Breaking Barriers: How Sunday Swim Created a Community of Warriors

Transcript

WEBVTT

00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:04.330
when I'm in that, when I'm at the beach in the cold, I turned to the beast.

00:00:04.730 --> 00:00:09.279
Like it's, it's, it's hard to tap into it until it, it wakes up in you.

00:00:09.669 --> 00:00:12.439
You don't always get to choose when it, when you wake it up.

00:00:12.710 --> 00:00:16.300
So like, I mean, if you come to that beach, I promise you, I will not disappoint.

00:00:19.760 --> 00:00:29.390
Welcome to the New Age Human Podcast, where we empower conscious creators, entrepreneurs, and empaths by diving into subjects like alternative health, mindfulness, and innovative technology.

00:00:29.719 --> 00:00:42.710
I'm your host, Jon Astacio and in today's episode we're talking with Brandon Cooke, the founder of Sunday Swim, which is a holistic health company on a mission to change the world through exposure to the cold, specifically cold water.

00:00:42.951 --> 00:00:56.981
Now, if you're looking for ways to improve your mental health, physical health, and find out how he turned a passion into a growing movement, including gaining the attention of New York Times and Fox News, this is an episode you don't want to miss.

00:00:57.109 --> 00:01:01.280
Now, if you want to support the show, please leave a five star review on Apple Podcasts.

00:01:01.280 --> 00:01:02.570
It helps us out a lot.

00:01:02.659 --> 00:01:04.492
And head over to NewAgeHuman.

00:01:04.492 --> 00:01:09.162
com so you can join our newsletter and get sneak peeks and heads up on future projects.

00:01:09.653 --> 00:01:11.722
Now with that said, thank you for joining us today.

00:01:12.102 --> 00:01:12.862
Let's get started.

00:01:12.900 --> 00:01:16.400
So, yeah, I want to, well, first thank you for coming onto the show.

00:01:16.811 --> 00:01:18.661
We, reconnected again.

00:01:18.980 --> 00:01:33.891
And I know that, we finally did a cold plunge into the lake when we reconnected at an event recently and that was an awesome experience, but thank you for coming on the show, Brandon I appreciate you, I want to know, uh, what, why cold plunge?

00:01:33.921 --> 00:01:36.331
A lot of people talk about cold showers.

00:01:36.430 --> 00:01:38.260
A lot of people hate cold showers.

00:01:39.251 --> 00:01:41.070
You started Sunday swim.

00:01:41.081 --> 00:01:42.381
Where did that come from?

00:01:42.381 --> 00:01:42.570
Why?

00:01:43.381 --> 00:01:50.930
So, when I was in college, I was dealing with, I would say even in high school started, I was dealing with some mental health issues.

00:01:51.271 --> 00:01:52.400
I didn't know how to manage stress.

00:01:53.646 --> 00:01:55.626
I would party a lot.

00:01:56.225 --> 00:02:02.756
You know, I would take my anger out on things and I didn't like the person I was becoming or the trajectory that I was going.

00:02:03.325 --> 00:02:07.066
And I had like a three day span where like everything kind of just.

00:02:08.330 --> 00:02:09.491
Fell out of control.

00:02:09.850 --> 00:02:15.890
I was, you know, my longterm relationship at the time ended, my grandmother passed like the next day.

00:02:16.381 --> 00:02:28.241
And it brought a lot of shame on me because I, I didn't go to her 90th birthday party because I spent it studying for work and and, and that test that I ended up studying for was like this big exam that I, cause I wanted to work on wall street.

00:02:28.241 --> 00:02:30.050
I w I was, I was really good in finance.

00:02:30.341 --> 00:02:34.980
And I failed to, and it was just like, yeah, it was crushing and like.

00:02:35.087 --> 00:02:42.367
I didn't see any hope like the future was unclear like I couldn't see past the day like it was really like a terrible time and

00:02:42.418 --> 00:02:44.099
day, it just happened to come along.

00:02:44.099 --> 00:02:44.340
Okay.

00:02:44.340 --> 00:02:44.580
Okay.

00:02:44.602 --> 00:02:48.741
you know, I was in a bad place for a little while, but then, you know, you got two options.

00:02:49.122 --> 00:02:50.092
You sink or you swim.

00:02:50.092 --> 00:02:50.931
I say it all the time.

00:02:51.361 --> 00:02:55.651
And I've always prided myself on being a guy when he falls down, he picks himself back up.

00:02:56.081 --> 00:02:56.491
So.

00:02:57.276 --> 00:03:01.127
I reassessed the situation where I was in my life, why I got to this point.

00:03:01.967 --> 00:03:03.907
And I sat down with it for a little bit.

00:03:04.086 --> 00:03:07.336
I wanted to understand why I lost, not just jump back real quick.

00:03:07.967 --> 00:03:13.127
And part of my healing process and, I was studying a lot and, but it was new things.

00:03:13.157 --> 00:03:14.437
It wasn't finance anymore.

00:03:14.447 --> 00:03:18.507
It wasn't the typical, what college wanted me to study where.

