Man That Can with Lachlan Stuart
Welcome to Man That Can with Lachlan Stuart—the podcast dedicated to empowering men to break through barriers and achieve their full potential.
Hosted by Lachlan Stuart, this show dives deep into the challenges men face, offering actionable insights, real-life stories, and expert advice. Whether you're focused on fitness, business, personal growth, or fatherhood, you'll find inspiration and tools here to help you rise above any challenge and become the man that can.
New episodes drop every Monday and Thursday. Tune in, get inspired, and start living the life you’ve always wanted.
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Man That Can with Lachlan Stuart
Surviving the Fall: How a Near-Death Experience Redefined My Purpose | Mark Lucchiari #627
Lachlan Stuart sits down with Mark "Lucch" Lucchiari to discuss life-altering experiences and their impact on personal growth.
From losing his father at a young age to surviving a near-fatal skydiving accident, Lucch shares how he turned tragedy into motivation to live fully, embrace vulnerability, and leave a lasting legacy. This episode is a powerful reminder that life is too short to let fear or past pain hold you back.
Key Takeaways:
🤝 How loss can shape your purpose and fuel your drive to succeed.
🤝 The transformative power of vulnerability and emotional honesty.
🤝 Why embracing fear is the ultimate way to live fully.
Listeners will be inspired by Mark's involvement in projects like "give and Get" and the creation of the Impact Men's Group.
We discuss the highly anticipated documentary "Impact," which chronicles Mark and his friend Benny's story of perseverance following a skydiving accident.
This episode is a testament to living fearlessly and with purpose, and you won't want to miss the insights into how Mark uses his experiences to inspire kindness and meaningful connections.
Follow Mark's journey on social media to stay updated on his remarkable adventures and endeavors.
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Do Something Today To Be Better For Tomorrow
Welcome back to the man that Can. With Lachie Stuart, I'm very excited and this one has been a couple of months in the making our guest today, we've got Lucch, or Mark Lucchiari, on the show, who has got an incredible story to tell, so much so that there's a documentary coming out soon which you'll be able to get your hands on, and one that I know my audience will get so much out of, and the documentary is going to be called Impact. Now, what I'm very excited about today, looch, is obviously yourself and your, I guess, co-partner in the documentary, ben. I'll be chatting to him after this and then we'll do a double up episode in a couple of months' time where you guys who are listening will be able to ask questions or, if you want to dig a little bit deeper and maybe I missed some questions that are on your mind we'll be able to hit Mark and Ben at the same time as well with those. But, mark, thanks so much for coming on the show.
Mark Lucchiari:Hey, thanks for having me here. I'm a bit frothing for this one. We had a good chat a few months ago and I loved your game plan of splitting us up and yeah'm excited, excited to have this chat, mate?
Lachlan Stuart:yeah, definitely, it's going to be fun and it's such a unique, I think, even for me being able to. You know, I watched a lot of your content and I'll put your instagram page and all of that in the show notes for people to watch. But I watch a lot of people jumping out of planes, which is something that you do. You're an adventurer, you're a thrill seeker and I just get so inspired by it, but I wouldn't have the balls to continue doing it. I've done two jumps in my life out of a plane and I think I'm more comfortable with my feet on the ground, that's for sure. But you've got a pretty wild story and one that I'm keen to dive into here. But obviously, as we said, you've got a diverse background in adventuring, from wakeboarding to Muay Thai to skydiving and, obviously, a business owner and entrepreneur. Before we dive in, I would like you to introduce yourself to our audience.
Mark Lucchiari:Got me talking about myself, all right.
Lachlan Stuart:How long have we got? Yeah, we got five hours there, joe Rogan special.
Mark Lucchiari:Mate. Look, I don't know, To me I feel like I'm just a simple man, but yeah, I am driven. I guess I'm driven to live life to the fullest. I think it all stems I lost my dad when I was really young, so I had a pretty big taste of death and loss and tragedy and trauma and literally shaped me to be the man I am and, yeah, I guess it just made me really appreciate what life is and that we need to live it to the fullest. You know, I'm a family man. I become a dad quite young, at 19 years old, and yeah, I really pride myself with my family and being the dad to my boys that I never had. That's so important to me. And just making the most of this time that we have here which is literally that and as you're just saying about jumping out of planes and all that stuff makes you uncomfortable. It makes me uncomfortable too, and that's what I enjoy. I love being uncomfortable. I don't like being. What scares me the most in this world is normality.
Mark Lucchiari:So, that's me in a nutshell mate. This world is normality. So that's me in a nutshell mate, pretty much.
Lachlan Stuart:I can definitely relate there. But let's go back. So you touched on your dad and obviously wanting to become a father and a man that you didn't have. Can we go back to that relationship, because I know you did move from Melbourne I think it was up to the Gold Coast at a young age and there was obviously reasons behind that. Could we dive into that at a young age and there?
Mark Lucchiari:was obviously reasons behind that. Could we dive into that? Yeah, yeah. So yeah, look, my dad, you know, was a violent man and he had a lot of issues himself and, yeah, he ended up taking his own life when I was I'd just turned six, I think. We just moved, we moved up, we were kind of like, I said, very violent and we were trying to escape him. We were living in, like I said, very violent and we were trying to escape him. We were living in refuges and stuff like that and we were running away and we were moving up to the coast and, yeah, it all got a bit too much for him and, you know, sadly, he took his own life and, yeah, kind of left my mum with myself and my sister up here to fend for herself.
