Addressing Hidden Pain To Reclaim Your Life With Mark Ross

Nick (00:01.276)
Hello and welcome to The Mindset and Self Mastery Show. I’m your host, Nick McGowan. Today on the show, have Mark Ross. Mark, what’s up, man?

Mark (00:12.239)
How’s it going, my man? Good to meet you. And good to be on your show. Yes, sir.

Nick (00:14.354)
Yeah. I appreciate you being here. We’ve we’ve chatted a little bit through email back and forth even to the point where I was asking how’s the how’s the kitchen renovation going and like how’s life and things you know.

Mark (00:21.348)
Yeah.

I know. Man, I’m so glad that Nick, I’m so glad that we’re done with that thing, man. I’m telling you, my house was in total disarray for about two to three weeks, And now we’re having some wusa time. can breathe. You know what saying? We’re finalizing, putting things back to where it needs to be.

getting new stuff, putting that where it’s supposed to be and the kitchen is looking beautiful. It’s a beautiful kitchen now. So yeah, thank you for asking that though.

Nick (00:57.757)
That’s cool. mean, yeah, of course. Well, shit, even two to three weeks, that’s a good thing. There’ve been people I’ve been in their house like, haven’t you been working on this since like, shit, when did you buy this? Three years ago? God, what do you just keep change everything? But I also understand some people like really love the projects of those things. I grew up in a house where like my dad was always outside doing stuff and he would seem to like wreck things to then like redo them. And the part of it was like the engineer in him, but I’d be like, why did you break it?

Mark (01:03.348)
Hell yeah.

Mark (01:09.249)
Amen. Amen. Amen.

Mark (01:23.425)
Mm. Mm.

Nick (01:28.061)
to then redo it or whatever. But we all have those little things we like to do. I have a renovated fifth wheel, that’s our tiny house. And there’s always things that we’re kind of working on and tweaking. And you make some big changes with it, like going from a septic to a composting. It’s a wild thing. But man, why don’t you kick us off? Tell us what you do for a living. And what’s one thing most people don’t know about you that’s a little odd or bizarre?

Mark (01:38.868)
Nice. Yeah.

Mark (01:51.47)
Well, Nick, I am the host of the Speak Your Truth with Mark Ross podcast. My podcast centers around mental health, community issues and wellness topics. I am a Marine Corps veteran and I suffer from PTSD. My journey from that, it led me to, and we could talk about this later on, but the sweet and short of it is that

my experiences of ups and downs, suicidal thoughts, depression and loss. It all led me to self-discovery. And once I started going to counseling and breaking down and admitting that something was wrong with me, it led me to understand that I’m not the only one that’s going through this. There’s a lot of people that’s going through

mental health issues and they’re going through it silently. So my mission was to create this platform so that people can speak their truth. That’s why I titled my platform, The Speak Your Truth with Mark Ross. So that’s that. One thing that people don’t know about me again, was my journey. They don’t know my journey, my true journey. And

The journey from not wanting to be here anymore, the journey of me being depressed for so long, just having a reckless lifestyle and just not giving a shit at some point in my life. And, you know, I put on that smile. I learned to smile and nod. Hi, everybody. Hey, I’m cool. I’m cool. But I’m drinking a lot. Hey, everybody. I’m cool. I’m cool. But, you know, there’s days that I don’t want to be here anymore. You know, I’ve learned.

Nick (03:42.224)
Hmm

Mark (03:48.12)
to put the mask on. And I had it on for a long time and I can admit that right

Nick (03:53.69)
Yeah, it’s a beautiful thing to be able to admit that it’s also a fucking weird yet beautiful thing to be able to go through dark dark times to then get to the point where you start to discover who you are, how you are. It’s it’s kind of fucked up, but it makes total sense where it’s like when you’re in a really, really dark spot and you’re going through the deepest of the deep, that’s where you can really heal. And that’s where you’re the most open and

Mark (03:57.773)
Mm-hmm.

