From World Championship Kickboxing to physical paralysis #4

Find your voice - Episode 4 - F*ck it by Joshua Asquith

Joshua Asquith, is a genuinely loveable guy. He was a talented athlete destined to do great things, which he did. A World title in New York for kickboxing, semi professional football, acting in Macbeth to modelling he had the world at his feet.

Until the death of his two close friends suddenly rocked his world. He then got hit with Quinsy illness along with more health complications. But with a mindset of a true champion, my UK Rock (a nickname I give him) has found a way to control what he can control.

His mindset. He adopts a F*ck it mentality but the most beautiful thing about his story is, he sees himself as “ The luckiest man in the world”.

I urge you to follow his story and watch this space as he comes out of his comfort zone to prove that physical or mental challenges should never stop you from being average or giving up.

Thanks for listening

Free Audible book sign up:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Audible-Membership/dp/B00OPA2XFG?actionCode=AMN30DFT1Bk06604291990WX&tag=are86-21

Best book on Mindset by Carol Dweck: Mindset https://amzn.to/2QajMvZ

Support the podcast: https://www.patreon.com/findyourvoice

Links to me:

Website: https://www.arendeu.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aren.deu/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/arendeu

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aren.singh

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aren-deu-65443a4b/

Podcast: https://www.findyourvoicepodcast.com

YouTube: http://tiny.cc/51lx6y

Links to guest:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/josh_asquith/

#JustDeuIt & #FindYourVoice

[Music]

