Real World Resilience Stories: Life beyond PTSD

Trauma Informed fitnessPTSDReal World Resilience
Written By Ericka Thomas

“So to me, that's what PTSD was, was these extreme versions of it. So the reason why I bring that up is because that's where you might hit some resistance for people who have milder symptoms of PTSD.” Eric Tseng

Transcript

Eric Tseng Transcript


Ericka Thomas  0:00  

Welcome back to the work in everyone. Today, we have another episode of Real World resilience, something I think we need more than anything else. Because the truth is there's no way to completely avoid the effects of stress and trauma. No matter what your life experience or background is. Sometimes the story we expect isn't always the story we find. So, the question if we want more real world real life resilience is what sets us apart when it comes to how we handle stress, injuries and trauma. How do we tap into our own personal post traumatic growth and create a meaningful impact for ourselves and others? Some of the topics that we'll touch on today might be a little bit difficult to hear. And so I want to give you this opportunity to set your own boundaries. My guest today is Eric saying he is a former army captain. And today he is the founder of mentor access, where his mission is to open up access to professional stories that might one day inspire children, students and other job seekers who might otherwise settle for a career path. Because they weren't privileged enough to know about available opportunities. This is actually how Eric and I met. I had the honor of being a guest on mentor access to share my career as a health coach, instructor and entrepreneur in the fitness industry. And in the course of our discussion both on and off the air. I realized that here again, was someone with a real life resilience story to tell because I truly believe that when you're called to share something with the world, it's because someone out there needs to hear it. I knew I needed to invite Eric on the work in to share his experience of service in the army. His transition back to civilian life, how he discovered his own PTSD and his ongoing recovery, along with the skills and tools that are working best for him today. So without any further ado, let's start our work in today with Eric saying, Eric, welcome to the work in podcast.


Eric Tseng  2:33  

Yeah, Ericka, thank you for inviting me onto the show. It's


Ericka Thomas  2:36  

good to see you again. And I'd like to begin today by giving our listeners a little bit of context. We talk a lot on this podcast about how prevalent trauma and stress injuries are in our society. The tricky part I think, is that it can show up in so many different ways and come from so many different directions. And if you're outside the mental health field, it's sometimes hard to recognize so would you be willing to share a little bit more of your backstory? Maybe beginning with what drew you to the military service in the first place? Sure.


Eric Tseng  3:16  

Yeah. What drew me to the military service in the first place? Was a few things. So I'm an immigrant to this country. And I was born in Taiwan. So in Taiwan, there's mandatory service so every single male role model family member in my life, basically I joined the military, you know, in, in Taiwan. So, in a weird way, when I was younger, although there was zero pressure that my parents didn't actually want me to join the military. I felt like it was a rite of passage in life to do it. And then it just so coincided with, you know, I was I think I was in junior high when 911 occurred. And, and, you know, when you're young and impressionable, I think, high level of testosterone and combined with patriotism, you, you gravitated towards that. So that's kind of the how I decided to join the military.


Ericka Thomas  4:20  

I think for a lot of people. It's if we're talking about PTSD today in general, but I think for a lot of people it's really expected that we will when we think about PTSD and people who are struggling with that our mind immediately goes to military service and combat injuries, right. But you were sharing with me before, about a little bit of a different story, still in that same theater. And would you be willing to share a little bit about that with us some of the details?


