Unlocking Resiliency With Alex Sabbag

Skot Waldron (00:04.515)
So, um, I'll do an intro and outro after this. So don't worry about that. go about 20, 30 minutes ish, sometimes a little longer. Fish. don't know. It just depends on the flow. Um, and Riverside don't go anywhere afterwards. Make sure you stay on, make sure it uploads. It's recording high res on your side, high res on my side for any reason. It gets all glitzy and pit.

Alex (00:24.046)
Yep.

Skot Waldron (00:29.805)
pixelated, it's still doing its thing. if I glitch and you don't know what I said at all, and you can't even like fake it, they'd just be like, Scott, I have no idea what she said, man. And I'll be like, okay, let's rock this. Okay. so that's it. Any questions for me? How can I best serve you today?

Alex (00:40.174)
Okay. Got it.

Nope.

That's such a nice question. Thank you. I choked on my coffee. So my goal is, you my book is a big part of my deal right now. I am a speaker and my main driver is getting people on my email list. So my 15 minutes with you is going to be spent like, what is that offer? Give me your email and you get this PDF or this whatever.

Skot Waldron (01:15.722)
All right.

Alex (01:18.784)
And so I get just getting people into the full, own the yoga studio. do things around the country. So I'm, I'm trying to, you know, focus it because you can't be everything to everybody. So I would say just people who feel inspired and want more get on the Instagram, get on the email. I think that's a big.

Skot Waldron (01:42.787)
All right,

Alex (01:43.042)
to me personally. mean, of course, as far as like being in service to the audience, and I know we'll get to this, it's, you the three reasons why I do this, why I wrote the book and those are takeaways.

Skot Waldron (01:55.363)
Yeah. Oh, we're gonna get at that. You're going to serve my audience regardless. I know that. Um, so it's all good. Uh, I just want to make sure that I plug what I can for you or kind of endorse what I can for you without it seeming to blah, blah, you know, salesy. Um, but I want to make sure I support you and what you're doing. So, um, all right. So Riverside's acting nice right now. So we'll just kind of roll with it. Um, you're ready to go. Okay.

Alex (02:11.596)
Thank you.

Okay. Great. Yeah.

Skot Waldron (02:24.045)
Say your last name. Sabbag, okay. I've heard it pronounced both ways and I'm just like, okay. You just tell me what it is. All right, very cool. All right, you ready to go?

Alex (02:25.304)
Sabbag.

Setback second time.

Alex (02:37.907)
Yeah.

willing it will be gone someday. So who cares?

Skot Waldron (02:43.847)
One day, one day, where's they from? Really? Wow, that's cool.

Alex (02:46.2)
Syria. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I got a little, little terrorist in my blood and a little Italian mobster. So don't, don't do it.

Skot Waldron (02:55.554)
Nice! Don't mess with you!

gosh, we won't have that in that video by the way, I'm just gonna say. A little too sensitive, yeah too sensitive. Okay, all right here we go.

Alex (03:04.322)
Yeah, yeah, can get that up. Too sensitive right now. Yep.

Skot Waldron (03:13.001)
Alex, this is gonna be fun. Here we go.

You ready?

Alex (03:19.394)
Yep.

Skot Waldron (03:20.983)
So good to have you on the show, Alex. I'm excited to talk about what we're gonna talk about. I wanna hit on the idea of resilience. I think that that is something that you know a little bit about and I just wanna get right into it. So let's talk about why we would even listen to you in the first place about that topic.

