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Speech Transcript

0:00  

Hey, this is Rob Sanderson with the swell and if you really want to learn how to level up your life you should be listening to the time to shine today podcast with my good friend Scott Ferguson

0:10  

time to shine today varsity sweated a Scott Ferguson and we are Episode 141 with my really really good friend, Rob Sanderson from the swell mission in swell his surf waves enjoy life. Rob takes people that have been through acute trauma, major adversity, our nation’s heroes and first responders mainly he takes them and he actually takes them surfing. He has a mission. When he does take them surfing, to help them kind of set aside their hypervigilant. See, because they’re always on alert being our heroes to keep us safe. And he puts him on a surfboard. And when you’re on a surfboard, trust me, I can tell you firsthand that you have to be mindful, you must be present, you must be there. So I’m not going to spill too much more. I’m just going to start this interview here with a really good friend Rob Sanderson. From the swell mission.

1:08  

High to shine today varsity squad, it is Scott Ferguson. And welcome to the show where people that know us know our credo is we don’t want to have anyone feel like they have no one in my guy, Rob Sanderson. If you look at my shirt here, it’s surf waves enjoy life and he’s the co founder of swell and nonprofit and seeks to reinvigorate our nation’s heroes through surfing, haven’t experienced personal professional traumas. Rob Sanderson is a sympathetic peer for veterans and first responders and well suited to guide them to the path of decompression. swell provides the means to disconnect and process stress to the healing power of the ocean. As a surf coach, he understands firsthand how veterans first responders benefit from the ocean and surf decompression. Also, as a police sergeant with 18 years of dedicated service and commitment to excellence and public safety. He has been a leader in all aspects of policing. His model is decompress this connect and reinvigorate and I’m going to bring my guy Rob Sanderson on here. I’m so stoked to have this conversation. He’s such a huge heart, such a go giver, you know, he served, like you said almost 20 years as a first responder himself. And if you’re watching on YouTube, you see he has a beard now. So it kind of shows that he’s retired. He’s not undercover night now, or anything like that. But no, he rocks it. And so Rob, I’m gonna have you come on here Introduce yourself the time to shine today varsity squad. But first, what’s your favorite color and why?

2:35  

It’s got to be blue brother. Blue is the color of the ocean. It’s the color of the uniforms of my heroes, man. There you go. Color, the Blue Angels flight suits,

2:45  

they gotta go gotta look a little Navy in their little Navy in there. And that’s my color to actually I kind of go to purple. Sometimes Rob, just because it’s a mixture of red and blue, is I got that. That little red streak me from time to time. I’m sure as a police officer that came out with you as well, but no blues in your color wheel. And all the like swell gear, a lot of it’s blue. And it’s fantastic, which Rob was gracious enough to send me out some gear, which I am immensely grateful for him. So Rob, let’s get into the origins of like maybe a little bit about your time with the department and how that level up in your heart grew to help others really decompress.

3:21  

Yeah, man. So cop almost 20 years experienced a lot of cumulative stress acute trauma throughout my career. You know, not real bright. So it took me like 1617 years to kind of realize that I was using Surfing is like a positive outlet to kind of release some of that you know, cumulative trauma and just dump my bucket man and kind of reinvigorate. So, you know, I the only thing worse than not being able to go surfing Scott is being able to go surfing but not having any having anybody to go with. So, living in the Midwest, I started teaching guys around here, you know, to come out with me and I teach them how to surf. And I started to see kind of what that was doing for them and seeing some of that hyper vigilance kind of melt away. So as a group, we have a core group of Kansas surf team surfers, and we put our heads together and we form swell, man.

4:18  

So how does someone that’s landlocked in the heartland of America? Like literally the heartland of America? How did you like, take up take up surfing? When did you ever live on the coasts ever? What what’s your story with that?

4:32  

Yeah, so I mean, I was a Navy brat. You can see that’s my dad’s helmet there. But Wow,

4:37  

is that picture of you to also be actor?

4:40  

No, that’s me and my buddy. Actually, it’s a painting of me and my buddy going surfing. Nice man. Yeah, that he ended up sending me. So yeah, I’ve lived in Florida, Hawaii, California, Virginia, Texas, Alabama, Mississippi, and now Kansas and I have serve smokers. So right. I served a bunch growing up in You know, when I moved to the Midwest I started making surf trips and it was funny because people like you’re a surfer like like kind of rolling their eyes and like Well yeah, I mean, I go like four times a year at least. So yeah man just started started making trips to guys and kind of organically grew and as well, what is it about surfing?

