Health > Hustle: How to Get Fit and Live Well with Geo Valdez, Wellness Coach

I called 911 and 911 is not going through. So I ended up calling my wife. I said, baby, call 911. I'm having a heart attack. Luckily, it wasn't that. It was a panic attack. But sometimes we might feel okay. We might feel, hey, I can handle this. My kids need me. My church needs me. I got to close on this deal. I have to make that money. I have to pay for rent. I have to provide for my family. I got to make a difference in someone's life. That person needs what I have. And yes, these are all true things, but none of that can happen if we're not taking care of ourselves. Hello and welcome to another episode of the God and Geek Show. And this has been a long time coming, a long time coming. We tried it once, but clearly we weren't supposed to do it then. This was the time we were supposed to do this. So I'm here with my friend, my brother. 
My fellow worship team member and also a fitness coach, a creative, an entrepreneur, someone that's absolutely living and walking the talk when it comes to purpose and everything that he's trying to get his clients and the people he works with to fulfill, he's doing it himself. So, Mr. Gio Valdez, welcome to the God and Geek Show. How are you doing, my friend? Man, I'm good. I'm just thankful to be here with you. I'm honored that you have me on. on your platform as a guest, and I'm ready to go, man. Let's do this. Yeah, yeah, okay. So number one, let's let everybody kind of take in what's around us. Like, this is not the standard. Like, you clearly upgraded me. I get with this guy, and things upgrade. All of a sudden, we're on these cool mics. We got these three-angle cameras going on here, man. So shout out to, is it Anthony? Yes, Anthony Mendez. He is, man, we met about, I want to say, nine, ten years ago. 
both coming from the fitness and wellness space. And he's the kind of guy that everything he touches turns into gold. And we're actually in one of his studios. It's a beautiful studio. And I'm just grateful for the friendship, the partnership that I have with him and excited to see what's to come. And man, this place is really dope. Yeah, man. I think you're going to be seeing more shows of the guy. We're not going to be able to settle for just Zoom or our virtual stuff anymore. We're going to have to move on to... some bigger, better things. But yeah, first of all, people who might be meeting you for the first time, we are literally, we're just saying, you've been at our church for 20 years. I've been there 15. So I've known you all the time you've been there. And so, you know, we have this amazing relationship and our families are connected. However, people are probably meeting you who are listening to my, you know, my community might be meeting you for the first time. So everybody has to do this. You're in this podcast game too. You know how this content creation thing works. You do have to introduce yourself and do that 30 second elevator pitch. 
And I just want you to say it like this. What are a couple of things you want people to know about you, even if they don't get all the bio and all the social media? What are the few things that you'd want people to know about you upon first meeting? Yeah. Well, first and foremost, I help people unlock their purpose. You know, that's my main thing. And fitness is just the realm that I'm in right now. Okay. And helping people see that, hey, look, the situation you're in right now is not where you're going to end up. But I help busy professionals, athletes. optimize their performance and their wellness. But ultimately it's all about purpose. I help people figure that out. You know, I deal with a lot of people that are stressed out in their situations. They're high level executives, high level athletes that are constantly on the grind, on the move, on go. And I help them realize, hey, look, that's fine that you're doing that, but this is not all that you are. You also have to look after yourself and move in that wellness 
Know that there's more for you than just what you do. Let's help optimize your body so you can go out and perform the way that you need to. Okay. So you've already just in your intro, if you just know that about you, we're like, okay, we want to know more. So I caught a couple of things. And again, I'm cheating a little bit because we have obviously a long relationship, but there are some things I'm still learning about you. So one thing that I didn't really know, understand a lot was your own athletic, uh, uh, you know, how did you get into fitness? And so I remember you used to work for the Miami Heat for a while. And I was like, oh my gosh, he's the coolest because he gets to work with the Heat and everything like that. But you didn't start, that wasn't your intro into the athletic field. Like you had pretty much like a dream, I believe, if I'm saying this right. And maybe you can like, you know, fill in the gaps for me. You had a dream to be not just in the Miami Heat or in a basketball arena, but you had a dream to be like on, to be playing. And 
So just tell a little bit about, you know, that story about how you were attempting to achieve this dream of athletic prowess, of being a pro. And, you know, how did that lead you to here? Again, I know you've got to shorten it. Yeah, I'll do the best that I can. But, man, like a lot of kids back in the 90s, I fell in love with basketball because of Space Jam. Oh, wow. When I saw that movie, I'm like, man, I want to play that. Not everybody's singing it now. But yeah, that was me, man. Like I decided, you know what? I really love this thing. I'm going to sacrifice whatever I need to do to be out there on the court. I love the feeling that basketball gave me. I felt like I was in control. I felt like a superhero. Like I had an effect that can make a difference. So I decided, you know, I played in high school. I was a team captain my last two years in high school. I had a few scholarship offers. Didn't really like the schools that had given me the offer. So I said, you know what? I'm going to bet on myself. 
