Episode 340- A Parent’s Roadmap To Planning Autism Adulthood And Personal Reinvention with Author Matt Ross

A quiet moment over coffee can redraw a life. That’s where our guest, Matt Ross, realized he wasn’t just surviving anymore—he was ready to build a plan for growth. We trace how that spark became Grow or Fold, a candid guide to navigating midlife, protecting your family, and designing a future that feels both possible and personal.

Matt shares the arc of his career—from building radio stations to leading School of Rock to launching One River School—alongside his most defining role: father to a nonverbal autistic son. The conversation gets real about crisis points, including a psychiatric breakdown at 16 and the hard decisions that led to residential care. We break down the “autism tsunami,” from long housing waitlists to the urgent need for early, strategic planning. Expect clear, actionable insights on special needs trusts, guardianship pathways, and how to work with the right legal and service teams so your child is supported for the long haul.

We also unpack a practical playbook for personal reinvention. Matt’s five-part progression—self-awareness, responsibility, the pain of change, the cost of not changing, and disciplined action—pairs with his MVP: My Vision Plan of ten goals for the next ten years. It’s a humane system that fits busy lives, helping you align daily habits with a future you actually want. Along the way, we talk playfulness, creativity, and the science-backed power of generativity: giving to others as a path to meaning, resilience, and longer life.

If you’re juggling caregiving, career, and your own unmet goals, this episode offers clarity, courage, and a framework you can start today. Subscribe, share this with a friend who needs it, and tell us: what’s the one change you’ll commit to this week?

Chapters

• 0:01 New Year Kickoff And Guest Intro
• 1:07 Matt’s Background In Media And Schools
• 3:38 Childhood Roots And Memoir Reveal
• 5:45 The Breakfast Epiphany: Write The Book
• 7:40 Grow Or Fold: Midlife Turning Point
• 10:55 Playfulness, Learning, And Better Fuel
• 13:58 Five Pillars: Awareness To Change
• 17:12 Autism Tsunami And Long-Term Planning
• 21:05 Crisis To Residential Care: Alex’s Path
• 24:08 Strategy, Trusts, And Housing Resources
• 26:26 MVP: My Vision Plan For Ten Years
• 29:15 Purpose, Generativity, And Giving Back
• 32:04 Book Launch, Endorsements, And Closing Wisdom

Transcript

SPEAKER_01: 0:01

Hi, and welcome to the SG Child Show. I'm so excited today to introduce a wonderful guest, Matt Ross. He is coming from the East Coast, and I'm over here uh, you know, kind of in Utah. I don't know what you would call that the Western-ish. But it's it's a beautiful day. As you can see, we got some sun coming through today, and um, we're just really excited to start this new year off. This will be the first um episode in the new year as well. So I can literally say that because it will be coming out tomorrow, Matt. I hope you're ready for that. Um, exciting, exciting. So we can talk about everything kind of um from today because this will be very relevant. Well, except for those who are listening again in the future, but so great to have you here today. Please give us an introduction. Tell us about yourself and what brought you to.

SPEAKER_00: 0:55

Sure. Thank you. Thank you for having me. And by the way, I think they refer to it as the mountain states, right?

SPEAKER_01: 1:00

Oh, yes, I I guess you're right. Yeah. I am in the mountain states, that's for sure.

SPEAKER_00: 1:06

I have skied those mountains. Hi, I'm Matt Ross. I am joining you today as uh actually in a new stage of my life. I'm a I'm a first-time author with a book coming out, and we'll talk about that in a minute. But my background has largely been um in entrepreneurship and in the media business. I spent the first part of my career building and running radio stations around the country and when terrestrial radio was a thing and I had quite a fun career. And then I left in 2005 to be the CEO of a company called the School of Rock, which was somewhat of a startup at the time and helped build that brand. And for the last decade plus, I've been running an art school concept in six states. We have 15 locations called One River School. But I'm also the parent of a severely disabled, nonverbal autistic son who's 30. And the journey of raising him has probably provided me with my greatest life learnings.

SPEAKER_01: 2:02

I couldn't agree more with that last statement. My children have literally been the leaders, the the you know, the guides of well, my experience with them as as far as that goes and where we are today. And it's so interesting when you're, you know, talking about some days like, oh, you know, when I was growing up, when I was growing up, and you think about that time frame, that's such a little time frame in your life compared to the vast amount of years that that passed that and all of the knowledge you can gain and everything. But I think it's I find it so interesting to think about that time period that we always kind of go back to, if you will, like my childhood, my child, and I don't know why. I don't even know why I just picked up on that subject.

