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Transcript

Life's Gonna Be Alright · UNLOADED

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_01: I would like to welcome everyone back to our podcast unloaded.
• 0:04
  SPEAKER_01: This is Michael Seahorn.
• 0:05
  SPEAKER_01: Shannon Morov.
• 0:07
  SPEAKER_01: Once again, I am glad to be here with my friend Shannon.
• 0:12
  SPEAKER_01: My counselor Shannon.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_01: There we go.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_00: Partner Shannon.
• 0:15
  SPEAKER_00: If you refer to me as a friend, I can get in a little bit of a trouble because we're not supposed to be friends because you've talked about it.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_00: We've talked about it.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_01: I'm here with my counselor Shannon today.
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_01: Glad to be here on Unloaded once again.
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_01: What uh say you today, man?
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_01: You good?
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_01: Say you.
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_00: I'm good.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_00: Whatever good means, right?
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_00: And that's even, you know, enter good, bad, right, wrong, give, take, yes, no.
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_00: I always just love seeing you.
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_00: Like anything.
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_00: I I get uncomfortable with, you know, flip.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_01: You can't put this dude on the spot because he's just gonna be like, Am I good?
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe depends on what you think good is.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_01: Love it, dude.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_01: This brings me joy.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_01: Good.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_01: This brings me joy.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_01: He just doesn't want to say it.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_01: I'm like, well, it's good, it's good, man.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_00: I'll roll with that, bro.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_00: I'm in good space.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, just and what does that mean?
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I'm feeling like there's I think you can even kind of pick up on the joy in the room.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_00: Just the the laughter, the lightness, you know, it just it's comfortable.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_00: It's like, huh.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, no, I'm I'm I'm with you on that, man.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_01: So, excuse me.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_01: We we talked the last episode a lot about just um you know, when when the tide changes, and um maybe the the weight you were dealing with is was heavy and the things you're going through are heavy, and then next thing you know, you're kind of feeling a little bit shift in the tide, and you you're you know, your emotional state, physical state, mental state, all those things are changing.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_01: I I kind of went back in my head of what you and I talked about a few episodes ago about even in our darkest storms, you can always see the the lights there, you just can't see it.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_01: But the sun's still out even when it's storming out, right?
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_01: And it it brought up a an old memory of mine, and I and I think that you'll appreciate this, but we were out at um we were doing a field exercise um many, many decades ago now in the army, and the old army is very, very different than the the newer army.
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_01: Everybody knows that.
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_01: I don't need to explain that.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_01: And then um so we we had a uh uh what's called an FTX, which is a field training exercise, and it was a uh I think it was a week long, eight, nine days long.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_01: They give us the the mission debrief, and they they get you know everybody in their in their lanes on what they're gonna do, what what part of the mission you're gonna do, and one of the things I was in the uh aerosol infantry and I was a mortarman and in the evening time at night, once the sun went down, it was dark, and it was time to try to get some s shut eye or some sleep, you would take uh all of our uh Humvees or whatever the vehicles are that you're using and you would circle them.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_01: Now the premise behind the circle of the vehicles is everybody was too sleep inside the circle.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_01: And what that would do is it would prevent you from getting run over, right?
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_01: Because it's dark out and you've wearing camouflage, right?
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_01: It's happened way too many times, and it's actually happened.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_01: So the funny thing about this one was um I I generally slept um because I was a driver, I just generally slept right next to the driver door, lengthwise.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_01: That way, if anyone were trying doing shenanigans of trying to get in your uh Humvee or whatever, they pretty much are gonna step on you, right?
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_01: Get into the vehicle.
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_01: Something else that we do in the uh US Army, and I'm sure other branches do it, is somebody has to be awake every hour of the night in order to be doing the exterior patrol to keep us safe and uh you know protected.
• 4:11
  SPEAKER_01: Well, this was a uh late fall mission and uh uh the the temps were supposed to be okay.
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_01: Well, needless to say, um we didn't carry everything we needed um because we weren't anticipating very cold weather.