I'm going to try to walk on and stay home here in Miami. Ultimately, it was the best decision I made because although I got cut from the team, it led me to where I'm at today. If you fast forward throughout those years, I was a little bit depressed because I felt called to play the game of basketball. So I decided to really train my body up, put myself in the best shape possible, train as much as I can, eventually to try out and play for the G League. which back then was called, it was known as the D-League. 2012 was cut. 2013, I actually, I was like, you know what? I don't think basketball is for me. I actually got a phone call and a text message from the coach the year prior. He said, I'd love to have you come back and try out again. I really liked the attitude and your effort. So I went back and I made it to the final cut right before training camp. And that broke my heart. I said, you know what? I'm done with this game. And I actually stopped playing ball. 
for about a year and a half, almost two years. The reason I didn't, in my opinion, I didn't perform the way that I should have performed the day before that was because the day before the tryout, I actually tore a ligament in my ankle. Literally the day before. And I decided to, you know, tie that shoe real tight and still do the tryout. And I performed decent, not the way that I would have loved to. But I left everything out there on the floor. So something was stirring in my heart back then to be a business owner. You know, because while this was all going on, I was still working for the Miami Heat, like you said. I was overseeing 4,000 part-time employees. I was severely overworked and very underpaid for what I was doing. Just imagine at 21 years of age, you're managing 4,000 part-time employees. So my dad, who was a business owner, I said, Dad, like, teach me what I got to do. He said, just do it. This is what you got to do. I'll help you. So shortly thereafter, we had an invited guest to our church who spoke a prophecy over me, said, 
I'll make your name great. Wisdom influence is greater than money. Pursue what it is that God has put on your heart. So right then and there, the next day I did my LLC and that brought me to fitness and wellness because my goal was I want to be able to train athletes to mitigate the injuries that I dealt with. I wanted to make sure I helped them to just do the absolute best that they can to prepare their bodies for that platform so that they don't, you know, injuries happen. We know they happen, but at least you can prepare someone, to, to deal with it better, because maybe instead of tearing an ankle, you can just sprain it slightly. Or instead of tearing your ACL, you strain your quad, or whatever the case may be, to mitigate that disaster. Oh, wow. Okay, so number one, I did not know that. I did not know that you got that prophecy. I didn't know that you were turning this direction even while you were in the midst of this. You had in your mind kind of this dream that was forming even while this other dream was kind of going away. That I did not know. 