SPEAKER_00: 2:55

No, I think it's an interesting, I think it's an interesting point. I find myself thinking about that because my book is both part memoir and and what I would call a self-help methodology. And what's interesting is uh the book comes out on the 14th of January. People who have gotten an advanced copy said, gosh, I didn't know those things about you. I share a little bit about my childhood journey and what took me to adulthood and the challenges I faced. And I started to think a little bit about all the people I've met over the last 30, 40 years, they don't know the journey I walked when I was eight and 10 and 12 and 14. You know, it's it's those those clusters of people who you really, you know, grew up with, who knew you as a young kid. And so people have been sort of astounded to learn a little bit about some of my background on the streets of Queens, New York, and uh so on and so forth. And so I was really happy to share that and get that feedback and interesting, interested to hear you say what you just said.

SPEAKER_01: 4:02

Yeah, I just think that it it comes up in a lot of my adult conversations with other people. And so I think that it's it's something that we maybe don't um realize that we focus on so much and or put so much emphasis into our lives and who we are. Um, and then we spend, you know, you and I at least you know 20, 30 years building onto that person and and becoming um just ever so vast in our experiences and our knowledge, and especially when we have a situation with uh a communication in our family with especially with a child, it changes the dynamic of everything that you've ever known. It's almost like you go into a cocoon, literally melt into a new and metamorphosis completely, and come out as a brand new person, and you carry that and add to it as you go from there.

SPEAKER_00: 5:14

I love the way you describe that. I agree. I really do. I know it made me a little emotional thing. No, it's the life journey, and I talk about that a lot, friends and family.

SPEAKER_01: 5:27

Yeah. Tell us about your um kind of why you decided to write the book. Like, where was the urge? What was that moment where it was like, aha, this is going to be happening?

SPEAKER_00: 5:42

Yeah, so it's funny because I have a very specific moment when I had that aha moment. I was having breakfast in 2018, and I was sitting there having coffee, and I said to myself, damn, I feel really good. And for me to say that would be was such a strange thing because I had been clawing and fighting and grinding and just trying to stay ahead of this, you know, catastrophic challenges that I faced at 50 years old. And at this point, it was about seven years later, and I really had done so much work on myself. Prior to that, I mean, I was successful, I was hardworking. But I always figured that if I just stayed in motion and just kept moving and going, throwing my whole body into work and all these things, things would figure themselves out. But then at 50, things were just really broken. So when I was sitting here having breakfast that day, I said, gosh, maybe I should write a book. I could help people. And that was how the book was born. By the way, the title of the book is Grow or Fold, Transform Yourself in Midlife and Beyond. And it and really in my 50th year, and I could walk you through it, I had five really serious, almost catastrophic challenges simultaneously that could have broken me.

SPEAKER_01: 7:10

It's when our biggest challenges come and we like are so uncomfortable and get through those stages that we can stand on the other side and look back and appreciate almost some of it, uh, most of it, you know, because it's something that we learned from. I think that, at least for me, I always appreciate things I've learned from. I may not have wanted to go through them maybe in the pattern or way that I had, but I think that I personally, you know, do the same. I move very um now intentfully through my days and through my time and want to make sure I'm making the most of it. But I love what you said that was kind of like the pivotal um reason that you wrote the book, and that was to help others. And that is my heart-centered journey on this earth is to help others, and that's what it all comes down to. And you know, someone said to me once, if you, and this is for everyone, not just to he said to me for everyone. Um, if you have a story and you're not telling the world, you're doing an injustice to everyone you know, because there's something you can teach just in the experience you've had. And we don't recognize sometimes that even the the bagger at the grocery store or someone that we might see a you know as insignificant, they have a story and something can be learned from whatever you know they can share. And even my friends that are, you know, Down syndrome, and I uh there's always something I'm learning. I'm always learning from these wonderful people. And it's so I'm I feel so lucky to be able to experience it in a way that I don't see other people experiencing it.

