Resilience, Purpose, and Paying It Forward: Zach's Inspirational Journey | Ep 153

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welcome back to another episode of The don't wait for your wake up call podcast. I am here with Zach Inman. Zach, welcome to the show. I'm so excited to have you here today.

Thank you. It's exciting being here and telling you my story.

Well, thank you. And just to introduce you a little bit to the audience. Zach is the owner of Zach of all trades in Boulder City, Nevada, a 32 year old thriving business in this small community. And Zach learned his work ethics growing up on an old abandoned farm in Maine where he learned his trade skills along with living off the land, raising animals and doing whatever it takes to succeed. And at the young age of 20, Zach was in college taking fire science to become a firefighter. A life changing incident happened on the dance floor. And I'm not going to read any more than that here of your bio, because I really want you to share your story. And just before we dive into that, I just want to say I was just in Maine last October, visiting friends and absolutely loved it. And so you know, hearing about you on the farm, and I could just fully imagine that in my mind. And so yeah, I would love for you to share what happened that night on that dance floor. Um,

as far as I can remember, because a lot of the stories were told to me, but I pretty much understand. I love to dance. And I was dancing with, you know, I guess several people. And one lady that I asked to dance, she had a boyfriend that I did not know, was very jealous. And unfortunately, he was three times that limit drunk on tequila. So being out on the dance, floor dancing, and then all sudden, pop blindsided me, and he fell on top of me. And my head hit first on the concrete floor, fractured my skull. And I guess I had spinal fluid coming out my ear and whatnot. So it was kind of a mess. And when the ambulance showed up, which I hung out with those guys earlier that day, because I was doing ride alongs with the fire department. I coded three times in the ambulance. And they took me to a hospital that was closer Desert Springs hospital. And I was on life support and coma for seven to eight days at do believe. And my parents didn't, you know, they didn't know what they got assigned my organs way or keep them or what. And the doctor said that if I made it through, I was going to be like a two year old kid that unfortunately, because of the blood clots and this and that. And that's what I was talking before my grandmother is into natural herbs and healing and you know, the brain as a blueprint to heal anything in your body. And she always told that to us. And I, for some reason, my body absorbed the blood clots that were in my head. And that also that came out of it. I was like a little kid growing up again. I had to go through rehab, two months in New Hampshire, it was one of the better rehabilitation places. But it was a long struggle. But every time they said that I had a limit. I always broke it. Because you cannot accept being stuck in a box. You have to get out of it and live and it's okay to fail just as long as you learn from it. It's not a failure. So, and I've succeeded.

I absolutely agree that just as long as you learn from it, it's not a failure. And I love what your grandmother said. And she's absolutely right. And so often, you know, the wisdoms from our elders gets lost or gets called an old wives tale and you know and people discard it in today's world thinking we know better with modern science, etc, etc. But the reality is, is that our Higher Self does have the blueprint of perfect health. And our mindset is so incredibly important. And I have a favorite saying that the audience has heard over and over again. And it's whether you think you can, or you think you can't, you're right. And Henry Ford said that. And it sounds to me like that's something that you've lived by your entire life, you choose to believe you can. And then you do. Go ahead.

I also believe that the good Lord had a plan for him. And all of these years, and the last 33 years, I've chose to 31 years sorry, I chose to find out what that plan was. And so that's what kept me striving for more and more and more. I was like, I can do this. Is this what I'm supposed to do? Is that what I'm supposed to do? And I think I finally found it.

And we're gonna come to that as well. Yes, definitely. But before we even get there, because that's kind of skipping ahead. 31 years. Let's just go back to I mean, imagine what your parents were going through where they didn't know, if you were going to make it, I believe the doctors, you know, had said the chances of you making it were very, very slim. And you know, if you did you were going to be like a two year old. So, you know, a horrific experience for your parents while you're in a coma. And your brain is looking after you because you're not consciously aware of the decisions you made at that time. And your parents wondering if they have to sign off on you know, your organs. And thank goodness, they didn't.

I thought they did. But my aunt said No. Mom finally got here. It took them four days to get to me because of bad weather in my in the plains canceling. So imagine knowing that your son was on life support going to die, and you couldn't make it there? Wow. Because I couldn't imagine what they went through. Right.

