The Daily Stoic - Volleyball Legend Gabrielle Reece on Relationships and Finding Enough
Episode Date: March 24, 2021Ryan speaks to Gabrielle Reece about how the Stoics valued hard work, the stillness that is required to accurately observe ourselves, how to properly maintain healthy relationships and find e...nough for yourself, and more. Gabrielle Reece is a professional volleyball player and author of the New York Times bestseller My Foot Is Too Big for the Glass Slipper. She is also an executive member of Laird Superfood and is also the host of the Gabby Reece Show.This episode is brought to you by Beekeeper’s Naturals, the company that’s reinventing your medicine with clean, effective products that actually work. Beekeepers Naturals has great products like Propolis Spray and B.LXR. For a limited time Beekeepers Naturals is offering Daily Stoic listeners an exclusive deal, receive a free B.LXR sample pack for just $5 to cover shipping. Just go to beekeepersnaturals.com/STOIC to claim this deal.Today’s episode is brought to you by Munk Pack, Keto Granola Bars that contain just a single gram of sugar and 2 to 3 net carbs—and they’re only 140 calories. They’re not just keto-friendy: they’re also gluten and grain free, plant based, and non GMO, with no soy, trans fats, sugar alcohols, or artificial coloring. Get 20% off your first purchase of ANY Munk Pack product by visiting munkpack.com and entering our code STOIC at checkout.This episode is also brought to you by FitTrack, the best way to calculate your body’s composition accurately, reliably, and consistently. Every FitTrack smart scale uses advanced algorithms to offer insights into 17 different metrics indicative of bodily health. Go to fittrack.com/stoic to take 50% off your order, plus get an additional 30% with code BUILD30 at checkout. This episode is also brought to you by Manly Bands, the best damn wedding rings period. Freedom for your hand to look like you want it to look. Whether you’re looking for men’s wedding rings or engagement rings, Manly Bands has you covered. To order your Manly Band and get 20% off, plus a free silicone ring, go to manlybands.com/stoic and enter promo code STOIC.***If you enjoyed this week’s podcast, we’d love for you to leave a review on Apple Podcasts. It helps with our visibility, and the more people listen to the podcast, the more we can invest into it and make it even better.Sign up for the Daily Stoic email: http://DailyStoic.com/signupFollow @DailyStoic:Twitter: https://twitter.com/dailystoicInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/dailystoic/Facebook: http://facebook.com/dailystoicYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/dailystoicFollow Gabrielle Reece:Homepage: https://www.gabriellereece.com/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/gabbyreece Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gabbyreece/ See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
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Welcome to the Daily Stoic Podcast where each day we bring you a passage of ancient wisdom designed to help you find strength, insight, and wisdom every day life. Each one of these passages is based on the 2000 year-old philosophy that has guided some
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Hi, I'm David Brown, the host of Wendery's podcast business wars.
And in our new season, Walmart must fight off target, the new discounter that's both
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Hey, it's Ryan Holiday.
Welcome to another episode of the Daily Stoic Podcast.
My guest today is one of my absolute favorite people.
She has like an energy and a calmness, a stillness, if you will,
that I find quite wonderful to be around
and very inspiring. I don't know. She just sort of gets things on a level that you would expect
of like a guru or something. And so the fact that she's also one of the greatest volleyball players
of all time, best-selling author, fitness expert, a model,
just all around great person.
Gabby Reese is my guest today.
She's the host of the Gabby Reese podcast.
Her and her husband, Leard Hamilton,
are the founders of Leard Superfood.
They make all sorts of awesome products,
vegan creamers and fair trade coffee,
which they sent
me not long ago.
It's actually now a publicly traded company.
They are very famous for these workouts.
They do at their place in Malibu, which I have not had the privilege of doing.
I always stay downtown when I'm in LA.
It makes it very hard to get all the way out to Malibu super early, but I do plan to do
it at some
point. I did her podcast back when I was doing stillness, and that's the first time that we met,
and so you can listen to that interview as well. You can follow her at Gabby Reese on Twitter,
and you can subscribe to the Gabby Re Show anywhere you listen to podcasts. Again, this is one of my
favorite people. I think this is one of the best interviews I've done in a while, so check it out, and we will talk soon.
You do seem like someone who sort of operates,
and I mean, this is sort of operates on energy.
Like, you seem like you have a good vibe for people's energy,
and you also seem like you are on a good energy wave length.
Do you know what I mean?
Yeah, I mean, I'm trying to are on a good energy wave length. Do you know what I mean?
Yeah, I mean, I'm trying to be on a good wave length
and living in natural places like Kauai
and in parts where I live in California
and living with layered.
It's like, you sort of are trying really hard
to stay focused on the essence of things.
And that's why also like my tolerance
for you know when people make it always more about themselves or there's always something
I'm like oh I'm have an aversion that type of energy because I'm I'm been raised and
also living away that it's like hey we're we're all busy, we're all important,
we're all not important.
Yeah, it works well because then in a way,
you connect with people on things that are real
and you don't get distracted by either
their shiny layers and veneers.
Or, you know what I mean?
I do.
Yeah, I feel like the people that I know that know you
or the people that make the trek out
to your house in Malibu to do the exercises and it's been time together.
I think the energy is a big attraction to them. There seems to be something that they're trying
to tap into that you and Laird have. And I don't know what that is.
and I don't know what that is.
I don't know. I think none of us have anything.
I think it's like this,
you know, layered is actually even better
because his antenna doesn't even pick up half the stuff
in that way.
Like you can't distract him with certain things.
So he's pretty good because in a way,
he has a naturalness to him that's,
I think, pretty compelling.
And I think for me, maybe it's because I grew up
in a bumpy way that I think it was sort of like,
oh, if we can get things clear
and we can be positive for one another ultimately
and we can be pretty truthful and also not
add theater to things.
I felt really good.
And listen, we were both raised on islands.
I think there's something to be said for that that kind of is in you.
Yeah.
And then we're together for 25 years.
So then we're kind of checks and balancing each other
I read something about Obama someone asked him sort of how he has that sort of
Unruffledness and he said it was the
The nights his mother spent watching the Sunsets while she was pregnant with him in Hawaii
Well, that's very poetic, isn't it?
Of course.
One thing you got to give it to a bomb,
a man, that guy was, you know,
the orator of poetic at the highest, you know, level.
But yeah, no, listen, when you're from an island, it's like,
a lot of stuff gets shipped away.
Why is that?
Well, okay, I'll use Hawaii as an example. I grew up in the Caribbean and I think it's a little bit different, but you have big mountains, you have very big ocean.
