Lion Counseling Podcast

🎙️ Episode 20 – Shipwreck, Survival, and Second Chances: The Story of Nick Rahn

This is a Lion Legacy Conversation – a long-form interview highlighting the wisdom, resilience, and faith of remarkable men.

👉 Ready for the next step? SCHEDULE A FREE, 30-MINUTE CONSULT with Mark or Zack at: https://escapethecagenow.com/call/ to see if you’re a good fit to work with them one-on-one. Space is limited.

In this gripping episode of The Lion Counseling Podcast, Mark Odland sits down with Air Force veteran, adventurer, and mental health advocate Nick Rahn, founder of Warrior’s Next Adventure. From a near-death moment in the Boundary Waters to being shipwrecked in the Atlantic Ocean, Nick's journey is one of raw pain, gritty survival, and unexpected redemption.

Nick shares how a misfire changed the direction of his life, opening the door to purpose, brotherhood, and global adventure. He opens up about childhood trauma, military stress, relational breakdowns, and what it really takes to rebuild from the bottom.
Through MMA, mountain climbing, helping fellow veterans, and a high-seas rescue that can only be described as miraculous, Nick shows us that it’s possible to rewrite the ending—even after everything seems lost.

🔍 In This Episode, You’ll Hear:
  • What happened the moment Nick hit his breaking point—and the shocking twist that changed everything
  • Why childhood wounds echo into adulthood, and how to start healing them
  • How Nick survived alone in the wilderness—and later, in a life raft in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean
  • What men can learn from radical honesty and emotional ownership
  • The healing power of adrenaline, brotherhood, and storytelling
  • Nick’s six principles for turning rock bottom into transformation
💥 If you’ve ever felt broken, stuck, or like the world would be better without you—this episode is your reminder that your story isn’t over.
Learn more about Nick’s nonprofit: https://warriorsnextadventure.com
Watch the PBS documentary: Defying Death on the Atlantic

About the Show:
The Lion Counseling Podcast helps men escape the cages that hold them back and become the lions they were created to be. Hosted by Mark Odland, Certified EMDR Therapist, and Zack Carter, Counselor & Coach, we tackle real issues—masculinity, trauma, addiction, identity, purpose, marriage, and faith—with honesty, clarity, and courage.

Click here to watch a video of this episode.’
👉 Ready for change? Visit www.escapethecagenow.com to schedule a free consultation for coaching or counseling.

Creators and Guests

Host
Mark Odland
Founder of Lion Counseling, Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, Certified EMDR Therapist

What is Lion Counseling Podcast?

The Lion Counseling Podcast helps men escape the cages that hold them back and become the Lions they were created to be. It exists to help men obtain success, purpose, happiness, and peace in their career and personal lives. The podcast is hosted by the founder of Lion Counseling, Mark Odland (Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and Certified EMDR Therapist), and Zack Carter (Counselor and Coach with Lion Counseling). In their podcasts, they address a variety of topics relevant to men, including: mental health, relationships, masculinity, faith, success, business, and self-improvement.

Nick Rahn:

And on the fifth day, I said, I went up there to do it. I'm gonna do it. So I made one final video pretty much just saying, you know, I hate the world. I hate everything. I'm done.

Nick Rahn:

And I put my my nine mil up to my head and I pulled the trigger, but the trigger, it didn't shoot. The ironic thing is I had loaded over a thousand rounds of ammunition, and I've never had a misfire. It was the first one I've ever had. And when they cut the life raft down, they accidentally cut the rope that tied it to the boat and saw the life raft starting to float away. I'm like, we need that.

Nick Rahn:

So I start swimming as far as I could, and I swam probably twenty, thirty feet away from the boat, And the current in the Atlantic is so strong, I I still don't know how I got to that life raft. And then the race contacts coast guard to say, hey. We're good. It's a false alarm. There were so many false alarms.

Nick Rahn:

They assumed ours was a false alarm and they deleted our alarm. No way. No. So no one was looking for us. Right?

Nick Rahn:

Here's the other kicker. The boat that rescued us was going from South Africa to Canada. They were the only vessel on that path for the night. There was no other boats within 500 nautical miles, and the crazy thing is they were delayed leaving port for twelve hours. So if they weren't delayed for twelve hours, we wouldn't have made it.

Mark Odland:

Dude, I mean, I'm I'm sure you've thought this, but it's it's sound it feels like the bullet not firing part two. I mean. I can't die, man. I I don't know, man. I know we have the different a little bit different philosophies on it all.

Nick Rahn:

But Yeah.

Mark Odland:

From my my perspective, I was like, man, God's got this plan for you.

Song Intro:

Be the lion you was destined to be. Born ready for the war. Now my effort is free. The level's been set. Time to wrestle the beast.

Song Intro:

Testing my g is getting heavy indeed. The struggle I embrace now. Never retreat. I see the test.

Mark Odland:

Welcome to the Lion Counseling Podcast. I'm Mark Allen, founder of Lion Counseling and certified EMDR therapist, where our mission is to help men to break free, to heal deep, become the lions they were created to be. And if you don't mind, subscribe now to help more guys find this content. Alright, fellow lions. My guest today is Nick Ron.

Mark Odland:

Nick is an air force security forces veteran. He served four tours overseas, and he experienced things that took a heavy toll. At one point, he wanted to end it all only to be miraculously spared. He actually pulled the trigger, but the gun didn't fire. And it provided him with a second lease on life leading to incredible, incredible adventures.

Mark Odland:

His journey led him to, the jujitsu mat as a martial artist, into the cage as a MMA fighter, and at the top of mountains with other veterans helping them to heal. It's this tenacious spirit and this deep compassion for others that led Nick to found the warrior's next adventure and that also left him shipwrecked in the middle of the cold and dark Atlantic Ocean. So hang around to hear Nick's story. We talk about his background. We get into the shipwreck and all sorts of amazing insights into healing and resiliency.

Mark Odland:

Let's go. Nick Ron, welcome to the Lion Counseling Podcast. Good to see you, Nick.

Nick Rahn:

Good to see you too. I'm glad you're doing this, man.

Mark Odland:

Oh, well, hey, you're part of my inspiration. I don't know how many years ago it was when somehow we we we connected, and I was graciously invited to be on your podcast and discovered a mutual interest in in helping people heal, helping guys to heal psychology, jujitsu, all sorts of good stuff. So, well, start at the beginning, which is not an easy task. But maybe for those I mean, you've

Song Intro:

got a lot

Mark Odland:

of cool stuff going on. Some some really interesting, really creative endeavors, and we're gonna touch on those things. But for those of you who haven't come across your your documentaries, your your your the work that you're doing, Maybe, you know, a little bit about your background. How did Nick Nick become Nick?

Nick Rahn:

Man, it's it's a long story. Well, now, I mean, I I run Warriors Next Adventure. Yep. Yep. That's the big thing that I do.

Nick Rahn:

We help veterans with PTSD and suicide prevention. I run a 247 crisis line. And I think because of my upbringing and everything that I've experienced in life, I think it's why it's so successful and it's it's useful to veterans all around the country. To date, we've stopped a 141 suicide calls on my crisis line. It's incredible.

