Episode 200. Conquering Anxiety: Sam’s Journey and the Mellows Movement

Welcome to episode 200 of the In-situ Health and Fitness Podcast! Today, we had the pleasure of hosting Sam, Founder of Mellows- functional sparkling waters and the Mind Wellness Club.

In this episode, Sam shares his personal journey with overwhelming anxiety and his mission to help others manage stress and anxiety through the Mellows initiative and Mind Wellness Club. We delve into his lived experience with anxiety, the importance of spreading awareness, and breaking down the stigma surrounding mental health. Sam offers practical tips for managing your nervous system and discusses what anxiety is and how to overcome it. We also explore how Mellows is driving change and fostering new, healthy habits, creating a culture of wellness.

Tune in to learn more about supporting your mental wellness and joining the movement towards a healthier, calmer life.

Where to find Mellows:

www.mellows.com.au

@drinks.mellows

@mind.wellnessclub

Chapters

• 1:30 Sam shares his journey to conquering anxiety and the creation of the Mellows Movement.
• 20:00 Sam's journey to finding relief from anxiety and panic attacks.
• 33:30 Understanding and overcoming anxiety through self-awareness and mindfulness.
• 40:00 Creating Mellows and the Mind Wellness Club.
• 46:20 Tips for managing anxiety and finding balance in life.

Transcript

 what is up everybody welcome back to the
 In-situ collectives 200th episode yes
 number 200
 big thanks to everybody that has been
 supporting the show and before we get
 into our interview with the founder of
 Mellows Sam uh I just want to thank
 every single one of you for your love
 and support over the last 200 plus shows
 I did go back and delete a fair few
 there a while ago no need to go back and
 find those and try and have a listen
 because I reckon the last 100 shows
 maybe 50 shows is where we've really
 started to gain some traction from you
 guys and we wouldn't be here without you
 okay so everybody listening supporting
 given us your questions each month as
 well given your opinion on all the
 topics is what we love and that's why we
 do this show if you want to continue
 seeing us do that and give us a little
 bit of extra love on the side make sure
 you become a supporter of the show hit
 the link in the show notes become a
 supporter and you can literally just
 give us whatever you think this show is
 worth whe whether it is $3 or
 $3,000 the ladder would be
 better it just comes out monthly so
 again we appreciate everybody that's
 already done that and we appreciate
 every single one of you that have done
 that
 I thought i' just do
 this on that Sam thanks for coming on
 the show all right at all thanks for
 having me very excited to have you here
 for the last couple of months we've been
 drinking these mellow cans so honestly I
 saw it online and I was like we're on a
 podcast what's this all
 about as my wife and I we work together
 I was like man reach out we need to get
 in front what's going on here I love it
 absolutely love it yeah we've had a lot
 of people reach out and say what are
 those can you drinking and or and say
 they're just delicious and they help
 calm me so I'm excited to have you on
 you want dive into maybe like go back a
 few years before you even come up with
 the
 can I I'll go back like go back to my
 childhood because um there was a lot
 that led up to my experience which then
 as a result got me to a point to create
 the product mows in the first place so
 like my upbringing was great like I
 didn't come from a rough home or had a
 bad upbringing like I had my mom and dad
 were together um we're very very
 fortunate growing up as well because my
 old man um was into the property game
 and he did very very well through that
 so my upbringing was great like every
 school holidays we're flying overseas
 for you know for trips and we're taking
 our best mates with us and everyone gets
 $1,000 to spend and whatever there
 wasn't any limits on on that so like it
 was it was and but we like I didn't know
 much different I thought you know like I
 felt different in the community that I
 lived in because we were sort of noticed
 as like being the the wealthy or the
 rich family but again I was grateful for
 the school I went to because all my
 mates are such great authentic people um
 and I didn't feel like I was any
 different because of that and I sort of
 didn't really understand that from a
 young age so it very very fortunate like
 the lifestyle was crazy and and it got
 to a point where I was watching my old
 man build this hotel and do these
 amazing things and I was like okay well
 when I get older that's what I'm going
 to do just follow my old man's footsteps
 um he came from nothing you know a
 really really great provider um uh and
 um yeah it got to the point where like
 he had you know a 75 foot launch in in
 Oakland City with a Skipper and a chef
 and he had these Bentley and Ferraris
 and all sorts of stuff going on it was
 like all there so I was like wow like
 not to say the materialistic things you
 know and you know I like nice things but
 it wasn't that it was more so like
 there's no limits in terms of what can
 be achieved in this world and that's
 really what gave me you know my
 entrepreneurial Spirit or business
 Spirit or whatever you want to call
 because I just knew there was no limits
 to that um but then it got to 2007
 208 um and when the financial crisis hit
 um he lost everything absolutely
 everything so you know the family home
 the whole lot and he owed 30 $30 million
 to the banks at that time as well
 well so it wasn't like a a credit card
 of three grand or whatever it's like $30
 million like here to go through this big
 um a deal with him it's all sorted out
 now but it was mental so for me like
 unpacking how I got to the point of
 having my experience with anxiety it was
 only sort of recently in the last couple
 of days I thought you know what I
 haven't shared this part of my story the
 younger years of my story I've only gone
 on from the point of when it all
 happened for me which was much later in
 my life
 so basically growing up I remember you
 know 11 12 13 um I remember if I was to
 get a cold or get sick I would always
 you know be taken to the doctors to get
 checked out but I started fearing going
 to the doctors because I didn't want to
 didn't want them to say that something
 was wrong with me and that's as far back
 as I remember having these uncomfortable
 feelings even though it didn't Define my
 day and run my life anxiety at that
 point CU I was so young I just remember
 hating going to the doctors like saying
 might have something wrong with me when
 you know I was perfectly fine and then
 when I got to high school um my mom got
 diagnosed with breast cancer um and to
 get that told to you when you sort of 16
 17 like completely destroyed my world
 like I love it to dearly love it a bits
 and to have that told you like you know
 your mom could pass away at that age it
 just it was horrible I cried for like
 days on end it was just the next level
 but she's with us like she's good super
 healthy so that's all like you know
 she's here and that's that's good but to
 go through that that then stirred up
 that worry about getting sick again it
