Manders Mindset
Are you feeling stuck or stagnant in your life? Do you envision yourself living differently but have no idea how to start? The answer might lie in a shift in your mindset.
Hosted by Amanda Russo, The Breathing Goddess, who is a Breathwork Detox Facilitator, Transformative Mindset Coach, and Divorce Paralegal.
Amanda's journey into mindset and empowerment began by working with children in group homes and daycares. She later transitioned to family law, helping people navigate the challenging emotions of divorce. During this time, Amanda also overcame her own weight and health challenges through strength training, meditation, yoga, reiki, and plant medicine.
Amanda interviews guests from diverse backgrounds, including entrepreneurs, athletes, artists, and wellness experts, who share their incredible journeys of conquering fears and limiting beliefs to achieve remarkable success. Hear real people tell how shifting their mindsets—and often their words—has dramatically changed their lives.
Amanda also shares her personal journey, detailing how she transformed obstacles into opportunities by adopting a healthier, holistic lifestyle.
Discover practical strategies and inspiring stories that will empower you to break free from limitations and cultivate a mindset geared towards growth and positivity.
Tune in for a fun, friendly, and empowering experience that will help you become the best version of yourself.
Manders Mindset
From Coma to Keynote: A Powerful Comeback with Nick Prefontaine | 126
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In this powerful episode of Manders Mindset, host Amanda welcomes the incredible Nick Prefontaine, a nationally recognized speaker and three-time bestselling author who defied the odds after a life-threatening snowboarding accident at just 14 years old. Told he might never walk or talk again, Nick not only made a full recovery — he ran out of the hospital and eventually stepped into his purpose as a keynote speaker.
Nick shares the exact mindset shifts that helped him heal physically, mentally, and emotionally, including the STEP system he now teaches to trauma survivors and those navigating setbacks. From his early recovery to overcoming a rare voice condition, Nick’s story is a profound reminder that your mindset can either hold you back or launch you forward.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
• 💥 How Nick rebuilt his life after a traumatic brain injury
• 🧠 The STEP system: Support, Trust, Energy, and Persistence
• 🎤 What it took to reclaim his voice after years of struggle
• 🛠️ How to develop resilience through daily action and belief
• 🔁 Why second chances can be more powerful than the first
• 💡 The importance of following your inner voice — literally and figuratively
• ❤️ How advocates and community play a key role in recovery and success
Timeline Summary:
[4:41] The snowboarding accident that changed everything
[10:16] The prognosis doctors gave — and the moment his mom stepped in
[12:00] The STEP system that guided his healing and transformation
[18:24] Running out of the hospital and transitioning into real estate
[23:04] Getting his start knocking on pre-foreclosure doors as a teen
[33:51] Developing a voice disorder and the long road to recovery
[44:16] The “aha” moment that led him to his life’s true purpose
[52:19] What Nick wants his legacy to be and why awards aren’t the goal
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• Learn more about Nick and his work: nickprefontaine.com
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Welcome back to Mander's Mindset, where we explore the power of shifting your mindset to shift your life. I'm your host, amanda Russo, and I am here today with Nick Prefontaine, and Nick is a three-time bestselling author and was named a motivational speaker of 2022 in Yahoo Finance. He's a speaker, founder and CEO of Common Goal and I am so excited to chat with Nick today, and I even found out right before we hit record that he is actually like right down the street from me in Rhode Island and I am so excited to chat with Nick today. Thanks for joining me.
Speaker 2:I'm excited to be here, nick, today. Thanks for joining me. I'm excited to be here, amanda. I do these with people all over the world. It's not every day that you get someone that's two towns away from you.
Speaker 1:I know I was really surprised when you said that not going to lie, so who would you say Nick is at the core?
Speaker 2:Who Nick is at the core, I would say that's a great question, a great way to start it off. I would say who I am at the core. I've always been the same people. People that have interacted with me and know me my whole life Say that prior to my accident, I was a little different than how I am now. However, I don't know as if that's 100% accurate, because the soul of who I am and my being, I don't believe change. So I feel like I'm the same person. So I feel like I'm the same person.
Speaker 1:Can you take us down memory lane? Tell us about childhood, family, dynamic upbringing.
Speaker 2:delve down, yeah so I think that'll provide a little color. Amanda, to your first question, and that's back in eighth grade. Do you remember prior to?
