JASON CRONAN - The Holistic Wellness & Fitness Coach

Hi, I'm Tammy Gross, the Scriptprenuer. Welcome to Reel Life Stories where difference makers come to share their Hollywood worthy transformation stories. I love interviewing people who faced a mountain, overcome it the hard way, and figured out a solution to help the rest of us conquer that same mountain. Because when we share our stories, we change lives.

Alright, so we have a great guest with us here today. His name is Jason Cronan. And he is the holistic wellness and fitness coach, Jason earned a master's degree in Exercise Science. He has 20 plus years of wellness experience as an exercise physiologist, holistic health and fitness coach and motivational speaker. His programs and keynotes have empowered over 1000 of his clients to live a healthy life, get fit, and be productive. His coaching programs have helped people overcome anxiety and achieve success. I am so looking forward to this. Thank you so much for being here. Welcome, Jason,

thank you very much to me, I'm really excited to be here and happy to talk to you everybody.

Good, good. I'm excited to because you have a very interesting background, very interesting story that brought you to how you're showing up in the world these days. And that's what I'm all about is finding out how you got to where you are, why you're helping so many people do the incredible things that you've done, as well as helping them do things that they never thought they could do, getting over their anxiety and, and learning to kind of toughen up in life. And these are things that all of us can really benefit from, I mean, the fact that you're into such a holistic approach means that we all have a lot, a lot to learn from you. Because some of us like we have our little compartmental isms that we do. And I love that you are being holistic about it. So I want to kind of turn it over to you by asking you, you know where this all started for you like why did this become a passion of yours, and and what was happening in your life, to make you realize that you needed to solve a problem for yourself, so that you could move forward in life, and all the things that are the big mountain that you had to climb to get to where you are now. I just want to know where where it all kind of started at for you.

Yeah, it's very interesting. i My life has twisted in my directions throughout the years. But when I was younger, I was actually a fairly nerdy kid, unlike today. But when I was also had big glasses and messy hair and didn't fit in, and I was bullied significantly in school, I grew up in New York until the age of seven, moved to Pennsylvania, and was still bullied. And I was left back into second grade. Talk about being kicked, being left back into second grade and bullied. And there. I just I had to make a difference. I was tired of being bullied. And when I was about 12 years old, I discovered martial arts. I entered a taekwondo school, started doing martial arts. And then as I went through the martial arts, it made me more better self esteem more positive. I felt great. And people wouldn't bother me anymore, I would give an evil stare. And then they would walk away and be like, Nope, I'm not messing with him anymore. They make a sense that good vibe. And when I was in school, I wanted to be actually a robotic engineer. My dream was to make King Kong and jaws the Anima Tron in the movies. But when I was in high school, my teacher pulled me aside of my anatomy physiology class and said, Hey, I need you to actually take consider anatomy and physiology as part of your career. So I became an athletic trainer. And as athletic trainer, it was great. But all at the same time as I was getting older, I dealt with anxiety. And that was always part of my life. Because when I was a young kid, they tried to put me on medication. And I did not want to be on medication and felt like a zombie. And I needed to really, really, really figure some way out. So martial arts helped but it wasn't the cure all. And as I was growing up, I always had pains in my back. I always had some numbness in my face and my arms and I didn't know what was going on. And as I kept going through school and through college, I ended up becoming an exercise physiologist. From athletic training, I switched over to exercise science, but the reason why I mentioned about the anxiety because I was always part of my life and I kept pushing pushing pushing to be in the fitness and wellness field. And but there's always something in me that was causing me to have some discomforts. And I noticed that college became very stressful and very time consuming, and I ended up having a major panic attack. back, I actually ended up in the hospital, and was there for many hours on machines, give me a check for a heart attack. And it was really serious. So for many years, I've actually dealt with anxiety, social anxiety, a general anxiety, even a little bit of OCD. And my passion right now is to help others dealing with those symptoms, and to help them with fitness, wellness, and make sure that they're able to live a healthy life and figure out what is actually happening. It may not be pain, it actually may be anxiety. And anxiety manifests multiple ways. And I've noticed, right, it's a really serious situation for a lot of people. Yeah, you know, it's