00:03:18.961 --> 00:03:24.622
I thought that they wanted me to go get a regular job and be unhappy.

00:03:24.622 --> 00:03:25.701
Just chasing the dollar.

00:03:26.051 --> 00:03:30.532
I, uh, I came across Wim Hof, the Dutch extreme athlete, the ice man.

00:03:30.831 --> 00:03:33.692
He he's, you know, he's my, he's my inspiration, my love.

00:03:34.151 --> 00:03:37.081
And I, I just was scrolling on the internet one day.

00:03:37.081 --> 00:03:40.532
It just happened to come across him and he was shirtless.

00:03:41.597 --> 00:03:58.067
And in some snowstorm and he had this great beard and this passion in his eyes and you could see how much he was filled with joy and love and how inspired he was and I said if I could just get a little taste of this.

00:03:58.942 --> 00:03:59.891
You know, I could be good.

00:04:00.512 --> 00:04:08.111
And, uh, his, his message on changing the world, making a happier, healthier lifestyle, I absolutely fell in love with it.

00:04:08.111 --> 00:04:09.842
And I started studying his method.

00:04:10.222 --> 00:04:11.181
I was reading his book.

00:04:11.181 --> 00:04:12.451
I was doing the breathing work.

00:04:12.812 --> 00:04:14.782
I was practicing the cold therapy.

00:04:15.021 --> 00:04:18.632
And, uh, it was really difficult when I first started

00:04:18.882 --> 00:04:19.411
He was

00:04:19.911 --> 00:04:20.302
like,

00:04:20.961 --> 00:04:23.291
you didnt just dive right in?

00:04:24.250 --> 00:04:34.269
No, I mean, like the first time I went in, I was, I probably lasted like 30 seconds and I was just yelling the whole time, stay hard, stay hard, stay hard.

00:04:34.279 --> 00:04:39.579
Cause I thought I was David Goggins, you know, like I was actually with like four people.

00:04:39.750 --> 00:04:44.250
Yeah, it wasn't really, so I was understanding what I was still doing at that time.

00:04:44.250 --> 00:04:49.810
I was just doing it, but I wasn't mentally prepared or accepting of the challenge.

00:04:49.810 --> 00:04:50.800
I was still fighting it.

00:04:51.404 --> 00:04:56.535
And then as I continued to study the process, I was starting to feel better.

00:04:56.535 --> 00:04:58.574
Like, you know, I was, I was starting to feel more confident.

00:04:58.855 --> 00:05:16.735
I was getting my swagger back and, uh, me and my brother went together in October of 2021 and when we went in that water, man, like I understood what Wim was talking about, like the bond that was created between me and my brother in that moment was like.

00:05:17.319 --> 00:05:54.595
We were inseparable and, uh, I understood him and all of his pain and all his struggling and We got out of that water and we chased each other around like we were kids like it was crazy I was jumping attacking him playing around like like animals, you know I was like an animal boy like they bite each other a little bit and it was so fun we had such a good time and I realized like damn this cold water is no joke like and I made it my mission to show the people, because you know, at the end of Wim's book, he puts up a call to action, saying that we can change the world, and I heard him, loud and clear.

00:05:54.725 --> 00:06:08.240
I understood what he wanted to say, and I, I knew that God had a purpose for me, and uh, that made me excited, to understand, like, cause, When I was going through that tough time, I, like, I was like, what am I doing here?

00:06:09.000 --> 00:06:10.300
What, what, I have no purpose.

00:06:10.300 --> 00:06:12.620
I'm just messing around, having fun, doing whatever I want.

00:06:12.639 --> 00:06:14.259
Like, that's not living life.

00:06:14.819 --> 00:06:24.519
And once I felt that purpose, up every day excited again, because I understood that if I could just help one person, then this is all been worth it.

00:06:25.120 --> 00:06:43.819
And uh, For 20 weeks straight that year, 2022, we went into the ocean every single week and week by week, you know, we'd get some new faces, we'd have some returning ones, you'd even have a week or two where there was like only two people, but I knew that if I stuck to the plan that people would see it.

00:06:44.634 --> 00:06:48.714
Because the cold water is a, you know, it's a positive energy.

00:06:48.714 --> 00:06:49.785
You leave feeling better.

00:06:49.785 --> 00:06:51.125
I know that this product doesn't miss.

00:06:51.384 --> 00:06:51.625
Yes.

00:06:51.625 --> 00:06:52.074
It's hard.

00:06:52.074 --> 00:06:53.975
So sometimes it's scary to come back.

00:06:54.314 --> 00:07:04.435
And, but I knew that I had something here, whether it was one person, two people, 20 people, and this year we made it a real company and week one.

00:07:05.175 --> 00:07:09.975
We had like 150 people show up and it was like one of the coolest days of my life.

00:07:09.985 --> 00:07:11.175
It was so awesome.

00:07:11.524 --> 00:07:17.865
And I was able to like lead us out into the water and just watching everyone run out of that water with smiles on their face.

00:07:19.074 --> 00:07:20.254
That meant the world to me.

00:07:20.264 --> 00:07:24.625
It was like a whole two years of hard work and, and people called me crazy.

