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This is a podcast called "Thank You Adversity" hosted by Tony Tofri. The podcast explores resilience, growth, and lessons learned from life's challenges. Tony interviews people who have overcome adversity to provide insights and wisdom. The guest on this episode is Dylan Borowitz, who shares his personal experiences and outlook on life. They also discuss a unique recipe for peanut butter and pork chops. Dylan talks about growing up in Lakeville, Minnesota and his active childhood. The podcast aims to inspire and motivate listeners facing challenges in their lives. You know what, it happened the way it happened, and now we're at where we're at, and we're just going to keep kind of moving forward from there. Welcome to the Thank You Adversity podcast, where we explore the power of resilience, the beauty of growth, and the lessons learned from life's tough challenges. I'm your host, Tony Tofri. My goal is to inspire, motivate, and provide hope for those who may be facing challenges, uncertainty, or adversity in their lives. We'll journey through inspiring stories of triumph over adversity, as I interview people who can offer insights, encouragement, and practical wisdom to help you navigate through life's ups and downs. Join me as we uncover the silver linings behind every setback, and discover gratitude in the face of adversity. Navigating through life's challenges can be tough, but remember, every hurdle is an opportunity for growth. Thank you, adversity. Hello, and welcome to the Thank You Adversity podcast, where I share encouraging stories to help inspire, motivate, and transform our hardships into strength. I'm your host, Tony Tofri, and today I have a very special guest here today, someone who I've known for many years, born and raised in Lakeville, Minnesota, graduated from Lakeville High School, went on to college at the University of Minnesota, then transferred to Normandale College, and now is working full-time at Old National Bank. Through his journey, he's had hardships, adversities, and traumatic events that have changed his life. And honestly, seeing his strength, success, and his outlook on life is one of my key motivations on why I started this podcast. So I want to introduce you all to Dylan Borowitz. Dylan, welcome to the show. Gosh, you're making me blush over here, Tony. Getting all bubbly and feely, feeling good inside down here. Good. Oh, I'm doing very well. Thank you so much for the opportunity to invite me on here, and I'm glad you're kicking this off and starting to talk a bit about adversity and asking a few different people what their stories are. So I'm more than happy to share anything that I can. Absolutely. No, like I said, thank you so much. I meant every word that I said. It's true. Your fight, your will, and speaking with people from my past experiences professionally and personally is why I'm doing this. So thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I am actually going to start it off with a question for you. I've seen on your social media that you had a post about peanut butter and pork chops. What? All right. You have to just tell me a little bit more about that because I've seen it, and I'm sure people probably wrote like, oh my God, that sounds disgusting. I've seen it, and I was like, that actually doesn't look too bad, like I would try that for sure. It looks interesting. One of mom's old recipes. So it does look interesting, like on the picture, it doesn't really look that appetizing, but the flavor, dude, is so good. And we're a big peanut butter family. We love creamy peanut butter. Yeah. I mean, for the creamy peanut butter over chunky peanut butter, I know that could be a big debate among people. So yeah, you just pan fry up some pork chops, and then on the side you do, and I don't know what all goes into the glaze or the marinade or whatever you want to call it, but it's very heavy peanut butter base. It's a quarter cup of peanut butter. You get that whipping up, and then you put that on top of the pork chops when it's in the pan. You kind of flip it around in there. Okay. So the peanut butter actually caramelizes with the fat on the pork chop very well. No. Like I said, I've seen it, and I was like, wait a second, that actually sounds kind of good. Nice. You want the recipe. I'll send it to you. Yeah. Good to have you send that to me. Definitely a Minnesota winter meal. I believe so. Yeah. Yeah. So jumping in here, just want to start off just to get to know you a little bit better. Tell me a little bit more about growing up in Lakeville. You were born in the 90s. 94 kids. So yeah, definitely getting all nostalgic. I mean, we're in 2024 now, so 30s, yowza. But yeah, I mean, you know it pretty well. I know you pretty well. So yeah, I can definitely answer all these questions for people if people kind of get to know me. I mean, growing up in Lakeville at that time was pretty interesting because Lakeville had like a building freeze when my parents moved out here. So like no industrial or big kind of complexes could be built for 10 years. So the whole city just said, you know, we're going to hold off for now, let a lot of people kind of move out here residentially wise. And then all of a sudden we're going to throw up all these big buildings and increase revenue for the city and stuff like that. So it's