And the other thing that I immediately thought about was when you said, when now you are looking out at other athletes, other creatives, other entrepreneurs, other people like that, and trying to help them, right? You helped me personally because you are my personal trainer in terms of like, you know, I cannot hang with this guy in the gym, right? I'm not even trying, but I do have his app. I am a client. I'm not just talking, I am a client, right? And I'm thinking about your personal messages on that chat. And I'm thinking about, I'm reading Gio, like literally speaking into my life right now. Like, hey, you can do this. Hey, how are you doing? Like you're personally involved. This is not just a business for you. Like clearly this is more, like you said, a calling that God said, hey, you know, do you have the gifts of singing? Yes. Do you have the gifts of writing and helping people? Yeah. But here's all of this is built into, 
like this specific way of helping people. Do you feel that that is the purpose behind what you do? Is it less about fitness and more about encouraging? Like what would you put as like the name on that? So I think this is my ministry. Okay. Right. So a lot of times people confuse, they might think that ministers are just ordained pastors. Yeah. Which they are. Yeah. They are. You know, I actually, People don't know this. I was going to Southeastern University to get my associates in ministerial leadership. I just have a few classes left and I'm done. I don't know if you knew that. But I say that because that really changed my perspective. Because yes, we all want to be successful business owners. We want to make money. My dad used to always say, if you're good at something, don't do it for free unless it's for God. So yes, I want to be successful. This is a 
The reason I have the app is because I realize I can't have everyone go to Brickell and train with me in those four walls. So I need to expand my reach and scale this thing, which is why we have the app. But this is how I minister to people. This is my way of, hey, look, with exercise, with movement, it's medicine for you. And I'm going to encourage you and uplift you and help you realize and understand your purpose is not just your nine to five or how much money your business makes, your revenue or whatever. how much you give to the communities, the nonprofits that you're aligned with. No, it's greater than that. So that's what I view what I do as. This is just this season of my life. This is the ministry that God has given me. Just like 10, 12 years ago, my ministry was pouring into those 4,000 employees, letting them know, hey, look, we're here to serve people, right? So it just changes. God uses me different ways in different seasons, but he's going to use me regardless. Yeah, gosh, this is so good. All right, Gio, so- 
Now that we're on talking about like what you really do in terms of this is the vehicle, right, is fitness. The vehicle is this particular business, but then the actual thing is ministry. So let's minister to some people, including a lot of people in this particular audience who are those go-getters. They're the hustlers. They're the people that are writing songs at three o'clock in the morning. And I just shared with you a little earlier before we started recording that I'm almost a little convicted because I was one of those, again, like your dad said, I was doing it for God, but I was still being super unhealthy. I was still not getting enough sleep. I was eating whatever I could eat, rushing here, rushing there, getting the fast food, doing all the things and just not focusing on my health. And what's really kind of convicted me recently is that we've seen a lot of entertainers. I'm sure you can think of all kinds of celebrities if you're watching, celebrities and people that might be right on the newsfeed, right? That are dying early, that are having all these issues, whether it be mental health or physical health. And so I want you to speak to someone who might be going down that path 
Of, I just need to brush. I need to hustle. I need to do this. And they're neglecting their temple. They're neglecting their mind and their body. So speak to them for a little bit so that they don't run into the same, you know, obstacle. Yeah. Like you just said, those not, it could be an injury or could be a lot worse. So what do you say to people who are like going on that hustle train and not focusing on their health? Yeah. So I'm very careful with what i say. Sometimes I'm, I'm quiet guy. I have, I like to observe and see things. But you have convictions. But I have convictions. Yes. Right? Because in this day and age where everyone has a platform, we're here on a podcast. And how many podcasts do we see? There's plenty of them. Yeah. And I don't always want to give my opinion. I want to give what I've gone through. I'll just give you guys an example. I'm looking right at you because I want to be vulnerable with you and let you know my journey since this past November. So I'm more of an even keeled guy. I'm real chill. My wife always says, I don't know how you can be so chill all the time. 
It's just, I guess, a gift that God gave me. But back in November, I had a panic attack. You know, I was home alone. I called my wife. I said, hey, baby, I'm about to hop in the shower. I'll see you when you get home. And I felt like an elephant sat on my chest as I was in the shower. I said, okay, this is odd. Or I was on this side. I said, this is odd. Then my left arm started going numb. Next thing I know, I collapsed on my knees and I felt... pain just all over my body. And I called 911 and 911 is not going through. So I ended up calling my wife. I said, baby, call 911. I'm having a heart attack. Luckily, it wasn't that. It was a panic attack. But sometimes we might feel okay. We might feel, hey, I can handle this. My kids need me. My church needs me. I got to close on this deal. I have to make that money. I have to pay for rent. I have to provide for my family. 