 stirred up in my body and I I got to
 another point where I I I actually
 believed that there was something wrong
 with me like I I had cancer you know
 there's something wrong with me as well
 um so I even took myself to the city to
 go and get checked up as well to make
 sure that I didn't have anything wrong
 with me it's so weird to say but it's
 like you know
 I I I don't know if I should say this it
 might be a bit
 censored if I should go into it but
 literally like I I
 remember I had like a a cyst um and I
 was like you know is this good or
 is it bad it could be cancer so I need
 to go and get this checked out um and
 the sist was on my balls so I thought I
 had nut cancer basically and I went to
 the city to go and get checked out for
 that as well being 17 years old
 and growing up you know like in my area
 you're watching jackass people punching
 each other the nuts all day throwing
 balls at each other whatever right and I
 was like I think I've got something
 wrong with me so then I go to town get
 my balls checked out by a lady who's
 like 6570 it's a great Saturday morning
 to spend you Saturday morning as a 16
 seven year 17 year old then all my mates
 find out about it and give me so much
  about it but it's like on and
 Beyond the humorous side of that I'm
 like how can you how can you like almost
 believe that you've got something wrong
 with you to that extent like how can you
 how can you actually believe that that's
 real it's like me saying to you guys now
 hey you know you've got a brain tumor
 you know you've got you know stomach
 cancer or whatever else but for you to
 sit there you're like oh yeah whatever
 like I'm healthy you know it doesn't
 bother you but then when you have these
 early signs of anxiety you start
 thinking about it more and more it just
 dwells on your mind to the point where I
 remember when I thought I had you know
 testical cancer and I checked everything
 out and my heart just beating through my
 chest and I'm by myself at home freaking
 out and it's just like you're 17 years
 old man go and explore the world get out
 and explore it so then again even at
 that point after I got checked out they
 said you're fine no worries at all it
 just came and left so it was within
 about a week period and then it left and
 then everything was sweet for like
 another good eight years from that um
 I'm always someone that gets up early in
 the morning loves being around people
 loves having a laugh you know I like to
 be busy um so I was never someone that
 would sort of you know not want to get
 up early in the morning and you know not
 have many friends or anything like that
 I was very quite social so for that next
 8 to 10 year period you know um my wife
 and I you know we met very early on and
 we were just hanging out and we're best
 mates and we were just enjoying life and
 it wasn't until I got to the age of 26
 when I when we moved to Sydney from
 Orland so K uh so we moved to moved to
 Sydney and we we ended up sitting our
 life up there um I got into like more of
 a corporate role so again watched my dad
 build his property portfolio and did
 what he did I was like I'm a property
 guy that's what I'm going to do so
 pretty much from high school I went and
 worked for him um and then I went off on
 my own and did my own stuff so we moved
 to Sydney I then work get my first like
 corporate roll and we rolled in there
 and I red a nice blue suit from SAA I
 high purchased a highday I had like 400
 bucks I was killing it like driving
 around Sydney just like with
 and I got this role and I started
 working in South Sydney selling and
 leasing up commercial real estate um and
 it was just amazing to me I was like
 great you know income security
 everything else this is amazing but then
 after about a year of being in the role
 um my wife and I would find ourselves
 because we lived in coochie at the time
 so we we would like go to work together
 and then we would catch up after work
 and drive back home together and we
 found some days we're literally hopping
 in the car and we're like Dam we need
 some Greenery we need to just get out of
 town it's just too much so we' like
 literally dry for 45 minutes all the way
 up to Newport like Northern beaches
 Newport just to get to like a beach
 that's nice and quiet and have a swim
 and just relax so even at that point
 it's like where I'm from it's beautiful
 and green really calm really relaxing
 it's like I feel like in any forms of
 pressure you sort of go back to what you
 know is good for you and we all do it
 naturally whether we want think it or
 not you know what I mean it always
 happens so we started doing more of that
 and then about a year on the role I
 remember literally like waking up and
 almost turning into like an animal like
 biting biting in the air waking myself
 up bit my tongue once grinding my teeth
 at just random as well like my
 wife's like w man like what's going on
 it's like I was so busy it like I almost
 a dog I was like um I was so busy and
 just into what I was doing my mind just
 kept going and going and going even in
 my sleep and I remember going to like an
 organic sh there and being like hey do
 you have any natural remedies to calm
 you down and they just give you their
 trusty like magnesium um it was pretty
 much just the Magnesium they gave me
 some Cara tablets as well but it didn't
 do too much so then at that point I was
 like look you know we loved like going
 out cafes together in the morning you
 know we love that sort of Coffee Culture
 you know we were right into that and I
 was like you know what I think I'll hang
 the boots up at at the uh at this colier
 International and I'll go off and let's
 start a cafe and let's get that set up
 and then I can do my own consultancy
 work on the side as well on property so
 we did that I remember for the last
 couple of months of working for
 Colliers I um we managed to negotiate a
 lease for a space down in freshwater U
 which is the northern beaches as well um
 it was like a big video shop we took a
 little part of that and we put a wall up
 and um and we negotiated lease and got
 into that but I'm literally at like or
 press in zetland where all the guys in
 the office going have their morning
 meetings and all their suits and I'm
 like hiding out the back learning how to
 Ste milk and po latte out and I have to
 get changed in my suit and not let them
 know what's going on to go meet everyone
 for a meeting after it was crazy um but
 yeah and then we started the cafe and
 that was just amazing like such a flip
 from what I was doing before I felt I
 could be expressive I could create this
 community and everything else like that
 and all that pressure just came off me
 from the whole thing property guy and
 doing these deals and stuff like that so
 we started the cafe everything was great
 there I started doing my own consultancy
 work on the site as well and then we
 decided to throw a baby into the mix as
 well and have our first daughter there
 and um and it was great like becoming a
 dad was just like surreal I can't even
 explain the feelings that you go through
 and things that you experience with that
 I remember the first night having my
 daughter's called barley so having
 barley in the room I was like wow I've
 got like a living being that I'm
