Ep. 117: Overcome and Motivate with Sidney Smith
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Welcome back to another episode of Cutting the Distance Podcast. I'm Dirk Durham, and this week I have a guest who is someone I've been following on Instagram for years. He's a motivational speaker, and his attitude on life is contagious. Anytime I start thinking that I cannot physically do something, my mind drifts to Sidney, and I'm motivated to try harder. Sidney Smith, welcome to the podcast. Hey, Dirk. Thank you so much. This is exciting.

I've been following you for a long time, too. Yeah, yeah. And you motivate me. Oh, that's awesome. Man, I don't even know how that's possible, but...

That's one thing. You never know who you're motivating, so it's important to always share your story because one person told me your story may be another person's survival guide. Yeah, that's true. Absolutely. I had someone tell me that years ago. They're like, there's someone out there that you'd

Maybe you barely even know them, but you've impacted their life somehow, some way. Just even by meeting them, greeting them and having a simple conversation, you've probably impacted someone's life to where they think about that moment or that whatever it was that you told them or the conversation or whatever it was, they think about that a lot and that gives them a reason. So yeah, I think we kind of all get kind of muddled down in our own little ways.

uh, BS of our daily lives. And we kind of like forget about those kinds of things. But, but then I start thinking like, you know, all the little things, like when I'm feeling down in the dumps or whatever, I start thinking about the things that someone or something has happened that that's, that's makes me like shake it off or, or whatever. So, Oh yeah. Yeah.

No, I've had that like even years and years, like I'll speak at a school and it'll be like five or six years later, you know, they're all grown up with two kids. And, and they told me, say, I remember when you spoke at our middle school and you, I just, in this story and this, and this really changed my life here. I was like, I had no idea. I had no idea you can make impacts on people's lives. So that's, that's very true. It can be infectious. So we'll do it. That's incredible. Yeah.

So tell our listeners, take us down the path of your story of how you even became a motivational speaker. Well, it's something fairly new-ish. Like, it kind of fell into my lap. When I was in college, I had to take one elective course that, you know,

Just to pass, you know, and to get my degree. And so I had to pick some course out there and I chose public speaking because they said that was the easiest. And I had straight A's through college except for one class. And it was freaking public speaking because I'm like, I hate public speaking.

everyone says it was easy but i'm like yeah but you got to do something i absolutely hate you know i hate talking in church i hate speaking in front of people and so i ended up getting like a c in that class but it's still it's still bitter to me but um what ended up happening is is uh you know i never i said i'll never speak again this is you know dumb i'm glad i got that off my list it was just a to get credit for for a class and then turns out that uh

In 2015, I had my legs amputated due to complications to a disease I was born with called Charcot-Marie-Tooth. And just a backstory with that, it's something that's a progressive muscular dystrophy, something I gained genetically sometime down the road. And it's

it progressed heavily in deforming my feet to the point where I couldn't function. Then I couldn't do the things I love such as hunting and fishing, hiking and all that stuff. And then when I hit about 33, doctors kind of gave me an ultimatum saying, you know, we could do a wheelchair or we could try, you know, amputation and see what prosthetics will do. So in 2015, I did this surgery and

And, you know, it was hard, you know, changed my life. Obviously, it was a big decision. But in the long run, it was the best decision I've ever made because I've had so many amazing things happen in my life that's blessed me and my family. And it's taught me things about, you know, gratitude and things to be grateful for and

How, you know, God gives us certain trials in life to make us stronger individuals and purpose to help other people that are also struggling and to be the example to others. And so, yeah, I just...

Caught the fire at that point. And someone suggested that I speak to a group of Cub Scouts and tell them my story. And I said, okay, I'll talk to these, you know, 10 year old boys and tell them my story and the challenges that I've overcame and the things that I've accomplished. And it felt good. And next thing I know, you know, a couple of schools started reaching out and

And then before you know it, I start going, you know, traveling all over the country. It's not something I do full time. I have a nine to five. It's just something I enjoy doing. And it's been a blessing in my life to share my story.

That's right, Matt.

But it's great. You're overcoming a lot of hurdles a lot of us have on a daily basis, right? Back to when you had to have your legs amputated. I mean, that whole process has got to be so impactful. It's not just like, oh, I just cut off a hangnail. This is something that's like...

like just the healing time of, of becoming to where, you know, you're where you were amputated to, to get that to heal and to be like, not painful all the time. And then to try to like dig out of the, there's gotta be some depths of depths of despair there too. Right. How did, how do you find, how did you find your way out of such a dark place? Um, and into the light after that?