Mark Lucchiari:And you know, like man, what a woman she is, you know, and bringing especially me up, yeah, it kind of like it literally just shaped everything, every part of my life and every aspect of it too, from the smallest little details of you know getting pretty deep and sad.
Mark Lucchiari:Here is, you know, he committed suicide with a photo of myself and my sister beside him, and all those little details, everything you know, has made me to be the man I am today, you know, and the father I am to my kids, and as much as most boys want a dad, know, like I've I still to this day, you know, even though he wasn't a good man and he's had his issues, you know, his memory to me is frozen as a six-year-old kid. You know he was my hero, you know, and, um, yeah, that's all I've ever wanted, but I would never change anything, um, in saying that, because literally every, every detail of this tragedy has shaped me to be who I am today, the guy sitting in front of you right now, yeah, yeah, so Thanks for sharing that and obviously sorry for your loss there.
Lachlan Stuart:A lot of men listening to this, I know, will definitely relate, because even for myself and a lot of people, we all idolize our dad. It doesn't matter how they're showing up in our life. For some reason we're gravitated to them just being like this Superman in our life. As you said, he wasn't the best, but there's still something that you just wanted him around and you wanted to aspire to impress him, and I think you know I don't really know why that is, and one of the beautiful things about what you've gone on to do is continue to build upon that. There's people who potentially repeat the pattern and maybe treat others in a terrible manner and almost are like a victim from their circumstances, but you've chosen to use that moment in your life to go. This is how I don't want to be and move forward.
Mark Lucchiari:And look, it wasn't always like that either. I was playing the victim. I was using it as an excuse. When I was younger, I was getting in a lot of trouble. I kind of repelled against men. I was a pretty big young fella and I was going out and I was looking at getting fights. I just loved. I kind of I guess I seen myself as a bully basher.
Mark Lucchiari:I used to just go out, find trouble and you know, punt on, and I was using it as an excuse for all the bad things that happened to me in life. You, you know, and it kind of I think it was about 23 or 24, and I had this realisation that you know, it was me causing all the bad things and you know, not to use this tragedy that happened to me as an excuse to actually use it as motivation. And that's what I did from that moment on, kind of turned that around and said fuck this, I'm not going to play the victim, I'm going to use this as a motivation to become a better human. You know, and yeah, that was a massive turning point for me. So, yeah, it wasn't always roses and sunshine.
Lachlan Stuart:Yeah, yeah, yeah. I was going to say for those who like and I said this to you when we first met I'm like you've got someone that I would not want to piss off, but you've learned to channel that, and I'd love to know was there like a specific moment along the way that triggered you to, or encourage you to want to be that best version of yourself and really turn things around? Because for me, I'm always very curious around what that moment is For people. We talk about rock bottoms and everything like that, and there's some people who just never seem to claw their way out of that, I guess, dark place. They just choose to wallow in that, and I'm a big believer that all of us, through, I guess, pushing through tough moments, can find purpose and can find meaning in our life, and I would love to know what that was like for you.
Mark Lucchiari:Yeah, well, look, I think it was. It was as I was mentioning about 23. My wife and I, we got together when we were 19. We've actually known each other since year six.
Lachlan Stuart:That's like the full notebook style. Love right there.
Mark Lucchiari:Yeah, year six. All right, look, I literally, I literally remember the moment she walked into my life. Now she's, she's a moldy girl and she, you know, we're here on the gold coast and she came into the classroom in year six and it was I, straight away. I was just, she just was so different compared to everyone else, you know, and just had this presence. I literally remember the first, first moment I ever seen her.
Mark Lucchiari:Like it was crazy, but yeah, we kind of got together after high school and we had, you know, we'd only been together for, you know, nine months or something like that, and I was actually about to move over to Canada and do the whole thing over there, as a lot of the young Aussie boys do, and do the snow season. And she fell pregnant and you know, I was like, wow, that's it. Like, here I am. You know, I'm not going to leave this. You know, this kid without a father I'm going to man up and you know, and yeah, we were going strong, but I was back in that time, I was drinking, I was aggressive, I was still, you know, like using stuff, as you know, using what happened to me as an excuse and we actually were about to break up and you know, we went and seen a marriage counsellor and we went in and I've seen the marriage counsellor for our relationship. But the counsellor said to me it was a man and he was like, as we're walking out, he's like, hey, mate, you know you've had a bit going on in your life, you know like, obviously because he touched on my dad and all that stuff, and he's like, would you, I'd like to have a chat with you? You know like, come in and have a chat. And and I did.
Mark Lucchiari:I went back like a few weeks later and it was the first time that I actually listened to a man or had a man listen to me and actually listen. Not tell me what to do, you know like, or tell me how I should be. He just, he was like man, you've had a hard life, you know. And then he said he goes, but you can't move forward if you're living in the past and, you know, blaming all this stuff, he's like you'll never be able to take a step forward. And I literally walked out of there, fucking like the world had lifted off my shoulders. I was just like, wow, this is it.