Eric Tseng  4:56  

Yeah. It is still related a little bit to combat. If there was a combat scenario that occurred at the same time. So yeah, I'm happy to share it. The what occurred, I think that, you know, eventually if there's therapy, I identified this as where my onset, I guess, started and it was an event when I was in a mission. We were on a four day mission to clear several villages. And during the second day, I had observed a enemy element go to a hilltop that I was supposed to occupy. So I knew that if I had to take the hill, real in reality, not even just metaphorically to take the hill, I actually would immediately face contact with the enemy so I requested Overwatch from my commander, because I my element was the one who's supposed to go to that hilltop. And it was denied. And at the time, you know, I knew I was just walking into an ambush because I had to walk down a hill get into a valley and then criss cross the valley to take the hill. So I knew that I would have be immediately take contact. So I think I was mentally prepared for that. And, and when I mean it happened exactly as I thought but it was more of the incidences, the leadership responses around the situation that really sort of cause the additional trauma, right. I think seeing injuries and things like that. My mind was prepared for that because I had seen the enemy. I knew what I was walking into. So the expectations were fully met and there was no, you know, confusion there of, you know, expectations. So going through it. And, and I also want to say that it's something that over time you know, I had wanted to be in the military for so long that that type of anticipation was always there. Like I used to watch movies and almost prep myself for it. I think sometimes it's it's the individuals who don't have the accurate expectations of what combat is like that sometimes might, you know, cause trauma just from that. For me, though it was the surrounding events it was after getting ambushed and then not being able to make it to that hilltop. And following the event. When the leadership started too, they needed someone to blame. So, so they had to, because how can a us you know, unit fail and operation because ultimately what have happened two days afterwards was my my commander ended up withdrawing our forces or our unit from the mission. So there wasn't my decision. I just couldn't make it to the hill and then it wasn't my decision to pull off the mission. itself. But the surrounding conditions after that is now we need to figure out what went wrong. How do we point blame because otherwise higher level commanders may you know, they might be in trouble. So, ultimately, what happened was, you know, my commander, myself and a lot of other senior noncommissioned officers, we were removed from the unit. So the that that scenario, were one the my initial commander not providing Overwatch and then having the leadership turn on me after that type of traumatic event. What other people would consider traumatic, I think was the impetus to my PTSD, which I never really thought about because you know, a lot of the PTSD that you hear about is like, crazy flashbacks of the combat events, circling you know, through nightmares and all that. There's brief moments of those, but it's it was never that big of a deal for me. But mine manifested in a different way. And I don't know if you'd like me to.


Ericka Thomas  9:40  

Yeah, we were gonna we're gonna get to that. So were there. Was this just a one off event where you felt kind of unsupported by leadership or is this something that you was was repeated in other in other areas and other at other times?


Eric Tseng  10:03  

So the con, this period, it was one incident and then a few days later, you know the removal and the Yeah, lots of yelling at us. Removal from our units, and then getting different jobs. But then what occurred after that was then we were all under investigation, because now they're investigating us for toxic leadership and whatever else that they could attempt to, you know, point the blame on right. So we were under investigation for I think, four months and I was in Afghanistan this whole time. It's not like you go home, you're still in a deployed setting. And with that type of pressure, right, where it's almost i i was less concerned about the enemy outside the gates I was more concerned about my own leadership. So the investigation carried through for I think, three to four months. At one point they even tried to point out that some soldier lost his night vision goggles, like a month later when they did an inventory and they pointed the blame on me even though I had been out of the unit. So then, they were charging me $3,000 To to pay for that. Night Vision Goggles saying that I had lost accountability for it. There were just most multiple instances that ultimately they found it. So I didn't have to pay thankfully. But I got to a point during that investigation where I was like, I just need to survive. I thought that military leaders were the they were the judge, jury and executioner. I realized that I didn't exist inside of, you know, the normal, democratic judicial system. I lived under, you know, the Corps Uniform Code of Military Justice. Which is an entirely different justice system. So I was like, they they're, they're basically they can do anything. So I I learned to survive by compliance. I thought I thought about it. I was like, How can I get past this? How can I be fat, befriend my leaders, to to be able to, you know, just just get past this investigation and come out of it without any ramifications, like real ramifications in my career, because that was the major concern is that they could do something that ends my career. And so, and who knows, it could be a dishonorable discharge, right? That it could it could carry over into my civilian life. So for months that that's, that's the conditions I was under.


Ericka Thomas  12:49  

Can I Can I just jump in and ask a quick question at this point. Or up until this point, did you feel like the military was going to be a full career for you? Did you go in with the intention to stay for at least 20 years or what was your How did you see that? That playing out at that time?


