From Addiction to Walking on Fire: A Life Transformed with Tony Robbins

And uh and to date this, it came on these little white things called cassette.

Yeah, right?

Yeah.

Your audience is probably not even gonna know what those things are.

You gotta you go to the Smithsonian, you can see what they are.

SPEAKER_00: Exactly.

SPEAKER_04: So anyway, I plugged them in, Kevin, and I did what the man taught me to do and at work.

SPEAKER_01: What's up, my friend, and welcome to Grit Grace Inspiration.

I'm your host, Kevin Lowe.

Twenty years ago, I awoke from a life-saving surgery only to find that I was left completely blind.

And since that day, I've learned a lot about life, a lot about living, and a lot about myself.

And here on this podcast, I want to share those insights with you.

Because, friend, if you are still searching for your purpose, still trying to understand why, or still left searching for that next right path to take, well, consider this to be your stepping stone to get you from where you are to where you want to be.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again, is that I believe in all of my heart that what happens in this life is happening for us.

Even if at the time it feels like the world is falling apart, like the world is not in our favor, but instead fighting against us.

I'm here to change that mindset.

I'm here to help flip the script on life because I believe that in this life, everything is working out for our good.

Even if that seems so far from the truth.

My name is Kevin Lowe.

I'm the host of Great Grace and Inspiration, and today I am bringing you an powerful interview with a man named Dave Albin.

Today is episode number 215.

And I gotta ask you, are you ready for this?

Are you ready for a guy's story that includes none other than Tony Robbins?

Yes, Mr.

Tony Robbins indeed is a part of Dave Albin's story, a big part of his story, and you're getting to get to hear all about it.

But the story that's so powerful is what happens before Tony Robbins.

Because as I said at the beginning, is that I believe everything is working out for our good.

Even if it takes us down some really bad paths in life.

This life is full of choices, it's full of decisions, and all of those choices we make they lead to a result either a good result or bad.

It's then up to us to figure out what we want to do with it.

It's up to us to continue to move forward.

And I believe that inside all of us is a desire to not merely survive, but to thrive in life.

But it's up to us to tap into that hidden desire to thrive in spite of it all.

For Dave Albin, he was at the lowest of lows, suffering from alcoholism, from drug addiction, contemplating suicide.

And yet there was a voice in the back of his head that told him no.

It reminded him of what he was about to do.

And thank God he didn't.

What happened next?

Well, what happened next was a series of events that weren't easy, but they would lead Dave Albin to where he is today.

Somewhere I don't think the guy ever could have imagined.

Because his story is incredible.

As I said, it includes the infamous Tony Robbins, it includes a late night infomercial, it includes walking on fire.

And well, that walking on fire, that's going to be a pivotal point in Dave Albin's story.

Because, well, that's going to set forth where he even is today.

If you are ready to be inspired, if you are ready to be empowered to walk on fire yourself, then just listen up.

Because this interview is about to do it for you.

As a reminder, if you love this podcast and want to take it to the next level, I encourage you to sign up for our email list.

You can find a link to sign up inside of today's show notes, or you can head on over to the website that is www.gritgraceinspiration.com slash gave dash alvin.

Again, link is in the show notes to sign up, or like I said, head over to the website and you can sign up there.

The reason I encourage it is well because I dive a little bit deeper each week inside of the newsletter.

I provide a LinkedIn article where I dive deep into the story of the guests, provide a little commentary on my life, and just being there to be a mid-week boost to help you get through the day.

So check it out, and uh hey, most of all, you need to turn up the volume.

The interview's about to begin.

Grab your popcorn, get your snack, turn up the volume, and get ready.

Here is my interview with Dave Allen.

SPEAKER_04: So when I had my first drink at 11 years old, I don't think I had a chance, Kevin.

I mean, I didn't.

I was an alcoholic on the spot.

If you look at the behavior of alcoholics, I started showing that behavior early on.

So it was the saying, one's too many and a thousand's not enough.

That was my attitude.

When I heard that, I went, Yep, that's me.

It's been me ever since I took that first drink.

And all I was trying to do when I took that first drink is figure out what happened to my adoptive parents.

Because when they adopted me at five years old, they stopped drinking.

My mother, literally the first day of summer, and set me down and said, David, we need to tell you something.

And what they went on to tell me was, we're not your parents.

Well, what does that mean?

How does an 11-year-old kid even process that?

And so, you know, they went on to tell me that they were my aunt and my uncle, and that my biological mother was actually who I referred to as my Aunt Dean.

And I remember saying, Well, I don't even like her, you know.

And the reason, and there's a really there's a very important reason, and that is she was always touching me, I mean, around me.

She wanted to touch me.

So, you know, I was, I figured that part out.

But shortly after they told me this, literally within days, maybe a week or so, they both started drinking again.

And so that's when everything that was wonderful, my life took a hard turn.

And they turned into, you know, I don't know how to say it.

They they were wonderful people, but they weren't wonderful when they were drinking.

Let's put it that way.

And so what ensued from there was I'm like, what happened to these people?

When they drink this stuff, they turn into this.

So I was curious.

And they left one morning, went to the store.

Back in the in the 60s, you could leave your kids home.

Nobody said a word.

Of course.

Right?

It was like, call the neighbor across the street, like, call Joanne.

Hey, Joanne, this is this is Pat.

I'm gonna be leaving David at home.

Bob and I are going grocery shopping.

If he needs anything, can he come over there?

And they're like, Oh, of course, you know, just send David over.

He needs anything.

So, you know, neighbors did that for the kids all the time.

And so that's what happened.

So as soon as they left, man, I went over to the cabinet where the booze was, and I pulled out a bottle of brandy, a half gallon of it, big bottle, and I poured about half of my a coffee cup full, and I downed it.

unknown: Yeah.

SPEAKER_04: And it tasted horrible, but the feeling I got was insane.

It was like, it was like pouring rocket fuel inside of me.

And again, as I said, Kevin, I was stick a fork in me, man.

I was done right there.

And it just led, right?

So it got worse and worse and worse.

And uh, as I was going into junior high school and high school, by the time I became a junior in high school, they kicked me out.

I was already, you know, messing with hard drugs.

And it hanging around the wrong people, you know, peer group is everything, right?

We we are who we spend time with, that's for sure.

And that led to me uh asking for help on June 8th of 1988, which is coming up in a couple of days, right?

So six days from now, I'll have 35 years.

Wow.

Well, so 35 years.

So when I got sober and I got into AA, I had insomnia and I was up late at night all the time, Kevin.

And so uh my sleep patterns were all over the place.

Well, I was up late one night and early 1980 or late 1988, and there he was, the man himself.

You know, Mr.

Gunthy Ranker, the infomercial king, if you will.

There's Tony Robbins, and he's he's selling a program called Personal Power.