You know, they talk about Monna, which is like the power of the land.
The people, it's really derived from a warrior culture ultimately. And so I think it's also much bigger than you.
You're so much closer to how much bigger it all is than you.
That I think you don't believe your hype, your own hype.
Maybe it's the immensity of the ocean, too.
There is something that it doesn't matter if you're going to the Gulf Coast of Florida,
or the coast of California, of the ocean, too. There is something that it doesn't matter if you're going to the Gulf Coast of Florida or the coast of California
or the coast of Oregon.
As soon as you roll down the windows of the car
and you just start to get that salt in the air,
like a different, a shift happens.
Yeah, and, you know, Lardo has one of his favorite things
is like we're all equal before the wave.
You know, it's like, oh, you know, you're a smart rich guy, boom, you know's like, oh, you're a smart rich guy, boom.
Like, oh, you're a beautiful girl.
OK, you know, it's like, and I think in a way,
there's a, there's like you said, you get oriented
to the real laws of nature and life.
That basically, I almost want to say they keep you in check.
And then you kind of, when can live sort of in check long
enough, you feel good, like you feel maybe grounded and you there's like a, you know, a kind of
self-regulation and discipline in that way that gets that you get to learn to exercise and
feel good in. And when you have an outside person come, that's high vibrating.
And they're like, you know, they have a lot of self-importance and they live and they
think these things are really matter and all this stuff.
You can also see it from the outside and be like, wow, there's a lot of vibrating.
And, you know, it's just, you get to observe it.
And it's funny.
You could take a kid from Hawaii who's 13 and bring him to a place where, you know, it's just, you get to observe it. And it's funny, you could take a kid from Hawaii who's 13
and bring him to a place where, you know,
that's happening a lot, maybe more of a city or something.
And they recognize it.
It's very interesting.
Yeah, and I think the pandemic is gonna have that effect
for people because it's sort of been a lot of forced
stillness, right?
There's not as much stuff happening.
We aren't traveling as much.
It's quieter.
You're spending more time with your family.
You have less excuses to be away, to sort of numb yourself.
And so, like, I was talking to this with Matt Berninger of the National, and we were saying,
like, you know, you think you need like two weeks.
You'll take a vacation.
I'll take two weeks.
You'll slow down.
You'll relax. It turns out it's more like 10 months to actually get to that more sort of island
e meant like what you maybe have naturally, it took me like 10 months just to start to scratch
the surface of. And now it'll be weird like how do you keep that when the world does start spinning a bit faster again?
You know, it's a really great point
because it's probably also like a hard wiring
and I would like to emphasize that
there's elements to this conversation
of this particular part of the conversation
that's easier when you are in a more natural place.
So I really honor people that live in different places
where maybe they don't have that to kind of also push you into that state of mind.
But there's a way, ultimately, where that practice is, then you, you, how do you preserve that within yourself?
And so as we re-emerge in the next, you know, long months or a year back into our sort of other, you know, new reality.
It's holding that space within yourself so that you're conducting yourself under those
same rules no matter if you're in a skyscraper or you're on the top of a mountain,
that you're keeping your, you know, how many things are distracting you and pulling you off of what's important
down to a
Minimum when you can
Yeah, and I think some people have the fantasy of course that like hey my life is stressful because I live in a
You know a one-bedroom apartment in Brooklyn in the middle of a pandemic, but if I could get to Hawaii,
or if I lived in Wyoming, all would be well. I think, and there, it's definitely easier. You're
totally right. It's easier, and it's, it happens more often when you live in a beautiful place.
But even during this pandemic, when I'm not going anywhere, I found myself, you know, like, so I live on this farm out in Texas and, and like, I'll be like, wait, I don't think I have gone further
than 200 feet from my house in two weeks because, you know, I found someone to do the chores
that I didn't want to do and I've been busy and I, you know, you can, it's also shocking how quickly the beautiful surroundings can,
you can become desensitized to them and find chaos and dysfunction and distraction amidst
like complete paradise.
It's actually very common, you know, I see it, you know, where I grew up and even here,
is, you know, purpose is very important in life.
And so when you sometimes live in these more remote areas
or kind of openly natural,
if you also simultaneously,
not unnecessary busyness or distraction,
if you don't find kind of a deep purpose,
which could even be like,
hey, I'm gonna dig holes and do posts today, you know.
Right, chores.
You don't have purpose, and then the flip side of that is,
that's why you see a lot of drug use and addiction
in places like this, because people,
there's an interesting thing about us.
There's a part of us that are very lazy
and we move away from the things that are actually
so good for us, which is uncomfortable and important work
and work that nobody's gonna be like, amazing, good job.
And here's a big fat paycheck, but things that,
you know, like Lerdo, he says,
because Lerdo's a great example of this,
he's always doing things.
He's like, at least when I dig a hole,
I have a hole when I'm done.
Well, it's like, so I think it's this,
again, having an awareness about,
well, where is this behavior gonna leave me?
And so if it's, I'm not leaving the house
and I'm not doing these things,
at some point there's gonna be an intersection
where it's not actually gonna be good for me. So I think
it's always a calibration of having enough constructive, productive things to do, not busyness.
And then the stillness that is required to kind of observe us and ourselves, our relationships
in our life. And just sort, just sort of, um,
calibrating that almost, I would say actually daily, like if people go, oh, I've got that.
It's like, yeah, nobody's got it. Like it's like a daily practice.
Yeah, I remember to mention another president. I remember I would watch, you know, George Bush
on television, just like, like, dragon brush around on his farm. And I thought, like, what
is he doing? That's so weird. And now I totally get it.
It's you're finding sort of made up excuses like you're saying,
we're like, go dig a hole or get outside.
And it's forcing you to one put your actual work aside.
And then it's forcing you to actually experience nature and be outside in some
way that you can't help but appreciate the sunset or the sunrise or
the birds or the sounds or whatever it is. Yeah, and if you lived like in a city, right,
it would be you would then go and volunteer somewhere and help. So, on some level, it's like
biologically, I just think it's like the some of the basics. Like, you know, you build things, you plant things,
okay, you help your neighbor.
Like, these are all biological kind of basic things
that we have a way to practice them.
I think it's that invisible thing that we don't understand
is feeding, you know, this part of our real primal
and, you know, longstanding cells that give you this...
I think it gives you...
Maybe it doesn't give you.
Maybe it keeps that bay, anxiety, depression, anger, and it's hard to understand why.
Yeah, I don't know why it is, but we have this fantasy too though.
It marks the risk.
