Video summary
The podcast explores effective and ineffective strategies for navigating breakups, emphasizing that immediately diving into a new relationship without pause is detrimental because individuals are still processing significant grief and trauma. The host draws parallels between ending a marriage and death, suggesting one must move through the stages of grief—bargaining, sadness, anger, and acceptance—as outlined by Elizabeth Kubler-Ross before reaching true resolution. Recovery does not begin until the legal divorce is finalized; only then can individuals truly start to bury their past relationships and allow themselves to grieve properly rather than pretending everything has moved on while still in pain. To aid this recovery process, the speaker advocates for engaging in physical practices such as Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ), yoga, or martial arts like Okinawan Goju-ryu karate and Muay Thai kickboxing. He shares his personal journey of returning to BJJ after a divorce, noting that it serves as "cardio for divorcee ball stuff" by fostering deep trust with strangers who agree not to harm each other during training. This physical intimacy creates a unique microculture where men can break social boundaries and form lasting friendships through shared adversity, providing a healthy outlet for stress and helping individuals maintain their bodies while reconnecting with aspects of themselves they may have neglected during difficult relationships. Beyond individual practice, the importance of community is highlighted as essential to countering the isolation often felt after leaving an unhappy relationship or ending a long-term partnership. The speaker recounts his experience raising two young boys who were five and seven when he divorced; once they left for school, the silence was deafening until he established new routines around caregiving, such as making their beds and organizing their rooms to prepare them for return. These acts of service helped him transition from a state of forced happiness in an unhappy marriage to authentic joy with his children before eventually focusing on self-discovery when they were away again. The discussion further expands on the universal need for connection through something or someone to love, whether that be children, pets, friends, or spiritual practices like meditation and religion. The host reflects on how falling out of love can feel as sudden as hitting ground after a slow deceleration from high above, serving as a wake-up call about life's fragility. Despite the intense emotional turmoil experienced during his own divorce ten years ago with his college sweetheart, he now views these experiences as formative and rich in human emotion, noting that only unfulfilled love can be truly romantic because it encompasses the full spectrum of connection and disconnection. Finally, the conversation touches on the value of therapy for gaining perspective once life's immediate crises have subsided. Having spent fifteen years with a therapist who knew his entire history, switching to a new provider forced him to provide a "Wikipedia page" summary of his life, reducing epic tales to mere sentences and offering fresh context for blind spots. This shift allowed him to focus on personal growth rather than crisis management, reinforcing the idea that while divorce feels like falling off a roller coaster until one hits bottom, it ultimately offers an opportunity to learn from past pains and build a stronger sense of self through structured physical activity, community connection, and professional support.
Read the full video transcript
Give me the worst and best ways that
people get over breakups.
>> [gasps]
>> I mean the worst way is to just
immediately dive into another
relationship without any pause. You're
an advocate of a breathing period.
>> Yeah, or if you're going to, you know,
if you're going to do the the best way
to get over someone is to get under
someone. If you're going to do that,
like
see it for what it is and say it. Like
really be candid that that's what you're
doing. Like like don't lead people on,
don't mislead, and certainly don't lie
to yourself. The most dangerous lies are
the ones we tell ourselves. So I think,
you know, just jumping into another
relationship very quickly and a very
serious relationship, I I think is a a
terrible way to get over a breakup. Um
Why?
Because I think you you
A, you're still processing a tremendous
amount of grief and trauma and loss. I I
think that you have to move through the
stages of grief. I actually think like
you could look at like Elizabeth
Kubler-Ross's stages of death and dying
and grief and you could apply those to
cuz all that's happened is a marriage
has ended, a relationship has died. So
you have to treat it like a death. We
have to have the bargaining, the
sadness, we have to have the anger, we
have to have each of those stages before
we can reach acceptance. You don't just
get to skip. So I think you have to
process those emotions and I think that
takes a little bit of time. I also don't
think your divorce you don't start to
recover from your divorce until your
divorce is done. So a lot of people are
like, "Oh, we moved out months ago." Or
"Oh, we've been going through this for
ages." So now No, when it's actually
done and you get the piece of paper that
says you're officially divorced, that's
when it is done. The line begins. That's
when you buried the dead body. Like
saying that oh no, this person died last
week and the funeral's next week, but
I'm over like they're dead. No, okay,
when you see them lowered into the
ground, now we've started the grieving
process.
