Latest / The iAlign Podcast with Flint Mitchell / #33 - Leaving College, Hiking the Pacific Crest Trail, and Embracing Every Day as a New Adventure with Zach Smith

Transcript

#33 - Leaving College, Hiking the Pacific Crest Trail, and Embracing Every Day as a New Adventure with Zach Smith · The iAlign Podcast with Flint Mitchell

0:04
SPEAKER_00: I spent uh the 4th of July in a stone hut on the top of Mir Pass.
0:11
SPEAKER_00: And that was uh that was a pretty insane moment of being absolutely just in the middle of nowhere.
0:19
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, there's not a a single site of civilization for miles.
0:26
SPEAKER_00: Um it's in the middle of this snowfield on the top of a mountain pass.
0:30
SPEAKER_00: There's this tiny little hut that looks like it's been there for a hundred years, and uh that was a pretty cool moment.
0:50
SPEAKER_02: What's up, y'all?
0:51
SPEAKER_02: Welcome to Seeking Authenticity.
0:53
SPEAKER_02: My name is Flint Mitchell, and I get absolutely psyched by having conversations with authentic people that I admire about the things they value.
1:02
SPEAKER_01: Their stories and perspectives don't just make me smile, laugh, and think.
1:06
SPEAKER_01: They inspire me to wake up earlier, listen better, focus, and work harder, and help make me a better version of myself.
1:13
SPEAKER_01: And it's my hope that sharing these conversations through this podcast might do the same thing for you.
1:20
SPEAKER_01: In this episode, I talk with Zach Smith.
1:22
SPEAKER_01: Zach hiked the entirety of the Pacific Crest Trail, a backpacking trail that extends over 2,600 miles from the Mexican border to the Canadian border, trekking through deserts and high mountain ranges.
1:34
SPEAKER_01: He used this trek to raise thousands of dollars to support Youth Assisting Youth, a nonprofit charity aimed at providing mentors to at-risk youth.
1:42
SPEAKER_01: In this conversation, we talk about his experience leaving college to work in construction for a year as he created new intentions, his decision to embark on the Pacific Crest Trail with nearly no prior backpacking experience, and some of the moments of solitude, joy, excitement, and even melancholy that he passed through while hiking it.
2:01
SPEAKER_01: Likewise, we talk about mentorship, creating a mindset of determination and grit, and how the trip changed his perspective to take advantage of each day and the purpose that can be derived from it instead of looking towards finish lines far off in the future.
2:15
SPEAKER_01: I really appreciated listening to Zach, and I think you will too.
2:18
SPEAKER_01: Enjoy.
2:21
SPEAKER_02: Thank you for doing this with me, Zach.
2:23
SPEAKER_02: I really appreciate it.
2:24
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I'm excited to chat with you.
2:27
SPEAKER_02: Definitely.
2:28
SPEAKER_02: I have a lot of family history in the Sierra Nevadas, going back quite a few generations.
2:35
SPEAKER_02: And so I love hearing stories of people who have done the Pacific Crest Trail.
2:39
SPEAKER_02: It's something that I've always been intimidated by and kind of thought about and done small hikes on, specifically in like the John Muir uh trail area in the Angela Adams Wilderness.
2:50
SPEAKER_02: And that was kind of the initial reason why I was so interested in hearing a bit about your story, but then I heard more about how you were actually doing it for a charity.
3:00
SPEAKER_02: And so I'm really excited to hear kind of your inspiration for doing such a you know tedious trek.
3:07
SPEAKER_02: It's not, it's a very large commitment.
3:10
SPEAKER_02: It's not a simple like weekend fundraiser to go go out and do something like that.
3:15
SPEAKER_02: Um so I appreciate you coming on.
3:17
SPEAKER_02: I was wondering if you could tell me a bit about uh what the Pacific Crest Trail is and maybe about the time period when you started to look into it.
3:26
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, for sure.
3:27
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
3:27
SPEAKER_00: Like you mentioned, it's um definitely not a walk in the park.
3:31
SPEAKER_00: Um, yeah, so it's it's a one singular trail that runs from the Mexican border all the way up to Canada through California, Oregon, and Washington.
3:41
SPEAKER_00: And it's 2,653 miles from end to end.
3:47
SPEAKER_00: And uh yeah, so I did over summer of 2019, and it took me um four and a half months to complete.
3:55
SPEAKER_00: Um, so that was pretty much every day waking up and hiking with uh packing my life up into a backpack and um hiking until I couldn't hike anymore, and then setting up camp and doing it all again the next day.
4:08
SPEAKER_00: So wicked.
4:10
SPEAKER_02: What what made you want to do this?
4:13
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I sort of had a conversation um with somebody who I like to call my mentor um around I was probably 19 or 20 years old.
4:24
SPEAKER_00: And um at that time I was a little bit lost in life.
4:27
SPEAKER_00: I was at university, I didn't really know exactly what I was doing with my life, yeah, um, where I what what direction I wanted to head.
4:34
SPEAKER_00: I you know, felt pretty um, didn't have like a guiding light.
4:38
SPEAKER_00: And uh after that conversation, I realized I needed to start doing things with a lot more purpose, a lot, a lot more purpose driven.
4:47
SPEAKER_00: And um so once I finished university, I you know, typically people go travel Southeast Asia, maybe go backpacking through Europe.
4:55
SPEAKER_00: Sure.
4:56
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
4:56
SPEAKER_00: Um, I I had sort of set it in my mind that I wanted to do something that um my grandkids could talk about and say, oh, you know, when my grand when my grandfather was uh 23 years old, he hiked from Mexico to Canada.
5:11
SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, I at my age, both my grandparents had fought in a war, and they had and I looked at my life and I was like, there's nothing really that stands out that's so spectacular.
5:23
SPEAKER_00: Um that so I wanted to start doing things that could build my legacy and um start building my life resume.
5:30
SPEAKER_02: Dude, that's a pretty heavy thought.
5:34
SPEAKER_02: So this mentor clearly played a pretty big role.
5:37
SPEAKER_02: Did he start asking you questions that made you think about like the idea of having a legacy?
5:44
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it was it was more about um you know taking responsibility for your life.
5:49
SPEAKER_00: You know, maybe at that age I definitely hadn't really come to grips with the fact that um my decisions were my own.
5:57
SPEAKER_00: And I, you know, I was the one that was deciding how my life was going to turn out.
6:01
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
6:02
SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, your parents can't uh they can't make success for you all the time.
6:08
SPEAKER_00: Absolutely and uh and you know, you have to become your own person at a certain age.
6:13
SPEAKER_00: So that was my sort of coming of age, all kind of happened um in that one uh 4 a.m.
6:19
SPEAKER_00: campfire uh conversation.
