Seeing in the Dark: "Bob the tumor", Going Blind, & Finding the Light in a Dark world through Christ and Echolocation | The Kevin Lowe Story

"My Math Equation: Faith + Family = A Life Worth Living!” ~ Kevin Lowe

Guest Bio:In his 30s, Kevin Lowe is a remarkable entrepreneur who has taken the world by storm. Despite the seemingly insurmountable challenge of losing his eyesight in 2003, Lowe has risen to success as a Purpose-Driven Life Coach and the engaging host of the popular podcast, Grit, Grace, & Inspiration. And wait to you hear about how he regained a form of sight through Christ and echolocation!

SHOW NOTES: 

• Website: https://GritGraceInspiration.com
• Single Promo Link: https://GritGraceInspiration.com/Listen
• Linkedin: https://linkedin.com/in/kevinloweofficial
• Grace, Grit, & Inspiration podcast episode featuring David Pasqualone: https://www.gritgraceinspiration.com/podcast/david-pasqualone/

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• RISE & THRIVE: Personal Development Tracker - Can either text the word 'RISE' to 33777 or just use this link: https://GritGraceInspiration.com/rise
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CORE THEMES, KEYWORDS, & MENTIONS:

• Tumor, endocrinologist, teenage illness, blindness, no smell, pressing on, blindness, faith, joy, Jesus, grandma, braille, going blind, sudden blindness, accepting life, prayer, family, suicide, echolocation, positive, encouraging, inspiring, motivating, inspirational

For more Remarkable Episodes, Inspiration, and Motivation, please visit https://davidpasqualone.com/remarkable-people-podcast/. Enjoy!

Transcript

SEEING IN THE DARK: "BOB THE TUMOR", GOING BLIND, & FINDING THE LIGHT IN A DARK WORLD THROUGH CHRIST AND ECHOLOCATION | THE KEVIN LOWE STORY

David Pasqualone: Hello, friends. This is David Pasqualone and welcome to this week's Remarkable People Podcast episode with our friend, Kevin Lowe. Kevin, thanks for being here today, brother. 

Kevin Lowe: Thank you for having me, dude. I'm excited to be here. 

David Pasqualone: Oh, I am sincerely excited to have you ladies and gentlemen, Kevin and I have been talking the last few months.

He is a contagiously positive human and you're about to hear his story. And we all have ups. We all have downs. Sometimes we have more downs than ups. It seems, and they lasted a long time. But what I love about Kevin is he is. No excuses, no, you know, dragging his feet. He's out there. He's making things happen.

He's a coach. He's an entrepreneur. He has his own podcast, the Grit, Grace and Inspiration podcast. And I just consider him a friend, even though we've only known each other a short time, and you will be inspired when you hear this [00:01:00] episode. You're going to see how, you know, there's people in the world who have a lot more difficulties than you and I have, even though we may have a heavy load and they don't complain and they make things work.

That's Kevin. So Kevin, for being here today. 

Kevin Lowe: Well, man, I'm excited to be here. I can't wait, dude. It's a real honor to be on your show. 

David Pasqualone: Oh, man, it's an honor to have you, and our listeners are now like, well, what's this all about? Dave's talking about Kevin. So, before we get, before we cut in, we're going to start right off with your story, and we're going to get into the nitty gritty of your life, the good, the bad, the ugly, pretty ugly.

But, um, I just wanted to give a quick shout out to MyPillow. You and I were just talking about MyPillow and how awesome their products are, but they're sponsoring today's episode, the Kevin Lowe episode. So thank you, MyPillow. And for all the ladies and gentlemen listening, I'm telling you, it's great stuff.

And if you go to their website, mypillow. com, use promo code, Remarkable, you're going to get up to 80 percent off any product. All 250 [00:02:00] plus products. You'll get 30 to 80 percent off everything. Most of the time it's about 50 percent or more and you are going to love it. If you don't, you can send it back, but that rarely happens because you are going to love it.

You're going to tell your friends and you're going to use promo code Remarkable for years to come. So that's it. That was our quick promotion. Now let's get to the really good stuff. Kevin. Talk to us about your life, buddy. Where were your origins? Where were you born? What was your family like? What was the system you grew up under?

Kevin Lowe: Yeah, man. Well, so, you know, I was really blessed. Um, I had a really good childhood going back. So, I was born and raised here in Ormond Beach, Florida. Um, so we are right next to the more well known neighbor of, uh, Daytona Beach. And, um, So, um, You know, so life for me growing up as a kid was, was honestly great.

It was back before, you know, we had social media, we had cell phones and, and, and the good old days. And um, [00:03:00] and life for me was, was spent out in the woods or at the beach. Um, I was big into, uh, riding dirt bikes. Um, that was something that I did with my dad. Um, literally every holiday break from school, me and him, we would go camping at a, uh, state park over in Brooksville, Florida called Croom.

And we would literally spend a week there camping and doing nothing but riding every single day. That was my love. Um, big, big. I guess you could say a big thing happened when I turned 16. And a big thing like most kids is they get their first car. For me, it was my literally my dream truck that I literally saw sitting on the side of the highway when me and my mom were headed to To public to get groceries one day.

And I seen it sitting there in this grassy lawn with a for sale signed on the window. Now, at this point I was only [00:04:00] 15. So I had been kind of looking and baby there she was. I remember I got home. I couldn't wait to tell my dad about this new truck I saw. And, uh, we went, we looked at it. Lo and behold, she would become my sweet 16 birthday present.

So that was a nice. Yeah, it was a, it was a 96 Ford F1 54 by four Forest Green. Um, it had eight inches of lift with 38 inch super swampers. Mm-Hmm. And oh man, it was my baby. And um, now what 

David Pasqualone: length bed did you have? The eight foot bed or the six foot bed? 

Kevin Lowe: Yeah, the six foot. It was a short bed. Oh, short bed.

Okay, okay. Yep, yep, regular cab. Yeah. And, um, and it was just incredible, man. That was, I loved driving that truck like nobody's business. Always with the windows down. Always with the radio blaring. The CB whipping, 10 0 [00:05:00] whipping in the wind. You know, um, that, that was it. And, um, life, you know, at this point, we'll kind of fast forward, you know, I got my truck when I was 16 in my sophomore year.

We'll fast forward to my junior year of high school. Um, start of junior year, everything's going amazing. I had honestly finally kind of found that like core group of friends who I actually did stuff with outside of school. And, uh, you know, things were just really going good in life. Um, I didn't really have plans for after high school, as far as college goes.

I, I was a kid who quite honestly, I hated school with a passion. And so going to college, it was something that I feel like I knew I would do, but didn't really know exactly what I wanted to do as a career path. Yeah. And if you 

David Pasqualone: don't mind me interjecting, I think you and I are about the same age. We're in our 40s.

I'm [00:06:00] 47. How old are you? I'm 37. Okay. Oh, okay. So you are a little bit younger. Yeah. So when I was, when I was, we've never met. I just thought by your experience, of course, by your experience in poise, I thought you were older. So now I'm even more impressed with you. So, so no. Yeah. When I was in high school, it was like almost looked down upon if you didn't go to college.

