Episode 4 transcript: From Cancer Survivor to inspirational coach with Matt Ode

 Episode 4: From Cancer Survivor to inspirational coach with Matt Ode

Podcast Introduction

We often hear people wishing us a long, happy, and healthy life. But what if the length isn't what matters most? What if instead, it's the breath, depth, and purpose of each day that matters most? Welcome to the Live the Width of Your Life podcast. My name is Aneta Ardelian kuzma. Join me weekly as I interview guests who make changes in their own lives to live more fully with intention, gratitude, and joy. Be prepared to be inspired by their stories of how they shifted their mindset, took courageous action, and designed the life that they always wanted to live.

Guest Bio

Welcome to The Live the width of your Life podcast. Today's guest is Matt Ode from cancer to a coma at the age of 24. Matt was diagnosed with stage 3 testicular cancer after chemotherapy in a very complicated surgery to remove the remaining cancer from his body. Matt encountered various complications. He was under the watch and care of the ICU for over 40 days and then at the Cleveland Clinic for fifty-three days where he was met with a number of near-death experiences including five major surgeries causing a large open wound on his stomach. For two weeks he lay non-responsive in a coma met with complete kidney and liver failure and went into cardiac arrest, where nurses performed 8 minutes of CPR to bring him back to life. Doctors didn't know if and when he would awake. Informed his family and girlfriend he would likely be on dialysis. For the rest of his life has to relearn everyday tasks like eating and walking again. Prior to the diagnosis and subsequent treatment. Matt was a healthy personal trainer weighing in 185 pounds but this disease wrecked him. Havoc on his body in a matter of eight months he dwindled down to a mere 110 pounds fast forward years after with hard work and deep internal discovery. Matt is as vibrant, enthusiastic, and energetic as ever, helping individuals transform their minds, body, and spirit as a transformation coach and highly sought-after keynote inspirational speaker. Welcome! Matt Ode to the show.

Aneta: Hi Matt! I'm so excited to have you as one of my first guests on our Live the Width of your Life podcast.

Matt Ode: Hey Aneta, thank you for having me. Excited to be out here today.

00:13.71

Aneta: It is such an honor and a privilege to have you here because I think that your story is so inspirational and motivating. I know that everyone who listens to it today is going to be able to take away many things and then apply them to their own life. I want to get started, for those that don't know you if you could share a little bit more about your background and something that happened in your own life that maybe was unexpected?

Matt Ode: Absolutely! so a little bit about me, before I was diagnosed with Cancer. I've always been very active. I would say that Health has been a massive part of my life in all areas. Growing up I did all different types of sports. I played football. I Played Basketball. I Played Baseball. I ran cross country. I did every genre and then as I started to get into College, I really transitioned into more weight training. That's where I think my overall optimal health kind of came into place. So, where I started to focus on my nutrition. I started to focus on movement Mobility strength training. All of those aspects. In addition, I started to just focus on general health and overall. That's where I kind of got into, like really figuring out what I wanted to do with my life. But, little did I know this was also setting me up for something so much bigger in my life as well. It was a massive part of saving my life too. Before we really got into my journey with cancer. I always tell people, I pray to God, You never get diagnosed with anything crazy like that. But, it is so important to take care of yourself, your mental health, and your physical health. Everything is in between because you never know what could happen. What could unexpectedly happen in your life? By taking care of the things you can control by eating the right foods, working out, getting enough sleep, and hydrating yourself. You'll be amazed at how your body will react to anything else that kind of comes your way.

02:15.50

Aneta: Such great advice and it's actually unique for someone at a young age to recognize that. We are going to talk a little bit about your cancer diagnosis. So, at the age of 24 you were diagnosed with cancer, and for many young people. At that stage of their life. Did you feel like you were invincible? Did you have certain dreams for your life? Tell us, what were you doing and thinking about before you got the diagnosis?

Matt Ode: Absolutely! I was in the absolute best shape of my life right before I was diagnosed with cancer. I had finally really taken control of everything and all of a sudden. I just started dating my now fiance at the time. But, I just started dating here at the time. Her name’s Lauren and we were doing all these summer activities. We were hiking, kayaking, and doing all that stuff. Then, all of a sudden, I kind of started to notice these minor back pains.

