#419 – Athena Perez

Sevan Matossian (00:03):

Hey, I’m more live uhoh where’s the guest. Good morning. Travis, Alyssa, Brandon, Susie, Carol. I like how the Brazilians always put their flag. You ever notice that when you watch like CrossFit games, events, if it’s the, if it, if it’s the Americans, it’s all chatty Cathy and the Brazilians are just all flaggy Cathy, just tons Aggy, Kathy, just tons of flags. Just cruising down the side. Keenan. Good morning. I never, I’ve never, I don’t think I’ve ever known a Keenan. Kenneth. Good morning. I was just, uh, pulling up the tabs that I wanted to show you for. Today’s show today’s guest. It’s. Uh, it’s cool. It’s crazy. Cuz I, I, I first met her on the, uh, CrossFit podcast. I kind of wanna show it to you guys, but I’m afraid, um, to show it to you. <laugh> cause uh, I don’t want to get, um, those fucking guys over there at CrossFit will report me lickity split, uh, to try to get me off the air.

Sevan Matossian (01:07):

But in, I, I, I think it was 2017 or 18. I should wait till she gets on here. I bet you, she has a way better memory than I do gig Josh. Anyway, when, when I met Athena Perez, it was like, it was just sparks and fireworks just right away. It was just cool. Like I was like, oh, it was like, um, just meeting a good friend just right off the bat. It was cool. We just could cut through the bullshit. I mean, more than that, it seemed like just like someone. Um, and, and I was hugely interested in her story. She, uh, and she’s very intelligent and articulate. So yeah, spec, oh, special, special delivery day, Travis. Oh, that would be awesome. If my shirt showed up today, God, you’re a good dude.

Sevan Matossian (01:58):

It, it was just, we were, we were just kin. I just knew. I like listening to people who have good stories and she’s a great storyteller and she’s lived an incredible journey. I, in the last three days, I just powered down her book. You can get her book on, uh, audio, it’s called, um, lifting the weight. You can. I, I bought the book, I don’t know, um, two years ago and never read it. I was like, well, I already had her on the podcast. I already know all this. And I’ve talked to her periodically, you know, two or three times a year. We’ll have a phone call, but I listen to the audio book of this. This is so good. It kind, she’s like the smart version of Forrest Gump, her life. Really just kind of just trots along in this pattern or in these twist and turns that you can’t even imagine with the FBI and, and police and just all sorts of wild shit, all sorts of wild shit.

Sevan Matossian (02:53):

It’s interesting. It just says a story about faith, fitness and perfect, uh, uh, timing and the opening chapter. It’s like really God centric. And I was like, man is a lot of this shit. Just gonna be over my head or, uh, or too preachy for me. And I, I not, not even close, not even close. I don’t, I don’t know if I have a, um, I, I don’t know if the whole God thing’s a trigger thing for me or, or I don’t know. I don’t know what it is, but I’m, I’m, I’m always like on guard as soon as I hear that. And, and I, it didn’t even got through chapter one easily and then it was just to the races. Hey,

Athena Perez (03:31):

Hey,

Sevan Matossian (03:32):

What’s up?

Athena Perez (03:33):

How are you?

Sevan Matossian (03:34):

Good. How are you?

Athena Perez (03:36):

I had to make like two extra cups of coffee. So I have like one cup right here or another cup right here.

Sevan Matossian (03:41):

I, uh, I have this podcast right after, um, this one, what? I don’t even know if I’d call it a podcast. It’s uh, we’re gonna talk about the games. And I, and I asked my wife, uh, this morning, I was like, so can you just have another cup of coffee ready for me?

Athena Perez (03:56):

That’s kind what I,

Sevan Matossian (03:58):

Um, are you addicted to coffee? You think?

Athena Perez (04:01):

Yes.

Sevan Matossian (04:01):

You think it’s a bad addiction?

Athena Perez (04:03):

No.

Sevan Matossian (04:04):

Oh, good. Okay. Good. Me too. I, but I don’t like the idea of being addicted to anything.

