Mick Unplugged
Journey of Resilience: J.R. Martinez on Embracing Change and Inspiring Millions
Thu, 27 Feb 2025
J.R. Martinez stands as a beacon of resilience and inspiration, making his appearance on "Mick Unplugged" truly memorable. From soldier to "Dancing with the Stars" champion, J.R. has transformed personal adversity into a platform of triumph and empowerment. J.R. reveals how overcoming a life-altering injury and embracing a purpose-driven life has fueled his dedication to serving others. His journey as a motivational speaker and author underscores the power of applying wisdom and embracing one's unique path. J.R. shares his incredible journey of resilience, reinvention, and finding purpose in adversity. Discover how his early life experiences, military service, and a life-altering injury shaped his path to becoming a motivational speaker and best-selling author. Learn about his profound moments of reflection, the power of vulnerability, and his commitment to serving others. Tune in for insights on reinvention, embracing change, and unleashing your true potential. Get ready to be moved by J.R.'s compelling story of courage and transformation. Takeaways: Embrace your authentic self True power lies in applying knowledge to serve humanity Practicing gratitude is important Sound Bites: "Knowledge applied is power." "The world gives you what you give to the world." Connect and Discover Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/iamjrmartinez/?hl=en X: https://x.com/iamjrmartinez?lang=en Website: https://www.jrmartinez.com Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@iamjrmartinez Book: Full of Heart: My Story of Survival, Strength and Spirit 𝗙𝗢𝗟𝗟𝗢𝗪 𝗠𝗘 𝗢𝗡: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mickunplugged/ Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/mick-unplugged/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mickunplugged/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIPaMel-Fb4zQmCSZDPHu4A LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mickhunt/ Website: https://www.mickhuntofficial.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Chapter 1: What is Mick Unplugged and who is J.R. Martinez?
Welcome to Mick Unplugged, where we ignite potential and fuel purpose. Get ready for raw insights, bold moves, and game-changing conversations. Buckle up. Here's Mick.
Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to another exciting episode of Mic Unplugged, and we've got a great one for you today. From a soldier's battlefield to the dance floor spotlight, he's shown the world the true meaning of resilience and reinvention.
As a motivational speaker, best-selling author, and Dancing with the Stars champion, he inspires millions with his story of overcoming adversity and embracing life with purpose. Get ready for an empowering conversation with the resilient, the inspiring, the unstoppable, My man, Mr. JL Martinez. JL, how you doing today, brother?
Man, that introduction was money, man. Appreciate you so much. You know, I feel like everybody should have somebody that just like reads their quick bio or LinkedIn profile, whatever, like when they wake up in the morning. Everybody should have the opportunity to hear that because I think
In the world we live in, man, it's just so fast paced and there's so many things that are happening and changing constantly from our profession to our families, to our feelings, to just everything that we don't have an opportunity. We really don't give ourselves time to sit back and reflect and appreciate the journey.
So when you were saying what you were saying, I was like, just kind of had a moment of like, just like nostalgia reflecting and just thinking about like, I guess he's talking about me. That's me. I've done those things. That's fine.
Yep. No guesswork, man. That really is you. And like I said, I'm honored to have you on. We were talking a little bit offline, man. Like, I get inspired by people like you. And more importantly, I get inspired by you, by JR Martinez, man, because your story is... is more than storybook. It's more than, you know, movie theater-esque. It's real.
And to know that you are the person that lives that journey is freaking impressive, bro. Like, freaking impressive. And so, you know, on Make Unplugged, we talk about your because, that reason that's deeper than your why, like that true purpose that you have for, that makes you the person that you are. So if I were to say JL Martinez today, what's your because, brother? Like what's your purpose?
What's that reason that motivates you every day to inspire the millions that you do?
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Chapter 2: How did J.R. Martinez find his purpose after his military service?
It all boils down to service. It really does. My military career was cut short due to my injury, but in the short amount of time that I was in the United States Army, I was introduced to that concept of service and really started to like understand what that really meant. And then
After I was injured, I was still obviously around the military community and around a lot of my friends that I met who were equally wounded and had served. The more that I learned about it and listened to other people's journeys regarding service, it just really was something that resonated with me and I fell in love with.
I think that was why, for me personally and so many of my friends that have equally been injured in the military and had to medically discharge, prior to the time that they wanted to.
