This One Time On Psychedelics
Welcome, fellow explorers of the infinite.
If you’re here, it means you’re ready to step beyond the ordinary and into the great unfolding mystery of existence itself. Because psychedelics? They’re not just substances—they’re a doorway to a new way of seeing reality, a lens that reveals the hidden layers of reality we walk through every day. And that’s exactly what we explore here.
I’m Ryan Sprague, and This One Time On Psychedelics isn’t just about trippy stories and wild journeys (though trust me, we have plenty of those). It’s about the conversations that hold the power to awaken us, to shift our consciousness, and to remind us that there is far more to this reality than meets the eye.
These are the conversations that expand hearts, challenge perspectives, and guide us back to the wisdom that has always been within us. Whether through plant medicines, altered states, or the everyday magic woven into life itself, this is a space where we step beyond the known and into the infinite.
The psychedelic renaissance is here. The future is unwritten. And you, my friend, are a part of it.
So buy the ticket. Take the ride. And let’s see how deep this trip goes.
This One Time On Psychedelics
Ep. 213: It’s Not Goodbye, It’s See Ya Later! (feat. Rachel Varitimos)
Alrighty guys, this episode is extra special to my heart because it’s officially my last episode (for now) on this show before I transition back to the Highly Optimized podcast, my first project that was birthed in 2019 when I chose to start paving my own path, leave my job & go into the unknown. To say the last 3 years of doing this show has been magical, exciting & heart warming would be an understatement & I truly hope all of you continue to tune in on the Highly Optimized podcast because, to be honest, the Highly Optimized podcast just feels much more like me right now. While I love psychedelics, they are simply not the full picture of my life, what I want to share with the world & what I truly feel allows someone to reach the state of being highly optimized & as such, I must follow my fun & I thought who better to join me in this epic send off than my beautiful partner Rachel, who was also my send off guest on the Highly Optimized podcast when I put that show on ice back in 2022. So, with all of that being said, please help me in welcoming todays guest, Rachel Varitimos, to the show to share more about how this decision came to be, why I’m choosing to do it right now & what you can all expect in the future. Sending you all so much love & without further adu, let’s get this show a rolling!
For those wanting to contact Rachel for a reading, go to the link below:
https://calendly.com/ravaritimos/75-minute-birth-chart-reading
Register for the ONE DOLLAR “Breathe With Cannabis” event happening May 3rd by clicking the link below:
https://christopheraugust.mykajabi.com/offers/vmYDwbpf/checkout
Subscribe & get ready for the RELAUNCH of the Highly Optimized podcast here:
Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/show/0nv2VBYWjCuj4iz3dIwXzI?si=2c6c30f6c9624d21
Apple
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/highly-optimized/id1498263212
https://www.highlyoptimized.com
@therealryansprague
Thank you. Medicines and the impact they've made among the countless psychonauts exploring the last true frontier. Buy a ticket and take the ride with me as we get true firsthand accounts of the experiences, benefits, risks and transformations taking place within the ever-expanding world of psychedelic medicines. On this One Time on Psychedelics, alrighty guys, this episode is extra special to my heart because it's officially my last episode for now on this show, before I transition back to the highly optimized podcast, my first project. That was birthed in 2019 when I chose to start paving my own path, leave my job and go into the unknown. To say the last three years of doing this show has been magical, exciting and heartwarming would be an understatement, and I truly hope that all of you continue to tune in on the Highly Optimized podcast Because, to be honest, the Highly Optimized podcast just feels much more like me right now. While I love psychedelics, they are simply not the full picture of my life, what I want to share with the world and what I truly feel allows someone to reach the state of being highly optimized and, as such, I must follow my fun, and I thought who better to join me in this epic send-off than my beautiful partner, rachel, who was also my send-off guest on the Highly Optimized podcast when I put that show on ice back in 2022. So, with all of that being said, please help me in welcoming today's guest, rachel Veritimos, to the show to share more about how this decision came to be, why I'm choosing to do it right now and what you can all expect in the future, sending you all so much love. Thank you all so much for the reviews you've left, for the conversations we've had and, without further ado, let's get this last show rolling. Rachel Veritimos, or, as we like to say, rachel Veritimos, I'm so glad you're here with me today for a very, very special send off to this podcast.
Speaker 1:You know, as I said in the intro to everyone, tuning in this may come as a shock to some of you, but fear not, fear not. Okay. This is not me leaving the podcast circuit. This is me just realizing that I only have so much bandwidth in the day and I've been very much called to restart the highly optimized podcast, my original baby. That was the first thing I ever did when I started highly optimized and you know, when I started forming this business and you were a big part of that, right, I mean, you actually helped me come up with the name highly optimized. You got to witness all of this over the last five years of me moving around trying different things and I've had a great time doing this one time on psychedelics.
Speaker 1:But, as I said in the intro to everyone, I'm a lot more than just psychedelic and I want to get this brand back to all the things I do. You know the obsession of light I have sovereignty, financial sector, crypto, health, optimization, all of these other things, men's work, all these things that you know psychedelics can definitely help, but what I was feeling when I did this one time on psychedelics after a while was kind of boxed in. You know, psychedelics have been a big part of my life, but they're not all of it, and I wanted to bring the curtain back and share in this episode with Rachel of what's been going on in our lives. What's been going on in our lives, what's been going on in the stars, maybe some things that you guys are feeling as well, what this time is really good for, and a whole lot of other stuff that we'll see where God takes us in this conversation. So, rachel, welcome, as always, my dear, so glad to have you here with me.