Eric Tseng  13:12  

Yes, I was thinking that before right before the deployment. I remember thinking to myself, Yes, I want to stay in for 20 years. The initial part of the deployment, I was super excited. I loved the deployment, just being able to go out in the field patrol, do missions, those are all get into firefight. So just just so you, your audience recognizes this. That wasn't my very first firefight. So you know who the other ones. I had experienced that and I I had committed in my mind I was like, This is what I want to do. I was even training myself for potentially going and trying out for the Special Forces. Like while I was deployed on my combat outpost, I was still training I was I was wearing my vest and running around just in circles in this little combat outpost. So yes, I was I was thinking I wanted this to be a career.


Ericka Thomas  14:08  

Yeah. So after the fact after all of these, this investigation sort of wrapped up. What Where did you go from there? What what was next?


Eric Tseng  14:22  

Yeah, so after that. So ultimately, there were no major issues from the investigations. Once they closed it out. I was just a member of staff in brigade level. So really high headquarters level. And from there, I was thinking of leaving the army. So after I came back from Afghanistan, the first thing that I think I realized that there might be some traumatic issues was the first thing I did was I landed I didn't even want my parents there or any family members to receive me. I just said, Hey, you know, I'll come back in three months, you know, that's it. We'll I'll visit you. Right. So I came back. I called one of my old platoon sergeants to come pick me up. And the first thing I did was go to my daughter my storage unit, and picked up my weapon. And I was like, Okay, take me to the hotel. So that and within a couple of days I found I realized like, I mean, I had some anger issues. I think I smashed a computer right off the bat. But after a while, I went through the evaluations and they just said, Hey, you have you have some symptoms of post traumatic stress. But, you know, there's not a lot long enough time period for it to be a disorder. And so they're like you don't have PTSD. I was like, I've cleared this great, I don't have PTSD. They just say I have pushed back stress. That's great.


Ericka Thomas  16:02  

So so this was was this right after that deployment when you first came back. So you're still in the military. You're still you haven't like separated or anything. So, okay, so you're feeling pretty good, because you you're good to go, right? Yeah, I didn't have PTSD. That's interesting. Yeah. Okay, so, um, so let's say was that your only deployment or did you go back again after?


Eric Tseng  16:34  

Yeah, so I actually did not get out right away. Um, the I ended up getting really good opportunities because I learned to survive, right the house like I just needed a peace leadership. And that's what that's my mission. Now. It's, that's all I do. So, ultimately, I ended up getting into a really great position. It was like a hate DeCamp to a general officer for a few months and I was only a lieutenant at the time. Usually they get a senior captain for this position for division commander, and I got to be a, you know, a camp for a couple months as they were searching for this captain. So it was great. I was mentored by a two star general and, and that caused me to stay in the military, but I never deployed again to a combat environment. My next overseas assignment was in Korea.


Ericka Thomas  17:32  

Gotcha. Okay. All right. So let's move this story forward a little bit. Eric, because PTSD doesn't show up overnight. And as you've already explained, you they you're you knew that there was some kind of post traumatic stress but if it's doesn't elevate to a disorder, then we just kind of ride those symptoms. And what we know about PTSD is it's an adaptation to you know, an environment so you are in that military environment and then, when you're out of that military environment, things can kind of change. So let's talk about that separation from active duty. What What did that feel like to you? And how did those symptoms start to change for you? And, and maybe about that timeline? Maybe I'm missing that timeline a little bit.


