Latest / The iAlign Podcast with Flint Mitchell / #40 - Walking Across America with Andrew Kivett

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#40 - Walking Across America with Andrew Kivett · The iAlign Podcast with Flint Mitchell

• 0:02
  SPEAKER_01: I think a lot of times when people are saying, Oh, I wish I could do something like that, it would take sacrifices.
• 0:09
  SPEAKER_01: And I had to make some sacrifices, nothing too extreme.
• 0:13
  SPEAKER_01: But I think there's oftentimes a way to make those things happen.
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_01: I think it's just in our nature to put the bigger things off because it seems like too big of a bite to chew.
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_00: What's up, y'all?
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to Seeking Authenticity.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_00: My name is Flint Mitchell, and I get absolutely psyched by having conversations with authentic people that I admire about the things they value.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_00: Their stories and perspectives don't just make me smile, laugh, and think.
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_00: They inspire me to wake up earlier, listen better, focus, and work harder, and help make me a better version of myself.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_00: And it's my hope that sharing these conversations through this podcast might do the same thing for you.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_00: In this episode, we'll be talking with Andrew Pivot, a young gentleman who I met recently who walked across America from the East Coast to the West.
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_00: But before that, I do want to announce that my book, Seeking Authenticity, Essays and Stories on Values and Travels, is available for purchase now.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_00: You can check it out on Flint Mitchell.com in the link in the podcast description, or you can just go to Amazon Books and search Seeking Authenticity.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_00: It should show up.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_00: It took me a couple years to really fine-tune this book and get it out to a point where I'm just extremely proud of, and I think there's something out there for probably everyone who reflects on life, as you probably do if you're listening to this podcast.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_00: So with that, um, and without any further ado, let's jump right into the episode hearing from Andrew, who just recently, a couple weeks ago, finished his walk across America.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for coming on to the Seeking Authenticity Podcast, Andrew.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_00: I really appreciate it.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, thanks for having me.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_00: Definitely.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_00: So for people just uh tuning in or listening, uh I brief I actually just met Andrew a couple days ago.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, and the way I met him was through watching a video on Mike Posner's Instagram channel.
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_00: Mike Posner, if you don't know, is a musician or artist in general, poet, has a lot of different types of uh creative expression.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_00: But I'm a huge fan of Mike Posner.
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_00: I think that a lot of his music, especially over the past four or five years, is extremely reflective and something that anyone going through any sort of growth can listen to and really kind of empathize with and attune with.
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_00: So I appreciate watching Mike Posner's channels and seeing what he's doing because it's it's uh fun for me and kind of helps me go through my own life.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_00: And so I saw a video um on his Instagram, Instagram of Andrew walking across America.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_00: Actually, the video is the final mile.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_00: I was Mike walking with Andrew, uh, the final mile in uh Santa Monica to the beach, uh, because Andrew recently walked uh I don't know how many miles is that 2700?
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_01: Uh actually did a little less than that.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_01: It came out to 2569 for the 60 southern route.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_00: Rad, dude.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_00: So I saw this video of Andrew walking with Mike the last mile of his his walk across America, and I just had to reach out and kind of get his take, see why he did it, what kind of inspired him and and and what it was like.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_00: So my first question, I guess, has to be is there any sort of story or impetus that that sits in your mind as the reason why you you thought of doing this?
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_00: Like what was the initial inspiration for for walking across America?
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I I I think of it kind of as like a two-part story because I I didn't even know people walked across America until um Mike did it.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_01: I I didn't know it was a thing.
• 4:07
  SPEAKER_01: So I did I did meet him in 2019.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_01: I went I went out and joined him while he was uh in the middle of Kansas.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_01: I walked with him for a few days.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_01: Um and at first I was going out there just because I was a big fan of his work and I I kind of wanted to just get a chance to talk with him.
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but being out on the road, I mean, I it doesn't make any sense like why that would be so appealing.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_01: I you know, I I think a lot of people would be confused looking at this and wondering why anyone would want to do it.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_01: But yeah, something about it, I was just like, this is incredible.
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_01: Like this is just the most free I've ever felt.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_01: Like I'm just out walking in the middle of of nowhere, you know?
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so that that sparked my interest.
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_00: Was it the conversation you had with him while you were walking?
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_00: Um sorry, what was that?
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_00: What the conversation you had while with him while you were walking with him while he was on his walk?
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_00: Is that what you what you're talking about?
• 5:11
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, well, I mean, I guess I was talking kind of more about just thoughts in my own head, but um yeah, I don't I don't know if I walked or talked too much with him about walking across the country.
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_01: We talked about a lot of other things, just well, that kind of makes sense, right?
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 5:31
  SPEAKER_00: So you walk with him for a couple a couple days, uh, and then he goes on his way and and you stay in Kansas.
• 5:39
  SPEAKER_00: Um, how long after that are you starting to think about it as your own potential journey?
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_01: Um probably about a year and a half later, maybe.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_00: It's not it wasn't even a seed in your mind during that time.
• 6:01
  SPEAKER_01: It it was something that I kind of like, I was like, that was really cool.
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_01: Um and I kind of talked about wanting to do it, but it felt like a very someday kind of thing in my mind.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_01: I did um to kind of compensate for those uh those thoughts I had about doing the walk, uh the uh exactly a year later I went on a longboard trip across Kansas with my friend.