00:07:24.665 --> 00:07:28.154
Like people really thought like we lost on my mind and they were judging me.

00:07:28.154 --> 00:07:32.084
And yeah, cause you know, people didn't understand the cold when people don't understand stuff.

00:07:32.115 --> 00:07:45.064
They don't, uh, They like to label it as something because they're not okay with just saying it just is like when people go in that cold water, they say it's so cold, so cold and something that really helped me is.

00:07:46.089 --> 00:07:47.029
Just is.

00:07:47.439 --> 00:07:48.750
You don't have to label everything.

00:07:48.759 --> 00:07:50.639
It can just be something.

00:07:51.209 --> 00:07:55.069
And, man, this year was like a wild ride.

00:07:55.079 --> 00:07:57.220
We, next thing you know, it took off.

00:07:57.310 --> 00:08:02.389
And we were in New York Times, we were in Fox News twice, we had a follow up.

00:08:02.680 --> 00:08:06.889
Interview with Wim Hof, she was like, everything came full circle and it

00:08:06.913 --> 00:08:08.043
that's insane.

00:08:08.184 --> 00:08:12.413
What was it like to have that interview with Wim Hof?

00:08:12.423 --> 00:08:13.994
Can you, like, go into that?

00:08:13.994 --> 00:08:18.884
Because I know that you said you had, you published an article with him, but I didn't know you interviewed him,

00:08:19.040 --> 00:08:20.230
So no, I wasn't there.

00:08:20.259 --> 00:08:21.069
So I wasn't there.

00:08:21.149 --> 00:08:23.800
So like, yes, upsetting a little bit.

00:08:23.990 --> 00:08:24.230
I was a

00:08:24.314 --> 00:08:25.473
It's a step further.

00:08:25.540 --> 00:08:30.670
it was like, yes, we're still, listen, we'll, we'll make sure, I'll make sure it happens one day.

00:08:32.039 --> 00:08:32.360
Okay.

00:08:32.389 --> 00:08:39.840
So like, I had mixed emotions on this too, because it was, it was so big and to not be able to be there was upsetting to me.

00:08:40.450 --> 00:08:43.029
But Angelica Stabile, the one who wrote the article.

00:08:44.054 --> 00:08:46.575
I met her this year and she's a gem.

00:08:46.914 --> 00:08:50.004
She is such a good person.

00:08:50.024 --> 00:08:51.294
She has such a warm heart.

00:08:51.674 --> 00:08:58.945
She came to the swims cause she figured that if she was going to be the one representing like Sunday swim and doing the interview, she should understand it too.

00:08:58.945 --> 00:08:59.254
Right?

00:08:59.294 --> 00:09:03.095
So she even the week before plunged with us to ask us questions.

00:09:03.095 --> 00:09:04.815
We went over the book and the topics.

00:09:05.235 --> 00:09:05.684
So it went away.

00:09:05.845 --> 00:09:07.345
I felt like I was there through her.

00:09:07.705 --> 00:09:08.815
So it was beautiful.

00:09:09.184 --> 00:09:10.894
And at some point, you know, you got to drop the ego.

00:09:10.894 --> 00:09:11.365
Who am I?

00:09:11.820 --> 00:09:13.269
Like, what does it matter if I meet him?

00:09:13.320 --> 00:09:15.350
Like, to be honest, where I'm still spreading

00:09:15.389 --> 00:09:23.769
so to be clear, she came to you guys and she's like somebody that works within his company.

00:09:24.349 --> 00:09:25.208
Is that what's going on?

00:09:25.570 --> 00:09:28.409
so, so we had our first interview.

00:09:28.889 --> 00:09:32.190
She's actually from my hometown, but works for Fox news.

00:09:32.774 --> 00:09:35.924
And she came to the swim, she heard about it.

00:09:36.115 --> 00:09:38.205
So she wrote a whole article that was like, just us.

00:09:38.575 --> 00:09:39.825
It was a great piece.

00:09:39.884 --> 00:09:42.514
It was like cold therapy can change your life, something like that.

00:09:42.985 --> 00:09:48.995
And then she reached out to Wim Hof's team and was able to secure an interview.

00:09:49.455 --> 00:09:53.654
So the way that they did it was like a followup of that first one on cold therapy.

00:09:54.309 --> 00:09:57.009
Which now, okay, we've talked about cold therapy.

00:09:57.039 --> 00:09:58.139
Well, where did this start?

00:09:58.149 --> 00:09:58.649
Who's the Iceman?

00:09:59.149 --> 00:10:07.679
And then it went into like the Iceman, Wim Hof, and then the article kind of went like, and this is how it's inspiring other people to push the message.

00:10:08.269 --> 00:10:10.129
So it was kind of like that.

00:10:10.769 --> 00:10:20.190
But, she did have a point where she was able to send, like, a message from me, like, saying, so there's a clip saying that Brenda Cook wants to thank you for, like, saving and changing his life.

00:10:20.679 --> 00:10:22.980
And he's like, wow, that's so beautiful, love and power.

