Oversharing with the Overbys
Welcome to Oversharing with The Overbys! In this podcast series, Jo and Matt Overby cover a wide variety of topics—from parenting lessons, life stories, to personal relationships. Take an inside look on the lives of Jo and Matt as they navigate the adventures of adulthood and overshare online.
Episodes available monthly with a weekly option available via Patreon if you're looking for more!
Oversharing with the Overbys
The Brick Effect and Time Management
Join us as we continue to reveal plans to transform an old building into our dream podcast studio, and ideas of a relaunch and overhaul of the pod. We talk renovation strategies, a return to Matt's social media content creation, and their experiment with "Bricking" phones to reduce screen time and improve mental well-being.
• Announcing plans to renovate a rundown building into a dedicated podcast studio
• Reflecting on July's positive impact on mental health and family activities
• Matt's preparation for an upcoming fitness competition
• Return to social media with a more intentional approach
• Discussion of the "Brick" phone experiment to limit phone usage
• How Matt falls down research rabbit holes when using technology
• Insights on breaking backyard renovations into manageable zones
• Advice on masters swimming programs for adult swimmers
• Thoughts on navigating political differences in conservative areas
• Becoming more comfortable with authentic identity rather than fitting in
Tune in next month for our September episode as we continue developing our podcast studio renovation plans!
If you've got a voicemail or want our (likely unqualified) advice on something, hit us up at the Speakpipe link below!
http://www.speakpipe.com/oversharingwiththeoverbys
If you'd like to email us you can reach the pod at oversharing@jojohnsonoverby.com!
And if you want to support the podcast and gain access to all episodes, check out https://www.patreon.com/oversharing!
CONNECT:
TikTok: @jojohnsonoverby / @matt.overby
Instagram: @jojohnsonoverby / @matt.overby
Website: https://jojohnsonoverby.com/
Watch the Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL29Si0ylWz2qj5t6hYHSCxYkvZCDGejGq
Welcome to Oversharing with Overbees. I'm Jo. And I'm Matt, and each week you can tune in to hear us respond to your voicemails, go in-depth on our lives as content creators and hopefully leave you feeling even better than we found you.
Speaker 2:With that being said, let's get to Oversharing.
Speaker 1:I was looking at everybody's feedback from talking about the podcast studio idea.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:People are on board.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 1:So I know that this is our monthly. You haven't heard our weekly conversations, but Matt and I have been talking about taking a break from the pod, with the commitment being that we do an entire flip.
Speaker 2:A flip.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Flip or flop.
Speaker 1:It is a flip or flippity flop. I think that if we're going to do it, we need to put like a launch date on when the podcast is relaunching, like I think there needs to be a deadline.
Speaker 2:Do you know what I mean? I was just thinking the exact opposite that we wouldn't, that we wouldn't hiatus until the podcast studio was complete.
Speaker 1:Wait, we're going to keep recording while building out the podcast studio. Is that what you're thinking?
Speaker 2:Well, I mean, I figure I'm going to be doing a lot of the podcast studio, so I don't know I'm not following.
Speaker 1:Give me some. Okay, so let me actually to just clue everybody in here. Hello, Welcome back, glad you're here. Happy August, we're into school, starting Things are happening. It's the end of summer. Yeah, Oddly enough, it is raining again today while we record. It has rained like 85% of podcasts we have recorded this year. It's pretty wild, but I have been talking with Matt about kind of starting over on the podcast, because we love talking with you all. We love this format. We have a group of really dedicated listeners that we love, but we'd like to be having a little bit more structured conversations and doing a better job of clipping things and really bringing the podcast online more.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I know that everything's online, technically speaking. No, just like it. I think it's more that if we're going to keep doing it, we want to like, really do it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and if you've been here for a long time, you probably know that we had the whole fiasco with the podcast when it launched. We never anyway. It's been this thing that we've really done, for the love of the game more than anything. And Matt and I thought you know what, if this has legs, being that we redo an old building that we have on our property that is currently pretty darn run down.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And, but it has a brand new roof from when we moved in.
Speaker 2:It's got a new roof. It's got a few windows.
Speaker 1:I want Matt and I to document finishing out and completely redoing this, building ourselves and making it into a podcast studio and then relaunching what if we just podcasted from the rubble?
Speaker 2:that's a bit no, anyway, never mind it just sounds like a lot of work no, I mean, I feel like that would be a bit that's funny only for me if we podcasted from a demolished garage.
Speaker 1:We can do it.
Speaker 2:No, it's fine If you're going to set it up.
Speaker 1:Every week we can do it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it'd be fine.
Speaker 1:Can we get power down there when it's demolished?
Speaker 2:It's already got power.
Speaker 1:Yes, I understand that there's power to the building.
Speaker 2:If it's demolished, it's already got power. Yes, I understand that.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, power to the building if we've demolished the building oh yeah, on the inside. How do we power everything?
Speaker 2:it'll be totally fine. We can turn the power back on to podcast, turn it off for, uh, demolishing more I guess you have to have power tools working down there.
Speaker 1:So well, a lot of those are battery powered, but yeah okay that I was giving you a way to make me feel better and you decided to just double down and go.
Speaker 2:No, no, no, it would be totally fine, okay, yeah, I'm like we would leave the power that runs down there as is for the time being okay but it already has. It has power. It does not have water, which I think long term you would want water doesn't it have water run down there though? There's a spigot, but I think maybe when they put this garage in they got the water line between.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:I don't know that or I have to dig out, it doesn't matter.
Speaker 1:We have a lot of things to figure out is the point, yeah, and Matt and I have just been kind of thrown around the idea of doing that and all that to say. I think we would have to put a deadline on it of like podcast is coming back March 1st, gotcha, yeah, I think that makes sense. That way, there's something you're working toward and there's an end date in mind of we have to have it done by this, so that we can do all the things.
Speaker 2:Am I crazy for thinking that like I could finish that in like six weeks?
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Only, I think you are 100% capable of finishing it in six weeks with how you work If we send our children to Timbuktu for six weeks.
Speaker 2:I don't know, I just feel like six, six work weeks, that's like 30 days.
Speaker 1:If it's, we're talking monday to friday uh-huh, okay, and when are you gonna do anything else that you?
Speaker 2:do.
Speaker 1:That's fair yeah like so am I then giving up the stuff I do on a day-to-day basis.
Speaker 2:So I do dinner and laundry and we pop a mask on the baby, which is fine, again, it's not a problem. I put a mask on the baby, pop them down there. We're doing demo together. Yeah there we go.
Speaker 1:He'd love that.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:I think that that's where I don't think you're crazy to think that you can do it in six weeks. I think sometimes, when you set timelines, you forget about all of the like you're like this is how much time it would take me yeah if I had no other obligations yeah, that's how I used to schedule work yeah, you schedule your whole life like that still
Speaker 2:yeah it's why you're always like you're chronically behind and you're chronically late yeah, that's probably why, for sure, I'm actually pretty good at timing stuff usually yeah but something I'm really bad at that you're really good at is an itinerary. I always overstuff an itinerary.
