Corey's psychologist gave him a picture for his childhood: wet concrete, and everyone who walked past pressing in a footprint that set hard and stayed. He coaches boys' football now, and he reckons that if he can pull one footprint back out over a six-month season, that is a win.
Sound Bites
- "When you're young, you're like wet concrete, and you had all these people footing footprints in you that were permanent"
- "If I'm a good boy, if I'm well behaved, then I can create safety in my own environment"
- "I really feel like my son has evolved beyond me in a lot of ways."
- "It's not my aspiration to be looked up to."
- "I wish you could see what I see in you."
- "Boys who don't have male role models have to find their own way"
- "My book is unintentionally helping men realise what their emotions are"
Description
Corey Gaidzionis grew up in the western suburbs of Sydney, the oldest son in a house where his parents would not speak to each other. He carried the messages between them. Years later, his psychologist gave him the picture for it — a child is wet concrete, and everyone who walks past leaves a footprint that sets hard.
He coaches boys' football in Western Australia. He wrote a children's book about emotions. It started with a post-it note he put under his pillow every night for a month. He will tell you the football was never really about football.
What We Explore
- Wet concrete and permanent footprints, and whether you can ever pull one back out
- What a boy takes on when there is no man in the house, and the head-butting when the man comes home
- Six months with a boy on a football pitch against four days in the bush, and which one actually changes him
Mentioned in This Episode
- The Little Book of Big Emotions - Corey's children's book. Characters for each emotion, space for the child to write, cognitive behaviour therapy underneath it. It fell out of him in a day after a month of post-it notes.
- Cognitive behaviour therapy - the framework sitting under the book's characters.
- The manosphere - what a boy often finds when there is no man to look up to.
Connect with Corey Gaidzionis
Website: https://bigemotionsacademy.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/corey-gaidzionis/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bigemotionsacademy/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/coreyg76
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@coreygaidzionis
The Little Book of Big Emotions can be ordered through his website.
A little about Hamish Niven
For 25 years, I lived a life that looked successful from the outside. Inside it was falling apart, and I was throwing fuel on the fire — addiction, alcohol. I was on a steep path to self-destruct.
November 2018. I chose life, and had to change everything.
I built The 13th Room because nothing like that existed when I needed it.
The Brave Man Project — this podcast. It is about men, but not just for men. Men who broke under the weight of their own performance. Men who rebuilt and climbed so much higher.
The 13th Room is a space for the successful man who needs to change and knows it. 13 sessions, you and me. No fixing. Pure witnessing. Starts with a free 20-minute conversation.
Podcast website: https://thebravemanproject.com
Hamish's website: https://hamishniven.com
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheBraveManProject
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hamishniven/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@hamish.niven
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hamishniven/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/hamishniven
