Episode 536 Lee Freeburg Veteran Finds Strength After the Weak Man Phase Transcript

This transcript is from episode 536 with guest Lee Freeburg.

[00:00:00] Scott DeLuzio: Have you ever been at that point after leaving the military where you just kind of pause and think now what the uniform’s off and you’re left trying to figure out who you are now? That’s exactly where Lee Freeberg, our guest today, found himself. He was drifting in what he called his weak man phase and not living up to his whole potential.

[00:00:18] What happened next totally changed how he viewed life, his, his purpose, and what it really meant for him to move forward. Before we get into the episode though, I do want to take a moment to raise awareness for something important to our community, the Global War on Terrorism Memorial Foundation. This organization is working to build a permanent national memorial in Washington DC to honor the service members, families, and civilians impacted by the global war on terrorism.

[00:00:44] This memorial serves as both a tribute to those who served and a way to ensure that their sacrifices are recognized and remembered for generations to come. If you’d like to learn more or find out how you can support their mission, visit GWOT memorial [00:01:00] foundation.org. Now, let’s get into today’s episode..

[00:01:01]

[00:01:15] Scott DeLuzio: Hey, Lee, welcome to the show. I’m really glad to have you here. I’m looking forward to this conversation, but, but you know, welcome to the show.

[00:01:22] Lee Freeburg: Thanks. It’s a pleasure to be here.

[00:01:24] Scott DeLuzio: Yeah, absolutely. Before we get too, too much into your story and, and everything like that, for the listeners who maybe aren’t super familiar with you and, and your, your background and stuff, tell us a little bit about yourself, your, your background, military history, all that kind of stuff.

[00:01:38] Lee Freeburg: Sure. So, I’m originally from Wyoming. It is a state out in the west born and raised there. I was actually adopted when I was a couple days old. So I never knew my biological parents, siblings, anything like that. And in my family we were very strong military both my grandpa and an uncle.

[00:01:55] Great uncles all served in the Navy, some of them in World War ii, some of them during the [00:02:00] Korean War. And it’s actually funny that today is actually. October 23rd ends the anniversary of the barracks being blown up in Lebanon. And my uncle was a gunner’s mate on the USS Virginia on the, that ship in the bay that morning when it happened.

[00:02:20] And him and his crew did figure eights for 48 hours bombing Lebanon after the barracks got blown up. But he remembers it to this day. It’s just what a cool coincidence. I, so I joined the military or joined the Navy. A lot of family influence in there, like I said. And spent eight years serving my country.

[00:02:39] And I joined in 2000, and obviously that’s pre nine 11. And when I joined I was very excited. I knew that I was gonna go to the military or I was gonna go to war. Like that was like, I signed the dotted line. It, it was something when you sign, you have to be willing to go, and I did. And of course it was during peace time, everything was hunky dory.

[00:02:57] While. I was in bootcamp [00:03:00] and core school and all that good stuff. And then I was actually stationed in Okinawa, Japan the morning of nine 11, and I was super excited. Oh yes. I mean, yeah, that sucks. Nine 11 sucks. But it meant that I was gonna do what my purpose was, and that was to serve my country in combat.

[00:03:18] And it never came. And so I got done with Okinawa and I got transferred over to North Carolina and that unit was supposed to deploy and turns out, no, they were actually what’s called forward deployed. And so I spent two years watching my buddies get on planes. That’s where I was at. I was on the ap ap flight line, putting packs on planes and put people packs, all kinds of stuff.

[00:03:42] And so for two years I watched my buddies go off to war and it was really disappointing to me. I, I was, I kind of was like, why am I here? What am I doing? And I really got into something maybe we’ll talk about a little later. And that what I call my weak man phase, and we’ll get into that later and whatnot.

[00:03:58] But then the Navy took [00:04:00] me to Naples, Italy. And so I gotta spend two years in Naples, Italy, working in a, an emergency room there. And then when that was done, I got, I was like, I, I wanna go to war. Like I want to go serve my country and do what I was, I’ve been instructed to do. And so I was calling the units all over the country like, Hey, when are you guys going?

[00:04:17] What you know, what do you do? Blah, blah, blah. Called the detailer. Said, Hey, I would like to go to this unit and they said, yep, this unit’s deploying, you can go. And turns out that was second EOD company out of Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. And they were in the rotation six months or eight months out from deployment.

[00:04:36] Super stoked. And so. I went there, got embedded with a unit, got got on a team there. And then in 2007 I deployed with them to Iraq and spent the majority of 2007 in Iraq serving my country. And there was some events, of course, it’s war but when I got down, I was, I knew that’s what I was wanting to do in my life is serve my country.

[00:04:58] And that’s, I got that [00:05:00] opportunity. Then of course I got outta the Navy. In 2008. Kind of started my journey through life. And now this is, I kind of ended up where I’m at now.

[00:05:08] Scott DeLuzio: so something that you said there and I, I’m sure. A lot of veterans who are listening could probably relate to what you were saying. But some of the civilians, people who maybe never served or didn’t know anyone who served and just kind of interested in, in stories like this, they, they may not really understand what it is that you’re talking about, but you’re talking about how after nine 11 you’re like, oh, you know, this is, this is good.

[00:05:30] I, I get to go do my, my job. Right? And, and of course it’s not, this is good that, you know, nine 11 happened, but you join during peace time and your, your goal was to go to war. So obviously joining the military, that’s probably a pretty good indication. You’ll be able to get to war, but if there’s no war going on, you’re kind of outta luck.

[00:05:51] But this was kind of like, Hey, now you get to do what you were trained to do. And, and it’s not just, Hey, let’s just keep [00:06:00] training and keep training and keep training and not ever go anywhere. You had that opportunity. As a matter of fact, anyone who was in the military at that point had that opportunity.

[00:06:08] Some people had, you know, probably different reactions than you after coming off of, you know, however many years of being in peace time and not really expecting it. And then, then all of a sudden there’s this sucker punch. And some people are like, oh, geez, I don’t, I’m not sure. I’m not sure things, things are getting real now and I’m not sure I still want to stick around.

[00:06:28] But, you know, you had the opposite reaction. And, and that’s, you know, that’s what you want. Obviously in, in any military service. You want people who are there and, and want to do the job. And you know, obviously, yeah, there’s, there’s some great benefits coming along with being in the military. That’s why a lot of people join.

[00:06:43] But you definitely want those people who are, are like, you know what? Send me in, put me in because that’s what, that’s what I want to do. That’s what I’m meant to do. And, and so that, to me, it, it kind of struck a chord. ’cause I, I was like, I, I get where you’re coming from, but I can totally understand how some people may not get it right.