Yeah, you, you, you nailed it. It's not, it, it takes time. It's not like I woke up out of the hospital bed and been like, okay, I'm, I'm ready to, to, to go kill an elk or do an Ironman or something like that. It, it, uh, at first it was actually really difficult to the, um, especially the day of the surgery to wake up. And, um, I remember I was in the hospital bed and I looked under the sheets and, you know, sure enough, I knew this day was coming and it was always, um,

kind of a surreal moment, but to actually see it gone, it was, it was hard. You know, there was tears in the hospital bed and knowing that, you know, I won't be able to feel cold grass and the sand beneath my toes and, and, you know, the, the fear of the unknown, like, am I going to do activities such as hunting and fishing and,

The things I love, play with my kids, keep a job. And then my wife came into the hospital room and, you know, I'm still down on myself and I'm telling her, you know,

I'm sorry, you know, this is now a burden on you. I was just thinking, you know, you might as well just go ahead and leave me, honey. I totally won't judge you for that. And she says, you know, I could, but the doctor gave us this handicap parking pass. And now that we can get excellent parking at Walmart, I don't see any reason why I would leave you. So...

Uh, there's, there's a, there was a light at the end of the tunnel, but that's the spirit. Um, back to your, back to your question, where do you find, you know, to get out of the dooms of stuff like that? Uh,

For me, it was hard to accept the fact that life is going to be harder at first. Overall, I'm trying to be a kind person. Ultimately, I felt guilty that I was a burden to everybody. The thoughts of suicide came in pretty heavy at the beginning. But then something that I...

With this disease, I've always felt like life is not fair, but it's just the way it is. And, you know, you have to live with that. And for me, I thought, you know, maybe this, you know, why did God give me this challenge? And, you know, it's not fair, but.

I still have to live with it and I have to have a positive attitude. And when I was thinking of suicide and all these awful thoughts, I still had a young family at the time and I had a little daughter.

Um, she's now 10 years old, but she was just learning how to walk. Um, and ironically, we were learning to walk together. Oh, wow. And I just remember learning to walk with my prosthetics and she's learning to walk at the same time. It just dawned on me that, you know, it may not be fair that I had gotten this, uh, disease. Um, but to her, it's not fair that, uh, they, she'd have a dad that may end his life.

And I can't control my disease, but I can control the outcome of my daughter. And so it just kind of clicked that the purpose of life is a lot different than what I thought at that moment. It's not all about me. It's all about Noah, my kids and everyone else as well. And so...

I just knew I had to combat this fear and anger that I had towards this disease and my situation and find myself out of it. And so I heard at church one time, the opposite of fear is faith.

That is the antidote. But they work the same way where you can't see fear and you can't see faith. But in your mind, if you have a belief in one and grow and develop that and nourish the fear or the faith, one has a positive aspect and one has a negative aspect. And so what really started it all was just faith, is that I had to believe that I was

That God has a plan for me. I'm going to trust in him. He's going to provide me a life that's going to be worth, you know, hanging on. And that's where it all began. And I just kept believing that and exercising that faith to where it's turned into something beautiful and strong. Yeah, that's awesome.

Um, it kind of reminds me it's, I hate to be so cliche, but it reminds me of a, a, a saying I seen on Instagram and it said, uh, we all have two wolves inside and, um, you know, a good one and a bad one, you know, and whichever one you feed will grow. Right. So that kind of goes right back to what you said. You know, you feed, you either feed your faith or you feed your fears. And, um, I can, yeah, I can definitely see that. It seems like negative thoughts.

Uh, if you're dwelling on negative, then more negative comes. And if you're dwelling on positive things and, you know, keeping the, you know, shutting out the negative stuff, it just, it kind of keeps you on track. So exactly. Um,

just overcoming, you know, the part of losing your legs and trying to find a way to live a normal life again. Now that's one thing, which is remarkable. That in itself to me is motivating. But then I look at a lot of the other things you do. You go hiking in the mountains, you go elk hunting, you've competed in Ironman, you've competed in triathlon, you've

You've been in a bodybuilding competition. I mean, I mean, you've just checked off a lot of boxes that like to do one of those in a normal person's life would be like an accomplishment, right? That's like a bucket list accomplishment. You, you are checking all these boxes, um,

And people might think or see like, you know, no, nobody sees the hard work, right? No matter what anyone does, they always see the outcome, like the result, like, you know, a successful elk hunt, um, a summit on a mountain you've, you've, you've hiked up to, or, or, uh, you know, your, your, your body condition at the end of training for a body competition. Um,

But the day in, day out training and grueling to get from point zero to the goal, that is...

that's, that's the real stuff. Um, and I feel like not everybody gets to see that. And, um, what are your opinions on that? Like you have, you probably have put in so much work that nobody will ever see and overcame a lot of little things, like little things we take for granted on a day to day just to accomplish, um, those, those things. Yeah. It, I, I, my wife is, uh,