Nick Rahn:

Intervention of of some sort for about nineteen years now, and the calls go directly to my cell phone. So it's it's actually my personal cell phone number is the Crisis Line number. So I take calls 247. But, you know, a lot of people ask how did you get to that point? Right?

Nick Rahn:

You know and it all has to start back in childhood. You know I grew up in East Side Saint Paul. You know parents got divorced when I was probably I think it was two or three. I was pretty young But my my first memory was of my mom and my dad fighting. There there's a lot of, repetitiveness with that, unfortunately.

Nick Rahn:

You know, it was a pretty pretty brutal argument, and, I had stepped on a piece of glass because there was a a picture frame that had shattered. And, you know, in my eyes, you know, I go back and look like I'm dying. Like, there's blood everywhere. Like, I'm my I'm gonna lose my toe. All these things are happening.

Nick Rahn:

Right? But it was just a little tiny cut. Right? But, you know, in the eyes of a three year old, it's it's the worst thing that's ever happened to you. Know?

Nick Rahn:

And when you talk about trauma, your worst trauma is quite literally your worst trauma. It is the worst thing that's happened to you, right? And that's why I tend to tell veterans don't compare your stories. Right. Don't compare yourself to me.

Nick Rahn:

Don't compare yourself to anyone else because just because I've been through worse things does not mean I am better than you, I have more experience than you, it doesn't mean any of that. It just means that my lived experience was unfortunately full of trauma. Yeah. You know I lived with my mom until I was about 11, and we lived in, I don't know, like, anywhere from 14 to 20 houses. I don't even remember.

Nick Rahn:

Dang. We got kicked out kicked out of a lot of places. I can't tell you how many times I lost everything because she would just leave and none of my stuff would get re recovered. You know? And and in my eyes, at that point, you know, it's it's your mother.

Nick Rahn:

Right? So you think that your mom can do no wrong. Your mom is the best. Right? It wasn't until I was about seven or eight years old that I started realizing that I had a very different life than everybody else I knew at school.

Nick Rahn:

Like, a lot of these kids, their parents are still together. They Yeah. You know, I see their parents take them to school, and they're hugging them and kissing them. And I'm like, what is this weird thing that you guys are getting called affection? Yeah.

Nick Rahn:

You know, there were some good times as a kid. You know, like, I think when I was seven or eight years old, we moved out to Delano. And, you know, it was nice because we lived on about 25 acres. You know? It was it was quite big.

Nick Rahn:

There was a swamp in the back. There was, an old s 10 pickup truck that I got to drive around. I had four wheelers. I had my own boat. Like, I could do whatever I wanted.

Nick Rahn:

It was great. You know, and it was perfect for me because anytime I was in the house, I was getting yelled at. I was getting hit. I was getting thrown down the stairs. I was watching my mom and my stepdad fight each other.

Nick Rahn:

So I I lived outside because that was my only safe space, which, you know, down the road, I started to understand why I have such a love for nature is because nature is healing. Nature is peaceful. Nature is not dangerous. Right? Depending on where you are, I guess.

Nick Rahn:

And Yep. You know, it it the abuse kinda led lasted for years. My stepdad would often tell me that if I said anything, he would kill me. So, like, I was scared to say anything. I couldn't tell my dad.

Nick Rahn:

I couldn't tell my stepmom. My dad remarried to who I now call my mom, Lisa, when I was five or six. I I don't remember how old I was. K. But they've been together since I was probably about four years old, and she's been, you know I I praise her on every every chance I can, I praise her?

Nick Rahn:

She is literally the best woman in the world. So I'm living these split lives. Right? I go to my dad's and you know I'm never really home. I always do my best to go out and ride my bike.

Nick Rahn:

I'm just trying to get away all the time. Right. Even though I didn't really need to do that at my parent at my dad's house. You know my dad and I didn't have the greatest relationship. You know he was in my eyes he was a bully right?

Nick Rahn:

I had a lot of issues with him growing up. Now he's like my best friend now. I love him to death. Know my dad is one of the most, you know, he he's a he's a big cheerleader for everything that I do and tells me he's proud of me every chance he gets. It doesn't change the fact that childhood growing up wasn't the greatest.

Nick Rahn:

Right? Right. Yep. So my stepmom was kind of like the only safe parent that I had. You know fast forward to I think it was the it was either the winter of ninety nine, two thousand it I don't know if it was in December or January but there's one point I was sitting in my, in my basement at my mom's house, and, my stepdad came in.

Nick Rahn:

I heard, like, a loud thud. So I ran upstairs figuring they were fighting. And, you know, he he had a broken leg, and he could barely walk. And I was like, what the hell is going on? He's like, your mom's dead.

Nick Rahn:

So, you know, as a god. I think I was 10. You know, I'm I'm freaking out. And we lived right on a lake. So I ran out to the lake, and I see the snowmobile flipped upside down, and it's in pieces.

Nick Rahn:

And, I run over, I see my mom laying there. She was in a full snowmobile suit and a helmet, and I ran over to her, and I yelled her name. She didn't say anything. So I took her helmet off, and she was laying there lifeless. And you remember that show, rescue nine one one?

Nick Rahn:

Oh, yeah. Yeah. I love that show growing up. And so I I knew how to do CPR based off of watching that show. I didn't do it correctly because I started punching her in the chest, but it worked.

Nick Rahn:

She came back. And Oh

Mark Odland:

my gosh.

Nick Rahn:

Spit blood all over my face, and so I I freaked out, but I also remembered shock. I need to get a blanket. I need to keep her warm. So I ran inside and went to grab the phone, and my stepdad said, if you touch that phone, I'll kill you. So I'm like, you did this.

Nick Rahn:

This was you. We had an emergency phone in the basement because he was such a psycho. Yeah. You know, I ran downstairs, called 911, got a blanket, and I kept my mom alive until the ambulance got there. And, she was in a body cast for, like, six months or so, and I almost had to repeat the sixth grade because of the amount of time that I spent having to stay home to take care of her because he wouldn't do it.

Nick Rahn:

He would still smack her around when she was in this cast. I I I can't tell you how many times I got hit because I was trying to defend her. You know, later on in life, I realized that she was the antagonizer the whole time. And I didn't find this out until about six months later, she got her body cast off, and she dropped me off my dad's house, and she just never came back. So as a 10, 11 year old, however old I was, you know, the one person who's supposed to always be there for you, protect you is your mother.

Nick Rahn:

Right? Right. And now she's just gone. She changed her phone number. I couldn't call her.

Nick Rahn:

She didn't come around for, like, two years, I believe. And just showed up at I think she showed up to pick up my sister. It was a couple times she would just show up and she's like, hey. How's it going? I'm like, where the hell have you been?

Nick Rahn:

Right. She's like, oh, worry about it. And then it's like, okay. And there's, like, no consoling. There's no, you know, I'm sorry.

Nick Rahn:

There's no there's no reassurance. It's just like, this is just the way life is. Shut up and take it. You know, I grew I grew up essentially, kids are to be seen, not heard. Right.

Nick Rahn:

You know, shut the hell up. So a lot of my life was spent kinda just in silence. I love silence. I actually just took a retreat last night, which is really nice. Oh, cool.