[00:06:58] Lee Freeburg: Exactly. [00:07:00] Yep, that’s true. And you know, and it’s not just, I think civilians, but I, I have a lot of buddies who are, were on active duty who had the same mentality as I did, and they, they got all the way to that line and never got to, in a sense, perform their job. And it was really disappointing to them, like, like, yeah, I’m here.

[00:07:20] I did all this work. I trained, I got ribbons, I got badges, I got pens, and I’m at the gate and I can’t do what I trained to do. And they come home disappointed. And that’s kind of sad to say, but it’s the training, you know, it is just the way that like, you begin to think about your purpose in life. The training reinforces that purpose and you become that identity.

[00:07:47] Something I was thinking about prior, I was reading your questions, was the identity of the hospital corpsman. I wasn’t a hospital corpsman when I was in high school. I went to the Navy and became a [00:08:00] hospital corpsman, and I assumed that identity and I lived that identity every single day while I was in the, in the military, whether it was with the Marines or whether it was with a Navy, the sailors and people like that.

[00:08:13] My identity was a hospital corpsman and part of that identity has never left. But once I left the military, I kind of had to put that, that identity, because that identity was, go to the range, shoot, go on a hike, go out the field. Go fi figure out if you can go to another range. Can you go to sniper school?

[00:08:38] Can you go to jump school? That was the identity. Can I go to Iraq? Can, can I go to Afghanistan? And that was my identity that I wrapped up in hospital corpsman. And so when I left the Navy, I had to leave that identity behind because in all, there’s no, there’s no job out here in the world for that identity.

[00:08:59] [00:09:00] And so you gotta go out and try to figure out what you’re gonna do with your life. And so I’m gonna just let that go right there. That’s where I’m.

[00:09:08] Scott DeLuzio: Yeah. I, I, I think a lot of people end up having that and, and regardless of what their, their job was in the military, they have this identity wrapped up in whatever it is that they were doing. They, they could have been, you know, a corpsman like you were, or infantry, or they could be armor or, you know, any, you name it, you know, any different thing that they, they did in the military.

[00:09:31] And that, again, that just becomes a part of who you are. And you know, we all have our kind of tongue in cheek moments with our you know, the different branches between, you know, the army and the, the Air Force and the navy, and the, you know, all these different jokes that we might tell amongst each other and, and you know, we’re better than this and, you know, whatever.

[00:09:51] And, but you, you build yourself up as like, I’m a part of this team. I’m a part of this, and, and like that is. [00:10:00] The identity that you, you take on and then one day you take that uniform off for the last time and you’re not that person anymore. And that’s a tough pill for some people to swallow, right?

[00:10:12] Lee Freeburg: Yep. Absolutely.

[00:10:13] Scott DeLuzio: Yeah. And so, so for you, what was that like, kind of hanging up that uniform, you know, fig, figuratively, or literally whatever it is that, that you actually went through there and then kind of making that switch in your, your head to say like, okay, now I’m, I’m something else. Now I’m not that what I used to be.

[00:10:32] I’m, I’m now something else. And how do I move forward from here and what do I do after that?

[00:10:36] Lee Freeburg: I didn’t want to hang up the uniform. I was actually fighting to try to stay in. So leaving heartbreaking to me. Mostly because there is a, and I, I, I step back and I look now and I can say the military had. Safety, it was a safety net. As long as you did what you were told, what been, [00:11:00] where you were, all these things, you could do whatever, whatever you want within the rules of the UCMJ.

[00:11:05] And that was comforting, that was so nice. Like you could just, you knew your boundaries and then you leave the military and you have endless boundaries. The, the entire world is an option to you. And one thing I think that military does a really good job at is teaching. It teaches us to be adaptable and, and be able to be inserted anywhere, become proficient in that, and then do that job.

[00:11:34] And so I left the, left the navy with unlimited skill potential. And so whatever I wanted to do, I could do. The problem was, is I didn’t know what to do. There was nobody to tell me, Lee, go this direction, Lee. This is the next step. This is this. And go and go from there. And I know a lot of veterans, they suffer with this same thing, the, this lack of purpose as well as kind of, I lost camaraderieship, [00:12:00] which I think a lot of us lose as well.

[00:12:02] And that’s a, a big deal. I, I didn’t really have like a home unit. I didn’t have a group of buddies that I went to boot with and all the way through, like, it was like duty station, duty station. I knew this guy passed that guy, whatever else. And then I was gone. And so I didn’t really have like somebody I could just pick the phone up and say, Hey man, what do I like?

[00:12:19] What do I do now? Like there’s not really that close camaraderie. And so I went out in the world trying to figure it out on my own and I stumbled around and like I was talking about a little bit earlier. I was in what I call a weak man phase. And, and it was in this phase that I just kinda lived from pleasure to pleasure, whatever filled my appetite, I just did and, and enjoyed and, and whatever else, while knowing in the back of my head and, and, and with inside me that I was failing my own purpose.

[00:12:52] That I was not living up to my, my own full potential. And in my weak man state, I did a lot of things that [00:13:00] are emotional, just emotionally. I just rode up and down the rollercoaster of emotions, pleasure from pleasure and just enjoying what life had to offer. And I was like, this is such a waste. it was about 10 years ago, this August, I was out with a buddy.

[00:13:18] We’re riding four wheelers and we’re just zipping around a neighborhood with quads, like souped up, Suzuki type quads. I don’t know what they were, but. I am cranking on it, just having the good old times doing cookies and my foot slipped off and the bo the quadro rode up the back of my leg and pulled me off.

[00:13:40] The ve off the off of it slamming me into a vehicle where I broke my collarbone and the itch shot down the street and I’m like laying in the middle of the street and it starts raining and like rain’s pouring down on me and I’m like laying here. And I knew like I just, man, dude, I am, I’m busted up. Like I’m broke. And so I get up and I start to try to figure out what’s going on, [00:14:00] whatever else. And my buddy takes me to the er. Sure enough, cracked ribs, broken collarbone, just all busted up. And it was like what I call my 180 moment. It was in that moment, I’m laying in the ER thinking to myself. Had I been a little bit stronger had I not been doing stupid things, I wouldn’t have made such a dumb mistake.

[00:14:22] And I thought, you know, well, maybe I needed to make that dumb mistake so that I could wake up and begin down a path. And it wasn’t too long after that, I ended up a really good job working for a company called Martin Marietta where I was driving big, huge cat loaders, like front end loaders and plug my Bluetooth into the radio and I would listen to audio books all day long, 10 hour shifts, just listen to audio books.

[00:14:47] I just went one book after another and, and I began to deal with things that I had. Shoved down and put away for so long, and I begin to, to let go of this, the things that I consider [00:15:00] to be trauma, right? Like the weak man, he has triggers and he feeds those triggers and I begin to identify those things and say, dude, why are you reacting in such this way?