To the point now, she's like, okay, when are you just going to sit back and relax? Honestly. And my personality is just consistent where I have to be doing something new. It just keeps my mind out of the gutter. I like challenges. I like things that are going to test my body to the limits. But that's part of the fun. Like, for example, in the Ironman, that was...

still to this date, the hardest thing I've ever done was an Ironman. But the race itself, it was hard, but that wasn't the hardest part. The hardest part was all the training. I had an infection six months prior to the race that almost put me out where they had to go in there and cut into my limb and drain all the infection. Just 20 plus hours a week of just training, training,

Um, every Saturday completely on my bike or swimming eight or nine hours. Um, and then eating just in doing that for a year straight, that was, um,

Like even hunting season, it was frustrating when I wanted to go hunting, but I had to go run first. And so that little stuff like that, that was the hard part. But that's, you know, if it wasn't, if it was easy, then everybody would do it. That's the part that is rewarding is that grind. Yeah.

And, uh, I mean, just to answer your question, it, it's not easy, but that's what makes it worth it. Uh, that's what really is going to change you as an individual. Cause, uh, if it was easy, then, then you wouldn't see this. You wouldn't have the desire. It wouldn't be as cool for you or rewarding. Yeah, absolutely. I feel like it's proof to the thought that, um,

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meat eater kids find meat eater kids wherever you get your podcasts um you know you talked about you know having that infection um six months before your your race and like how many how many of us during elk season have gotten like an ingrown toenail or a little blister on her foot or something be like oh man i don't know if i can go down into that hell all the day it's

And it hurts. It's, it's just hard, you know, or, you know, there's always like some little, little thing that that's difficult. That's not easy. That like will derail a lot of people. Like, I feel like you saying six months before that you almost derailed by having that infection. It wasn't just a simple little thing. It was like a lot, you know, and then to stay the course, um,

do you just like, what do you, what do you focus on to stay on that course? Do you like sit there? Like,

looking at that setback and think, uh, what is your mind? What's your mindset? Are you saying, are you saying, okay, just, we're going to get through this, you know, it's going to be fine. We're just going to, soon as, soon as I can get this healed up, I'm going to start working hard again to, to, to accomplish this. What, what, what do you tell yourself to get there? Um, that it's going to be worth it. Like that's, that's the goal right there. It's going to be worth it. And

I think the older I've gotten, I'm now in my 40s, the thing that's hardest to live with being older is regrets. That's just something I just find doesn't go away. And when I had that infection, ultimately, I talked to my coach and my doctor. I says, okay, I'm out for a few, six weeks. I can't train. I basically have started all my endurance over.

What do I do? And I thought about it, prayed about it. And this was in 2019 when I did this race. And so I was like, well, maybe I'll push the race into 2020. What's the worst that can happen in 2020? And as you can see, I decided not to go that route. And had I done, then the race of 2020 would have been canceled because of COVID. And then who knows what other things could have happened in my life.

that would have completely derailed me for the race. So I just said, you know what? It's going to be worth it. I'm going to give it my best because I'm not going to regret it if I don't give my best. If I don't finish, that's one thing. I could always sign up and do this again. But if I don't even show up to the course and don't even try, then it's not going to be rewarding because that's where it is. Same thing, like we talked about elk hunting, that

This last fall... Or this current fall, sorry, that we're in. I guess it's still fall. I just shot an elk last month. And...

um, my biggest bull to date, you know, I'm super stoked about it. Um, but when I shot him, I shot him down at the bottom of this Canyon and, uh, it, you know, I knew when I saw him, he's one of those bulls. You just don't be like, well, he's too hard to get. I'm not going to pass. I mean, this is a once in a lifetime thing by far. Yeah. And, uh,

I went and I shot him. And the best thing about elk hunting is having buddies with you because then you feel confident getting him out of there, right? Sure. We spend all day breaking him down and boning him out and getting him up the hill. And my buddy was like, you should have shot him from the road or would have seen if he would have came up the road. But I look back at it now, I was like, I'm glad that he was in the worst hell hole. Otherwise, this reward wouldn't be as great. I mean, it would have felt...

Like, I mean, don't get me wrong if they're sitting on the road, that's awesome. But at the same time, just to earn that bull is now made it more of a memory and every, you know, this is my first bull that I'm actually going to Mount. Um, and now I will remember that elk and that experience of the pack out more than just, you know, if I were to shoot them on the road.

Um, and so it's, it's gotta be worth it. Um, and that, those are the moments you gotta live for. Otherwise having regret is just an awful thing to have. Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. Living with regret. Um, it sucks. I know over the years I've been elk hunting, deer hunting for third, I don't even know, 35, 40, not 40 years, but 35 plus years. And like, there's some, sometimes I can think back to where, um,

I didn't give up my all or I, I gave up on whatever. Um, and then I had to live with that regret for a whole nother year, but then it's not just another year.