6:21
SPEAKER_02: So that's actually exactly what I wanted to ask about because I was I I wonder, is there a is there a moment or a story where this kind of realize realization kind of came over you?
6:33
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that was my that was my red pill, blue pill moment, um, you know, where you can take the blue pill and and continue on uh not being you know a conscious person of of your decisions and being thoughtful, or you can take the red pill and and uh wake up and be a conscious person the next day and and start doing things with purpose, start being thoughtful about each decision that you make and uh start taking you know concerted action in your in your life.
7:01
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and so how long after this, because to be fair, it's a difficult process of I mean it's a simple process, taking responsibility for your life is is relatively simple.
7:13
SPEAKER_02: It's just also very hard, if that makes sense.
7:15
SPEAKER_02: Like it's a quick decision, but it's not necessarily easy to uh make a list of all the things in life that you're responsible for, that you want to be responsible for, and then actually act in that fashion.
7:27
SPEAKER_02: How long how long after this this campfire, this this red bill, red pill, blue pill uh uh decision uh until you made this commitment to the to do the Pacific Crest Trail?
7:43
SPEAKER_02: Was that like the first big decision?
7:46
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I I would say the first big decision was uh I I dropped out of university the next day.
7:53
SPEAKER_00: No called my parents and told me I was uh told them I wasn't going back and I was gonna take a year off and and figure out some stuff.
8:00
SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, the I like to say you can't boil the ocean in a day, uh, but you can grab a pot.
8:08
SPEAKER_00: And uh so that was my first that was my first action.
8:11
SPEAKER_00: I I took a year off of school and um decided to work a job I had never worked before in construction, which taught me a lot about putting in a hard day's work.
8:22
SPEAKER_00: It taught me valuable skills, um, you know, with actually showing up to work every day and doing something that you didn't don't necessarily love doing and uh put a little bit of grit into uh my my mindset.
8:36
SPEAKER_00: Um and then from there, it was during that year that I decided I wanted to do the PCT, and that was um that was what I was working towards for the next uh two years.
8:48
SPEAKER_00: I was uh it was I was thinking about it, and then after two years, I started seriously planning for it.
8:53
SPEAKER_02: So, all right.
8:55
SPEAKER_02: What did this mentor say to you that the next day you woke up and left uni?
9:03
SPEAKER_00: Um, it was, you know, at the time I was in a I was in a vulnerable place.
9:08
SPEAKER_00: Um I was I was doing school not for myself, I was doing it more for what my parents wanted me to be, for example, um, what society wanted me to be.
9:18
SPEAKER_00: And I hadn't really figured out what my own internal motivations were.
9:22
SPEAKER_00: Um so that conversation kind of kicked all those things into place.
9:26
SPEAKER_00: And I realized um, you know, I have to do a little bit of thinking about what it is that who I am and and what I want to do.
9:34
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
9:34
SPEAKER_00: Um and uh, you know, not wasting time.
9:39
SPEAKER_02: Um yeah, that's was that hard to drop out of college?
9:44
SPEAKER_00: It was uh it was a decision that I didn't I it felt right.
9:49
SPEAKER_00: I didn't have to think about it too much.
9:51
SPEAKER_00: Um and you know, I I went back after after that year um with with no thought given to that.
9:56
SPEAKER_00: Um I knew that I wanted to go back.
9:58
SPEAKER_00: I knew I just knew that I wasn't ready yet.
10:01
SPEAKER_00: And uh which was a hard thing to admit at the time.
10:04
SPEAKER_02: That is uh incredible, dude.
10:06
SPEAKER_02: I mean, I really respect that.
10:07
SPEAKER_02: It's it's hard.
10:09
SPEAKER_02: I mean, it it not only takes a level of awareness of that something isn't necessarily right, but then taking that a step further and actually acting on that is a pretty crazy step that a lot of people aren't willing to take.
10:23
SPEAKER_02: For sure.
10:24
SPEAKER_02: Really respect that.
10:25
SPEAKER_02: That's really cool.
10:25
SPEAKER_02: And it totally makes sense with what you kind of started this off with this off with, which was this idea of looking at life with a bit of a more intentional or purpose-driven um approach.
10:36
SPEAKER_00: Um, yeah, and with the with the intentions um thing, that was that was sort of what the conversation was about.
10:43
SPEAKER_00: Like what are your intentions and being self-aware and being able to recalibrate, take a step back?
10:50
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, absolutely.
10:52
SPEAKER_02: During this year off with uh doing construction, were there any moments where you wish you had not taken that step?
11:03
SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
11:03
SPEAKER_00: I mean, uh when you see uh posts on social media of all your friends having a great time and uh you have to be up for work at 6 a.m.
11:12
SPEAKER_00: the next day because it's a Tuesday.
11:14
SPEAKER_00: And uh at university, it seems like uh, you know, not everybody is is working on uh on a Wednesday morning.
11:23
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
11:24
SPEAKER_00: Um so yeah, I mean it definitely you have regrets, but uh what sticking through it and um you know it kind of leads me to one of the things I like to say is patience is a muscle.
11:37
SPEAKER_00: And this is something that um I learned during that year, and it's something that I really learned during the the PCT is that patience is a muscle and it needs to be exercised in order to be effective.
11:48
SPEAKER_00: Totally.
11:50
SPEAKER_02: It's yeah, and so you spent a year doing construction and then you went back to school, and then when you graduated, you did the Pacific Crest Trail?
11:59
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, exactly.
12:00
SPEAKER_00: And so for my last year at university, I was all I was thinking about was finishing school and and uh and embarking on this journey.
12:10
SPEAKER_00: Um yeah, uh so that was when I decided that I wanted to um do it for a fundraiser and and yeah, pair up with a charity, um, not for sponsorship for the trail specifically, but just do it with a purpose and have something um so it wasn't just me that was going on this journey.
12:29
SPEAKER_00: I was also bringing other um reasons along with it.
12:32
SPEAKER_00: Definitely.
12:33
SPEAKER_02: I would be interested when you went back to college after this year.
12:37
SPEAKER_02: It sounds like you had a much more driven or right intentional mindset.
12:41
SPEAKER_02: What was your purpose with going back to university?
12:46
SPEAKER_00: Um, yeah, I I wanted to construction was great as a job.
12:52
SPEAKER_00: Um, I I actually grew to love it.
12:55
SPEAKER_00: Um, what I was doing, I loved working with my hands, I love building things, and you got to see the progress after each day.
13:00
SPEAKER_00: If you put up a you put up a few walls, you can step back and look at exactly what you built.
13:05
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, um, but I knew that long term I wanted to be doing something um that had a little bit more mental, um, you know, using my mind as opposed to my body.
13:14
SPEAKER_00: Um, bodies fade, but your mind stays a little bit sharper for longer than your body does.