Mark (04:18.6)
Hmm. Sure. Sure. Indeed.

Nick (04:22.543)
Vulnerable to that and people really push themselves away from it and it’s fucked up that we we have to do that I you know air quotes with that of like we have to in certain ways because People will look at you a certain way or they’ll think of you a certain way and those are all Interpretations and the way that we think life should be and at the same time other people Sometimes really can’t handle if they go. Well, how are you fucking terrible?

Mark (04:31.914)
Yeah. Yeah.

Nick (04:48.921)
Life sucks right now. I don’t want to be here. Last night I held a knife to my arm for 15 minutes and like, hey, be like, why are you fucking kidding me? And some of them could think the same thing, but not want to share that. And different people of different cultures or even different levels of leadership and different spots in life have to wear that mask or so they feel they have to wear that mask to be able to be in those spots. I’ve never been in the military.

Mark (04:57.453)
Mmm.

Mark (05:02.24)
Mm-hmm.

Nick (05:17.093)
There are certain things that I think about where I had friends that got into the army or the military, like as soon as high school was out because they were like, I don’t fucking know what to do. And this guy keeps badgering me and they tell me that I’ll get money or whatever. And next thing you know, here I am. And there are other people that like fought against it. I was one of those people that was like, no, I am not going to do that. You actually don’t want me in the army. Like, believe me, I’m not the right one. And my mom had to like tell off the army recruiter cause he kept like harassing us.

Mark (05:24.588)
Yeah. I don’t know.

Mark (05:32.321)
Yes.

Nick (05:46.798)
She’s a five foot, like 115 pound redhead that would kick some ass and just went off on this person. And there was a part of me that was like, it sucks that we have to do that. But there’s also people that will fit within military or whatever the thing that they go through. But you all that go through that, go through some shit. I worked with a guy years ago who was a sweetheart, but he was fucked up.

Mark (05:47.116)
Mmm.

Mark (05:57.967)
Hmm

Mark (06:09.503)
Yes.

Nick (06:13.592)
And he was just such a good dude and you could tell that he cared, but there were dark things behind his eyes that he could never talk about. And then years passed, I hadn’t seen him in a long time and I found out that he was murdered. And I have no idea what happened. He didn’t take his own life, but I could imagine he put himself in a spot knowing of what I knew of him. And all those decisions just accumulate and you make those decisions over and over and over.

Mark (06:21.035)
Mm-hmm.

Mark (06:40.095)
Mm.

Nick (06:42.779)
where you’ve taken what you’ve gone through to then go, all right, well, I need to, for my own healing, have these conversations. And for other people’s healing, have these conversations. But why don’t we take a bit of a step back, man? Talk to us about your journey into the military, out of the military, and then through those dark times of where you’re at.

Mark (07:03.007)
Wow. Well, when I was in high school, because like you said, I did go to the Marine Corps after high school. So as a junior, I thought to myself, what am going to do when I get done with high school? Because I didn’t want to go to college at the time. was just, excuse me, I was just done with school. You know, living in Milwaukee, it didn’t present a lot of opportunities for

me or people that look like me unless I went to school but school just wasn’t my thing so I said you know I’m gonna try the military I want to go out and travel I want to meet people and I just want to enjoy life so I go to the army I remember this vividly I went to the army I took the ASVAB test and I didn’t pass it so I said okay I’ll try the Marines

So I went to the Maricopa recruiter, took the test again and I passed it. So I’m like, okay, cool, let’s continue. So in my senior year, I asked my recruiter, I said, look man, I wanna know what I’m going to expect when I arrive in San Diego, California after graduation. And his face,

changed on me and his words became more direct because I asked him to be upfront and the I mean this man that’s jovial you know cool calm he changed and he looked at me and said you really want to know what to expect I said yeah I’m like it’s not going to change my mind I’m going through with it but I just want to know

what to expect so I could be mentally and physically prepared. He said, have you been working out? I said here and there, he said, I’m gonna tell you something. You can work out every day from here to your first day there and it won’t be enough.