It's, it's that one little thing that always like gnaws at your, the back of your mind. I, I, to this day, there's still some ones, some do overs. I really wish I could have, um, just because I gave up, you know, um, you know, I like to talk a big game and say, you know, don't ever give up. And, but that's a lot of that is me talking to myself. Don't ever give up. I have to give myself that, um, um,

my pep talk every now and then, because it, yeah, you do face hard, hard hunts or hard things. And it's like, well, do you want to, you know, you want to think about this for the, you want to carry that monkey on the back of your back for the next year or the rest of your life? No, I don't. Um, so yeah, that I can definitely see, see that you don't want to live with regrets.

Um, how hard was it to relearn to walk? I can only imagine. Um, just be, it's gotta be a whole new process versus like, and I hate to even compare this, but I had ankle surgery here, um, a couple of years ago and I had to go into a bunch of physical therapy and, um,

I could walk, but it wasn't right. You know, I had to, they had to show me how to do it right. So I would learn how to use that ankle again properly, but with muscles that I've used in the past to walk. Now I can imagine everything is different now with prosthetic limbs, with prosthetic legs to walk. You're using some of the same muscles, but differently. And there's probably some other muscles that are coming into play to learn how to walk. What was that like?

Well, it is different for like a single amputee versus a double amputee. Like a single amputee, guys that I've hunted with, with my charity, they struggle with like the fatiguing in the other leg. For me...

where my struggles is because I don't have an ankle, a lot of my stability comes into my knees and my hips. And so one of the things when I train at the gym, those are things I like to focus on is stability on my hips mostly because that's what's going to help with my walking. But to answer your question, how hard was it to learn to walk? Yeah.

you know, prior to having my legs amputated, I wore those Forrest Gump braces. Yeah. Those big metal things. And so, you know, ironically, I got those braces when that movie came out. And so everybody at the playground would always say, you know, run, Sydney, run. So that's, and I still have those braces, but because of those braces, they actually kind of helped me understand the mechanics of relying on

Okay. And so I actually picked up pretty well

on the prosthetic, but I still had pain. Like when you first lose your limb, your, your, your limb is huge and it's got a loose size. And then you're, they change the shape of your socket that go, you know, the socket goes around your limb and that changes. And then you have to have socks because throughout the day, the volume can change based off like sweats, your diet, inflammation, uh, that, that your calf muscle, cause it's got to atrophy completely. Um,

And then it was about probably going this yo-yo about a whole year that I feel confident where I could walk throughout the whole day and not have any pain. And then when it came to hunting, that was another element because...

Now I'm adding pressure on my back, which is more weight inside my socket, which is this hard carb fiber. So I got to adjust to that. I'm more top heavy. And so the carbon fiber has a different response based on my weight. And so I got to adjust to that. Sissy sticks.

uh, I don't know, Bryce Bishop with, uh, peaks equipment. He got me some of those trekking poles. Yeah. Um, I use those for hunting. Um, even when, you know, if the trail is actually not treacherous, I still like that. Uh, but, you know, challenges for me, you know, sagebrush, cause I can't feel the ground. I can't feel when that sagebrush grabs your feet, you know, cause I'm trying to scan, scan the horizon, trying to look for animals. Um,

uh, steep going downhill, uh, just because my, my toe doesn't, um, flex downwards. So I'm basically walking on the edge of my heel. That's kind of hard. Um,

Golly, uphill's nice because my foot's kind of digging in anyways because it's flat. But yeah, that's kind of the gist of prosthetics. It could take a beating. I've had experiences where I've broken my prosthetic in the mountains. I get blisters. I get sores just like everybody else. It's just in different places. Yeah. Once you get...

I would assume it's just like anything. Um, the more you use it, the tougher it gets. Right. So, you know, if you're, if you're training for one of you, like a marathon or whatever, training for elk hunt, um, maybe if you've been set up sedentary for a little while and then like, okay, I'm going to start picking up my training here. I would assume like you probably in the beginning, start having some blisters, but then you little, it'll like things get started.

It's toughening up, right? You may, you know, by the time elk season's there, it's pretty good, but then you get on some other train and you may experience some other, other, other issues with blisters, but, um, it probably develops more of a callus there eventually, uh,

probably use it and lose it or use it or lose it. Right. Yeah. I mean, the beginning, uh, like Utah archery season starts in August and you can't to replicate, you know, to train for hunting. The best way to train for hunting is go more hunt, go hunting more, I guess. Right. Uh, and so usually August is when it's like those first few hikes or, you know, Oh, that kind of hurt. And then by the time I'm hunting in October, November, I I'm a pro, but yeah, it, uh,

Um, I would say, yeah, the blisters are pretty much healed and calloused over and, and my muscles are, you know, in a little better shape for, for, for hiking. So it, it, uh, just like, uh, yeah, just like anybody else. So now bodybuilding, um,

You shared some pictures and your bodybuilding story on Instagram. And I didn't even know you were training for that. And then you showed your before and after pictures. And I was like, holy cow. Like what a transformation. An incredible transformation. And like...