Mark Lucchiari:You know that was the moment of change and it didn't happen instantly. You know, like I always went through these ups and downs, but that was it. That was the moment for me. I had someone just tell me like hey, man, it's all right, like you're not, you're not doing, you're not suffering this by yourself. Other people feel like this and it was, yeah, the first time, like I said, the first time I'd respected a man, I guess because, as I was saying, you know, I really was just a man-hater, you know, like I just rebelled against that authority of a man or anything like that, you know, and yeah, it was a real defining moment in my life. What was it about?
Lachlan Stuart:him that allowed you to let the guard down and allowed you to listen.
Mark Lucchiari:Man I and he was just a caring, beautiful man. I don't know what it was I was so young, but it was the first time I actually did let my guard down and I remember crying in there as I was going right back to when my dad passed away at my dad's funeral. I can't even remember who it was and I've tried to find out who it was. It was one of my uncles said to me he's like, you're the man of this family. Now don't you ever let another man tell you different. And that was like. So I was always like I'm never gonna.
Mark Lucchiari:You know, from a five-year-old, six-year-old kid, you know and I think that was the first time with this counselor, um, that I'd actually had listened to a man and respected what he said. And yeah, it was just so. It was so nice to have someone care about a man, care about me, you know, um, and like, look like my, my mom had, um, you know, uh, boyfriends and stuff like that and they were awesome and stuff like that, but I just always still rebelled and never, you know, I was the man of the family. I was told that when I was young, you know. So this is the first time I listened to a man and I had a man listen to me.
Lachlan Stuart:Do you think there could have been anything that anyone could have said during that period of time and I'm just thinking from, like, parents, who are listening to this perspective would there have been anything your mom could have said or other influences in your life that would have helped you earlier? Or do you think it was like a divine timing?
Mark Lucchiari:It was divine timing. Like I said, my mum did amazing, like she's a superwoman, but it's just something she couldn't replace. She couldn't be that person that I needed. You know, I needed a man, I needed a father figure, I guess, and that was the first father figure that I accepted, I suppose was that guy.
Mark Lucchiari:I only met him once. You know that was it after that session. We never went back. Yeah, me and the missus were fine and you know, because I had actually changed, I was like man, you know I've got to stop partying and drinking and be the dad to my son that I wanted, because I was about to lose all that. You know, we, we were about to break up and I was like man, I'm not losing this, this is what I. Everything goes against what I wanted as a father to my son.
Lachlan Stuart:And when you talk about becoming that father to your son that you wanted or needed, how did you get clear on what that was? I know you mentioned cutting out drinking and partying and things like that, but were there any other things that spring to mind that you really just shifted in an instant to be that better father and that better husband?
Mark Lucchiari:Man, look, I didn't even know what a dad was meant to be or what a partner was meant to be. All I'd seen was violence with my mum, even the ongoing, the boyfriends after that was just violence, you know. And I just knew I didn't want to be that. I just I was like there's no fucking way I'm putting my wife through that or my son through that either. You know, um, I just knew that time. I knew, like I, straight away, I was working for someone. Um, I'm, you know, did my plumbing trade when I was really young. I was working for someone. I remember a sports day or something. I wanted to have the day off and the boss said no. And I was like what? Like no, man, you don't get that sports day back. What if my son won? I wanted to see him. I didn't care if he lost, I wanted to see him run that race. I was like that's it, I'm working for myself.
Lachlan Stuart:Like.
Mark Lucchiari:I'm never having anyone tell me I can't go to my kids' assembly or whatever it is, you know. So, yeah, I just knew time because I had no time with my dad, you know. So I was going to have as much time as I can with my kids and, like I said, I just winged it. Man, I don't know. I just be real. I don't, you know. Be real with my kids. They know everything about me, they know my bad past I don't sugarcoat anything and they're two of the most beautiful men I've ever met, you know.
Lachlan Stuart:So something's worked.
Mark Lucchiari:I don't know what it is, something's worked.
Lachlan Stuart:Eh Well, I think one of the cool things that jumped out for me just then was when you didn't necessarily know what a real dad looked like or that father figure was like. You just had ideas of what you didn't want. And I think that's a great place to start, because quite often if we go, I don't want that for example, I don't want to be broke, or I don't want to be aggressive, or whatever it is we just go. What's the flip of that? Let's just work towards that. It gives us a bit of direction and none of us really know until we start getting feedback.
Lachlan Stuart:As you just said, looch, you've got two beautiful children now, and you have an idea of how that turned out, but you did a great job and I believe personally that transparency and almost raising your kids with discipline and great values, but also allowing them to get to know you because, going back to what we were talking about earlier, a lot of young boys especially, and young men, we just see our parents and our dads especially, as superhuman. Yet your dad was obviously dealing with stuff. Everyone's dads or parents are going through things and if we can sort of share that within the family, we can go. Okay, my parents aren't perfect, I don't need to be perfect either, but let's all work through this together and we start learning problem solving from an earlier age. We start learning emotional intelligence from an earlier age and I think, from what you've just told me, I feel like there are some key things that I'm going to take away and look to implement into my life.
Mark Lucchiari:Yeah, 100%. And the big thing, like as well, is like I thought men were superheroes and then when I started having my own issues, that's when I thought like, oh, am I weak, am I different? And that was the big, you know, misconception about men. It was like men can be vulnerable and I never knew that. It's only been the last six or so years that I had truly become myself.