Eric Tseng  18:42  

Yeah. So from the incident, I'll just quickly go over the timeline from the incident was in 2012, and I didn't leave the military until 2016. So four years afterwards, and yeah, after I left by then I really wanted to leave the army. I was sort of said like, Okay, I only stayed in because I felt guilt of working for the general officer and then leaving right away just felt wrong. So I stayed in a couple more years and once I left, I was like, I'm prepared. I can't wait to be out of the military. Within three months, I immediately jumped back into the Army Reserves. I went to a recruiter, I was like, I need to get back in. Because the civilian world was so different. The there was no community there was no tribe that I could easily latch on to which I was never, I never realized how much the military was a community and a tribe for me, and that they really, really did care about our lives to such an extent we thought it was micromanaging when I was in, but but then later on when you walk into the civilian world, and then it's just silence, right? No one's checking in on you. Back in the military was annoying when someone checked in on you, right? It's like, oh, like I had to I have to tell people where I am going for, you know, going on my weekends. They have to check my vehicle. Before I drive home, right, they there were all sorts of things that felt like tedious, bureaucracy and things like that. But then when you separate into the civilian world, no one's no one cares where you go on the weekends. No one cares what you do. No one's really reaching out to check on anything. And then you start doing that for me. I started to think like, Does anyone care and then getting into a civilian career path? That was also it was also a different environment, right leaders acted differently. To me it looked very selfish. A lot of times it was very self centered, comparative to what I had experienced in some of the military, even though the military had like selfish and narcissistic leaders who who are protected, trying to protect themselves. I understood that but in the civilian world that just for some reason, it didn't click. They seem like liars, like they seem like and there was just no infrastructure to make me feel as if I was part of a civilian community. So and then how the PTSD started to manifest was I started to realize that I was getting a lot of anger bouts, and I didn't personally notice it actually. It was when I was in the Reserves. A couple years later, I was a commander in the reserves, and it was my, my own platoon sergeants and my first sergeants that identified it for me. So one of my platoon sergeants reached out to me, he's like, I had an open door policy, right? So he comes in, he's like, Hey, sir, can I shut the door? He was like, Hey, sir. Like I think that you know, some of the things that you're doing like, you might have PTSD. I was like, what, what are you talking about? And then he started to list a couple symptoms of like, do you get angry in this situation? Does this happen here? And I started going, Yeah, yep, I do that. I do that I was like, but isn't the aren't those like normal responses? Shouldn't you feel a little garden? Like Shouldn't you feel some of these things? Like, Isn't it normal to get angry if leaders tell you to do something you don't want to do? And then, so I didn't take it seriously. At first I was like, okay. That's just one guy thinking that I have it. And then I took a class with my first sergeant for it was just a one week class, I believe. And during that one week, it was I really only was with her in the classroom setting. We didn't grab dinner after work or anything. But during the classroom setting, we had our laptops, so we could still check our emails and things like that. And just based off of how I reacted to emails my first sergeant came to me at the end of the classes said, Sir, I think you have PTSD. And it was just off the reactions of my off emails. So so that's how I sort of discovered the potential post traumatic stress.


Ericka Thomas  23:27  

That is really interesting. And I just want to jump in here and just kind of tease one thing out that I've heard you say, I've heard you say, you were wondering, Well, isn't that normal to feel? guarded? Isn't that normal to feel irritated by you know, when you don't want to do something that someone is telling you to do? And And absolutely, I would, I would say yes, those things are normal. I think that difference for with with PTSD with anything like this any stress injury reactions, it's that environment changes. Those were those are adaptations that you learned for survival. When you are in a different environment, a different military environment. Even then, then, you know, your reserve environment. And, and I think that's something that's important for people to hear. It's not that it's wrong for you to feel anger or or have some sort of hyper vigilance. It's, it's only when it's not appropriate in the situation. It's only when it doesn't fit the environment that you're in and that can sometimes get confused over long periods of time. So were you aware at all that your reactions might be out of line with what was expected? You know, before your, your colleagues mentioned something to you?


Eric Tseng  25:08  

No, I was not aware not at all. I thought everything I was doing was normal. No one brought it up. Interestingly, after I was seeking treatment, because of the coworkers, that's when I brought it up to some of my you know, high school friends and family and then that's when they brought up yeah, like you always had these weird, you know, outbursts and just inappropriate things like you said, and we just were afraid to tell you about it. So to me, no one else informed me that my actions were were you know, in our program, they just took it. And it was my fellow, you know, military coworkers that ultimately sat me down and convinced me and then I still didn't believe it, honestly. Even after the first sergeant said I was like off of emails really like, you don't flip your hair. He was looking at him, I let him flip the desk, and just really angry and say, really, really profane things. But ultimately, because of those two individuals I was very I respected them. So I went and sought treatment from it, and then had it confirmed.


Ericka Thomas  26:31  

Yeah, so So you were once you kind of wrapped your head around it, you didn't have Did you feel any resistance to kind of going to seek help? And what what was that? What did that help look like?