Speaker 2:I'm so happy to be here, Bubby Boo.
Speaker 1:You almost said so happy to eat here, that would have been different.
Speaker 2:I was going to say Rachel Bear with Timo's, please don't eat you.
Speaker 1:And it's only right that you know we do this episode together, because you were the last episode I've had so far on the Highly Optimized podcast and I've already for the listeners tuning in. Don't you worry, we're going to pick up, we're not going to skip one week. I haven't skipped one week of podcasting, and literally since December of 2019. And I'm not going to start that now. I already have about four episodes in the chamber for highly optimized that I feel pumped the heck up about.
Speaker 1:I've also wanted to I didn't say this before, but I've also wanted to interview a lot of people that it would be a stretch to try to make their podcast seem like a psychedelic podcast.
Speaker 1:You know, for instance, dr Jack Cruz, light and mitochondria optimization I don't know how I would have a conversation with him on a psychedelic podcast.
Speaker 1:You know there's a lot of people out there that I've been wanting to talk with because, again, you know, for you guys tuning in, you guys may not have listened to the highly optimized podcast before I have 130 episodes over there and for anyone that wants to hear how this whole thing started and how upregulated I used to be when I podcasted, definitely go check out episode one, my good buddy, eddie Madden. But there's been a lot going on and, ray, I'd love if you could share a little bit about what's been going on in the stars. That would have led for me coming to this conclusion, because I felt it for a few months now. I felt this inner conflict of knowing that I can't have two podcasts, like it's just way too much and it would spread me way too thin, and I want to make sure that I put my ultimate all into everything I do. And if I can't do that, I have to put up a boundary.
Speaker 2:But I'm curious for you, you know why now is the time that I'm making that decision, as, according to the stars anyway, Well, we're in a phase where the cosmos really want us to pay attention to our energy and where our energy really wants to go. We're being more connected globally to our energy. We used to live very much from our mind, and the mind is not going to get us to wherever the earth wants us to go right now. Basically, if people have heard how the earth is now in the heart chakra frequency, if we're going to live from the heart chakra frequency, how the hell are you going to live from the heart chakra frequency if you're just doing things that your mind tells you to do, even though your body is tired and burnt out and bored of it? That's not the heart chakra. It's not just like reaching goals for the sake of reaching goals. That's devoid of love, and so really, a lot of people are surrendering a lot of things in their day to day because the universe wants to align you with where you're really meant to be, and for a lot of people, that could look like going completely into the unknown. For others, like Ryan, it looks like just getting rid of one podcast and leaning into what feels good.
Speaker 2:But yeah, we're at a phase we're building to the new moon in Taurus right now, and it's really interesting because I always talk about the Sabian symbols for the new moon, which is based on the degree the new moon is at which this new moon on April 27th is in Taurus, so it's a new beginning, and the Sabian symbol is called a sleigh without a snow, and so I think a lot of people might be feeling this right now. You might be feeling like something I'm going to explain the Sabian symbol in a second. You might be feeling like something I'm gonna explain the Sabian symbol in a second but you might be feeling like something's coming and you're like preparing for something coming and you might be trying to force things right now to move it along, and it's just making you more frustrated. And that's because this new moon is about being okay, with being in the unknown, understanding you have all the tools, but it's not the right conditions. And that's what a sleigh without snow is. It says this symbol represents preparedness, potential and readiness that may not yet be realized.
Speaker 2:A sleigh is designed to glide over snow, but here it sits without its necessary element, snow. It's about having the right tools or capabilities, but not the right conditions yet to use them. And here's one of the warnings for right now for a lot of people and that's why what Ryan is doing with this decision is so good is you might feel ready and equipped, you might have energy to do something, energy to do something, but if you're eager to get into action and you're not waiting for the snow to come and you're just dragging the snow, the sled over like dirt and rocks, you're going to exhaust yourself and burnt yourself out. And that's not what the cosmos want right now. They want like a deep surrender into where your energy truly wants to go, and that's also coming with a lot of people creating a lot more space, like letting go of podcasts or switching to new podcasts.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it makes a lot of sense, you know, for you guys tuning in. If you've listened to how we Optimize, you know my repertoire of what I like talking about and of course I love psychedelics, I love cannabis, but, like I was saying before, it just kind of became like well, wait a minute, that hasn't been my entire formula, you know. For anyone who's in any of my programs you know I talk extensively about holistic health, the four doctor system from Paul check, dr Happy, dr Quiet, dr Diet, dr Movement, and without those things you're not going to be able to number one, optimize your relationship with psychedelics because they're not going to work as well as they could work. And also the most important part of any psychedelic experience if you really want transformation, if you're just looking for fun, cool, go have fun. But if you really want transformation, the most integral part of it is integration. And if you don't have your physical, emotional, mental and spiritual well-being in check, you are not going to be able to integrate effectively. You know, I've had Jason Ganzuk on the show many times. You guys may remember his episode where he talked about minerals and how important minerals are just in the scope of psychedelic experiences and why so many people feel so burned out after psychedelic experiences is because it depletes mineral content. So that's just one small little sliver of why I really felt like it's time to go back to highly optimized.
Speaker 1:Also, I've been really getting into supporting a lot of my clients and building their businesses, and that's what highly optimized started with. It became, or it started as a business that was focused on helping someone live a life that is on their own terms, and it entailed the aspects that I had found that had allowed me to do so and the new ones that I was finding along the way that were allowing me to do so. And over the last five years I've gained a lot of experience. I've burned the candle at both ends many times and, you know, made a lot of costly mistakes and every happy accident possible that was essential to me to get to this point right now, and I really want to begin sharing more about what's behind the scenes of what I'm working on. You know how I actually come to these types of decisions.