13:20
SPEAKER_00: Um so uh in the sense of longevity of a career, I just knew that I need to, I needed to learn a little bit more um before I could uh launch into a career that was mind mind-drilling.
13:32
SPEAKER_02: Totally.
13:32
SPEAKER_02: Uh and then I guess like I I've my mind has a couple different questions that all lead to a bit of the same place, which is you had this idea of doing the Pacific Crest Trail in your mind for a while, then it sounds like around two years.
13:49
SPEAKER_02: When did you start looking into the details of it?
13:52
SPEAKER_02: And how did that parallel the timeline of you looking into a charity or if there was already a charity in mind?
14:00
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so for about two years I kept it a secret.
14:03
SPEAKER_00: I didn't really tell anyone because I didn't want to commit to anything that I wasn't gonna actually follow through on.
14:08
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
14:08
SPEAKER_00: Um, so about a year out from when I actually did it was when I started seriously looking into it, and that was when I committed.
14:14
SPEAKER_00: I stopped saying um to myself, maybe I'll do it.
14:18
SPEAKER_00: I started saying, I will do it, I'm going to do it.
14:21
SPEAKER_00: Um, and the language around that changed.
14:23
SPEAKER_00: So that was when I started being more public about it, telling my friends and family, um, actually committing to it and looking into every detail.
14:30
SPEAKER_00: So it took me about a year to plan um all the details.
14:35
SPEAKER_00: And that during that year was when I realized, you know, it would be a bit of a waste if I people raise money for for much less.
14:43
SPEAKER_00: People raise thousands of dollars for marathons.
14:45
SPEAKER_00: Sure.
14:46
SPEAKER_00: And uh this was a marathon a day for a whole summer.
14:49
SPEAKER_00: I was gonna say, so I figured it would be a waste if I didn't uh if I didn't put it to good use.
14:54
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
14:55
SPEAKER_02: And so how did you find youth assisting youth?
14:57
SPEAKER_02: Or is it an organization you had already uh been involved with?
15:01
SPEAKER_00: So I knew that mental health was where I wanted to align with um charity-wise.
15:07
SPEAKER_00: Um I looked into charities that were in my neighborhood, in my area, in uh where I grew up in Toronto.
15:13
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and um youth assisting youth was the one that jumped out to me the most because it was a combination of um mental health as well as youth mentorship and peer mentorship.
15:24
SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, as as we mentioned before, like the conversation with my mentors, how I my journey got started towards um becoming the person that I am today.
15:33
SPEAKER_00: So I know the impact that uh you know a good well-placed mentor can have on a on a young on a young kid's life.
15:42
SPEAKER_00: So it was a combination of those.
15:44
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
15:44
SPEAKER_02: Why do you think it is so impactful to have a mentor?
15:48
SPEAKER_00: Um there's a there's a poem called The Bridge Builder that uh speaks to me a lot.
15:55
SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, it's it's about building the next generation.
16:00
SPEAKER_00: And I get a lot out of um mentoring people as well, whether that's career through university, um, you know, connecting with younger, younger folks that uh may need a little bit of guidance.
16:12
SPEAKER_00: And you get a lot out of it as a mentor and as a mentee, um, hearing advice or information from somebody that you can relate to is totally different from hearing it from a teacher or a parent or somebody that you're forced to respect if you genuinely respect the person because you're able to relate to them on a different level.
16:37
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
16:37
SPEAKER_00: Um the information penetrates a lot deeper.
16:41
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
16:41
SPEAKER_00: And that that message becomes a lot more um, it resonates a lot better.
16:46
SPEAKER_02: Absolutely.
16:47
SPEAKER_02: I I 100% agree.
16:48
SPEAKER_02: I think you hit it really well is that there's a key to probably any relationship, but definitely a mentorship, which is respect.
16:57
SPEAKER_02: Um, I think that that is one of the most pivotal uh aspects of any relationship.
17:02
SPEAKER_02: And uh when I reflect on my own, you know, the people that have guided me in life, I the one thing that really stands out is I look at them and can honestly just see how much and say how much I respect these people.
17:20
SPEAKER_02: It's it's really quite mind-blowing, you know, how much I look up to these people, and that's why I associate maybe their words or their guidance with a little more weight, you know.
17:30
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, for sure.
17:31
SPEAKER_02: Absolutely.
17:32
SPEAKER_02: So then you jumped, you just did it.
17:36
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, then I then I took the leap.
17:39
SPEAKER_00: Uh starting.
17:41
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so I spent about um a month beforehand posting on social media, driving awareness to the charity.
17:48
SPEAKER_00: And my original goal was set at$3,500.
17:53
SPEAKER_00: Um, and before I left on the trail, I'd arrived in San Diego, was getting all packed up and ready to go the next day.
17:59
SPEAKER_00: That was when I hit that first benchmark of of$3,500.
18:02
SPEAKER_03: Wicked.
18:03
SPEAKER_00: And that was when I knew that I was I was locked into this.
18:08
SPEAKER_00: Um I I knew that I couldn't, I had no margin for error, I couldn't back out now.
18:14
SPEAKER_00: Um because so many people had already uh signed up to support.
18:18
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
18:18
SPEAKER_00: Um, and then I and then I took the plunge, and the the first few days were absolutely hell.
18:24
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
18:25
SPEAKER_02: I can't I can't even um yeah.
18:28
SPEAKER_00: I mean, I was such a rookie.
18:30
SPEAKER_00: I uh I had the wrong shoes, I had way too much food, I carried way too much water, yeah.
18:37
SPEAKER_00: I had no idea what I was doing.
18:39
SPEAKER_00: And you know, I'd gone in with a little bit of experience in the wilderness.
18:43
SPEAKER_00: Um, I'd done some canoe trips at camp growing up and spent a little bit time, a little bit of time outdoors, but nowhere near the the same level.
18:53
SPEAKER_00: So um yeah, backpacking and hiking is so different from a canoe trip because you're carrying your entire life on your backpack the whole day as opposed to just paddling it around.
19:03
SPEAKER_00: Totally.
19:04
SPEAKER_00: Um, so the first few days, man, the blisters, my knees started swelling up.
19:10
SPEAKER_00: Um it was it was just awful.
19:12
SPEAKER_02: Was so well, I was gonna ask, was there a specific moment where you kind of looked around and realized how much you had how much more you had bit off than you thought?
19:21
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it definitely had been awful, a little bit more than I could chew at the beginning.
19:25
SPEAKER_00: Um, but I knew that um you know, with grit and determination, I would be able to get through it.
19:32
SPEAKER_00: Sure.
19:32
SPEAKER_00: Um, so yeah, there were some tears, there were some calls to mom, there were some uh some sit on a rock and reflect for a while.