5:17  

What is it like that? I could answer for myself and I bodyboard more than surf and I paddleboard a lot. But like surfing, what is it about surfing that really decompresses reinvigorates enough disconnect.

5:30  

I think for veterans and first responders like hyper vigilance is a big thing. And for you know, the varsity squad is not familiar with hypervigilance. It’s just kind of being like, on edge and on alert constantly. And it’s hard to kind of shed that. So when you’re out in the water, you know, me as a cop, I couldn’t have my police radio on me. It would have been really weird if I had a gun on me, you know, nobody’s trying to sneak up behind me maybe a shark but you know,

5:58  

it’s your environment.

6:01  

Yeah, you know, whatever. So, you know, I mean, like, you’re not like looking over your shoulder, not worried about it, you know, I’m about to fight this dude, am I gonna get run over by this car, and then you’re solely focused on the horizon, you’re not looking back towards you, or you’re looking out across the water, but you’re being mindful. And when you can do that, when you can be mindful and decompress that hyper vigilance just kind of melts away. And there’s something significantly therapeutic about it, I would say probably more so than, you know, you could go get from any psychologist psychiatrists. Sure.

6:34  

I mean, it’s in the ocean itself is a healing power. I mean, people gravitate to that for I mean, that’s why I moved from Michigan, again, Midwest, to Florida, you know, looking at the Atlantic Ocean right now. And it’s because, you know, because of that, it’s the powers that help heal and like you said, you have to be present in the situation or else you’re not getting up on the board. You have to be present. There’s no even the best surfers in the world that you know, have told me. You know, you know, Kelly Slater lucky enough to meet him for a minute. You know, even local guys like Johnson Kelly, Matt Aronson that are here in South Florida. They’re like, bro, you are present every minute. So they’re hypervigilance. If you want to get up on the board, it’s got to go away, right?

7:18  

Yeah, for sure. And I think it’s a it’s a chicken ego to man, it provides a little bit of perspective, it’s not like getting worked by Mother Nature, to let you know how small and insignificant you really are. You know, the veteran community and first responder community, there’s a fair amount of ego involved in that. So I think

7:37  

so. Yeah. I mean, I hope so. I mean, everybody knows my stance on the police. And, you know, you know, blue and I have a lot of blue that’s runs to my family, a lot of police officers, detectives and whatnot. And they are on alerts. You mean even at parties, even when you’re hanging out together with these guys. They’re still on alert. But yeah, can take them out to an environment where they’re not. Man, the things that that can do for a mindset is just fantastic, right? I mean, it’s just relaxes and puts you in just a mood of you’re not feeling threatened, except for the initial moment.

8:11  

And I think there’s something to be said for kind of taking yourself out of your comfort zone. There was a Dr. Crawford did a study on a different surf organization that took wounded veteran surfing. And what he found was he studied him for like three or four years and then wrote a book was that the improvement of the veteran self efficacy, so like their ability to go, I can accomplish goals, and I can, you know, surf this wave, even though I’ve never surfed before, was far more beneficial to the recovery from TTS than traditional therapies. So I think that, you know, taking somebody from the Midwest and putting them in the Pacific or Atlantic Ocean and go on, we’re going surfing and they learn that new skill, that anxiety and then be able to overcome in any election that comes from writing their first wave is important to recovery. Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. So how do you like how do people find you to be able to see if they’re the right fit for the swell program to take them on these trips? Well, fortunately, and unfortunately, there’s not a shortage of people that need decompression. So it’s a selection that our team puts together we’ll find a need. The last trip we made was three Overland Park, Kansas City metro officer, Metro officers, they, their best friend and Heather fop was shot and killed a line of duty. A couple of more actually on scene. So we approached his best friend who gave the eulogy and Brandon Favre great dude. And, you know, they’ve been dealing with not only working still but also Officer mosers. General has family running the fop and having to take that over so there was just a fun, so he was more than willing to get out of dodge. And take a trip. So grab two of his friends and man, we just did it. So we’ve got another one planned for this November where we found a veteran local officer that’s been doing serving us eight years in the Army and 20 years as a cop, 28 years of service and just really is in some neatness and decompression. He’s going to grab a buddy and we’re gonna meet up with a couple of California, Sacramento area officers to ride as well.