Alex (03:43.727)
Thank you, Scott. It's nice to be here. We're asked to be resilient every day. mean, whether we like it or not, the new beginning starts when we wake up. It can start after an hour workout class, a 10 minute breathing session. really this whole, I say starting over as a soulful act of bravery and we don't give ourselves enough credit that it's actually happening all the time throughout our life. But when the major life moments come and I dub them two by four moments, you when they come in and slap you upside the head so hard you can't see straight, and you sort of have this like Tweety bird,

Dizziness, those are the moments that digging really deep and having that resilient attitude to come out on the other side, no matter how long that takes, is really important. And so that all came to me on my 33rd birthday. My boyfriend at the time was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer. And I went from girlfriend to fiance. He proposed the next day to full-time caregiver. And kind of in that moment, not only was his life changed,

tremendously, but my life was as well. And it was just one of these things that I had to really let go and let everything burn to the ground in order to create the space to rise and come out on the other side, which, you know, for me, took a number of years because I'm a little bit stubborn and I really like to grip with what I know and what I think should be there. But I think the biggest thing resilience is surrender. If you can surrender and let go, you give yourself the space.

to really be able to rise. And that's much easier said than done.

Skot Waldron (05:15.587)
My, I mean, I, when I talk to people, feel like they have something like this happen in their lives, whatever that two by four moment is in their lives. And they sit right up and they either, I don't know, they do a couple of different things. I feel like they either just like sink, like it's just like bam. And they just go deep in the hole or they go.

Or they fight, right? So I guess it's flight or fight, right? Or in that mode or freeze. mean, for you, which one was it?

Alex (05:47.406)
Yep.

So I like what you said, I believe we all have a choice. And I certainly had a choice, sink away into the abyss and drown my sorrows and whatever band-aid effect I could have gotten my hands on. Whether you choose that or whether you choose to move forward, the fight or flight is still at the table. So I'm a fighter. And so for me, this was very much, you've got a 0.2 % chance of beating this. I'm the woman for the job. I got it.

in that just like pushed and pushed and pushed and pushed. And I think in healthcare and medicine specifically, having an advocate and fighting in that space is essential. Fight hard and don't fight fair is what I tell people who come to me and have similar diagnosis or terminal situation on their hands. However, there comes a point when you're kidding yourself and the inability to be honest about where you are.

in a certain space and time can really hinder the healing and the acceptance and the moving forward, moving through. For me, I was unwilling to accept that this was what it was. I I thought we had resources. I was in the healthcare space. I owned a PR agency that did fundraising and communications for nonprofits. So I knew, I feel like I became a doctor overnight. I mean, how egotistical and silly, but truly that's how I operated. Like I got it.

Skot Waldron (07:12.739)
you

Alex (07:20.608)
And what happens is you just go into full control and we're controlling, you're not listening. So you get too noisy upstairs with your own agenda. You're not willing to sit back and not only accept, but listen to what's real in the moment. I heard the other day, it's like when we have a, like the first thing we think in the morning, throw it out. It's really like the second or third that becomes more the reality. And I don't know how much truth there is to that, but I think a lot of the times when thoughts come,

to the forefront, have to do this like, kind of bullshit meter on it. Number one, is it ours? And number two, is it relevant? And then you kind of sift through what the reality was. And for me, I was just unwilling to accept.

the truth of his condition, of his options, of his longevity. I think prognosis is kind of a sticky place to be, but I couldn't get in the space with him to have a real honest conversation, because I was too busy pushing some agenda of saving his life. That was kind of a long-winded answer for that. Yeah.

Skot Waldron (08:21.993)
no. mean, what, what was, where was he on that? Like you're in this, you got a 0.2 % chance. Let's do this. Like let's crush it. I mean, what was he like?

Alex (08:31.177)
Yeah.

You know, he was such a beautiful soul who taught me a lot about meditation and which is interesting now that I own a yoga studio and also teach back, you know, these meditation practices. This is six and a half years ago. I mean, he brought meditation into my world. He was very mindful. He had, you know, an amazing ability to be real. And as his significant other, I couldn't like get in the ring with him, which is something that

I hope I've learned from and can do in the future if the opportunity or situation presents. But he was far more accepting of the truth than I was able to be. Call it immaturity or really lack of, mean, nobody gets a rule book or a playbook for like, okay, here's what you do when you're 33 and have this sort of life altering moment come down. So yeah, but it's certainly one of the things that I've learned from.

Skot Waldron (09:29.261)
So how did that, how did that compliment? How'd you compliment each other? I mean, with him being where he was and you being where you were, I mean, what, what did that do that a dynamic of your relationship?