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_01: So it was a smaller scale trip, but it was still, you know, the same like being out on the road.
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_01: And it I mean it still took it was like 13 days out there.
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I believe it.
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_01: Um but yeah, that that kind of like I I wanted to do something similar.
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_01: I just didn't really see crossing the entire country as a a possibility or something that you know that I was had the balls to do at the time.
• 7:04
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I mean, with that, what what did it take mentally for you to look at a project like that?
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_00: That it's so long and uh really to most people probably doesn't even sound feasible.
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_00: Like, what does it take in your mind to look at it and kind of split it up into manageable tasks or just uh emotionally manageable tasks as far as like, yeah, I am actually capable of doing these components and putting them together?
• 7:29
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I think I d I don't know if I was able to emotionally break it up into something that I thought was feasible.
• 7:42
  SPEAKER_01: I was I was literally like embarrassed telling people what I was planning to do in the months leading up.
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_01: Really?
• 7:48
  SPEAKER_01: Because I yeah, I didn't even really believe in myself, but I I knew I had to go out there and give it my best shot because um like you're asking what it took.
• 7:59
  SPEAKER_01: It it took uh couple experiences and and cut ties with people, um and just uh some harsh words to you know that really messed with my self-esteem.
• 8:15
  SPEAKER_01: And I I remember when Mike walked, he he'd always say his reasoning was I want to be someone I'm actually proud of.
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_01: And um probably when I decided to do the walk, like for sure, it was probably like three or four months before I left.
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_01: And it kind of just hit me one day.
• 8:37
  SPEAKER_01: I was like, I'm not happy because I'm not doing what I know I'm supposed to do.
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm not proud of myself and it's you know, I'm not choosing to do the hard thing.
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I mean that's what it took.
• 8:54
  SPEAKER_00: I I think that that is a tough thought to I it's so the way I come at that is it's first off, it's a tough thought to even have.
• 9:08
  SPEAKER_00: But the reason it's tough to have is it requires a level of self-reflection to actually analyze maybe the ways you're acting in your own life that allow you to be like, you look at those things that you you want to be doing or the actions that you've taken and and realizing that they're not necessarily the ones that you want to be taking is hard to do for people.
• 9:27
  SPEAKER_00: Um do you have I mean, was it really just this act of talking with Mike and then kind of reflecting on those words that he said?
• 9:37
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, that's pretty strong to say.
• 9:38
  SPEAKER_00: So I want to be someone I'm actually proud of.
• 9:42
  SPEAKER_00: After that, were there moments where you were you journaling or meditating on these thoughts that were that you really realized that you weren't kind of in tune with the actions that you wanted to be taking?
• 9:54
  SPEAKER_01: Um I think it was it it didn't it's it's weird, it didn't come to me like in any kind of very intentional self-reflection.
• 10:09
  SPEAKER_01: It was I mean it it actually uh I was listening to music one day and it was one of Posner's songs came up in my playlist and he had to you remember what song it was uh I think it was You don't have to I think it was slow it slow it down for sure and there's this line in the song and he's kind of going through uh have you heard it?
• 10:37
  SPEAKER_00: Oh yeah, I've I've gone through all of his albums like a dozen times.
• 10:41
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, yeah, he says, Um, my foot hurts, I didn't get sleep, dad died, my horoscopes, uh ain't in sync, misunderstood, Twitter is ruthless.
• 10:54
  SPEAKER_01: Uh-oh, I think my problems are excuses.
• 10:57
  SPEAKER_01: And I don't I don't know why that line hit me so hard.
• 11:00
  SPEAKER_01: I still don't understand, I don't even really understand that line still.
• 11:03
  SPEAKER_00: I think you do, it sounds like you do.
• 11:06
  SPEAKER_01: To an extent, but I don't know why like that specifically clicked for me, but and like two years after he walked across and everything, you know, but it it clicked, and that like that day, that moment that I heard that line, I was like, I'm gonna do this.
• 11:24
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you're like, something isn't right.
• 11:25
  SPEAKER_00: I have to, I have to make a change.
• 11:27
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I think there's two parts to that.
• 11:30
  SPEAKER_00: One is if we just fully appreciate um from like a musical standpoint, it's not uh the lyrics that uh he writes or that he sings are are important.
• 11:42
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, they're all not maybe not all, but there's a lot of uh maybe sentimental or reflective lyrics in those kind of in those albums, but the way he's composed music is also fairly in tune with creating an atmosphere for that kind of reflection, especially the most recent albums.
• 12:00
  SPEAKER_00: And it makes sense because it's kind of him on these journeys uh in a very genuine way, exposing his truth or the environment of his mind in those in those states.
• 12:10
  SPEAKER_00: And it's easy for people to get into that state of mind where they're like challenging their own self-beliefs and and potentially, like you're saying, like personal excuses when they're hearing other people do the same thing.
• 12:24
  SPEAKER_00: That's the first part.
• 12:25
  SPEAKER_00: I think he really does do a good job in creating that kind of environment with his music.
• 12:29
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and then the second component of that is I think that's a fairly good point.
• 12:34
  SPEAKER_00: A lot of times, these I mean, sometimes it sounds like people meditate over ideas for a long time and journal about ideas for a long time, but at the same time, it seems like a lot of maybe resolutions that come up and come out in the world that people have come from like the subconscious, like they're actively doing something else.