Speaker 1:Oh, gotcha Like if I have friends coming to town for a weekend, I try to fit too much into the weekend.
Speaker 2:Yeah, because an itinerary really depends, it's the logistics. I feel like you pack an itinerary full of stuff like all the time is accounted for, but going place to place is not accounted for.
Speaker 1:And I think again, adding kids to the mix made it harder.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, definitely, Definitely. Anyway, all that to say we're chit-chatting about a Renault series Somewhere over the next nine months.
Speaker 1:I think it would be a lot of fun to do that as a whole, because we could completely make over the space. It would get us back into our design element that we love so much a lot of the labor element that we love so much and give us an opportunity to do something with that building.
Speaker 2:I think it should be a good workspace like it's a win, and a win and a win it'd give us a separate workspace from the house? Yeah, which would mean the kids wouldn't be in and out as much.
Speaker 1:Do people? I'm always curious how people perceive our house online.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Because we don't have a dedicated like Matt has a really teeny tiny office, but we really don't have a dedicated like office or workspace in this home.
Speaker 2:Yeah or a playroom. And the office wouldn't really be a place that you record.
Speaker 1:Yeah not that you have to have those things, no.
Speaker 2:But there wouldn't. There's not a visual like there's not a great way to video in the office no so you like, even even talking to camera and stuff would be kind of weird in there plus, people would just hear you in the house and be like what up?
Speaker 1:Update everybody about the last month. What have we had going on?
Speaker 2:Oh man, the last month, that is so much time that I'm so bad with time.
Speaker 1:I think July was one of the best months I've had in years.
Speaker 2:Really yeah, just like in terms of stuff you were doing.
Speaker 1:I think my overall mental health, the things we were doing. I think my overall mental health, the things we were doing, uh, everything. I just felt good, like I had a nice time most of the time oh good I've had a couple days that aren't that way, but overall like I just really enjoyed myself I was gonna say I feel like we did a lot of.
Speaker 2:I feel like we did a lot of different things that were fun, but had a. We had. I mean, we went with our. We went to silver dollar city with our friends. We hosted a couple of different times. We've just been trying to catch up with outdoor and spend a lot of good time with the kids. Yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean it's not, but I don't have anything huge that makes it that way, just as I was kind of going back through pictures to start doing my July album. I was like oh man, this month was really good.
Speaker 2:That's good.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:I wouldn't have guessed that.
Speaker 1:No, yeah, I know why.
Speaker 2:Why why?
Speaker 1:um um, your perception of me generally is negative, not? Maybe that's not the right way to word it okay I don't mean negative and like that. You think poorly of me yeah, I. I assume your reaction to me is negative yeah, like you, assume me to be upset at all times yeah which has been you. Don't do that all the time, though, like you it's.
Speaker 1:It ends with your mental health oh yeah, if your mental health's good, you assume me to be happy with you. And if your mental health's bad, you assume me to be unhappy with you. And it really has nothing to do with, like it's not really based on my feelings or behaviors at all yeah, I guess that's true and the thing is, when I'm, when I am unhappy with you, I think you use it as evidence of like yeah, and then when I am happy with you, you're like oh, I guess I just don't know anything, I'm a lost boy, yeah, so yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:No, that's fair. I you know I don't have an internal voice, but it's not nice to me. What's?
Speaker 1:up there. No, it's really it's not nice at all.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I guess all I've been doing I feel like all I've been doing this month is working out and like I haven't even been working out that much, but it hurts so much that I'm either working out or recovering from working out.
Speaker 1:You've gotten back onto your grind.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah. Since I committed to a fitness competition, I decided I had to get in shape. So back to eating clean again, back to working out and scaling the workouts up, and I am going to have to very soon start running, which I hate.
Speaker 1:You're a good runner, though.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'm a good runner, but I hate it. I've been using the heat as an excuse not to run, and now it's cooling off, so I guess now is the time.
Speaker 1:No better time than the present.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's raining right now, so I can put it off one more day. It's gonna stop raining and then then I need to run because there's nothing in this world that could convince me to run for my fitness.
Speaker 1:I'll run for my life, and that's it.
Speaker 2:I was gonna say, if someone like threatened to kill you and chase you every day, like that would be a training program that you could do.
Speaker 1:I know, like after one good chase, I think like if that's what it takes every day yeah take me out. It's my time. That's crazy day two.
Speaker 2:You're like, I can't maintain this yeah, like, what are we doing?
Speaker 1:I'd rather get got I'm gonna live on the edge, thinking I have to run at any time, the rest of forever, like yeah, also, I feel like it would take you like five days to recover from running that hard.
Speaker 2:Yes, so it definitely couldn't be every day and I don't feel like it would take you like five days to recover from running that hard yes so it definitely couldn't be every day and I don't feel like I'm necessarily in bad.
Speaker 1:Well, I'm not in good, but like I'm not in terrible shape it has nothing to do with your shape I'm a terrible. You've been in excellent shape and I just haven't I've been a horrible runner, yeah, um, anyway, yeah, we don't really have that much to update on no, no, just working out kid time and had a few different back in the groove, back in the.
Speaker 2:Oh, we do have something to update on what uh, matt's back on social media oh yeah, I have two posts on social media in the last and you filmed another one, didn't you? Yeah, I've got another one filmed. Well, no, I've done three. I have three videos I've done. I need to put one on Instagram. I've just I've had it edited. It's a draft that has everything but a caption and has been for the last five days.
Speaker 1:I'm proud of you.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so no, no back on social media doing the videos and whatnot.
Speaker 1:What's funny is you do at the same time of year every year. What's up with that? I don't know is august, like your new year, do you think?
Speaker 2:it's that I get to my birthday and I'm like you gotta be better this year do you think? I do think that's probably part of it.
Speaker 1:We should look back, because if I started last july, you started before your birthday last oh, okay, I decided I wanted some momentum going and you had a good stretch last july.
Speaker 2:You started before your birthday last oh okay, I decided I wanted some momentum going you had a good stretch last year.
Speaker 1:Like you, gave it a good, solid, six, eight weeks eight, yeah, six or eight weeks, yeah. So if you do that times six, that's a whole year babe, that's true.
Speaker 2:It's at least, you know, three quarters of a year, which would be it's at least you know, three quarters of a year, which would be the record a lot of packages uh yeah, I know what those are oh okay, yeah, dang it. Do you want me to look at them? Do you think they're for you?
Speaker 2:I was hoping they were for me well, they're for me to clean up oh man, well, that's kind of for me for my birthday I think I really just got myself a bunch of organizing stuff for the garages. That's cool. Yeah, yep, just got some shelves. I built some shelves. I got some bags to store stuff and put them on shelves. I also got a giant rack to go up above. It's like a three by eight ceiling mounted rack wow yeah so basically, things are happening at the overby house.