But I remember thinking, why spend so much money when you don't even know what you want to do? But I think for you, you had a little bit less pressure. How did you feel like if you were going to go to college or not? Was there social pressure to go or not? 

Kevin Lowe: No, there really wasn't social pressure. Um, I think for myself, like, I just figured it would be the next step.

Um, I mean, I joked we, we would go down on vacation a lot down to the Florida Keys. And, and I have actually come up with a really great plan in my eyes is that I was going to utilize my older sister, who's five years older, [00:07:00] who she was very goal minded, you know, she went to the University of Florida, then would, would transfer to another local college, get her nursing degree and, and all of that.

And so my plan was, hey, Tiff, I'm gonna have you support me. I'm going to live down in the Florida Keys fishing all day, and I'll just look for a check from you once a month in the mailbox, uh, to help support my, uh, no worries lifestyle. And, uh, that was, that was about as far as I had gotten really making any plans.

Um, unfortunately, Tiffany was not game for that plan. Um, yeah, but, uh, And probably, 

David Pasqualone: probably thankfully. So you would've been a lazy bum. 

Kevin Lowe: Exactly. Exactly. Exactly. So, so, you know, so I guess in hindsight when I look back at it, I am, I'm really grateful for the fact that I didn't have [00:08:00] this dream. Like, like there's some kids who, who they know from the time they're.

You know, little that they're going to be in the army, you know, um, that would, I mean, goodness, that was, that was the case with my cousin. Um, and there's other people who in the high school, who they really have a career path. I, I didn't, and I'm grateful for it because right after the start of my junior year, um, of high school, as I said, things were going great.

But, uh, underlying was I was having some medical issues and I'll put those kind of in quotations because I don't know that we necessarily thought they were medical issues, but they were a couple of things that were concerning to my mom and my Nana, my, uh, my grandmother. And that was. I wasn't growing. I had never gone through puberty.

I was only five foot three. Um, and the pediatrician, he just kept telling us, don't worry about it. He's just a [00:09:00] late bloomer. It's okay. And so finally, though, um, my mom and my grandmother, they, they kind of had enough. And they, they decided that, yes, we have to get him to a different doctor. And so I would go to a, uh, a new family doctor, uh, to Ormond Beach where I live and, uh, left a pediatrician and went to this family doctor.

And he took one look at me. He took one look at my chart and he pulled my mom out the hallway and he said, listen, he said, This isn't right. He said, I need you to get him to an endocrinologist. ASAP. That would be the first domino to fall. Um, the next domino to fall would be sitting in the office of the endocrinologist over in Orlando, Florida, [00:10:00] sitting in his office.

And he said the words of, well, I suspect that you have a brain tumor. Um, that was just like, craziness. Had never heard of such a thing. And Couldn't even believe that to be true. With an MRI scheduled, um, my mom would get the call on a Friday evening. Um, she was, I think, headed to meet me and my stepdad and stepbrother, um, down at our boat.

We were going to take our boat, um, up the intercoastal waterway, up to St. Augustine, Florida. One of my favorite trips. Um, we would stay at a marine at the base of the Bridge of Lions. It was just awesome. And, um, unbeknownst to me is that my mom had got a call on her way to meet us and it was from the endocrinologist and he let her know that he had the office for the leading, uh, pediatric neurosurgeon on the line, that the results came back from the MRI.[00:11:00] 

And it was actually worse than he ever expected. Um, I had a plum sized non cancerous brain tumor, um, basically right in the center of my head. So it had completely encased my pituitary gland. It was in the crosshairs of my optic nerve and was pressing against my carotid artery. We, we would find out, um, when we went to the first appointment with the, the neurosurgeon, um, that literally they, they gave me six months to live.

If this tumor was not removed, um, thankfully I said that, you know, it was non cancerous. That was a total plus. And the neurosurgeon, he assured us, he's like, listen, he's like, I do these all the time. He's like, we'll go in. He told me, he's like, you'll be out of school for probably about. Three weeks, [00:12:00] he told me that I had to stay off of my dirt bike and four wheeler for six months, which I thought was totally unacceptable.

Um, but, um, I, I was going to deal with it. So that, that was it. Now, um, back up a little bit, you know, to talking about us going up to St. Augustine, my mom, ultimately decided to wait to tell me till we actually got up to the marina and um my mom says that i was sitting down in the cabin of the boat and i was flipping through a dirt bike magazine and she walks down and and sat across from me in the little booth of our our boat and that's when she told me the news and um From that point forward, the next few minutes are really just like snapshots in my memory, um, of me just jumping out of the boat as fast as I could, running up the dock, all the way up the [00:13:00] stairs, the top of the marina.

And then standing there with my arms folded on the railing, looking out at the marina, just lost. I mean, I never thought it would be something like a brain tumor. I mean, nobody ever thinks that it's going to be something tragic, something major like that. And, and I didn't even realize the, the severity of the situation, just knowing a brain tumor was scary enough.

Um, and so, so that was how I found out. Um, everything happened really quick. Like you said, we got that appointment with the, with the pediatric neurosurgeon. And, um, in his office that day, um, when he was telling us about the surgery, how it would all work. He, you know, had to go over all the possible risks involved with the surgery, which is ridiculous.

And, um, you know, I always say it's like, you know, we [00:14:00] got like such and such percentage. We're going to cut off your arm, even though we're messing with your head, you know. Well, yeah, and you 

David Pasqualone: and I, ladies and gentlemen, just, you know, Kevin and I, I don't normally talk to guests off camera because I want our conversations like this to be totally organic.

And we're all in a room together just as friends. But, um, Kevin and I have talked extensively about this because we had a lot of overlap and similarities in our life. So, Kevin, you're doing an amazing job explaining it. Kevin, And ladies and gentlemen, again, once you see where he's been, you know, it's not how we start life.

It's how we finish. Um, it's going to be super inspiring and it's going to give us no excuse not to keep going and work even harder in a good way. So Kevin, keep on going, man. I just want to throw that in there. So if you're hearing me laugh, I'm not laughing at Kevin. I'm laughing at the commonality in our stories.

Kevin Lowe: Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. So we, we get done with that appointment. The surgery date is set. [00:15:00] And, um, now at the time, you know, I'm a guy with a sense of humor. And so I immediately named my tumor. I named my tumor, Bob, Bob, the tumor. And, um, yeah, And so, me and my family, we had a going away Bob party, um, and so literally all the family friends got together, uh, before surgery and stuff and had a big, huge party, um, at my aunt and uncle's house and, um, because, you know, as scary as it was.

We also finally found the answer to all these questions of why I had migraine headaches every day of my life. Why I wasn't growing. Why I drank more than any human possible. I literally would drink and drink and drink and that was because all of what the tumor was doing to My pituitary gland, where it, [00:16:00] um, you know, crashed like my thirst hormone and I had all these things.