welcome to an episode of find your voice

a movement led by yours truly

Aren do a guy who has overcome

crippling anxiety adversity and

difficulty like so many of you in life

whose main goal now is to help you

combat your excuses take control of your

life write your own story and most

importantly find your voice so now

without further ado I welcome the host

of the show himself mr. Aren do what's

going on people thank you for tuning in

to the show today so this episode of

find your voice has really changed my

perspective and I suppose this is one of

the reasons I wanted to do this show

because I believe everyone has a story

and there's some powerful stories out

there that just not being told now I'm

very grateful for my guests coming on

the show because although I know him

through the property world I had no idea

about the other things that were going

on in his life now at such a young age

he has done more things then more things

than I've done and he's done things that

I suppose I wish I could have done but

more importantly than that I'm more

significant to this story and I hope you

can extract this from the end of the

podcast is how he's persevered through

so much adversity and when I say so much

adversity I mean there's a point in the

podcast where I've kind of had to stop

him listing the amount of stuff that

he's going through for the simple fact

that why it was hard to comprehend but -

I felt like the message was already

there and I'm here to get him back at a

later stage so we can obviously explore

that a little bit more but I remembered

and somewhere in the podcast you're

gonna hear this I refer to him as the UK

rock now I'm not talking about that

stick of candy that you get up that pole

pleasure Beach I'm talking about rockers

in the Dwayne Johnson because he gives

me inspiration or watch him on Instagram

and it gets me to the gym in the morning

it makes me kind of eradicate my excuses

but this gentleman that I spoke to does

the same because he's battling far worse

then Dwayne the rock Johnson at

such as young age as well and his story

is still being written I've managed to

bring him out of his comfort zone to

share his story so hopefully you guys

can appreciate that and I do appreciate

you time because it's difficult

sometimes sharing some of the stories

and there are some points in this

podcast which I don't even think he's

family knew about as well so I'm gonna

stop rambling and let's check out this

episode

okay so firstly I just want to begin by

welcoming Joshua to the show so how're

you doing today my friend very good

thank you you yeah not too bad thank you

not too bad so I just want to say thank

you for taking time out of your day

firstly and I've briefly introduced you

in the introduction myself but I think

it's important for the listeners to get

a feel for who you really are and to

hear from yourself so if you wouldn't

mind if you could just explain how you

basically progress through life and

ended up where you are now okay

so well first of all thank you for

having me no you're welcome anything

like this before so this should be fun I

think it's probably easiest to start

where I am now it's not a particularly

long journey but it's quite a packed one

I'm 24 I'm Josh I'm a physiotherapist

and I'm currently just hopefully gonna

be a property investor soon all things

being well God willing you will be so

start another child I am I was really

really lucky I had a really nice mother

she gave me everything she works all

hours of the day so much so that for the

first few years of my life I really saw

that much of her cuz she was always just

kind of working hard and slaving away to

give me and my sisters a good life I had

an amazing step dad and I had a

intermittent real biological father

throughout reels a bad word my Stefan is

my real dad book and biological father

and I saw every couple of weekends and

came down to Birmingham because that's

where his family are so I got to have a

little bit of my black heritage a mixed

race by the way because you can't really

see it no I Rachel whatever you want to

call it and played a lot of sports

being a kid through school and I am also

did a an African recreation of Macbeth

with some really famous actors which was

really interesting experience although

it kind of fit with some of the things

that I went to go and do in my teens so

in my teens I am through school was

fairly normal with the exception of I

was fighting as a kickboxer for Great

Britain

so from kind of why I went when

traveling around New Zealand with my

family in year eight of school so I was

probably 13 got back start playing some

football got given some trials for a

local football academy near me and they

were preseason trials so I went through

Google to see if I could find somewhere

that keep me fit over this summer found

this place advertised as fitness

kickboxing

I fell in love with it very quickly and

from then on I kind of never went to the

trials never pursued it that much

further and started fighting I had my

first fight fortunately or unfortunately

for me it was with the current world

champion from my age group and my weight

and did really well

- just somehow scrape a victory off him

he's now one of my really good friends

actually and then from then on I kind of

thought well maybe I'm not too bad at

this so stuck it out eventually carried

on fighting every week around the

country and then ended up fighting for

Great Britain which was really nice got

to travel around the world then got my

first proper world title in New York

which was kind of cool went out there

then I came home went back to school for

a few days

when then we're back to training and

then got called up to go and fight I

think that my next one was I picked up

in Florida mm-hmm then I did I went to

fight for a European title in Rome

brought my toe in the finals it's kind

of like knockout stages to get there

brought my toe in the final came really

close second then yeah so I kind of just

carried on traveling got to see some

what got to see some really really cool

places like Sicily Serbia

and then I managed to keep up my grades

through school so kept my mom happy kept

my stepdad happy and then I got to about

17 and it all started to change quite

rapidly from there can I just stop you

just for a quick second just before we

go into that so obviously you've had a

very very dull boring life and not not

really done much but they're just so

many questions that it's almost like

watching a listen to a movie so I just

wanna ask you a couple of questions just

quickly then would jump straight back

into where you weigh the cost so you

played Macbeth it was that sort of like

was it a school role or was it sort of

an external audition or oh yeah sorry so

it was kind of there was an arm to the

young Shakespeare come okay they were

kind of doing some diverse work they

were travelling around the country and

there's some adult actors in it as well

and I just I don't know how I came about

having this audition but ended up

auditioning for this role and then I was

in a park in Salford called Horton park

with my mum just having a picnic and she

got a phone call saying that I'd been

accepted to play the role of young

Macduff Wow all right Mac Duff sorry so

it was Macbeth that was the math was

that play my role was young Magda right

okay shows how much I know about

Shakespeare okay have you done any sort

of acting since then or that was the

last of my kind of theater acting I went

I wanted to go back into it and then got