Mark Lucchiari:Who's a vulnerable man, who is emotional and who wears my heart on my sleeve, and I'm not shy to show that. Now I feel, as you said before, I'm a pretty big guy and tattooed and beard, and you know like can fight, you know, and a lot of people see that as what a strong man is. But that is total opposite. You know, a strong man is a man who is in touch with his emotions and his soul and can show that and be vulnerable and be humble. And you know that's what a man who is in touch with his emotions and his soul and can show that and be vulnerable and be humble. And you know that's what a strong man is. And I think that is changing a lot these days. I think people are starting to get educated to that. You know, like I said, it took me a long time. I thought that was weakness, you know, for a long time, but now I see that that is strength, you know.
Lachlan Stuart:Massively. You know for a long time, but now I see it that that is strength. You know massively and you were, so you're 45 now. Yeah, so that would have been like 39. Right for you to start making that change. So it also proves that it doesn't matter what age we are. We can really start making changes. When you started to lean into that side of, I guess, a more vulnerable version of yourself, did you experience any pushback from people in your social circle around any of that, or were they extremely supportive?
Mark Lucchiari:I'm very lucky, extremely supportive. Look, I know a few people probably like not close friends, might have been saying a few things, but like no, my wife is like she, you know, she allows me to be who I am and loves me for who I am and she's helped me grow so much into this man. Um, my children as well, my boys, um, just you know, yeah, they love the vulnerability of me as well. I'm sure that you know my emotions get. I'm a pretty, pretty intense guy, um, poor larsen's, but uh, yeah, man, and you know the other.
Mark Lucchiari:The other big thing too, was I really just didn't give a fuck anymore what people thought of me. That was the whole thing which just released that it was like man, I know who I am like, I truly know who I am inside and I know my purpose. Now, and a lot of people don't get to know that man, a lot of people go through their whole life pretending to be someone that they're not or pretending to be that. You know it's like, scared of becoming the real who they really are. Yeah and um, yeah, very fortunate that you know I've discovered who I really am and and I'm, you know, accepting it, and it still is hard, like it's still. Sometimes I try to pretend to be the person I'm not as well to fit in or something you know like, even in the big corporate world and stuff like that. I try to be a bit smarter than I I'm guilty of that as well.
Mark Lucchiari:Yeah, mate, it's just like I don't know. Yeah, and we get you know with all social media and everyone's lives look perfect and that around you, you kind of it's hard, you know, to actually be who you are. And yeah, it's something I still struggle with, but it's something I work on daily and I'm evolving every day and I'm loving as I'm getting older man and being content with who I am. I remember turning 40 and most of my mates were like, ah, 40. And I was like I hit 40. I was like, well, I'm roughing.
Mark Lucchiari:I'm content with who I am. My relationship's amazing, my kids are amazing. I'm financially doing well. I'm like this is freaking awesome. I bring on 50. This is what 40 is like. Let's go.
Lachlan Stuart:There's so much strength that comes from that and for me very similar to probably what other people said, it's like when I thought I got to 30, I thought life is pretty much done, the best years are behind you and people like yourself and many other role models that I have in my life are inspiring me that we're just beginning. Emotionally, we're able to learn so much more. Physically, we're still capable of so much more, which is exciting. But for you to have the strength to lean into who you are, I do truly believe that a lot of people know what they want to be and who they want to be, but the fear of isolation, the fear of failure, just fear in general, holds many of us back from actually exploring that.
Lachlan Stuart:And I just know from a young age I had an idea of what I wanted to be doing, which I'm doing a lot of now, but could have started 15 years earlier, right. But eventually you get to a point or not everyone does, unfortunately but I got to a point, much like yourself, where you just get fed up with the same shit and not being your authentic self and once you start, sort of you do have this period where it's very uncomfortable and you're figuring things out, maybe you're changing social circles, but eventually you figure it out and find it, and it's hard not to want to embrace that anymore. You just want to lean into who you are in. Life just skyrockets. It's like watching some bloody meme coin and crypto spaces go from zero to a million. Just like that. That's what life's like and it's a beautiful thing.
Lachlan Stuart:So what you've shown is like this incredible inner strength to really embody who you are, and I know I just really hope to the fathers that are listening to this, to the young men that are listening to this is it's possible for anyone, and it may not be perfect, but it's possible and you're working at it still daily. I'm working at it still daily. What would be some things, looch, that you're doing in those daily? Things that help you become a better version of yourself?
Mark Lucchiari:Yeah, like I've got a pretty strict routine with mindfulness and like I do breath work every morning. It's something I don't know I've probably been doing for the last three or four or five years, probably now more. So I'm doing it more so even now, yep, just being present, you know, not being on my phone as much, just trying to be that, like I said, being mindful and being kind to myself, forgiving. You know like I'm very hard on myself. You know, being very competitive and just accepting myself for who I am and giving myself self-love, and that's, you know, with my breath work, I do a lot of affirmations and it's daily, like sometimes it's I'm cruising through life, and then other times I'm literally doing breath work twice. You know, like affirmations nearly all day and yeah, um, just being aware, I suppose, of of your thoughts, uh, it's so easy to get distracted with you know work, with sports, with you know, alcohol, all these outside, you know, things that can distract you from actually being present with yourself.