Speaker 1:Spoiler alert Rachel's a big supporter of it and a big part of it, because typically if I'm going through something and I feel this lack of alignment within, I'll go to her first and I'll say, hey, I'm feeling this, what could potentially be coming up in the stars that could be causing this? And then she'll let me know. And the way she does astrology is so powerful for anyone who's gotten a reading from her, you already know. If you haven't and you want to, I'll put the link in the show notes. It is absolutely life changing. Because the way Rachel does astrology is she does it in a way that's like solid truth, with a light hand, Like she's not going to tell you just airy and fairy stuff. There may be some of that stuff, naturally, in your chart at that time and she'll tell you. But if there are things that are opportunities in disguise, let's say, or happy accidents, as Bob Ross may say happening, she's going to let you know, but with a light hand. And so that helps me a lot, because I think the highest expression of a romantic relationship is one another, building each other up, and that is definitely what you do for me, baby, 100% is you build me up and you also call me forward when you see me not fulfilling on my potential and for me, when I think about my potential and I think about all the things that have happened over the last five years and I think about how I can make the biggest amount of impact in the world.
Speaker 1:It's not going to be strictly through talking about psychedelics. That's a part of it and, highly optimized, has always had, I mean, the original logo had the cannabis leaf in it, so it's really a yes, and over there we can talk about all the stuff we talked about in here. But with a bunch of other stuff, and I'm curious for you, right, like what have you seen recently in your clients lives that relate to this? Because one of the trippiest things about psychedelics I've found or sorry, astrology that I've found is that you may think that you're the only one going through something, but I can tell you, guys, if Rachel tells me something that's happening in the stars, and then I go into one of my groups that I'm in and I run and I start talking to other people, they're all like I'm experiencing something very similar. So I'm curious for you, right, and the reason I'm experiencing something very similar, so I'm curious for you, right, and the reason I'm asking this is very specific and the reason is is because, for you guys listening, I don't want this to just be an episode of me just monologuing the entire time. I want you guys to feel into what I'm saying and ask yourself this question Does what Ryan is saying, does it relate to me right now?
Speaker 1:Am I also feeling this and have I owned it yet? Have I actually accepted that I do feel this way? Maybe I do need to change. Maybe there's something that feels more fun for me. You know, you guys know I say follow the fun all the time, and that's what I'm doing here. I'm having a lot more fun right now talking about the totality of what my brand highly optimizes than just one sector of it, which is psychedelic use. And so I'm curious for you, ray, like have you been seeing this in your own life, in your clients lives, etc. Just so we can help anyone else who's listening who may not realize, this is more than likely happening to the entire collective at once.
Speaker 2:Yeah, there's really intense astrology right now. Basically, our old identity is dissolving, but that's coming with a lot of reactions from people, because it's scary when that happens, right, and people are wanting to take their power back and be like this is what I want and this is how I want to live my life. And that's coming with either people projecting onto people and thinking that other people are to blame for why their life is right now, objecting onto people and thinking that other people are to blame for why their life is right now or it's coming with having more clarity around who you really are and what needs to go in your life. And with all of that, there's this other part of the astrology that's really intense. That's like clearing out a lot of trauma and toxins and it could be causing a lot of adrenaline in people. It's like kind of this, like antsy feeling, we'll call it. It's a feeling of it's adrenaline, whatever adrenaline feels like, you know. But it could also come with lashing out at people and wanting to force and control life to go your way, only for that to feel like it's just getting worse and worse and worse. And I want to name that for a lot of people because I want you to know that there's nothing wrong with you.
Speaker 2:If that's the part how this astrology is playing out for you, what it really wants you to do is to surrender and to look at yourself and look at a deeper truth, like look at what's happening in your life right now and how you can take your power back and stop giving it away to these outside external circumstances. Again, it's just like what I said before there's a big push to turn all of that power inwards, and part of this intense astrology involves it involves slowing down. Because here's the thing if we just keep going at a million miles a minute in order to control our life and to make it happen, there's an energy that can make you burn everything down, to force you into the surrender and slow down. And I even just talked about this with my client, because we've been working together for a long time and she's gotten really, really good at slowing down and responding instead of reacting, and so, even like yesterday, she had a giant shift within this energy I'm talking about, because she had this desire to control her son and what her son was doing.
Speaker 2:Based on this report, she got from the school, but instead she didn't react and start yelling at her son. She calmed down. She said OK, what's my vulnerable truth? My vulnerable truth is is that I love my son and I want to support him in any way possible and it would break my heart if he blew what he's doing at school, cause it means a lot to him and she's like I'm not gonna, I'm not going to react right now. And what ended up happening was the son ended up calling her and said mom, why do I keep getting sick? And almost opened the invitation for the very thing she wanted to. She wanted to control, she wanted to yell at him for it, but because she didn't, he opened the invitation and then she shared her truth. It went very well. He could actually receive it and accept it.
Speaker 2:Sorry, that's our dog, if you can hear that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I know, let's wait a second for him to stop barking.
Speaker 2:So the lesson was with this energy is she didn't try to control life. She got calm, figured out what her real vulnerable truth was, not the I need to control my son. This is what has to happen. That allowed the universe to open up some magic, because that's what happens when we respond instead of react. When we come back to our truth and we don't just try to control, her son reaches out, she gets through to him and he actually could receive it. And here's the thing so many of us could feel so frustrated by life and we could be acting from that frustration and being like force, force, force. The thing is is that life will just force you right back out, and what we're really learning right now is that life responds to openness and spaciousness and trust and faith, and so that's what happened with that specific example, but that's just one example that's, I'm sure, mirrored for a lot of people right now.