I was listening to him, and I really, to be candid, I didn't, I couldn't stand him.

I didn't like him.

And the reason I didn't like him is because he was so motivated, right?

I was miserable, right?

And so I'm not really tracking with him, but he said a couple of things that got me and it got me to thinking really hard.

One of them was, we'll do more to avoid pain than we will to gain pleasure.

And I went, whoa, okay.

Well, that tells a story in and of itself because that's why I drank for the most part.

I drank to either avoid pain or try to gain pleasure.

And then, of course, one day that just disappears.

You don't, you're not even looking for that anymore.

You're just drinking because you're maintenance drinking, trying to stop from shaking and coming apart at the scenes.

Another thing he said that really got me is said, you know, the there's two driving forces in our life.

We make decisions either based on inspiration or desperation.

And I thought, well, I'm pretty desperate.

So maybe I ought to look into more of what this guy's teaching.

So I bought his program.

They sent it to me.

It's a 30-day program.

It's called Personal Power.

And uh, and to date this, it came on these little white things called cassette.

Yeah, right?

Yes.

Your audience is probably not even gonna know what those things are.

You gotta go to the Smithsonian, you can see what they are.

SPEAKER_00: Exactly.

SPEAKER_04: So anyway, I plugged them in, Kevin, and I did what the man taught me to do, and it worked.

And so there it was, right?

The personal development industry in AA had just collided in my life.

And it was a perfect combination.

I mean, it because over here on one hand, I'm working AA and I'm I'm doing everything these guys are telling me.

I'm going to meetings, I'm, I got a sponsor, I'm working the steps, I got into service work.

I mean, I was, I was all in 100%.

And then I was also over here doing the thing with in the personal development industry.

And what happened from there was that program, that 30-day program, personal power, I loaned it to a friend of mine in AA, because he came to me and he said, Dude, what are you doing?

What's going on?

You started your own business, you're working out.

You know, this is stuff outside of AA.

You know, I'm just curious.

And I go, well, there's this guy named Tony Robbins, and blah, blah, blah.

He goes, really?

Yeah.

And so I told him I went through this program and I said, Hey, I finished it.

If you want to borrow it, I'll be happy to lend it to you.

And he said, Yeah, that'd be great.

I'd love it.

And he did.

He did the same thing.

He went through it, he loved it.

And then seven years later, from 1988 to 1995, he called me on the phone one day and said, Hey, did you know that Tony Robbins is coming to town?

And I said, No, I had no idea.

And he goes, Come on, man, dude, we've got to go.

Let's go see this dude.

You got me into this.

So come on.

And I said, Well, when is it?

And we looked at the dates and I go, yeah, you know what?

I'm actually available.

He goes, Oh, fantastic.

He goes, Look, man, I'll go make the arrangements, I'll call you back.

Well, heck, he calls me back an hour later and he said, Okay, uh it's done.

We pick up the tickets that we'll call.

And here's what they told us to do.

Number one, drink a lot of water for the days leading up.

You want to be really hydrated when you get there.

Uh, number two, bring snacks.

And the reason for that is we're gonna, you're gonna be spending a lot of time in the room.

Okay.

And then he said, and and bring a good attitude and be ready to play full out.

I said, so all right, Dan.

So how much was the ticket?

He said,$700.

I went, what?

$700?

And you want me to play full out?

Don't worry, I will.

You know, what is that today?

I don't know,$7,000.

You know, right?

It was a lot of money back then.

Yeah.

And so just as he's getting ready to get off the phone, he goes, Oh, well, wait, wait, wait.

By the way, I forgot to tell you, we're gonna be doing a firewalk.

And I remember thinking, and and I'm not saying anything, but I'm going, well, maybe you are, but I'm sure not.

That's not gonna happen.

I'm gonna tell you right now.

And you know what's interesting about that decision, Kevin?

Made it right there on the spot.

Not doing it.

And I didn't even know what a firewalk was.

I don't know.

I don't have any references for this.

I've never seen it, I never heard it.

I fire no, but I know one thing.

I'm not doing it.

I know I want to see Tony.

That part I get, I'm willing to go, but I'll we'll leave the firewalk for the crazies because I'm not doing it.

SPEAKER_01: Well, so we Dave, hold on one second before before we get to to this discovering the firewalk thing.

Back up for me a little bit though, because what led you, though, to even decide to stop drinking and get help from AA?

SPEAKER_04: Because that morning on June 8th, when I woke up, I said, that's it.

I'm done.

I'm out.

And I was in so much pain, Kevin.

Excruciating pain, emotionally, physically, spiritually.

It's nasty.

That's all I can tell you.

And I I wish it on no one ever.

You and but you can't even explain it.

Because it, you know, it was years of just drinking and drugging yourself into oblivion.

And so emotionally, you're a car wreck, you're a train wreck, and a plane crash all rolled into one.

So what I decided to do, and and by the way, I was married to a woman, had three kids.

They were my stepkids.

And this was my third marriage.

And I married this woman because number one, she was a bartender, she was a real sweet lady.

I loved her to death, and she had three kids.

And I thought, wow, if I marry her, then guess what?

Uh I'll get my alcoholism and my drug addiction under control because I need to be a good dad for these three kids.

Well, when I woke up on June 8th, again, I was done.

It was over.

So I'm living in the basement.

They're living upstairs.

So I went and loaded my pistol.

And I thought that, you know what?

This is gonna be real easy.

The pain's gonna go away right now.

I wasn't wrestling with, oh my gosh, you know, I'm gonna go to heaven or hell or any of that.

I wasn't thinking about, you know, destroying other people's lives because I was gonna put a bullet in my head.

And then it did dawn on me.

I said, well, wait a minute here, pal.

Hold on a second.

You pull that trigger, these kids are gonna suffer, and they don't deserve that.

You're killing them, too.

You can't do that to them, man.

You know, they're gonna, you know, what a scene.

The cops are gonna come and the morgues are gonna come, and the papers are gonna write articles, and it's gonna permeate throughout the school, and those kids are gonna be devastated.

And I remember thinking, no, nope, you can't do that.

Suck it up, pal.

Find a better way, find something else to help you.

And I was even thinking about, well, I won't do it in the house, I'll go out in the woods.

And I'm like, nope, but they still got to deal with it.

And then all of a sudden the thought popped in my head, call Alcoholics Anonymous.

And you know what, Kevin?

I don't, I didn't know who the hell AA was at that moment.

Yeah.

I had no idea.

I didn't know anyone in AA.

I'd never been to AA.

I knew nothing about it, and yet there it was.

How did that thought jump into my head?

SPEAKER_02: Yeah.

SPEAKER_04: And to this day, other than, you know, divine intervention, if you will.

Yeah.