Athena Perez (04:09):

You know what? I I’ve actually thought through this a bunch of times.

Sevan Matossian (04:12):

Okay, good, good justify. Justify.

Athena Perez (04:15):

Yeah. I’m trying to justify am I actually addicted to it? I don’t know if I ever drank coffee for the caffeine. I drank it because I genuinely like drinking warm things

Sevan Matossian (04:26):

And I, oh, right.

Athena Perez (04:28):

I’ve tried to do tea and I just can’t do tea. I don’t do it every now and then, but

Sevan Matossian (04:32):

It’s not sorry when I say coffee. Sorry, what I really mean is caffeine.

Athena Perez (04:37):

Oh, I don’t know. Cuz this is the only caffeinated beverage I drink.

Sevan Matossian (04:41):

Right. And, and you do put cream in it. Is that what you said? No. No. You no cream.

Athena Perez (04:46):

Well, if I get an ice coffee, I’ll put a little half and half in it, but hot coffee. No,

Sevan Matossian (04:52):

I do my first cup with, uh, heavy cream. Oh. And, and then if I have other cups, I don’t cause my first cup, I kind of justify is breakfast or um, strong coffee has some shit you can put in in it too. And, and if I’m, if I’m really feeling freaky, I’ll do that.

Athena Perez (05:09):

Yeah.

Sevan Matossian (05:11):

Uh, it, it’s not addictive. Like, uh, like I like smoking, right. So like I’ve, I can taper off of coffee and then just be okay without it. But like, but cigarettes aren’t like that. I taper it off years ago and I’m still like, not every once in a while. I’m like, God, I should, I should go down to the store and get myself a vape pen. I mean, I don’t, I don’t, but, but it doesn’t go away.

Athena Perez (05:31):

No,

Sevan Matossian (05:32):

It’s like bear with you. Like, like, like a bad X.

Athena Perez (05:35):

Yeah,

Sevan Matossian (05:36):

I agree. Yeah. Yeah. It’s crazy. Don’t, that’s the thing don’t ever start smoking that cuz that one will stay in your head space.

Athena Perez (05:44):

That one will stay with you until you’re dead.

Sevan Matossian (05:46):

Hey, that, that’s an interesting thing. Your book, your book really is another way to characterize your book. I didn’t think of this till just now is it’s about Headspace.

Athena Perez (05:55):

Oh yeah.

Sevan Matossian (05:56):

It’s about, it could be called that that could, that could be the, uh, title of it Headspace because almost every chapter has some tools. Well it explains some sort of, um, uh, uh, it explains your Headspace and then gives you tools on how to navigate it. Whether it’s with the police, with your diet, with fucking scary things like rape with just like all the different things. And then there’s always, there’s a character in your book named Sarah and right. Is that I mean? Yeah. And you and her always, uh, or, or you, you utilize a lot of books too, to like, to, to deal with Headspace.

Athena Perez (06:28):

Yeah. Yeah. I did.

Sevan Matossian (06:32):

There was,

Athena Perez (06:32):

You’re talking about like the lessons, right? The end of chapter stuff.

Sevan Matossian (06:37):

Uh, but yeah, I uh, no, just even just throughout, just even your conversations with, um, there too. Right, right. Okay. For sure. There, there’s a quote in there that stuck with me that I’ve already shared with like five people. And I just start, you know, finished the book in the last three days. I don’t know if it’s Bernard Shaw or who it was, but it was basically like, if you can’t change your mind, you can’t change your life.

Athena Perez (06:58):

That’s right. Bernard Shaw. It’s true.

Sevan Matossian (07:03):

And there are it’s there are so many people right now who need to be able to change their mind.

Athena Perez (07:10):

Agree.

Sevan Matossian (07:11):

Yeah.

Athena Perez (07:13):

Totally agree.

Sevan Matossian (07:16):

They, um, yeah. Uh,

Athena Perez (07:21):

One that you brought that up, cuz we’re gonna talk about that.