[00:15:10] Why are you overboarding on this? Why are you depressed about this? Like, these are all things that ma don’t, they don’t matter in the grand scheme of things. And so as I began to recover and began to pull myself outta this weak man mindset, I’ve began to set goals and go, well, okay, cool. I’ve got some goals now.

[00:15:30] Well then I learned it’s not just having goals. You gotta put some action to those goals. So I started putting action to goals and I started to see one goal accomplished after another. And I began to build a purpose for my life. And then 2020 happened and

[00:15:44] Scott DeLuzio: That kind of screwed everything up, didn’t it?

[00:15:48] Lee Freeburg: Well, it it, for some, I think it did. And, but for me it was like another one of those like four-wheeler accidents.

[00:15:55] It was like, Hey, all right, now it’s time to switch gears and you’re [00:16:00] gonna go down this direction. And it was in 2020, while everybody was kind, I think everybody was suffering. I could saw it as a opportunity, a reset. Everybody became equal. At one moment. There was stocks to buy, there were no jobs, whatever.

[00:16:15] We were all experiencing the same thing. And it’s like, it’s an, in this moment, you can choose whether to go with the flow, fall in line, just be another cog in the machine, or you can take the path untrodden and start a new thing and go a certain direction. And that’s what I did. And so I, I headed down this new road, trot to myself.

[00:16:41] Un I just didn’t know. What I was exactly gonna do, but I just started doing it and I started a business painting, painting lines in parking lots. Came up with an idea for a machine to help do this industry better and help, like, help the actual workers in this industry. And so I designed this machine and now [00:17:00] I’m eight weeks away from finishing the prototype and I already have a licensing agreement.

[00:17:06] And the whole works is like in the process. And I, and I’m literally about to bring like my multibillion multimillion dollar idea to the market coming from a guy almost 20 years ago who just, I mean, I pushed the lines of the UCMJ, I’m just being honest. Like I pushed the lines and, but by the grace of God, like I didn’t get in trouble.

[00:17:29] I, I have my, never got caught medals, you know, like, but now I, like, I’m on a path. I’m gonna start my own business and, and, and just go down this direction.

[00:17:40] Scott DeLuzio: Yeah. And so when you were talking about the that the, the weak man phase that you’re going through and, and kind of being, being soft and chasing after these guilty pleasures or, or, you know, whatever that you’re kind of chasing after, you know, on the surface [00:18:00] it sounds like, well, what’s a big deal?

[00:18:01] Right? Like, hey, you, you’re doing things that make you happy, you’re doing things that, that are enjoyable to you and, and whatnot. But you start digging down a little bit deeper on that and, and correct me if I’m wrong on, on what I’m, I’m about to say here, but when, when you dig a little bit deeper, you can take something like, Hey, you know what?

[00:18:21] Eating cookies and brownies and cake and stuff like that. That stuff makes me happy. It also makes me fat, but that stuff makes me happy. ’cause it tastes good, right? And so I can keep doing that, but it’s gonna take me away from my goal of maybe losing weight, gaining muscle, tho, those types of things.

[00:18:38] Getting in shape is gonna take me away from what I actually want to do. And so you’re not as disciplined anymore. And then you start, Hey, well you know what? I did it did it this one day. Ah, you know, it’ll be okay the next day too. And then, then the day after that, and the day after that. And it just keeps on going and going until you get to a point where it’s like, shit, I don’t even recognize myself anymore.

[00:18:59] [00:19:00] Right.

[00:19:01] Lee Freeburg: Yeah, absolutely. I, I think it was Zig Ziglar that said that if you take one step off direction, eventually you end up a thousand miles

[00:19:10] Scott DeLuzio: Yeah.

[00:19:11] Lee Freeburg: apart from where you’re supposed to be. You know, and, and obviously being a sailor, I like to refer to a lot of things in life based on sailing terms and things like that.

[00:19:20] And a ship is your life. You need, every ship needs to have a destination. One of my favorite quotes is, a, as a ship is safest and harbor, but that’s not what it’s meant to do, right? You gotta be out on the seas. You gotta, you gotta have a port, the destination that you’re headed towards, and then you have to set your life in alignment, which is what some calls, setting the sails.

[00:19:43] You set your, your life in alignment with that destination that you’re going to, and you should absolutely, without a doubt, expect storms. Because storms are necessary to build strength and build experience. And the more storms you go through, the less fear you have [00:20:00] because you knew that the last storm hit you and you made it through that storm, and you’re gonna hit another storm, you’re gonna make it through, but it’s gonna be rough.

[00:20:07] It’ll be rough times.

[00:20:09] Scott DeLuzio: Yeah. And, and I love that analogy too because as you were talking, I, my head’s going of, you know, just thinking of a, a ship out on the, on the ocean and. Like you said, yeah, sure, there’s gonna be some storms and some rough waters and stuff that, that come your way, and you’re gonna have to navigate through that and, and figure out how to get through that in, in the best way possible, the safest way possible.

[00:20:30] And, and you learn during those experiences. If, if this is a very first storm you’ve ever sailed through, yeah, it’s probably gonna be a little, little more rocky than an experienced sailor might, might have. And so it, but after the, that time and the next time and time after that, it’s just gonna get better and better.

[00:20:50] There also may be some storms that you just can’t go through at all, and you might have to go around, so it may take you a little longer to get to your goal, whatever that objective is. But [00:21:00] but you, you still can get there by, you know, kinda just shifting course a little bit and you know, maybe things aren’t going exactly how you planned it to go, but it doesn’t mean you just give up and just turn around and go back home.

[00:21:11] You. You shift course and you go to, you know, where it is that you need to go. Just, you know, maybe a different direction than you originally intended, right?

[00:21:19] Lee Freeburg: Absolutely. And sometimes you have to just, if, if you use the port as the goal completion of the goal, occasionally you have to change ports,

[00:21:28] Scott DeLuzio: Mm-hmm.

[00:21:29] Lee Freeburg: I’ll just give you an example. I’m in right now. Like I said, I’m in the process of starting my own business and I could, I could do the, the end port obviously is the business, is financial freedom.

[00:21:42] Being able to work for fun, not because I have to, things like that. And then le obviously leaving some for my children and something for my children’s children and so on. But to get there, I could either go a certain route, which takes me, like through an SBA loan and, and [00:22:00] through a whole scenario of that direction.

[00:22:02] Or I could just readjust direction and I could self-fund, I could go down this path here, it’s gonna take a little longer and there’s gonna be a little more sweat and tears, but in the end, it could bring more value. But this other way will get me to that point a little faster. And so sometimes you have to decide, Hey, is this this port the better?