>> Wow. So I think that's a piece of it.
>> Mhm. I think the best way I I mean I
I believe that the people that that A,
have some body practice is really
important. I know that's going to sound
really bro-ish, but I really do think
that there was tremendous value in A
body practice can be I think it can be
yoga, it can be Listen, I I I trained
martial arts from the time I was 7 until
I was in my 20s. I trained Okinawan
Goju-ryu karate and Muay Thai
kickboxing, and I gave it up. I stopped.
I started running marathons, I focused
on that. It was more friendly to the,
you know, raising kids and things like
that. When I got divorced,
I went back to martial arts. That's when
I took up Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. Because I
I actually I actually took up, well, you
know, Craig Jones actually said in an
interview recently, like he he he was
sort of slagging on somebody, it might
have been Gordon, and he said like guys,
like come on. Like this is this is like,
you know, cardio for divorcee ball
stuff. Like and I I thought, you know
what? Thank you for saying that out
loud. That's exactly what it was for me.
>> to Creed, you're drinking white monster,
and you're going to go and try and do
oxygen tank.
>> going to do struggle cuddles with a
bunch of men. That is essentially the
minute you've sent a 6-minute round with
somebody, you're now sitting next to
them with your arm around them and you
guys are best friends for life. Because
there's this feeling of physical What
physical intimacy do men have who aren't
homosexual with other men that you you
break that physical boundary, you spent
up There's tremendous trust in Brazilian
Jiu-Jitsu. I am trusting that when I
tap, you will stop and not snap my arm,
or you will let go of my carotid
arteries so I don't die. Like there is
something really lovely about a stranger
that I believe that promise and you can
believe my promise to that.
>> Yeah, it's a a microculture. It's very
interesting. So I think there's
tremendous value in a physical practice
or returning to some spiritual practice,
whether it was meditation or some
religious thing I've seen people go back
to. I I think that that again,
they're really the same thing, which is
to say reconnect connecting to another
person while you are navigating a
breakup,
I think is ill-advised, whereas
connecting to aspects of self that you
may have let go of in the pain of your
difficult relationship that you're
exiting or becoming a beginner at
something or like if there was a sport
you enjoyed reconnecting to that sport.
I think A, there's tremendous value in
having a physical practice. I think that
there's tremendous value in sweating and
going through all of that and overcoming
physical adversity, maintaining a strong
instrument and being physically healthy.
A lot of my clients, you know, they they
drink more than they should cuz they're
going through something stressful. So,
finding healthy outlets for that I think
is really important. And also too, just
improving that that it creates a sense
of community. I think you start to feel
really alone when you're in a bad
relationship. And then when you're
ending that relationship, it's like,
"Okay, well, now I'm ending this
relationship and I feel really alone cuz
I'm actually alone." And so, there were
times when I mean, all my kids were five
and seven when I got divorced. And I
remember when they were there, it was
the most joyous lovely feeling cuz now I
had them there, but I didn't have the
uncomfortable feeling of, "Oh, I'm with
this person who I'm not really in love
with." And like I have to sort of
pretend I'm happy, but I'm not really
happy. Suddenly, I could just be happy.
I was with my kids and I was having
And then they would leave.
And the silence was deafening.
I mean, it was a three-year-old and a
five-year-old, like little kids. Like
little kid, they're so loud. They're
boys. They would And then they were just
gone.
And it was just this feeling of like,
>> [gasps]
>> like it's so quiet, you know? And
they'll be back, but God, it's so quiet.
And the greatest thing I did for myself,
and I I don't know what pushed me to do
it,
is I just started to create like
routines. Like we live in a world of
symbols. And what I would do is they
would leave and I would make a point of
doing all of the laundry of their
clothes and washing their sheets. And
then I would make their rooms. Like I
would put their beds back just right and
I'd put their clothes in the drawers and
it was ready.