I gotta make a difference in someone's life. That person's needs, what I have. And yes, these are all true things, but none of that can happen if we're not taking care of ourselves. I was sleeping three to four hours a night, staying up till 3 a.m. working on programs for clients. No, this client really needs it. She's struggling to lose weight. I need to come up with, but if I can't take care of myself, how can I take care of others? So I had to slow down a little bit. I had the panic attack. Then earlier this year, I was diagnosed with cancer. And a lot of you watching, maybe you've, I'm sure you either you've been diagnosed with the C word or, you know, someone that has. And that was a way I'm convinced to slow me down. Right. Because I was trying to do things in my own might. because I wasn't seeing it come or happen as fast as I thought it should have happened because I kept going back to the prophecy I got 10 years ago. Yeah. 
Oh, I'll make your name great. Influence is greater than money. People are going to be wanting to train by you. But I was not satisfied with how fast it was coming my way. So I was pushing and pushing and pushing. And I had to have that happen, unfortunately, to slow me down. Luckily, I'm fine. Haven't had a panic attack ever since. Cancer free. Great things are happening. But I needed that to happen. I needed to prioritize my mental wellness. I see somebody now that helps me with that. I realize for my business, We're not just Transfiguration Fitness, now we're Transfiguration Wellness because we've brought on coaches that are helping our clients in the area of their mental performance. So it was a way for me to kind of slow down and realize, man, even though I'm chill, I don't drown in a cup of water like some people do. That was a different way. Stress manifests itself in different ways for different people. No, man, number one, thank you for being so transparent. 
vulnerable, really, because people might look at a fitness person and say, how can you talk to other people and you're dealing with it? But I think that actually qualifies you to lead others when you're not impervious, when you're admitting that, hey, these health challenges, both those that you can control and you can't control, right, can come upon you. And yet you're still dedicated to the principle that you take ownership, that, yeah, I'm going to do what I need to get better. And that, again, Kind of goes right back to what I just said about people who are trying to, I think what you just said, it was so telling that you were trying to almost help God because he gave you this thing and now you're doing all the work and you could lose everything that he said you're going to get because you were working so hard to get it. And so many of us, again, whether you're in entertainment, whether you're in creativity, whether you're in entrepreneurship, whatever, you said this earlier, I'm going to bring you back a quote you said on our last interview. 
You said that you were chasing the dream, but you're actually kind of worshiping the dream. And not the one that gave me the dream. Yeah, that to me is just, it's so, especially the social media world. I kind of want to pivot to that even, because not only are you a fitness coach and a trainer, now you got to be a content creator. Now you got to build this brand. Now you got to be on TikToks and all this kind of stuff. I sound like a 50-year-old because I am 50. Yeah. Tiki-taki. But yeah, talk a little bit about how you're managing that now. How are you balancing? And as you say, how you're balancing, how do you help other entrepreneurs and people not to lose sight? Yes, you have to build the business. Yes, you need to be on these social media platforms. But how are you making sure now on this other side of some of these issues, how are you making sure that it doesn't overwhelm you and that you stay in the right place? A lot of prayer. A lot of prayer. 