Sevan Matossian (07:23):

Okay. Tell me go. What is there, do you wanna dig in there? Do you wanna say something about that before? I say some other stuff too? No,

Athena Perez (07:28):

Go ahead.

Sevan Matossian (07:29):

I’ll give you, okay. Okay. Uh, the, the, the, the two reasons why you’re, so if, if you go back to, uh, I don’t even know what year this is. Okay. But if you go back to this year and you wanna, if, uh, you wanna see when Athena and I first met here it is right here. Uh, this is 2018 and this is the CrossFit podcast. Yeah. And what had happened was tell, tell me how you ended up there. I have my version, but I wanna know how you ended up there. How’d you end up at the professor podcast?

Athena Perez (07:54):

How I ended up on the podcast.

Sevan Matossian (07:56):

Yeah.

Athena Perez (07:58):

Uh, I got an invite

Sevan Matossian (08:03):

Because, because I saw the video that you did with, uh, Mr. Cosla

Athena Perez (08:07):

That’s right. The video came out and um, I wanna say that was in oh, April,

Sevan Matossian (08:15):

April

Athena Perez (08:15):

Mm-hmm <affirmative> and then you saw the video. Well, you helped produce the video. Yeah.

Sevan Matossian (08:21):

Yeah, yeah. But I didn’t know. I, I mean, Cosla hit it. I watched it and I cried. I mean, Cosla hit it out of the, uh, park and even I think, I mean, maybe I’m making this up. We’d have to have him on, but I think even he came back from that and was like, kind of like, holy shit, I fucking hit this one outta the park, me and this girl. So me and this girl connected. I mean, I think even he was kind of like, couldn’t believe what the gold mine, he landed with that piece. Where, what, what is that piece called? I should pull that piece up too. I want you see that piece,

Athena Perez (08:47):

First of all. Cause is amazing. Yes. He’s ANMA like the guy is so, uh, amazingly talented. Um, what happened though? I think it was kind of a surprise to both of us how that actually transpired because, um, when we were sitting down at the table, you know, having that conversation about, um, just, you know, kind of what had happened and, and the abuse and just some of the stuff that had happened, we got through that, that set. I don’t know what you call it. I’m not a videographer. Right. But we got through that set and he’s kind of got this shock look on his face and he goes, so I just recorded that whole thing. I didn’t know. Right. I didn’t know that the camera was on and, and I was like, oh, okay. And, and then he looked at me and he was like, well, how do you feel about that? And I was like, Hmm. Hmm. You know, I, I wasn’t sure, even if I was ready to, you know, broadcast that out to the world, but I was like, you know what, fuck it. Let’s just, let’s just do it. And so I, I think it turned out that real because I didn’t know the camera was on.

Sevan Matossian (09:57):

Um, how, how old were you when that happened? That, that video,

Athena Perez (10:02):

Uh, when the video was filmed?

Sevan Matossian (10:04):

Yeah.

Athena Perez (10:06):

Oh, uh, 39 39. No, no. I was 40

Sevan Matossian (10:12):

40. Is, is that the most, so in your book, you say when that video was made and sorry, guys for being so abstract, we will dig down, uh, when that video was made. Um, that was the first time in your life that you had been that open, right. With the world about it. I mean, people in your lives knew or no. You had been that open before.

Athena Perez (10:33):

I think I’d always been open, but I, I certainly had never been around cameras before cameras of any kind. I mean, I didn’t even like PE people taking pictures of me at all.

Sevan Matossian (10:43):

Right.

Athena Perez (10:43):

Um, you know, it’s, people always joke around like, Athena, why do you always use like the same before picture? You know, when you’re showing your progress. Cuz it’s the only one I have.

Sevan Matossian (10:53):

Right. Right.

Athena Perez (10:54):

And, and, you know, damn it, I thinking back, I wish I would’ve taken a shitload of pictures, but I didn’t. And so anyway, um,

Sevan Matossian (11:02):

Have you learned to like yourself on camera?

Athena Perez (11:04):

I don’t mind.

Sevan Matossian (11:05):

Yeah.

