Tales from the trenches, stories forged in the fires of experience.
Physical health and mental health are two characteristics that we typically neglect
as technicians out providing for our family.
Make sure you have adequate health insurance and if you need mental health assistance,
text or call 988.
Alright, hello everyone, we're hanging out today with Chris Sullivan.
Chris, how are you doing my friend?
I'm doing well, how are you?
I'm doing great.
You know, we got into a conversation yesterday about all of the topics that we have to cover
here at the conference and one that we never spend enough time diving into is our own health.
It is shockingly there's not a class taught about it.
There's not a skill taught about it.
And I just hope that by sharing my own story, my experience, that somebody out there listening
might change something for the better and maybe be around a little bit longer for their
own loved ones.
Yeah, absolutely.
You know, when we're in the field, we tend to work a lot, right?
We work so hard and we train so hard.
We're there to do this for our families, for our loved ones.
Supporting our families.
And we forget, in essence, to take care of ourselves.
And that's the irony of it.
We're working hard to give a good life for people and sometimes forget to try to give
a good life for ourselves.
Absolutely.
Where in if, you know, something, God forbid, should happen to one of us, you know, that
take us out of a line of work or that type of thing, no one tells us.
I mean, we have the reps if you're in a union or maybe you're working for a private company
that's non-union.
But nobody talks about this enough to have the right health insurance, to have the right
care, have the right coverage, you know, that type of thing.
I've seen, unfortunately, I have seen technicians that started their own businesses and, you
know, got into really having successful businesses and focused on the work because they're just
work, work, work, work, work, work, work, work, and then have a catastrophe hit and
then lose everything because they weren't prepared for those potential situations.
Well, and that's in particular who I want to reach out to is not only small business
owners, but even if you're a key cog in a multimillion dollar company or a major corporation,
you're still important.
You're still important to somebody.
In fact, I would wager, just think about this for a minute.
You're the best person that somebody knows.
You're the best person somebody knows.
And if you fail to take care of yourself, you're in a way, you're failing to take care
of them.
Not saying that we're a failure, just we can't be careful enough in our own health, is what
I'm trying to say.
Yeah, we have to be careful not to set us up for that potential failure.
We don't know.
We never, we're not guaranteed anything.
Absolutely.
And I found that way out in a hard way.
And so a little over a week ago, I was diagnosed with cancer to no fault of my own.
And it just happens and it sucks.
And I wish for everyone out there, this is not a woe is me.
I will say it publicly, whether you agree with it or not, God, it's good.
And he's watching, or I feel that as I'm going through this.
And I just want to say that as I've been through this experience, prepping to go through chemo
in the next little bit, it's just one of those things you just don't anticipate ever happening.
I'm 43.
I was up until September.
I ran in half marathons, marathons.
You know, that was my hobby.
That was my out.
And you just never know.
And that's one of the stories I want to tell was when I got injured running on my way out
of the half marathon, or I was training for it September 9th, I ran on the injury and
I was stubborn and stupid and did it anyway.
And us men are a lot like that, right?
Yeah, we just, I'm struggling with that right now to try and to counter that internal demon
of myself.
That constantly reminds me that I still have work to do with that.
Yeah, and we all do.
And we're right there with you.
If you're struggling with mental health, reach out.
But I'm talking like physical health.
You know, I was trying to get better and in that process, I injured myself.
I was running down the canyon at nine and a half minutes a mile and just stepped on
a rock and stumbled.
I almost fell just face first, but I caught myself.
And in that process, if you can imagine me, I'm just failing and I just caught myself
on the wind down and then ran the half marathon anyway.
And then it just never got better.
And so I went in for an MRI and that's when they found the, the, the mass and it's just
everything's kind of snowballed from there.
So through no event or fault of your own, you can just encounter these obstacles that
just feel so unfair.
And it does, but I'm telling you right now that if you don't have life insurance in place,
if you don't have proper healthcare coverage in place, these are all things I wish somebody
would have just maybe just beat over my head and lectured me to death on.
And unfortunately, about this time where I was going through this running injury, my
wife changed our insurance.
She felt prompted to change our insurance to a plan that we could afford.