As Providence would have it, I called AA that morning and and I got a wonderful lady on the phone.

And I've nicknamed her over the years Madge.

And the reason I did is because she talked like this.

SPEAKER_03: Yes.

SPEAKER_04: And so I think she was probably smoking two to three packs of Paul Mall non-filters a day.

Yes.

She was, and bro, she was vicious.

She was in my face.

Are you sure you want to get sober?

You know, because the bottom line was it was her responsibility to decide whether she would send somebody over to my house to come get me.

So she needed to make sure that she took me, you know, through the process.

And uh apparently I must have given her enough information that she sent a man to come get me.

Wow.

And so he took me to four, he took me to an AA meeting uh that day.

It was a house on five acres, and it was in Fairfax, Virginia.

Place called the Stepping Stones Group of Alcoholics Anonymous.

Wonderful place.

All men.

And uh I went to a 1230, a 4:30, a 6:30, and an 8:30 meeting that day.

And the guys took a big book of Alcoholics Anonymous and they all, all the ones that were in the meeting, signed it and they put their phone number in there.

Then they also gave me a living sober book and told and gave me the same thing.

They signed it and put their telephone numbers in there.

I have both of those books to this day.

They're very cherished in my life.

Wow.

And and I went home and I had enough AA where I didn't take a drink that night.

Yeah.

Well, at eight o'clock in the morning, my phone rings.

And it's John from AA.

And he's like, hey, good morning, Dave.

How are you doing?

And I'm like, How do you think I'm doing?

I want to kill somebody, and I might start with you.

I'm, you know, I'm best, man.

I'm I'm I'm not feeling good at all.

I want to drink so bad because I'm shaking.

I'm coming apart at the seams.

And he goes, Yeah, yeah, yeah, you're you're gonna be fine.

I'm gonna come get you.

We'll go to breakfast and I'm gonna take you to a meeting.

Well, that's AA for you.

That's what they do.

And I'd never been around anything like that where people cared about me at that level.

Here's a stranger.

This guy doesn't know me.

He knew where I lived because he heard me talking in the meeting.

And he he comes and gets me and rescues me, man.

And that's AA.

Wow.

And so, you know, one day turned into two, right?

And then a week, and then I got a month.

And when I got a month, they they gave me a medallion, a little coin.

Okay.

Said 30 days of continuous sobriety.

Had the AA emblem on the back, and it said, To thy own self be true.

And a month turned into two, they gave me another one.

Turned into three, they gave me another one.

Six months came along, they gave me another one.

Nine months came along, they gave me another one.

And then I got the I got the big one, man, the one year of continuous sobriety they gave that to me.

Oh right?

SPEAKER_01: So how old were you at that point?

SPEAKER_04: I was 33.

And I'm six, I'll be sixty-nine this month in June.

SPEAKER_01: I mean, Dave, that was a long time though.

I mean, you started, you took that first drink at 11.

That was a long time of living a life to then finally realize I've got to do something.

And praise the Lord that you didn't take your life.

That you called AA.

And I think that is such a powerful, powerful example of what AA can do for somebody.

To take a man who has been drinking basically his whole life and help you say, ah, that's amazing.

SPEAKER_04: Well, and what's interesting about that too, Kevin, is I'm one of the only ones that made it out of my family.

Yeah.

Most of my many of my family members died of alcoholism.

I have one surviving relative, my cousin Didi.

And she really never drank.

Uh, she was older than I was, six years older than I was.

And, you know, we talk and communicate all the time, and she's super, super proud of me.

Yeah.

She lost her mother.

Her mother, uh, my aunt Jo, was uh an up-and-coming star in Hollywood.

Okay.

Uh, she played in the Grapes of Wrath and so on.

And so, anyway, but she succumbed to alcoholism.

She died of cirrhosis of the liver.

She died in the same hospital I was born in, which was Queen of Angels Hospital in Hollywood, California.

Okay.

And I remember seeing her on one of her last days alive.

And it was, oh my God, it was ugly.

Yeah.

Um, because you know, your liver starts rotting from the inside out.

And uh you your jaundice, and you know, she's uh this yellowish, reddish color was just, oh, it was horrible.

It was so frightening.

And you'd think the physical was bad.

Well, the what was even worse was the smell, because the smell is the body rotting.

It's cirrhosis of the liver.

I'll never forget it.

It's a horrible, horrible smell.

Now, that had absolutely no effect on me, really.

Yeah.

You know, once I got to my first drink there, you know, it wasn't that long after my Aunt Joe died that I took my first drink.

I think my Aunt Joe died when I was around eight.

And three years later, I'm taking my first drink, right?

So how crazy is that?

Yeah.

But that's actually.

Alcoholism.

And that's why in AA we say it's cunning, baffling, and powerful.

Yeah.

And it is.

SPEAKER_02: Yeah.

SPEAKER_04: And it serves no purpose.

SPEAKER_02: Yes.

SPEAKER_04: None.

There's no good reason to drink on this planet.

Unfortunately, you know, there's other things out there that are just as life-threatening.

Tobacco and vape vaping now and all this stuff.

And you know, um, it's crazy.

Yeah.

And so, but alcoholism, man, it takes a lot of people out, that's for sure.

Absolutely.

And so that's kind of like, you know, this is something I talk about in my uh my seminars, and that is the two most powerful times in your life, most important moments in your life, I believe, is the moment you were born and the moment you figure out why.

Right.

So for me, I got into AA, man, total immersion.

And I love something that I learned there early on, and it was it's in the preamble, and it says, when anyone anywhere reaches out, I want the hand of AA to be there.

And for that, I am responsible.

And I took that very, very seriously.

Because when somebody walks in the door of AA, their life's on the line.

Period.

And so I became a really, I loved being a gatekeeper.

And I loved the responsibility of it and telling them, hey, where are you from?

This kind of thing.

Here, you know, I gave them what we what we like to call the package deal.

You don't drink one day at a time.

If you think you're gonna drink, you got to call somebody, get a sponsor, work the steps, and help others.

And if you do that, let me tell you what's gonna happen.

Your life's gonna become magnificent.

And so there's what's called the promises in AA, and I won't go into all that here, but I'll just say that they came true in my life, and they typically will always come true if we're willing to work for it.

That's all we got.

Because here's what I saw when I got there.

The men were happy, joyous, and free.

And I wanted it.

And they said, cool, then just do what we do, sport.

Right?

So all you got to do, man, just just hang out and do what we do.

And uh, you know, it's it's a it's a beautiful thing.

SPEAKER_01: Yeah, truly, truly, truly.

Now, when you told us that in the sleepless nights when you found Tony Robbins on on TV, was that during that first year or after?

SPEAKER_04: Yes, yes, that was shortly after.

I got I got sober in June, and I think I probably I bought that program uh October of the same year.

Okay.