Nick Rahn:

Went up to Sandstone and just went swimming in the Big Spring Falls in in Sandstone, and it was great. I don't think I said one word in the last twenty four hours. It was great. And a lot of that stems from my experiences as a child is because nature is safety. Nature is peace.

Nick Rahn:

You know? Right. People are dangerous. You know? And so, like, she would pop back in my life here and there.

Nick Rahn:

It just got to the point where it was just too much. I joined the military in 2006 after I graduated high school. Did four tours overseas, Iraq and Afghanistan. Mhmm. Got out in 02/2012, and I had a rough year getting out.

Nick Rahn:

Some things I'm not very proud of, but I'm not ashamed to talk about because it's it's a part of the journey. You know? I had gotten out you know, I I I try not to speak on this too much because I don't wanna tarnish the relationship, but I I found out my ex wife was cheating on me. It's the reason why I got up. Sure.

Nick Rahn:

No. I'm not an angel. I'm not perfect. I'm sure a lot of that had to do with the way I was acting considering I spent six years almost total deployed or training and just doing every everything I can to just leave. All I wanna do is deploy.

Nick Rahn:

And, you know, I didn't realize the part that I had in it until I decided to take accountability and look at, like, what did I do to cause her to go that far? Mhmm. You know? And when you stop and look at it, you know, I it's every relationship is fifty fifty. You know?

Nick Rahn:

You have to give just as much as you take, and I realized that all I was doing was taking.

Mark Odland:

Yep.

Nick Rahn:

You know? And so that that year that I got out, we got back together because she was pregnant with my second kid, and I was like, okay. I'm gonna try to be a good dad. I wasn't, I had about a year of just being a dirtbag. I was a bouncer at a club.

Nick Rahn:

I had, developed a pretty severe cocaine addiction, where just about every night for about a year, I was going to the club doing blow, beating the crap out of people. Eventually led to me sleeping with other women, and, you know, a lot of it was, revenge for what she did to me. Yeah. And I didn't realize that I was just being a complete dirtbag. Yeah.

Nick Rahn:

Now it's a fun year. Right? But you go back and look at it, I did a lot of things that are completely against my character because Right. I had never cheated on anyone ever in my life. And I don't believe in it.

Nick Rahn:

I think it's terrible. And I kinda used what she did as an excuse to be a bad person. Right. You know? And, eventually, I quit all of that.

Nick Rahn:

Got a got lucky. Got a job at the Minnesota State Patrol. I was a dispatcher there for eight years, and I absolutely love that job. Completely helped me turn my life around and got me back to where I need to be. And, you know, we're working on our relationship, trying to make things better, but 2015 rolled around and found out that she was cheating again.

Nick Rahn:

Now to preface all of this, me and my ex wife, we've forgiven each other for all of this. Yeah. You know, we we do have a pretty good relationship right now. I have my kids a little bit more than she does, but it's it's about fifty fifty. You know?

Nick Rahn:

So we we share the kids. You know? She takes care of them when I need to go on trips for the nonprofit, and I take the kids when she needs time. We try to help each other out as much as possible. But, you know, and 2015 was probably the hardest year for me just because of the fact, you know, finding out my wife was cheating again.

Nick Rahn:

But we also found out that my youngest daughter was autistic. We knew something was wrong, but when you get that diagnosis, I'm sure you know about the blueprint. Right? The blueprint that we all create for our children. We we have an idea of who our children are gonna be.

Nick Rahn:

And when when you get that diagnosis, that blueprint is just torn to shreds. You know, she's 12 now. She still doesn't speak. She's very aggressive. She'll hit you when she's mad.

Nick Rahn:

So she's got a mean left hook here to keep your hands up in my house, you know.

Mark Odland:

Good thing you're trained. Good thing you're Yeah. Teach teach martial art.

Nick Rahn:

You're a block. Yeah. So that that summer was just really rough for me. And, you know, when I found out about the cheating again, I I had had it. You know, I've had at this point, I was I think I was 27 or so.

Nick Rahn:

K. I had had almost twenty years of abuse, drug use, you know, getting treated like shit, thinking that I was just thinking I was a piece of shit because of what everyone else told me I was. Right? I'm believing that narrative that everyone keeps telling me instead of looking internally and knowing who I am. I never knew who I was.

Nick Rahn:

And I had had suicidal thoughts since about eight years old is when they started. Pretty much almost daily my whole life. And eventually, I just said, screw it. I quit. And I went up to the boundary waters in Northern Minnesota with the intention to kill myself.

Nick Rahn:

And those were probably the best five days of my life, which sounds crazy. I didn't bring any food. I I brought some jerky for snacks here and there, and then I brought a bunch of oil and, like, short lunch because I'm just catching fish and cooking them. And it was great. I brought my kayak because I knew the waterfall I was staying at had a really nice rapids.

Nick Rahn:

So I was riding my kayak on the rapids. And, the whole time I was making a video, talking about why I killed myself. Right. So my goal was to have essentially a bunch of short videos explaining why I decided to do what I did. And my intention was to, I had a dry bag.

Nick Rahn:

I was gonna put it in a dry bag next to my wallet and everything so people knew, like, what happened. And my idea was if I killed myself up there, the bears would get me, then no one would have to see it. So, again, you know, seen not heard. You know? Just stay away from everybody.

Nick Rahn:

You're bad. Nobody likes you. Nobody loves you. It's just that this constant narrative that I continue to tell myself, you know, based off of some of the things I was told when I was a child. And, on the on the fifth day, I said, well, I went up there to do it.

Nick Rahn:

I'm gonna do it. So I made one final video pretty much just saying, you know, I hate the world. I hate everything. I'm done. And, I put my my nine mil up to my head, I pulled the trigger, but the trigger, didn't shoot.

Nick Rahn:

The ironic thing is I had loaded over a thousand rounds of ammunition, and I've never had a misfire. It was the first one I've ever had. So I dropped the magazine, pulled the slide, and I looked at the bullet, and the primer was struck, but the primer was a dud. And so I just I start laughing. Something like, you're such a failure.

Nick Rahn:

You can't even kill yourself. Right? It was just that that worst it was just a moment of complete despair where I'm just like, you're so worthless. You can't even kill yourself. So I reloaded the magazine, racked it back, and I put the gun up to my head.

Nick Rahn:

I said, there's no way this happens twice. And I sat there for a second. I just I started I broke down, I started crying. So I set the gun down, and I just started to scream at the top of my lungs. And I shot all 19 rounds off into the lake, and then I just started laughing.

Nick Rahn:

I was like, are you kidding me right now? I was like, come on. I was like, the one that was meant for me didn't go off, and all of these ones go off. I'm like, god. Wow.

Nick Rahn:

So the beautiful part was when I opened my eyes after the after the first trigger pull, it it was like I got hit in the chest with a baseball bat. I don't know what it was. And, like, everything was white. And the scenery just started to, like, come out, like, really slowly. And I saw, like, the most vivid, beautiful colors I've ever seen in my life.