But the gift, the gift in all of that is that you did pull through? Yes. But it was an incredible challenge, as you alluded to with rehab, et cetera, et cetera. And just talk to me a little bit more about overcoming all of that. going

for a jog. When I'm deaf in my right ear. So not knowing that your body cannot balance like it could I kept on jogging to the right everywhere I went, I was like, how come I cannot keep in a straight line. That drove me nuts. But you know, after a while I, you know, adapted to it. And then, oddly enough, my left ear overcompensated for the right. And I can hear further away from than other people good. It's just unfortunately close up. That was tough. My friends call me like radar, Grandpa Jr. You know, you always hear those little things. But yeah, laugh at situations like that. You can't be all fussy. Um, one thing I was going to explain with head injuries. Unfortunately, anger comes in anger from so many different things, things you can't do, but it scrambles the brain. And I felt more anger than love. Even though I knew what love was. I didn't actually feel it. Deep in the heart like I used to. That was a tough one. But I overcame that. And I will explain that when you're ready.

And we'll go ahead and explain that now. It's an okay, segue into it. And I'd love to hear about how you overcame and maybe it's all in the same story. But how you overcame that intense anger because I'm sure part of that anger was triggered by why me and wanting to turn back the clock. And you know, wishing that this never happened, right? Why did I ask that girl to dance, et cetera, et cetera? Those are some of the mind games that we all naturally play. So yes, please share how you resolved all of that.

I want to talk to you, yes. The anger issue on like, Why could you do this? Why did you do this to me? And I did find out where he lived, you know, a year a couple of years afterwards, and I wanted to go confront them face to face. And I was at his door, then a knock on it. And then something came over me. And it was just like, You know what? Forgiving. Look what you've gained from the sense that you have a beautiful son, you know, married your life's getting better the people that you've met, you're overcoming challenges that you were not supposed was to. So instead of being angry, just let it go. And that was a huge thing right there. Once you forgive somebody, it's not for their benefit. It's for yours. You're releasing that from you. Yes, that's so that was. Yeah.

And that you said that, you know that word forgiveness, it's so important. And often we feel like we can't forgive because it's condoning whatever happened. But it isn't simply allowing you to release that pent up emotion, the anger in your case, and be able to move forward, which is exactly what you were able to do. And how

everything put me back to normal was, my grandfather had, he had PTSD during the war and stuff like that, and someone told him about a cranial adjustment is where they take a finger glove, and they put it on a pressure ball, and they put it up inside your nose, there's, there's several different channels inside your nose. And then they squeeze it and it literally cracks your skull. If you look up cranial adjustment, it'll explain it. And then they do it to both sides. So it's basically like popping a tin can you feel as like what the heck happened. And I had to do it four days in a row. Well, back to my grandfather, it helped him with a lot of problems. And then when I had all of these problems, grandpa's like, hey, you need to do this. So that's why I got into the cranial. I didn't notice anything right away. So I decided to take a family trip back to me, and brought my kids and you know, the wife and stuff. And then probably a week and a half after this, I started crying for almost three days straight, all of my emotions that I had bottled up for all those years, came out. And then when I saw friends from high school family, and I started talking to him, then like, Oh, my God, you're back. It's you again. I'm like, I didn't realize that was gone, you know, but then later on, I realized it. So your skull can get realigned. Just like your back's out of place. and whatnot, there's only a handful of people in the United States that can do it. But I highly recommend it. And I would have paid a million dollars for it. And I've even had it done to my children. So my older son kind of attitude problem, my younger son had a little dip and then top of his head from birth, you know, sometimes kids look a little. And literally put everything aligned back into straight. And my older son, he mellowed out a little bit. It's just so interesting what it does, to help put us back into the right path. Lets the circuitry go. So that's a little story. I

love that. And I also love that you were so open to, you know, holistic and other modalities of healing. And I guess that comes back to both of your grandparents, being open to that using them themselves, and then recommending that to you. So that you are willing to step into it. Because sometimes we hear about these things. And you know, people write it off as being wacky, and they don't want to get involved in it. Because it's not coming from their mainstream medical doctor. But I'm a believer that there's many paths to healing, and that it's never just one thing. And you will see is that the mainstream medical system was amazing for you. gave you that second chance at life. But then there was still more resources that you needed to tap into in order to come back as yourself.

