Transcript
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Break free from the ordinary and check out a podcast with thought-shattering concepts
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that will reshape the way you interpret the world.
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We are The Swerve Podcast and our mission is very simple.
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Each episode we research and discuss topics that swerve off the mainstream path in an
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attempt to understand everything in the universe one obscure topic at a time.
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With your into forgotten history, cutting-edge science, strange frontiers of the unknown
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or just need a good laugh in an uncensored way, The Swerve Podcast has you covered.
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Listen to The Swerve Podcast today on Spotify, Apple Podcasts or any other major platforms.
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From the time that they pronounced me deaf was a good 45 minutes.
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They cut my clothes and then they paddled my heart, my heart had stopped.
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And I could see people screaming and crying, but I didn't realize that was actually my
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physical body because I was somewhere else.
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The only thing that I could feel if you could imagine absolute love and peace, there wasn't
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anything else to be felt.
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I was greeted by people I had known in the past.
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I'm back home again.
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Incredibly safe and felt at home.
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Welcome, welcome to Round Trip Death everybody and a warm welcome to our special guest all
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the way from North Dakota in the United States, David Kipson.
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Hi David.
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Hey, how's it going?
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Good.
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Tell me how you're doing today.
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What are you doing North Dakota anyway?
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Well, other than freeze in the winter time, I just recently started my second semester
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at Minot State University and that's been very busy, very, very busy.
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What are you studying?
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I'm studying to be a social worker.
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Yeah, my goal is to kind of help other people and make a difference.
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That's awesome.
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Well, before we jump into your near death experience, tell us one or two other things
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about you so people can get to know you just a little bit.
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Well I have a daughter.
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She's 11 and she is just the focus of everything that I'm doing right now.
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She's a hoot, she's smart and she's a pretty good kid.
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I have a dog and a cat.
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That's kind of really the extent of things for me.
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Well, old time student, life revolves around that, I get it.
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Since I had my head still spinning.
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I was just in class about 30 minutes ago and I had to rush home and get ready.
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By the way, daughters are wonderful.
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Well, sons are too, but I should say, but I've digging myself a deep hole here.
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Yeah, daughters are awesome.
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Anyway, let's jump right into it.
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So you were one of those unlucky people back in, was it 2021?
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Yeah, 2021 that caught COVID in a bad way.
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Tell me what happened.
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What happened to your health for starters?
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Well, I would say at the beginning of October, I had been working outside.
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I had an outdoor job.
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It had been raining and I was feeling under the weather and I was like, well, I must have
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caught the flu working out in the rain.
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I just wasn't wearing the right gear.
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But after about a week of that, it wasn't getting any better.
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It just kind of spiraled after about a week and a few days after that, it was a fever.
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I remember the fever.
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It was the hottest, I think I'd ever been ever.
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I don't know what my temp was exactly.
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I just know that I couldn't take enough showers to cool down.
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There wasn't enough fans in my room to cool me off.
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It was just the hottest feeling I'd ever felt.
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My cough was getting really bad.
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And at the same time, my ability to breathe and take on air was being constricted.
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And by the night I went into the hospital, I remember, because our bedroom was down in
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the basement, I remember crawling on my hands and knees up the stairs and I barely made it
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to the kitchen and I made it to the couch and I told my wife, I need an ambulance.
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After that, it was flashes, flashes of things happening.
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The COVID itself was just nasty.
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Yeah, that fever.
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There's a lot of things I can't remember and a lot of things that I can't, but that
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fever sticks out to me.
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It was just something I never felt before.
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I remember her calling the first responders and them getting there, me making light of
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the situation because that's what I do and trying to make the firefighter left, which
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they did.
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And then they wheeled me off into the ambulance and they shut the doors and I don't remember
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the right there.
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I remember the doors of the ambulance opening into the emergency room and then it was lights
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out for, I don't know what that time span was when I went into the emergency room to
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the time I got up to the COVID ward.
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I do remember coming to the COVID ward and it being scary.
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I was very scared.
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It must have been around mid-October.
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No.
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So I went in on the 24th to the hospital and then it was a couple of days later because
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I remember there being scary movies on TV and I was watching them, which was somehow comforting.
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How long were you in the hospital altogether?
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A total of 94 days.
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Yeah, three months of my life was spent in a hospital.
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Were you intubated?
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Yes.
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I was.
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That's when I was in the COVID ward for about a week and a week and a half and I had an
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incident in the hospital and the internal emergency crew had to come get me.
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The next day the doctor came in and he talked to me and my wife and he was like, he needs
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to go to the ICU.
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He needs to be intubated and it was scary at that point because I had nurses come talk
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to me and they'd be like, hey, you got to fight this, you got to do what the doctor
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say and I was doing my best to do that but I was scared out of my mind because I thought
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I was going to die.
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When he came in he was like, this is what's happening.
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This is the cold, hard truth about it all and I didn't know what to do and I looked
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at my wife and she nodded her head and then I was whisked away into the ICU.
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Yeah, that sounds really scary.
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So I assume they put you in an induced coma for how long was that?
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That was about 30 days.
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So the near death experience that you remember was it, so it was during that 30 day period
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sometime?
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Yeah.
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I don't know when.
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There was no way to track.
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I don't know when.
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It could all happen in the first five minutes or it could have been over the span of the
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30 days.
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There's just no way for me to clock time.
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I wish there was though because that would have been really, you need to be like this
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happened then but it doesn't really work out that way.