SPEAKER_00: 9:27

Yeah, so I um I agree with you again. Uh I'm fascinated by people, I'm fascinated by what makes them tick. And it's a function of a few things, right? Like their genetic programming, their journey, and what they have experienced. And um I do I do agree with you. Most people don't sort of share their journey. They may not have a platform to do so. In my world, I had always been involved with building businesses where I wasn't the brand, and I was really thoughtful about promoting the bigger brand. And as somebody who was building businesses and then running businesses, I just always felt that I would sort of be really cool if I got credit for building the business from the people who I cared about, but I didn't need to be the guy in front of the microphone. I wanted to showcase other folks in my company or the brand itself. You know, when I got to this stage in life, I realized I looked back on my journey and I had numerous stories to tell. Some in business and entrepreneurship, some in early childhood development, some in creative education and music and art and these things. And then clearly the journey of raising a complex son. And that sort of basket was unique, maybe my unique basket. So that's you know, the the second title to the book, which I'll show you here. I think.

SPEAKER_01: 11:06

Oh, thank you.

SPEAKER_00: 11:08

Yeah, down here, life lessons from a creative entrepreneur. And so at the very root of how I would define myself is I have been uh building things, fixing things, and you know, and I've been blessed with some skills to do it well. But what I did here was I now sort of learned to treat myself as a business. And how do I make myself the business that I need to fix and apply a really sort of objective, unemotional approach? Because I probably wouldn't have been healthy if I didn't really do things differently, and I needed to step back and look at myself differently because um things were really, you know, challenging. So the story here is one of reinvention in some ways, maybe an overused term, but it truly was because I probably saved myself in a lot of ways, um, and my family and my career and a whole bunch of other things.

SPEAKER_01: 12:18

Wow. That's incredible. Excuse me. I um I think that when you held your book up, like a a kind of an urge or you know, a sense came to me and it reminded me of if you will, maybe an analogy, uh call it that, of orgami and life and how a paper is straight when you start with it, but when you want to make something, you destroy the straightness of that page and you fold it and you bend it and you make it and you correct it into other things, and sometimes you tear it and you have to start over, or you you know, all of these things. And I was trying to tell my 14-year-old this. I'm trying because she likes Orgami, and I'm trying to explain to her. Sometimes you have to collapse, sometimes you have to destroy what you're doing, like everything to build the beautiful thing, and it's it's more about, and I'm trying to teach her this now the intentions that you're putting into everything and how you're doing that, and how you are taking, I guess, advantage instead of for granted, all of the time you have to set those things and work on those dreams and manifest those things that you want. And I think it's important that and especially that I get this opportunity to work with her to do these things that I've learned that I'm seeing so much success for myself with. Um and uh yeah, it just when you held that up and I saw the grow and fold, it just completely reminded me of that.

SPEAKER_00: 14:14

I love that.

SPEAKER_01: 14:16

I'm just full of all of these interesting little things I to teach my kids.

SPEAKER_00: 14:22

I have spent um a lot of years now around the art space and the contemporary art space, and something interesting because when I look at this book title and the and the cover that we design, um text is art actually, too. Oh, absolutely. There's a lot of text-based artists. And you know, this is very a very simple saying, and yet I wanted it to sort of dominate the in a very powerful way, because there's a choice that we have in life. The choice is to continue to find ways to get better, smarter, healthier, happier, do more for others. That's a choice, right? Yeah, or you can just kind of stay where you are or decline and fold. And people, particularly as they age, they need a kick in the in the butt sometimes because we get stuck in our habits, we are challenged, our bandwidth isn't as great, maybe in some ways. And um, it's fuel. So, like I'm a lifelong learner and and I've been that guy. My wife made fun of me forever because I probably set the Guinness Book of Records for most self-help books ever read. And you know, she we could be having a stat, and she'd go, go read another self-help book. And I would laugh and I go, it is kind of funny that she just said that. Because but what was interesting when I I was telling you what fueled this book, I was sitting having breakfast and I said, Hey, God, I feel great. And I just I never really ever said that in my whole life. Everything was always a grind, trying to grow, trying to not fold. And because I come from very humble roots and troubled, you know, upbringing. And and um, so I got to this place where I I I I felt that we as humans put so much time into our learning and development up into a certain point, and then we just stop cold. Yeah, because we have all the tasks and chores and responsibilities, but we're not putting the good fuel in that's helping us challenge our thinking. Exactly. So that that's a big part of my mission here is that people invest and invest in that creative side too. That playful, that playful side that we give up when we leave high school sometimes, most of the time.