And so it was finally an answer to all of that. Plus I got to drop out of trigonometry, which was like another like total bonus. And, um, and so everything was great. And that was the exact mindset going into surgery on the morning of October 28th, 2003. Doctor shows up. I had checked into the hospital the day before.

All my family was there by, by that night. Everybody was piled into my hospital room. Um, we had gotten Outback Steakhouse. Takeout is what I wanted for dinner that night. Um, And it was just, it was great. My whole family was there. Both my mom's side of the family and my dad's side of the family. And my mom and dad, they divorced when I was little, only in like second grade.

And yet when things matter, [00:17:00] there's as if there's no separation. In our family and, um, and this was one of the situations. The morning happens, the morning comes, the doctor walks in. My mom says, I crack a joke of, you know, I hope you ate your Wheaties and, um, he's, you know, ready to go. And, um, I remember being wheeled in the bed to the operating room.

And I remember my mom and dad walked with me and, uh, They had to say goodbye right as I went through the double doors into the, to the OR and, um, you know, man, if I knew then what I know now, I don't think I could have stopped staring at their faces because everything changed. Once I went into the operating room, the doctor came out hours [00:18:00] later.

Told my family that the surgery was a success, that everything went great, that they removed the tumor. Um, he said everything, everything was good. Um, I remained in the, the pediatric ICU though. Um, things were not going as, as we thought it would go. Um, apparently I was extremely combative, had all these different type of endocrine levels going haywire.

Um, it literally took my entire family who would take shifts of literally like 15 minutes. Four people at a time to just keep me because they said I kept trying to pull out all the cords and and rip off the pulse ox machine and try and pull out the ports and the drains and all this stuff and they didn't want the hospital staff to strap me down and so my family would stay in there in shifts.

And, and help take care of me. [00:19:00] And, um, there's 

David Pasqualone: also other concerns there too, because you just had major surgery. You could bleed out the pressure difference. Yeah, a lot of complications there. 

Kevin Lowe: Yeah. There was a lot going on and it was, um, soon after, um, I'm not sure exactly it was, I always forget if it was like one day or three days after surgery.

My mom happened to be in there, um, in the room with me. It was just her and the head nurse. And, um, I kept yanking off the little pull socks, uh, machine off my toe. And, uh, the nurse, he was like, Kevin, he's like, you gotta stop taking this off. And he's like, do you see this red light? Apparently there was a blinking, blinking red light on the pull socks machine.

He's like, Kevin, do you see this red light? He's like, you don't take this off. He's like, do you see the light? And I said, no, no, I, I, I don't see anything. [00:20:00] And when I said that, he looked at my mom and mom looked at him. He walked over and he turned on the light switch. He turned it on and off on and off.

He's like, Kevin, do you see this light? And I said, no, no, it's just black. It's just black. It was at that moment that they found out that I was left completely blind. So no shapes, no shadows, no light, no dark, completely blind. I also lost my ability to smell. I had short term memory loss that lasted a solid six months.

Um, I had all these medical issues related to no longer having a pituitary gland that now 20 years later, I still deal with every single day. And, um, that was the new reality that we are [00:21:00] plunged into. And I will tell you for a long time, I would describe it as a world of darkness. Cause that's how it felt for a very long time.

And it was, um, it was the most horrific. Experience that I could ever imagine, but I got through it and my family, I don't remember any of the time after rolling through the operating room. My memory doesn't pick up till a long time later after being back at home. I don't have any memory of the, the two weeks spent in the ICU, um, coming home, I don't have memory of any of that.

Um, but my family will tell you, my mom will tell you that in the hospital, even after coming home, that I always said that God was with 

me. 

Kevin Lowe: And one night, [00:22:00] my mom, she said that she asked me in the morning, she said, Kevin, she's like, each night when you go to bed, I hear you talking. She's like, who are you talking to?

And I told her, Jesus, that he's always there with me. And to this day, when anybody ever asks how I've done it, I say I've only done it through two things. One is my faith, the other is my family. Those two things combined are what have gotten me through literally just a living hell to finally finding joy again in this world, even if I can't see it.

David Pasqualone: Man. Now,

when you're at any age and you lose your sight And [00:23:00] you have that kind of trauma. It's absolutely normal to lose memory, right? Yes. And you were there, and in the moment you were conscious, and you had your faith, and you had your family, and you had Jesus. And you can have peace and joy, but the day to day can still be a trial.

Talk us through from those moments where you woke up, you know, and you're realizing, wow, this is real. I am now blind. And how did you acclimate and work us through the process to where you are today? The man, Kevin. 

Kevin Lowe: Yeah. Um, the first part I would say is what I call going through the motions. Um, every night when I went to bed, I would beg, I would cry at God, asking Him to let me see [00:24:00] when I woke up the next morning.

I literally would just sob in my pillow every single night, begging Him to just take away it and let me wake up in the morning and let me see again. And yet, every single morning I'd wake up and I'd open my eyes and I'd see the same thing that I did when they were caused. And yet, I still would get up, I would still be laughing and smiling and helping my family get through it as much as I was getting through it.

Um, I had so many health issues apart from being blind that it was just literally survival mode for a long time. Just literally balancing out all these new medications that I've got to start taking. Um, [00:25:00] my mom would drop me off at, My Nana's house, um, every morning kind of like felt like back when I was a little kid.

Um, I never returned to school the rest of my junior year of high school. Um, every day, like I said, my mom would go to work. She dropped me off at Nana's and, um, I spent the day with Nana and, um, and Nana would do her best. Um, she was incredible of helping me to keep me active, to keep me engaged because I, I would sleep a lot and they, at one point were, were trying to get it where I wasn't sleeping so much.

And, uh, so she would try her best to try and keep me engaged and she always tried to keep me laughing. And, um, and eventually, um, we would get to a point where I had a, um, small [00:26:00] group, three different teachers through a program called Hospital Homebound, who they would come and come to my Nana's house, um, each day during the week.

And I had one teacher, um, who taught me my school subjects. And another teacher who taught me what I call blind stuff, which I was not real thrilled about, which was like, uh, reading Braille and learning how to use a talking computer. Um, and then the third teacher taught me mobility skills, how to use a white cane to get around.

Um, going through the motions now from a personal perspective, I fully believed That I would see again. Everything is fixable. There's a, there's a fix for everything. There's a research study going on in China. There's people here in our own country doing [00:27:00] different experiments. There's stem cell. There's going to be something that's going to let me see again.

And I was buying time until that day happened. And that's how I lived my life for years. It took probably 10 years, 10 years before I finally said to myself, That you know what? I believe in all my heart that I'm gonna see again, but it might not be till I'm in heaven. And that's okay, because right now I have more life to live.

And um, that wouldn't happen though for 10 years later. Now in the uh, time in between that, a lot happened. I caught up with my school work. I made it back to school for the start of my [00:28:00] senior year. Because this was something that I forgot to mention. Um, as I told you earlier, I was a kid who hated school, totally hated school.