Speaker 2:Yeah I feel like the garage really weighs on you, so you know what weighs on me, what? Stuff, yeah, but the garage is full of stuff.
Speaker 1:Well, we just have. I really would love to go on a minimizing journey.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 1:Like a hefty minimizing journey. I think it would be good for both of us.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but Matt likes, likes stuff, I do like stuff, but I haven't, I have not been getting a lot of stuff no, not like you used to years, but you I used to just get stuff there are a lot of people that I don't think like.
Speaker 1:I think they're using stuff as a coping mechanism.
Speaker 2:Sure.
Speaker 1:I think you actually like stuff. Yeah, Like I think you're a bit of a maximalist, in a way.
Speaker 2:When it comes to certain things, like the things I have. I like to have many of.
Speaker 1:I think you treat stuff like you treat your vocabulary. Gotcha, you can never have too much. You want it to be hyper specific, like I am very much like yeah, good enough yeah and so I will use the same item, even though it's not the perfect tool for the job. I'll use the same like item to do all the things, and it's just okay with me that it's not the best tool for the job sure, sure, sure sure which has its pros and cons that's true.
Speaker 2:No, I feel like these days I'm trying to, uh, if I get stuff, it's for organizing, it's for cleaning up or it has a specific job. That's good. Like those are my. I try not to get more things to have things or do stuff with if it doesn't serve the purpose of moving our house forward right now. If we get everything in a place, then we can look at what stuff we have and what stuff we need to replace and all that kind of jazz.
Speaker 1:I don't think we need anything else.
Speaker 2:No, I don't think so either, but I had. I used to buy headphones. I had so many pairs of headphones.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:I mean, I still have them. I have all of them, but headphones are one of the things that I would. I wouldn't buy the most expensive ones, though I was trying to get the best bang for your buck headphones, so I had a whole menagerie.
Speaker 1:I like to buy books. I still like to buy books.
Speaker 2:Yeah, books are. They're not a consumable, but they're not. But, I think they're a good like.
Speaker 1:I don't think they're necessarily the worst investment if we had bookshelves. Oh, okay, yeah.
Speaker 2:We don't have anywhere to put books.
Speaker 1:I was like I don't think they're a good investment, but sure you don't think they're a good, like you don't think they have a return on their money financially when I say they're a good investment, I don't mean like they'll grow 10 or highly leveraged.
Speaker 2:Yeah, like that's not what I mean.
Speaker 1:I mean that, like they're a good soul investment like they make you feel good and there's something I will go back to and there's something I lend out to friends and yeah they're. You know, I think they serve a lot of purpose in my life.
Speaker 2:And.
Speaker 1:I also think they do a really good job of getting me off the internet. Oh, another huge thing for us to talk about. I keep remembering all the things I wanted to chat about. We have entered Bricktown. Bricktown oh gotcha, gotcha, I was like Bricktown.
Speaker 2:What entered Brick Town? Oh, gotcha, gotcha, I was like Brick Town, what? And then my thought was like Legos, Because I feel like maybe their city is called Brick Town. I don't know, I don't know, it doesn't matter.
Speaker 1:Anyway, brick Town Using the brick product to make our phones less, which I feel like influencers right now, like all the influencers are like I got a brick, like everybody's, like I'm addicted to my phone and everybody's getting one, and I actually still stand by what I said. I don't. I think I'm learning. I'm actually less addicted to my phone than I thought.
Speaker 2:Yeah, people would assume you're more addicted to your phone than you are. It's not even about other people.
Speaker 1:So I think something that's really interesting about the way my thought process works is if I find myself being critical of somebody else you, my family, a friend, whatever I immediately assume that it actually has nothing to do with them and it's a reflection Like I go straight to projecting.
Speaker 2:Well, it's like reverse projecting.
Speaker 1:No, no, no, no.
Speaker 2:That's not what I'm saying, oh you go immediately to assuming that you're projecting Like if I see you on your phone a lot and I'm like, oh my God, can the dude get off of your phone a lot.
Speaker 1:And I'm like, oh my god, can the dude get off of his phone? I'll be like, oh my gosh, that's not. That's really judgmental of me and I'm not like, am I doing a good job of that? Before I start being critical of, like, matt's use of his phone, I need to examine how am I using my phone and am I doing a bad job? And then I'm hyper aware of how much I'm using my phone because I'm frustrated with you using your phone. So am I doing a bad job? And then I'm hyper aware of how much I'm using my phone because I'm frustrated with you using your phone. So am I projecting like my insecurity of I'm on my phone too much on to you? And I do that in my head and then I end up convincing myself that, anyway, y'all your girl's overthinking, but not in the way that some people do, where they overthink like a situation or the interaction, I overthink my feelings I don't think my feelings at all we know yeah nobody's ever.
Speaker 1:No, I don't think anyone's ever doubted that.
Speaker 2:Just I should think my feelings more.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I should think my feelings less.
Speaker 2:Yes 100% Deal.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:Yeah, no, did you know? The Brick app shows up on your screen time report though.
Speaker 1:As running all the time.
Speaker 2:I don't know like I. I had like three hours of brick on my screen time the other day.
Speaker 1:I was like I don't know what that means I don't either so well, that was confusing, yeah that is going to be really interesting if it does, because I was like I wonder if my screen time will go down. But my screen time is like 16 hours a day Because it's the entire time.
Speaker 2:Yeah, if it counts all your brick time like it's going to be a lot, but I don't feel like I don't know. I don't know, we'll see.
Speaker 1:Yeah, anyway, we're new to it. We're only about a weekend to using it as we go. Yeah.
Speaker 2:I like it though.
Speaker 1:I really like the thing that I'm finding. It makes a big difference for me during the day. It doesn't make that big of a difference for me because I am really only on my phone during the day to post or to make content or things like that. I don't do a lot of scrolling, but I have noticed that it helps a lot in the evening if I don't have anything going on. It's keeping me from popping onto my phone and wasting time, which really does put me in a bad mood.
Speaker 2:That does. It can Gotcha.
Speaker 1:Like if I run into the wrong thing or I see the, you know, it can really set me off into a bad mood. That makes sense yeah no-transcript insecurity, where I'm like, oh, should I be doing that? Or oh, that girl looks so much better than me. Or gotcha, she has something that I want. Or whereas, if I'm not scrolling, I can't feel like that because, I'm just existing in my own life.
Speaker 2:For sure.
Speaker 1:As we are meant to, yeah.
Speaker 2:It's not going to be jealous of me or jealous of the kids. No, you're my family.
Speaker 1:It's not going to be jealous of me or jealous of the kids? No, you're my family. Yeah, I don't think there's anything to be jealous about because you are my family.
Speaker 2:Gotcha.
Speaker 1:I just get to cheer for you and think that it's awesome that you're awesome.
Speaker 2:That's great. Yeah, love that for you.
Speaker 1:How do you feel about your? First few days with the brick.