Matt Ode: But, you're 24 years old. You just shrug that off. I'm fine. It's pied from weightlifting or just being extremely active and it just kept getting worse and it kept getting worse and worse. The worse it got, the more stubborn I got as well. I wouldn't go to a doctor. I tried a chiropractor here and there. But nothing was helping. All of a sudden, about two months ago. Since my symptoms started, roughly around June and all the way into August. I was over at Lauren's house and I ended up puking up blood and I ended up getting rushed to the emergency room.

03:47.31

Matt Ode: Did a blood test on me and found out that I had lost 2 thirds of the blood circulating in my body. Immediately, I was given 6 bags of blood and rushed into emergency surgery to figure out what was causing this bleeding. At the time, they thought it was probably an ulcer. We'll get it taken care of and you'll be okay. The next morning, We'll get you out of there. So, the next morning I woke up. I'm in the recovery room. I just remember it was just me and my parents at the time. I'm thinking, I'm ready to go home and all of a sudden, the doctor walks in. I look at him and he just has this blank stare in his eyes. I knew right away that it was much more than an ulcer. What he did is he walked over to me. He sat down. He grabbed my hand and he goes Matte, we have found an eleven-centimeter tumor in your small intestine. We know it is cancerous. We just don't know what type yet. We're going to have to rush you from our local hospital here in Medina, Ohio to the main campus of our Cleveland Clinic immediately to figure out what cancer is causing this tumor growth. All I can say is I just remember looking over my parents. Seeing them crying. Immediately, instead of breaking down. I felt like being this man I had to hold in my emotions and be a strong individual. We can dive into that in a sec. But, It was actually the wrong thing to do and I think when it comes to challenging news or difficult news in life. Especially men out there. We have a tough time expressing what we're feeling. What are we going through? And it can lead to a lot more anxiety, PTSD (Post-traumatic stress disorder), or depression because we feel like we have to be this strong individual. When really in reality, being vulnerable and being willing to open up when you need to is possibly the most beneficial way of helping you through current situations, especially mentally.

05:43.26

Aneta: That's so interesting! when did you recognize that at the moment you said you were stoic? You felt like you had to respond very strongly, maybe for your parents, maybe because that's what you felt like you needed to do. What changed? When did you recognize that you didn't need to respond that way in all circumstances?

Matt Ode: Yeah! great question,  It was actually when Lauren had already known the news. But, she had not come and seen me yet. Finally, a few days later, when she did a ride to come and see me. I just remembered. First of all,  I was super nervous because we were only two months into this relationship. I knew that was a heavy burden to be putting on her. She was like hey listen, this is just too much. It's just we're too early in this relationship. I understood it. But the total opposite. I should remember us just seeing each other. I just gave each other a massive hug and right then and there like I knew she was just going to stick with me the whole time. I just ended up breaking down and crying. I think I needed somebody that I could feel like I could be vulnerable around and just let go. I'll tell you right now, A ton of weight was lifted off my shoulders because getting out a good cry is one of the most therapeutic things you can do. I'll tell you right there. I cried a lot more after that. But, that was the very first time I really expressed my emotions. What I was feeling? The cool part about that was I didn't have to worry about how I stay strong for this person. 

Matt Ode: How do I do this? I could focus on myself and what I need to do to heal myself moving forward. That is the key when you can finally be vulnerable and release those emotions. You can then say, How do I take actionable steps to heal myself? That was the moment I was able to do that.

07:36.37

Aneta: It's wonderful that this is such an amazing love story. I know that Lauren is your fiance and you guys will be married soon, Congratulations! 

Matt Ode: Thank you.

07:56.16

Aneta: So, let's talk about how you've been able to take this experience and apply it to what you're doing now. Because, after you are here, you are healthy. You are a survivor which is amazing. Now, you are an inspiration. You're leveraging your experience to give back. Share with the audience what you're doing today.