Mark Lucchiari:Yeah, so I've, you know, discovered that and just been. I enjoy being by myself now, where I never used to, you know, and I enjoy hiking by myself and just being out in the mountains by myself and yeah, just you know, and I enjoy hiking by myself and just being out in the mountains by myself. And yeah, just you know. Also, just like, obviously, keeping fit, training, eating healthy, all these things that are cliché and everyone kind of knows, but it really freaking works, you know like it really does, and not just one. You know you can't just be doing breath work and eating like crap and drinking every night. You know one plus one equals two. You've got to put these things together and the more you put together, the better you're going to be feeling and easier life's going to be.
Lachlan Stuart:And that reflection piece you speak of is so powerful and it's why a lot of the time I'll get people to introduce themselves even though I've got an iPad full of notes.
Lachlan Stuart:A lot of the time I'll get people to introduce themselves even though I've got an iPad full of notes, because often how people introduce themselves is the image that they have of themselves.
Lachlan Stuart:And one of the biggest challenges I have when introducing myself is sort of looking at some of the accolades that I've got, because I don't want to come across as arrogant or whatever.
Lachlan Stuart:And a lot of the work that I have to do on myself is overcoming the self-doubt but also accepting that I have done some cool things and whether it's the Australian culture that sort of makes us sort of keep that behind closed doors a little bit. But the more you can start to embrace that and embody that, the more confident we become as individuals, as parents, partners, business owners, whatever it is, and that brings on the best version of ourself. And it comes back to, I guess, things that you do with your breath work and the affirmations. We're just reprogramming or almost guiding how we want to think about ourself and how we want to think about our reality and the future that's to come, and I used to think it was bullshit for so many years, like I just thought it was like put on your yoga pants, go smoke a joint and that's kumbaya sort of stuff. But now I've really got into it and it's transformed my life massively.
Mark Lucchiari:Yeah, it's a strange thing that isn't it? I don't know whether we're programmed to think like that, because it does free you and without getting down the conspiracy theorist side of things, you know, of being part of the system, because I find it does break you free, you know, and I don't know whether it's yeah, and, and I am finding a lot of my younger friends, you know a lot of the younger athletes are doing ice baths and breath work and you know, way different than when we like were. You know for sure we were athletes back in the day of just partying and just sending it. You know way different than when we like were. You know for sure we were athletes back in the day of just partying and just sending it. You know, not looking after yourself as well as we do these days, but, um, yeah, it is. It is a strange thing is why? Why we find it hard to talk about ourselves and and stuff, like you know, like I said, even when asked me, you stumped me at the start.
Mark Lucchiari:I was like oh, okay yeah, like I'm just this simple kind of guy.
Lachlan Stuart:Yeah, but I've got a bio written that would impress people all over the world about you.
Mark Lucchiari:Yeah, and it's hard to even remember that too. Like you know, I just got back from holiday and just been away for three and a half weeks in Europe and had the most epic time. And you know, I was coming back and I started getting those depressions coming back. I'm like what the fuck am I getting depressed about? I'm going back to the most incredible life. Why does it have to end, like, just because I've been on holiday, why does I have to have this thing set in my mind when I'm flying back? As soon soon as I land, I'm back at work and I'm back into this boring life. I'm like my life's not boring, it's freaking amazing. Like why am I? Yeah, why am I getting these feelings? And, yeah, man, it's, it's crazy. Our minds are crazy things.
Lachlan Stuart:Hey, it really is why do you, why do you feel you do have that period? Because I've, you know, I experience a, I travel a fair bit as well.
Mark Lucchiari:So I I know exactly what you mean when you're talking about that and I have my thoughts and ideas, but I'd love to love to know if you've thought about that at all yeah, mate, I've just, especially the last few days, I've been really like, why is it and I think it's just my own perception like I've put an ending on something, something's got to finish and something's got to start. You know, even like I have trouble with Mondays because you know, I'm working during the week and my weekend I'm jumping. You know, most weekends we'll go surfing in the morning, skydiving after that, and then I'll go for a climb, and I'll do that Saturday and Sunday We'll have beers and it's like just have the most intense weekend. And then Monday it's like, okay, that's over now. Now I'm back, starting work again and I just have this final fun, and then the fun stuff's finished and now I've got to go to work.
Mark Lucchiari:And it's just perception. It really is the way you perceive things, you know, and instead of looking at work, as you know, all Monday as like, oh, here we are starting the week again, it should be like, yeah, let's go, let's attack the week and, you know, let's get this and let's improve myself again. And this is a new beginning, you know. Or it's just a continuation from Sunday to Monday. It's just why is there an end? I don't know. I'm still figuring this one out mate.
Lachlan Stuart:Yeah, it's interesting to think about because I hadn't really thought about perception, but I definitely agree. Like, even if this is really for me, I was thinking like, oh, is it my ability to deal with change, even though I've chosen the change? Or, you know, I'm flying into a new city or we're crossing time zones or someone else, you know I'm going to a dinner party or whatever it is. It's just like I'm out of my routine and I'm very uncomfortable and I take a little bit to settle in. But it's also what you said.
Lachlan Stuart:It's like life is just this long marathon. Why does it need to be a start and a stop? And I know people talk about beginnings and ends and one end leads to the new beginning. I get that. But if we just looked at it as like one big beautiful story where this part's allowing me to do that part, and you know it's also like helping you manage your energy. Because if you were jumping out of I don't know, actually I could be assuming here. But if you were jumping out of planes every day, surfing every day, doing some music every day, what did you start to take up? Again when you get music, do you feel?
