have. And when we when we self-impose laws and rules on ourselves, on ourselves, we look to break those. It's hum again, it's human nature, rooted in biology through millennia since it's part of our evolution. And so when those 30-day hards go, you're white knuckling it in your brain. Once you get to like day 25, 26, 27, your brain says, Oh, I'm almost there, I'm almost there. First of February, you're cracking the drink. And so, and and you know, there's a difference also between how do you define alcoholism, how do you define addiction? You know, it's it's it's my view of it is just kind of layman terms, is if you are trying to stop and you cannot stop, you're on the clock. Most people, and I would concur that people only change for two primary reasons. One of which is the pain of our current situation is worse than the pain that it's going to take to overcome and heal. Which, or on the more let's say, optimistic side would be somebody sets forth a vision for themselves that is that others would deem so uh unrealistic that, but all that person sees and they think about it all the time. That when they're eating, they think about it, they're drinking, they think about it, they dream about it when they're asleep, they wake up, they're just relentlessly obsessed with that goal for themselves that's long-term and upwards in aim. And so change is hard, change is progressive, just like alcoholism, entering the life of the person is progressive. Nobody wakes up what wanting to be an addict. Nobody, you know, and then when you have the courage and vulnerability to say, I'm going to change, um, it's progressive on the other side as well, because that devil and best friend always wants to pull you back. It's it's gravitational, right? And so the devil doesn't chase what it's already got. Um and so you know, when you try to escape it, it it pulls you back until and that's day-over-day work, it really is. And the deeper you go, the more spiritual it becomes, and then there's an awakening, and then you are quite literally a different person. And that's what happened to me. You know, I ended up in the hospital, I I I was in severe psychosis, um, and I um I had all these imaginary friends, and I couldn't stand uh because I knew I would fall over and I wasn't eating, and I called my mother, I'd fallen and cracked my head open, and I called my mother. I was divorced at this time, and and um and called 911. They came, got me, rushed me through, stripped all my clothes off me, ushered me through very quickly through CAT scans and MRIs, and and then I was up in the hospital room and um I had needles all all through my arms and I'd one in my neck, and um I didn't really know where I was. And it's interesting because you had these and and and when you're in psychosis, you're not really aware of where you are. It's this euphoric type feeling in a way. But then you have these moments of of complete clarity, and I remember I remember certain things extremely well, just like they happened like minutes ago. And I checked myself out of the hospital after about three or four days. I um was bouncing around these Ubers because on my iPhone, all the numbers and keyboard, they were all popping out at me and talking to me. And I thought that I had people after me and and the Ubers, like you type in an address, I was going to detox, but I didn't have the the doctor gave me a phone number to detox. And but in Minneapolis, I I didn't know the city. I I didn't know where I was because I just moved here to rejoin the family. And um and so I was actually like literally lost in the city. I didn't know anything about it. And so I was typing in these addresses to find the detox on a Saturday evening, and Ubers set up in a way that once you once you reach the address, they drop you. And and I did I was getting dropped off by all these Ubers. And um I ended up around 9 p.m. I ended up in downtown Minneapolis with hospital booties on and no shoes. And so I was you talk about rock bottom, and then and then what did I do? I went to the bar. I went to the bar and I got chicken wings, and I had these three people in Imaginary that were trying to grab the chicken wings, and now I can kind of have a laugh about it, you know. But at the time it was extremely serious, and up to that point in time, I was a binge drinker, so I'd go on these stretches of just really drinking and drinking and drinking, and then and then I'd stop for a little bit and then drinking. Again, severe drinking. And I, you know, I was so lost that I didn't know I didn't know myself at all. Everything in my world had di disappeared. And and so I end up in this hotel room that I stayed in when I had moved to Minneapolis just for a couple weeks, but that was the only place I knew. And this, and long short of it, I ended up in this hotel room and I called my mother and I said, Mom, I don't know what it's been a couple years now since I've been fighting this. My world has shattered. I'm not seeing my kids. I'm like, I really don't know what the world holds for me and what my life will look like in the future, but I do know I'm never having a drink ever again. And the next day I was on a plane to South Florida for inpatient root detox. And that's where my world, and the story is deeper than that, but but we're on a we're on a time, we're on the clock, I suppose. So, you know, that's where I changed. That's where I started to change as an inpatient rehab surrounded by fellow brokenness. I had never known my entire life vulnerability. You know, I'm six foot five, 215 pounds, 10% body fat, athlete, like, you know, go-getter, entrepreneur, successfully. And I had never known, I had never one time in my life known what vulnerability looked like until I was in that place because I was surrounded by support, unilateral, objective support. And I was the person who would have said, like, if you would have asked me in my 20s and early 30s, you know, Eric, you should probably go talk to somebody. I would have looked at you and said, I'm not seeing any shrink. I'm not seeing that's what I would have said. I would have said, you know, and and what happened was I absolutely fell head over heels in love with human behavior and psychology and philosophy, and trying to understand initially why I broke. Why what happened in my past? How was my childhood, my mother, my father, my coaches, my teachers, my peers? How did all this spiral into where I where my feet are, you know? And it's like important to know, this is worth knowing. Like what you look at, you focus on, and what you focus, and what you focus on, your feet move towards. I started this ground, you know, this foundational work of healing and understanding myself. And then I came across folks like Carl Rogers and Carl Young and Nietzsche and Jordan Peterson, who's highly controversial. I'm talking about the Jordan Peterson, the psychologist, not the political guy. Um and and then I branched out into I surrounded myself with psychologists to learn, and then personality traits, trying to understand, you know, there's the big five personality traits, and then what spirals in downwards from there, you know, conscientiousness and then orderliness and dutifulness and or dutiness and and and all these other components of healing for myself. And then I went back to school. I have degrees in media law and film production, and then I went back to school again for psychology and and then started writing. I'm finishing up a book, and I pivoted my coaching from athlete peak performance into lifestyle design.