[00:22:25] Or is this one gets me to the same goal, but this direction might take a little longer. This one might bring me smack dab to the port. So

[00:22:33] Scott DeLuzio: Right and ne, neither one of those are necessarily the wrong. Answer, right? They, they’re just, you know, depends on what it is that you’re looking for. If you’re not looking for a loan and, and that type of thing, and you want to, you know, bootstrap it and, and do it on, on your own, then you know, more power to you and, and go for it.

[00:22:51] But if, if you’re looking to get to that destination a little bit quicker, then yeah, maybe, maybe the loan is the right, right option just requires, you know, obviously [00:23:00] paying, paying back a loan and all those kind of things. And the. That ends up being a little bit more costly. But if you can, if you can justify those, those expenses, then, then maybe it, maybe it makes sense to you know, so again, there’s, you know, un unlike, you know, like in the, the ocean, it’s, you know, it’s pretty open and, and you can probably pretty much just go, you know, straight line in, in most cases.

[00:23:21] But there may be some obstacles in the way and, and you may have to decide, do I wanna go around this thing? Do I want to, do I wanna go to the left? Do I wanna go to the right and, and which, which way am I gonna go? Like, well, there’s definitely obstacles in the ocean. I guess you could look at the Titanic.

[00:23:34] And,

[00:23:34] Lee Freeburg: Yep.

[00:23:35] Scott DeLuzio: so there, they, they should have zigged or zagged or which, whichever one they should have done, but they didn’t do it.

[00:23:40] Lee Freeburg: Do whatever was listening. Yeah, absolutely.

[00:23:43] Scott DeLuzio: So. I was doing a little bit of research and, and, uh, kinda looking up, you know, a little bit about you and, and stuff that you, you are, are into now.

[00:23:50] But I found, stuff on fatherhood and, and spiritual resilience and things like that that are seem to be important aspects in, in your life. How are these these elements kind of [00:24:00] working together with, with you in terms of your, your post service life and, and kind of what you’re doing now?

[00:24:05] Lee Freeburg: Great question. So my family, I grew up in a Christian home and so we attended church quite a bit. And so God is very important to me and I, I’m just human. I’m definitely not perfect. Like I said, like I lived a whole weak man mentality my for many, many years. But God’s important to me and.

[00:24:26] I want my kids to know what’s valuable, valuable to me. And so a while back here, I wrote a book for my daughter. And, and at the time when I wrote it, I actually wrote it specifically for her because my biological family, my great grand, my granddad and his brother both passed away at 45 years old. They both passed away from just a heart failure ’cause they were fat and drank and were way outta shape and all that good stuff.

[00:24:54] But it’s in my genes. Like I have a potential to die at the age of 45. [00:25:00] And so I wanted to make sure that I left something for my daughter, something that she could look to and say, this was my dad, or this is my dad right here. And so I wrote her a book and I called it How to Live a Better Life. And it wrote six basic chapters about the fundamentals, the things that I believe are fundamental to life.

[00:25:19] And of course I did some research into these things. And when it came down to, I wrote a whole chapter called on religion. And so of course I had to go out into the world and look at all the different types of religions and study. And you know what I found? Every gen, every civilization, every generation, we all have a religion. Some religions don’t have anything to do with God or a higher power. Sometimes that religion is number 69 on the Denver Broncos and that’s your god. And, and you buy his jersey and you your every single game and [00:26:00] you, you see a magazine, sports illustrates got him on the front cover, boom. You, but you pick it up because he said something and you’re on his Instagram and he becomes your God and you worship him and you and you.

[00:26:10] If he told you to jump off a bridge because that would save humanity. You’re on the bridge ’cause that’s what your God would say to do. And so I wanted to make sure that my daughter. My children understood the God that I believe in, and, and of course I showed up like I’m giving them the option. This is what the world has to offer, but this is my God and this is direction I’m gonna go with my life. It was a really good, I mean, it was a really good study, like it really challenged my own personal beliefs about what I believe in as far as religion goes and spirituality and things like that. And it, it secured a few things for me, and I would, I would definitely recommend it to anybody, veteran, civilian, whatever.

[00:26:55] If you have mo, just takt time. Just takt time and figure out [00:27:00] who your God is and it’ll change the way you live your life. I guarantee it.

[00:27:04] Scott DeLuzio: Yeah, and it’s interesting that you, you mentioned that. Because as you’re, you’re talking and said, you know, every, everybody has some sort of religion. And I was like, well, okay, there’s, there’s atheists out there. So, you know, that may not kind of compute, but then you, you mentioned kinda more cultural icons and, and things like that, which, yeah, I mean, there people follow, I mean, just look at social media, just all the, the things that are out there and you know, how people follow certain celebrities or athletes or whoever, and they, they almost treat them as if they’re their own, you know, God or, or something of, you know, whatever religion, they’re, they’re praying to the, the Taylor Swift religion or whatever.

[00:27:49] It’s, you know,

[00:27:49] Lee Freeburg: Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. The, the craze from a couple months ago when they got engaged, right?

[00:27:55] Scott DeLuzio: yeah. Right.

[00:27:56] Lee Freeburg: Like why, what, what’s so big deal about Two people get [00:28:00] engaged all the time, right? Do we see it on the media? No.

[00:28:03] Scott DeLuzio: Exactly. And the funny thing is, I, I remember from, from you know, when all this was going on, the NFL tweeted out like some congratulation message or something like that to them. I can’t remember ever another time that the NFL sw tweeted out a message to any other player in, in, in the league for getting engaged or anything like that.

[00:28:21] So, you know, it’s, it’s obviously like something bigger than than just sports or music or whatever. It, it’s something else. And, and people are infatuated with it, and almost in the same way that they are with you know, a, a religion or, or, or maybe even to the same extent. And, and so it, it’s, it’s crazy to think about that way.

[00:28:42] But yeah, I guess if you, if religion isn’t just limited to the four walls of a church and Right, it’s, it’s, it’s a bigger thing. And so, yeah. You know, think of, really think about what, what is it that you’re. Uh, worshiping, if you will, right? And, and it’s, it [00:29:00] may not always be a God, and and, and maybe that requires a little you know, deep dive into who you are and, and, and your, your beliefs and stuff.

[00:29:08] But you know, it, it’s kind of a interesting thought experiment. Not now that you mention it, you know?

[00:29:13] Lee Freeburg: It’s, it’s worth the exploration. What, what are you gonna lose if you look into your, into who you are as a person? Matter of fact, the the first chapter of my book is Know thyself. It’s the fundamental part of being a human. You have to know who you are. You gotta know what you like, you dislike, you gotta know your triggers.