• 12:56
  SPEAKER_00: And for whatever reason, that draws a tie back to like their own life or their own actions.
• 13:01
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, it makes them reflect.
• 13:02
  SPEAKER_00: It wasn't actually the act of reflecting, like they didn't even maybe have the intention of it.
• 13:06
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so that's pretty wild that a song puts you in the mindset at least to reflect on and and and inspire you to to take this walk across America.
• 13:17
  SPEAKER_00: Um from there, I would be curious, what did you start doing to prepare?
• 13:21
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, how did what does it take to to plan that out?
• 13:24
  SPEAKER_00: Even if you didn't believe on yourself, what did you what'd you start doing?
• 13:29
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I'm the nice thing was I was already in a position where um over the you know the past year, the things that had even put me in that bad mental state um kind of led me to start going on walks every morning.
• 13:49
  SPEAKER_01: So I was already walking a few miles a day.
• 13:52
  SPEAKER_01: So I just started upping it.
• 13:55
  SPEAKER_01: And uh I just slowly week by week increased my mileage.
• 14:00
  SPEAKER_01: And the funny thing is, I don't think I ever walked more than 14 or 15 miles in a day before I left.
• 14:07
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I figured once I got out there my walking legs would come in, you know, and um that is what happened.
• 14:14
  SPEAKER_01: You just gotta throw yourself into it.
• 14:17
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but yeah, that and just a lot of a lot of little details that people probably didn't even consider.
• 14:25
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, had to like find a place to uh store my car and have someone run it, you know, every week or two.
• 14:33
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 14:33
  SPEAKER_01: And uh, you know, ending ending the lease on the house I was renting, quitting my job, uh finding a place to store my belongings, you know, downsizing before that anyways, uh, putting on weight because I knew I was gonna lose a lot of weight on the walk.
• 14:50
  SPEAKER_01: For sure.
• 14:50
  SPEAKER_01: Um, just just whole checklist of stuff is crazy.
• 14:55
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 14:55
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I guess from that arises the question like, was there anything really unexpected?
• 14:59
  SPEAKER_00: Like, what was the any sort of large project like this?
• 15:02
  SPEAKER_00: There are inevitably turns that you just didn't know you had to take.
• 15:06
  SPEAKER_00: Were there any kind of decisions you had to make that you really didn't expect you expect you would have to make before you went on the trip?
• 15:13
  SPEAKER_01: No, I mean I mean, there were a lot of things unexpected once I got out there that came up.
• 15:19
  SPEAKER_01: But while I was getting ready and stuff, I mean I just pretty head head down and kind of towards the goal.
• 15:27
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I mean, everything honestly went pretty smoothly.
• 15:31
  SPEAKER_01: Like I'm back at the same job that I quit.
• 15:34
  SPEAKER_01: Like I left with good ties.
• 15:35
  SPEAKER_01: They told me to come back anytime.
• 15:37
  SPEAKER_01: They were super supportive.
• 15:39
  SPEAKER_01: Uh and uh I told you before we hopped on the podcast, I I like got the room back at my old house.
• 15:47
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so I didn't really I didn't really sacrifice too much, you know.
• 15:53
  SPEAKER_01: I I was able to come back to a pretty similar life, even being gone for a few months.
• 15:59
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I mean, and I think that's something we can jump into in a a little bit later, which is this idea of I really am interested to hear your take after we kind of talk about the walk a little more, about coming back to a very similar lifestyle after having this kind of experience.
• 16:13
  SPEAKER_00: It's uh an interesting sort of kind of pilgrimage uh that sounds like um mostly of a uh kind of like a mental pilgrimage.
• 16:26
  SPEAKER_00: It's it's like you were actually quite happy with the the path you were on, career-wise and location-wise and stuff like that, which tends to be a reason why I think a lot of people kind of reject their own life and try to go on these kind of trips.
• 16:40
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but it sounds like that wasn't necessarily the reason for you.
• 16:44
  SPEAKER_00: And maybe you now reflect on this trip and and and live your life in the same place a little bit differently, which is really quite cool.
• 16:52
  SPEAKER_00: It's a cool perspective.
• 16:53
  SPEAKER_00: But besides before we get there, I would like to ask then about the actual trip itself.
• 16:59
  SPEAKER_00: Um it sounds like there weren't many curve balls to starting it, but I'm sure that there were tons of them while you were actually on the trip.
• 17:07
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, are there any stories that kind of stick out in your mind or or things about it that stick out in your mind that really kind of uh embody the trip itself?
• 17:16
  SPEAKER_00: I think uh go ahead.
• 17:19
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, I was gonna say, and that might be really hard to do because I'm sure it was a long trip.
• 17:24
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 17:25
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I mean, I think to sum it up, I mean, yeah, I mean, curveball is one way to say it.
• 17:33
  SPEAKER_01: There were problems every single day.
• 17:35
  SPEAKER_01: And by the end of the trip, I was more mentally exhausted than I was physically exhausted because it was just this intense problem solving every single day.
• 17:47
  SPEAKER_01: And I never felt like I got a break from it.
• 17:50
  SPEAKER_00: What kind of um problems are you are you solving?
• 17:53
  SPEAKER_00: Do you have examples?
• 17:55
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I just things people didn't.
• 17:57
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I when I'd mentioned stuff to friends or you know, people I was talking to, and they'd be like, Man, I never even would have thought of that being, you know, an added uh difficulty factor to the trip.
