Belisle, Belisle: One Man's Strange, Erotic Journey from Milan to Minsk

Cooper Belisle Interview

NOTE: This transcript was created with Descript AI and has not been error-corrected.

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[00:00:10] Cooper Belisle: [00:00:10] I can't do my late night talk show. That works great. You love birds out there. Yeah. Oh, damn. Look at, you got this all set up. Yeah. So I'll let you be able to see that a little bit better, right on.

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[00:00:43] I don't know. It was about this dog that your mom had, um, or your, you and your mother had. Um, I don't know if you remember this dog, but it had like really pronounced genital. Like it was a female, um, uh,

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[00:01:00] [00:01:00] Cooper Belisle: [00:01:00] whatever happened to that dog, you know, I don't know. She must have 20 little puppies. Okay. Who, you know, who came up with that name? My brother, me Cooper name the dog with a loose vagina. I don't know. I was like thinking about that store and they would drive down here. I was like, I don't know if I should tell that or not.

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[00:01:21] Jeff Nesbitt: [00:01:21] vagina. I liked that before or

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[00:01:35] Cause we were good friends and there was a nameless dog. Yeah. And you're just wandered into our neighborhood. Your brother was like, what should we name this dog? And he was like, rambling of all of those names. He was super excited. And I was like, Oh, well we can just call it Lucy. Cause you know, and your mom fucking shot me devil eyes.

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[00:02:02] Jeff Nesbitt: [00:02:02] used to often talk about wanting to trade you for one of her sons. She's like, I give up either one

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[00:02:14] spoken all the greenery, labor handed down to me, but I'm still, I'm still flying. I know I'm still, I'm still flying. Let's go.

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[00:03:36] Cooper Belisle: [00:03:36] a little, hello.

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[00:03:37] old friend of mine. We essentially grew up together. He came in midway through my childhood, but his dad was already here. So he was one of those kids who, , came in late, but just fell right into the beach life.

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[00:04:07] Cooper Belisle: [00:04:07] I was thinking actually I was thinking about this on the way down as well. I mean, first of all, before I say anything, I'd say honored to be on the show.

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[00:04:35] Jeff Nesbitt: [00:04:35] 10 years ago.

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[00:04:48] Jeff Nesbitt: [00:04:48] Yeah. Cooper. It is really good to see you too. And it, I have followed you on Facebook that entire time.

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[00:05:07] Cooper Belisle: [00:05:07] cancer survivor? Yeah. Yeah. That's it. That's a story we can get into later.

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[00:05:11] Jeff Nesbitt: [00:05:11] would really like to, yeah. A funny one,

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[00:05:27] Jeff Nesbitt: [00:05:27] world traveled have, uh, made the rounds of Facebook.

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[00:05:40] Cooper Belisle: [00:05:40] Um, I, well, to be honest, I'm not really on social media that much anymore.

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[00:05:48] Jeff Nesbitt: [00:05:48] Your travel albums are still posted aren't they? Oh yeah. I know. I

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[00:06:03] And I can like, instead of just posting pictures for people to see, I actually like to talk about my travels, which Instagram, you know, you can do that on there, but I've always found Facebook to be better for that kind of thing. But, uh, yeah. Um, my full name is Cooper Belisle and I'm sure obviously if the, you know, Jeff, you probably know of me and yeah, yeah.

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[00:06:19] Jeff Nesbitt: [00:06:19] guys definitely get on there and check out his pictures. He's got some really amazing shots. I appreciate travel that the colors are always really bright and, um, and I'm impressed. I mean, I'm easy to distract with flashy things. So I see those colors. I'm like, Oh,

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[00:06:34] Cooper Belisle: [00:06:34] that looks fun. I just I've always knock on wood.

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[00:06:45] Jeff Nesbitt: [00:06:45] I mean. They're all really like, it looks like sunny days all the time. It's just like I got it. Started traveling more.

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[00:06:56] Um, even when I went to Machu Picchu, I mean, my biggest fear was going to [00:07:00] Peru was I went there. I went during the dry season, but um, South America is known for its. Chaotic weather. And, uh, a lot of horse, I've always heard it heard a lot of horror stories about people showing up the Machu Picchu, climbing up the mountain, getting there, and it's all fogged out.

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[00:07:17] Jeff Nesbitt: [00:07:17] so just take it another bump and your head back down.

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[00:07:34] Jeff Nesbitt: [00:07:34] I would like to hear your story , from the very beginning of when you made the decision to see all these places and how that came about and just go give you got all the

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[00:08:00] [00:07:59] Obviously she was pretty much my mother. So Carla

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[00:08:06] Cooper Belisle: [00:08:06] Yep. My step mom. Um, pretty much, pretty much my, my real mom. Um, but she was somebody that was really, really important to me and somebody that I looked up to and something that I loved very much. And obviously, you know, anybody that knew Carla and knew her story knew that she had a , pretty tragic in tough uphill battle with cancer.

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[00:08:30] Jeff Nesbitt: [00:08:30] going to say it was a long, long time, right? Wasn't it like 12 years or something? Really?

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[00:08:53] So, but after. After we lost her, unfortunately. Um, I just kind of started to have a [00:09:00] lot of thoughts about life and death and what it means to be here and what I wanted to do with my life. And me and Carla always talked about, you know, going to Africa and S are going to see the Northern lights. And we always talked about a lot of things we wanted to do, and unfortunately she didn't get to do a lot of things you want to do.

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[00:09:39] I was a commercial diver for about four years. And, uh, it was an amazing career. I got a lot of great stories about that whole situation, but, uh, thankfully it, uh, was financially rewarding and it gave me the opportunity more. So in terms of, uh, breaks in my life to actually do all these traveling and I was able to do.

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[00:10:18] I was exhausted. And on the, on the boat ride back to port, we were always talking to this man that was an instructor there. And he gave me some of the best advice I've ever gotten in my life. And he just says, you know, you just kind of have to go for it because you don't want to be an old man on your death bed looking back and just thinking like, you know, I wasted everything.

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[00:10:45] Jeff Nesbitt: [00:10:45] age. Yeah. That's when you need to make those decisions to live.

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[00:11:03] So I, uh, ended up packing all my stuff. Got it, got my career. And I booked a flight to China and the rest she say about all

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[00:11:14] Cooper Belisle: [00:11:14] she was conflicted. Um, I had told her, you know, come with me, like, let's go, let's do this together. Very romantic. Exactly. Yeah, exactly. And, uh, she, you know, understandably, so, I mean, it's not for everybody.

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[00:11:41] Jeff Nesbitt: [00:11:41] It was one of the pick up and go.

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[00:11:48] Well, um, 98% of my travels. I went by myself, but actually I went my first trip across seas. I went with when I went with one of my really good friends, Mitch, and he had been, [00:12:00] uh, quite, uh, he had been traveling for quite a while. His mother was a travel agent. So he, he was kinda like, I didn't know anything.

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[00:12:23] Jeff Nesbitt: [00:12:23] I don't want to go.

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[00:12:38] They would not let me come home.

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[00:12:57] And that's a whole other topic, [00:13:00] but, um, this, I mean, this was back in 2015, but kind of before to political climate we're in now around the world. But, um, yeah, I, I went with Mitch and we had a great time and that just kind of spurred my love for travel.

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[00:13:15] I know it's so big.

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[00:13:37] No, I mean, if you could, you couldn't see a highway, a space where you could see the great wall of China. I mean, I've been there, it's like 20 feet wide, but I mean, but I mean, that's not the whole point. It's about 2000 miles long, or I have no idea, but it's, it's incredible. You can see the land where it covers it.

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[00:13:56] Jeff Nesbitt: [00:13:56] went built the whole thing just to keep out the Huns, just a couple of little old

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[00:14:07] Jeff Nesbitt: [00:14:07] Oh, wait, what? Attila. The hun was a Mongo.

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[00:14:10] Cooper Belisle: [00:14:10] Oh, I'm going to tell him you said that. Yeah, my, my, uh, my, his married international history, cause he was a touch up for sure. But uh,

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[00:14:23] Cooper Belisle: [00:14:23] I don't know who that is.

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[00:14:41] He crossed the Dan who Bay, twice to plunder the Balkans, but he was unable to take Constantinople. And his unsuccessful campaign in Persia was followed in four 41 by an invasion of the Eastern Roman or Byzantine empire, the successful, which emboldened Attila the hun to invade the West. [00:15:00] He also attempted to conquer the Roman Gaul, which is modern day France crossing the Rhine river in four 51 and being stopped at the battle of Catalonian planes.

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[00:15:34] After his death, he came to power by uniting, many of the nomadic tribes of Northeast Asia after founding the empire and being proclaimed Gingiss con an honorary title, meaning the oceanic universal ruler. He launched the Mongol invasions that conquered most of Eurasia reaching as far West as Poland.

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[00:16:13] Jeff Nesbitt (2): [00:16:13] This guy was so successful that he's still conquering today. An international group of geneticists studying why chromosome data have found that nearly 8% of men living in the region of the former Mongol empire carry Y chromosomes that are nearly identical,

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[00:16:31] Jeff Nesbitt (2): [00:16:31] And

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[00:16:40]That means that he went around just fucking his way through

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[00:16:45] Jeff Nesbitt (2): [00:16:45] and he left so much come in. These ladies that they managed to change the population of the planet. If you'd like to hear somebody who actually knows what they're talking about regarding Genghis Khan, check out Dan Carlin's [00:17:00] hardcore history.

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[00:17:20] And just how big he really was. So anyway, Gingiss con came much later than until the hun had a much bigger impact. He's the one who they wanted to protect themselves from when they built a great wall Atilla the Hun was long gone. My bad. I'm sorry about the confusion also, Sean, you he's the bad guy in Milan, the cartoon character.

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[00:17:54] Cooper Belisle: [00:17:54] You wanna take a break? Uh,

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[00:18:05] Cooper Belisle: [00:18:05] So after China, I.

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[00:18:25] I worked, uh, we, we worked on and, um, you're diving in like

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[00:18:34] Cooper Belisle: [00:18:34] Yeah, we were, we were dive in water towers. We would dive in humongous drinking, water, filtrations facilities, dams, bridges, you pretty much name it. Um, we didn't do any coastal work.

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[00:19:04] Jeff Nesbitt: [00:19:04] myself and that was always scheduled at a time.

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[00:19:08] Cooper Belisle: [00:19:08] Yeah. And then the, the great thing about it, we, everything would freeze over in the winter and, um, our operation would reduce so much that a lot of us would get laid off in the, from pretty much Christmas to March. So I would get at least two months off every year.

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[00:19:29] Jeff Nesbitt: [00:19:29] for facilitating that lifestyle.

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[00:19:41] Jeff Nesbitt: [00:19:41] sounds pretty appealing to me.

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[00:19:45] Oh yeah. More and more so than most places. Probably more than we know. Yeah. They wind more all the time. The pyramids are still to this day. My favorite landmark I've ever seen. Um, they're ginormous. It's just incredible how humans could have done that thousands of years [00:20:00] ago. But you think they had helped me?