It goes like people tell themselves, I'm going to get away from it all.
I'm going to go to the ocean.
I'm going to go to the beach.
I'm going to go to the mountains.
And it's like, but really you can get it inside yourself anytime you want.
I think those activities are a way to access it.
But of course, you can also just cultivate the ability to like sort of sit and be still
and enjoy
yourself for five minutes at your desk. It's just harder to do.
Yes, but I think no matter where you live, that's still important to do because that sort
of mind management or self-management, those skills, whether you live in the forest or,
you know, in the metropolitan area, I think unless you have that anyway,
you're always gonna be feeling a little off-kilter.
So I think that's essential regardless.
Yeah, and I think that's,
I think maybe that's why,
as I know some of the people that come out
and spend the off season with you guys
or every time they're in town, they'll get up it four in the morning so they can come do workouts
and your pool. I think they're trying. I think the, the, what they, what they're, what
they're desperately needing that you guys seem to have. And this is why I was asking about
energy is it's like, oh, this is, this is what I was looking for. This is what I'd like
my life to be like. And then hopefully they take a little bit of that back home
with them, wherever they are, or whatever they do.
Well, I think people have the perception,
and maybe part of this is right, that Larry and I
have been fortunate to combine work
and passion and friendship and even our family.
And by the way, there's a downside of that, right?
Like my kids are getting older now
and they will bitch and mong that like,
well, there was always people here.
And I'm like, yes, that was a conscious decision
because dad, we wanted to be here
and we wanted to combine our work
and our training, which it's all sort of interwoven
and not leave you guys.
And so it's so funny how now I have kids
that as they have gotten older
and that's a form of rebellion
and they have to complain to you about things
and what they find stuff,
but it is really ironic to me that I think,
oh, this is such an amazing idea.
I'm exposing, I'm not leaving my house, my children,
I'm here for them. I'm exposing them to really diverse and interesting people
that they can learn from, that offer things that their dad and I don't offer.
Wow, that's amazing. And they'll say, there was always people here.
It's like, so, I also, you know, within it all is the lesson.
But I think what you're saying is that people think,
oh wow, they have the great fortune
and also figured out in some ways,
we've all, it's all at the same time, right?
Our work and work together,
and then our kids are around in training,
and it's sort of all around.
And I think that people respond to that pretty deeply.
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No, I want to talk about that.
I relate to what your kids are saying, though,
because so almost every weekend growing up,
my parents would take us to Lake Tahoe,
which is like, I think why we lived in Sacramento.
It was a couple hours away, so we would go,
and we'd go to skiing and friends would visit
and you sort of had this second life there.
And I think to them, they thought it was a sort of a kids fantasy.
Like what kid doesn't want to go to the snow
and go skiing every weekend.
But for me, I was like, I just want to stay home
and see my friends.
I want to do nothing.
And so I think as a kid, you almost instinctively find a way
to not like whatever privileges or gifts your parents have given you.
Yeah, I'm actually, I'm almost there. I'm not quite there. You know, it's taken me to the third child who's now 13, right? We have a 25, a 17, and with a 13 year old where I can freely accept no matter what we're gonna do.
At this time, it's just not, it doesn't,
it's never gonna work.
None of it's gonna work.
Like you say good morning, they're like,
what, you know, it's like,
what can I make you for breakfast?
It's like, I'm almost at the place where I'm like,
oh, I understand the rules of this dynamic now.
And it's a breaking away.
It's a very uncomfortable time for a young person.
I am almost at the place where I stopped completely
taking it personal.
I did that very well in my marriage.
And it is taking me so long as a mother,
not to take it personal.
And I'm almost there.
Some days I totally get hooked.
It's like that ad with the guy with the pole
and he's like, oh, you almost got that.
It's like, I'm right teetering every time
to just grabbing a hook of like,
well, why would you do that?
It's funny, you're point about how people just sort of really,
sort of, I think there's some jealousy and escapism
that they see in your life, that they want
and they wanna be around it.
But it's funny, I get that like people go,
they'll go, oh, you live on a farm,
I've always wanted to do that.
And it's like, you know, I promise you,
my house and farm costs less than your apartment
in New York City.
You know, like this wasn't like, this wasn't like I won the lottery.
And in fact, like, it wasn't even difficult to do.
It was, it was, it was shockingly easy.
And it's not like there's some qualification you have to, you know, certification process
to doing this, like literally anyone can do it.
But there is this element where people sort of they see someone who has this amazing life,
and they want to be around it, and they like it, or they'll read about it. But they really have trouble
just wrapping their heads around the fact that you know, you can live and set up your life
however you want. It's like the one thing that you have control of. Yeah, sure, there's constraints in trade-offs, but like nobody said you have to live in Williamsburg,
and nobody said that you have to do X, Y, or Z.
This is all, it's all made up, and you get to decide what you want your life to look like.
Okay, but you're a person who investigates things, who doesn't know about them,
but has the confidence you've talked about the body of evidence.
Like, oh, I'm going to figure that out.
You did well in college and then decided to quit,
because you had other things you wanted to do.
So you're a person who is inclined to trust your ability
to work it out.
And I think what is hard for a lot of people
is also, besides thinking, oh, I don't know about farms,
but I could kind of figure it out.
But the other side of it is,
if you do it the way, let's say you're doing it,
you and your wife are doing it,
or the way Lerd and I have done it today,
is in a way you, you are the only one pushing yourself.
And so there's some people I think who they,
it didn't get, they're either not really that way,
they rather have like a system to plug into.
But there's something also really maybe daunting
about taking on, wait, you mean it's up to me?
Right.
Yeah, to take responsibility for your own life
is a very scary thing.
It's scary, you're unsure.
I mean, we both, Ler learned and I have done it this way
our whole time and half the time, you know, you have to have the confidence to say this is the way
I'm going to do it. And then the other half, you're like, I have no clue if this is going to work out.
And then you you get into different rhythms. And also you you may have to work seven days a week.
There's no nine to five. You have to keep your eyes on the horizon
and still say, hey, the one year, the five year,
the 10 year, you have to really be in charge of the path.
And even if it's like, you go down one path
for a couple of years and you go, wow,
this has really led to nowhere.
And now I fully understand it.
And I'm going to create a new path.
It's like, you have to be willing to kind of go through all of that and I don't know that everybody and
that's okay really wants to do that. Well and I think one of the objections
to people are listening, Michael, oh this is very privileged. Of course you can
afford that or you know it'd be nice to you know live in Hawaii or Malibu but
you know my job doesn't let me. I think what's fascinating, and what I want people to understand is that,
the excuses, but the explanations
for why it's not possible,
or why it's not reasonable, that they're making,
which are very practical in some cases financial.
