Todd Blyleven: the conversation

Mornings in the Lab · Interview transcript

Todd Blyleven spent most of his life doing what men are taught to do. To be tough and to handle it. Show up, do your job, do not complain. Do not ask for help. He grew up inside professional sports. Toughness expected and silence respected. For a long time, performance mattered and feelings did not come first. He is the son of Hall of Famer Bert Blyleven, played professional baseball and later became an MLB scout, always carrying pressure without talking about it. That approach worked for a long time. But on October 1, 2017, Todd was at a music festival in Las Vegas with his family. Gunfire broke out. He made sure his family was safe. Then he ran back to help others get out. After the shooting, Todd went back to doing what he had always done. He kept moving forward. Over time, he saw that approach was not enough. So, he finally asked for help and started the journey of recovering from trauma. From that work, Todd built a way to live without hiding from what happened. He calls it walking with your trauma. You acknowledge it. You name it. You do not let it run your life. This conversation is about what you say when you finally speak up, about who you tell, and how you ask for help without feeling weak. Todd, thanks for joining us today. Welcome to Mornings in the Lab.