Soooo…I was on a podcast??

TL;DR, here’s the link: https://directory.libsyn.com/episode/index/show/965474e8-0ed6-4527-a513-26a270f7ae31/id/32222587

And the Youtube version https://youtu.be/vNQJeysYsPs   

The podcast asked for a head shot, so I entered “redhead stay at home dad with beard” in an AI image generator. The above result was surprisingly accurate. Freaking Hal must be stalking me.

Most of my life seems to follow the same format:

I feel like I’m stumbling around in the dark, trying to make stuff happen by shoving a bunch of round pegs in square holes. This goes on for a while, but then randomly things occasionally fit together and something pretty cool happens. This has always been because someone else seemingly came out of nowhere and helped me do stuff I didn’t think possible.

That’s pretty much what happened here.

I’ve been plugging away at this blog for nearly three years now. Mostly I do this because: 

1. it’s therapeutic
2. It sorta pissed me off that few people were talking about Post-FI life, let alone the intersection of FI and mental health. There was no one posting in this space that was an ex-cop, and hardly any that were former enlisted grunts.

Somehow, a bunch of you found this place, and I’m still in awe that any of you choose to read this stuff. Surprisingly, a bunch of you helped build the Mental Health Resource Guide, and now people are actually using that thing.

In the process of giving the Mental Health and FI talk which was the impetus for the guide, I met Jackie Cummings Koski, the co-host for the Catching Up to FI Podcast (CUtFI).

I listen to wayyyyy too many Podcasts (my wife rolls her eyes anytime I start a conversation with “I heard on a podcast…”, which is understandable, because I say it about 18 times a day), and CUtFI is in the top of my rotation. I’m still teaching FI stuff to cops at my old union hall, and “I’m too late to start” is the number one excuse I hear. CUtFI gives me some ammo to counter that shit. Plus they get some legit unique people (The School Custodian Guy??!!)  on their show, and I like their interviewing dynamic. 

So when Jackie asked me to be on her show, I was floored. And scared out of my mind. You see, Jackie asked me on the show mostly because she thought the Mental Health talk was good. 

I can do public speaking; my undergrad is in Speech, and I know the drill. If I rehearse the crap out of a talk, it usually comes out ok. Sure, I’ll have panic attacks for a few days prior, and I’ll be in a haze for a few days after, but that’s just life. But an interview? Much harder to prep for. Derp!

As a voracious podcast listener, of course I’ve always secretly wanted to be on the other side of the mic. Which was balanced by significant dread of unrehearsed speaking. Luckily no one had ever asked to interview me, so I was safe. But then Jackie asked me to come on, specifically to talk about stuff I really care about. Can’t say no there.

The interview itself ended up being lots of fun. Bill, Jackie, and Diana (who does lots of behinds the scene stuff) were amazing, and it was fun getting to know all of them better. Despite them being cool as all hell, immediately after the interview I laid down and stared at the ceiling for who knows how long. I knew my unrehearsed speaking was crap, and wondered if they’d be able to make any sense of it. I thought I’d got across a few coherent points, but knew much of it was a rambling mess. Figured there was no way they’d have enough material to let that interview see the light of day.

So I was surprised as anyone when the CUtFI crew emailed me that my interview had dropped. Luckily I was out camping with family (thanks for the tips Noel) when they sent that, and was able to live in bliss for a little longer while my phone was off. But as soon as I got back, I mustered up the courage to listen to the thing. 

Holy shit. Apparently CUtFI has this amazing editor named Fritz on the team, and he’s some sort of level 9 magician. Somehow he was able to assemble the episode so I sound like I know what the hell I’m talking about. This was just like the Pathfinders experience, but even more so; I supplied some words that sort of represent strings of thought, and an editor churches it up to make it sound 100 X better while staying true to my intent. Wow! I had no idea editors make the world go ‘round. 

So yeah, that happened. I got interviewed on a Podcast I really like, and I didn’t come off sounding like a complete idiot. Got to say…I’m over the moon and thankful that good stuff happens like this. Thanks so much people out there reading this, you make my life pretty awesome.