Alex (09:42.036)
crushed it. mean, was relationships get tasked in so many different ways and I'm no expert on them because I'm 39 and still not married. don't delete my number if you're coming to me for relationship advice, anybody. But we were only together for a very short amount of time before this happened and we were newly living together and just everything was new. We didn't get the gift of time to fight about how to put the dishes away. So like when you put this type of real life stress on a new relationship and

I think age kind of comes into play too. I was young, grr, younger. And I don't know that there was a big chance to see it through. we did it. I mean, it took care of him for a while. it was his condition needed more than I could offer as a person. So yeah, mean, any relationship is...

is going to go through it big time.

Skot Waldron (10:44.545)
and what ended up happening to him.

Alex (10:47.498)
He died two and a half years ago. He passed away on the day that I took possession of what is now soul dive yoga in Palm Desert. So he lived over four years past diagnosis and came back to be with his family in Southern California. I saw him a couple of months before he passed. our...

know, relationship in sort of the friendship way was intact at the end. And that was nice to have those moments and at least have closure, the side of glory for the whole situation. But yeah, that's what happened.

Skot Waldron (11:26.957)
What, so then that, that chapter ended, that way he lived four years past diagnosis. What do you attribute that to?

Alex (11:37.77)
You know, there's a lot you can do in medicine to beat odds. I think there's a standard of care which doctors are going to offer to you based on, you know, whatever the protocols are for that particular cancer. And then you as the patient have access to clinicaltrials.gov to go kind of seek out other experts and opportunities that can speak to.

the disease you're fighting. So off-label drugs and clinical trials and things in other countries with other practitioners. I other countries have very, very different laws, especially for terminal patients. So I think if you're listening and you have resources and you're facing something that you just feel like there's no hope here, mean, check out Mexico, check out China. Their FDA is just different. They view terminal as like, well, why not try? And in here, there's more barriers around it.

I forgot what your question was. What are you doing? Yeah, I think there were just, there were some things found that were able to, to aid in his, the, you know, sustainability of life for a little bit, you know, quality certainly comes into, you know, into play, but I think for a while he, you know, he lived okay, all things considered. And again, his mindset was beautiful. was.

Skot Waldron (12:32.203)
No, no, was just about what do you attribute him? Yeah.

Alex (12:58.214)
grateful for what he did have and that is such a tough, I mean, even as somebody who was in the room, I'm like, man, that takes a lot. That takes a lot of grit and grace to just simply accept where you are.

Skot Waldron (13:14.115)
Well, I wonder when I hear stories like this and I'm not trying to like push the agenda of mindset around this type of thing, but I just, how critical I feel like that really is when you're dealing with something like this. I know that this is literally a life or death situation we're talking about and my audience and the things that generally talk about leadership and team development and culture and

what we do around that really talks mindset and how we go into things. Because I believe that, you know, I, I'm just making a, I'm just making a, you know, a statement here, but I'm, I'm, I'm imagining that if his mindset was in the gutter, if his mindset was no hope, his mindset was doom and gloom and whatnot. I'm sure at times it probably hit that. mean, stress does that to us, but.

I would be willing to bet he probably wouldn't have lived that four years past diagnosis. mean...

Alex (14:16.138)
Yeah, we'll never know. But I mean, just to shift it to a more of a relevant kind of subject matter, when you look at death in general, death comes in many, many forms. Yes, terminal illness for sure. Like we can, we can, our minds can go there, but divorce is a form of death. Losing a job is a form of death. Moving across the country. I all of these real life things hit. And one of the things that I speak to people about is the fact that your business is personal.