SPEAKER_00:

I was going to say, I mean, I I have to give you kudos for everything that you've gone through and experienced and and into what you're doing now. And I kept thinking, you need to write a book. So here you are, you have a book uh that you're working on. So that that is huge. And you know, you just you're just a prime example. We always hear that we're best, we're best equipped to serve the person that we once were. So I feel like everything that you went through, and I'm sure obviously now you can look back, I would think, and have a little bit of an understanding and be able to connect the dots as to why you went through everything you went through, even though at the time we don't see it, right? At the time when you're, you know, struggling and you're in the hospital and uh you you just don't. And it's it's um it's amazing. I mean, we get through it somehow, and by the grace of God, you made through made it through alive and you're here with us still today. But again, I just look at it and go, wow, this is incredible because you can share all of this experience and help so many people. Like, I don't know, that just inspires me so much because again, like you said, you now are have researched and learned about so many different areas and aspects of mental healthness, wellness, and mental health. And I think too, I think it's fascinating that you've gone back looking into your childhood and seeing what might have led to where you are and what you did later on in life. And you know, everybody has a story, nobody has a perfect, perfect story. And it's I just give you kudos for what you have accomplished and what you've done, and then also having the courage to seek it out and look back onto childhood and just study those years leading up to where you are now. I just think that's really huge and very, very valuable for so many people.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, thanks. And it, you know, it's important. I find it important to this is why I'm active on social media. This is why I'm I I am going back into podcasting on YouTube and and speaking, and because it's, you know, like they say in addiction, which is true, you know, build your side of the bridge, clean your side of the street. You know, it's interesting. Well, when when we think of our life, so psychology is a study of the individual, sociology, the group, right? And and one could argue that underneath your own roof, that is that's just that's societal because there's more than one, right? The family unit. And so we are goal-oriented, everything that we do in our life is goal-oriented. We don't think about it that way. But if we go to the grocery store with a list of things that we need to get, and halfway through getting that list, you get a phone call and it distracts you, and you and you forget to pick your eggs up, you go home and you need to make eggs in the morning, or for some reason you want them at three in the afternoon, and you don't have them, you missed your mark, you missed your aim, you did not reach your goal, right? So we're we're goal-oriented, we're status-driven, and we live in a hierarchy, and that's biblical. And the majority of everything we do is a sacrifice. I find it important to help people wake up, to help people, you know. Johnny Depp, I saw a clip of Johnny Depp, I haven't worked with him, but he said something profound I thought that was really insightful. He said, everybody feels like they need to stand in line with the person in front of them. If you want that kind of life for yourself, I wish you the best. I'll be somewhere on the other side. And because everybody wants to stay in a herd, everybody wants to stay in the middle of a herd with their with their with their head in the sand because it's safe. Our brain wants us safe. Our brain wants us to be surrounded by familiarity, safety, comfort. The beauty of life is in the gray, the beauty of life is in the process of becoming great by doing something challenging. And so there's danger to step outside, you know, there's danger to think and to become an independent thinker, right? But when we become an independent thinker and can zoom out and get on the balcony view and become the observer of ourself and gain perspective, one of the biggest shifts I see in people is when they move from perception, which is narrow, and we need like how it's a whole different philosophical type conversation talking about perception and perspective. But quickly, you know, when when somebody moves from perception, which is how they manipulate the world to be based on their past experience, lived experiences, and it's an autobiographical narrative, right? So we're manipulating the world into how we perceive it to be. But when we move from perception into perspective, now we're able to look to look through the lens of from somebody else's perspective. How do they see it? How do they see the world? And that is one of the big foundational paradigm shifts I see in people when they're when they when they when they do enough work to zoom out and say, okay, I see this as such.