Working out a lot is, is one thing, but then there's gotta be a, uh, insane diet control, um, you know, to, to get into that kind of, um, and that kind of shape and to look like that. Can you talk about your, your training and then also your diet, uh, working for your, for body, your bodybuilding competition?

Yeah. You're not the first person that says, whoa, I didn't even know you were doing this. And there is a reason for that. I was playing basketball about a year ago and I tore my MCL and I couldn't run and do the basketball for a while. So I decided to hit the weights and I just enjoyed running.

lifting weights in the iron and talking to guys at the gym and seeing that they've done bodybuilding shows. And I just kind of ask, what do I do? Help me. What do I need to do? I'm curious about it.

And so my biggest demise is I can exercise all day long. But when it comes to food, I love to cook. I love to smoke. I love to, to, uh, I, food is a social thing for me. I, I, and I eat, you know, poorly most of the time. Right. So that I knew that was going to be the hardest. Every time I tried to lose weight for something, uh,

It's always the pizza and the cookies that end up getting after me. The smoked meats. Yeah, the smoked meats. So I just decided, you know what, this is kind of a new Ironman for me. It's something that puts me in a good headspace to have a goal that's hard in mind.

And so I just told myself, I'm going to do a show in October and go from there. So how it looked out, I gave myself about a year to prep for this show. I was two months.

36 when I started. And it just, what it looked like was in the beginning, I would eat high proteins that my calories would be pretty high, about 3,500. And I just have a high protein to try to bulk up, try to get strong, lift heavy. And then I continued that from about

December till May-ish is when I started what they call the cut. And so I figured out how much weight or how many calories I needed to cut back before I started losing weight and then minus 500 calories. So I kind of

measured everything that I ate, weighed everything that I ate, logged everything that I ate. And then I watched my scale. If I started losing weight, then that's what I knew where I was supposed to be. So I went from like 3,500 calories to 2,500 calories. And then I kept that for a while and I was hoping to lose about a pound and a pound and a half.

And then I dropped to 2,000 calories because sometimes I would plateau. But for food-wise, I ate probably a whole elk all by myself because elk has the best protein per calorie ratio. And when you're trying to keep your calories low and your proteins high, like for my macros,

If I weighed about 220 pounds, I wanted to try to eat 240 grams of protein, which is, that's a lot of food. And so, you know, with, you know, mountain ops, protein shakes and, uh, elk and, uh, I fish a lot. So I caught, you know, kept all of my fish that I would catch. Um, I just kind of developed a, a diet. Um, I got a little creative with like different egg whites and, um,

and chicken, but ultimately I had to cut out the things I loved, which was pork, you know, you know, starchy foods, bread, you know, heavy breads, pizzas, uh, sugar, soda, all that. Um, and, uh, that was the hardest part of the bodybuilding show. Actually,

The muscles there are just muscles that I had. I don't think I really grew any stronger. I didn't get stronger in the gym. It's just when you lose all that weight from doing all calorie deficit, that's when it shows up. And that is the hardest part is just the food. So were you, did you avoid carbs at all costs or were you mixing in some carbs, some like clean stuff?

I do what they call a carb rotation. So on leg day and back day, which were my largest groups of muscles that I was exercising, I would have more carbs. But ultimately, the goal was to be about 100 carbs for the day, except for the last month. The last month is when it's extreme cutting. I was anywhere from 25 to 50 and very irritable and angry. And I was a little pitchy. I'm not going to lie. Yeah.

My wife said I was on PMS for the month of September, man. I feel that anytime I do like try to do carnivore or keto, uh, dude, I get so pissy. Um, I'm just like a grouch.

