Episode 209

Improve Your Mental Health Through Everyday Habits with John Katsavos

Published on: 30th May, 2023

Small daily wins can help a man climb out of depression, even when the first win is just a shower. My guest John Katsavos started karate at eight and earned a second-degree brown belt by 12. Heading into junior high, his dad told him to keep his skills quiet or he'd be fighting the whole school. A classmate bullied him for months while his grandmother, who was like a second mother, was dying of lung cancer. When John finally broke down in tears, he decided he was weak. He built a hard shell and let only his mom, dad, and sister inside. In his twenties, he was a security shift supervisor making good money and driving a $40,000 car. Then two guards he supervised walked into a tenant's suite on Christmas Eve, and the company made an example of him. He lost the job, his credit, and his schooling and moved back to his parents' basement. For months he barely left his room and told himself he was useless. He walked to a bridge ready to end his life. He turned back when he pictured what his death would do to his family.

His way back started almost too small to notice. When everyone left the house, he covered the bathroom mirror with a towel so he could wash his face without facing himself. Every other day he walked around the block for fresh air. Months passed before he started applying for jobs, and about a year before he landed one. He got back in the gym. When a dark thought returned one night at work, he went back to martial arts the very next day. John says the seeds can stay even after you feel better, so he stays mindful. Today his morning routine takes about an hour before he turns on his phone. It includes self-care, meditation, reading, morning pages, burpees, pushups, and squats. His advice for a struggling man is simpler. Pick one thing, even washing your face with cold water, and do it every day for three months.

John is honest that hard days still come. Going into this conversation, money was tight and bills were piling up. He knows how to ride those waves because he's done it before. Long before his lowest point, he found his love for the gym. In 10th grade, he was a 100-pound kid riding the bench on the junior football team. He trained every day that summer, came back stronger and faster, and found a confidence he'd never had. That passion later became a career in personal training and his podcast, The Fitness Oracle. Mike Forrester shares that his own morning routine builds trust in himself, proof that he'll get up and do what he said. John's rule is to get the wins early so you can win the rest of the day. If you're a dad who lost the job and can't find your footing, start with one small win tomorrow morning.

What You'll Learn In This Episode:

  • Start with one small daily win, like a shower or a walk around the block, to start climbing out of depression.
  • Pick one habit and do it every day for three months until it becomes part of you.
  • Build a morning routine that gets your wins in before your phone, your job, and your kids need you.
  • Recognize that breaking down before a hard moment is a normal human response.
  • Stay mindful after a hard season, since old patterns can return even when life looks good.
  • See how losing a job can shake your identity and how small steps help you show up again for your wife and kids.

The key moments in this episode are:

00:02:50 - what a man's "nothing box" is and how it brings clarity

00:04:33 - getting through financial stress when the bills pile up

00:06:40 - hiding your strength to avoid a fight

00:14:40 - grieving a grandmother who was like a second mother

00:16:30 - how a summer in the gym built a teenager's confidence

00:21:41 - why trust is hard after you've been hurt

00:23:29 - losing a good job and sliding into depression

00:30:53 - small steps that help you climb out of a dark place

00:34:06 - why old patterns can return after you start to heal

00:36:30 - turning what you love into a career

00:40:32 - how a simple morning routine builds momentum

00:44:43 - why you should stick with one habit for three months

.

Connect with John Katsavos

Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/john.katsavos.39

.

LinkedIn:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-katsavos/

.

Connect with Mike Forrester

https://linktr.ee/hicoachmike

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About the Podcast

Living Fearless Today
Helping men break generational cycles, heal the father wound, and become a better husband and dad.
You swore you'd be a different kind of father than the one who raised you. Then one day you caught his words and tone coming out of your mouth. You felt the same distance creep in at home, and wondered how much of him you're still carrying despite the promise you made to yourself.

Living Fearless Today is a podcast for men who are done repeating the patterns they grew up with. Host Mike Forrester has stood where you're standing. Every week he brings honest conversations and practical tools for the parts of a man's life that rarely get said out loud: the father wound you never named, the anger that shows up with the people you love most, the marriage that's gone quiet, and the man you still want to become.

The show helps you understand the past that shaped you. Then you take an honest look at where you stand today as a husband, a father, and a man. From there you start building the future you actually want, one choice at a time, instead of drifting into the one you were handed and currently living out.

Episodes cover identity, anger, shame, marriage and fatherhood, relationships, self-worth, courage, emotional intelligence, legacy and purpose, and the brotherhood that the vast majority of men are missing. If you've looked for how to break generational cycles, face a father wound, handle anger as a dad, or become a better husband and father, start here.

The cycle can end with you. Press play and take the first step toward becoming the man you needed when you were young.

About your host

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Mike Forrester

Mike Forrester is a men's transformation coach, founder of the Living Fearless coaching programs, and host of the Living Fearless Today podcast. His insights, methods and stories of overcoming childhood trauma, dyslexia and loss of loved ones have been featured on various podcasts, including Hanging Onto Hope, Extreme Health, Own Your Life Own Your Career and Think Unbroken.