Athena Perez (11:06):

I don’t mind. I mean, it’s not a fear anymore. No. When I was on that podcast, like I was, everybody was like, oh you did so well. Like if you really only knew how I felt at the time. Yeah. Like I was scared shitless.

Sevan Matossian (11:19):

It’s a long podcast.

Athena Perez (11:21):

I look like a paralyzed deer the entire

Sevan Matossian (11:23):

Time. Not true did too. Uh, it, it it’s um, I, I just went and looked at it. I can’t believe, I wonder how many pee breaks I had to take. It was two hours and 45 minutes. That

Athena Perez (11:32):

Was long. It was great.

Sevan Matossian (11:35):

If you haven’t seen that, you have to see that. I, I, um, since then, since then you’ve published a book. Yep. I mean, you’ve done a ton of ton of stuff, but the two main reasons I brought cheers, cuz you’ve published that book of lifting the weight and you, and you’re about to, uh, launch the beta or you have launched beta of this, this, this seminar, right?

Athena Perez (11:56):

Yeah. The beta launches next Saturday.

Sevan Matossian (12:02):

Okay. So now, so now we laid off, laid out a bunch of shit. I wanna talk about, I wanted, uh, ask you this real quick in the book, the, by the way, the books all over the place, you have to read this. It’s so fun. It is, it is truly fun. Um, at some points there are some chapters that are so like heavy and intense. And I was thinking same one. I read Kayla Harrison’s book. Uh, there’s a, there’s a book written by, um, Kayla Harrison, the greatest female fighter alive right now. She won two gold medals in the Olympics. The only American ever to do that in judo. I think she’s the only one ever to win one. And she wrote a book about how she was molested from the age of eight to 16 by her judo coach. And that’s what the whole fucking book is about.

Sevan Matossian (12:39):

And when I had her on the air, I said to her, Hey, I don’t know if I’m a better person for reading your book. You know what I mean? Like, I’m glad I read it, but like it, like, it rocked me and, and, and like maybe even made me paranoid, you know what I mean? Yeah. And um, because I have kids, this book is not like that, uh, this book, there are some, there is, are some really heavy things, but there are some fun adventures too. Probably not fun for you, but there are some fun adventures too, with the police and the FBI and there’s some great stories. Yeah. And, and, and, and, uh, you’re not held under wa by the way I read, I, I, I love Kayla’s book by the way. It’s not a shot at it, but you’re not held under water in this book. So I wanna talk about one of the fun, um, things real quick, um, that case, um, with the FBI mm-hmm <affirmative> and the, um, you couldn’t, is that the case you couldn’t talk about or was it the previous case with the police and the, um, and the, uh, landlord that wouldn’t give you your deposit back? Which one was it that you, or is it both?

Athena Perez (13:39):

I couldn’t talk about both of them. I mean, the, the time has expired now it’s been over 10 years. So the, what do they call that? The gag order.

Sevan Matossian (13:46):

Yeah.

Athena Perez (13:47):

So, yeah, it’s expired now. So,

Sevan Matossian (13:49):

And they both got squirrly, especially the one. So basically she had, she lived in an apartment. She wanted to leave. She, um, asked for her deposit back. They wouldn’t give it back. She gave her landlord a, a certain timeframe and said, Hey, if you don’t, uh, give me my money back, I’m going to, um, come back and they’ll, and there’ll be legal actions. Um, then she, she went away for a couple weeks on vacation. And when she came, came back, she was supposed to meet her landlord at the apartment. And while she was waiting there, um, uh, the landlord called the police and, or got arrested for trespassing and kind of like, and then basically said, yo bitch, who gets the last walk now? Yeah,

Athena Perez (14:23):

That was the, that was the start of my criminal. Uh, that was the start of my criminal record.

Sevan Matossian (14:28):

So, so

Athena Perez (14:29):

It was the end of my criminal record too, by the way. And the reason that I got arrested for trespassing is cuz he processed an eviction on me while I was gone. And I didn’t know.