sidetracked by football but then when I

turned about 17 mm-hmm I actually know

16 when I left school I went back into

acting kind of by accident okay and

another one I've got here is kickboxing

so I grew up as a massive massive Van

Damme fan fan I'm not sure if you if you

know him I do I'm fantastic

I would have loved to have done

kickboxing and so kick box for Great

Britain that's fantastic but then you

went on to football as well yes

Wow okay out of the two if you have to

choose one and if you could have pursued

it for the rest of your career which one

would you have gone with

very very very good question I wouldn't

kick boxing I would say okay yeah I'm

passionate I love football I'm really

really passionate about football what

kickboxing gave me a and kind of

extended family around the world hmm

and in terms of the places you've been

you mentioned Sicily with what was what

would you say was the greatest place

that you've seen oh the most interesting

place I've seen was Serbia I think oh

wow why'd you say that because where we

stayed we got as with the Great Britain

team we got pop in a five-star hotel and

this five-star hotel was kind of like a

it was built within a mall or the mall

was it built within the hotel I don't

really know which one but it was huge

but as he looked across the road you saw

all the old war torn houses it still had

bullet holes in them and things like

that and it was a reality shock it was

one of those places where you have to

get police escort around with you from

Britain and oh wow that must've been

some experience yeah it was sorry yeah I

just had all these questions thinking oh

my god this guy's done a lot we're not

even at 17 yet so yeah sorry if you want

to continue from 17 you said it went a

little bit downhill yeah so it didn't go

straight downhill it kind of seems a

peak fairly early I was playing football

and we're playing an elite called the

Northwest Youth Alliance which is

essentially the the Youth League of the

semi-pro football teams around the

Northwest and it was kind of like the

highest non professional

semi-professional level you could be at

below 18 if you weren't in one of those

Pro slash semi-pro first team selections

so I was playing there and having a

really really good time really enjoying

myself and I'd also signed to a modeling

agency

at that point for a little bit of extra

money and there is between shoots where

hour between castings

well I'd actually been cast there was

the occasional day of extra work and one

day I got a phone call saying do you

want to do a day of extra work and I

thought kind of thought well it beats

going to college so yeah did a day of

extra work up to do my college work

there anyway just quickly jump in on

that if anyone out there listening

this says they've got no time to do

anything extra I just not gonna believe

him because I don't know how you'll fit

in all this in sorry carry on me of

course and so I kind of did a few more

days of extra work and then it kind of

just evolved into doing a few one-line

roles in different TV programs and then

I joined then after that I thought maybe

I should learn what I'm doing so

enjoying like a drama group that's

really well-known in the northwest and

joined a drive during an acting agency

and was being put forward for some

really good roles and at that time I was

also just about to hit sponsorship from

one of the kind of biggest martial arts

fight companies that were around at the

time so it's doing really well as

playing well at football my grades are

going well at college and then all of a

sudden I got back to got back to college

and I was just having a few days off

from everything that was doing just to

try and recover recuperate and I was

driving from my mom's to my Nan's

which was not very far away less than a

mile away and I remember getting a phone

call down a one-way street and I

answered the phone on speakerphone and

chucked it on the front sea and it was

just somebody in floods of tears and I

thought why are you calling me in foot

to tears and it was a phone call to say

that one of my oldest ever friends had

got meningitis and died in the night

he'd got it the day before and he he

died in the night and I am so I kind of

just stopped the car and couldn't move

it mmm I had to put the phone down to

call my mom and ask her would she come

walk for the car and drive it around to

my Nan's mm-hmm

and I think that kind of I think that

was probably the start of maybe it was a

stress or something in my in my life

that started maybe it was something the

straw that broke the camel's back from

when I was carrying too much from do if

I'm acting fighting playing football

doing my college work oh I also had a

job at McDonald's which is just in your

spare a few hours yeah so it's kind of

like and now I was where I should have

probably been

leave I was I was working at McDonald's

for a little bit of extra money and I'm

yes I'll then I kind of a few weeks

after that I was grading for my black

belt and missed it quite a few times

though I'd have to go and do my black

belt and then a fight had come up and

I'd take that instead because thought I

was probably more important as part way

through my black garden I got this kind

of it was just a sore throat and my

black back was actually down near

Telford somewhere and I live in in

Bolton which is I don't know two hours

away or something like that

and I was and I got this sore throat and

welcome the next day no tonsillitis and

I thought nothing of it going to college

and have some salt water couple of

paracetamol see how it gets on all the

time I was kind of like trying to deal

with my my grief so I thought well

actually maybe just kind of felt bad

because I was in a bad headspace

and it was coming up to exam time and

all the rest of it and I am so it never

really went away so I went to the doctor

who's got some antibiotics it cleared

away for a couple of days came back and

that process kind of repeated about I

think it was 14 15 times I got some

slices in a row

between going to the doctors getting

painkillers and I'm one of those

occasions I am my at my mum's house the

floors are on different levels it's a

really old house and my mum's on the

very top floor my bedroom is on the

middle floor and I kind of there was a

point where I hadn't eaten anything for

about ten days I've lost 11 kilos in

body weight and I was just lay in my bed

just sweating and in agony and I

couldn't I went to take a tiny codeine

tablet to kill some of the pain and I

think it closed what little was left of

my throat so I couldn't so I kind of

crawled upstairs mom or dad's room and

that's kind of last thing I remember

so I got the hospital and they were they

said that you were very lucky because

you were if you'd come any later then

that kind of would have been the end of

you on that's what it said to my mom I

wasn't particularly awake for of course

yeah and this was what when your

17:18 yeah 17 on the brink of 18 so

eventually that cleared up happened

again and it was because of something

called Quincy's which are kind of

abscesses which sit behind these tonsils

and they're filled with just bacteria

which when they burst they give you they

can give you some really serious sepsis

but Maya just burst so I was lucky to be

in the hospital as mine burst so I was

luckier than most that get that then it

happened again about six months later

cut the rest of that story short because

it's quite a long story of me being out