Yes, a lot of spiritual. And yeah, like people used to come from all over the world to go see my grandmother to get fixed up. And she never charged them. So you just take care of them, but they always had what they needed. It was kind of like the cycle of life. And I stayed with them for a few years and learn as much as I possibly could, and still use it today.

And when you were learning as much as you could was that before or after your accident? Both?

Ah, yes, well, I'm coming from Maine, I came out for the summer to right after I graduated high school to stay with my grandparents, just to hang out and be with them. And then I ended up staying and starting my construction business. And years after I invested into buying a house and they moved my grandparents into it. And so they basically stayed here. We both ended up staying living here. And so that I learned some more stuff from them. I even actually got about five hours of videotape of my grandfather telling stories when he was a kid growing up. That's an amazing thing and people should always do that to the grandparents. So that way they never forget Yeah,

absolutely. I

love that, you know, extend always learn. Yeah, I was always learning from beautiful

and extending your grandparents legacy as well. So I know before we started recording you were talking to me about breathwork because you had listened to the previous or a couple episodes ago of this podcast episode 149. You said your grandmother had also talked about your grandfather, and I'm sure if he was using it would have helped him with his PTSD from the war. How do you use breathwork? It? How did you use it in overcoming, you know, this health issue? This, you know, injury that you had to the brain? And do you still use breathwork? in your daily life today?

Actually, I do because I subconsciously think of it sometimes I'm like, okay, you know, when stress or this or that just breathe through and just think and thoughts. And grandpa was said you breathe in your nose out your mouth and how he explained it. I mean, I'm just remembering from when I was a kid, right? But I know it's part of the meditation, you breathe, just concentrate. I don't know exactly how I'm doing if I'm doing it, right. But I feel better. So, you know, it's kind of one of those hard things. I just remember him always telling me how important it was. How you write?

Yeah, absolutely. And it's something that so many of us forget, we just take for granted, like so much of our health actually, right, we kind of wait till we get sick and go to the doctor and expect them to fix us, we don't pay attention to our sleep. Because we are born we know how to sleep. And yet, we don't know how modern day life is negatively impacting our sleep. And we were not conscious of our breath. Because the body keeps us breathing, regardless of what we're doing. And we don't choose to use it proactively. So I love that you do and it is such a powerful tool that is absolutely free. And we carry it with us all the time. So I know it sounds crazy to ask this. But I would love you to share if you can, what you are grateful for. As you look back with 20 perfect vision for having actually gone through that experience.

I'm grateful for the experience, even though it was incredibly rough at times. And I mean, almost rock bottom. But what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. You know it does. And it's just going through those lessons, I've actually made it easier for me now. Because challenges that I reached, now I know how to deal with them. It's like, don't get upset, don't worry about just accept it, think about it, work around it, you don't need to get this relax, you know, take a breath, you know, and but all of those experiences gave me the knowledge I have today to succeed even better, and actually help other people out. And that's what I'm working on now is to help other people that have gone through similar situations that I have gone through and show them different paths to get out there. One other thing I'm working on. And that's

a beautiful segue into what I was going to ask you next, which is what are you doing now to help others overcome their obstacles in life.

I've worked on a program since I was 16 years old, on how to help rehabilitate people to go through certain a process, basically kind of stepping backwards. Like the Amish. They have everything simple, where you have like an off grid farm, like you get the greenhouse, the garden, the barn, the animals, apple orchards, just a beautiful sanctuary. And everybody works to help keep everything going. But it's also a stress release, where you can actually be in a place where you can breathe. And when you go take care of a garden, you watch it grow, the joy you get from that order, and the animal when you actually help deliver a baby goat, or you know, something like that. And just to watch it grow up. Sometimes being around certain things like that is a good experience. And my older son is a veteran, he was a Navy vet. He's disabled. And he went through some trouble and he's like, Dad, I need your help. I'm watching too many of my friends go through divorce, drugs and suicide, homelessness, homelessness and suicide. He has no one cares about the regular ones that forgotten. They don't have a label. So he wanted to build something off grid where you know, halfway house and I'm like, son, need to have a purpose. You know, I understand what you want. And I told him I said if you find 100 acres, something that I could afford, and if it fits my plan that I've had forever, so his plan and my plan kind of worked together, which was awesome.