Mark (09:21.33)
It won’t be enough. He said, they’re gonna push you harder than you’ve ever been pushed in your life. They’re gonna call you every name but a child of God. And they’re gonna be merciless. And he was right. He was right. Nick, I was in boot camp for three months. Right after I finished, they increased it to four months.

Nick (09:48.578)
trees.

Mark (09:51.453)
That period of time was the worst three months I’ve ever had in my life.

And I’m 55. The worst. Yeah, it was the most physically excruciating time I’ve ever had in my life. And crazy. This is crazy for me to say, but I wouldn’t change it. You know, I wouldn’t be the person that I am right now if I didn’t go through that hill. And sometimes going through hell as I’m learning as I’m getting older, Nick.

it creates, it can create a better version of you. It can create a more authentic version of yourself because now, now that you went through this hell, you’re still here. I’m still here, I’m still breathing. And I’m stronger, not only physically, but I’m stronger mentally because now I’m able to deal with shit from a better perspective because I know what I went through.

Nick (10:43.608)
Mm.

Mark (10:57.416)
And what I went through wasn’t cool at all. And to add insult to injury, brother, the junior instructors didn’t like me at all. They did not like me at all because I, and I was told this, I exuded something that they didn’t see in any of the other recruits. They saw in me,

Mark (11:24.082)
leadership.

they saw stubbornness, but it didn’t, I wasn’t stubborn just to be stubborn. I knew when I was dealing with bullshit and my facial expressions knew, it told them, hey, you on bullshit, but I gotta do this because you telling me to do it. But my face is letting them know I’m on of your bullshit.

Nick (11:40.574)
the

Mark (11:57.289)
And they hated that in me. I even got threatened. I got threatened a few times when I was in boot camp, Nick. One of the guys that I really despised is this dude. He told me, anytime, any place we can go outside right now, I’ll whip your motherfucking ass. And I said, what? Now, mind you, I’m at this time, Nick, I’m 18 years old.

I’m a buck 90.

He was a little bit solid than me, but shorter. And he was older, so I knew he had to jump on me just because of who he is, who he was. I knew he had to jump on me, but I wasn’t scared of this punk. That’s the part that shook him. I wasn’t scared of this dude at all. I knew he had the advantage. Older, he’s a Sergeant and Marine drill instructor, so I know he knows shit, right?

I know that. fuck that dude. I didn’t care. So, and he knew this, but if I would have went outside and faced this dude, I knew that my military career would have been over. Regardless if I would have whooped his ass or he would have mine. My shit would have been over. So I took the high road. I didn’t say nothing. I just looked them dead in the eye. Hey, I’m cool, bro. I know what you’re trying to do, but it ain’t gonna happen, bro.

But if I see, if I saw him out here right now, I’d probably be on his ass. And that’s keeping it 100. But going through all that, it really, it created that killer in me, man. It brought out that dog. I come back from boot camp, and my relatives will tell you right now, if they were sitting here, he came back a different person. He came back with that dog.

Nick (13:45.494)
Mm.

Mark (13:59.336)
because I was ready to fight at any given time, Drunk, sober, high, I didn’t care, man, I was ready. Because that’s what I was trained for. That’s what the Marines do. We fight, we don’t give a fuck, we fight. And I was ready to fight. They put that dog in me, So I came back with that dog. The problem was I didn’t know how to turn that dog off.

Nick (14:08.203)
Yeah.

Mark (14:23.89)
You feel what I’m saying? That’s where the PTSD came in because I still was walking around with that dog. I’m like that pit bull, bro. Don’t poke the dog because I bite. I bite and I don’t give a shit because if you gonna poke me, you deserve to get bit.

You deserve to get bit and I’ma bite your ass. So here we go, man. mean, I’m 21, just started college. And I don’t mean to get on this little tangent, but I just want to share my story with you. 21 years old at the time, I get out, I’m going to school.