is there a reason why that happened or

is it just literally like a bacterial

infection or was it a matter of you

being perhaps rundown or everything

because you were doing about 300 things

a day I think maybe it was being so

rundown and then being stressed because

what I forgot to mention was in this

other time there was a close friend of

mine it was a female friend of mine that

hadn't died sushi she had a headache

just never with a headache and it turns

out that she had a brain tumor so one

side kind of recovered from the couple

of rounds of Quincy's and my different

bouts of tonsillitis I am I had 18

months of what they call post-viral

fatigue syndrome which is essentially

just anybody's and there's kind of like

I didn't have the energy to do anything

for the first six months if I wanted to

get from my bed to downstairs

I would have to have somebody either

side of me because my legs weren't

really strong enough to carry me from

anywhere to anywhere and if if I so I

could manage kind of a longer landing to

the toilet because I could crawl it'd

take me a while so it'd be like I'm the

first woman black right set off now

because if you need a way then you want

to get caught short

so about I had about six to twelve

months of not being able to kind of be

left on my own for too long just because

I couldn't do anything for myself really

I couldn't I couldn't struggle to lift

my shoulders from the bed it felt like

somebody had nailed big nails through

the front of my shoulders and

into sorry if I went quiet because I was

looking at my shoulders just remembering

nice line into the bed then after that I

kind of thought oh well kind of on the

mend here now so I started to get a

little bit fitter and I thought right

I'll go back to football training so my

team were nice enough to have me back

went back to football training minus

three training sessions of me doing kind

of 25% of what the rest of the team were

doing and then I got home at one point

and my left knee just ballooned I don't

know if anybody's ever injured their ACL

but I've seen one but it's kind of like

you need your swells up goes purple but

and I thought or mine hasn't gone purple

so maybe it's something else but I

couldn't it was so strong I couldn't fit

my trousers on the next day so I thought

oh well I'll ice it and blah blah blah

rested it never went away went to the

doctors they gave me some

anti-inflammatories it never went away

they sent me to a consultant who did a

some keyhole surgery never went away and

then so they sent me to Rheumatology

Department to see what was going on

they sent give me lots of blood tests

and nothing came back positive they

drained the fluid couldn't figure out

what it was as soon as they drained the

fluid it came back every single time and

during this process it lasted about nine

months of me going back and forth all

this time I felt really lethargic and

just not like the old me that could do

all those other things I could barely

find the energy to juice go to college

or to just go and well I got fired from

my McDonald's job for being too ill and

so oh sorry you feel strange bringing it

all back I can only imagine so yeah from

from there kind of then as they kind of

figured out what was going on

it sort of deteriorated and it spread

from my knee to my left hip and then I

couldn't really use my left leg very

well a lot of the time which they

thought caused a problem in my right hip

turns out it was just the same problem

and then it moved up from my hip

two joints in my back and then it spread

up through the majority of my back it

spread into my fingers spread into my

toes and it got to a point where as I

got to a kind of I got through my

a-levels got really good grades somehow

somebody was looking over me gone to a

physiotherapy course as that kind of all

was happening I was just getting worse

and worse and kind of more and I don't

say disabled because it's not a great

word but I was I wasn't able to do the

things that to do anything and kind of

always felt like I had the flu my eyes

were always on fire and it messed with

the way that my urinary function worked

and all kinds of other problems and then

it got to a point where I just

completely intermittent that completely

could not move so in my second year of

university at the end of it I am I just

those days where probably three days out

of the week I was bed bound anyway this

is getting probably getting bored no no

it's not to be honest I mean in the

intro which everyone hears and one of

the reasons for this podcast is to

basically and to combat people's excuses

because I believe that we always look

and we always think the grass is greener

on the other side or we've got it worse

than other people and we always give us

our some rationale or reason in what we

can't particularly do something and the

whole premise behind this podcast itself

is to hear people who have gone through

such adversity but are still getting on

with it and just because at the end of

the day there's a guy interviewed the

other day and he mentioned you've got

two choices in life you either go

backwards or you go forwards and mm-hm

for me it's inspiring to hear you say

all this because even myself and I'm

guilty of this myself is I'm known as

the guy with the really poor immune

system because I always catch a cold

I've got a tissue in my hand as were

speaking now it's the kind of person I

am I'm always known for the guy with

Kleenex and people laugh I should have

shares with them but I've I've always

suffered but at the same time I've

almost become a victim of my own story

as well because I mean I'm here telling

people they shouldn't make excuses or

the stories we tell ourselves but

dictate our lives and I'm sitting here

feeling sorry for myself because I get

cold easily and I've just listened to

your story and I'm just thinking I've

got it so easy and and I'm sure I'm sure

people listening to this up it I think

in the same because when I first saw you

as well

I always recognized someone who keeps in

good shape and looks after him and

you've got very good physique you look

while you look like you eat well

training well and you've got all this

going on in the background and up until

this conversation now where I've

actually asked you specifically if you

would have mind opening up just for

their listeners you've never mentioned

you never mention any of these excuses

so I think it's admirable to be honest

mate and it's inspiring so I wouldn't

for one second think it's boring I think

thank you people should hear this and

people should take inspiration from it

because I'd be very shocked if someone

listening to this has had that much

trauma and not to mention at the age of

17 you've also lost two of your best

friends I mean I I've dealt with grief

and I'm sure many of my listeners and

even some of the people I've interviewed

have dealt with a lot of grief and loss

of family but I was what 26 27 wouldn't

when it happened to me I don't know if I

had the emotion of stability at 17 if I

had gone through what you'd gone through

to manage the same way so please

continue

honestly it's inspiring me okay as long

as I'm not boring anybody no I'll make

basically I managed to get through

University with a few other challenges

which I'll touch on later but he got to

a point it kind of everything that was

going through reared its head kind of

last year so up through all the still

from kind of age 17 to age 24 yeah 24 I

kind of I was kind of plowing on yes but

nothing ever felt right like I never

