Awesome humans Podcast 13 Terry Tappa Teece

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A bucket list moment can change your health and wealth long after.

On Awesome Humans podcast, Terry ‘Tappa’ Teece, Gold Coast local legend and surf commentator shares his coastal life. Tappa is good at telling a yarn. One of those personal moments for Tappa resonated with me weeks into my new healthy lifestyle.

You see, Tappa who surfs every day and contributes to his surf scene, he’s in his 50s when he wins a trip to Hawaii - in a raffle at the 2016 Byron Bay Ben Memorial Classic surf contest. Hawaii had been a huge goal for Tappa his whole life, having surfed since he was a kid. So what does he do to prepare for this surf trip of a lifetime – he quits smoking. But wait there’s more.

“That Hawaii trip was really crucial point in my life. Mate, it was one of the best things that ever happened to me.”

Then Tappa goes to Hawaii and happens to hang a lot at North Shore where unlike other places, there is no nightlife, and he can only buy a few beers at a local supermarket. So Tappa surfs all day and at night has a few quiet coldies. It’s important to mention Tappa is also a Gold Coast event MC, and writer for the local music scene, a songwriter/musician himself. In Hawaii, Tappa gives up drinking.

“I had all this time to think and I was carrying a bit of weight from quitting smoking, and I thought, I'm just going to have a break from drinking. I haven't had a drink since I got back in February 2017. Last time I weighed myself which was over six months ago and I'd lost 15 kilos.”

Tappa admits in the interview that an unexpected positive is he used to barely pay his mortgage. Now he’s easily paying the monthly instalments and saving as well. Tappa’s tip:

“It takes six weeks until you notice a change in yourself, and it's like when you break your arm. Six weeks. You do your knee. Six weeks. Everything is six weeks, so do it for six weeks.”

It’s awesome that a lucky moment has snowballed into so much more.