Nick Rahn:

Yeah. The water was so blue. The trees were so green. Like, this sounds like I'm making it up. But as I'm sitting there, an eagle dives and catches a fish 20 feet in front of me and then flies over, like, 50 feet and is sitting there eating a fish.

Nick Rahn:

Like, I am seeing all these beautiful things that most people never see. You know? And I'm just like, I I just broke. And I'm like, what? Why?

Nick Rahn:

Why am I still here? And I just wanted to go so badly. But after those 19 rounds went off, I was just like, well, I'm hungry. So I guess I'm just gonna pack up and go get a burger. So I kayaked back, and the whole time I would it's a mixture of crying and laughing.

Nick Rahn:

Like, what the hell? Like How do you how

Mark Odland:

do you now that so much time has passed, Nick, I mean, how do you make sense of that extreme coincidence?

Nick Rahn:

So, I mean, I've obviously had ten years to think about it because it was, ten years in in July. You know, I have you ever heard of quantum immortality? I don't know

Mark Odland:

if I've heard that term. No.

Nick Rahn:

Right. So it it's some goofy crap that you I saw on a TikTok. Right? And I started digging into it. I'm like, that's crazy.

Nick Rahn:

Right? So it's like anytime you die in this current consciousness, your your consciousness shifts into a alternate reality where you're living the same life, but different decisions are made. There's actually a really beautiful movie made, if you like that kind of stuff. I think it's called the discovery with Jason Segal on Netflix. His dad discovers what happens when you die.

Nick Rahn:

And, essentially, what happens when you die is you go back to a past part of your life and you get to fix things. And so all these people started killing themselves and the suicide toll was through the roof and like it's it's a very emotional very emotional movie. But essentially it talks about quantum immortality. And so I had this thought once, like, what if I'm still sitting there on that rock, the gun went off, and I am slowly dying. And I'm seeing a vision of what my life could have been.

Nick Rahn:

And I had this thought about two years ago, and it messed me up, man. Because I'm like, wow. Like, what if that's real? And what if I'm sitting there just waiting to finally die after I achieve all of these things that I've wanted to do with my life?

Mark Odland:

Sounds like a good movie script,

Nick Rahn:

by the way.

Mark Odland:

I mean, that could be a very interesting It's it's crazy because,

Nick Rahn:

like, you look at what I've done in the last ten years. And, you know, I went from being this sad kid who hates his life, was not a good father. I was a pretty good dad, but I just never wanted to be around my kids. When I was, I was a great dad, but Yeah. I just always wanted to be alone because I felt worthless.

Nick Rahn:

I was an alcoholic. You know? I had been a drug addict. I I just everything was victim mentality. I was such a victim.

Nick Rahn:

Interesting. I started taking accountability for everything and saying that I'm I'm gonna take charge of my life, and I'm gonna live my life the way I want to. And, you know, since then, I was the number five welterweight in Mayfighter Minnesota. You know, I drive race cars. I climb mountains.

Nick Rahn:

I've tamed wolves. I've stopped a 140 suicides. You know, I survived in a life in the middle of the ocean. I've done all of these amazing things. And what if it's all just a premonition of what could have been, and I'm still sitting there on that rock?

Nick Rahn:

It's a scary thought, man.

Mark Odland:

It is a scary thought. It kinda dovetails into people talking about simulation theory and and and some of some of these alternate ideas. Right? And sometimes you almost do have to just pinch yourself to to Yeah. Feel like, am I am I really here?

Mark Odland:

Is this really and sometimes I mean, I've had these moments where coming from a different angle where, you know, very different experience than you, but, you know, a few years ago, my dad died, and it was it was really tough. Even as a therapist, I was not prepared

Nick Rahn:

Mhmm.

Mark Odland:

For the impact that would have on me. And like all relationships, it was it was complicated, but I was blessed to have a good dad and and a good relationship. And but I remember there were times in my grief process where I'd be I'd be walking down the the beach here in Duluth, and the world felt fake. It was very strange. There are times when it would feel surreal.

Mark Odland:

Nothing felt real. And there are times when it would feel hyperreal in such a way where it's almost too beautiful and too crazy to be true. And

Nick Rahn:

It is like you get that perfect sunset. Like, we, this is not real.

Mark Odland:

Yeah. Yeah. And it it's just it's just kinda mind blowing. The odds of us being alive, the odds of us existing, all all these things. And it can be overwhelming and terrifying, but it can also just be a flood of extreme gratitude as as well.

Mark Odland:

And, well, man, I'm glad you're here. I'm glad you're alive. And Lucky. It is so crazy to think that talk about these intersecting stories, these 140 guys or or or, you know, veterans who they're going through their journeys. They maybe they don't know anything about Nick Ron.

Mark Odland:

But if, you know, who knows? If if you hadn't been there to pick up that call, there's a certain percentage of them that would not be here.

Nick Rahn:

Yeah. And, you know, the thing is with, with post traumatic stress disorder, it it comes in waves. You know? Like, I I've been very lucky, the last couple years because I've I've had a lot of experience that was that is that's helped me come back.

Mark Odland:

Yeah. Yeah.

Nick Rahn:

You know, the the ocean road experience which I'm sure we'll get into.

Mark Odland:

Oh, man.

Nick Rahn:

Yeah. It it it broke me again and brought me back to that island and I was terrified because I thought I'd never be there again. Because I have the knowledge that I have, I have the experience that I have, I have, you know, all of the teachings that that I've learned over the last ten years to get myself to become the version of myself that I want to be. And it was so hard to be stuck in that. I call it the pit.

Nick Rahn:

Right? Stuck in the pit. Yeah. And it it just seemed like it was just getting deeper and deeper every day. And it it was ironically all people that I've helped in the past helped me get out.

Nick Rahn:

Dang. You know, it's such a beautiful story of everything that happened.

Mark Odland:

Wow. That's yeah. I mean, it's it strikes me too as you talk about this that on one hand, you're talking about this kind of extreme ownership and accountability you're taking in your life to get through these things. But then paradoxically, there's also these moments of, like, surrender and breaking down and and just, like I don't know. I don't know if that's the right word.

Mark Odland:

Yeah. But I I think that's a kind of a dichotomy that I see a lot with, you know, this podcast and the the the clients, the the successful men that I work with is on one hand, there's this, like, just be tough, grit it out, take ownership. Yes. That's that's awesome. And being able to to to be radically honest about your emotional state and and have the guts to get the support you need, that that is not weakness.

Mark Odland:

Right? Yeah. It might look like weakness to see something break or to feel yourself breaking, but what you do with that, like, is just so pivotal. Right? So I know we I know before we started, you had some really interesting insights about the relationship between kind of our kind of our current adult self and kind of our wounded self from the And so I want to get into that before, you know, before we're done talking.

Mark Odland:

But okay, so kind of coming full circle. So you got this journey. There's there's there's lots of lots of pain, lots of trauma interspersed with moments of beauty and and success. And on the outside, just like, I don't know, so many guys out there like, man, taming wolves, is that a thing? Like, you can really and and fighting MMA and being ranked and then and then literally being shipwrecked, essentially.

Mark Odland:

Like, for those who haven't seen, this on the news yet, are you would you be willing to share a little bit about what happened and this experience that kinda brought you back to that dark place again?