I've been born and raised a Christian, not always doing it the right way, right? But I decided to make God co-CEO with me, Any decision, God, is this, you know, lead me in the right way. What do you think we should do? Because before I was just doing what I wanted and I was like, man, let's see if this works. It's a good idea. But that's because I was so focused on the dream that I lost sight of the person that gave it to me. So now it's really that I just try to do the absolute best that I can to make sure that he's involved in all that. Obviously, there's certain things like I'm not going to say, hey, God, which paper should we get for the printer? Come on, man. Like, no, but, you know, the big decision. Yes. But the Holy Spirit is already working in you. Then he's already going to help you with which paper and which thing to send and which time to send it was not. Yeah. Like all the little decisions are already like, yeah, that discernment. I feel like that's one of the gifts that I've been given is discernment. Yeah. Hey, I'm probably not going to. 
you know, send an email out at 10 p.m. to a client. Like let's probably set it for a certain time of the day. But just really that has been one of the main focuses of mine. Also, I do not work on Saturdays anymore unless it's a makeup session. So if I, for example, cancel on a client or they cancel and I do have an opening, I try to make sure that it's early enough in the day. I don't work past 10 a.m. So it has to be early enough. Why? Well, my wife, she works out on Saturdays And I also want to spend time with my family and prioritize that. Right. Also, once a month, we try to have we don't have to go on a crazy vacation, but at least a weekend where we are. Maybe we do a staycation or we literally don't do anything but stay at home and watch TV, like literally scheduling time to focus on myself, my family so that I'm not overworked. Yeah. And yes, it's good to focus on other people, but I want to focus on myself as well. That's so good, man. And here's the thing that I feel like many of us, again, we're talking to 
creative people, entrepreneurial people, go-getters, you know, I guess the big line i could use for everybody is that we oftentimes, no matter how much we tell ourselves to slow down, like you said, unfortunately, with the cancer diagnosis, we need somebody else to remind us. You have your wife. I have my wife. We have people who are like, hey, I know this looks normal to you, but this is not normal. And you have your kids as well. And I think god gives us those blessings To remind us like, hey, there is more to life than the business. There is more to life than making the next, you know, whatever amount of money. And I want you to speak a little bit to like just those people who are trying again. I feel like this whole episode is now speaking to someone who needs to prioritize their health, prioritize their family, prioritize, find a purpose, right, of what they're doing. So I do want to live with some actionable steps, though. 
So what are like two or three things you could say to someone that would immediately, I know you can't do like the whole like ABC and you're like, it's better. But what are a couple of things that you tell your clients immediately upon signing up with you or starting this health journey? Here's some things that you could do right now to start to reorganize and reformat your life to be more toward health and less toward this more destructive path. Like what are some things that someone like watching right now, if they start doing this It'll help them get more into place of better health and wellness. Yeah. So with me, there's always, obviously there's a technical side, right? Like I do an assessment on everyone. I do an intake, all the anatomy, physiology, all that stuff we handle. Yeah. But something that's actionable for people to do is just to focus on two things. I focus first on accountability. If there's no trust, and usually if people pay to train with me, there's trust. 
But sometimes there's another wall we have to break past. And I'll give you an example. One of my clients recently, every time I broached on the subject of nutrition, it was like there was a wall. Eventually, just to make a long story short, there was some trauma there. There was some trauma when it pertained to food. We broke through that wall and I helped her realize, man, the reason why you're stress eating is because when you were a kid at home, That's what you used to do to drown yourself and just get away from all the trauma that was going on at home. You would just eat. And whatever screaming, fighting was going on, you were just so focused on finishing up your bowl of cereal or whatever it was. So we focus on accountability. People entrust me with their health and wellness. I don't take that for granted. So I go, I hit hard. Hey, look, you have to be accountable to me. If not, this is not going to work. And if you're not willing to be accountable, you're wasting your time and your money, really. 
The second thing, time management, time management. I have a calendar, Google calendar for everything. Literally from picking up the kids from school, my training sessions, lunch, everything is accounted for. Why? Because I'm very structured because I'm not a structured person. That's not normal for me. I'm more of like, hey, let's throw things to the wind. Let's eat here. Let's go there. But I needed that structure. In order for me to run a business, I need that structure. If not, I'm not going to be a very good business owner. So I had to become a chameleon. So I'm actively going against my nature in order to help and service people. It's okay to do something that's against your nature to help other people. Just letting y'all know I'm dropping that in there. But those are the two things I would say. First, find someone that you can be held accountable to. Not a yes man or yes woman. Someone that will call you out on your crap. 