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So that was 30 days of the induced coma in the ICU and there were some very strange experiences.
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Well, go ahead and jump into it.
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What did you experience?
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So the first, the strangest, the stranger ones were like the out of body experiences.
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I can recall the view out the window and it was near the helipad and you could see rocks
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on the ferrufi material.
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I remember looking out the window and seeing that.
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I remember looking out into the hallway seeing the nurses, the ICU station, like the color
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of the cabinet stood out to me.
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They're like the wood grain.
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It was a dark.
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I really remembered that.
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I remembered looking down on my body saying that's kind of strange and not really thinking
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twice about it.
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So the out of body stuff was very interesting and I've asked doctors before, hey, you know,
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how much am I supposed to remember?
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How much am I not supposed to remember?
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And they get kind of shy about it and they're like, you're not supposed to remember anything
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and that's enough for that conversation.
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And then they just move on.
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So that kind of told me a lot in that response.
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I was like, okay, there might be more there.
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And then there was what happened while I was in my body or what I think is my body.
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There was two distinct variations of what was induced by drugs because that was wacky.
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Those dreams didn't make any sense.
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Those were just outrageous.
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But then there was two experiences that I had.
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I can't explain.
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I don't know.
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I don't know where I went.
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I don't know what it was.
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I don't know who was showing me.
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I just had these two very, very distinct instances where it felt like I was ripped out of the
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call-on into something else, whether it was another dimension, another timeline.
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I have no idea.
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But it felt like I was ripped out of that because everything was clear.
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It wasn't foggy.
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It was very clear.
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You need to see this.
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Over the years, I've had a lot of time to think about it and kind of go back and revisit
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and focus on kind of what those were.
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The first one was, it was like I was placed in space somewhere.
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I know that sounds crazy.
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But then whoever was showing me this was saying, hey, this is you.
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This is where you fit into the universe.
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I remember it looking like a giant double helix.
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It was like DNA.
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I was like, okay, well, that's the heat.
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I was really hoping for some more explanation.
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But whoever or whatever is, it doesn't work that way.
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The universe shows you what it needs to show you.
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And at the time and for months after that, I didn't understand what it meant.
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And then the second experience, it was a really bright room.
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It was white.
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They had white floors, white walls, white ceilings.
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And every so often, a big colored block would just kind of go whoop and then back in.
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And they would be different colors and they would be kind of just going off every so often.
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And that one, I still have trouble wrapping my mind around.
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Because I'm not exactly sure what that means.
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I don't know.
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I couldn't get that one.
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But the first one, that's the one that hit home over time.
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The more I thought about it, the more things in my life were happening.
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The more I went back to that and the more it shaped my current decisions.
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I really wish...
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I've watched Strange Things Since I Was a Kid on Self-Mystery, Sightings, you name it.
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And I always watched the Near Death Experiences.
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They were always similar, at least from what I remember seeing.
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You see a bright white light.
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You see a family member.
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You see the deity of your choice.
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I didn't have any of that.
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And I felt slighted by that because I was like, hey, how come no one came to visit me?
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And I was like, okay, well, that's cool.
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But it was nothing like that.
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The message was delivered.
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But it was just the form that I wasn't expecting.
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What was the message?
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The message was to help other people.
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That was the one clear message that I got was that I have lived a life that was rough.
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It's rough.
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It was rough by a lot of people's definition.
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And this was the universe saying, hey, this is your chance.
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This is your last chance.
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We're not going to work with you anymore.
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This is it.
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Like you get it or you don't.
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From then forward, I've been trying to do my best to do that.
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And so that's what led me to go into college and pursuing a career in solar work and doing
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volunteer work and just being of service to others because that's really, that's a big
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thing I got from it was, it doesn't matter where you work, what you drive, where you
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live, we all have needs and we all need help and we all need to be heard and to be seen
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and to be cared for.
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And prior to the, prior to the hospital experience, I was, I would say I was very selfish.
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I would say I was probably, I was not a good person.
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We'll just say that afterwards.
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You spend three months in a hospital.
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You wake up after 30 days.
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You can't move.
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My muscle mass was gone.
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I had lost 62 pounds and it was all muscle.
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You rely on people that you don't know to take care of every need.
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And now there's more needs because they're, you're hooked up to everything.
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They're trying to keep you from getting blood clots.
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They're trying to keep you from, they're trying to just keep getting you to eat.
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They're trying to get you to move again and everything is not wanting to move.
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And that was very, it was a lesson in humility for me.
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I've been very independent up until that point.
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How long was your recovery after the hospital?
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I was laid up on the couch for probably six months.
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It was physical therapy, I believe four times a week.
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And then I had physical, physical therapy at home that I did on my own, which was very
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hard to do.
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I just wanted to lay there.
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Eventually I got out of the hospital and my lungs were at 45%.
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So there wasn't a lot I could do, but over time I was able to kind of work at it and
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slowly get back to normal.
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It was, I got off of the portable oxygen probably a year and a half after I left the hospital.
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So that was pretty recent actually.
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Yeah, that's a long time.
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Get the Smart Labels and stick their QR codes on all your storage bins.
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Scan in the app, add names, descriptions, even pictures.
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00:15:21,980 --> 00:15:26,700
Then months down the road when you're looking for that thing that you know you stored somewhere,
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you can just search in the app and it'll tell you where you put it.
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00:15:29,780 --> 00:15:33,100
Seriously, it's organizing magic.
