Performance Intelligence Podcast

Surviving a Heli Crash, The Power of Tapping the Dark Side, and the 1st Paraplegic to Scale Everest Base Camp

In 2018, Jay Stevens life took a dramatic turn after a helicopter crash in Uluru left him paralyzed, with doctors telling him he’d never walk again. Despite a severe spinal cord injury and a bleak prognosis, Jay refused to accept his fate.

Through sheer grit and an unbreakable mindset, Jay rebuilt his body and life, becoming the first paraplegic to walk to Everest Base Camp without the aid of a wheelchair. His journey is a testament to defying the odds and pushing past life’s toughest barriers. Jay’s story isn’t just about survival; it’s about embracing challenges, harnessing the “dark side” for strength, and proving that limits are meant to be broken.

In this episode Andrew and Jay discuss:

2:45 Andrew and Jay’s shared run club, how Jay is doing 6.5 years after his accident and how Jay sees his life as an evolution.

7:15 The story of Jay’s helicopter accident and how he is able to remove the emotion when talking about it, hitting pause on the grief immediately after the accident and throwing himself into the recovery process.

10:15 Jay recovering in a spinal hospital and learning to use his legs again, teaching himself a rehabilitation routine when the experts wouldn’t help and using his hard work mindset to push through the rehab.

16:00 Jay using his sales experience and learning mental resilience from ultra marathon runners, the crushing weight of being away from his family for 7 months and Jay’s kids being the reason he does everything.

20:00 learning to accept some of the darker thoughts around the helicopter crash, how everyone else in the helicopter survived and not being rocked by the smaller things now.

25:00 Jay’s wonderful marriage of 10 years, being part of a generation that is showing more emotions and Jay’s use of EMDR therapy to overcome his PTSD.

35:00 Jay retraining his nervous system to be able to move his legs again, the impact of visualising running around Lake Narrabeen and re learning how to “run” on an exercise bike.

41:30 Being unable to feel your left leg or tell where it is in space, working on the hips to make up for lack of glute muscles and how Jay came up with a method of walking.

46:15 Using fatherhood as a main motivator to recover as well as possible, what fatherhood means to Jay and being able to tap into the dark side to overcome obstacles.

55:00 Growing up in a violent household, using some of the trauma in his past as motivation and travelling over 4 hours a day to get acupuncture during recovery.

1:03:15 Getting off opioids to confront the mental trauma of the helicopter accident, inviting his dad on the Everest trek and getting some positive feedback from him.

1:10:45 Climbing over 5km up to get to Everest base camp, what Jay felt when he got to Everest base camp and where the idea to do the trek came from

1:19:15 Jay’s systems based approach to doing things in life, having a spiritual connection to water and looking back on previous journals from before the helicopter accident.

1:29:45 Getting back into surfing as a method of downregulating, working on becoming a disability surfer similar to Matt Formston and Jay’s favourite NRL team.

1:34:30 Jay’s keynote on tapping in to the dark side, where Jay sees himself in 3 years and the biggest challenges communicating to younger generations. 

You can find Jay at his Website: https://jaystevenskeynote.org/
or at his LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jay-stevens-a1634028/
Listen to the Matt Formston Podcast Episode: https://shorturl.at/8LOhx

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Learn more about Andrew and Performance Intelligence: https://performanceintelligence.com/
Find out more about Andrew's Keynotes : https://performanceintelligence.com/keynotes/

Follow Andrew May: https://www.instagram.com/andrewmay/

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