19:44
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
19:45
SPEAKER_00: Um, but you know, I I knew that from you know from my construction experience where it was it was difficult at the beginning, and after I put a first few uh, you know, the first few months into it, um, I had become a little bit more advanced.
19:59
SPEAKER_00: And then by the end, I was an expert.
20:01
SPEAKER_00: And I knew that it was gonna be the same kind of journey through this.
20:04
SPEAKER_00: I just had to make it through this um, you know, the trial phase and uh the proving grounds.
20:10
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, exactly.
20:11
SPEAKER_02: I was I was wondering what kind of self-talk it required to get through those kind of moments.
20:15
SPEAKER_02: So it sounds like it was the understanding that the the start was gonna suck, and you had to get through that.
20:23
SPEAKER_00: Not only was it painful, it was painfully hot as well.
20:27
SPEAKER_00: I was in the desert in uh Southern California and um some of the hottest temperatures I've ever experienced.
20:34
SPEAKER_00: It would be hot for a beach sitting there on the beach.
20:38
SPEAKER_00: Um so I'm I'm sweating it out, and I've got fair skin, so avoiding sunburn by putting on layers, yeah, which doesn't help.
20:46
SPEAKER_00: Totally.
20:46
SPEAKER_00: And uh yeah, I mean the the pain was the pain was tough.
20:51
SPEAKER_00: Um and it it I had to consistently keep a couple mantras in my head of pain is only temporary kind of thing.
21:00
SPEAKER_00: Totally.
21:00
SPEAKER_00: Um, trying to figure out a way to uh uh create like an out-of-body experience or something, so I didn't have to physically be walking the trail, I could mentally be up somewhere else.
21:13
SPEAKER_02: For uh for the listener's sake, is there could you put in perspective how many miles the initial uh desert portion is?
21:22
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, um so if my memory serves, I believe it's the first uh 700 miles to Kennedy Meadows.
21:30
SPEAKER_00: Um Kennedy Meadows is when the Sierra Nevada region starts.
21:34
SPEAKER_00: So um it was the first month and a half um of just straight desert.
21:44
SPEAKER_00: Up and down mountains in the desert.
21:46
SPEAKER_02: It's so outrageous.
21:48
SPEAKER_02: It sounds so hard.
21:50
SPEAKER_02: So tough.
21:50
SPEAKER_02: What were the biggest fears?
21:52
SPEAKER_02: I guess after that initial couple days, what were the the biggest difficulties of the desert portion?
21:58
SPEAKER_00: Um so for Me like my body just rejected what I was doing to it.
22:03
SPEAKER_00: Sure.
22:03
SPEAKER_00: Um, for for the first I would say probably month and a half to two months.
22:09
SPEAKER_00: Um, it wasn't till well into the Sierra portion where my body started to um get used to the abuse, yeah.
22:15
SPEAKER_00: Um, and it was frustrating for me because a lot of the people that were around me, um, you know, I I went alone on this on this journey, but there's there's a community out there of people that um are also attempting to do the trail at the same time.
22:30
SPEAKER_00: So you sort of build a bit of a community.
22:32
SPEAKER_00: Some people develop um trail families that they they travel with.
22:36
SPEAKER_00: Um, I had a I had a few people that I would um hang out with uh here and there during the Sierras, I had a group.
22:44
SPEAKER_00: Um, then for the later portion, I did most of the trail with just uh one guy from the Czech Republic.
22:51
SPEAKER_00: Um so seeing all these people uh around me that they were having the best time, they for some reason maybe they had trained more.
23:00
SPEAKER_00: To be honest, I didn't really train much.
23:02
SPEAKER_00: Um they, you know, their bodies didn't react in the same way, and I was just in an unfathomable amount of pain, swollen legs, yeah, blisters everywhere, blisters the size of ping pong balls on the sides of my feet.
23:18
SPEAKER_00: Um and I I was frustrated about that, but internally I knew that because I had it harder, subjectively, of course, because I had it harder, um, you know, I was gonna get more out of it.
23:34
SPEAKER_02: Interesting.
23:36
SPEAKER_02: It's it's uh it's a very common trend that I hear is that in order to grow you need to struggle.
23:44
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, of course.
23:44
SPEAKER_02: And so it's this idea, it's a the I guess the catch 22 with that is that, and I'm sure you uh empathize with this, is that it's easy to make a commitment to something difficult when you're sitting on a couch.
23:59
SPEAKER_03: Absolutely.
24:01
SPEAKER_02: And so um, while I think that there is it's valid, you need to struggle or sacrifice in order to grow, you know, you need to go through difficult times at the same time.
24:13
SPEAKER_02: Being aware of that while it's happening is another level.
24:17
SPEAKER_02: That's a very difficult thing to do.
24:19
SPEAKER_00: Absolutely, yeah.
24:20
SPEAKER_00: Envisioning success from a place of comfort is the easiest thing.
24:24
SPEAKER_00: Um, what you don't think of is the day in and day out grinding that's necessary to get to where you want to be.
24:32
SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, you're picturing and envisioning standing on the podium holding up the medal, uh, whatever, whatever success looks to you.
24:40
SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, you're not picturing what it takes, uh, the the 4 a.m.
24:45
SPEAKER_00: wakeups and uh you know the the grinding it out, um the suffering and the pain and the the mental endurance that it takes to achieve the goal.
24:56
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
24:56
SPEAKER_00: Um yeah, that that lesson definitely hit me square in the face on the trail.
25:01
SPEAKER_02: I think you kind of asked for it, man.
25:03
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
25:05
SPEAKER_02: Um so then your your body started getting used to it then, probably I mean, what I would assume is one of the the best parts of the trail.
25:14
SPEAKER_02: Was there a specific are there any specific memories that stand out as kind of um maybe I feel like the best doesn't really do it justice, but any any moments or stories that kind of stand out in your mind in reflection that really epitomize why the experience was so phenomenal?
25:32
SPEAKER_02: Maybe a mountain summit or a sunrise or a campfire.
25:35
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
25:36
SPEAKER_00: Um, I spent uh the 4th of July in a stone hut on the top of Mir Pass.
25:43
SPEAKER_00: And that was uh that was a pretty insane moment of um you know being absolutely just in the middle of nowhere.
25:52
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, there's not uh a single site of civilization for miles.
25:59
SPEAKER_00: Um it's in the middle of this snowfield on the top of a mountain pass.
26:03
SPEAKER_00: There's this tiny little hut that looks like it's been there for a hundred years, and uh that was a pretty cool moment.
26:10
SPEAKER_00: Um, but during the Sierra is it was bedtime at 6 p.m.
26:15
SPEAKER_00: and wake up at 4 a.m., 3 a.m.
