Latest / The iAlign Podcast with Flint Mitchell / #32 - Surviving Everest and the Seven Summits, Setting Expectations, and Creating a Positive Self-Image with Adventurer and Author John Beede

Transcript

#32 - Surviving Everest and the Seven Summits, Setting Expectations, and Creating a Positive Self-Image with Adventurer and Author John Beede · The iAlign Podcast with Flint Mitchell

0:05
SPEAKER_02: It prevents future traumas from becoming post-traumatic stress disorder.
0:11
SPEAKER_02: If you get the right mental messages now, that you are enough, that you can create change in the world, that you have what it takes to affect uh yourself and get yourself in a good mindset and help others.
0:23
SPEAKER_02: If you can get that mental mindset now, then whatever comes your way later won't become devastating in your life, like it did for me.
0:45
SPEAKER_01: What's up, y'all?
0:47
SPEAKER_01: Welcome to Seeking Authenticity.
0:49
SPEAKER_01: My name is Flint Mitchell, and I get absolutely psyched by having conversations with authentic people that I admire about the things they value.
0:57
SPEAKER_01: Their stories and perspectives don't just make me smile, laugh, and think.
1:02
SPEAKER_01: They inspire me to wake up earlier, listen better, focus, and work harder, and help make me a better version of myself.
1:08
SPEAKER_01: And it's my hope that sharing these conversations through this podcast might do the same thing for you.
1:15
SPEAKER_01: In this episode, I talk with John Beattie.
1:18
SPEAKER_01: John has completed the seven summits, meaning he has climbed the tallest summit on all seven continents, including Mount Everest and Mount Vincent in Antarctica.
1:28
SPEAKER_01: He is also a motivational speaker and author with his new book, The Warrior Challenge, Eight Quests for Boys to Grow Up with Kindness, Courage, and Grit, aimed at using his adventures and experiences to explain some of the values and insight he has learned over the years, in order to create a positive impact on the youth.
1:45
SPEAKER_01: In this conversation, John and I talk about how we got into climbing.
1:49
SPEAKER_01: He shares some experiences from his travels climbing on several continents, feeling the primal forces of nature and his mortality, and the realization that being on the summit of Everest was almost entirely different than any expectation he had for it.
2:03
SPEAKER_01: Likewise, we talk about how you might shift your outlook on being responsible, about creating positive self-talk and personal honesty, mental and even sexual health, and taking ownership for our perspectives.
2:15
SPEAKER_01: This really is a wonderful conversation that I thoroughly appreciated having and listening back to.
2:20
SPEAKER_01: Enjoy.
2:25
SPEAKER_01: Thank you for doing this with me, John.
2:26
SPEAKER_01: I really appreciate it.
2:28
SPEAKER_02: Excited to be here, Flint.
2:30
SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
2:30
SPEAKER_01: No, I I've been looking into a bit of the work that you've been doing, and there are quite a few things that uh stood out to me.
2:37
SPEAKER_01: First off, I admire this life of adventure that it seems like you've created.
2:43
SPEAKER_01: It's really fantastic.
2:44
SPEAKER_01: It's almost Indiana Jones-esque, you know.
2:46
SPEAKER_02: Well, thank you.
2:47
SPEAKER_02: That's uh quite the compliment there.
2:48
SPEAKER_02: I'll get my my leather vest on real quick.
2:51
SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
2:53
SPEAKER_01: Likewise, you have this in in a lot of your speeches and podcasts or interviews, you have a very confident mindset that I attribute to this courage to say the things that you really believe should be said right now, uh, and kind of and do the things that you believe you want to do in life.
3:13
SPEAKER_01: And I really respect that.
3:15
SPEAKER_01: And lastly, you have a clear desire, passion to make a positive impact.
3:20
SPEAKER_01: I've been scanning this book that you have just put out, The Warrior Challenge, which we'll get into later.
3:27
SPEAKER_01: And you broach a lot of topics that I think young men uh who the audience is intended for, it seems like, that they really should be thinking about.
3:36
SPEAKER_01: Personal responsibility and accountability, uh, confidence, picking your battles.
3:41
SPEAKER_01: You know, there's a lot of really good stuff in this that I think that you purvey in a entertaining way, which is important for those kind of crowds.
3:50
SPEAKER_01: So I'm stoked to have you on.
3:52
SPEAKER_01: And with all that said, I was wondering the thing I had the most curiosity about at first was how you kind of created this adventurous life.
4:01
SPEAKER_01: I mean, when you grew up, did you have dreams of climbing mountains and and surfing waves, or or was it something that kind of came over you, you know, over the course of your childhood?
4:13
SPEAKER_01: Was there a time period maybe where that happened?
4:16
SPEAKER_02: That's a great question.
4:17
SPEAKER_02: And I think that it came from um being a combination of fed up with my my city that I was raised in.
4:26
SPEAKER_02: I was raised in Nevada, right?
4:27
SPEAKER_02: And I'm um just not a I'm not a city guy, and I just knew that all along.
4:31
SPEAKER_02: So I had this like, I don't want to be out partying and like on the strip.
4:35
SPEAKER_02: That's not my that's not my jam.
4:36
SPEAKER_02: But then also when I'd go, so that was the negative side, but then couple that with the positive side of when I would go to the uh the northwest, like I was in a summer camp as a teenager to get to the time frame question.
4:48
SPEAKER_02: Um, and and they took me rock climbing, they took me in the mountains.
4:51
SPEAKER_02: And then as I got older, my buddies would say, Hey, let's go try this massive mountain, like the Grand Teton, or let's go climb Mount Rainier or Mount Hood.
4:59
SPEAKER_02: And I found myself like almost on the precipice of facing my my own mortality.
5:09
SPEAKER_02: Like, here are some huge cliffs, here are some storms that can kill.
5:13
SPEAKER_02: And I for some reason, when you're pushed up against that, it brings you to life.
5:17
SPEAKER_02: Same with surfing a giant wave.
5:19
SPEAKER_02: Like this thing has so much power behind me, right?
5:23
SPEAKER_02: And when you feel that um that energy, it somehow brings out the best in you and it it makes you feel like you're coming alive.
5:32
SPEAKER_02: And so that's that's the duality or the polarity.
5:35
SPEAKER_02: Is on one side I said, I don't want this other, this one life, but I really love this other style, and it kept snowballing.
5:42
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, absolutely.
5:43
SPEAKER_01: I think that's a good way to put it.
5:44
SPEAKER_01: You're facing your own facing your own mortality.
5:48
SPEAKER_01: It's a tough thing to explain this not only the fear, but the vulnerability of being out pretty far in nature.