Everything is okay so far. But in the spring, I said the spring of 92, because I was in the Marines from 1987 to 1991. I got out in August of 91. I started school right after, like around September. I started school, started attending school here in Milwaukee. Springtime, 92.

start to experience nightmares, military-related nightmares and I will wake up screaming right like I’m like I’m battling for my life and this started to happen on a daily basis and I didn’t know why these nightmares were happening to me but it was happening every night

Nick (15:41.471)
Hmm.

Mark (16:07.781)
military-related dreams, everything, you know, it would start off great. You know, I’m having fun with, you know, friends or whatever. And actually, you know, I’m in the forest. I got my gun. I got the knife on my gun. I got my gear on, my backpack, and I’m fighting for my life. It always ended with me fighting for my life, always. And I was always falling from.

ridiculous heights and every time I would hit the ground I would just wake up screaming. know, and I mean not only was I screaming I was sweating profusely like the bed would just be wet. And I’m not exaggerating when I say that. I would wake up my face would be like I ran a marathon. My body, I mean I’m soaked from my head to my underwear.

fighting for my life man and this is an everyday everyday issue so

battling that.

drinking more because I wanted to sleep so I figured why not why not drink more you know drinking puts you to sleep so I’m drinking more

Nick (17:19.198)
Hmm.

Mark (17:28.07)
My grades suffered a little bit, but I was able to maintain. I’m working a part-time job. I’m thinking in the back of my head, life could be better for me, but I mean, it is what it is. Still having the nightmares, brother, and I’m still drinking and nothing’s helping. I’m still dealing with the nightmares, and now I have a borderline drinking issue because I’m drinking, I wasn’t drinking every day, but when I did drink,

I drank a lot.

I wasn’t an angry drunk, I just wanted to drink to numb the pain. If that makes sense.

I’m drinking more, the nightmares are still happening. I’m starting to withdraw from people because I just grew tired of being around people.

I realized that physically I was here in Milwaukee, but mentally I’m still back in North Carolina because I was stationed at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. So in my mind, I’m still a Marine. I still got that dog up in here and the dog is out. I couldn’t control the dog. You dig? So I hear from people, I withdrew a little bit.

Nick (18:32.552)
Mm.

Mark (18:53.957)
I started doing things by myself. Like I would go out to clubs by myself and I would just get, I’d just get fucking wasted, know, wasted. Then the suicidal thoughts came in like, man, you know, this isn’t a way for me to live. I don’t want to be here if I have to live like this. So I’m driving drunk,

I’m driving drunk on purpose.

Mark (19:18.534)
I’m doing this shit on purpose. Like I want to check out, but I couldn’t do it on my own.

So I’m trying to check out on purpose. So from Friday, Saturday, and sometimes Thursday, I would just get fucking wasted. Go to the club, whatever. If something good came out of that, something good came out of that. If not, whatever. I’m driving home drunk. I can tell you this. I don’t know how I made it home sometimes.

I do not know how I made it home. It was God, because I would get in the car, leave in the club or the bar or wherever I was at, and I would black out. I would come to my senses when the car is parked.

How did I get home from halfway across the sea?

How? I could not tell you. But God is my witness. That has happened to me a lot.

Mark (20:27.48)
I’m driving to the crib, don’t know how I got there.

Like, well, it wasn’t my time, I’ma try again. Fuck it.

It was Friday, I made it home Friday. Saturday, I’m real fucked up Saturday. I don’t wanna remember nothing. And that was my life for a couple of years, man. In my 20s, on the weekends, I don’t wanna remember nothing. How I got home, I don’t know, I don’t care. I don’t wanna remember nothing. I want the pain to go away.

Nick (20:46.769)
Mm-hmm.