Okay. And number two, time management. Oh, coach, I can't eat healthy. You know, we had a gig. It was midnight. I had to go get McDonald's. Well, maybe spend a day or half a day cooking your meal so that after your gig, you just heat up your meal instead of having to go drive to a McDonald's and get heartburn at three in the morning. Come on now. I know I'm talking to somebody. No, you're talking to me. No, you're talking to me. Thanks, Gio, for taking all of my business. But yeah, I'll give you an example. Revive. And I'll tell on myself, we just had a conference at church. Yes, we did. And we would finish at 10, 10.30 PM. And I did poor planning. I did, as a trainer, poor time management. And I ended up going to fast food and I had heartburn. Well, the coach is telling you, I did it, right? But that, you know, you got to set the time. You have to go ahead and prepare yourself, have someone that you can be held accountable to, to raise you up, right? And also have that time management so you don't have those slip ups. Oh, gosh. So- 
the thing that i really love about your accountability to yourself and to everybody else is the transparency, right? Because accountability is nothing without transparency. And I think, again, I'm kind of thinking right now about the musicians of my life and the people that i have, again, feel so burdened by now in terms of their health. So much like, this is life and death stuff now. Like, this is no longer, like you and i both, we face now the big c word in terms of our families. And we've seen how quickly in a second all these other things just drop away. Like why was I concerned about a post? Why was I thinking about this other thing? When this is on my table, now everything else is suddenly in focus. So I'm thinking about the people who are right now looking at this other stuff. Oh, I gotta run here. Like you said, I'm running over here. I gotta get this and I will just eat whatever I eat. We're not doing the judgmental thing. I think that's clear. We're not saying judge you because you ate this or judge this because you didn't work out or judge this. We're saying 
There's a better way. And it's just not worth it to keep doing the same pattern. I've had to break patterns. Like you just said, it's okay to change your pattern. I'm very much the same way as far as the ADD person that had to pick up all the structures. How am I running for a podcast now? Because I am literally like in my Google Sheets all the time, right? I live, I just brought up on my notes, my personal brain here, my mind mapping, it's 15 years old. I have single thought, which is crazy, All on my computer. Why? Because I don't remember all the stuff that I'm coming up with. So you come up with whatever system it takes. If it's Gio's system, I would definitely recommend his. But whatever system and accountability and time management you can get that puts you back in a place where it's like, first things first. Take care of yourself, like you said, to circle all the way back. So I definitely want to take you back to when you were looking at that dream of being a basketball player. Mm-hmm. 
And, you know, you're getting cut and you're trying this. So you've learned all these lessons over time, but of course, someone's watching that hasn't had the experience. I mean, you're still a young man. I still can't look at you. So what would you say to the young geo, to the person who's at the same place where you were, they're chasing a dream, entrepreneurial, athletic, right? Creative. They're chasing a dream and they're running into the same obstacles you did. What would you say to them so that they can get through the same thing that you got through when you their age? There's no power in pity. There's no power in pity. I was in a season of pity. I felt bad for myself. For Tara, you know, at one point, I think I remember this. This could be wrong, but I think I was living with my parents at the time. And my mom was like, you just have to get up. I was in my room probably playing PS3 at the time or four, whatever system was out. 
So you just have to get up, go do something. And I was just in a season of pity. Like, man, I feel like I'm called for more, but I'm just stuck. And it was always an excuse. And I remember our pastor, which is I'm extremely grateful for him. He one time told me, hey, come into my office. And he just started speaking life into me. Like sit in the seat of a student. You're called to more, you know, all these different things. And I'm grateful for that. There's no power in pity. That was what I would tell myself back then. Because I just had to wait it out and wait on the Lord. And I know we hear that all the time. Oh, I'm going to wait on the Lord. You know, I had surgery for cancer back in March of this year. And there's nothing like being on your back because you can't do nothing else but look up. So I'm on my back. I'm in my in-laws house on the couch. Love my in-laws. I'm grateful for them because they let me recover in their home. And I was on my back. 