Nick Rahn:

Yeah. So, I was actually doing a podcast. I think it was in 2021, with this guy named Bryant. Bryant is the founder of Fight or Die. What they do is they raise money to give scholarships to students that are going to school for mental health.

Nick Rahn:

K. They give them scholarships, especially for people that are trying to work with veterans. Working with veterans is not a necessity. However, they they want more psychologists, more therapists, more counselors. Right.

Nick Rahn:

So it's an amazing organization. And how they raise money is entering a race now called the world's toughest row. So it's a row across the Atlantic Ocean, which sounds crazy, and it is. But you row from, the Canary Islands off the off the shore of, Africa, and I believe it's a Spanish colony Okay. Or Portuguese colony, one of two.

Nick Rahn:

And you row to Antigua, which is in the Caribbean. So it's a 3,000 mile row. And, I'm talking to this guy, and I'm like, you're crazy. Like, why would anyone do this? Right?

Nick Rahn:

And three of my ambassadors were listening to the podcast. And all three of them within a span of, like, thirty minutes after the podcast called me like, dude, this is crazy. Because during this interview, we were actually planning on rowing, canoeing the entire Saint Croix River from start to finish. And it's only a 155 miles. We did it in five days, I believe.

Nick Rahn:

And we're sitting here planning this 155 mile row, and we're freaking out. We're making sure we have all the ducks in a row. Like, these guys did 3,000. Like, we're fine. We're gonna be fine.

Nick Rahn:

Yeah. And, you know what, I I always encourage adventure. Right? So my slogan that I use in the nonprofit all the time is explore everything. Alright?

Nick Rahn:

So if you're at your worst, explore every option before you think about the ultimate sacrifice. You know? And after talking to all these guys, one of them is like, dude, we gotta do this. And I'm like, no. I'm not rowing across the ocean.

Nick Rahn:

That's crazy. I'm not doing it. And so he's like, Nick, how is your slogan gonna be explore everything, but you're not gonna explore the ocean with me? Was like, damn it.

Mark Odland:

Shoot. He caught you.

Nick Rahn:

Oh, I gotta do it now. So we spent about two years in training, and we're actually supposed to row in 2023, but the '22 team got kicked out in 2021. So we said, screw it. Let's do 2022. Let's do it.

Nick Rahn:

So we did a lot of training. We took the boat up to Lake Superior, and, we did a lot of our training on Lake Superior because of how similar to the ocean it is. Yep. And then we did some rolling down in Mobile Bay down in Alabama. And, we started the race December 12.

Nick Rahn:

So it's a it was a 28 foot rowboat. Right? So if you Google fight or die, o a r, you'll see the boat, and it's pretty interesting. And it's a 28 foot by five foot. There's a cabin in the front and a cabin in the back.

Nick Rahn:

And you roll for two hours straight, two guys rowing, two guys sleeping, and then you switch. So it's two on, two off, twenty four seven nonstop. It was the most exciting, exhilarating, terrifying thing I've ever done in my life. And, you know, the the funny thing is I'm always telling people, like, to go do something amazing with your life. Don't waste it.

Nick Rahn:

We don't know if this is our only chance. Know, and what you can anyone can say what they think happens when we die, but nobody knows. Right? We don't know what happens. We don't know if we come back.

Nick Rahn:

We don't know if this is our only chance. So why not take advantage of it? You know, rather than spending all this, you know, just

Mark Odland:

Right.

Nick Rahn:

All the screen time. You know, go live your life. And so that's kind of been my motto for the last ten years is is get out there and live. So the day that we were getting ready to leave for the for the race, we were actually the first boat to leave, like, for the whole race. K.

Nick Rahn:

And the reporter came up to me and said, Nick, is there anything you wanna say to everybody? Was like, just go do something amazing. I put my sunglasses off and we rolled it off. I'm like, that was sweet. You know, in in the first day, you get outside the port, you get outside the bay, and you start rowing.

Nick Rahn:

And we're screaming or yelling like, this is awesome. Like, what is gonna happen over the next forty five days? Mhmm. Because we assumed it was gonna take we're on pace to row it in about forty three to forty five days by the pace that we're going. And, you know, and you get all this excitement, all this joy, and then an hour and a half later, the island's still right there.

Nick Rahn:

And it's like, we didn't get anywhere. Yeah. And then everything kinda just calms down. Alright? And so now you're rolling.

Nick Rahn:

And the first nightfall was interesting because we had 10 foot rollers pretty much the whole day, which not that big of a deal. You might think a 10 foot wave is huge. Right? But when it's just nice and slow, you're just kinda drifting up and down. Just get used to it.

Nick Rahn:

Right? And the sun goes down and you're rowing watching the sunset, which there is no better sunset sunrise you're ever gonna see than on the middle of the ocean. Wow. It is unbelievably beautiful. You know, and then you just kinda get used to it.

Nick Rahn:

Right? So you're just sitting there for two hours just just looking around. Like, you have a lot of time to think. Yeah. Lots of conversations on that boat.

Nick Rahn:

Lots of personal inner conversations as well. And we ended up making it sixteen days. And at this point, we're about 900 miles away from where we started, and, we're off the coast of Cape Verde. And, there was a really big storm, like, a day or two before the row that hit Buffalo, back in 2022 in December. I think it was December 26 or something like that.

Nick Rahn:

And it's it dumped, like, three feet of snow on Buffalo. So if you go back and look at that, and, there's a documentary called, defying death on the Atlantic on PBS. And they actually got the Buffalo weather reporter to talk about the storm that hit us. Because it went through Buffalo, and it dumped all the snow, and then it moved down south into the Atlantic where we were, and we got blasted by this storm for two days. So the day before our incident, we got pushed south about 50 miles.

Nick Rahn:

Right? So if you go too far south, you're gonna miss the island. You have to try to go north up into the island. So the case is you slowly go southwest into the island. And if you get south of it, the current is really rough, and it's gonna be really hard for you to get up there.

Nick Rahn:

So we were called by the race organization that said, you you guys have to go straight west. So our boat was facing straight west. The waves and the wind were coming straight south. And at this point, we're getting consistent 30 foot waves. Dang.

Nick Rahn:

Right? Oh my god. Which sounds crazy. But Yeah. After sixteen days, a 30 foot wave is not a big deal.

Nick Rahn:

You get used to it. Right? The scary thing is when you're at the top of that wave, you're looking down 60 feet. Right? So that's a little creepy, especially when your boat's, like, sideways and you're just looking straight down.

Nick Rahn:

There's a lot of moments out there that were absolutely terrifying. But, you know, there there'd be times we're rowing and it just it smelled really bad like fish. And we knew that there's a pot of dolphins coming. And so we look out. There's, like, 90 dolphins swimming around us, jumping out of the water.

Nick Rahn:

It was just absolutely beautiful. And on the night of December 28, we had our I I can't remember what it's called. I I got yet another pretty bad brain injury from this. So I I lost my words. But it's a rope that you throw out, then there's a rope that you put in the front with a giant, like, parachute that just kinda keeps you stable.