It was ready for when they were back.
And something about reconnecting like
caregiving in that way and then
reconnecting to No, no.
The stage is set and they'll be back.
And then I gave myself permission to go,
okay, now they're not here.
You go be you now. You go figure out
what that is, who that man is because
that's someone they're going to be
watching and going, hey, who is that
man? What does he do? You know? And so
that gave me a tremendous strength and
it really helped me navigate that
challenge and I think that that is the
kind of thing that that people can do.
And again, this is not exclusively male.
I think women can do the exact same
thing. I think that, you know, when your
children go back to the co-parent or
when Again, even if you don't have
children, if you, you know, if you
return or get a pet. Like having a pet,
having something my mother used to say
to me, you need someplace to go,
something to do and something to love.
And if you're missing any of those three
things, you're going to have
unhappiness, right? So I think that
having something to love is really,
really important. If it's children,
great. You have your children. If you
don't have children, have a pet. If you
don't have pet, have friends. Like but
but connection. I think I think we're
social creatures and I think we just
have to find that connection cuz what is
divorce but a deep disconnection?
You know, and it's a disconnection that
may have happened over a long time. Like
we fall in love so fast. So fast and
it's so powerful and amazing.
And then we fall out of love like the
way we go bankrupt, very slowly and then
all at once.
And and and and it when it goes like it
it
there is this part of us that sees it
happening and just goes, oh, no, is this
really happening? And this is one time
that comes to mind for me where I
actually remember this deceleration. It
felt like falling off the edge of a
roller coaster and it was very slowly
and then
>> [sighs]
>> Oh, [ __ ]
Yeah, and falling feels like flying for
a little while. Yeah. Then you hit the
[ __ ] ground.
>> Until you hit the ground. And then it's
a real wake-up call and and but again,
like I
See, I I and again, I think it's a
function of age.
I look back on the loves of my life.
And I look back on even like the great
pains of my life, you know, losing my
mom to cancer, you know, all of all of
the hard things.
And I I realize like just how much was
in there, like emotionally, like how
much material was in there. And and I I
have to tell you like the the journey of
that is I've learned so much from all of
those things and I feel like they were
all so formative of me and I also just I
I I don't know. I I love stories that
that have that full range of human
emotion and there's something about you
know, the the
There is a a saying that, you know, only
unfulfilled love can be truly romantic.
Like that there's something about the
the riding the whole spectrum of
connection and then disconnection and
then
But you know, it's very funny. I I I've
been in therapy for many years.
And sometimes, you know, you're in
therapy, it's cuz your life's on fire,
you know, like your marriage is ending,
your mom is dying, whatever it might be.
And then there's times where you're in
therapy where you're like, "Hey, this is
about just like trying to see my blind
spots, trying to get better at being me,
seeing connections I might not have
seen."
And I have to say like that that there
is um in in my view
like tremendous value in
I had to switch therapists. I'd been
with a therapist for like 15 years and
he he retired. So I had to find a new
therapist.
And the funniest moment was in that
early cuz having the same therapist for
15 years like they've seen you through a
lot of things. They You don't have to
fill in the blanks. They know your whole
history. And all of a sudden there's a
stranger across from me. And I'm about
to talk to them about me and I'm like
they have no context. So you find
yourself sort of giving like the
Wikipedia page of your life.
And as I was doing it I remember
thinking like
oh there are things that felt like
epic tales that are now
three sentences.
Yeah, I married my college sweetheart
and we were married for about 10 years
and we had two kids and then we got
divorced and it was relatively friendly.
That's it. That's all that was. But when
it was going on, the world was ending.
Were my kids going to be okay? Was I
going to be okay? Was she going to be
okay? Like what what was this going to
do? Like who who were going to be our
friends and who were and who was going
to be team her and team me even though
there weren't teams and how would we
explain that to people?
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/
modern wisdom. Thank you very much for
tuning in. Ooh, a tasty morsel of a clip
there for you. Well, the full episode is
available
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Come on.
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