really been growing a lot since I was a kid going here. We did elementary school here, middle school, and then transitioned over to Lakeville South that was built in 05. I didn't start going there, well I graduated in 13, so I didn't start going there I guess until like 09. So it was a relatively new high school. Very nice. I love the people that I went with. I love the community that I was surrounded by. I grew up in a great area. So yeah, it was very nice. Very competitive too. Just a lot of growth. There's two high schools now. Was that just... Yeah. So before 05, it was just Lakeville North and then Lakeville South got built and then yeah. And then that came on later. Okay. Yeah. Being at Lakeville just as a kid, I mean, were you like an active kid? Were you kind of into video games? Were you into sports? Or kind of tell me some of your hobbies? Very active, yeah. Did a little bit of it all. Just trying to get exposure to kind of the community. I mean, I grew up in Lakeville. I grew up in Lakeville. I grew up in Lakeville. I grew up in Lakeville. I grew up in Lakeville. I grew up in Lakeville. I grew up in Lakeville. I grew up in Lakeville. 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So it was pretty incredible for him, for him to grow up so fast and just do something like that. Yeah, everyone was just in a state of shock. We got lucky that one of the family friends was here. She was a nurse, so she kind of knew a little bit of what to do, didn't quite know what the severity of it was, but they were able to call 911, the ambulance was able to show up. And yeah, just things changed from there for sure. It was a whole world wind of life happening in matters of fractions of seconds. It was insane. Oh my gosh, and your brother being in 8th grade and being there to have the courage to help you in that situation, and having a nurse there and your parents there, we're put in places for a reason. I don't know if we call that destiny, like we're supposed to be at where we're supposed to be at. It's all pre-planned, pre-determined. I don't know. Exactly. I'm just along for the ride, trying to learn things along the way, spread the knowledge and figure things out. Like we've reflected on it and talked about it in the past, like with my brother, my brother was like, well, I don't know if I should have moved you this way or that way, or things would have been different, better or worse, and like, you know what, it happened the way it happened. And now we're at where we're at, and we're just going to keep kind of moving forward from there. After your accident, I'm sure fear, the unknown, what is next going through your head? What was your outlook on life at that point? I guess it would be, you know, it'd be dependent on like the timeframe, how you kind of break that all down. Like right away, within weeks or days afterwards, like I had no idea, like just no idea what was going on. I was so drugged up that I didn't really know what was going on. Like I never really partook in any sort of drugs or drinking in high school. So my body, I think, was not used to the amount of drugs that they put me in to do like surgery and stuff like that, and just keep me sedated and to keep the pain down. So that was very overwhelming, just I think for me and my body. So the first hours, days, I think maybe up to that first week or two afterwards, it was just, I didn't know, like I had no idea what was going on. Afterwards, like when we started kind of transitioning to getting things more stabilized and like a lot of people showing up to the hospital, like just the amount of support, that was huge. Just seeing like this massive teaming community of people showing up and showing they have your back. I was like, that was a lot. So it was definitely a lot. But I think I was pretty positive right away. Like I was thinking like, all right, you know, we're just here for a while, we'll be here for a little bit, but I'll be good to go, you know, probably next year or something for school, for sports. Like, I don't think it all set in right away. But yeah, I always kind of stayed pretty positive at the time. I mean, there wasn't much else I could do. But I mean, that was something that I was still in control of and something that, you know, probably make others feel a little bit better too around me. So that's what you do, I guess. You kind of touched on it a little bit saying that, you know, people showing up to support you and having family, friends, seeing that strong support system. I just wanted to ask you like how you were able to keep a positive mindset. You know, there's many people who, who just go through typical everyday life ups and downs, adversities, hardships. And this was absolutely, you know, a traumatic, life changing event. And so some of the listeners might be saying, Oh, my gosh, if I had to go through that, I don't know what I would do. I don't know how I would stay positive. So for yourself, I feel like you kind of mentioned it, like I said, the friends, the family having that support, but how do you feel like you really maintain that positive mindset just throughout? Yeah, I think a lot of it was just them and their support showing up, you know, me kind of having this sense of like, well, I can't let these people down now, you know, like they showed up to help me out, like, there's no way I can let them down, like