 responsible for now it like sort of set
 in and I was just completely in love
 with her like fully in awe with her as
 well and like I remember like having her
 in the front pack and when I was walking
 around with her it was like nothing else
 nothing mattered like making money
 didn't matter businesses didn't matter
 like nothing mattered at all in my life
 it was like being with this baby but
 what I didn't know subconsciously was it
 started stirring up things from my
 childhood becoming a new father so
 things like the lifestyle that I was
 provided growing up subconsciously I put
 all this pressure on myself to provide
 the same level of Lifestyle so when I'm
 thinking about you know um you know
 making money or building businesses I'm
 like well we need to be you know at this
 level with a you know nice beautiful
 house you know need to have some nice
 cars need to provide the livestyle
 travel whenever we want but I started
 stacking up more and more responsibility
 on myself at that point of time so not
 only being a provider from a father's
 point of view but then not being like my
 dad he was around but he wasn't around
 all the time because it was from that
 era of you know go to work early come
 back late even though it was on the same
 property we didn't see him much
 throughout the day and it's always
 business talk right which was fine it
 was all good we see him on the weekend
 and that was sort of it but I was like I
 don't want to be like that so like I
 wanted to be there more for my children
 on a day-to-day basis because I know
 that that that that creates more value
 for them when they get older makes them
 feel more secure so I was having this
 imbalance of like being with them all
 the day wanting to then build these
 businesses so I'm like split like this
 you know trying to manage everything and
 it just created a bit more pressure for
 me um
 and on them on top of that probably
 having five or six coffees a day making
 sure the coffe is like insanely good
 like getting opening up the cafe we were
 open at 5:30 in the morning would get
 there at 4:30 to dial on the machine and
 make sure the music's on the blankets
 are out the heers are on everything's
 perfectly done so it was like that
 perfectionism inside of me because I I
 like to curate things and create these
 experiences of people to enjoy
 themselves I was like okay we'll get
 that done and then it wasn't until one
 day I uh I remember going home
 at the time we're living in a um in like
 this old 70s walk up uh complex in narab
 and it was on the beach was pretty close
 to the beach and I went back there to
 get some supplies for the cafe and I
 thought you know what I'm going to go
 grab my surfboard and just jump in and
 out for a quick surf M pedding out and
 at the time my wife and barley were both
 at the apartment and I was out surfing
 and I was like I thought I heard sirens
 and I was like f out is like is there a
 fire fire happening or something like
 that at the apartment I was like I
 should have better go and check it out
 so I almost was playing tricks on myself
 again saying there must be a fire in
 there I hope my family's right so I PED
 in quickly to go and find out what was
 going on and as soon as I walked up the
 bank up the sand and got close to where
 the apartment was my heart just like
 started beating out of my chest crazy
 like never experienced before in my life
 and it was to the point where I de said
 thought I was having some sort of heart
 attack or some sort of heart condition
 was coming up so I freaked out went
 ahead and check to my wife and she's
 like look just calm down like just relax
 she's like you're 27 you know you're fit
 and healthy you're probably just
 stacking a bit too much up on yourself
 that's probably a bit of anxiety or
 something just
 relax so then sit down and take like 45
 minutes to try to calm myself down it
 was horrible CU When you're feeling like
 if you've ever experienced a panic
 attack it's just it comes in waves and
 you just can't you can't control it and
 that's the scariest thing when you're
 experiencing something and you can't
 control it it's very normal for the
 human mind to just go to fear straight
 away I was just like what's going
 on I don't want to die like I'm too
 young and it then passed within 45
 minutes it passed but it was so severe I
 was just shaking up couldn't go back to
 work I then was up all night researching
 who to go and find out to make sure I
 wasn't having a heart
 attack so the next day I went and saw a
 doctor he checks me up like me up on an
 ECG machine lays me down and he's like
 sweet you're all good I thought he was
 going to say you know you've got some
 valve problem or you know Something's
 Happened he's like no you're sweet I was
 like what do you mean I'm sweet like
  I can't be sweet like what
 happened to me is like you just had a
 panic attack and I just like I just
 could I just didn't want to believe it I
 was like why would I at 27 enjoying life
 great relationship with my wife had my
 first child just in a of being a new dad
 great businesses everything's great like
 why would I have a panic attack and he's
 like well you know you have to go and
 sort it out and I said well what are my
 options and he goes well here's some
 anti-depressants you can have those and
 he's just wanted to
 do was like all good no I'll give that a
 miss and then he's like oh you can go
 and see a
 psychologist so I was like okay cool
 well thanks for that but I'll I'll just
 get out now and I left and I was like
 out and I just thought to myself like
 even though I know people that have been
 on anti-depressants have gten through
 amazing things with the right plan and
 the right stepping stone I know that
 when you have something that turns off
 your feelings all together if you can't
 feel you can't hear it and it's just the
 old saying and that's what the anti
 depressants do and unfortunately a lot
 of the doctors a lot of people in the
 medical industry will just they just
 give them out like lollies you know what
 I mean and a lot of these people just
 need a bit more guidance you know a bit
 more understanding to why they feel the
 way they feel and can have really bad
 effects on a lot of people it's horrible
 to see so I left there and I was like
 sweet you know no worries I'll move on
 so then I make an appointment to go on
 see a psychologist right I walk up to
 this like dingy old two Lev you know
 shot front in dy I turn up and there's
 this old dude he's in his six late 60s
 with his like flip pad remember bit of a
 do Phil haircut maybe I don't know maybe
 I'm making that up but you know he had
 his Flipboard right he's sitting down
 he's like come have a seat not much eye
 contact no love no nothing else I'm
 sitting there and being 27 you sort of
 question like why should I go and see a
 psychologist like am I going a bit
 insane like it's a bit of a touchy
 subject but now it's it's kind of cool
 because a lot more people now are doing
 more therapies and stuff like that which
 I think is amazing with the right people
 the best thing in the world but I just
 said the wrong person at the wrong time
 so I walk up there sit down he literally
 asked me like four questions right the
 first question was have you been