Matt Ode: Yeah, very grateful is what I'll say first. I'm very appreciative of what I get to do. First off, I've been able to share my story really across the world through different podcasts. I've gotten to travel to different destinations around the country and speak in person. It's not really even just my story I get to share. The coolest part is I get to help change other people's lives who are going through challenging situations. It does not have to be cancer. It could be something in their family. It could be something in their job. It can be a health-related situation. But, it's more the perspective and really helping people through whatever challenge they're going through. Allowing them to realize that their situation does not have to define who they are in life. Your current situation is not your final destination. Your current situation is truly a lesson to be taught in order to help you excel. Past where you ever were in life. That is what cancer has actually allowed me to do. You really do have two choices. You either can become the victim of the situation or you can become victorious of it and be the better version, learn from it, and become a better version of yourself. Then ultimately, use the lessons to impact the world, and impact other people and that's what I allowed cancer to do. It's your decision. You get to say, whether you want to be a “why me?'' mentality or you get to help other people. So, I get to share my story as a speaker. I also do coaching as well, where I'm able to help other individuals really transform their mind and their body. As being in the health field now for over 10 years. I'm able to take not just all those lessons. But, also as we get into my story, rebuilding my life after cancer. I mean, I went through so many near-death experiences. I was the healthiest I'd ever been. Dropping over 75 pounds in a matter of eight months. Learning to walk again and relive my entire life. So, I get to really use all of that experience to help other people just transform their bodies, transform their minds so they can figure out whatever they've gone through. Take that, become the best version of themselves, and then find that new calling, find that new purpose in their life. It's a big passion of mine. But it's also something I'm very grateful for because I thank god every day, me, being a Christian. I really thank god for everything he's given me and I just tried to do my best to help others.

10:36.55

Aneta: I love that so much, Matt! I love turning something that could have been the most challenging and difficult experience of your life and leveraging that for good. Tell me how you got to where you are today. Because, I can only imagine, knowing your story, knowing you were in the hospital for a long time, knowing you had these near-death experiences, knowing that you went down to 110 pounds. Tell us about your comeback, What did it look like? What were some of the challenges that were beyond the physical? What were some of the other hardest things that you had to overcome that now help propel you to be able to share what you've learned with others?

Matt Ode: Yes, great question. So, you're absolutely correct! It wasn't just physical. I would say, anything in life starts right here. It starts here and it starts here. First starts in your heart because you have to believe in yourself first. Believing in yourself is when you have a gut feeling deep down inside. You get it right through here to start.

Matt Ode: Then, it transfers over to here and the first thing you have to eliminate is a lot of your limiting beliefs whether you don't think you're worthy enough of becoming this person that you've always wanted to be or whether you take other people's opinions over your heart. Over what you believe? Trusting God has for you or whatever you believe in. So for me, it was working through those limiting beliefs first, and once I was able to work through those limiting beliefs. I was then able to take actionable steps and my first actionable step as I call it, is “winning the day” and it's by an entrepreneur that I now follow his name’s, Andy Frisella. I don't want to give myself credit for this concept but it's something I've used just not even knowing it back. But now, it's called “winning the day'' and what is the whole concept is to stop overcomplicating a process and focus on how I win the day. Instead of you have you? Of course, you have a vision and of course, you have a dream. But, you're not going to get there overnight. So, once you start winning the day and you start winning a couple of days. Guess what? You then start winning the week and then when you start winning a couple of weeks. Next thing you know, you're starting to win the month. Then, after a few months and you keep winning the months the next year. You've totally transformed yourself and you can look back and say, I am a totally different better version of myself by taking actionable winning steps. All I do is focus on one or maybe 2 wins every day. You don't need 10, or 20 wins. It's just one or 2 critical wins that are going to help you push forward. So for me, For example, when I was first learning to walk and rebuild my life I would put one lawn chair at one end of my driveway and put another launch here at the other end. And I would literally get all my might up to get up and I'd walk to that launcher maybe twenty-five feet away from me. I'd sit down for like 2 minutes. I contemplate life. I'd be like, how am I to get back up and get to the chair again? But, I do it and I'd put all my effort, time, and energy into that one task.

13:40.81

Matt Ode: Guess what I do the next day? I just moved that chair a little bit further and then a little bit further and guess what happened to that chair? It was no longer in the driveway. That chair started going out into the sidewalk. The chair started going out into the street and next thing you knew, I didn't need the chair anymore. Started walking a little further to keep walking. That is the best description. I can say in life it's baby steps every single day and it's a compound effect. Those compound daily winds will turn into massive long-term results like when you see somebody super successful at night and in life. It looks like they did it overnight. 99.99% of the time, you didn't see the small daily wins that they had to do consistently for months or even years at a time. So, that is exactly what I did to rebuild myself. I started by having faith then I said what? How do I trust that? How do I start working through my limiting beliefs? Then of course too, I will say this, you can't! you cannot fight these battles alone. You absolutely need support in life and that is when I would rely on my family. My friends, my incredible friends. Aneta, you were one of those who is just so supportive. Along my journey and then of course Lauren who was like an angel to me was just sent down. Using your support, using your faith, just taking actionable steps, trusting in yourself, and trusting in what God has for you? By just doing daily wins and compounding that over time.