That's beautiful. Yes.

And he looked all over The United States couldn't find anything that fit. And then he found, finally found it 15 minutes from where I grew up and graduated high school. Wow. So that's not the good Lord saying something. And it was actually 100. Yeah, 120 acres. And this is where back from when I got dumped on the head, and made it through when I knew God had a plan, because I've hit obstacles with this. And then things are just showing up right when I need them. And it's been a little bit of a challenge. But what we are building is a place for veterans coming out of the military, going through different troubles, be able to come decompress and work on some stuff. But I also want to build a program, so anybody else can adopt it, to use it anywhere in the world that they want. So I want to develop this to where it can show that you can come there, relax, re, reboot, breathe again, but learn different traits. I believe that if you learn several different things, learn about several different things, you'll be able to solve 95% of the problems. It's like, my friend was reading a quote, jack of all trades, you know, mine's jack of all trades. But if you learn one trade, you know that one trade, but if you learn many, you're better off. So I'm kind of like rambling around this subject a little bit. But basically, we're trying to develop a place that helps other people go through what they're going through and get back into society, as a productive person, through education, and just being able to breathe.

And I love that and the power of being able to breathe, the power of being close to the land close to the animals, the grounding of that what Nate Mother Nature gives us in terms of healing modalities is so powerful. Being outdoors in the sunlight, all of that is so helpful versus, you know, a veteran trying to rehabilitate in a downtown city center core where everything is rush, rush, rush, you know, stress, stress, stress, and there's no grounding happening. And so I love your idea of just making it simple, and taking us back in time, to a place where you can incorporate all of these beautiful healing modalities that mother nature gives us.

And for them to be able to come out and cut down a tree and running through the sawmill and build something out of it. That they created. And they work together as a community. And then that camaraderie. And then they're like, You know what, I can do this, I'm not a label, you know, I'm not what they told me I am, you know, your stamp disabled? No, you're not. You can go out and you could create this, you can learn that. Technically, I'm disabled. I'm deaf for one year, I overcome it, I work past it. I just might tell you what, a few times, but you know, I get it.

If we're standing on the wrong side of you, yeah.

But it's just like to show him that you know, it's move past, get out of that block, don't not accept what they tell you. Move out of it, break out of the chains and become who you are supposed to be.

I love it. And that's where that quote, whether you think you can or think you can't, you're right is so powerful. Because unfortunately, so often, the medical world or the therapists are, are giving people labels and telling them what they can't do, and giving them limiting beliefs. And the reality is, is that our mind is so powerful, that they have no idea what that individual can do. And I really wish that they would share instead of sharing the stats of the people who didn't make it, share the stats of the people who did. Because that's all anybody needs is to know that one person has done it. Therefore, if they can do it, I can too, because we all have the same mind, the same body, etc. And we can work with that. And our mind is so much more powerful than we've been led to believe. So I love the fact that you're tapping into that, and letting people know that it's so inspirational. And that's why I wanted you to come on the show and share your story. Because there may be may be somebody listening, that is thinking that they can't because that's what they've been told. And they hear your story of recovery and realize they can Yes,

and I hope it's going to take a while but I believe that this will be a good program to say explained Is what you just said also, things that we have to go through. But if somebody wanted to use it for, you know, trouble kids or women coming up as bad situation, or prisoners coming out of the prison system needing to get into a certain place. It's a basic, simple process. It's not complicated, it's going backwards. It's like my mother always said, all you need to know is what you learned in kindergarten. The basics, get back to the basics, and figure it out.