• 18:10
  SPEAKER_01: But for example, um, I pushed all my gear in a stroller because I was uh I did it unsupported, so I had to carry everything with me.
• 18:19
  SPEAKER_01: Um I don't even know how many flat tires I got.
• 18:22
  SPEAKER_01: It was insane.
• 18:24
  SPEAKER_01: Um and I especially where the the goat head thorns are, like in southwestern Texas and New Mexico.
• 18:34
  SPEAKER_01: Um it was, I mean, just little things like that when you're it's difficult enough, you know, walking over a marathon every day.
• 18:43
  SPEAKER_01: But then when you're dealing with the tires and then the the weather was I mean, I just got thrown a bunch of curveballs with the weather, you know, waking getting woken up at 2 a.m.
• 18:56
  SPEAKER_01: Uh with rain pouring in your tent when there was a zero percent chance of rain, you know, or uh um the the humidity in the southeast at the beginning.
• 19:09
  SPEAKER_01: It was what was that?
• 19:10
  SPEAKER_00: What was the time frame that you went?
• 19:13
  SPEAKER_01: So I started very late July, yeah, and then walked until the end of October.
• 19:20
  SPEAKER_01: So by the time I got west, the weather was pretty nice.
• 19:24
  SPEAKER_00: But yeah, but that south portion was probably pretty pretty humid.
• 19:29
  SPEAKER_01: It was I think uh the best example of how humid it was was I remember a day that I drank two gallons of water and my pea was still like dark yellow, like very dehydrated.
• 19:42
  SPEAKER_00: Wow, just sucking the sucking the water out of your body.
• 19:46
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 19:48
  SPEAKER_00: Were there any moments then?
• 19:49
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, it sounds like it's I I like the way you phrase that you were emotionally more emotionally exhausted by the end than physically exhausted.
• 19:58
  SPEAKER_00: I feel like the emotional component is usually the one that forces people to stop things like this.
• 20:04
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, how many times uh were you like uh if you didn't necessarily believe that you were capable of doing at the beginning and you were constantly solving problems and a bunch of physical struggles like storms and and probably just physical exhaustion, um, flat tires, anything like that, were there any moments or several moments where you're like, I think that maybe I should end this?
• 20:28
  SPEAKER_01: Uh there were a few days.
• 20:30
  SPEAKER_01: Um I mean, the only like realistic day where I thought about stopping was on the fourth or fifth, I think the fifth day.
• 20:41
  SPEAKER_01: Um so right off the bat.
• 20:43
  SPEAKER_01: I had yeah, I had had some phone issues and I had like just bought that new phone and I was having problems with it, and um I was just put in a bad spot where I was like really needing to make a phone call and the people around weren't very friendly, and uh then it like was pouring rain on me.
• 21:06
  SPEAKER_01: I hadn't gotten any sleep the night before.
• 21:09
  SPEAKER_01: You're alone.
• 21:10
  SPEAKER_01: Uh yeah, there was just a whole bunch of stuff happening, and I was like, okay, if I need to like go buy a new phone already, you know, I'm already gonna have spent like this much on this trip, and like, you know, I had plenty of money saved up for it, but I mean it was just the mixture of everything.
• 21:28
  SPEAKER_01: I was like, okay, if I spend like a a grand in the first week on this trip, how much is this whole thing gonna cost?
• 21:33
  SPEAKER_01: And like, is this even worth it?
• 21:35
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and just all these questions.
• 21:37
  SPEAKER_01: And but thankfully, after a couple few weeks into it, I mean, there were times I wanted to quit, but I was so laser focused on that and destination that quitting just like at some point became not an option.
• 21:55
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 21:56
  SPEAKER_00: Can you talk about that for a moment?
• 21:57
  SPEAKER_00: What does it mean in this context?
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_00: uh to have laser focus.
• 22:01
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, what is the actual like emotional state of being laser focused on a goal like this in the present moment?
• 22:09
  SPEAKER_01: I don't even know how to describe it.
• 22:11
  SPEAKER_00: Cause like even though are there any stories that that kind of capture it in your mind?
• 22:18
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I mean just all the times I should have stopped or gone to a doctor taking a day off anything.
• 22:27
  SPEAKER_01: But I was so like I don't know.
• 22:31
  SPEAKER_01: I I think maybe to some extent I was unhealthily focused um on the end on some days.
• 22:38
  SPEAKER_01: Um I remember I was feel I woke up like feeling really sick one day.
• 22:45
  SPEAKER_01: But I I went ahead I walked 37 miles and then I felt sick the next day still I walked another 37 and then 35.
• 22:56
  SPEAKER_01: And like five I think like five days after that initial not feeling well I like shined a light down my throat with my phone and I saw like white spots all over my tonsils.
• 23:08
  SPEAKER_01: I had like strep throat for like a week out there and I was just walking 35 miles a day.
• 23:14
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah like yeah and I even after I found out I probably had strep I'm you're supposed to like go get medicine for that and I was like oh it'll just go away and I'm I didn't I'm just gonna lock it off.
• 23:30
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah I it um it sounds stupid like talking about now I just I never stopped at a a doctor and I mean there are just a few instances where like I should have stayed somewhere to get something like I I got bitten by a dog in Texas and like no one no one vaccinates their dogs there.