Speaker 1:eighth grade.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I do have memories prior to that, anything you want to share? Yeah, a couple things. So I was a very active kid. I was involved in premier soccer when I was a little bit younger, like anywhere 8, 9, 10. I was involved in all different kinds of sports, always active, always going. Then once I got past 10, like 11, 12, 13, I really latched on to soccer and I was on a bunch of traveling teams for premier club soccer, premier soccer town, all-stars, that kind of thing. So I was always busy and I was always going. My schedule was like every day after school I would have to practice, I would go to practice, I would go to a game, I was in a tournament. So then it became such that I was always on the clock and I've always had something to do and I figured that I couldn't really be a kid. So I asked my parents that I was like you know what? I want to take a break Once I get into the fall of eighth grade. I want to take a break because not only so boarded, to keep that up and to keep that interest and skill sharp. I snowboard, I skateboard. So I was like you know what? I just want to have fun and be a kid and get to hang out with my friends and that kind of thing. So actually it's funny that I said that the season, the fall before my accident and it's actually very interesting. So if you go a little bit further into that fall, in eighth grade I was snowboarding every single day. I snowboarded every day from Thanksgiving through Christmas. It was maybe even the new year. I snowboarded every day, including holidays, so including on Christmas day and Thanksgiving and that kind of thing, and I was just in my glory because I love to snowboard. It was part of the reason why I asked my parents for that break from organized team sports is because I wanted to just hang out with my friends and focus on snowboarding and skateboarding before that. But it was really snowboarding, I was just doing skateboarding for something to do.
Speaker 2:So if you go into January of that year, january of 2003, believe it or not, I went away. I went away with my parents and we always had a place up in Vermont, up in Silvermont, and we had a timeshare. I don't know if your listeners are familiar with that, but you would go to a resort and every week per year would be yours. You would own that. So we would always go, and ours was the third week in January and my parents always let me bring a friend so I could have someone to snowboard with. So I remember having an issue with my. I don't think I've ever talked about this on a show, so I love the direction that this is going.
Speaker 2:Prior to that, I had sent my stoneboard away to the manufacturer because there was some flaking on my board the metallic so they sent me a brand new snowboard out of it. I got that right before we went away and when I was in snow and I had an absolute blast, snowboarded it every day when I was up there and then when I got back it was full bore. I was just doing more and more snowboarding and I'm still that way to this day, by the way, like more you got to do. The next thing I got through January into February. I got released a little bit early, and you I'm sure you can relate to this, but when you're in eighth grade, you getting released from school a little bit early, that's a big deal. So we're all really excited and my friends and I brought our snowboard gear onto the bus so we wouldn't miss a precious moment once we got to the mountain.
Speaker 2:So we got to the mountain and headed right for the chairlift where the rest of the class they went inside and wasted probably a good two or three runs. We were all ready to go, so we headed right to the chairlift. Two or three runs, we were all ready to go. So we headed right to the chairlift and on the ride up we noticed that it was very icy because it had been raining earlier in the day and where the chairlift went it actually went right over the terrain park where all of the jumps were, and I knew as soon as I saw it that I had to go off the biggest jump in the terrain park. There wasn't even a question in my mind of should I be careful today? Should I not do it because it's a little icy, or should I do it? I was definitely doing it. I was definitely doing it and it was like a foregone conclusion in my mind. So I was already thinking about what we were going to do after I landed that huge trick. Gone, conclusion in my mind. So I was already thinking about what we were going to do after I landed that huge trick. Maybe grab a burger and fries in the lodge, or we could head over to the other trailer for some runs on those trails. I was just happy to be there finally.
Speaker 2:So I got to the top, buckled to my snowboard, took a breath of that crisp winter air and confidently charged towards that jump with all my speed. And going up to the jump, I caught the edge of my snowboard, which threw me off balance, and that's the last thing that I remember. So, due to the severity of my injuries, they wanted to bring a helicopter to the mountain to rush me to the hospital. They couldn't because it was too windy, so they had to send in an ambulance, and out of all the paramedics in the area, there was only one who could intubate on the spot, and I needed that to be able to breathe. Lucky for me, he was one of the paramedics that showed up to the mountain that day. And there are still several things that I can't recall because of the accident, and now I know one of them is the reason why I'm here with you today and I'm alive to tell the story. So, no matter the severity of your crisis, your decision to take action is your first step.
