Cleared Hot - Powered By BRCC - Full Auto Friday - Round 83

Episode Date: December 10, 2021

Rapid Fire Q and A to finish off the week: 1. Have I ever felt like I have been "put into a situation for a reason," and dealing with negative self-talk 2. My younger brother wants to sell drugs and m...ake money and our family is starting to receive threats 3. How do you manage risk but also live a full life Enjoy

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Starting point is 00:00:00 Ladies and gentlemen, good morning. This episode of Fall Outer Friday is brought to you by Benjamin Knives. Headquartered in Oregon City, Oregon. Benjamin Knife Company has been manufacturing high-quality cutlery for over 30 years. They were established in 1987, if you want to do the math yourself. Benjamin takes pride in the fact that they manufacture an heirloom product with the potential of being passed down from generation to generation with proper use and care. Each of their knives carries a limited lifetime warranty and free sharpening and maintenance throughout the life of the knife. The company puts a strong emphasis on family values and tradition encompassing the people and products that they create. Let me just tell you. Holiday season is right around the corner.
Starting point is 00:00:40 It's like halfway around the corner, I would say. It's getting very close. I am going to be giving both my sons in their stocking a benchmaid knife because they're awesome. And if my boys end up listening to this, I'm just kidding. You're not getting one. But maybe you are. What I recommend is go to benchmaid.com and just check out what they have to offer. They have everything from fixed blade to folders to their newest edition, which is going to put you right back into the kitchen, a cutlery section.
Starting point is 00:01:06 And they've got single table knives, table knife sets, meat crafter, a three-piece set and a station knife. You can get them individually in combination. You can customize. It's pretty cool that they're bringing their craftsmanship into the kitchen. Their amazing knives, benchmaidnives.com. And that's it on the business side of the house. Shall we Q&A? All right.
Starting point is 00:01:25 We show Q&A. Here we go. Full out of Friday. 83. I'm looking at danger close now. What's up, everybody? Let's see if we can get through this. This has been a technical term for this week.
Starting point is 00:01:55 If you are around children, please turn it off right now. If you have kids in the car, or basically, if you're not listening to this on earbuds or earphones, maybe turn it off. Because this week has been a real fuck show. A lot kind of going on. A guy used to work with. back in the early days of CrossFit.
Starting point is 00:02:16 Unfortunately, he made the decision to end his life. And then just a few days after that, a guy used to know in the military was killed in a training accident. And let's just get through this fucking week. Maybe, shall we? A little Q&A. And of course, the first question that I happened to select, but I selected this before all that happened, is not necessarily a bright and shiny one. We're talking about, well, I'll get into the email and it will explain. what we're talking about. Here we go. Question number one for today's full out Friday.
Starting point is 00:02:46 This Saturday, 12.04, 2021, I was out on patrol headed to check well-being, headed to a check on a well-being call, in parentheses, non-priority. I assume that means you're going and knocking to making sure somebody's still alive to back up my partner. I made the choice to go a particular route, which I thought would get me there the fastest, while sitting at stoplight at a main intersection waiting to turn left. Out of nowhere, a jacked up black pickup truck teaboned a vehicle in the intersection. The vehicle was making a left turn. I could not believe my eyes. I grabbed the radio and called out the location and the crash. I activated the overheads and pulled into the middle of the intersection. I jumped out and activated my body camera, which is SOP, standard operating
Starting point is 00:03:32 procedure. Run over to the vehicle that was hit and assessed on the rear driver's side across for me, hold on, and assess the situation. In the front passenger seat was an unconscious female, and the driver was screaming. I looked in the back seat, and that's when my nightmare came to life. I saw two car seats with toddler boys in them. The child on the rear driver's side across from me was slumped over unconscious, and the second was right in front of me, and it took my eyes a second to focus on what I was seeing. I won't go into the gory details, but I'll I'll just say the second boy was gone. He was on the side where the truck made an impact. I relayed the information to dispatch advising we had children involved. I felt like time stopped
Starting point is 00:04:22 until the cavalry arrived. Out of nowhere were two co-workers who were off duty and just happened to be coming through the intersection at the same time of the crash. Another passerby who is a nurse came up and assisted. How weird is it that everyone was in the same place at the same time and we all went to work. Fire and rescue arrived with multiple ambulances. Helos were dispatched and one of the little guys was flown to the children's hospital. As of now, he is in stable condition to my knowledge. The two girls up front in the car were treated and released from our local ER that night. The passenger who was unconscious when I made contact was the older sister of the little boys in the back seat.