And yet for some reason, I kept saying after surgery, I just want to be able to still graduate with my class. I just want to be able to graduate with my class. Why? Why did I have that? Where did that even come from? Why would that even matter? I mean, if you are honest, I got handed the kind of get out of school free card, and yet that was my goal.

And so I caught up with the school, schoolwork, made it back to Seabreeze High School. For the start of my senior year. That was rough. Um, I just went back for, for one class a day. Um, and then the rest I did back at home with the same teachers and my Nana. But I wanted to do it because [00:29:00] I wanted to be able to take part in my senior year.

Now, it was way tougher than I realized it would be. Because. Um, yeah, I was there, but I wasn't able to walk over and hang out with the group of kids who I always did. No, now I have an aide who's helping me just get to class. Um, I got to be in there and I got to see kids living the life that I was supposed to be living.

And yet, God had this happen to me and I didn't understand why he would do that to me.

But I kept going. And eventually, the year went in. And I would walk across the stage of my high school graduation class of 2005, [00:30:00] and I got my diploma with my class. I did it. And it wasn't until years and years later that I realized why. 

When 

Kevin Lowe: I said I didn't understand why, why would I even want to do that?

And I thought right then that that was all gone because God wanted to show me right off the bat that Kevin, even in this new You are able to do great things. And he wanted to show me immediately that this is not going to stop you from living your life.

David Pasqualone: Amen. And how old were you when you had that moment again? Um, when I had the, that moment where you realize this isn't going to stop you. Life is going to go on. 

Kevin Lowe: Um, 10 years later. So [00:31:00] probably somewhere around 27. Yeah. It took, you know, and that was the thing, man, is. I was fortunate that here where I live in Daytona Beach, there's, um, unbeknownst to us, there's a huge blind, uh, population, um, because we have like the world's largest Braille book library, um, right near like our community college, we have a center for the visually impaired, division of blind services, all these different organizations.

And, um, I was assigned a, a counselor, um, with, I think like the division of blind services and, and they were involved when, when I went back to school and all of that. And, um, I remember though that they, they kept telling mostly my mom, my nana, that, you know, Kevin needs to accept what has happened and move on.

He, he, he needs to accept this. [00:32:00] And I remember that would make me so furious, so furious, but Kevin does things in Kevin's own time. I've always been like that. And it took me time, but eventually I came to that point where I could, as I said, learn to love this life again, just in a whole new way.

David Pasqualone: Yeah. And I think

thankfully most people haven't been critically ill or they haven't had such a traumatic Life changing circumstance, like going blind. And ladies and gentlemen, if you're listening to what Kevin's saying, think through when you have a cold, if you have like a 24 hour cold, you're like, you know, eh, whatever you get better.

When you get the flu or [00:33:00] something for a week or two and you're like, man, I'm just tired of being in bed and you're exhausted and you don't feel good and then you start kind of getting a bad attitude, right? Because you're tired and any human when they're tired, their attitude's not as good and or it's more of a struggle.

They have to put more energy into having a positive outlook, right? Well, then if you've ever had any long term pain or illness, You're really, it's just hard to stay positive in the right mindset because one little trigger can throw you back. So Kevin is in his life right now and Kevin, correct me if I'm wrong, but you not only had the trauma of going blind and a whole world Life shift.

But you also have major medical issues because when you have a major surgery, it takes months, if not, you know, sometimes years to recover for your body to re when they cut out chunks of your flesh, ladies and gentlemen, especially inside your head, your body has to reroute all [00:34:00] that. And it does it quick.

God's amazing how he made our bodies. But there's still an acclimation, like, you're not used to it. Then your body has to regenerate and heal. And, you know, it takes sometimes up to seven years to have a complete cycle of your body to heal. And so Kevin's going through emotional, physical, spiritual, His body's regenerating.

He's learning, like he said, three different areas of life with multiple aspects within each life. And your body's taking a beating. Your mind's taking a beating. You're just, every part of you is taking a beating. However, You had your faith, you had your family, and you made it through. So before we go any further, even if it's reflecting, you know, Hindsight's 2020, for the people who are listening right now, Kevin, going through similar trials, or who they're watching their family member go through, or friend, [00:35:00] or maybe they have a child that this surgery is about to take place, what kind of advice do you have for them?

To say, hey, this is what, these were some of the catalysts that worked for me to help at least start the process of healing. 

Kevin Lowe: Yeah. Um, well, I, I think the answer is different for, for whatever stage they're in. For somebody who is maybe at the beginning where they've just found out that they've got to have some type of massive surgery.

Um, I honestly think the only thing that any of us can do is we do our due diligence. We find the best doctors and we pray because,

sorry, um, is, you know, we, we pray about it, about what's to come because we have to do it just like I had to have that surgery for anybody who's. In the midst of life's hard [00:36:00] times and, and, and this could be any thing imaginable, not just some type of life shattering moment, but anything that has you in the midst of the hard times of life and you feel like there's no way out.

is I created, um, an equation for myself back then, um, which is kind of funny, again, a kid who, who didn't like school, and yet I come up with a math equation, and, um, that math equation became my motto, and that was faith plus family equals a life worth living, and so I encourage you, if you're going through hard times right now, And you feel like you have no reason to get up tomorrow morning, I want you to find out what that reason is.

Because I guarantee you that there is something, something that you love, something that you [00:37:00] are passionate about, something is worth you thriving in life. And I recommend that you figure out what that one thing is, two things, three things, and You keep that at the core. So when you wake up and life is unfair and nothing is right, and you want no more than to just crawl back up in bed and sleep the day away, I want you to remember your base.

Your base is that equation. If you have nothing else to live for, you have that to live for. For myself, I was lucky I had two things. I had my family and I had my faith. And those two things got me through literally the worst times of all of this. I mean, there were times when, when I would lay in bed at night and I would beg God 

to 

Kevin Lowe: give me the courage to kill [00:38:00] myself because I wanted nothing more.

Than to be out of this world. And yet I never did. I never even tried. I never took it another step forward. Why? Well, that was because I always came back to my family and I thought, if I do that, what is that gonna do to my mom? What is that gonna do to my sister, my dad, my grandparents? Maybe I'm out of misery, but I made it even worse for them.

And so it was through my faith and because of my family that I kept going. And that is why I always encourage anyone, everyone to figure out what your base is and to hold that true to your heart in the good times and the bad.

David Pasqualone: Amen. [00:39:00] So let's continue with your story now. So you're getting training, obviously a major life switch. You're starting to see that, okay, I have a purpose, and I may not even be clear on exactly what it is. But God's not vindictive. He loves me. He didn't cause pain. He doesn't cause sin, but he's allowing this to happen because there's a good reason.

So where does your life go from there, Kevin? Take us from there to today. 

Kevin Lowe: Yeah, absolutely. So, it really picks up with something that I called at the time blind daycare. Um, they called it a job readiness program. I called it blind daycare because I would go to one of our, uh, center for the visually impaired.

They had a job readiness program and this was, Oh my goodness. Let's say probably about, um, [00:40:00] eight years. After going blind, um, so it'd been a good little bit, I had been going in to different classes, um, at the, the blind center, getting help on different stuff. Um, but this was the first thing to really maybe propel me forward.