And nobody was there. They all went to like grab something to eat. They said, you want to come? I said, no, I don't want to walk anywhere. So I'm on my back and I just started crying. Sorry, it's tough. You're good, brother. I'm on my back on the couch. And said, God, this is not how I want my story to end. Because I didn't know, they did the surgery, but they didn't know how severe the cancer was. Right. I said, I want this story to end. I don't want it to end like this. I need to see my kids in college. I need to see them get married. I need to give that, have a goal. I want to give one day a $100,000 offering. And that's up here. I want to do all these things. I can't do it like this. And I didn't hear a word. I felt in my spirit, wait. I said, okay, I'll wait. I went to bed or I took a nap. When I tell you, Alan, I woke up, 
with a dream that became a book. I wrote a book. I remember this. And this book happened in one week. I'm not smart enough to write a book, Alan. I'm not eloquent enough. I'm not equipped, but God is. Yeah. And that book, I wrote it. And it's a kid's book, children's book. And I've heard so many praise reports from parents, educators about the book. This book is not a top 100 Amazon seller, nothing like that. But it did what it was supposed to do. And the reason I bring that up is not to pitch my book. The reason I bring that up is because it was an example of me waiting. My purpose is not just to be a basketball player. My purpose is not just to have a client lose 10 pounds, feel stronger. All of those things are beautiful. My purpose is to uplift people. And my example, my testimony was an example of me being able to do that by just waiting. 
i can't follow anything else with that man there's nothing else that again every moment in your life in my life is orchestrated by god right your steps are ordered by the lord our steps are ordered by the lord so the steps that you have taken and by the way the verse says steps of a good man yeah which is who you are thank you and i thank you so much for being in my life. You have literally spoken life into my life, into my family, when I needed you most, when I needed it most. And we're seeing how God's elevating all of us. And so now let's talk more about the people that are watching and listening. Now that you've heard Gio's testimony, now that you see that someone that can hit those rock bottom moments and God ripped them up again and again and again, like the song says, right? Now, I just want to make sure that you lead them with that encouragement to say, hey, 
this is what I will offer. And anybody, again, in your space, we're saying, you know, this is obviously what we're talking about you, but anybody, this is why you need to get with an encourager. Just remind them, hey, when you get with an encourager like you, a coach like you, a coach like our program, God Gives 360, right? I'm coaching people too. So just remind them the last little part of the benefits. What's going to happen on the other side? They're going to hit that moment, but on the other side, you're going to, like, what are the benefits that when you connect with a coach like you, that you want to see them walking into. For sure. So I equate it to growth. We all want growth in our lives. We want to grow our businesses, we want to grow our families, finances. Growth is always a good thing. But when we ask for growth, we fail to remember growing pains. You know, I remember when I was 12 years old, I never really had a crazy growth spurt, but I was a steady grower. I'd grow a little bit here, a little bit there. 
From the age of 12 to 13, I had a lot of knee pain. It was very uncomfortable. It even bring me to tears at times. And I had a very challenging time. It was a very awkward stage for me from 12 to 13. But when I got to 13, 14, and I was able to be at that point where I had grown to a certain height, there was a certain influence, a certain capacity athletically, just certain things that I could do that I couldn't quite do before. And it required the pains of that growth. And I want to encourage you, for those of you watching, whether you are an artist, a musician, a business owner, whatever field or capacity that God has given you, be okay with the pains of growth. Be okay to have people in your life that will prune you and call you out on your crap, even when it hurts you, when you don't feel like hearing it. For me, I've had several examples. I've had Pastor Steve, I've had Alan Paul, 
I've had my father, Armando. I've had so many men in my life that have called me out in seasons where I needed to grow, in seasons where I didn't necessarily like it, so that I can fulfill or walk into the shoes and the capacities that I needed to walk into, number one. And then also, in my field, being able to entrust someone with my health and wellness, whether it's a mental health coach, which luckily we've been able to bring two on that I'm really excited as we're actually launching this next week. Finding a doctor, getting the health insurance. Don't put it off. Please do not put it off. I, as a self-employed business owner, I went ahead and did the research, put myself on my wife's policy. Thank God that I did because it saved my life. If I would have put it off, man, I'd have a little bit of pain. 