So these two by four moments as I coin it, and certainly mine is one example, but yours may be different and someone over here might have a different life altering moment where they wake up one day and go to bed the next, they come in many different ways, shapes and forms. When they do happen, no matter what, whether it's divorce, illness, job, whatever it is, your mindset is everything. But I think.

instead of going in it with like these rosy colored glasses that it's gonna be fine, it's gonna be fine, it's gonna be fine, the mindset is reality. Like being authentic and true with what is right now, which is why this practice of assessing thoughts as they come through and being really straight up with yourself today might not be a good day and it's okay to say that. And it's okay to say it in real dialogue with coworkers, with peers, with the stranger in the coffee line, how you doing? We're all just like, good.

Are you? You know, it's okay to be like, today's hard. How's your day? It's okay. It's fine. It really is. It's okay to accept that it's not all rainbows and butterflies, you know, someday, because we weren't really guaranteed that. No one showed up in our life and was like, you're going to love every moment. It's going to be great. It's going be easy. Slide right through it. I mean, no, it's hard. It's hard work just to wake up and have the human experience. And it comes with a lot of life altering moments that we didn't see coming.

Skot Waldron (16:03.491)
Oh, that's so good. Yeah. I I, I would almost accept it as a challenge. Next time somebody's like, Hey Scott, how's it going today? And it's really not going well. Just be like, you know, I don't know today, kind of today isn't the best, you know, like today, I mean, I'm not trying to get into like some deep gloomy conversation with somebody, bring them down, but it's, it's like being real and authentic. think we all desire that a bit. And I hear that a lot from team members that one of their biggest complaints about their leader.

is that they don't feel like they're genuine or authentic or vulnerable in any way. think leaders put up this front and it's just like, just connect, you know?

Alex (16:43.298)
Let me be honest. I think we're all looking for less BS and more honesty, leader or not. One of the things that became really apparent to me, as I published my book, Go on the Book Tour, I spent six months on the road. And it seemed like as I showed up in these spaces, and the book tour is very special, very personal, and just like...

It was just a really cool experience because it was people that I knew in my network hosting these gatherings for me. And it culminated by a really big brand hosting like the finale, was, which was just really, really sweet. By the end, it was almost like I was tapped to say, okay, people are just looking for, we're all kind of tasked with this like vulnerable, like this share. Like we're asked to be vulnerable in this world, but nobody wants to go first.

So if we're all standing in this circle, it's like, put my hand up and said, OK, fine, I'll start. And by doing that and by showing up and sharing bits of my story, which, by the way, I the book is not all about death and dying. It's really not. My story is not anchored in his story. That is his. It was a moment that we shared. And it was redefining for me because I had the mirror lifted up to my face and asked, what the heck are you doing here? What's your purpose? And so that's why it's very special.

for me personally, but I think people just wanna see somebody else go first, because it's scary. It's scary to put yourself out there. So if you are at the water cooler or in the coffee line and the day is not great, being honest doesn't mean you ruin their day. There is this call to hold space. We talk about it in yoga and it's not exactly like a household term in real life, but just because you share with me that your day is not great.

doesn't mean that I should be like, man, my day's not gonna be good either. But I can say like, well, I'm having a good day, Scott. Like, is there something I could do to support you? And if we even have like, if we have that type of relationship where you're like, you know what, can I just bend your ear for 10 minutes? Can we go on a walk or can we go grab a coffee? Or all of a sudden you're creating this moment for human connection. And if your coworker is no matter what level, there is just this realness that comes between you.

Alex (19:01.322)
that I think is really beautiful and we have very little of those moments. Technology is in the middle, we're texting, we're not paying attention, we're not actually interacting with people the way we used to. So I would challenge anybody, just be honest.

Skot Waldron (19:16.515)
So what do you, what do you, I mean, we talked about, you your fiance's, you know, your tribute to his, you know, living that long, past diagnosis. What do you attribute your resiliency to? I mean, you had to bounce back from that too. mean, caregiving is no joke. I'm in a LinkedIn group with, with, with some people that really talk about caregiving. My mom is now being put in the position of caregiving more and.

Alex (19:26.126)
Thanks.

Skot Waldron (19:45.971)
And it's no joke. Like it takes a toll on people. So you had to bounce back from that and the emotional stress and trauma that comes from that. Like, what do you attribute that to?