Mark (21:04.342)
So throughout my 20s and most of my 30s, I’m dealing with these nightmares, man, and I’m isolating because I don’t like people. I don’t trust people. I don’t trust myself. You know, I’m still dealing with this depression and the suicidal thoughts here and there. And brother, it was a mess. And I’ve learned to hide it because number one,

whenever I got drunk or whatever around people, I just became the life of the party. But they didn’t know that I was in pain, I didn’t wanna be here. I didn’t wanna be here, So, fast forward some years later, I’m working for, a corrections officer now. I wasn’t as bad.

with the drinking and the driving, but the nightmares were still occurring. Not as much as it was then, but they were still occurring.

A coworker of mine who was also, he was an army veteran and he pulled me to the side and he asked me if I was okay. And I’m like, what kind of question is that? You he just asked me out the blue and he showed me this pamphlet, Nick, and it was a pamphlet that had, he said, just read the pamphlet. If you experience any of these symptoms that are in this pamphlet,

Nick (22:27.317)
You

Mark (22:41.74)
Go to the VA and get help.

Okay, so I go through the pamphlet and it was a pamphlet about PTSD. Now, back in the Vietnam era, it wasn’t called PTSD, it was called shell shock. PTSD wasn’t even a thing. So even then, people were then were going through what I went through when I got out. Didn’t notice. So.

Nick (22:57.04)
Yeah.

Mark (23:10.818)
I go through this pamphlet, I’m looking at the symptoms, boom, boom, boom, boom. It’s like 12 to 15. Nick, I can tell you I went through about 12.

I said, damn, I’m fucked up. I’m fucked up, you know what I’m saying? And it was a hard pill for me to swallow because when he came back to me, he said, said, Ross, we went by our last names. He said, Ross, man, did you read that pamphlet I gave you? I said, yeah. I said, I went through most of this shit, man. I’m still going through some of it. He was like, number one,

Number one, go get help. Number two,

get paid for your injuries, mental or physical. This is gonna lead us to a different type of conversation right here. And this is something that I do push.

Nick (23:59.057)
Hmm.

Mark (24:09.099)
If there’s anybody out here that’s listened to this, if you are a veteran and you have been hurt or have went through something traumatic like I did, you can get compensation for your troubles. You deserve it. You went through hell. Get paid for your hell that you went through. Don’t let the VA

shut you down for something that you went through for them. You take your ass to the VA and get help. If you broke a bone, if you got PTSD like I do, or worse, if you’ve attempted suicide because of the struggles that you went through during the military time, get help brother and get paid for your suffering. And here’s a rule Nick I want to share.

If the VA doesn’t tell you.

you have to ask because if you don’t ask, they won’t tell you shit.

They won’t tell you shit. That’s something that I had to get put on game about Nick. The VA won’t tell you shit. They’ll tell you the superficial stuff. But when it comes to getting compensation for your pain and your injuries, no, shh. We ain’t gonna tell him that unless he ask. But how the hell he gonna ask if he don’t know?

Nick (25:29.072)
Hmm.

Nick (25:41.68)
If you don’t know, yeah. The fuck? That doesn’t make any sense.

Mark (25:44.351)
You did? It don’t make no sense. So I went through the steps.

And I got help. Nick, that was the best decision I’ve ever did in my life. Getting help, because as I said earlier.

This could be a whole different conversation. I wouldn’t be here. You would be talking to somebody else if I didn’t get the help because it made me understand that yes, Mark, you are dealing with something that’s beyond your control. You are dealing with something that could freaking kill you.

And for what? Don’t hide in the shadows, brother. You got to get up out of there. There’s an old saying that if you sit and shit too long, it’ll stop smelling.

So get up out of there. Get your ass up out of there and get help. Because there’s a lot of people out here that are nose blind.

Mark (26:48.289)
There’s a lot of nose blind people out here that are sitting in their own shit and they don’t even know that they’re sitting in it. So I’m here to tell you, you might be sitting in your shit a little too long, or sister. Time to get up out of there and get help.