Speaker 2:Something else I learned was that, although I wasn't wearing a helmet and I would usually wear a helmet when we went to ski club because the mountain was a little bit bigger than what I was used to. Although I didn't have a helmet, my goggles were the only thing that I had on that helped brace my fall, the impact. So I wore some pretty big goggles with a lot of padding and I never would have them that. I would need them to brace my fall. And the school had to get in touch with my parents and have them meet me at the hospital. So all they knew was that I had been in an accident and my dad was the one that they were able to reach first and he tried to call my mom and as soon as he got voicemail he left her a panicked message and as soon as he left it he called back and deleted it because he thought it would worry her. As soon as he left it he called back and deleted it because he thought it would worry her. So they both got to the hospital and they were totally shocked to see how rough of a shape I was in. My head and shoulder, where I made the initial impact, were bruised beyond comprehension, so the doctors had to drill a hole for a shunt to be inserted into my brain to relieve the pressure, and without it the pressure could have gone up and I would have died.
Speaker 2:So the third thing and there's always, I always remember in threes is that the doctors, when I was resting in a coma in the ICU, came into my room and the only people that were allowed in there at that time was my parents, and they went to share the news of my prognosis and what had happened with my parents. And my mom stopped them and she said no, not in front of him, because she understood that even though I was in a coma, I was still taking in information. So she made the doctors step outside the room and then, once they were there, they said that I had been in a snowboarding accident. I wasn't wearing a helmet, they weren't even sure how long I was going to be in the coma and even if I was going to come out and even if I came out, there was a good chance that I probably wouldn't be able to walk, talk or eat on my own ever again and, to my parents' credit, they just took the information, thanked the doctors and because none of this got through to my mind whether subconsciously, unconsciously, none of this got through. I was able to just treat it like any other situation.
Speaker 2:I ended up being in the coma for three weeks. I don't remember a month because, like I said, it was a partially induced coma and really it was about a month after my accident that the first memories start. So it was right along this time that I started to use a system to not only make a full recovery but run out of the hospital, and that's the STEP system. So STEP is an acronym. It stands for support Support make sure that you have your support right from the beginning, and this is going to have you falling back on relationships that you built prior to your setback. T is trust Trust that once you take your first step, your next step's always going to be available to you, and this also starts by trusting that voice that we all have inside of ourselves and make sure you follow it. So the way that I always like to illustrate this is the same time.
Speaker 2:So a month after my accident, I was down at the rehab hospital and I could overhear my parents meeting with my team of therapists and doctors and they were saying okay, how do we, what do we need to do this week to make sure Nick makes it for recovery. And I was still in a wheelchair, I still wasn't audible. I mean, at best it was a whisper and I heard in the back of my head no, you're going to run out. So then running out of the hospital became our common goal. I was able to share that with everyone. So then back to the acronym. E is energy. So maintaining your energy allows your body's natural ability to be able to heal itself, and medication has the potential to get in the way of that. So I mean, obviously within reason here, that first time in the hospital after my accident cost a quarter of a million dollars. So if it wasn't yeah, if it wasn't for modern medicine, I wouldn't be here today.
Speaker 2:So a month after my accident, when I came out of the ICU, was the time that we needed to allow the body to heal itself, and the way that I always like to talk about this is Amanda, is that right around the same time. So early on in my recovery, I was still in a wheelchair, I still really wasn't audible at that point. At best it was a whisper. I was probably within a couple weeks of being cleared to walk again, and I would always have. Some part of my support was I would always have someone stay with me during the night. So either my dad or an uncle or my grandfather would stay with me in a cot right next to my bed, and when I got up, before I was cleared to walk, I would always have to get the attention of whoever was staying with me to help me to the bathroom so I wouldn't fall. And nothing happened.
Speaker 2:Well, I woke up and it was my grandfather staying with me, and I woke up and I tried to get his attention. I couldn't really elevate my voice at that time, it was a whisper at best. I tried to get his attention. I couldn't really elevate my voice at that time, it was a whisper. At best I couldn't get his attention. So I managed to hobble my way to the bathroom and nothing happened. I was able to get back to bed and everything was fine.
Speaker 2:However, the hospital found out the next day and they freaked out Like we can't have this and liability, and what we're going to do is give him this many cc's of this medication.
Speaker 2:We're going to give him this many cc's of this other medication that should calm him down so he's able to sleep through the night without having to get up. And my mom heard this and she said no, you're not Just ask him not to do that. So if I didn't have an advocate with me, they would have just and God bless them all the people that work in hospitals nurses, doctors I know they're doing their best, but they would have just if no one was there, if my mom wasn't there to intercept them. They would have just gave me drugs to make their job easier. So P is persistence, so persistence once you take your first step, keep getting up every day and taking your next step, no matter how small. By continuing to move forward every day, you are building an unstoppable momentum. So if you fast forward, less than 60 days later after being transferred to the rehab hospital, I realized my goal of running out of the hospital.