SPEAKER_00:

I think it's so important as you're saying that. I don't know how you feel, but it seems like that's probably one of the biggest issues we have today, where people aren't zooming out. They're just so focused with what they think and what they believe. And I do put the blinders on, but I put them on as far as focusing on what the direction is that God wants me to go. That's the time that I'll put the blinders on or, or you know, just keep focusing rather than getting distracted or get in the comparison game, right? That's when I'll do do that. But as far as everything else is concerned, I I mean what you're saying is so spot on. I mean, it's so important to take a step back. I just had this conversation through texting with my sister. Take a little step back and have a little bit more of an observation of the big picture, because not enough people are doing that.

SPEAKER_01:

No, no, they're they're in the weeds, they're on the street level view, and there's no there's no there's no depth to that. You know, this is why this is why people fight about religion and politics, you know, as as they say, don't at Christmas time, Thanksgiving's coming up, like don't mention politics, don't mention religion. Because if you don't see, if you don't see it the way I see it, you're wrong, I'm right, and now we're not aligned or we're not curious enough, right? So and then we end up bickering and fighting, and then relationships break down and families fall apart. Um, but you know, when we when we seek first to understand before we look to be understood. And one interesting thing about curiosity is we do not get to choose what it is that we're curious about, learning more of. And so when we start paying attention, you know, one way to think about it is, and Carl Jung says this, you know, I've mentioned, I think I mentioned this one before, until we make the unconscious conscious, right? So thinking about what we think about, because we're creatures of pattern and habit and and raising the awareness, right? Once somebody becomes conscious, there's no going back.

SPEAKER_00:

Right, 100%.

SPEAKER_01:

You can see the martyr, you can see the sociopath, you can see the narcissist, you can see the person who's who's kind of like the shape shifter. And then you can also see people who you can trust. You know, you can see the good in people too. I mean, and so I do think fundamentally people people I think are good. The one the one thing that I'll share with your audience that that you know, like I mentioned, change is hard. You know, if they writing is powerful because it's intentional thinking, it's critical thinking, and it's slow and it's procedural and it's analytical. And so when we write, one thing that that changed my life at a real level, I had the psychologist who started introducing me to Carl Jung, Jungarian Psychology, which which I mean he he he popularized the inner work and shadow work, and and he he has a very well-known quote of you will find what you need most where you least want to look, like I said before. So, what I did is I wrote that down on my journal every page each day, and I would allow my brain to be free because when we read a sentence like that, what basically what am I avoiding? What you're avoiding is what is where you need to go. So, what we're trying to do here, kill monsters before they start spitting faint flames at us. You know, and we find these little monsters that were like that we're avoiding, finding what you need most where you least want to look is killing monsters while they're small. What am I avoiding? You write them down, you tackle them one by one, and you just see you tackle them as you see fit, you know.

SPEAKER_00:

Not a book, you probably have read it. I I think I have it over here, eat eat the frog or eat the like something, and it's about how doing what you want to avoid or your least favorite tasks you have set for the day, getting them done first so you can move on to everything else. This kind of reminds me of that whole approach is like, what are we avoiding? It's still gonna be there, right?

SPEAKER_01:

If we don't address what we need to address, it'll hunt us. We become the threat, it'll chase us down, and then we're not ready. And then we break and we fall apart. And that's what happened to me. You know, I wasn't willing. If I knew myself, if I had a clean sense of my identity, who I am, what am I about, what are my what are the principles that I live in? You know, principle centeredness, and that's also seven habits of highly effective people. That that's a I recommend that to all my clients. It's psych, it's it's a lot of psychology and a lot of leadership. And, you know, we live in this personality ethic nowadays. And we used to live in a character ethic. When an individual addresses what it is that they're avoiding and develops for themselves a principle centeredness, they know what they stand for. And that's the difference between being nice and being good. So if anybody's interested with Chat GPT, you can play around with it. You know, prompt Chat GPT with what is the psychological difference between being nice and being good that will shape how you frame your life in a real way. Because most people, the messaging nowadays is you're fine just the way you are, you know, and and I just want to give you a hug and um be nice to everybody. That's the wrong message. That's the wrong message. We can the mess the message should be something like you can be so much better than you currently are. You can be, you can accomplish great things. You know, do you have a lot of life left? Go out and treat people right, tell the truth, cause no harm, and go after your goals aggressively. You can always be better. There's no pinnacle to success. I mean, we we set a goal, we reach the goal. A lot of people think it's it's that whole I'll be happy when. Get on the balcony view and map your life out. Map your life out. Future authoring is a powerful practice. We're always moving into the future. And there's so many tools, and and they're not right for everybody. I mean, once somebody, once somebody grabs a hold of what they like to work on, whether it's journaling or meditation or in the gym working out, I mean, everybody's so different, and there's no wrong to any of this.