26:19
SPEAKER_00: to get as much distance behind you while the snow is still frozen.
26:23
SPEAKER_00: Sure.
26:23
SPEAKER_00: Um, because as soon as that starts to melt, um, you're having a tough time.
26:27
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
26:27
SPEAKER_02: What is it about this kind of environment where there isn't civilization around you, where it's like where it's wilderness?
26:33
SPEAKER_02: You know, what is it about that environment that is so kind of inspiring?
26:38
SPEAKER_02: Because, you know, as you I I the question was, what are these, what's one moment that from the entire trip that you look back on and really uh, you know, kind of takes you back to a wonderful place about the trip?
26:50
SPEAKER_02: And you're mentioning, you know, maybe one of the first memories that comes to mind is a place that's completely out in the wilderness, which to be fair, the Pacific Castrail does that.
26:59
SPEAKER_02: Um, but what is it about being out in the wilderness that's so dumbfounding or astounding?
27:05
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's awe-inspiring.
27:07
SPEAKER_00: I mean, especially when you have you have the weight of the responsibility of keeping yourself alive.
27:13
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
27:13
SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, no one's out there, no one else is gonna take care of you out there.
27:18
SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, you have to rely on yourself and have a lot of self-confidence that you're gonna be able to take care of yourself through preparation and uh you know, and wherewithal and understanding your surroundings.
27:32
SPEAKER_00: Um so there's that element of it that that's a bit of the thrill.
27:36
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
27:36
SPEAKER_00: But um, you know, you stepping away from the hustle and bustle of you know, city or something like that, um, you know, society, and just plopping yourself into a place that hasn't been touched by humans.
27:52
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's um yeah, it's really awe-inspiring.
27:56
SPEAKER_00: And it just it's serene, it's peaceful, yet also dangerous.
28:02
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
28:02
SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, it's nature at its most raw form.
28:06
SPEAKER_00: Totally.
28:06
SPEAKER_00: Um, there's there's things that can kill you, there's things that can hurt you, um, but there's a lot of beauty as well.
28:15
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
28:16
SPEAKER_02: I think something that comes to my mind when you when you say that is some of my highest moments in life and lowest moments in life have been times when I was alone, you know, past 10 or 15 miles in the wilderness.
28:32
SPEAKER_02: Because maybe I trip or start or you know, roll my ankle, and then I think about it and go, all right, well, if I actually broke that, and that's what you're talking about, this responsibility to actually keep yourself alive.
28:44
SPEAKER_02: It's it's thrilling and it provides, you know, when you get to the summit of a mountain that's really out there, you feel pretty, I don't even know how to really describe it.
28:55
SPEAKER_02: But then the other side of that is when you go through low moments, when you start to cough or feel like you're getting sick, you know, those are for me at least, really, really low moments.
29:06
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, definitely one of my lowest moments was I caught something, some sort of bug or a flu or something.
29:14
SPEAKER_00: Um, and I I had a fever.
29:17
SPEAKER_00: I had the cold chills and hot sweats, and um that lasted for about two days, and I still had to keep going.
29:26
SPEAKER_00: I you know, I I was on a schedule where I had to, I only had enough food to to last a certain number of days.
29:32
SPEAKER_00: I had to get to the next stop.
29:34
SPEAKER_00: Um, so it was raining.
29:35
SPEAKER_00: I would didn't want to leave my tent, but I had to, I had to push through.
29:39
SPEAKER_00: Um, so that was a pretty well moment.
29:41
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
29:42
SPEAKER_00: And um yeah, it's tough to be able to appreciate it as well when you're out there, especially like you know, you're still walking on the same caliber of mountains, but you're feeling like garbage.
29:53
SPEAKER_00: Um, it's tough to still appreciate it like that.
29:55
SPEAKER_02: It's scary.
29:56
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, to be honest.
29:58
SPEAKER_00: Um, but I but I think you know, back to the point of um why it's so awe-inspiring to be you know completely isolated.
30:06
SPEAKER_00: I think isolation is a rare gift that um, you know, maybe over the past year we've we've definitely been isolated a little bit too much, maybe, but uh um isolation on the top of a mountain, for example, or in the wilderness, it's it's interesting because you get to take a look at what you are like when nobody's watching.
30:28
SPEAKER_00: Um, who are you when there's nobody around to see you?
30:32
SPEAKER_00: Um, what are the what are the actions that you take?
30:34
SPEAKER_00: What are the thoughts that you think?
30:36
SPEAKER_02: 100%.
30:37
SPEAKER_02: It's really an interesting subject too nowadays, where with how connected we are through technology, you know, the generations that are growing, including us, uh, maybe starting around us, the generations that are growing up right now have the very real possibility of never experiencing true isolation.
31:00
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, silence and and being alone.
31:03
SPEAKER_00: Uh I you know, I find myself falling into that pattern as well.
31:07
SPEAKER_00: Um, not wanting to be alone.
31:10
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
31:10
SPEAKER_00: You know, if I'm if I'm spending too much time uh just with myself, I'll I'll reach out to someone over text or Snapchat or whatever it is.
31:18
SPEAKER_00: Sure.
31:19
SPEAKER_00: Um yeah, I think uh I think we've developed this dependency on on other people.
31:25
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
31:25
SPEAKER_00: Um not wanting to spend time with just yourself and being okay with spending time with yourself is um I think it's a valuable skill.
31:34
SPEAKER_02: Absolutely.
31:35
SPEAKER_02: No, I and you know, I don't want to dive too deep in this.
31:39
SPEAKER_02: I I I really do love the commentary though, because I think it's something that um maybe we don't get enough of.
31:45
SPEAKER_02: Maybe some people get too much of it.
31:47
SPEAKER_02: Uh there's definitely a balance with solitude because you know, uh having these mentorships and these relationships is also an incredibly important part of life.
31:55
SPEAKER_02: Um, there's definitely a balance to find of you know, really being connected to others and really being with yourself and connected to yourself.
32:04
SPEAKER_02: Um so how long?
32:08
SPEAKER_02: It took you four and a half months then to get to the end.
32:11
SPEAKER_02: What were these last you know 400, 500 miles like?
32:16
SPEAKER_02: What was you where was your mind at then?
32:18
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I was focused solely on the goal of of completion.
32:23
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
32:24
SPEAKER_00: That was during the state of Washington.
32:27
SPEAKER_00: And I was, you know, I talked about it being a rookie at the beginning.
32:31
SPEAKER_00: At this point, I was the season veteran.
32:34
SPEAKER_00: Um, I was uh in peak physical condition.
32:38
SPEAKER_00: I was able to do um around somewhere between 27 and 30 miles a day through Washington's known to be some of the toughest terrain on the trail, um, up and down mountains every day.