• 23:50
  SPEAKER_00: So I definitely should have like uh gone and gotten some shots after that but I just wanted to keep going you know yeah it's so it's I mean there are definitely like and once again I'm not I'm not a doctor none of this is medical advice um but I do think that people maybe have lost a little bit of touch with the realization that like for the vast majority of human history we did not have any of this kind of technology or any of this kind of medicine.
• 24:16
  SPEAKER_00: And while it is all like beneficial and good like if you need medicine go get medicine and go get help.
• 24:23
  SPEAKER_00: The human body has also grown to adapt fairly extreme conditions for for as kind of you know soft and and fleshy as we are we've we as a human species have endured some pretty remarkable moments in history or geographical areas.
• 24:39
  SPEAKER_00: And so I think it's it's interesting hearing this perspective because it's it's almost like in the in the moment in time you weren't even like believing that you could keep going but there was like no question in your mind that you would keep going, regardless of having strep throat or being sick or or anything or being bitten by a dog.
• 24:58
  SPEAKER_00: It's like hard to capture and I I appreciate that's why it's probably hard to capture this moment in word or this feeling in words is this ability to be so focused on a goal that you're kind of willing to forsake these fairly negative experiences like being sick.
• 25:14
  SPEAKER_00: I mean having strep throat is not a good experience and very few people wake up feeling like that and go, all right I'm gonna walk 37 miles do you look back on that now and have a different kind of appreciation for your own body or the own your own like kind of capable capabilities do you look at at physical goals or even mental goals with like a different perspective now yeah in in a way yes I think um and I this has kind of been a a conversation that's come up before with other people but I bet uh and even you know even Mike told me this while we were walking that last mile he said you did you just did this you can literally do anything now like if if you go through and obviously I can't do anything but um going going through that kind of experience and applying that kind of mental willpower on a continuous basis for that period of time um I think like discipline is just the biggest lesson I've gotten out of it and I confidence and discipline.
• 26:30
  SPEAKER_01: And definitely taking the initiative and just hunkering down and doing things is so much easier because I I like believe in myself a lot more.
• 26:41
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah I mean that and that is in a sense this the embodiment of focus right is confidence in one sense it's like the confidence that spending your time in the way that you're going to spend the time is worth doing it right like I'm confident that the way I'm about to spend my next hour is worth me doing it.
• 26:58
  SPEAKER_00: Because if you don't I mean I think that's one reason why people don't focus on things is they maybe don't have the confidence that them spending that hour is worth it.
• 27:06
  SPEAKER_00: And so they kind of waver and then start scrolling Instagram and stuff like that.
• 27:09
  SPEAKER_01: What was the other word it was confidence and um oh man I'm already am I already forgetting what I said myself.
• 27:20
  SPEAKER_01: Confidence and discipline.
• 27:21
  SPEAKER_00: Oh discipline yeah and so confidence is the act yeah you're right confidence is the act of believing that the next hour day you're gonna spend on a task is worth it and then discipline is the act of implementing that I mean that is in effect the focus in totality it's a pretty pretty dramatic thing to start uh maybe appreciating in your own perspective and I love I love that uh that comment from Mike at the end it you know it's a fairly uh timely thing to tell a person who just walked 2500 miles is like yeah dude you just did this you can do anything and it's really like you're saying yeah maybe not physically anything but it's the act of like breaking down potentially impossible ideas into manageable manageable actions.
• 28:07
  SPEAKER_00: I mean it's a it's it's it's a really dramatic I this is less of me asking a question.
• 28:11
  SPEAKER_00: It's more of like a a compliment is like it really is incredible what you did.
• 28:15
  SPEAKER_00: And I hope you do reflect on that and look at future experiences and go like yeah I I am capable of of managing uh breaking down whatever this problem is in front of me and trying to accomplish it.
• 28:28
  SPEAKER_00: I appreciate that thank you definitely dude so it's then interesting you finished this this trip.
• 28:43
  SPEAKER_00: Sounds like it's fairly brutal though it also sounds like in your head you were so focused that you almost like there was you you weren't really attached to like any of the physical negatives like they were just kind of happening in the physical world but you were kind of in your mind focused on the end result.
• 29:02
  SPEAKER_01: How long does it take for you to come out of that state like of realization of of that the the project is over this project is over how long does it take to realize that it's over and and and be like all right what do I do next whether it's a large thing like that or just getting back into my normal life yeah um I think I was especially that that last mile that whole day I think I was just like in a I was just stunned kind of in this state of shock for I mean at least that whole 24 hours it's kind of weird how much like that was such an important day but at the same time like a lot of it's just a blur in my mind because it was just so hard to even like be in that moment.
• 29:53
  SPEAKER_01: I it I don't know it it was such a surreal experience and yeah how to feel the jumping out in the Pacific Ocean I I don't I don't know I've I've been asked that a lot I don't know how to describe it I all all I can tell people is it was I mean it was late October is a chilly morning but it and I'm I hate cold water but I didn't even like feel the temperature of the ocean is the only thing I can way I can describe it is I just like I don't know I was I was just in the moment and it wasn't like a a physical thing.
• 30:32
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah I believe it so then how long does it take for you to get out of that state or how does your mind maybe not how long but how did your mind process this kind of state of bewilderment or being stunned?