5:57
SPEAKER_01: Uh, there's a very primal sensation.
6:00
SPEAKER_01: That fear becomes a little more, I don't know, just gnarly, you know.
6:06
SPEAKER_02: I completely know.
6:07
SPEAKER_02: I mean like yeah, you get dropped off in the middle of Antarctica and the plane flies away, and you're a thousand miles from any civilization, you're like, well, that's pretty primal, right there.
6:17
SPEAKER_02: That's um yeah, I think I think that for this this is a generalization, of course.
6:27
SPEAKER_02: And all of us have a masculine energy and a feminine energy, but for those of us that more identify with this masculine energy, it somehow makes us more ourselves when we're put into this.
6:39
SPEAKER_02: You've got to, it's you or nothing.
6:43
SPEAKER_02: Like you've got to figure this out right now, and you are your only rescue.
6:46
SPEAKER_02: That somehow makes that somehow brings the best out of us.
6:49
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, or the worst, to be fair.
6:52
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, that's a great point.
6:53
SPEAKER_02: Like, or the worst.
6:54
SPEAKER_02: I always say that like mountains will make you more of whatever you bring to them.
6:58
SPEAKER_02: So if you come to the mountains as an asshole, you're gonna leave a bigger asshole.
7:02
SPEAKER_02: Like if you come to the mountains as like a like a guy looking for um connection or a girl who's looking for like like the joys of nature or any of these things, then you're gonna get more of that.
7:14
SPEAKER_01: That's a really good way to put it.
7:15
SPEAKER_01: Uh you get what you become more of what you bring in the mountains.
7:19
SPEAKER_01: I really love that.
7:20
SPEAKER_01: Were there any experiences then in this kind of a high school, uh young adult era where you saw the potential, like you saw these greater mountains, the Everest and the Kilmanjaros, where you're like, I could do that, you know?
7:39
SPEAKER_02: Um, no.
7:40
SPEAKER_02: No, no.
7:43
SPEAKER_02: Uh I sucked at climbing.
7:44
SPEAKER_02: I started as like the worst climber in the group.
7:47
SPEAKER_02: And then when I got invited to go to Akincagua when I was like 20, I think it was 26 or 25, or when my my team went down there, we got hammered.
7:56
SPEAKER_02: We got thrown off the mountain, we didn't summit it.
7:58
SPEAKER_02: And it was through these kind of karmic like bitch slaps that we were like, well, it's time to step up our game.
8:05
SPEAKER_02: And it was that like, dang it, I'm going back after it.
8:09
SPEAKER_02: You know, if you get tumbled by a wave and every you see everybody else get on that wave and you're like, how come they can do it and I can't?
8:15
SPEAKER_02: Like, what's going on there?
8:16
SPEAKER_02: And I got so driven by that, by that constantly getting slapped down by these mountains and exhausted, and that I was like, I'm gonna figure this out.
8:24
SPEAKER_02: Uh, that's that's more where it came from.
8:26
SPEAKER_02: So there wasn't a single moment in high school that that made me think I have natural potential for this.
8:33
SPEAKER_02: Um, what I will jump in and say though is that I had a really close friend who passed away when I was uh I was 15 and he was 16.
8:41
SPEAKER_02: And that goes back to why I choose to try and leave the biggest positive impact that I can and to bring a real sense of authenticity to every moment.
8:51
SPEAKER_02: Um it was shown to me really early how temporary life is, how fragile it is, how you don't know what you'll get in your next conversation.
9:02
SPEAKER_02: So, or if that conversation will ever come.
9:05
SPEAKER_02: So if I don't come to you right now, Flint, and like say, I'm gonna bring my best energy and be as fully here with you in this conversation as possible and try and improve your life in whatever way I can, it could really it could lead to a regret later for not having brought that intentionality.
9:23
SPEAKER_02: Like this is the only time we have right now.
9:25
SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
9:26
SPEAKER_01: I would wonder how do you use that mindset?
9:28
SPEAKER_01: This I think it's a it's a really interesting question that people take in different ways, which is this idea of kind of using your mortality as a guidepost.
9:37
SPEAKER_01: How do you use that as far as choosing the next uh adventure or the next path that you are going to take?
9:46
SPEAKER_02: Gosh, what a beautiful question and what a complex like thing to dive into.
9:52
SPEAKER_02: My my first thought is like for next adventure, adventures don't have to be massive Mount Everest level or Kilmanjaro style expeditions to other continents.
10:01
SPEAKER_02: Your adventure can be waking up in the morning and um deciding to get out of bed and put your two feet on the floor in the morning if you're in a state of like a lot of us are, just being locked up and like, how am I gonna make my home my adventure today?
10:13
SPEAKER_02: Um so knowing that time is limited and having that in the like upfront in your awareness makes me in the morning say, I'm gonna get up and like get at this day, even if it doesn't have all the elements of freedom that I wish it could right now.
10:29
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so that's like microcosm scale.
10:31
SPEAKER_02: When it comes to to bigger, I'm not the kind of guy that's like, I'm gonna find the deadliest possible, like I'm gonna, I'm not like I'm gonna base jump off of the top of a 3,000-foot cliff with skis and then parachute into some like great white shark-infested water at the bottom.
10:49
SPEAKER_02: That's not as much as I would love to say that to me, like that's not that's not my jam.
10:54
SPEAKER_02: I'm more like, how do I create scenarios where I how do I put myself in scenarios where I can root and feel grounded no matter what's going on in my surroundings?
11:11
SPEAKER_02: And I think that's what's drawn me to mountains because when you've got negative 40 degrees and massive like 35 mile an hour winds blowing, and you're trying to keep yourself warm and hydrated and fed and set up your tent, yeah, that's like an exercise in how calm and here and in the moment can I be despite what all the chaos is going on around me.
11:34
SPEAKER_02: Absolutely.
11:34
SPEAKER_02: Um so I think that like when it comes to my mortality and how that leads me to adventures, it's more like a yogic practice of trying to figure that that out so that I can bring it to my everyday life.
11:51
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
11:52
SPEAKER_02: Like this year, it's been needed more than ever to say, all right, how do I just ground myself, pretend like all the shitstorm of the world going on is actually just this mountaineering exercise of being here in the moment and staying grounded despite all the chaos around.
12:07
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
12:08
SPEAKER_01: So yeah, and I love the way that you take that is uh using mortality or using your mortality, or just really the idea of the time that you have right now in order to make yourself present.
12:18
SPEAKER_01: It's all about bringing yourself kind of this one moment and seeing what is what is possible if I bring forth like if I bring forth the energy that I want to, what's how what's possible in this moment?