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[00:20:07] Jeff Nesbitt: [00:20:07] Are we being fucked with, or is there a Allianz? Uh,

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[00:20:14] Jeff Nesbitt: [00:20:14] it's, I mean, I really, really don't like, um, it's bizarre the amount like the, the government legitimate people telling us that like, yeah, they're there, we have some crafts that are not from this world.

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[00:20:30] Cooper Belisle: [00:20:30] really exciting though. Yeah. I mean, I think if the aliens were here back then and helping build the parents, they wouldn't be left like an iPad or like they would have left something. Right. You know, left the pyramids. Yeah. That's true. That's true.

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[00:20:44] What about the Baghdad battery? That's like a 9,000 year old now. Maybe not that old. I don't remember how old, but it's old thousands of years old and it's a battery. It's made it in like a, yeah. I dunno. A

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[00:20:58] Jeff Nesbitt: [00:20:58] heard of this. There's some [00:21:00] pretty, I mean, that was probably just some real smart Iraqi dude.

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[00:21:38] They're not sure which contrary to my belief, the origin and purpose remained unclear. I said it was a battery. I was probably full of shit. It was hypothesized by some researchers. That the object could have functioned as a galvanic cell possibly use for electroplating or some kind of electrotherapy, but there was no electroplated objects known from this period, [00:22:00] nor did they find any in the area.

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[00:22:24] Yeah. Um, but yeah, there's just, there's some stuff that they've found in the ground. That's been pretty, pretty cool that hard to believe that it wasn't put there

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[00:22:36] Jeff Nesbitt: [00:22:36] I don't really, I don't really buy it. I want it to be true. Cause it, it does make sense, but it's, there's just such a barrier to actually believing that.

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[00:22:54] Cooper Belisle: [00:22:54] never know. I mean, the universe is so big and it aliens definitely do exist. In my [00:23:00] opinion. It's no doubt in my mind. I just don't know if they've ever been here or not,

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[00:23:04] Jeff Nesbitt: [00:23:04] or if they even have the same level of like character or personnel, like.

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[00:23:35] What if that's an alien? What if the aliens are like that life form? Instead of like humans, you're like, well, this sucks, right? Yeah. A bunch of space mold. Yeah. That's, that's no fun. We wanted like the predator, you know, I don't know if that's an alien. I've never

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[00:23:52] Jeff Nesbitt: [00:23:52] I'm sure it is. People talk about, it's still pretty old

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[00:24:13] Jeff Nesbitt: [00:24:13] basically the most dangerous game essentially with

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[00:24:17] Yeah. Yeah. But, um, yeah. Where were we? We were, Oh, Egypt. Yes. Um, yes. So, yeah. And then. God. I mean, looking back when it, all that was happening, cause this was over the span of, you know, four and a half, five years I was doing was traveling and it all just kind of blends together. I bet. But looking back, I was like, Oh wow.

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[00:24:53] Jeff Nesbitt: [00:24:53] I was really impressed just because, um, like my life's pretty much the same every day. So, [00:25:00] uh, two months goes by and then I see you post another round of pictures from a whole nother country.

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[00:25:18] Cooper Belisle: [00:25:18] felt like. Yeah, I wish. Yeah, but it

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[00:25:22] I like those pictures are fun to look at. I appreciate it. You must've met a lot of cool people. Yeah. So you met Swiss J Fri the core rapper at that coffee

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[00:25:42] And I, uh, got, I mean, I mean, the thing is a lot, I mean, I'm sure a lot of people will realize too. I actually traveled to the entire country, the entire United States as well. I went to all 50 States or in, during this entire time. Wow. Yeah. So I've been all 50 States and now it was. Amazing experience as [00:26:00] somebody who Connecticut country, Connecticut is really quiet and shopping malls and colleges.

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[00:26:08] Jeff Nesbitt: [00:26:08] States that I forget exists

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[00:26:11] Jeff Nesbitt: [00:26:11] I'll go a long time without thinking about Nebraska. Oh

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[00:26:25] That's the, I mean, the South is definitely the best region of the country for food in my opinion, Mississippi. Oh yeah. What did they have there that you like brisket? Oh God, I love it. Well, good brisket. Yeah. I mean, the South is known for its obesity and I don't, I don't blame them because that shit's fucking good.

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[00:27:01] And I just had so many great conversations and learned a lot about people and cultures and a lot about myself in the process. That's

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[00:27:19] You never know what you're going to get out of it. Sometimes it's nothing. Sometimes it's a hilarious story, you know, sometimes it's, you know, VD. I don't know. You never know what you're going to get when you meet strangers, but it's worth, worth investigating.

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[00:27:39] And, uh, or Bellaruse I believe is how you pronounce it. Okay. It's a little bit off the beaten trail, but, um, immense, immense. Yeah. I think I've heard that. Yeah. Seinfeld. Yup. Yup. For shell is shell, but, uh, um, yeah, I made a quick stop there just for fun. I figured, you know, why not? I always try to go off the beaten trail a little bit, you know, on my, on my [00:28:00] long expeditions and, uh, you know, stick to the normal tourist route.

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[00:28:18] I was in a little coffee shop in Maine scanned, uh, just get ready to board a train heading back to the Western part of Europe and, um, There was this guy there and he was just spitting, like the hottest bars I've ever heard. Really this guy was facing 25 to life with how many bars he had. And like this guy was just, I mean, the coffee shop was about to catch on fire.

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[00:28:45] I don't think he was really invited there.

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[00:28:50] Jeff Nesbitt: [00:28:50] buffet situation,

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[00:28:58] So I ended up getting a [00:29:00] CD from him. Cool. And, uh, you know, they, they do CDs over there. Um, uh, yeah, I, yeah, I can't remember how much I paid for it. Um, but I was willing to spend any amount of money I could because it was, it was phenomenal and, uh, yeah, I got the CD ripped it, put it on my, uh, on my phone and .

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[00:29:23]Jeff Nesbitt: [00:29:23] Let's do it. Alright. Okay. Do you have it? Do you have it on your phone? Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Let

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[00:29:34]

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[00:29:41]Jeff Nesbitt: [00:29:41] It's all right.

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[00:29:51] Jeff Nesbitt: [00:29:51] let's get it started. I keep it light hard. I bet you're sitting there thinking that your boys were talking about it first, unlike a voodoo curse and went, and [00:30:00] I did read back to back. I see that belief from my dad because he was smoking crack and all these bitches know that they're going to have to stand in line of things.

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[00:30:36] Not bad, man.

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[00:31:04] [00:31:00] Cooper Belisle: [00:31:04] not a real knife.

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[00:31:29] inflation for your region. Magritte regional man. I had it starting to get

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[00:31:40] Here we go.

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[00:31:55] Make it less exactly what I want. Yeah. He's got some bars

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[00:32:09] Jeff Nesbitt: [00:32:09] I was skeptical. I will admit,

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[00:32:17] Jeff Nesbitt: [00:32:17] get full credit for bringing this to the States. Yeah, man. It's going to be

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[00:32:22] Jeff Nesbitt: [00:32:22] Well, shit, man.

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[00:32:25]Cooper Belisle: [00:32:25] Some of my best memories of my traveling and would just staying up late in a dirty discussing hostel, just sitting on the floor and drinking beer and having conversations with complete strangers and just learning about other people in their lives.

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[00:32:51] And you know, they don't like you, you leave the hostel the next day and you never see them again anyway, but they fully live in the moment. Well, very well said. Yeah. I [00:33:00] just, I met, I met so many great people and I'm still friends with them to this day. And you know, I have a good friend in, from Germany that I plan on seeing eventually, actually, when I went to Africa, he was my travel buddy throughout my Africa expedition, uh, shout out, shout out to Yannick.

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[00:33:21] Jeff Nesbitt: [00:33:21] So it seems like if you have more plans to go back to Europe, the airfare is affordable these days. Yeah. It was it like I managed imagine you spent a lot of money traveling

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[00:33:33] Yeah. And tickets it wasn't, it's not nearly as expensive as people think, but it was, it's like, it's not, I mean, I B I went to. I mean, I mean, I went to a lot of places and it adds up and I could have, I could have bought a house with all the money. I probably spent, you know, traveling at least put a down payment and you could've just sat in that house every day.

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[00:34:14] I love helping people with their travels. Like I've had a million people reach out to me through the years, asking for help with passports, visas, reservations, tours, you name it, flights. Um, but this was something, all I had to learn the hard way, but I, you know, I would, if I can prevent somebody from making the same mistakes I did, I think that's a pretty cool situation and pretty, it's a win-win for both of us, but it's, it's expensive, but I mean obviously with.

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[00:35:07] Wow. And then after that, I was going to be home for about a month. And then I was going to do pretty much Dubai to Singapore and like do about 10 countries in between that over the span of like two or three months. And you're taking

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[00:35:25] Cooper Belisle: [00:35:25] uh, mostly flights, but a lot of buses and some trains I had planned, I had this whole thing planned out.

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[00:35:46] Jeff Nesbitt: [00:35:46] so around January,

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[00:35:53] Yeah. Oh, so you were in the heat of it? Yeah. Yeah. I almost got stuck in Africa. Um, but I mean, I, [00:36:00] I left the States and COVID was on everybody's radar, but it was primarily in China. And were you concerned about leaving? Not really. I mean, too excited. I was excited and you know, we've had outbreaks before and, you know, SARS and bird flu and you know, like this has been, it

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[00:36:18] Back then. Not anymore.

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[00:36:35] Yeah. But I'm in the Biblia and I'm in the middle of the desert on, you know, it was beautiful out there. Um, and we had gotten word that day had shut down to Johannesburg airport and Johannesburg airport is like pretty much the largest airport in that entire region of Africa. So yeah. So I'm in the Biblia and I'm having a great time and it's hot.

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[00:37:16] And one giant beach. I mean, that's not the entire country, it's a huge country, but it's, it was, we went to a, um, we went all over the, all over the country and just lay out. I mean, you're not, you're not wrong. It's a lot of desert, a lot of humongous rock formations. And, uh, it was, it was incredible, but we were like 300 miles away from the nearest airport.

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[00:37:56] So now, yeah, so there was a legitimately, you know, there's a couple of days there [00:38:00] where I actually thought that I was going to be stuck in Africa for like six months. It's like, I'll just become an African witch, seem that bad. But I had a girlfriend at the time and I had a life to get back to and, you know, and as much as fun as I was having, you know, I always get homesick and I was ready to come home.

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[00:38:18] Jeff Nesbitt: [00:38:18] that's the best part about, and about the best part, that's one. Great part about traveling for me is like that being excited to go home. Like it's not like a boring my old house. It's just like, Oh my space where I feel comfortable that's or that, that first shower back at your own house,

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[00:38:36] A hundred percent. So I was, I was very concerned. I was pretty stressed out over it. Um, but thankfully I was able to pull some strings and use a lot of my travel expertise. And I mean, that was my first trip across seas. I would have been losing my mind, but thankfully I was pretty experienced and I kept my head on my shoulders decently.