Insomnia, and I was up late.

SPEAKER_01: Yeah.

Thank you, Insomnia.

Right?

You know, thank you, Insomnia, because yeah, you know, that that led the way.

So so now I think it's time we get back to Tony Robbins' event.

You've you've just spent$700, your buddy's telling you you're fire walking, you're like, what the heck are you talking about?

You're prepared for something that, to be quite honest, sounds very scary when they talk about hydrating, bringing snacks.

I don't know that it sounds like something that I would want to pay$700 for, right?

But yet you find yourself there with your buddy and you're doing it.

SPEAKER_04: Well, you know, we showed up, but there was no inkling of me doing it.

Not at that point.

No, it's still a hard no.

It's still a hard note.

Uh when Tony took the stage at two o'clock in the afternoon, and and you're there, and we there was 3,500 people at this event.

Wow.

So, well, the next thing we know, Kevin, it's after midnight.

Oh, wow.

We had been in a room with this guy for 10 hours, and all of a sudden Tony goes, Take your shoes off.

And I'm like, oh no, no, no, no, no, pal.

Uh-uh.

I ain't falling for that.

I am not taking my shoes off.

Well, as I look around me, everybody's taking their shoes off.

And I'm like, oh, come on, people, really?

Can we not?

Can we not?

Can we just get on the same page here?

What are you doing?

Why are why so now I've got I'm so now I'm wrestling with that.

Because if I don't take my shoes off, guess what all these people are gonna think?

Look at Dave, he's a coward.

He's not got his shoes on, he's not gonna firewalk tonight.

So I'm like, okay, fine.

Well, I can play this game, right?

Yeah, I can play this game.

I'll take my shoes off, fine.

But I'm not firewalking.

I'll just go hide in the back.

Yeah.

I know how to play this, okay?

This is gonna be easy.

So as he's got everybody walking out into this giant parking lot, he gets them to start chanting.

And so now they're clapping their hands and they're chanting.

It's like, yes, yes, yes.

And it's super intense when you got 3,500 people.

And as soon as you get outside into this giant parking lot, he's got African drummers.

Oh, really?

Tony, seriously, you have to you have to create an ambiance like that.

It's like, it's so everybody's chanting, yes, yes, and they're clapping, and it's dun dun, dun dun, dun dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun.

And you're like, oh, I've never seen, witnessed anything like this in my life.

And so when you get out there, Tony's got a big fire that's been burning all day over in the corner of the parking lot.

And it's uh, you know, it's every bit of 30 feet wide and 60, 70 to feet long.

And they just stoke it with wood all day.

And at the end of the night, it renders.

And you have this giant pile of coals, and they're gorgeous.

Beautiful blue flame, unbelievable.

Well, with 3,500 people, here's what they do: they would load those coals from that pit into a wheelbarrow.

And then a wheelbarrow, they'd put a wheelbarrow in between two lanes of sod of grass, what they call a fire lane.

Fire lanes three feet wide, 18 feet long.

And then what they would do, Kevin, is they'd just take a flathead shovel and they'd sprinkle those coals on top of the grass.

And that's what you walked on.

Okay.

Well, I'm not interested.

I'm hiding out in the back.

Right?

And that's so that's my plan.

Well, here's the thing: Tony knows, he studied this.

This is why he brought firewalking to America, because he knows it's a very, very profound experience.

It's a rite of passage, it's probably one of the most powerful experiences any human can undergo.

It's just that simple.

Uh, it's a paradigm shift.

And he knows it.

And he knows it's gonna change people's lives big time.

So he wants to do everything he can to get everybody across those coals.

And so, and he knows there's gonna be people hiding out of the back.

So he trained, he trains people to come go get them.

So I'm back there hiding out, and all of a sudden, here comes this guy.

He looks at me and he makes eye contact with me, and now he won't take my eyes, his eyes off me.

Well, Robbins trains him.

Look, when you make eye contact with those people, don't take your eyes off them.

Oh, come on, here we go again.

And so now he gets probably, you know, he's walking at walking towards me, and he gets about 20 feet away from me.

And he kind of bends down, he looks at me with a puzzled look on his face, and he's like, Are you okay?

And when we're not okay, what do we say?

Oh, I'm fine, I'm good, everything's good here, no worries.

And all of a sudden, this guy asked me a question.

Here's one stranger, Kevin.

I have no idea who this guy is to this day.

I wish I did, because I wouldn't be here on the Grayson Inspiration podcast with you if I wasn't, right?

But he says, Well, because I'm like, you know, you know, am I fine?

No, I'm I'm not fine at all.

And he said, Well, are you gonna walk tonight?

And and and I said, Absolutely not.

And he goes, Hey man, that's cool.

It's okay.

We don't want you to do anything you don't want to do.

And I thought, okay, I like this guy.

That's what I want to hear.

Get me out of here.

And then here he goes, here's the question.

One question, one stranger changed my life forever.

And that was, he said, Well, wouldn't you at least like to watch?

And I thought, yeah, that should be entertaining.

Let's go watch these people burn their feet off.

Right?

Okay, I'll do that.

And he said, Well, this man, you can't see anything from back here.

I was a hundred yards away from where they were doing it.

I can hear them.

SPEAKER_02: Yeah.

SPEAKER_04: The big fire going on there, people are chanting, yes, and they're screaming and they're yelling with exhilaration.

And oh my gosh, right?

It's a real dog and pony show.

But he's right.

He goes, You can't see anything from back here.

So just get in line, and eventually you'll get up there close enough you'll be able to see it.

Yeah, right.

You're laughing.

You've got it.

You get it, right?

Yeah.

Yeah, okay.

He tricked me.

Yes.

But he's, you know what, in his defense, he's telling the truth, too.

Yeah.

Right?

Because you can't.

I had to get up there closer.

I couldn't see it.

And so I'm kind of standing there and I'm kind of walking along and walking along, you know, like cattle going to slaughter.

Yeah, right.

Right.

And all of a sudden, this guy, this guy comes up and he whispers in my ear and he goes, He knows when you're ready.

When he says go, you go.

And pew, he took off, just disappeared into the night.

And I'm like, what was that?

Who was that?

I mean, really?

What is going on here?

And all of a sudden I get to a point.

Now I still can't see in front of me, but I can see at an angle.

Okay.

And and and they're doing it, Kevin.

Every race, creed, and color, every age, boom, they're doing it.

I'm watching them.

They are walking on hot coals.

And I'm thinking, what, why?

Why are you doing this?

What's wrong with you?

You know, metaphorically, what's happening here?

Why would people do this?

And so I'm I'm like in a trance.

I'm staring at these people.

I'm just, you know, I can't, it's like, you know, driving by a car accident.

And they, you know, you can't take your eyes off it, right?

It's like you can't help but stare at it.