12:32
SPEAKER_00: Right.
12:33
SPEAKER_01: I wonder if you have any stories where it was incredibly difficult to ground yourself uh because of the storms or because of the chaos uh outside of your tent.
12:45
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
12:47
SPEAKER_02: Um I'm thinking about this climb on Mont Blanc, and we got a radio call that a different party who I didn't know about had just passed away while climbing towards the summit.
12:58
SPEAKER_02: A storm came in that night, and we um tried to set up our tent and it got completely flattened.
13:05
SPEAKER_02: Like the poles broke because the wind was blowing so hard.
13:09
SPEAKER_02: And so we're lying in this uh like in the tent still, but the but it's got no structure.
13:15
SPEAKER_02: So it's just flapping on top of us, right?
13:17
SPEAKER_02: Like, like it's another layer of a really horrible sleeping bag, basically.
13:22
SPEAKER_02: Um, and we had just heard about this thing going on above us.
13:25
SPEAKER_02: There's absolutely nobody around.
13:26
SPEAKER_02: We had been slowed down that day, so nobody even knows where we are.
13:30
SPEAKER_02: Um, and in that moment was this like craving desire to get that summit.
13:39
SPEAKER_02: This was still a time in my life when I was like, I'm gonna go conquer, I'm gonna get to this summit and prove to the world what a what a stud I am.
13:48
SPEAKER_02: And I checked in with like that was a growth point for me because it was uh really clear there's mortality at the top of the mountain.
13:58
SPEAKER_02: We just heard about these people who passed away.
14:00
SPEAKER_02: And it was like the right choice is actually to descend, and that's the truth, that's the mountaineering like a bit of wisdom.
14:07
SPEAKER_02: And so I think what I'm trying to get at is that sometimes turning back on the things that you really want is being um like more aware and more present of actually acknowledging what's going on.
14:22
SPEAKER_02: And if like somebody listening isn't a climber, maybe that means turning your back on a relationship that just isn't going the way that you think that it would or that it could.
14:30
SPEAKER_02: Maybe it means like not going after this thing that you're kind of interested in.
14:35
SPEAKER_02: Like if you want to play guitar, but it's not really like going the way you want it to go, maybe it means focusing your direction somewhere else or leaving a city that isn't working for you any longer.
14:46
SPEAKER_02: And and this exercise of letting go of these other things that pull your attention away actually puts you more in the moment.
14:54
SPEAKER_01: Was that then a difficult conversation to have with your climbing partners, or is everyone kind of on the same page?
15:01
SPEAKER_02: So I was with one other guy, and his name was Frank, and he's from Germany, and he's got this massive white Santa Claus beard.
15:08
SPEAKER_02: He's like 30 years older than me.
15:10
SPEAKER_02: And I was like, when I met Frank, I was like, that's the guy I want to teach me everything he knows.
15:14
SPEAKER_02: He's like the mentor, you know, he's like, yeah, very few words, but he had this red turban he would wear.
15:20
SPEAKER_02: I don't know why, like just to keep this, he didn't have a hat, I guess, because he's he's from Germany, so he doesn't need to wear a turban, but he would.
15:26
SPEAKER_02: Um it was and he was the one that's that took me that route, talked me through all the technical expertise, and then when it came to the wisdom expertise, when he said, Let's go down, I was fighting against it.
15:43
SPEAKER_02: I was like, No, Frank, we don't need to do that.
15:45
SPEAKER_02: And he's like, It's it is the right decision.
15:47
SPEAKER_02: I was like, Frank, come on, we can go like that happened yesterday.
15:50
SPEAKER_02: Those guys, he's like, We're going down.
15:52
SPEAKER_02: And it was more, it wasn't me convincing anybody, it was me being convinced.
15:58
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
15:58
SPEAKER_01: So you were actually the one fighting, trying to trying to go chase this other party, you know.
16:03
SPEAKER_01: That's yeah, that's crazy.
16:06
SPEAKER_01: It makes sense though, right?
16:07
SPEAKER_01: It's it's that uh I think it's a it's a very big uh it takes a lot of maturity in order to it's it's almost the idea of kind of swallowing your ego, you know, uh to make the to make the right decision.
16:19
SPEAKER_01: Um it sounds like then a lot of these kind of lessons that you've learned have been based off of experiences within mountaineering.
16:28
SPEAKER_01: When or was there an experience that led you to believe or think that these lessons you were learning should be shared?
16:40
SPEAKER_02: I was giving speeches to pay for the climbs.
16:44
SPEAKER_02: I give motivational talks that were based on uh like each climb that I uh completed somehow gave me a little bit more information to be able to share in the talks.
16:54
SPEAKER_02: And the better the talks came, the more money I'd make to be able to climb bigger mountains.
16:58
SPEAKER_02: So it's this this cool little cycle of like four-hour work week style that I had created of building my own life.
17:05
SPEAKER_02: But um, it started with just teaching basic goal setting principles.
17:10
SPEAKER_02: Uh and when I would learn a little snippet of something or like stumble across a bit of mountain wisdom and then share it in a group of whether it was like 30 high school students with FFA or F uh FCCLA or student council groups, the kids would just like charge at me afterwards and say, like, you taught me so much about life.
17:33
SPEAKER_02: And I was like, I kind of just like told you what I learned while climbing, but if it applies to you, then cool.
17:39
SPEAKER_02: And this resonance of these concepts um kind of has created now this sense of this mythological, in some like uh weird way of this guy going to the mountaintop, getting his wisdom, coming back down and sharing it.
17:55
SPEAKER_02: You know, throughout mythology, there's this thing like Moses climbed, climbed Mount Sinai, right?
18:01
SPEAKER_02: Jesus went to the Garden of Gethsemane in order to get his wisdom.
18:04
SPEAKER_02: Um, Muhammad said that mountains stabilize the earth.
18:07
SPEAKER_02: The Buddha sought the wilderness in order to seek enlightenment.
18:10
SPEAKER_02: Across all religions, there's this idea that going into the wilderness and being still and being calm with that will give you the wisdom of the gods, even like way back to before any of our current religions, like back in whatever you want to call them religions.
18:27
SPEAKER_02: Like I don't even know what the names are, but those still had this idea that the guy who goes to the mountaintop somehow gets this insight.
18:34
SPEAKER_02: And yeah, while that kind of sounds arrogant to say, like from my perspective, because I'm the guy who did go climb those mountains, like and I don't want to be the guy that's like, now I'm the wise man.
18:46
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, absolutely.
18:48
SPEAKER_02: But it but it it's it's just resonated uh what I share, and it it helps, and so I continue to share what I've learned.