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[00:39:12] Jeff Nesbitt: [00:39:12] all these international

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[00:39:19] People were getting stuck. I mean, there was this one festival in, I think Costa Rica. It was like the Coachella of Costa Rica. And they had like 150 people stuck on this beach cause they wouldn't let them leave. And I was like, I'm not, I have no, I have no interest in doing that. So I, I, I found the quickest flight home and next couple of days after that I was on a flight.

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[00:39:39] Jeff Nesbitt: [00:39:39] that was last year around March or so what's you been doing the last 365

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[00:40:03] I mean, one day I'd be in Maine the next day. I'd be. In Vermont, we got for that, it'd be in Nevada. Like I was all over the place, which was a great time. I mean, I got to see the entire country from, I got to work in New York city. I got to work in Las Vegas. I saw the grand Canyon. I worked at NASA in Florida.

[: 00:40:21

[00:40:22] Jeff Nesbitt: [00:40:22] just tell everyone that I think, yeah, you know, I worked at NASA back in the day, but you

[: 00:40:28

[00:40:39] It was awesome. It was

[: 00:40:40

[00:40:45] Cooper Belisle: [00:40:45] that, but, uh, it just got, I mean, there's really, it's like first world problems. Like I had a roof over my head and food in my stomach, so I really couldn't complain, but it just got exhausting sleeping in, you know, days ends and eating Applebee's [00:41:00] every day.

[: 00:41:00

[00:41:20] Jeff Nesbitt: [00:41:20] think in my mind they are the same restaurant.

[: 00:41:23

[00:41:26] Jeff Nesbitt: [00:41:26] both. Okay. Actually, I'm sorry. I said that Applebee's

[: 00:41:30

[00:41:39] Um, and, uh, I work at McMenamins McMenamins. Cool. Yeah, I'm sure you've heard of him. He's a haunted. Uh, I think so. Some, some lady got butchered booklet on the third floor of our hotel and really, she messes with people every once in a

[: 00:41:53

[00:41:57] Cooper Belisle: [00:41:57] a restaurant or a hotel.

[: 00:41:58

[00:42:06] Jeff Nesbitt: [00:42:06] or is that just filling the filling the

[: 00:42:08

[00:42:15] So, and I've always had a decent amount of supervising experience, so I'd be a good boss

[: 00:42:20

[00:42:39] So as soon as they're the boss, all of a sudden they see themselves as higher than everybody else, it's just a bad situation, but I don't get that impression from you at all. Well, I appreciate it. I think you're probably a great boss. I try to be. Yeah, I that's. I was when I was in grad school, that was where I was.

[: 00:42:54

[00:43:13] The things I liked about undergrad was the people. I was motivated by competition. I wanted to set the curve. I wanted to be the best in my class. Like, I, I cared a lot about, I mean, there's, I wanted to be the best I could be, but I definitely enjoyed making other people jealous.

[: 00:43:32

[00:43:58] I'm so glad I didn't do that I [00:44:00] really don't like having to micromanage people, but I also really don't like having people. Do shit without asking or take more liberties than they're supposed to. It's just like, it's a very fine line of where it's a comfortable area.

[: 00:44:14

[00:44:14] Anyway, I'll stop grandstanding. You go ahead. No, no, we were, um, Oh yeah.

[: 00:44:18

[00:44:19] Cooper Belisle: [00:44:19] cancer answer.

[: 00:44:22

[00:44:46] Cooper Belisle: [00:44:46] into remission?

[: 00:44:47

[00:45:08] Oh, I'm sure, man. Yeah, it really kinda messed me up a lot. Um, during the whole process. I mean, I guess I could tell you the whole story from, to if you're,

[: 00:45:16

[00:45:20] Cooper Belisle: [00:45:20] been wanting to hear. Yeah, sure. It's, it's pretty crazy tale.

[: 00:45:24

[00:45:29] So this is kind of a crazy whole crazy part of the whole story is, um, for those of you don't know, um, my father and my uncle both had testicular cancer was, would, I would eventually be diagnosed with when I was 27 and it's thankfully it's, uh, it's uh, has a, has a high survival rate.

[: 00:45:48

[00:46:06] So my brother and my, my brother, my father and his brother, then both having the same cancer was very odd to them back in the day. And this was back in the eighties and nineties, I believe they were both diagnosed and they thought it was a fluke. Yeah. And it was really perplexed the, uh, unlucky. Yeah. It really perplexed the medical community from what they've told me.

[: 00:46:27

[00:46:45] So they're really just figuring this out. Yeah. Okay. And yeah, and every doctor I've seen since has also been very kind of perplexed by this. So, I mean, I, I'm not a doctor. I'm not quite sure. Well, I mean,

[: 00:46:57

[00:46:58] Jeff Nesbitt: [00:46:58] can't just assume that it's genetic [00:47:00] by that alone, but it's pretty good indicator.

[: 00:47:02

[00:47:14] So yeah, that's crazy. So, but anyways, I guess to start at the very far not looking back. So I was 26 at the time and I was working in Idaho. I was working on a bridge. I think it was. And I noticed I was starting getting some pain in, uh, in, in my nether regions and, you know, ask any man his most prized possession, his world, his Dick and balls.

[: 00:47:35

[00:47:47] Jeff Nesbitt: [00:47:47] when it's in there, it's

[: 00:47:48

[00:47:58] And [00:48:00] he checked it out and didn't see anything of serious concern. And we did an ultrasound just to be safe and everything came back good. And he said, you know, there's a good chance to just fluid, build up a good portion of men, your age experience. This it's nothing serious. You had blue balls. Not, not as now.

[: 00:48:17

[00:48:36] Didn't think much of it, but about a year later, I noticed that the pain was still persistent and it hadn't gone away. And I think I was like, okay, well, this is a little odd. And shortly after I remade that realization in about a month or two later, I noticed my left ball had literally became as hard as a diamond.

[: 00:48:55

[00:49:20] Wow. Yeah. And that's when I started to get pretty, pretty concerned, obviously, like I bet this isn't fluid buildup. This is obviously something pretty serious. So how severe was the pain at this point? This point it was like maybe a four. It had

[: 00:49:32

[00:49:36] Cooper Belisle: [00:49:36] had turned into a rock pretty much.

[: 00:49:38

[00:49:39] Jeff Nesbitt: [00:49:39] Was it smooth? I know we're getting into the weeds here, but I feel my nuts all the time and I feel like I would notice a difference now I got a vasectomy a year and two years ago. So like the, they put these little stainless steel clips in there and then like over the next six months, those things get calcified all over the outside.

[: 00:49:58

[00:50:03] Cooper Belisle: [00:50:03] me to, Oh, you did? Yeah. And I know what you're talking about to me buddies. Yeah, no I've been there. Yeah. I know what you're talking about,

[: 00:50:09

[00:50:17] Cooper Belisle: [00:50:17] that.

[: 00:50:17

[00:50:42] And I have a lot going on in my life and I'm planning my next trip. And, you know, I, the last thing I needed, you know, last thing I wanted to do was go see a doctor, but it had gotten to the point where I didn't really have a choice. So I think I was in West Virginia at the time working. And I noticed since when I noticed that my ball [00:51:00] had become very hard and very not right over the span of the next three days, it had swollen up to the size of a grapefruit.

[: 00:51:07

[00:51:17] Jeff Nesbitt: [00:51:17] I've seen a few great fruit nuts

[: 00:51:19

[00:51:31] I was literally throwing up, Oh my God. Yeah. I thought I'd thrown up from immense pain was only in the movies, but it's definitely a real thing. Yeah. So I was like, okay, well, this definitely is very not normal. So I called the doctor like you guys don't need to see me. No. Um, my first, my first doctor I saw was in Idaho.

[: 00:51:49

[00:52:06] Exactly. So he checked me out and he's like, okay, well this is of concern. And then we didn't. And then I did an ultrasound and he, after all, after all the tests and all the machines, they put me through, I was sitting in a, in a doctor's office and he, the doctor had came in and asked me some questions and then he left and he was gone for about 20 minutes.

[: 00:52:27

[00:52:43] Like, this guy has something he wants to tell me that he's not telling me. And you're

[: 00:52:48

[00:52:59] Oh, [00:53:00] everything's fine. Go back on with your life because you don't have this situation. Um, so it's a, it's a lose lose. You're sitting there in a lose,

[: 00:53:06

[00:53:10] Jeff Nesbitt: [00:53:10] so

[: 00:53:11

[00:53:19] And he looked me in the eyes. I, I will, I got bad news. It's not only do you have cancer, you, it looks, it looks like you've had cancer for a while now. And you pretty much need to be in surgery like tomorrow, or you're going to be dead in a year. Was pretty much what he told me. He was like, we have no idea how long you've had this, but due to your symptoms and your test results, you've probably have had this for quite a while.

[: 00:53:40

[00:53:52] Jeff Nesbitt: [00:53:52] Oh my God. That's Oh, fuck man. I don't even know what to say to that. That's so real. Yeah. I'm so [00:54:00] glad you're

[: 00:54:01

[00:54:13] So we drove back to Montana and like span of like three days, I had made an appointment with a kind of colleges to have surgery. And I mean, that's not even, that's not, it gets worse. Actually. The worst, the tire, the worst part about this whole experience was when I eventually got to Montana, I went, I drove the Bozeman where I would have surgery and get treatment.

[: 00:54:33

[00:54:50] I mean, thankfully we live in a country and live in a modern age where we have the ability to do these kinds of things. And I, uh, they, I did a, what's called a full body CT scan. [00:55:00] It's uh, essentially you drink this disgusting chemical. I can't, I'm not a doctor. Hopefully I'm explaining this. All right, but you drink this gross chemical .

[: 00:55:07

[00:55:18] Cooper Belisle: [00:55:18] don't know. I mean, I've done a number of them since, but, uh, yeah, so I drank this liquid and then they put me a pretty much get you naked down to your underwear and they put you in these huge machines.

[: 00:55:28

[00:55:46] And then the third place is your lungs and that's very, very serious. And. Again, here, I am sitting in a doctor's office after all these tests, I'm like a mess. Like my entire life had just turned completely upside down. [00:56:00] And again, this doctor walked in and he started asking me some questions and he asked and he said, well, I checked your records.

[: 00:56:05

[00:56:31] And he was like, and we only usually see these masses when people are either smokers or they indeed have spread of cancer to their lungs. So now I'm like really freaking out. I'm like, what the hell? And I'm like, well, I'm not a smoker. So the doctor reasoning and suggest that I might, could possibly have cancer spread to my lungs.

[: 00:56:50

[00:57:06] Like, damn. Yeah. It was a long 48 hours. I'm going to

[: 00:57:09

[00:57:11] Cooper Belisle: [00:57:11] All right. Yeah. It was a, that was the longest weekend of my life. What did you do. I was at a hotel and I just made a lot of phone calls and I needed the tire thing from diagnosis to surgery. I was by myself, you're

[: 00:57:25

[00:57:27] And you can't even jerk off.

[: 00:57:29

[00:57:32] Jeff Nesbitt: [00:57:32] part you're going to live. Oh my God. Cooper.