Sevan Matossian (14:37):

And you were just sitting in the backyard that what a sneaky thing to do. And you’re just sitting in the backyard and he’s like, Hey, meet, meet, uh, meet me at the house. And you’re just waiting there and then

Athena Perez (14:46):

What a tool. Right. So he, he, he made it sound like he called me up the phone and he made it sound like he wanted to like come to an agreement. Right. And so he is like, okay, meet me at the condo. And again, looking back, I’m like, why did I even go over there? But it, it didn’t seem unusual for me. I lived there. So I was like, oh, let’s meet in a, you know, like a public place and we’ll get together. And we’ll we’ll, you know, so when I got over there, it was pouring down rain. So I was trying to get out from under the rain. And I knew that the back patio area had like a cover. And uh, so I just went around the back to sit in the back and then,

Sevan Matossian (15:22):

And by then all your furniture and everything was outta the place, right? Yeah. It was

Athena Perez (15:24):

An empty place.

Sevan Matossian (15:25):

Yeah. Empty place.

Athena Perez (15:27):

It was just

Sevan Matossian (15:27):

So what a joke, the cops couldn’t just look and be like, so the cops were on the take.

Athena Perez (15:34):

Well, so in Texas, you don’t have to have criminal intent to trespas,

Sevan Matossian (15:40):

But you, but you could have just said, Hey officer, it’s obvious. I’m not like,

Athena Perez (15:44):

No, it was different. Like he knew exactly what he was doing because I, because he processed an eviction on me while I was gone. Mm-hmm <affirmative> the eviction stood as a trespass order. This is how it works in Texas. So if you show up, back on a property after you have been trespassed, it’s automatic. Now, now you have trespass with a little tag that says habit shelter, which means according to the law that you, you you’ve been told to leave, you’ve been ordered to leave. And now you insist on coming back to the property. It’s like a, it’s like a squatter,

Sevan Matossian (16:23):

Even though you are only there for a few minutes and you could be like, Hey, look at the text messages. I’m just meeting him here.

Athena Perez (16:27):

Yeah. It doesn’t matter.

Sevan Matossian (16:28):

Yeah. Crazy. So, and then what ended up happening from there was a cascade of things that made you think that he, that maybe the police were on the take, right? Or he was somehow affiliated with the police?

Athena Perez (16:38):

No. So that was a, that was the first one Uhhuh. So that’s kind of what, like, so in the book, when I was talking about it, it’s like the first thing that happened that kind of got me in that mindset of, you know, I need to fight the world, you know, cuz things like that make you bitter.

Sevan Matossian (16:56):

Yeah. Yeah.

Athena Perez (16:57):

And then the next situation was totally separate.

Sevan Matossian (17:01):

Okay. And that was with that’s when shit started getting weird, like the slash tires and stuff. Yep. Okay. Then I, then I conflated the two. Okay. <laugh> yeah, yeah, yeah. What a great story. Yeah. Um, are you gonna write a second book?

Athena Perez (17:14):

Yes, it’s already, almost done.

Sevan Matossian (17:16):

Wow.

Athena Perez (17:17):

Yeah.

Sevan Matossian (17:19):

Did you, uh, did you enjoy writing the first one or the second one better?

Athena Perez (17:24):

Um, definitely the second one, the first one, um, the first one was harder just because, um, you have to go back through everything and um, you know, I re I was remembering stuff that I, I had forgotten about. And then, you know, every, you can get to a point like even in therapy where you feel okay talking about it, but then at some point, um, you know, you still feel it, you still feel it, you know, so it was just, it was mentally exhausting to write that book mentally exhausting. Um, the second one, the second one is just basically kind of a pickup of where I left off. And a lot of that just has to do with everything that’s happened over the last couple years. So that one was a lot more fun.

Sevan Matossian (18:20):

There’s the theme in the book? Um, I actually didn’t think of it until just now about your weight. Nope. Not correct. Your, your thoughts about yourself holding you back from completing things. Yeah. And, um, the, the one that stands out the most is you had a t-shirt business, uh, not specifically around skateboarding,

Athena Perez (18:45):

Skateboarding, snowboarding. Yeah.