18:55
SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
18:56
SPEAKER_01: What do you think?
18:57
SPEAKER_01: I mean, following that that theme though, I'm really interested in this.
19:01
SPEAKER_01: Why do you think that you do learn so much from being in wilderness?
19:07
SPEAKER_01: What is it about these kind of wild places that teaches you so much?
19:11
SPEAKER_02: So I've that's a great question, and I've thought so much about this because I've had dozens of hours of sitting in my own agony while climbing these.
19:20
SPEAKER_02: Like, what am I doing this for?
19:22
SPEAKER_02: Um, and I really think that each climb you go on, just like each wave you surf, is a little mini life.
19:33
SPEAKER_02: When you start that expedition, you're like, oh my gosh, I'm going after it.
19:37
SPEAKER_02: This is the moment.
19:38
SPEAKER_02: And then you are like, Am I ready for this?
19:41
SPEAKER_02: Like you start walking and you like you feel your aches and your pains, and you're like, Did I train enough?
19:46
SPEAKER_02: And that's like the like the young child crying.
19:49
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and then you're like, Yeah, I got this energy, I've totally got this.
19:52
SPEAKER_02: You're like a teenager, and then you like start stumbling your way through, but still making progress.
19:57
SPEAKER_02: It's your 20s and 30s, and then you're like, Man, I'm kind of tired, but here I am at the summit.
20:01
SPEAKER_02: Maybe that could be like your 50s or 60s when you're like at the apex of life, you know, when everything's come together.
20:06
SPEAKER_02: And then on your descent on the way down, like, I'm I'm ready to let this go.
20:10
SPEAKER_02: I'm ready to release this mountain because I've done what I came to do, whether I summit it or not.
20:16
SPEAKER_02: And then you leave and the expedition team goes away, and the mountain is in your memories or just in your memory, your photo memory card.
20:25
SPEAKER_02: And then, and then you like have this, you fly home and you can look at this life that you led.
20:31
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
20:31
SPEAKER_02: And take the lessons from that.
20:33
SPEAKER_01: It's like the complete story arc, you know.
20:35
SPEAKER_02: Exactly.
20:35
SPEAKER_02: So you get to live like it's like, oh, I've lived a hundred lives because I've lived a hundred mountains, and then you have this ability to like extract those lessons.
20:43
SPEAKER_01: I love that because it kind of gives you know that feeling, even if you should complete maybe a short hike, whether it's you know, short or long, when you're finishing and you're coming down and maybe someone's just starting the hike, and you look at them with like, like, I know where you're about to go.
21:01
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
21:01
SPEAKER_02: I had that when I was in uh on Kauai and I was coming back along the Nepali coastline.
21:06
SPEAKER_02: You know, it's like I just spent like three days camping out there by those waterfalls and come back, and I see these guys that are like, hmm, here I go.
21:13
SPEAKER_02: I'm ready to see what explode.
21:16
SPEAKER_02: And I'm like, dude, you have no idea.
21:19
SPEAKER_02: Like all grizzled and hairy and smelly.
21:21
SPEAKER_01: It's an interesting one because it also makes me, and I wonder this sometimes too, uh, after those experiences, what else is possible to be gained from it?
21:33
SPEAKER_01: Because every person, like you said, is gonna get what they bring to the mountain, right?
21:38
SPEAKER_01: And so I sometimes I look at people and I I wonder if they're going to get the same experience or if they get something completely different from the exact same trail, you know.
21:47
SPEAKER_02: I think that everybody gets something different.
21:50
SPEAKER_02: I mean, there are certainly like similar themes where people say, Oh, the the beauty was like nothing I've ever seen before, or the camaraderie is.
22:00
SPEAKER_02: I've heard many people compare it to being in the military or at war because you're going against you're facing death with these other people and there's a bond there that can't be recreated.
22:10
SPEAKER_02: So that's another element.
22:12
SPEAKER_02: Another element is like learning to dig within.
22:14
SPEAKER_02: When your body's completely exhausted, how do you find the ability to search what your spirit is made of and pull out more energy from uh from within?
22:24
SPEAKER_02: Uh, another aspect is just total self-sufficiency.
22:28
SPEAKER_02: Many people have never thought, can I live out of everything that's on my back right now?
22:32
SPEAKER_02: Um, and those are some of the common themes, but I've even seen people come to the mountains and just hate everything about it, never want to return and like curse, curse at me and curse at everybody around them.
22:44
SPEAKER_02: And they're like, Yeah, we all get something different out of it.
22:48
SPEAKER_01: Do you ever go into a specific expedition uh or hike or adventure with an intention of the question I'm going for is do you go into the mountains with an idea of wondering about a specific theme, or is it just something that comes from the experience that you have to kind of let come to you?
23:09
SPEAKER_02: I did for a long time.
23:11
SPEAKER_02: You know, I did say this is gonna be the mountain where I'm gonna get X.
23:16
SPEAKER_02: I'd set an intention, if you will.
23:18
SPEAKER_02: I'm also a I'm also a yogi, and like before you start any yoga session, you usually do a warm-up and then you set your intention, like what is what am I here for?
23:26
SPEAKER_02: So I'd do the same thing with mountains.
23:28
SPEAKER_02: Um, and it would always be completely wrong.
23:35
SPEAKER_02: And I learned to release that.
23:38
SPEAKER_02: Um and now I I say I'm open to whatever this mountain has to show me or to teach me.
23:46
SPEAKER_02: And usually and maybe that is the intention right there of what what am I gonna gain from this?
23:51
SPEAKER_02: And maybe openness is the intention or acceptance is the intention that I'm now at a phase in life when I'm I'm listening for.
23:58
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
23:59
SPEAKER_01: What kind of truth do you do you see that you know as a parallel truth in other forms, not just mountain climbing, like other aspects of life?
24:09
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, of course.
24:10
SPEAKER_02: Um if you set an intention on a relationship that you've got, whether it's with your parents or a mentor or a mentee or a professional relationship, like look at how many people had this professional relationship that it started 2020, they were like, this is rock solid, this is locked in, this is my retirement, and then it's just gone for them.
24:33
SPEAKER_02: Look at how many people have had like uh romantic relationships that suddenly change course and that caught them totally off guard.
24:42
SPEAKER_02: Look at how many, uh, how many times you've you've got a like um a mentor that steers you wrong, or somebody that's uh an employee that suddenly quits on you.
24:52
SPEAKER_02: Um to come to any relationship with the thought of here's what I want to bring to it, is a little too controlling.
25:02
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, you can lead and yeah, you can give uh you can you can say here's where I would love it to go, but to say this is where it's going, my way or the highway, like my intent that I bring to the mountain, any of that is it's too much gripping.