[: 00:57:35

[00:57:49] We've looked over mortgage tests. And for some reason it appears you don't have cancer. You don't have cancer in your lungs who looks at it. You have a lot, a large amount of bubbles, mold, mold. Yeah. [00:58:00] I was like, Hostl live in, man. What are you doing? I mean, that's actually ran through my mind. And I was like, what are you talking about?

[: 00:58:05

[00:58:22] Okay. Um, but the thing is, since I was a commercial diver, I was spending hours on hours under water every day with recycled

[: 00:58:28

[00:58:30] Cooper Belisle: [00:58:30] you on a tank? Uh, no, I was, uh, we, I was, it was called surface applied diving sexually. We were, uh, we wore like giant Ironman helmets on our head and they're very, well-designed they're, they, they do a great job of keeping you alive, but they're not perfect.

[: 00:58:43

[00:59:07] It's like you're living in a shower for four hours straight, you know? Yeah. And we realized that thankfully it was not mole. It was not cancer. It was indeed mold and it wasn't serious. And, but like just that tired, traumatized experience was still there. Like I was still a mess. Like it's still not great.

[: 00:59:28

[00:59:54] I'm sober. You know, life has been good to me. And, you know, I'm thankful. I mean, I can't really complain. There's a lot of guys out there [01:00:00] that were being told they had weeks to live, you know, when I, when they were 27, like me, so I can't really complain, you know, shit happens. Yeah. And how long ago was the surgery?

[: 01:00:09

[01:00:14] Jeff Nesbitt: [01:00:14] Yeah. And how so, what is it, what does that entail for follow-ups and that kind of thing you have to imagine. You're pretty. Religious about keeping checks going and all that.

[: 01:00:24

[01:00:30] I was actually staying down here with my father and I was going to Aberdeen to get checkups and get treated and all that good stuff. I think they didn't have to do chemo. Um, they were amazed at like, we caught us so late, but there was actually no spread somehow. Wow. Yeah. So I got really lucky in that regard and that being said, gentlemen, if you're out there and, or really anybody, uh, men and women alike and everybody in between, if you have a problem go to the doctor, like don't try to be a toughie about it and check, check yourself.

[: 01:00:57

[01:01:17] Um, wow. Yeah, it was a, it's a crazy story, but I'm alive and you know, life is good.

[: 01:01:22

[01:01:25] Cooper Belisle: [01:01:25] life? Definitely. Yeah, it would definitely show me. I always kind of time to grow up a little bit and I mean, I was traveling the world and drinking and I think, yeah. Talk about anything, you know, open it up.

[: 01:01:36

[01:01:56] Jeff Nesbitt: [01:01:56] seem great.

[: 01:01:57

[01:02:01] I,

[: 01:02:02

[01:02:04] I did love music to my travels. I listened to those guys in the music. I had headphones with me or the entire time I was traveling. .

[: 01:02:08

[01:02:18] I want to make music, but, um, that's awesome. Yeah. It's it sucks. Cause I don't know how. Yeah. Um,

[: 01:02:27

[01:02:35] Like music definitely helped a lot music and podcasts, but more specifically music. Um, I listened to everything from Tamen Paula to Mac Miller, of course, to recipes, recipes, you know, stuff like that. But of course anybody knows me well knows. I love Mac Miller and his music mailer. Yeah, man story, a happy story with a sad Indians. I like to think of it. [01:03:00] Yeah. Um, was it fentanyl that killed him? Yeah, so , 26 years old, um, his actually his assistant found him unfortunately, um, collapsed in his bedroom and, uh, yeah, they found, I mean, it, wasn't hard to find they found some drugs at his residence and, uh, they, after the autopsy autopsy and whatnot, they eventually found, uh, yeah, he had overdosed on fentanyl.

[: 01:03:23

[01:03:34] Jeff Nesbitt: [01:03:34] That's definitely a good rule of thumb. Yeah. So there's a lot of nuance to unpack in that, in that statement, but yeah, I'm, I'm going to have to say, I agree if you have to choose between either, , complete restriction and unregulated use without, you know, taking precautions.

[: 01:03:53

[01:04:15] And it hasn't reduced the amount of drugs being consumed or

[: 01:04:19

[01:04:20] Jeff Nesbitt: [01:04:20] been a complete failure. Yeah. And it's, it's done a lot of damage to the communities where, you know, where the drug war is actually happening, which are ones that are generally probably poverty stricken in the first place.

[: 01:04:32

[01:05:05] And also all of the dangers associated with that. It doesn't make sense to infantilize it adults and to make, treat them like children, like. The government needs to tell you what you can do to make yourself feel better. It's just, doesn't make sense to me. Sure. But at the same time, it is dangerous and there, and I don't know anybody who hasn't had their life touched directly by drugs and alcohol addiction, all the problems associated with that.

[: 01:05:34

[01:05:48] Cooper Belisle: [01:05:48] Yeah, no, definitely. That's definitely something I noticed, uh, throughout the various episodes I have listened to is, uh, the honesty here is really refreshing.

[: 01:05:56

[01:06:13] It's obviously been a huge thing and you know, across Asia and around the world, you know, in general, so stuff that conversation that needs to be had, it's a lot, it's a conversation. A lot of us don't want to have, but uh, I mean, people are unfortunately dying and you know, we, we need to, we need to do something about it.

[: 01:06:30

[01:06:51] Sure. Uh, people would not pursue them if they were all bad, you know, ,

[: 01:06:54

[01:07:06] I mean, the environment. Exactly. I mean, obviously mental health in this country is, you know, I wouldn't say it's an all time low because we don't really know the statistics on that because mental health obviously is something we've only started to become aware of and something that we've actually charted care about as a, as a society used to just be demons.

[: 01:07:22

[01:07:24] Jeff Nesbitt: [01:07:24] that that was easy to

[: 01:07:24

[01:07:46] Jeff Nesbitt: [01:07:46] I completely agree. And I feel like we probably have a very similar outlook on that because I think I see a similar type of guy in you to myself. I'm a soft boy, you know, , I like to, you know, Draw [01:08:00] pictures, sing songs. Talk about my feelings. I'm one of those guys. And I think, I think you are too.

[: 01:08:05

[01:08:27] Yeah. It's not masculine, but I want to do it even more. Yeah. Right. It's like, now that I'm a grownup, I have skills and you know, resources, I can do all kinds of stuff. , I can start a podcast and yeah. It's, it's, it's cool. The world is coming around. Yeah. Is basically where I'm going with that. Um, I was getting off on it on a

[: 01:08:46

[01:08:47] No, I was enjoying it. Where, where are we? Um,

[: 01:08:51

[01:08:53] Cooper Belisle: [01:08:53] my stressful job. I think

[: 01:08:55

[01:09:10] Is that part of the reason you got out?

[: 01:09:13

[01:09:30] If I made a mistake, like kids grow up without dads, you know, and that amount of way to put on me and I w safety was always, my main concern was kind of drove a lot of guys. I worked with a little crazy, cause I was so safety conscious, but like, I always tell them you know, you might, you don't, you think you don't want to die on this job.

[: 01:09:46

[01:10:01] Jeff Nesbitt: [01:10:01] Yeah. I think accidentally killing somebody, be one of the worst things I can imagine doing.

[: 01:10:06

[01:10:06] Cooper Belisle: [01:10:06] I agree.

[: 01:10:07

[01:10:15] Cooper Belisle: [01:10:15] it. Yeah. It's been years, but I remember Christian bale losing like huh pounds.

[: 01:10:19

[01:10:24] And then like a year later he's in Batman, right? Yeah. But um, yeah, that guy, he got jacked for that one, but that movie was about like. That he hits a little kid was car. What? You don't find that out till the end spoiler. And I'm trying to remember. It's been so long. Yeah. He like loses his mind and you don't know why until the very end of the movie, it like flashes to back in time when he runs over a kid and then he's like, Oh, that's why he went crazy because of the guilt.

[: 01:10:49

[01:11:02] Cooper Belisle: [01:11:02] mean, I have a big conscious, you know, like fighting to step on a bug. I mean, I'll feel bad for a little bit, but like, I mean, you know, if I hurt seriously hurt somebody who yeah.

[: 01:11:11

[01:11:17] Jeff Nesbitt: [01:11:17] Oh yeah. Well, let's go on, stay on the stress thing. So like, do you take active measures to reduce stress in your life?

[: 01:11:24

[01:11:41] So that's great. Yeah. If it feels

[: 01:11:43

[01:11:50] Cooper Belisle: [01:11:50] problem? Yeah. Oh yeah. Um, you know, a lot of people don't know this, but I was an alcoholic for about nine years. Oh, I didn't know that.

[: 01:11:56

[01:12:12] I was taken about that on the way down as well. And I was like, I think the first time I ever got drunk was with that Jeffrey Nesbitt.

[: 01:12:18

[01:12:30] That was never the next day. Your dad, um, like pulling me aside and sit me down on the couch and interrogating me about it. Really?

[: 01:12:37

[01:12:39]Jeff Nesbitt: [01:12:39] Yeah, it was really uncomfortable. How, what he got drunk in high school too. It was, it was really because, um, your sister had come with us.

[: 01:12:46

[01:12:52] Cooper Belisle: [01:12:52] so yeah. Yeah.

[: 01:12:54

[01:13:00] Cooper Belisle: [01:13:00] okay. Well that's good.

[: 01:13:01

[01:13:03] Jeff Nesbitt: [01:13:03] about to do that. Uh, Jeff, your dad is big and he was scary.

[: 01:13:08

[01:13:11] Jeff Nesbitt: [01:13:11] Well now I'm not as afraid But no, I've always, I've always really liked your dad.

[: 01:13:15

[01:13:17] Cooper Belisle: [01:13:17] He's a solid dude. No, he is. He's just a big, he's a big softie. But

[: 01:13:22

[01:13:30] That whole idea where just like the man's in charge, the man is responsible for the decisions. The man is the one who, so that sets you up to not be able to show weakness, to not be able to show vulnerability. We don't live in that world anymore. We don't have to act like that. We can show weakness and vulnerability.

[: 01:13:45

[01:13:48] Cooper Belisle: [01:13:48] Yeah, I'm right there with you. I'm I try, I act like a tough guy, especially with the cancer thing and all that, but like, I'm

[: 01:13:55

[01:14:04] Yeah. But, um, until I need to be, you know, and that comes up and then that's the thing I used to, when I was younger, I would try to, will myself into being that guy, like, uh, I would like sit there and fantasize about people bullying me or so I could show them how tough I was and stand up for myself. Yeah, the fuck.

[: 01:14:19

[01:14:22] Cooper Belisle: [01:14:22] Yeah. The whole alpha predator thing or alpha

[: 01:14:24

[01:14:44] There is still parts of us that are just animal and that's kind of cool. I actually kind of, I actually kind of value that. I think that it's cool that, that that's still in there

[: 01:14:54

[01:14:56] Cooper Belisle: [01:14:56] what, I mean, I'm not ashamed to be a man. I mean, masculinity, this world [01:15:00] needs masculinity and men have a lot to offer to the world and. You know, it's not something I'm ever, I'm not something I'm ashamed of. And it's nothing I will ever be ashamed of. but You know, obviously in this day and age, we live in a world where people are, trying to find out who they are and how they wanna express themselves.