Starting point is 00:04:58 She is 12 and the little boys were three and four. I am a father of three myself. My wife and I have a six-year-old and twin, four-year-olds, all boys. When I looked in that back seat and saw those boys, shit got real. I'll admit, my eggs got scrambled, and I was in over my head. My sheriff arrived on scene and took command of the incident. He sent me to my car to remove me from the situation. He knew that I was fucked up. Here I am two days later, and I'm still trying to sort all of this out. I took proactive measures and reached out for help outside of what is being provided through
Starting point is 00:05:31 the county. A debrief is set up for everyone that was there, which I will be at. I had a session today with a therapist and we'll have another later this week. I'm truly blessed with the support of friends and family. The amount of people who have been checking in with me to make sure I'm all right has been mind-blown. I could not ask for more. Like the SEAL community, the LEL community is truly a family and the event this weekend has proven that. My sheriff said it himself later that night after the incident when he called to check on me. We don't fight alone.
Starting point is 00:06:03 I tried to go back today, but was in the office for not even two. two hours and I couldn't do it. I was so overwhelmed with catching up on the paperwork from the event and all of the chatter about it, questions being asked about it and trying to type out the narrative to the report. I had to remove myself, so I went to the undersheriff and asked to be relieved. My shift was covered and I was sent home. Needless to say, I am off for the rest of the week. With all that being said, I guess my questions for you are these. Was there a time, on duty or off, service or civilian, whether deployed overseas or state side, that you felt you were put in a situation for a reason. Not just because you were told to go, but you made the choice to take that
Starting point is 00:06:46 route. How did the choice you made impact others? Secondly, I am my own biggest critic and worst enemy. I can tell you 100 different ways I fucked up that situation, not sure if I can name one thing I did, correct. What do you do to silence that in yourself? I always say treat others the way you want to be treated. I was raised that way. How do you treat yourself the way that you treat others? I hope that that makes sense. Ooh, damn. Well, I'm going to start with A. I hope that this, to a degree, highlights for listeners, or maybe reinforces something that they already intuitively knew. And that is distress on the first responder community. Fire,
Starting point is 00:07:34 LEO, ambulance, dispatchers, everybody who is in that community, I hope that people realize that what is written out in this email, which is horrific and hard to read, is the day-to-day struggle and engagement that these men and women have in our society. These types of interactions, I myself have never seen something like this happen, but in talking to the friends that I have that work in law enforcement, this is not uncommon. And exposure to these things, it carries a burden, which you have already talked about in the email.
Starting point is 00:08:13 And I hope people realize the difficulty, the complexity, and the weight of the job that comes when you decide to become a first responder of any shape and form and serve others above yourself. This is the world that you're going to live in. and it absolutely needs to be respected and, in my opinion, admired. Does that mean that there aren't pieces of shit working in that community? Of course there are. Fuck those people. They're pieces of shit.