• 30:46
  SPEAKER_00: How long are you in this state of being until you were able to kind of like process what happened and process the next steps that have to be taken it's it's a hard question to answer because I was you might still be in that advice yeah I I might I think I I think I'm realizing that right now but I was given the advice to lay low for a few days after I was done and but honestly I I hopped on a plane that same afternoon the next morning I was driving to uh a a city a couple hours away from my hometown and I went and attended a Halloween party then literally the next morning there are people like asking me how my people I'd never met asking how my trip was and stuff and they're like wait so when did you do this?
• 31:42
  SPEAKER_01: And I was like oh I finished yesterday morning I was like what that's crazy.
• 31:47
  SPEAKER_01: And um I was just like still in that state of shock and just like being around like just a bunch of kids my age you know um because I I didn't really hang out with anyone my age with the exception of a couple times throughout those several months.
• 32:06
  SPEAKER_00: So it was just weird to feel like uh I'm not in college anymore but I'm I'm 21 so I hang out with like college age kids you know um so I felt weird to be like a college kid again after having this uh such a surreal and uh reflective experience and I I don't know it was just weird like being right back into like kind of like the a party thing you know yeah well for sure I think it's always the the experience of going between states of being alone or like isolated and being with lots of people like that can be a a fairly dramatic shift for people whether it's even just a couple days alone for you I mean obviously you weren't completely alone you did meet people for but I would imagine that 98 or 99% of the time you're you're probably walking by yourself.
• 33:00
  SPEAKER_00: So going from that kind of place to a Halloween party with a bunch of college kids is sounds like honestly an anxiety filled experience.
• 33:10
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah I mean yeah I think right right after I dove into the ocean um no more than an hour later I was on Santa Monica Pier um eating up bubblegum shrimp which is very fitting um but uh yeah it was just I I definitely had all that anxiety coming back um just being like in the room buzzing with people and close proximity.
• 33:41
  SPEAKER_00: Do you feel like you have a new perspective on or way of taking on anxiety or anxiety like feelings after this trip I think um I mean I I think there's like a a couple parts to answering that question because I think I was really able to tackle the majority of my anxiety before this trip.
• 34:15
  SPEAKER_01: It's interesting the some of the people that used to be around me I think were a big source of my anxiety because once and that's not throwing anyone under the bus.
• 34:29
  SPEAKER_01: I just no maybe didn't feel like I could be myself or I don't know but um I don't think you have to qualify that as like it's a negative on other people it's it's uh a really incredible thing that you're able to realize that the people around you are dramatically impact how you how you live your life they do and I mean I I finally kind of felt like I could be myself at that point and I literally I just woke up one day and I was going on a walk and I was like I don't remember last time I had an anxiety attack um and so definitely walking um just walking a lot I don't know that that was a part of it too um so on the other side of that question though like does uh did did the walk like help with managing any anxiety maybe maybe not like the uh I was never diagnosed but I think I was experiencing you know before some form of like uh general anxiety disorder um so talking about now like more specific uh anxiety that you know has a a direct correlation like uh um worrying worrying about like what how people are perceiving you and stuff like that it helps a lot with that because yeah back to the confidence thing it's yeah I I mean when you're waking up on the side of the highway in a tent like brushing your teeth on the side of the road what the hell is this guy doing like you kind of learn just to not care too much about what people are thinking because you're like I just you know I have a destination I have a goal I'm I'm getting there people think it's cool I don't really care what the random person driving by thinks yeah um so yeah just in everyday life I've I've felt a lot more comfortable just like uh I don't know like going into the gym and not worrying too much about you know all the all the freaking built up people around me massive you know I'm I'm pretty scrawny I'm just I'm just starting lifting but you know just stuff like that I'm like yeah it's like I'm on I'm on my own path and you gotta start somewhere and it's just small steps at a time.
• 36:48
  SPEAKER_00: I agree I think that's all pretty wonderful.
• 36:52
  SPEAKER_00: The question I would have following that is linking back to that comment um Mike Posner was telling you I think on the first time you met him which was I'm doing this walk in order to be somebody I'm actually proud of do you think that the connections you form around you uh like the environment you put yourself in the actual network you form around you is a factor or a variable in you becoming someone that you were proud of um I think it's I think it's a part of it.
• 37:34
  SPEAKER_01: I mean I think at the end of the day at the end of the day I mean the most important thing is that that completely comes within and that that's what this trip was about was for for years I had let my pride or self-confidence come from how someone else perceived me and as soon as they let me know how they really felt you know then all of that crumbles.
• 38:06
  SPEAKER_01: So I think at the end of the day it's got to come with within yourself.
• 38:10
  SPEAKER_01: But at the same time I don't know if I could have made it through this trip without all the support I had along the way.
• 38:16
  SPEAKER_01: So I do I do think the people around you do play a big factor in that because sometimes I'd be having you know a really really off day and uh someone would like send me 10 bucks on Venmo and be like you're doing so great keep going like go get yourself some lunch and um or just people would call just to check in and see how I was doing um or encourage me.
• 38:40
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah I I think the people around you play a big part in that you want you want people around you that want to see you win.
• 38:46
  SPEAKER_01: And likewise you want to see them win.
• 38:48
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah no I and I I I absolutely love that sentiment.
• 38:52
  SPEAKER_00: It's something I I refrain from trying to give anyone advice because um I don't think that's my position but I think that's definitely one area of life that it's fairly evident.