Speaker 1:So I just have a question Now this step process. Did you just come up with this on your own at 14?
Speaker 2:14? No, this is something that I unknowingly did and it took me until later in life until I overcame which I know we're going to have enough time because I asked you before, so I'm going to be able to get to that. I overcame something else in my life, another health challenge, and when I was like getting to the end of it, I was like all right, I have something here. So I want to share this process that I've gone through and that I approach life with that, how I was raised to overcome everything.
Speaker 1:It makes a lot of sense. It makes a lot of sense and I love the acronym. It helps me with quick little things, just to remember. You know even any little thing like that. But that's really great that you had your mom as an advocate. You know I've talked to a few different people on the podcast about different autoimmune issues, health issues, different things, and I'm not a medical professional and I'm not trying to downplay doctors, but I've seen other people being able to advocate for their loved ones is a big thing. You know they don't always necessarily believe the patient or the patient said this, so I think that's great that you had your mom there for that.
Speaker 2:It's a big part of what I talk about in Step, which is the ebook that I plan to give away to your listeners at the end. It's part of support. Make sure you have an advocate. So if you fast forward less than 60 days later, actually I was, let me see. Yeah, that's where I was After running out of the hospital.
Speaker 2:It wasn't like my work was done. I had to continue to go to outpatient rehab for another six months, along with being tutored all summer long, five days a week, in order to continue on to high school with the rest of my classmates, and I'm, you know, looking back on it. It's a little surreal that only 18 months later after finishing because I'm sure you can relate to this you know, when you're younger, time is compressed, like when you're a teenager, time is compressed. You think, uh, when you're 12, 13, 14, 15, it's like six months. 12, 18 months, it seems like a lifetime away. However, it's not that long, it's not really a lot of time. So it's crazy to me that only 18 months later after finishing rehab from my snowboarding accident, I got my start in real estate and that was door knocking pre-foreclosure doors in real estate, and that was door knocking pre-foreclosure doors, so homeowners that have received the notice of default letter from the bank. And the reason I get into this is because my dad and the family business I grew up in was always real estate. So he was a builder. I was really young then a realtor, then an investor and he was always involved in real estate.
Speaker 2:So right around the time where I was getting my driver's license, tim and his team were playing with the idea of having someone go and door knock these notice of the fault doors. So I was like, oh, this is a perfect fit, because right around this time I'm like I want to get involved, I want to help. What can I do? It was right around this time of me getting my driver's license 16, that they needed someone to do this. So I asked them. They gave me a script what to say. They told me where to go to finally to locate these people. Then they just told me to kind of knock myself out. They gave me a lead behind that I could leave if I knocked on the door. No one answered. So they just gave me those three things and I encountered a lot of pushback at the beginning because I didn't really know what I was doing. I didn't have any tact. I was just rushing up to these doors and like, knock, I'm here to help you out of your unfortunate situation.
Speaker 2:And it was shortly after starting that my cousin and I Mike my dad flew us out to California to shadow the number one person in the country that was having success with these notice of default doors. And once I saw his approach and how different it was from my own and how much more nuanced it was and there was every little bit of his approach was rehearsed. I changed right away. I changed my approach and then I immediately started seeing success and because of that, we own several pieces of property in the cities and towns that I door knocked, that I did doors when I was in high school last time I graduated high school, so that part definitely worked.
Speaker 2:Then, once getting out of school, I started to get my real estate license. I got my real estate license, was working with buyers and sellers, and then in 2014, at the end of 2014, my dad asked me he was an investor. He was buying and selling homes creatively a real estate investor buying and selling homes creatively without using any of his money, any big down payments or investor down payments and he needed help with marketing. So he came to me. I was like, yeah, I guess I can do that right alongside being a realtor. And over the course of the next 13 months, my income shifted, where I was making the majority of my income with him as an investor and only like 10% of it as a realtor. So in January of 2016, I let my real estate license go and I joined my dad full time. So working, doing all the marketing, transformed, evolved into working with all the buyers and then all the buyers for the properties and then developing a process that a very specific process that we have to put these buyers through so that, when they come to the end and they're ready to get their own loan, or when they come to the end of their agreement, they're able to go forward and get their own loan.