And so it was a three month long program, um, that was designed to help you really kind of get into a profession. And so, When they asked me, you know, what areas I was interested in, I said, travel and radio. And so at the end of this program, they set me up with an internship at a local travel agency and at a local AM radio station.

I, yeah. And so. I, dude, I loved working in the radio station, like nobody's business. I worked on the, the morning drive. So my, my grandfather, my papa [00:41:00] actually worked right near the radio station. And so he would pick me up from my house super early in the morning. I had to be there by 6 AM. And, um, and so he'd pick me up and drop me off at the radio station three mornings a week.

And I would be in the studio with the, with the guys. And, um, just being part of the show, um, talking about local issues and all of that from, from six o'clock to nine o'clock. Um, I loved it, dude. I loved it. Um, at the travel agency, I loved it also. Amazing couple who owned this, this small travel agency. And I got to learn about the industry.

I got to understand what it was like to be a travel agent. And the reason I did that, I'll, I'll explain is. Travel was something that I loved doing all growing up and I was blessed to get to see all corners of this world, but I realized after going blind that I love to travel even more [00:42:00] because when you're blind, I mean, you can only get so much enjoyment of, of listening to a travel show on the TV, you actually get, you want to be there and so I realized the power of it.

Lo and behold, we'll fast forward to January 2013. Um, and that was me opening my own home based travel agency called Better Days Travel. Unfortunately, both of those internships didn't go anywhere once they were over with. Um, and so I kind of felt like I was back at, you know, square zero and that's when my sister, um, doing some research found the idea of me becoming a home based travel agent.

And, um, that's when I started, started that. I opened my own company. As I said, it was called Better Days Travel. And, um, that was really powerful for me [00:43:00] because it was something that gave me purpose. It was something that I was excited about. I got to build a brand. I got to build a company. I got to learn how to be a travel agent.

And I had a reason to keep focused, to get up every morning, excited and keep moving forward. And so I had my own travel agency that I did up until 2020. And, um, it was just, it was, it was great. In 2020. Um, was going to be my best year ever. Um, I had, um, oh my goodness. I even did a full cruise cause 2020 was going to be my 17th anniversary of when I went blind.

Now for myself. Be Mr. Positive. I thought, well, how cool is that? 17 years sighted, 17 years blind. [00:44:00] That sounds like a reason for a cruise. And so I set up a, I set up a big cruise for me and my whole family. Um, and then, you know, literally it was going to be my best year ever as a travel agent. Um, and then 2020 happened, March came, and it all disappeared.

And, um, literally inside of a week, every trip canceled, and, and I was just done. Um, now, I'll back up real quick, because one important part of my story is, happened in 2017. And, that was, I learned about, The skill of echolocation. Now, up until 2017, learning about echolocation, I only learned to get around with the use of, of my cane.

I only could see what my cane could touch or what my hands touch. Well, I learned about this guy named Brian Bushway. who [00:45:00] at the time worked for an organization where they would travel around the world teaching blind people how to use echolocation, how to see through echolocation. Lo and behold, long story short, I would find myself traveling out to Los Angeles, California with my mom and sister the summer of 2017 to train one on one with the guy Brian.

On developing this skill of echolocation, the same thing that bats or dolphins do. A lot of people thought it was crazy, totally skeptical, thought I was totally getting rooked, um, on this whole thing. But dude, it was life changing. I spent each day working with Brian just at his home or at our Airbnb apartment or just out in the neighborhood.

And I was developing a clicking technique where you, uh, do a little snapping noise with the, your tongue against the roof of your mouth. [00:46:00] And by day three, I had retrained my brain's visual cortex. To now see through sound. Because inside of the, inside of the Airbnb apartment, I'm working, my mom and sister, they would go out every day doing tourist stuff while I'm training.

Me and, me and Brian were working in the apartment and, and up until this day, I'm not getting nothing. I can barely make the clicking noise. He's telling me I should be seeing stuff that I don't see. It was very frustrating. Day three though, it all came together. All of a sudden doing an exercise. I could see the wall.

Literally all of a sudden from a world that was nothing but blackness. I see this fuzzy gray that's the wall and I could walk up to it doing my little clicking technique and I could walk right up to the wall and stop without [00:47:00] running into it. I then turned, walked down the wall and all of a sudden I see this dark deep opening.

Well, that was the doorway leading into the kitchen. That, my friend, was a game changer. Since that day, um, my life is no longer black. It's, it's no longer do I, I feel like I live in a world of darkness because now my world has dimension. Everything has a shape. Um, because with this echolocation, I literally can see the surroundings around me.

It's not like I used to see, um, we call it, you know, an acoustic image, but, um, you know, I always think it's cool. Like, you know, walking up to a car, I can see the shape of the car. Um, every, everything has a different sound profile. So, so furniture that is soft, you know, it has a different look to it [00:48:00] versus, you know, a metal object, um, that, you know, looks totally different, but I literally learned to see again, only through sound and.

I can remember on that third day, the night, um, that third day, which, as I say, was the most transformational day in my life. I remember laying in bed that night, going to sleep, and I remember praying. And all of a sudden it kind of hit me and I just started laughing and I said, God said, you finally let me see again, just in a whole new way.

And that was pretty darn amazing. 

David Pasqualone: Yeah. I can't even imagine. It's like, you know, we watch superhero movies and read comic books and you know, the first thing I thought of was Daredevil, you know, this type of echo location, he's got his billion dollar helmet and you're doing it. Based on [00:49:00] this man's teaching and his name was Brian what?

Yeah, Brian Bushway. Brian Bushway. And how did he learn this? Did he just 

Kevin Lowe: figure it out? No, so he learned it. So he went blind when he was around, I think, 14 years old, and he was at a blind school out in California and met a guy named Daniel Kish. Now Daniel Kish, he is kind of like the um, I would say like the head guy of, of this whole idea of echolocation.

And so Brian actually would work for a long time with him in an organization that they had, um, Brian's no longer a part of the organization. He went and is done doing different things, but, um, they would literally travel all over the world and teach groups of blind people how to use this technique. Um, and it's fascinating and what, and what's crazy about it is, you know, Is that the blind centers, um, around where I [00:50:00] live and in most of them that I'm aware of, they, they do not teach this technique.

Um, most of them, when you mention it, they almost act like it's a scam. Um, and I, I remember when, when I finally had it happen, I remember honestly being really upset because I thought to myself, I just spent 14 years At all these blind centers, at these blind schools, going to different blind conventions.

Nobody ever once told me about this. Why aren't we teaching more people how to do this? And, um, it's just, it literally is a game changer. 

David Pasqualone: Let me ask you a question then. So, you know, there's certain things that 10 people could try it and not everybody's going to get it because they don't stick with it. Or maybe it's just not in their ability range.

From what you've seen and [00:51:00] experienced, Kevin, if you took 100 students, make the math easier. And they all went through this. Kind of training, how many of them would be able to see this way? Do you think, and how many of them would walk away frustrated? Like, ah, crap, that didn't work. It was false hope. 