10:26  

I look so how do you fund these trips?

10:28  

fundraise, man, we sell gear, take donations, we’re a 501 c three. For the California trip. We did a wine tasting and food pairing, which was very successful even despite the COVID Sure. A bowl kind of limit well has to eat and drink, baby. Oh, yeah. Yeah, we had an era and it was it was great. We had a wine rep and he would talk about the wine and the chef would talk about, you know, the food and how they pair and it was just a great time. So yeah, man, we just, we have zero like monetary corporate sponsors right now. So it’s like, tooth and nail. I don’t know if you saw on our page or not. But I hosted a neighborhood golf tournament in my place a couple weeks ago, and I was just us hitting foam golf balls through the yards and wrap on awesome stuff. So man, what’s awesome. grassroots grinding. I

11:19  

love it. I love it. So

11:22  

what was the moment for you that said, okay, you because you’ve lived it. You know, you weren’t military, per se, but you were a first responder for 20 years, almost two decades. So what was that moment? They’re like, okay, man, like, I am going to use what’s helped me to help others.

11:40  

Again, I mean, I’m not the brightest dude. So like, you know, we’re not always the best to go. Yeah, when I do this, it makes me feel better, but when you can see it in somebody else. But really, so I guess the moment that really set it off for me was I was going on a training trip with a close buddy of mine. And he’s like, the quintessential like, cop. Right? hypervigilant, good dude on the TAC team leads attacking patrol supervisor anyway. So we’re going to San Antonio, I’m like, Hey, man, you want to run down to Corpus Christi real quick, a day early and catch a couple ways. Guys from the Midwest never been surfing like that. Let’s do this. So we go out there and you know, he’s doesn’t like fish. So I fed him a few tumblers of bourbon, put them out there on a paddleboard and push them into some waves. He was just like it was it was almost like he’s a different person. You kind of see it not just being out there in the water. Sure. Kind of that stress just kind of melted away, off. And he really just like sent all that other stuff aside, himself. Oh, it’s kind of initial.

12:50  

Yeah, what you do is it’s just amazing Robin. And you know, you’re doing stuff and you stepped up to the game. And it’s To me, it’s still blows my mind that some Midwest guy that’s really stepping up to the game. And I mean, there’s other people that do stuff with people on the water. And I see it all the time here in South Florida. They’ll do dog adoptions would put dogs on surfboards, like every weekend, like really right down the street, but what you’re doing from Midwest is, is phenomenal. I want to thank you for that man. Really? So let’s go back to our DeLorean with Marty McFly. Right? Let’s go back to the 22 year old Rob Sanderson. What kind of knowledge nuggets you drop it on? Rob don’t maybe help him level up, be less hyper vigilant. He kind of kind of pushed through the shortness learning curve.

13:33  

Yeah, food 22 I would say that some of the toughest lessons that I had to learn throughout my careers, just because you think it’s important doesn’t necessarily make it important. Right? You know, the being so focused on small minute details and getting frustrated when others didn’t pick up on that. So I would say that and then you know, there’s there’s certain things in this world that that you can’t control. And really put your heart and energy in those things that you can make positive change in and love efforts will not be in vain.

14:12  

So what what do you think people misunderstand about you the most wrong?

14:18  

Um, they probably so I’m a get things done kind of guy. And that kind of leads to some impatience on my part, but it’s out of it’s coming from a good place. So okay.

14:36  

My producers laughing right now because I’m the same way.

14:39  

Yeah, okay. All right.

14:40  

I’m like, going, but we have our way of projecting it. Yeah,

14:48  

like when when I say hey, Scott, let’s let’s do this. Like, I don’t mean like let’s do this in the future. I’m like, let’s do this right this second. So, you know, sometimes I get misunderstood is like, like, I’m mad at this. Because I’m completing this project, but it’s like when I get my mind heart set on something, I’m going for it.

15:05  

Love it. I love it. So how do you want your dash remembered that little line in between your incarnation date and your expiration date? How do you want Rob’s dash? Remember? Maybe your epitaph for your legacy?

15:19  

I would say that I serve others with purpose and intent.