I think that's why we struggle when we get into what we call civilian life, because we feel like, you know, that ability to serve, to give back, to be part of something, I think we believe it's taken away and that we're not going to be able to ultimately fulfill those things. And I think for me, I think that's the same thing that I navigated for a long time was, you know,
You know, it was, is what's my purpose? What am I doing? Like, like why was my life spared at 19 years old, despite this horrific injury that took place? And during a lot of, uh, at the time journaling, a lot of quiet time, a lot of real deep conversations with myself and a couple of people, not as many people, but a couple.
It really got to the root of, you know what, I can use my experience and what I've learned to serve other people, to help other people. And the way I used to say this early on was, if I can pass on to an individual the things that I've learned, By man, I've learned these things by having to go through something tragic.
But if I could pass these on these things on to people and prevent them from having to go through something tragic, but they can essentially learn these things and implement it into their life. Isn't that the goal? Right. Isn't it the goal to try to help one another to you mean that that. So for me, like, that's just my motivation, man.
It's just to try to serve people as much as possible, try to learn as much as I possibly can. They say knowledge is power. And, you know, I do believe in that. However, I believe the knowledge applied is power. You can have a bunch of knowledge, right? And that's fantastic. But if you don't apply it, what's the point of having all the knowledge? Then it's just cocktail talk.
Then you're just a person like a cocktail hour that can pretty much hold a conversation about anything with anybody. But at the end of the day, do you really understand? Are you really either living that? Are you rooted in that? Have you applied it? And so for me, it's just really been about like collecting data, knowledge, and then trying to pass that data and knowledge on to other people.
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Chapter 3: What life lessons did J.R. learn from his childhood experiences?
Because I think when you approach it that way, then when you say thank you for your service, it ends a period. Right. And there's no follow up conversation or dialogue. If there's a tell me about your service. Now you give the microphone to somebody else and give them the opportunity to vocalize as much as they feel comfortable. They may not be a lot. It may be a lot more than you expect.
But I think it's the reason why I think that's so important is because then it creates this intersectionality and this connection that you often don't see. And we talk about is missed too often when it comes to military to civilian personnel. So anyways, that's just that quick bit for, you know, just everybody out there. But, you know, I had like this big dream, this big goal.
I wanted to go to college and play football. And, you know, it wasn't kind of panning out the way that I wanted. And I was kind of just going through the motions after I graduated from high school. And the military was was was my senior year of high school, just kind of like was sort of in this sphere, if you will, like.
You would see the recruiters, you know, at the school, you know, a couple of times. You obviously passed them all the time. You went to the mall, you know, and then one of my football coaches was in the military at one point in his life. And so I just kind of heard about it. So it wasn't sort of this foreign concept. You know, I'm a first generation, you know, person.
born in the U S like my mother's from central America. My father's from Mexico. You know, I am that story. And I am that story of immigrant parents coming here, looking for a better opportunity. And then, you know, me being born here. And I just kind of felt like, you know what, what do I want to do now? I'll not, not to draw this out too long.
So I used to go to central America, a lot as a kid and to visit my family. And, um, You know, growing up a single mother, you know, I know I think you grew up the same way. Like my father wasn't in the picture. And, you know, it was just my mom and I. That's it.
And so needless to say, like, I remember going to El Salvador as a kid several times and just looking around and just saying to myself, like, wow, like where my family lives in Central America, it's rural. I mean, they're living on the side of a mountain. Like, I mean, it's you're going to the creek. to get drinking water, to bathe, to wash clothes and dishes.
Like you're going to the restroom outside, like in the woods. I mean, that's how it, it's very much what we would consider third world country. And so that was a, that was a pretty rocking experience for me, but it was, Probably some of my best memories in my youth come from that time of being there, you know, for the week or two weeks that we would spend there because it was just so simple.
Life was simple. It wasn't about, you know, electronics. It wasn't about the fast pace of going here, going there. It was about, I mean, I love coffee. And one of the reasons why I love coffee so much is because it reminds me of going to El Salvador as a kid when you woke up in the morning, not because an alarm went off, but because the roosters were like,
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Chapter 4: How did J.R.'s injury in Iraq change his life?
And when you read my resume, when you read the things that I've accomplished, no one's going to pay attention to me going into that room and visiting that patient. but in the grand scheme of my life and what I've accomplished.
But that moment was so pivotal, so big that it helped give me life and carried me and allowed me to say, hey, there's something potentially to this life that I could be living. And I just continued to just stay the course with that. And there are a lot of other things. I mean, listen, you know, there would be things, you know, small victories that I would celebrate. And then guess what?
Life would kick in. You know, the underlying trauma would start to resurface. I would be triggered by something. And then guess what? It would sort of be a setback. And then I would be this angry person. I wouldn't be a pleasant person to be around. And I sort of dabbled in that rollercoaster of emotions.