SPEAKER_01: 17:02

It's not the truth. Yeah, no, I I I do feel like that. I think that's a great reminder, is playfulness is a great reminder. And I have a wonderful mantra that I love to say, and it you had said something similar to this in the beginning of of this just said or paragraph. I don't know what you call it, what you were just saying, anyways. It's the better it gets, the better it gets. I just love repeating that to myself and saying that, and I it makes me focus on the next best thing and what can I do to do the next best thing. And sometimes it's not until I'm you know three weeks into a bad Love Island depression spell that I'm realizing, oh my gosh, I've been sitting on the couch for three weeks watching Love Island back to back. I need to get out of here.

SPEAKER_00: 17:55

So yeah, I'm sure you've heard of Stephen Covey.

SPEAKER_01: 17:59

Yes, yes, yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 18:00

So I I really benefited so much by studying his work. And it's like a simple saying, if it is to be, it's up to me. And that's like eight words with two letters each. If it is to be, it's up to me. Maybe nine like nine words, but you know, in the book I write about um, there's almost like for me, there's five things, five levels. First of all, it's about being self-aware. And so many of us lose that sense of self-awareness. We have to put on that mask, or we have to puff out our chests and act like we know it all, or we can't ask for help, or we sort of rationalize why we do what we do. So if you want to get to a better place, first you have to take inventory and really be self-aware to understand what needs to be fixed, and then part two, take personal responsibility. Yeah, those two work hand in hand, right? Diagnose what's broken, what you want to improve, and then take responsibility for it. And um, I find so many people struggle with that for so many reasons, and I'm not here to point fingers. Maybe they need help and assistance and guidance and coaching, and they're afraid to ask or don't have the time, you know. Because if you combine those two with you know, change is really hard. That's the third one. But guess what? The fourth one not changing is worse.

SPEAKER_01: 19:29

That's for sure.

SPEAKER_00: 19:31

And it's so it's sort of like people need to look within. And I love the fact that it's a new year and this is an uh uh always a beginning, and we have choices to make. I was at dinner over New Year's, and who's got resolutions? And 92% of the people said, nah, I don't do that anymore. And I said, Cool, let's not call it New Year's resolution. Is there one thing you want to do differently? Friendly or better. Forget what we label it. And then people looked at me like I had three heads. Like, why are you trying to get serious here at a New Year's party? And I'm like, I'm sorry, gang. You're right. I'm just kind of wearing this, like, I want to help others out a lot these days. And I I will back off right now and just let you think.

SPEAKER_01: 20:23

I think my word, if you will, for 2026 is focus. Focus. I want to really get going on that project I told you about that I'm working on. And um, it's so important to me. I want to be able to stream free access for everyone as soon as I can. And I think that it's it's just been this um born out of a meditation idea, which was absolutely it just it feels like everything moves in the right direction when you start it from the right place, you know. Um, and so it's been an incredible uh kind of moving into 2026. But I also, you know, it you can take all of this time and all this focus, like your, you know, son is 30, mine are only 16 and 14, and so I still have this in-home, and I don't know if your son still lives with you either, but we I still have this in-home responsibility to you know nurture their well-being and their raising them and everything. And so having um conversations like this with you where I can gain an insight into a journey that I have not yet stepped into is so powerful and I'm so grateful to you and so grateful for the information and the um kind of awareness, if you will, of what has worked and what hasn't, because I think there's so much to gain from um a tiered kind of relationship. You know, you have the person that might be on the very beginning of their journey, and you can just hold your hand out and say, here, you know, take my hand and I'll I'll help you right now. And I can give you all this information I've learned. And then you have the person that's on the same journey as you are, where you can share in these, oh my gosh, teenage hormones, like help me stage. And then you get to, you know, kind of where you're at, where it's like, oh my gosh, thank you. Now I can I I can reach out and extend to someone who's been through and can help me to see and be more insightful of how to move forward in a more productive, nurturing, um, fostering way for myself and and everyone.

SPEAKER_00: 22:57

Yeah. So let me share a little bit about that part of my journey raising Alex and where we are and how we got there. Because it was probably one of the greatest motivators for me to write this book and to be in a position to help people who are in the challenge on the front lines raising kids on the spectrum right now. And depending upon where they are and how severe or not, you know, we no matter what, you need a customized plan. Um but in our case, when I was 50 and I described those issues, just one of those core issues that year was that my son, who had been um in probably some of the he'd been in schools for the most child, behaviorally challenged kids, nonverbal, struggling. Over three months, his behavior declined. He had a full-on psychiatric breakdown at 16, as you mentioned it, going through puberty. And um, he pulled the hair out of his head.