Starting point is 00:08:41 I am just talking about in general recognizing the sacrifice that other people make so we can go along on our daily lives and update our Instagram feeds. Okay. Now, to your email, I'm going to start with the actions of the sheriff, your boss. Him arriving on scene and realizing that your eggs were scrambled to use the phraseology that you did and then having you go back to your car and separating you from that situation was a great leadership call when he recognized or when you went to him and asked to be relieved maybe this is two two different people this is the undersheriff so maybe there my sheriff arrived
Starting point is 00:09:21 on scene so it sounds like we're talking about two different people but again this is quality leadership and I bet you it stems from the top down you go in I'm not ready to be back here I need to get out of here? And the answer to that is absolutely what can we do to help? Let's get you out of here and let's put support measures and assets in place, which it sounds like exactly what it is they're doing. I am so glad to hear that this is the organization that you are working for, because imagine the impact it would have on you if it was the opposite. If there was no sheriff to show up and remove you from that situation, or if he did show up and he didn't take those actions and you were forced to work through this, in that compromise,
Starting point is 00:10:02 mental state. It wouldn't have helped you at all, but more importantly, wouldn't have helped the people in that vehicle as well. So to me, it sounds like the leadership that your organization has their heads screwed on tight and correctly, and I'm very, very glad to hear that. To your questions, was there ever a time on due to your office service or civilian were, whether deployed or received stays out, that you felt you were put in a situation for a reason? I don't know if I've ever thought to myself, yep, this is what I was, you know, I was put here to deal with this exact situation. I never thought about it in those terms. What I do remember thinking, and I've spent a lot of time thinking about this over the years,
Starting point is 00:10:48 you know, let's say we're on a 47, a larger helicopter, and you get on a 47 with 20 people, maybe 30 people, but only 29. or 19 survive. Why was it that one person? You know, did they make a decision because they thought they were put in that position or were given that choice because, you know, that was their reason for being and it ended that way because of the way it was supposed to. And how easily could it have been me? That's probably what I have thought about the most when it comes to loss in the community that I used to work with, work with or work in. However you would want to describe it is what was what's the difference why that person and not somebody else why that person and not myself did I let somebody down by making the decisions that I made should I have
Starting point is 00:11:43 done something different to make sure that they were not in that position and it was me instead and a lot of the the mental judo that goes on with those conversations I don't think it makes sense. It certainly doesn't, I don't think I did a good job of externalizing and explaining the conversations that I've had with myself, but I do have those things. And it comes back to, I think, um, self-doubt, I guess a little bit. Or for me, I think it's, it's driven in this absolute fear that I would be in a place where I let somebody down. And then because of that, I didn't do the right thing or I failed at a standard or I failed at a tactic that somebody else would get hurt or killed because of it. So there's that constant second guessing. But like I said,
Starting point is 00:12:29 I don't think, I can't, I can't think of a time where I felt like I was put into a situation for a reason. When I was in the seal community, I definitely felt like I belonged in the community and I felt like who I was as a person helped me do that job. But I'm not going to say I was like, hey, I was put on this earth to be a seal. It's not the case at all. And I don't. I don't think a lot of guys, if not most, if not maybe even all, would say that. I actually would actually be very probably worried and concerned for somebody who said, well, I was put on this earth to be a seal. It's like, shut the fuck up, dude.
Starting point is 00:13:06 It's just a job. But I digress. What I can say about the decisions that I made when it came to taking routes or positions that I wanted to be in, I've already touched on it here just a little bit. And I think I've said this before, is that I always wanted to define the position that I thought had the most. I don't want to say danger and I don't want to say risk, but it was a combination of both of those things because I cared enough about the people that were there with me that I would rather be the one shouldering that burden so other people don't have to. So I would think about my route
Starting point is 00:13:41 and I would think about my choices through that lens, but not that like, hey, I was put here to do this. So hopefully that makes some type of sense. The second portion of your question, you have no idea how much this resonates with me. I'm my own biggest critic. my own worst enemy. I could have been the one who was writing this email. I am absolutely my own worst critic. And I know for a fact that I have let people down in my life. And they may have had for a short period of time or for the rest of my life a negative association with me because of that or felt negatively about me. But what I can say, if you are one of those people, is don't worry. I feel far worse about my actions or behavior in those moments than you. You're going to be a lot of
Starting point is 00:14:25 you could ever hate me for them. Trust me, I hate myself far more for those things. I am by far my worst critic. And it's amazing to me, I've seen this in others and I certainly see it in myself, my capacity and capability for negative self-talk. The things I'm willing to say to myself, I would never say to another person because they are so shitty. But, of course, in those moments where you fall short of your own expectations, it's just like you say these things that you would never say to somebody else. And the first step is recognizing that you're doing that. And this is actually something that I've talked with a counselor and worked through over time. But you have to interrupt that cycle. And you have to, you have to consciously get back to
Starting point is 00:15:14 something that you brought up. How do you treat yourself the way that you treat others? You have to keep that in the forefront of your mind and you have to recognize when you are spiraling into that negative self-talk and you have to stop it. And you have to figure out a different pattern or a different approach into how you either literally, it comes out of your mouth and you're talking to yourself or you are just talking to yourself in between your ears. But it's, for me, I have found it better to be process-based and it starts with that recognition. One thing I'll say this about this too is I can tell you 100 ways that I fucked up in this situation. That's okay. The one thing that's the one.