15:23  

expand on that.

15:25  

Yeah. So I mean, when I was a cop, you know, I wasn’t on the forefront of my mind, it was the people that I was serving. So if I could go out and help somebody, but still, you know, do my job. That was the goal. And I’ll give you an example

15:45  

of trying to go off on too many tangents, Please, God,

15:47  

you’re good.

15:48  

Like, we got called. It was one of the last few arrests before I transferred out of petroleum. We got called to a grocery store on a lady that did shoplifted a bunch of groceries and she ended up leaving, and we pulled her over, one of my guys did so I went up and stopped into the stop to kind of talk to her. And she’s super nice lady, shoplifting groceries, just like I just didn’t have any money to just push the cart out. So drove back to the grocery store, a great grocery store, talk to the manager, he’s like, hey, it’s store policy, we’ve got to pursue charges. So they didn’t really have a chunk. We didn’t really have a choice as to whether or not this lady, but we had a choice whether or not to be like a good human being. So what we ended up doing is, yeah, we arrested the lady. But then I loaded all the groceries up and I took them back to the store and I rang them up, I took out my personal credit card, and I paid for Wow, I drove those groceries to her family at her apartment and help them load them into the fridge, picked up her boyfriend drove him back, picked up her car, so she wouldn’t have to pay a tow bill. So can we minimize the impact of that arrest on that family? And in the end, they got to eat? So I guess it’s a long way to answer your question. No,

16:58  

no, I that’s that’s just shows the go given heart where you really start with so how about how about a mistake you’ve made man, maybe on the force that you’re allowed to talk about? Something you could share with us? I mean, because you people are going to look at this to me, like Rob’s great, Rob’s great, Rob’s great when we all think you are but like, like in you’re not talking arrogant or anything. You’re very humble. But like, tell us about maybe one where you might have done it differently.

17:24  

Yeah, so I mean, I’ve made lots of mistakes.

17:30  

I think

17:33  

when we were

17:35  

so I was a police officer in Gulfport, Mississippi when Hurricane Katrina hit, and we work like 40 days straight 16 hour shifts, I don’t mean to make any excuses. I remember getting dispatched to a neighborhood dispute where these neighbors were arguing over something pretty minute, I can’t remember who it was. But I lost my es because I really kind of had it up to here with just everything that was going on. I just started screaming at both of these people, how ridiculous they were being and that was one case where I didn’t necessarily rise rise above the fray, and I wasn’t acting any more rational. Right. I just joined the screaming party. So I mean, I think there’s been periods of my career where maybe things like that had taken place, whether it been like, you know, inner relation things in the office, or areas where it my cumulative stress hit the roof, and I went off so

18:37  

well, but you learn from that. Hmm. And became a little, little less. Yeah, I mean, that was out of character for you

18:43  

know, 1005 I still remember it like it was yesterday. I still feel bad about it, even though I’m sure that I don’t know if those people even really remember that right. Young deputy is out there screaming.

18:58  

That’s great. So

19:01  

give me three things that Rob can’t live without.

19:04  

I can’t live out without my coffee. Okay. I can’t live without my family. And I can’t live without my surfing. Love it. I was hoping you’re

19:15  

gonna add that in there for the

19:18  

for the swell. So what would be Rob’s definition of a life well lived?

19:24  

I think living a fulfilling life that’s active. I you know, I think one that I was able to serve as many people and affect as many people positively as I could, while doing things that I love and being surrounded by my family. Wow.

19:42  

That’s awesome. It’s kind of like doing what you love in the service of people that love what you do, right. Love it. Love it. Love it. So as we wind things down here a little bit Rob would like to do our leveling up lightning round. So it’s five or six questions. You and I could talk an hour on each one of these We probably will have a couple adult beds here in the future. But, you know, let’s keep it five seconds. You can catch them all no explanation. So real easy peasy. You’re ready to rock. Let’s do it. Alright, let’s level up. What’s the best leveling up advice you’ve ever received?

20:16  

Be proud of yourself, and everything else will fall

20:20  

in line. Love it. Truth Truth. Sure, one of your personal habits that contributes to your success.

20:28  

I make my bed every morning.

