Facing the Storm: The Birth of Bison Mentality
You're listening to Bison Mentality, a podcast for men who are tired of pretending and wanting to face their storms. Real conversations, real struggles, real brotherhood. I'm Nathan Kolata, and welcome to Bison Mentality. Most men suffer in silence. I did too at some point, and I didn't know until I realized I needed something to change. What if being strong is more than just being silent? What if being strong is meant facing your storm instead of avoiding it? What if you had a group? You had a herd? What if? My name is Nathan Kolata. I'm 36 years old. I've gone through struggles. You know, my story isn't as bad as some out there. I had a great upbringing. I had a loving family that brought me up. My family, my parents split when I was three. I really didn't have a quote-unquote father figure and never really had a relationship with my dad. And that was a a hard thing to to grow up with not having that and you know having all my friends that had that and so I would always try to find that love in relationships and I had relationships where they were abusive verbally physically and it it wasn't good and they beat me down emotionally and made me think I'm not worthy and that I'm I'm not enough and that I'm I'm just not a a man. And those are things that have stuck with me for the longest of times. And it's taken me a lot of time to grow through the things that have been said to me and done to me. And it's taken some time and it's actually taken my meeting my wife to actually become a better man, the man I was, I was supposed to be in that I meant to be. And, you know, this, this podcast, Bison Mentality, it, it, it matters. It matters to me personally, because, you know, I, I. I was told in those times to man up and I didn't know what that meant. I didn't know what to do. And I had all these emotions, but I had no one to go to. I wasn't going to go talk to my mom about the things that I had going through. And I wasn't going to go talk to my brother who was seven years older than me. But now I'll talk to my brother about anything. Will he do the same? No. But I'm willing to have that conversation with my brother at any time. So the biggest breaking point for me with my internal thoughts, in all honesty, was when I found God. That was my my biggest my biggest turning point in becoming a better man and a better person but my my wife has has also built my my confidence up that's that has what she has done because that was broken through many of years of bad relationships and the all of this you know came together with many of other struggles with, with friends or the friends were going through. And bison mentality was, was formed out of, you know, sitting in my hotel and speaking with a good buddy who had just dealt with his older brother committing suicide. And he spoke to me and it related to me because I had my best friend commit suicide back in 2018. And he tried multiple, multiple times to commit suicide. Suicide, excuse me. And he finally succeeded. And it was... It was hard to see his family go through the struggles. And it was hard for me to go through the struggles. That was probably one of the hardest things I've ever done in my entire life was burying my best friend. And so seeing so many men go through the struggles of mental health and having nowhere to go and thinking that you're alone because that's what I always thought I was alone in my thoughts and that what I was going through was nothing like anybody else has ever experienced like I was the only man on the earth going through the shit that I was going through for example that's exactly what my my best friend thought as well and that's what my good buddy's brother thought as well is like, I'm alone. And so the only way to do this is to end it. And that's not true. And that's what Bison Mentality is. Why it was created is because I want a place for men to come. I want a place for men to relate, to hear the stories of other men throughout the world and relate to that story. And the reasoning behind the name Bison Mentality is because Because the story of the bison is... Unlike cattle, when cattle sense a storm coming, they will turn and run away from that storm, not knowing that they're going to be in that storm way longer because they're running with it. And the bison, what they do is instead of running away from that storm, they'll turn and they'll face that storm because they know that if they walk straight into that storm, they will be in that way shorter of time. So that is the whole model behind it, behind the business, the podcast, everything is we're going to face that storm. Bison mentality, we are going to turn and face our storms as men, whether they are internal storms, they're external storms, whatever they may be. That is the whole reasoning behind Bison Mentality. And that is the symbolism of what I'm trying to do is trying to help men to turn and face their storms instead of ending their storm. So this is more than just a brand. It's more than just a business or a podcast. This is going to be a movement. This is going to be a movement of men becoming better, men encouraging each other creating a herd of like-minded men who are we're all about you know pushing each other forward and becoming the man you are supposed to be and being able to just. Navigate through those inner thoughts, those demons that you have going on. And, you know, what we, what we as men are, are missing with this whole entire thing is that we, we were told, you know to to man up or to to hold your your emotions in to not cry and this and that and you know that that becomes so lonely and we isolate and you try to act tough and yet you're you're broken on the inside and you know so many people that you look at they're so so happy like They're the happiest people you've ever met. They are probably miserable on the inside. Not all people, but some. So this is for the men who are ready to not be alone anymore. Who want a voice, who want to tell their story. And with this podcast and each everyone, I hope that when you walk away from this podcast, you've learned something that has that resonates with you or that you can take and use with yourself or with a buddy or whatever it is to bring those numbers down of the suicide rates that are happening right now in men and it's what what men are going through nowadays is really just it's like it's war basically and we're we're told there's toxic masculinity and there's men that are becoming women and you, it's, it's hard, you know, and that's a, that's a mental health issue all on its own. And I can get some flack for that, but you know, it doesn't help with, with how the world is. We're not really not allowed to be men. And that's, that's what's shitty. And that's what I want people to get back to is we want, you know, I see, I follow so many people on