Speaker 2:It's been fine. You know I'm just going to miss a lot of documentaries. That's just how it's going to be. I won't be able to just leave my phone running watching a movie Not like a movie movie, but like shows and documentaries and stuff through the day, but I still have access to my podcast app, so I'll just have to consume podcast stuff if I'm going to do that. But it doesn't mean I'll be watching it less, which is good. So, no, I think it'll be good for me, but, like most things that are good for me, I don't like starting them.
Speaker 1:but long term, I think it's what do you think of the actual brick like, how do you think? What do you think of the concept um?
Speaker 2:I, I don't know like I, uh, I don't, I haven't given it a lot of thought, I guess okay, like just the idea of putting it in a location that you have to pick up yeah it makes sense.
Speaker 2:If nothing else keeps you more active, I find what like what's more difficult is remembering to go and re-brick it like that's what I struggle with is like i'll-brick it. That's what I struggle with. I'll un-brick it, use it for something While it's un-bricked, distracted, all of a sudden it's not been bricked for two hours. That's where I've gotten myself in trouble. It bricking itself works fine, but maybe I'm going to have to have it brick itself like eight times a day.
Speaker 1:Every hour on the hour.
Speaker 2:That's not a bad idea like one in the car, that if I'm somewhere else and I need my phone, that I can look something up that might have to be closer to my reality, that it it re, because again it's going back to the brick that I have. It's not even like a thing where I'm like, oh, I don't want to do that, I just don't think about it.
Speaker 1:See, I've only had to use it one time. How often is it happening to you that you need to unbrick it?
Speaker 2:I look stuff up all the time like how to do stuff or what stuff's made out of. I Google stuff a lot. Safari on mine is still oh when it's bricked well you, so you'll have to add my browser, so okay well, if you. I actually fear, though, that no, it should be bricked for me, yeah, otherwise I will look up articles and I will be yeah, like I kind of feel like that's where you get lost in the sauce.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's not Like I'm not scrolling social media apps, I'm just like looking stuff up You're deep on a Reddit from 2002 about some kind of weird part. Yeah.
Speaker 1:That's why it's only made in Pakistan.
Speaker 2:I found someone who had a part for our vacuum that I need. But like I was searching vacuum parts, searching Wi-Fi stuff, stuff like whatever it is I'll just get distracted for an hour looking at parts for things.
Speaker 1:That's a mind boggling to me. What the amount of time or did I do that, I kind of both it's not like not in a judgmental way where I'm like you do that. I just don't relate to it so deeply that it's hard for me to understand yeah well, I feel like I'm solving a problem or like I'm figuring something out.
Speaker 2:I'm not saying I end up solving it, I'm just saying well, that's what I'm wondering is why does it make you?
Speaker 1:okay, so it's like sure, like I'm working on something okay, it's an easy access to something, even though you're not accomplishing anything.
Speaker 2:Yeah, if I get somewhere in the end, bonus.
Speaker 1:but that's crazy.
Speaker 2:Otherwise, you know, I put some real thought into it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's really crazy to me.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:All right, um, let's do. Greg's reads. Greg's reads of the week. Cha-cha reads of the week.
Speaker 2:Greg reads news. He sends news to us. He does.
Speaker 1:We judge that news Greg be reading. So if you're new here, we listen, no, we learn. No, we read the headline of articles my dad sends to our group text and then we rate it on a scale of one to five of how much anxiety that headline gives us.
Speaker 2:All right. Which company could be the next Berkshire Hathaway? Here's what investors should know.
Speaker 1:One out of five. No anxiety. No anxiety for me.
Speaker 2:No anxiety, it's an eye roll. I don't really care what the next berkshire hathaway would be like. Is berkshire hathaway technically private equity?
Speaker 1:no idea, probably I have.
Speaker 2:No, that's something you'd have to google yeah, that see, that's the kind of thing that I get stuck doing I understand like Like I also, I am not.
Speaker 1:the act of Googling things and looking for answers is not crazy to me. The part that is crazy to me is how much like how you go down a rabbit hole.
Speaker 2:Gotcha.
Speaker 1:And how long you stay absorbed staring at your screen. And the other thing that I think is really interesting about it is like, if I'm doing that, like, let's say, I'm looking up, is that private equity? If somebody walks in and is like, hey, joe, blah, blah, blah, I'm not, like I'm doing things Okay, like whereas you, if somebody interrupts you, you act like you are doing something really important and really like um, crucial, and that you're on a timeline and but really you're just trying not to lose your train of thought and as though I have a train of thought because I'm like I would look up if their private equity, if they were, I would look up what other private equity companies are in that.
Speaker 2:Then, if they aren't, who is? I already have three more questions that I could go off looking up.
Speaker 1:Which what I will say is that's something I really admire and love about you.
Speaker 2:In small doses.
Speaker 1:No. Oh, I really admire and love about you in small doses. No, I love and admire it about you because you ask a lot of really thoughtful and good critical questions and you always have a lot of good context and information about the things you're talking about, because you've gone in depth gotcha, and so I don't necessarily have an issue with that. I think it's a really cool part of who you are. It's just maybe the application.
Speaker 2:Maybe I need to keep like a notes deal and have research hour.
Speaker 1:Dedicated time in the day where you're allowed to look up thoughts from the day. Honestly, that could make a killer TikTok series where you're like today. These are the things I avoided Googling so I wouldn't get distracted. But come along with me and let's find out if this is private equity.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And you could go through and you could talk through what your Google search was. So I would actually answer them.
Speaker 2:I wouldn't just be like here's 12 questions today that I have needed to.
Speaker 1:You could do that too, but I like the idea of you doing the. Googling and then like going down the rabbit hole in your Sure, sure, sure, sure.
Speaker 2:Maybe I just go live for it.
Speaker 1:Okay, article number two.
Speaker 2:Article number two. Did we read? Dementia risk may be increased by this common activity. No, Five out of five yeah four out of five, I guess Five out of five In four out of five.
Speaker 1:I guess Five out of five.
Speaker 2:In terms of how much anxiety.
Speaker 1:Dementia really scares me.
Speaker 2:Yeah, dementia is really sad.
Speaker 1:I think that that is what Screen time.
Speaker 2:Oh no, never mind, I thought it was just based on skimming. It's spending most of the day sitting. Okay, I mean we have three kids.
Speaker 1:We don't get to sit that much, not right? Now no, and I feel like we get outside a lot like when we're not with the kids. We're outside or walking or working in the garden or doing yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:Look, I'm either laying down or standing up. I don't do a lot of just sitting.
Speaker 2:No, that's true. No, so not not too worried about that now that I've read it.
Speaker 1:but I mean, I still am worried about dementia. That really does it.
Speaker 2:Well, yeah, yeah, scary.
Speaker 1:Scary thing.
Speaker 2:He just sent us the Wikipedia wikipedia for jake auchincloss I have no idea who that is a young politician who he likes.