• 39:05
  SPEAKER_00: I I completely agree with you that the people around you the people that you band around too are uh play a a large role in how you're gonna live your life and and the activities you're gonna partake in the habits that you have and it's important to realize that if you have yeah like you said in the way you started the answer was a a lot of it does come from within right you have to personally be taking actions that you want to be proud of but at the same time you know there there can always be a realization that maybe you are putting yourself in an environment with people that don't necessarily support the same ideas or values that you have or morals that you have at that point in time.
• 39:45
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah no I totally agree.
• 39:47
  SPEAKER_00: So as you then move out of this position it sounds like I think that that was a kind of funny answer.
• 39:54
  SPEAKER_00: You might actually still be in that phase of of of coming out of this this trip because how actually for the people listening how how long ago did you finish?
• 40:04
  SPEAKER_01: Oh tomorrow's three weeks.
• 40:06
  SPEAKER_00: So pretty recent yeah yeah um as you come out of this this phase what do you look at next as like a large project or are you more focused on kind of just resetting up the life that you had before with a different perspective yeah um I was I was actually kind of writing on this recently because I mean that's probably the biggest like I mean I literally just had a message on Instagram before this someone was like oh I can't wait to see what big thing you do next and I was kind of writing tough yeah I was I was writing and reflecting the other day um and just stuff in the the uh book I'm kind of working on just you know just kind of the whole reflection of this trip.
• 41:00
  SPEAKER_00: Um I don't know I I did this experience I'm sure there's gonna be like other things that come up I mean I have a bucket list but I'm far more excited by the prospect of like um you know I'm I'm excited about like where my business is heading right now because that's you know film is something I'm really passionate about and um you know working working on the book about this trip and um how rad is how rad is that though I mean it doesn't have I think that's something that this is probably a a trap that a lot of people get sucked into when they do things that other people want to live vicariously through is that they want that person to continue doing big things so that they can continue living vicariously through them and and not have to live maybe their own life.
• 41:54
  SPEAKER_00: And so there's definitely a form of pressure associated with doing that kind of trip like you did and coming out and other people going like all right well what are you going to do next I want to hear more about it.
• 42:03
  SPEAKER_01: Right yeah and and I mean it's definitely like brought a bit of an anxiety with it.
• 42:10
  SPEAKER_01: I mean it's not like um not like a a huge deal but I mean like uh you know like Posner put all those videos up um which I thought super cool and like uh I don't know I really admire that he took the time to do that and I think it was kind of a cool story to tell um but at you know at the same time those uh video I mean the last one he put up had it's at like over 2200 views or something.
• 42:41
  SPEAKER_01: I'm getting the followers constantly throughout the day and you know the people asking what's next and I don't know like well if I want to be like I want people to still like me or be interested like don't I have to figure out like something really big next but I'm that's not what I want.
• 42:58
  SPEAKER_01: I you know I I'm I I consider myself an artist.
• 43:03
  SPEAKER_01: I I view the walk as art or a project and there's projects that can come out of that project.
• 43:08
  SPEAKER_01: You know the book I'm I'm putting together a short little documentary about the trip like I'm passionate about those things and I I see like the walk as an experience that I can use to create art with and I at least like to focus on those projects for a while before I'm like trying to climb Mount Everest or something.
• 43:28
  SPEAKER_01: You're not gonna do that.
• 43:30
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah no I and so it's I like I think that it takes a it it requires you to take a step back and and and realize that the reason why these people are interested in what you did was because you did something that you were interested in and interested in doing for yourself right I think that's that's a big I I apologize for tying a lot of this back to Mike Posner but I think that's a big layer for some of his past success uh over the past four or five years is a lot of the content that Who's producing a lot of things that he does are very much things that he believes are things he should be doing, not for other people.
• 44:07
  SPEAKER_00: And there is something to be said about doing things that might impact other people and in some forms of work.
• 44:12
  SPEAKER_00: But at the same time, when you're doing some form of artistic expression or some sort of larger project in your own time, a lot of the value that comes out of that, it seems, is provided by this idea of authenticity.
• 44:25
  SPEAKER_00: This is the idea of this podcast, is the idea that there is value associated with the things that people truly believe that they should be doing, right?
• 44:33
  SPEAKER_00: Aligning with that statement, I want to be someone I'm proud of.
• 44:36
  SPEAKER_00: When someone is being the person that they feel like they are proud to be, other people tend to kind of band around them and band around the projects and ideas that they follow into or that they do.
• 44:48
  SPEAKER_00: I think there's something very powerful about that sentiment and about maybe rejecting to a to a uh, in an effect, rejecting the desire of others for you to do cool things and instead replacing it with that with the personal desire for you to do cool things, right?
• 45:04
  SPEAKER_00: To do things that you're passionate about, because that was those will probably bring out your uh your your best work.
• 45:10
  SPEAKER_00: Um I think that's a pretty cool place uh to wrap up because I think it ties together quite a few different uh trends of this this conversation.
• 45:23
  SPEAKER_00: Um it's interesting that there is and it makes sense, right?
• 45:30
  SPEAKER_00: At every point in this conversation, we've brought up elements that are parts of the environment that have some tinge of anxiety, which is just life.
• 45:40
  SPEAKER_00: There's always going to be these kind of components of anxiety or or just negative emotions.