[: 01:15:15

[01:15:19] But yes, stress. I mean, I guess where my, yeah, so I guess I'll put it out there.

[: 01:15:24

[01:15:25] Jeff Nesbitt: [01:15:25] long time. Let's get into that. That's a good

[: 01:15:27

[01:15:40] I mean, I want to quit to show myself that I could do it. Yeah. And that I do have control over my life because I did it for so long, but you know, I just getting drunk every day, like I was doing for years. Just sounds exhausting. And it's just, I know I'm never going to go back to that, that Cooper.

[: 01:15:58

[01:16:00] [01:16:00] Cooper Belisle: [01:16:00] I mean, this is kind of also a crazy story. I drank a lot and my dive job was so stressful and, you know, I had a pretty traumatizing childhood, which I had a lot of PTSD from and I had a lot of weight and, you know, a lot of stuff buried inside of me and, you know, drinking was just kind of way that

[: 01:16:18

[01:16:20] Cooper Belisle: [01:16:20] Exactly. Yeah. And, you know, feeling numb was a lot better than feeling like shit. And that's what drinking offered me. And one day I sat down, I kind of did the math and I pulled my phone out and I guess I'll do it.

[: 01:16:33

[01:16:39] Cooper Belisle: [01:16:39] I did the math and I estimate I got legitimately wasted three times a week.

[: 01:16:45

[01:16:57] Jeff Nesbitt: [01:16:57] So you're as fat too.

[: 01:16:59

[01:17:04] I got some more pounds I want to lose, but

[: 01:17:05

[01:17:11] Cooper Belisle: [01:17:11] definitely lost a lot of way. And I feel, I mean, more importantly, I feel a lot better, but I did the math and I would probably drink 16 beers in a sitting.

[: 01:17:20

[01:17:43] Jeff Nesbitt: [01:17:43] 29,952 beers on the 1,952 beer.

[: 01:17:48

[01:18:04] Jeff Nesbitt: [01:18:04] Your cells had to metabolize every bit of that toxin.

[: 01:18:08

[01:18:08] Cooper Belisle: [01:18:08] It's

[: 01:18:09

[01:18:26] Cooper Belisle: [01:18:26] Yeah. And I just realized if I continue drinking this way, I was going to be dead by 40.

[: 01:18:31

[01:18:37] Jeff Nesbitt: [01:18:37] in two decades. Yeah. Especially when you're attacking the, basically the, the cleanup, like the liver cleans everything out. Sure. It keeps you going.

[: 01:18:45

[01:18:50] And I was just like, well, I'll just quit when I get a DUI or I'll just quit when I have a seizure, I'll just quit and then you'll have to, yeah, I'll just, I'll, you know, I'll quit when I lose [01:19:00] my job, I'll quit till will ruin all my relationships. And I'll just, I'll just ruin my life and then I'll quit and now for rock bottom.

[: 01:19:06

[01:19:08] Jeff Nesbitt: [01:19:08] I was in and common man is so common. People don't even realize that they're in that mindset. They just think that they're fine, but they're like, they're really waiting for that boot to drop waiting for that thing to happen. That where they can't ignore it anymore.

[: 01:19:21

[01:19:45] Like if you're living a lie, it's, it's gonna catch up with you at some point. It's not, it's not good. Not, and not for any moralizing reason, but just for, for literally with your, your connection with reality becomes altered when you're trying to live a lie that you're even [01:20:00] telling yourself like that. I'm fine.

[: 01:20:01

[01:20:05] Cooper Belisle: [01:20:05] Yeah, I mean, I tried to quit for a hundred times. I, I would pour the liquor. I pour my liquor bottle down the drain and the next day I'm going to the liquor store to buy more and it's just, I just couldn't do it. And I. I mean the CR my, the woman I was seeing at the time, I was just kind of fed up with it.

[: 01:20:20

[01:20:42] I had no choice. Yeah. So, um, I'm going on a year now. I mean, I picked a hell of a year to do it through a pandemic and

[: 01:20:48

[01:20:51] Cooper Belisle: [01:20:51] Yeah, I mean, I was late. I mean, when I got back from Africa, I was laid off for a couple months or not really laid off because I didn't really lose my job.

[: 01:20:57

[01:21:09] Jeff Nesbitt: [01:21:09] I, we doing that right now, man. Yeah. .

[: 01:21:11

[01:21:18] Cooper Belisle: [01:21:18] a bar doesn't help. Oh yeah. But I mean, I've, I've stuck to it. I haven't had a drop. I haven't done anything, no smoke, nothing. And, uh, it feels great. Working

[: 01:21:28

[01:21:32] Yeah. It might set an example, but you also see people having fun and it's nice to be part of that. It's just hard. That whole thing is hard. Being a human is hard, but it's especially hard when you have chemical dependency issues. Yeah. Which a lot of us do.

[: 01:21:47

[01:21:53] It isn't, I have nothing against drinking. I have nothing against, you know, doing harm. I mean the lesser more [01:22:00] potent drugs, I'm nothing against cannabis or, you know, if you want to pop some Molly here at a music concert on occasion, I guess that's fine. But yeah. You know, but it just wasn't for it. Wasn't for me in that sense.

[: 01:22:11

[01:22:14] Jeff Nesbitt: [01:22:14] Yeah. And honestly, it sounds like you're, you have a very healthy outlook about the whole thing, because when you said, and I don't think, I don't know, or I don't remember how you worded it. Exactly. But you said something like that, you weren't going to probably always be sober like that.

[: 01:22:29

[01:22:47] Like, Hey, I clearly cannot handle this stuff. And when I, when it's in me, I make decisions that I wouldn't make otherwise. So I just can't do it. Um, but I, I have to agree with you. [01:23:00] I think that there is something to be said for allowing that possibility that there could become a utility for that tool, which is really what it is, uh, later in your life.

[: 01:23:10

[01:23:34] If you can, you know, Keep

[: 01:23:36

[01:23:49] Jeff Nesbitt: [01:23:49] where that's just your routine just sounds exhausting.

[: 01:23:51

[01:23:57] Jeff Nesbitt: [01:23:57] is nice.

[: 01:23:58

[01:24:03] Cooper Belisle: [01:24:03] Yeah, I mean, I mean, after my dive job, we would get to our hotel rooms and I would eat food. And then I would go to the gas station down the street, wherever I was and buy tea. I'd always buy 20 beers. Cause I knew, you know, 12 wasn't going to be enough and 20 would be enough.

[: 01:24:19

[01:24:24] Jeff Nesbitt: [01:24:24] I have had 20 beers in one day, one time in my life. Um, and me and my buddy Jeff Hilton is that I was 17 Chateaux, Jeff. Yeah. Shout out Jeff Hilton. But we decided to invent a game called 20 beers and the game goes like this, you get 20 beers, each participant, and then you drink them and that's the game.

[: 01:24:47

[01:25:11] Cause it's just so open. None of that can issue. And yeah. Uh, the next thing I know, I'm at a party down the road, like a couple of miles away from my house. And I was like having a heart to heart conversation with a kid that I had never spoken to before. And then the next thing I know, I'm walking down the road and this guy's pulling up next to me to pick me up.

[: 01:25:33

[01:25:43] Cooper Belisle: [01:25:43] that.

[: 01:25:44

[01:25:51] Cooper Belisle: [01:25:51] That was my life man for nine years.

[: 01:25:54

[01:26:00] [01:25:59] Cooper Belisle: [01:25:59] Yeah. The hangovers were definitely the worst part. God, I hate

[: 01:26:03

[01:26:05] Cooper Belisle: [01:26:05] Yeah. So I would be drinking three days a week and that'd be hung over. So I'd be hung over three days a week.

[: 01:26:10

[01:26:15] Jeff Nesbitt: [01:26:15] bad, but yeah. And then you're not even getting enough time to fully recover before the next one. So exactly. Yeah. So,

[: 01:26:22

[01:26:32] Jeff Nesbitt: [01:26:32] That's cool. Yeah. Well, so I noticed when I decided to get harmful chemicals out of my life. So like, I was pretty addicted to pain pills, um, for a couple of years and then it was off and on. It was my, the access I had to them really dictated how bad my addiction was, I never wanted it to become my identity. I didn't, I didn't it like, I did not want people to [01:27:00] know. I did not want it to become part of like what I was seeing doing. So I was really careful about that. And thank God, because that kept me out of those places. Like the places where you'd hang out to wait, because you heard some guy was coming with pills.

[: 01:27:15

[01:27:29] You come to different people. Yes. And that's what I meant about the dishonesty thing. Living a lie. It's just like, you start to realize, like, you're a piece of shit. Like I'm lying to my family. I'm lying to people who I love the most in the world. Um, for what? Just so I can. Not feel shitty, basically. You just want to feel good.

[: 01:27:48

[01:28:00] Sure. The way the system is set up right now with the criminality involved, it adds this whole extra layer of difficulty, which probably kept me from getting way too deep. And when I eventually decided this is not for me, I got to just stop. And I realized there was a big void because I'm like, well, , I was using this time before to like, Procure drugs.

[: 01:28:25

[01:28:41] Cooper Belisle: [01:28:41] Well, when I first got sober, I bought a bicycle and I rode probably 5,000 miles in two months. Like I was on that thing every single day, like a road bike. Yeah. I bought a road bike in Seattle, not far from where I was living at the time, there was a 50 mile long trail and I would just cruise that hours on it.

[: 01:28:59

[01:29:00] Jeff Nesbitt: [01:29:00] That's exactly what I'm talking about. Just like replacing bad habits with good ones.

[: 01:29:05

[01:29:19] I didn't have a lot of hope beforehand, like diving. I was all right. Well, I figured I was gonna do this the rest of my life. Yeah. And yeah. It was just like, as fun as it was, and as much as I loved it and how thankful I am for that tire aspect or that tire chapter of my life, it was very stressful. And it didn't give me a whole lot of hope.

[: 01:29:37

[01:29:43] Jeff Nesbitt: [01:29:43] where do you see yourself in 10 years?

[: 01:29:46

[01:29:58] So they're both very [01:30:00] competitive, but thankfully their, their pre-recs are pretty much the same. There's only a couple of two classes off. So I plan on doing the required coursework for both programs and applying to both. I hope I'm hopefully hoping to get into the dental hygiene, um, situation. It's very competitive, like I said, but thankfully my grades at the moment are up to snuff and, uh, I do plan on getting in eventually.

[: 01:30:19

[01:30:22] Jeff Nesbitt: [01:30:22] It sounds like a good, a really good gig. Yeah. Like they get paid very well. They're respected. They, their jobs easy. Yeah. It's like, that sounds like a good job.

[: 01:30:30

[01:30:39] There's an opportunity cost to everything and I should be probably. Couple of years into a mortgage by now. And I should have a lot, some more stability. And I am, you know, I am 31 and going to college again, and I am a little bit behind in that regard.

[: 01:30:51

[01:30:54] You to, you already did it. And you're doing more like you're going back to school. You're not [01:31:00] starting from scratch the, uh, and even if you were, that's really not a big deal either. Whether that's the way the world is now, like millennials have three careers, it's it? I think the average really is three.