SPEAKER_00:

I mean, right, right. And that's the thing with the whole topic of wellness, and that's why I love having people like yourself on and just being able to address and discuss all these different areas because it all comes back to our being and our complete wellness in in all. I mean, there's just so many different aspects. So everything that you're sharing comes back to just that complete person and the complete wellness that they're that they're experiencing. You just are brilliant, everything that you're sharing. And I appreciate you being so open and vulnerable with everything. For any of our listeners who want to reach out to you, you do lifestyle and addiction coaching. So, what's the best place for our listeners to find you, Eric? Because I feel like you know, you're you are the person, you've gone through it all, and you can you are the best person that can help someone going through something like what you experienced. What would you recommend for them as far as reaching out to you?

SPEAKER_01:

Uh yeah, sure. They can so all of my social media, um, including my website, is um at Eric MarkFisher. And then my website is ericmarkfisher.com. My emails conversations plural at ericmarkfisher.com. And um, yeah, you know, I've I've dedicated my life. I left the film industry. I dedicated the rest of my life to helping other people be the best they can be, mentally and physically. And I and I know you do, you you speak to health and wellness as well. You know, I I love, I mean, I've got their book right now. I was working with another client on these. So Peter Atia.

SPEAKER_00:

Oh, yes, I have that upstairs on my nightstand and good energy. Yeah, excellent. I have them both so good.

SPEAKER_01:

And you know, and I think I'm really proud of as broken as we are in society nowadays, there's a fundamental lack, lack of trust. And if you really pay attention, you can kind of feel it in the invisible air when you walk around. There's this permanent six-foot kind of away, and there's a lack of togetherness. And so you have AI, you have social media, people are distrusting of the government, of big corp, um, the healthcare system, the black rocks of the world, the hedge funds, and then our food. Our food. The pure the food pyramid is one of the biggest crimes in American history. And and I think people are starting to wake up, you know, and and get in the gym. And if it's not in the gym, they're going for a hike, going for a bike ride, going for a walk. You know, everybody's different with how they get their activities in. This is why I anchored my book and my messaging inside of a lifestyle view. Because, you know, you can think about an individual at the beginning of summer, they want to lose 10 pounds to look better around the pool and the beach and in their bikini and in their bathing suit and all this. But what happens at the end of the summer? We, you know, the weather changes. We're not in our bikini and we're not in our swim trunks with our shirt off anymore, and we gain the weight back plus some, right? So the lifestyle, this is why diets don't work. Mediterranean diets don't work. You know, the the what is it, the carnivore diet, the this, that, and the other thing. It's about a lifestyle, a lifestyle for longevity. You know, like limit the sugar, don't drink your calories, eat whole foods, fewer ingredients the better. I mean, you know, it's it a lot of this stuff is common sense, very much common sense. And I think people are people are waking up. I think that there's a lot still to be done, especially in the Western America. You know, we all know the data of obesity, and you know, like these leaders talk about the four horsemen of the chronic illness. I mean, we're doing this to ourselves, you know, and we start small. You start so small that you boy, you walk around the Midwest of America, especially, and you just see people that are just they're on the clock, you know, they're on the clock.

SPEAKER_00:

And then we see it all the time, you know, because we are on the West Coast, right? We're in California and we've been in California pretty much our entire lives. And my family is from Iowa. Like my my my mom's family, my dad's family, my aunts, my uncle, that's where they originally were from. However, now we go out to the Midwest because of baseball. So, like last summer, our youngest son played in Wisconsin. Like, I don't want to like bash the state of Wisconsin, but to your point, obviously the lifestyle that the food they're consuming and everything that you're saying, I think you're you're speaking my language. Like it's it's a lifestyle, it's a long, it's an it's a commitment, but it doesn't mean it's a life sentence. Like you can still enjoy yourself. You have to stick with it to some degree to to make sure you're feeding your health in a positive way so you're around for as long as you can be and live and feel good, right?

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, I mean, there's lifespan and health span.

SPEAKER_00:

A hundred percent.