they're given what they have for me, you know, I gave everything I have kind of back to them, just to show mutual, I guess, respect or admiration for one another. But I think when we get thrown into tough times, or face massive adversity in moments like this, in any one of our lives, or anybody's life, I don't think we know at that moment or that time that we have the tools within us, you know, to battle that at the time. But yeah, you can, you can try to think of a scenario, like, Oh, what if this happens to me? Like, what would I do? What would I do? But you don't know until you're in the midst of it. Yeah, absolutely. And that's, you know, one of the reasons I created this podcast is like, you know, adversities, hardships, and having these traumatic events, you don't really understand it until you're in it, how strong you are, or how strong you have to be, you know, just what you said. And that's awesome. So when you hear the word adversity, what pops into your mind? Yeah, right away, when I see the word adversity, I think like a word association, like another word that pops in my head is like challenge, or courage. So maybe, you know, a challenge that requires some courage to overcome this adversity. So I don't know, just some sort of word associated, I guess. But like you were just saying, you know, like, this adversity, how it kind of challenges you or like, you don't know what kind of tools or trait or characteristics you really have in you until you're in it. It's kind of like, like a me versus you kind of thing, like, either I'm gonna win, or you're gonna win adversity. And like, I'm not gonna quit. Like, I'm not gonna give up. I'm not gonna let you win. So it's almost kind of like a battle thing. It's not like it's a bad battle, or like a good battle, it's just, it's a challenge. And it's a constant challenge. I think we all have a different level to each one of our challenges, like it's all different case by case, people are going through their own journeys, through their own difficulties, and it would also be there to support one another. If I could manifest like the word adversity into like a person or a character or something that I would see in like real life, and if I just like, bump into him on the street, like what would I, what would I potentially say to that person adversity? I think I would just say like, like, thank you, you know, thank you for choosing me when I was like at my weakest to like, see what I could become for trying to challenge me or thank you for, for just being that thing there for me at my weak points, and then having me like self realize what else is out there, what else can potentially be done, what, what I can do to kind of push myself past. So thank you adversity for helping me push past. You having that mindset, you know, like, like I said, when I met you and seeing your motivation and your drive to keep going and to persevere through traumatic events, it's just amazing, you know, to have that mindset. And I always say it's a few things that really shape us and mold us as kids or in our youth to kind of have that thought process and it's family, friends, you know, having that support system, role models, sports, having that competitiveness, I'm not going to let adversity take me down, I'm going to fight back kind of like you said, the you versus me, like, let's go, but personal experience and having heart, I think that's one thing like you can't teach someone to have heart or have bravery, it's almost like, in you, you know, and that's something that I feel like I've seen in you throughout the time and able and just throughout you to put that classification on adversity, saying that if you've seen adversity, like as a person on the street, like I just, that's just awesome, that's just amazing how you put it that way. I love that. Not every day is a good day, but it's still a day to learn something, you know? Absolutely. You know, that's something I wanted to ask you about, because, you know, I don't want this podcast to be about, you know, people listening and saying, you know, hearing stories and having a bad day and feeling bad that they aren't feeling good, you know, we all have bad days. For you, how do you flip that switch? Say you wake up and it's just mentally you're not there, physically you're not there. What is something that you do for yourself that kind of gets you back on track? I just remind myself, you know, it's another day and there'll be another day tomorrow. So maybe today is not my day to win, but I'm going to still get through it the best I can and make of it what I can, you know, for work, like a majority, if not, like, I would say 90% of the emails I send for work, I always end it with make it a great day, not like just have a great day, because like, the day doesn't define you, like you have the power to influence the day. So it's like, it's up to you if you want to make that day a good day or not. You can only control you. And I have that tattooed on my arm with a few other sayings that are kind of close to me that helped me get through crummy times, I guess, but yeah, you can only control you and like your outcomes and like what you input into the factors around you. If there's a lot of external factors trying to mess with you, sometimes you got to shut those out and focus on you. Me and my brother also have a tattoo in the same spot that