Starting point is 00:15:53 thing right now that nobody can give you is time you're really close to when this happened what day is it today it is the night so this was five days ago this comes out on the 10th by the time this comes out it will have been six days from this occurring nobody can give you the time that i feel like you are going to need to work your way through this and that's a shitty reality but the the beautiful sunset side of that is as the days go on if you continue on the approach that you have already verbalized that you are on, things are going to get better. They're just going to get better incrementally. Maybe you did fuck up 100 different ways.
Starting point is 00:16:33 You were reacting to a catastrophe. You didn't cause this catastrophe. And what I'll tell you is if you truly feel like you fell short, what I would recommend is write down the areas in which you think you could have potentially improved and then focus your effort on those things. This and so many experiences in your occupation and my old one could be viewed as failures or learning experiences, or I guess the combination of both. They'll be valuable to you if you view them as a learning experience and you continue to improve and put tools into your, well, metaphorical tool belt or literal tool belt, depending on what the situation may be. But it's, I guarantee you, I don't know you at all, but I guarantee you just based off of the. the detail and the care that you put into this email and the impact that it had on you, that you did everything that you could. It's amazing to me oftentimes how people think because
Starting point is 00:17:34 if you wear a certain uniform or you have a certain badge or you have a certain belt that you wear, I don't want to say Superman, but you wear this suit of armor that is impossible of penetration. You know, you as a law enforcement officer, you go into. the occupation and you and you clock in or radio in the beginning of your shift, you're still a father of three and a husband, you know, and there's, I have no doubt that over the course of time, you know, of doing this that you have developed coping skills and mechanisms and ways to detach. But at the end of the day, that suit of armor, just like a real suit of armor, it has gaps and creases and seams. And the point being, it's not impenetrable. So,
Starting point is 00:18:19 it's okay that something like this happened, especially because you sound to be like you're working for a very well-structured team. So I would take what happened and use it as, and again, I doubt you did everything wrong. I suspect you did quite a bit of this correct. But if you really do think that you could have done better in certain areas, write those things down, and then I would say rank them, which one is, you know, from most critical to least, and then work from top down, from most critical to least. And that in and of itself, you know, and using this as a learning experience is going to hopefully help you silence that negative feedback. But what I would suggest is you've said you're already talking to somebody,
Starting point is 00:19:02 talk to them about that negative feedback loop cycle that you have found yourself in and ask them for suggestions or tools to help you break that cycle and get out of it. I fall back into it occasionally as well. It's nothing good comes from it. It doesn't help me in any way, shape, or form. And it is truly amazing to me, the things that I can say to myself that I would never even dream of saying to my worst enemy. And it's not going to help your life in any way, shape, or form. And that's it. I hope that that helps. I'm sorry that you had to go through this. And I think time in addition to the strategy you're already taken is going to get you exactly where you need to be. Thank you for what you do. Thank you for wearing the badge. And thank you for getting out there
Starting point is 00:19:45 and making sure that when something like this does happen, there are people like you who are there to help people in their worst days and worst moments. All right, question two. I doubt you will get this before I get sent away to Navy boot camp. But growing up, my family has always been in a nice place financially, as far as I know, and I've got three other younger siblings underneath me, all three years apart.
Starting point is 00:20:11 The one closest to my age, I'm 21 and he is now 18, has felt the need to make a lot of money really fast for some reason that I really don't understand. He is obviously still young and has plenty of life to live, but graduated from high school early. During his high school days, he got into quite a bit of trouble with weed while I was away at college on one of which one of these instances led to his arrest. However, he still managed to land an apprenticeship and an electrical company right out of graduation. Less than a month into it, he decided he wasn't making enough money and started to sell his drugs again. that he could live his lavish lifestyle as he called it. I'm really concerned for him as he's already gotten into trouble once,
Starting point is 00:20:50 and my family has had threats against our house and livelihood already because of what he has been doing. If you could help out with a way to bring up my concerns with him, it would be great, but there's probably not a good chance that you'll get this before I'm gone. Well, I apologize if I didn't get to this before you were gone, but guess what? Navy boot camp doesn't last forever. And it sounds like you're not. You're going to be a lot. And it sounds like your brother is currently in the fuckwood phase. So that generally will last from months to multiple years. And I suspect when you get back, he may not have made a substantial life change. So it's still going to give you the opportunity to perhaps address these issues with him.