 addicted to drugs and alcohol before and
 he hasn't even met me before and I was
 like no all good in that respect I'm not
 a drug addict it's all good and he goes
 what's your relationship like with your
 family like growing up tell me more
 about that I said had a loving parents
 you know they're not together now but
 loving parents great great upbring and
 then he goes have you ever have you
 thought about committing suicide
 before and I'm just sitting there like
 three questions in going sweet man great
 this is great so this makes me feel so
 good man can you ask me more questions
 like this cuz I just love hearing this
  out just like on like are you what
 are you smoking bro like this is just
 horrible way to approach someone that's
 full of anxiety number one and then
 number two when you have anxiety you're
 so impressionable as well so someone
 says I have you had Suicidal Thoughts
 you can then make yourself think oh yeah
 I might be depressed or maybe I am
 suicidal like just stuff starts
 coming up in your mind and being a like
 professional psychologist it's like
 wouldn't you understand how this stuff
 works and then that's when I got to the
 point where I was like okay there's no
 hope in the general professional Market
 there's no hope I've got to go and find
 another cure so I went on this mad hunt
 for like finding ways treatments
 supplements to take to help with these
 panic attacks because from the day of me
 having that panic attack on that day
 after the surf I was then having repeat
 panic attacks every single
 day in the afternoon the always lasted
 for 45 minutes every single day and you
 wouldn't even know it I would turn out
 to the cafe with a smile on my face I'd
 meet people in my property consultancy
 business smile on my face but it's like
 I'm crumbling inside and it just makes
 me pissed off to know that there's so
 many people out there at the moment that
 think they have to hold this facade up
 and then just go on suffer and silence
 and like that that angers me that's why
 now I'm like not mows we create a
 community you know we're launching the
 Mind Wess club we want to open up the
 conversation around this you know not
 from a point of being like poor me poor
 me and being a victim mindset but being
 like nah we're connecting to create more
 power to move forward and this shit's
 normal it's all normal it's not made
 stuff you know it's not stuff you can't
 fix you don't you know like there's so
 much more to it so I then um yeah I then
 basically just walked out of the
 psychology uh place and I was like
 thanks but no thanks and just walked out
 and started on my mission so I then got
 referred to a guy that did like he was
 like a muscle specialist for muscle to
 uh uh nervous system connections and
 stuff like that I didn't know quite sure
 what what what it was but I went online
 I got referred to it beautiful amazing
 uh setup right in Sydney CBD we flash
 office so remember driving in there for
 my first consultation and I'm like
 having a panic attack when I'm almost
 driving into Sydney because it's so busy
 and it's so hectic I Got a Car Park went
 upstairs it was a beautiful treatment
 office like Frontage and stuff and then
 greeted me through and then he comes out
 and he's like nice to meet you um we're
 going to go and now just whip your shirt
 off lay down face down I'll work on your
 back and stuff like that sweet okay A
 bit of a massage or adjust adjustment
 whatever it is so I walk into the room
 the doors open and dead said there were
 eight beds lined up right seven people
 on the seven other people there laying
 down no shirts on and then I had to lay
 it was like group ory sort of massage
 sort of thing right and I was like this
 is so weird but it's like when you're
 and already so invested it's like you
 two steps too far you can't walk back
 maybe now I'm just now this is a bit
 weird I'm out of here but back then I
 was like I'm too committed this is just
 random so I lay down they then put this
 classical music on and he was like
 dancing around the room like a drunk
 belly dancer touching everyone's backs
 and doing some sort of adjustments and I
 just was if you saw my face it was just
 like this I was like what is going on
 here and it cost me like 350 bucks for a
 session I just got absolutely rooted
 again like is this just like a money
 making scheme like give with so- called
 anxiety let's just make as much money as
 we can and just do some sort of
 treatments and stuff like that I was
 like this is horrible so I sat down got
 abuse for like an hour got up left there
 and went back home and just felt like I
 got violated and then just try to get
 back on the scheme of finding out more
 treatments that would work um and then
 like a whole year and a half went by and
 I was managing every day these panic
 attacks it got to some point where I got
 ringing ears for like three months so
 later out night were just ring I'm like
 oh was sweet it's like you know been in
 the war or something but I had had you
 know um all sorts of crazy stuff
 happened but I just keept managing it
 you know we my wife was absolutely
 amazing like supported me so well
 through it she was doing like
 affirmation things to read when I was at
 work and like it almost gets me
 emotional talking about that but amazing
 how she stood stood by my side through
 the whole thing and it wasn't in tours
 um on a trip over in ined and I met a
 pharmacist over there and we got
 chatting about anxiety and things like
 that so I was asking him like do you
 have anything natural that I could
 supplement that's going to make me feel
 calm and relaxed and then he said oh
 have you heard of Aline before I was
 like what's Aline he goes basically it's
 a natural occurring Amino Acid found in
 green tea is if you buy the natural
 fermented alanine they soak green tea at
 74° and they extract the amino acid
 Aline out of it when they extract it out
 of it it comes in like a white powder
 format but there's no caffeine in it so
 caffeine free he said when you ingest it
 it's scientifically proven to cross the
 blood brain barrier within 30 minutes
 flat and it releases good fuel hormones
 like serotonin and dopamine but it also
 increases Alpha brain waves in the body
 so said it's like when you wake up for
 the first 30 minutes you're in an alha
 brain wave state that's why they say
 it's really important to set your
 mornings up because literally you have
 influence on your nervous system right
 subconscious nervous system you have a
 lot of influence on that
 and you said then your brain waves go to
 faster Pace throughout the day then come
 back down at the end of the day just to
 regulate yourself through what you're
 doing in the day it's just a natural
 stuff I said well you know it sounds a
 bit pharmaceutical alth and he's like no
 it's all natural you buy the right thing
 it's all natural so I said sweet I have
 whatever you know let's buy some of that
 I bought a bought a little container of
 it the pure powder he said I'll dose you
 up some now then have it morning and
 night and I remember having it I hopped
 in the car and at the time I got two
 girls now I said my other girl in the
 car my other daughter and we're cruising
 back to where we saying for my wife and
 then dead sit within like 40 minutes