00:10:23.019 --> 00:10:27.570
So, like, now I love to always say love and power, because it's just, like, something so beautiful.

00:10:27.570 --> 00:10:32.230
And, uh, you know, maybe I didn't get to speak to him, but I, I do think I

00:10:32.548 --> 00:10:34.298
You, you got...

00:10:34.360 --> 00:10:34.850
And, uh,

00:10:35.274 --> 00:10:35.994
Your name.

00:10:36.004 --> 00:10:37.073
Someone came out to you.

00:10:37.604 --> 00:10:39.923
That's, That's, like the beginning.

00:10:40.063 --> 00:10:42.214
Like, think about it.

00:10:42.244 --> 00:10:44.173
Before, you would have been like, I'm your fan.

00:10:44.423 --> 00:10:45.673
I'm gonna shoot you an email.

00:10:45.703 --> 00:10:46.783
I started a company.

00:10:47.134 --> 00:10:49.384
After just your, your practice.

00:10:49.403 --> 00:10:51.374
And even then, he might have, right?

00:10:51.663 --> 00:10:55.964
But, you actually have someone that came to you that was local.

00:10:55.974 --> 00:10:58.923
Got inspired to to add you to a story.

00:10:58.933 --> 00:11:01.274
And then mentioned you by name to him.

00:11:01.604 --> 00:11:03.854
And if you have access, do you have access to that video?

00:11:04.370 --> 00:11:04.950
I do.

00:11:04.960 --> 00:11:06.049
Yeah, I could send it to you.

00:11:06.149 --> 00:11:06.440
I could

00:11:06.614 --> 00:11:08.153
yeah, yeah, yeah, that would be cool.

00:11:08.153 --> 00:11:15.283
But I was asking, that if you wanted to reach out and to connect or, uh, communicate with him, right?

00:11:15.394 --> 00:11:19.124
That's a tool you could use under your belt.

00:11:19.484 --> 00:11:20.604
Like, hey, you know what?

00:11:20.644 --> 00:11:27.594
We're doing some big things and it's all because of you and that, that person, that's me and I would love to connect with you.

00:11:27.624 --> 00:11:31.374
I can only, like, that would be a crazy story, even, right?

00:11:31.429 --> 00:11:32.580
That's actually a great idea.

00:11:32.580 --> 00:11:32.710
Yeah.

00:11:32.710 --> 00:11:35.769
And I might have to do that right after we hang up this call.

00:11:35.769 --> 00:11:36.269
I think I'll get,

00:11:36.533 --> 00:11:36.844
I'm getting

00:11:37.019 --> 00:11:37.509
I'll do that.

00:11:37.769 --> 00:11:37.789
Yeah.

00:11:38.980 --> 00:11:39.250
Yeah.

00:11:39.250 --> 00:11:39.950
Me too, man.

00:11:39.960 --> 00:11:47.990
You know, the only part that upsets me is that Wim Hof, when I came across him, the people who are running his page were like epic.

00:11:48.009 --> 00:11:53.850
They made him look like a beast and I think they have a new like marketing team cause he doesn't actually run his Instagram page.

00:11:54.850 --> 00:11:56.120
kind of dropped the ball a little bit.

00:11:56.120 --> 00:11:59.259
Like you have this guy who is 26 Guinness world records.

00:11:59.570 --> 00:12:13.070
And they don't even like post about it, and they post about it, you know, just regular people, like just regular people like me, like, yes, it's cool to see us, but I already get so much that I want to see him, I want to hear his voice, I want to hear his, yeah, on his, on his social media.

00:12:13.480 --> 00:12:16.649
So, I think they could do a lot more than they currently do

00:12:16.673 --> 00:12:24.592
Do you mean to say that his social media doesn't show him and you wanna see more of him and that was kind of a letdown for you?

00:12:24.798 --> 00:12:29.788
Yeah, no, it is because yeah, they, I just think that they've been, they could do a better job.

00:12:29.788 --> 00:12:35.227
I mean, I think I could do a better job like with his, just to be honest, I have a good social media team.

00:12:35.227 --> 00:12:52.758
I think we can do a better job showing how epic and powerful and, uh, you know, what I love about him too is I think there's a big issue right now between, uh, you know, like the divine femininity and masculinity and we're, uh, people are like afraid to show that

00:12:52.841 --> 00:12:53.772
to be masculine.

00:12:54.722 --> 00:12:56.812
Yeah, it's like a bad thing to be masculine.

00:12:56.812 --> 00:12:57.702
I don't think it is.

00:12:57.722 --> 00:13:03.072
It doesn't mean that we're not in touch with like, you know, our feminine side as well, but they put you down.

00:13:03.072 --> 00:13:05.302
I almost for being masculine at this point.

00:13:05.312 --> 00:13:06.403
Like it's a negative thing.

00:13:06.773 --> 00:13:11.413
And I, I think society works better when we're both in our roles for the most part.

00:13:11.592 --> 00:13:13.533
But Wim Hof, you know, he's like masculine side.

00:13:13.533 --> 00:13:18.403
I don't think they show as much that power and the vigor in his body and like the roar.