Nick Rahn:

And so we couldn't row because of the waves are too bad. The storm was terrible. So everyone was just kinda hunkering down. Right? And there was 43 boats in this race, and every single one of us were just sitting there getting blasted by these waves.

Nick Rahn:

There's nothing we could do. And, so I finished my shift around 3AM, and I go into my cabin. And you get to the point where, like, you know, being in the military, you learn to sleep when you can. Right? Sure.

Nick Rahn:

Jump inside, and I fell asleep almost instantly. And I get woken up around 03:30 by the sound of a wave. And this boat is carbon fiber, so, like, you could tap on, like, the front of the boat. It sounds like someone's hitting it with a hammer. Mhmm.

Nick Rahn:

And so this wave is just blasting us. And I woke up from the sound of the wave, and I felt us hit the top of it, but it crested on us right at the top. So it turned our boat completely sideways, and then we got blasted by a wind gust. We we think about 50 miles an hour or so. But it sounded like a freight train hit us.

Nick Rahn:

Like, I I thought we got hit by a ship. That's how hard we got hit. But when we got hit by it, the side of the boat hit me in the face, knocked me out immediately. And so based on talking with the other guys of the the, you know, timeline of events, I was out for about five minutes, which is pretty long time to be out. Yeah.

Nick Rahn:

And, when I woke up, I was in the back cabin, and they're supposed to be waterproof, and it was starting to fill up with water already. So I woke up because water was in my mouth, and I started to suck in water. And so I sit up, and I'm looking around, and everything's on top of me because we're upside down. And I checked the hatch to make sure, like, there's a roof hatch now on the ground. I checked that, pulled it up, squeezed it tight, and water was still coming through it.

Nick Rahn:

Water was coming through the side window, which I look out the window, and I'm two feet underwater. Right? So I'm freaking out a little bit. And so, eventually, I grabbed my headlamp, and I'm looking around, and I can't see anything. I'm I'm super dazed and confused.

Nick Rahn:

This this was absolutely the worst head trauma that I've experienced, and I've had, like, 16 concussions. Oh, man. Okay. It's not good. My brain is mush.

Nick Rahn:

But so I I was useless. Right? I I couldn't see anything. I was dizzy. Like, it felt like I was almost like, it felt like I was squinting.

Nick Rahn:

My eyes were fully open, but I just couldn't see. And so I tried to open the door, and the door wouldn't open because of the pressure outside because the door swings out. And so I banged on the door, and Chad dove underneath to help me open up, and he was in the footwells. And so my goal was when we open this door, I'm gonna get smashed with water. And so somewhere around, like, 10,000 gallons of water is is what they assumed came into the thing.

Nick Rahn:

So I dove out, go straight up into the footwells, and right as my head came up where I thought I was gonna get air, I hit my head, and I sucked in a bunch of water because I didn't realize the back sunk because it filled up with water. So I panicked. I'm already freaking out in my I can't think well. So I dive underneath and I get out and as soon as my head comes out of the water, I grab a rope, my head comes up, I start throwing up, I get blasted by another wave, hit my head in the side of the boat, and I wake up underwater like this. So I'm holding on to a rope.

Nick Rahn:

Luckily, hand gripped. I don't think I was out for more than ten seconds. I don't think it was long, but I inhaled a bunch of water when I when I woke up. And so I came back up and started throwing up again. And when they cut the life raft down, they accidentally cut the rope that tied it to the boat and saw the life raft starting to float away.

Nick Rahn:

I'm like, we need that. So I start swimming as far as I could, and I swam probably twenty, thirty feet away from the boat. And the current in the Atlantic is so strong. I I still don't know how I got to that life raft. So the life raft the boat's here facing west, and the life raft is here starting to float away.

Nick Rahn:

So I get the life raft, and I just start swimming north because I figured the boat's gonna keep coming this way. So I swam north for, I don't know. It it felt like an eternity, but it was probably, like, three, four minutes. And I was just kicking as hard as I could, and I felt like I was going nowhere. But, eventually, the front of the boat kinda went right in front of the raft.

Nick Rahn:

And so I jumped in the raft. I grabbed the rope, I held onto that rope. It was only, like, a quarter inch thick. K. So every time it got hit by a wave, it would rip that rope out of my hands.

Nick Rahn:

And so by the end of the night, my finger was cut down on the bone here, and I had a gash all the way across my hand from the rope ripping out. And while this is all happening, Tommy's in the front cabin gathering supplies. Will was underneath the boat in the footwell pumping the sump pump to keep water out so he had more time. When Chad was on the side of the boat cutting things off the boats, we could throw him to life raft for survival. And, Chad hands me the knife, and I put it in my mouth because I'm not gonna put it on the ground.

Nick Rahn:

I'm not trying to pop a hole. Right? So I put the knife in my mouth. I'm holding on to the rope, and I grab a bag, and I throw it in. And right as I go to grab the knife, we get hit by a wave.

Nick Rahn:

Now my hand is already cut up. It's gashed. It's down to the bone on my finger. So every time the rope rips out, it's just the worst pain I've ever felt in my life. Yeah.

Nick Rahn:

So I yelled when the rope ripped out, and I dropped the knife, and the knife punctured the top tube of life raft. So I freak out. I panic. I grab the knife, and I throw it, and I jam my thumb in it. And I look at Chad.

Nick Rahn:

He's like, are we dead? I was like, no. We're good. My thumb plugged it. So I sat there for, like, six hours with my thumb inside this hole just to keep us afloat.

Mark Odland:

No no pressure.

Nick Rahn:

Yeah. I know. Right? So Oh, man. Like, I think it was, like, six hours later.

Nick Rahn:

I'm like, guys, I'm pretty sure I'm gonna lose my thumb if I keep it in here. I was like, I'm cool with that if it means we survive. I was like, but can we find something else to plug this freaking hole? We found this cork. Yeah.

Nick Rahn:

The cork didn't work. Like, it it held air, but we had to pump it every thirty minutes. So it came with, like, a hand pump, which Okay. Saved us. And, all we had was a, Garmin, GPS.

Nick Rahn:

We had a sat phone, but the sat phone got wet, which why would you not have a waterproof sat phone? Makes no sense to me. Right. But the sat phone wouldn't work. And we had our, two way radio, which only goes about seven miles.

Nick Rahn:

We all had personal beacons on us, which those beacons were supposed to contact the coast guard if they get submerged underwater. And we found out after the race that the US coast guard did get our beacons. And so we assumed because the race told us we're never more than eighteen hours away from rescue. It's like, okay. Well, we'll start the clock.

Nick Rahn:

We got about eighteen hours. Right? And, so we sat there until daytime, and then we started doing an inventory. And, I talk about this in my speech because I I do motivational speaking, and I speak on what I call the six principle process. Okay.

Nick Rahn:

I added the ocean story into the second principle, which is focusing on what do you have. Right? What are you grateful for? What are the things you have in life? What are the skills you have?

Nick Rahn:

Sure. And the thing is, like, you always have to hold on to hope. And I'm sure we've talked about this. One of my favorite books is by doctor Viktor Frankl, Man Surgery. Yep.

Nick Rahn:

You know, you give a man hope, you give a man life. Yeah. And so we were just looking for some eminence of hope. Right? And ironically, you you know what Zins are.