interesting, because you think that you've found like a solution to everything right? When you when you're, you're overcoming all the bullies and you're, you're finding physical strength is one thing, but also the mental strength that that will come with that. But there's so much more to the human complexity. And, and the fact that you had to deal with the anxiety then, and everything and, and so, I mean, believe me, I can understand because I landed in a hospital from my own anxiety at one point as well. And I and I know I made myself sick. And so when you were going through that, what what was it that kind of opened your eyes to the fact that that's what it was? What did you have doctors that were kind of like giving you some of this information? And and then how did you make the switch that it's like, oh, my gosh, it's more than just body? It's body, mind, spirit. It's all those things. Where did that switch kind of get flipped?

Yeah. What I realized I went to the hospital thinking it was a heart attack, my roommate rushed me to the hospital. And it says in my book as well, about rushing to the ER with chest pains being numb, every symptom that you could think of, and then all of a sudden, the doctor says to me, he's like, everything checks out, you're absolutely fine. I second myself, I'm like, Are you sure doc that or I'm I'm okay. He's like, Yeah, you're having a panic attack. I've heard of panic attacks. But I've never thought I was having a panic attack. I was shaking uncontrollably. I couldn't stop sweating, I was blacking out. And it was over, being overstressed being burnt out and having a major panic attack. And I realized from that day, that I need to take control of my mind, even though I did meditation and martial arts, and I took care of myself, and I was super healthy and fit. But I let the stress take over me and happened about five more times throughout my life and 20 years, because I let myself go again, I was doing great for a year or two severe stress in my life. And it happened again, and again. And again, just the last three to four years. I really, really said I had to come up with the idea to help myself. But when I got COVID, I got a severe panic attack again two years ago, because of all the bad news. But now I told myself, I would never happen again. I feel I'm coming on. Sometimes every once in a while I get overstressed and overworked. But I know what to do now, like help with a system that I use to help others and I use it on myself everyday, a lot of self talk, a lot of gratitude. I have a TSA method that I use for tension, stress and anxiety, I talk to myself and talk myself down. I have a whole system I put in place in my morning routine that I do. And I share with all my clients. Oh, that's

excellent. I mean, so yeah, so it's like you found you found a coping mechanism mechanism. There's more than just coping, it's preventative. It's, it's, it's something that you can incorporate into your into your life routine, which That sounds fantastic. So, and I happen to know that you've got a checklist for the morning wellness that we're going to be providing to everybody who's listening, they'll get it, they'll be able to get that through downloadable. And so I'm really appreciative of that, we'll make sure that we put that into the show notes. But this isn't the total end of your story, because you've been helping people with a lot of things and, and I'm just going to bring up something that is very fascinating to me, that you can talk about as much as you want with a little bit of the time that we have left. But I am really fascinated by the fact that you've taken all these different things that you've learned, you're helping people with anxiety. And that's an that's like, that's such a huge thing right now after COVID. Like you were saying, you even felt it coming on, even after all the work that you've done. That's how powerful we let COVID become in our lives. And it's like it. It's amazing what COVID has done to the world, and how we're now coming out of it. And we're, we're finding a way to to get out of that. And you got an actual strategy that does that. But in the meantime, you've also been doing something really fascinating to me, as a filmmaker and screenwriter and somebody who is really interested in getting stories to a screen where people can really see and I think prepare you to talk about this. But tell us a little bit about this show that you have been doing, where you're literally going out on the road, and you're helping people. And you're I just want to know a little bit more about that. I think it'll be really interesting to people.

Yeah, I actually might, I have a podcast TV show, it's called Wellness on the go. And what I do is I produce in my RV, and I do travel to locations and do on site interviews, as well as have them demonstrate a service with me, like, say, for instance, I went to a place called Cooking around town, I interviewed the owners, they cooked a meal for me, I took the meal home, and I was able to have my own dinner. I also want to include going to other events. Say for instance, I want to interview a motorcycle group that does motorcycle riding and talk about how motorcycle riding helps your overall self a well being and how the freedom is a great way to relieve stress. So I'm going to ride my motorcycle there, bring camera and also interview the people in the motorcycle group. And then also go to like a fitness facility like for instance, a special one like a Ninja Warrior course, interview to owner and be part of the course. And it's all about travel, fitness, wellness and cooking. So fast food and fitness. And I really want to turn it into an actual show. And yeah, cast as a secondary aspect of it.