00:13:18.543 --> 00:13:22.332
I love that about him on top of, you know, how sweet he is and gentle.

00:13:22.332 --> 00:13:22.493
Cool.

00:13:23.488 --> 00:13:25.477
Like, I love that power behind him, like a

00:13:25.652 --> 00:13:34.261
And I can totally see you putting that into your communication with him saying, like, I want to see more of you and I would like to bring that out in a conversation with you.

00:13:34.272 --> 00:13:36.302
You know, like, who knows?

00:13:36.971 --> 00:13:38.552
Keep me posted on that, man.

00:13:38.552 --> 00:13:39.341
That's gonna be cool.

00:13:39.782 --> 00:13:41.812
So I want to rewind back.

00:13:42.072 --> 00:13:43.961
I think you're doing really big things.

00:13:43.961 --> 00:13:44.341
I mean,

00:13:44.782 --> 00:13:44.951
You.

00:13:45.615 --> 00:13:47.145
if you don't mind me asking, how old are you?

00:13:48.206 --> 00:13:48.615
Just turned

00:13:48.672 --> 00:13:49.831
Uh, just turned 24.

00:13:50.426 --> 00:13:52.316
And you're doing a lot of this stuff.

00:13:52.316 --> 00:13:59.066
And the funny thing is for anybody listening or watching, when we were getting this set up, Brandon's like, I'm not that tech savvy.

00:13:59.336 --> 00:14:02.895
So and we were just talking about how like, that's.

00:14:03.326 --> 00:14:07.035
Part of your personal persona is you're, you're all in for nature.

00:14:07.096 --> 00:14:08.846
You're all in for the real world.

00:14:08.895 --> 00:14:16.826
And when someone says, I'm not tech savvy, like I have an extra space for that person because I'm like, they get it right.

00:14:17.225 --> 00:14:17.806
They get it.

00:14:17.816 --> 00:14:23.285
That it's the, you know, we, we want to watch 4k 8k, but just go outside.

00:14:24.285 --> 00:14:24.645
That's like

00:14:24.746 --> 00:14:25.197
yeah,

00:14:25.686 --> 00:14:29.625
But I want to rewind back to Sunday swim and how.

00:14:30.541 --> 00:14:31.520
That grew.

00:14:32.041 --> 00:14:34.541
Can you elaborate on how you grew that?

00:14:35.706 --> 00:14:36.136
All right.

00:14:36.187 --> 00:14:42.047
So October that October, 2021, that was the first time I went with my brother.

00:14:42.047 --> 00:14:45.517
I do I, the next day I came up with the name Sunday swim.

00:14:45.517 --> 00:14:47.067
I said, hell yeah, this rocks.

00:14:47.067 --> 00:14:48.506
Like we swim on a Sunday.

00:14:48.537 --> 00:14:49.866
Sometimes you got to keep it simple.

00:14:49.866 --> 00:14:52.856
You know, it doesn't like, I want people to on a good name.

00:14:53.206 --> 00:14:55.966
People can remember it, recognize it.

00:14:57.187 --> 00:14:58.817
And they feel like connected to it, right?

00:14:58.826 --> 00:14:59.856
They understand what it is.

00:14:59.886 --> 00:15:02.687
Sunday swim, simple, boom, you swim on a Sunday.

00:15:02.787 --> 00:15:03.356
That's easy.

00:15:03.697 --> 00:15:07.437
So once I came up with that, it was like, it's like, all right, you know what?

00:15:07.626 --> 00:15:10.427
Let's, let's make this something like, it was just an idea in my head.

00:15:10.427 --> 00:15:12.397
Cause I already created a car company before that.

00:15:12.397 --> 00:15:15.456
So I knew that I could, I knew I could do it.

00:15:15.606 --> 00:15:17.427
Like I ran a company before.

00:15:17.537 --> 00:15:19.047
But this one was a lot more complex.

00:15:19.871 --> 00:15:31.282
Like, this is a system I still haven't completely figured out revenue streams for, you know, I've been working on it for two plus years now and I make very little money on it.

00:15:31.312 --> 00:15:33.471
But I understand that this is a big picture.

00:15:33.662 --> 00:15:35.361
The goal isn't to make money, right?

00:15:35.361 --> 00:15:36.711
I don't do things to make money.

00:15:37.152 --> 00:15:43.101
I do things because God put me here for a higher purpose and that he wants me to be doing this currently.

00:15:43.511 --> 00:15:44.192
And I think.

00:15:44.772 --> 00:15:48.052
Just by the laws of nature, the more you give, the more you get to.

00:15:48.052 --> 00:15:50.631
So I think one day we'll be able to work that out,

00:15:50.780 --> 00:15:52.561
I feel like I do want to interject.

00:15:53.260 --> 00:16:00.130
As, as someone listening to you talk about how you wanted to be on Wall Street.

00:16:00.181 --> 00:16:02.581
Like, that's just like money, money, money, money, money, money.

00:16:03.081 --> 00:16:15.091
and and then for tragedy to happen and like life hits you and you just Now, would you ever thought that you would say those words like I've been doing this for two and a half years.