Starting point is 00:21:32 My advice, a way to bring up your concerns with him. I would do it one directly and two as a family. Because I think if he continues to go down the path that he is on, you as an individual and your family as a collective may at some point in time need to make a decision to distance yourself from him. I'd be really curious to sit this person down. Fascinated to hear what a lavish lifestyle sounds like at 18. I remember when I was 18 and I think a lavish lifestyle probably would have been unlimited carnage soda burritos, a truck. like an apartment. I don't know. I'd be fascinated to know
Starting point is 00:22:19 what level of money he feels like he needs, what he needs it for, and why he feels like the only way that he could make it would be through the sale of the drugs. Having said that, I'm actually not aware of how much money is even available in that ecosystem, if you will, but obviously it is enticing to him.
Starting point is 00:22:43 So back to your question. I would sit your brother down. And it sounds like everybody's three young or something underneath me. I would probably leave your 15 year old sibling out and your 12 year old sibling out or leave that up to your parents. But I would sit down with your brother and I would address the issue with him directly. And in addressing the issue directly, specifically the things that have happened in relationship to your family. Threats against the house and livelihood because of his actions. When presented with him, that information, he'll have a choice, a choice to change his behavior or a choice to continue down the path that he is on. I have said this many times, and I'll probably say it many more times. I think it's very dangerous to light yourself on fire to keep somebody else warm. If your brother makes the decision that he wants to change course, that would be amazing because as a family, you guys would be able to support him. If he makes it a decision, he makes the decision. He wants to change course. That would be able to support him. If he makes a decision that he doesn't really care about the impact that his actions have on the family, and I look at this as, you know, I have a son who's 18 as well. And I let's,
Starting point is 00:23:56 I'm trying to view this through the lens of the options that I would have available as a father. Slightly different situation because there's a co-parenting issue involved with that, but let's just say that there was not that issue. I guess there would be a, I guess there would be a, I guess, there would be a third option here. One would be he wants to change his behavior. Secondly, it would be during this conversation, you literally stage an intervention and get this person to a treatment facility. And then, of course, after that, you probably still have to decide he would have the choice to change his behavior or continue on. But if he wants to continue on, and there's this negative impact to your family that sounds to me like it's escalating. And if this is happening at 18 and he's
Starting point is 00:24:37 going to expand his empire, it's probably not going to get better for your family at 19, 2020. and on into the future, you're going to have to come to a place where you decide that he is now on his own and distance has to be created or not. And that's a tough one. But families who know that this type of behavior is going on, but refuse to take any action about it are complaining about a fire while pouring gasoline on it. And I think we can all guess where that will eventually lead. The best path that I think you can take, and this is the path that I would take, if it was my own son, would be very direct. I would lay out options. I would provide options and then let that individual make the decision. But once that decision is made, especially if the decision is
Starting point is 00:25:33 for them to continue their own behavior, they have to understand the consequences, and then you have to hold the line. If you hold the line for a little bit, and then it's forgiven, and then there's support, and then you hold the line a little bit, and then it's forgiven, and it's all based off of how much threat or trouble the individual is in. Nobody's helping anybody. And as a parent, you're not actually doing your job. What you're doing is enabling, as opposed to actually parenting your children. Easier said than done. But that is my advice, and hopefully it helps. And good luck with Navy Boot Camp. I hope you enjoy learning how to march and fold your underwear and t-shirts in a manner that you will never do for the rest of your life.
Starting point is 00:26:08 Enjoy. All right off the bat, I love the podcast and have a vast appreciation for the advice and stories that you share with a non-military portion of your viewership in a personal, personable manner. I'm sure you've spoken on this subject before, but haven't watched every single episode to be able to hear your opinion. That's very rude. As someone who has been fortunate enough to go most of my life without being in a true life or death situation, I struggle with actually facing my own mortality.