Speaker 1:Yeah, 100%, and I'm glad you mentioned that, because weird times are going to happen in life, and by weird I don't mean bad, I mean like strange, maybe strange feelings, maybe a feeling you haven't felt in a long time, maybe a feeling you can't even name, maybe you don't know what it is, but at the same time, like you're saying, one thing I have found over the last five years and Rachel will probably laugh at this, because I'm the most bullheaded person ever being an Aries on this but is the value of slowing down. Because to me, when I used to hear the term slowing down or someone would say, ryan, man, you should really slow down I would think boring. I want to go as fast as possible because it's fun. But actually what I found is that what is really fun is going slow, to go fast, and that's what I think a lot of people don't talk about as much. Like if I had heard someone say no, ryan, I know it sounds paradoxical, but by slowing down you're actually going to get more done. You're going to go faster in terms of like, where you're going is. You're going to have more clarity and alignment. You're going to have more time to think into each decision you make so that you don't, three months down the road, realize, oh whoopsie, I should have made this decision which, again, happy accident, you know it was meant to happen but at the same time, this ability to slow down. I mean this winter I was just saying this on my conscious cannabis collective career earlier that this winter I think I've seen one friend in four months, other than, of course, you and Pierre, and that was Eddie Madden, when he came over when you were in virginia and we hung out for a while and hit some bags and just had a great conversation.
Speaker 1:But you know, typically if that was happening I'd be pretty shook about it. You know, I'm a very big extrovert. I've had a lot of people around me my entire life and I love that. That's what I really love about life. But I've learned enough about the nature of reality now to know that number one, I don't know anything. But number two, within that not knowing is that God always has something even better waiting. If it's not this, it must be something even better.
Speaker 1:And about two years ago I started hearing a lot about this slowing down thing and when you and I moved in together I got back into playing guitar pretty heavily and my goal originally was just pick it up every day. Whether I play a minute or an hour, it's all good, I'm just going to have fun. And that really worked for the last two years Aside from like a couple of trips we went on where I just didn't have access to a guitar, I stayed with it. I was feeling really good about it. And then around December I remember everyone's sales were down. My sales were down, amethyst were down, Everyone I know that owns a business, including Jay Griff and Aaron and everyone. We were all just like what the heck is going on here.
Speaker 1:But because I dated an astrologer, rachel informed me that hey, there's some stuff going on. This makes sense right now. And I was like, okay. And I tried to fight it for a couple of weeks, like no, I'm just going to put more posts out and more emails and I'm going to force. I'm going to force.
Speaker 1:And then, after that didn't work, I was like, okay, well, if I overcome my bullheadedness on this and I look around and just view this neutrally, what is life showing me? It's showing me that right now, my energy is not best spent trying to force sales to come through or whatever. I have money. I'm okay, my bills are paid. So what? What would happen if I just accepted, accepted. I didn't know where this was leading me and I just sat into that. I don't know.
Speaker 1:And that's really what winter was for me, and I remember in December, crypto had been going up a little bit, so I still had a little bit of my you know my peppiness and excitement. And for everyone listening, I'm not a fan of winter, mostly because it involves being inside a lot and slowing down, and so when crypto started the tank in late January, it started to become that part of the mushroom trip where you're like, okay, I think I took a lot more than I thought, and but at the same time, what happened then was because I had created so much space. I was like you know what? I'm going to put this into music. I want to start expressing myself through music again to a deeper degree. And so I went into guitar like two, three, four hours a day, and that's what I've been doing ever since, and now that we're coming into spring, I'm so grateful for these last four months because it wasn't just me starting to play guitar in a very big way again and be more dedicated than I ever have been in 15 years to it. It's what it represented again, and be more dedicated than I ever have been in 15 years to it. It's what it represented, which was me saying, hey, I don't only have to put all of my energy into one area of my life. I can put it into a lot of things, even things that may not make money quote unquote because I love business building, I love this kind of stuff. But in doing that, I've had so many ideas and downloads and I just wrote an email about this the other day that in slowing down, in giving your creativity button a freaking break for once, all of a sudden all the creativity of the universe starts hitting you again. And in this time I created and launched Coachbook Cannabis. I turned Breathe With Cannabis with Chris into an eight-week program called Limitless, which is unbelievable. Both of those programs have been unbelievable. I'm taking a hiatus from a couple of other groups I run. I'm now restarting the Highly Optimized podcast.
Speaker 1:And then, for any of you business nerds out there, we also switched our payment processor because Stripe was going to ban me because I teach cannabis education. And at the 11th hour we realized this payment processor would not work with Kajabi. So we had to switch everything to go high level and that would have been a lot for me to go through if I was trying to force and stack my calendar full and do all the things that you know did work for me to a certain degree three years ago to get to this point. But because I had all the space in my calendar and because I had been training with Ani Manian, who's been a guest on this show about a couple of months ago and he had taught me a lot about working more efficiently, smarter, not harder I had all the space for it and those were projects I've been looking at for two plus years you know the go high level switch and things like that and it happened relatively seamlessly. At the same time, I launched two new programs.
