Dawn Taylor|2/27/2023

Transcript:

Dawn Taylor 00:09

Hey, hey, welcome to the Taylor way talks. I am so excited for this conversation today. I am hanging out with the infamous Vic Pipke, he from SWAT to not. And I don't mean that in a negative thing. But after 21 years of a policing career, including a dozen years with the SWAT team, he had a life-threatening injury that prevented him from continuing. He couldn't keep going, he couldn't pursue his dream, he couldn't keep going in that job. Right? So like this massive shift of identity, but also the fact that, like, how do you find your purpose again? How do you find your excitement again? And how do you deal with a brain injury, but he now owns this amazing company called Vic Pipke's financial warriors, where he is really helping families across North America, starting in Canada, overcome financial stress worries, figuring out their financial futures. It's outstanding what he's doing. But let's welcome him to the show. Welcome back. Thank you so much for being here today.

Vic Pipke 01:09

Thanks so much, Dawn, really, really excited to spend some time with you. I love spending time with you anytime we can. I know we met a couple of years ago. And you know, we've had some really awesome conversations and next to my wife, because this is being recorded. You're one of my favorite women in the world.

Dawn Taylor 01:28

I'll take it, and I will not tell your wife you said that!

Vic Pipke 01:31

She might hear about it, but I'm not sure.

Dawn Taylor 01:35

Well, thank you so much. So the reason why I asked Vic actually to be on the podcast today is you have had a really crazy stories. So we're just gonna dive right into that. We're wishing people talked about what it's like to completely lose your career or your identity after an extended period of time when your world kind of gets turned on its axes, and you have to change anything and everything in your world. You've lost your identity, you've lost your career, you've lost all those things. And I have to recover. Can you tell us a bit about your story and where this all started?

Vic Pipke 02:10

Yeah, absolutely. So like, you know, it's really for my, for me, my story started as a little boy. The only thing I ever wanted to do was be a policeman. Five years old, that was the only thing I ever focused on. It wasn't like, I wanted to be a fireman, or an astronaut, anything like that. That was what I wanted to do. And that was predicated by a lot of really awesome stuff that my parents and my grandparents instilled in me about being of service to other people. You know, I was told at a very young age the best life you can live is a life of service, and impact other people's lives, don't focus inward, focus outward. And if you do that, the world is gonna give you what you need to be happy. And so being a policeman was the way I wanted to do it. And, you know, I went to schooling for law enforcement and criminology and, and all this other stuff. And when I got into policing, it was in the 90s. And some people on podcasts might understand what the 90s are and what I am about to say. But just in case you don't, the 90s was a very interesting time to get into the law enforcement world. No one was hiring, the economy was not good. So you're getting 1000s and 1000s, and 1000s of people applying for a dozen, 15, 20 positions with the police service.

Dawn Taylor 03:23

Oh, wow, very different, very different from now where they're almost begging you to do it!

Vic Pipke 03:28

Very different! But it also meant that they could pick the best of the best. And so you had to up your game, you couldn't just walk in, and because you were a certain height, or male or whatever, you were gonna to get a job. You had to be in fen- fi- final, incredible physical shape. You had to have education, you had to have great interpersonal skills, you had to have experience. You had to have a lot of different things that maybe weren't as heavily judged, I guess, prior to that. So I went through three applications to get into the Edmonton police services. The only police service that I wanted to work for at the time was very, very highly regarded throughout the world. Because I wanted to be part of the best. And I remember being a young boy, watching the TV show SWAT and thinking, if I'm going to be a policeman, that's the kind of policeman I want to be. So my entire focus, my entire career, was getting into the SWAT team. And I was very fortunate and blessed to be successful and work in that environment for a very long time. And so for the better part of, say, 35 years, I focused on that. My drive was to be the absolute best I could be at that role. And you know, I started at the bottom in the SWAT team as a breacher and then moved up to be, you know, an entry guy and a scout and then, you know, at times I was the team leader, and you know, it was outrageously rewarding career, and I was living my dream. And I had plans. I had a lot of plans, but while I was busy making plans, a life had a plan for me.

Dawn Taylor 04:58

So this like massive identity, this massive, crazy identity from this five-year-old kid.

Vic Pipke 05:04

Yep, absolutely. That's all I wanted to do in life, right was to make an impact in my community in the world through helping people that maybe don't have the resources to help themselves.

Dawn Taylor 05:14

So let's talk about some of the other side of it, too, is at this point, like, you had kids, you got married, right? Like, there, there was a whole family involved in this too, which is all part of this whole identity thing, right?

Vic Pipke 05:25

Yeah, absolutely. And, you know, it's really, it's really strange. I think some people will relate to this is that when people asked me, you know, "tell me about Vic; who's Vic?" I'm a SWAT cop. I didn't talk about who I was. I talked about what I did!

Dawn Taylor 05:39

Okay, that is so common!

Vic Pipke 05:41

Yeah! My identity was what I did.

Dawn Taylor 05:43

That is so common

Vic Pipke 05:44

like, it is really sad. Because I think it was a disservice to my family, my friends, you know, I'm a great friend. I'm a great family member, husband, father, grandfather now, right, I've an awesome nine-year-old grandson. He's so cool! But yeah, it was it was really it was my identity was my job.

