Tim Kennedy - Lessons Learned Through Pain

When I was fighting in the UFC, I would never let the doctor ever use any painkiller anytime he had to stitch me closed because I wanted to feel that pain. Because I made a mistake in there, in the octagon, and I didn't want to dull the pain 'cause there should be a consequence for that pain. And, uh, and I wanted to remember that pain in the future. (wind blowing)

Tim Kennedy.

America.

(laughs)

You're fucking here. Sorry.

I made it, man.

All right, do your thing.

I made it.

I'm glad you're here.

I'm here. I did make it.

I'm pumped.

Thank you.

Oh.

What's happening?

Just, uh, busy bee as ever.

Yes.

Um, getting ready for this book and, uh, expanding freedom, preserving and protecting human life, uh, man, just like the purpose of man, I guess.

I knew that you'd done a lot and then reading the book, it feels like you've lived maybe between four and five lifetimes to fit everything in.

Yeah. My, my mom is absolutely positive that I'm ... If like reincarnation's a real thing, I'm a cat and that I have died nine times already and that I've broken the cat nine life rule because clearly I should have been dead more than nine times already and I've lived at least nine lives.

Yes. Talk to me about what's driven you through childhood to get to where you are now, the sort of person that's in front of me.

Yeah. The, I'm dumb. That's a big contribu- a big contributing factor is I'm dumb. Uh, I'm really stubborn and I can't stop. And when you put those things together, you, um, you have this kind of relentless pursuit of, in my case, it was a purpose and an idea and like it didn't matter as a young man without a fully developed frontal lobe, you know (laughs) , like making lots of bad decisions, I still kept moving, right? Uh, even almost drowning, uh, when I was, I don't know, trying to kill myself or not but swimming out in the Pacific Ocean a couple miles just to try to like get a- another chance at life, um, I just kept swimming, you know? Getting blown up in Afghanistan, just kept moving. Um, you know, like pissing off m- my teammates in Iraq, being a young ignorant narcissist, I just kept moving. So, uh, yeah, just kind of this adventure that is life that's full of failure and lots of struggles in my life, I just kept moving.

Do you know where that comes from? Is that something that's just in you? Is that... Do you feel like that's herited?

Uh, I think a little n- nature and a little nurture. You know, uh, my family, I'm surrounded by greatness, you know. My, my grandpa came from the greatest generation, you know, World War II hero, um, you know, literally dropped bombs on Nazis type guy and, um, survived the Great Depression, you know, the patriarch of our family and setting everything up and then my dad, uh, heroic b- undercover narcotics officer, my big brother, all my uncles, Vietnam War, like I'm j- I'm surrounded by greatness.