I could push through. I'm a man. Man, shut up. Go do what you got to do. Take care of yourself. Because at the end of the day, me doing what I had to do, getting the life insurance, I put my family first. Okay? It's not just about growing your business. It's about you. And I know I'm long-winded here. But I know I'm speaking to somebody right now. We need this. Men, women, especially my minorities, right? I'm half black. Half Cuban, okay? I know what it is when we feel like, man, we need to do a little bit extra. No, you don't. You need to look after yourself and your family. Do what you got to do. Get the health insurance. Get healthy. I have an app, right? Maybe you're in Oklahoma. There's an app. There's someone, even if it's not me, there's someone that you can trust. Pray about it. Seek the right counsel. There's always people that, you know, sometimes we're so hard on ourself, AP. And we're like, there's nobody out there. Man, I let... 
there's always someone that's looking to help. There's always someone that's willing to pour in. So seek that counsel, seek that guidance, because in the past four years, I don't have the statistics right in front of me, but the suicide rates have gone through the roof. Since COVID, 100%. I know part of it is because more people are working from home. How many of you know it's harder to commit suicide at a workplace than it is to do it at home? So we have more people working at home in their own thoughts, And they don't have someone or don't feel comfortable talking to someone about those thoughts. So they're consumed and overwhelmed with these thoughts. And I'm speaking from example, and this is not, oh, I think, no, this has happened to me. I'm telling you from experience, you get so overwhelmed with these thoughts. You're like, man, I'm ashamed to share this with someone. No, there's someone that probably has worse, more sadistic thoughts. So just to be comfortable enough to seek that counsel, seek that guidance with a professional, 
Or even someone that just wants to love on you, man. There's no shame in that. The Bible says in a multitude of counselors, there is safety. He didn't even say one or two. He said multitude. There's a reason that the Bible says what the Bible says. Because he knows. And the safety is protecting yourself sometimes from yourself. So, man, this has been amazing. We're going to do this more. This is, by the way, our established creative expert. You didn't know I was going to do this, but I'm doing this. You have now been certified, okay? And I'm half joking and I'm half serious. One of the programs I'm going to be doing and we'll be launching, I'm putting myself accountability right now. One of the things I want to do is make sure that everybody that's on this show that I consider established creative expert in the field of fitness, in your case, is somehow labeled, bad, certified, give you something. I'm going to be here with something. Okay, you're going to give us something because... 
What you spoke is your testimony and your credentials, right? Not just what you do and someone looks at your website. This is what makes you credentialed in my book, to be a leader, to be someone that helps creators, entrepreneurs, freelancers, people who are trying to do what God calls them to do, to be the creatives that God created them to be. That's what qualifies you, what you just said, not your resume. Okay? So that's why I can say that right here, ECE.com. Gio Valdez in the area of fitness. God bless you, man. Thank you so much for being a part of the show. This has been amazing and we're going to have to do it again. Yes, sir. Thank you so much, man. My friend, thank you for watching this episode. If that blessed you, you got to make sure that you stay connected with this community and this channel so that you can get more where that came from. We're sharing great interviews, tactics, strategies, mindsets, lifestyle choices. Everything is going to help you become a totally successful 
confident, creative. And don't miss an episode of the God Geek Show. If you are staying connected to our channel, you'll be able to find us anytime we release new episodes. And you can check out some of our archives of almost 200 episodes now that we've shared over the last few years. Make sure you check out one of the suggestions right now because it's probably perfect for you to continue to develop as a creator and continue to stay connected with us because we're here to help you become the creative that God created you to be. We'll see you in the next episode.