And it was a plan that had really, really good coverage if something were to happen
to me, because if we weren't in the midst of this miracle that we're experiencing right
now, and I say miracle, I mean, I have cancer, it sucks, you know, and, and I'm here at the
conference with surrounded by so many amazing people and so many amazing things that I'm
learning and trying to push forward and push through.
And many of us go through so many things we just don't tell other people about.
I'm just hoping that by being vulnerable for a little bit, that somebody out there listening
to this might change that one aspect that you've like, Hey, I've got to change this.
Y'all, y'all are so smart with your heating and air conditioning inverter, heat pumps,
and your, your, your engineers is that and whatever you're dealing with, but take a second
and step back and take care of your families and take care of your health is just what
I'm pleading for.
Because if you can take a step back and just focus on you for a minute as bad as it sucks,
because if you don't, something will happen and it'll force you to do it anyway.
And catch you off guard.
Yeah.
Yeah, absolutely.
And we hear those stories regularly and unfortunately, many of us, especially when we're in our
twenties, maybe in our early thirties, we don't look at us being injured.
No, we don't even fathom what that would look like.
So we don't prepare for it.
Well, and how can you write things are going good.
You're working hard, you're working your butt off your, you know, you're kicking butt, taking
names and then out of the blue.
I mean, a week and a half ago, week ago, you've, you find out some of the worst news in your
entire life.
And that's what happened to me.
And again, I'm not saying poor me, but I'm just saying is that if somebody can take and
just change something, maybe get better healthcare coverage, maybe improve life insurance, set
your family up for success.
The number one thing I'd off piece of advice I'd offer to anybody is just get out of debt.
Just get out because we're, we're dealing with some stuff that's unfortunate.
And I wish they would have taught that somewhere in a trade class.
Just don't get into that.
Don't go buy that truck.
Don't go buy that expensive tool.
It's I mean, yes, you've got to have tools to provide, but, and don't buy the trailer.
You don't need, don't buy the equipment.
You don't need, if something doesn't feel right as off, listen to that.
You guys know what's going on in your businesses, but take a step back, take care of yourselves,
take care of your health.
That matters and has to be so important because you've got families, you've got others.
And again, I'll say it again.
You're the best person somebody knows and to, to not have that either a taken care of,
think of what would happen if it was somebody gone from somebody's life and you're the best
person they know what that would do to them.
Maybe, maybe that course of action will help you change something for the better and for
the positive in your life.
Absolutely.
You know, I had a conversation and it was actually, it was a year ago.
It was at the 2023 National HVACR Education Conference.
And I was spending some time with my, my good friends, Rob Vilches over at the United Association
and Brian Kelly.
And we were talking about the, the UA and some things that the UA does for, for members
that they don't realize at the time that part of the UA's design is to have many of these
aspects in play.
So your insurance, having investments, having things in play in those early years of your
career that you don't know that you need.
And due to years of experience, they've realized that that is part of your membership is to
make sure that you have all those benefits in play because most young technicians, men
or women don't focus on it.
Traditionally, women focus on it more than men do.
But in that early stages in life, both men and women are ill-prepared because we don't
think of those potential outcomes.
And so the UA focuses on doing that.
And I had so much respect when we, when we started talking about that, when we started
looking at what union dues do, my father actually retired as a, as an operator, a heavy machinery
operator, and I got to witness what those benefits did for him later in life.
But I can only fathom, you know, earlier in life, how much that could be a benefit.
I myself went non-union in my career, and it wasn't until I was in my thirties and realized,
oh man, I missed, I missed so many.
There's a lot of things I really wish I would have done better.
And then I realized that, you know, part of that is that in that age, we just aren't wired.
Our brains have not matured to the point of being prepared for those scenarios.
And it is, it's a very important thing to be aware of.
Absolutely.
And for the young guys that are considering what to do, the union is a terrific option.
I wish I would have chosen this many years ago.
I've worked in the private sector my whole life.
And so 20 years experience in the, in the residential heating and air conditioning world
is where I reside.
And so we work in Utah where it's a right to work state.
Yeah, absolutely.
And so not that there is not unions there, I could have been a part of it, but looking
back, I mean, that would change things significantly for me now.
Fortunately, we have decent enough healthcare coverage.