Nick Rahn:

Right? Say it again? Zins, like the nicotine

Mark Odland:

Oh, yeah.

Nick Rahn:

Yeah. Yeah. So Will goes, oh, man. We didn't grab any Zins because we had, like, 15 logs of Zins. Right?

Nick Rahn:

So I didn't chew at the time, but I started chewing on the ocean because I got bored. Right? So you throw one in real quick, you get a little buzz, and it's okay. Cool. So, unfortunately, I'm addicted now, but working on kicking that.

Nick Rahn:

But Will's like, oh, we didn't grab any Zins. And Tommy said, somebody didn't check their immersion suit bag. So when Tommy was gathering supplies, a log of Zins floated by him, and he's like, we might need that. So Will's just frantically digging through his bag, and he pulls out a log of Zins. He goes, yes.

Nick Rahn:

And we all start screaming. We're like, yeah. This isn't gonna save our life.

Song Intro:

But it's little bit of hope.

Nick Rahn:

Right? It's a little bit of something good that we needed in that moment. So we ended up spending eighteen hours in the life raft and about two hours before we got rescued we had to do a call, a Mayday call on our radio every thirty minutes because we only had 10% battery left on our radio. We didn't have any other batteries. So we're a little freaked out and two hours before we get rescued, we do a midday call, and we hear a click on the radio.

Nick Rahn:

And I was a dispatch for the state patrol for eight years. I know somebody heard us because those boats have transmitters. They can hear for thousands of miles. Alright. Somebody heard us.

Nick Rahn:

So we did another call and said, we cannot hear you. If you can hear us, give us two mic clicks. We hear click click, and all of us start crying. Like, we lost. Yeah.

Nick Rahn:

It was the best feeling. And then two hours go by, we're like, where the hell are these guys? Yeah. We're freaking out. We're still getting blasted by 30 foot waves consistently.

Nick Rahn:

And so we think it's a rescue boat from from the ocean or from the, from the race. And so I'm leaning out the front with a glow stick kinda showing them where to throw the rope, And I look over and I go, holy crap. Right? So what ended up rescuing us was a I think it was a, like, a 580 foot shipping vessel. So we had a 35 foot this ladder, and my hand is jacked.

Nick Rahn:

I'm like, there's no way I can hold on. So we had these race gloves, and I put the raise the rowing gloves on, and it covered all the areas that were damaged. So it actually those gloves helped me climb. So we all climbed up the ladder. We had one point where I'm sitting there.

Nick Rahn:

They dropped the ladder down, and I grabbed the bottom rung of the ladder, and we're still getting blasted. Right? So the boat is shifting 10 degrees side to side. Mhmm. So I didn't realize when I grabbed that ladder, the boat shifted, and it sucked me out of the life raft.

Nick Rahn:

So I'm hanging 10 feet above the life raft swinging around, and I'm freaking out because if you fall in the water Oh, yeah. Those rudders don't stop or the the Yeah. Propellant don't stop. So if you fall, you're getting sucked underneath that boat. So I freaked out.

Nick Rahn:

And the boat rocked back down, and I slammed back into the life raft. And I grabbed, like, five rungs and just got sucked right back out. And so I climbed as fast as I could. Will got up, and then when Chad tried to climb, he's got bad shoulders. So he grabbed it, and he dislocates his shoulder, and he falls in the water.

Nick Rahn:

His feet fell into the life raft, and his back falls in the water. And all at the same time, Tommy's still in the life raft. He reaches out, grabs Chad Chad by the chest, and Chad gets blasted by a wave on his back and throws him back into the life raft. It's like, it's amazing what all happened. So long story short, we get rescued.

Nick Rahn:

We go upstairs, and they give us chow, which I just start sobbing when I walked in there because it was prime rib and spaghetti. And we had been eating dehydrated food for sixteen days. Yep. And I started the race at, 02:22 twenty five, and I weighed myself on the ship, and I was one ninety three. So I had lost, like, 22 pounds or wait.

Nick Rahn:

That would be 32 pounds in the span of, in the span of sixteen days. Wow. And so the kicker is what ended up happening was we go upstairs and we get on the phone to call the race crew to let them know, like, hey. We got rescued. So Will answered the phone.

Nick Rahn:

He goes, hey. He's like, hey. It's Will. He goes, hey. How's it going?

Nick Rahn:

And Will's like, how's it going? Like, what are you talking about? How's it going? And he puts the phone down. He's like, they didn't they weren't even looking for us.

Nick Rahn:

What? So we find out, like, two months later that the US Coast Guard got our beacons, and they sent it to Cape Verde. Cape Verde was supposed to send an all calls and all vessels within the area to go rescue us. What had happened was there was, like, six capsizes that night on the race, and the EPIRBs were going off falsely. So what happens is the US Coast Guard contacts the race.

Nick Rahn:

The race calls the rovers to make sure they're okay, and then the race contacts coast guard to say, hey. We're good as a false alarm. There were so many false alarms. They assumed ours was a false alarm, and they deleted our alarm. No way.

Nick Rahn:

Yeah. So no one was looking for us. Right? Here's the other kicker. The boat that rescued us was going from South Africa to Canada.

Nick Rahn:

They were the only vessel on that path for the night. There was no other boats within 500 nautical miles. And the crazy thing is they were delayed leaving port for twelve hours. So if they weren't delayed for twelve hours, we wouldn't have made it.

Mark Odland:

Dude, I mean, I'm I'm sure you've thought this, but it's it sound it feels like the bullet not firing part two. I mean I can't die, man. I I don't know, man. I know we have the different a little bit different philosophies on it all,

Nick Rahn:

but Yeah.

Mark Odland:

From my my perspective, it's like, man, God's got this plan for you, Nick. Like, it just that's so cool. Like, you're It's crazy. It's it's incredible. It's absolutely incredible.

Mark Odland:

And and did did did that big huge vessel, did they hear your distress call?

Nick Rahn:

Yeah. So they they heard it. And in the documentary, they actually interviewed the captain, which is great. Yeah. So the captain said that they thought it was a prank.

Nick Rahn:

Like, because there were no beacons, there was no distress calls, there was nothing. So they thought we were, like, pirates, and we were trying to prank them so we could rob them. So they almost didn't come get us. Right? But then the captain said, okay.

Nick Rahn:

Let's it's not far out of let's go check on them at least. So they pull up on us. And, ironically, this this captain, it was his first time captaining a ship. Damn. And he rescued four guys and saved our lives.

Nick Rahn:

Wow. He ended up getting a medal from the king of The Netherlands because it was a it was a Dutch ship. Okay. And he's the first ever Ukrainian to get that award, and it was his first ever expedition. Like, that's crazy.

Mark Odland:

Dang. That is just that's unbelievable. So this is this is in a documentary on PBS right now?

Nick Rahn:

Yep. It's called Defying Death on the Atlantic. It's about it's about an hour long, but it tells the story of the road. It tells the story of the rescue and everything afterwards. It's it's very emotional.