[: 01:31:11

[01:31:28] Cooper Belisle: [01:31:28] Well, it's all online. Oh yeah. With COVID. So I haven't, I haven't even met a professor yet, but I just finished actually a couple days ago.

[: 01:31:36

[01:31:37] Jeff Nesbitt: [01:31:37] Congratulations. Thank you.

[: 01:31:38

[01:31:54] Jeff Nesbitt: [01:31:54] but you know, what, what kind of hours do you work?

[: 01:31:57

[01:32:10] Jeff Nesbitt: [01:32:10] of a, I do work mostly at night.

[: 01:32:12

[01:32:26] Jeff Nesbitt: [01:32:26] off. So yeah, that's a very busy schedule.

[: 01:32:29

[01:32:30] Cooper Belisle: [01:32:30] it's exhausting, but you gotta, you gotta put the hard work in this world to get anything out of it. And so, I mean, it's not gonna be forever. It's tough, but I'll get there.

[: 01:32:38

[01:32:47] So if you're working, you know, whether that, you know, be whatever, whatever it is that makes you feel fulfilled, do the work it's worth it. Yeah. You gotta work hard. It's

[: 01:32:57

[01:33:08] We're not really looking forward to the future. I mean, none of us can really afford to buy houses. Like we're kind of setting ourselves up for failure in the long run. This is something I've done myself. I'm guilty of it too. Like it, you know, like. I just, we need to make the necessary steps and we need to take action now.

[: 01:33:24

[01:33:36] Jeff Nesbitt: [01:33:36] money so I can retire. Yeah. Are you putting any away, do you have any nest egg saved up that you're start adding?

[: 01:33:43

[01:33:44] Cooper Belisle: [01:33:44] uh, that's actually one positive of the whole COVID situations. I really, um, I mean, I've always kind of had a passion for investing, but I have taken the time. I mean, especially when I was sitting at home for months on end, before I actually, before I would eventually get back to work, [01:34:00] I was learning how to start marketing.

[: 01:34:01

[01:34:11] Cooper Belisle: [01:34:11] Cause it's a crock sh I mean, we were in, I mean, what shopping is a great skill and it's something, but like I'd much rather have learned what, you know, uh, an IPO was or you know how to invest my money wisely.

[: 01:34:23

[01:34:25] Jeff Nesbitt: [01:34:25] I mean, yeah, that's right. I meant no worries. The. I'll cut that out. The, uh, the wood shop stuff. I loved woodshop. Yeah. But yeah, that's a great point. Like how many kids do love, what shop? Yeah. I'll actually a lot of which out programs are cut. So I don't know. Maybe, maybe there's just not enough classes at school.

[: 01:34:45

[01:34:47] Cooper Belisle: [01:34:47] I think senior year, like one set of PE, like, all right, Hey, here's how to invest. Yeah. Here's how to retire. Here's what a Roth IRA is here is, you know, here's, here's the necessary steps [01:35:00] you should take. And so you don't ruin your life in 40.

[: 01:35:02

[01:35:11] So I was like, I don't give a fuck. What a Roth IRA is. I don't have any money. I can't even get a sandwich. Um, why are you telling me this? Go tell the guy with money. And I always felt like it was some kind of like a trick, like, Oh, obviously they're going to get a piece, whoever, whatever motivation they have to be telling me this right now, but it's not really true.

[: 01:35:33

[01:35:39] Cooper Belisle: [01:35:39] No, uh, what you use, what would after you use, if you don't mind me asking? I use the cash

[: 01:35:44

[01:35:46] Cooper Belisle: [01:35:46] app. Yeah. I use a sofa. It's a good, it's a good platform from what I've seen.

[: 01:35:50

[01:35:51] Jeff Nesbitt: [01:35:51] that the one that does? Oh no. That's acorn. I think that does little, you, it, it rounds your, uh, purchases up to the nearest dollar and then that money goes directly into the [01:36:00] stock market. Yeah. I believe

[: 01:36:00

[01:36:05] Um, again, I mean, I'm not blaming anybody cause I didn't know about this for a long time, but it's, it's, it's fun. It's addicting. I mean, I've definitely have lost a lot of money this past couple of months. I'm sure. Pretty much everybody has in the shitter. Yeah. My Tesla stock took a nose dive I'm uh I'm uh, I invest primarily in the, um, tech, so

[: 01:36:23

[01:36:26] And put it in Bitcoin, Bitcoin. Yeah, I own, I own some, yeah, that's fun to watch it is. I wish this, I mean, this is coming out in a couple of weeks, but it's 50 right now or 51 this morning. Crazy. It's a good time to buy. It's building up for another. Bull run.

[: 01:36:42

[01:36:49] This is a 20 year process. Yeah. And that's what, that's what the whole GameStop thing. I kinda got concerned. I had that a little bit, but I mean, it was funny. Me and my buddy, Rob, who kind of initially got me into [01:37:00] investing. He, we were talking about buying game saw when it was like three 40. Cause you know, I'm a big, obviously anybody knows me, knows I love video games and I know the market

[: 01:37:08

[01:37:10] Cooper Belisle: [01:37:10] $343 and 40.

[: 01:37:12

[01:37:27] But you know, that, that's how it goes. It's uh, you know, once you read the headline, it's already too late, but I just have to, you know, I just think out of the whole GameStop thing, a lot of people will think they're going to make millions overnight. Are you on Reddit? I

[: 01:37:38

[01:37:41] Yeah,

[: 01:37:41

[01:37:53] Jeff Nesbitt: [01:37:53] I didn't. I see I'm not on wall street bets.

[: 01:37:56

[01:38:19] The little guy has some power in the market. And that's other than strictly consumerism, where what we buy, determines the market fluctuations. This is legitimate power coming from these fractional share investors.

[: 01:38:33

[01:38:37] Cooper Belisle: [01:38:37] It's a really exciting time. It's one that I would, a lot of people that are new in investing. Please proceed with caution. You will lose your fucking ass if you hand it to them, but. I think everybody should invest. It's smart to do, let your money work for you.

[: 01:38:50

[01:39:06] But it's, I think everybody should do it in moderation. I mean, I've thrown a lot of money at it over the years, especially lately. Um, I mean, you got to buy the dip, of course. Yeah. But it's definitely something that I have a lot of passionate about and I've, I can talk about stocks for six.

[: 01:39:23

[01:39:25] What are you really into? Um,

[: 01:39:26

[01:39:33] Jeff Nesbitt: [01:39:33] I stopped watching Boeing in October. I sold all my Boeing. Uh, how has it been doing

[: 01:39:37

[01:39:47] And I bought five shares a couple months ago and I've already made, I think, 20, 20 something percent of return. That's fantastic. Which obviously you could disappear overnight, but,

[: 01:39:55

[01:40:04] That's the

[: 01:40:04

[01:40:21] I don't like to own just once share of something, which I know is not the best way to go about it, but I'm just kind of like my OCD.

[: 01:40:27

[01:40:31] Cooper Belisle: [01:40:31] Amazon chairs, right? I, um, I own three. I sold one, I own two at the moment.

[: 01:40:36

[01:40:37] Those, those are not

[: 01:40:38

[01:40:57] So

[: 01:40:57

[01:41:21] I feel like it's market stabilization. Sure. Oh yeah. Consolidation or, you know, just. Leveling out it, I bet you it's going to settle below the high. I don't think it'll go back up to eight 75 or wherever it peaked, but that's okay. I mean,

[: 01:41:36

[01:41:44] Jeff Nesbitt: [01:41:44] and people lose faith in the market.

[: 01:41:46

[01:41:47] Cooper Belisle: [01:41:47] And I, I look when I buy a Pacific and when, when I look into a Pacifica, I want to see consistent growth. If I see a rollercoaster on your returns through, through the years, um, I'm going to be rather hesitant. I want to see Microsoft and Facebook. [01:42:00] And, um, actually I got into the Airbnb IPO and, Oh, cool.

[: 01:42:03

[01:42:18] I don't plan on, you know, doing a whole lot of it. Besides either setting up my retirement, helping my retirement or pay off my mortgage.

[: 01:42:26

[01:42:34] Cooper Belisle: [01:42:34] Solo though.

[: 01:42:35

[01:42:48] Jeff Nesbitt: [01:42:48] Your life to do whatever you

[: 01:42:49

[01:42:50] I don't plan on getting there to just yet. I mean, when I do end up getting a mortgage and buying a home, I plan on paying it off and then pretty much the rest, my money is going to go into

[: 01:42:58

[01:43:07] It is. It's like a game. Yeah. It's the app. It's the fact that they essentially did. Game-ify it? Like you pull up that app. It's colorful, it's got big buttons. It's just like, it's not a spreadsheet. I'm not sitting at Edward Jones, you know, uncomfortable thinking. I'm about to be taken there. It's just, I have all the power in my hand and it's just really convenient and easy and I can do it 24 hours a day.

[: 01:43:32

[01:43:48] Cooper Belisle: [01:43:48] Yeah. Cool. I like, like when a lot, like when, uh, I recently moved in, I sold a little, a good portion of my light coin and that helped pay, uh, pay for my move.

[: 01:43:56

[01:44:03] Cooper Belisle: [01:44:03] quite sure about that. It's it's like top five as far as like the popularity goes. I mean, it goes Bitcoin, Ethereum, and then, I mean, Cardona was a pretty, uh, up-and-coming one a lot. I have, I've heard a lot of rumblings about that, but I like coins up there.

[: 01:44:15

[01:44:16] Jeff Nesbitt: [01:44:16] it is. It's not one of the stable coins though. Is it where it's pinned to the dollar? Like Bitcoin

[: 01:44:21

[01:44:30] Jeff Nesbitt: [01:44:30] I did, it's pretty sure it was the one that, that was came from Bitcoin, like out of Bitcoin to solve some Bitcoin problem.

[: 01:44:36

[01:44:57] And now it's it's few dollars, but [01:45:00] which doesn't seem like huge growth, but if your thing is 25 cents and now it's $5, that's an enormous growth. Oh yeah. Even though it's still not a lot of money. Um, but yeah, they do. Uh, it's been a while now. I'm not gonna try to explain it. I don't I'll fuck it up. But the it's, it's a one, uh, that I've been watching.

[: 01:45:18

[01:45:28] Cooper Belisle: [01:45:28] didn't laugh. I know right now he's all he's in bed with Bitcoin and doge coin as a fucking

[: 01:45:34

[01:45:41] Cooper Belisle: [01:45:41] it.

[: 01:45:41

[01:45:53] Jeff Nesbitt: [01:45:53] And people like put so much pressure on him to be a, something he's not like [01:46:00] he's a human being.