Eric Tseng  26:47  

Um, yeah, so when I first went, I honestly didn't think I have had it. I went in. I was like, I, as a leader. In the military, we were always taught you know, like you have to do these processes where I were very regimented. And that sounds like there's always a process. If you think something's wrong, I was just saying, hey, I'll do what I tell my soldiers to do. If someone brings up an issue with me, and thinks I have PTSD, and if if I don't seek help, then I'm just a hypocrite. Right? So So I took the steps to do it, because, you know, I just didn't want to be a leader who, you know, told my soldiers to do something like hey, if you need help, go seek it. Like, you know, if someone tells you that you might need help, just go get checked, just to make sure you're, you're okay. And so I took the steps, thinking that nothing was going to turn out like I thought I was going to be able to convince this like, I don't remember psychiatrists or psychologists that I can never remember the difference, but what I thought I could I could convince them I'm fine. Like this is this is just just getting a checkup like it's fine. So that was that was the, the mindset I have going in. And then I've after several screenings, they confirmed to me that like I checked off a lot. I don't even remember the criteria that they checked off, but I checked off a lot of different boxes for PTSD. So at the time, they gave me a few options, or maybe just two options. I can maybe two or three options for you treatments. One was cognitive behavioral therapy, and the other was some sort of exposure therapy. I don't remember the third Exactly. But the exposure I didn't do the exposure therapy that I want had something to do with basically writing it out and almost telling the story of your trauma over and over again until the exposure helps almost normalize it in a way because a lot of times I think people are afraid of situations and actually, honestly, I did have those issues, too. Like I was afraid of leadership. So that was my response was through anger. I didn't


Transcribed by https://otter.ai


Eric Tseng  30:00  

I realized that until therapy, but I was anytime someone told me to do something, I had a reaction of anger because I was like, No, you're trying to, you're trying to screw me over. You're trying to get me killed. You're trying to do something so so that's why I manifested itself as anger against any type of orders. That's why an email coming in could spark such a crazy response from and so I ended up choosing cognitive behavioral therapy and that one is a I thought it was really effective. Right in the very first few sessions, it was all about figuring out my stuff points. So the the therapist basically listened to all of my stories like had me tell the different traumatic events, have me tell, you're talking about maybe even how I work my civilian life is and then the it was interesting. I had no idea what's happening at the time, but the therapist or the psychiatrist was thinking was identifying all the things that I was saying that were conserved my stuff points, basically illogical thought processes, based off of an experience that I had. So for example, one would be like, everything is dangerous, like you should always be on guard. Right. Like threats are everywhere. And, and or I'm a kook, like I'm a coward for not have to have done certain things. Right. Like, during during the firefight? You know, I should have gotten up at that. Point in that time, right. So so, so she just analyzed my entire story, and then identify all of these different things that were stuck points that I had in my thought processes. And then what we did afterwards was she then identified them like, Look, these are, these are where you're stuck. These are where anytime you hit one of these, you react. So from there, the therapy was, I had the journal and she taught me different things about like, hey, when you now that you know you're stuck points, let's go through your day. And then when you hit that stop point, you're going to identify because you were, we've talked about this. So so it was about identification of when I did certain things, and then having to write write it down and ultimately it was a phased approach of like, Okay, now let's not once you hit the obstacle or the stop point, let's talk ourselves out of it. Right. rationalize. Are you really in danger right now walking down the sidewalk? Are you really in danger? Going to bed at your own house? Right, like and, and sort of talking through that and almost de escalating in a way and, and training that muscle memory of, hey, you're going to feel it and de escalate it. You're going to feel it and de escalated. So, so that that was the therapy that I went through.


Ericka Thomas  33:25  

So did you feel like an important piece to that to that process was making that that awareness that that rational awareness, connection to the physical feelings that were coming up in the body and kind of reorganizing that?


Eric Tseng  33:44  

Yes, that that's what it ended up. Yeah, that's the result of it. It's actually pretty interesting because I do it for all sorts of things. Now, when I feel an emotion, I tell myself, I feel sad. Why? Right. And it starts realizing that these emotions are normal things that that occur because the body's trying to tell you something, something's wrong, and you can work through it logically. So I think it's helped more than just PTSD. I think it's helped in a lot of different aspects of emotions, where, you know, depression was never something that like was a big deal for me on the PTSD end. But like, for example, if I do feel sad because of something, I actually will go in and go why, like what what caused this what is the reason and then and then sort of work backwards to kind of get myself out of even like a small little sadness, if I just feel it. It's like, oh, I'm feeling something why? And then work out of it logically.