Kevin Lowe: Um, you know, I, I don't know.

I don't know what this is statistics are on it. Um, but I do know that, you know, I've heard people talk about it, um, others. And they'll say that, that typically, um, and ironically, that's how long it took for me was, was three days. And they even say that if that they could. Training somebody who's sighted, if you put on a blindfold, um, and we're completely, you know, blindfolded, uh, three days after this training, you'd be able to learn how to do it too.

Um, and so I think it's something, I mean, that should be able to be taught to anybody, um, who's able to make a clicking noise with their tongue and are able [00:52:00] to hear with their ears to, you know, hear that echo bouncing back at them. So yeah, it's, it is incredible. 

David Pasqualone: Now, have you had anyone that you met that you recommended and they've been able to pick up the same ability?

Kevin Lowe: Um, no, I, no, I haven't ever even had that, that, um, opportunity. Uh uh. 

David Pasqualone: I just didn't know with your circles and with what you do, if you ran into any other people who were blind that you could refer them and to see how they turned out. Exactly. 

Kevin Lowe: Yeah. 

David Pasqualone: Yeah. Well, maybe somebody listening to this will be able to connect.

Now, is it something that's in person only? Are there online courses to teach it? How does that work? Like, do you teach this now to other people? 

Kevin Lowe: I, I, no, I don't. I'm not, definitely not an instructor in it. Um, I don't, I honestly don't know who would teach it. Um, I would recommend if anybody is listening and they're interested to, you know, definitely reach out to me and I will be able to figure out, [00:53:00] um, through my friend Brian, I've, me and him become really good friends and who, who I could, um, recommend them.

You know, to go to absolutely. 

David Pasqualone: Yeah. And also if you sent it to us, you know, this episode is evergreen. So whether it's tomorrow or whether it's next year, if people are listening, as soon as you get the information, I'll put in the show notes, Kevin, so we can people can just click on the show notes and go so that we can get going.

So, okay. So now you meet. This guy and you're becoming the daredevil, right? Yeah. And you're like, literally now seeing through sonar in a way which most humans would say isn't even possible. Exactly. Where does your life go from there? It's a new world, right? 

Kevin Lowe: It is. It is. Um, it, it is. It gave me so much more confidence.

Um, I, I mean, I still use a cane. Um, but I now have this is we like [00:54:00] to describe it is it's another tool in my toolbox to make this sighted world a little bit easier for me to navigate. And, um, I mean, it's as simple as I'll give you a totally just normal application. I go out in my driveway to get the garbage can after the garbage man came.

Used to, I'd walk down the driveway and I'd use my cane, swing it or swinging the cane around till I hit the garbage can. Now, I walk down the driveway and with a couple of clicks, I see the garbage can. And I walk over and I grab it and, um, you know, so it, yeah, it's amazing. So definite life changer. Um, and so, I mean, it has totally impacted that just, just the confidence, um, of, of just living in this world.

As I said, it just makes things a little bit easier. And, um, I'll jump back now kind of to the, to the other realm. I was on the timeline [00:55:00] talking about the travel agency. Um, and, but I just wanted to jump back and touch on the, the 2017 learning echolocation. Um, but back up now to, uh, 2020, um, when we are all in the pandemic, my travel agency has totally just fallen apart and that is when, um, Unbeknownst to me, um, I began a new direction in life and that was me starting up a podcast in May of 2020.

Now, funny enough, is that my original plan was to start a YouTube channel, um, and that's what I was really excited about. I thought, oh, perfect opportunity, we're in quarantine, I'll start the YouTube channel I've been thinking about. So I start ordering different stuff off Amazon. Until all of a sudden, dude, it hits me one day, like a ton of bricks.

Kevin, if you don't have somebody here who can film you, [00:56:00] can edit the film, what are you going to do? And I'm like, Oh my gosh, what am I going to do? And so at that moment, I was like crushed. And again, my sister, awesome sister, who discovered the idea of the Homebase Traveling Agency years earlier, she now tells me about this idea of starting a podcast.

My response is, what the heck is a podcast? She tells me, she tells me, and my response is, well, that's a pretty lame alternative to the YouTube channel. But, upon further, um, exploring of the idea, I realized, man, I just found my jam, the world of audio. And so I began my podcast. Um, originally it was called The Lowdown on Life and Travel, The Lowdown, kind of a play on my last name.

And I at the [00:57:00] time still thought I was going to be a travel agent. And so the podcast was focusing on travel related content and how I'm able to, to be a travel agent, even though I'm blind and how I travel and all of that. And, and so I did that with the podcast. That's how I got my feet wet with it. And man, before I knew it, The podcast took over my life.

Um, I, I literally dude, it was the most natural evolution I've ever experienced because it just started flowing. It started evolving. The conversation starting, started veering away from travel and getting into people's, you know, stories of overcoming stuff. And so I would end up rebranding the podcast two, two more times.

Um, so it started out as the Lowdown on Life Travel, then it became the Lowdown with Kevin Lowe as I really switched gears. And then [00:58:00] as I really wanted to make it something unique and in getting in on the more descriptive words, I rebranded it as Grace and Inspiration. And um, man, the podcast is my opportunity to finally let the rest of the sighted world know what it's like to see somebody.

Only based on their voice, in which they only see them based on the stories that the person shares, the tone in their voice, the emotion. Because I've often said that I feel like I see so much more of this world and of people than the people who can see. It's unbelievable to me on the stuff that I pick up on and that others totally miss.

And so through the podcast, I feel like it's a beautiful opportunity to get to do that. And, um, and that literally, man is just brought me up. I mean, time has flown by [00:59:00] and an important lesson, I think in all of this is I learned something very, very important with the podcast is that a lot of times you wonder, are we going in the right direction in life?

Sometimes we're not so sure. Well, I realized something important. is that you know how you're going in the right direction when it feels effortless. As a travel agent, I worked at it. I enjoyed it, but baby, I worked at it. I constantly paddled my boat along. When I started in the podcast, it was like I started floating on my back and floating on down the stream.

And I realized then that I don't know where this, this river is taking me, but I know it feels right. And I'm just going to keep following it and see where it leads. And lo and behold, now we're, gosh, coming up on almost four years [01:00:00] later, um, now coaching in addition to the podcast and, oh man, just amazing stuff.

Um, with one of the biggest gifts being the opportunity to meet people like yourself, um, who I always say that if it wasn't for the podcast, I would have never even known these people existed. And yet, now, I get to sit down with somebody and just talk with them and to hear their story and get to know people and from all over the world.

And I think, How awesome is that? 

David Pasqualone: Yeah. I couldn't agree with you more. And it's man. So one thing I'm thinking as a podcaster, I laughed right off the back, cause you say, what's a podcast. That was what happened to me. It's like, God's telling me to start a pod, interview people. I'm like, interview people. I don't ever interview anybody.