[: 01:46:00

[01:46:20] Cooper Belisle: [01:46:20] I mean, when you smoked weed on Joe Rogan light, the entire world stopped. And I was like and Tessa lost money. And I was like, well, he doesn't operate heavy machinery. He's a billionaire. He owns a company. Like he can smoke some weed. It's not a

[: 01:46:31

[01:46:37] I, it didn't even phase me, everyone smoked weed on Joe's show. Yeah. Right. It's just, that's just part of the show. It didn't didn't even phase me. And then I saw this, the stock dropped like 6% or something immediate. Yeah. Say, huh? What a bunch of bitches

[: 01:46:50

[01:46:59] I mean, there [01:47:00] always has been, I mean, there never won't be. Yeah. But the whole game stop thing definitely showed me, like they're scared of us. Yeah. And they're then, and there's back doors and we have power in numbers and you know, I just kinda wish us as a society would just stop taking so much fucking bullshit from these people like, you know, it's 99% of us versus the 1% of them. And I just kinda wished a lot more people would join together and we can, you know, change the world. But

[: 01:47:25

[01:47:27] It's so hard just to get people to agree in the first place, uh, to come from the same spot is, is hard. Let alone get them to actually organize and do anything thing. People are really fucking complicated. And I, I don't know. I just finished editing a podcast with Martha Williams. Who's a climate activist.

[: 01:47:46

[01:48:03] Cooper Belisle: [01:48:03] I mean, I only got a certain number of years in this world and I don't plan on spending any more than I have to, you know, concerned with things I can't control, but yeah, heavy and said, uh, you know, if you're out there, I recommend getting, at least learning how the stock market works, learn how the economy works.

[: 01:48:18

[01:48:24] Jeff Nesbitt: [01:48:24] And you know, you should probably subscribe to five services you don't use.

[: 01:48:27

[01:48:35] I've tried to, I've improved my credit scores significantly.

[: 01:48:38

[01:48:41] Cooper Belisle: [01:48:41] Whew. No, uh, it was, I mean, compared to what it was cause cancer really. Blew through my finances considerably. So I would imagine. Yeah, so I definitely, my, my credit score, my entire financial life took a nosedive after that whole fiasco, but I'm slowly restoring it on nursing it and you know, I just, I have a [01:49:00] retirement now and I'm taking the steps I need to take in order to better my future.

[: 01:49:05

[01:49:15] Cooper Belisle: [01:49:15] kid. Right. I mean, I

[: 01:49:16

[01:49:27] Because it just still seems so far away. Yeah. I think it took getting like comfortable in my life to be able to expend that energy, to look that far ahead. Just like being safe and comfortable. Yeah. I

[: 01:49:41

[01:49:49] So

[: 01:49:50

[01:50:07] we lived in a pretty crappy house. It was small and you know, it was fine. I liked it, but it was a mobile home, a single wide mobile home for six people. And I would fantasize about how great life would be when we finally got out of the mobile home and into a house. And it's exactly the fucking same. Yeah, it's exactly the same.

[: 01:50:27

[01:50:40] Cooper Belisle: [01:50:40] is, if you, that's a good point. Cause if you let it consume, because there's always going to be a bigger, better house.

[: 01:50:45

[01:50:49] Jeff Nesbitt: [01:50:49] Yeah. That's what it is. The game is about finding how to harness that your dissatisfaction and not let it consume you and make you bitter, but also [01:51:00] don't, don't push it away and don't just be satisfied with what you have completely, because then you're not going to go anywhere.

[: 01:51:05

[01:51:14] Cooper Belisle: [01:51:14] That was kind of one thing I learned is like, I was always looking for the future and my travels and like I was, I. I didn't really realize I wasn't really appreciating the moment I was in.

[: 01:51:24

[01:51:37] Jeff Nesbitt: [01:51:37] have now. So, yeah. Cause otherwise, why are you even looking at the future?

[: 01:51:40

[01:52:00] And I'm already fantasizing about it. I'm just like, well, I could just eat the thing I'm already eating and be happy with that. But yeah, humans, man. We're, we're a crazy bunch we really are.

[: 01:52:12

[01:52:17] Jeff Nesbitt: [01:52:17] Ooh, that's tough. So I have some thoughts on that. Cause I've, I've thought about that a lot. I would love to go to places with really old cultures like Greece or Spain, Atlanta's um, some stuff in South America seems pretty cool. You know, any of the ones like with old civilizations that are not there anymore.

[: 01:52:39

[01:53:01] Um, I'd like to see the Pacific garbage patch. Um, I'll do that from a helicopter. Is that the other giant

[: 01:53:06

[01:53:09] Jeff Nesbitt: [01:53:09] That'd be a site just out of curiosity. I want to see what, how big it really is. Right. I've heard, it's like the size of Texas. What? Yeah, really? Yeah. Holy shit.

[: 01:53:18

[01:53:30] Cooper Belisle: [01:53:30] Wow. That's suppressing. It really is.

[: 01:53:33

[01:53:35] True. Let's just a one spot cleans itself up. Yeah. It's this is the earth. This is rain.

[: 01:53:41

[01:53:55] Jeff Nesbitt: [01:53:55] it all.

[: 01:53:56

[01:54:17] I can't believe I forgot and thought that was real. Right. Um, and now I'm awakened to whatever that's going to be. Who knows? But I don't know. I'm open to possibility. We'll see. But while I'm here, I would like to see some cool shit. I think, I think if I had to pick one, though, it'd be probably Yellowstone.

[: 01:54:33

[01:54:33] Cooper Belisle: [01:54:33] you never been?

[: 01:54:34

[01:54:39] Cooper Belisle: [01:54:39] Well, I've been there a couple of times. Yeah. I mean, it's probably going to be the end of the world eventually. Yeah. That seems like it. If it decides to go. Yeah. That's that's going to be the one I think, but probably hopefully not for a

[: 01:54:49

[01:54:50] Yeah. What's your favorite existential threat. That's going to wipe out humanity. What's the, what's the big, what's the big one for you? I mean, the thing I want

[: 01:54:58

[01:55:00] Jeff Nesbitt: [01:55:00] yeah. I think me too, actually, now

[: 01:55:02

[01:55:06] What'd you get? Uh, well actually, well, this year I bought an AR 15 a pistol. What kind of pistol? A Smith and Wesson jurors. Just a little 20 twos, both. I mean, I wanted to start with something small and you know, work my way up. I mean, guns are not toys and this is something that have to be treated with a lot of respect and a lot of, a lot of, uh, you know, You're holding something in your hands that has a lot of impact and can

[: 01:55:29

[01:55:30] Yeah. It's a killing tool. That's what it's for exactly. Yeah. But, uh, just because it's fun, doesn't make it a toy.

[: 01:55:36

[01:55:46] Yeah.

[: 01:55:46

[01:55:56] Cooper Belisle: [01:55:56] But yeah, it was probably, I mean, zombies is what I want to happen, but that's everybody, [01:56:00] but I mean, meteor, I mean, I think a media would be something we would, we would, we would know about within like days, but actually impacting because our technology is great, but I mean, those things fly so fast and yeah, they're coming at such ridiculous angles.

[: 01:56:14

[01:56:21] Jeff Nesbitt: [01:56:21] I think the, uh, the zombies would be cool. Cause it'd be like a long-term thing. I did you ever watch walking dead?

[: 01:56:27

[01:56:29] Jeff Nesbitt: [01:56:29] Yeah. That's all. That was good. Yeah. That's what I heard. They didn't know how

[: 01:56:32

[01:56:32] That's what I, that's why I stopped.

[: 01:56:34

[01:56:56] Cooper Belisle: [01:56:56] arrows or whatever they're called Dale was his name.

[: 01:56:58

[01:57:10] Cooper Belisle: [01:57:10] shout I walk into let's see. But, uh, yeah, no, I mean, I don't, I mean, I'm not one of those, like the end is nigh people. Like, I don't think the world is thankfully probably gonna end in my

[: 01:57:21

[01:57:23] I have not check it out. Shout out book of revenue, shout out it's in the

[: 01:57:27

[01:57:29] Jeff Nesbitt: [01:57:29] Really. It sounds like a mushroom trip gone awry. It's like creatures with multiple heads and you know, all kinds of destruction. It's a guy's prophecy. So it's like this guy had a vision and then you woke up and wrote it down, ruined, and it's, it's some baffling shit.

[: 01:57:43

[01:58:08] It's been a long time since I thought about it, but I grew up thinking that the world was ending like, uh, the church. Kind of pushes that idea that it we're in the end times. And they'll, they'll reference the revelation prophecies and like, talk about how these are definitely the end times. And they'll pull up contemporary examples of sinful lives of the people of the world right now.

[: 01:58:29

[01:58:36] Cooper Belisle: [01:58:36] zombies. It's not hard for our generation to kind of have a lot of towel. I mean, we grew up with nine 11. Yeah. And then the year I graduated, the entire economy collapsed.

[: 01:58:44

[01:58:47] Cooper Belisle: [01:58:47] And then rough time we had the Iraq war and the war in the middle East. And like, I mean, I, I think there is a reason why our generation is kind of so emotionally scarred and we have a lot of issues. I mean, every [01:59:00] generation is like that. I mean, my dad grew up in Vietnam with Vietnam and, you know, every generation has had significant hurdles and things have had to get through, but like it's like every, every couple of years and man, we were just getting punched in the gut and by something or another, and now we have the pandemic, which obviously is affecting everybody, but it's hard to have some confidence in the world sometimes.

[: 01:59:19

[01:59:19] Jeff Nesbitt: [01:59:19] it is. It is. I almost have to just accept the mess and just figure out, I mean, just really, uh, it's not a very uplifting thought, but what I do is I just think of the best case scenario for outcomes. And then I also think of the worst case scenario for outcomes. And then I. Make a concerted effort to accept them both and everything in between.

[: 01:59:39

[01:59:47] Cooper Belisle: [01:59:47] Yeah. You don't really have a choice. I mean, it's kind of like drinking in cancer with me. Like I didn't really have a choice. Like it sucks and this is a part of my life and it's something I got to figure out, but if I know that I'm going to die, so it was literally life or

[: 01:59:56

[01:59:57] Yeah. So, and you came through. Yeah. Thanks. [02:00:00] That's the thing, man. That would break a lot of people. I wonder if it would break me like that is a really, really hard thing that you went through and it's yeah. It's just, it's really impressive. I appreciate it's really impressive because like I said before, you don't, you don't carry a darkness about it with you.

[: 02:00:19

[02:00:28] Cooper Belisle: [02:00:28] check them off then gentlemen. Um, yeah, I mean, you just gotta, you just gotta roll with the punches. I mean, my whole life has been kind of a struggle, you know, but yeah.

[: 02:00:38

[02:00:48] Jeff Nesbitt: [02:00:48] it doesn't seem like you would do like you do at all. It seems like your philosophy is based very much in accepting things that you can't change and moving forward with your life.

[: 02:00:59

[02:01:15] I love a good cancer joke and there's not, there's not enough good ones out there. Yeah.

[: 02:01:19

[02:01:23] Cooper Belisle: [02:01:23] Yeah. All right. But, uh, no, I, I, I commanded my dive team to call me captain half sec for the rest, for the rest of my dive career. That was tough. It's

[: 02:01:32

[02:01:32] I bet that was kind of nice to get back after all that.

[: 02:01:36

[02:01:50] And it gave me an opportunity to live the life I wanted to live. But after cancer, I just kind of realized, like I was kind of done putting up with shit. I didn't

[: 02:01:56

[02:02:00] Cooper Belisle: [02:02:00] general, especially myself, you know, like I always say, don't take shit from anybody, especially yourself.