Nick (27:03.952)
It’s real difficult for people at times, even throughout the conversations I have, people I’ve coached in the past, people I’ve mentored, people I’ve just had random conversations with, because part of the reason even having the podcast, I just naturally fucking have conversations like this stuff. It’s hard to be surfacey on things. But there’s difficulty in all of that for every single one of us. And if we didn’t go through a hell of a boot camp,

Mark (27:28.992)
Hmm?

Nick (27:32.353)
It doesn’t matter if it, if the trauma is a little T, a tiny little T, a big ass T. It’s all the same thing. And our body really, yeah. And our body keeps a score of all of that. And it lives within ourselves. It lives within what we do and how we move through things. And it can take that level of awareness. Like even for somebody who’s listened to this episode, the fact that they took the step to be able to listen to this.

Mark (27:35.999)
Let’s go.

Mark (27:41.61)
Trauma’s trauma.

Mark (27:46.122)
Take it down. Indeed.

Mark (27:51.508)
Yes, sir.

Nick (28:01.324)
is a beautiful step because it can be easy to go fuck it. I don’t want any of that. I just want to be a recluse. So want to do whatever I want to do all these things and we can go through different things like you’ve talked about going through a boot camp having that like that anger and that hatred and that that fire that’s inside of you that could then be kind of alchemized and turned into something beautiful. It could also be villainized and turned into something that’s venomous and

Mark (28:20.192)
Mm-hmm.

Mark (28:26.995)
Mm.

Nick (28:31.115)
kind of attacks and going through the thing where you’re like, I’m just gonna drink myself stupid to just be numb and drive crazily and all that. I’ve never been through the military. I’ve never done anything like that. But I had an alcohol addiction for a long time. And I would justify it in certain ways. And even if we remove alcohol from it, there’s other justifications that we as people will do like we’ll say, well, I’m in this relationship, either a business relationship or

Mark (28:46.8)
Hmm

Nick (29:00.911)
romantic relationship or a friendship or a working relationship and you start to make justifications with things where we’ve got to be able to be honest with ourselves. We got to wade through that shit to be able to do it. It’s been rough what you’ve gone through and you’re right. If you ended it, it would have been a different story. If I ended it the different times that I tried, you wouldn’t be on this podcast because this thing wouldn’t be a thing. And all of that I think ties back into purpose.

Mark (29:19.923)
Indeed.

Mark (29:25.343)
Mm-hmm.

Nick (29:30.702)
Like there are often times I talk to people about purpose and there are some sometimes where people are like, yeah, well, I don’t know if my purpose is the size of Steve Jobs or Oprah’s or whatever. It’s like, that’s cool. That’s fucking their purpose. That has nothing to do with you. Yours is whatever it is. And it might be yours might be the podcast. It might be something that happens in another 15, 20 years. It might be something you do at 80. You know, it might be something that’s vastly different from where you’re at. But all of us keeping on with it.

Mark (29:41.78)
Yeah. Great.

Mark (29:52.564)
Mmm. Mmm.

Mm.

Nick (29:59.2)
and keep moving through things. Sometimes that’s just the most courageous fucking thing we can do is just, this sucks. But okay, here I am and continue to move through it. And I appreciate you getting as deep and as consistent as you have throughout all of this. I think you really hit your point on a lot of this and I appreciate you bringing this stuff up about the VA benefits.

part of me wishes I had gone through that, because I can’t actually go back to my parents and people have fucked me up as a kid and go, can you pay for this stuff? Because like, are times where I’ve joked with my dad, like he said shit, he’s like, you take that to therapy. I’m like, yo dude, you pay for other people’s therapy, you wanna fix mine? Like I’ve got bills that need to pay for a couple different coaches and subconscious processing, all this other shit. And he’s just like, okay. And some of that is tongue in cheek, but also at the same time, that’s a thing for veterans that.

Mark (30:27.871)
Heh heh.

Hahaha

Mark (30:40.274)
Mix of yours, yeah.