00:16:15.270 --> 00:16:23.750
I'm turning this from a passion project into a business that's going to thrive and generate revenue, but I'm not stressed about the money right now.

00:16:24.750 --> 00:16:25.910
That's what happens, man.

00:16:25.910 --> 00:16:28.971
Once you hit rock bottom, it's, all fear goes away.

00:16:29.650 --> 00:16:32.650
Like, that was a big part of it, just go off that.

00:16:33.610 --> 00:16:42.270
Was, I was scared of, uh, I was scared of where I could possibly go if I didn't pass these tests or if I didn't make this amount of money.

00:16:43.041 --> 00:16:43.831
I'm not afraid.

00:16:43.831 --> 00:16:44.721
I'm not afraid to die.

00:16:44.850 --> 00:16:51.230
Like, I'm not, I'm afraid to not have fulfilled my purpose and made this world a better place while I've been here.

00:16:51.370 --> 00:16:54.441
I think it would be selfish for me to go out.

00:16:54.870 --> 00:16:57.730
And get a job, work on wall street and make that much money.

00:16:57.750 --> 00:17:03.951
Or what, you know, just say if that happened, even if I could make a ton, like, did I make the world a better place?

00:17:03.951 --> 00:17:04.871
I don't, I don't know.

00:17:05.121 --> 00:17:05.800
I don't think so.

00:17:05.851 --> 00:17:07.250
So I think this is where I'm supposed to be.

00:17:07.250 --> 00:17:08.701
And I just have faith.

00:17:09.040 --> 00:17:10.621
I have faith that it's going to work out.

00:17:10.721 --> 00:17:18.300
And, uh, you know, I get rewarded by smiles like that too, but it's brought my family together, even, which has been a.

00:17:19.425 --> 00:17:30.425
One of the coolest parts, I would say, you know, me and my dad and my brother connected so close over this because it's something it's only three minutes a day.

00:17:31.425 --> 00:17:33.826
You're at least with them like once a day.

00:17:33.836 --> 00:17:37.145
And my brother doesn't live here anymore, but he was actually home for the weekend.

00:17:37.685 --> 00:17:41.375
But, uh, anytime I get to spend with them is a true blessing.

00:17:41.455 --> 00:17:42.625
And I've been so thankful that.

00:17:42.895 --> 00:17:44.125
This has brought us together.

00:17:44.596 --> 00:17:51.236
But, but yeah, besides that, yeah, it is, it is interesting that I could go from being someone who lets, you know what it was though, it was the ego.

00:17:51.465 --> 00:17:52.395
I had a big ego.

00:17:52.645 --> 00:17:56.766
I thought a lot about what people thought about me.

00:17:57.276 --> 00:17:59.395
And I think that's where my anxiety stemmed from.

00:18:00.395 --> 00:18:00.736
Yeah.

00:18:01.356 --> 00:18:06.757
and I just thought like maybe, okay, you know, like being a small goal, growing up being like a tiny guy, you know what I mean?

00:18:06.757 --> 00:18:07.666
I'm not a big guy.

00:18:07.747 --> 00:18:13.027
I don't have this big persona, but like sometimes that gets in your head and whether you realize it or not.

00:18:13.037 --> 00:18:18.457
And I think You try and prove things to other people, like, Oh, I'm this tough, ba, I'm this, this, I'm this, I'm that.

00:18:19.596 --> 00:18:23.307
Once you hit that rock, you see the world completely different.

00:18:23.626 --> 00:18:23.987
And it's

00:18:24.115 --> 00:18:28.016
And you're humble too, I mean, I'm like, this is Zac Efron right here, he's jacked.

00:18:28.816 --> 00:18:36.236
Like leading the crowd, Like screaming, like, there was testosterone like everywhere, it was nuts.

00:18:36.695 --> 00:18:37.365
That was cool.

00:18:37.395 --> 00:18:38.086
That was a good day.

00:18:38.135 --> 00:18:38.175
That

00:18:38.325 --> 00:18:38.724
Yeah.

00:18:38.795 --> 00:18:44.325
Do you feel maybe going back to, like, growing that that organization or just growing that following?

00:18:44.325 --> 00:18:44.694
Right?

00:18:44.924 --> 00:18:45.234
Sorry.

00:18:45.234 --> 00:18:47.325
I just had to interject before.

00:18:47.345 --> 00:18:47.924
No, no worries.

00:18:48.355 --> 00:18:49.105
That's my job.

00:18:49.424 --> 00:18:50.964
No, I just wanted to highlight in the past.

00:18:50.964 --> 00:18:53.025
Like, like, this is great.

00:18:53.025 --> 00:18:56.025
Like, you went from one direction to another.

00:18:56.025 --> 00:19:00.924
And it's amazing how life can change and how much happier you are with a completely different.

00:19:01.904 --> 00:19:02.545
Direction.

00:19:02.734 --> 00:19:06.994
And now you have this growing community and you're leading the charge.

00:19:07.005 --> 00:19:09.234
Literally, I felt like I was going to war.

00:19:09.654 --> 00:19:12.154
I will tell you that I think you appreciate this.