Speaker 1:So you want to talk unknown, ladies and gents? I just told you guys that I pretty much changed my entire life up in the last four months, like from the podcast to the payment processor I use, to the programs I run, to a lot of the people I coach. I mean literally everything, and I'm not saying that that's the best way to do it, but it's what worked for me during this time. It's what felt right. In the past, when I've tried to change that much at once, it hasn't exactly gone smoothly. So, as I was doing all this this time, the only reason I changed all that at once was it was because that's what God was showing me. You know, it was like, okay, we got to switch payment processors because Stripe said they were going to ban me. Then it was like, oh, one of the great ways to shop Kajabi. I guess this is the perfect time to switch, to go to operate.
Speaker 2:You weren't controlling it. That's such a good example. You were allowing life to show you what you need to do.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and the other kind of anchor point I had was this belief that I have formed, this knowing actually, it's not a belief, it's a knowing that I choose to have in my life, which is, whatever is happening right now must be exactly what's meant to happen and must be exactly what I'm ready for, no matter how ready or not ready I feel for it. And viewing my life through that lens has helped out so much because when I've gotten huge podcast opportunities, for instance, that didn't feel like I should be getting that right, then when I can understand and know for myself, well, if this is what's showing up, then I must be ready, because God would never put me in a position that I wasn't ready for Then it allows me to. Yes, I still feel fear, I still feel those things that aren't real, but I'm able to move through the confidence and knowing that listen, I'll either win. I'll either do great or I'll learn from it. There is no losing. The only losing is not choosing to show up, and that's a big, big lesson I've learned over five years, guys, of witnessing Rachel and I build businesses, a lot of our friends alongside us build businesses, and also witnessing a lot of people that have said they wanted to build a business and five years later are still talking about it. You can't be afraid to look like a beginner when you're a freaking beginner.
Speaker 1:If I hadn't taken the risk and had the courage to start highly optimized when I didn't know what the fuck I was doing at all, I wouldn't be here now, kind of knowing what I'm doing about a lot of the stuff I do, right. So at the end of the day, the same thing goes for you. If you didn't start body by food first which, for those that don't know, that was Rachel's first business because she went to school for nutrition. She's very passionate around nutrition, like I am, and so she hadn't started that business, she wouldn't have formed astrology magic that she runs now. But a lot of people that maybe are in a different mindset when she was closing body by food would have been like, see, I told you so you can't run your own business because they don't get it.
Speaker 1:You know, regardless of what you may think about individuals like Elon Musk, for instance, one of the things that I had a person that I hang out with from time to time. Instance One of the things that I had a person that I hang out with from time to time say to me well, elon Musk, he's failed like 50 times. I'm like no, he's figured out 50 different ways that it wasn't going to work. And that's the thing I see. The biggest mindset shift I see from the people that are just working nine to fives to the billionaires is the nine to five people are really nervous around making a mistake. The billionaires actually invite it because they know the only way to reach the right way is to go through a lot of the wrong ways, and it's just part of the process. There's no energy to it. So it's very interesting to hear what you're saying because it makes me reflect on those things.
Speaker 2:Yeah, well, that's the thing too, is that you'll never know how much power you have until you do things like that, until you overcome, mistake, mistake, mistake, until you get to the biggest win. People say this all the time Every single overnight success is the farthest thing from an overnight success. And I also think it's important to say that if you're at a nine to five job and you're like, well, fuck, I can't leave, I have to all these bills and I have to pay for this, and that the thing is, is that that is a story. It really is, and I know people might want to punch me in the face for saying that, but it is.
Speaker 2:It's a huge fucking lie in a story and it discounts every ounce of power that you have, your heart and where your heart wants to go and what feels expansive to you is the divine way, and things will always work out. There's always a way to. Yes, and if you make that your new story, especially over these next 20 years, because Pluto's in Aquarius, we're going into a new way of doing life. Before, it was all about hierarchy in business and who was in authority and climbing the ladder. It's not about that anymore. It doesn't matter anymore. The people who win over the next 20 years are the people who follow authenticity and who follow their heart, no matter the fucking cost, and what you'll see is that the cost is a big payoff.
Speaker 1:Definitely 100% agreed. You know, it's like one thing that for any of you guys that listen to this show that have met me in person, I imagine you already know this about me. But for any of you that haven't met me personally, what I always tell people is I don't know anything. I am constantly learning. I'm an eternal student, but what I know to be true about me is that I show up for myself, I show up for those that I love, and I will bend over fucking backwards for the people that show me that they are willing to push, that they are willing to take a risk, they are willing to go on an adventure. That is what I live for and that is what I have done my entire life, and that is what I have done my entire life and for a long time before Pluto was in Aquarius.
Speaker 1:Growing up, I never wanted to have a regular job. It honestly was something that I loathed. I remember when I was about probably 10 or 11, I had a dream. My parents always talked about bills and things like that, and I had this dream one time that I was old enough to drive, I had bought a white convertible Mustang and all of a sudden I had all these bills and I remember waking up from the dream and being like, oh my God, that was the worst dream ever. And that was when my mom explained like bills don't just come out of nowhere. Like you got to like sign up for stuff and whatnot to get them. I just thought they were something you get when you turn 18, you know, silly 10 year old. But that is a catalyzing event in my life because it was my dark night of the soul. I had that dream and it was almost like part of childhood died. I was like God, someday I'm going to have to do a lot of to find a way around this, because that's who I've been my entire life.