Alex (19:59.764)
Yeah, it wasn't pretty. And I will say, National Caregivers Day is on February 21st. So depending on when people are listening to this, maybe jot that in your calendar. moms are caregiving every day. People our age are starting to care for their parents. Seniors are caring for each other. There are people who signed up to do this for work, nurses and teachers. And so it really is everywhere. And there is, you know,

If you are not whole and don't take care of yourself, there's no way you can show up well for other people. I became not whole because I only showed up for him. I put my career on ice. I dedicated all of my time, all of my mental space to quote saving his life. That wasn't my job. And I like, have to be, I had to, and I was not honest with myself then, but I have to be honest with myself now. Like it was not my job.

to save him. My job was to be his partner. And I had varying degrees of success with that piece. I had a moment in the midst of his treatment. I was living in Chicago and I had a senior dog at the time who was also on bed rest. So the two things I love the most in the world are like, have neurologists, by the way, and are on bed rest. You really can't make this stuff up. And all the alcohol taken out of my house, just, know, and so my neighbors had my tequila and

So I walked down and my neighbor happened to be one of my good friends from high school. And so I make a margarita and I've got the dog and I go to this little patch of grass and I'm sitting on this tiny, wrought iron fence and the dog is hobbling around and I'm like, oh my God. I was like, this is the bottom. Like my life cannot get any worse. I don't have my career. I stopped, you know, kind of put my company in the hands of the other women that worked for me. My friendships are dissipating. The love of my life is dying. My dog's not doing well.

I am like a shell of a human. And I had no other, I had no answers. had no, I had no idea how long I would be in this space, but I did have the awareness that I was in it. And I'm really grateful for that because at some point you just, have to wake up and accept where you are on the, whatever scale, you know, it is. And I was at the bottom. I mean, I don't think losing a parent would have been as gut wrenching as that season of my life. And I just sort of was like, okay, well I'm here and I don't know how long I'm going to be here.

Alex (22:24.62)
but I know I'm not gonna be here forever and I know that it's not going, the other side won't appear unless I keep moving, which goes back to the original question, do you fade into the abyss or do you keep going? And I kept going. I was really kind of involved in the yoga studio that was around the corner from my house. I used to do a lot of hot power yoga and in this like kind of caregiving season that completely changed for me, I had no power.

but I kept going because I was given permission to show up in any way, or form just to be, whether I cried, whether I did every down dog or whatever, just to keep coming. And so I did. just, you know, I kept having these little downloads of like, okay, this is not what it's gonna be like. It would be unfair to get married. This isn't your, like you don't have to go down too. And that was a really tough decision to step away from the relationship.

even given the circumstances because I needed to put my life mask on first. And I think the resiliency comes through this process and practice that you do every single day. And I really, if nobody here rolls out a yoga mat, I don't really care. Pick something to do. If you like yoga, great. Obviously I really like yoga. I own a yoga business. But if you like to walk, if you like to garden, if you like to journal, if you can sit still and meditation,

Any of these things that you adopt as a practice, know, having, can, my Pilates teacher yesterday was like, she has this whole red light situation at home and she's like, I have my coffee for 15 minutes in silence and my kids don't bother me when I'm in the red light. It's mommy's red light room, whatever it is, like just you pick your thing that is your practice, which becomes your process. And what this does is carry you through the moments. Cause when you think about the moments of your life, the joy and the celebration.

Those are feelings of anxiousness. The feelings underneath certain experiences are how we relate as humans. Just as, you know, life altering situations that give you anxiety, feels the same in your gut. And so whether it's really, really good or really, really bad, having this like very simple practice to fall back on allows you something to keep waking up for. Takes care of yourself, keeps you moving forward. So you don't just stay in bed and, you know.

keep sobbing on the bathroom floor. There's plenty of time for that. And I encourage those moments too, because they're they're cathartic in their own way. But I just kept moving forward.

Skot Waldron (25:00.259)
Can we talk about your book for a minute? Um, why'd you write it?

Alex (25:01.976)
Totally.