Speaker 2:And then, in 2017, 2018, we started holding events once or twice a year, helping other associates over the country to implement the same systems, tools and process that had made us successful. So I was then teaching what I did with buyers, with them, and all throughout my life since I graduated high school, I've always had this voice in the back of my head that's saying no matter what I'm doing. What level of success I'm achieving is, yeah, great, nick, but what you really need to be doing is telling your story from stage and helping trauma survivors to thrive with the rest of their lives. So that voice has always been there, and I thought I was scratching that itch by the fact that we've been holding events since 2016 once or twice a year, and usually I have the opportunity to speak and share my story at those events, and it's never been any more than 10, 15, 20 minutes. Someone that saw me speak in 2019 approached me after and she said I'm not trying to steal you from your dad. However, if you're ever looking to fine tune your message and bring it to another level so that you're able to have maximum impact and help the most out of people, I can open some doors for you and introduce you to some coaches and mentors that have helped me along the way.
Speaker 2:I was like really tight. My voice was like really tight. It was like almost like it sounded like it was hard to get the words out, and I developed that in 2012. In 2012, I developed a voice issue and after my accent, I was fine. I was able to talk. There was nothing wrong with my voice, it was fine. However, because of my accent, I was more susceptible. It was a traumatic brain injury, so I was more susceptible to develop this kind of thing like a voice issue, like I did. They called it like a dysphonia and all that means is like problem with the boys, so I would.
Speaker 2:The reason this whole thing happened is I thought it was a brilliant idea to scream my scripts, my real estate scripts, before I get on the phone to prospect for new business. You're supposed to like just go through them and chant just to get your energy up. But I like took it to the extreme and was like screaming them and I did that for like seven full months and I caused damage to my voice, and that was in 2012. So the end of 2012, I knew something wasn't right, something was off with my voice. How did you notice something was off? I just knew something was off, I think in like all the way back in july and I just kept going because it didn't register, it didn't connect with me that I was doing that damage, so I kept doing it and then it got to October where I like almost couldn't even talk. It was like difficult to talk and I remember thinking I was working on my own in our office on a holiday. We had an office in a law firm, like in the attic of a law firm. My dad and I would scream my scripts three times before I would get on the phone to prospect, and on this day this was Columbus Day 2012. On the third time my voice gave out and I started laughing. So I can remember catching my reflection in the glass where I was working and thinking that's it. That's why my voice sounds different. So I thought that, because I stopped the screaming, my voice would go back to normal. Well, I got to the end of October. My voice wasn't coming back, it just wasn't getting better on its own and I started looking for answers.
Speaker 2:I remember going to my regular doctor, my MD, and him giving me a full physical. All my vital signs are good and he didn't say anything wrong with me. He recommended that I see an ear, nose and throat doctor. So this was step two and he still couldn't really figure it out, but he thought this guy might know. So my dad went with me to see this doctor. My God, did this guy have such a terrible bedside manner? He hit her right on the head with his diagnosis, though Probably All right.
Speaker 2:I got to do the impression then, so he was All right. So he listened to me speak and what was going on? And he's like well, you don't see that every day. I've been doing this 37 years and I've only seen a handful. All right, so what?
Speaker 2:I think it is a very rare voice condition and your best piece of serve going right to a specialist in Boston and start getting Botox injections in your throat to relieve the tension. Whoa, I was like I'm not going to go to Boston to get Botox injections in my throat. That's a huge step. So I didn't go. Reason now we're just coming off the holidays and look, I would take a break from prospecting and being on the phone until January 1.
Speaker 2:So surely by getting all that rest, my voice would go back to normal. I also did what I knew had worked for me in the past. So I went on my own to start seeing a speech therapist and I relied on what had worked for me in the past. Taking one step at a time eliminates the overwhelm of how am I going to do this and reframes it so that you have ease and effortless living until you reach your goal. So I started out seeing the speech therapist once a week, then it was twice a week. By the end of April of the following year, 2013, I was seen three to four times a week.
Speaker 1:What made you decide to go to the speech? Therapist.
Speaker 2:Because I knew something wasn't right with my voice and I was going to fix it on my own. That was my mindset. I was like, oh, I've done speech therapy before to get my voice back, why don't I go and try to figure out what's wrong with me? So I, and then it helped that you gave it a shot again. I started seeing her once a week, then it was twice a week. By the end of April I was seeing her three to four times a week. The exercises helped and gave me strategies for dealing with the issue, but nothing I ever did was really fixing it. I very easily could have stopped here and given up. However, taking it one step at a time is what I know to be the solution to all of life's problems. So I remember having a final meeting with them, the whole team so the couple of therapists that I was seeing at the local hospital and the whole team and they were like look, we have tried everything we can think of giving you every technique, every strategy, every exercise. At this point, the only thing that we can recommend is that you go and see the boys specialist in boston. So I was like, oh my god.