 flat I had this like full wave the sense
 of Cal come over my body and I was like
 to my wife I said I don't know what the
 heck this whole aling stuff is all about
 but I actually feel calm for the first
 time and night you R enough so I did get
 like a panic attack that day but it
 wasn't as severe cuz I felt the sense of
 calm before it was like teaching my mind
 to say Hey you actually do have control
 over your body even though you believe
 you don't you actually do so he said if
 you dos this enough morning and night
 for a period of time you will then give
 yourself the space to be able to show
 your body hey you can control these
 feelings because when you have anxiety
 it's really easy to identify with it you
 I've got anxiety you know even though
 the label anxiety is like it's a bit
 made up for the medical industry to
 medicate people you've got anxiety you
 know it's like giving people labels it's
 like no when you start understanding
 that you just feel anxious that's it
 it's a natural human emotion it's like
 feeling angry like feeling love you just
 feel anxious and anyone in the world can
 feel anxious it's just some people go
 through certain life events and create
 these anxiety feedback loops that love
 to then feel anxious when they feel
 anxious you feed them and grow them and
 grow them until people will start
 feeling anxious all the time that's when
 the the the the the term anxiety comes
 play so I was like wow okay this is
 working and then at the same time we met
 um a neuroscientist and I started doing
 weekly sessions with him he was amazing
 he was just like so black and white and
 even though like I would I would I think
 myself as being quite spiritual as well
 you know I've got some crystals behind
 me Al Santos over here you know I like I
 like that sort of stuff right I was
 getting sick of like going online trying
 to find cures for anxiety and being
 too spiritual woooo like too far off the
 track like when I say that it's like not
 actually giving me the facts of what I
 need because I'm like why do I feel this
 way what's causing it how can I fix it I
 could never get those answers it wasn't
 a I met this dude he's like look Sam
 anxiety is really really simple he said
 you have a thought and then with that
 thought you then choose to attach a
 feeling to that thought normally it's
 like this right about that but he said
 when you feeling anxious or you have
 so-called anxiety that feeling then
 grows to this and that feeling gets so
 big that you get this full body
 reactions he said the key to working
 this out is is to work out why am I
 putting these huge feelings on these
 thoughts why is that happening he said
 then you go back to your childhood and
 look at what's happened in your life and
 work out if there's any connection
 between the thought and feeling feedback
 with so then I went back and I was like
 well you've got to work up first what
 are you fearing because everyone's got
 different things that they fear when
 they have so-called anxiety right it
 could be fear of you know social phobus
 you know not going out and being worried
 about being judged it can be um you know
 fears of um dying fearing that you're
 going to die all the time you know
 getting sick and dying um there's micro
 ones as well that fear of flying you
 know a fear of judgment and like and
 body judgment as well there's lots of
 fears with that um the list goes on
 right so he's going to work out what is
 the base fear what's going on and my
 base fear came back to what I had when I
 was younger at high school the fear of
 dying right the fear of getting sick and
 dying and when I had this full body
 heart so-called heart attack reaction
 right when I had my panic attack it's
 like I thought I was having a heart
 attack then the heart attack then goes
 into I might have a brain chmer you know
 from that feeds from that it travels
 around because my head didn't feel right
 because I'm not breathing right
 throughout the day I'm probably way low
 on oxygen you know it's like but these
 are things that you don't look at when
 you're trying to self-guide yourself
 through everything and not getting the
 right help and getting the right um
 advice on that so we worked that out we
 like okay what's the fear of Dy fear of
 feeling like you're sick right I was
 like okay well that's the first thing so
 the feeling is you're worried about
 dying getting sick and that feedback
 loop has been created because when
 you're young your mom got diagnos uh
 with breast cancer and you worried from
 a young child going to the doctors
 anyway because you're worried there's
 something wrong with you so I would have
 learned that from somewhere I was like
 okay cool we've unpacked that and he's
 like every time you feel like something
 is coming on you've got to realize that
 this is something that's been sitting
 deep inside you it's within your belief
 system and you believe it to be true but
 it's not true so when you work out the
 fundamentals of this feedback would that
 creates anxiety I started working things
 out for myself and that partnered with
 having the alth morning and night within
 two months
 flat I stopped having panic attacks wow
 and I remember the day that I I stopped
 having my panic attacks it was the first
 day and I almost was waiting for it to
 happen I was almost like why isn't it
 happen for what's going
 on and um it just stopped and even from
 that point on yeah I still feel anxious
 here and there like anyone else does but
 I'm learning more and more about my body
 more and more about how my mind works
 and everything else I'm learning more
 about my childhood as well so from that
 day on I was like look dead said I'd
 have to do something with Al I don't
 know what it is but I'm going to do
 something with it and it wasn't until
 like eight years past that point I was
 the property guy still doing my property
 stuff it was eight years past that point
 so that's going back about 80 months
 from today's date mows was then born so
 my wife and I sat down we're like what
 are we going to do it was going to be
 like a rescue spray first right like
 just panic attacks have the spray it's
 going to calm you down and and sort you
 out but I was like who wants to go
 against the medical industry the billion
 dollar medical industry I'll probably
 get CR in there and it's going to be
 like quite quite expensive to people to
 buy and like not everyone can buy spend
 40 or 50 bucks in a spray right I was
 like I want to make it achievable for
 absolutely anyone to consume and that's
 why I was like why don't we do a drink I
 thought we do a drink that's going to be
 cheap for people to buy right so anyone
 can buy anyone can experience it that's
 going to mean then people can have more
 Alpha UN in on a more regular basis so
 it's all about having it regular having
 it more regular as well with the aling
 it's it's good if you do dumps here and
 there but it builds up a new system over
 time so if you have it more often it has
 a better effect as well um and I was
 like there's two mow so then we came
 back to like the brand of mellow like
 what does this represent to us and we're
 like well mow is there to normalize the
 conversation around mental health and
 it's there again like what I said before