I've never interviewed anybody in my life. And then it's like, start a podcast. Like what's a [01:01:00] podcast. Right. But, um, 

yeah. 

David Pasqualone: There are so many steps and there's so much work involved in podcasting and I do it with conventional sight. I can't even imagine trying to do audio editing even and Communicating with guests and clients and building a website and ladies and gentlemen check out Kevin's podcast his artwork his website It's all first class You do such a great job.

So I do you have people help you or do you do it all yourself with the audio reader? 

Kevin Lowe: Yeah, so I do as much as I can by myself, but when it comes to visual elements, I have an amazing web designer who I actually worked with back when I had my travel agency. And so I still work with her today. As I tell her, I, I always apologize.

I say, I know I'm the pickiest damn blind person [01:02:00] there is, but I just need you to change this or I need you to change that. Um, and so I work with her. Um, and. I'm really able to do most things all myself. Um, in relation to the podcast itself, I knew really quickly that editing was going to be a problem.

And so I went on to Fiverr and I Found an editor. And matter of fact, I still work with that editor today, almost four years later. And so she, you know, is somebody who is just amazing. We've built an amazing partnership together where. I can, you know, record myself and then send it to her to edit. But, um, you know, technology is amazing.

And, and even since I went blind, the advancements in assistive technology are incredible. So I have my normal laptop computer, but I have a program called JAWS [01:03:00] installed on it. And, um, they call it a screen reader. And so basically I can do everything on the computer that anybody else can do, but instead of using the mouse, I'm just using keystroke commands.

And as I'm typing or doing these keystroke commands, this program is talking. And so I'm navigating it to read different elements of the webpage or, or as I'm typing, typing in a word document, it's telling the letters and the words that I'm typing. Um, and I can go back and read stuff. Um, It's just, it's an incredible, incredible, uh, software program that, that literally has made all of this possible.

David Pasqualone: And so we're living in a day and time where the technology is there. You have a coaching business, a podcast. Where are you today? If we missed anything, Kevin, and where are you heading next? How can we as a remarkable community help you? [01:04:00] Kevin, get to his next destination, since you've been so kind to help us today.

Kevin Lowe: Oh man, thank you so much, dude. You know, my biggest thing right now, man, is, is I just want to, to be sure that I'm helping as many people as I can possibly help. Because I, I've, I realize that there's so many people who are hurting, who are going through stuff. And I just want to be able to be that voice to remind them that To not give up, to keep going, and whether it's through the podcast to inspire them, whether it's through coaching to empower them, um, I just want to be there to, to propel them forward, to remind them, you know, that, you know, That this life is worth living and to give them another little boost to get them there.

Um, that's, that's my whole mission. Um, yeah, man, I would just love it. If anybody who was into the podcast checked out Great Grace and Inspiration. And, um, I also, man, if it's cool, [01:05:00] if I, uh, announce it, I have a really cool personal development tracker that I'd love to, uh, tell people how they could get that if that's cool.

David Pasqualone: Yeah, 100 percent man. 

Kevin Lowe: Yeah. So I created a really cool, I think it's really cool anyways, a, um, a personal development tracker, um, that is called a Rise and Thrive Personal Development Tracker. It's a neat way to kind of gamify the idea of becoming the best version of you. And so it's just in Google Docs or Microsoft Excel.

And it's a fun way to keep track of the different things you're doing throughout the day. There's 14 different activities. Each one has a point value, and you try to beat your score. Try to see what your score is today versus tomorrow. And, um, yeah, that's it. If that sounds like your kind of deal, well, I made it super easy, and you can text the word RISE, R I S E, to the phone number 33 [01:06:00] 777.

Again, just text the word RISE to 33 777. 

David Pasqualone: Nice. I think that will be something we can all check out and really enjoy and thrive from. So thank you so much, Kevin. Yeah. So let me ask you a question. I don't want to skip anything between your birth and today, but I consider you, you know, you're positive, you're encouraging, you're inspiring, and you have downtime too.

Everybody. Especially people who are strong and leaders and they help inspire others. They usually had to go to real dark places to get that kind of, uh, outlook on life. So is there anything else we can do to encourage you? We can check out the app. We can check out your website. We can check out your podcast.

That all is simple, right? Ladies and gentlemen, podcaster to see their numbers grow, that people are being, affected positively and then reach out and [01:07:00] shoot Kevin an email and just say, Hey man, this really helped. Thank you. I've had, and I'm sure you have too, Kevin, you just hear one quote and it literally changes your life because it reprograms your thinking.

Correct? 

Kevin Lowe: Oh, absolutely. 100%. 

David Pasqualone: Yeah. So is there anything we can do for you to help you on your journey besides what we talked about in prayer? But is there anything else we can do to help you, Kevin? 

Kevin Lowe: Yeah. I, the biggest thing, honestly, is whether it's you listening today, or maybe you know somebody in your life who is struggling, who's having a hard time, who, you know, You keep thinking of ways in which you, you wish you could help them.

I would love it if you would tell them about my podcast. I share every week the stories of people just like you or me or them who are, who have been through the hard times in life and they've gotten through it. And I [01:08:00] feel like when we're down, We need to hear those stories of people who've been right there where we are.

And we need to know that there is a light at the end of the tunnel. And so my biggest thing is please share my podcast, Grit, Grace, and Inspiration with that person. Um, that honestly would, would be the biggest thing that I would ask anybody to do. 

David Pasqualone: Awesome. And we will do that, my friend. Um, if you don't mind me asking, I'm intrigued with the echolocation.

I, I think, no, it's just because God made us so amazing and we use so little of the gifts He's given us. And when you see with this echolocation, Are there colors involved or is it just shades of gray? 

Kevin Lowe: Yeah. Good question. Good question. No color. So it is all [01:09:00] shades of, of gray, black. So think of, so everything has a different, what we call kind of acoustic, uh, Definition or acoustic quality.

So things that are soft, like if I am somewhere in, let's say there's a cloth, a cloth sofa, when I do a click, I can see the shape of the sofa, but it's not real super defined, um, and it's more just kind of like a, we'll say like a fuzzy kind of gray color. Versus if I walk into a public restroom and I'm trying to find the sink, I'll do a couple of clicks and I will get what I describe as a ping.

Um, and I described the ping is like, you know, those commercials for, maybe it's for like a dishwasher detergent and it shows the little shine coming off of like a wine glass. Yeah. That's what I get. That's [01:10:00] how I describe like a metal faucet is when I do the click, I'll get a little ping off of the metal surface.

And so there, I know that is there. Um, and then, I mean, it's, it's even as wild as, um, I mean, like the other day, um, I was shopping with my mom and sister. We were in, we were in Walmart. And, and sometimes echolocation even works when I'm not actively making the clicking technique. Um, it's just other noises around me.

And I remember walking and I remember just looking off to, to my right for some reason. And it was so funny because I saw my mom. I could just see her figure, this black like figure of her. And it's always so funny when stuff like that happens. Um, and it's just, it is, it's really, really remarkable. 