Yeah.

Nick (30:53.909)
You guys have been through a lot of shit and whether it was called shell shock PTSD, PTSD now. These are all the same things that people have been going through for fucking eons. There’s been war, there’s been hatred, there’s been all of this. And even if we remove that, there’s still been shit that people go through on just the daily, just working through life in general. So for somebody that’s on their path towards self mastery, what’s the advice you’d give to them?

Mark (31:00.945)
Mm-hmm.

Mark (31:16.734)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Mark (31:27.774)
To achieve self mastery, you have to be in a place where you can listen to yourself.

Learn from the mistakes that you’ve made. Admit that you made mistakes.

learn from the successes in your life because it’s not a one-sided coin to self-mastery or self-discovery as I like to put it. means learning and appreciating the L’s that you take in life as well as the wins. What can you take away from the L’s? What can you take away from the wins? How can I be better tomorrow than I am today? That is

process of learning what self mastery is. And once you achieve that level of understanding, you are now equipped mentally and or spiritually even to help others. Which is why I’m here and you are here because you had that aha moment maybe twice. You know what saying? We’ve had those moments, right? Where we say, you know, what the hell am I doing?

Nick (32:39.703)
Yeah.

Nick (32:47.659)
Yeah, the timeout moments.

Mark (32:48.723)
What the hell am I doing? What am I doing? You know, the only person that’s hurting from this is me. That’s truly hurting. I mean, you’re hurting other people in the process, but you got to start from you. And one thing I’m learning too, Nick, we have to give ourselves grace.

Nick (32:59.691)
Yeah.

Mark (33:12.464)
It’s okay to mess up man. It’s okay to not get it right away. It’s okay, but just keep trying. We have to keep trying. Don’t give up man. Don’t give up. Keep learning, keep growing and keep applying the lessons that you’ve learned along the way.

That’s it.

Nick (33:35.776)
great way to put that. Some of the most difficult part of it is the continuance of the walk and continuing to move along. And I’m really glad that you had even said you’re hurting yourself, but you are also hurting others and hurt people hurt other people. But as we work on our own stuff and we start to work through those things, it can be it can be really difficult. I’ve had conversations even specifically with my mental health coach where I’m like, fuck man, the more self aware I become.

Mark (33:48.722)
Yes,

Mark (34:03.287)
Hmm.

Nick (34:04.672)
the more fucking self-aware I become. And the more aware you become of this stuff, the more aware that you understand that things are happening, but simultaneously on the other side of it, the more that you can see that you can do things with it. But it is that ongoing process with all of this. And for those that are listening, I hope you understand that we’re both not sitting here saying like, we’ve achieved this thing because we fucking haven’t. It’s not a matter of achievement in that sense. It’s a matter of continuance.

Mark (34:07.486)
Mm-hmm.

Mark (34:26.273)
right. No. It is day to day today. Yes, Listen.

Nick (34:33.257)
Yeah, it’s fucking moment by moment with that. man, Mark, it’s been awesome to have you on. I appreciate you sharing everything. I appreciate you going through this stuff and being able to take the steps that you’ve been taking to be courageous, to have these conversations, have conversations with other people and be able to help how you can. So along that line, where can people find you and where can they connect with you in the podcast?

Mark (34:51.069)
Hmm.

Mark (34:58.107)
Well, I’m on YouTube. The Speak Your Truth with Mark Ross is on YouTube. You can reach me at speakyourtruthpc at gmail.com. It’s all one word. SpeakYourTruthpc at gmail.com. So you can email me, hit me up on YouTube, to my channel. You can reach me on Facebook. My name Mark Ross. You can look me up. I’ll accept it.

and you can just send me a message and we’ll just connect from there if you have a story that you’d to share.

Nick (35:34.06)
Again, Mark, it’s been a pleasure to have you on today. I appreciate your time. Thank you.

Mark (35:38.832)
Thank you so much, my brother.