[00:29:32] You gotta know how your emotions rise and fall. What makes you happy? What makes you sad? You figure these things out in life and you become your own individual and you’re not influenced by the rest of the world.

[00:29:44] Scott DeLuzio: And, you know, I think that that’s something I, that, that a lot of people might struggle with because. The answer to that question, like, who you are and, and what you like, and what you, you want to do with life and, and all that [00:30:00] might fluctuate over time. You know, you might, you might have certain interests and certain likes and certain beliefs at one point, and then as life goes on, you get exposed to new things and that might influence.

[00:30:13] Your your own belief system, your own you know, desires and your own, the things that, that make you you. But that’s okay, I think, to, to have some sort of flexibility in that because, you know, life happens and, and if you’re just so rigid and you’re, you’re not willing to change anything, it’s gonna be like, well, that it’s a little bit ridiculous when, when you get exposed to something new and you’re like, Nope.

[00:30:37] Can’t, can’t ever have anything, any change or anything like that. So, you know, in my, in my mind anyways, I, I think like that’s something that you, you kind of have to continuously refine and, and kind of, keep top of mind so that you are aware of who you are. Yeah, sure. Maybe 20 years ago you like to do certain thing, but now you’re married, you have kids, and well, maybe that’s just [00:31:00] not the most important thing anymore, you know?

[00:31:02] Lee Freeburg: Absolutely. I got a great example for you. My little brother and my cousin are both huge golfers. They love to play golf. And so of course, what do I do? I go out, buy a set of clubs, I go try to play golf. I even go take lessons. I spend summer after summer just swinging club. And you know what? I can’t break a plus 11.

[00:31:23] I’m not a golfer. I, it’s just, I understand that about myself and so I don’t get up to tee box anymore and just go, well, I’m gonna, I’m gonna show these guys. No, no, I’m not a golfer. I’m gonna hit it up 200, 250 yards and I’m gonna play my game because I understand that’s who I am. I don’t have to try to com compete on their level.

[00:31:42] Scott DeLuzio: Yeah, no, absolutely. And you know, for, for me, you know, I, I like to play golf as well, but for me it’s an, an individual game. Like, unless you’re in a tournament and you’re, you’re playing, you know, for, for sake of a tournament in the competition and stuff like that. But for me, it’s like, I, [00:32:00] I’m gonna go out and I’m gonna try to do better than I did the last time I went out and, you know, what did I do right?

[00:32:06] What did I do wrong? Where did I hit the ball and, and stuff. And so I’m, I’m focused on me and my own game and my own improvement. If someone else has a, a great game and they, they beat me, well, you know, good for you. That you just happen to do better than me and that, that’s wonderful. But I’m really out there competing with myself and trying to get myself better.

[00:32:26] So. When I do get to those kind of tournament level kind of things, I can, I can play and, and hopefully be competitive. But regardless, I’ll be the best version of myself, the best golfer of myself that, that I can be. Because I’ve, I’ve been focusing on, on me and not outwardly on, on, you know, the competition.

[00:32:47] Lee Freeburg: And that’s active self-awareness. You are actively knowing your stroke. Know you can approve the things that you can do better so that you can achieve the thing that you desire, which is to play better [00:33:00] golf or beat your last score or whatever that is. Yeah,

[00:33:02] Scott DeLuzio: Yeah, yeah, exactly. And, you know, and if, if your goal for. Playing golf or doing anything really is just to have fun and not necessarily to better yourself. And it’s just for pure enjoyment purposes, then, then that’s what it’s for. And, and as long as you’re having fun and you’re enjoying it, and it’s not just detracting from other things that are important in your life, then have at it, you know, no, no, no harm done there.

[00:33:26] It’s, you know, life is supposed to, life is supposed to be fun. You’re supposed to enjoy it, right? And so, so if, if it’s, if that’s your purpose, and then go for it. I want, I want to kind of switch gears just a bit here. And I know like, kind of in your, your book, you know, how to, you know, how to live a better life is, is something that I think we all, we all want to have a better life.

[00:33:49] We all, all I know, at least for me, I want to make sure that my kids have a better life than I had, and I wanna make sure that they’re set up for success so that their kids can have a better life than they had and, and so on and [00:34:00] so forth. And I think it’s kind of the same idea as what we were just talking about, the the the just, I want to be better than I was yesterday and or the last time I played golf, or the, you know, last whatever.

[00:34:10] I wanna be better today than I was yesterday. And I want that next generation to be better than I was. And I want the generation after that to be better than them. I know it’s all incremental, you know, you take steps, but there’s, there’s a kind of aspect of, of leadership there that, that comes in into mind.

[00:34:28] Where it, it, it’s not all about. You and, and your needs and, and everything. Sometimes you have to kind of take a look at, you know, what, who am I responsible for? What am I, what am I in charge of here? And there’s, you know, as, as, as guys, there’s, there’s a bit of a, you know, masculinity type thing, and I, I know that that comes un under fire sometimes.

[00:34:48] You know, these days where you know, people are talking about toxic ma masculinity and all that kinda stuff, and nobody really knows how men are supposed to behave anymore, I don’t think. And, and you know, so it gets, [00:35:00] gets a little bit tricky there. So, you know, kind, kind have to like redefine these things in your own mind and, and kind of figure out how to serve not only yourself, but also your family and your, your community and the, the people who are important to you, right?

[00:35:12] Lee Freeburg: Absolutely. Yeah.

[00:35:14] Scott DeLuzio: Yeah.

[00:35:14] Lee Freeburg: You want me to talk about masculinity or like, my

[00:35:16] Scott DeLuzio: Yeah. Sure. Yeah. Go ahead. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:35:18] Lee Freeburg: I, I’ve read this question, or part of this question that you gave me, and I, I’ve been meditating on it for a little bit, like, how would I respond to this and. There’s a lot of data. We can always look at data, we can always look at science, we can always look at these different things.

[00:35:34] But I think it comes down, first of all, back to the individual, back to the, the human being as a person. And you’re self-aware. You know who you are as a person. And there, there’s an old stereotype of masculinity that was, seemed to be rough and tough and, and you gotta get out and break a bull, right?

[00:35:54] Get out there and break a bull, you know, you can do this, whatever, break some bones like that was, get after it, stop [00:36:00] crying. Like that was a persona of masculinity prior to whatever generation they assign it to. And I don’t think that’s the way it was. I think it was that way in certain areas. But I think masculinity is kind of an, it’s, it’s an adaptive persona in a sense that we take on where some people think that.

[00:36:25] Riding a bull is the most masculine thing you can possibly do, and some people think jumping out of an airplane into a combat zone is the most masculine thing you can do, but masculinity is adaptive. There are some key fundamentals that a man has to do and that’s take responsibility for his life. Take responsibility for those who are under him and lead those in a direction.