Ericka Thomas  34:56  

I think that's really important for people to hear because I because in general, I think people are very quick to dismiss those. Those feelings when they come up in the body, whether they think they're just an emotion or if it's a physical there's always a physical sensation that goes that accompanies an emotion. And that's how we feel things. But I think we're really quick sometimes to dismiss them as meaningless or we don't have time for it, or it's not important. And if you do that too much, you can lose the ability to feel anything at all. And I think that happens a lot for people who are in the military in general, because we don't get a chance. I mean, you just don't get a chance to stop in the middle of a survival situation a life and death moment, you know, feel you just have to survive. And so some of those things, I think can get kind of tangled up in and confused. So, So in your experience, what are some of the most effective things that you've done ongoing to kind of continue this recovery? If you would say, if you would call it that from PTSD? I mean, do you do you feel like you have a handle on that? Is it something that gets quote unquote, cured? Or is it something that you have to stay on top of?


Eric Tseng  36:41  

I don't think it's cured. I don't know if it can ever get cured. I I've actually never asked that question to the therapist. Can I be cured, but for me, it became something that once I feel that the emotional responses, I tried to recognize it, I don't always catch it. Sometimes it it, it runs amok. Just you know, it could be tired it could be all sorts of things. And sometimes the emotions still build, run forward and get past my logic barrier. But I always tried to catch it. That's that awareness, that muscle memory of doing it over and over again, has been I think, essential and trying to mitigate the the symptoms of PTSD. Like for example, just like I don't sleep with a knife under my pillow anymore. Because Because it's like, okay, telling yourself, you know what, it's okay, it's next to you. It's over in the drawer. And it's slowly phase right. It's slowly doing certain things that make you more comfortable, and then creating a logical comfort around the emotions. Some other things that I do. I try to be to live in the moment. At times, I think that the greatest piece that I ever have is when I am in the moment. So through physical activity, like working out. Those are moments where I think that helps because there's no other real emotion when you're in the moment. It sounds really weird, but there's a level of clarity that happens when you're, you're right here right now. And and then there's there is no PTSD symptoms. There's no anger, there's no, there's there's just almost this level of joy that comes from just being that makes sense.


Ericka Thomas  38:56  

Yeah, totally, totally. So what would you tell other people who might see themselves or maybe they have a loved one that they can see in the story that you've shared today? Is there is there any bit of advice or what would you what would you tell them in in support of their friends who may be in the same kind of situation? Yeah.


Eric Tseng  39:24  

Yeah. I would say go and actually tell them that there's, you know, almost be specific of the situation sort of tell them like, we think that this is not a response on you may want to go get that checked out. Because I wasn't aware that I was doing anything wrong for years. And so I left in 2016 I didn't get treatment until 2019. So, so for several years in the civilian world, I was just riding around yelling at people, I guess, without anyone, like any. Like, people just didn't tell me about it. Right. Like, they just thought that that was my personality and that's who I was to just stay away from me. I will say that, you know, I think that the individual that you approach, also be cognizant that they may reject that advice, so don't necessarily push the subject too often. Because, you know, my initial reaction was also like, No, I'm fine. Because I had a, you know, you're supposed to be this tough military person. So it's like, No, I'm fine. Like, I know got guys and gals who actually have PTSD, you know, there, they act a whole different way because the severity of PTSD varies too. So, you know, I you know, one of the guys I was with me, in the valley, unfortunately in 2020 in January, he, he ended his own life. So, and then another one that was with me in Napa Valley, one of my soldiers, he is now homeless and has psychiatric issues. So, there are reasons why. I think that when you see someone more severe, you think that that's PTSD, right. But the, especially for me, it was like the guy who had who is homeless, and then another one who was hit with RPG, mostly concussive forces that like really had traumatic brain injury from inside that valley. Same event, right. So I'm looking at other guys that went through this similar event had had harsher realities. And like the guy who had traumatic brain injury, that he was all over the place. It was because his his because his brain was basically injured severely. His reactions were no longer even in the realm of like, normal like he was last time I talked to him a couple of years ago, he was telling me about floating rocks with sound, right? It's like, he was like, I'm going to do these. So to me, that's what PTSD was, because of what I was aware of in terms of the people that I knew I was like, There's no way I have PTSD. I'm not I'm not doing drugs and becoming homeless. I'm not, you know, I'm not talking about you using vibrations to to levitate rocks, and that's your goal in life like, and he was a really smart guy. That's, that's the worst part to me was he was one of our smartest soldiers. We sent him to learn Pashtoon a whole different language. Right? And now he's telling me about levitating rocks, with sound. So to me, that's what PTSD was, was these extreme versions of it. So the reason why I bring that up is because that's where you might hit some resistance for people who have milder symptoms of PTSD. You know, to me, like, according to my psychiatrist, or psychologist, I didn't have a mild form, like I actually had PTSD, but to me, it was, it was like, There's no way