it's the three initials NGU. You can take guess, think what it stands for, NGU is the three initials we have. It has to be never give up, right? Bingo, baby. You got it. We can never give up. That's awesome. Day in and day out, never give up. Nice. Other than the NGU tat, what's another one of your favorites? I mean, I'm sure if they're on your body, they're all your favorite, but if you had to say a runner-up, what's another one? What I was doing inpatient at Abbott, they had a, I'm going to get her title wrong. Her name's Jennifer Blair. She looks exactly like Sarah Jessica Parker. Like they could win like a celebrity lookalike contest. I believe she was like an acupuncturist at Abbott when I was there doing some rehab work. She came by and wrote a quote on my whiteboard. I believe she came up with it, but I've kind of stole it from her since and have used it in different places. But it says, the courage to go deep, the faith to go far, and in between these two is confidence. So that one I've kind of always reflected on. Still don't quite know if I understand it, but I definitely like it. It means something and I've held on to it for quite a while. Yeah. It's one of those quotes that make you think. It goes deep. Yeah. Sure. I like that. Deep. Awesome. The courage to go deep, the faith to go far, and in between these two is confidence. Nice. Wow. You kind of mentioned saying thank you for adversity, you know, in the name of this podcast, but saying it for yourself, you know, thank you. Thank you for choosing me at my weakest. And I think that's just a really strong, really passionate way to put it when you're talking about adversity. And I was going to ask you, you mentioned some of your strengths coming out of it, but can you specify like a lesson that you have learned as you overcome adversity? I don't know if I can think of a specific time I really thought about one, but I know I've definitely like gained a lot of confidence in like the area of just having patience and being able to see things with more transparency. Like trying to take that wide view lens off and put on kind of a narrow view lens and look at problems or vice versa. Maybe I'm looking at things through too small of a scope and I got to open up and put on that kind of wider view lens and look at just problems differently. So those have been a few lessons, just kind of patience, transparency, viewing things a little bit different, trying to problem solve differently. Those have been pretty big, I think, so far. But there's not like a specific time or moment that I can really think of in life or work. I like that you mentioned patience because that's definitely an eye opener and something that, you know, a lot of people, you know, either you have it or you don't, but it's still going to be a challenge when you're dealing with adversity throughout life. And I think I have always kind of had it, like I've always been kind of a cool, calm headed, kind of collected kid growing up. But like you said, it's definitely something everybody can kind of work with or change. You can practice it, lesson it, whatever you want to do. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, yeah. Dylan, what advice can you give someone who has sustained a spinal cord injury or has gone through a traumatic event kind of like you have? I think just take things the way they kind of come, the ebbs and flows, the good times and the bad. Just kind of problem solve it and keep an optimistic outlook as you're problem solving all those. I mean, it will, I think it will not only benefit you when you have that positive mindset and you set those kind of, you set your mental frame, I guess, in a positive manner. It'll help you internally. I think it'll also help those around you. So as long as you can stay positive, I think it'll have kind of a halo effect on those others. And being vulnerable is a big thing as well. I think just as long as you can open up to others, there's a lot of strength in vulnerability and I don't think we see that enough these days. You just got to be open, transparent, have some patience, have courage, have bravery and just be able to educate others and talk with others and have an open conversation. I think it goes a long way with people trying to, you know, deal with traumatic or big changes in their life, whether it be, you know, any sort of problem like a loss of a child or divorce or any sort of physical change that you have going on. So just being very open. Yeah. So what I gather from what you're saying is being open, staying open. Yeah, communication is key. And I like that you mentioned that, you know, earlier you said your friends, family were there to be your support system and having a support system is so important in this case because who are you going to be open with? Who are you going to be honest with? If it's not, if you're having a hard time by yourself, you know, maybe your friends and family can be there for you. In my mind, like my opinion, my view, I just think it's all a huge balance, whether you're dealing with adversity or anything around you. Like sometimes you have to be an energy giver. Sometimes you have to be an energy taker. Sometimes you have to be the one to talk. Sometimes you have to be the one to listen. So it's just, it's a balance. You can't be way far on the scale for one side versus way far to the spectrum