Speaker 1:You know, one of my earliest memories in grade school was being in first grade, so I must have been six and the teacher's passing on homework for the first time and a couple of my friends that were sitting next to me were groaning and I can't believe we're getting homework. This stinks, or however six-year-olds say it, and I remember in that moment being very confused because I'm like there's three hours left in this day and this teacher doesn't pay that close of attention. I could just do this sitting in my seat and get it done, and it just never made sense to me why they were sitting there complaining so much when they could have just gotten it done in the time. It took them to complain, and so I learned from that moment forward as a six-year-old I didn't understand what I'm about to say now, but in hindsight I get it that life is not linear. There's not only one way to do things, and I think that's really what I'm here to do. If you boil everything down cannabis, holistic health everything I do is to show people through the aspect of me, because I'm not any more special than anyone. I don't have any gifts that anyone doesn't have. I don't have a silver spoon. I was born with a lot of trust fund kid. So if I can do it, anyone can do it.
Speaker 1:And, like you were saying when you said, people might want to punch me in the face for this. You know why that is Because people don't want to see examples of people that have moved through the shitty stories they're living in, because then that voice in their head that says there's nothing you can do about it ceases to be true. And once that ceases to be true, their ego will get triggered because they don't want to have to accept that they might have to do a lot of work to get themselves out of that situation. They may have to get creative, they may have to take a lot of risk, and so it's easier to try to talk shit to that person or leave a troll comment or any of these things. But, very much like you, I'm not here for lip service. I'm here for the people that are hearing this right now and saying, fuck, yes, okay, this is inspiring. Okay, if he can do it, yeah, so can I. Why have I ever felt like I can't do it? If he can do it, I can do it. And that's really what I feel I'm here to do is be that example, the same way you are, the same way any of us are.
Speaker 1:I mean, look at Alex Hermosi, for instance. I was just watching one of his reels where he's like guys, my first nine businesses failed. He said that means the first one. Oh, this is't going to be like the first one, this is going to get it fails. And this goes on until his ninth business.
Speaker 1:Guys, so you want to think about determination, you want to think about consistency, you want to think about what's sustainable, and that is why I created highly optimized, because I understand that, in order to stay consistent for five to ten years or more because, like tom bill, you says the struggle is guaranteed, the success is not. So, at the end of the day, to stay consistent, you got to make sure that you're fulfilling, on your four doctors, your foundation principles. You understand what your core values are, you understand what your boundaries are, you understand what you're going to say yes to and, more importantly, what you're going to say no to, and you got to stick to that. And there's going to be a lot of people around you that don't understand. Don't get it. Try to say come on, dude, just come hang out again. You can hang on on the Friday night. Let's go clubbing again, and there's nothing wrong with that, there's nothing wrong with it, there's nothing wrong with your friends that want to go do that.
Speaker 1:But if you're starting to something different and so maybe that is just going to bed earlier, maybe that's where you start. For me it was. I knew I wanted to start a podcast. I didn't know how I was going to make money with it. I didn't even know if I was going to make money with it, but I just knew that was fun for me, so I started there.
Speaker 1:So, like Rachel was saying, I like to give practical tips during this for any of you guys that are feeling a yes to this, but maybe you're also feeling like, oh, what do I start? Start with whatever feels right right now. It could be going to bed earlier, it could be ordering a supplement that you wanted. Whatever it is, it's a different choice Because, again, buying a different car, creating a different business, dating a different partner they may seem very different, but it's all the same type of decision. It's choosing something different. So the only thing that separates an amateur from a professional is reps One of my favorite Mark England sayings. And so if you don't know what you want to do right now, just start practicing doing anything different, because when you get into living life in your own terms, you're going to have a lot of different things hit you, and the better you are at saying yes to different things, the better and quicker you're going to succeed at whatever you want to do.
Speaker 2:And I have a light tidbit to add in too, because, like, yeah, we have to like choose our hard in life, right? Like you can choose the nine to five hard and like the hard that absolutely fucking sucks. Or you could choose being completely unhealthy, or you can choose going to the gym and feeling good, but it requires effort, right. But here's another spin that's important astrologically for these next 20 years it gets to be fucking fun. What if you don't have to just pick the next serious thing to make yourself better? Just like Ryan said, how he started playing guitar.
Speaker 2:One of the things I don't think you really mentioned in your story and I was a little surprised by, but it's true is he's been playing like two, three hours of guitar every day now and it hasn't hurt his sales, it hasn't hurt his business, it's actually amplified it and you get to have fun. It's actually vital that you make space for that in your day and if you don't know what that is, you start experimenting and finding it. Maybe the next step you do is not get a fucking supplement, because maybe that's boring for you, maybe it's not, I don't know. To me that feels boring.
Speaker 2:But, maybe it's like I want to have fun. I'm going to sign up for singing lessons. Maybe it's I want to have fun. I'm going to try making poems out of how I feel right now. Maybe it's like I want to have more fun and so I'm going to go. I'm going to like make sure I go to the beach once a week and I'm going to make that my top priority. And if I have to bring my kids or whatever I have to like do something to make it happen, I'm going to make it a top priority. And I'm saying fun because of Pluto and Aquarius. Whenever we look at how we're going to get to the highest expression of Pluto Pluto is the planet of death, rebirth and transformation we look to the opposite sign, and the opposite sign of Aquarius is Leo, and so Leo is about fun, your authentic self-expression coming from your heart. And a lot of us have been trained to think that that's like pointless and not productive, and I'm telling you it is the most productive thing you can do right now.