David Pasqualone: Yeah, no, I, I don't know why your story is so inspiring, but that intrigues me to a different, a totally [01:11:00] different part of my brain, but, and then also do you see motion or do you see still images?

Kevin Lowe: Um, uh, no, I guess I'm trying to think, I 

David Pasqualone: mean. Or is it so many still images coming back fast that it's almost like a, when you're flipping through a book, it's like, it's like an old cartoon reel, 24 frames per second makes a video. 

Kevin Lowe: Yeah, well, I mean, like, for example, like, I'm not going to see through echolocation, like a baseball being thrown through the air or even like a car, you know, driving by, um, I mean, I'm going to pick up more on that.

Just literally just the noise of the car driving by, um, then, then really being able to echolocate, like. Something truly in motion. I've, I've honestly never really thought about that so much before. Um, so I can't tell you exactly, but I, I would think that would be pretty hard. 

David Pasqualone: Yeah, no, I was just wondering.

I didn't, [01:12:00] I was just trying to see how, you know, there's probably moms and dads listening now and their kid is blind and they're like. You know, they don't want to believe something to be disappointed, but at the same time, if there's hope, you know, what parent wouldn't do anything they could for their kids or even for yourself.

And that's why I was like, if this was your kid, is this something you'd invest in paying for, for them to try to get their sight through certain location? 

Kevin Lowe: Yeah. And I want to tell you a really cool way to make this all come back home where everybody can understand exactly what I'm talking about with echolocation.

Have you ever been driving in the car before? And you have the windows down and you can hear every time you pass by, like a tree or a mailbox. Yes. You know what I'm talking about? That is echolocation. That is the sound of the car bouncing off of that object. Now, of course you're not seeing the shape of it, but that is the power of.

An echo of [01:13:00] echolocation bouncing back off of that object, which, you know, I always think is, is a cool way to tell somebody. Um, I will tell you that the, the skill, um, is even something that I actually started picking up without realizing it before I even went out to do, do the training and that I was, I remember walking down a, um.

Plaza, one day with my mom, and it was a shopping plaza. We're walking down the front sidewalk, which is covered, and just from the sound of our footsteps, all of a sudden I realized every time we passed a column, I could see it. This, this dark object, I could tell we were passing by. And I remember asking my instructor and he's like, yeah, he's like, that's just literally, you know, a passive form of echolocation that your brain was already beginning [01:14:00] to, to adopt.

So, yeah. And so then with this, we just take it from passive to active, where we're making that echo with, with the clicking noise of my tongue, um, you know, to, to see the stuff around me. 

David Pasqualone: Nice. Well, and then how often do you click? Is it like one click? Is it 10 clicks? Like how, how do you get that image? 

Kevin Lowe: Um, like you come 

David Pasqualone: to my condo, you come up to Pensacola, you visit, you walk in my condo, you don't want to run into anything, so you click.

How many times do you click to see around? 

Kevin Lowe: Yeah, I mean, I'm clicking just, um, Uh, I don't know, a few times. I mean, it's not like a machine gun clicking noise, you know, but I'm just, I'm clicking, you know, in a, in a new environment like that. Yeah. I mean, I'm, I'm clicking, you know, I don't know, every few seconds or so, I guess.

Yeah. 

David Pasqualone: You know, and I don't want to bombard you with questions. This is like something that to me is so hopeful and is [01:15:00] inspiring and you're motivating. And this is just one piece of it, which I know you didn't even, like you said, it's not even your thing. You just learned it from some. But, um, you know, ladies and gentlemen, check out the show notes, check out Kevin's podcast, check out his website, reach out to him to continue the conversation.

And, uh, I really thank you for being here, Kevin, because to me, it's like you have a positive attitude. You're not making excuses. You're adapting and overcoming, you know, your, your price to like, in the sense of, you know, your. You're moving forward despite the circumstances and you're making things happen.

And I think that's what we're all supposed to be. So thank you for being a positive influence and, you know, not, not a crawling in bed and crying, you know, we all have those moments, but you're living in the moving forward. So thank you for being a great example and encouragement. 

Kevin Lowe: Oh, man, I appreciate it so much.

It means the [01:16:00] world to me. And, and, uh, honest to goodness, dude, I just, uh, appreciate you for giving me the opportunity to even be here today to share my story. Um, sharing my story, my testimony, man, it's, uh, it's something that I'm truly passionate about and, um, sharing the good times and the bad, um, with all this, just hope that, that I say that I've, I've come to a point in my life when I, when I realized that.

If something I can say can help somebody else. Then I have to believe that all of this that I've gone through has been worth it. 

David Pasqualone: Yeah, a hundred percent. And like you said, even at one point you're talking about having the quote unquote courage to commit suicide, where Sane will try to trick us into so many different thoughts and make things sound reasonable.

And you know, suicide is a permanent. solution for a temporary problem. Yes, exactly. So if you're out there thinking of suicide, get that [01:17:00] crap out of your head right now. If someone has, Kevin has been in low places, I've been in low places and agony for not just days or weeks or months, but years. And I'm not saying everything's going to turn out great.

I can't promise that, but God loves you. He's not vindictive. Satan's the bastard who causes all the pain, all the torment, all the hardships. And if you're still alive, it's because you have a special purpose. And it's, it's not God torturing you. It's God has a plan for you. So don't ever commit suicide or think that.

And I'm not saying it can't get tough. Kevin will say the same thing. Yeah, there's low moments, dark moments, hard moments, but suicide is never the solution. That's just a satanic thought he's trying to plant in you. So make sure you go to God. Um, like Kevin talked about his faith many times, you know, God's always there for you, even if everybody else has left us.

So just cling to him and know that this is a short life. And when it's over in His time, you're going to be in eternity with God if you've [01:18:00] trusted Him as your Savior by faith. So, Kevin, I appreciate you, man. Any final thoughts to our listeners before we wrap it up for today? 

Kevin Lowe: You know, just with what you were saying, I think the thing that I just wanted to share is to remember the big picture about life is that sometimes we get so just Overwhelmed with, with what we're going through right now, but if we look at life, like a big picture, like a, like a car cruising down the interstate.

The troubles, even the big ones, in the grand scheme of things, they're just a bump in the road. And so if you can just picture yourself driving down the highway, and that the problem you're dealing with today, it's just a bump in the road. A bump. And then you keep cruising, keep your eye focused forward and.

Then just the future is, is, uh, there for you. 

David Pasqualone: Yeah, I think that's a great thing. It [01:19:00] would seems like forever, but it's really just a quick bump in the road. And you have a cross country trip and that's just one split second. Right. 

Kevin Lowe: Yep, exactly. 

David Pasqualone: Well, Kevin, thanks for hanging out with us today. Ladies and gentlemen, like our slogan says, don't just listen to the great content Kevin brought, but do it, repeat it each day so you can have a great life in this world, but most importantly, in a eternity to come.

So I'm David Pasqualone. This is our remarkable friend and brother, Kevin Lowe. Kevin, thank you again for being here. And ladies and gentlemen, we'll see you in the next episode. Ciao.