Dawn Taylor 06:01

Yeah.

Vic Pipke 06:02

And, you know, like I said, life had a different plan for me. And, you know, we were we were at a point that was in my, in my career where I was planning to move to that next level. And we were planning what's called a run-off, which is like an event that that tests the aptitude and the skills of people that want to get into the unit. And in order to set the standards, we have to basically do a mini run-off ourselves to set that standard because we can't ask more people that we can't do ourselves. And in the middle of this little mini run-off, my carotid artery ruptured. And I had no blood flow to one entire hemisphere of my brain. But being a really, really stubborn, good soldier, I finished that run-off with only half a brain. So when people say, hey, you know what, you can't do things with only half a brain. I proved you can. If you have determination, right, but I finished despite the fact that the second night I had this injury, it was like overwhelming headache, tunnel vision, I lost feeling in my extremities. I went from 100% speed and power to like 1%. But I just I push through, I push through, I pushed through until I got home and started to have stroke-like symptoms. And that was when you know, it was time to go to the hospital. I went to the hospital in a packed hospital. We all know what it's like how frustrating it can be to be in a hospital waiting room and the emergency. I was in a gown in a room, being rushed to an MRI, a CT scan. Sorry, within five minutes.

Dawn Taylor 07:30

Wow! Ok. So let's backtrack a second.

Vic Pipke 07:34

Yeah.

Dawn Taylor 07:35

That drive... So you and I know each other outside of this podcast. So that drive though that, oh, wait, my brain just pretty much blew up, and I still can't stop. I still can't take care of myself. I still can't. I still can't fail.

Vic Pipke 07:52

 Exactly.

Dawn Taylor 07:53

Can we talk about that for a sec? Because that is something that... I was chatting with a friend this morning and someone was attacking her on social media. And she commented, she's like, do you remember that time we were at that event and that woman... She's a public bully in our city. And she was like, I remember the time we were at that event, that woman was coming up to me, and you saw me having a panic attack, and you completely stepped in front and like blocked her from me? And, like, walked her away kindly? But you totally just stood up for me. She's like, you're a badass, though. Like, you'll do that even for yourself! And I laughed because I was like, Yeah, but I wouldn't have years ago, I wouldn't have stood up for myself 10,20, 30 years ago, like I wouldn't, I wouldn't oh, yeah, I'll be a badass for you any day. Now I'll stand up for myself as well. But in that moment, where did that- where did that core belief even come from in you? That it's like, no, no, no, but I have to keep going, and I can't stop!

Vic Pipke 08:50

Well, number one, I think it's that environment, that environment is, hey, you go until you can't go any more. You need to-, you need to it's a massive brotherhood, right? And you need to show the people that you're working with every day that no matter what happens when you walk through that door on a mission, that you're going to go until you can't possibly go anymore. Until you know someone strikes you down, something happens that prevents you from physically being able to go another step. You're not going to stop. Right? And there's there's that trust that you build inside. I mean, I woke up every morning, worked out every morning, ate breakfast with every morning, trained with the same guys went on vacation with the same guys for the better part of a decade. And, like, you spend that much time in a tight-knit group like that? You don't want to let those people down, and you don't want to show weakness, so that was really a big driving force. I didn't want to let my team down. And you know, in some respects, I think it can be detrimental, but in other respects, it builds that bond. And that bond is the most important thing in that environment. Right, because you do need to have that trust with those brothers and sisters that you work with. Because if you don't have that, you might hesitate to do something, and you can put the rest of the team in a really crappy position. So that was really my thinking was don't stop, just, you can't quit. And I think now, where I've evolved to now, that mentality is still there, but it serves me in a better way.

Dawn Taylor 10:18

In a way of like, but wait, I... Like it because I get it; I get the whole, like, you were a SWAT member. Of course, you guys have to like trust each other. And there's, there's a totally different level of connection that has to happen, and that push to the death. But it's still that at what point? Am I willing to actually sacrifice my life and my health for the betterment of the group? Versus actually like acknowledging that, hey, wait a second, this isn't okay.

Vic Pipke 10:45

And that's, that's, that's a tough line to cross, right? Because this is your family in some respects. I mean, you know that if the bullets start flying, you're going to step in front of one if it means you're going to save the guy behind you. But that's why we wear armour. So that's cool!

Dawn Taylor 11:05

I was gonna say, at least you have that!

Vic Pipke 11:07

At least we get some armor. But yeah, I mean, it is it is a tough line to distinguish, like, when do you when is your behaviour going to get so toxic to you that it's actually hurting the rest of the team or your family because that's really what comes down to at the end of the day. Yeah, it's like a family atmosphere. But I'm sorry; as much as I love all those guys that I worked with, they're not my family. I still had to go home to a family. And I can say this now, having been in the in the industry, in law enforcement and out of law enforcement, the mindset of a police officer it is horrible. And if there are other police officers listening, I hope you're paying attention. Because it is horrible. We get up every day. And we anticipate having to deal with the worst-case situation of every person we interact with. Why? Because we want to increase the chances of being able to go home at the end of the day. So we have to assume the worst of every human being we encounter. And at first it starts out of work. But it starts to like morph into this ugly monster where you think the entire world is evil. And the entire world is out to get you. And, and I understand it now being on the outside looking in, that, you know, it's necessity, it has to be that way. Otherwise, you're going to take risks that could put you in a really crappy position, and maybe you don't get to go home today. Right? But being on the other side now, and I talked to so many police officers now, it's like, you know what? If you just understood that it's not you against the world. There's actually the vast majority of people in this world that are amazing human beings. That if they had the skill set, and the desire to put themselves in position where you were, they would do it. And that's been my experience since leaving the police service. And it's been an entire mind shift. Right? Like it's, I had to change my entire mindset. I had this this injury-

Dawn Taylor 13:05

So let's backtrack to that. So you land in the hospital. Five minutes you're in?