And I'm staring, I'm staring, I'm staring, and all of a sudden, boom.

Guess where I am?

I'm at the front of the line and I'm looking down at the coals and the on that lane, on that three-foot wide lane and 18 feet long, and they're glowing bright red.

And there's a wheelbarrow there, and you can feel the heat coming off, and I'm staring into the abyss.

My heart is pounding so, I mean, I thought it was gonna jump out of my chest.

I am, I am out of my mind with fear at that moment.

And as I'm staring into the abyss there, there's a trainer standing there.

And all of a sudden the trainer goes, eyes up.

I'm like, oh shoot.

I pull my eyes up.

Well, I'm a slow learner, obviously, because when I was in the room with Tony for 10 hours, guess what he teaches you to do?

Keep your eyes up.

Don't right?

Don't stare at what you fear.

Look to the celebration end.

That's where the reward is.

Oh right?

So now my eyes are up.

And the trainer goes, squeeze your fist and say yes.

And I went, yes.

And he went, stronger.

And I went, yes.

Well, he could tell I wasn't in a peak state.

I was close, but I was leaving a lot on the table.

Well, then he screamed at me.

And he screamed at me really loud, like in my face, stronger.

And now I'm kind of ticked off.

So I threw my hands in the air and I screamed at the top of my lungs, yes.

And the cut and the trainer goes, go, go, go.

I took off.

Well, here's the first thing I learned about firewalking.

When you take the first step, oh, you'll take the second, third, fourth, and fifth.

100%.

You will not stop along the way, I guarantee you.

Well, Tony positions two people at the end of the fire lane, and they they interlock their hands and their arms and they stop you.

And they're like, stop, wipe your feet and celebrate.

So I'm wiping my feet and I'm celebrating.

And I turn around and I look, and the coals are bright red, and I'm thinking, what how what?

I mean, I'm not doing this.

And then all of a sudden I feel it, and I can I can feel I've burnt myself really, really bad.

Super bad.

And I lift up my left, my right foot and I look at it, and it's it's dirty, but there's no burns.

Oh, it's my other foot.

I look at it, it's dirty, but there's no burns.

And so I just walked on coals that were a thousand degrees, and I was successful at it.

But here's what's interesting I had no clue how I did it.

Ever done that, right?

You do something really cool, and you and you're like, that's right, that was me.

And then you go, yeah, but how'd you do it?

You go, I don't know.

Yeah.

And so it was exhilarating.

Right there on the spot.

I had never felt anything like that in my life.

I felt like I could conquer the world.

And so did 3,500 other people.

We were all experiencing the exact same emotion.

We were unstoppable.

Well, that's right where Tony wants you on day one.

This is a four-day event.

Oh, wow.

Okay.

Right?

So that's day one.

That's the night of the first night.

Now you're coming back.

And here's where it gets really interesting, Kevin was the next day.

Because I came in, we're standing in the four-year with 3,500 people.

And I've never to this day experienced anything like it.

Never seen it, never experienced it, other than a Tony Robbins seminar.

And that's the day after the firewalk, the morning after the firewalk.

Because people were laughing, they were crying, they were talking.

You could tell they were having really intense conversations.

Our vibration had been raised.

Our self-worth, our self-confidence, and our self-belief had been risen way above where we normally were.

And we're in a group of 3,500 people and we're all enjoying the same part of that.

And so that's what got me.

Because I'm like, is that what happened last night?

Are we feeling this this morning because of that firewalk?

Because we felt amazing.

You know, again, we're back to the unstoppable part.

Well, again, that's right where Tony wants you.

He goes, takes you right into day two and boom.

So I got to know one of Tony's trainers, his name is Ted Macy, wonderful man, him and his wife, Mary, both trainers, they're out of Atlanta.

And as I was talking to Ted, we just having conversation.

I said, man, this was what a great environment to come and hang out.

He says, Hey man, I don't know if you know it, but see these people wearing all these shirts?

I go, yeah.

And he says, you know, those are volunteers.

And you could become one.

When you get home, call Robins Research.

They'll send you an application, fill it out.

And if they like what they see and hear from you, you might get selected.

Well, I did.

I got home, did it immediately.

Sure enough, a couple weeks after I sent it back, got a letter in the mail, said, Congratulations, Dave Albin.

You've been selected to crew within the Anthony Robbins organization at UPW, at least the power within, the firewalk experience in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

And this was in '95, late '95.

Okay.

And so there I am.

And so when you fill it out, it's like a five-page questionnaire, right?

So they're asking you all kinds of questions.

I had a military background, I had a security background, I was living on a farm.

I knew how to use tools, I knew how to split wood, I knew how to, you know, drive some equipment, that kind of thing.

So they were all over me.

They wanted me.

In fact, because of my security background, they put me on the security team to help take care of some of Tony's celebrities.

And then they also put me on the fire building team outside all day doing that.

So it was like, it was perfect.

It's exactly what I wanted.

Uh wasn't thinking about the security part of it, but the fire team is what I wanted to learn about.

And so I'm out there.

Well, I crewed, I'd I'm not really sure, maybe five or six times.

And by the way, when you when you're a volunteer, you pay your way.

You pay everything.

You pay your airfare, you pay your food, you pay your hotel, you know, you cover all your own cost.

And then I got offered a subcontractor's position to come in and help with the security team on a regular basis at some of the other events where there wasn't a firewalk.

Tony has several events.

UPW has unleashed the power within, the firewalk experience.

He's got wealth mastery, date with destiny, life mastery.

So he's got these other events that he puts on where there's not a firewalk.

And so there I was helping with, you know, on the security team.

Well, I was also later promoted to the assistant captain.

In 97, I believe it was, I was promoted to the assistant captain.

And so now I'm actually, you know, being paid and they're covering all my expenses to go to the events.

Well, in 2003, boy, did my life take another turn.

I was offered the position of fire captain, which meant that it was my responsibility to facilitate all of Mr.

Robinson's firewalks globally.

Wow.

So that was the turning point.

And Tony also paid to have my family travel on the road with me.

When I initially was offered the position, I had to decline it because I homeschooled my kids and I couldn't see myself being away from them for that long period of time.

And they jumped right on it and they said, you know, well, tell you what, we we want you, so we'll we'll pay to have your kids travel with us.

So my my first event with my family on the road with me was Sydney, Australia.

Wow.

Oh, what a bummer.

unknown: Yeah.

SPEAKER_04: Can't you send it somewhere nicer, Tony?

Right.

So uh and then 2005, Kevin, we um we set a world record.

And I say world record, I do want to make sure your listeners understand Guinness Book was not there, but we've we firewalked 12,300 people.

And to my knowledge, there's no firewalk that's ever been anywhere close to that.