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_01: So we just kinda have our normal summer gear and stuff that we uh had in our rucksacks.
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_01: So I was the lucky one to get drawn for the for the 2 a.m.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_01: watch, right?
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_01: Which was fine.
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_01: I was I was kind of low man on the pole.
• 4:43
  SPEAKER_01: I was in it was a new unit that I was attached to, and I was the newest in the platoon.
• 4:47
  SPEAKER_01: So I knew that I'd be around that one or two a.m.
• 4:49
  SPEAKER_01: because it's just the shittiest time, right?
• 4:51
  SPEAKER_01: How long was the watch?
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_01: Um generally from about I think rack out was like 2200, so uh 10 o'clock at night, and then generally you're you're getting up, you know, around that zero, five, maybe four, just depends on where you are and what the mission parameters.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_01: So I remember I was sleeping in my uh on the ground.
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_01: Um I could tell it was cold.
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_01: I was I was in my mummy bag, and I just remember somebody kicking my feet, you know, to wake me up.
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_01: And if you ever seen the old mummy bags, that's what they are.
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_01: They zip all the way up to your uh face, you pull the drawstring, and you just have you basically have an eye hole or a mouth hole.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_01: I have a couple of things.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, you know what I'm talking about, right?
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_01: Well, those those are the old school sleep systems, right?
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_01: The new sleep systems are a modular, they're uh three layers, so you can layer up, layer down.
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_01: Very nice, by the way.
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_01: I like my mummy bag.
• 5:45
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so I felt something kicking my feet.
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_01: I wake up, unzip the mummy bag, and it it sounds like it's crunching.
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_00: Uh-huh.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_00: That's ice.
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_01: Right?
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_01: So it is.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_01: It is ice, it was all iced over.
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_01: So, of course, I get out of my warm little mummy sack, and it is fucking cold.
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_01: At 2 a.m.
• 6:05
  SPEAKER_01: 2 a.m.
• 6:05
  SPEAKER_01: It's it's just where is this?
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_01: Um if I if if I recall right, I believe this was down in the Southern California area.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_01: Uh-huh.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_01: It was up on the coast, up in the hills.
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_01: Um it was just a a fall frost, basically, but it was cold because we were up in the in the mountains area, right?
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_01: So I get out of my bag, and I'm gonna tell you right now, I did not have the proper gear.
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_01: I didn't have any undergarments on, I just had my BDUs, my boots, uh, normal field coat.
• 6:39
  SPEAKER_01: I was freezing.
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_01: It was cold.
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_01: The one thing that all I was hoping for for my hour from 0-2 to 0-3 was to keep moving my limbs, keep moving my toes, you know, because you're you're you're doing a security walk, right?
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_01: Perimeter walk, just to try to keep the blood flowing and and keep shit warm.
• 6:59
  SPEAKER_01: So my watch ends at 0-3.
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_01: I I slumber back over to the bag, I get in the bag, but then it you're just you're frozen to the bone, man.
• 7:07
  SPEAKER_01: You're cold.
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_01: There's nothing you can do about it, right?
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_01: An hour out.
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_01: Pretty much.
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_01: So I get back in the mummy bag, man, and I I'm literally just uh, you know, they call it jackknifing when you just you know you got the the the shakes.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_01: And um so finally got a little bit warm enough, and um sure enough, man.
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_01: The only thing I wanted to see was the fing sun.
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_01: I wanted the light to come out, right?
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_01: So it's around 0, 4:30.
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_01: We all are now up getting our shit put together, getting our uh equipment back into our uh vehicles, and um by then you could just barely see the light of dawn coming up on the horizon.
• 7:48
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm gonna tell you something just seeing the light of dawn coming immediately changed your your physical response internally.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_01: Wow.
• 8:01
  SPEAKER_01: You you're cold, you're shivering, but just seeing the light coming, you already in your head are thinking it's gonna warm up.
• 8:10
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, thank god.