 to show people you don't need to have a
 faad just be yourself right you don't
 need to go on suffer and silence either
 just connect with the right people and
 that's what we're creating now as this
 community around mows and this is why we
 started the Mind wellness club we've
 launched like a Facebook group and we've
 just done a YouTube channel we're doing
 like weekly meditations and just getting
 as much resources as we can into this
 group so we can share it out for free to
 everyone as well and just get people on
 the same the same understanding that I
 had to go through over all those years
 but combined package as well and like
 literally like it makes my day if I can
 just connect with someone who's had
 anxiety if I can just help one person
 out that makes my day and literally
 mellow is just a drink to start their
 conversation and start that Journey for
 people that's yeah that's awesome I love
 that I hope that unpacked enough as well
 I was like is that
 maybe incredible no that was so
 incredible uh yeah I was just gonna say
 you you've brought up Community a fair
 bit so when you opened your coffee shop
 you said you wanted to build a community
 around the coffee shop and now you're
 doing the same thing um it's commun does
 come into it a lot and we've found that
 as well with health and fitness trying
 to change people's habits and you know a
 community does matter because people can
 draw on other people's experiences with
 health and fitness and all that sort of
 stuff it obviously seems the same with
 anxiety as well so um having those
 people around to talk about it is an
 awesome thing so can you talk a little
 bit more about the community side of
 Melo yeah % so we've been in the market
 now for about 18 months right and when
 we started the brand we were like cool
 let's just get into the shops let's
 focus on wholesale let's build out some
 businesses let's build that so we can
 then spread that out to The Wider public
 of Australia we got to a point where
 we're like well we're in enough shots we
 we've got a brand here that people
 really like right they really enjoy they
 love the messaging they love The
 Branding and stuff like that and we were
 doing collaborations with some cool
 Brands and it was cool we like donating
 stock doing what we can right but then I
 was like what are we doing for our
 community um
 and I was like we've got to we've got to
 have something that we can actually
 physically give back to our community
 and it's been a really exciting process
 as well because my mind just was going a
 million miles an hour I literally sat in
 my SAA here inside with my phone and was
 just talking about things that I've
 learned and exercises I've learned just
 talked it into into the mic and then
 I've turned that into these like weekly
 guided meditations and I was like wow
 okay there's probably some more I can
 unpack here and more value I can right
 like you know what it's like trying to
 manage social media content posting and
 so much stuff to do these days so I just
 started talking and it wouldn't
 stop and then we then launched a
 gratitude challenge which has just
 started as well and I was like well
 there's so many things we can do on a
 much more base level rather than trying
 to be like let's take over Australia and
 how people on out it's like we started
 like our own backyard and I was like on
 this micro level why not focus on a
 micro level first and actually show
 people in not not only our community but
 other smaller communities around
 Australia we can actually make a change
 so we started this gratitude challenge
 we basically under the mind. wellness
 club on Instagram because we couldn't
 get mind wellness club but mind.
 wellness club and under Tik Tok it's
 just mind wellness club we're doing it
 where literally you just take a video of
 yourself share gratitude to one of your
 really good friends in your life you
 share three things why you're grateful
 about them being in your life why
 they're such an amazing human being and
 then you shared the most amazing
 experience you've had together and you
 just tag in the mindess club or mind.
 Wess club and tag their name in and then
 watch them share the love and grow this
 thing out we've only just launched it so
 hasn't really T taken off yet but you
 know just doing these things on a on a
 very micro level we we found that like
 people were bumping into you know we're
 like hey I've saw that that's so cool
 what you guys are doing and it really
 showed that there's so much value in
 there because I can see you know people
 here know us as who we are not no as mow
 but they go man like you guys are going
 out there doing something good for an
 actual community
 not being on the whole national scale so
 I think when it comes back from outside
 of a brand perspective and into like a
 anxiety perspective when you experience
 the feelings of being anxious or having
 so-called anxiety you feel like you're
 all alone so you can literally feel like
 you're the only person feeling this way
 and why me why me and it goes quite
 insul as well so I remember meeting
 someone who had anxiety as well I'm
 connecting with them at the cafe or that
 time ago and it made me feels like the
 sense of relief like far out you're
 going through the same thing as what I'm
 going through it's like I Reon it's up
 there as being probably some of the best
 medicine you can get on and beyond
 having you know Aline supplements or
 talking to you know a specialist that
 can help you with counseling and stuff
 but meeting someone who's been through
 it is like up there has been the top
 three things that I think help people
 feel better who are feeling anxious or
 having anxiety as well so until you have
 it you can't really explain you know
 what the feelings are like because it's
 like you can't relate you know it's like
 if I talk to people that haven't had
 anxiety before they're like what do you
 mean why do you feel that way for it's
 bit random you know and it's like
 someone who's been through it they're
 like man I can so relate to you on so
 many levels so I think yeah having
 Community is so important because then
 you know there's other people there that
 are going through the same stuff you're
 feeling or they've already been through
 it and theyve found a way to find their
 own C through it as well I think it's so
 itive as well so
 important that is so cool I think even
 us having the cans of mellow on the
 podcast with guests like when we have a
 guest it's so nice to give them
 something to drink during the like the
 talk because coming on a podcast is also
 pretty anxiety inducing and way we have
 a can of mow together and we're talking
 about like our fears and anxieties in
 such it occurs so naturally though
 because the product is like normalizing
 being anxious which is incredible
 because like you said it's just an
 emotion right it's just an emotion and
 you know what I am the most scared
 public speaker
 ever I remember I remember getting my
 phone if it's not here and trying to do
 my first story this is going back like
 three years ago and I was my
 pants like my wife was laughing so hard
 on the door SE at me trying to go hi s
 here like why are you over for like this
 be yourself so struggling with that