Vic Pipke 13:10

Yeah.

Dawn Taylor 13:11

Let's go there, then what happens?

Vic Pipke 13:13

Yeah, well, it was it was a whirlwind for me because I was still I was still in, disbelief, right. I, was, I was like, Okay, this can't happen to me. I've never done drugs in my life. I am not a heavy drinker. I exercise three to four hours a day. Plus, my job is physically straining. You know, in my mid-40s, I was at a very high fitness level. And so I'm just thinking like, this is just a headache. You know what, they're just gonna give me some aspirin. It's something minor. And then when they're rushing in, and I'm like, Okay, why are they injecting me with this radioactive dye? Like this, that's it. This is a lot more serious than I'm thinking. And they got me out of the the CT scan. And I went back to the the emergency room that I was I was in, and nurses like, within minutes, they rush in, they rip the curtain back, and they're starting to poke me with blood thinners.

Dawn Taylor 14:06

And those hurt, by the way, if you've never had a blood thinner?

Vic Pipke 14:09

They are putting crap in my body. Like, what's going on?

Dawn Taylor 14:12

Those hurt like acid burning in your body

Vic Pipke 14:14

Oh, and in your stomach! And the doctor came he said, Okay, I don't want to alarm you, but this is really serious. You've had what's called carotid dissection. The inner lining of your carotid artery has ruptured and collapse. It's been a massive, massive dissection block. And effectively, you got no brain flow for 24 hours. And I'm like, what do you mean like I'm walking, I'm talking, I'm like he's like we- and you'll know later, on the neurosurgeons I consulted with and stuff they said there's no medical reason you should have survived that incident. We cannot understand how you lived.

Dawn Taylor 14:49

I've talked to lots lately with with friends, and I'm going to do podcast. A solo podcasts on it soon. Of how there was a one in 750 thousand people chance that I survived a brain aneurysm. And 20. Some years later, like I was supposed to be dead. We talk about these and breeze through them. And I'm like, No, we need to sit with that for a second, like, how crazy is that?

Vic Pipke 15:15

It really makes me believe that you know, and I mean, whether you're spiritual or religious, or whatever. I mean, this isn't a comment on anyone else's belief system. But I truly believe that, that that injury was a gift. Because the path I was going down was not number one going to be good for me. But I also wasn't going to be able to serve at the level that I meant to serve. It was a training ground for where I was going. And so, I mean, the first couple of months sucked. It sucked, right? I wasn't at work because of the brain injury. I was outrageously tired. Like I would sleep 20 hours a day, I have, even with that, I had this migraine headache, and it's a headache I've had since the day of the injury, not one second of one day, I have not had this this headache. So currently, right now I have a migraine headache. I have tinnitus that rings in my ears like like an air raid siren going off 24/7, that obviously makes sleep a little bit challenging. And for the first few months, man, it was a pity party. I pitied myself. How could this happen to me? We so many people that live unhealthy lives don't have to deal with this kind of just happened to me, and I don't deserve this. And I have a problem with the word deserve. Now, by the way,

Dawn Taylor 16:35

OK, I preached that all the time to people I'm like, deserve has nothing to do with it. You get what you work for.

Vic Pipke 16:42

Exactly! But you know what there was at one point in the life of me, I don't understand what it was. I think it was just getting to the mindset that I can't serve at the level that I'm comfortable serving. I need to find another thing I can serve. And I started to think of my injury instead of a curse as a blessing. Because when I was out of the environment, I started to realize what the world is really like. I wasn't shrouded by this veil of false information, false beliefs. Whether they're necessary or not, they were false. And it lifted this weight off of me to be able to realize that I am not my job. And I can do other things. So you know, some of you say, how do you deal with a headache 24 hours a day, seven days a week, tinnitus, fatigue. It reminds me of how blessed I am. Because I could choose to think of it another way. But here's the cool thing. You get to choose how you think about things. You choose! So I could think negatively, or I could choose to think of it as a blessing that led me on another much more fulfilling path. That's gonna impact way more people. So I choose that because I'm not I tried the other one, and it sucked! I tried thinking the other way for a couple of months. And man, it was just a pit of despair. Depression. BS. Crap. It wasn't it was nothing was horrible. So when I chose to think differently, and it didn't come just for me. It came from associating with people that helped me to think differently. You're not an island, as a SWAT guy. You need to be the tough guy. You need to be the guy that everyone can go to, the guy that solves everything. When I realized I wasn't alone. I wasn't on an island. And that there were people out there that were going to help me.