32:52
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and the worst part about it for me was I did the state in 18 days and it rained 15 out of the 18 days.
33:02
SPEAKER_00: I saw the sun a total of four times individually.
33:05
SPEAKER_00: Um so no opportunity to uh to dry my gear out, no opportunity to get dry, no uh, no opportunity to get warm.
33:14
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
33:14
SPEAKER_00: So I was in a I was in a pretty serious, intense place during those last few hundred miles.
33:21
SPEAKER_00: Um, I had set a a goal for every day.
33:25
SPEAKER_00: I knew exactly how far I needed to get every day, planned it all out, planned out everything to pretty much the hour.
33:32
SPEAKER_00: And uh I had also been in touch with the charity a couple weeks out from the end of the trail.
33:39
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
33:40
SPEAKER_00: And they told me, oh, we're having the annual general general members meeting for the board members and and the the donors for the charity and um some of the mentors.
33:51
SPEAKER_00: And uh, if you can make it back for September 26th, we'd love for you to give a speech.
33:57
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
33:58
SPEAKER_00: So I said, All right, let's uh see how we can do this.
34:01
SPEAKER_00: So I planned it all out to the day.
34:03
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
34:04
SPEAKER_00: I I was gonna finish on the 24th and fly home the 25th.
34:08
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
34:08
SPEAKER_00: Um, then my my ride from Manning Park in Van in BC to Vancouver, he he was leaving on a business trip on the 24th.
34:17
SPEAKER_00: So I said, All right, we got to make up these last uh 27 miles.
34:20
SPEAKER_00: So I added a couple miles each day.
34:23
SPEAKER_00: Um finished on the 23rd instead.
34:26
SPEAKER_00: I'd be, I mean, first off, that's outrageous.
34:29
SPEAKER_02: It's probably wild to look back at the physical shape you were in.
34:34
SPEAKER_02: I I think there are moments, you know, you look back and you're like, wow, I was actually capable of doing that.
34:38
SPEAKER_02: It's a pretty crazy thing.
34:42
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I definitely wasn't in, I didn't look great.
34:45
SPEAKER_00: I looked malnourished.
34:47
SPEAKER_00: I my body was just eating itself.
34:50
SPEAKER_00: Um, there was no amount of food that I could eat or carry for that matter to actually stay healthy.
34:57
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
34:57
SPEAKER_00: Uh you know, I was burning around 7,000, 6,000, 6,000, 7,000 calories a day, and I could only carry maybe 2,000 per day.
35:04
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
35:05
SPEAKER_00: So I was in complete calorie deficit.
35:08
SPEAKER_00: I was just my body was just disintegrating.
35:12
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
35:13
SPEAKER_02: What I'm so curious about with you saying that is um I'd love if you could reflect back on where your what was going through your mind, because I think it takes a level of almost silence mentally to grind through such an intense couple weeks like that.
35:34
SPEAKER_02: I mean, what was going through your head or was anything going through your head?
35:38
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, there was a there was a lot, and uh sometimes there was also nothing.
35:42
SPEAKER_00: Um, I had become a bit of a machine of just wake up, eat, hike, eat, hike, sleep.
35:49
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that was my day.
35:50
SPEAKER_00: Um, so there was there was definitely a lot of uh nothing going on as well, but there were there was um a lot of thinking about reflecting on everything that I'd been through.
36:01
SPEAKER_00: So I kept a journal throughout the entire trail.
36:03
SPEAKER_00: I wrote in it every night for the whole journey.
36:07
SPEAKER_00: And I sometimes go back and look at it and and realize, you know, what was going on in my head that day.
36:12
SPEAKER_00: Some days, some entries were what I ate, how far I went, nothing.
36:17
SPEAKER_00: Um, very simple.
36:18
SPEAKER_00: And then some days I really got into it and wrote a few pages.
36:21
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
36:21
SPEAKER_00: So it was it, it's really cool to to look back and reflect on that.
36:26
SPEAKER_00: Um, but for the last couple of weeks, I was definitely doing a lot of self-reflecting.
36:29
SPEAKER_00: I had to come up with what I was going to say in this speech and and think about you know what I had learned, what what it was all for.
36:38
SPEAKER_02: I I love this all because it it reads like a story arc, right?
36:44
SPEAKER_02: There is uh, you know, you start this hike with this this problem, this hook of all the pain of of going through the desert, and then there are the ups and downs through the middle two thousand miles or 1800 miles or whatever, and then it comes to this more reflective um conclusion, right?
37:08
SPEAKER_02: And in in this context, it's a couple weeks of of reflection and conclusion and isolation.
37:13
SPEAKER_02: It's it's a pretty incredible experience that you know I'm I'm incredibly jealous of, and I respect you a great deal for for going through that.
37:22
SPEAKER_02: Were there any specific commentaries over the course of this story, this um, this adventure that you saw through these journal articles or maybe through your mind that really maybe made a full circle?
37:34
SPEAKER_02: Like at the beginning, you actually had a question, and at the end you kind of had an answer to it.
37:41
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
37:42
SPEAKER_00: Um at the beginning, the the question was never um, you know, I I can't do this, or I'm going to stop doing this.
37:52
SPEAKER_00: It was always how am I going to do this?
37:55
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
37:55
SPEAKER_00: And by the end, I had figured it out that the only way through is through determination.
38:02
SPEAKER_00: Um, on the on the trail, I had read a book um that told the story of Ernest Shackleton's uh life story.
38:09
SPEAKER_00: And Shackleton's family motto is Fortunidin Vincimus, which is through endurance we conquer.
38:17
SPEAKER_00: And that really resonated with me during that time for sure.
38:21
SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, it was just just about enduring.
38:23
SPEAKER_00: Um, it wasn't about being the fastest, it wasn't about um you know being the best, it was about sticking it out.
38:33
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and that made a lot of sense to me.
38:35
SPEAKER_02: Absolutely.
38:37
SPEAKER_02: I love that.
38:38
SPEAKER_02: And then you know, you saw the validity in that through your own effort, right?
38:46
SPEAKER_02: Through endurance, you conquered right this trail.
38:49
SPEAKER_02: It's a pretty fantastic thing.
38:51
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, for sure.
38:53
SPEAKER_02: No, I love that.
38:54
SPEAKER_02: What was then the last day like?
38:58
SPEAKER_02: I mean, you went through this probably pretty intense self-reflection period, maybe it was a month or a couple weeks.
39:05
SPEAKER_02: How did it end?
39:07
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so to to tell the story of the last day, um, it sort of ties back to the the fourth lesson that I that I learned on the trail, which was um there is no finish line.
39:19
SPEAKER_00: So woke up the morning of the last day.