25:19
SPEAKER_02: It's too much ownership.
25:21
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's this I I've had a similar uh similar mental wanderings, which came to this conclusion that it's kind of about expectations.
25:36
SPEAKER_01: Um I I've kind of can come to this current conclusion that expectations can be great if they're more of goal setting, but when you for example, I have a friend who told me exactly what he wanted uh in his job.
25:57
SPEAKER_01: You know, he wanted to be CFO, wanted the corner office, wanted this suit, wanted, you know, this object on his desk.
26:03
SPEAKER_01: And I was thinking about that, and I was like, well, but what if it doesn't look like that?
26:10
SPEAKER_01: You're gonna get you're you know, you're extremely competent, you're very hardworking, you're gonna get to this successful place, but it's not gonna look like whatever's in your head right now.
26:19
SPEAKER_01: You might miss what it actually feels like if you're so focused, you might even say you're not succeeding because it doesn't look exactly like what's in your head, you know?
26:30
SPEAKER_02: Totally, totally.
26:31
SPEAKER_02: Um, that's a great point, man.
26:33
SPEAKER_02: I would visualize myself on top of Everest every single day for years.
26:39
SPEAKER_02: And I would wake up in the morning, sit on my bed, close my eyes, and off of all the videos that I would watch and off of all the books and that I had read and photos that I'd studied, I learned every feature around and memorized it so that I could like picture myself there.
26:52
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
26:52
SPEAKER_02: And lo and behold, I get to the top and it looks nothing like I had imagined.
26:57
SPEAKER_02: I'm like, dude, I've been working at this for years and like think I have this expectation of what it will be.
27:02
SPEAKER_02: And here it's like, none of this is anything that I pictured what it would be like.
27:06
SPEAKER_02: Um, and sure, there's certain features that you might recognize, but if you're in a job and you think my desk is going to be there and I've got like these windows that are at this perfect angle looking out at this exact view, yeah, there's some like freak stories of those things manifesting.
27:21
SPEAKER_02: And if you're like one of the people that believes in the secret and manifesting out of the universe kind of stuff, there's some really amazing stories, but I think that those are those are anomalies more than they are our standard experience.
27:35
SPEAKER_02: Um, and so to be flexible with what success actually is and be more excited for the surprise is a better way to go than saying, I need the apple on the left side of my desk and the bookshelf to be made of brown mahogany, and like you don't need to get that specific, I don't think.
27:54
SPEAKER_01: No, that's and I I I like that you bring up Everest.
27:56
SPEAKER_01: What was I hate to say what was different because that's probably hard to answer.
28:01
SPEAKER_01: Well, I mean, what was it like standing on the top of Everest?
28:04
SPEAKER_01: What was there anything that you didn't expect that kind of came over you standing on that summit?
28:11
SPEAKER_02: Well, I mean, I had already run out of one bottle of oxygen, it was leaking, right?
28:15
SPEAKER_02: So I'm like terrified for my life.
28:18
SPEAKER_02: Um, I'm crying, and I didn't expect my tears to be freezing as they're like coming down, like like flicking off little chunks of ice from my cheeks.
28:28
SPEAKER_02: Uh, I didn't ever experience that before.
28:30
SPEAKER_02: It was so cold.
28:31
SPEAKER_02: And um I was hoping that I could like say this beautiful speech into my camera, you know, and like give this awesome viral video, like motivational speaker.
28:42
SPEAKER_02: And the camera wouldn't turn on because it was so cold that it just like the components were too cold.
28:47
SPEAKER_02: I'm like, great, here I'm at the summit of the world, and I can't even take it.
28:50
SPEAKER_01: Carried the section six ounces.
28:53
SPEAKER_02: Exactly.
28:53
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah, like this back breaking six ounces, and it actually is backbreaking when you're at that altitude.
28:59
SPEAKER_00: Oh, yeah.
28:59
SPEAKER_02: Um, I couldn't, I couldn't form thoughts because you know we're breathing 30% of the oxygen that you and I have right now.
29:06
SPEAKER_02: Um, and it's really the only way I can describe what it felt like is when you wake up from a dream that feels really real and you start thinking about it, but then the memories, like the details start fading away a bit.
29:19
SPEAKER_02: Wild.
29:20
SPEAKER_02: That's what the summit of Everest still feels like to me.
29:23
SPEAKER_02: Like I know I made it, yeah.
29:25
SPEAKER_02: And I know I've got these pictures that finally we warmed up the camera and found a like a battery that I had hidden in my breast pocket and got it to turn on.
29:33
SPEAKER_02: But I I can't describe it as clearly as I'll be able to describe having this conversation with you because like my brain just didn't have the capacity.
29:43
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it felt like a dream.
29:44
SPEAKER_01: Wow.
29:46
SPEAKER_01: Dude, that's incredible.
29:49
SPEAKER_02: It was 11 minutes because it was like timestamp from photo right when we got there, and then camera battery turns off, and then we finally get to get back get going again.
29:59
SPEAKER_02: I'm like looking around, cool.
30:01
SPEAKER_02: Okay, we have to go down because you're running out of air, and every minute matters.
30:05
SPEAKER_02: Okay, snap the photo, and the difference of those timestamps is 11 minutes.
30:09
SPEAKER_02: Um, and it was kind of like just this emotional overwhelm of frantic energy of like get yourself down, otherwise you die, and this isn't actually the top.
30:19
SPEAKER_01: It's like this dream state, but then the realities of survival and life actually come come back in, and they're like, No, you gotta you gotta go.
30:27
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
30:29
SPEAKER_01: Oh my gosh, that's incredible.
30:31
SPEAKER_01: When you were then coming down, I'm sure it took some time to process and to you know warm back up.
30:38
SPEAKER_01: How long after this experience, or was it beforehand, that uh you decided that these kind of lessons needed to be shared in a more succinct format with the Warrior Challenge?
30:51
SPEAKER_02: I mean, maybe maybe I'm doing these podcasts and writing these books so that I'm still processing it.
30:56
SPEAKER_02: Maybe it's like my method of figuring it out.
31:00
SPEAKER_02: Um, I definitely like came to a reckoning with myself of what these mountains meant while writing the chapter in the Warrior Challenge that deals with the experience that I had.
31:10
SPEAKER_02: Um, and just a brief like bullet point summary for listeners is came across a guy who was on his last breaths, um, and it put me in a uh state of like deep shame over not being able to rescue him or do something or help him.