246
00:15:33,100 --> 00:15:38,460
Click on over to Amazon, search for Smart Labels, that's one word, Smart Labels and
247
00:15:38,460 --> 00:15:40,300
get organized today.
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Now, back to the guest.
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All right, there's a whole bunch done pack here.
250
00:15:46,060 --> 00:15:49,700
I let your breeze through, but I want a ton more detail.
251
00:15:49,700 --> 00:15:55,100
So first of all, I want to make sure that we're clear.
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00:15:55,100 --> 00:16:01,540
You had some drug induced things, dreams, whatever you want to call them.
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I'm trying not to call them hallucinations.
254
00:16:04,260 --> 00:16:06,620
And you had these other two experiences.
255
00:16:06,620 --> 00:16:07,620
What's the difference?
256
00:16:07,620 --> 00:16:10,740
How do you know one's real and the others are not?
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It was how they felt.
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It was how they felt.
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It was how they made my spirit feel.
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Like the drug induced dreams were nonsensical.
261
00:16:24,380 --> 00:16:26,260
They were crazy.
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I mean, I thought I had escaped the hospital, stolen my own pickup and drove to another
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state.
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With craziness in between, that's not what happened at all.
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And the two experiences were so clear.
266
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They were clear in how they were presented to me.
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It just felt like somebody had ripped me out of this physical world and whatever internal
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prison you get put into by a coma.
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I felt like it pulled me out of that and I went somewhere else for a bit.
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You also mentioned seeing your body and seeing things around the hospital.
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Was that part of these two experiences or was that a little bit separate?
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That's a whole other set of things.
273
00:17:21,380 --> 00:17:23,500
I kind of get a kick out of hearing that.
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I've heard that from a lot of people that I was up in the room in the hospital, looked
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down on my body.
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And very matter of factly, I think that's fascinating.
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That there's no panic.
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There's no, oh no, I got to get back in there or, I'm dead, what do I do?
279
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No, it was very, you're like, you're standing there and you're like, okay.
280
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And that was that.
281
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Like, there's my body and it doesn't register.
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You're like, well, look at that.
283
00:17:49,540 --> 00:17:52,820
And then you're looking outside, you're looking around, you're kind of seeing what's going
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on.
285
00:17:54,020 --> 00:18:00,860
And then you're back into whatever mystery realm you go to.
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I also think the fact that all endies are different frankly gives them some credibility.
287
00:18:07,780 --> 00:18:12,700
If you were somebody that was just making this up, you'd probably say, oh, I went through
288
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this tunnel.
289
00:18:13,700 --> 00:18:16,020
I saw this bright light, blah, blah, blah.
290
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But your experience was completely different.
291
00:18:18,380 --> 00:18:22,620
I find that very interesting and credible.
292
00:18:22,620 --> 00:18:27,140
Tell me about the being shown your place in the universe.
293
00:18:27,140 --> 00:18:33,140
Did you have any idea who or what was showing you or did you feel like it was just the universe
294
00:18:33,140 --> 00:18:35,020
unveiling itself?
295
00:18:35,020 --> 00:18:40,860
I think it was the universe just kind of pointing me in the direction that I needed to go.
296
00:18:40,860 --> 00:18:46,980
Over the years, I've had weird experiences and it's like with each new experience, the
297
00:18:46,980 --> 00:18:49,860
universe is like, okay, well, here's a little bit more.
298
00:18:49,860 --> 00:18:50,860
You can handle that.
299
00:18:50,860 --> 00:18:52,100
Here's a little bit more.
300
00:18:52,100 --> 00:18:58,380
And then with the hospital visit, that was it cracking me open completely and saying,
301
00:18:58,380 --> 00:19:00,100
hey, this is what we have to show you.
302
00:19:00,100 --> 00:19:02,300
This is what you need to do.
303
00:19:02,300 --> 00:19:05,740
But that's the strangest thing about it.
304
00:19:05,740 --> 00:19:13,100
It was such a simple image, but there was so much information packed into that simple
305
00:19:13,100 --> 00:19:15,220
image.
306
00:19:15,220 --> 00:19:17,660
I'm still unpacking it.
307
00:19:17,660 --> 00:19:21,100
And there was no verbal exchange.
308
00:19:21,100 --> 00:19:25,140
It was like, you just get all this information out once and there you go.
309
00:19:25,140 --> 00:19:27,300
And then you're just like, okay.
310
00:19:27,300 --> 00:19:33,300
And it's up to me to sort through it and to make sense of it and to find a new purpose
311
00:19:33,300 --> 00:19:34,300
from that.
312
00:19:34,300 --> 00:19:36,620
Yeah, absolutely.
313
00:19:36,620 --> 00:19:42,620
And like you said, there was a message there that you'd need to help other people now.
314
00:19:42,620 --> 00:19:45,140
Get out of your selfishness.
315
00:19:45,140 --> 00:19:51,340
And maybe that's part of your place in the universe to use your words that you were meant
316
00:19:51,340 --> 00:19:52,340
to learn.
317
00:19:52,340 --> 00:19:55,660
David is this guy that helps others.
318
00:19:55,660 --> 00:19:56,660
I like that.
319
00:19:56,660 --> 00:19:58,660
I like that too.
320
00:19:58,660 --> 00:20:04,700
That's kind of the lasting legacy I'd like to leave behind that I've helped as many people
321
00:20:04,700 --> 00:20:09,140
as I could before I actually left this world.
322
00:20:09,140 --> 00:20:11,620
Tell me about the big white room.
323
00:20:11,620 --> 00:20:15,260
Get any more detail you can remember about it.