SPEAKER_01:

Health span is the aim, and how that's how many how many years we're going without injury or disease, you know, and and so that's the aim, and you start small, all of this stuff you start really small because you know, there and there so when we start really small, action fuels motivation, and so when you spiral this into a web of goodness, it's like where do I start? Where do I what do I do? You know, this guy's talking about all this stuff. Like, start small. What am I avoiding? What am I avoiding? Write it down in a holistic manner. Whenever a thought you're driving in the car, a song comes that comes on, it reminds you of somebody, there's emotional pull towards that that you do not like, write that down because that's something you need to release. Once emotion is released from the situation, we're free, we're free of it, and we can move on to something else. And then the more we do that, the more, the freer we become, the more objective we become, and we're not reacting. Start as as small as you can, because so small that you know you'll actually do it.

SPEAKER_00:

And that's such key, right? Is that you you want to make those goals small that you that you know you can keep because when we start listing big goals, and we want to have big goals, but over time, right? But when it comes to on a day-to-day basis, they need to be doable and realistic so that we do feel accomplished and then we can feel confident and be motivated to continue down that path. This has been so great. I know we could continue on, and I'm excited. I would love to know when your book is out. What when when do you project that happening?

SPEAKER_01:

It's in it's in revision right now with the publisher and going through some edits. Um I'm contemplating, so I don't have an exact release date yet. I'm contemplating two things whether to release the book in completion, call it 400 pages or so, 350, 400, or break it up into kind of bite-sized 100 pages, talking more specifically about certain topics. So but soon, YouTube, I'm starting a vlog, which is just me. I'll bring on some guests every once in a while, but it's me picking a certain topic and telling stories around that topic with the um the sole goal of helping other people, helping other people through what I've gone through and what I've learned over the course of my 45 years on this earth.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, I love that. And I and I know that's you are the type of people that I attract to my podcast because we are all in this journey together of wanting to help others live their best, healthiest, happiest lives. And again, it that's an ongoing, it's an ongoing journey. It's ongoing for sure. Um, well, I would love to have you back on when your book is out so you can share, share about it. And I'm just excited that we connected. And uh again, for all our listeners, reach out to Eric. You can tell he's a wealth of knowledge and just so, so helpful in so many different areas of our of our health and our wellness. Um, one last bit of any inspiration and advice you want to share with our listeners. We we again we've gone on for a while. I want to be respectful of your time and our listeners, but this has been great.

SPEAKER_01:

Well, that's a good question. I suppose I would leave the audience with it takes time to believe in yourself. And it's natural to second guess and doubt. We all have skill and we all have talent, and sometimes it takes a while to find out what that is and what it looks like. So we need self-love and compassion mixed together with the relentless pursuit to find out what makes you happy, what makes you tick long term, that's that's sustainable upwards and long term. And we can all be better than we currently are. I believe that. I believe that there's no pinnacle to our success. And so long as we have the ability each morning to wake up, stand on our own two feet, and get vertical, understanding that we're all mortal creatures and time is extremely valuable, and what we pay attention to is equally important, then we're grateful and we understand that we can be more than we currently are. And I do not mean money. I do not mean money, I mean intrinsic drivers that bring joy to our life. Happy is fleeting, happy comes and goes, depending on who you speak to. But joy, you know, we can always have joy in our life, even inside of some awful circumstances and situations, some of which we cause, some that we have they just fall into our lap, and there's no explanation as to why, but they do, and we have to deal with it because if we avoid it, they don't go away. And so we can all be more than we currently are, and it's one step at a time, and it's starting as small as possible.

SPEAKER_00:

Perfect. Love it. Thank you so much for being here and for all of your words of I I want to say words of wellness podcast, but also your words of wisdom. Uh I appreciate it so, so much. And again, to our listeners, reach out to Eric, take some time, connect with him. And and then for our listeners, if you know anyone who might be struggling with addiction, or maybe you know, Eric can help them in some way, please connect them. And as always, do something for yourself and your wellness on this day. Have a beautiful, blessed rest of the week, everyone. And we will see you next time on Words of Wellness. Thank you so much for tuning into today's episode. I hope you gained value and enjoyed our time together as much as I did. And if you know someone who could benefit from today's episode, I would love and appreciate it if you could share with a friend or rate and review Words of Wellness so that more can hear this message. I love and appreciate you all. Thank you for listening. And if you have any questions or topics you would like me to share in future episodes, please don't hesitate to reach out to me through my contact information that is shared in the show notes below. Again, thank you for tuning in to Words of Wellness. My name is Shelley Jeffries, and I encourage you to do something for you, for your wellness on this day. Until next time, I hope you all have a healthy, happy, and blessed week.