31:23
SPEAKER_02: And it took me years to decompress that that's a message that I think all of us get in some way that we're not enough, or that we don't we can't bring to the table like an efficacy for change or that that maybe even our our intentions aren't as as good as we think, because like I came across this guy and then I he passed away and I kept climbing.
31:51
SPEAKER_02: I'm like, am I just an asshole for doing that?
31:53
SPEAKER_02: Um, all these things came to a head while writing this chapter in the book, and ultimately it became a really beautiful thing that's now helping a bunch of young men uh because I'm teaching that having emotional awareness and honesty in the right context and shared with the right people, and especially with a group of like loving family members or good, good friends, to share what hurts is an amazing, beautiful thing.
32:26
SPEAKER_02: And it it prevents future traumas from becoming post-traumatic stress disorder.
32:33
SPEAKER_02: If you get the right mental messages now, that you are enough, that you can create change in the world, that you have what it takes to affect uh yourself and get yourself in a good mindset and help others.
32:45
SPEAKER_02: If you can get that mental mindset now, then whatever comes your way later won't become devastating in your life, like it did for me.
32:54
SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
32:54
SPEAKER_01: It's it's a form of closure for those, or even the it starts the process of closure for those kind of thoughts.
33:01
SPEAKER_01: I think you're completely right.
33:04
SPEAKER_01: Everyone has these moments in life where you look at yourself and kind of reflect on your actions versus your intentions, and it it's that um that feeling like you don't really believe maybe in the worth that you associate with your identity or your ego.
33:22
SPEAKER_01: Uh, and it's a re it's probably one of the most challenging things you people go through mentally is this idea that you aren't who you think you are.
33:29
SPEAKER_01: You've grown up with this identity, you're like, oh, I'm honest, oh, I'm hardworking.
33:35
SPEAKER_01: And then you look back on a moment, you're like, oh, actually, I lied.
33:38
SPEAKER_02: Actually.
33:54
SPEAKER_02: Our sense of, am I really the person I think I am?
33:57
SPEAKER_02: And those are important moments, those are to be listened to.
34:00
SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
34:01
SPEAKER_01: No, and exactly what you're saying is that the way to uh overcome that or a method of overcoming that is to confront them.
34:10
SPEAKER_01: And one of those that means being honest about those those decisions or in those environments that hurt, especially I like, and I also really like the way you put it with the right people, finding the the environment where you can be vulnerable with your family, your loving friends, and stuff like that.
34:26
SPEAKER_02: If you're if you're on the bus and you're like, bro, I gotta tell you something, you start like weep weeping to this dude, that doesn't help.
34:33
SPEAKER_02: Or and that's like the funny, exaggerated example.
34:36
SPEAKER_02: But if you're at a party and you just meet somebody and you start like you're just like in your red solo cup over a campfire, like drinking a beer, and like you just mate a person, and you're like, start bawling to them.
34:47
SPEAKER_02: Uh that's not something that's like gonna create a connection.
34:50
SPEAKER_02: But if you've already created a connection with somebody or their family or a really close friend, those people should be there for you in those moments.
34:57
SPEAKER_02: Um, so getting good at who to share with is just as important an aspect of the element of courage of being able to share in the first place.
35:06
SPEAKER_02: Um, even if it's just with a therapist till you pay, and that's the one person in your life who you um share these things with, like everybody needs to find that person.
35:15
SPEAKER_02: If you're listening to this right now, name like one or two or three of those people, who those are for you right now.
35:21
SPEAKER_02: And if you can't name one, two, or three of them, get a therapist until you can.
35:26
SPEAKER_02: It's so important, it is so critical.
35:29
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's so pertinent to kind of fulfilling these good intentions you have, is being able to have closure over kind of the negative actions that have either occurred to you or you've been in the environment ever that you've done in the past.
35:44
SPEAKER_01: It's that kind of closure is is is critical, is pretty incredible, as well as the kind of follow-up on that, which is, and I think this maybe touches on the theme of your book.
35:55
SPEAKER_01: It's like this aspect of personal responsibility is claiming your own actions, being accountable for yourself so that you can go forward with better intentions and to act in the way you want to act.
36:08
SPEAKER_01: I think that seems like it's a big part of what you're trying to convey to young men through this book is that you have the choice to uh you have the choice to be honest, you have the choice to be adventurous, you have the choice to uh work hard, you have the choice to pick you, pick the crowd you want to be around or the environment you want to be in, right?
36:27
SPEAKER_01: It's I think that's really powerful, is this aspect of personal accountability.
36:31
SPEAKER_01: And I really love that you kind of start that conversation in this book.
36:35
SPEAKER_02: There's this thought that the idea of a responsibility is like a burden, right?
36:42
SPEAKER_02: Yet if you break down the word responsibility, like like we whine about it.
36:47
SPEAKER_02: Oh, I'm an adult, I'm adulting, I have all these responsibilities.
36:51
SPEAKER_02: Like, like it's like this backpack that's weighing you and pushing you into the rocks with bare feet.
36:57
SPEAKER_02: No, no, no, no.
37:00
SPEAKER_02: Break the word down response, ability.
37:05
SPEAKER_02: It is the ability to thoughtfully respond.
37:10
SPEAKER_02: And so what I go for in this book and what I try and teach humans in general is event happens.
37:17
SPEAKER_02: Find the space between event and what you do, because most of us react.
37:25
SPEAKER_02: And that is actually what people are complaining about when they say, Oh, I have all these responsibilities.
37:29
SPEAKER_02: No, you're saying I'm reacting off the cuff and I have no control over my reactions.
37:34
SPEAKER_02: That's actually what that complaint is.
37:37
SPEAKER_02: If somebody said I have all these response abilities, let me rephrase that.
37:41
SPEAKER_02: If you have all these abilities to respond, that means stimulus can come your way.
37:48
SPEAKER_02: You can choose, I'm going to respond positively or negatively to this, and then you take the action.
37:53
SPEAKER_02: And that's often just like one second of time that took me three minutes, I don't know, to describe.
38:00
SPEAKER_02: But finding that one second and making a choice, a decision of how you will emotionally feel and what action you will take.
38:07
SPEAKER_02: Let's teach that to kids so that I'm serious.
38:12
SPEAKER_01: Pretty powerful.
38:15
SPEAKER_01: It's something that I've been thinking about a lot too, which is this idea that uh we should take responsibility for our actions.
38:21
SPEAKER_01: And I think that it misses the point a little bit, is that teach kids that or teach people that you can be responsible for your perceptions, right?
38:31
SPEAKER_01: You can be responsible for the thing how you perceive the actions that are taken upon you, right?
38:35
SPEAKER_01: Because then that informs the actions that you're going to take.