• 45:46
  SPEAKER_00: I'm using anxiety as a kind of broad term right now, but those kind of like negative emotions.
• 45:52
  SPEAKER_00: Um it's that you had them before the trip, you had negative experiences during the trip.
• 45:57
  SPEAKER_00: And now, because of the trip, you're actually having some form of uh of experiences, uh, you know, people asking you what you're gonna do next that are, in effect, some sort of negative experiences.
• 46:08
  SPEAKER_00: It's not that any sort of trip like this is capable of eliminating those experiences from life.
• 46:14
  SPEAKER_00: It's more that they are uh allowing you to test yourself in a new way, test your new perspective or test the experiences that you gained in a new perspective and see how you're going to deal with those things in a new light.
• 46:26
  SPEAKER_00: Like you mentioned, you know, you may now take similar experiences as you had before that were anxiety-filled, but view them with confidence and and and implement uh them or or tactics around them with discipline, you know, creating focus.
• 46:39
  SPEAKER_00: So it sounds like you may be better off because of the trip in in your day-to-day life.
• 46:44
  SPEAKER_00: I would wonder, yeah, as you look back over this conversation that we just had over the past 45 minutes, is there any one sentiment or or multiple sentiments that you feel like you would want a listener to take out of it?
• 46:59
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, um I mean, I I think there's like a couple on my mind right now.
• 47:06
  SPEAKER_01: Um and I mean I I I loved what you just said about um, you know, the the negative experiences before the trip and the negative experiences on the trip, and that like going going and doing something like this is not gonna fix everything.
• 47:23
  SPEAKER_01: Um, because that that stuck out to me and it's it's been on my mind a lot because as I've kind of been assimilating back into quote unquote normal life, I've you know, even had a couple people comment saying, like, you know, you're not really any different than before you left.
• 47:40
  SPEAKER_01: And um, I think people have this expectation that like if I, you know, you go on some kind of self-discovery journey or you know, whatever you want to call something like this, um, that it's gonna be life-changing.
• 47:57
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and it will it was life-changing, but it didn't like change your environment.
• 48:03
  SPEAKER_00: You know, yeah, like I'm you still value new things, but maybe you still maybe now you're capable of implementing them a little better.
• 48:11
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 48:12
  SPEAKER_01: So I I guess that's like one point that has been on my mind a lot, is like I'm still me, and uh I guess I I don't really know what I'm trying to get out here.
• 48:25
  SPEAKER_01: It's just been it's just been one big thing on my mind, is and I I liked how you worded it, is like there's there's gonna be like negative aspects to everything.
• 48:34
  SPEAKER_01: And going on a trip like this isn't gonna like change who you are.
• 48:38
  SPEAKER_01: But yeah, I I there are definitely things I learned and things I can uh apply to life afterwards.
• 48:46
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so that's that's kind of like one point I wanted to touch on.
• 48:50
  SPEAKER_01: Probably the the underlying theme though, uh, you know, with you saying, like if there's anything I would want a listener to take away is um there's always a reason not to do what you want to do.
• 49:05
  SPEAKER_01: And I I want to tread carefully how I say this because there are very legitimate excuses or reasonings that sometimes, you know, like, yeah, if you're like a quadruple amputee, you might not be able to walk across America, you know, like there's health, there's health things that can get in the way, there's family, financial, but but I think a lot of times when people are saying, Oh, I wish I could do something like that, it would take sacrifices.
• 49:36
  SPEAKER_01: And I had to make some sacrifices, nothing too extreme.
• 49:40
  SPEAKER_01: But I think there's oftentimes a way to make those things happen.
• 49:45
  SPEAKER_01: I think it's just in our nature to put the bigger things off because it seems like too big of a bite to chew.
• 49:50
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, 100%.
• 49:53
  SPEAKER_01: And having had this experience, I that would be my biggest thing to anyone, would just be encouraging people to really look at what your reasonings are for not doing what you what you know you want or need to be doing, and and really, really analyze, you know, could could this be worked around?
• 50:13
  SPEAKER_01: Could I go do this right now?
• 50:15
  SPEAKER_01: Because if if not right now, there's a good chance it's never gonna happen.
• 50:20
  SPEAKER_00: If not right now, there's a chance it'll never happen.
• 50:23
  SPEAKER_00: Love it, man.
• 50:24
  SPEAKER_00: Love it.
• 50:24
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks for coming on the podcast.
• 50:26
  SPEAKER_00: I really appreciate it.
• 50:26
  SPEAKER_01: Dude, thank you so much for having me.
• 50:28
  SPEAKER_01: I appreciate it.
• 50:36
  SPEAKER_00: If you liked this episode of Seeking Authenticity, that's freaking awesome.
• 50:41
  SPEAKER_00: 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.
• 50:49
  SPEAKER_00: I mean really breathe.
• 50:51
  SPEAKER_00: Breathe so that it stretches out your shoulders and your back and your chest and pushes out your stomach.
• 50:56
  SPEAKER_00: No more of these shallow, bullshit breaths.
• 50:58
  SPEAKER_00: They're barely keeping you alive, my friend.
• 51:01
  SPEAKER_00: And after you exhale, go out and soak up today.
• 51:04
  SPEAKER_00: 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.
• 51:12
  SPEAKER_00: So be authentic with them.
• 51:14
  SPEAKER_00: Peace.