Speaker 1:Yes, I'm so glad you added that, and let me just tell, let me just ask everyone listening a question that I'm obviously not going to be able to hear your answer to, but I think I'm going to know. I know, for me, when Rachel was telling me to have more fun, when even I was telling myself to have more fun, I thought that can't be how it is, though. Like I can't, like I know I follow the fun, but like it can't all be fun. Right, but deep down, what did I actually want the truth to be? I wanted that to be the truth, and I think, for anyone listening, that's what you really want the truth to be. Like. If I could wave a magic wand and you could wake up tomorrow with a hundred million dollars in your bank account and the business of your dreams or whatever, would it be boring to you? Would you be like yeah, I'd really like to be a accounting expert that works on taxes and work directly with the IRS? I almost guarantee no one that listens to the show thinks that's fun. Like, would it be that? Or would it be like no, I'd be doing this, I'd be traveling on a catamaran and I'd be taking people on snorkeling adventures or whatever that is for you.
Speaker 1:I think, deep down, we all know that we're meant to have fun in life and I think all at the same time. I think we're all aware that when we get into business, as we get older, as we get adulterated, a lot of the things that we saw our parents do that as kids we were like why are they doing that? You know, why is that happening? Are now the things that we do to ourselves, and that was a big part of me. Getting back into guitar and getting back into traveling and all these things I've done over the past five years is reminding myself that it can be fun.
Speaker 1:That's why I started Highly Optimized. It was an experiment for myself to be like can I really do exactly what I want to do? And I didn't. Like I said before, I didn't really know what it was going to be. I just knew it was a path and I knew it felt fun to follow it, and that was one of the most important aspects of it, because without that there's nothing. I mean, before I started Highly Optimized, rachel and I's plan was to find investors and open our own dispensary.
Speaker 2:Okay, can you guys picture me Ordering office supplies. I'm so glad we didn't do that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, you didn't hear her. And so you know again, like when I think about myself now, it's hilarious, like life is inherently hilarious. It's hilarious that I was so far into my mind that I the guy that never wanted a real job, that wanted to run my own business ran my own guitar lessons business, in college actually sold candy or in gum and in middle school to make money, always wanted to try something different. It's hilarious to think that I actually thought that being in a dispensary 60 to 80 hours per week, with the government and all this bullshit breathing down your back, with all these risks, would be what I actually wanted. It's honestly hilarious that that's what I thought I wanted at one point in my life. But I had to want that. I had to be lost in order to be found. And you know again, like what I've learned is that life, this, this incarnation, this dream is very short.
Speaker 1:We're here for a moment in time and, you know, one of the ways I like to think about it is we're kind of travelers here. You know, visitors and, at the end of the day, all this stuff we think is real, even business money none of it's real. None of it actually matters. What really matters is that we are in a state of love, that we have courage, that we're proud of ourselves, that we help the people around us, and so any way that can be done is awesome. Whether or not it's selling hot dogs on a beach, whether or not it's running a business, running a podcast, running a scuba diving excursion, whatever it is, as long as you're having fun doing it, people will leave that business feeling fucking excited. They'll feel so inspired because you know what the currency is that we're all looking for deep down is true, freaking joy, and that's the reason part of the reason anyway. There's so much addiction in the world and things like that, because when we forget our innate state of being, which is joy, we forget who and what we truly are and we start to get mathematic in life.
Speaker 1:Well, let's go make money, so I guess I'll go do this, because this is the safe bet. I want to be an artist, but they don't make any money, so I guess I'll do this. It's like no, it's bullshit, you know you look at people like Mr Beast, for instance. This guy has made millions upon millions of dollars being a freaking YouTuber. So I have friends, my brother's kid he's like 12 years old teaching people how to code on YouTube. You think that kid's going to go to college? Hell, no, he's going to be making more money than his dad when he's freaking 16. It's like the world is changing rapidly fast and the great thing is for everyone listening. It's the time where you can actually have what you want again, and it's the time where a lot of people are going to start doing things very, very differently, and all of us are going to be supplying inspiration to the next person to dream even bigger, and that's how we all win. As I see it, Totally.
Speaker 2:It's going from wishing and hoping and reaching goals to actually co-creating, because you can keep working so you get the vacation and can have fun once a year or you can have fun right now, and whatever energy you start something from is literally the seed you're starting it from. Like, imagine, if you're starting something from anxiety and pressure and force and boringness, it's a pretty good bet. A lot of the journey is going to feel that way. If you start it from fun and lightness, it's a pretty good bet. The journey is going to feel that way and that's how you start becoming a co-creator.
Speaker 2:I think about in astrology how the sun everyone knows their sun sign, the sun in someone's birth chart, is how they reach their highest success, their highest purpose. The sun rules Leo in astrology, so the sun rules joy, the sun rules abundance, the sun rules creativity and authentic self-expression and, like the sacral chakra, like creation, right. But if people are not doing what's joyous for them, the sun, their sun, burns out and they never reach that feeling of success and they never reach the abundance. True abundance is claimed right here, right now, by you deciding you're going to be in joy and do the things that are joyful.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I love that you said that, because what she didn't say everyone and this is exactly what I would have thought five years ago. So I can imagine some of you may be thinking this. What she's not saying is go become a stock market trader so I can make as much money as I possibly can in as little as time as I can, and then I can go have fun. It's like maybe if you're into stock trading, that is what's fun for you, and to play not devil's advocate here, but also like there are certain people out there that may find a really kick ass nine to five and they're happy with that. They have a great boss, they give them extra vacation days like their homies with them. So we're not saying objectively nine to fives are bad, but if it's not what you want to do, this is the time to accept that and do something about it. That's what we're saying is that if you're not doing something that fires you the absolute heck up every single day, it's time to very intimately, very gently, just ask yourself what do I really enjoy and why am I not doing that right now and see what comes out of that. Maybe it's oh well, I couldn't make money doing that. And right there you know, oh, is my joy more important or is my? Is money more important than joy? I guess, somewhere in me it does feel like that, and that's okay to a certain degree, like it's not your fault necessarily that that may have happened Because, again, like our parents, parents grew up in an era which was the Great Depression and so back then there was the real risk of like, hey, if you don't have some kind of money, you won't have food on the table.