324
00:20:15,260 --> 00:20:20,660
I've tried to think about more of it, but it was really just a big white room.
325
00:20:20,660 --> 00:20:27,260
It almost looked like a dance floor, like where the floors and the walls, it would start
326
00:20:27,260 --> 00:20:31,180
out really bright in the middle of a wall and it was white, but then it would kind of
327
00:20:31,180 --> 00:20:36,900
fade so you get this glowing effect on the walls and on the floors.
328
00:20:36,900 --> 00:20:42,700
And then every so often a light would just pop out and then pop back in and pop out and
329
00:20:42,700 --> 00:20:44,300
pop back in.
330
00:20:44,300 --> 00:20:49,580
And that was kind of it, but that was very different from everything else too.
331
00:20:49,580 --> 00:20:51,980
And that came in very clear.
332
00:20:51,980 --> 00:20:59,180
And that was one that I needed to pay attention to because I felt the same way where I got
333
00:20:59,180 --> 00:21:06,660
ripped out of the physical realm and not in a coma, but I'm just in this room and I needed
334
00:21:06,660 --> 00:21:07,660
to watch this.
335
00:21:07,660 --> 00:21:10,820
And for what reasons, I'm still very unsure of.
336
00:21:10,820 --> 00:21:13,860
So I wish I could elaborate.
337
00:21:13,860 --> 00:21:19,140
I mean, I have so many questions and I don't know how to get them answered and I don't
338
00:21:19,140 --> 00:21:21,820
think they're meant to be answered on this plane.
339
00:21:21,820 --> 00:21:22,820
Yeah.
340
00:21:22,820 --> 00:21:27,020
So I'm going to probably ask you some of the questions that you already have and that's
341
00:21:27,020 --> 00:21:28,860
okay to tell me.
342
00:21:28,860 --> 00:21:29,860
I don't know.
343
00:21:29,860 --> 00:21:32,340
What do you make of that big white room?
344
00:21:32,340 --> 00:21:34,540
You've had a couple of years or so to think about it.
345
00:21:34,540 --> 00:21:36,140
Do you think it meant something?
346
00:21:36,140 --> 00:21:40,180
Do you think it was representing something?
347
00:21:40,180 --> 00:21:45,700
I think it was representing something, but what I'm not quite sure yet.
348
00:21:45,700 --> 00:21:51,900
I can understand and I can wrap my head around the big DNA looking thing where, you know,
349
00:21:51,900 --> 00:21:58,380
this is you, you kind of get inserted here in your part of this big world and you're
350
00:21:58,380 --> 00:21:59,900
important, you matter.
351
00:21:59,900 --> 00:22:01,500
But so does everybody else.
352
00:22:01,500 --> 00:22:02,740
The room?
353
00:22:02,740 --> 00:22:03,740
Oh.
354
00:22:03,740 --> 00:22:06,140
I don't know.
355
00:22:06,140 --> 00:22:09,740
I kind of wish I knew.
356
00:22:09,740 --> 00:22:16,180
I really do because I mean, it was just seamlessly coming out of a wall and then going back in
357
00:22:16,180 --> 00:22:21,660
and I'm like, okay, but as it was coming out, it would, it would light up in a color.
358
00:22:21,660 --> 00:22:22,660
It would be blue.
359
00:22:22,660 --> 00:22:23,660
I remember blue.
360
00:22:23,660 --> 00:22:28,060
I remember orange and I remember green being very, very bright and I'm like, oh, that's
361
00:22:28,060 --> 00:22:29,060
cool.
362
00:22:29,060 --> 00:22:33,540
And then as it was just a flash and I wish I knew how long it was.
363
00:22:33,540 --> 00:22:35,780
I wish I knew how long I was there.
364
00:22:35,780 --> 00:22:41,580
But then and now it just seems like a flash in your mind and that's, that's about the
365
00:22:41,580 --> 00:22:43,020
only way I can describe it.
366
00:22:43,020 --> 00:22:48,180
It's, I really, I really wish I knew what that meant.
367
00:22:48,180 --> 00:22:50,860
Do you remember how you were feeling at the time?
368
00:22:50,860 --> 00:22:58,620
I was a piece both times and nothing felt, it felt very light.
369
00:22:58,620 --> 00:23:01,940
Something I haven't felt in maybe ever.
370
00:23:01,940 --> 00:23:06,580
It was just a new kind of piece and it was, this is calming and very calming effect on
371
00:23:06,580 --> 00:23:07,580
you.
372
00:23:07,580 --> 00:23:14,260
I just, yeah, I remember being very calm and very, very awake and being like, oh, somebody's
373
00:23:14,260 --> 00:23:15,260
here.
374
00:23:15,260 --> 00:23:16,260
There's somebody else in the room.
375
00:23:16,260 --> 00:23:17,760
It's time for me to listen.
376
00:23:17,760 --> 00:23:22,300
Yeah, I was just very peaceful, very almost like you're floating.
377
00:23:22,300 --> 00:23:27,220
I would say, I mean, I've never floated, but if that was floating, I was floating and
378
00:23:27,220 --> 00:23:30,180
that's kind of how that, that felt.
379
00:23:30,180 --> 00:23:32,700
What were you supposed to listen to?
380
00:23:32,700 --> 00:23:38,900
The message, the message of the universe saying, hey, we're done with you and your games.
381
00:23:38,900 --> 00:23:41,580
You've got to wake up now.