It's so true. I love that quote, I've seen it on T shirts, everything I need to know I learned in kindergarten. Yeah, be nice. I also love the fact that you're trying to, you know, you have the vision to set up this initial, I'm going to call it farm for want of another term in Maine. But then, again, for whatever another term, make it a franchisable. So that somebody else can come in and see the model that you've created, and duplicate it elsewhere, in order to be able to impact more people in a positive way, and give them that powerful reintroduction into society, with their mindset in the right place that they know they can, that's

exactly what I want to do, I want to put it through the test, make sure everything works, and say, hey, it's here, you want it. Here's the plants. Because you know, for the buildings and all of this other structures, we want to have like a woodshop mechanic shop, research development shop, places where everybody has something to do. So it's, you're not going to be item places to learn places, you know, you know, grow your mind everywhere. And I want to give it away. It's like, Here, take this, if you have the passion that ID to help others in this way. Take it and go do something positive. You know, it doesn't have to have our name on it. Just get it out there.

It's beautiful. And I can think of people I already want to connect you with that. I know would be really interested in knowing more about this project. And so is it up and running you still working on getting it up and running where you want process.

Just started it over the summer. Last summer. I went back there in the middle of the woods, no resources. I tore down an old restaurant that I worked at in high school. Salvage all that lumber, I ran into a big boom forklift and demolition is my specialty tore it all down salvage that I had to get a three quarter of a mile road put in. I don't know how many tons of gravel they did. Started out five acres, cut down some trees had a milled, use those two by fours, they'll build plus the other stuff. And my younger son came and helped me build the cabin and another structure. So it was tough, but I just met somebody over the weekend. That's from Maine, that's living out here in Henderson. And he was a minister at a church in Bangor, which was hour and a half away from our property. Him and his wife have kind of a similar vision that I do. And he's wanting to help me nice and work with me because he has a lot of connections back there. Because he retired back there. I've been gone for 30 some years. He just left from being their, you know, employee in the church background. So I'm hoping to just connect with the right people. Because I tell people, I cannot do this. But we can. Yeah, we can do this. Yes. So if we all collaborate and work together, the land was meant to help as many people as we can. Not for me to have a vacation spot. So I want people to come in and be a family and join the cause and make it productive for everyone.

I absolutely love this vision. And thank you for doing the work that you do. Because I am aware of the difficulty that's have from coming back from these war zones into everyday life. And with my knowledge of how the unconscious mind works, one of the things that I know is that it suppresses traumatic events until such time that the unconscious mind deems it safe to bring it forth to the conscious mind to process which is why military folk don't get PTSD in the war zone. They get it when they come home. And unfortunately when they come home is when they've now been separated from all of the support systems that they had in terms of the friends that they've made. And those tight connections. Everyone's added to wherever they came from. And there isn't enough support from our government, either at that point. But because we're home, it's safe. And now we have the PTSD kicking. And I, I heard a somebody who used to be a Marine, say on a podcast that I was listening to recently, that he was taught how to be a Marine, how to go out there and shoot to kill as needed for his country. But when he came home, he wasn't taught how to not be a Marine anymore. And sudden sounds would trigger you. And you would, you know, he wasn't obviously carrying around a gun in society, but he'd be triggered thinking he needed to respond that way. So life is hard coming back from people that served our country, and they don't get the support they need. And what you're doing is creating that. So thank you. Thank you, thank you. I really appreciate what you're doing. And I definitely want to connect you with more resources that I have. And anybody listening to this podcast. If this is resonating with you, if you want to get involved, if you know how to support or you'd like to donate, Zach, let them know how they can get in touch with you, please.

I will. And one other thing I want to talk about, my son is not the same kid that I sent off to the military. Yes, he witnessed, I mean, dealt with seven suicides, and three of them are on the ship that he was on. And when he came back, he's not the same kid. And when he comes to me and says, Dad, I need your help. And I will go to the ends of the earth, to make sure my kids take care of and I gave him my word, I will do whatever it takes to give him his vision, which is helping the veterans. So it's, I'm helping my son plus other children. You know, we always say veterans, but they're not just veterans that are our sons or daughters or brothers, our sisters, our moms and dads. So they're our family. So you got to look at this. This is not just a military thing. These are our family members. Yes.

And thank goodness that your son could come to you and ask for help.