Dawn Taylor 18:30

Oh, 100%.

Vic Pipke 18:32

Like we talked about that, you got to put that ego away. And I stuck with it. I'm not, I'm not, I'm not perfect. I still fight with you. Every day. And I gave people heck! I got testosterone, I have an ego. But you can work with it. And you can learn how to work with your ego.

Dawn Taylor 18:50

Which is, and I've been able to watch part of it. Right. And it's it's so cool to be part of so with that. What's the other than the headaches and the tinnitus and things like that? What are some of the side effects that have happened since?

Vic Pipke 19:05

Um, well, I mean, at first, it was, you know, there was a lot of disbelief that I can do anything other than what I'm doing. And I don't know if it's just a law enforcement thing or if this is prevalent in most people's lives, but I think we really devalue what we have to bring. And, you know, when I started looking for some way else to impact people, I actually got I was suggested that I looked at the financial industry by my advisor. And my first words to him is, you know, I blow stuff up, right? I don't know if I have too many transferable skills. But it got me to thinking, it intrigued me I have to think what skills do I have as a police officer that could be transferable? Well, I was a negotiator. I was an interrogator. I was a SWAT guy. So I'm great at teamwork and leading. You know, there were a lot of things that I'm like, wow, you know what, there are things outside of the law enforcement world that I can actually be good at. And it also got me thinking, what was it that I actually did as a police officer? Right, I responded to these crimes, but when I really boiled down the cause of all the crime and social disorder that I'd ever seen in my entire career, it all came down to money troubles! Like, wow, what if I take all the skills that were that I built responding to the problem and I looked at it from a different perspective? I said, hey, if I can go and educate people, and help people, prevent them from getting into the position where they're making bad decisions because I mean, almost everything comes down to money. If I can prevent that from happening, I'll actually make a bigger impact in my community, because I'll be working proactively rather than reactively. And that was my big shift. I was like, I don't have to change who I am. I'm going to use the skills I learned before, I'm going to take this blessing of this injury. And I'm going to transform those skills into something that's going to serve people at a significantly higher level than anything I could have ever thought of doing as a police officer!

Dawn Taylor 21:04

So for someone listening, though, it sounds like it was just an easy perspective shift that you're just like, woke up one day, and it was like, Oh, my gosh, you know what? This horrific things just happen? I've lost 35 years of my identity. And now I'm going to just make this shift, and everything's gonna be okay. I mean, I'm sitting here going, Oh, no, no, no, no, it's not that easy.

Vic Pipke 21:26

I just changed my mind!

Dawn Taylor 21:27

Trust me, it's not that easy! So let's talk about that. So for someone listening, like I had my Julia Roberts moment, and what I mean by that is in Runaway Bride, Runaway Bride... I know, I know, old movie, Richard Gere, Julia Roberts, amazing show. But she had this moment where for people, if you haven't watched the movie, which you should, she has been to the altar was like, what, three or four times with different men. And she'd make it like most of the way up the aisle. And one of the scenes like, she literally is like dragging the flower girl holding on to her dress as she runs back out of the church. And this, this reporter is hearing about this, and he's laughing, and he thinks its funny. And he wants to write this story and pick apart this woman and, like, why can she never make it to the altar? Like, what is wrong with her? That she bails on all of her fiance's? And what do you realize this is one of the things that she becomes everybody that she's with, and she's totally lost her identity. She's totally lost her identity, and she becomes this. And he realizes it in a way of he's watching how she likes her eggs because he's interviewing all these guys and asking them questions. And one is like, Oh, she, loves scrambled eggs with me every morning, and we'd go on motorbike rides, we whatever it was right. And then the next one's, like, egg whites done with right like, and it's totally different every single time. And there was this moment where he makes her like every kind of egg you could possibly eat. And he's yelling at her that she doesn't even know what kind of eggs she wants or that she likes. And she's trying to justify it. And that when I watched that was such a big, like, shit moment for me. Because for myself, there was so much of me that I was trying to hold of the old person to keep everybody around me healthy, healthy and happy. Retaining who you know, Dawn 1.0 had been, and not changing shifts too much because that made people around me scared.

Vic Pipke 23:37

Yeah.

Dawn Taylor 23:37

Or uncomfortable, or they didn't recognize that person. But for me, it was this big aha moment in my life where I was like, I don't know what kind of eggs I like, where that struggle came in. But also like that anger, that rage that, like I, my husband laughs to this day. He always jokes that I should have written... My book is called "P.S. I Made It" but he was joke that it should have been like, "You Haven't Taken Me Out Yet, God!" Because he came home from work one day, and I was screaming at God. And I was like, I was just raging mad at everything I'd been through my life. And I was like, "Bring it on, Big Boy, you haven't taken me out yet!" And I actually was screaming that in tears at God. And my husband walked in the door from work. And it was like, oh, boy, she's having a rough day. I know. Can you imagine I laughing I'm thinking about it. But...

Vic Pipke 24:30

Okay, here we go!