Mark Lucchiari:Yeah, I think everything loses its appeal when you do it too much, doesn't it? It doesn't matter how fun it is. I guess and I guess that's the beauty of humans is we always got to keep. Well, I know myself I'm never satisfied. That's why I've done I guess I've done so many sports. You know wakeboarding or football to start off with, and wakeboarding and always love those new challenges. I think humans just love challenging themselves and you know that's why we've spread ourselves across this globe and do so many different things. I guess you know and invent so many different things.
Lachlan Stuart:It's yeah but what do you feel? And I want to dive into what happened in 2021 in a moment, but just before we do, what do you feel it is about you that has enabled you to be a top level wakeboarder? If anyone hasn't tried wakeboarding, that shit's hard uh, an australian champion, muay thai fighter and, once again, if anyone hasn't done muay th brutal and then also skydiving and base jumping and all the crazy shit that you do now Like, how have you been able to just become elite at everything that you do?
Mark Lucchiari:Hard work I'm not talented in anything and just proving myself wrong, my doubt wrong. You know like I think it all stems from, you know, being that young man losing his dad and having self-doubt and having all this, you know, told that I can't do this and can't do that. I just love challenging myself and I, just when I do something, I just commit to it 100%, you know, and that's where I just try to, you know, instill in my kids and my friends and my family around me. I love pushing my limits and I love pushing the people around me's limits as well. Like humans, we don't understand how powerful we are and how much we can actually do and achieve and, like I said, we get comfortable and I don't like being comfortable, so I just push myself to the max, I guess. Yeah, just determination to not be normal. Like I said, the thing that scares me in life is normality and I just don't want to be normal, normal, so I just drive myself to my limits of everything I do.
Lachlan Stuart:I love it, man, and I'm with you. I don't want to be normal as well. I observe what is normal and it doesn't appeal to me at all. There's not one part that I'm like, apart from maybe the security of it, or like it's not even secure, but like the routine of it. Maybe sometimes that's nice, but aside from that, I look at it, I nah, that's not for me and I'll do whatever I need to to stay as far away from that as possible. But, looch, let's talk about January 14, 2021.
Mark Lucchiari:Yeah, what a day. What a day, mate. Yeah, where do you want to start with it? What do you?
Lachlan Stuart:give. Give people a rundown on what happened on that that day mate.
Mark Lucchiari:Well, I was in the wrong place at the right time. Is what's happened? Um, yeah, look, it was just we were. It was a big skydiving. Uh, weekends down at byron bay, um, we had these things called boogies, where we all get together and we just jump all day. They'll be, you know, they'll have coaches and you know it's like an organised event and yeah, and then we party at night and it's just yeah, having good times.
Mark Lucchiari:And it was the Saturday, the first day of the event, and we jumped all day with you know, and at the end of the day we wanted to do this big sunset jump and what's called a big way, where there was. You know, when we jump it depends on what style of jumping you're doing, but we usually jump in groups of three to kind of five of us. You know, we all fly these formations and a big way is when we have pretty much the whole plane full. There was 17 of us on the jump and we're doing what's called a big way angle, where we all fly across the sky in like a formation. Um, so, you know, a lot of people see skydiving. You're just falling belly to earth, just flat down, but we can actually move and track across the sky, and that's what we're doing. We're flying this formation. You have some people on their back, some people on their belly. We all have our slots. What we call slots is our positions. And, yeah, we were just another big wave at the end of the day.
Mark Lucchiari:And, yeah, one of the boys just made a mistake, mistimed his approach to the formation. Benny, he was the last diver out of the plane and, as you can imagine, you know, by the time the first guys leave the plane and the last time the last guy leaves the plane, it's a long distance between them. So the last guy's got to dive down to the group. So he goes in what's called like a dive, so he presents less of his body to the the uh, to the wind, which makes him fall faster.
Mark Lucchiari:If we're falling like this and he's falling head down, he's going to fall a lot faster than we are. So he just come flying through, flying through the group and and need me in the back of the head and um took me out and completely ko'd me. Um, you know, and and as he did that, he's absolutely shattered his knee, like his knee literally exploded on the back of my head and, yeah, I was falling towards the earth unconscious. I did start coming to, but I was so out of it Like it was actually out of my 43 fights that I've had and I've lost a few from, you know, being knocked down and stuff. I've never been knocked out cold, so this was the first time I'd actually been completely knocked out cold in my life.
Lachlan Stuart:Took someone's knee exploding to do so.
Mark Lucchiari:Yeah, yeah, mate. Yeah, it was yeah, lucky I've got a hard head, bit more skull than brain, I guess. But yeah, mate, look I was knocked out, fallen towards the earth, and a safety device we have on our parachute saved my life. Literally metres from the ground I did actually start coming to and started. I was still very, like, I guess, dazed, but was starting to process what was going on.
Lachlan Stuart:Were you just like, like spinning out of control, or were you just sort of like still in free fall, or how was that? From what people have told you or the footage?
Mark Lucchiari:So at first I was like just like a dead boy, you know, just dead weight form. And then I started coming to, and when I was flipping onto my belly and I was moving around, so I was out of control, flipping around and kind of not very stable, yeah, and then like I was belly to earth, so my mind was starting to work to fall, you know, because it's not easy to fall belly to earth, you know, a lot of people think that's just how you fall, but you don't, you know. And yeah, so my mind was starting to work. I even started trying to do my emergency procedures but didn't finish them off. And, um, yeah, I did start getting a realization that, like, hang on, I'm about to go in and and that term in skydiving, going in, means I'm about to die. And, yeah, I didn't know why, what happened, I just knew I was about to die and I was like, oh man, this is it, this is it, it's over.