• 8:11
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_00: That that big round, bright, glowy thing that radiates a lot of heat, here it comes.
• 8:19
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_01: So dawn is coming, and uh, we still can't see the sun yet.
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_01: Um we get our cold MREs out, we're uh you know putting down some cold chow and finally the sun peaks over the horizon, man.
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_01: And in the instant that sun crested over the horizon where I could actually physically see the ball of light, I immediately start warming up inside.
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_01: Regardless of the temperature.
• 8:47
  SPEAKER_01: I just felt warmer.
• 8:49
  SPEAKER_01: And I I the reason I tell you that story is because we talk a lot about being in that storm, about the lights there, you just can't see it.
• 8:58
  SPEAKER_01: And even then when I was freezing cold in the mountains, just seeing the sun come up just made me feel that much more warmer.
• 9:07
  SPEAKER_01: And I think a lot of what we talk about in our inner struggles and when things are really difficult in life, man, it's like sometimes, man, all you need to see is just that that that sun cresting the horizon, man.
• 9:21
  SPEAKER_00: Even just first light, like because when it's uh dark, dark at 3 a.m.
• 9:28
  SPEAKER_00: or you know, like no, you you got hours.
• 9:30
  SPEAKER_00: It's it's dark and cold.
• 9:33
  SPEAKER_00: And even though, you know, the earth is continuing to rotate, you know, you got hours.
• 9:39
  SPEAKER_00: And uh, but man, like when there's that little bit of grayness, and then ooh, oh yep, yep, that's it.
• 9:47
  SPEAKER_00: And it it lightens just a little bit more, and like you said, early dawn, you know, this you still got a little bit until sunsun, but it's just the light, just the sky lightning, so the stars starting to fade, you know, and and gradually, almost imperceptibly, you know, just like, oh, here, oh, here it comes.
• 10:09
  SPEAKER_00: And then when, man, those first few beams start peeking through, and it's I mean, the amount of warmth just, you know, is isn't a bunch, but you still feel it, and and you know which direction things are going.
• 10:23
  SPEAKER_00: You know that, you know, in a few hours you're gonna be sweating your balls off.
• 10:30
  SPEAKER_00: Exactly right.
• 10:31
  SPEAKER_00: You know, but for after having been very cold that unexpectedly cold night, and just knowing that, you know, and seeing and experiencing the return of the light, the return of the warmth.
• 10:45
  SPEAKER_00: That it's the psychological boost, you know, that then proceeds, and then more the mental, I'm sorry, the physical experience.
• 10:55
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, and thank you for saying that.
• 10:56
  SPEAKER_01: I think that psychological boost is what what we've been talking about over the last episode or two is that psychological boost of feeling that the weight has just been barely just starting to lift.
• 11:10
  SPEAKER_01: It's just coming off, it's getting us a little bit lighter.
• 11:14
  SPEAKER_01: That psychological boost, as you said, is where I think it's almost like when you're on a tough rock march, man, and you're just going straight up a goddamn mountain and it's miserable, your feet hurt, your back hurt, your shoulders hurt.
• 11:30
  SPEAKER_01: Right?
• 11:30
  SPEAKER_01: You're sorry.
• 11:32
  SPEAKER_01: I know too well.
• 11:34
  SPEAKER_01: I know and uh, you know, once once uh I I was a um I had the I had to carry the radio pack, man, and you know, then you get into the mortar platoon and you're carrying the base plate or the tube or the ammo or the tripod, it all sucks.
• 11:46
  SPEAKER_01: There's nothing good about any of it, and you're you're you you like you can't even look up, you're just like fuck this dude.
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_01: Everything in my body hurts.
• 11:53
  SPEAKER_01: I want to quit, but you can't.
• 11:55
  SPEAKER_01: You just keep moving.
• 11:56
  SPEAKER_01: And finally, man, just finally, you get to the top, and it's like the first step down.
• 12:04
  SPEAKER_01: It feels a hundred times better.