Dawn Taylor 24:31

So much of that was what my dream of my life, what it should have been? Right? What I wanted it to be what I visioned it to be all of those things. And now I'm sitting in this position where it's like, oh, no, you can't go to school, and you can't have that career, and you can't have kids, and you can't do all those things. And you're going to look different and sound different and not think the same and not feel the same and struggle with again, like you migraines for the rest of your life, and you know all of these things, and so when you're in that position when you're in the depths of the hell of the shit, I want to talk about that for a second. Because that's what nobody talks about. And it's it's actually it's one of my rants, which is what started this whole podcast, was hearing speakers, reading books, where it's like, life was horrible. Now, I'm amazing! You should do the same! And it's like, no, no, no. Talk to me about what was it like in that? And then what did you actually tangibly do? Like, how hard was it? How did you self-sabotage? What did happen? What decisions did you make that you're not proud of? Do you know what I mean? It's like those things. That is like, no, what was it really like in that place that someone else can feel seen and heard? If you're willing to go there?

Vic Pipke 25:48

Yeah, absolutely. I think the big thing was I wanted to escape. I would do anything not to think about what the next step was going to be. Where I was going to go, how I was going to impact my family, how I was going to need to change to be a different person. I mean, obviously, one of the things that everyone is concerned about is, hey, I gotta be able to make money to pay the bills. So, you know, fortunately, the Edmonton Police Service are really good. It's not like they said, you have a brain injury, you're fired. Right? They said, hey, we're gonna find a place for you. It was the most mind-numbingly horrible position I could ever think of. And I still did some pretty cool things. But in general, it was absolute death to me. I went from very high level to basically being a, you know, a big, you know, counting ammunition registering serial numbers.

Dawn Taylor 26:40

Ugh!

Vic Pipke 26:41

and being of here's the big word of zero significance. I was significant before. Now, I'm not.

Dawn Taylor 26:48

I am sorry about that. How hard was that?

Vic Pipke 26:51

Oh my god! that was, that was my, that was the big deal. Right. And it wasn't until the first time we kind of sat down. I came to that reality, right? This was years after. I, you know, I left the police service already, that we actually figured out that my big deal was, I lacked significance again, and I'm a very significance-driven person, I want to be significant in other people's lives. And when that was robbed of me, there was like, dark, dark depression. Right, I all of a sudden, had to take all these pills just to live every day. And there was a time I thought of taking them all.

Dawn Taylor 27:30

How dark to that depression go.

Vic Pipke 27:31

Probably the the day that I realized it was gonna kill me was when I went to work. And I sat in my car. And I looked at my access card key. And it was like, if I have to go in that building again, I'm gonna kill myself. And that was when wow! My kids, my grandkids, family, everyone else started (unintelligible). I obviously, I can't do that. So what am I going to do? Because if I don't have something to look forward to, this will kill me.

Dawn Taylor 28:09

So for someone listening who's in that dark place. They're sitting in their car, looking at their job, looking at their business, looking at their home, looking at their whatever, right? I always used to say mine was in the shower, right standing in the shower, crying because the water washes away those tears, and no one will know. What is a piece of advice you would give to them in that moment, shift or pivot their life even by one degree?

Vic Pipke 28:37

That's a great word. I love it!

Dawn Taylor 28:38

I'm not talking a massive mental shift is saying, hey, you're in the depths of depression. You need to find gratitude. No, no, that doesn't work. That doesn't work when you're in those moments, right? What is... What are one or two things that you would recommend to someone in that moment to help even, like, get them onto a different path?

Vic Pipke 28:57

Well, here's the thing is when you're in that position, you don't see a finish line.

Dawn Taylor 29:01

Yep

Vic Pipke 29:02

Like you can't even really see yourself in the game, let alone winning the game. A couple of things. Number one, know that you're not alone. You might think that you have a unique set of circumstances that no one else will understand, or no one else can relate to. But you are not by far unique in your situation. And that's not a comment on a person individually. Your situation is not unique. There are a lot of people that will deal with what you're dealing with throughout throughout time. The second thing is I would just say, don't think of the finish line. Think about one more day.

Dawn Taylor 29:37

Get through that day. Okay. Emotions are good around here.

Vic Pipke 29:41

So one of the side effects of brain injury, you get really emotional. Just get through that day. Every day you wake up, you have an opportunity to make a beautiful life. And if it sucks today, tomorrow can be a different day. If you're struck feeling today, tomorrow can be a completely different day. Just go one more day, just one more.

Dawn Taylor 30:08

I've often said the greatest gift in the world is that we get to go to sleep and wake up again. Right? We get, we get a new 24 hours.

Vic Pipke 30:16

Yeah, it resets everything. So I think I think that's a big thing is to understand that you're not alone. And you just have to get through the next moment. And maybe it's not even tomorrow. Maybe it's just the next five minutes. Maybe you're just having a real bad moment, not a bad day; you take that 15 seconds of that really crappy interaction with that bully, or a bad interaction at work or road rage, someone cuts you off in traffic, you take that out of your day in your day was actually pretty good. But if you focus on that, that's going to, that's going to affect your entire day. So really think about what it is that is bothering you today. And if it is something monumental, because some people have really monumental things. And it might not be monumental to me, because of whatever reason, I've worked on it. I've evolved certain paths that right, that doesn't change the struggle that that person is having. It's can't like people. I think sometimes people get stuck in the idea that, well, other people might have this problem, my problem is insignificant. No, it's significant to you! Don't be little your situation, but also don't buy into it.