Ericka Thomas  43:29  

right? Yeah. Yeah, that's, that's, that's so important for people to to understand that it just can show up so differently. It's the same thing just shows up differently for people So Eric, now is a different story for you. Right? You have a incredible mission today. You are the founder of mentor access. And I would like to give you an opportunity to kind of tell us a little bit more about that. What is your vision for it? And help us understand a little bit how you know, we can support that mission.


Eric Tseng  44:23  

Yeah, appreciate you. giving me the opportunity to talk a little bit about it. What mentor axis is trying to achieve is to bring awareness to different career opportunities are available, basically in the world. I think a big problem for students and young professionals is that there's a limited knowledge or awareness of different career paths. You know, everyone knows about the doctor, the lawyer and then a couple other professions right influencer now athletes, entertainers like that, that's that's generally what teachers are telling me is that, you know, a lot of my students just want to be YouTubers and influencers. They're not looking at any other careers, because that's all they're aware of. So though the goal is to try to create content, and collect different career stories to one showcase, like hey, there is this forensic accountant, job out there. Hey, there is this commercial diver. Do you like scuba diving? Well, you might be able to make it a job if you want to be a commercial diver. Right? So just telling the stories of all these careers and how you get there, one that showcases potentially step by step how you get there, or just to show that, Hey, it's okay to feel lost, because the majority of the stories that we have are people who have crazy twists and turns inside of their careers. So that's that's what we're trying to do. And ultimately, I'd love to be able to work with some students. We're still very early stage but I'd like to be able to cultivate a student advisory group to hopefully get their involvement because I know that I'm the way that I present the content may not be the way that they receive information. So the goal is to hopefully elevate a student group to do the hosting of the interviews and then to be able to speak to their own peers about hey, like there's all these different job opportunities. So that's, that's the goal for mentor access.


Ericka Thomas  46:34  

That is super cool. That I just think it's a super cool thing. I mean, back in the day, back in the olden days, we used to have, you know, career day where everybody's parents would roll through and tell stories. About what they did. I think things are a little different now. And I think this opens the doors to all kinds of things that you wouldn't think of. So I love it. I love it. And I think that's fantastic. So I love to include any and all of the links for mentor access in our show notes and send people your way. Are you looking to speak with other people in different career areas?


Eric Tseng  47:22  

Yeah, absolutely. The goal is to meet as many different people have a variety of different professions we joke around on our team that will interview mall Santa if we can and because that that that person has a story right to to understand, like, oh, maybe this is there's a level of fulfillment that person gets from being a mall Santo, right. So it's not so So yeah, that's and then anyone who has maybe students that, you know, would be interested in participating to do the hosting because I'd love to do a planning session with them. Like, who would you like to talk to? We can get you access to a hedge fund. Managing Director if you'd like or a CEO of a company, we will go after the professionals because that's who we have access to, but we'd like to bring them to you. But who would you like to speak to who would you like to interview and hassle?