And it was my best friend about four and a half years after I was injured one day was like, hey, man, as a man, he's 17 years older than me. He was like, man, you need to cry. And I was like, what? I don't need to cry. My father wasn't in my life. I never... Crying was not something being Hispanic. We don't cry. We don't talk about our feelings. Right.
There is a lot of communities that that that follow that same, you know, belief system. Right. And so and he told me, he's like, man, I love you. Like and I was like and not like, hey, man, I love you. Like out of nowhere, he'd always been telling me every time we get off the phone, he'd be like, hey, love you, man. And in person, give me a hug. Love you, man.
And I'm like, why is this dude always telling me he loves me? And then the night that I really had a breakdown, he instead of pushing me away and running away from me because it felt uncomfortable. Instead, he leaned in and he and he told me he loved me and he told me it was OK. I needed to cry. And I started crying.
And, you know, how pivotal that moment was, man, is right after that conversation. I was the first one I looked at him and and I said, hey, man, I love you. I appreciate that. Thank you. And. It's because I felt safe and I felt like I had been vulnerable and I'd been seen and and been heard and hadn't been judged. And that's unconditional love. And my life turned.
My life changed after that, man, in a different way. Like I got involved in the entertainment industry, got into some acting and, you know, then another big opportunity presented itself. And then life just kind of took off from there.
I love it, man. And I want to give you the floor to give advice to the listener, the viewer right now that's at that moment of needing to reinvent themselves, right? Because I think of all people that I know in the world, you are the authority for this message right here. For the listener, the viewer that's like, all right, JR, what are the first two or three steps that I need to do
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Chapter 5: What steps can you take for personal reinvention?
I excelled on that show is because I just got back to my DNA. I just got back to who I was born to be, who I was when I was five years old, just to be this energy. And I just leaned into that energy and the energy in the space. And it carried me, man. And I ended up winning the freak competition, which was one thing.
This is what I know about J.R. There's an opportunity to win. Please go. Right. Right. If there's judging going on, if there is a score. Right.
I'm going for the top. My wife is always like, you know, she's like, you know, my big supporter. She's always like, I just she's like, I don't doubt you. I don't doubt you. And it's just and I think part of that comes from when you come from where I come from and people like, you know, the same, you know, backgrounds and youth that I had.
When you experience near-death experiences, man, it's like life is short. What am I going to sit here and worry about this or worry about that and spend time overthinking? I'm going. Let's go. And let's have fun. And whatever happens, happens. And I'll live with it as long as I'm having a good time and doing the best that I can. I can live with the results. There we go.
Joe, you've been gracious with your time today, man. I know you're very busy, but I don't want to overlook what I think is one of the greatest pieces of work. And that's your bestselling book, man. Like talk to us a little bit about, um, when you decided to write it. And then what I feel like has been one of the greatest responses, right? Like the response that you've gotten from the book, bro.
Yeah, so, you know, I kind of had a little bit of that imposter syndrome, right? Even though before that was a popular term when I wrote the book, but like me, write a book? Do I, am I qualified? Am I, you know, all the questions that you fill your head with, you know, regarding that process.
And ultimately what motivated me to do it was because I really wanted people to true because I was still getting the question of how did you survive what you survived and overcome it. And I really wanted to lay it out and again, really talk about those moments that transpired in my life prior to this big event that helped shape me and condition me to prepare me for the biggest test of all.
And, um, and so I just really wanted to lay it out and I just, I leaned into it. I was pretty vulnerable. There were some things that I identified after the process that, Ooh, maybe there's things that I should, I could have been a little bit more detailed and vulnerable about. And maybe that's the second part. I don't know what I ended up doing life.
You know, the fact that the response that I got, and I remember when I got a call and, you know, from the, from the agent, it was like, Hey man, you you're on the list. And I was like, what list? Like, that's how naive and just, you know, unaware I was. And I was like, what list? And he said, the New York Times bestseller list. And I was like, wow.
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Chapter 6: How does J.R. Martinez define a strong foundation for life?
Move through the world as all the challenges that present, you know, in society, that if we could just all move through the world with a little bit more compassion and empathy for one another and love and understanding and patience, you know, we end up finding a bigger community than we ever thought we knew we could have.
Absolutely. Absolutely. To all the viewers and listeners, remember, your because is your superpower. Don't unleash it.
Thank you for tuning in to Mic Unplugged. Keep pushing your limits, embracing your purpose, and chasing greatness. Until next time, stay unstoppable.