39:22
SPEAKER_00: I knew that I was um I was about eight miles out from the from the border, and then there was another eight miles that I had to do on the other side into Canada.
39:33
SPEAKER_00: Um, so I was amped.
39:35
SPEAKER_00: I was so ready to be done with it.
39:37
SPEAKER_00: I was soaking wet, freezing cold, so done with it.
39:41
SPEAKER_00: Just I my peanut butter jar was almost empty.
39:44
SPEAKER_00: Um, like I I knew.
39:46
SPEAKER_00: Um, so climbed up to the last ridge before the there was a couple miles of descent um down to the border.
39:55
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
39:56
SPEAKER_00: And I I picked up my pace.
39:58
SPEAKER_00: I was so excited, I was running down pretty much.
40:02
SPEAKER_00: And uh as I approached the finish line, I was expecting that I was gonna be, I don't know if I was gonna be in tears or just overjoyed or whatever it was.
40:14
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I got to the border and I didn't feel nearly as much as I was expecting to feel.
40:21
SPEAKER_00: And that was really shocking.
40:24
SPEAKER_00: And when I reflected on that, it realized I realized that you know, there really is no finish line.
40:28
SPEAKER_00: As soon as I got to the border, I was like, all right, what's next?
40:31
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, um, you know, what's gonna be the next challenge?
40:34
SPEAKER_00: What's gonna be the next journey?
40:36
SPEAKER_00: Um, the the finish line is sort of illusory.
40:40
SPEAKER_00: It's this goal that you've placed in your mind that you're working towards.
40:44
SPEAKER_00: And once you achieve it, what you're you're left with what?
40:48
SPEAKER_00: Um so you still need a new purpose to to work towards.
40:52
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
40:52
SPEAKER_00: Um, so that that moment of the actual completion, I knew that it was a big moment for me, but it didn't, it really didn't feel like it.
41:02
SPEAKER_02: Absolutely.
41:03
SPEAKER_02: I I wonder if that's shifted your perspective at all.
41:06
SPEAKER_02: First off, that's a pretty awesome that you were running to the finish line.
41:13
SPEAKER_02: I wonder if that shifted your perspective at all on how you set goals.
41:18
SPEAKER_02: Like what are the types of goals that you set now?
41:24
SPEAKER_02: Are they still uh or are they more tangible or are they more, you know, on maybe these these topics you've talked about, which are responsibility or or intention, creating legacy?
41:36
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
41:37
SPEAKER_00: Knowing now that the journey is more important than the destination.
41:42
SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, it's so cliche to say, but honestly, that was the one of the biggest takeaways for me.
41:48
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, was that um, you know, at the end, it wasn't that I had completed this journey that was more important to me than you know, going through what I went through to get there.
41:58
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so now setting goals.
42:00
SPEAKER_00: Recently I I ran a uh I'll call it a mini ultra marathon.
42:04
SPEAKER_00: It was a 50K um run.
42:08
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, there was no race or anything.
42:10
SPEAKER_00: I just knew that I wanted to do something that was a bit of you know a challenge.
42:13
SPEAKER_00: I hadn't had a challenge in a while.
42:15
SPEAKER_00: And I'm not much of a runner.
42:16
SPEAKER_00: So about a month before I decided I was gonna run a 50K, um, just 25 kilometers away from my apartment, turnaround, come back.
42:25
SPEAKER_00: So I knew I didn't want to do a marathon because anyone can do a marathon.
42:29
SPEAKER_00: So um set this goal and I knew that if I worked towards this goal and I and I completed it, I would not only have put that on like put checked off the 50k on my on my list of things that I've completed, but I would have also gotten in better shape over the course of the month of training.
42:48
SPEAKER_00: So I made it my mission to start training.
42:52
SPEAKER_00: I started running pretty much every day, um, putting in some some serious distance.
42:56
SPEAKER_00: And I had never been a runner, I had never never really run.
43:00
SPEAKER_00: The longest distance I had run before was like a mile and a half.
43:03
SPEAKER_00: So starting to do a little bit more training runs and working on that, I developed the skill of running.
43:09
SPEAKER_00: Um, so it wasn't about the 50k necessarily, it was also about building that skill through that journey.
43:14
SPEAKER_02: I think that's a fantastic perspective.
43:17
SPEAKER_02: It's kind of this idea that it's the goal, and it's exactly what you're talking about with your Pacific Trail, uh Pacific Crest Trail hike, which is it ended up being a lot more about the lessons you learned than and I I I actually don't even want to say this than the accomplishment of actually finishing because that's an incredible accomplishment.
43:39
SPEAKER_02: But it seems like it was really about these philosophies that you took out of it that have been the most impactful, and not necessarily the fact that you can tell someone that you you hiked the Pacific Crest Trail, you know.
43:51
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
43:52
SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, I the fact that I can tell somebody that I hiked it, um it's great external, but uh it's internally, like the what I've brought forward towards how I view life and how I operate moving forward.
44:08
SPEAKER_00: That's been the you know the the better outcome than just the completion of the of the goal.
44:13
SPEAKER_02: Yeah I would wonder if you have for people that aren't gonna go hike the Pacific Crest Trail I wonder if you have a any thoughts on things they can do where they might learn similar lessons.
44:37
SPEAKER_00: I mean I I'm a big proponent for for physical challenges.
44:43
SPEAKER_00: I think the advice isn't necessarily what what challenge um someone should do.
44:50
SPEAKER_00: I think that there's like it's the thought process around it and understanding that if you're gonna do anything big you're gonna be unqualified doing it.
44:58
SPEAKER_00: So keeping that in mind knowing that you're gonna be a rookie when you start it um but getting through that rookie phase and becoming the season vet that's that's the magic.
45:11
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
45:12
SPEAKER_02: And it's taking responsibility for you know all of the because being a rookie in anything can entail quite a few different dilemmas right there's the intimidation a factor of you know maybe just the people around you the intimidation the environment the lack of skills right there's a there's a lot of issues that are associated with starting something new.
45:34
SPEAKER_02: And so taking responsibility for the way that you're going to react to those kind of problems is is uh is tough but it's it's inspiring, you know it's true.
45:44
SPEAKER_00: Yeah what I would say on the intimidation thing this is something that I that I sort of realized not from uh from the trail but just from from work in in general I I don't think you're ever going to be criticized by someone who's working harder than you.
46:00
SPEAKER_00: And the intimidation thing you know I feel it too when I haven't been in the gym for a while for example it's tough to get back into the gym because you feel like you're gonna be um you know looked down upon by people that have been consistently going to the gym for a while for example yeah and I I strongly believe that somebody working harder than you is probably not going to be criticizing you.