I've always known I had a book in me. So from my twenties, you know, my mom is like, you need to write a book. And I was never energetically drawn to do it. Like I probably could have had the Sex and the City Dating Exposé that, you know, or a blog that could have retired me by now. But that wasn't, it just didn't feel, it didn't feel right. And it wasn't until I went through what I went through with my fiance that gave me this anchor of depth and relatability that allowed me to.

really reveal who I am and what I've gone through. So the story with him is the lead, but there's lots of life lessons and family dynamics and dating exposés and the whole thing that's in this memoir. But when it was kind of coming to the completion, I asked myself the same question. And number one, I want people to know they're not alone. And I think when you experience anything in life, these

like the tendency to isolate and push people away or trying to support you kind of becomes a default. I did it. I know a lot of people do it, but I just, can't say enough. You're not alone. And just because we don't have the same apples to apples experience doesn't mean you can't relate to the emotions underneath it. Number two, you have to laugh. Like things can't just be so heavy all the time. Even if you're in like literally the worst season of your life, everything's lit on fire. Your whole world is flipped upside down.

There's gotta be some lightness, some area where you can laugh, where you can feel at ease. It's just so important. And number three, you have to keep going. And going does not mean you're getting around or taking a pill to skip it all. Going means you are just going through and you're waking up one day after the next, but one foot in front of the other to move through the scenario. Nothing lasts forever. This whole concept of impermanence is

equal parts, good news. Like when you're in the bad season of your life, you love impermanence. This is great. This isn't going to last forever. I'll be out on the other side, you know, whatever I am. When things are good and you're reminded of impermanence, that's a little tougher to accept. But the more we can just keep, you know, keep the practice, you know, kind of underneath our life that we always fall back on, it sort of makes those highs and lows less jagged, brings a little more equanimity into the... to the whole presence of your world.

Skot Waldron (27:34.531)
So the book, kind of a glimpse into your life in a sense and kind of the things you've been through. I mean, what do want everybody to, I mean, yes, that you're not alone. Yes, that you, you've got to keep moving. Yes, that, you know, this is part of life. But like the thing at the end, mean, the emotion you want people to feel, what is that?

Alex (28:02.862)
Okay, let's talk about the end. for me, no, I have to do the ending for myself. So I wrote the book fast. I'm a writer. I dropped into a little portal and this thing got cranked out and it was kind of a soup to nuts four month deal.

Skot Waldron (28:05.399)
Are you gonna ruin the ending for us all? Okay, Okay, all right.

A lot of people hate you right now, I'm just saying.

Alex (28:25.292)
That's okay. You know what? There are people who will write it for you. You don't have to write your own book to tell your story. You know? This just happened to be my talent. And look, I was sitting on this idea for almost 20 years. It's like...

Skot Waldron (28:32.155)
No, I know. I know it's getting past that. That's awesome. I get you. would, took me like seven to actually write mine and I wrote it last year and it was like, you know, I pumped, I just set a goal in one quarter. got it done. And it was just like, you know, I blew through it. So I get it.

Alex (28:44.738)
Yeah.

Timing is everything, as cheesy and cliche as it sounds. So I get the whole thing done and I didn't do the last chapter. And I had the gal who was my number two when I had my PR company came back on and was kind of like my internal editor. I was also working with another editor and had an author coach. Like I built a team around it. I wrote it, but I had support. And so I get it done and Ashley's her name. Ashley goes through it all and she's like, okay, it's great.

Just do the last chapter. I'm like, yay, I'll get to it. A couple more days, a week. She's like, so this needs to be done so we can like, you know, print it. Like I'm not ready for it to be done. And she's like, why? What is it? I was like, because I wanted this to end with the, you know, that Instagram photo of me and my husband and my child. And like the, I want the happy ending. That's how I want it to end.

She's like, you are literally publishing this in weeks to get married and have a baby. Do you need me to like walk you through the math? And I knew it. Like I knew that, but like there was just always this, you know, even though those photos on everybody's Instagram account around Christmas time aren't real, there's a million outtakes of the kids screaming and, you know, yelling at Santa or whatever. I just, it's like, that was the life I was always living for. And that was the biggest, that was the hardest thing to let go of when I had to let it all go.