Speaker 1:I guess I don't know okay, zero out of five, yeah, no, that hasn't caused.
Speaker 2:I haven't really read into it either, but I think we have plenty of politics going on. The world's richest woman has opened a medical school.
Speaker 1:Two out of five.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:I think it's about the medical school that's going on here.
Speaker 1:It is but when I got the headline I knew it was about that and it made me nervous because I thought it was going to tell me that it's something not good. Ah, okay, that's fair, they're putting in a really high-end, I believe, whole health institute and hospital and teaching hospital near where we live and it looks like it's gonna be pretty incredible.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's the alice walton school of medicine, and then I will say an actual teaching hospital.
Speaker 1:Alice walton seems to be the only one that's really doing major community stuff is buying the broncos not considered major community stuff I don't think so.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I don't think so hey he lives in denver, though like oh yeah, no, that's fine.
Speaker 1:I think there are a lot of uh, or in colorado, I don't know if he was in Denver but I would imagine he lives around there. But a lot of the Walton family members, I think, live in Bentonville.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:But I know that there's like the Walton Family Foundation. I don't know anything about any of that.
Speaker 2:No, we are truly talking out of our ruins on this one.
Speaker 1:Well, I'm not saying any kind of facts. Uh well, I'm not on this one. I'm not saying any kind of facts. Oh yeah, I'm just saying like I'm very out of the loop. A lot of people who live in Northwest Arkansas really understand and know the inner workings of all that stuff. I'm just enjoying the free uh museums.
Speaker 2:Yeah, the free admission to the museums and the potential for a very nice hospital here in the near future. So that'll be nice. Otherwise it's like I don't try to worry too much about like what billionaires are doing.
Speaker 1:Yeah, Greg's reads, though pretty mellow this week.
Speaker 2:Yeah, fairly mellow. Nothing too political this week either.
Speaker 1:No, we have been real feisty. Through surges of political articles. Fair, fair enough, I also feel real feisty.
Speaker 2:Yeah there's, there's plenty to be feist about about to feist, is that?
Speaker 1:that's definitely not the right word, but I was being funny, but if you're gonna tell me that that's really how you were like, use that.
Speaker 2:I was gonna giggle well, feist is a verb, it is.
Speaker 1:That's the kind of thing I'd be looking up well, you can look it up right now because you have word of the week word of the.
Speaker 2:Should word of the week be feist? If it sure I just about googled word of the week word of the week. This week is feist feist it means or is it only a band name? What does the word feist mean? One that is ill tempered, cur mutt. What? It's a noun it's a noun wait, no no, it's a verb no, no it's a pronoun. First use is a noun, a small mongrel dog, one that is ill-tempered Like a mutt, which I don't feel like mutts are. Anyway, that's a.
Speaker 1:Right, so it is a noun. I feel like that's a slur.
Speaker 2:But then there's an intransitive verb to prance or strut about. Look at him feist around in his new clothes.
Speaker 1:Did you hear me say pronoun? Yeah, it came out of my mouth and I was like am I stupid?
Speaker 2:I identify as a feist.
Speaker 1:Bring back education.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think abolishing education is not a good idea.
Speaker 1:I like feist.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I should use that more. I feel like our kids feist around here a lot.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we're feist around here. Yeah, they're just strutting yeah.
Speaker 2:Prancing. Yeah, there it is.
Speaker 1:That's kind of hard. It's kind of hard to use it doesn't roll off the tongue. No, it doesn't sound natural. No.
Speaker 2:Why don't you be like an 800-year-old? Like not current word?
Speaker 1:Probably Do you think it's where feisty is from.
Speaker 2:Feist Maybe? Yeah, I guess that would make sense. How?
Speaker 1:do you think I got here? No, I know how you got here, okay.
Speaker 2:How do you think I got here? No, I know how you got here. I just was like, I guess. Yeah, I guess that makes sense.
Speaker 1:Right yeah, feisty.
Speaker 2:But I feel like feisty is more like tenacious, not like prancing around, not strutting.
Speaker 1:Yeah, strut, like you mean it. Maybe, Free your mind.
Speaker 2:Perfect.
Speaker 1:I love the cheetah girls.
Speaker 2:we're cheetah girls, cheetah sisters, you introed our daughter to the cheetah girls song yeah, she wasn't as into it as I thought she was gonna be. Yeah, she liked it. She likes the idea of like being a cheetah girl yeah, she likes cheetahs and she likes girls.
Speaker 1:Yeah, like, so she's. Those are both cool she's like.
Speaker 2:That sounds like something that I would be into being yeah, are you crying?
Speaker 1:yeah, contacts really not working for me oh, you got contacts.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you're.
Speaker 1:You're flirting, trying out new contacts for the first time terrible you have an astigmatism, so yeah they really this kind really don't work for me yeah they keep being and I can't look at my phone Like I can't see up close.
Speaker 2:Really.
Speaker 1:It's horrible.
Speaker 2:Is it because they're not in place?
Speaker 1:Probably.
Speaker 2:Okay, it's not because you've just lost nearsightedness.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's only when the contacts are in my eyes.
Speaker 2:Well, I get that, but you've had more of a problem, since you have an astigmatism. They have to. They have, like, a different shape, for your lens is shaped differently and so it has to be like locked on. They have to be rotated a certain way for them to work correctly. Yours aren't like that. My lens curvature isn't good, so I'm nearsighted, but they don't go in and out of like. There's not a, a different curve, like I think. See, I would look up an astigmatism like exactly is, and then like why, see, this, is this? This is just an insight to why I'm like how I'm using Google all the time, cause anything.
Speaker 1:I don't know. I'm like I should because anything I don't know. I'm like I should know this. I'm not struggling with why you start on google. Yeah, I'm struggling with and I'd be going through the history of like eyeglasses.
Speaker 2:How does a monocle work?
Speaker 1:how do people discover astigmatisms?
Speaker 2:yeah, sure, I'd be reading all this stuff. Those questions would then spur more questions. I'd be. I'd run into something else I didn't know.
Speaker 1:Then you'd see an ad for a vacuum that would remind me I need to fix our vacuum.
Speaker 2:I'd be shopping for parts for the vacuum, seeing if anybody had a used vacuum that I could buy whole instead. Yeah, yeah, that's where my yeah. Then I'd be like, oh, I should look up fridge parts, because I also need fridge parts. Here we are.
Speaker 1:We're cheetah girls, cheetah sisters.
Speaker 2:And I'm just addicted to.
Speaker 1:Information.
Speaker 2:Maximizing value too, but like what's the best shelf I can buy for the least amount of money.
Speaker 1:What's really frustrating is that is the story you tell yourself.
Speaker 2:Sure.
Speaker 1:I'm maximizing value. The thing about that that I find really frustrating is that is the story you tell yourself.