Speaker 2:I finally gave in and scheduled an appointment with. My appointment was for the beginning of August 2013 with Dr Song, so the voice specialist name is Dr Song. I always thought that was kind of ironic. So I had the appointment and I had worked up in my head what a big deal this was for the past year. And I was blown away when Dr Tom walked in the room, heard me speak and right away nonchalantly goes oh that, yeah, we'll get that fixed in no time. Go see the front desk and schedule a Botox injection in a couple weeks. I was shocked. I was sold hook line and sinker. So I got scheduled and for the next seven years I received Botox injections along with their higher-level speech therapy, so that I was able to get my voice back.
Speaker 1:I thought you didn't want to get the Botox injections before.
Speaker 2:I didn't, didn't want to get the Botox injections before I didn't. I explored every option to see if I could figure it out without getting the Botox injections, but that was the. That was where the road led, I guess you could say so. I had to get Botox injections for seven years, along with their highly trained speech therapist different than the local hospital, one that I was going to see and I was able to get my voice back for a second time. So the last Botox injection I had was February 13th of 2020. So, right before the world shut down, I was able to go in there and get that done. That was the last one that I needed, and so I always hung on to her card, the woman that approached me after hearing me speak in 2019, because I wasn't quite ready. However, after I had worked that voice issue out of my system, work that voice issue out of my system I finally reached out to her in May of 2021 and said, all right, I'm ready. Who should I talk to? And she introduced me to a coach of hers who became my coach, tricia Brooke, and ever since that first call with her, there has been no voice in the back of my head. So what that's evidence of to me is that I'm doing exactly what I was put on this earth to do.
Speaker 2:So Trisha was the one that helped me launch Common Goal Three years ago. She helped me launch Common Goal. She's also the one that kind of pushed me and gave me the push to do a keynote. So, like I said, prior to her, the most I had spoke was 10, 15, 20 minutes max. That was a huge deal. Now I give 50 and 60 minute keynote talks to brain injury associations all over the country and also other organizations that support individuals that are dealing with trauma. Prior to her that wouldn't have been possible, at least in my mind. So I'm really thankful that I had the opportunity to work with her.
Speaker 1:Wow, that's amazing.
Speaker 2:Thank you, so I've been doing a little too much talking here. If you have any questions, I'm all ears.
Speaker 1:Okay, so you did the Botox injections for seven years.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:Did they help you right away? Start being able to get your voice back. Did it take time?
Speaker 2:Yeah, they did. So the crazy thing about Botox I'm like a huge believer now in Botox.
Speaker 1:Like I know hardly anything about that.
Speaker 2:That's just what you hear about on like on TV or movie stars getting it or whatever. But there are so many medical applications to Botox. So what it did for me was so my muscles were really tight, like my throat muscles were very tight. Obviously, we've been talking for almost an hour now and my voice is fine, but then they were really tight and it was almost like sounding, like it was hard to get the words out, kind of thing, and so they would go in and this is why there's only I may mention this, I may not have, but there's only like 35 of these specialists in the whole I want to say continent, maybe country, but even that's minuscule. So there's only 35 of these specialists in the whole country, and one of them was right in Boston. So he went in, specialized in very detailed and made an injection right into my vocal folds. What that would do was relax the muscle. So usually right away I would lose my voice, I would lose it completely for maybe one or two weeks. I would just lose my voice and then, as the Botox started to wear off, I started to get my voice back. I was like, oh my God, I feel like I can hear myself talk again. But that was temporary. So, as it was coming back and as it was wearing off, when I was sounding good, I would have sessions with their speech pathologists, with their speech therapists, to retrain my throat muscles back to how they were before I developed any issues. And a lot of people that start getting the Botox injections, amanda, have to get them their entire life. So they think, oh okay, well, what was me? Well, I didn't accept that and I knew I got. I had my voice after my accident. I was going to get it back. So what I did was I kept and this is a big part of energy I kept getting natural treatments and I've always done. This was in high school and I got out of the hospital. I started seeing a naturopathic doctor and getting all these different kinds of treatments. So I've always been into that.
Speaker 2:In between every Botox, though, I would always get still continue to get the treatments. A Trina massage is one of them that I still get to this day, and all that is basically a Chinese massage. So if you'll look it up, if your listeners want to look it up, I definitely highly recommend it. I still get it once every five weeks to help keep my energy in tune so I'm able to impact and affect the most amount of people possible. And the second thing is what I just got last night, oddly enough, is myofascial release. That's another form of massage. So another word for that is craniosacral therapy. But I still get those to this day once every five weeks to keep my body and my energy and my health in tune.