15:07.14

Aneta: So true, I always tell my clients the same thing too. Sometimes it's just that tiny little step that you take that is that act of faith to move forward and then you just see all these other opportunities present themselves when you do that. Did you find that experience as well?

Matt Ode: That's it. The only way you're going to get breakthroughs in life is by taking what's called “imperfect action” which means, action while failing along the way. Do I still have my own limiting beliefs? All the time, you can attest to this. I have them all the time but when I just say what screws it?

Matt Ode: I'm going to just go for it. I know, I'm going to fall flat on my face. I may look a little fun along the way and you might get a little criticism. Whatever that is when you have breakthroughs, that is when you get the news. You've always been waiting for it because it's not going to come through just textbooks and Youtube videos. All this,  you have to take that information. But then you have to apply it to your life. I have a little word called “infobesity”. It's kind of a made-up word that one of my mentors taught me is obtaining unnecessary information to make you feel like you're being productive to really procrastinate yourself from the hard actional task that you're afraid of doing. Don't be a person who has infobesity in your life. So, it's good to obtain information but you have to apply it to your life and it's okay to fail.

16:34.14

Matt Ode: I think what really hurts us is our whole life in our school system where we were taught that if we don't get A's or B's we're failing in life and I disagree with that concept. The school has good places here and there. I think, there are good concepts in it. But there are also times when I think that it's actually okay to fail. In certain circumstances, you have to be willing to try. You have to be willing to get dirty and get messy. That is where all the lessons in growth come from. It's not through all successes but through the difficult challenging times that you're really going to expand in life.

17:04.44

Aneta: So True! Let's talk about your faith because you've talked about Faith. You've talked about living from a place of Gratitude. How has your faith and that belief helped you even not just on your journey today but in other stages of your life?

Matt Ode: It's helped me through cancer massively. But it's helped me to really follow my dream in life. Now, I'm telling you when you go after something that is scary, that is big, that is not what your family or your friends or certain people believe. You can achieve it if you and your faith will tell you that right now in the very very beginning. It is you and your faith. Most people, I would say 90% of people need to see your success before they believe it. But if you ever want to do something big with your life. You must believe it. Before you see it now. There are exceptions. Of course, there are incredible people that are going to support them. You Aneta, you're one of them and Lauren was one of them. They're going to support you but in the very very beginning when it's just like I have this grand idea. I have no idea how I'm going to achieve it. I mean, it's you and God. 

Matt Ode: That's it! You have to say things like, pray about it and just ask for guidance. Ask for just the wisdom of where I need to go. How can I achieve these goals? That’s right there when you take imperfect action. That's when God will give you the answers.

18:32.43

Aneta: So true! I Love that idea. I remember in my own story, just saying that I chose to make changes in my own life when my faith was larger than my fears and because it's so true. You find the day where you just tip a little bit more on the faith side. You're able to take that courageous action. Imperfect action right? As it always is, what would you say now in your life? What are you most proud of?

Matt Ode: I would say, I'm most proud of the fact that I've grown a stronger relationship with God. I'm being dead serious. I think that is the thing I'm most proud of. Honestly, my mom and my dad were always good at giving me a strong mindset and just pushing forward. But my mom still believes in me. I think the most challenging times in our lives allow us to grow stronger in our faith, you know? If you choose to do so and that is something I'm so grateful for and most proud of.