They never stop.
Like I'm sure you've had people who've come to your place
in Malibu had this amazing
time. I'm like, oh, I always wanted to do something like this. Right? I wish my life
were more like this. And then you're like, you're a fucking billionaire. What are you
talking about? If you could buy this in two seconds. And yet, you, even though you have
all the money and all the opportunity in the world day to day, your life is not set up in a way that makes you happy.
And it's just the craziest thing.
Well, that's that self-check-in part where you're being at every, at every opportunity
that you're able, that you're really is honest as you can be with yourself.
Because I agree with you, where Laird and I make make where we operate from right now is a place of
privilege 100%. However, you know, Laird grew up with an outhouse. I would have not have gone to
college if I was not 6'3", and could have had a volleyball. You know, Laird's job is pretty much like
you, you're willing to risk your life, mean that much.
And so it's people understanding that your passion for what you saw, your dream, your
hope of what it would look like to have your external life reflect something that you were
feeling inside, that you would be willing to take that chance and to fall on your face and fail, which we all have.
And still say, okay, I'm going to, you know, adapt and figure out how to make it work.
And, and, and, or if there are people like you said that have all of this opportunity to make it
how they want it, they don't really want to do the certain things that it takes to make that happen.
Because even today and right now, certainly Lerden and I are willing to show up every
day and do things that are uncomfortable because we know that that's how it kind of works.
Yeah, I think marriage is another place you see that.
So maybe it's like they're not responding to the beautiful house or the lifestyle or
they're just like, hey, I've always, they're like, oh man, I'm jealous of your relationship
because I get that.
Like, my wife and I have been together.
I guess it's 14 years now.
It's like a crazy amount of time.
But people think that it was like magic.
Like, again, that it was like hitting the lottery or something.
And it's like, they're like, how did you know how does,
it's like, you know what, the number one,
I always say like the number one way
to like be with someone for a long time is,
it's not break up.
Like it's not rocket science.
Like the reason we're still together
is that we have not gotten a divorce.
Like it's not, it's not, it was that we both decided,
like, hey, we're gonna do this thing,
and that's gonna be ups and downs and hard
and require all sorts of growth and challenges
and all of that.
But like, the main part of it is just actually wanting it.
It's not like some one and a billion soul mate thing that happens to you. It's something that you
make happen. Yes. And yes. And what's interesting too, though, and as you go even deeper or longer into
the relationship, is there's another side to that, which is also you start to really appreciate that you got connected with somebody.
It becomes, you become, you appreciate it even more that they were willing to, because you realize it's more rare than we realize when we first meet and we go,
I'm in love, we're engaged, we get married.
And so I think there's another thing where you, that trade is maybe not as common as,
as we think.
And, you know, sometimes And sometimes I really think about things
because I try to be reasonable and think about things
from all kinds of points of view.
And you think, okay, well, maybe people are born
a certain way and their brains are hardwired
a certain way.
And so it's harder for them to get to certain things
that might be easier for someone else.
You know, like I'm always thinking about that element of it,
where if they had a trauma and it impacted them
and they couldn't recover the same way,
maybe somebody else could,
so I'm always interested in at what point.
I heard it's something once that like, okay,
about time we're 27, pretty much no matter what's happened
to us, of course, there's exceptions.
We really have to take charge. more 27, pretty much no matter what's happened to us. Of course, there's exceptions.
We really have to take charge.
Like we have to be completely responsible for our lives.
And so I don't know.
I just find that that's the easiest way, you know,
is like, oh, I'm going to be responsible.
I'm going to be responsible for my thoughts, my reactions,
my words.
I'm going to be as responsible as I can
and I'm going to say, sorry when I'm not.
But it's like, it's literally like training.
It's like every single day, people think,
oh, you just show up, you wake up
and it just, it's all flowing your way.
It's like, you have no idea.
I am so much nicer to everyone in my life
than I really want to be
because I have decided, hey,
this is who I'm really trying to be. So I have to practice that. And it's not that I'm
disingenuine. It's that I'm fighting other sides in my personality that are not going
to serve that greater goal. Conversely, like, why don't you shove potato chips? I love
potato chips in my mouth because it's in the long, in the big picture, I'm like,
Hey, that's not serving that bigger goal that I'm really committed to.
And so I'm always, you know, it's like an interesting thing where people think they have this
perception of how it is, what it appears to be, and they don't realize that it's just
like kind of everyday practice.
You're, you're point about the other person,
like sort of gratitude for the other person
for putting up with you.
It strikes me as being very true.
Like, how old were you guys when you met?
I was, it's been 25 years, so I was 25.
Lared was 31.
And, you know, we almost were divorced
at five years into our relationship
because I always say like you're learning to dance.
I was, nobody had talked to me about communication.
I was incredibly scared to be intimate or vulnerable.
You know, my mom had left when I was young,
so you sort of have issues with that.
And I was like, there's a layered
with this neck on the chopping block.
Like I'm here, like he does everything, like here he is,
in it.
And so we, I'm here, like he does everything like here he is in it. And so I was quite,
I mean, I thought that was quite young, 25. And then I feel like we got into a very,
very good rhythm by the time I was about 39. And that's because like we also people have to
realize that you also have your own individual crises, not just a marital crisis within the relationship, work and identity, learn, stop drinking alcohol.
So there's so many story lines happening within it that how do you kind of weather those
and let people have their space to go through their own story.
And so time, it makes it better.
And you also get to resolution quicker, right?
Like you're just like, hey, I'm not leaving.
So I don't really feel like being tortured
or torturing you.
So let's just get to the good part of like,
hey, what did I do that aggravated you?
Okay, you know what, I could work on that.
That's reasonable.
Can I communicate something to you without attacking you?
And you don't feel attacked?
Great, okay.
So I think you just get better tools.
Yeah, like my wife and I met it
when we were both like 19, almost 20.
And it's like in retrospect, it's like,
I can't imagine putting up with 20-year-old myself,
you know, like I think about what a saint
she must have been to put up with my shit. And you sort of go, you know, like I think about what a saint she must have been to put up with my shit and
and you sort of go like sometimes and that's that's actually the really tricky part I think about
being together for a long time. It's it's it's wonderful, but it's also like you've been like several
people since then and yet that baggage stays in the relationship. And so it really just requires
kind of a lot of fortitude
to just be like, I am not going anywhere.
I'm gonna put up with this
and that's like 90% of it.