• 12:06
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 12:07
  SPEAKER_01: And I think that psychological boost is is what I've been trying to discuss over the last couple episodes, is I feel like that's what life feels like when you get that psychological boost of whatever it is, whether it's a a new job, a new uh partner, a new uh new whatever.
• 12:26
  SPEAKER_01: It's just like change, it's just that positive change, man.
• 12:29
  SPEAKER_01: And you feel like, hey, I'm I'm I'm going downhill now, man.
• 12:34
  SPEAKER_01: Like, this feels a lot better.
• 12:36
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you know what I mean?
• 12:37
  SPEAKER_00: Until then you've been going downhill a while and all that weight's still on your back, and you start the the opposite muscles start screaming it, and then you start getting the shin splints and everything else, but it is that change, you know, from because that's the global nature of it.
• 12:54
  SPEAKER_00: Uh freezing at night, and then oh, thank goodness, sun, oh, warming up, change.
• 13:01
  SPEAKER_00: And then a few hours later, midday, early afternoon, sweating, just hot as can be, and like, oh, like, and then whoo, okay, it's cooling off.
• 13:12
  SPEAKER_00: We're getting near you know sunset here, and you know, and it's because it does go both directions, and just you know, with that, it's really difficult in the moment or in a lot of these the immediacy of these experiences.
• 13:29
  SPEAKER_00: That's all we're experiencing.
• 13:30
  SPEAKER_00: That's all we that's real for us in that moment, and we so quickly, so easily forget about the other side, about you know, until then we're on the other side, then and you see how it just keeps spinning.
• 13:46
  SPEAKER_00: And life uh, bigger picture is a lot uh that way, you know.
• 13:51
  SPEAKER_00: It we can be feel really stuck in something or really grinding on something, just feel really heavy about something for a while, and then thank goodness, sun's coming up, oh thank goodness, change, and ah, relief, light, oh yay, you know, and and to be celebrated, to enjoy, to experience that joy, you know, with also you know, and yep, ebb and flow, right?
• 14:18
  SPEAKER_00: Oh yeah, it it continues, you know, and this this this too shall pass, good and bad, if you want to be so labeled one side or the other and stuff.
• 14:28
  SPEAKER_00: That's why it's the both.
• 14:31
  SPEAKER_00: They they exist simultaneously, and even though often it seems uh we perceive that we're just on kind of one side or the other side, and yet when we can remember both sides, you know, um, oh yeah, that's right.
• 14:49
  SPEAKER_00: This and just to for me, it provides uh just the um huh kind of just relax into it, just go with it because what else are you gonna do, you know, and just with with more knowledge or just more understanding or like um that huh, okay, you know, while this was hard, now it's getting easier, oh good, and I also know that there will be more hardships on in the future, and so on, and so on, and um just that hmm, okay, uh acceptance of the the natural rhythms of of life.
• 15:34
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and uh one of the things that I don't know if we talked a lot about, but I've mentioned it over the um time we've been here on a loaded is these are the times I really double down on my journal.
• 15:45
  SPEAKER_01: I really try to get into my journal a little bit more when I um openly can feel change, I can openly feel we're on a little bit of a downhill movement, you know.
• 15:59
  SPEAKER_01: And uh I feel that you know the um the weight's been lifted some.
• 16:06
  SPEAKER_01: Doesn't mean to be a ton, but just when you feel these moments where you feel a little lighter, you feel a little bit more uh open or or joyful or whatever the positive emotion is, really a good time to just jot it down because I'll tell you what, man, oftentimes I'll find myself going back in my journals and trying to just read, man, when was I in a real difficult spot, right?
• 16:33
  SPEAKER_01: Because I intuitively know that once I read through that difficult moment at some point in my journal, it's gonna turn to where I'm like, hey, you know, I got through this, this is where I'm at now, and these are the things that happened.
• 16:47
  SPEAKER_01: So it's a good reminder.
• 16:48
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, good to to go back and just be like, hey, I I lived through this, it was difficult at the time, and I'm reading it again.