SPEAKER_01: 24:05

Yeah, we have the mania here in our family too. Get that 100%.

SPEAKER_00: 24:12

We rushed him to the hospital. We got him to a psychiatric center in Westchester County, and we left him there that night, and he was bolted down in bed with suicidal teens and other teens with drug abuse. And and honestly, that night was how Grower Fold was in some ways boring because even though I didn't write the book for start for seven years later, I sat in my basement and said, Am I gonna fold?

unknown: 24:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 24:38

I had also four parents dying, I was out of a job, two brothers lost to addiction, and I was having health issues. All of that, and then Alex's issue, his breakdown, crystallized this moment. I'm either going to fold, literally, um, may not live long if I don't really take charge. Um, but to fast forward, just to speak to parents of kids on the spectrum, um, you know, if you think about what I said earlier about treating yourself like a business, you kind of have to also think about the journey as if it is a business plan, too. I knew right then and there, when I knew it earlier, that if something happened to Susan and I, and we had not had a really solid plan in place for Alex, I mean, that would have been my whole life would have kind of meant nothing.

SPEAKER_02: 25:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 25:35

And I mean, I could get emotional talking about it too, because you know, this boy depended upon us and for 24-7 care, and we were early adopters, I hate to say it, because he's born in 95 and there were little to no resources. So we just did our best to advocate. We knew Alex couldn't be home long term. Some folks struggle with that. I'm never gonna give up on my kid, they're gonna stay with me forever. Whether or not that's the right decision, they have to make that decision. That's not for me to make.

SPEAKER_02: 26:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 26:08

But I will say that as so I'm looking through the lens right now of something that I'm thinking about that I call as the autism tsunami. And what does that mean? It means the demographics right now are quite challenging. In my state where we have our primary home in New Jersey, there's 8,000 people on a waiting list for housing.

unknown: 26:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 26:31

And there's probably another eight or 10 who haven't even applied. And if you multiply that across the 52 states, you're talking a half a million, a million people. If those families, parents age out or get sick, these kids could be wards of the state. So one thing that I'd like to say to people is we we found ourselves a really great special needs attorney who gave us a very clear sense of the options available to us and good counsel on how to navigate the sort of steps through high school, through his 22nd year, and into adulthood. Unfortunately, today Alex is in a group home in northern New Jersey, cared for by people who you know, I think love him. And um like so again, I get emotional, but like what would have happened if we didn't have that plan.

SPEAKER_01: 27:37

Oh, I think that it for our community, it is one of the highest priorities that possibly isn't touched on enough, and that is to get you know, special needs trusts in place and plans, uh things like that.

SPEAKER_00: 27:56

And I do and if I could just add something, because of my business background, which is really my strengths are in strategy and you know, it's this idea of building a long-term strategy is something that has to take center stage. You then get to be the person who builds that strategy with the proper counsel, but the earlier you start to understand the playing field, the resources available to you, the better. Because you're playing a chessboard and you want to take advantage of every piece of information and resource. And this is an area where I just hope to be able to help people by sharing my story, what we did. Ours was a little simpler because Alex was so severe. In some respects, it makes the caregiver challenge even more linear. We knew when he left that psychiatric center, he then got accepted into a residential school. He couldn't come home. And that moment he was dangerous at 16. He was a big guy, he couldn't control himself. He turned 17, went to a place in Maryland, the Benedictine Center, they did the most extraordinary job. He built independence, he built himself up.

SPEAKER_01: 29:23

I love that.

SPEAKER_00: 29:24

And then when he came home, he had to return back to New Jersey, and we had a plan in place. So we were fortunate, less fortunate because we had such a severe challenge, and the road was so hard and so difficult for so many years, but fortunate in some ways because it was very linear. We needed to have the resources in place, the funding, and the support systems to get him cared for.

SPEAKER_01: 29:52

Yeah, definitely. I think that that's a priority for so many, so many families.

SPEAKER_00: 29:59

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01: 30:00

Yeah. And there's uh I'm glad that you brought it up. I think that it's it's a wonderful reminder, especially going into the new year. Um, listeners, maybe take, you know, take heed of this information and and move on it quicker and do it this year. Don't wait till next year. Don't wait till they're close to 18 and guardianship and things like this, like do it now while you um, or if you're already past those stages and you know, you're realizing, wow, you know, I didn't know that there were these other types of resources available. You know, now you can have the opportunity to take advantage of some of those things that are available for you. And there are so many resources now, and um it sounds like uh a lot like Matt, you know, I'm very I find resources very easily and I I love helping people and offering those to them. So please reach out to either of us if that's something um that you by the way.