on the other side. So you just try to balance everything out. Yin and yang, I guess is my opinion. Okay. In my podcast, I definitely want to touch on music therapy. You know, music therapy is great. It focuses on the physical, emotional, cognitive, and social needs for individuals, for myself included, helping with improving my mood, reducing stress, enhancing communication, and just promoting overall well-being. Do you utilize music as a form of therapy? Yeah. I mean, there's so many different types of genres and different, you know, backgrounds that it comes from. So I definitely use it as an escape sometimes. Sometimes it's a motivation. Sometimes it's something to just get your mind off of something or, yeah, to make you push better when you're in the gym or something like that. So, yeah, just about anything. Yeah. I like that you mentioned both. You use music as an escape, but also your motivation at the gym. You know, getting that pumped up music to get a good workout in. That's awesome. And definitely something I would love to highlight throughout every episode in the podcast, how amazing music therapy can be. As I mentioned for myself, I love listening to music by myself, working out in the gym to calm myself down, listening to music in the car with my kids, my family, going to live music, going to concerts. You know, whatever it is, music is amazing, and it can be very, very healing. Very calming in a sense, and just really help out with your quality of life. I love music. Yeah, music's great. What was the last concert that you went to that you can remember? Oh, the last concert I went to was... It was Leon Bridges at the Armory in Minneapolis. Yeah. Yeah, it was Leon Bridges. I'm a big Leon Bridges fan, but seriously, man, I am all over with music genre. You know, I listen to everything. Seriously. One day it's Boston, ACDC, The Animals. The next it's The Beatles. I mean, even like... I don't know if you know bands like St. Paul and the Broken Bones. I listen to a lot. Villagers. Old school voices like Charles Bradley or Otis Redding. I definitely have a love for Prince, the Fugees, even on to hip-hop, Drake, Kanye West, kind of today's hip-hop in a sense. But, yeah, I'm all around, man. Yeah, same. Music's got a part of every piece and every puzzle. I feel like every kind of genre, you can listen to just about everything. Yeah, absolutely, and that's why I feel like it can help so many people. Depending on what you listen to and what your mood is, that can change day to day, as I mentioned. Music therapy is amazing. Would you play a band? Sorry, I'm asking you the questions now. No, you're good, man. Would you play a band? I was in percussion, and you were... I was in percussion. Percussion, yeah. Okay. Yeah, that's right. Percussion, yeah. That's right. I remember that. I played percussion instruments probably from, I think it was seventh grade on through high school. Actually, a funny story how I became a percussionist. I started off playing trumpet, baritone, brass instruments. We had a substitute teacher in junior high, and he came in, asked everyone, what instrument do you play? And throughout, I always wanted to be a percussionist. I always wanted to, and I'm like, this is my time. I can change. I can change. He gets to me, and, you know, Anthony, what instrument do you play? And I'm like, percussion? In your moment. And he's like, well, why are you sitting here with the brass players? Go out by the percussionist. And I'll never forget, I had a buddy named Rahim. Shout out to Rahim if you're listening to this. I get up there, and I'm like, oh, my gosh, Rahim, I don't know how to read percussion music. Like, what do I do? And he whispers over to me, and he's like, every time you see a black dot, you hit the snare drum. And that is where I started my percussionist journey. Okay. How about you? Did you play any other instruments, or what percussion instruments did you play? I played piano when I was super young, growing up until, like, late elementary school into middle school, because that's kind of what got me into the percussion thing. I was able to read music pretty well. And then did percussion just in middle school, so I did those three years. And then after that, I thought it was, like, dumb and lame. I was like, I want to be cool in high school. I don't want to do music anymore. And now, like, deeply regret it. Okay. Yeah. Yeah, you know, music, you know, it just does something to you. It does something for you, as I mentioned earlier. You know, like, in my household, we have music on all the time. The kids are listening to music. My wife and I are listening to music. You know, it's just on all the time. Same for you? Yeah. Yeah, it's just we're just always around it. That's awesome. Yeah. So, no, that's awesome, you know. So, Dylan, you have a lot of positivity. You have a lot of positive things that you have going for you. Going back to where you started, you know, being a young kid in Lakeville, to where you are today, what goals do you have for yourself today or, you know, what do you hope to accomplish here in the near future? Oh, boy. A lot. I mean, right now I'm just really busy with work, so I want to keep chipping away, I think, at small goals at work just to see, you know, more of an impact that I can have and build up more in that community there because I've only been there