Matt Ode: On top of that, The fact that I'm able to give back now and really help others who are going through new situations is one of the most gratifying things. So, well I think your most fulfilling thing is getting married and having kids. You know those are very very fulfilling things in life. But. On top of that, I think also making an impact in others' lives through something that is meaningful to you is also one of the tops most fulfilling things. You could never do it yourself. About a year and a half ago,  I built a cancer Facebook group. It took me three months to even have the courage to build this. I have so many limiting beliefs today. Now, I have over 6 thousand members who are patients, caregivers, and survivors in this group. Every single day, I get to see somebody's life being changed or help somebody through their journey with cancer and that right there is so fulfilling to me because I was willing to take that risk. Take that step to try and help and transform somebody's life and I'm so grateful. I don't take anything for granted in that aspect. Every day is truly a blessing because I can just go onto that group if somebody is struggling. There are hundreds of comments that will literally help people.

20:53.27

Aneta: Yeah! I remember watching, I remember the day that it actually went live and I started watching those numbers and couldn't believe how quickly it was growing and I know initially when you started that community.

Matt Ode: Through whatever they're going through.

21:12.70

Aneta: It was going to be focused on young adults. Similar to your story and people were saying, can I join and now it's turned into this amazingly diverse group of people in this community. Talk about community and how important it is to have a group of people who understand you. Whom are you sharing with? Who is supporting you? helping you along the way from your experience and also what you're witnessing with your Facebook group?

Matt Ode: Thank you! Absolutely, So, I think the community is everything. I think having family and friends is absolutely incredible. But, when you go through really challenging situations in life. Sometimes they may not be able to relate to that situation. That is the power of this community of everyone going through cancer in some way whether you're a caregiver-patient or survivor. They can relate to that aspect and the power of having somebody that you can either relate to or somebody who's already been there and done. What you're trying to accomplish and you can start to figure out how they get to that destination?  What are the steps they took to heal themselves or to become successful in life? That right there is the key to anything that you know any type of success or any type of breakthrough you want in life. For me, the only way I was able to truly get started of course was to fakely get started. I found an entrepreneur named Admiral. He has this podcast while it actually found him on a different podcast. He was not the host found but he was a guest on his podcast called “Broke to 400000000”. This was just about 2 years after the cancer. I'm like, I want to be successful. I want to do all these things. As I started watching motivational Youtube videos. So, I'm like this is an awesome video. I like how to get all this money. Not one time did he talk about how he got the money. It was actually all about the struggles, the pain, and all the adversity. He was able to overcome to become where he's at in life and that was like, How do I get involved in his community? Started to figure out his community and what he does right at that moment. He had a group called the RTA syndicate that he had just started. It was a group of entrepreneurs and I'm like, sign me up, I'm in. I jumped in that group and that right there, that community was what allowed me to start having the courage to start speaking and having the courage to start coaching. You are the average of the nine people that you are around the most. So, if you are around people who are negative all the time. Doing your drinking every single weekend, not having any ambition or goals in life. That is who you're going to become. Now, if you're with people who are goal-oriented and want to do something better with their lives, to help you succeed are going to be supportive of you. Guess who you're going to become. You're going to start becoming that type of person and you're going to start having those thoughts in those actions toward your goals. 

 Matt Ode: My cancer group was all about having people who are relatable to each other but also supportive in saying, “I understand what you're feeling because I was in your shoes not too long ago”. But I'm going to help you get out of the situation because unfortunately, it is as much as I love my mom as much as I love Lauren and my father. They never went through actual cancer. So, it was hard for them to relate to some of those things where I could talk to other testicular survivors and other testicular patients and help them or they could help me. Whatever challenge I was going through. There are a lot of different aspects of cancer and also from an entrepreneurial aspect now of me going to where I want to be in life. So just know out there when you're listening to this wherever you want to go in life. You must surround yourself with that type of person, somebody who has already done what you're trying to accomplish. And start figuring out literally how they started from day one and where they started going to where they are today and then surround yourself with people who are on the same journey in the same mission as you.

25:07.60

Aneta: Such great advice! It's so true. Iron Sharpens. Iron right? And it's so important to surround ourselves with people that we admire and respect. They're doing things we want to do but also people who have the energy that you want to be around right because you gravitate towards that. So, talk to me a little bit about how this perspective has changed. Have you changed any relationships or anything else in life in terms of how you approach things?