Dawn Taylor 30:18

How true is that!

Vic Pipke 31:26

Because you can have five minutes later, have an interaction that changes your entire day and your entire outlook!

Dawn Taylor 31:31

I've often looked at like how fast to shift your state can shift, right? Like you can be having the best day ever, someone says something, or you read something, or you hear something or whatever your entire state, your entire mood will shift in 10 seconds, which means it can shift back!

Vic Pipke 31:46

Look because it is a muscle. It is a muscle that you build on most I don't think a lot of people realize that is that it's not magic. I, for myself, when someone was like, "Wow, you're so positive, you're so positive!" and like, oh, I have my down days. But this is a muscle I've built to be able to overcome to be able to bounce back, right? I always say my bounce back is real fast. Exactly! And it's a perishable skill and you know, perfect example, you know, yesterday morning, I am having a great morning, I'm pumped up a fired up, we got a lot of great things going with our team. And I sit down, and I talk to a potential client, and they make a decision to me is like, are you kidding me? And it brought my energy from here to here. And man, I and you know, regardless of how hard you work on this stuff, it is still work every day not to let these things impact you. It's like a perishable skill! If you don't practice it every day, you're going to lose it! Right? No different than any other sporting activity, any other craft, anything dexterity related. If you don't practice on a consistent basis, it's going away. And I had to really get myself out of that funk and bring my energy level back up, for me, but also for my family and my team. Because if I go and I start walking into a room, and my energy is low, the entire room knows it. And they deserve better. And when I go home, my family definitely deserves better. They definitely deserve better than what one person said to me at nine o'clock in the morning. But it's not easy. It's not easy. And it's never going to be. It'll get easier because of experience. Every- And it gets faster!

Dawn Taylor 33:20

Like stuff can get real dark. And I bounced back really quick. But that's because I've bounced backs so many times!

Vic Pipke 33:37

At the beginning, no, you didn't!

Dawn Taylor 33:44

 No! Oh my gosh!

Vic Pipke 33:46

In the beginning, what was that like? It was like, it was like, you know, completing a marathon to bounce back at the beginning?

Dawn Taylor 33:53

Oh, 100% it was.

Vic Pipke 33:54

But now it's like, okay, I'm bouncing back faster, I still not bouncing back as fast as I want. But that comes with practice. It comes with time. And, man, if it seems hard to bounce back at the beginning, just think about what the alternative is if you don't work on it, living in that darkness the rest of your life.

Dawn Taylor 34:15

Which you and I have had that conversation. It's not worth it. And we've both laid there in those hospital beds, you know, wishing you were dead. And...

Vic Pipke 34:22

Yeah.

Dawn Taylor 34:23

It's, and this isn't saying that it's easy, always on the other side.

Vic Pipke 34:27

No.

Dawn Taylor 34:28

This week, like, oh my gosh, this week, I'm dealing with side effects garbage of a brain aneurysm that happened like 24 years ago! And like this week, or stuff coming up, and my husband's laughing about it. He's like, Of course, of course that's still happening for you. And you know, I can I can laugh it off, but sometimes it's super frustrating, right. But I know for myself one of the things that I've often looked at is ask for help. If someone is listening to this, and they're in that spot. Ask, ask for help. Reach out to somebody if you can't afford to hire someone like me, if you can't afford to go to therapy if you can't afford some most things; there's always options. There are always options and free services out there that you can access. But we also have the internet, we have books, we have all of these things. But more importantly, reach out to your people, even if you push them away so hard, which is often what we do when we're in those states because we don't want them to see us as weak or see us as broken or see us as less than or any of those things. Call one person, text one person and be like. "Hey, I'm not doing too well. Can we talk?" and start there, because often is even just saying it is saying what's going on is so powerful in helping you even start... Even just starting to process it. Another thing that I started doing years ago, too, when I was in those states, was what I call the three and three. And my three and three was. What are three things in life that are actually going okay right now? Because sometimes I couldn't use the word good. Or well, it was like they're going, okay. And three things that actually make me happy. I'm not talking in a gratitude way because it's really hard when you're in the depths of your hell and things. And you're feeling totally lost, right? I'm talking about, like, there were days that I'd be like, today, I had a good hair day. Today. No one pissed me off in traffic! These things are going well. Or my bedroom is clean. That's it. That's all I got. Those are my three things in life that are going really well right now or are going okay. But other days, it was like, Hey, today was a good day. Today, I actually had a cool conversation with somebody. Today, I cooked an amazing meal. Or hey, right now, my job's going really well, or this relationships going really well. And then the three things that made me happy, your always silly things. Right? I always say to people they don't allow them to involve anybody else. Because people can give you happiness and take it away just as fast. Right? This is where if happiness versus joy. It's looking at it and going, Okay. What are three things that make me really happy? Hugging an inanimate object. I know that sounds really weird. I love hugging inanimate objects!

Vic Pipke 37:20

Your tree!

Dawn Taylor 37:21

Yes, I hug trees! I hug. I was just in Vancouver for work for a week, and all the Christmas stuff is out. And I was like, ah! I'm with this poor woman who's never met me. And I was literally like, can you take a picture of me hugging this big plastic moose? And she was like, you're the strangest human. But within like half an hour of me doing this, she was laughing her head off in helping me find weird things to hug.