felt like I had the energy to do what I

was doing but I was doing it anyway but

I never felt like I could my attention

span dwindled massively and and it was

just hard to kind of couldn't have make

a plan because I didn't know whether I

was gonna need my crook shoes or whether

I was gonna be bed bound or whether I

was gonna be okay to go and walk

somewhere

and it wasn't all doom and gloom within

this because at one point I was on

really really high dose of steroids

and I felt like Superman for about so

that explains your physique then 2021

and I just managed to kind of keep it

from there I suppose I got I got lucky

there but throughout all of this I was

kind of despite the fact that I couldn't

so

explains what really said last year or

even this year as opposed to a certain

extent it kind of I got to a point where

I was on my crutches for two or three

days a week I was stuck in bed for two

or three days a week then the other

couple of days a week I was kind of I

was I wouldn't say okay but I was good

compared to the other bits so sometimes

I'd have a couple of days where I was

good sometimes I'd have one day

sometimes out of four days I've never

really know so I couldn't really make

any particular plans and I got to a

point where it was creeping up my spine

so much that driving to work as a I'd

always be on my crutches at work as a

physiotherapist which came with its own

set of challenges not one not only being

the jokes of all maybe you need a physio

or can I help you where there's kind of

like eight speed bumps between there on

the route that I take to the clinic

where I work and see most of my patients

and those peoples are only you could

easily do thirty miles an hour over them

and not particularly feel it but my back

was so sore that by the end of those

speed bumps there was a I'd have to turn

left a junction some traffic lights and

I would have to pull the car over at the

traffic lights loved to get out of the

car just to try and catch my breath

because I was so I was so winded and

I've broke I've been kicked in the ribs

and broken them

semia I've had all sorts of pain book I

was in so much pain

every day going over these people I just

had to pull the car over and just gasped

for air just to try and just so I could

finish my journey to work Wow

all the time while this was happening I

was trying different medications which

weren't helping with the pain but one of

them is a it's quite a commonly used

drug in rheumatology it's called

methotrexate and it's in the

chemotherapy family and it the side

effects that fairly similar you don't

tend to lose your hair but the side

effects such as vomiting and so I would

take my medication on Monday and spend

Tuesday and Wednesday kind of over the

toilet bowl when I could get there and

and I would have to excuse myself from

my patients or I'd actually just take

days away from clinic or I'd just break

into random sweats while I was talking

to people and just almost saturate

myself in sweat as a as a side effect of

the medication and I am I had some other

health problems that going on at the

same time so kind of 18 months ago they

found I had an x-ray just to track the

progress of the disease through my

joints and they found a tumor in my hip

so for the past few years with the past

few years for the past few months being

under investigation for some cancer in

my hip all of the medications that had

been taken it kind of slowed my kidney

function down to below 20% so those

talks of me needing some specialist

kidney treatment or potentially getting

to the point where I'd need a kidney

transplant if things didn't pick up and

yeah so that's kind of my health story I

kind of lost for words to be honest erm

I think more importantly just currently

I wish you all the best with the cancer

scare hopefully is just a scare I know

cancer has affected millions of people

across the world is is broken through my

family as well so mm-hmm it's something

that I don't know I just have a bad bad

taste in my mouth when I think of cancer

so hope hope to God and I'm not a

religious man but I pray you know you

recovery I think you've been I think you

could do with a little bit of luck mate

to be honest because you've sort of

collected everybody's illnesses and how

you still manage to keep smiling and

still keep going and you're not sitting

there making excuses and I'm actually

amazed because luck

said earlier this is the first time

we've spoken really in-depth about about

your life and stuff I mean looking from

the outside it's a completely different

perspective I mean nobody would think

that you've been through half of this

and and I'm sure you could probably

speak for another 20 minutes on some of

the stuff that you're experiencing and

I'm not trying to move past that because

I think it's important but I think the

lesson is here already that people

should really just feel grateful for

everything that we have and it's the

little things in life

we're often chasing some sort of

destination in terms of it's going to

give us happiness when we've got

everything that we technically need if

we just look at it in the right way to

be happy now I've got a lot of

admiration for you mate you're young as

well so you keep going and hopefully

things will just start turning back

around for you I believe that your

thoughts matter as well so I'm not quite

sure how you are in terms of your your

mindset and stuff but I do believe and

I've done a bit of research I know I'm

not an expert that how we speak to

ourselves can dictate our physiology

mm-hmm I know for myself for example if

we use the analogy that I used to be

scared of dogs and if somebody mentioned

a dog for example my physiology would

change I would almost mmm as if the dog

was there and I think here I think

people are aware of sometimes their

thoughts it might not necessarily be

like a spider or a snake but sometimes

we're giving ourselves these fearful

thoughts that are affecting our

physiology so hopefully you're working

on your mindset I'm sure you are I know

you're doing pretty much everything else

so hopefully you're developing on that

and if you wouldn't mind if I could just

because I'm fascinated by how you keep

going and I'm sure listeners are

probably thinking firstly how is this

guy doing all this in 24 hours and then

secondly with all these complications

that you've got but if you could just

explain a day in the life of your life

now so say for instance from the moment

you wake up to the moment you go to

sleep because I just think it's

important because if there are people

that out there making excuses for what

they can't do stuff or they're just

feeling a bit under the weather and

myself included in that I'm not perfect

thank you just how of course yeah so I

don't have a set routine because I've

never been able to have a set routine

because I don't know whether I could

actually make our bed to do my day or

not but I do

certain things that that do regardless

of whatever condition I wake up in and

the first thing I do is I wake up and

contrary to what everybody tells you is

I checked my phone and I checked my

phone in fear that somebody has sent me

something that would be something I

couldn't get over maybe I've lost all

that I wouldn't like to see maybe I've

lost a family member or something and if

that's not the case then I go straight

into believing that I'm the luckiest man

I know which puts a smile on my face

Absalon I'll put something I put some

nice music on usually it's a song called