Sevan Matossian (18:48):

And it, and, and the business was taking off.

Athena Perez (18:51):

It did take off.

Sevan Matossian (18:53):

Yeah. It got, oh, your, your logo was being used in some movies. Um, your, your, your partner was young and invigorated. You were crazy invigorated. Yeah. It was, it was obviously a passion, uh, project that had caught on fire is the kinda thing you were working on, obviously a hundred hours a week and it didn’t even phase you.

Athena Perez (19:10):

Yeah. Yeah. True.

Sevan Matossian (19:12):

It started requiring you to interact with people in person.

Athena Perez (19:17):

Oh shit. Yeah. So, um, we started getting invited to a lot of events. It just took off. I mean, it was just a cute little, I call it cute. Dennis would probably kill me if I said that, uh, it was just a cute little brand, you know? And, um, it had a cool meme, you know, this Yeti character and, and yeah, we started getting invited to a lot of events and I, and I think the one, the first one was like, um, it’s, it’s a thing here in Minnesota called sound set. And it’s like, all the bands kinda get together. And it’s like a, it’s like a, you know, like a festival of all the cool kids, you know, and I hated, uh, I don’t use that word. I strongly disliked being there because I felt so out of place one, because I was older wasn’t because I was older. It was more like, I just felt like a, I stuck out like a sore thumb, you know, you have all these teens in early twenties. And, and then I was the, the, the fat older lady. That’s how I felt at the time, you know? And so I didn’t want to be the face of our brand. I always kept pushing Dennis to the front. Cuz that was his thing, you know.

Sevan Matossian (20:28):

And how old was he?

Athena Perez (20:31):

Uh, when we started the business, he was 17.

Sevan Matossian (20:34):

Okay.

Athena Perez (20:35):

And, um,

Sevan Matossian (20:36):

And did he skate?

Athena Perez (20:38):

Oh

Sevan Matossian (20:38):

Yeah. Okay. So he was perfect. He was a perfect front man.

Athena Perez (20:42):

Yeah. Yeah. Um, yeah. And that’s why it made it so fun is because I didn’t have to, I didn’t have to be that person, but when I started to have to be that person and then we got media started getting involved and then we get this invitation to, um, the, the kid’s choice awards. I was like, I can’t go looking like, like I can’t, I, I literally thought I would singlehandedly take down our brand and I thought that it would, it would hurt us.

Sevan Matossian (21:16):

And, and eventually those thoughts killed the brand, killed the project. Right.

Athena Perez (21:21):

Destroyed us. Yeah.

Sevan Matossian (21:24):

So just to be even more clear, there was some events that you needed to go to that basically you refused to go to because you weren’t comfortable in your own skin. You didn’t want other people to, you had a, a story spinning around. Oh, sure. That would, that you didn’t want to deal with, which was like, Hey, people are gonna basically make fun of me and laugh at me for being too big. Correct. And did you ever do tell Dennis this, or is he too young to know or you don’t have that relationship with him?

Athena Perez (21:52):

Oh, I mean, our, our, our re Dennis is like, like he, he could be my brother. Um, like he’s the closest thing in the world to me even today. Um, no, it’s not, I did not have these conversations with him at the time one cuz I knew it would, it would kill him. You know? And two, I think at the time he was so young that I don’t think he was gonna understand like the big picture Dennis didn’t know about my past. He didn’t know everything that I had gone through. So it was just too complicated of a conversation to have with him at the time.

Sevan Matossian (22:30):

You, you know, I, um, I, I, I know we, we briefly chatted about it and I was tell, I told the story about going to Disneyland and I, and I just, how shocked I was by what I saw just by how big everyone was and how bad everyone was eating. But I guess the inverse of that is, is if you are that big and you go out in public, you, you have that same fear because you know that there’s people like me who are just yeah. Who are just like, holy shit.

Athena Perez (23:02):

Totally agree. I’m glad that you brought Disneyland up. We’re gonna cover that today.