46:22
SPEAKER_02: Yeah they've all started somewhere and I think that somebody that's working harder than you for example um they probably got too much going on to be uh to be thinking about criticizing you absolutely and those are probably the people that coming full circle those are probably the people that you should probably be trying to associate with or learn from you know exactly that actually would lead to an interesting question which is how do you find good mentors?
46:50
SPEAKER_00: Like what is a pri where would you search for uh a role model in life or do you feel like you're just given them that's a that's a tough that's definitely a tough question.
47:01
SPEAKER_00: Um I've been fortunate to uh you know come into situations where I've been um I've met somebody and the relationship has just worked yeah where I've been able to learn from them and and get mentorship from them um whether in in a structured form through work for example or in a non-structured form just through a friendship.
47:28
SPEAKER_00: I think that putting yourself out there and aligning with finding things that you align with yeah whether that's a charity for example or it's an activity you want to start running for example finding somebody who has gone through the hoops of starting their running journey and maybe they're a little bit ahead of you reaching out to them and and trying to get some mentorship that way.
47:52
SPEAKER_00: Staying staying uh humble, hungry and self-aware.
47:56
SPEAKER_00: I think that's what that's what attracts mentorship towards you.
48:00
SPEAKER_02: Yeah I think it's and I think this is kind of an overarching theme of this discussion and maybe it's two first off is this you know a lot of that description is the idea of not just necessarily being aware of the things you want but being willing to express them you know being being open to say you know like you thought about the Pacific Crestrail for two years there was a moment at which you had to be vulnerable and express the fact that you wanted to do it and that you were going to do it.
48:34
SPEAKER_02: And then there's this that that would be the first part of it which is this like self-expression of something you really truly believe you should do or you want to do and then the second aspect of it really is this taking responsibility for doing it.
48:46
SPEAKER_02: Right?
48:46
SPEAKER_02: Because that is kind of what you said at the end of that description of the mentors who want to help you are first off they're probably you know if you respect them that much they probably are very talented in whatever they do or or respectful or in their respected in their field they're going to want to associate and help people who are driven already that that that are going to take their advice and and use it and that they're not gonna have to push to go keep doing things.
49:18
SPEAKER_02: Right.
49:19
SPEAKER_02: So it's this idea of self-express like real self-expression and then action on those I and I think that's probably a huge back aspect of any field of life which is if you don't take action on your you know your desires or your wants in life you'll never you'll never get anywhere.
49:40
SPEAKER_02: I w I wonder if you have any thoughts on why is it so important to you to be a responsible person.
49:59
SPEAKER_00: Yeah um my outlook on life I think it's pretty common that a lot of people say everything happens for a reason and I don't I don't align with that.
50:10
SPEAKER_00: I think that to say that everything happens for a reason sort of removes your free will.
50:18
SPEAKER_00: So not only does it in the negative sense sort of remove some responsibility if you had made a mistake, but it also means that your gains and your accomplishments are not attributed to decisions that you made.
50:33
SPEAKER_00: So I want to own my failures but I also want to take credit for my successes.
50:37
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
50:38
SPEAKER_00: So that's what being a responsible person means to me I want to be able to take responsibility and own that both my failures and my successes.
50:46
SPEAKER_00: Absolutely I'd be able to put my name on it.
50:49
SPEAKER_02: Yeah there's there's a uh I had another um another uh guest on this podcast that said something along the lines of your name is your brand right and so it's like your brand in life all the things that you do is kind of summed up by your brand and at the very top of that is your name and so when everyone looks at you know your name they see what you've done and it's either going to be a big bucket of things that you're proud of or it's not I guess it could be somewhere in the middle.
51:19
SPEAKER_02: But um no I I appreciate that I I've really enjoyed you know hearing your story I I will ask for the uh link to the um youth assisting youth to put in the podcast description and maybe any other links that you are interested in sharing.
51:34
SPEAKER_02: I I really appreciate you coming on and telling your story of kind of struggling a little bit at the you know in college and dropping out of college and trying to find yourself and then making this huge commitment to do the Pacific crest trail and and it seems like the lessons you've learned from it have really driven you to success in your your current day or on a path towards success.
51:54
SPEAKER_02: So I think that's really cool and it's it's inspiring it's it's um it's action live if anyone needs to see that uh these kind of lessons are important can look at your success already and I'm I'm uh excited to see where it goes.
52:10
SPEAKER_02: The last question I have is looking back over this conversation, is there any one lesson that you would want listeners to take out of it?
52:19
SPEAKER_00: Yeah I I mean it's and it's another cliche quote it's uh is today going to be day one or is it is the dream still gonna be one day and um you know making that commitment to do something big change your life and start learning these lessons for yourself that that would that would be uh one of the biggest biggest things that I'd want to leave with the audience.
52:45
SPEAKER_01: Love it thanks man great well thanks so much for uh for chatting with with me absolutely been a pleasure thank you for coming on I want to thank Zach for that conversation I had a lot of fun chatting with him and look forward to doing it again in the future.
53:05
SPEAKER_01: If you enjoyed this episode I think you would also be interested in episode 18 which I mentioned briefly at the end of this conversation with Brandon Maddox.
53:13
SPEAKER_01: Brandon talks about looking at your name meaning all of your actions and intentions as your brand.
53:19
SPEAKER_01: Also episode 27 with my friend Phil White who, like Zack, left college to work and redirect himself.
53:26
SPEAKER_01: This conversation had a lot of great stories from his trek, ones of excitement and solitude and determination.
53:32
SPEAKER_01: Yet Zack's perspective on appreciating and chasing after today is what sticks in my mind.
53:38
SPEAKER_01: I think we all find ourselves in moments where the days start to blur together as we chase some goal in the distance.
53:44
SPEAKER_01: And yet the only time we live in is right here and now not in the future.
53:49
SPEAKER_01: It makes me wonder how I can take a moment maybe just by breathing maybe by thinking about the wonderful experiences regardless of how small they are be they a hug or a smile or a swim that I can experience right now to remind myself the importance of enjoying the adventure along the way instead of just focusing on the result.
54:08
SPEAKER_01: And maybe it makes you wonder the same thing.
54:10
SPEAKER_02: Thanks for listening if you liked this episode of Seeking Authenticity that's freaking awesome.
54:18
SPEAKER_02: All I want to ask of you the listener in return for the time and effort I put into making it is that you take a deep breath.
54:26
SPEAKER_02: I mean really breathe.
54:28
SPEAKER_02: Breathe so that it stretches out your shoulders and your back and your chest and pushes out your stomach no more of these shallow bullshit breaths they're barely keeping you alive my friend and after you exhale go out and soak up today.
54:42
SPEAKER_02: Because in the end your actions and the way they interact with the world and the people around you right now are all you have in this life.
54:50
SPEAKER_02: So be authentic with them.
54:52
SPEAKER_02: Peace