the fire by John Legend and the roots it

inspires me that song and or something

by Stevie Wonder or something just

something half-baked something that I've

heard and something that keeps me in a

good place and then if I can move I'll

get up and I'll have a dance to this

song well nobody's watching absolutely

right luck cheers me up a bit and then I

love that attack my day home usually if

I haven't some kind of thing planned in

the morning I will be awake two and a

half hours before it if possible just

because if I'm if I wake up and I'm

incredibly sore and stiff then sometimes

I can feel a little bit better in two to

two to three hours time something like

that so I just give myself that gap for

just in case but that's kind of my only

daily routine I suppose okay okay and in

terms of exercise and stuff I mean I

think you've done enough exercise by the

way to last a lifetime

but if we are talking about exercise

because I believe and I always try and

promote with my clients as well that

exercise is fundamental because you can

literally take some of the the main

things from that in terms of like

resilience and building calluses and

stuff into anything so do you still are

you still able to exercise maybe two or

three times a week or do you kind of

knock that on the head and look look at

more on how you're feeling and then

assess the day as you go on if I

physically can do something then I will

do it

I believe that rule that I have so if it

means that I have to crawl to a place to

do some exercise

where my bottom half doesn't work and my

top half does then I'll do what I can

with my top half Wow and that is my only

rule so sometimes it's just my left side

which I can't stand on or can't use or

then my right side is perfectly looking

I'm looking after two sides and that

side will work or if it's my right side

that doesn't work then maybe my left

side is useful so I try my new actually

have a mutual friend that put my state

is about fitness goals and my fitness

goal for this year is to do whatever it

takes to be well enough to be

consistently able to go to the gym and

do what I want

twice a week by February 21st so you can

home it to that I've already made you've

actually got me feeling guilty now

because I did some cardio in the morning

and I was planning on doing a leg

session around 12:00 and I had a little

bit of Dom's and I was like now I'm not

gonna do it and I wish I'd recorded this

early because may inspire me to get my

ass to the gym because I feel bad now

but I just loved what you said then I've

just made a note of it I'm lucky enough

to have two sides and I think that's

incredible because that's perspective

and I suppose maybe you've kind of been

forced into this reality I think a lot

of people go through adversity and it

makes them stronger and they do very

well on the flip side you get people who

go through adversity and they just sit

there and feel sorry for themselves a

hole their whole life you also have

another set of people I believe on a

macro level who don't really necessarily

have the adversity or haven't

experienced it yet and they're kind of

waiting for it they're kind of waiting

for that wake up wake-up call

and I just wish that they could get some

sort of inspiration or motivation or

whatever you want to call it from

somebody like yourself because like like

you mentioned previously like with with

the death of your your friend and like

life could just be taken away tomorrow

or your own capabilities I mean you were

in an extremely talented athlete and all

of a sudden now you're kind of very

grateful just to be able to go to the

gym twice and I just find it that

sometimes we think I will leave it till

tomorrow we'll leave it to next year and

that's not promised it's it's a shame

you don't actually actually I'm not

trying to give you another job here but

it's a shame you don't you don't you

don't post more often

about your life and story because I'll

tell you what you didn't fire a lot more

people because I get inspired by people

like say for instance the rock and I

think the whole world loves the Rockies

kind of like the ultimate guy and

sometimes you feel like you can't be

bothered to do something you'll see you

stay ascent boom you're off but for

yourself to get there mate you are you

are actually my UK rock at the minute so

that's a new name for you so keep it up

but if you do get time I think the world

would love to hear a little bit more

about you and hopefully this episode as

well will give give them a little bit

more of an insight into into your story

because it's fascinating so far me

really enjoyed it and I've also got a

I've just made a note I need to listen

to the fire by John so that's someone

next list I'm gonna move it over and I'm

gonna move it over to fears at the

minute you seem kind of unbreakable to

me but if I was to ask you what your

biggest fear is given that you've been

through so much already

would that be I thought thought long and

hard about this question and I mean I'm

gonna give you a bit of round the houses

answer and so I'm kind of scared of

everything there's not many things in

life that doesn't scare me

kind of walking down the street scares

me to an extent but by that same virtue

there's nothing really that scares me

because everything seems to scare me an

equal amount so I'm not gonna be pirate

if I'm not paralyzed by a paralyzing

condition I'm not gonna be paralyzed by

my fears especially if I'm scared of

everything in everybody so there's not

really anything that scares me

other than mediocrity I suppose I don't

particularly believe that I was put here

to be mediocre and fall into the crowd

and to be and just to not make a

difference to anybody else's life so I

think not filling that purpose that I

believe I've held and that's kind of

scares me I love that well in this

conversation may I feel like I just feel

closer to you as a person now I don't

haven't you opened up and I've got a lot

more respect not that I never had any

more respect anyway that kind of come

out the wrong way but generally

listening to your story and

understanding what you said I've got so

much admiration for you and I was I sit

here sometimes and I I do a lot of self

talking mm-hmm what I always do is I was

safer in somewhere can I always give my

self his self talk like I'm the baddest

on the planet for example it's kind of

like a David Goggins thing love it who

else is working at 5 or 5 a.m. in the

morning and now all of a sudden I know

what I'm gonna be doing in the morning

I'm gonna be thinking Joshua's work you

know he's ill he's got about six jobs to

do he's gonna go to Mackey's and we

apply for a job because he's bored I

better get going so I'm May hats off to

you honestly I salute you thank you so

normally at this stage I kind of jump in

and ask people about adversity and and I

don't even know where to start with you

mate because I think you've had obstacle

after obstacle after obstacle that you

you seem to be facing but but I'm gonna

ask you anyway because I'm sure there's

that there's a lesson here for the

listeners here that they can take away

so if you could just tell me about a

time that you faced great adversity

something that you haven't maybe

mentioned at the minute and how you

persevered through it and then if you

could just explain the lessons and what

he's taught you because I think someone

like yourself who's given given that

example it's gonna mean a lot more than

somebody just reading a book or reading