Instagram and it's about being men and doing things that are, are manly and all that. It's, it's, I just, I try to do the, the best that I can and surround myself with, you know, the, the best men and do manly things because that's, that's what nowadays they're not being taught. We're not doing manly things. We're not going out and chopping wood and, and all that. It's, we're, we're told to just sit to the side and, keep our emotions to ourselves and all that and it's it's it's not it's not okay it makes us feel alone and burnt out and unseen and it's just. It's not okay. And this whole, this whole reasoning for this podcast, for people to, for men, I should say, to get on here and be vulnerable and open up. And that's what I'm going to do. This is going to be hard for me as well. There's probably going to be some things that I've never shared before, and I'm going to share it on here just because it could be that one story that saved somebody. And this is what it's about is helping men to, to get through things and hopefully to relate and save it. And, you know, I'm, it's not just going to be me on here. That's, that's talking all the time. Cause I know it's going to get annoying, but I'm going to have guests on here. I'm going to have, I have a line of men that want to get on here and tell their stories. And it's going to be real. It's going to be, there's going to be jokes. There's going to be tears. There's going to be so many things that are so many emotions that are happening on this podcast. And, but it's going to be great because they're all just going to be, it's going to be real. And that's, that's the biggest thing is I'm, it's not going to be just. Bullshit things on here there's not going to be any judgment on here because somebody's story is you know it's going to be embarrassing for them to tell and but there's still be no judgment, it's just going to be all the truth and that's what bison mentality is going to be for things that we're going to talk about on here are going to be mental health fatherhood your identity the emotional growth, leadership, healing the trauma that you've gone through. I'm not a therapist or anything, but I have opinions on how to get through a few things if you'd like. And our biggest thing with this movement is creating a brotherhood. And you are who you associate with. So if you can surround yourself with a few good men and create this circle, even a small circle of dudes that are just going in the same direction, helping you get through your storms you helping them getting through their storms that's what it's all about and we're also going to be talking about faith faith is a huge thing that is going to be for me with this podcast my i do highly highly recommend finding faith that's what saved me. And I will never press it on anybody. I will recommend it, but I'll never force it on somebody. Everybody has their own beliefs, and I truly believe that. But I will be touching on the faith side of things quite a few times. And I just, that's a huge portion. And that'll help you immensely if you can open up that book, the Bible. And there's a lot of life advice in there, more than what I could ever tell you. I could speak till my face is blue and I can't even give you all that advice. But this podcast is something that has been in my heart for a while now and it's been in the making. I've had a lot of people that they are like, When are you getting it going? When are you getting it going? When are you getting it going? And so finally here I am, I mustered it up and got the equipment out and here I am sitting at my kitchen table. It's one o'clock in the morning and getting this podcast done and getting it out there to whomever may be able to listen to it. This is for the men who shows up to everything. They show up for everyone, but they just don't feel like they're seen. And I want you to know you are. This is for the dads who are wanting to break those generational curses of just man up, but you're also showing your young men how to be men, how to treat women, how to lead. This is for all of us who are tired of pretending to be okay, because there are still times to this day that I'm just okay. Not to the point where I want to end it, but just okay. And my wife always asks me, what's wrong, what's wrong? And I always tell her I'm fine because I don't want to use my wife as my sounding board because that's sometimes women just don't understand. That's why I want this podcast to be for men. Men to understand each other. Men to relate to each other. And for men to just share, share the stories, share what you've been through. This is going to be something that is just going to continue to grow. As we are as men going through our struggles, this is going to continue to grow. Grow more than just a podcast. This movement is going to have, at some point, trainers. Psychologists, therapists, mentors, to help with any transformation that somebody might need. And again this this podcast is not it's not therapy I'm I'm not a licensed therapist I'm just a a man who's been through some things and I've faced my storms and I'm just building something that men need and allowing them to know that they're not alone not alone at all and And my mission for this podcast is to reach every corner of this earth, for men to hear it from all walks of life, and to share their stories with me, and to share their stories with the world, and... The way that you guys can be a part of this is I will have merchandise here soon. I'll have t-shirts, I'll have hats, I'm going to have sweatshirts, stickers, stuff like that, just random merchandise that you guys can rep and present to so many people. And I hope that you can give it as a gift some days and somebody's going through some struggles and you can give them, hey, here's a, here's a t-shirt to remind you that you're not alone and they're like what's bison mentality you're like oh it's this podcast that Nate does and so as as a listener you can you can subscribe to my my Instagram which is underscore bison dot mentality underscore and not much on there right now just started it so be patient with me and be patient with these podcasts because again I'm I'm not perfect. This is going to be a lot of stuttering and a lot of cursing and a lot of laughter. There's going to be a lot of laughter that comes through this. So if this is something that has hit you, I want you to share it with somebody who needs it. Share it with somebody who could benefit from it. Follow me on Instagram. I'll have a website here soon. I'm going to get a YouTube channel going up so that you guys can see my my pretty face here and yeah just just message me if you want to be a part of it i just i want to build this with y'all i really do so let's let's be the men who who face our storms and not the one who runs from it and again welcome guys to Bison Mentality.