Fortunately, we have, you know, there are things that are not going to be without their
challenges.
Yeah, exactly.
But even if you work privately, there are options available to you that maybe, maybe
just ask for advice and not that that's one thing I don't get with guys in particular.
We're so stubborn.
What?
I'm not gonna let my wife hear this.
She's not gonna let her me agree that I'm stubborn.
Well, my wife already knows that there's things we can't say on here that she calls me.
But, but don't be afraid to ask, you know, because there are somewhere just like somebody
ask you to go in and fix their equipment or repair just like you're an expert there.
There are experts around that are just wanting and willing to help.
And don't take that for granted.
You know, ask maybe a little bit earlier.
Yeah, I absolutely agree.
There is a difficult thing in vulnerability, and it's called pride.
And I have had to have many moments where I have to set that aside and just say, it's
out of my control.
Yeah.
You know, and this has been one of those moments, you know, where I've got four kids, my oldest
is married, and my youngest is 13.
And so we decided to have kids early on in our relationship.
And so, and then now looking at this, I'm just as you're staring death right in the
face that changes you, changes your perspective.
And so just, that's what I'm trying to say is take care of yourselves, guys.
You're worth it.
You know, somebody out there thinks you are and you are, and somebody believes in you.
Somebody took a risk and hired you.
That's got to be worth something.
Take care of that.
Take care of you and please just watch out for these types of things.
And so I'd say is look at your mortgage.
There's something called mortgage insurance where if you have an accident, I wish I'd
known about this, you know, and rendered you unable to work, they'll pay off your mortgage
if you get a terminal illness or something like that.
And so there are just so many things where we're looking back, make sure you have the
right amount of life and life insurance coverage.
And you just don't think about that.
But get with someone that knows what they're talking about.
Research the plans, know what you're saying yes to know what you're saying no to become
educated.
You don't have to become an expert.
Leave that to the experts.
You're the expert in your field, whether it's some, some type of trade work, et cetera,
et cetera.
The one who I'm particularly talking about is a trade skilled tradesman who need to be
around for their families that they're providing for.
So life insurance and then make sure that your medical coverage is where it needs to
be.
And so just review that you don't have to be top of mind.
And I'm not saying feel it full worry, but just be cognizant of it every now and again.
And just if you know, one of the things running that did for me is I'm a hundred pounds down
from where I used to be.
Wow.
Congratulations.
Thank you.
And it's, and, and I still remember when I couldn't, when I decided to make that change,
I really just very angry with myself and I just dumped the soda and four years later,
I haven't touched soda.
Yeah, that's a big one.
And so, and be where I, when I began running, I couldn't even walk a half mile.
Just couldn't just things weren't working right.
And there are many, many, many times I've had COVID four times I've recovered from a
traumatic brain injury.
There just been so many obstacles and towns along the way where if you don't feel like
it's worth going on, it is not going to be easy.
You know, everybody's got their stuff they've got to deal with.
They all got baggage.
Every single one of us.
And if you're saying you're don't, you're lying.
There, I mean, there's, there's, there's something somewhere.
Take care of it before it becomes an issue.
Absolutely.
Because like I say, you're the best person somebody knows might be your kids.
It might be the neighbor that's watching you that you don't even know about.
But you mean something to somebody.
And that's important.
So stay around, stay healthy.
Watch the for those things in life.
If you don't know how to balance a checkbook, learn, you know, watch your money, be wise
with it, get just may I get the hell out of that, you know, avoid it like the plague.
Because we have some debt, but we had been working on the process for a little bit to
improve our finances.
And nobody's really born with a silver spoon and trades, right?
We're all just hard working guys and gals that are just trying to make make make a better
improvement for our lives and for somebody but if you can ensure that you're taking care
of yourself, man, you can you can live a long healthy life.
And even if it's fraught with challenges, okay, you have challenges.
But people care.
And that's the message that I wanted to deploy today.
Absolutely.
I really appreciate it.
Chris Sullivan.
Thank you.
It's been a pleasure to meet you.
Yeah, you too.
And thanks for the time that I'd love to.
I love the show.
So we're glad to have you out when I seen you.
So thank you so much.
Thank you so much.
Love it.
Well, thank you.