Speaker 2:Sure, I'm maximizing value, but your time has value.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I could be using my time to, and your stuff is just the most expensive garbage in the land. What are you talking about? Well, you're like I made this. It cost me nothing, except for my marriage and 800 hours of labor, but those are worth nothing to me, so it was free.
Speaker 2:But no dollars spent.
Speaker 1:So pretty worth it. I would argue that those like there is a dollar amount to your time.
Speaker 2:Yes, yeah, you're a true believer in the time value of money, for sure.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Which is great. That's important Sorry.
Speaker 1:It's not all that matters.
Speaker 2:I do value my time as basically worthless.
Speaker 1:It's worthless to you. It's so. I have a bad relationship with worthless. It's worthless to you, it's so.
Speaker 2:I have a bad relationship with time. It feels impermanent. I'm like I got time forever, also being in a rush, you're never going to die, it doesn't.
Speaker 1:You are like.
Speaker 2:Well, you got to make the most of the time you got.
Speaker 1:You're just one giant walking oxymoron yeah, emphasis on more no, but you, you really do.
Speaker 2:You think you have all the time in the world, while also being in a rush to yeah in all ways I'm behind whatever I'm doing right now, while thinking I've got forever to do everything else. Yeah, it's not it doesn't.
Speaker 1:Is that adhd like? Is that just all adhd okay? A true adhd issue fascinating poor time management I don't even think you're that bad at time management. Yeah, it's literally that your your perception of time.
Speaker 2:I don't think I've taken my meds today. It feels very possible, based on how scatterbrained I feel right now.
Speaker 1:Well, we have some questions to read. I think we should get on those before we get too off into la-la land.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we should, we should do that.
Speaker 1:For our questions this week week we have a handful. And to start, somebody asked me, former swimmer here and wanting to start again. I saw that you've been going to master swimming. How did you start again and how do you know how much to swim, what to swim? As silly as it sounds, I'm at a loss where to start. That's why I I joined Masters Swimming and I think a lot of people don't know what Masters Swimming is.
Speaker 2:I still don't feel like I know what Masters Swimming is and you do it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, not swimming NCAA. You're not swimming USA Swimming, which is, you know, I don't know.
Speaker 2:Are these like rule sets? They're governing bodies organizations.
Speaker 1:So is Masters like an organization. No, it's more of like an age group, I think from what I understand I'd have to do some more research to know for sure.
Speaker 2:This is where Google is just.
Speaker 1:But there's like a master swim meet where people who it's kind of like anybody can come, kind of thing.
Speaker 2:Sure.
Speaker 1:You know, and Tony.
Speaker 2:This is what's confused me about it, though, is you've referred to masters. I feel like anytime you talk to a swimmer, they know what that is, but also there's no like definition to it that I've heard not. I'll look up the definition of it like because I'm like, is it an organization that's just like? You start one up like kind of like the scouts, where there's an overarching organization and you can start up a branch of it? Is that?
Speaker 1:master swimming is a program for adults, typically those 18 and older, who want to swim for fitness, recreation or competition. It's a structured way to improve swimming skills, fitness and enjoy the camaraderie of a swim team. Master swimmers welcome all abilities, from beginners to former competitive swimmers.
Speaker 2:So it really is just like but is there like a mastersorg or something? Is there an organized structure to it?
Speaker 1:Yeah, US Masters Swimming.
Speaker 2:Okay, so there is some organization behind it. Us.
Speaker 1:Masters Swimming's mission is to empower adults to improve their lives through swimming. We cater to any adult 18 and over who wants to swim and offer clubs to train with events to swim in, but I like I think that even people that aren't part of that call their program gotcha like I'm guessing there's some sort of certification to it, or I'm sure, but I think it's been commandeered like as a term also okay um anyway that makes sense, just based on how I feel it's talked about yeah, if you're a previous swimmer and not knowing what to train and things like that, I personally think that master swimming is a great way to go and they have programs all over the place, like most places that have a lap pool.
Speaker 1:There is some kind of master's program close by and I go in and they have a whole set and it's coached. You know they're there saying all right, everybody, let's get started. We're doing X Y, z to warm up. We're doing 200 swim, 100 kick, kick, 200 swim, 100 kick or whatever it is. Uh, but all my first few days there, all of the women that I was swimming with said to me you know, there is the master's prerogative. You know, is that? Did I say that word?
Speaker 2:right prerogative.
Speaker 1:Yeah, is that right say that word right prerogative.
Speaker 2:Yeah, is that right? Yeah, that's a word. Okay, it's actually spelled p-r-e-r.
Speaker 1:Okay, prerogative, prerogative but they said to me uh, and that is, you can skip out on whatever you want, because it's not, it's not training, so do what you want and skip what you don't.
Speaker 2:Uh and you were like I've always skipped what I don't want to do. That's kind of what I thought I was like.
Speaker 1:this is why I wasn't good before. Don't tell me that I really enjoy it, though, and so it's great having a coach and having sets and having people that I'm doing stuff with. It's kicking my behind, though.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you've had the week off. I feel like it's going to really get you when you go back, I know.
Speaker 1:Next, week's going to be brutal, for sure, yeah, but it'll be good.
Speaker 2:We were talking about this the other day, though. We've been working out at 6 am, and it really does just give you a God complex when you're like you've completed a workout by 7 am and you're just, you're like wow, look at me.
Speaker 1:To me something beyond just like lifting weights a couple of times a week the way people it's not about the swimming itself making me feel that way. Yeah, it's how other people react when I say I'm doing it, that I'm like wait, am I awesome that?
Speaker 2:makes sense.
Speaker 1:I didn't think I was awesome, but you guys are acting like this is insane. Yeah, there is like if we were just saying we were doing it at like 5 30 at night people be, like oh, good for you doesn't matter with swimming when I say oh gotcha that's what I'm talking about is with with certain things, like when I say, yeah, I swam almost two miles this morning oh yeah people's heads roll well, swimming is those, though, that if you haven't trained it, it's going to be really. Yeah.
Speaker 2:I feel like most people, if they're in great shape, even if they're not running like if they have a great cardio shape this is like you're like an odd exception to this could run a decent distance.
Speaker 1:Maybe that's why I'm not impressed.
Speaker 1:Maybe, like running impresses me, like my, my. I have a dear friend who does marathons and like runs a lot, and I talked to her I don't know at least once a week usually, and every time she's like, yeah, I did 12 miles this morning, I'm like you are a super human. She's like, yeah, I did 12 miles this morning. I'm like you are a superhuman. It's crazy, crazy work. Okay, somebody else said I continue to see your bed swing in the backyard and always wonder how did you go about making it? How did you go about creating the backyard of your dreams as a whole? I'm overwhelmed as we start the same process in our yard.
Speaker 2:Oh, good question. I mean, it's all space dependent. That's, first and foremost. The bed swing is simply because we had a space that would really fit it. But if you have a covered area that you want to swing, whether it's a bench or like the bed that we built- I have feedback. Yeah, I feel like it's understanding what you want to do with it.