SPEAKER_00: 31:00

People can find me at mattross.com. Matt at mattross.com.

SPEAKER_01: 31:04

Perfect.

SPEAKER_00: 31:05

And and there's another component to the book where I I sort of help people figure out their challenges and take inventory, but it's also about building a vision for yourself. You know, I'm gonna say something that I hope doesn't sound selfish. I hope that's but we put so much into raising our special kid. I also wanted to have some room in my future life for myself and my wife.

SPEAKER_01: 31:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 31:33

My other boy. So I created this concept called your MVP, my vision plan. MVP 10, 10 goals for 10 years. And it started off with the things I needed to do immediately, but also gave my chance myself a moment to think and close my eyes and dream like if my life looked great 10 years from now, what would it look like? And I found that to be so uplifting because while we were constantly fighting and challenged and struggling and grinding with all of the daily tasks and raising Alex, I was still at least thinking optimistically and in an inspirational way about God, when I get to my 60s, what could life look like? And I I freed myself up to not feel selfish, to think that I might have other things that I could do, like work a little less and travel a little more and write a book. No, that wasn't in my plan. I didn't know I was gonna write a book, but but so I kind of believe that this vision plan, you need to obviously figure out how to be great parents and what is in there. But also, what else do you get with this precious time we are here?

SPEAKER_01: 32:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 32:52

What else do you get to do?

SPEAKER_01: 32:54

I love that. Comes right back down to those self-help books, doesn't it? And really, how can you get yourself just the best for yourself, which then provides for your family? It's interesting.

SPEAKER_00: 33:06

You know, I think I said it's I started decided to treat myself like a business. And great businesses start off with a vision. Like, what do we want to look like? What are we building? What is this product resource thing? And down the road, what need will we serve and fill? And then it's goals and strategy and plan. Nobody does that for themselves. I shouldn't say nobody, it's really hard to do it for yourself. Yeah, not everyone's blessed with that kind of strategic skill set, number one, or has a toolkit to do it. And it's hard to take the time and just sit and think, right? We feel like we got to be busy all the time getting stuff done and doing tasks and chores, but the idea of thinking and planning and dreaming is a wonderful one, and it really helps free you up to have a sense of. I mentioned Stephen Covey, you know, work backwards from the end in mind. That's one of his seven habits, you know. Can you see exactly where you want to get to? And I will tell you, there's a higher correlation between people who have a very clear sense of what they want to accomplish and their sense of happiness.

SPEAKER_01: 34:19

Yeah, I would say that is so true. And like you said, at the beginning, and for everyone to remember, it is a choice, it's a daily choice. You wake up, you choose yourself, you wake up, you don't choose yourself, you decide. So and my husband likes to say you want to either be the hero or the victim. And I'm sure that somebody else, you know, has said that previously, but he likes to remind the people around him, like don't, and then you know, we have to remind him sometimes too. But this is not the way it goes. Um, that's what we're here for is supporting one another and and really giving. Um, I think when you give out of consideration and and want to for love and for help for others, then they also are open to receiving more than if you are demanding that.

SPEAKER_00: 35:15

So I'm gonna share something you that you probably may maybe never heard. That there's a book out there called Aging Well. So when I was going through this process of really trying to figure myself out, I had a I had lost a father to a slow decline from Parkinson's, and it was really sad.

SPEAKER_02: 35:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 35:37

My grandmother died of Alzheimer's, so I knew I had this neurodegenerative disease in my genetic coding.

SPEAKER_02: 35:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 35:45

And I was now all of a sudden worried, am I gonna get Alzheimer's? So I started reading voraciously. I read this book, The End of Alzheimer's, but a therapist at the time handed me a book called Aging Well. And without telling, it's a and they they track all these people um over decades and try and figure out what did these folks who lived longest in happiness do? One of the things that came up was a term called generativity. Generativity, think of Yoda and Star Wars. Yoda is the he's the quintessential example of I've got wisdom and I'm gonna share it and pass it along to help you. So you've talked a lot today about helping others. And I've now I'm aboard that bus, wrote the book to help others. But do you know that it helps you live longer? Because it adds to your purpose and it adds to your it adds to your emotional well-being. I think it reduces stress. We are all, including me and everyone, we tend to be a bit self-centered because we have stuff to do. We need help, we're struggling. But gosh, giving out to others, and this is new for me. When I say it's new, it's new in the self-help broader sense. I've always been a manager in a business environment who's been very motivated to help my people find their magic, be the best they can be at work. Yeah, but I never had the platform to do it outside of work like I do today.