Most firewalks outside of the Robbins environment are, you know, 10, 20, 30, maybe 40, 50 people.

In a rare case, maybe 100.

I've done probably some of the biggest private firewalks that's ever been done, 350, 400 people.

We've done a few of those.

But this one was 12,300 people.

Wow.

SPEAKER_01: Um where was that?

SPEAKER_04: London.

London.

Wow.

SPEAKER_02: Yeah, London.

SPEAKER_04: Yeah, we were out at the Docklands at the Excel Center.

Yeah, it was quite a quite an event.

We walked them in about an hour and eight minutes.

I I think we had 37 lanes to walk all those people.

And uh man, it and you know, when people are firewalking, Kevin, they're not they're not lollygagging.

They're not moving.

No.

Right?

Right?

So they're not taking an evening stroll across the coals.

They're they're walking with purpose and they're walking, they're not running, but they're walking briskly, if you will.

SPEAKER_01: So, okay, you got to talk to me a little bit about the firewalk thing.

SPEAKER_04: Because why were your feet not burnt?

Well, you know, that's a great question.

I get asked that a lot.

And guess what?

My answer is I don't have a clue.

I don't, man.

I I've walked hundreds of thousands of people.

I've been immersed in this for 25, oh, close to 30 years, three decades, and I don't know.

Now, I've got my own hallucination, but scientifically, I don't have an answer for you.

And neither did Mythbusters.

Right?

They went out and tried it, and you know, they you know, they got all poo-poo, and you know, they kind of disrespected the fire, and one of them say he got some blisters on his feet.

SPEAKER_02: Yeah.

SPEAKER_04: So here's what I believe maybe is part of it.

Number one, you're in a peak state.

So, what I mean by a peak state, so think professional athlete, think Olympian, think MMA fighters, they get ready to go into the ring.

They're generating a tremendous amount of energy.

That energy is being expelled through their hands and in their feet.

So I don't know, maybe it's energy pushing against energy.

Um, we know that 90% of everybody that walks is not even going to get a little blister.

They will walk with absolutely nothing to show for it on their feet.

10%, 9%, something like that will get a little hot spot on their foot.

I call it a badge of honor anyway.

Yeah.

And I'll tell you when people get burnt, the second time they do it.

Because they've done it the first time and they go out there with this attitude.

Oh, that's look at me, I've already done it.

I, you know, I own this fire.

Well, no, you don't.

Yeah.

Right?

They do.

So a lot of times the second time or the third time they do a firewalk, they'll get a little hot spot.

Now, let me be clear.

You put a little Neil sporn on it and it's gone the next day.

I mean, you know, you're not going to go to the hospital.

Firewalking is actually very safe at the level that we facilitate it.

Yeah.

There are other firewalks out there that are very dangerous, but that culture has been doing those firewalks for hundreds and hundreds of years.

We don't do that.

We keep it very, very, very basic, very beginner.

Sprinkle the coal on the grass, and you walk on top of those.

And again, my job is to do it.

There's three ways to do a firewalk.

They're safe, they're safer, and they're safest.

And that's my job is to create a top 10 experience in somebody's life, not get them burnt.

So we're very consistent in that.

So the bottom line is I just think that maybe it's energy pushing off energy.

And that's, you know, that's the that's the really the only answer that I have for that.

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: No, I mean, that's that's just it's truly incredible.

I'm I'm curious for you personally, traveling all over the world, doing these events.

Is there any moment that stands out?

Like maybe it was one particular person, kind of like you that day, that you did it.

Is there is there anything like that that you could share?

Oh, gosh, yeah.

SPEAKER_04: Well, you know, when you see your children walk for the first time, that's you're never gonna forget that one.

My daughter was six years old.

My son was nine years old.

And uh we were in New York.

We actually were in Secaucus, New Jersey, and at the convention center there.

We had walked all the participants.

We had finished, and Tony knew that my kids wanted were gonna walk, and they were standing over in the shadows.

And so once we walked all the participants, Tony waved them over and they came over, and Tony took my daughter, my six-year-old, by the hand.

I took her by the other hand and we walked her across.

Oh, wow.

Tony and I balled like, you know, like babies.

You know, he's such an emotional guy.

He's he really is.

He's a his his level of love for people, he can't stand to see people suffer.

Yeah.

He hates it.

And so that's one of the driving forces within him.

And then Davey, here comes my son.

Doop, doop doop doop, doop, doop.

You know, he's he's nine years old, you know, he's a lot older than his sister.

And he walks up to the lane and Tony looks at him and he goes, I love you and I love your daddy.

Go.

Right.

And so Junior took off.

And and so, yeah, that's a magical time.

It was a beautiful, beautiful, beautiful moment.

You know, you take a kid and you firewalk them at that age, they never forget it.

Yeah, it does the same thing that it always does self-worth, self-confidence, self-belief.

Because you can't undo it.

Because, you know, once you firewalk, the question is if I can walk on coals at a thousand degrees, what else can I do?

Yeah.

There were other moments too.

Uh, one that sticks out is uh we were in Tampa, I think in 2002, and there was a young man down there, he was a collegian athlete in high school, and he um uh he got hit by a drunk driver and he lost both legs in the accident.

And so that was obviously his life changed in a heartbeat.

And so now he can't run.

Now he's, you know, he can't play football anymore and baseball and wrestling and all these things.

And so his life was crumbling, and he was creating this identity about himself that he was worthless, he'll never get married, he'll never have a family.

I mean, it was it was obviously a devastating experience to him.

Well, he's contemplating suicide.

Well, one of his buddies knew what was going on.

They had talks together and he said, Hey, listen, Tony Robbins is coming to town.

And I know you like Tony, you've listened to him all the time.

You tell me about him.

Why don't you go see Tony and go to his event?

Well, the kid did.

Well, I don't know what's going on.

I have no idea.

I'm just out there at the firewalk doing what I always do.

And I always shoveled Tony's lane.

I'm the guy that laid the coals for his lane because I'm the captain.

It's kind of my job.

And uh, though I did let other people experience it, but for the most part, I did it 95% of the time.

So I'm I'm laying the coals for his lane.

All of a sudden, Tony stops and he turns and he looks at me.

And he's got this real bizarre look on his face.

Like, holy mackerel.

Though I think we're gonna see something extraordinary here in a minute.

And I don't, it's dark out there, so I haven't even seen the kid in the wheelchair yet.

And all of a sudden, there he is.

And he's got one of these, I don't know how to, I don't know, it's a wheelchair 3.0.

I don't know, it's probably made out of titanium and aluminum.

It's kind of like a super type wheelchair.

And all of a sudden there's the kid.

And uh Tony bends down to talk to him, and the kid pushes him off, like, go.

Nope.

I don't need you, Tony Robbins.

I got this.

I'm here.

This is my moment.