 today like I'm doing some like bigger um
 speaking now like keynote stuff and I'm
 like putting myself out there more I
 want to do more and more and like go big
 with it I remember doing my first one I
 actually went down and saw the team at
 Lis KD at their head office right Jason
 and the crew and there such nice people
 like absolutely the nicest crew of
 people ever you ever meet but I went up
 there and there was like about 80 people
 and I was like I was all pumped driving
 up there all good and then I got there I
 was like holy
 this like weird anxiety came up for me
 even though they wouldn't have noticed I
 played it cool and calm and got through
 it I just felt like my first word was
 like it was like almost restricted I'm
 like what am I doing like this gives me
 the opportunity to influence people help
 people you know share my story like this
 is a good thing but what's going through
 my mind is like don't stuff it up you
 know don't don't sound like you don't
 know what you're talking about you know
 like all these things that come up for
 my childhood still come up for me day so
 I'm like yeah I definitely understand
 how you can get anxiety about talking to
 people whether it's on podcast or like
 you know to large groups because I've
 been there and I'm still I'm still fing
 my feet today I thought you know what
 you know just drop the and just
 be real just walk about Stu just be
 yourself you know that and that that
 does help out but yeah there's always
 techniques you can learn more as
 well um well it definitely seems like
 you found your feet where you are now
 and your story seems similar to ours we
 we come from the country we've moved to
 the city and moving to the city you can
 definitely see there's a bit of a rat
 race the hamster wheel as you were
 saying you just get caught up and just
 go go go go um and seems like you've
 come out of it you you're awesome now I
 love all your content love your drink
 Baron Bay see the Green Room behind
 us no cities out there I will be in
 Sydney next weekend though for my
 birthday for a couple of nights so
 that'd be nice to very very jealous
 very jealous of that
 Sunshine um but is there any I
 guess advice or things you've noticed
 that you were in caught up in that R Rat
 Race looking back on that now that you
 can sort of share with people maybe that
 are suffering from a bit of anxiety or
 don't even realize they're suffering
 from that that they can sort of come out
 of that and you know be a bit happier
 with life 100% though 100% so the first
 thing I'd say is for anyone experiencing
 anxiety right now you've got to realize
 that those feelings aren't you they're
 100% not you they're 100% a byproduct of
 your current environment both externally
 and internally and that means the way
 you're living your life right now
 heavily determines how you're feeling
 inside and then that heavily determines
 of how your human emot basic human
 emotions work so little things like how
 many coffees do I drink in a day you
 know
 not only how long do I work for but how
 do I approach work am I rush rush rush
 rush rush deal do deals do deals do
 deals like trying to like keep going
 faster making more money or doing more
 this doing more that how do I approach
 work and then what sort of self-care am
 I doing for myself so I know some people
 that will try to go and do self-care but
 they're just business business business
 they they approach business so much in
 their mind it takes up all their mind so
 coming back to it you've really got to
 be able to do a self assessment of where
 am I at right now because I can tell you
 what from my point of
 view my having a lot of coffees a day
 definitely contributed to me having
 these crazy packs my becoming a new
 father and deciding to have a business
 that opened up at 5:30 in the morning
 and have a property business at the same
 time definitely contributed to me having
 my panic attacks um I've always eaten
 pretty clean but I'd be a guy that would
 buy you going ask me my mates this like
 300 gram of smoked salmon I'll Lally
 just eat straight smoked salmon on my
 break like just like a beer like put
 back the smoke salmon followed by
 squeezy yogurt I'm into work you know
 like I wasn't aware like consciously
 aware of how I ate like all these small
 things that I know now I'm like it all
 comes down to how you approach things in
 your life and it's important to know
 that so even if you're sitting here
 right now you're full of anxiety you get
 the F or flight feelings you realize
 that has been created because of what
 you're doing in your outer environment
 and that's affecting what's happening on
 your inner environment so just just just
 just believe that those feelings aren't
 you yeah they're horrible but they're
 not you the second thing
 is those feelings aren't going to kill
 you you're not going to die from it so
 rest assure unless you're older and you
 have a heart attack right it's very very
 very rare that you're going to die from
 those feelings I've had those feelings
 thousands of times
 so I can say that as why I'm still here
 sweet no where is at all right so that
 that's number two number
 three is don't don't feel like you're
 all
 alone right even for me even if anyone's
 got anxiety send me an email on Hell
 mallow.com reach out to me through
 drink. Mallows whatever way you find Us
 online if you send a message on there
 our so-called social media manager and
 massive team is my wife
 wife and me and me right so I see all
 the messages even though it looks like
 we got this big social media thing it's
 my wife and me right that's us um so we
 see the
 messages anyone that reaches out with
 any feelings or they feeling like they
 don't have any guidance you can reach
 out whenever you want and this is the
 this is the reason why we've done the
 Mind Wellness Pub we've just launched
 the Facebook group under mind Wellness
 Pub um if you don't want to connect
 through that we've gone through Spotify
 as well with some self-help stuff but
 just realize if you're feeling alone
 just reach out that's it because people
 have been through this before and
 there are ways to get through it and
 manage it and that's probably my top
 three bits of advice and coming back to
 the whole looking at your environment
 yeah little things like coffee man it's
 a silent the silent killer like if you
 look at the past data decaf is on the
 rise and back when I had a cafe you're a
 bit of a wussy if you drun
 decf like de like big dude like have a
 decf that was like you know me or decf
 like no I don't drink caffeine anymore
 right and this is only for the past year
 I stopped drinking caffeine and I've
 actually gone Arabic so I eat more of an
 Arabic way of living so that consists of
 Indian spices mostly vegetarian curries
 a lot of ghee which is likeif butter um
 and just like you know warmth water and
 lots of tea but it was a bit for me I
 knew that was something that sort of
 suited me because whenever I go to the
 gym I was more drawn to doing yoga even
 though I go and pump the gym and all the
 sort of you know the big muscle training
 and stuff like that I used to do a lot
 of kickboxing growing up um and I used
 to love going to the gym and lifting
 weights but for some reason I wanted to