But I think the baggage
be starts to become photographs.
I think you'll see in another few more years
that you start to offload things
because you just realize like, oh, you know what?
Like Ryan was that person, but actually,
there's, it's only this the best parts of him still here.
And then it just becomes a photograph on a wall
and you go, oh, I remember that trip.
You know, it's like, I think you do offload it.
And if I remember correctly, you know,
your wife already sounds ahead of the game
when she encouraged you, when you guys were in college,
like she understood something intuitively about you that probably is also really important.
She sees you probably very easily or easier than other people.
And that is a really interesting thing when you have that in people in a marriage because
also when you felt seen and appreciated for the things
that felt important to you easily, that's some really valuable stuff.
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Totally.
And there's probably an analogy to sports where like the model, and let's say the NBA is
that you, the superstars jump from team to team.
They don't really spend a lot of time in one city or with one organization.
But the value of being a dynasty like the San Antonio Spurs or something where the core
group is together for years and years, it elevates you to a higher level of play because you
actually understand these people not in a, what are they doing?
But like, what are they doing?
What do they think they're doing?
What are they actually doing?
What do they think I'm doing?
You just have this whole other level of understanding that comes from, you know, and actually
that's been a weird thing I think on the pandemic is pandemic. So we've been together 15 or so years.
But this is the most amount of consecutive uninterrupted time
we've ever spent together.
It's almost like hitting fast forward or supercharging.
The connection, because you're forced to do something
that might ordinarily have been spread out over several years.
Yeah, and I find myself, I can confess this, I don't care.
I find myself like thinking, how can I, how can I sit down when I'm at a meal, not every
time, but like, how can I contribute something new and different?
How can I continue to evolve as a person?
Because I'm actually interested in trying to engage layered.
And so it's interesting where when you're using this person that you
love and admire and respect that truly knows you, you're good in your bad, you know, all of it.
And you're sort of saying, oh, what in what ways am I doing a practice in my life to be different?
So I can also bring this to back to them because they're important to me. They're being dynamic in their way on their own.
And how do I bring that also to the situation?
And the pandemic has really kind of exploited that because we are more, more still than ever
for sure.
Yeah, you have to bring your A game.
It's no joke.
It's like no joke.
Because I know he's my guy, he's like my guy.
And also if he's looking, I mean, he's like,
if he looks at me at all with respect and admiration,
that's the litmus.
It's not all the fakey fakes out.
People I can put project like 30-second clips
of intelligence, maybe put a little extra make up on.
And people are like, you're amazing.
I'm like, you have no idea who I am.
If I can get the guy that has to deal with me
every single day and knows all the chinks.
And he's like, you know what? Good job. And not talking about verbally, but I can see in the eye,
I'm like, okay, that's like having that coach that has watched you or that teammate that would
say to you, if you play with the teammate, you know, if you play with Tim Duncan for 12 or 15 years
of your Tony Parker and Tim Duncan came up to you after a game, it was like, hey, nice job.
The gravity of what that would really mean
would be so different than the entire arena
going, yeah, Tony Parker, you know?
I was just, so we're in the process of acquiring
this like little business in the town that we're in
and so we were on this conference call.
And my wife and I are like never on conference calls together.
Like she has her conference call world.
I have my conference call world. And we were never on conference calls together. Like she has her conference call world, I have my conference call world,
and we were on this conference call together,
and this was more her thing than my thing,
and we're talking about it,
and then she just sort of like took over the conference call,
and she kinda like I could hear like her voice change,
and she just like took it over,
and I remember I called her after,
and I was like, what was that?
That was nuts.
I've seen that like three times in our whole relationship
or maybe I'd never seen it at all.
And it was just this weird moment where you're just like,
you see someone that you know so well
that you spent so much time with,
you sort of see in a second how other people see them
because you had a weird view or whatever.
And it's just a really wonderful experience.
I think that's super hot, actually,
and also I think if you have the discipline
to sort of observe them from time to time,
I always say that, like,
what can you see in your partner
that you could really appreciate?
And when you get that opportunity
or that distance or that different viewpoint,
it's really cool.
It's really cool.
Yeah, the best one ever is sometimes you'll catch something out of the corner of your
eye, be like, who's that?
And then you're like, oh, that's a very wonderful feeling as well.
Yeah, and that's why it's important,
and I know you have children, young children,
that how do we, in small and big ways,
keep even within those sort of environments,
which it's harder because you have to so many marks
to hit just to kind of function domestically,
to keep sort of, each individual being like,
well, who am I today and what do I like today and who,
you know, who am I trying to be because then just have
those small growth moments so that you're also doing that
for yourself, but also I think it does feed the partnership,
for sure.
I went and I talked to the Seattle Seahawks a few years ago,
it's like three or four years ago now,
so it's probably more a component.
But, Pique Carol had his whole career.
He, since he never really found the team where he fit,
he'd sort of coached cheer for a couple of years here
for a couple of years,
then obviously he had a good run in USC.
But even at USC, the kids were rotating
out.
Right.
So, he never had to deal with the same group of people for very long.
And I remember one of the things he and the coaching staff were telling me that I just
found so fascinating.
They're like, he'd now been there like seven years or eight years or something.
And because he'd been so successful early on, a lot of the guys had stayed.
And they were talking about sort of reaching the point of diminishing returns with his
coaching philosophy, like that he was running out of stories and running out of lessons
and running out of gimmicks.
And he was like, my struggle now, the thing I'm really working on is how do I sort of,
is like the philosophy is not going to change.
But now I have to find new ways to teach the same old things.
Because guys will, first up the new guys need to hear it.
And the old guys won't listen to me telling it the same way again.
And I thought that was a decent metaphor for life and marriage,
which is like, you're basically doing the same thing over and over again
on repeat until you die.
If you've seen that movie, Palm Springs, it's amazing.
It's sort of like what life is.
But you have to figure out a new way to do the same thing or you're going to go insane
or they're going to go insane.
Yeah.
And I mean, that's why I appreciate a guy like Phil Jackson who is willing, you know,
the expansion of sort of the philosophical approach. I think
in a way it might be easier for someone like you because you have a, you know, a
very sort of reasonable side and then you're always injecting kind of these
higher philosophical ideas and principles and and I think that that's easier to do when we are good students and also we continue to embrace
wherever it is that we are in our lives. And even if, you know, for example, let's say parenting,
I was pretty successful for a long time in that external way definition.
And the tools I was using had worked very well and then maybe 13 years into parenting my middle daughter,
I basically had the rug kind of ripped out from underneath me
on some things.