Vic Pipke 37:43

Yeah.

Dawn Taylor 37:44

I don't know why; I love it. I'll post a picture in the show notes of me hugging weird shit in Vancouver. But, like, it makes me happy. A perfect cup of hot coffee makes me so happy. There is nothing like that first sip of a hot cup of coffee and the feeling that that gives when you take it right. Like, if you actually stop for a moment and, like, give it a second. It's so good. Dancing in my car to an amazing song, which right now my favorite is Vegas by Doja Cat or whoever that is. I don't even know who it is. I heard this song I was like, that's a dance in the car song. Don't worry; we'll have links to all this in the show notes. But these are the things that I can now easily sit down, and I could list off 100 things that make me happy. But guess what it started with one and one. And then I went to two and two, and then went to three and three. Where every morning, I'd be like, Okay, I gotta find something, I gotta find something. And it got easier and easier and easier. And that was the big piece of it. And I also want to mention when you talked about looking at, like, who you were before and who you are now, who were you as a police officer, who were you as a SWAT member? What were your morals, your values, your ethics, your standards? What about that job did you love? What about that life did you love? What character traits could you take from that to move into a new career? I think that is so powerful because our identities are so often caught up in what we do.

Vic Pipke 39:20

Yeah, absolutely.

Dawn Taylor 39:23

But how do you move that into something different? How... Like, and how do we do that? And so, for you, is there anything outside of your work and what you do now? Is there anything even on the personal end that are like your weird, quirky things that are still you after?

Vic Pipke 39:43

Oh, yeah, I mean, there's lots of stuff, right? Like I'm, I'm a big football guy. So my idea of a perfect day is a Sunday, anywhere between Saturday or September or January. Just sitting down on a Sunday and watching football all day and eating some nachos, right. and just take in the day, I can shut my brain off. I don't have to think about anything else. It's just pure joy for me. Other things that, you know, I've incorporated that had become kind of quirky. Well, maybe not quirky, but I have. I have a morning routine now that I never used to have. But it's a morning routine that sets up my entire day for positivity, gratitude, looking at things on the bright side, right? I wake up every morning, and the first thing I do is, I think about what I'm grateful for. I actually have a gratitude journal. And the first thing I'm grateful for every morning is my wife.

Dawn Taylor 40:42

She's amazing.

Vic Pipke 40:43

Most amazing human being walking the face of the earth. Sorry, but sh-

Dawn Taylor 40:47

Oh, no, it's okay. She's magical. I know her. I love her.

Vic Pipke 40:51

The next thing I do is I go through affirmations. And I read my goals. I don't read practical goals, right? I mean, I do read some practical goals. These this is what I want to accomplish today, this month, this quarter, this year. Whether it's personal, whether it's business, whatever it is. But I have I have a list. I've like an entire list that I'm still working on because I haven't finished it. 101 things that I would do if time and money were of no consequence.

Dawn Taylor 41:20

Oh, fun!

Vic Pipke 41:21

And it's hard! You might think, oh, I got lots of things. Yeah, you might have 30 or 40 things. Try gettin to a hundred! Because we limit our belief in ourselves, we limit what we think is possible. And so... We... we're almost conditioned in life right now not to dream.

Dawn Taylor 41:39

Oh, 100%!

Vic Pipke 41:40

Yeah, a lot of people, they take their dreams and they shrink it into the number that appears at the bottom of their paycheck every two weeks. If it doesn't fit into this number, I can't do it. And they get conditioned to be in kind of that 40-40-40 club, I call it, right? It's going and getting a good education. So you can get a good job to work 40 hours a week for 40 years of your life to retire 40% of what you can't afford to live on today. And we take all the things we want to do when we're kids, whether it's be a space cowboy, a ballerina, you wanted to ride a unicorn, the most outlandish things we wanted to do as kids and life teaches us at some point to stop dreaming. And I think it's an epidemic.

Dawn Taylor 42:27

Oh, I agree!

Vic Pipke 42:28

It's horrible. And when I sit down with people, one of the first things and this is what really throws them off because no one's ever asked them this before; as I asked them, time and money were of no consequence. What would you be doing right now? Where would you be? Who would you be? Like, would it be a big house? Would it be... Like, I'm a massive Miami Dolphins fan. One of my top 101's is I want to own the Miami Dolphins.

Dawn Taylor 42:50

Oh, that's fun!

Vic Pipke 42:51

Because then I can make them play me. I'm the quarterback. You know, obviously, that's a little bit far-fetched. I am too old to do that now, but that is one of my goals, right? How many people have dreams like that? I want a private jet. So that I'm not limited with where I can go when I can go. And also have some other personal reasons for that as well. My mom is at a point in her life where it's very uncomfortable for her to travel. But I think she still deserves to see the world. So why not travel in comfort.

Dawn Taylor 43:20

That's beautiful. Would you be willing to share even a few of the items on your list for people so that they can have an idea of what to look for? And what to think about. That'd be amazing. So I'll give Vic to send me even like 10. 10 or 15 of the ones on your list. Just so that listeners so that you guys can have something to even just start dreaming yourself because it is. It's so powerful when you actually can start dreaming and thinking outside of your life.