Mark Lucchiari:And, yeah, I kind of thought about my wife and my kids and I kind of nearly gave in for a second. I was like, oh, this is it, you know. Then I was like hang on, and like you know, like I said, my mind was still trying to work out what was going on and I thought my emergency procedures mustn't have worked. I remember trying to reach up and grab my parachute and try and do something. I don't know what the hell I was trying to do. I was just trying to do something, but, um, yeah, and then, and then the safety device that we have it fired and, yeah, my canopy opened. Holy shit, yeah, I really did like you know. I thought it was it. I was as close to death as you can get. It was literally seconds from hitting the ground, yeah, so she was a pretty wild ride.
Lachlan Stuart:I don't want to like. I want to dive into more of that when we've got Ben on, but I'd love to know, when you're faced with death, you mentioned thinking about your family. Was there any like from that life experience? Now, is there anything that you've changed in your life as a result of that?
Mark Lucchiari:Yeah, 100%. Look like I said, I've always lived life pretty, you know, at the fullest, what I thought the fullest, and chasing my passions and whatnot. But what it did make me realize I kind of, you know, reflected on a lot of things about life. Why am I here? You know like, yeah, I should be dead. Um, you know I'm like why, why aren't I? What? What? What is my purpose? Um, you know, and, yeah, it just made me reflect and made me think what, what matters the most to me?
Mark Lucchiari:Obviously, you know, my family, um, spending time with my family, and one of the big things that resonated with me and that I realised was that my purpose is to help out and give back. You know, and I've suffered all these tragedies and traumatic incidences and stuff like that to give me the strength and the knowledge and the power to help out and give back. And whether it be one or, you know, some small conversation with someone, this podcast here, someone gets inspired by it. Yeah, it really just made me chase my passion of helping out and giving back, creating, you know, give and Get, which is, you know, we're developing technology to put money into charities. You know, help mentoring younger men more so, even more so than what I kind of was just follow my passions more, and we touched a little bit on it before about not doing stuff because I'm scared of it. We don't do stuff in life because you're fearful of it or you're worried about what someone thinks, and that really, like I said, I don't care what people think. Now I know who I am. I know my purpose on life. My purpose is to be kind to people and to help humans out and do my part and leave my impact.
Mark Lucchiari:A little segue to the title, yeah, a little segue. And man, this is only the beginning to I don't know where this is going to go. Me and Benny have been talking about it, of maybe starting the Impact Men's Group and I just this is my passion, this is what I'm here for and you know I just it makes me tick, you know, and like jumping off, you know, jumping out of planes and all that stuff is amazing and fun and it does give me that rush. But helping someone out, putting a smile on someone's face, giving a friend a hug, whatever it is, is really what freaking life's about.
Lachlan Stuart:It's probably no different to jumping out of a plane by yourself. It's a fulfilling memory for you, but if you jump out of a plane with some buddies and all can reminisce on that when you're older as well like it's so much more meaningful and I think life is meant to be shared. As much as some of us. You know people have social anxiety or we don't know how to communicate well or we aren't being our honest self or our true self, so to speak. If we can move towards that, like life's only going to be that much richer because there are going to be people out there who just go. That's my dude, or that's my, my chick.
Mark Lucchiari:Like I vibe with those people and they're the people that I want to you know, spend my life making memories with yeah, yeah, 100, yeah, like you said, it did really make me be comfortable with myself. My life is like you know. It just reminded me like holy shit, this things can be done like you know. It just reminded me like holy shit, these things can be done like that. You know? Like what? Am I wasting time pretending to be someone I'm not, or what? Am I wasting time doing something that doesn't benefit myself or my family, or my friends or the people around me? So now I'm just really conscious of just being a good human, I guess.
Lachlan Stuart:And, yeah, following that passion, it's awesome, and if people have not been inspired, listening just yet, I don't know what it's going to take to help you guys get your ass in the gear and chase the life that you want. But let's talk about the documentary Impact. So it's going to be coming out soon. You've got a premiere coming up, which will be awesome, but where will people? Well, firstly, before we find out where people will be able to watch it and get inspired by it, give us a bit of a rundown on what it's about, why you decided to make it yeah, so the the film it was about a year or so after the accident.
Mark Lucchiari:Um, me and benny were just talking about, like we hadn't showed many people the footage. Um, we know what we're going to do with it. We had, we had no idea. We just, you know, like, uh, benny was pretty banged up. I was, you know, realizing, you know, all the new things in life for myself. Um, and we were just talking about what we should do. We should maybe put the footage out there to help educate you. Just, you know, the skydivers from what can happen. Um, you know, and then, like benny was really struggling I don't want to speak for him, but he was starting to really struggle, you know, um, coming to terms with the accident, his injury and all that.
Mark Lucchiari:And the more we talked to people, the more people got inspired by the little story of the friendship me and Benny generated after it. And you know, I was like, wow, we've got something here, we've got a story. Like what I said to Benny is like we're just ordinary people with an extraordinary story. You know, that needs to be told. And so we started putting together.