Speaker 2:So I remember Dr Song saying to me within the last couple times that I came in there and had to get a Botox injection. Him saying you know what, nick? You're one of the only patients that I see that every time you come back, even though you have to come back, your voice is a little better. And that's because I kept working on myself to really improve my health with the trina massage and the cranial sacral massage. So I was able to improve and make progress and I actually stretched it out.
Speaker 2:So I became obsessed with. I got gotta go longer and longer in between each Botox injection and I stretched it out till almost six or seven months. I wouldn't need an injection until six or seven months and that was good in a sense. But then I became like too caught up in it, like that's the only thing that mattered. I had to just like, keep going longer where in reality it didn't, because the year 2019 that woman saw me speak, so she saw me speak at our event and then the next week I and got.
Speaker 2:It was a week or two after I went and got an injection. Then I ran a half marathon and that kind of dissipated it. If you overexert yourself, you use it up, so to speak. So that dissipated it. That one didn't last. It only lasted like less than three months and I needed another one. And I was really beating myself up because I was like, oh my God, I've been doing this for seven, eight years and I'm still having to get the Botox injections. But here's the thing that was the last one that I needed. So oftentimes, whatever you're, going through.
Speaker 1:Oftentimes it is darkest before the dawn. Yeah, that's true. With a lot of instances it's difficult before it gets easier, and so a lot of people get them forever. I didn't realize that it's not something they necessarily are able to stop.
Speaker 2:No, wow, here's the thing. So when I was just exploring what was going on and I was like what is going on with me? And I was researching online, I found an organization that was totally devoted to this. It's called Spasmodic Dysphonia, and it wasn't like I had that, but that's what I was identifying with. So in the beginning I found comfort in the fact that there was other people like me that they described how they were feeling. I was like, oh my God, that's, I must have something similar, because that's how I feel and this goes for anything, and I've always felt this way, even dating back to my action.
Speaker 2:The support groups are good to a certain extent, but then they can kind of become a self-fulfilling prophecy, like all you talk about is what's wrong and you're not really focused on what's going to get better and how it's going to improve. So there was a time, shortly after developing it, that I did research and I found out, and then it was a very short time that I stayed with it, because I'm like you know what? I have to focus on fixing this. I know I can and not focus on the whole support groups, so I don't know if that answers.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it does, and I get what you mean. Sometimes people in general could go down the rabbit hole of the negativity. If you focus on that, you know. Yeah, so a lot of people have experienced multiple of these. But I'm curious if you've experienced a big aha moment in your life where you realized something different, something suddenly clicked.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think I've already alluded to it, when I was coming to the end of my voice issue. I don't even think it was, I think it was prior to the last injection that I had. It was. I was seeing improvement and, like I said every time I was going to see the doctor, the specialist, for my botox, my voice was a little better. It was a little better. So, even though it wasn't fixed yet, I was like all right, I have something here, like I used it to recover from my accident and I'm about to do it again with fixing my voice. I have to share this. I have to, I have to share this with the world. So that was the aha moment, I would say, and it led me to what I'm doing today. So I'm like I shared earlier. I'm doing exactly what I was meant to do.
Speaker 1:I feel like that's amazing and you feel more in line now than you did when you were more in real estate.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, absolutely. I'm still involved and I still help with whatever I'm needed, with our associates and things. However, this is what I'm meant to be doing. I feel like the work I'm doing, that we've been doing together the past hour, and like speaking for brain injury associations and other individuals, supporting other individuals that are going through trauma. This is the work that I'm meant to be doing and I believe, amanda, that as long as I'm doing this, as long as I'm following that guidance from the voice in the back of my head, that I'll be taken care of. Like how, whatever you believe, I thank God, like God, the universe, whatever is going to take care of me, as long as I'm following that little voice that we all have inside of us.
Speaker 1:I love that. I agree. Well, thank you for speaking with me. Have you heard of a man named Jay Shetty? I have, so he's an author, he's got a podcast as well, and he ends his podcast with two segments and I liked them, so I stole them and I use them on my podcast. The first segment is the Many Sides to Us. There's five questions that need to be answered in one word. Each First question what is one word someone who was meeting you for the first time would use to describe you as Vibrant? What is one word someone who knows you extremely well would use to describe you as Passionate? What is one word you'd use to describe yourself, self?
Speaker 2:One word you'd use to describe yourself In the present.
Speaker 1:What is one word that if someone didn't like you or agree with your mindset would use to describe you? Unrealistic? What is one word you're trying to embody right now?