SPEAKER_01: 37:22

I love that too. And I'm just so lucky that I, you know, just started kind of piece by piece in community and groups, just kind of offering, you know, advice, I guess, or just an ear to listen. And I think that it started building these connections and this um community leadership, or I mean, I I'd like to be humble, and but at the same time, like it's grown to be such a beautiful, amazing thing where you know, now I get emotional. And and when people reach out to me and they're like, oh my gosh, I heard this on the news. Like, what do you what do you think? What's what should I do? What and I just am like, wow, people are like really trusting me when they come to me with these things. And it's just such an honor and a pleasure to be able to hold this, you know, this platform and this standard for people to be able to come and be themselves holy and be belonging wholly, which I think is what we all really want and desire when it comes down to it is that connection. And so this is definitely a place for connection. And I want to invite you back because we didn't even get any sentences in about the school of rock. And I'm totally like, oh my gosh, I've been like, okay, how am I gonna work this in? But like, I just want to invite you back so that we can do another episode about that and talk more about that.

SPEAKER_00: 38:52

Do you want me just to sing a little Ed Zeppelin for you or something?

SPEAKER_01: 38:56

Oh my gosh, when I say no, no, I'm not gonna do it.

SPEAKER_00: 39:00

I'm gonna bury it.

SPEAKER_01: 39:02

Oh no, this has been so much fun. And um, remember, if you want to connect, please um mattross.com for those of you who are listening. Um, also go and get your copy of Grow and Fold. And does it have a further title?

SPEAKER_00: 39:22

Grow Fold, Transform Yourself in Midlife and Beyond. By the way, we actually have an endorsement from Mel Robbins. And if you don't know Mel Robbins, she is setting the world on fire. Yes, Marshall Goldsmith, who wrote What Got You Here, won't get you there, and Jack Canfield. Love that Chicken Soup for the Soul. So I'm I'm pretty proud. The book is out next week.

SPEAKER_01: 39:41

And I'm really proud of it.

SPEAKER_00: 39:42

I'm just really proud of this.

SPEAKER_01: 39:44

Wonderful, wonderful job. So excited to have you here today to talk about it and to really honor and just like give our you know hands up to you for doing this work and and really being vulnerable and coming from a place that is. So heart centered and in teaching. And I think that, like you said, that I didn't even know that I was aging well by the end. So I love it. Everybody check that, you know, that's that's incredible. Um, please just be kind, keep giving. Um, love and light to everyone is is just that choice, once again, to wake up and decide that you're gonna be the person that others feel safe with, that you can um be a guide and a light, you know, in that the dark days that we're having in this world. And yeah, it's crazy. So thank you so much for your time. It's a pleasure. Thank you.

SPEAKER_00: 40:41

Keep doing what you're doing.

SPEAKER_01: 40:42

Yes, I absolutely like I said, this will be coming out tomorrow on January 7th. So everyone um will be able to just check this out fresh from the from the press. So exciting. Um, again, thank you so much, mattross.com. Go and get your book, and I'm sure that it's available um on Amazon and other platforms like that as well. So um, any last words before we go?

SPEAKER_00: 41:09

You know what? Uh be kind to yourself.

SPEAKER_02: 41:12

Like, thank you.

SPEAKER_00: 41:13

It's hard. Everything's hard, nothing's easy in success and ambition and managing everything. But if you can just step back and just sort of be kind to yourself and say it's not selfish to have dreams of happiness, health, etc., with a little gratitude. Trying to find those things down the road and take your steps and invest in some growth and some learning and take some classes because what got you here may not get you there at some stage of your life. You need to add good fuel to your brain.

SPEAKER_01: 41:50

That's so true. I think it's just wonderful advice. And I can't imagine doing anything else. It's like I love that. So thank you. And it's so exciting to have this New Year's um episode coming out, and so I'm just so honored and happy to all of my listeners and all of my followers. Thank you, thank you, thank you from the bottom of my heart. Please reach out if you need anything, sjchild show at gmail.com. And we'll see you on the next episode.