"The Captain" Kyle Creek on Overcoming Depression and Living with Integrity

The Captain, who has built a persona of unbreakable confidence, reveals his journey of struggling with depression and suicidal thoughts and how he found the courage to be vulnerably honest with himself and others. In this episode, you will learn: 1. How Kyle Creek overcame depression and suicidal thoughts 2. The importance of vulnerability and authenticity 3. How toxic masculinity can be harmful "I realized that my depression was going to continue getting worse. I kept feeding it the way I was, and my girlfriend and I decided to break up. Well, I say we decided she decided to break up. And it was kind of the last straw for me to realize I needed Kyle Creek is a writer, creator, and Instigator. He's not your dad, but he is a dad. This is Kyle Creek's story... Growing up, Kyle Creek struggled with his identity. He felt lost and misunderstood. To cope, he turned to writing. This eventually led to him creating an alter ego known as "The Captain." The Captain allowed Kyle to express himself in ways he wouldn't have been able to as himself. He could share his opinions and be vulnerable without fear of judgement. The Captain became so popular that more people knew him by that name than his real name. This led to a crisis of identity for Kyle. He eventually took a break from social media to rediscover himself. When he came back, he decided to share his story openly and honestly. He has since become an advocate for mental health, sharing his own struggles in order to help others. In this episode, you will learn the following: 1. How Kyle Creek overcame depression and suicidal thoughts 2. The importance of vulnerability and authenticity 3. How toxic masculinity can be harmful Resources: Grab Kyle Creek's Latest Book on Amazon Join the Growth Now Community Today! Chapter Summaries: [00:01:46] - This week's episode features Kyle Creek, aka The Captain. A writer, creator, instigator, and a dad, kyle believes in living in integrity and being honest and open without trying to tear other people apart. Kyle shares a moment in his life where he became suicidal, but he was able to overcome it. Kyle also talks about the idea of masculinity and toxic masculinity. [00:03:30] - Before the captain, Kyle Creek was a writer. He used social media as an alter ego to protect his professional career. After enough time, he had a crisis of identity and had to take a break from social media to regain his composure and stop being a faceless figure online. [00:06:43] - Kyle created the Captain character on his podcast, and it gave him more confidence. Kyle used to be afraid to talk about his personal life in podcasting, but now he's more comfortable with sharing his vulnerabilities. It took him a long time to open up about his past. [00:08:45] - If he could go back and do it again Kyle Creek would have used his real name cow Creek instead of Captain. He finds writing easier and his work more impactful. Under Cow Creek's name, he shares his life story with half a million people. [00:10:46] - After taking a break from the internet you started writing again and opening up about your life before that you were working as a creative director in an advertising agency in New York. Now you moved across the country to La to get a start on TV because of the podcast one person decided not to take his life the only way you get there is through vulnerability and authenticity - the first time he hit record he had a deep conversation and someone listened to it and it helped him. [00:15:22] - There's a lot of talk about toxic masculinity and Andrew Tate. In his opinion, masculinity is about being yourself and standing up for what you believe in, rather than trying to fit in with other people's expectations. He doesn't care if people consider themselves tough or feminine. He just wants them to be themselves. Growth now is a movement with which the podcast is connected. [00:20:02] - It's hard for people to be themselves. Identity politics is an easy way to feel like you're a part of something without actually having to do any work. It's harder to be honest about your opinions when it comes to political things. In his opinion, people don't have integrity anymore. [00:22:54] - After living in Marina del Rey and Las Vegas he and his girlfriend decided to move to Las Vegas. He's been in Florida for almost a year now. He lived in New York for a couple of years. He was trying to find a place to eat and all the restaurants he liked were shut down. [00:26:01] - There's an Opportunity for People to Come together and Understand that the divisiveness in the US. Is wrong. In early 2020, Captain Captain had a book deal with a large publisher. But he decided to speak his mind and he didn't lose his book deal. People can't get past the fact that my opinion is different from yours. I'm open to forgiveness and understanding. But I don't want to be around someone who's capable of going that far. I like what you said about guys like Andy and myself and Joe not putting ourselves in any category. [00:32:34] - In the last couple of years the man has become a father for the first time. He is not a father of his own biological children. But he is getting married in April and his wife has two kids they call him “bonus dad“ because he is not their biological father. [00:33:17] - After 15 months of being a father, he has learned a lot from his son. His writing is better now, and he understands himself better than before. He hopes to adopt a young woman and have a kid of his own in the next five years. He has two kids with his fiancee. There are many lessons in parenting in general. I don't want to go through crying babies and changing diapers in the middle of the night, but there are so many lessons to be learned I will most likely never experience. The patients learn when they're crying and they can't tell what's wrong. [00:38:11] - In his new book ”fucking History”, he takes a modern approach to the history of the world. He used to hate history in school, especially Mormon history. He liked the idea of taking historical facts and tying them to today's events. Vincent van Gogh was lost in his 20s, and he didn't have success until he was 37. [00:41:30] - As a father. He's learned a lot about history and parenting from his own childhood. He grew up in a conservative religion, Mormonism. He wants his son to be able to talk to him about awkward moments in his life. He hopes his son will relate to him on another level. [00:44:06] - According to the author, success is making a living without having to answer to anyone. He is currently writing his first book. He tries not to schedule anything in the morning. He also tries to force himself to write every day. He's aware of what he eats and what he drinks. A memoir is something he never intended to write until he was in his 50s or 60s. He would like to have something he could read that would give him a sense of who he was. He has also finished two children's books that he's currently illustrating with his father. He's also working on two TV series, and he has half a dozen book ideas in his head at all times. His books are available on Amazon. [00:51:38] - Kyle's biggest moment of growth was becoming a dad. Kyle wants to use his presence and audience to do something grandiose. Kyle thanks his audience for being a part of the Growth Now movement. Kyle asks his audience to share the episode on social media to help grow the movement. Connect with me: IG: www.instagram.com/justintschenck