You Might Enjoy: On Purpose with Jay Shetty

Jay Shetty (0:01)

Hey, it's Jay. I don't know what your day's been like, but I was just thinking about you for a minute.

And I hope you're being a little patient with yourself, because you deserve it. And yeah, I'll talk to you soon.

Hey everyone, welcome back to On Purpose, the place you come to become happier, healthier and more healed. Today's guest is two-time Paralympic gold medalist and world record holder, Ezra Frech. He's one of the most exciting young athletes in the world, a powerful voice for disability representation, and he's already changing the way people see what's possible. Now you can see him taking on a completely new challenge on Dancing With The Stars if you haven't been watching already. Ezra Frech, welcome to On Purpose.

Ezra Frech (0:54)

Wow, thank you for having me.

Jay Shetty (0:56)

I am so inspired by you. Honestly, when I was preparing for this interview, I was looking at what you've achieved in your life, how you move through the world, I've watched your interviews, how you respond and react, and not only are you so impressive with what you pull off, you're so gracious and grateful and kind.

Ezra Frech (1:17)

Thank you.

Jay Shetty (1:18)

Wow, this guy is doing life.

Ezra Frech (1:21)

Thank you so much. Thank you for having me. It is a real honor to be here.

Jay Shetty (1:25)

We're going to get into some really deep stuff, but I wanted to ask you, what is more pressure, competing in the Paralympics or doing the cha-cha in front of millions of people on Dancing With The Stars?

Ezra Frech (1:35)

Honestly, my philosophy on pressure is that it doesn't even exist. I feel like pressure is what is Matthew McConaughey saying in The Wolf Watch, it's a wazzie, it's a woozie, it's a fairy dust, it never existed. It's almost like me admitting that there's pressure, then convinces myself that that's a negative situation to be in, when in reality, I don't even see it as pressure, I just see it as real beautiful opportunity. Competing at the Paralympics, that's competing in track and field, I grew up doing that, of course, that's more comfortable. Dancing on live TV is way out of my comfort zone. I have no dance experience, I've never done that before. So that is more out of my comfort zone, but I don't even see it as pressure, I see it as just a lot of fun, a beautiful opportunity to fulfill my purpose, what I feel like I was put on this earth for.

And so all positivity, because sometimes people say pressure, or people say nerves, they get stressed, or they say fear, and all of a sudden, you're creating a negative emotion in your body, and you're more likely to feel that emotion when you say it like that. So in my head, it's like, there's no pressure, this is joy.

Jay Shetty (2:38)

Yeah, well, you see that, you're crushing it on Dancing With The Stars.

Ezra Frech (2:41)

Have you been watching?

Jay Shetty (2:41)

Yeah, I have been, I have been, and it's amazing to watch you. Have you been voting for me? I haven't, yeah, I need to start voting for you. I'm always catching up on the highlights, so I'm always watching after the fact. Not that you need my vote, I think you're doing just fine, but I'll jump in and vote for you. Thank you. I wanted to go back to the beginning. When you were born, your parents were told that you were limb deficient.

I find that fascinating that they saw that not as just information they received. They decided to make it the purpose of why you existed. Walk me, obviously you can't remember the moment you were born, but talk to me about your earliest memories of learning that you were limb deficient.

Ezra Frech (3:21)

It's a pretty crazy situation just based on the fact that they didn't know I was going to be born with a physical disability. So I was born and I had one finger on my left hand, a left leg that's curved up towards my waist. My mom tells a story. There was so many people in the delivery room. My mom packed it with family and friends and my father started kicking people out of the room. And my mom was like, why is everyone getting kicked out of the room? And it's because he was freaking out, you know what to do. This child looked different. And of course they didn't know if there was anything else wrong and they had to run a bunch of tests. But once it was obviously just a physical disability, my parents had this moment where it was, I think it was a few days after I was born, my mother was on the phone with the friend and she was saying, what an amazing mother my mom is gonna be and how special this child is gonna be. And my mother said something along the lines of, any mother would be so, so loving to their child, regardless of the circumstance. And then she opens up the front page of the LA Times. And right there, there was an article about a trash scavenger in China who had adopted 43 children.