Ericka Thomas  48:20  

Yeah, that's super cool. That would be super cool. I love it. I love it. Okay, Eric. So we are about to the end of our time, and I always finish my interviews with guests. With a particular question. So I'd love it if you could share what your personal work in is. And work in just as a reminder for people is just something that you do for yourself beyond your workout beyond what the eyes can see something that brings you balance and joy keeps you present in the moment. So what is that for you?


Eric Tseng  49:02  

Mine is skydiving. I'm sure there's not a lot of people who who do that. But it is it goes back to what I talked about a little bit earlier of how you stay present, right meditation could get you there. There's all sorts of fiscal activities that can get you there. For me, one of the best activities where you really can't because meditation sometimes your mind will drift. Yeah, you know, drift in yoga can drift in all sorts of different things. But when you're jumping out of an airplane and your your mind is not drifting, you don't think about bills you can think about other than okay, what do I need to do to get my parachute open and and get out to say, also the performance aspect of it too. So when you're out there for me now, it's about skills. So it's about trying not to embarrass myself like hey, like, I messed up this trick or something like that. So I'm fully in the moment. It's, I'm like a kid. It almost feels like I'm a kid on a playground again. Just a few months. Maybe Oh, actually, it's been a year. I just realized how long ago this was. A year ago. I was with one of my friends from high school he skydives and he lives in Dallas, and I went down there and it was just three of us just in the air, playing air TAC in the air. And and and it just made me really be present right that, I think, has been a very, very great activity. And surprisingly, there are actual veteran organizations out there. I forget what it's called. But there's a veteran organization that tries to sponsor skydiving. For that uses skydiving as well as therapy. And there's an there's another one I know here in Illinois called Oscar Mike. And that's a I thought it was a T Shirt Company, but they help severely injured veterans. So amputees and things like that actually met them at the skydiving facility there where the bait everything's free for the veteran and they go through group sessions. So it's therapeutic. Especially for like veterans who are you know, blinded or or amputees, their goal is to try to excite Hey, you can still be on the move, just like you were like, you're not you're not useless. Because I think a lot of you know, injured veterans sometimes feel useless, and then they're trying to show you you're not useless so if we're Oscar, might they take them on ATV and shooting and flying an airplane? And then I think their last event is skydiving. So yeah, so I think that's a great activity.


Ericka Thomas  52:08  

That is incredible. I mean, it takes it takes a lot to jump out of a perfectly good airplane. But I will tell you that my one of my brothers has said similar things to what you just shared about skydiving about when he when he jumps about he he used to do Halo jumps in the in the military, Special Forces and things like that. And he had shared with me also this that, that in that moment, there is this level of peace that you can't find anywhere else. And and so more power to you guys to jump out of the airplane to get it. I'm not sure I'm quite there yet but I love it. I love that that is your work. And so how often do you get to go?


Eric Tseng  53:02  

Oh, I tried to go as often as I can in a winter times I have to travel. So so the key I have the lowest level of license, so I have to keep jumping every 60 days. So I tried to get a jump in every 60 days. And then when I do I usually do more than one day right?


Ericka Thomas  53:24  

Sure. If you're already there, you may as well take advantage Awesome. All right, Eric. So if people want to get in touch with you, and maybe help you out with mentor access or just follow you is that you have some social media on hand handles. How can we how can we keep in touch?


Eric Tseng  53:45  

Yeah, I think the best way to reach me right now is you can either go on our website mentor access.com Or for direct email. It's Eric at mentor access.com


Ericka Thomas  53:59  

Okay, all of those links will be in the show notes and cluding Oscar Mike and I will do some research about that skydive therapy because I think that sounds awesome. We can share that as well. So I want to take a moment to thank you, Eric. I think this has been a great conversation. I really appreciate you taking the time to chat with us.


Eric Tseng  54:20  

Yeah, thank you for having me. Erica.


Transcribed by https://otter.ai



 
 

Hey there!

I’m your host Ericka Thomas. I'm a resilience coach and fit-preneur offering an authentic, actionable realistic approach to personal and professional balance for coaches in any format.

Savage Grace Coaching is all about bringing resilience and burnout recovery. Especially for overwhelmed entrepreneurs, creators and coaches in the fitness industry.

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