And that was an opportunity to be like,
oh, okay, I'm a pretty good student.
I think I need to study a little more and really actually go out and seek.
New tools, new mentors, new people to say, oh, I see your side, but have you thought of it
this way?
And it's, I think that in coaching, it would be the same thing where you go, we're all
trying to hit the same marks, right?
Like we need to work together, we need to follow a game plan, we need to, you know, do what's show up each day
and I need to be a good leader and all,
whatever the things are, however,
it's sort of bolting on to that message and saying,
oh, you know what, I really believe this
and now I've learned this too.
I think that that environment would really stretch you
in a way that could ultimately enrich
like Pete Carroll more than anybody else.
Well, it requires so much self-awareness because you could also see how a more egotistical
coach would be like, I'm me, I'm not changing the fact that this isn't resonating with the
team is their fault.
And then you get rid of the, you punish everyone else and then you just go on being you
and wonder why they're not getting with the program.
Right, then you should just coach in college.
It would be perfect.
Exactly.
Yeah, right.
Until the game changed,
if it became then a running game or a big guy
or whatever, like all the ways, you know, like every
sort of sequentially seven or so years,
like some new position changes the size
of the guy and all of a sudden it changes the offense or what have you, then you'd have
to adapt there, but then just do get a new rotation of guys and then the seniors might roll
their eyes, but then they're gone and then you're good.
Well, that's, to me, that's the story of Nick Sabin this year.
I mean, you have the most dominant coach in the history of college football.
And the game is shifted. I mean, he Alabama was always a defensive team.
And then, you know, college football became an offensive game.
And I mean, they just won this year as an offensive team.
And like you could see why there's every reason for Nick Saban not to change
and zero pressure for Nick Saban to change if he chooses to ignore
it. And you know, he would still get to be who he is. You could, you know, the momentum
of his career, he could coast to whenever he feels like stopping. And instead he was
like, no, I'm going to reinvent my game like Tiger Woods is reinvented his swing four
times. Like that is the hardest thing to do because like we're talking about nobody's
making you do it.
You're like insisting on it yourself.
Well, this is like one of your favorite words in the whole world, right?
It's when we can really and truly separate from our ego.
And it can be like, because also the other interesting thing.
And I know a few people like this,
Laird is a really good example.
I have a built-in good example sometimes of certain things.
Where Laird is really not interested
in doing what he's done before.
He just isn't.
And he's not actually interested.
There was a time in his career where it was like,
hey, capturing it all the time was important.
Because it was important for building awareness
and storytelling because the only way
we were gonna kind of build a scaffolding of a career around him. And I think now that he sort of
feels comfortable that there's been some of that done, he is so interested in
doing and like having that experience. Like why Nick is a coach is probably the
same reason why he was a coach 35 years ago or Tiger wanting to play golf and win. And those guys that don't get destroyed, distracted by money or fame, and they really
just want to continue to, you know, study their art, their craft, they want to be better,
they want to do it, they want to experience it. Those guys are the ones that just continue.
People will call it reinvention.
And it's like, yeah, no, they just didn't get stuck
in what everybody thought, or believing their own BS.
And they realized that yesterday is yesterday,
today is the new day.
And what do you want to do?
And when you, I feel like those people that live like that,
they, I feel like also they have a sense of self that's really interesting.
Was it hard for you to transition away from volleyball?
No, it wasn't because I fell into volleyball first late, so I didn't get it groomed into
me about like it being what I do. And then I, I, I, one time became a professional, I realized I was like,
oh, this is a really, I loved volleyball. I dedicated 85% of my time to training and being
better. And, you know, all of my income actually, you know, I sort of was doing this other
dog and pony show when I started doing TV and other things. But I was like, no, this is what makes me feel like me.
Like I felt like, oh, I'm honest.
I know myself when I'm in this situation, when practice sucks and I suck, then I get to
see myself like just all the things that you learn when you're in those kind of environments.
But I was so keen to understand that it was a limited platform.
So that was the other thing.
And it's actually so it's easier.
My point is, if I was a great tennis player, I could have, maybe that transition would
have been harder, but I understood the rules of engagement when I became professional.
And even when I was successful as a professional, I was like, I understand the limitations.
So I never was like, I'm going to hang everything I have as far as myself worth, my identity
into this.
And then, given a little more time,
like as you get older, you realize like,
oh, that's all from the outside coming at you,
versus you've got to stay in charge
by making all about what's inside you going out into the world.
And when you can do that, that's really gonna be
the only thing you're in charge of.
Because, learned I talk about all this all the time,
like what if you win, like, yeah, you win the Super Bowl,
and it's Sunday, okay, Monday, cool.
Then you gotta parade that week, great, next week.
Now, are you gonna defend your championships?
It's like a cycle, it's a beast that you can never feed.
So just make sure you're doing things for yourself, for your real reasons.
And doesn't mean attention isn't great.
It doesn't mean, you know, all those things aren't nice.
They don't, it's of course they feel good, but you somehow have to find the way I think
to keep it in check because it is a long life.
No, I wrote about this recently.
I think what happens is you win a Super Bowl,
and your whole life was towards winning the Super Bowl and you get it. Then, you know, the confetti
comes down and you're holding the trophy and it's amazing and then it's also sad because it's not
what you thought. It's not as amazing as you thought.
And this is true, you know, when I book it number one for the first time, I'm sure it was true
for your greatest accomplishment. All the great things, all the external things we strive for,
we get them, and there's, it's wonderful and also disappointing at the same time. And we have
sort of an option there, whether you're on the medal stand or, you know, ringing
the bell for your first public company or you're, you know, you just want to pull its
surprise or whatever it is.
You can wrestle with that disappointment and you can go, why did I think this was going
to make me happy?
Why did I think this was it?
Or you can do what most people do.
I think of Kevin Durant winning in Golden State and it goes, ah, this is amazing, but it
doesn't count because Golden State was already good when I came here.
Now I need to win one on my own and that will feel different.
Then what I mean, or I have to win the most college it's, I have to win the most, you know,
college football championships.
I have to win the most gold medals.
I have to be the, I, you know,
it's nice to be on the Forbes list,
but really it's about the number one spot, you know,
and that, so we, we,
instead of honestly,
instead of taking the feelings that we have at face value
that this is disappointing
and not what we thought.
We've lied to ourselves and we say, oh, it's just not enough.
I didn't get enough of it.
And next time it'll be different.
Right.
And you know what's interesting too is, is, you know, this non-sustainable thing.
I find it fascinating that I still live off the fumes of stuff I've done 25.