38:39
SPEAKER_01: And I love the way you put that is that response, you know, breaking it down, the ability to respond, responsibilities then become your competency, they could become your skill set, right?
38:49
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
38:49
SPEAKER_01: It's powerful.
38:50
SPEAKER_01: It's changing that up.
38:52
SPEAKER_02: Uh, and what you just mentioned is a great side point that understanding where somebody else is coming from, that ability to emote and say, okay, this person really pissed me off, or this person did something that was messed up to me.
39:06
SPEAKER_02: But what is their story?
39:07
SPEAKER_02: Where are they coming from?
39:09
SPEAKER_02: And how can I connect with that?
39:10
SPEAKER_02: And even if I want nothing to do with them ever in their life, how can I grow or develop or understand myself a little bit better as a result of knowing where they came from to take this action against me?
39:24
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, absolutely.
39:26
SPEAKER_01: Um, and I think that that is uh it's it's a crazy time right now.
39:34
SPEAKER_01: Um, and I'm I'm glad that you once again, I think I think the majority of what you put in this book is universal.
39:43
SPEAKER_01: I mean, it's really about being human, not being man or woman.
39:47
SPEAKER_01: But I do like that you have created a set of you know learning parameters that young men can can can grow into because they're really good uh goals to have.
40:00
SPEAKER_01: Like these goals aren't necessarily about, you don't set the preface like, oh, read this book, you're gonna go climb Everest.
40:06
SPEAKER_01: It's like read this book so that you can create your own goals, which tend to be these like these values, these value systems that you're trying to express, you know?
40:16
SPEAKER_02: It's called the Warrior Challenge.
40:18
SPEAKER_02: And that's what the goal is, is to become the equivalent of a warrior in today's world.
40:23
SPEAKER_02: And in full transparency, the subtitle, Eight Quests for Boys to Become to Grow Up with Kindness, Courage, and Grit, that exists because that's what that's the only way that the book would have become a thing.
40:33
SPEAKER_02: That's what the publisher wanted.
40:35
SPEAKER_02: That's how they needed, they needed it, they wanted a book for young men.
40:40
SPEAKER_02: But you're absolutely right, this applies for absolutely everybody, and it is not, it is not gendered other than the chapter that's about sexuality.
40:49
SPEAKER_02: Um, and I think that because guys get a different set of messages growing up about what it means to be a man and this pressure that uh is put on us, uh, there needs to be a different response curated for them.
41:02
SPEAKER_02: So the book, yeah, is angled towards boys for that reason, because the publisher wanted it and because there's a different cultural message.
41:09
SPEAKER_02: But these principles of stepping up as a human being, of choosing what your values are, of having self-awareness, setting boundaries, having vulnerability, having the ability to choose the right people in your life who are your teammates, your expedition team, if you will, not being a toxic human being and being able to recognize when others are toxic, and then getting your ass out of that situation and like recognizing what is it is like equality for all human beings.
41:36
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
41:36
SPEAKER_02: These are traits that I think all of us can and should aspire to, and that's what makes a warrior in today's world.
41:43
SPEAKER_02: And so that's what this book is a rite of passage to train young men and hopefully parents as well, who read this with their boys, or um, aunts and uncles who give it, gift it and give it to their uh their their nephews uh and grandparents, teachers.
42:00
SPEAKER_02: I hope that they get as much out of this by disseminating the information with young men.
42:06
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
42:07
SPEAKER_01: And I think that that's a really important point to put out there is uh it's not necessarily just about teaching these values, but it's about starting the conversation about them.
42:19
SPEAKER_01: And I think that's right.
42:20
SPEAKER_01: And it's important, this is something I actually really liked about your book is that you do touch touch on uh these ideas of sexual health or sexual mental health because people are gonna grow up and experience these things, regardless of if they're parents or whoever talks about them or not.
42:38
SPEAKER_01: You need to be ready, you can't be surprised by uh my personal philosophy on pornography is that it very much goes after young men before they are able to really understand these kind of emotions and these kind of feelings, so that they kind of get trapped with it.
42:54
SPEAKER_01: And so everyone should be able to have this conversation, whether it's the kid talking to the parent, probably it should be the parent talking to the kid.
43:04
SPEAKER_01: But you know, it's it's incredibly important to start these conversations about these values at a young age so that kids can start growing up thinking about them and thinking about how they reflect their actions in real life, you know.
43:18
SPEAKER_02: Here's how I look at this.
43:20
SPEAKER_02: It's shown that parents on average recognize that their children are having sexual thoughts three years after the fact that those thoughts actually start in a kid's mind.
43:34
SPEAKER_02: And I think if all of us are honest, like it was well before anybody actually talked to us that we were thinking about these things that any sort of information came.
43:43
SPEAKER_02: I just saw this like rocket man suit.
43:47
SPEAKER_02: This is an analogy I'm diving into.
43:49
SPEAKER_02: Like this, like this guy in the military, he's got like these propulsions that come out of his hands and he's like flying from one ship to another.
43:57
SPEAKER_02: Uh, and it's like this new military or like Like Bear Grills was also in one of these suits, you know, like flying around this field.
44:05
SPEAKER_02: Sure.
44:05
SPEAKER_02: And if if we that's an incredible amount of power, just raw power in these things to be able to fly a human being.
44:13
SPEAKER_02: If we gave that to every young man in the world with no training, no understanding of here's how to safely take off, move, and land this thing.
44:25
SPEAKER_02: And then we complained to those kids, dude, what are you thinking?
44:31
SPEAKER_02: You idiot.
44:33
SPEAKER_02: Like, whose fault is that?
44:34
SPEAKER_02: Is that the kids' fault or is that our fault?
44:37
SPEAKER_02: Well, absolutely.
44:38
SPEAKER_02: Biology is giving them this rocket power, if you will.
44:41
SPEAKER_02: I guess that kind of makes some like options for some really crude jokes, but it gives them this like immense amount of new energy that they don't have any framework of what to do with.
44:54
SPEAKER_02: Let's give them that framework, and that's what this chapter is all about.
44:57
SPEAKER_02: Like, how do you handle these pressures and these urges that are coming into your body?
45:01
SPEAKER_02: What is pornography?
45:03
SPEAKER_02: Because kids are seeing it as early as four and five years old now.
45:06
SPEAKER_02: Uh, it's just everywhere, it's just part of like existence now.
45:09
SPEAKER_02: How do you healthily connect with another human being rather than seeing them as parts?
45:15
SPEAKER_02: What is the Me Too movement?
45:16
SPEAKER_02: These aren't conversations that we need to be having after Rocket Man has crashed into the wall.
