This grounded, live conversation with Joe Fleming is about how people slowly lose their footing in life, often without realising it, and what it actually takes to build and rebuild well over time. Most people don’t wake up one day with everything suddenly falling apart. It usually happens gradually, through small compromises, avoided conversations, unexamined identities, and environments that no longer serve us.
Whether someone is struggling openly or functioning well on the surface, the underlying mechanics are often the same. Joe Fleming’s life offers a rare and honest lens into that process.
From the outside, Joe fits a familiar societal mould. He is tall, tattooed, bearded, physically capable, with a military background and a love of motorcycles and adventure. His life looked full and functional. And yet, just over a year ago, Joe sat alone in his truck with two tanks of propane running, having made the decision to take his own life. In what he describes as a near miracle, he woke up hours later, still alive, faced with a choice, and chose not to follow through.
This interview with Joe is not a dramatic retelling of that night, and it’s not a motivational talk about overcoming adversity. Instead, the conversation uses Joe’s lived experience to explore how identity, environment, responsibility, and avoidance quietly shape all of our lives, whether we’re in crisis or simply drifting on autopilot.
The conversation also touches on perspective. As an American who moved to South Africa for love and chose to stay, Joe brings an outsider’s view of this country. On the night, he’ll share why many of the things locals often experience as limitations or frustrations are, from his perspective, part of what makes South Africa such a unique and valuable place to live.
We’ll talk about mental health honestly, without romanticising it, and about suicide without sensationalism. We’ll explore why vulnerability often fails in the spaces we expect it to work, why insight doesn’t automatically lead to change, and why building the right environments often matters more than saying the right words.
This is the opposite of a polished success story. It’s a raw look at what it actually takes to course correct, take responsibility, and build a life strong enough to carry the weight of real life. This is an event for anyone who wants to think more clearly about how they’re living, not just why.