a quote yeah so and I'm gonna pick a

period of a couple of months in my life

where everything kind of went a little

bit wrong I'm gonna choose the Christmas

of the end of my second year at

university and so they'd reached a point

where as I've mentioned before I wasn't

particularly fit enough to go and work

as a I would have worked as a waiter or

something because that's what I've done

in my bits where I was fitting like my

first year Union College and there was a

point where I wasn't fit enough to do

any of that my student loan wasn't

particularly covering my rent at all

I had a bursary to train which didn't

which covered me to eat and a few of my

bills but I was kind of like 1999 pounds

into a 2,000 pound overdraft and it was

about the Christmas and it was about

Christmastime so I was kind of I asked

my during that time as well I should say

that my um my stepdad had left my mom so

and just because they parted ways at

which meant that I was kind of the one

that was there to kind of I was up till

4:00 in the morning with my mom or with

my sisters who were just kind of all

devastated by it and at the same time I

deadlines to me etc and and all that

time I had bills that I couldn't pay so

it was kind of a point where I had asked

my mom for Christmas could I have some

money to buy my younger and my older

sisters and some Christmas presents

there's otherwise they wouldn't have got

anything from me and I would never have

them miss out just because I'd

mismanaged my money or whatever and so

all the time whilst this was going on my

my nan on my mom's side had got a

serious case of rapidly deteriorating

outsiders where we couldn't care for her

anymore

and so we had to try and find her a home

and my nan was kind of the one which

which brought me off as I said at the

start when my mom was working so hard

and was working really hard and and my

stepdads dad got some got Parkinson's

and so we were trying to find ways to

help him so I'm just trying to keep

everybody afloat because I was the one

that that kind of just brushes stuff off

because I've ruined everything else off

and Kevin Hart says he shoulder shrug

stuff I just kind of brush it off I

don't really have much alders but I got

to a point where it kind of all got and

it just all the time it was just I was

just kind of I couldn't make head or

tail of anything because I was I had so

much to transfigure out out and

everything hurt so much physically and I

couldn't I was trying to figure out

bills and I was trying to do my

assignments so I didn't failing it kept

behind I'd already been kept behind in

college and I definitely didn't want

that feeling again so there was a point

where I kind of when I'd gone back home

there was a

a good bridge him Bolton that's quite

high and quite secluded I took myself to

it and just kind of thinking about what

what the consequences would be here if I

was just to kind of take a trip and look

at the bottom of it I don't know what I

kind of don't know what what stopped me

I think it was just the fact that I

couldn't

everybody was suffering so much already

that I wasn't gonna make them suffer

anymore anymore

yeah and that was I think that was

probably like my well at least I thought

that was my rock bottom and then after

Christmas there was a whole host of

bills which I'd never which didn't even

account for just cuz my head was

spinning so I ended up about three

thousand pounds into my two thousand

pound overdraft and I couldn't didn't

want to ask anybody because everybody

was already suffering with their own

problems at home so I just kind of I

think that was probably my moment of

adversity now of anything else that I

kind of struggled with the most and I

think I got through it I found a Jim

Rohn video on YouTube and watch that and

that kind of made me feel a little bit

better and then I read a couple of books

like The Alchemist and thought actually

my life doesn't have to kind of be this

way so for well the most immediate

problem that I can affect is my money

problem so I learned a couple of new

skills that learn a little bit of online

marketing and look we found a way to

sell those and made my broke even and

then my student loan came in so I had a

little bit of money and so I could buy a

couple more presents for my better half

and I didn't have to worry so much then

about the bills for my rent and stuff

like that so that was kind of nice and

from there I kind of thought well

there's no real situation that says

that's as bad as that and I've been kind

of smiling ever since to be honest I

think reflecting on everything that has

been with my friends my family etc it

kind of that's why I think I'm the

luckiest man I know cuz

come through it all and I still got

majority of my family still got the

majority of my friends and still got an

amazing dog lovely girlfriend and I've

managed to get a really really nice

career so yeah I love that I'm just very

glad firstly that you didn't make the

wrong move that day at the bridge

because I think the world and your

family and your friends and even myself

now getting to know you more you would

have all missed out mate and I mean that

sincerely you also touched on a very

good thing there as well I think when

you when you've been at rock bottom and

I don't wish this on anyone who hasn't

been there but sometimes I feel that if

you've been rock bottom and you come out

of it then everything's a blessing like

you said you're the luckiest man that

you know in the world and I suppose I

see this from my mom I see from my nan

who have who have had similar adversity

to yourself and I used to laugh because

I used to relate them to an episode of

EastEnders I was like you've almost got

like a soap opera kind of life like that

the adversity that we've always gone

through and just hearing obviously

yourself one

it proves that everyone in the world is

going through something we're all facing

our own battles and stuff just to kind

of take the gratitude element from it

and move forward from it and having come

out of it so even if you moved one step

away so you move one step away from that

bridge now everything is it's so much

better that quite if that kind of makes

sense I think I think you've got the

right perspective now and I'd certainly

urge you because I'm sure you've got a

very very good Network knowing the

person you are and the piss and anything

that you've got that if ever you do feel

that things spiral out of control please

do always reach out I'm sure you've got

many people close to you as well that

you can rely on and one thing I realized

is when I used to struggle

I used to enclose a lot of stuff and

that's even from like my missus at the

time or my mom or my brother and it was

only when I started showing

vulnerability and I think for a guy

Vaughn durability is strength and we we

saw often me we have this provider that

we can't cry or we made her cry I cry

all the time you know I'm not I'm not

afraid to say that because

by me expressing my emotions and

speaking about it it just helps me so

much in terms of face and face in

whatever I'm going through and basically

dealing with it so I'm proud of you mate

and I can't believe a young you are to

show such intelligence you mentioned

also something else I just took a note

of which was about the managing money

and how you didn't when your sisters to

be without you took a kind of ability

for mismanaging your money and up until

probably the age of 25 myself I I had no

sense of responsibility so again like