45:21
SPEAKER_02: These are conversations we need to be having beforehand so that the crash doesn't happen.
45:25
SPEAKER_02: And that's why I think that this age group is when these conversations need to start.
45:30
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
45:30
SPEAKER_01: And before I get to kind of my last question, I was could you please inform the listeners how they could find your book?
45:37
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, thanks for that invitation.
45:38
SPEAKER_02: I appreciate that.
45:40
SPEAKER_02: Um, so the book is called The Warrior Challenge.
45:42
SPEAKER_02: It's the easiest way to buy it is on Amazon.
45:44
SPEAKER_02: Just go to Amazon and type in the Warrior Challenge.
45:47
SPEAKER_02: If you want to put John Beattie, that'll definitely bring it up.
45:50
SPEAKER_02: But you're looking for the bright red cover.
45:53
SPEAKER_02: And if you have a young man in your life, if there's a son, a grandson, students, nephews, any young man ages around like 9, 10 through 16, 17, this is the book that will make a massive difference in their life.
46:10
SPEAKER_02: If you want to improve the world in some small way today, spend the 1699, it's like a burger, and buy this book and give it to that young man because this is I I fully believe that this information will make the and these values will make the world a better place.
46:27
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
46:29
SPEAKER_01: I think it's powerful because it really touches, and a lot of this conversation has been on these very fundamental aspects of humanity.
46:40
SPEAKER_01: Touched on, you know, the idea of being vulnerable and the idea of trying to create presence in chaos because life is chaos.
46:49
SPEAKER_01: Let's just admit it.
46:49
SPEAKER_01: There's this whether you're on the uh the side of a mountain or sitting in your room, there's chaos.
46:56
SPEAKER_01: Uh being invited into your life.
46:59
SPEAKER_02: Even we're all like, oh, I want things to go back to normal.
47:01
SPEAKER_02: When things were normal, there was chaos.
47:03
SPEAKER_02: And when COVID's done, there's gonna be chaos.
47:07
SPEAKER_02: It's just it's a part of everything.
47:09
SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
47:10
SPEAKER_01: No, we uh we talked about expectations, and and I think that the idea of visualizing success is powerful, but it also can be limiting limiting in the ways that it prevents you from being present.
47:21
SPEAKER_01: We talked about personal accountability and claiming responsibility for your actions and changing the word responsibility so that's not just a burden, but it's more your own skill set.
47:31
SPEAKER_01: You have created the ability to respond to the situation or environment you put in, and some of your you know incredible stories from from mountaineering and adventuring.
47:40
SPEAKER_01: So I really appreciate it having you on.
47:42
SPEAKER_01: My last question would just be looking back over this conversation, is there any one or two themes or messages that you would want a listener to take out of it?
47:52
SPEAKER_02: Well, first, that was a beautiful summary.
47:54
SPEAKER_02: I did kind of make me sound smart.
47:56
SPEAKER_02: Man, that's awesome.
47:57
SPEAKER_02: Thanks.
47:58
SPEAKER_01: Appreciate it.
47:59
SPEAKER_02: Um far as themes that I would I would like to leave people with.
48:05
SPEAKER_02: This idea of intentionality and stepping up is all that's required, and there's no sense of perfection needed, nobody's perfect.
48:18
SPEAKER_02: Everybody, whether it's a clamber climbing to the top of Everest, screws up at some point, and then they correct it.
48:26
SPEAKER_02: And if you're not a clamber, you're hanging out at home, whatever your journey is, whatever your mountain is you're climbing, metaphorically, the mess ups can be corrected.
48:37
SPEAKER_02: Just take note of where you are, be present, and then course correct.
48:42
SPEAKER_02: And just choose in each moment to be stepping up as a better version of yourself.
48:47
SPEAKER_02: But know that there's, I guess, at the same time, not an expectation to be any better version of yourself.
48:52
SPEAKER_02: Just it's whatever you choose it to be.
48:54
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
48:55
SPEAKER_01: Identifying the ways that you want to live in life and just going after it.
48:59
SPEAKER_02: I love it, man.
49:00
SPEAKER_02: Said it in a much more succinct way than I did, nailed it.
49:04
SPEAKER_02: I love it, man.
49:05
SPEAKER_01: Thank you.
49:06
SPEAKER_01: Thank you.
49:06
SPEAKER_01: I really appreciate it.
49:07
SPEAKER_02: Thanks, Flint.
49:16
SPEAKER_01: I want to thank John for that conversation.
49:19
SPEAKER_01: His stories are thrilling and his perspective is so positive.
49:23
SPEAKER_01: I loved his commentary on breaking down the word responsibility.
49:26
SPEAKER_01: You don't have tasks nagging you day and night.
49:29
SPEAKER_01: You have the ability to respond to the trials and chaos of life.
49:33
SPEAKER_01: One thought that really stuck with me while listening back to this conversation was the topic of expectations.
49:40
SPEAKER_01: For someone so adventurous, who's traveled the world climbing, surfing, and speaking, something John has found is that you won't be able to force the emotional outcome of any given experience.
49:51
SPEAKER_01: Sure, you can work yourself to a CEO position, just like you can grind out the thousands of vertical feet of climbing to the summit of Everest.
49:59
SPEAKER_01: I'm not saying it's easy, but you can do it.
50:02
SPEAKER_01: However, you will never be able to know what the experience will truly feel like until you are there.
50:09
SPEAKER_01: Creating an image of success is fantastic.
50:12
SPEAKER_01: It's something that helps us guide ourselves.
50:15
SPEAKER_01: But imagining what that success feels like precludes our ability to be with our thoughts and emotions in those moments.
50:22
SPEAKER_01: It makes me wonder what aspects of my life I have been forcing because of how closed my sights have become on what success looks like in this moment, and what experiences in life I've been missing out on because I'm moving too fast to appreciate them.
50:36
SPEAKER_01: And maybe it makes you wonder the same things.
50:38
SPEAKER_01: Thanks for listening.
50:40
SPEAKER_01: If you liked this episode of Seeking Authenticity, that's freaking awesome.
50:45
SPEAKER_01: 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.
50:53
SPEAKER_01: I mean really breathe.
50:55
SPEAKER_01: Breathe so that it stretches out your shoulders and your back and your chest and pushes out your stomach.
51:00
SPEAKER_01: No more of these shallow, bullshit breaths.
51:02
SPEAKER_01: They're barely keeping you alive, my friend.
51:05
SPEAKER_01: And after you exhale, go out and soak up today.
51:09
SPEAKER_01: 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.
51:17
SPEAKER_01: So be authentic with them.
51:19
SPEAKER_01: Peace.