• 16:58
  SPEAKER_01: I'm maybe you have some similar feelings when you read that um experience, but then that positive journal page hits, yeah, you know, and reading that sometimes helps so much on reminding you of what we're talking about.
• 17:15
  SPEAKER_01: Like the lights there in the storm, the darkest nights, the light's still there, you just can't see it.
• 17:22
  SPEAKER_01: A couple more hours, that sun's coming up over the horizon, man, and the whole picture's gonna change.
• 17:28
  SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
• 17:29
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 17:31
  SPEAKER_00: Rest assured, it does provide that okay, you know, just that ease of you know, just kind of being in whatever you're in, not fighting it so much sometimes, or just kind of that okay, acceptance of yeah, this is a storm, or oh, yeah, it's the middle of the night.
• 17:50
  SPEAKER_00: You're not gonna change that immediately.
• 17:53
  SPEAKER_00: There's nothing you can do about that, and so all we can change is our inner um, I'm gonna say experience of that and what it like our the narrative we're telling ourselves, our attitude about it, um just how we're perceiving it.
• 18:11
  SPEAKER_00: You know, we have often more choice than we are aware how we choose to experience these things.
• 18:20
  SPEAKER_01: We've talked a lot about that.
• 18:22
  SPEAKER_01: We are very good at making things a lot harder for ourselves in our head.
• 18:29
  SPEAKER_01: Just by getting down on it.
• 18:30
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yep.
• 18:31
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I mean, you just start, you know, you go down that horrible path, man, where you're just like, you know, just the mind takes that that dark hole of just just spiraling out, just like and then to catch it, to see it, recognize it, like, oh man, and pull out often like we've talked about coming back to the present moment.
• 18:53
  SPEAKER_00: And oh, oh yeah, wait, what's real out here right now?
• 18:57
  SPEAKER_00: Oh man, I got caught in a little spiral back there a minute ago.
• 19:02
  SPEAKER_00: And even to then have that power of choice to change that, and you know, I think we've also talked a little bit about one of the most powerful um things we can choose, and in my and many others' opinion, is uh gratitude.
• 19:17
  SPEAKER_00: Oh yeah.
• 19:17
  SPEAKER_00: Like, what?
• 19:18
  SPEAKER_00: Like, oh yeah, even though you know, this is tough right now, like, okay, and still like look at look at all they have, look at all these blessings all around.
• 19:29
  SPEAKER_00: Look at, you know, if I actually just look at the real of things without getting too uh in my mind or getting too overpowered by these old emotions or whatever and the link between them, um, just to allow for like, hey man, you know, it's right now, in this moment, I'm uh I'm okay.
• 19:52
  SPEAKER_00: It's it's even you know pretty peaceful out here.
• 19:57
  SPEAKER_00: I'm in decent health, I got plenty, you know, I've you know, just yeah, gratitude can be so powerful in you know when we can truly, when it's authentic and catch our we catch ourselves in that negative spin out, and then oh oh, darn it, I'll spin it out.
• 20:18
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, what instead?
• 20:19
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, actually, look at all this cool stuff all around me.
• 20:24
  SPEAKER_00: Look at this rad life I have overall, you know, and why am I so feeling so awful about this one thing when and no not even asking the question why, but just like, oh yeah, I I I started spinning, okay.
• 20:37
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks.
• 20:38
  SPEAKER_00: That's what the mind does.
• 20:39
  SPEAKER_00: Thoughts will go that direction, and I caught it and I chose to turn.
• 20:43
  SPEAKER_00: And the direction I turn, like, ha, okay, big picture.
• 20:48
  SPEAKER_00: Things are things are pretty good overall.
• 20:52
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, yeah, no, 100% on that.
• 20:54
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, they don't have to be huge, grandiose things, man.
• 20:58
  SPEAKER_01: Like, just be grateful you're up the next day.