Sevan Matossian (23:08):

That, oh, you scared me the way you said that.

Athena Perez (23:10):

Oh look, look, look, look,

Sevan Matossian (23:13):

Oh, no, I have

Athena Perez (23:14):

No,

Sevan Matossian (23:14):

Oh no Disney land. I

Athena Perez (23:16):

Got notes too

Sevan Matossian (23:17):

There in the, in the, there were there. So, so that’s that’s one. And, and I wanna point out one more, there was another event, um, even more specific where it just wasn’t your own thoughts, but it was people being vicious. You went to a pool.

Athena Perez (23:32):

Oh yeah,

Sevan Matossian (23:33):

Yeah. And the story starts off. So good. I’m like, yeah, go girl, you get a bathing suit. You go to a pool, you go to a gym, you get in the pool. And some people fucking BA basically talk shit to you. Not basically they do talk shit to you. Two groups of people, one group from afar and one group basically, right. To your faces. You walk by. Right. And you get in the pool and you get stuck in the pool.

Athena Perez (23:54):

Yep.

Sevan Matossian (23:56):

Because, well, we

Athena Perez (23:56):

Say stuck, right? Cause that wasn’t

Sevan Matossian (23:59):

Psych psychologically, you get stuck

Athena Perez (24:01):

Psychologically stuck in the pool. Yeah.

Sevan Matossian (24:03):

You brave enough to get in. Yeah. But when you, while you’re in the pool, a stor be because these people are being, uh, jerk offs. Yeah. Um, a story spins up.

Athena Perez (24:14):

Right.

Sevan Matossian (24:15):

And um, and it’s like, Hey, I don’t want to get out and give them and more opportunity to make fun of me again. So you stay in the pool for two and a half hours. Yeah.

Athena Perez (24:27):

Britle um,

Sevan Matossian (24:29):

And even after 30 minutes you were like a prone, you say, so after two and a half hours after two and a half hours, you must have been like just water logged.

Athena Perez (24:36):

I was <laugh> I felt like a, Ugh was awful.

Sevan Matossian (24:41):

Did, did you cry in there?

Athena Perez (24:43):

Not in the pool. You know, like I think I did a really good job growing up and kind of going through that first part of my life. Um, not letting people see me cry when they would do that.

Sevan Matossian (24:57):

What if you would’ve swam over to those girls who are adjacent to you and just been like, Hey, I’m gonna get out of the pool. Can you guys not make fun of me? Oh, fuck that.

Athena Perez (25:08):

Oh, can you imagine how that would’ve gone over? Because

Sevan Matossian (25:11):

I don’t know. Would’ve rocked the shit out of him. I think. I mean,

Athena Perez (25:14):

You do something like that. Well, you take the risk either one of two things is gonna happen. Right. Either they’re gonna just leave.

Sevan Matossian (25:21):

Right.

Athena Perez (25:21):

Or it’ll get worse.

Sevan Matossian (25:23):

Right.

Athena Perez (25:24):

So, you know, you pick your poison. Right. But

Sevan Matossian (25:27):

It’s just fun doing stuff. That’s totally out of the norm narrative once in a while, which I know, you know, you know what I mean?

Athena Perez (25:33):

I, I know now. Yeah,

Sevan Matossian (25:34):

Yeah. Yeah. Just to just, just face it, be like, Hey, this might just be me, but could you not laugh at me when I get outta the pool? Oh shit.

Athena Perez (25:44):

You know what though? That brings up a bigger topic.

Sevan Matossian (25:47):

Yeah. Go.

Athena Perez (25:47):

And, and I think it comes up in the book a lot because I, I think it happens so often for, for a lot of us is these stories we create because you and I both know that those two girls could have been in the hot tub over here talking about, um, they could have been talking about, oh, uh, something that happened over the weekend or somebody said a good joke. And they were, you know, and they were laughing, but

Sevan Matossian (26:11):

Right, right. You’re taking a huge risk by, by, by suggesting something that might not be true. Right. What

Athena Perez (26:19):

You do. Yep. So I always say vibes are a real thing and vibes, deceive us, but vibes are also our guide.