382
00:23:41,580 --> 00:23:43,620
Time to grow up, David.
383
00:23:43,620 --> 00:23:45,140
That's exactly what it was, man.
384
00:23:45,140 --> 00:23:46,140
It was cool.
385
00:23:46,140 --> 00:23:47,940
You get it right on the head there.
386
00:23:47,940 --> 00:23:50,540
Like it, yeah, it's, you got to get moving with your life.
387
00:23:50,540 --> 00:23:52,540
You can't just keep spinning your wheels here.
388
00:23:52,540 --> 00:23:57,340
You mentioned that this shaped the decisions further down in your life.
389
00:23:57,340 --> 00:23:59,660
Tell me about some of those.
390
00:23:59,660 --> 00:24:02,500
Some of them were difficult decisions.
391
00:24:02,500 --> 00:24:07,060
What they don't tell you when you leave the hospital is people are going to change the
392
00:24:07,060 --> 00:24:12,180
way that number one, you're going to look at the world a whole lot differently than
393
00:24:12,180 --> 00:24:14,940
you ever thought possible.
394
00:24:14,940 --> 00:24:21,620
Your motivations, your priorities are way off of everybody else's now.
395
00:24:21,620 --> 00:24:25,300
It is completely different and that can include your loved ones.
396
00:24:25,300 --> 00:24:32,380
It can include your wife and about a year later after I got out of the hospital, I ended
397
00:24:32,380 --> 00:24:35,060
up getting divorced.
398
00:24:35,060 --> 00:24:38,020
There was a lot going on.
399
00:24:38,020 --> 00:24:41,180
Nobody knew how to handle anything at that point.
400
00:24:41,180 --> 00:24:45,060
In my head, I thought something like this would bring you closer to, you know, your
401
00:24:45,060 --> 00:24:48,300
partner, but that's not how that works.
402
00:24:48,300 --> 00:24:50,220
And there's statistics that back that up apparently.
403
00:24:50,220 --> 00:24:57,500
And I was like, that hurts, but what's important to her and what was important to me were completely
404
00:24:57,500 --> 00:24:58,500
different.
405
00:24:58,500 --> 00:25:00,580
I was happy to be alive.
406
00:25:00,580 --> 00:25:01,780
I was happy to be with her.
407
00:25:01,780 --> 00:25:03,500
I was happy to be with the kids.
408
00:25:03,500 --> 00:25:09,740
I was happy to be alive, which, but that was a whole new experience for me.
409
00:25:09,740 --> 00:25:17,580
Being grateful to be alive and to have a second chance was, it wasn't as amazing.
410
00:25:17,580 --> 00:25:22,260
Over time, you kind of lose that a little bit, but when I think about it, I'm so lucky
411
00:25:22,260 --> 00:25:25,460
to be here, but priorities changed, things changed.
412
00:25:25,460 --> 00:25:26,980
My mentality changed.
413
00:25:26,980 --> 00:25:32,700
I wasn't so caught up in what I drove over how much money I made or the things that I
414
00:25:32,700 --> 00:25:33,820
wanted to buy.
415
00:25:33,820 --> 00:25:37,500
It was like, hey, you know, I got to spend more time with the kids.
416
00:25:37,500 --> 00:25:43,220
I got to do more things around the house and be productive again.
417
00:25:43,220 --> 00:25:46,140
And you know, how am I helping the next person?
418
00:25:46,140 --> 00:25:49,260
You know, how can I make this system a little bit better for everybody else?
419
00:25:49,260 --> 00:25:53,100
Because when you leave the hospital, they didn't give me a book.
420
00:25:53,100 --> 00:25:56,300
They didn't give me a, your life has drastically changed.
421
00:25:56,300 --> 00:25:57,300
Here's a pamphlet.
422
00:25:57,300 --> 00:25:58,940
I didn't get any of that.
423
00:25:58,940 --> 00:26:03,620
That was what inspired me to become a social worker because I had, I hadn't, there was
424
00:26:03,620 --> 00:26:07,060
nothing there for people when you leave the hospital.
425
00:26:07,060 --> 00:26:11,420
It's like, here's some, they didn't suggest get therapy, which I had to go seek on my
426
00:26:11,420 --> 00:26:16,940
own for like the medical trauma or, you know, here's what you do to restart your life and
427
00:26:16,940 --> 00:26:17,940
get a career.
428
00:26:17,940 --> 00:26:18,940
There was none of that.
429
00:26:18,940 --> 00:26:22,980
And so that inspired me to do, to go back to school.
430
00:26:22,980 --> 00:26:28,140
But yeah, like how things panned out was not how I expected them to bow.
431
00:26:28,140 --> 00:26:31,860
That's okay because I really feel like I'm on the right path now.
432
00:26:31,860 --> 00:26:36,140
I'm dedicated and focused on school and my daughter.
433
00:26:36,140 --> 00:26:40,780
And again, those are probably the things I should be focused on.
434
00:26:40,780 --> 00:26:44,260
It flipped my life inside out.
435
00:26:44,260 --> 00:26:51,020
I mean, I lost some people along the way, friends that weren't quite friends.
436
00:26:51,020 --> 00:26:53,140
They just looked at me differently because I was different.
437
00:26:53,140 --> 00:26:54,140
You don't come back.
438
00:26:54,140 --> 00:26:57,100
You don't go to the edge and come back and you can't stay the same.
439
00:26:57,100 --> 00:26:58,220
That's not the point of these.