I'm gonna seize it.

And he he wheeled that wheelchair up to that fire lane, Kevin, and he positioned his torso, and all of a sudden, uh, he threw himself forward.

Now, this kid's a hell of an athlete to begin with, so he had a lot of other upper body strength, but he threw himself forward, landed on his hands, and he walked across the fire on his hands.

Why?

And that was a very definitive moment for Tony and I.

Because and and all the people standing around that watched it.

Because you can't undo that.

And I remember thinking, okay, I'm real clear why I'm here.

Yeah.

You know, back to that, you know, the two moments, you know, the two most important moments of your life is the moment you were born and the moment you figure out why.

And I knew it was my calling.

I mean, here's a drug addict, alcoholic kid, uh almost died, got kicked out of high school, and now I'm here.

How did I get here?

Well, I had to surrender.

I had to surrender to my alcoholism and my drug addiction.

And and I did, and come to find out that one of the smartest things any human can do on this planet is ask for help when you need it.

Interesting.

SPEAKER_02: Yeah.

SPEAKER_04: And yet, so few of us do it.

Yet it's a very high form of intelligence.

Well, I didn't know that at the time.

I just wanted help, man.

I was tired of the pain.

So there was a lot of moments, kind of like that.

I saw extraordinary things, people, you know, 100 years old, young kids.

And then in 2014, my life took another turn.

I'm driving down the road, my phone rings, and it's a company called Google.

Okay.

Right?

They're like, hey, are you the Dave Albert that does the firewalks for Tony Robbins?

Yes, I am.

What can I do for you?

Well, we'd like to talk to you about hiring you.

So, you know, obviously we want to see, you know, are you under any contractual obligation or non-compete?

And if you're not, you know, again, we'd like to talk to you.

I'm like, well, the good news is homeboy's a free agent, so I can do what I want.

And so we ended up doing, they had 148 executives that were graduating from this class that the University of North Carolina had created the curriculum.

And so they wanted to do a, they wanted to anchor it in and they wanted to create an incredible experience for that graduation.

Okay.

And we ended up doing a glass walk.

And we did a glass walk because we did it during the day, and the scheduling wouldn't allow to do the firewalk because that has to be done at night.

And so when I told them, well, listen, we can do a glass walk, they said, Well, that's interesting.

Tell us about that.

They went for it.

And that's just where I show people how to walk on broken glass.

And for some, it's more scarier than the firewalk.

That's exactly what I thought.

Right?

So you've cut yourself, have you, Kevin?

Yes.

Yeah, right.

And so uh, yeah, we ended up doing uh two gigs for Google.

And that's another thing.

So when I was there, I had a conversation with a couple of the executives, and they said, hey man, we want you to know something.

There's a huge marketplace for what you're doing.

Corporate team building at this level is there's nothing like it.

This is a life-changing paradigm shift experience.

And so corporate America is starving for this kind of a thing.

And you're at the top of the heap, dude.

So you may want to consider starting your own company and offering it because corporate America will tear this up.

There's not a CEO out there or an entrepreneur that that understands that if you if you want change, then you got to get people up and to do something, right?

Because it's just the way it works, right?

Because the fears we don't overcome become our limits.

And what doesn't challenge us doesn't change us.

Navy SEALs don't become Navy SEALs by sitting in a classroom.

Now, granted, they do sit in a classroom, but they're out doing stuff that's challenging them at a very, really, really high level.

And again, firewalk has been around a thousand years.

I just found the sweet spot, and I'm the guy now that can go out and when a client comes to us, like I've this weekend, I've got I've got a private individual coming to my home, and I'm doing a private firewalk for her.

Wow.

So I've done everything from 12,300 people to one.

Well, let me ask you.

And I love that.

I love it when people come to my home and do this.

SPEAKER_01: Let me ask you is it more difficult for one person versus 12,000 because you don't have the power, the momentum in the air from all those other people?

SPEAKER_04: Well, I love the privacy of, you know, just a few people.

Because it's very intimate.

They get to connect with me.

SPEAKER_02: Yes.

SPEAKER_04: We get to hang out, we get to meet, you know, we meet, we know, we become friends on Facebook, we, you know, we do, we do all that.

So I love that part.

I just absolutely love it.

And especially, you know, sometimes it's a family.

Yeah.

I've done some, I've done some gigs where they bring their kids.

And that's really intimate because I really get to know the kids and the family.

And uh, one of my clients, his name is Matt Schaup.

He owns uh, he's in northern Colorado.

He owns Northern Colorado Jiu-Jitsu, and he owns a painting business.

He owns a roofing company and commercial real estate.

And he wrote a book called Painted Baby.

If your viewers want to read a good book, go Google Painted Baby.

It is a phenomenal book.

Well, anyway, I went out there to do a firewalk for him and uh NFL player uh who's an incredible, incredible football player.

His name's Adam Carriker.

Well, he him, him and his wife Angie came to the event.

Adam's a first-round draft pick out of Nebraska and went on to play for the Rams and the Redskins and, you know, great football player.

He injured his knee and it entered his career.

Well, I came back a year and a half later, and and Angie, his wife, reached out and said, Hey, can we bring our kids?

They got six kids.

I'm like, wow, you guys are pretty busy in the offseason.

I hope they hear this too, because I love them.

We're really good friends today.

Uh, and so they brought the kids, and we firewalked the kids.

Wow.

Uh, the the youngest was a three-year-old, and Adam actually carried her across the fire, which was a beautiful thing to watch.

Yeah.

But we also incorporate into that the board break.

So I bring two really powerful experiences together and create, I believe, one of the most magnificent experiences pretty much any human can have, especially when it comes to a team bonding or a team building experience.

Because I take them through the board break, right?

So it's a it's a martial arts move, it's real simple.

But they break a board with their bare hands.

And what I do is I have them write something on front of the board they want to move towards.

And then I have them write something on the back of the board they need to move away from.

And then I invite them to write anybody's name on that board that they're in conflict with.

So if there's restitution or reconciliation or forgiveness going on with that person, put their name on the board.

It ends tonight.

And then to create a rite of passage, Kevin, and keep, you know, kind of ceremonial and ancestral side to the firewalk.

I have them write anybody's name on the board that they've lost.

And then so they break the board, and then we take them out to the firewalk, and they do the firewalk, and then they circle back, and then they add the board to the fire.

And then there's another experience that I add that's proprietary out there as well, that I get everybody's heart who's in attendance, to beat at the same time.

And so there's there's nothing like it on earth.

There's just not.

Wow.

And I'm the guy that's been so blessed that I get to go out there and do that.

SPEAKER_01: Wow.

Wow.

That's absolutely amazing.

I have to ask you, was it hard for you to leave Tony Robbins' team?

Well, yes and no.