your emotional intelligence is fantastic

so um was it awkward for you man I got

my fingers crossed for you we're on the

way up the buzzer has gone off and what

I'm gonna be doing now is putting you

through the paces so we're gonna see how

quickly you can think and how quick you

can answer as many questions as possible

let's do it there is no right or wrong

if you can't think just say pass and

we're gonna start the timer for 60

seconds in three two one

okay the ability to fly or be invisible

fly money or fame money Netflix or

YouTube YouTube Van Damme or Bruce Lee

Van Damme Coke or Pepsi pass would you

rather know how you would die or when

you were die pass summer or winter the

winter your favourite place in the whole

wide world grasmere in the latest rate

speak all languages will be able to

speak to animals animals if you could

abolish one thing in the world what

would it be

it's self doubt love that your favorite

song ever the fire read minds or predict

the future and put it in feature cats or

dogs dog have you ever been in a fight

then you know this hundreds and did you

always win no favorite movie star Amber

Heard pancakes or waffles pancakes

comedy or horror comedy singing or

dancing dancing okay and that's time but

I'm curious I don't know why you pass

but Coke or Pepsi mate I need to know

cuz I don't really care for either

alright okay

you don't drink any of them I do I don't

care okay okay well I kind of carry a

little bit just a personal thing I'm a

Pepsi fan anyway a Pepsi

expand so okay we're just pretend that

you like Pepsi as our yeah okay perhaps

they love it okay brilliant so we're

kind of coming towards the end of the

podcaster so we've just got a couple of

more questions that I really want to

just try and get from you so the next

one is about reflection that's a

wonderful thing and when we reflect we

can often think of ways to get to where

we are quicker or do things earlier or

perhaps move us towards that goal is

that little bit quicker but I guess the

journey also teaches us a lot as well

I'm a firm believer that everything

happens for a reason so what I want to

know is if you could go back in time to

one moment where you really struggled

and suffered with adversity and you

could whisper something in your ear so

if you use the example that you

mentioned I standing at the bridge and

knowing what you know now what would you

whisper to your 17 year old right in

yourself however old you were at that

time I would whisper don't be afraid

because pain and fear are your friends

if that's the way you see them okay I

like that because it is how we see

everything isn't it

yeah pain is fuel for me now now I

stopped my toll the other day and found

it really really funny because something

that pain is something that motivates me

to be more now it's made me stronger so

I'm gonna be strong then you are me you

are it's that's kind of them I don't

know if you follow David Goggins I

mentioned him earlier a little bit hmm

he's somebody who I'd certainly

recommend looking out for he's got a

couple of interviews on impact theory

okay and that guy's is incredible

because he kind of uses the whole pain

and basically pushing your body to to

his limits he's just got a new book out

actually I should be getting sponsor for

this by the way but he's got a new book

out called can't hit me and I listened

to it and honestly if I'm feeling lazy

for like an ounce of a second it makes

me feel like shit so it kind of like

listening to you today I feel really

motivated I feel inspired by your

stories the stuff that you've been

through it's made you the person that

you are today and you're gonna help so

many other people and it's by a book I

think you've just got a brilliant

perspective on it and that brings us to

our last question so the last question I

always like to ask my guess is if in 150

this time and there was a book and

somebody come across it and it was about

you about Joshua well I wanna know is I

share one or two things so I'm just

adding a question in here first I want

to know what the title of that book

would be and secondly I want to know

what the blurb would say okay well the

title of my book would be can I swear

you can say whatever you are me the

title of my book would be fucking

because one thing I've learned is that

you never really know what is gonna

happen so fuck it whatever happens

embrace it enjoy it whether it's painful

or pleasurable or whether whether is

whether it happens to you or somebody

else enjoy it embrace it learn from it

and use it to feel you to go further so

yeah I'd say fuck it cuz that's kind of

what I say whenever anything happens I

love it and the blue and the blurb would

say he enjoyed every day that he lived

his dog was his best friend

no it would say that I enjoyed every day

that he lived and he was the most

grateful man he knew and he never he had

a lot of pain and suffering but he never

really suffered yeah I'd say that's me I

love that endearment I love it and to be

honest you're probably one of the most

grateful people I know as well so it's

been a privilege before I and I just

want people to connect with you

hopefully that's okay with yourself yeah

cool I think your story is just starting

like I said you're very young

got all the years ahead of you you've

got you're gonna do amazing things and I

genuinely mean that whether it's in

property or whatever it is

who knows you might be you might be in

the theaters might be the great showman

- who knows but I think before we leave

if you could just let us know just just

one place that people could reach out to

you maybe connect maybe have a

conversation with you because I feel

like

there's so much more in your story and I

think you'll inspire so many people may

be going through adversity and they can

learn so much from me yeah my I'm

actually in the stages of writing a book

because there's lots that I left out of

this interview so there's lots that I

can share with people and I would love

it if as the same courtesy you extended

to me if I could extend to everybody

that's listening that if they are ever

still freed and feel like they're at

rock bottom and please contact me and

I'm gonna give up my Instagram because

I'm currently in the at the beginning

stage of rebranding and this is the one

thing that which won't be rebranded it's

just Josh underscore Asquith that's a

squ i th all but the actual links and

everything in the show ops anyway just

in case anyone didn't get that spelling

as for the book mate if you've got a

title let me know if you haven't closed

it to the time please let me know

because I'll make a pledge now I'll be

the first to purchase that I think it'd

be fun lastly thank you like I said

earlier there's nothing boring or

mundane about your story it's it's

inspiring and you truly inspired me I

think people like the rock and all those

people yeah it helps me when I go on

Instagram in the morning but seeing

somebody who I know in real life and I

spent some time with and I've got a lot

of time for just in the back of my mind

now I could see myself in the morning

just be like fuck it let's go to the gym

self I love it mate I just want to thank

you one more time for taking time out of

your day

no thank you please do reach out to Josh

and as always thanks for listening and

remember this podcast is absolutely free

so all we ask in return is for you to

share this with a friend and drop us a

five star review over on iTunes have an

awesome day

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.