440
00:26:58,220 --> 00:27:04,660
I don't think the point of these are, is you get pushed to the edge and you come back to
441
00:27:04,660 --> 00:27:12,820
tell the others what it was like, what's important, what you should probably be focusing on.
442
00:27:12,820 --> 00:27:15,260
We're just unexpected messengers.
443
00:27:15,260 --> 00:27:20,500
Like you get picked out of the lottery, you go to the edge and you come back and you report
444
00:27:20,500 --> 00:27:21,500
the findings.
445
00:27:21,500 --> 00:27:26,220
You're just like a astronaut that doesn't get to go too far, but you go really far.
446
00:27:26,220 --> 00:27:27,220
Yeah.
447
00:27:27,220 --> 00:27:28,220
Congratulations.
448
00:27:28,220 --> 00:27:34,540
I know this is your first time talking about this in a big setting like this.
449
00:27:34,540 --> 00:27:37,580
You have talked to a few friends about it.
450
00:27:37,580 --> 00:27:39,540
How did they react?
451
00:27:39,540 --> 00:27:44,620
So my friends, they're a very small group of people and they're weird like me.
452
00:27:44,620 --> 00:27:46,980
We discuss these things like near-death experiences.
453
00:27:46,980 --> 00:27:49,340
We discuss UFOs and ghosts.
454
00:27:49,340 --> 00:27:53,100
So they were surprised.
455
00:27:53,100 --> 00:27:56,900
My close knit friends were not surprised.
456
00:27:56,900 --> 00:28:00,360
Some other people have reacted differently.
457
00:28:00,360 --> 00:28:02,580
Some people don't want to hear it.
458
00:28:02,580 --> 00:28:05,980
It affects them so deeply that they just blog it out.
459
00:28:05,980 --> 00:28:06,980
They don't want to talk about it.
460
00:28:06,980 --> 00:28:12,100
They don't want to see it because it affects, we're asking bigger questions now.
461
00:28:12,100 --> 00:28:14,700
What happens after we die?
462
00:28:14,700 --> 00:28:19,060
It asks the questions that a lot of people, I think, may not be open to.
463
00:28:19,060 --> 00:28:23,140
So some friends just kind of withered away.
464
00:28:23,140 --> 00:28:26,100
I think that's okay too.
465
00:28:26,100 --> 00:28:28,340
Everything changes.
466
00:28:28,340 --> 00:28:32,740
Some people aren't going to view things the same way that I do, but it's also difficult
467
00:28:32,740 --> 00:28:37,940
to relate to a lot of people because you've been through this experience.
468
00:28:37,940 --> 00:28:46,740
That's been a very difficult thing to try to work through and deal with is how far off
469
00:28:46,740 --> 00:28:49,660
until left field you really are now.
470
00:28:49,660 --> 00:28:51,780
People look at you crazy when you ask them certain things.
471
00:28:51,780 --> 00:28:57,380
I mean, I'm in college with all these kids and I ask what seems to be crazy questions,
472
00:28:57,380 --> 00:28:58,980
but to me it's normal.
473
00:28:58,980 --> 00:29:06,940
Why would you focus your energy on material things and why would you need the newest phone,
474
00:29:06,940 --> 00:29:09,260
why would you need the newest car?
475
00:29:09,260 --> 00:29:12,100
And I'm looked at like I'm crazy.
476
00:29:12,100 --> 00:29:15,820
And it's like maybe you should consider that there's other things in life that we should
477
00:29:15,820 --> 00:29:23,860
be worried about and that our relationships with the people that are around us are really
478
00:29:23,860 --> 00:29:30,100
what's important is how we're treating each other, how we're spending time with each other.
479
00:29:30,100 --> 00:29:32,620
Is it healthy?
480
00:29:32,620 --> 00:29:34,100
Is it productive?
481
00:29:34,100 --> 00:29:37,700
Are we working to make the world a better place or are we just kind of living and buying
482
00:29:37,700 --> 00:29:40,220
things and that's kind of how it goes.
483
00:29:40,220 --> 00:29:42,340
Yeah, you are crazy.
484
00:29:42,340 --> 00:29:44,700
Yeah, I do.
485
00:29:44,700 --> 00:29:50,500
No, you're unusual and a nice breath of fresh air in this world.
486
00:29:50,500 --> 00:29:53,140
Getting back to the friends for just a second though.
487
00:29:53,140 --> 00:29:54,140
Yeah.
488
00:29:54,140 --> 00:29:58,980
It's unfortunate that these things happen because there are some people that are going
489
00:29:58,980 --> 00:30:03,420
to like you mentioned that believe you and want to talk about it.
490
00:30:03,420 --> 00:30:09,300
There are others that may believe you but still do not want to talk about it.
491
00:30:09,300 --> 00:30:15,660
These kinds of realities are uncomfortable and just the topic of death in general or
492
00:30:15,660 --> 00:30:18,020
in afterlife.
493
00:30:18,020 --> 00:30:21,740
Some people are comfortable talking about it, some are not.
494
00:30:21,740 --> 00:30:23,020
That's okay.
495
00:30:23,020 --> 00:30:27,460
And then there are also people that just don't believe it and they may have been too nice
496
00:30:27,460 --> 00:30:33,620
to tell you but there may have been some that just are like, yeah, I don't believe that
497
00:30:33,620 --> 00:30:35,620
kind of crap.
498
00:30:35,620 --> 00:30:37,020
I've had those responses.
499
00:30:37,020 --> 00:30:39,940
I've had that's interesting.