Matt Ode: Yeah, big time. First, going through cancer really changed my and Lauren’s relationship. I will say that we went from boyfriend and girlfriend too. Now, like in a matter of a year, if we can get through this. I'm pretty sure we can get through almost anything. It was a big change but the struggle was so we never truly felt like we really got to be boyfriend and girlfriend so that was the only struggle that we really kind of had at that time was like that next year after a full year of recovery probably even more. Then we could finally start becoming boyfriend and girlfriend again because there's a lot of her taking care of me or just trying to recover from this whole entire traumatic experience. So, that was a challenge for sure 

Matt Ode: But, I would also say When it wasn't during cancer the crazy spread wasn't during cancer. It was when I said, I wanted to do something bigger with my life and I started surrounding myself with other young adults who are trying to become entrepreneurs. Who is trying to do something? So, only a slight few of my friends. Super supportive and incredible. But you have that small 10 percent group that is upset and they think that you are like trying to kind of get out of their life because you're too good for them and things like that and they talk behind your back. I had to eliminate a lot of those people in my life. Because they weren't serving me anymore and it hurt because they were long-term friends that I thought were going to be long-term friends but I realized quickly that you find their 2 colors when you are not doing exactly what they want you to do. 

27:22.91

Matt Ode: Unfortunately, sometimes you'll see, when you want to do something bigger and you're not doing this to be better than anybody else, you're doing it to be a better version of yourself some of your friends if they can't see themselves doing what you're trying to do then they don't think that you can ever accomplish it. That makes them feel like you're trying to be superior to them. A lot of them were like, are you too good for me now because you're hanging out with your new friends? You only want to drink on weekends, you still want to talk about high school glory days and you don't want to progress in life. All you care about is your job. You complain about it every day. I can't be around that type of energy just like you were talking about energy. I have to be around people who are high energy, high frequency, and are truly wanting to do something better with their lives. So, that right there was challenging. There was a really tough part but when I was able to make that breakthrough. So many doors started opening up.

28:14.40

Aneta: It reminds me, Marianne Williamson said that “there are 2 emotions usually behaviors come from 2 emotions either fear or love.” Maybe sometimes people's responses if you think of it. If they respond in a way that maybe isn't Positive. It could be from a place of fear and for me, that's comforting then I think about it is not that someone is trying to necessarily. Be combative. But maybe they're just fearful themselves and so they could maybe fear losing the relationship with you or things changing. So yeah, but it does happen that it is so true that when we start to make big changes in our lives that sometimes other things happen positively and also sometimes Negatively. So, What would you tell your younger version of yourself now? You're how old you are right now? So, What would you tell a younger Matt now that over the last decade or so you've changed a lot? You've learned a lot in life. What are some of the things that used to make you say?

Matt Ode: Yeah thirty. Yeah.

29:25.25

Aneta: Don't worry about it. What are some of the things that maybe you didn't consider or think about that you wish that you'd known when you were younger?

Matt Ode: First thing that I would say to not worry so much about is, I would say letting smaller things in life control not just your day but let it control your weeks like you have an argument with somebody and you hold a garage against them.

Matt Ode: I would say that you are a failure. I would definitely say this one, I would say that if I had something that I was embarrassed about or I felt like I was failing at that I was so worried about what my friends were going to think of me back then. I wouldn't even take action towards a lot of things in life and now I would tell them like your greatest breakthroughs are when you just follow your heart like truly you have to be willing to look a little silly in order to really become the person you want to be most. I'm telling you 90% of people.

Matt Ode: Don't get to where they want to be because they let other people control their life. I'm telling you right now, your chances are if you're listening to this and you're like I want to get to this destination. The reason you're not quite there yet is that that one really scary task and I do it all the time too. You're worried about somebody you care about or somebody that really you shouldn't even care about.

Matt Ode: Will say about you or think about you. You think that will be how you are defined when that is not at all. It's what you should be defined as what you truly believe your intentions are and what God has for you in your life that is the only thing and that's what I would tell my younger self to stop constantly worrying.

31:05.76

Matt Ode: But other people think of you and just trust what God has for you, get strong in your faith, take Imperfect action, and take the deep downside. This is you have pure intentions and you're not just doing something stupid take that risk, please take that risk. The first question could you repeat that one more time for me?

31:28.00

Aneta: What would you tell your younger self and then what is something that you continue to remind yourself of today?

Matt Ode: So, what I remind myself of today is to listen. I know that I'm going to have some tough times today. I know that there are going to be some ups and downs. But, I can also say that every single day, there's something to be grateful for I need to remind myself that there's always something to be grateful for, and the really cool part is this is what I tell people I say don't dwell on the past and constantly worry about the future because dwelling on the past will cause depression constantly worrying about the future will cause anxiety instead.