20:30  

Yes, it’s strong. So not the book you’re reading now or the book. That’s a flavor of the month. Is there one book that stands out and maybe if I’m in my doldrums, like Fergie

20:40  

read, this. can’t hurt me. David God,

20:43  

David Goggins. Do g Love it. Love it. What’s your most commonly used emoji?

20:50  

Shaka

20:50  

jacket, Love it. Love it, love it. If you could be one age physically and still continue to learn and gain wisdom, physically one age for the rest of your life. Oh, would it be 30 I always say 32. It’s like that. 28 to 32 is like you get up in the morning. You can even had a couple of bags and still feel like you can get up there. I love it. What’s your? Well, this has already answered but outside us. Well, is there any charity in organization you’d like to give time or money to?

21:18  

Police athletic league. They’ve got a boxing gym up in Kansas City, Kansas and love to go out there and spark kids a little.

21:25  

That’s awesome. That’s awesome. So this one you can expand a little bit on? It’s a harder question. But what’s the best decade of music 6070s 80s or 90s?

21:37  

I’m gonna have to go with 90s in the but not the 90s grunge the 90s punk

21:42  

rock there. There you go. You don’t blink like blink 182 you like blink?

21:46  

Yeah, no effects. Blink 182 Yeah, dude,

21:50  

blink is my jam. And but I’m always I play blink 22 every morning. It’s amazing. I like the old like

21:55  

carousel, blink 180. Like, run Zika rise ban blink 182. Yeah, like,

22:00  

damn it and all their good jams, dude. Yeah, absolutely. So how can we find your brother

22:07  

hit me up on Facebook. You can find us at the swell. Or you can go to the swell. org or We’re also on Instagram, the swell mission.

22:18  

Love it. And all of those will be in the show notes below. So leave us with one last knowledge on do you want us to take with us internalize and take action number? Oh,

22:29  

yeah, I’d say that. You know, right now especially we need to reinvest in our nation’s heroes so that we can prolong their careers. I think everybody would agree that those first responders out there that are doing good, we need to keep them around. And yes, really help them level up.

22:49  

Love it. I love it in squad, you basically got a free masterclass from somebody that’s actually walked the talk through life, you know, somebody that has been in situations where it could cause acute trauma and stress. And he helps others that have gone through and if you’re went through it, you’re a first responder or even a veteran, let me introduce you to rob, I’m going to get him down here to the Jupiter area to kind of come and bring his program down here and get him surfing. You know, and again, he mentioned some people that are hyper vigilant and how surfing can really help them be mindful, not mind full. So you stay in the present. And basically, if you’re on a board, you have no choice if you want to stand up to be in that moment. And that’s these, the program that Robert swell provides for them, you know, he you, because it’s gonna make you check your ego. He’s gonna make you not focus on the stuff that’s going on outside your life, you’re going to be in the present, he’s going to remind us Rob reminded us to control what you can’t control. He’s once remembered as someone who’s served others with purpose and intent. You know, he lives an active fulfilling life affecting other people positively which rain through throughout this whole interview. And he wants big time for us to reinvest in our nation in our heroes. And again, this this program that Rob has is very close to my heart and what he’s doing is really helping being selfish, selfless, and helping people really level up their lives. So if there’s anybody out there that wants to contribute, please get a hold of me. Let me put you in touch with Rob. And in he’ll he’ll take whatever he can trust me because what he does is phenomenal. Rob has definitely earned his varsity letter here at time to shine today. Thank you so much for coming on. You’re humble. You’re hungry, you fire up in level up your health level up your wealth. Thank you so so much for what you do, brother. I love you. Thank you so much for coming on.

24:42  

Thanks, brother. Talk soon.

24:44  

Hey, thanks so much for listening to this episode of time to shine today podcast, proudly brought to you by southern New Jersey real estate real estate excellence who can be reached at 561-249-7266 and online at www dot Sutter and Nugent. dot com. If you are a business owner or professional who would like to be interviewed on time to shine today, please visit time to shine today.com slash guest. If you liked this episode, please subscribe on Apple podcasts, Google podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, I Heart Radio or wherever you get your podcasts. There’s a link in the show notes to our website. Also there you will see our recommended resources. We hope that you will support our show by supporting them. If you like what you have been listening to, it’d be great if you could just give us a five star rating and tell your friends to subscribe while you’re at it. I’m your host, Scott Ferguson. And until next time, let’s level up. It’s our time to shine.

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