500
00:30:39,940 --> 00:30:44,460
I've had the rainbow of responses.
501
00:30:44,460 --> 00:30:49,140
And like I tell people, I didn't sign up for this.
502
00:30:49,140 --> 00:30:50,980
I did not sign up for this.
503
00:30:50,980 --> 00:30:56,180
I'm just telling you what was told to me and whether you believe it or not is up to you.
504
00:30:56,180 --> 00:31:02,140
I'm just relaying the message and what you get from it or what you choose to listen to,
505
00:31:02,140 --> 00:31:03,940
that's up to you.
506
00:31:03,940 --> 00:31:08,660
But this is what happened to me and that's all I can really do.
507
00:31:08,660 --> 00:31:10,580
I'm not trying to convince anybody of anything.
508
00:31:10,580 --> 00:31:12,980
I'm not trying to change the world.
509
00:31:12,980 --> 00:31:17,620
I'm just relaying a message that was delivered to me.
510
00:31:17,620 --> 00:31:19,420
That's a perfect way to put it.
511
00:31:19,420 --> 00:31:22,860
I'm sorry to hear about your marriage.
512
00:31:22,860 --> 00:31:26,620
I don't know if it's comforting or not to know that.
513
00:31:26,620 --> 00:31:34,660
That's a fairly common thing with experiencers because you're different and your priorities
514
00:31:34,660 --> 00:31:41,740
are different and the person that she married is now a different person.
515
00:31:41,740 --> 00:31:43,460
Sometimes that makes for a better marriage.
516
00:31:43,460 --> 00:31:49,620
Well, often it just doesn't because that person's gone.
517
00:31:49,620 --> 00:31:55,700
There's a two point, a David 2.0 and while you and I think that's a better person, well,
518
00:31:55,700 --> 00:31:57,380
doesn't always work out.
519
00:31:57,380 --> 00:31:59,300
And I'm sorry to hear about that.
520
00:31:59,300 --> 00:32:04,780
I've had a lot of time to step back and really evaluate what she might have been going through
521
00:32:04,780 --> 00:32:05,820
during that period.
522
00:32:05,820 --> 00:32:11,580
And there was two times where they had told her that his organs are failing and he's not
523
00:32:11,580 --> 00:32:14,260
going to make it through the night.
524
00:32:14,260 --> 00:32:20,620
And I think that's when the two experiences might have happened is when I was right to
525
00:32:20,620 --> 00:32:22,100
the edge.
526
00:32:22,100 --> 00:32:23,100
I don't know.
527
00:32:23,100 --> 00:32:26,700
I can't imagine what that would be like.
528
00:32:26,700 --> 00:32:28,460
I was taking a nap.
529
00:32:28,460 --> 00:32:29,460
I was out.
530
00:32:29,460 --> 00:32:30,700
I was not present.
531
00:32:30,700 --> 00:32:38,220
So I don't know what it would have been like to view my loved one hooked up to six hoses
532
00:32:38,220 --> 00:32:43,180
that were in me plus whatever else they were hooked me up to.
533
00:32:43,180 --> 00:32:49,020
I don't know how that looks and I don't know how traumatic that would be on someone.
534
00:32:49,020 --> 00:32:51,500
So I tried to step back.
535
00:32:51,500 --> 00:32:52,940
Very traumatic.
536
00:32:52,940 --> 00:32:59,180
The family, the loved ones, they have a type of PTSD from this stuff.
537
00:32:59,180 --> 00:33:05,380
I've talked with some people that have said, my spouse does not even want to talk about
538
00:33:05,380 --> 00:33:06,820
it at all.
539
00:33:06,820 --> 00:33:08,940
We're not even talking about the NDE.
540
00:33:08,940 --> 00:33:13,780
We're talking about the accident or the hospitalization or whatever led up to it.
541
00:33:13,780 --> 00:33:19,540
And because it was so traumatic, they just don't want to go there again.
542
00:33:19,540 --> 00:33:26,260
But you may need to talk about it to process it and to deal with it on your end.
543
00:33:26,260 --> 00:33:28,580
Everybody's different.
544
00:33:28,580 --> 00:33:32,700
And some other people whose loved one went through it, yeah, they do need to talk about
545
00:33:32,700 --> 00:33:35,420
it as well to process it.
546
00:33:35,420 --> 00:33:39,580
So yeah, we're all different on this kind of stuff.
547
00:33:39,580 --> 00:33:43,940
And sometimes that lines up, sometimes it doesn't.
548
00:33:43,940 --> 00:33:47,180
But I'm glad you have a great relationship with your kids.
549
00:33:47,180 --> 00:33:51,220
Yeah, I really do.
550
00:33:51,220 --> 00:33:57,420
She is my reason for a lot of things these days.
551
00:33:57,420 --> 00:34:00,860
And whenever I feel low, I feel like I can't keep going.
552
00:34:00,860 --> 00:34:07,660
And I remember that I have her and then I do have a second chance and that I have a lot
553
00:34:07,660 --> 00:34:09,620
to offer the world.
554
00:34:09,620 --> 00:34:13,060
My social work professor, she was really excited.
555
00:34:13,060 --> 00:34:16,420
This is the first semester that I'm in class, in person class.
556
00:34:16,420 --> 00:34:18,540
And she's like, you're going to bring so much to the table.
557
00:34:18,540 --> 00:34:23,900
And I'm like, OK, I just have a different perspective on a lot of things now.
558
00:34:23,900 --> 00:34:26,140
And there is very excited to have me.