Starting point is 00:26:34 Since starting to ride motorcycles in the last few years, I have since found a new respect for death and the fragility of us soft bodies. In parentheses, probably use that term incorrectly. Every time I start at my bike, I'm taking an increased risk for the pure enjoyment and freedom that two wheels provides. So my question is,
Starting point is 00:26:49 what's your perspective on the idea of using this mentality to live a fuller life without constantly making every decision based on the fear of not surviving to be 90 years old? How do you balance the two in order to enjoy the time you have without taking it too far in making bad decisions. Well, this is where I wish email or this portion of the podcast could be a little bit more two-way, because what do you mean by bad decisions? This question to me is about risk, risk assessment and then
Starting point is 00:27:19 risk tolerance. I think you identified it correctly. Every time you start up a bike, you're taking an increased risk for the pure enjoyment and freedom that two wheels provide. Now, I also love riding motorcycles. And I also recognize that there is an increased risk there. What I think would be dangerous would be, one, that there is not that recognition. So you would not be paying attention. And to me, I think I've said this before as well, there is risk that I'm willing to tolerate and accept. And that's after it's been assessed and mitigated to the best of my ability.
Starting point is 00:27:59 And let's use a motorcycle with an example. How could you assess assess and mitigate risk? Let's talk about the weather, right? What's the weather like outside? For me right now, outside, it's snowing. Probably not a good time to be riding anything with two wheels, right? So I'll assess that risk and realize, hey, maybe my truck is probably better. How about your currency on the bike?
Starting point is 00:28:18 How about the condition of the bike? Is the bike serviceable? Is it been maintained? Have you been riding consistently? Have you been through a rider safety course? Let's talk about riding equipment. Do you have head to toe? you know, from riding footwear all the way up to a riding helmet with padding for potential falls
Starting point is 00:28:38 and abrasion resistant material, whether it be riding jeans, which full disclosure people don't actually do that much. There's much better riding pants that you could get. But hey, go with what you want to go with as long as it's an educated choice. Right. So every time that you get on a bike or are thinking about getting on a bike, you can, you know, what's the route you're going to take? Is it going to be rush hour? Is it a rural area? Is it an urban area? Is it an early? urban area. Every time you get ready to go on a bike, you can assess those things and mitigate them to the best of your ability. Maybe you could choose a different time of day. You could avoid riding if it's poor weather. You could always make sure you're riding in riding gear from
Starting point is 00:29:13 top to bottom. That's going to leave you with the residual risk. For me, I'm willing to accept that risk. What I'm not willing to do is gamble, which would be walk out into the garage, like if somehow I could teleport into the garage and I hit the button to open the garage, but the bike's already on and I'm on it and I just gas out of there and I have no idea necessarily where I want to go, but I'm going to go at top speed. I haven't looked at any of those things. I'm not wearing my riding gear. That's gambling.
Starting point is 00:29:40 I'm not willing to do that. But I also want to live a full life, just like you mentioned in your email. Surviving to 90 years old, if I'm talking about just me, I don't know if that's necessarily the goal or end state for me. My body has a lot of mileage on it from my previous occupation. and I don't know how well I'm going to be functioning at 90, but I do want to live as long as possible. Well, let me take that back.