[: 02:02:05

[02:02:19] Jeff Nesbitt: [02:02:19] Why is

[: 02:02:19

[02:02:27] You have to buy the new car and you have to get the new phone and you have to have the new makeup and

[: 02:02:32

[02:02:36] Cooper Belisle: [02:02:36] that's one thing actually with, with my travels and my social media, I always, I had a number of people walk up to me and always telling me like, Oh, I wish I was living your life.

[: 02:02:43

[02:03:02] So that was kind of hard to grapple with. Yeah. I mean, I've gotten some hate, you know, for, for traveling. Yeah. That's outrageous. I've had to be, Oh, it must be nice to, you know, not have any problems and it must be nice to have the world is at your feet, you know? And I mean, thankfully 98% of the people out there I've been really supportive and really happy to see the things

[: 02:03:20

[02:03:25] They took my nut. Yeah, you're right.

[: 02:03:28

[02:03:42] So, but

[: 02:03:43

[02:04:00] And redirect because it's, it's toxic. Yeah. There's this psychological concept called, I think it's relative disparity, but it's basically the game we all play where you compare your life, uh, to those around you. And to those that you see on TV or representations you see online or whatever, you look for people who have it better than you, just so you can compare yourself and feel shitty.

[: 02:04:23

[02:04:36] So now I feel like I have to be the same as them. It makes no sense. No, I agree. I already have a car so I can just think of instead, redirect that thought to man, I should love having a car. It's so nice not to have to walk to work. Um, and. If you just have little redirections like that all the time, that's how you get ahold of your mental health.

[: 02:04:55

[02:05:24] Sure. And I would just use that as a, as a way to pursue short term good feelings like drugs and things, ways to get attention from people like making people laugh, things like that. Quick, quick fixes. I never put any thought into longterm set yourself up for success, which seems like you do add a lot, thinking ahead, look into the future, figuring out what you're going to need there and then, you know, build it.

[: 02:05:49

[02:06:05] And

[: 02:06:06

[02:06:11] Cooper Belisle: [02:06:11] I mean, my parents, I mean, anybody that knows me and knows my father knows that we had a pretty Rocky relationship and that you

[: 02:06:17

[02:06:19] Cooper Belisle: [02:06:19] Yeah. Oh my God. Yeah. I still talked about it for years.

[: 02:06:22

[02:06:24] Jeff Nesbitt: [02:06:24] but it's so fucking funny. What was it? There was a windshield. We

[: 02:06:28

[02:06:40] And it was a really cool shagging wagon van, but, uh, we, I went back there to get some groceries or something out of the backseat after we had gotten home and me being dumb 11 year old, I was, I went in and I went to go sit down in the sea and the windshield is actually resting like from the back seat to like the middle row.

[: 02:06:58

[02:07:04] Jeff Nesbitt: [02:07:04] like, Oh my dad's going to be like, I was like

[: 02:07:07

[02:07:20] And you know, the thing is I didn't meet my father until I was like 12 years old. A lot of people don't know that. So my dad didn't really know how to be a dad until. Until, you know, until I, well, I asked him to be one, I didn't really know how to be a son to a father. So that's kind of, you know, that's basically the base of, of why we had, so, you know, so many problems growing up and, uh, but you know, it's not, uh, it's not how you start.

[: 02:07:44

[02:07:47] Jeff Nesbitt: [02:07:47] much, dude. I remember that time. And cause I remember when you first popped up on the scene, I had only pretty much just recently met your dad and it was through my dad painting his car.

[: 02:07:59

[02:08:00] Jeff Nesbitt: [02:08:00] dad working there, my dad's shop and they became friends and then so we would hang out there and um, that's actually the first place I ever drank whiskey.

[: 02:08:07

[02:08:12] Jeff Nesbitt: [02:08:12] Um, that's funny. And I was the first person to get you

[: 02:08:15

[02:08:16] Jeff ruining my life. I am now split. Um,

[: 02:08:19

[02:08:39] Um, but yeah, and it was, I always, still really liked to go. Cause it just made me feel cool to be there in that group. But, um, when you showed up, I was like, Oh, thank God, finally, another kid. And you were Jake's age. So it was just like, you just fit right in. We needed, we needed a Cooper. And, um, you were so very different from your dad [02:09:00] that it was like, uh, um, almost people always say that because it's just personality.

[: 02:09:05

[02:09:34] It wasn't, he wasn't actually angry. He just talks like that. Exactly. Um, and I liked it. It was, it actually made me feel comfortable. Um, cause my dad was similar and yeah. And then I don't know. It was just, it was cool when you, when you started showing up and yeah, it was bizarre. It was really bizarre. It was, for me it was a weird experience.

[: 02:09:56

[02:10:01] Cooper Belisle: [02:10:01] I've, I've came down and visited my father a couple of times and eventually I liked the area and I liked the people here and I liked my father of course. And eventually I decided to move down here permanently.

[: 02:10:12

[02:10:30] He didn't know how to be a dad. I mean, also it's

[: 02:10:33

[02:10:48] Cooper Belisle: [02:10:48] Oh yeah. I mean, I was a punked little brat and then I didn't know how to be disciplined cause my mom

[: 02:10:51

[02:10:52] And we'll also he's he took on this job of raising this kid at, at a time when that [02:11:00] previous 12 year exposure would have been very helpful. So like he didn't have the foundation set up to like the trust or , any of that set up to make it easier on him. And, and you were a kid, so you are going to be doing what kids do, which is, you know, a normal raising hell be annoying, breaking windshields.

[: 02:11:19

[02:11:21] Cooper Belisle: [02:11:21] back, I was very frustrated and very upset about the entire situation.

[: 02:11:25

[02:11:26]Cooper Belisle: [02:11:26] but looking, but now being a grown adult and having decades of digest everything I realized, you know, I couldn't have done it better job. Like, I mean, I don't know. I mean, I'm not a father. I never will be, but it's, it's hard.

[: 02:11:39

[02:11:45] Jeff Nesbitt: [02:11:45] I've got three kids. My only father one. Really? Yeah. You could still be a father. Yeah. I mean,

[: 02:11:50

[02:11:54] Jeff Nesbitt: [02:11:54] a great dad.

[: 02:11:54

[02:12:05] Cooper Belisle: [02:12:05] No, I mean, I kind of seen what it's like to, I mean, not to have a great dab and I've seen what not to do. Yeah. You know, again, I mean, I'm not, I don't want to bad mouth.

[: 02:12:13

[02:12:30] Jeff Nesbitt: [02:12:30] childhood was rough.

[: 02:12:32

[02:12:32] Cooper Belisle: [02:12:32] Yeah. I, uh, you know, but that's the, that's kind of why I tried to be so like well-liked and so nice and so respected. And I had a walk go high in the peninsula. Cause my life at home was so chaotic. Like I needed people around me. Yeah. Like your brother and you you're always like, like a big brother to me.

[: 02:12:51

[02:13:04] Jeff Nesbitt: [02:13:04] made it. Yeah. But you were an easy guy to love. You still are, man.

[: 02:13:07

[02:13:24] Yeah.

[: 02:13:25

[02:13:28] Jeff Nesbitt: [02:13:28] And I will have way more or awkward ness with somebody I saw last week. Or like, it's just, you have a very open, it's an openness and energy of openness and just like no malicious vibe. No, like you're not guarded and secretive. It's just, it's really nice.

[: 02:13:43

[02:13:48] Cooper Belisle: [02:13:48] try to keep good vibes, man. Life's too short to, I mean, I'm not saying I don't get upset. I'm not saying

[: 02:13:52

[02:13:54] Cooper Belisle: [02:13:54] yeah, everybody does. But I just,

[: 02:13:57

[02:13:59] Cooper Belisle: [02:13:59] being like, [02:14:00] maybe I probably should be a little more serious in my day-to-day life, but it's just, it's just exhausting sometimes.

[: 02:14:06

[02:14:07] Jeff Nesbitt: [02:14:07] constantly. But life is short and it's complicated and it's really hard to do if you don't laugh. Like if you don't just create lightness in your life, you know, it'll be darkness. I agree. Um, real quick, before we get out of here, something I've, I've noticed you button up against during this interview and I do it all the time.

[: 02:14:29

[02:14:50] And, and he, and I'm talking about my dad too, in this situation, but they made mistakes it's okay to acknowledge [02:15:00] things that happened when we were kids. And, and that's part of our story. What we're doing in this space right now is trying to share our life and share our personality, who we are part of that is the hardships.

[: 02:15:11

[02:15:36] Now that sometimes they're still strained sometimes not like that's life. And we only get a couple chances at parents. So, you know, you got to appreciate them. You have to honor them. And you've got to really try hard to do that. But at the same time, you got to honor truth and you got to honor yourself.

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[02:16:16] Yeah.

[: 02:16:17

[02:16:29] Yeah. It was your perspective.

[: 02:16:30

[02:16:48] And they created people who I love, , three of them. And I wouldn't change a thing that there, there's just no way to know what the impact of things are going to be suffering [02:17:00] is part of it. And a lot of the time, if you have the right attitude about whatever kind of thing that's making you suffer, if you look at it correctly, it's going to bring about bounty in your life.

[: 02:17:08

[02:17:28] That's, that's big, man. And I think it's very admirable of you to come on and do that. I

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[02:17:35] Jeff Nesbitt: [02:17:35] Thank you. Yeah. All right. Well, let's wrap this thing up, man, for a while now. And it's, it's been really, really great. Um, this went by so fast. Yeah. Um, we've been here for two and a half hours, I think. So what, yeah, it's almost five.

[: 02:17:51

[02:17:54] Jeff Nesbitt: [02:17:54] to, yeah. Yeah.

[: 02:17:56

[02:18:00] Cooper Belisle: [02:18:00] hope so, man. I hope I didn't end up disappointed that couple of people that I wanted to be on. And uh,

[: 02:18:04

[02:18:09] Cooper Belisle: [02:18:09] closing words?

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[02:18:26] It's going to get bad. Sometimes it's going to be a roller coaster, but if we're all in this together, like we should be, then it's all good. It's all going to be all right. So that was beautiful, man. And I try, I love you, dude. Love you more, bro. Thank you so much.

[: 02:18:38

[02:18:41] Cooper Belisle: [02:18:41] Before I go off the air. Jeff, I just want to say I got something for you. That's something I've had for many years.

[: 02:18:46

[02:18:48] Cooper Belisle: [02:18:48] Yeah, I got it. Uh, in China and, uh, China actually has a very large Buddhist following. Um, obviously how many people live there it's bound to be, but Buddha, from what I understand, it's not so much [02:19:00] religion.

[: 02:19:00

[02:19:17] Jeff Nesbitt: [02:19:17] fitting.

[: 02:19:17

[02:19:38] Uh, Siddhartha shit. Yeah. And he decided to give up his Prince Lee wealth and traveled the world to find peace.

[: 02:19:46

[02:19:54] Jeff Nesbitt: [02:19:54] It will never leave that spot.

[: 02:19:56