Speaker 2:Patience.
Speaker 1:Second segment is the final five, and these can be answered in up to a sentence. What is the best advice you've heard or received?
Speaker 2:How many sentences?
Speaker 2:It's technically one, but the best advice that I've ever received is from my old real estate coach, and this is back in 2009. He said to me, when it comes to any coach, any mentor, any person, that any guru never put them up on a pedestal, because they have their own life going on behind the scenes. They have all their own crap that they don't want you to see. They're only presenting themselves how they want you in the world to see them. So don't put them on a pedestal thinking they're great and they're this and they're that.
Speaker 2:Everyone has a story. Everyone has stuff that that, they're this and they're that. Everyone has a story. Everyone has stuff that they're dealing with and never do that and since he made that comment to me, I'd never do. It's never led me. It's never led me astray All the way down. I know this is more than a sentence, but all the way down, all the way down to the present day and working with coaches and people like that, like I'm in the process of moving on from a few coaches- that is very solid of advice.
Speaker 1:What is the worst advice you've heard or received?
Speaker 2:God, that's a tough one. The worst advice yeah, but you can fill in the blank of this. For anything, yeah, go ahead, buy that. Things are always going to be better in the future. Buy that house, or buy that expensive car, or buy it, buy whatever, and you'll be able to afford it because everything is going to be better in the future.
Speaker 2:Why is that? Keep my overhead and expenses low? Because what that allows me to keep is my peace of mind. So that's just for me. Like you're asking me the question, so I can answer how I want to right.
Speaker 1:What is something that you used to value that you no longer value?
Speaker 2:God, these are. I love that you're asking these questions. These are difficult. Give it to me again.
Speaker 1:Give it to me again.
Speaker 2:What is something that you used to value, that you no longer value the word that's coming up for me and I'm trying to get quiet with this, too, and just listen to what's coming up for me Achievement.
Speaker 1:Why do you say you don't value achievement anymore?
Speaker 2:well, achievement for the sake of awards. So that that's what it would be.
Speaker 1:So awards and medals and trophies and things, so yeah if you could describe what you would want your legacy to be, as if someone was reading it, what would you want it to say?
Speaker 2:I don't know as if I'd like that one. You don't know if you'd like that one, because I feel like we can't control what our legacy is going to be. That's almost like, yeah, I don't feel like we can't control. All we can do is do the best that we can in the moment and let the chips fall where they're meant.
Speaker 1:I mean that's true, but you don't have an opinion as to what you'd want your legacy to be. I know you can't control it, but even things you can't people can't control there's things you want to be a certain way, even though you can't control. If can't control there's things. You want to be a certain way, even though you can't control if it actually All right, good point. I'm a paralegal in my day job, so I'm very technical.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, you're sticking the. You want your answer.
Speaker 1:You can give me any answer.
Speaker 2:Who is Nick Prefontaine, who made the world a better place by helping trauma survivors thrive with the rest of their lives? Okay, is that an answer?
Speaker 1:Yes, all right. All right. If you could create one law in the world that everyone had to follow, what would it be? And I want to know why.
Speaker 2:The golden rule. Treat everyone like you like to be treated. Because, I don't know, I just feel like there's, you see, so much of like road rage and people like being nasty to each other for no reason. I really feel like if everyone lived by the golden rule, the world would be a much better place.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I so agree with that, I so agree. Well, thank you so much for speaking with me. I passed, you did pass, you did pass.
Speaker 2:You got an A, I got an A. Okay, awesome.
Speaker 1:I really appreciate you speaking with me and where can listeners connect with you? I really appreciate you speaking with me, and where can listeners connect with you?
Speaker 2:So I know we covered a lot today. However, I want to go back to one of the things that I mentioned is that what we covered as far as the STEP system is just like a 10,000 foot view, so your listeners can go to nickprefontainecom forward slash step and download the whole step system for free. That's going to teach them all about support, trust, energy and persistence. A lot of people nowadays are at a point where they're stuck, so this is a great first step. Once you take your first step, your next step's always going to be available to you and you have to follow it.
Speaker 1:I love that. Well, thank you so much again. I really appreciate it.
Speaker 2:You're welcome. Thank you for giving me the opportunity. This was a lot of fun and I hope your listeners get a lot of value really appreciate it. You're welcome. Thank you for giving me the opportunity. This was a lot of fun and I hope your listeners got a lot of value out of it.
Speaker 1:I'm sure they did. It really was. Thank you again, and thank you guys for tuning in to another episode of Mander's Mindset.