• 21:02
  SPEAKER_01: If you can you you're walking, you're using your hands, you're talking, you can see and hear, smell, and taste, and you know, breathe this this oxygen in.
• 21:11
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, maybe you can go just sit out on your porch or your balcony, wherever you're at, and you know, people aren't shooting at you, and you know, your life's not in danger.
• 21:20
  SPEAKER_01: And I mean, it sounds a little I don't know, it sounds a little ironic, I guess, but that's as simple as you really have to just narrow it down.
• 21:30
  SPEAKER_01: Like it doesn't have to be these huge things.
• 21:33
  SPEAKER_01: Like for me, when I'm grateful for the small stuff, means more to me than anything.
• 21:38
  SPEAKER_00: Dude, you know, like you just said, my eyes work, my ears, I can see things, I can hear things, I can stand up and walk.
• 21:47
  SPEAKER_00: I I mostly am pretty healthy, you know.
• 21:50
  SPEAKER_00: Just you know, like wow, I have food in the fridge.
• 21:54
  SPEAKER_00: I have I I feel safe.
• 21:55
  SPEAKER_00: I I I feel secure.
• 21:58
  SPEAKER_00: I have a couple bucks in my Wallet or whatever, you know, like ha, you know, like uh all right, it's a good day.
• 22:06
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 22:07
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, yeah, I yeah.
• 22:09
  SPEAKER_01: Sometimes we just really gotta bring it down a little bit and and get really to the raw basics of what you should be very grateful to have.
• 22:17
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, because there are many, many, many, many, many thousands, millions of people on this planet that would give everything they own to be sitting on your porch in this country.
• 22:28
  SPEAKER_01: So that's just my one little take on that.
• 22:30
  SPEAKER_01: So that's it.
• 22:31
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 22:31
  SPEAKER_00: While we're sitting on our porch lost in thought, occasionally, uh just feeling really awful about whatever it is that is you know triggering us, and it's a nice reminder to come back.
• 22:51
  SPEAKER_01: No, for real, man.
• 22:52
  SPEAKER_01: It's it's tough too.
• 22:53
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, Shan and I were are never gonna make light of these things.
• 22:56
  SPEAKER_01: Uh we're we're explaining these things because they're important to just remember.
• 23:00
  SPEAKER_01: You know, when I sometimes when I go out on my on my property, man, it's so if if I had anybody out there watching me, they probably think this this fucking dude's loony.
• 23:10
  SPEAKER_01: This dude's out is fucking this guy's good nutmole, man.
• 23:14
  SPEAKER_01: You know, because there's many times in the early morning um or even in the late evening, I'll just walk around the property, man, and I'll I'll just stop.
• 23:23
  SPEAKER_01: And I'll just look around at my property, man, and look at the trees and you know, look at just just look and listen, you know, and if somebody were to see me, they were probably like, what is this dude doing?
• 23:35
  SPEAKER_00: Oh man, I'm I'm way more loony than you, man.
• 23:38
  SPEAKER_00: I'll I'll put my hands on the ground and I'll start stretching and I'll you know, just yeah, swing from a tree.
• 23:48
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I mean, it's many times where I just you know I sit outside of uh my meditation tent, man, and I just sipping my warm coffee, dude, and just really being absolutely ever present in the moment, man, and just enjoying the cool morning, you know.
• 24:06
  SPEAKER_01: Uh things are just waking up, birds are starting to, you know, get out, and my my chickens are starting to make all their noise.
• 24:13
  SPEAKER_01: And it's very easy, man, just to sit there and just be like, God damn, thank you.
• 24:18
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, there it is.
• 24:20
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you so much for this moment.
• 24:23
  SPEAKER_00: Man, regardless of what you're getting ready to deal with.
• 24:25
  SPEAKER_00: Whatever.
• 24:26
  SPEAKER_00: Filled with gratitude for that moment.
• 24:29
  SPEAKER_00: Your day began that way.
• 24:32
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's uh it's that's where I go back to when Shannon says gratitude, man.