[00:36:47] You need to provide safety and security. You need to provide food and shelter. You need to provide the basic needs for those you are accountable for. But outside of that, a [00:37:00] man has to become the man that he is. An IT guy is just as much as a man. As a construction worker, they just have two different personas of masculinity that they feel.

[00:37:12] One is labor and one is informational. Right? The necessity for. Hunter gatherer mentality is, is long. Like, no, we don’t have that anymore. Now we hunt for fun. Or for some, like when I was a kid, we actually hunted for food. Like we would get as many hunting license as we possibly could and choose as many deer, elk, whatever.

[00:37:35] Because there was six of us in my family. You know, there’s mouth to feed and

[00:37:38] Scott DeLuzio: Sure.

[00:37:39] Lee Freeburg: paying 25 bucks for 90 pounds of deer meat is a lot cheaper than going out in the store and paying 90, you know, whatever. It would be equivalent for beef. So that masculine persona was hunting and it’s, it is a traditional male, masculine behavior.

[00:37:57] My sisters, my mom, I’ve seen [00:38:00] ’em all shoot deer. Are they masculine? No. But they enjoy the, the activity, the gathering, the hunting, the thrill of the chase, all that good stuff. My dad was a diesel mechanic and his masculinity was busted. Knuckles and greasy face. Right? That’s, that was his masculinity. But when he came home, he was a different person.

[00:38:19] He hated working on our cars. That wasn’t part of his, his persona, like his, it was, that was work. And this is, this is home life.

[00:38:27] Scott DeLuzio: Sure.

[00:38:29] Lee Freeburg: And then it comes down to, I think, a man’s values, what he values in life. Does he, does he value the big fat paycheck? Does he value the fancy car? Does he value peace? Does he value tranquility?

[00:38:42] Does he value drama? There’s, I’m sure there are men out there who value a certain amount of drama in their life so that they can feel alive or whatever, whatever. For whatever reason, they, but there’s a, there are people in that persona. And so as men, [00:39:00] the last thing we need to be doing is downgrading other men. The strong man as I’m studying the strong man and learning about him, the strong man actually reaches down and pulls other men up. He pulls his wife, he pulls his children, he brings them up to his level, and he continues to build and to grow himself. Learning, studying, being actively involved in his community.

[00:39:29] I went to a, a city council meeting for the first time in my life, just a, a couple months ago because I’m like, this is important. This is the community I live in. I need to be actively involved in helping to shape where my kid may someday graduate and she may live here or she may move away, whatever that is.

[00:39:50] But I need to make sure that I’m involved in my community so that I have a voice. I’m part of this. It’s my, it’s in a sense my civic duty, but it’s [00:40:00] also part of being a man, being. Proactive in the di in in the future of your children’s children. And then it’s, I think it’s about also we could say discipline.

[00:40:14] And I think discipline in a, in a different sense is different for every man in a whatnot. I can discipline myself to get up and walk a mile every single morning, but do I have the same discipline to stop myself from watching porn? Hmm. Maybe, maybe not. So it, it might be different, but actively using it.

[00:40:36] Consciously using it is where, where discipline comes in is when you consciously say, Nope, I’m not doing this. Or Yeah, hey, yeah, I don’t care. It’s raining. Get your tennis shoes on. Let’s go. You know, Sergeant Major would be screaming at you right now if you weren’t out there. Right. And that’s like, you have to become, I actually wrote this down.

[00:40:54] You have to become your own sergeant major. You have to become your own co. You’ve gotta, you gotta [00:41:00] be the one who’s telling you to do the orders and you can complain to yourself ’cause you’re your own boss. Like, that boss sucks. I, Hey boss, I got that job done.

[00:41:07] Scott DeLuzio: Right.

[00:41:08] Lee Freeburg: You know what I mean? So.

[00:41:09] Scott DeLuzio: Yeah, exactly. And, and it’s almost like you have to have that, that little voice in your head. That’s, that is the sergeant major, the, you know, the co or whoever what, whatever persona you wanna give to it to, to kind of kick your ass in gear and, and get you. Out there running when, when you don’t want to because it’s cold or, or raining or, or whatever the excuse of the day might be.

[00:41:31] Bed is always gonna be warmer and more comfortable than, than out there running. So, you know, you can easily find excuses, but I don’t think Sergeant Major is gonna really care for some of those excuses. So, you know, having those, those in your head, but, you know, you were talking about you know, as, as.

[00:41:47] As a man, you know, pulling those people up in your life, your, your, your spouse, your, your kids, your, you know, people who are you know, around you who depend on you and pulling them up. And I think that’s kind of going along the [00:42:00] lines of what we were saying before about how, you know, I, I want a better life for my kids and I had, and I want their kids to have a better life for them.

[00:42:06] And it’s, you know, like we, we build on these things and, and we allow ourselves to, to get to a certain level. And, and hopefully that’s the jumping off point for that next generation for tho those people that, that they now get to start from this higher level than then, you know, maybe you or I would’ve started off at, you know, at, at whatever level we were at.

[00:42:30] And then it just kind of helps everyone pull, you know, kind of just pull everyone up. And so, I, I, I think that’s. That’s an important aspect too you know, is is that you, you do have to think about all those other things. Yeah, sure. Doing those guilty pleasure type things, some of the stuff that you, you just mentioned, yeah, you might enjoy those things, but what example are you setting for those people who are around you?

[00:42:57] You know, if you, you don’t have [00:43:00] the discipline to, you know, get up and exercise or to put in the work for whatever it is that you’re, you’re doing, you’re starting a business. If you don’t have a discipline to run your business the way it needs to be run, well, it is gonna fail and it’s gonna be, you know, a bad experience for everybody.

[00:43:19] It’s for your, your family, for you, for everyone involved. It’s just gonna be a bad experience. And so, that would end up being a, a turnoff probably to, anybody who’s observing you, you know, children, you know, other people like that, they’re gonna be like, I don’t, I don’t wanna do that kind of thing.

[00:43:34] See what happened to dad when, when, when he went through that, I don’t wanna do that too. And, and so then they, they don’t take chances or, or bet on themselves to do something bigger and better than than just the status quo. Right?

[00:43:48] Lee Freeburg: Right? Yep. It’s it’s a responsibility that we have to take on, and I think that no matter where a man is in, [00:44:00] in his life, he can begin to take accountability and responsibility for his family and begin to work and grow. If he doesn’t take care of himself, then his family is gonna suffer. And I bring up this phase or this, this phrase that I was told by my dad when I was a kid.

