Trent Shelton
speaker
1,276 appearances
4 recordings
3 series
first heard Nov 2024
last heard 28 Jul
Trent Shelton’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.
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recordings per month · last 12 monthsRecordings per month over the last 12 months — 1 in all, peaking in Jul 2026 with 1.
Appearances
They were the type of parents that when I looked in the stands, I saw my mom and dad, no matter where the game was. And so my whole motivation, to be honest with you, was to be able to give them a gift. I'm not paying for my college to say, hey, I got a full athletic scholarship or even academic. You know, I took care of my grades. I was a straight A student.
So that was my motivation and drive throughout my whole life to be able to give my parents the gift of saying you supported me in my dream. So I want to give you a gift back to let you know you don't have to pay for my school.
Yeah, I mean, college was great. College was probably the funnest time of my life. We struggled a little bit as a team, but I was able to excel as an individual at Baylor. And I was put in position to make it to the NFL. So my college career went great. I mean, as a team, I would like for us to win more. but I built a lot of great brotherhoods and relationships.
And you learn there what brotherhood really is. You're seeing your guys. You learn team. I bring this into the workspace today. You learn sacrifice. You learn commitment. You learn that it's bigger than you. And college really taught me that because, I mean, you're living, you're breathing sports. And what you do affects your teammate, affects your brother.
If you don't take care of your business, then your brother is going to be affected by that. So It taught a different level of discipline and sacrifice that I felt like nothing else in my life had taught me up to that point.
Yeah, that was probably the worst day of my life up to that point. You know, I was three years into the NFL. My NFL career, it was the typical one. It's not the one that's glorified because you just think people make millions of dollars. But there are a lot of guys that every day they're fighting to stay alive. You know, they're fighting for a job.
And there were so many times where my mental health suffered because I didn't know if I was going to get fired that day. There's been days where I come off the practice field having a great practice, phenomenal practice. And they bring me and say, hey, you know, we got to bring this guy in. We love you, but we can't keep you. And now, like, what do I do with my life?
And my final straw was, it wasn't actually the end of my career. It was the year before when I was with the Seattle Seahawks. And I had this moment where, I don't want to go into the whole story, but I was actually in Dallas at home and I was released at that point. They called me, told me to come back. I packed my bags.
I rushed to the airport and they gave me another call before I get on the plane. Say, hey, Trent, have you left yet? I'm like, no, I haven't left yet. Like, good, because we changed our mind. That was the day where I was like, OK, man, I can't take this no more. Like, this isn't how I want to live. Like so much anxiety and so much excitement and somebody controlling my life just like that.
End up playing for another year. But I knew in that next year that this wasn't what I wanted to do anymore. It was no love for the game anymore.
As humans, and we're programmed this way, and whatever you do, more than likely you put your all into something, your identity tends to be wrapped around that. It could be a relationship. It could be a job. And for me at the time, it was a sport. And so for, what, 16, 18 years of my life, I was this football player, this athlete.
And so now the first moment in my life that's since I've been five years old, now I don't have that identity anymore. So what do I do in my life? I have no idea who I am. I never worked a nine-to-five. You can say you went to school to study, but you really went to school so you can make it to the NFL. And so I have no idea what to do with my life. And I was lost.
You know, I remember looking at my all my trophies and I was at my parents' house because I still live with them when I came back home in my room. And I was just looking around like, man, is my life over? And you see so many athletes struggle with that. Not just athletes, but so many people that's wrapped their life around something. When that ends, it's like, man, what do I do with my life?
And that was the first moment where I felt lost, where I felt insecure, where I felt I didn't have a purpose. I felt, do I even matter?
Well, I had to face my reality. I think that's the first step. You never will fix what you're not willing to face. I like to say you'll never win your war by running from your battles. And so in my rehab process, I have a three-part process. And the first process is reality. I had to face that, hey, this is over. It's done. But it doesn't mean that your life has to be over.
And sometimes you have to lose certain things to gain better things. Sometimes you have to lose what you want to do to walk into what's really meant for you. And it's easy to say that obviously on this side of it, but these were things I was telling myself. And there was this little inkling of hope. I'm talking about like spectacle, like hope.
When I was in that room, I said, man, like maybe my life is just beginning. Maybe this had to end so I can walk into my purpose. And I held on to that hope and The thing I would tell people listening to this right now is who you are is what you are. I mean, who you are is who you are. You know, we talk about purpose. I get this question a lot, Trent, how do I find my purpose?
And I tell people, stop searching for it because the world doesn't have your purpose. A job doesn't have your purpose. A title doesn't have your purpose. A financial piece of paper doesn't have your purpose. You are the purpose. And when you understand that, you realize that you can take your life.
Just as well I was great in sports, the same characteristics I had in that sport, I can take that into the workplace. I can take that into my purpose. I can take that into my company because it's who I am. That's just what I did. And so I would just tell everybody listening to this right now, I know it's hard when something ends, but you still have you. You still have your mindset.
You still have your characteristics. You still have your values. You still have the great things about yourself that you just got to now figure, how do I now adjust? How do I now rearrange certain things to put into something else? And I think when you realize that if you can be successful at something, I truly feel like you can be successful at something else also.
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