Mark Lucchiari:We didn't even know what we were making. It wasn't like looking at making a documentary, a full-featured documentary. It just kept evolving and, yeah, it's got to where it is now and it's been circulating through the film festivals all around the globe for the last 12 months and, you know, won awards all around the world and I just recently screened at the Byron Bay International Film Festival, where, you know, the reception there was incredible. We've just been selected for the Sydney and Melbourne film festivals as well. But, yeah, we have our official premiere on the Gold Coast here at POTA, the Home of the Arts Theatre, on December 14th at 5.30. Yeah, so you can get tickets for that if you jump on our website, um, you can find tickets.
Mark Lucchiari:I'm sure you'll check a couple links yeah the website or jump on the hoda and just type in impact and it will come up um, yeah, and then, and then mate. After that we're not really sure. Like I said, we're still winging it. That's like I do with everything in life. We're still winging it. That's like I do with everything in life. We're just winging it to see what happens and hopefully it can get picked up. You know if there's anyone out there listening and you know who's a distributor or you know a production company who would like to maybe get this story out there, because it is a really inspirational story and it's doing really good things. And yeah, yeah, we'd love to get it out to as many people as we can, but at the moment we're just going to do the premiere. It's going to show up these film festivals and then hopefully, you know, we might get picked up by a streaming service or or you know, we might end up just putting it on youtube or on our website to be downloaded.
Lachlan Stuart:Man it's so inspiring to see how you've turned something that was I don't want to say tragic, it's not the right word, but I guess painful and caused trauma in your life and everything like that, and I look forward to diving into that more when we've got Benny on as well.
Lachlan Stuart:But you've turned it into this tool now, or this resource, to help inspire so many other people and it's just in such a unique way. I've never seen it done through this sort of lens. You see a lot of inspirational stuff with gym and, I guess, running and things like that. Maybe that's because that's the field I'm in, but to see now this firsthand experience from skydiving and stuff man, as I said, I love watching it on YouTube it scares the shit out of me. My hands start sweating now when I think about jumping out of a plane. But the fact that you guys have lived to tell this story and we can hear it from both angles, that's what I'm really, really looking forward to when we have yourself and Benny on to hear what it was like through two people's minds, because same event, two different perspectives, and I think that's such a powerful tool for people to learn how to live a better life as well.
Mark Lucchiari:Yeah, completely different man, and I can't take my hats off enough to Benny for him telling the story as the person who you know caused the accident. It's just, I really admire that guy. That's, you know, not many people would do. That man, you know, put himself out in the public eye saying I made a mistake and he's doing that to help people, you know, and that's I just. Yeah, it gets me emotional thinking about it every time, like what a fucking man to put that story out there, oh 100%.
Mark Lucchiari:I'm just the dude who's got a cool story. I got knocked out and I've survived and I've just got this kind of cool story to tell her at the pub these days, you know. But, um, you know, yeah, it really is, and I'm, you know, like I said, I was, I was in the wrong place at the right time. I'd never take anything back, man. It was that that moment life was really special and important to me and I'd never take that back, you know?
Lachlan Stuart:um, so yeah, just your, your mindset around it is incredible. You're still jumping as well. Yeah, yeah, I don't even know the right question to ask for that, but I'm like, why? Like, if I, if I'd had a near-death experience, I probably would tend to be on the more cautionary side. You've sort of just lent back into it. What motivates you to keep doing that?
Mark Lucchiari:man, well, I well, if I was gonna live life fearful after this, I might as well have died. You know like what? Like I said I I jumped more. After it I went jumping more. I've lived life more like I was jumping. Six days later I went back and I did my first skydive back. I was pretty bang up, probably shouldn't have been jumping.
Mark Lucchiari:But I was like this is what makes me happy, man, that's what drives me makes me happy is jumping. And if I can't do that anymore because I'm scared, well I might as well have just gone in. You know like.
Lachlan Stuart:For sure.
Mark Lucchiari:Because that would have changed every way, every aspect I look at life. So many people's lives are controlled by fear and um you know, I was like fuck that, let's smoke and go ham, let's go even harder at life.
Lachlan Stuart:I love it. Yeah, is it, mate? Your mindset is incredible. I truly admire it because I think a lot of people could take away so much from that. Where can people find you on socials for everyone listening along as well? To make it easy, I'll have all the links in the show notes so you can just click and get involved. But if you're driving along and you want to follow luch, where, where can people find you out?
Mark Lucchiari:yeah, mate, just post um instagram is probably the best for me, and it's just luch l-u-c-c-h. Uh, you know, look up mark lucchiardi on there. Um, our website for the impact is impactdococom, our Instagram is impactmovie Unfortunately we couldn't get all the same handles and our Facebook is impactfilm. All right, yeah, mate. But yeah, look, looch is where you can find me Everything's in the bio there and follow my, my, uh, crazy journey through this, uh, amazing thing we call life.
Lachlan Stuart:Luch, you're an inspiration mate. You're an incredible man and you're doing such incredible things for the world, and the fact that you're still continuing to expand what's possible in your life really inspires me and I really appreciate your time today cheers, mate.
Mark Lucchiari:I uh, yeah, thanks for giving me the platform to tell my story. And, mate, right back at you. You know you're doing incredible things yourself and, yeah, it's been such a pleasure to meet you, man, and share this space.