And I can walk around Baja and bug. I'm like, what the hell's wrong with you, man? Like, what are you, why are you so grouchy? And then it's like, oh yeah. Cause I don't have any of that comfort food to just like, oh, cinnamon rolls or mashed potatoes or any of that fun stuff to eat. And, but man, it's not fun to eat strict. Um,

And you just said it like that's a lot of us. That's our biggest nemesis is, you know, working out. That's one thing. But they say you can't outwork out a poor diet, right? No, absolutely not. Like even if you when I was doing the Ironman and I was, you know, thousands of calories I was burning on a regular basis. I still had a good old tire belly like it was, you know, a beer belly and

And it's just because I was eating so much carbs and sugars to try to recover. No, I learned a lot about my body in this competition. Like I could still, like I've had pizza a few times since my competition. I could still find ways to indulge, but I mean, I would eat like a whole pizza and now I can be okay with just a few slices. Right. Did it kind of almost change? Like I felt, I feel like,

after I've eaten really strict for a while, I don't like the things I used to love. I don't like them as much. I mean, I still kind of like them, but it's not like, oh, I have to have my mashed potatoes with my steak, my elk steak or whatever. It's like, eh, I'm good with or without it. Oh, correct. Your body response, when you're eating clean for that long, your body responds perfectly.

to poor or bad foods you know pretty well like for example our neighbors brought us some christmas cookies and i tried one i'm like oh that was good so i tried another one and my whole body was like oh you suck eras i just felt like i ran into like a a pool and uh and so it it i quickly learned that eating clean you're just you're doing better you think better you feel better you're

you know, have, you know, have more confidence. Um, and, uh, you know, you'd be more efficient. Like even when I was, you know, when I was training for this competition, you know, the carbohydrates that I could have was rice. And I, it's amazing what a cup of rice could get me two or three miles on the mountain. Just, just a little bit of rice, what those carbs could do, you know, before I would have to eat, you know, a box of donuts to get that kind of carbohydrates effectively in my body. So, right.

I noticed that too. One time I ate keto all summer. And then a couple of days before elk season, I'd been, I'd been hiking this hill every day, this steep ass hill and I'd hike it. And with zero carbs, I was just, I would struggle. It'd take a, you know, just like phone one foot in front of the other. And then a couple of days before I left for my elk hunt, I grabbed, I was like, you know what? I think it's, it's close enough. I'm going to, I'm going to eat something. So I got me a couple, um,

barbecued beef burritos from the deli at the store at the, at the gas station. And they eat those, man. I flew up that Hill. It was like, I was on, I had rocket fuel. I was like, Holy cow. It like doubled my time up and down. It's like, Holy cow. That was awesome. But that doesn't, that doesn't work like that when you've been eating like crap all the time. No, it not correct. You're then you're a slug then. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Cause it will, cause your body already has all that glycogen storage in you. It has all that fat storage in you. And so when, when you already are just adding to it, it does nothing but makes you feel like crap. It doesn't burn like a, like a, like a fire inside. It's so, yeah, you did the right thing by that's the, that's probably the best time to have that kind of food is when you're, no, you're going to burn it off. Now, a lot of you guys are familiar with the old hunting tradition.

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And make sure to use code MEATEATER for 10% off your purchase. That's heartandsoil.co. Use the code MEATEATER. So your elk, you got a heck of a bull elk you were talking about. What kind of a tag was that? Was that a rifle tag? And for how long was the season? Tell us about that.

Yeah, I got blessed. I was given a tag. My brother-in-law, he kind of worked out some magic with a friend of his that owns a CWMU property here in Utah. And it was a tag that not normally... Like, you had a chance at a bull because it was very late season, which I've never hunted late season bulls like that. So, I mean, I really, you know...

like, you know, I'm a big fan of watching Corey Jacobson films and elk one-on-one stuff. And so, you know, I, I, uh, you know, I blow Phelps. And so I thought, Oh, I could call a bull in, but at that time of year, they don't like to be called. It's more like a mule deer hunt. Right. And so, uh,

Um, I, uh, I was just, it was kind of out of my element, you know, to, to not call or, or to try to locate instead. We're just basically going up on these ridges. Um, it's, it's here in Utah. Um, it's a transition unit. So, um, what they told me that this hunt could be where in a, in, it was a five day hunt. Um, and it could be anywhere from seeing a couple elk the whole trip.

Um, or seeing 20 or 30 bulls the whole trip. Wow. And, uh, prior to this hunt, uh, we had a really nice snowstorm in late October and it just triggered all these elk, uh, where every day we were seeing probably 18 or 19 bulls.

And that's, it was awesome. Like, it was like, I've never been a part of a hunt where you see that many elk. I mean, where I live, I live in, you went to mountains, Northeastern part of Utah. It's an open bull unit. And, you know, if you see a spike elk in this open bull unit, that's a trophy. Yeah. You may not ever see another elk your whole time. And so it was really hard to, to pass on an elk. But when you see on the first day, I think we saw 15 bulls.

And, uh, you know, I was like, golly, I don't want to shoot one on the first day. He's in the hunts over. I already got work off and all my buddies were saying, don't shoot one on the first day. Cause we don't want to go back to our wives. Let's just try to spend this as long as possible. Let's enjoy this. Let's, let's sit back and enjoy it. I mean, we were, we were, we were cush hunting. Like we, I brought my camper and we were, you know, that had a heater in it and stuff like that. So we, we were having a good old time and.