SPEAKER_04: And I I'd been with him for almost 20 years.

I was really close to 20 years.

Wow.

And it's, and you know, and when I did retire, you know, after I came back from Google and I said, Hey, Tony, I need to talk to you.

And we had a conversation in the green room after the event, and he's like, You're leaving, aren't you?

Well, I am, I am.

And I want you to know something.

You're in good hands.

There's six people on your team right there that can do my job.

You don't need me anymore.

You literally don't.

Him and I wrote a wonderful wave all the way to the beach.

We were together at 9-11.

I've got so many memories with that man.

He's such a sweet and wonderful human.

To me and my family, he was just a beautiful, beautiful human being.

And, you know, I got to know his wife, Sage, really well too.

And she's very sweet and was wonderful to my kids.

Tony and Sage treated my kids like, you know, like royalty.

Yeah, I'll never forget that.

And I will love them both to the moon and back for the way they treated my family.

So yeah, it was, you know, and it was time for me to go.

It was time for me to go on my own.

And he got that.

He knew it.

He supported it.

So, and if I hadn't, then you know, again, I wouldn't be on your podcast here today.

Because after Google, I was at NASA and then Notre Dame, and then Virginia Tech, and then Remax, Chick-fil-A, Heineken, Microsoft, the Entrepreneur Organization, EO, uh, and just a ton of other businesses.

And I do a lot of kids.

I love doing kids.

Uh the YMCA, I do junior high schools, I do high schools, you know, we do board breaks, things of this nature.

In fact, because of my podcasting, I just got asked to come put on a firewalk in November down in Boca Ratan for 1,200 veterans.

Wow.

Yeah, man.

I'm really, really, excuse the punt here, but I'm really stoked to be doing this.

SPEAKER_00: Yes.

SPEAKER_04: Yeah.

So we're going to create what I call the do no harm firewalk.

So we we know the numbers out there right now are about 22 a day are committing suicide.

Well, come to find out that number's not accurate.

There's closer to 40.

And so I'm a vet.

I've got a lot of friends that are vets.

My dad was a highly decorated vet in World War II.

Uh, lots of friends and family in Vietnam and all that.

The idea that I can go create a firewalk that it's going to be called the do no harm, because I'm going to make them take an oath and I'm going to have them swear to a creed that if they firewalk in this in the experience that night, that they promise not to do themselves any harm.

And I'm going to ask them to make sure that they bring their brothers and sisters back so that we can get them across the fire as well.

So the bottom line, Kevin, is if we can save one life doing it that way, it's all worth it.

Yeah.

So when they approached me to do it, because they can't afford me.

I mean, I I don't, I mean, I'm not trying to be I mean, for you know, you you do 1,200 people.

There, there's a lot involved.

Yeah.

And there's a lot of people.

And so I've got a group of people that will volunteer to come do it.

And uh, as soon as I announced it on my Facebook page, my instant messenger started ringing off the hook.

Everybody was raising their hands to say, hey, I want to come help.

And that's the community.

That's who we are.

This is what we do.

So, you know, again, who knows who's listening on your podcast?

I don't know what's going to come of this, right?

I just know that a lot has been given to me.

And so that means that I might, it's payback.

And, you know, I believe that if you help enough people get what they want in life, you'll always get what you want.

I learned that in AA.

I remember thinking, wow, there's no greater gift.

And it makes you feel so good when a new person comes in and you get them on track.

And then they pick up a chip, and then, you know, they sober a couple of months, and then they, you know, a year, and then they turn their life around, and then their family starts to love and trust them again.

I mean, it's just it's hard to explain.

I I can't.

I just know that it's one of the most wonderful feelings any human being can have.

And so, again, uh, for that I'm responsible.

SPEAKER_01: Yeah.

Well, uh Dave, man, I want to just sincerely thank you for being so open, for sharing your journey that you've been on.

Um, that is truly the essence of inspirational, of motivating, empowering in the fact that it's a reminder that it doesn't matter where we are, at the lowest of lows, there is still more life to be lived.

And you are a beautiful, beautiful example of that.

And I just sincerely thank you for for being on the podcast today.

Where can people go to learn more who want to be crazy and walk across fire?

You know, where where's the best place for them to go?

And I will be sure that whatever the information you give me will be inside of the episode show notes for easy access.

SPEAKER_04: Well, first of all, Kevin, thank you for that.

And you know what?

Here's the thing, what you just said.

You know, that's why I'm here, because it's great, grace, and inspiration.

Yep.

And you and I had a conversation and we got to know each other before your podcast.

And I'm looking at you going, look at what this guy's doing.

You've got your own challenges.

And I know your listeners know that.

Yep.

And so to be able to come on here with you is very humbling, and I'm super grateful.

Uh, I just want to say that publicly.

So I want to thank you for that.

Uh so the question is, how can somebody get a hold of me?

Just go to our website.

Real simple, it's firewalkadventures.com.

Firewalkadventures with an S is all one word.

Now, there is one thing I will do for your listeners.

I have what's called the Dave Albin Firewalk Academy.

I do it once a year, and people come who want to learn what I do.

So they come to the academy and we teach them all this stuff.

We teach them the board break, the brick break, the arrow break, the rebar bending, the firewalking, the glass walking, the storytelling, all of it.

And so companies can send people from their company, CEOs or entrepreneurs, whoever, can come, trainers, coaches, whatever.

We have a wide variety of people that come to the academy.

We do 10 people an event.

That's it.

I cut it off at 10.

And that way it's back to what we were talking about earlier, Kevin.

And that is, I keep it really, really intimate.

So if they go to our website, firewalkadventures.com, in the top left-hand corner, there's a tab that says Academy, Firewalk Academy.

And if you click on that, you can watch some videos, you can read up on it.

And if it resonates with you and you think this is something you would definitely like to come do for them being on your show and, you know, being on your podcast, I'm I'm gonna give you a code.

They'll get a substantial discount for bringing that code from your show to me.

And that code is 6828.

And so I put that out there for your listeners as well.

SPEAKER_01: Well, fantastic.

I will be sure that that is left inside of the episode show notes.

So for you who are interested, dying to explore more, please scroll down, check out the episode show notes for easy access.

Dave, dude, you're amazing.

Absolutely amazing.

And uh, thank you, brother.

Yeah, man.

And uh thank you for being here today.

It's my pleasure.

And I'll close with this stop looking for heroes and be one.

Just like you, brother.

Love it, love it.

For you listening today, my hope, as always, is that you heard something said by my guest, by this amazing guy who didn't just leave you entertained, but truly left an impact on you that maybe sparked that little spark that you've been needing to light that's gonna now make you realize, you know what?

If he can do it, so can I.

That's the whole point of this podcast.

So, with that said, it's your turn to get out there and take on the day with grit, grace, and inspiration.