• 24:37
  SPEAKER_01: I really try to just get to the simplest simple things of my life that it doesn't cost me any money, it's not costing me any time.
• 24:46
  SPEAKER_01: I'm just I'm just grateful for the things that I you know that I've been given.
• 24:50
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 24:52
  SPEAKER_00: Including our relationships, our friendships, our you know, partnerships, our family, you know, the the people in our life.
• 25:03
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 25:03
  SPEAKER_01: I'm thankful for Odin, my 135-pound dog, and my little echo, you know, they're those two are phenomenal emotional support beings, I'll tell you.
• 25:15
  SPEAKER_01: It's crazy how dogs are such energy-driven animals, man.
• 25:19
  SPEAKER_00: It's they're so aware.
• 25:21
  SPEAKER_00: It they it's they're very aware.
• 25:24
  SPEAKER_00: You don't see them often break presence.
• 25:26
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you want to talk about presence.
• 25:28
  SPEAKER_00: You said like ever present, and we we can't be ever present.
• 25:31
  SPEAKER_00: Not all the time.
• 25:32
  SPEAKER_00: These awful prefrontal cortex, you know, like uh um I'm joking there, kind of.
• 25:40
  SPEAKER_00: But yeah, animals, dogs, cats are the domesticated ones, and most all other mammals except for poor Homo sapiens, you know, they just they it seems like they're mostly just present.
• 25:53
  SPEAKER_00: They're just they they don't get lost in thought.
• 25:55
  SPEAKER_00: They don't start going down these gnarly thought spirals or anything.
• 25:59
  SPEAKER_00: They're just like they're just sitting there, just they're s sitting there, waiting, waiting, just watching.
• 26:04
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's a it's a good thing when you got 135-pound, you know, new fie that just you know, when you walk in the door, just you know Dad's home.
• 26:13
  SPEAKER_01: You know, he's just all they want is a little love, man.
• 26:16
  SPEAKER_01: You know, some attention and some love.
• 26:18
  SPEAKER_01: And um, you know, it's so it's sometimes it's hard it it's it's it's difficult to be in a bad mood.
• 26:26
  SPEAKER_01: You know, sometimes when you get home and you've got these, you know, this massive animal that's just like, oh dad, what's going on, dude?
• 26:35
  SPEAKER_01: Right?
• 26:36
  SPEAKER_01: You know, and my other dog, Echo, is just a spastic, you know, she's a uh border collie Australian shepherd, and they're just it's just joy.
• 26:47
  SPEAKER_01: Like dad's home.
• 26:48
  SPEAKER_01: Right?
• 26:49
  SPEAKER_01: Pet me, love me, I miss you.
• 26:52
  SPEAKER_01: And you can't, it's not like I can just go around him because the dude takes up the whole entryway.
• 26:57
  SPEAKER_01: So it's not like you can just you know walk it, walk up to the room and you know, because he's gonna follow you regardless.
• 27:02
  SPEAKER_00: But and that really feeds you.
• 27:04
  SPEAKER_00: It's not like you're uh one more thing to do.
• 27:07
  SPEAKER_00: I have to pet the dogs now.
• 27:08
  SPEAKER_00: Get out of the way, kick it.
• 27:10
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, no, it's quite the oppo, man.
• 27:13
  SPEAKER_01: It's you know, I it's a good relief, and just uh, you know, to it's that hey man, I'm home, I'm in my safe space, I'm with my family, and you know, life is good, life is everything's all gonna be okay, man.
• 27:24
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 27:26
  SPEAKER_01: You know, life life's gonna be alright.
• 27:28
  SPEAKER_01: You know, so try not to get too lost out there, man.
• 27:31
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, be more dog.
• 27:35
  SPEAKER_00: They're not worried about possession, no.
• 27:37
  SPEAKER_01: No, no, they're just worried about eating and drinking and sleeping, man.
• 27:40
  SPEAKER_01: It's like somebody told me and get in love.
• 27:43
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 27:44
  SPEAKER_01: I heard somebody, oh, I wish I could sleep like a baby.