Speaker 1:I think if you're working in a backyard space, I think the first thing you need to do is look at your space in its entirety and break it into zones. So we have my zones are kind of broken into zones, which I know sounds kind of silly, but I would say we're really only working on zone one.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 1:I did not know.
Speaker 2:You had a system quite this detailed.
Speaker 1:It's not that it's this detailed.
Speaker 1:It's just how I think about it in my head. I think about the space directly off our house as zone one, and then we have a space that I eventually want to do like our primary bedroom. That's zone two. And then there is the grass and stuff directly out. That's zone three. And then where eventually I may want to put a pool or something like that, that's zone four. And but the reason I have it done this way is I've been trying to stick to just completing, because our backyard's large is just completing one at a time, instead of picking a bunch of small projects out of all the different zones. I want to focus on getting zone one exactly how I want it before I enter zone two, because I think it would be really easy to just do parts of projects from each area and then nothing ever really feels like it's coming together.
Speaker 1:Gotcha, that makes sense, yeah um, and I think a backyard is a space where it's easy, like it takes a lot of work even in a small area, and I think that's part of why our backyard has evolved so much and it has come together so well, at least in that initial area off of our patio. Um, our covered space still needs a lot of work, not so much in the physical sense of DIY and things like that. It needs new furniture and Matt needs to cut a line in our slab because it's collecting water, um, but or do some kind of surface treatment?
Speaker 1:or do some kind of surface treatment it needs to drain better. But all in all that zone one is pretty much done once it has new furniture out there, which I'm not planning to do anytime soon because we have furniture that works and I'm not in any kind of rush and we have little kids that are crawling all over it right now, like I don't think.
Speaker 1:Eating popsicles and chalk and we don't need brand new outdoor furniture. Our rundown stuff with the cushions coming apart, is great for now, but I really do feel like our outdoor space we've been able to really focus. The first year we got the rock path. In the second year we put the bed swing in. This is year three and we put the garden in and now all of it really complements one another and it feels like a cohesive finished space out there in my opinion and there's ways to elevate, like what we have out there, like you'd like to hang a fan by the the bed swing totally like there's just different stuff that can be updated and but I I think the biggest part is understanding, like, what do you want to do in the backyard?
Speaker 2:do you want to sit out there? Do you want music out there? Do you want a tea? Like, how are you wanting?
Speaker 1:to do you want to host? Are you wanting to eat? Do you need a dining table like that's we?
Speaker 2:don't have a garden. Do you want whatever?
Speaker 1:we don't have a dining table out there and that's a huge miss.
Speaker 2:I'd like to eventually have a dining space, yeah it's just not like immediately accessible from the kitchen either, and so like I feel like we'd have to set up not have to, but like function wise, I feel like you want relatively close access to a dining table.
Speaker 1:We get takeout when it's nice outside and I just sit outside and eat. That makes sense, or when the kids have popsicles, they could sit at a table instead of on the cloth furniture or when we're grilling out and everything's already on the grill. It could be moved to the table.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, that makes sense. I don't know.
Speaker 1:Matt's like no, the only reason you would have a dining table is if it's near the kitchen.
Speaker 2:I just think it's something. For me it's a barrier and so, like I like to think out those barriers like that, just like, how much am I going to use it? Matt's not really a problem solver.
Speaker 1:He's a problem finder to avoid action.
Speaker 2:That is an effective technique, just to be clear. But that's not what I'm trying to do. That's just a side effect. Sorry, no, where would you want to put a dining table?
Speaker 1:I don't know that's that's the issue.
Speaker 2:Is we really?
Speaker 1:don't have a good space.
Speaker 1:That's where really I don't think there is a good space for a table in zone one yeah and so when I've thought about how and this is the other reason I love the zone thinking is, if you have multiple areas to continue to work on, if something that you want doesn't fit well into whatever section you've started with, you can prioritize that in the next section. So for me, I would like some kind of outdoor dining area when we move on to the next section of things yeah, I'm like it could go where we're going to tear down the yes, the building yep, we've talked about could do like a louvered pergola type setup out there where it can close and no are you talking about keeping part of that building I'm about to lose?
Speaker 1:no, it would be a new structure.
Speaker 2:It'd be a new structure okay, because they make like cool pergolas that have the the louvered roof so they can be open or they can close and it can be, keep the rain off of it, because I was thinking we could also set up. I had that thought because I was like, oh, that would give me a place like outdoor kitchen.
Speaker 2:Wise, because I don't know that we want an outdoor kitchen like right, maybe, maybe not I'm open, but it could be a whole dedicated space that has a table and has an like a kitchen yeah, I don't know, but anyway, this is, this is how we do it we also have a ton of space, so it's like there's endless opportunities to go to the next zone If you have a limited backyard space, obviously you've got to think it.
Speaker 1:I still think. Working in zones, though?
Speaker 2:No, I think zones still works great, but like you can't keep pushing it to zones, if you Right, if you're working in a space If your backyard has a max three zones, two zones Totally, whatever.
Speaker 1:Yes, we could. Yeah, it's wild. We have a lot of space back there.
Speaker 2:That's not counting any zones in the front, it's just all backyard.
Speaker 1:And so, but that's not really. I don't think you need that much. I think just like really breaking it into categories and just starting one at a time instead of overwhelming yourself with all of it.
Speaker 2:And trying to get it complete instead of yeah, pieces of it for sure, we've gotten better at that, like in a lot of places inside and outside through the years where it's just like having something done is going to be a lot more uh, rewarding than having little parts of stuff done okay last question, last question for today, and this is one that somebody asked to have in this podcast, the monthly.
Speaker 1:Somebody wrote us and this is the question I'm not reading the whole email, but do you ever feel lonely living in a red state with liberal or left beliefs? Oh my answer is no.
Speaker 2:I was going to say I don't know about lonely, lonely Like.
Speaker 1:I think we're living in a time where this concept of the blue dot that you're, this blue dot, and nobody else thinks like me where I live, else thinks like me where I live yeah, actually speaks to how little you're getting out of your home and talking to large swaths of your community and assumptions that you're making about people in your community more than anything.
Speaker 1:Now, there are nuanced exceptions to this, um, because, yeah, there are some people that live in towns of 183 people and they know all of them and you know, like, if that's you, I'm not talking to you. So there are exceptions to this. But I hear people say that about living in northwest Arkansas. I hear that about people who live in Springfield, where we grew up, people who live in Springfield, where we grew up. I hear people talk about it in lots of areas where I have friends that live in those places that would be considered, you know, blue dots in a red state. Arkansas is a non-voting state, more than anything. Our voter turnout is abysmal, uh, and what I found is a lot of the people here that don't vote have pretty middle views most of the time.
Speaker 1:Like they're. They're pretty moderate views, or they don't understand.