[00:44:19] Happy wife, happy life. And I look back at that and I think that is the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard in my life. Because if Dad is always trying to please mom, mom wants him to be a strong man, and he’s coing, oh, she’s not happy with me. I better do something to make her happy. It’s like, no, you need to become the man that you are and, and work on yourself.

[00:44:46] And if that means you have a question about solidarity, and I thought about this every year, for the last few years, I’ve been taking a week away from my family, and I go to a [00:45:00] location, undisclosed all that good stuff, and I spend a week alone. I, I try not to, like, I, there’s no self-service, all that kind of good stuff.

[00:45:08] And I bring journals and notepads, and sometimes I bring a whiteboard just depending on like how much work I wanna put in. And I spend a week working on the things that I can’t work on at home or around the distractions. I can’t have a comfortable bed because that’ll make me want to stay in bed. And so I have, it’s, it is a rugged situation, right?

[00:45:27] It’s like camp, just straight out, camping out for a week solid by myself. I hardly see, I. Few times I’ve seen maybe one, maybe two people, but nope, it’s all by myself. And I take that time to grow and to look at things and do some introspection into who I am, and then identify some, like, Hey, you know, like I’m struggling with this, so let’s go for a walk and speak openly, audibly, and expel that.

[00:45:56] Get rid of it, put it out. Just dump it out, get let it go, [00:46:00] whatever, whatever. And I come back refreshed, ready to go dive right back into my relationship. And I always come back just different in a way that even the family’s like, all right, that’s, oh yeah, look at

[00:46:21] Scott DeLuzio: good. Good, good stuff,

[00:46:22] Lee Freeburg: yeah, he’s good. You know, like, whatever. And so, I, I have buddies out there who live in solidarity. And while I think that’s okay, like for some mountain bidden, mountain men did it for years and years, but they had the, the times when they would come down to, to town to buy supplies and shower and all that good stuff.

[00:46:43] And I think vets, if you’re out there and you’re saw by yourself, there’s nobody else around you. Keep losing relationships. Whatever else, figure it out. Get it, get, get it figured out, and then find some friends. Call your buddies, build your tribe and, and [00:47:00] start working on something greater than yourself.

[00:47:02] Scott DeLuzio: Yeah, and to your point, if, if you’re out there and you’re, you’re living in kind of solitude and you’re, you’re losing these relationships there, there’s probably one common denominator in that whole equation. And it’s probably you and you probably have to look, do a little self-reflection and, and look inside and say like, what am I doing that’s causing all these people to distance themselves from me?

[00:47:26] Some people, some people want that, some people want to be alone in, in, in solitude, but I think as. As, as a species, we’re not meant to be completely alone. Like you, you have to have your, your tribe, your people around. It doesn’t have to be a big tribe. It doesn’t have to be, you know, 50, 60, a hundred people.

[00:47:45] It doesn’t have to be anything, you know, kind of crazy. You could have a, you know, a handful of people who are your close people and, and that may be sufficient for, for you or maybe, maybe you’re the type who wants to have a [00:48:00] little bit bigger of a tribe. I, I think being completely alone is, is probably not the best thing.

[00:48:05] Something like what you’re saying, like, take a week and, and go do, do your thing. Okay, cool. Like that’s, that helps you to, to focus and, and work through some stuff that maybe you wouldn’t ordinarily be able to do with distractions around. And just, you know, life happens being a parent. You, you got to take care of things and you, you may just not be able to focus on those things, but, you know, plan it out and, and you get that time to, to go and, and work on those things that are, are important and need full attention.

[00:48:36] And no distractions. No, no no screen time and no, no devices and things like that where you could just sit there, focus and, and get stuff done. That, you know, that works for you. That may not work for everybody. Some, some people, you know, hey, I, I can’t fit a week into my schedule for anything, you know, nevermind you know, taking a week for just myself and, and working on that.

[00:48:57] You know, they, they may not be able to do that, but [00:49:00] you know, in your case that that works. But I, I think it’s important to find time. To work on yourself. Maybe it’s not taking a whole week, maybe it’s, Hey, I, I need 15 minutes in the morning before I, I get out and, and do something where I can just reflect on the day or reflect on, on something.

[00:49:19] Or maybe it’s at night or, and you reflect on what you did in the day, you know, kind of like an after action report. What are some good things? What are some bad things? You know, how do I improve, you know, all those types of things. Right. And, and you can kind of take a look at that, and that’s, that’s another way of, of doing it too.

[00:49:34] But I think it’s, it’s important to have that time for yourself. I know for me my time is when I go to the gym and I’m exercising and I’m, I’m just. Yeah, there’s other people around, but I’m, I got my earbuds in. Nobody’s talking to me. I’m not listening to anybody else. I’m not, I’m not doing anything. I even go to the gym with my wife, but her and I do separate kinds of ex exercises and, and we don’t, I mean, other than, Hey, you ready to go?

[00:49:59] Like, we don’t [00:50:00] really talk to each other while we’re at the gym. We, we just go and do our thing and, and it’s just like my time to just kind of process through stuff and, and think through things and, and yeah. Move heavy things too, you know, at the same time, you know,

[00:50:17] Lee Freeburg: Yep.

[00:50:18] Scott DeLuzio: so,

[00:50:18] Lee Freeburg: Yeah, I think it looks different for everybody. But the, the underlying point is still the same. We men, we need time to figure it out. We need time to look at, look at our lives. We need to figure out what’s, what’s good, what’s negative, what we can do better, what we can let go of. And then something that I’ve really been, I struggle with this in my own personal life, so I know everybody’s gonna have a little bit of issue with it.

[00:50:49] And that’s called forgiveness

[00:50:51] Scott DeLuzio: Mm-hmm.

[00:50:52] Lee Freeburg: and we have to give forgiveness. This last couple weeks ago, I was put a post up on my Facebook when you [00:51:00] have nothing left to give or nothing to give, give forgiveness. It’s free, it’s easy. You just give it. Forgive yourself. ‘ cause I mean, let’s be honest, how many mistakes have we made? like you CMJ right there buddy. Like, you know, but hey, it’s in the past. I can’t fix it. I forgive Lee for what’s happened and we’re gonna keep moving on because

[00:51:25] Scott DeLuzio: Yeah.

[00:51:26] Lee Freeburg: that’s what we need to do.

[00:51:29] Scott DeLuzio: I, I think that’s a, a great thing. Yeah. When you have nothing left to give you, you still have forgiveness and you can, you can give that if you choose to. And, but I think we all need to do some, some work on that, especially with ourselves, like you said. Yeah, guilty of that myself. You know, I, I need to probably take some of that advice and, and take that and process some of that myself.

[00:51:50] But you know, I, I think, I think we all need to you know, kind of just take a step back and, and realize that there are things that we can work on on ourselves, whether it’s stuff like forgiveness or, [00:52:00] or you know, just any number of things. But you know, we’re a work in progress. We will continue to be a work in progress.