So a lot of them others to have a parachute to catch up. Exactly. That's what we're building is a parachute. Bug Out. vsf.org is our website. We're still working on a lot of stuff. We have a Facebook veteran Sanctuary Foundation. So you can see a lot of stuff that we've done in pictures and bug out vsf@gmail.com is our website. So I don't know if you can type that somewhere. I don't know. I

just put that in the shownotes. Yeah. bugout vsf.org is the website right? Yep. And if what is the email address?

I got VSF at Gmail, okay, sorry.

Yes, F to Gmail.

Facebook, I mean, it should be once a veteran Sanctuary Foundation is what is under. I actually got to help participate in putting in a dog park for the US vets in Las Vegas. And there's about 40 volunteers from several different veteran groups that showed up and I have a bobcat, so everybody was happy. So everything went in that I don't fill up the dumpster with the bobcat. So it was kind of nice coming in the rescue. Heavy Equipment. Yes, I want veterans to be able to come up there. I want them to build it. I want them to build what they want. We'll all work together. Right? But they need to have pride that this is their place. I'm setting aside 10 acres for them to build whatever they want. I'm going to create all of the rest and pay for the barns, the greenhouses, whatnot, because my son's gonna live there for this family. And I want to create where everybody takes care of the living area. So the veterans will experience the whole entire property where between two lakes, so there's kayaking fishing, there's gonna be no hunting on the property. Because I don't want I want it to be a sanctuary. I like to watch the animals come and go. You have moose, deer, everything, they're just a beautiful place. And if somebody wants to come and participate, come camp out. Be a part of it. You know, it's it's a joint effort.

I love that. Again, thank you for creating this and I really look forward to watching it evolve. So question for you that I love to ask all of my guests that come on the show. What does don't wait for your wake up call mean to you?

Don't wait for my wake up call. Don't wait till it's too late. Don't wait till I'm like sitting there like, Oh, what did I miss? Get out there and live today? I don't know if I'm paying attention to the question, right. But don't wait for the wakeup call just move now. It's running water never goes stale. So get out there.

And you're definitely paying attention to the question. I just love to ask that because everybody has a slightly different answer. And it's the name of the podcast because I want to inspire people to take action to live their best life starting right now. So thank you for that answer. And is there anything else any wisdom you would like to share with the audience that we haven't already discussed?

No, I think we've pretty much discussed a lot. It's just, you're not live in a box. Follow your dreams. Everybody always told me Oh, you're just a dreamer. You know, you're like, look at that shiny thing. You know, squirrel playing. Now I flew planes. I rode rodeo road bulls in the rodeo. I did this. I did that. And I'm like, Well, why not? Everybody's like, you can't do that. Well, yeah, I did it. And a friend of mine from high school. It's like, Yeah, we all thought you were nuts when you're talking about building the big ranch and farm and, you know, I was gonna have a airplane and airstrip? Oh, yes, there's enough land, or I could put an airstrip in. And I want to just because it was a childhood dream. But what I'm saying is, I'm doing it. I am fulfilling my dreams. They just might have taken 34 years to get. So it's never too late.

It's never too late. I love that. That's a beautiful way to end this very inspirational podcast. Thank you so much, Zack, for coming on the show and sharing your story, and inspiring others to get out there and live their dreams and to dream big. If somebody tells you you can't do it. You know what, it's not about you. It's about them and the limiting beliefs they have about their own ability to do that. But it's not their dream. So no surprising. They feel like they can't do it. It's your dream. And you can do it. Great. Thank you. You're very welcome. And to my audience, thank you for tuning in every week and listening to the don't wait for your wake up call podcast. If this episode inspired you. Please share it with anybody else that you know needs to hear Zach's message. Thank you for investing this time with me on the don't wait for your wake up call Podcast. I'm so glad you joined in. If you can take two minutes to share this episode with someone you think can benefit and have a positive impact on their life. That would be wonderful. Please leave a review by going to your favorite podcast listening app. And let me know what you enjoy or would like to hear more of it will support me in my effort to bring the possibility of natural healing to a wider audience and help disrupt the sick care system we have today and make human health a global priority. Health is your true wealth.