Speaker 2:Uh, I think the people that vote here have more of the extreme views.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, and I think that's the key that people are missing is like that's what community is, that's what relationships are, that's where you need to be on the ground, talking with people and getting to know people and having those conversations, and I've never found that to be isolating. I think the most isolating thing for me personally is not being a Christian in a Christian country.
Speaker 2:Yeah, for sure.
Speaker 1:I think that's the most, but I don't. I have not found that to be exclusive to a red state. No, no, no.
Speaker 2:Yeah, there's just a lot of factors that go into that and some of it is just understanding. There are again, obviously, people with extreme views that it's very difficult to have absolutely like relationships with if you have beliefs that are opposite theirs.
Speaker 2:but there's a lot of people that are undereducated on certain things or have lived experience that doesn't reflect the reality of a situation. Lots of times, people are making their opinions and their political stances based on like very small sample sizes that that they then extrapolate to the whole situation, and it's not necessarily that these people are people. People are very much judging each other right now based on their political views and making it their whole personality and it's like these are complete rounded people for the most part Me included with that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I am, and there's definitely people that like, and there's some things where you're just like I'm not going to be able to be around this person if they have beliefs, but that's a really extreme way of living and it's like there's there's a lot of people with middle ground and there are extreme things going on and I understand the sentiment, like I.
Speaker 1:I really do. Yeah, I just don't think that that's ever how you cultivate change.
Speaker 2:No, and and that's kind of the idea to it too too is like maybe you're not best friends with that person, but it's also important not to write people off entirely as a whole and like disengage from your community and like your area just because you don't feel like that meshes.
Speaker 1:Now again, let me acknowledge we live in a more progressive part of a red state. Yeah, it's not wildly progressive, though.
Speaker 2:Oh, there's plenty of people that.
Speaker 1:Like there is plenty of you know all of it, but I will say it is probably one of the more progressive areas of the state and there is a lot more of our liberal thinking, I guess.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and also I don't feel like we're considered crazy for that liberal thinking here.
Speaker 1:No.
Speaker 2:Like people have more exposure to it here Like there are probably places where, if you had that, they'd be like they're just nuts.
Speaker 1:They've given in to the propaganda.
Speaker 2:They're brainwashed by the here here even if people have the opposite views, they're like one of those that's normalized here. So it does I. I think the the place where it could feel lonely is sometimes it is a barrier with, like other parents and stuff, sometimes being on the opposite sides of those viewpoints, and that's where you were talking about being a Christian and stuff, and that's not, it's not even more something super against. It's just a value that we don't.
Speaker 1:But people that are very um it doesn't ever end in like an argument or hatred or like. I think when people hear me say that they're expecting extreme stories and it's not like that, it just is this awkward thing that I feel like a lot of peers of mine kind of dance around because they maybe don't understand why that's my viewpoint.
Speaker 2:It's like the things you're not invited to. It's not.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:It's not being purposefully excluded. It's just like you're not a piece of a lot of things that people are doing.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:And they don't think to invite you because of not aligning on certain things either.
Speaker 1:Which is the right choice, like that's that's the thing, and Matt and I have talked about this extensively, because it's like, oh, I didn't get invited to that. It's like, oh well, yeah, that makes sense. I don't want, yeah, to go to that because it doesn't align with me. That would feel very uncomfortable for me to be in those spaces, but it still leaves this sense of um outside looking in.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, for sure other yeah and being othered's not necessarily a good feeling. No, no, but I've learned to embrace it more, I think the older I've gotten.
Speaker 2:Yeah, how so it just?
Speaker 1:is what it is. So when I was in college and when I was younger, I would go to the church, whatever the picnic or the vacation Bible, whatever, I don't know, I don't have an example Um crew or whatever the events were at the time, because I wanted the community aspect of it. But it felt so out of line with myself and again, it wasn't anything extreme. It's not like this is dumb. I don't believe this. It's not like that. It's just as I was there for me to have these conversations of faith with people and to talk with them in a way that was transparent. I could not do that because if I was talking about faith, I already felt disingenuous.
Speaker 2:Gotcha, so you're saying more that you were. You've gotten more comfortable with your identity now, and so you're not trying to fit into places that you didn't.
Speaker 1:For me, it used to be worth feeling awkward, being authentic in a space I didn't belong in because I was lonely. Now I would rather feel authentic alone than force myself into that space, and like put myself in that awkward situation. I was never good at going to it and being like no, I do believe that, like it's just, I am a stream of consciousness. I say exactly what I'm thinking. I'm not good at pretending.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:I overanalyze, I am a lot of those things, and it just never went well for me because of that.
Speaker 2:That makes sense yeah.
Speaker 1:I othered myself.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Like it has never been. I have not been the recipient of a lot of Christian hatred or anything like that. For the most part, my experience is very warm, very kind, very inclusive. Um, I just don't align or at the worst indifference. Right yeah, 100%.
Speaker 2:For sure.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I know that's not everybody. Yeah, but you know.
Speaker 2:So hopefully that answered your question. I don't know.
Speaker 1:I don't know.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:I think that it is common to feel lonely when you have differing views from most people in your area. But the answer I was trying to give is I would encourage you to get out and talk with more people, go to more events. There is a good chance that there is some kind of meetups in your area within a certain radius of drive time to meet like-minded people. Start going to those things and meet those people and have those conversations. I feel like that's where a lot of the good community and connecting happens.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and if you're in a similar life phase to us, which is small kids that aren't in school yet, or, um, if it's pretty, you know, like things where there aren't a lot of parent functions to it, uh, as our therapist has told us many times, uh, it can just be a lonely season of life too, like if it's. If you're in this small kids time, you're very much in your bubble, and so if you go into it without a ton of community, it's difficult to develop more community. Yeah, because that's a discussion I think we've had many times, but that also isn't an excuse not to engage with the world Just because you're worried about viewpoints Totally, and so even doing that will help you.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I agree. Well, that was what one to end on. We should have done something lighter at the end there my bad, something funnier. You guys know how to join the Patreon if you want to see us every week. We are going to continue discussing revamping the podcast and we'll get a little bit of a timeline together and talk with you all.
Speaker 2:We'll have to really scope out this project and see what it's going to take, and when? We're going to want to do it and but yeah, the idea I think is long term, to to relaunch this, make sure that we really do the do it up properly, really promote it well and try and get some more momentum. And you know, maybe we wouldn't, maybe we don't have a patreon. At that point we do more advertising based. Whatever we'll see.
Speaker 1:Yeah but that's a whole nother can. Yeah, it's really just about more trying to.
Speaker 2:Really we've got 130 episodes under our belt at this point, so I think, we've proven to ourselves that we can do it reliably. And if we can do it reliably, why not really do it all up? So agreed, all right. Well, we love you guys. We hope that you have a wonderful august and we'll that we can do it reliably.
Speaker 1:And if we can do it reliably, why not really do it all up, agreed, all right? Well, we love you guys. We hope that you have a wonderful August and we'll see you in September.
Speaker 2:Bye.
Speaker 1:Bye.