00:19:12.484 --> 00:19:15.625
I was the friend that was the last to go into the pool.

00:19:16.255 --> 00:19:28.555
Everybody would jump in and if it was too cold, I would just kind of like put my toe in then put my ankle and sit on the edge because if I were to get it like really cold, like I turn blue.

00:19:28.615 --> 00:19:29.875
I start chattering.

00:19:29.875 --> 00:19:31.015
It's like with my teeth.

00:19:31.035 --> 00:19:31.904
It gets nuts.

00:19:32.214 --> 00:19:34.285
And that day you're like, let's go.

00:19:35.424 --> 00:19:39.994
I'm like, And we just like I if I could I would have dove in right and

00:19:40.480 --> 00:19:41.161
That's epic,

00:19:41.414 --> 00:19:48.494
and I slid on I thought you appreciate that And then I there was like this metal railing and I was I was like, oh i'm gonna be cool I

00:19:49.621 --> 00:19:50.471
you slide down it?

00:19:50.585 --> 00:19:54.765
but then You know, I had dry pants and it was just like not working.

00:19:55.010 --> 00:19:55.621
Did you get caught?

00:19:56.424 --> 00:19:57.634
I went like, yeah,

00:19:57.790 --> 00:19:58.641
the camera footage.

00:19:58.641 --> 00:19:59.191
I gotta check

00:19:59.255 --> 00:20:01.974
you're gonna see, I slid down like halfway.

00:20:02.285 --> 00:20:04.085
And then like, I was like, I'm going to get caught.

00:20:04.085 --> 00:20:04.875
This is gonna be bad.

00:20:05.505 --> 00:20:12.484
And so I just, I jumped off and then like, I slid, uh, like I landed on the edge of the stair and the stairs were.

00:20:12.644 --> 00:20:21.335
Or a stone and so I just slid hit that and then we just went off and everybody swimming right?

00:20:21.595 --> 00:20:26.484
And then we went on to uh, just, just as a, as a reference to anybody listening.

00:20:26.484 --> 00:20:27.615
I'm like, I'm in, I'm in there.

00:20:27.615 --> 00:20:29.065
I didn't, I wasn't even giving a reference.

00:20:29.065 --> 00:20:34.694
There was a recent recharge retreat that we both went to and it was a great event.

00:20:35.005 --> 00:20:38.934
And I think candlewood lake Connecticut and at the very end.

00:20:39.380 --> 00:20:42.880
Brandon just led the charge and we just like, it's what?

00:20:42.880 --> 00:20:57.380
It's, it was September at that time, but anyways, it was, it was 50 degree weather water and he just convinced like seven, uh, like a good amount of people, like half of the people to just run into this water.

00:20:57.869 --> 00:21:02.490
And, uh, some people weren't even prepared and they went in.

00:21:02.775 --> 00:21:09.454
In their boxer briefs anyways, that's how much you inspire them and I'm going nuts, right?

00:21:09.515 --> 00:21:10.694
So that's like a background.

00:21:10.694 --> 00:21:16.835
So the reason why I tell you that is when we got out when I when we got out of the water I I had so much adrenaline.

00:21:16.835 --> 00:21:20.444
I forgot that I cut myself Trying to jump in there.

00:21:20.625 --> 00:21:23.164
So I'm like my heels all bleeding and but like

00:21:23.500 --> 00:21:23.631
Oh,

00:21:23.884 --> 00:21:26.285
the power of adrenaline Yeah,

00:21:27.240 --> 00:21:28.030
It's strength, right?

00:21:28.325 --> 00:21:35.954
but I Yeah, I, I just wanted to share that with you, but I'm, I'm curious, everybody's wanting to know, like, how did you grow this?

00:21:35.954 --> 00:21:36.625
Like this

00:21:36.631 --> 00:21:36.730
Okay.

00:21:37.730 --> 00:21:41.601
So I get sometimes I get sidetracked because I get so excited, but let me stay focused on this one.

00:21:41.651 --> 00:21:42.141
Okay.

00:21:42.790 --> 00:21:44.471
So, I started the first year.

00:21:44.871 --> 00:21:48.151
The first year was both years were difficult so far.

00:21:48.151 --> 00:21:51.921
So it said we had like 2 years of work, but the 1st year was just me being.

00:21:52.921 --> 00:21:55.790
Not per se, like a business owner, you know what I mean?

00:21:55.790 --> 00:22:00.330
It was just doing my thing, making sure we can get people to go to the beach and, uh, healing ourselves.

00:22:00.780 --> 00:22:04.790
But, uh, the first one I went, I had four people join me.

00:22:05.300 --> 00:22:09.830
And that's pretty much because they slept over my house after New Year's Eve, like partying

00:22:09.996 --> 00:22:10.826
it's okay,

00:22:10.891 --> 00:22:12.280
and I dragged them with me.

00:22:12.330 --> 00:22:13.961
But then they, they felt how good they felt.

00:22:14.010 --> 00:22:18.000
I think a big part of it was always just reassuring people or not reassuring.