Oh my gosh, I'll watch that show for sure. That is That's fascinating. You find a positive thing in just like anybody's life and what they're doing and how they can, how they can use what they're already doing in their life to just make it that much more healthy in their in their world. So I mean, I mean, motorcycles who would have thought you're right. I love that. So now I have you been and I'm very curious about this. Have you been doing that mostly locally? Because I know you're on the road and you get in your RV? Or have you been able to get out into other states at this point.

Right now it's local, but a lot of my interviews internationally are done online. And I have all around the world from Australia, Brazil, Canada, England love it. It's great, because I can meet people I've never met before and would probably never meet because of the internet, which is perfect.

Exactly. You know, just just a couple of days ago, I was actually on I had back to back to back zooms. And the first person was in Mexico City, the next person was to Johannesburg, South Africa, the next person was in Australia, Sydney, and the next person was in Canada. And I talked to one person who is in the States, and it happened to be in Tennessee. And that's that's actually where you're at. So I love what you're doing. And the fact that you are are seeing creative ways to help people really help themselves. So I love the way you're showing up in the world. And we already we already you know talked about your your checklist a little bit. So I want to ask you a question, actually, with everything that you're doing. Now, it sounds like you're kind of sort of living your dream. But there's always more to do, right? And we all want to leave some kind of a legacy. And some guests that I recently had, it made me realize that there's a different way to ask the question that I've been asking people. So I'm going to ask it to you for the very first time in this different way. And that is, if money were not an issue, how would you live out the legacy that you also want to leave behind?

Right, because I've actually thought about this. And I've even said this out loud to people, I would love to actually go around and travel and speak to people about wellness, about motivating them to do well. I've actually started my brother, little story about my brother because this is how I motivate people. My brother actually right now, he has a PhD, but I gave him the application. He got out of high school, he didn't know which direction I gave him a application for Community College. Now. Now he went all the way through, got a PhD teaches, and he's doing research. And he's a step above me even as a PhD. So I motivate him to go to college. And now he's beating me in education, and doing well but motivating people and going out there and speaking about anxiety about wellness, about anti bullying, and helping people with fitness. And I do a lot with special needs. Actually, I actually part of a lot of organizations, I work with kids with special needs. I do volunteer my time. I'm gonna be in July, so I love helping. And I wish I had tons of money in the world where I could do that and not have to worry about making a paycheck. Would it be great, so anybody wants to sponsor me? I could take

exactly that's what I was thinking. It's like oh my gosh, get in touch with Jason because my everything that you're doing is already part of your legacy. And and it is going to last and yeah, you know, a sponsorship or something like that. I would just like I said, I would watch your show for sure. And I would want to see you doing that. And I also see how it also is part of your own healthy way of life. Because doing what you love, is how you keep yourself healthy. So I want to make sure that I'm not the one who says that last word or anything I want to know what is the one What is the final thought that you'd like to leave with our listeners today?

Oh, yeah. And the reason why I wrote this final thought is we spoke about it before the show started. But when I was around two years old, I stopped breathing. And I literally had to be CPR, Don me in order to survive, I wouldn't be here. And my dad didn't even know what to do. But he figured it out somehow, by the blessings. I'm still here. And I wrote this quote, high school and says, my high school quote, life is a journey. And only you can follow the path that is right for you. You have a y either go left or right, and depends on what direction you go. It's how your life is going to end up. And I know a lot of people that may go down the wrong path, but somehow find the right path eventually, with an eye opener. Experience. But I definitely like people to follow the right path. And I tried to help people do that. That's really important.

I love that. Okay, you've got you. You've got your path, and you gotta choose and you've got to set it straight. Oh, I love it. Thank you so much. This has been just a wonderful time. So I appreciate it very much. And I have a feeling that we'll be talking some more.

Definitely. Thank you so much. I'm so excited that you're here. Thank you.

Me too.