• 27:46
  SPEAKER_01: I'm like, bro, I wish I could sleep like a dog.
• 27:48
  SPEAKER_01: My dog sleeps like that dude can sleep 12 hours without even blinking an eye.
• 27:55
  SPEAKER_01: You're like, bro, ain't you got something to do?
• 27:57
  SPEAKER_01: Huh?
• 27:58
  SPEAKER_01: No.
• 27:58
  SPEAKER_01: I'm doing it.
• 27:59
  SPEAKER_01: Yep.
• 28:00
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, so it's a dog's life.
• 28:02
  SPEAKER_00: It is, dude.
• 28:03
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not I don't have any cats, so I'm not a cat person, but I like cats.
• 28:08
  SPEAKER_00: They're they're even cooler than dogs.
• 28:10
  SPEAKER_01: They are, they got some they got some heck of personalities, some of those cats, too.
• 28:13
  SPEAKER_00: I mean by cooler.
• 28:15
  SPEAKER_00: No, no, yeah.
• 28:15
  SPEAKER_01: We've I've got uh I've got about five adopted cats from the neighborhood.
• 28:21
  SPEAKER_01: Nice, yeah.
• 28:21
  SPEAKER_01: They come over from the uh existing properties and I see them on my cameras all night.
• 28:26
  SPEAKER_01: They're which I appreciate.
• 28:28
  SPEAKER_01: They're they're they're touring the properties.
• 28:31
  SPEAKER_01: They're property, man.
• 28:32
  SPEAKER_01: Pretty much.
• 28:32
  SPEAKER_01: Uh yeah.
• 28:33
  SPEAKER_01: They keep the they keep them, you know, the rodents at bay, and you know, there's they're roaming the property all night, and then by morning they're they're off back to wherever they came from.
• 28:43
  SPEAKER_01: So, you know, I guess I do have cats at some level.
• 28:46
  SPEAKER_01: But great.
• 28:47
  SPEAKER_01: Not in the house, though.
• 28:48
  SPEAKER_00: You don't even have to feed them.
• 28:49
  SPEAKER_01: Or clean up after them.
• 28:50
  SPEAKER_01: No, my dogs, on the other hand, they're like itching to play with them.
• 28:56
  SPEAKER_01: It's all good, man.
• 28:58
  SPEAKER_01: Well, brother, it has been an amazing episode again here on Unloaded.
• 29:03
  SPEAKER_01: Uh we've come down to the end.
• 29:05
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that sounds almost oh what I totally understand.
• 29:09
  SPEAKER_00: So similarly, like, oh that wow, I I I like how that conversation went.
• 29:15
  SPEAKER_00: And so the satisfaction we experience, of course, we uh we state that, you know, and we aren't fool of ourselves when we're saying, hey, look at how amazing our podcast is.
• 29:26
  SPEAKER_00: But yeah, that it's it's very subjective for maybe others who like uh, you know, but yeah, for for us, it's uh another good one.
• 29:36
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, it's always a joy for me.
• 29:38
  SPEAKER_01: Uh even in the difficult ones that we've had of late.
• 29:42
  SPEAKER_01: I'm just I'm glad to be here with you, and I'm glad to be here, you know, trying to hopefully put some content out that will, you know, help somebody.
• 29:50
  SPEAKER_01: That's it.
• 29:50
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 29:51
  SPEAKER_01: But as always, man, uh, if you need some help out there, 988 um is at your fingertips.
• 29:56
  SPEAKER_01: You can call or text that number anytime, 24 hours a day.
• 30:00
  SPEAKER_01: Um search the local provider if you need to book an hour.
• 30:03
  SPEAKER_01: Uh I wish everybody a really good weekend coming up if that's uh what you're getting ready to head out to do.
• 30:09
  SPEAKER_01: But as for me, Mike Seahorn and Shannon Morrow.
• 30:12
  SPEAKER_01: We're gonna catch you in the next episode.