for, I shouldn't say only, but about three years, been in this new role for just since this new year, since 2024. So, only about two, two, three months. So, I want to focus on my career for sure for now. Okay. All these small goals, just travel a little bit if I can, you know, kind of save some money, but do a little bit of traveling. There you go. Yeah. I mean, nothing stark that really sticks out right now, but, yeah, just try to do better every day and try a little harder every day and just be better than yesterday. Yeah. You know, those are special words to live by. You know, try to do better every day. Just be better than you were yesterday. Like, I love that you said that, like, pointing that out. It's so important, that resilience piece. You know, and anyone listening to this, you know, maybe you're not there yet. Maybe, you know, you want to be at this point, and it's tough. It's tough getting here. And so, Dylan, I appreciate you just saying that, like, because that's really what it's all about. Yeah. Just trying to be better than you were yesterday and just building on that. That's awesome, man. Thank you. You better do, man. I'm a big travel guy. I love traveling. I know you mentioned travel. Do you have travel plans coming up here? I don't think my parents are going to see this for a while. If not, maybe ever. But next year, I would like to surprise my mom because she's a huge fan of the movie Titanic. And I heard that there is a, like, replica museum in Gatlinburg, Tennessee, I believe is how you kind of pronounce it. Yeah. So I would like to go down there. And I believe, like, Dollywood is kind of in the area, too, and some of, like, the Great Smoky Mountains. So it would be cool to kind of go down there, travel a little bit, check it all out, see what it seems like. Yeah. Yeah. We're thinking that. At least I'm thinking that. I just kind of want to surprise them and bring them down there. But we'll see. Yeah. That would be an awesome surprise. And, yeah, Gatlinburg is actually, I believe it's one of, you know, a really popular starting point for the Great Smoky Mountains. Oh, that's awesome. That's going to be fun. That's going to be great. Dylan, I just want to thank you. Thank you for your time, your willingness to open up and share your story, share your journey, your journey of resilience in the face of adversity, in the face of a traumatic event. What I got from talking to you is just the power of communication, the power of being open, being honest, being resilient, you know, is so important as we know when fighting against adversity, you know. And there are people, friends, family, there are people there to help us. We're all together in this. And having a good support system is so important. And you have highlighted that so many times throughout, you know, talking with you today. But, again, thank you for being on the show. I definitely feel those listening would definitely be inspired, motivated by you just being you. You just telling your story and just saying how you are in your mindset, man. Your mindset is just amazing when it comes to dealing with adversity. You know, a lot of people crumble at adversity. Myself, you know, particularly in different situations. So when we really focus on a traumatic event, something that you have gone through, you know, we mentioned earlier, you don't know how strong you are or have to be until you're in that situation. But, man, you have just impressed me since the day I met you. And thank you. Thank you so much for your time, for sharing your story, and just being open and honest with me. Absolutely. Noah, thank you. Thanks for the opportunity. Thanks for the time. Maybe inflexible on that end. I mean, yeah, like you said, dude, we're all water droplets in the same pond. We all ripple with one another. We affect one another. So it's pretty impactful on what we all can do when we open up to one another and just share kind of some things. I got one final question for you. I know I've kind of been asking a lot of questions today. But if you were to own a billboard, like you had all rights to this billboard, you could do whatever you wanted for this billboard, what would you want to put on that billboard? Oh, that's tough. You know, definitely something to open the eyes of people, almost, you know, going back to like preschool, kindergarten, right, what we're taught as kids. Treat others how you want to be treated. You know, something of that nature. Fair enough. Or thank you adversity. You know, just having something that a billboard that said thank you adversity. I think that would get people to really think. You know, what does that mean? Or to think about their hardships and their ups and downs and really maybe go on a little journey in their mind about why they're thankful for adversity. You know, you wouldn't be who you are today from the experiences that you had throughout your life. You know, it's so true. And at the end of the day, we have to say thank you adversity. You know, like we're here for a reason. We learn. We make mistakes. We fall. And as I mentioned earlier, it's about how we get back up. And we, at the end of the day, we have to say thank you adversity because adversity makes us who we are, makes us, you know, the strength. It gives us the courage, gives us the strength to who we really are and gives us wisdom in life and a