So, you know, she was right. It needed to be done. And so I just went about my life, went out for dinner in San Diego with a dear friend here and was sitting at the bar at one of our favorite restaurants. was actually at this restaurant last night. And he looked at me and was like, can you just tell me about your fiance? I was like, what? Like, why are we going there right now? And he's like, I just feel like I need a moment with you, like reflecting. Can you show me a picture?

I'm like, sure, you know, it's like, whenever that happens, like you kind of go back through this like bodily response to that moment in time. So he's holding my phone, looking at the photos and he starts to cry. And he is just like, tears going in his wine glass. I'm having tears go in my wine glass. I'm like, what is going on here? And he was like, I can see how much he loved you. And it was just such a sweet moment because he also said, there will be somebody else who will love you just as much or more. I was like, talk about like needing to hear what you need to hear at the right time. So we dry our tears, we finish dinner and go home and you know, I wake up the next morning and I do what I do most mornings. I have my phone, my journal and my laptop. So I'm either gonna write, I'm gonna journal or start to work. And I just got a ping that said, check your bank account. Okay, I open up my bank account.

And in my business account, I had like $19,999.99. It was all nines and a one. Nine is the number that signifies beginning and endings. And I was like, if that's not some seriously strong angel communication, I don't know what is. like, apparently everybody wants me to be done with this book. And so I did, I opened up my laptop and in 30 minutes I wrote the last chapter. And I share that story because...

You have to end to start over. You have to end. cannot get into a meaningful relationship while you're still in an existing relationship. You can't really get the dream job if your current job is occupying all that space in your mind and body. It had to end. And once it did, and when I kind of got that last, well, what's your, how do you want to leave people very rising from the ashes? I want people to leave so lit up and stoked to go move through their own life.

It's not about being, you know, it's being inspired by my journey, but more so using my journey as a way to get inspired and empowered to keep going for you. There's so many different themes in this book. You want to talk about dating, want to talk death, into yoga, entrepreneurship, working for a startup. You know, there's so many, so many things. It's not a one size fits all subject matter, which is why I think it's good for.

everybody, if I will. But that's really it. I mean, I just like had this vision of like, okay, I did it. I rose from the ashes. And I remember the day that I woke up and my life felt lighter, where this wasn't just like this heavy burden or this cloud that just like weighed me down. It was on the morning of my 38th birthday. So from 33 to 38, I felt like I had just 100 pound weights on my back every day.

And you just like, can't really shake it because it's just not time. Like you will carry things through as much as you intend to let them go, intend to live lighter, stay in your practice to have more peace. You will wake up one day and it will shed. It's not going to shed if you don't keep going.

Skot Waldron (34:01.731)
That's so cool. And I think that little, I mean, how easy it is to forget that one day it'll be lighter. Um, I think it's so crucial to have that hope and to remember whether you have to do to remember that, whether it is writing it down, whether it is taking a picture of it and pinning it on your fridge. Like those moments will help us bring us back and ground us in that. And I think that that's so cool, um, to think about.

you and what you've been through. So, soul dive and where can people get it? You speak all over the place. You want, I mean, I would, I, I feel like I've just gotten a keynote address here. and in the, you know, wanting to get out there and get your message heard, people I think need to hear it. think you're a great storyteller. so what can people do to do that? And what can people do to get the book?

Alex (34:58.06)
Yeah, I wanna answer all that, but I do wanna go back to hope. And this is there are some people, when you talk about, I think everybody's called into their purpose. Every single person listening, Scott, you have a purpose, I have a purpose. It is literally our life's work to figure out what that is. And if that sounds overwhelming, I'm sorry, but like, that's your job. That's your first job is to figure out what are you doing here? Why are you here?

Skot Waldron (35:01.555)
please.