And, uh, the second day hit, saw a few more bulls. I saw really, really pretty five point like score is not something I'd chase per se, but if, if there's, there's a difference between, oh, that's a pretty, pretty bull. And there's another one that makes your butthole flinch. You know what I mean? Yeah. Yeah. And this, this, this bull had that. And so, um, but at the same time, I don't,

I saw him on the second day and I wanted to shoot this big, huge five point. I mean, just super mature body. But he was uphill. It was like 600 yards. And I just didn't feel comfortable shooting that distance. I could, but I didn't feel comfortable because it was just,

awkward position so we tried to get a shot and never could get them and then I spent the next two days trying to find them and never did and then it just so happened to be where we found this other bull that ended up being bigger and

And, uh, you know, in the meantime I was, you know, passing 300 inch bowls, three fifteens. And that was, you know, I, that was really hard to do to pass an elk that size. And then when I saw this bowl, we just, it was the same thing. It was just like, you just know, that's, it just, there's just next level, you know, your heart starts sinking, your eyes, your eyes start, you know, watering because it's just so beautiful. I love it. I love it.

It that's, that's so awesome. I'm so glad you got to enjoy that experience of hunting one of those CWMUs. Um, you know, some people will sit here and they'll, they will throw rocks and poo poo on that. Um, Oh, it's private land. Nope. I'm out. You know, you, you get all the comments and it's like, man, I'm

Sometimes normal guys should get that opportunity, you know, every now and then, um, which I'm all for, you know, um, it's not always some rich dude, um, getting those tags. It's, it's cool to see regular guys that, um, you know, would really appreciate it. Get that kind of a hunt. And, um, some people, I mean, how many people would turn down an opportunity to do that? Um, if somebody said, Hey, why don't you come up here and hunt? No.

nobody's going to turn that down. Right. So I knew this was a once in a lifetime thing for me too. I mean, I don't, I don't have a lot of money to mount animals. And so I, I knew this was one that I would have to mount because I knew I wasn't going to get another shot, but yeah, you get, you do hear the negativity and it's usually the same loud group that's against the CWM use. I know a lot of operators. We, we,

What's nice is a lot of these operators work with my nonprofit charity where we give kids that are terminal an opportunity to hunt elk on these properties. The way they treat the property, like the elk, very healthy animals, beautiful properties. And really, the way people forget, in Utah, you could draw for these units. In fact, in this unit that I hunted in,

Of course, there was guys that buy the tags every year that have a lot of money, but the guy that shot the biggest bull this year was a public land guy that put his name in it and drew it. He shot a 360 bull. Yeah, that's awesome. That's awesome.

I had the opportunity to hunt a CWMU here a few years ago, 2022. And, um, there was a guy and his son, the guy had drawn a tag and, um, yeah, he got to stay at the same place I got to stay. Um, they even provided a guide for him. Um, they, I mean, it was awesome. Like that guy, you know, was out there just living, living the dream. So, um, I, I think it's a good program. Um,

You know, I feel like everybody should get a chance someday to, to, to go on that, you know, unfortunately with drawing systems, it's makes it tough. You know, it's really hard, especially Utah's is you gotta be invested for a lot of years to, to, to, to draw a tag. And, um, but, but anyway.

So what's next? What's, uh, what's on the horizon? Do you got any, or do you, or maybe you don't want to share what, what your next big, uh, goal is? Um, and you've checked some pretty impressive boxes. No, there's, there's always something on my mind. I'm working on one right now. This, I usually don't go this long, but I wanted to find something that kind of resonates with me. And, um,

There's one that I've always wanted to do, and that's to swim the English Channel. It's from France to England. It's a marathon, but it's a swim. But it's feasible. It's really hard. My wife right now, it's not something she's eagerly anxious about. There's something that I'm probably going to do this year is to swim to Alcatraz Island and back. So I'm working with a charter company out there.

To see what it costs and see if I could maybe do a charity event where I can raise money for that swim. You have to swim at a certain pace. Otherwise, the current to go out to Alcatraz will push you off course where you're actually not going forward. You're going sideways. And so I have to qualify for that to swim to Alcatraz Island and back.

Um, and they, so that one's probably something that would be the next one that's coming up, uh, 2025. Awesome. Are you a pretty strong swimmer?

Yeah, I swam in high school and in college. I mean, with my disease, because my feet were deformed, it just was something that I could do well at. The disease is in my hands as well, but I've been working with a physical therapist. I got on TRT here a couple of years ago that's kind of helped me retain muscle. And so the disease hasn't really affected it that badly. There's some days it's bad.

But for the most part, I'm still able to use my hands. Do you feel pain or is it just loss of function? Both. Both? Pain just because arthritis and everything's really feeble. Like I have a broken wrist that still hasn't healed.