00:22:18.101 --> 00:22:19.761
Well as getting some

00:22:19.788 --> 00:22:28.942
Helping people understand how good that they're going to feel after they do something hard, and promoting that instead of this crazy thing that we're about to do, just, hey, like.

00:22:29.576 --> 00:22:31.636
You go do this, you're going to feel incredible.

00:22:31.876 --> 00:22:35.767
Your life is going to be substantially better through science.

00:22:36.576 --> 00:22:46.396
So week by week, I set up my phone every single week on the floor of the sand, I put a shoe up and I would film it.

00:22:46.896 --> 00:22:49.396
And I figured, you know, you need to be on social media.

00:22:49.396 --> 00:22:51.876
You need got to keep the eyes, get people watching.

00:22:52.027 --> 00:22:53.277
And it's something epic.

00:22:53.416 --> 00:22:56.517
Cause you know, I really believe in like vibrations and frequencies.

00:22:56.517 --> 00:22:58.386
And I understood that this was like a high.

00:22:58.731 --> 00:23:20.801
Vibration thing that people would be attracted to if they just caught their eye on it and it does help You know, we have some attractive people there like it just does like and I figured if I could highlight that We could start getting more and more people And week by week, I was clipping up videos, you know, the sand would be messing up the audio.

00:23:21.082 --> 00:23:22.832
I didn't know how to edit anything.

00:23:22.832 --> 00:23:26.612
Like you're talking to a guy who couldn't even figure out how to get headphones into like a computer.

00:23:26.971 --> 00:23:27.942
But I did it every week.

00:23:27.942 --> 00:23:30.162
I'd write beautiful captions from the heart.

00:23:30.192 --> 00:23:33.527
I, where I was so afraid for people to see that side of me.

00:23:33.527 --> 00:23:33.731
I.

00:23:34.317 --> 00:23:40.307
Let go and I would just write everything I was feeling that week And I was unafraid of what I was about to say.

00:23:40.567 --> 00:23:57.307
I was unapologetic with being authentic in myself And I think people were attracted to that You know, not many people like to talk about their losses or the stress that they dealt with in their life I don't know why I I really don't understand.

00:23:57.307 --> 00:23:58.767
I don't think it's that big of a deal.

00:23:58.767 --> 00:24:07.821
I think we're all one Like, there's no, we're not separate entities, I believe we're one being, we're brothers and sisters of the same human race.

00:24:08.281 --> 00:24:11.682
So like, it's okay, the pain you felt, I've felt that pain.

00:24:11.981 --> 00:24:15.932
You know, that happiness, the joy that you've experienced, I've also experienced that.

00:24:16.142 --> 00:24:30.662
But right now I'm going through this time in my life, and I need someone to share that with or to at least like, it helped myself with my healing to be able to share that with other people and then hear that, you know, they've dealt with similar things and that they've been able to.

00:24:31.326 --> 00:24:33.217
Conquer it because it gave me hope again.

00:24:33.727 --> 00:24:42.767
And, uh, I started really focusing on creating a story and pushing that story as we were building a company the first year.

00:24:43.886 --> 00:24:57.067
So I was able to utilize social media and the power of the tongue, I would say were the two things as well as getting some influential people to the beach that one of my.

00:24:57.402 --> 00:25:31.217
This girl I met, she I caught wind that she like, liked what we were doing, and at this point in time everyone was still laughing at us, but they liked it, like, people like, enjoyed watching it, but they were like, what the hell are these guys doing, and she was big time, she had a ton of followers and stuff, very pretty girl, successful business woman, and like, so I reached out to her, and we were able to get her to like, kind of like, talk about like, what we were doing too, and that helped out a lot, you know what I mean, because, Now they see someone else enjoying it and catching interest in it.

00:25:31.247 --> 00:25:35.866
And when people see that it becomes a trend, they hop on it real quick.

00:25:36.381 --> 00:25:39.921
We had different people every week, but on average it was about like 10 people per week.

00:25:40.121 --> 00:25:42.111
So it was like, yo, like, cool.

00:25:42.565 --> 00:25:42.775
got back to us.

00:25:43.775 --> 00:25:44.154
Yeah.

00:25:44.154 --> 00:25:44.944
I was like, all right.

00:25:45.134 --> 00:25:45.565
Yeah.

00:25:45.884 --> 00:25:48.855
But the last one of the year, I think we finished with like 20 people.

00:25:49.200 --> 00:26:19.384
Which was like really cool and it was an epic day There was a sandbar in the middle of the ocean where you had to swim pretty far out Like you couldn't really see it from from the beach, but you knew was there and it was so foggy That's why you couldn't really see it So it was like you were entering like a new world and it was one of the most awesome days ever So we finished a year off great last year people were excited and I I focus a lot of my attention after the, the swim season.

00:26:19.384 --> 00:26:24.805
So we go from December one, like the first, the closest Sunday of that to Memorial day weekend.

00:26:25.714 --> 00:26:32.204

Breaking Barriers: How Sunday Swim Created a Community of Warriors | Brendan Cooke

Brendan Cooke

Listen On

Recent Episodes

Immersive Meditation Experience Episodes

Browse episodes by category