Alex (35:25.526)
I can't necessarily help everybody figure that out, but I want to task you with that mission. When you do, your life is going to feel no less busy, but a lot more effortless. And the biggest piece of gratitude I have for this experience is it did drop me into my purpose. And my purpose was to share what I've been through to inspire and empower others to live with more peace, purpose, and presence in their own life. What people like me do is give hope.

So whether you relate to me or not, there's gonna be, there's a lot of other people out there sharing their story and experience so that you can see yourself in them. And I think that helps. Put that photo on your vision board. Just, you know, put it in your journal or something that reminds you there are people out here who have moved through and overcome.

You don't have to go down with this. The hard part about this is often, if not all the time, oftentimes something does have to die. Someone or something has to die and you have to choose to let it go. And you can choose to put it on life support and keep it alive for a lot longer. And I'm not talking just humans, talking relationships, careers, friendships. I mean, you can resuscitate that thing until

you and whatever the thing is or blue in the face. I don't recommend it. The sooner you let go and the sooner you create that space, physically, mentally, emotionally, go through the mourning, go through the grief. I'm not saying it's gonna be easy. It's very hard. And I have an anecdote about freedom that I have not been prepared to fully share, it's too teary for me. But we have to choose to let it go.

And that's really, really tough pill to swallow. But if I can inspire you, like what needs to go, let it. If your life is on fire, let it. Don't run back into the building. You nuts, get out. Let it go. Well, all your freedom exists on the other side of that. Okay. Thanks for coming to my Ted talk.

So, hey, so good. And before you get onto your, your whatever's about how people get in touch with you. I think the word is permission. actually have that in my purpose statement, that, giving yourself permission, but also giving others permission to be who they were designed to be is.

Skot Waldron (37:55.297)
is something that's really important in life. And I just, feel there's that injustice in the world that we don't give ourselves that permission and we don't give others that permission either. and I think that holds us back as a society in general. so I love that you said that earlier.

Alex (38:08.684)
Yeah. I love that. The permission thing is so huge. And I don't know if anybody's checked out Mel Robbins and her podcast, her book, she has the whole let them theory. Super helpful with, with giving permission. So follow up reading, follow up listening. Yeah. Lots of homework. okay. You can find, you can find my book on Amazon. It's called soul dive, my journey into the deep. It looks like this.

Skot Waldron (38:25.699)
So good, so good. Follow up homework, here we go. All right.

Alex (38:37.134)
You can read more about me and see what I'm up to at soulfulalchemist.com. You can find me on Instagram at Alex Sabbag, and you can find all things soul dive yoga. If you are in Southern California or visiting Palm Desert this winter, please come take a class with us. It is souldiveyoga.com.

Skot Waldron (39:00.039)
And, you're the things you put out. I mean, your storytelling, your writing, I assume come out in your email that you send out. It's probably not just like a, Hey, you know, buy this thing every week offer. I assume you put out some pretty great stuff. what do you write about in your emails?

Alex (39:22.028)
Yes, thank you. It's called Into the Deep with Alex and I call it my poetic wisdom drop. I'm actually not selling you anything. I don't have anything to sell you. I have a book, so you can buy that. It's 20 bucks, you can afford it and you can come take yoga, but that's, I don't talk about the yoga as much in my Into the Deep emails, but you can sign up for those emails on my Soulful Alchemist website. Please do that. I'm not wasting your time or your space with them. They are,

Skot Waldron (39:32.259)
There you go. There you go.

Alex (39:52.354)
They get great feedback. I'll just put it that way. Not to toot my own horn, but I think they're pretty wonderful. So hop on that list and kind of get into the fold. There's going to be some exciting things coming from my end, including a retreat in the South of France, which I'll be announcing soon and some other things as well.

Skot Waldron (40:11.491)
Cool. You're a rock star. Thanks for, uh, bouncing back. Thanks for teaching us how to bounce back and what it takes. Um, talking to us. think everybody needs to do that in every area of life. And this has been really, really good for that. Thank you.

Alex (40:25.772)
Yeah, thank you, Scott.