[00:52:06] And you know, that’s a, that’s kind of what makes life exciting. You know, that you, you can, you don’t know necessarily what’s. Around the next corner. But whatever it is, you know, that you can, you can adapt to it and you can, you can adjust and just do the things that you need to do in order to become the type of person that you wanna become.

[00:52:26] And, and you, you just keep working on that day after day. And, you know, eventually, you know, you, you never quote unquote get there where you just stop. And, you know, it’s always a work in progress. ’cause whenever you get to, let’s use that ship example, whenever you get to that port, well, there’s gonna be another port that you want to get to somewhere else down the line.

[00:52:44] And so you, you just keep shifting course. And, and I think that’s, that’s the best way to look at it, I think.

[00:52:52] Lee Freeburg: Yep, that’s, yeah, for sure.

[00:52:55] Scott DeLuzio: so Lee, again before we wrap this up I, [00:53:00] I know we’re kind of getting a little long here on, on time, but tell us again the, the name of your book. Just again, an, an overview of the book and, and you know, where people can find it, all that kinda stuff.

[00:53:09] Lee Freeburg: Sure. So the book is called How to Live a Better Life. Six basic chapters covers everything that I think are the fundamentals of life. The first thing, obviously, like being self-aware. You need to know who you are what you like, dislike, all those good things. Then you also need to know what love is.

[00:53:26] I think that the world has twisted the word love to mean something that it’s not. And so when we say I love you, it means something else. And so I talk about what love is the aspects of love and what real love looks like from somebody else. And then I talk about, of course, I touch into sex and some some things just personal to me.

[00:53:45] You’ll have to read up to figure out what that is. But, and then I talk about money. I call it, I have a chapter called The Art of Money. I, I feel like we don’t teach our kids about money. We don’t do a good job of doing it as we rely on the school system or [00:54:00] somebody else to try to teach ’em. And let’s just be honest, there are.

[00:54:03] 17, 18-year-old kids who can’t even count change seriously. Like really. And so there’s a whole chapter on money, talks about banks, talks about having budgets talks about savings and doing stocks and things like that. Building wealth. It’s just an overview. I, I try to point people back to other books that I’ve went and found the information from.

[00:54:22] I think that’s super important. I’m not the expert, but I know somebody who is. And so I do that a lot. I also taught, I have a chapter on religion like we talked about earlier. It’s called re religion, the priest, the Monk, and the son of a Preacher Man. And it goes through just the worldwide religions, the idea of who your God is, who is your God, who do you serve, who do you worship?

[00:54:43] And then of course, then I talk about my own personal faith and what I believe in God. Ultimately, I think, I believe that it’s a personal relationship. It, it doesn’t matter what church you go to, it doesn’t matter if you’re Catholic or Baptist or atheist or. It’s your personal relationship with your [00:55:00] God.

[00:55:00] And so, I talk about that and then I talk about what it means to be a human. And I talk. It’s basic psychology. I don’t think we, we teach our kids basic psychology. And one of the, one of the things that I cover is Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. You know, I, I break ’em down in like, in more of a modern sense of higher of those needs.

[00:55:23] And then I finish it out with a chapter called Moderation. I believe that the key to long a long life is moderation. You can live for many, many years. People who smoked and drank in their past have seen a hundred years old. And so I believe moderation is key to a, a long successful life. And then that’s, that’s the book.

[00:55:47] You can find it on Amazon, how to Live a Better Life. You might have to type in Lee Freeberg. I’m not that popular yet. And so just type it in there. You can also find me on Facebook if you just go to Facebook, type in Lee Freeberg. There’s two of [00:56:00] us. I’m the good looking one and just, I, I try to post on there quite often, just kind of things that I think about the direction I’m going with certain things.

[00:56:10] And I’m also in the, currently in the process of writing a second book called How to Be a Better Man. And this book’s gonna cover like I was talking about, like, the weak man the Strong Man. And then I’m gonna break it down into a few key things I believe men need to need. First, like we talked about earlier, a tribe.

[00:56:27] Every man needs a tribe. We need a tribe of some sort. I think every man needs an inner circle, like a best friend, somebody that he can say, Hey bro, I need a vent. It’s a just event. Just hear me out and, and whatever else. And then chapter five, and that book is it’s about, it’s, it’s kind of a look at the Pinocchio story and I look at it the Pinocchio story from Boy to Manhood, the growth of Pinocchio.

[00:56:58] And I break that down in [00:57:00] there for how he sought Pleasure, even went to Pleasure Island or Yeah, pleasure island. Just lived up life. And then boom, there was consequences coming. He escaped the consequences, but he had to go through the storm and suffer and there was hardship and he came out a real boy, or he came out with discipline and things like that.

[00:57:19] And so I kind of look, look over that book there. And then I rounded out with Jack in the Beanstalk and the Rite of Passage because every man needs a rite of passage. He needs. To set his sights on something big that’s achievable but is going to cost him. And when he achieves, he scoops up, the girl scoops up the gold and defeats his giants, and that’s the rite of passage of every man.

[00:57:49] And so I plan to have that book out in June of next year. You can again, Facebook, Lee Freeberg. I’m also on Instagram. You can find me there. I don’t post there as much. I’ve done a few videos and stuff, [00:58:00] so.

[00:58:00] Scott DeLuzio: Excellent. Well, I’ll, I’ll have those links in the show notes, so, so folks can check it out there and yeah, definitely go get a copy of the book again. You know, that, that link will be in the in the show notes. But again, how to live a better life because I, I think that’s something that we’re all striving to do and, and sometimes it’s just.

[00:58:20] Hard. And when you don’t have a, a roadmap or direction or, or whatever, and you’re, you’re trying to figure out how to do 20 things all at the same time, how to, how to raise a family, how to succeed in your career, how to, you know, maybe go back to school and, and get a, get a education or how to do whatever it is that you need to do.

[00:58:39] If you own a home, how to do all the home maintenance stuff that inevitably comes up and, and it’s just like you’re trying to figure out all these things all at the same time. And sometimes it’s just overwhelming. And you know, having, having kind of a, a roadmap, if you will, to, to help guide you and prioritize things and, and make sure that you, you keep things in perspective, I, [00:59:00] I think is important.

[00:59:01] And, and so I think this is gonna be a, you know, a great, great book for a lot of people. And, and so definitely go check it out. But, but Lee thank you again for coming on the show. I, I really enjoyed the conversation. Time just flew by here in, in this conversation. But I, I did enjoy the conversation and so yeah, thanks for coming on.

[00:59:19] Lee Freeburg: You bet. Thanks for having me. I appreciate it.