 get the balance of the yoga because I
 think because of how I lived my life I
 was so busy in my mind all the time I
 wanted to be able to relax and Cal of
 stretch So within the last year I went
 back to going okay well let's try the
 Artic way of you know living and I did
 that I'm doing more yoga now but we'
 quite fortunate we' good a place down
 here good Heat hases like heated rooms
 and they do like apply his hit class
 which is like harder than any gym s have
 done in my life it's full on it's on
 right but I do that now as well but even
 before I started training I've dropped
 like 26 kgs of weight wow I should and
 there's no there's no you've been eating
 a calorie deficit you've dropped away or
 you're going to the gym seven days a
 week you've dropped the way I didn't
 train I trained away at eight but when I
 ate I sit there I breathe in three times
 just for gratitude for my food and I
 just eat and I take time out I nor me
 sit outside of my little table out here
 in the sun right but I make that like I
 do that all the time even if I'm out and
 about you know you'll see me there close
 my eyes you know bit of gratitude and go
 back and I can't wait to go back to New
 Zealand and see my brother he's got lot
 lot tattoos and stuff and I sit there
 and pray with him and he'll be like what
 are you
 doing what are you up to you weird
 what's going on it's like those
 behaviors have come into all aspects of
 my life now I can see the clear reasons
 of why I created that environment for
 myself even though back then I didn't
 see anything wrong with it so coming
 back to the point of that that that that
 second bit of advice do that micro self
 assessment look at how you structure
 your day how you live your life and just
 be honest with yourself and then
 obviously reach out as well we're always
 here as well to
 help love it absolutely love it uh let's
 touch on the drink so we i' I've been
 supplementing Eline as well um
 but same thing it was just a powder form
 and I was having it with a hot cocoa at
 night to try and calm down and go go to
 bed
 and every time we try and find Eline in
 a sparkly water or some sort of you know
 cold canned drink it had caffeine with
 it and I was stoked when mat actually
 found mellow
 because I don't understand it I'm like
 why would you put caffeine without feine
 it's like get the high but not the buzz
 and I'm like yeah the point of our th is
 to calm down yeah and that's our thing
 it's like we saw a gap in the market and
 that Gap in the market was all the
 drinks today are like get more energy
 have more sugar get more energy it's all
 like fabricating this the so-called fake
 energy and I'm like no don't get more
 energy we've all got energy that we need
 to find ourselves get more calm and we
 were like that's why we created mow it
 was literally our number one goal is to
 calm people's nervous systems down and
 we thought why not do that with using
 the best althan we can find in the world
 right and we use a fermented grade Al
 it's the highest grade possible which
 means it's the actual Leaf it's not made
 in a in a lb it's the actual leaf and
 it's fermented so it's way more
 bioavailable and we're like we'll just
 keep it simple we'll just use aling
 we'll make sure there's no sugar in it
 we'll make sure there's absolutely no
 stimulant in it so it's not going to
 jack people up we'll make sure it tastes
 great and it's all natural and that's
 literally how we came up with the recipe
 so we went back and forward so many
 times to get it right um until we'
 arrived where we are now we're like
 that's it we know that with this
 strength we can give it to anyone
 doesn't matter your age there's no age
 limit on on it doesn't matter if you you
 know if you're pregnant there's no side
 effects of any of it at all like althan
 is so safe they class it as food in
 Australia that's how safe it is you know
 it doesn't even go into the TGA or
 anything like that so I just know that
 like anytime some drinks it it's going
 to make them calm and hopefully have a
 influence on people where they say well
 cool there's a bit of a story behind
 this and then come online or reach out
 and you know we can have more of a
 positive effect on them as
 well well it's definitely work for us
 appreciate it man as I said I was like
 so baffled to seated in podcast I was
 like because I think I went to our
 requests my wife was like oh drinks on a
 podcast and I was
 like made these like random finds in the
 morning you wake up you check Instagram
 not too early can say
 that someone here you know like we had
 like British Vogue reach out to us over
 in the UK about some sort of advertising
 thing and I was like oh something there
 you know
 whatever it's all cool and well but I'm
 like how can we have a positive
 influence on the communities in each of
 these areas I really want to be able to
 give back I really want to be able to
 connect people and I want to create a
 space where people feel safe to share
 their own stories but then almost become
 each other's therapists if you want to
 call it as well say have you experienced
 this oh yeah I have what has worked for
 you oh I've tried this like keep that
 going and then get into get into the
 point of like launching events and
 hosting events and stuff like that as
 well just to connect people you know
 that would be
 amazing amazing color out there
 so um yeah well if you're gonna have one
 in Melbourne we're definitely King love
 I love this I get to go to places and
 they're like we Supply some pretty cool
 bath houses lately and they're like come
 on down we'll you know give you guys a
 bath so and we're like sweet this is
 greatting so many great people and we've
 got all these connections out it's cool
 um awesome well anything else you want
 to share with the community like where
 can they get get mellow how can they
 join
 in so if you wanted to get yourself get
 some hands on some mows just go through
 to meow.com um we sell it there um be
 sure to check us out just through
 Instagram so it's just drink. Mallows um
 and then with the Mind wellness club
 which we've just launched um you can see
 more information uh on Instagram at
 mind. wellnessclub all through Tik Tok
 which is just mind wellness club um
 we've got links in there for our YouTube
 channel which is just called Mind
 wellness club and through uh and through
 um Spotify as well mind oness Club so
 with the that that side of the business
 um we are sharing weekly uh guided
 meditations um we're doing all things
 anti- anxiety resources and that's where
 we're going to be dropping um
 information um about upcoming events um
 and things like that as well so be sure
 to check that all out and as I said
 anyone wants to reach out me privately
 feel free to do so through Instagram I
 see all the messages so I'll definitely
 come back and help out whatever way I
 can amazing well thank you very much did
 you say it was your birthday next week
 it is watch
 out I won't tell you how old I am but
 it's gonna be
 fun I'm turning 38 so I'm getting close
 to 40 it's a new experience but anyway
 it's all
 good I'm right up with yeah you can
 relate man I'll send you a message after
 us yeah
 um yeah well thanks again for your time
 this has been
 amazing no worries all really appreciate
 it