Starting point is 00:30:09 I want to live as long as I can with my mind and my body in a condition where I still can go out and enjoy living life, doing the things that I want to do that provide enrichment and empowerment and fulfillment for me. maybe that's 80 but I do the things that I want to do I would rather only live to 80 and pack a full life as full as humanly possible or like you're trying to smash down the top of the Tupperware but mashed potatoes is coming out on all the sides I'd rather live 80 and be like that then make it to 90 and in that same Tupperware of experiences there's an eyedropper of fucking tears because I have regret that I didn't do the things that I wanted to do
Starting point is 00:30:56 You know, I'm glad that you haven't been in a life or death situation. I think there's value that comes from it because it throws that mortality in your face, and I think it can give you an enhanced appreciation and respect for a lot of things. But what I would caution people against is living in fear and constantly feeling like there is a guillotine over the back of their neck, constantly and consistently worrying about their own mortality. And I'm not saying that it's like, just, hey, just don't worry about those things. I understand that it's a very easy thing to say
Starting point is 00:31:32 and perhaps a hard thing to do. But if you're paying attention to risk and you do assess and you do mitigate and you're still scared about the activity that you're doing, I would say that you haven't done enough assessment or mitigation or perhaps find a different activity. I mean, I don't know what is worse. Like I said, going out a little bit earlier
Starting point is 00:31:56 with that full life or going out a little bit later with regret that you didn't live a full life. I mean, I'm taking door number one on that for sure. So I like your headspace. I like the headspace of being aware of risk. When it comes to almost anything, when people ask me about, hey, what should I do? Or what do you think about these two options? I'm going to land on, I want people to make an educated decision, whether that's to take the vaccine or not. whether it's to go down a particular occupational route, whether it's to start a new hobby,
Starting point is 00:32:27 whether it's to ride a motorcycle. Educate yourself, talk to a professional, and make educated choices based off of those experiences and that enhanced knowledge. The only thing that I don't think people should do is gamble. I say that. I mean, if you want to live your life, however you want to live your life, you go do you. I'm going to do me. I think there's a reason that the casinos are so big and make so much money.
Starting point is 00:32:57 It's because people are gambling. You can't even, you can't sit there and say, why. I'm going to go play blackjack because I have assessed the risk, that negative. You know, when you play blackjack, you're gambling and the odds are actually in the house's favor. So your approach is a good one, but it can be taken too far. I just don't think that people should live their lives in fear. If you are afraid of something, to me, it's a very good indication, well, depending on the activity. But if you take in all the steps that you think that you can and you're still afraid, well, maybe take a little bit more time to try to understand that fear.
Starting point is 00:33:35 It could be irrational. And I will say this. I've said it many times. Fear of death is actually not what keeps people alive. It's objective problem solving and objectively assessing and mitigating and deciding whether or not. they can tolerate the residual risk. And every single one of us has risk involved every single day of our lives. As you get older in life, probably one of the biggest risks is that you're going to fall down and hurt yourself and not be able to recover. It's not necessarily the risk
Starting point is 00:34:03 when you're younger, but if you drive to work, if you ride the subway, if you're out intermingling with other human beings, guess what? Your life is full of risk. Personally, what I do is I look for things that I'm afraid of in my life and I start to try to lean into those, but I don't do it from a gambling perspective. I try to understand first why it is that I'm afraid of them. And then I try to find an approach to incrementally reduce that fear. While at the same time, keeping the risk in the forefront, constantly assessing and reassessing. You can't just assess one time and just think you're good.
Starting point is 00:34:40 Writing a motorcycle is a great example. If you're going on a two-hour ride, you need to be assessing the weather, the road conditions, everything constantly and consistently throughout. So that's what I do with that. and I personally have gotten to a place where I understand pretty well my risk tolerance, and I suggest that you do the same. And hopefully that gets you focusing less on this guillotine at the end of life and allows you to live more in the moment where you can find that fulfillment and empowerment. And that's it.
Starting point is 00:35:07 That's all I got for this week. See you all Monday. Ladies and gentlemen, thank you. Thanks for taking the time to tune in, whether you're listening on an audio-only platform or you're watching on YouTube, I appreciate that you take the time every week to tune in. People ask me a lot, what can they do to help me spread the word? And the answer is actually embedded in the question. The biggest thing you guys can do to help me if you enjoy the podcast and you think it would be helpful to others is subscribe and share it with other people. And if you have the time,
Starting point is 00:35:58 go on to Apple Podcasts and leave me a rating and a review. If you think the podcast sucks, tell me it sucks and leave a zero star review or the lowest stars possible. If you have a question, comment or suggestion, you can go to clearedhotpodcast.com, and there is a contact me button right there, which will land in my inbox. And the last thing, if people are interested in helping out, what you can do is fly the old flag. And by that I don't mean an actual flag because they don't have any of those. I'm talking about t-shirts or sweatshirts or hats, whatever it may be. Again, cleardotpodcast.com, click on the shop tab.
Starting point is 00:36:38 And hopefully something in there looks like it would be an item you would like to wear around town. And then you could tell people what it is when they ask you. But that is it. The biggest thing I can say is thank you. I truly appreciate it. Until next time. See you.

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