Vic Pipke 43:47

Sure!

Dawn Taylor 43:48

And honestly, that's what gives you like the motivation to get out of bed some days is, knowing you have this insane dream. Even if it never happens. It's just like having this crazy obscene dream. Right? Vic, I want to end our time together today with asking you just some silly questions.

Vic Pipke 44:04

All right, bring it on, sister!

Dawn Taylor 44:05

Just some silly fun questions like I do with everybody, and yes, everyone, check the show notes so you can figure out how to get a hold of Vic to if you're interested in any of the work that he does. So what is the favorite place you've ever traveled?

Vic Pipke 44:17

Favorite place I've ever traveled. I'm very, partial to the Mayan Riviera. I love the plain Riviera. I love Mexico. However, my favorite trip ever. Why was to Monterey, California, and we were talking about it just a while ago. Right?

Dawn Taylor 44:36

Oh, such a great area.

Vic Pipke 44:38

For a number of reasons, though. It's not just the the area. It's what I was doing when I was there. I was surrounded by associations that stretched my belief stretched my thinking. And I was with my wife.

Dawn Taylor 44:50

Yeah.

Vic Pipke 44:51

Because I've been there before but not with her.

Dawn Taylor 44:54

Oh, that is so fun.

Vic Pipke 44:55

This was way better. My next Miami. I, for my 40th birthday, I went to Miami to watch a Miami Dolphins football game was the very first time I'd ever seen an NFL game. And it was a goal of mine since I was about 12 years old.

Dawn Taylor 45:09

Oh, that is fun. They're fun. The energy down there is nuts. I've been to a couple games.

Vic Pipke 45:14

It's crazy. Yeah.

Dawn Taylor 45:15

It's so fun.

Vic Pipke 45:16

That would that would be my my two top ones.

Dawn Taylor 45:19

What do you spend a silly amount of money on personally?

Vic Pipke 45:27

Silly amount of money? I said I don't think I'm a real big spender. I mean, well, no.

Dawn Taylor 45:35

But do have you a thing?

Vic Pipke 45:36

I love going out and eating good food. I can eat good food at home. But I like the atmosphere of being out at a nice restaurant with my Queen. And we're enjoying a nice meal, maybe a glass of wine being in the presence of other people. So I think, you know, if there was one place that I could probably save a lot of money, that would be the place.

Dawn Taylor 46:00

I know that feeling. Yeah. Yep. What is the purchase of $100 or less that you've made in like recent, in the last like even six months, that has most positively impacted your life?

Vic Pipke 46:12

I bought a subscription to straight line thinkers, which is a podcast done by Rich Dolly. He has a whole bunch of stuff on there. And I listened to that every day. And it is something that builds my mindset because, like we said before, your mindset can deteriorate over time by not immersing yourself and growing. If we're not growing, we're dying. It is an irrefutable law of nature. And so if you're not willing to grow, grow your mindset, grow personally, you're gonna put yourself in a in a bad position. So that's probably the best purchase I've made in the last year that was under 100 bucks. It was actually 50 bucks.

Dawn Taylor 46:51

I think that one of the common threads of our entire talk today, Vic, has been making the decision, choose that you want something to be different in your life, choose that you're not going to continue to suffer, and they're actually going to fight for yourself. And then these little tiny actions and so much of it comes down to the headspace, so much of it comes down to your mindset. And so much of it comes down to not buying into the bullshit story in your head that you're damaged, or you're broken, or you can't be redeemed or healed or any of those things.

Vic Pipke 47:23

And you know, I recommend to people, you know, some people a little bit more logical if you're more logical like me. One thing that really helped me was reading Dr. Joe Dispenza. Learn why.

Dawn Taylor 47:36

Oh, he has he has cool stuff,

Vic Pipke 47:38

Learn about your brain, learn about why things happen the way they do, learn about the energy. You know, it's actually a scientific thing. It's not some new age kind of pie in the sky hidden the clouds type of stuff...

Dawn Taylor 47:49

It's funny, all the woowoo stuff. Everyone's like, oh, no, that's weird. I'm like, no, no energy is science.

Vic Pipke 47:55

Yep, 100% science.

Dawn Taylor 47:56

It's molecules and atoms. We're just walking vibration.

Vic Pipke 47:58

So if you're that logical person, read Dr. Joe Dispenza. He puts out some amazing stuff. But he's very, he's very logical about it. But he also doesn't talk in really big unwords that people can't understand.

Dawn Taylor 48:12

Yes, I have a couple of his books. I highly recommend

Vic Pipke 48:14

100%. So it will change your life.

Dawn Taylor 48:17

Love it. So thank you so much for hanging out with us today, Vic. Listeners, I hope you got a few amazing takeaways and that you check out the show notes at the taylorway.ca for more information. Information on how to contact Vic, connections and links to all of the things that we've talked about today. The places, the books, the podcasts, all of it. And I hope you stick around for our next episode in two weeks. So if you're willing, please subscribe now on Apple, Spotify or wherever you listen to your podcasts, and if you love the show, it would mean the world to me if you'd leave a rating and review. Talk to you guys soon!

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