559
00:34:26,140 --> 00:34:28,140
And I'm excited to be there.
560
00:34:28,140 --> 00:34:33,420
So I recently watched a show on Amazon and there was a line that caught my attention
561
00:34:33,420 --> 00:34:39,940
and it has not left my mind since the character had said, if you climb high enough, even a
562
00:34:39,940 --> 00:34:42,380
nightmare can seem like a dream.
563
00:34:42,380 --> 00:34:49,740
And so there was times where I was in self-loathing, why me, you know, why this, why that.
564
00:34:49,740 --> 00:34:55,340
I step back now and I look at the good things that I have.
565
00:34:55,340 --> 00:34:58,860
I'm on a disability.
566
00:34:58,860 --> 00:35:04,620
So I'm taking care of, I don't have to worry where my rent's coming from.
567
00:35:04,620 --> 00:35:11,380
I have extra time, more than the average person, to go to school, to hang out with my kids,
568
00:35:11,380 --> 00:35:16,260
to participate in different events around the campus and volunteer and help other people.
569
00:35:16,260 --> 00:35:21,220
So what looked like a curse at the beginning now looks like a blessing.
570
00:35:21,220 --> 00:35:28,740
And that's been like a woe, woe kind of moment for me is that instead of looking at it as
571
00:35:28,740 --> 00:35:33,060
the cups have, have empty, that cups pretty full.
572
00:35:33,060 --> 00:35:36,140
And I'm pretty fortunate to be on this side of it.
573
00:35:36,140 --> 00:35:39,580
I mean, I look at the kids around me in school, they're working a job going to school full
574
00:35:39,580 --> 00:35:40,580
time.
575
00:35:40,580 --> 00:35:42,380
I don't know how they do that.
576
00:35:42,380 --> 00:35:44,620
Like this is a lot of work and I don't even have a job.
577
00:35:44,620 --> 00:35:52,980
So, and I'm like, oh, I feel gratitude about that, that things worked out the way they
578
00:35:52,980 --> 00:35:57,260
did and that I'm in the position that I'm in now.
579
00:35:57,260 --> 00:35:59,180
It hasn't been easy.
580
00:35:59,180 --> 00:36:02,860
Do I wish things were somewhat different?
581
00:36:02,860 --> 00:36:08,420
Some things, but I will always tell people that I will never regret going into the hospital.
582
00:36:08,420 --> 00:36:15,140
If I hadn't do that all over again, I would because of the person that I am today.
583
00:36:15,140 --> 00:36:22,020
And that's made it all worth it to be open to so many different things, willing to talk
584
00:36:22,020 --> 00:36:23,700
to anybody about anything.
585
00:36:23,700 --> 00:36:26,820
And I think that scares a lot of people, but I'm good with it.
586
00:36:26,820 --> 00:36:32,820
And to be friendly and genuine in a world that is often probably not that genuine.
587
00:36:32,820 --> 00:36:39,620
I think we lack that as a society and as a world is that a realness.
588
00:36:39,620 --> 00:36:42,780
And I was given all of that.
589
00:36:42,780 --> 00:36:44,660
And it's all thanks to COVID.
590
00:36:44,660 --> 00:36:48,300
So David, that's a beautiful way to wrap up.
591
00:36:48,300 --> 00:36:54,820
But before I cut you loose on a scale of one to 10, how much fear of death do you have?
592
00:36:54,820 --> 00:36:55,820
Zero.
593
00:36:55,820 --> 00:36:56,820
Not my have any.
594
00:36:56,820 --> 00:36:58,580
Isn't that amazing?
595
00:36:58,580 --> 00:36:59,580
No.
596
00:36:59,580 --> 00:37:03,020
Once you've done it and realize it's not that bad.
597
00:37:03,020 --> 00:37:04,020
That is a weird way to put it.
598
00:37:04,020 --> 00:37:05,180
And I never thought of it that way.
599
00:37:05,180 --> 00:37:06,380
And I love that.
600
00:37:06,380 --> 00:37:08,900
You know, I already did that.
601
00:37:08,900 --> 00:37:10,060
It's cool.
602
00:37:10,060 --> 00:37:11,540
People are people.
603
00:37:11,540 --> 00:37:13,860
And that's it's a whole other conversation there.
604
00:37:13,860 --> 00:37:19,340
So well, you are going to make a great social worker, someone that has really internalized
605
00:37:19,340 --> 00:37:23,180
the message of I want to help others.
606
00:37:23,180 --> 00:37:24,980
You're going to be able to do that.
607
00:37:24,980 --> 00:37:26,940
I'm really happy for you.
608
00:37:26,940 --> 00:37:27,940
Thank you.
609
00:37:27,940 --> 00:37:30,460
All right, David, I'll let you go.
610
00:37:30,460 --> 00:37:32,420
Thanks a ton for being with me today.
611
00:37:32,420 --> 00:37:34,780
Thank you for having me.
612
00:37:34,780 --> 00:37:37,540
Thanks again for listening and sharing this podcast.
613
00:37:37,540 --> 00:37:43,620
Don't forget to hit the follow or subscribe button and sign up for our newsletter at roundtriptest.com.
614
00:37:43,620 --> 00:37:47,900
If you want to share your near death experience, or if you have questions or comments about
615
00:37:47,900 --> 00:37:52,260
the show, send an email to Eric at roundtriptest.com.
616
00:37:52,260 --> 00:37:59,260
Until then, I wish you everything good that you're looking for in this life and the next.