direction. Yeah, I would definitely say it would be thank you adversity on the billboard. Beautiful. Put a nice little bow on it. Beautiful. That's great. Yeah. Yeah. You know, it's so true. It's so true. I'm going to flip the question. Same thing goes to you. If you had the opportunity to put anything you wanted on a billboard, what would that be? Catch me off guard here. Yeah. I think I have to go back to my answer for one of those other questions, and it would be that, like, favorite quote that I have on me that Jennifer Blair kind of wrote to me. I got to give her credit again because I just won't forget her name, and I can't take her credit for it because I'm not that smart. But the courage to go deep, the faith to go far, and in between these two is confidence. Yeah, yeah. I just feel like it opens up kind of that thought of wonderment. Yeah, and when you read that quote, it's funny because that's exactly what it makes you do. It makes you just pause for a second because it's so deep, you know, and it makes you just kind of pause for a second. It's like, you know, when you read that quote, it's funny because that's exactly what it makes you do. It makes you just pause for a second because it's so deep, you know, and it makes you just kind of pause for a second. Yeah, and when you read that quote, it's funny because that's exactly what it makes you do. because it's so deep, you know, and it makes you just kind of pause for a second. Right. It makes you reflect, you know. It makes me do it all the time, like, yeah. It just makes me kind of stop and think about it all the time because I still haven't quite understood it and still trying to understand it, so we'll see. Yeah, you can't think too far in the future. You can't think too much in the past. You just got to kind of stay where you're at right now. You got to bounce. You just got to be balanced. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, earlier you mentioned yin and yang. I mean, it's so true. Balance, having that balance to both sides. No, I love it. I have one more question for you. Fire away. I love them. You have a lion tattoo, correct? I do, yes. I got the head of a lion, yep. Okay, awesome. And where at? It's right here on the chest. Yeah, kind of over the heart area, I guess. I mean, I know heart's kind of dead center, but wherever you put your hand for when you do the Pledge of Allegiance, I guess. Yeah. So, yeah. Yeah, the story behind that, I don't think I've ever told you the story. The story behind that was when I was like in ICU kind of recovering at Abbott, my football coaches came to visit me. And the one was in pretty big tears. I mean, it was Coach Thompson, it was Dick Zeman and Dave Kohler. And Dick Zeman like put his fist up and he was in a little bit of tears. He was like, you got the heart of a lion, Dylan, you got the heart of a lion. And he just kind of walked out of the room and it just stuck with me. In my kind of drug-induced state, for some reason, that stuck with me. So, I wanted to get the tattoo for quite a while and I finally got it to happen. So, yeah, I got a pretty cool lion tattoo. It was just like the mane, the face. It's got a pretty stern look on it. It's not like roaring or anything or torn any teeth, but it's just like looking straight at you. And if you get close enough to the details, you can see the Leo symbol in like the pupil of the eye. Like it's not actually an eye, it's the Leo symbol because I'm also a Leo. Okay. Okay, nice. Nice. That's awesome. So, I just figured it would fit. Absolutely. There's no color to it. It's just black and white, a lot of shading. So, it's pretty cool. And the only color is in the eyes. The eyes are red. Okay. With a couple of tears just to show the sacrifices that have been like made. And did you design that yourself or was it? Yeah, me and the tattoo artist kind of just worked together. We talked a few things over and just made it happen. Nice. Nice. Heart of a lion. Man, that's you, Dylan. Heart of a lion. You are an amazing person, man. You are so inspiring. Please continue to share your story out there. Continue to post. Continue to just help those dealing with adversity. I mean, it doesn't have to be, you know, SCI. You know, it can be anything, man. You have the ability and just a really unique talent and unique characteristics about yourself that you can really help others, man. And, again, you are so inspiring, and I thank you for your time. I thank you for the information you shared. And, yeah, we definitely have to have you back on the show, man, within some time here. Cool. Cool. Glad for it. Thank you for just having the platform and sharing this. And if anybody needs any sort of education or resources, I know they can reach out to you or they can reach out to me. Like, that's what we're here to do. So I appreciate it. Yeah, Dylan, thank you for mentioning that. Anyone who has questions for Dylan, you can find him on Instagram or Facebook at Dylan Borowitz. You can also write in your questions, comments, concerns for Dylan or on this episode at thankyouadversityatgmail.com. Dylan, I want to thank you again for your time. I appreciate you, man. Appreciate it, Dylan. And a quick takeaway as we sign off. Navigating through life's journey can be tough, but remember, every hurdle is an opportunity for growth. Thank you, adversity. Cheers. Cheers. Cheers.