Mark Odland:

Oh, I can't imagine. I can't well, god, man, I'm just thinking right now. I mean, first of all, thank you for telling that story because I I I know you've I know you've taken some pretty huge steps in your healing process because this is no doubt about it. Mean extremely traumatic experience. So my therapist is brave as you're telling this story I'm like man I hope I don't I put myself in your shoes and I'm like, how would I even hold it together?

Mark Odland:

But like, what's it like what's it like to tell that story? Does it does it does it feel far away? Does it feel like it happened yesterday? Like

Nick Rahn:

It sounds like it didn't even happen to me. Wow. It just seems like a cool story. It's really weird. Right?

Nick Rahn:

Like, when I watch the documentary, I get I get emotional every time I see it. I don't like watching it. Right? But I've given five or six speeches on this to different companies. And Okay.

Nick Rahn:

I I just did what I do with tragedy. I tell people, you know, take a tragedy take a tragedy and do something positive with it. Right? And we've definitely done that. Like, I've I've gotten hundreds of messages on Facebook, emails, text, phone calls, people saying, what the heck, dude?

Nick Rahn:

Like, telling me my story is inspirational and all this stuff. And it and it's great. And I I love the support and everything. But Yeah. At at the same time, it's almost just like, you know, you watch the documentary.

Nick Rahn:

You don't know what it was actually like.

Mark Odland:

No. Well, and and I suppose that echoes in a way some of your experiences in the military Yeah. Where people on the outside, as much as they try, as good as their intentions are, unless you've been through it, you you don't really get it.

Nick Rahn:

Yeah. And and that's that's something that I try to stop veterans from thinking. Right? Like, yes, you might not be able to understand the experience, but you can probably empathize with how I feel. Right?

Nick Rahn:

That's

Mark Odland:

the And that's to that similar emotion even if it's not the same.

Nick Rahn:

Yeah. Because tragedy is tragedy. Trauma is trauma. Right. The only real difference is the experience.

Nick Rahn:

Right?

Mark Odland:

That's interesting. So so that you recognize that that mindset of no one else gets it is part of what keeps guys stuck.

Nick Rahn:

Yes.

Mark Odland:

Okay. So breaking through opens up the possibility for connection.

Nick Rahn:

Yeah. When you open up and you drop those walls, you allow you allow others to come in. Right? So, like, a a lot of reasons why veterans tend to have tarnished relationships, whether it's, you know, marriage or family or whatever, a lot of it's because, like, oh, she'll never understand, so I'm not gonna tell her. Right?

Nick Rahn:

That's not how that works. Right? You're you're building a wall. You're separating yourself from your loved ones every time that you do that. Right.

Nick Rahn:

So I try to tell men, you know, and and and female veterans. Right? Yeah. The thing you have to do is you have to find a way to talk about it. Right?

Nick Rahn:

You have to share your experiences with the with the people you love, and you have to share how those experiences make you feel. Because if you don't open up your heart, you are closing it off to everybody. You're doing yourself a disservice by not talking about your traumas. Right? Which is why I'm so open about talking about everything.

Nick Rahn:

It took me a few years to get here. But Oh, for sure. The thing that I found is, you know, you look and see how I started this nonprofit. I started my healing journey in 2015. I started fighting MMA and I thought that was gonna be my my vessel for healing.

Nick Rahn:

Right? Yeah. And then I broke my neck in 2016. And I was told by the doctors I would never fight again. I would have an eighteen month recovery.

Nick Rahn:

I'm like, no. That's not how my life works. I'm fighting again this year, and it's gonna happen. They're like, no. You're not.

Nick Rahn:

I'm like, watch. So this is when I discovered epigenetics. Right? Because I couldn't train anymore. I was just sitting at home when I wasn't working.

Nick Rahn:

So I started reading books like doctor Bruce Lipton and Joe Dispenza. I started digging into, like, epigenetics really hard. Right? Mhmm. Epigenetics, for those who don't know, is essentially the opposite of a hypochondriac.

Nick Rahn:

Right? You can think yourself sick. Why can't you think yourself healthy? Right? Obviously, there's some things like I had to get surgery on my neck.

Nick Rahn:

Right? But they're telling me the healing process is gonna take eighteen months. And I said, there's no no. No. I'm gonna do it quicker than that.

Nick Rahn:

So I started my own PT. I started reading books. I I got a book on, like, surgical I'm sorry, spinal injuries and, how to heal them. And so I started reading this book just to learn more about my injury and understand how can I fix this? And so I developed a PT program for myself because I nothing against PT folks.

Nick Rahn:

I'm sure that they really know what they're doing, but I know my body. Sure. And so I did my own PT, and about a month and a half, two months later, I went in for my checkup. And don't do this, but, I had a bunch of staples in my neck, and I ripped out my staples because they were bothering me. And so when I went in, they're like, where are your staples?

Nick Rahn:

I was like, they were irritating me. I pulled them out. They're like, you need a special device to pull those staples out. Was like, yeah. I just used the pliers.

Nick Rahn:

We're good. You're like

Mark Odland:

the ideal the ideal patient, Nick. I mean, every every physical therapist and doctor's dream. They hate me.

Nick Rahn:

But the funny thing was they did my, they did a scan of my neck. I think it's a CT scan, MRI. Did like six different tests. And so I got the results back and the neurosurgeon comes in. He's like, what did you do?

Nick Rahn:

And I'm like, oh, no. Like, am I okay? He's like, he's like, I I don't wanna say it, but, like, you're healed. He's like, you have more strength than before your surgery. I was like, yeah.

Nick Rahn:

I worked out. I did a lot of different things. So I gave him a list of everything I did. And I was like, does this mean, like, I'm cleared to fight? He's like, I don't wanna say yes.

Nick Rahn:

He's like, but there's nothing that says that you can't start training again. Sure. And so months after my my surgery, I ended up fighting at the caboose in Minneapolis, and I won fight of the night, and I won the match. Dang. We beat the absolute piss out of each other for three rounds.

Nick Rahn:

And, like, twenty two seconds in the third round, I choked him out. Oh. And that was just a big moral victory for me too because I was told you're done. And I said no because this is my purpose. This is my path.

Nick Rahn:

I have to keep doing this. And so when I when I find something that is my purpose and that is my path, get out of my way because I'm going to do it. And if you look at my record of the things that I've done in the last ten years, it's not a good idea to bet against me because I'm going to do it.

Mark Odland:

I love it.

Nick Rahn:

You know, except for my book. I was supposed to finish that in, like, 2022, and I'm still not even done with it. But Dude, can't wait. I can't wait, Nick,

Mark Odland:

to read that. Thank you. Yeah. It's gonna be a blessing to a lot of people.

Nick Rahn:

Well, the the book is called the six principle process. Right? So

Mark Odland:

Alright, fellow lions. You may have gathered that Nick's life story cannot be encapsulated in just one podcast. And so we're gonna have part two. We're gonna have part two before too long. So hit that subscribe and notification bell so that you don't miss it.

Mark Odland:

He's gonna go in deeper to his journey of healing, his adventures that he's had in his life and just incredible lessons for us as men to benefit from. So thanks for listening guys. As always, a comment down below what spoke to you in this podcast today. And we really appreciate your support. Thanks so much guys.

Mark Odland:

Talk to you later.