32:15.69

Matt Ode: Learn from the past, be present in the moment, and then plan for the future and when I'm able to do that allows me to eliminate a lot of my mental state. I guess struggles in my life instead allow me to progress forward. So, I live in the present and when I have tough days and I say, there are lots to be grateful for. I actually look at my past as something that is like I could be there again or I could have got I could be in that situation and look where I'm at now. look what god has done in my life to help me get to where I'm at today. And that right there instantly gives me a new perspective. It instantly gives me a sense of joy even in challenging situations. So, if you are struggling today, just try to look back at a past situation that you were able to overcome and realize that you're no different in this situation. You can overcome it. I promise you so just to stay focused, stay present, learn from the past plan for your future.

33:18.79

Aneta: I love it! I Love that so much! One of the things I do is actually Journal, I write every day. I type it up and whenever I'm having those days as well like you I go back and I read days where I had a worry or I was thinking about something where I had a fear and then I see the next day, the day after all the things that happened the ways that I was supported that could never have anticipated and then I always remind myself if it happened then it's going to happen again in the future. So. It's amazing to be able to look back and remind ourselves of that. The podcast is Live the Width of Your Life and it's tied to a Diane Akerman quote that says “I don't want to reach the end of my life and realize I just lived the length of it. I want to have lived the width of it as well”. So, what does living the width of your life mean to you and how do you live that way?

Matt Ode: Yeah! I have a famous acronym once again. I learned it from a man named Jim Quick. I may have shared this with you as well. But I love sharing this with my audiences. It's “hope'' and it's to help 1 person every day and the whole concept. 

34:33.79

Matt Ode: This is like the promise of my life ever. Underestimate the power of helping one person every day because you are helping that person and giving them some advice or helping them through a situation. They can take the knowledge you've given them and help others or someone else. By the time, you've helped five people. Chances are you've actually probably helped 20 or 30 people by the time you've helped 10 people you probably actually helped 100 people. It's a compound effect of you subconsciously not even knowing that you're helping all of these people by just giving advice to that one person don't ever underestimate that and it's a simple acronym called “Hope” ( Help One Person Everyday). I try to live by that and I really do. Hopefully, today on this podcast in my cancer group or doing my coaching calls with my clients or going on and speaking whatever it might be. I just want to help one person at least every single day. And make that everlasting impact in their life.

35:29.20

Aneta: That is amazing! Give back service. I am so grateful Matt to know you. I am so grateful that you came on this show. It is an honor that you are sharing your story, and your experience with my listeners, and also with the community that you are serving. How can we best serve you? What are all the ways that this group can support you and where can they follow you? How can they reach out to you if they'd like to hire you to be a speaker or a coach? Can you share some of those details with us?

Matt Ode: Absolutely! If you just want to hear my full story and know a little bit more about everything. Go onto my website at mattodespeaks.com. You can hear my whole story. If you are looking for a speaker. You can book me there. If you are looking through coaching you can also go through there and I have all my Instagram social media links. You can go on there and just shoot me a message. I have a Youtube channel that I'd love for you to check out. I and Lauren actually created a channel. We have to get back to it. But it's called “dating after diagnosis” and it's my journey and her journey together where we kind of just share our experiences through cancer and how it's helped us grow and stronger and just become better. Individuals in our relationship and then finally if you are impacted by cancer. And any sign to shape or form like you're a caregiver to your patient or you're a survivor please follow me on Facebook just at Matt Ode in my cancer Facebook group called cancer patient survivor taking back your life from cancer. You can just message me on Facebook and say hey, I saw your podcast through Aneta's podcast and I'd love to join your group. I will get you in immediately but please it's an incredible family. It's a community and all I'm trying to do is give back. I want to help you, really go to that next level in life. So, thank you again, Aneta, seriously, I hope we gave some amazing advice and some things to your audience today. 

37:35.92

Aneta: I have no doubt that people will absolutely benefit and that you have helped one person every day including many people today. I will make sure to include all of your details in the show notes below and I'm so grateful that we have this time together today. Continued success to you Matt and to Lauren thank you.

Matt Ode: Thank you Aneta, and you as well!