You know what I mean? Like I always that so trips me out because I'm like, oh, we talk about
that so cool. No problem. But I feel like I've had seven lives since then. So I try to flip it
and say, wow, I am getting away with that. Right? Like somehow I'm still getting credit for that
stuff. That's amazing. Okay, great. I'm gonna be working over here
and trying to create new experiences
and stories that I feel good to who I am right now
and what I can be doing.
But I know it's oversimplifying that sounds cheesy,
but have you ever been sitting there
in like a ladybug lands on your arm?
Like sometimes you know, you're sitting in your bed and your kids got up before you and you hear them running their little feet running You know, it's like yeah, we're gonna miss like my son wakes up at like 10 30 every night and runs into our room
And that sound is like my favorite sound in the whole world. It's kind of that's it like if if we can feed our families, if we compare bills, if we can put a roof over our head
and you know, you know, do that.
And if we need medical care to get it,
it's like, if we think besides trying to like be our best selves,
so putting ourselves in the matrixes,
it's like I told my middle daughter who likes tennis,
she goes, sometimes she's a pretty really smart kid
and she goes, sometimes it seems stupid, you know know like I'm gonna hit a ball and I go okay
That's a really important thought because you have to it has to mean so much to be good at anything
Yeah, I'm so we step just far enough back you go this kind of stupid. It's like yeah, it is but I go
But it's a matrix for you to learn the lessons so that you can be yourself, whatever
that needs to be that you'll take on to the next.
So just look at it as, you know, a place that you're doing that.
Not, oh, I hit a ball over a net.
And if I do that better than someone else, somehow that's good.
And so I think for me, it's when we can go, oh, the ladybug, she fell on my hand and
I'm noticing and that makes me feel good.
It feels like a moment.
I just think it's a bunch of moments,
and I'm not an upie-goopy person,
like I don't look at a sunset and go,
oh my God.
In fact, I take it in,
and I almost intellectualize it,
but I'm very clear in that moment.
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Yeah, no, I tell a story and he goes in to me.
There's this exchange between Joseph Heller and Kurt Vonnegut where Vonnegut's teasing
Heller that they're at the house of this billionaire and he says, how does it feel that this
guy made more money this week than your novel, You know, catch 22 is made in his lifetime.
And and he'll say, it feels fine because I have something he doesn't have.
I have enough.
And to me, if you can get to a place where you've, you've done stuff, but whatever it is, it's enough.
Like for me, like, I wrote, I published a book.
I published my first book when I was 25 years old.
And it was a book about my life and experiences.
Like, I feel very lucky because I told myself then,
and I don't know where this came from,
but I was like, this is fucking it.
I fucking did it at 25.
Like, it's all gravy from here.
So the last, you know, what is it, eight years?
It's been quite a wonderful ride because it's all good.
I'm not that like other people have had more, but I'm already full.
So this is all extra, you know, and if you can get to a place where you're ambitious
and you try to do things, but it's from a place of fullness rather than emptiness, I think
that's a really wonderful place.
And it also becomes easier, I believe,
when you have connection.
You have a wife that has loved you a very long time.
And so I also want to say that part of that formula,
I think, is that when you have friends that love you,
when you have a partner, and it doesn't have to be both right.
It just those connections with people who are like, you know what, I'm so excited for you
because you really wanted to do that. But I kind of love you the same like whatever, you
know, it's like, I think people have to realize that, you know, for me, a lot of my success
came from from fear, you know, it was like, I was trying to find stability and I'm really well aware of that. But when
we're so busy focused on the goals and getting, and we don't invest the time because by the
way, having real relationships means you take and you give, you have to be available,
you listen, it's not always sexy. It's like when you're really showing up there and you have those people that are like,
you know what, you really show up, I'm there for you.
Then I think you can go out into the world with a different kind of base of power
that is so real versus we've seen it a thousand times.
You get a billionaire, everyone's attracted to them because they're billionaires because
that's what they're putting out there.
This is what I am.
This is what I have, This is what I have.
You know, I'm a billionaire.
And then they never get that thing.
And then they're never sure.
And I think that it's such a cliche.
And so, you know, that's been at the part of it for me
is like, don't bite the hook.
So, you know, when they say you're great,
don't believe them when they say suck,
don't believe them, have the right amount of people
in your life to tell you the truth.
And also, like, I've listened to what's her name,
Caroline Leif, she's a neuroscientist
talks about like the eye factor.
So, nature, nurture, and the eye factor.
What is it only you can do? Because
we're not special, but we kind of are. And so what's the one, what's your thing you can
put out into the world? Yeah, and I think it's important that people realize that a spouse
or relationships or friends, these are actually weirdly like career advantages.
Like they're not, they're not only not at odds with being successful in your career, it
may be the best decision that you make because it centers you in, it keeps your ego in check.
It prevents sort of you from being insatiable or, you know, at prioritizing the wrong things.
It's unquestionably the best decision
that I made in my life.
Yes, and if someone is listening
and just not at that place yet,
I think that there's other ways,
meaning even just having this sort of, you know,
a friend support group.
Yeah, because you can't lie. You can't be
yes in it. And so in a way, you're just constantly peeling back the layers of
yourself. And I think that that only helps you in your work.
Yeah, no, and it isn't that ultimately the point of being successful in the work is to have a happy
life?
You know, like isn't that like I think people do a bad job defining what success is toward
like where they're actually trying to go so that they get focused on these sort of little
goals and then they often pursue those things at the expense of the big goals. Well, yes, because sometimes the big goals, which are the, the, the, the, they're quiet,
right?
They're not grand in certain ways.
They're rich, but it's just not so external.
So I think that that makes sense.
Why?
And I like in it. I had a situation in parenting
where they hand you a new baby and you're like,
oh my goodness, the possibilities are infinite.
You're gonna get an incredible, you're gonna be so smart.
You'll probably pay the piano,
you're probably gonna speak three languages.
I mean, it's gonna be amazing, right?
Cause you think you're gonna just get a jump on all of this.
And I remember at one point, we were going through something with one of the girls and Laird said, just make
it to 25. And I was like, so we've taken all of it out and just gotten right down to it,
which is like, can you just survive it so that you can work the rest out? But if you don't
survive it, we can't work anything out. And if you speak French or don't, I really don't care.
So I think it's to your point, what is success?
How do we define it?
How do we get here in our programming
about what we think success is?
And how do we give space to people, to our children,
to really explore this idea of,
well, this is what success feels like to me.
Maybe I do have a nine to five job,
I can cover my bills,
but I have hobbies that I'm into.