And then just function. So like fatigue. So like with swimming, if I get too tired, then my hands can't, they cramp up like this. Like a, I guess while we're on a podcast. So kind of like a monkey hand where it just kind of closes up grip. And so to swim, I want my hands open so I can, you know, like paddles and to hold that position is, it can be hard when my disease gets bad. Oh, wow. Yeah. Yeah.

Right on. Well, man, what are any closing thoughts you'd like to give our listeners as far as motivational stuff? I think we'd all like to hear a little bit of the good stuff. Well, one of the things I love to talk about is.

And this, you know, applies to everybody, I think, not just hunters or is one of the, when I go out and I public speak, the topic that I am most passionate about is gratitude. Because it honestly is the most powerful thing that we can have as human beings. Powerful feeling besides love is to have gratitude.

And one thing that I learned through many lessons in life is, you know, is you have to be grateful for what you have. And the more things that you spend focusing on what you're grateful for, you know, you won't find any time to sit around and say, well, I'm not grateful for this. Or, you know, woe is me and this sucks. It has a powerful force behind it.

to where I try to practice gratitude every day. I make it a goal in the morning, especially in the morning, because I feel like that's when my mind's the clear, where I could set the tone right for the day to think about at least two things that I knew in my mind that I'm grateful for. And you'd be surprised how

Like that does not get old. There's always something to be grateful for. You know, it might, even with my situation, I could say that I'm even grateful for my, my trials.

because it's taught me things that I don't think I could have gained anywhere else. Taught me things like patience and perseverance and compassion for other people with disabilities that has rewarded me in life. Like it's made me a better husband. It's made me a better father. It's given the patience and over chaos is helped me stand out at work where I've gotten promotions and all these attributes that,

were something that I gained because of this trial. So, I mean, I could safely say that I would never change my life for anything else. And so I guess to add on to that or to close to that is I think maybe reconsider some of the hardships that we've had in our lives as opportunities to learn from and find ways to grow where these are just stepping stones to your success. Yeah. Well,

Wow. I love that. I really do. I think that's a huge point. And I think a lot of us skip that, skip that gratitude getting up in the morning. You know, I think all the other things with life and all the other clutter, you know, whether it's, you know, politics, news, social media, whatever it is you're facing with your day-to-day grind, um,

It's easy to lose that focus on gratitude. Especially in the morning. What's the first thing most people do when they wake up? What do they go for? Yeah, they go for the news. They go for their phone. Their phone, yeah. They're going to get their social media or their phone. They want to see, oh, who's like this or who's doing that or who's doing this. Of course, social media, it's got some beautiful things to it. But a lot of times people look at it like, oh, man, I wish I was doing this. I wish I was doing that.

And in the end, it's just, you know, to start your day where you just wish you were somebody else is not healthy. Yeah. Starting your day with envy. So just practice gratitude, then look at your phone, you know, just try it, try it out. Yeah. Yeah. I'm going to do that. I'm going to do that. So Sidney, where can people find you if they want to follow you? You could, I'm pretty active on social media, I guess, with Instagram. I haven't caught on to Instagram.

to Snapchat, although my kids think I should, I don't, I'm not going to do that, but, uh, I can, I can only keep up with really one snap or, uh, Instagram, Facebook. I don't do really much on Tik TOK, but, uh, Instagram it's try no feet, TRI underscore no feet. And then Instagram or Facebook is just Sidney Smith. I'm probably the only Sidney Smith that doesn't have legs. So I, I think that's one easy way to find me that way. So right on.

Well, I appreciate you coming on, sharing your story. Like I said, I've been following you on social media for years, it seems like. Thank you.

And, um, I I've enjoyed, I've enjoyed, um, your motivation and, and, uh, I just wanted everybody else to be able to enjoy it as well. So thank you for having me. Hey, I feel honored, Dirk. I mean, it's like I said, I've been a fan of what you guys do and I look forward to seeing you at the hunt expo here in a few months. Yeah. Yeah. I can't wait to hope to see you there. Good deal. Thanks. Thanks again. Mm-hmm.

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Hey guys, earlier this year we launched Meat Eater Kids Podcast and we made a deal where if you guys liked it and loved it and listened to it, we were going to make more. And you did and we did. And we're dropping a bunch new, five new Meat Eater Kids Podcast episodes starting November 25th. Again, it's a kid's show. You listen to it with your kids.

It occurs in three acts. There's a little history lesson or a wildlife ecology lesson. There's an animal call game that you play by listening to animal calls and trying to guess what animals you're hearing based on some clues. And then real live kids come in the studio and play kids trivia and work together to build up a little pot of money to donate to kids-focused conservation organizations. So Meat Eater Kids Podcast, coming back round two.

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