Sevan Matossian (26:27):

Right. So

Athena Perez (26:29):

Things like that do happen and you can pick up on it and you know, what’s happening. So I don’t want to discredit that. But I think just as often we make it all up.

Sevan Matossian (26:41):

Yeah. I, I get a, a day that that’s, uh, the whole thing with relationships, right? Yeah. Um, someone, you know, reads into something you say and misunderstands you and then responds to it. When I look at the YouTube comments, 90% of the people are trapped in their head. They see something, they make an analysis of it and then they respond to their own analysis. They’re talking to themselves. I, it it’s it’s, it’s, it’s uh, it’s, it’s how most humans live. It’s why they can’t get along. That’s why they don’t have happy relationships with their mates.

Athena Perez (27:11):

Do you ever feel that way?

Sevan Matossian (27:13):

No, because I can, well only, uh,

Athena Perez (27:15):

Never feel trapped in your head.

Sevan Matossian (27:17):

No, never, never. Um, there, there was a time in my life when I did, um, you, you were, uh, it’s um, I think the road to that unfortunately ends up being suicide. Not, not suicide. Like you actually kill yourself, but I think it ends up being, um, when you’re, when you’re in that, when you’re in that journey and you’re trapped in your head and the voices in it and the conversations get so loud, eventually you have to start contemplating your own death. I think that’s where that road leads. I, I could be wrong.

Athena Perez (27:47):

Well, no, no. I being, no, I think being trapped in your head can be much more simplistic, like, okay. Simply like, um, you know, digging your heels in the ground and not wanting to change your mind. That’s being trapped in your own head.

Sevan Matossian (27:59):

Oh. Back to back to back to back to Bernard Shaw. If you can’t change your mind,

Athena Perez (28:06):

You’re not gonna change your life.

Sevan Matossian (28:08):

Yeah. When I, when I’m by myself, I’m much more, um, soft in my thoughts.

Athena Perez (28:13):

I know

Sevan Matossian (28:16):

I’m much more supple. I’m willing to explore so much when I’m in my own thoughts.

Athena Perez (28:20):

Why do you think that is?

Sevan Matossian (28:27):

Well, you you’re, you, you, it’s just, you, you can be, well, at least for me, prob maybe not for some people are even scared of themselves, but for me, I can just be vulnerable to myself, whereas with other people. And that’s what that’s kind of what makes the podcast so fun too, because you’re actually doing it in front of other people.

Athena Perez (28:45):

Well, here’s, what’s really interesting. Yeah. Go about that is you, you are much different right now than say when one of the

Sevan Matossian (28:58):

<laugh>, how do you know I’m not, how do you know? I’m not,

Athena Perez (29:04):

I sent him an invoice before the show, Bobby, uh, you are, you are much different right now than you are with. Say when Matt is here.

Sevan Matossian (29:14):

Oh, right. Okay.

Athena Perez (29:16):

That’s the energy I’m talking about.

Sevan Matossian (29:17):

Right.

Athena Perez (29:18):

Right. Whatever strongest is gonna propel forward. And then everybody jumps on board, whatever that energy is.

Sevan Matossian (29:24):

Right, right.

Athena Perez (29:26):

And you do it,

Sevan Matossian (29:28):

Uh, you mean, you mean the, uh, uh, I, I turn the energy up and lead the, um, the, not the cavalry, the, what are the guys who like go to people, your energy,

Athena Perez (29:37):

Your energy goes on your podcast depending on, on the crowd.

Sevan Matossian (29:42):

Right, right, right. Right. Well also, also what I’m interested in. So like, I just, in the last three days, I just sucked down your book.

Athena Perez (29:51):

I’m glad you finally read it by the way. You’ve had it for like a year and a

Sevan Matossian (29:53):

Half now. Yeah. Well, I did to be, honestly, I didn’t read it. I, I listened to it. God, you were.

The above transcript is generated using AI technology and therefore may contain errors.

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