I see people weekly that I really enjoy,
and I feel good.
Also, I would value not seeing people
that I don't enjoy seeing.
That's a big part of it for me as a photographer.
That's right.
Saying no and being honest about,
you know, have a good friend that taught me this,
go towards, does this situation person environment
make me feel comfortable?
Does this situation person environment make me feel comfortable? Does this situation person environment make me feel uncomfortable?
You don't have to say it's good or bad, you don't have to explain why they're this or that.
Do I feel comfortable? Do I feel uncomfortable?
And if we can move towards things at least in that emotional way,
I believe in physical discomfort, productive physical discomfort on the regular,
but in that other way with your spirit and your inside, can I be with people that make me
feel comfortable? In the way that it's like, it's sort of your tribe, it doesn't mean
they don't say things to you that you have to really look at. I'm not talking about
that. I think that is a huge success in life.
Yeah, I think life is too short to put up with crappy people unnecessarily. That's not to say you,
all, you know, like you have to be nice to root strangers. You have to tolerate that people
disagree with you. You can't expect the world to be totally around you. But you don't have to
allow those people into your house and you don't have to let them run sort of ramp it through
your life, which unfortunately is what a lot of people do. And then they wonder whether
they're not happy.
Well, yeah, they get obliged. They're, they're obligated somehow. And I always say, my
rules of engagement, when people outside my four walls, I'm like, knock yourself out.
Once we get into my four walls, I really, it's such a different intense lens that I use
and I agree with that.
And I really always encourage people,
standing up for yourself or what works for you
doesn't make you a bad person.
No, of course not.
No, I'm a different woman.
Females, we wrestle that bugger to the ground all the time.
Like, is that okay?
And the honey want to hurt their feelings?
And guys are like, yeah, no.
You know, it's like more so than not.
And so one thing beautiful about ages,
you just go, I know, I'm sorry,
that just doesn't work for me.
And people might be like, I can't believe it's like,
I know we've been friends for 25 years.
It's just more.
I love that expression hard pass.
Like where people ask you to do something just hard pass.
Like not only like, I'm not even like, there's a great expression I heard and obviously I understand
there's like some sexual connotation that's bad.
So that's not what I'm saying.
But the one where it's like, don't say maybe if what you mean is no.
And that's been like good advice for me in my life.
But women do that a lot, you know, because they don't feel like they can say no, so they say maybe.
But what they really mean is like, get the fuck away from me. I don't want anything to do with you.
Well, and it's actually better if I could say this. As you say no, and I say it's like no blood in the
water, because maybe then means later you have to come up with a no and an excuse why you're going to say no.
And usually it's not completely based in the truth.
And so now you're doing these weird behaviors.
But if you say no, people won't be like, well, you sure?
It's like, oh, that's a no.
Where you can get engaged in a lot more if you say maybe and then have to create the
no.
And so I think it's totally really good.
It's sort of like the no explaining yourself, rural. or if you say maybe and then have to create the know. And so I think it's totally. Really good.
It's sort of like the know explaining yourself, rural.
Once you get people get accustomed to it,
they're like, oh, when Gabby,
it's like, oh, we're having a girl's long-during martini.
Oh, yeah, we're not even gonna ask Gabby.
Like, we are no.
You know what I mean?
I think it also, you train the people around you
to kind of get a sense of like, what's
ultimately going to kind of is your jam, you know?
No, I like the rule idea.
And the other one I heard is like, it's good to have a rule.
So you go like, I have a rule that I don't do X.
And then so people ask you to do X.
You go, I have a rule I don't do that.
So like I go like, I have a rule I don't blur books.
And I just say that. And then I, you know, and that's, I don't say no, And then I just say that.
And then I, you know, and that's, I don't say no, I'm not going to do it because X say
I have a rule I don't, don't blur books.
Right, and it's not personal.
I'm not blurbing your book.
I just don't blur of any books.
That's genius.
You know who do that actually very well and does has a lot of those?
It's Tim Ferris.
Of course.
Yes.
Tim, Tim, I sometimes feel like his, feel like his sort of has so many rules.
He's not sure what they all are, how they interact with each other.
I feel like Tim has to remember a lot of rules.
And so I try to keep it simple.
And I also break my rules all the time if it's something I want to do.
But the point is you just go like, I have a rule I don't do that.
And then that's the end of that discussion.
Yeah, that's kind of amazing. So is it like I have a rule that I
don't let my kids be friends with either asshole kids or kids
with asshole parents. Is that okay? Yeah, yeah, whatever,
whatever the rule has to be to not do the thing you don't want
to do, it can be totally me. Really kidding. But it's like I
used to say to my girls, but wait a second, if your friends
with the kid, does that mean I have to be friends with those parents,
you know?
Yeah.
Another upside of the pandemic is just so much less of that.
So as an introvert, it's like the best.
Oh my goodness, I know.
It's amazing because you go, will we ever...
There's going to be maybe what,
50% of our friendships that we just won't ever resume.
Yeah, oh, I didn't think about that.
Right, no, it's just like all the standing things
that just got eliminated that aren't important enough
to get inserted back into life.
Yeah, and so much time has gone by
that literally you'd have to put energy
to start the motor again.
So you're just like, oh yeah, no, that one's done.
It's kind of, that's amazing actually.
Yeah, no, and I mean, and for me,
that it was a double way I'm of having young kids,
I already had a bunch of excuses to do stuff.
And so now it's like, you know,
I got the kids, I got the pandemic,
I'm living my best life.
And you have farm animals, I mean, you're busy.
That's true.
So that's another thing is living right outside town
means I go, you know, someone's like,
I'm in Austin, do you want to see, you know, I want to get together? I don't live in Austin, you know,
like I'm sure Malibu, it's like someone's like, hey, I'm in LA and I'm staying downtown by the
Staples Center, we should get together. And you're just like, I'm sorry, that's like two-hour drive
for me. I'll see you, you know, never. No, it's so true. Like where you, and it's, it's so funny how much time you have
for the things and people that you, that you want.
Right. No, if your best friend was, was staying in, in Phoenix, you'd be like,
go, I can make that, you know, like you, you do that.
But it's just, you want just enough natural barriers to keep away the things
you don't want to do. And then it also kind of the things you don't want to do.
And then it also kind of shows you what you do want to do.
It does, and I think it's important to pay attention to those cues.
Well, I appreciate you doing this.
It was something I definitely wanted to do, and I look forward to seeing you again in
person soon.
Well, I appreciate you and always your thoughts and things and just all.
You're the best.
Thank you.
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