Speaker 1:But I think for most of us hopefully all of us very soon we're not in that position anymore. And at the same time we've also kind of seen, I think especially our generation, millennials and Gen Z we've kind of seen like, okay, our parents did the entire game. They went to college, they bought the house, they got the white picket fence, and they're in their 60s now and they're still not able to retire. And even if they did, what are they going to do? Just up and exit their entire life they built over 50 years and go garden or something? It doesn't work. It doesn't work. We've got to see the entire thing through and realize most of our parents are freaking miserable. They're absolutely miserable, unless they're like your parents and they found things they loved.
Speaker 1:Rachel's parents are both entrepreneurs and you know, my dad and my mom were too to a certain degree, but they did a little bit different. Your mom and dad actually went into what they enjoy. My dad did what he thought was logically able to make money and he didn't hate it, but he didn't love it either, and my mom definitely didn't love it. And so, at the end of the day, I've just seen what these things do and what is the definition of insanity Trying the same thing and expecting different results.
Speaker 1:When I was in school, for instance, and I'm hearing teachers say, oh, you're going to have to do this in life, you're going to have to do this I'm like, no, maybe you do, but I don't believe that myth and thank God, thank God I never bought into the stupid bullshit that so many people told me, including sometimes my own parents. Well, hey, you know, there's just things in life you're going to have to do. I was just like hell fucking. No, I got a pirate spirit and I'm not going to do anything that I'm not choosing to do. Now are there days where maybe I wake up and I'm a little extra tired and maybe I don't want to drive over Shlomo's to film content and I'm a little tired, yeah. But I'm also enjoying the process because I know that when I move through that or if I just choose to cancel it, I can do that. I have complete autonomy in my business and so if there's ever a point where I'm not enjoying what I'm doing, there's only one person that I can look at, which is myself.
Speaker 1:And when you work in a nine to five, it's very easy to say well, if Donna wasn't there, then you know I'd really enjoy my job. It's so easy to project. But when it's just you, when it's you running your business, who am I going to blame? There's no one to blame. So the great opportunity there is if I get stuck in a distortion, if I don't see it first, rachel's going to call me forward on it. She's very good at doing that, and so when you can find someone who builds you up like that and a romantic relationship, that you guys build a lot of stuff together and you're really charged up around what you do, it's like a quantum leap right into your highest and greatest destiny and hopefully I can be a good testament, rachel can be a good testament, and that's what highly optimized is all about. Guys, I'm going to bring a lot of people on this show I already have I mean God, there's 130 episodes already.
Speaker 1:But the whole thing is about the hero's journey. It's about how and what they may have utilized to get to live their life on their own terms, what they learned along the way, what their whole journey has been, because at the end of the day, when you're looking to pave a path that is your own, you can't take the path that's nicely grooved in the woods. You're doing it in your own. But if you can talk to people and say, hey, watch out for those storm bushes, man, they'll get you and you'll bleed out. Hey, watch out for any coyote dens. When you're out in the middle of the woods and you're not on a trail, sometimes animals live out there right, so they can start to share with you some of the things like hey, be aware of this, limiting belief may come up. Hey, be aware. Like I can tell someone, if you do anything with plant medicine, don't go on Stripe, they're just going to ban a group. I've done telegram, slack, school. I like school the best. That's what I've found.
Speaker 1:So, again, by sharing these things. It doesn't mean you're not going to go through any mistakes, I think, and they're really not mistakes, they're happy accidents, but mistakes are a big part of it, because that's how you learn, but maybe you don't have to repeat the exact same ones that I did or Rachel did, and maybe you can educate us on some other ones you've made that we haven't made yet, that we can learn from. And that's how we all grow together, because the age of Aquarius is all about collaboration over competition. No more cutting the next guy or girl down to get at the top. It's more like grabbing their fucking arm or reaching them up with you and being like we're doing this together and that's how we win. Because think about I mean, at least for me.
Speaker 1:I don't know about you guys listening, but my favorite times as a kid were sleepovers and so, with business and joining up forces like me and Chris do, me and Rachel do it's like an eternal sleepover. It's awesome. It's so much fun and you guys can have that fun too, and that's the big reason why I'm starting Highly Optimized Backup and I'm probably soft talk acknowledged not gonna put this one time on ice forever. I'll do something with it. But a big thing I've learned is less is more, and I do not want to spread myself too thin anymore. I've already been there, done that as well, gotten the badge of honor for it, felt the burn from it, and I've learned that lesson, and so I'm very excited, guys, for this next chapter. I'm very grateful to you, rachel, for coming in and joining me on this beautiful last episode of this chapter, of this, one time on psychedelics, you know, for anyone who hasn't listened to Highly Optimized. Rachel was also with me for the send off episode of that one called it's Not Goodbye, it's See you Later. And so I'm really, really excited that we're going to be able to start this podcast back up.
Speaker 1:I have four months of hibernation under my belt and a lot of ideas and creativity bursting out of me. We have our Italy trip coming up next next couple of weeks, that I'll still be releasing podcasts that week, but other than that, I'm going to take the entire two weeks off and just give my creativity another time to recharge, and I am very grateful for the new chapter. I'll be letting you guys know all different types of things I'm starting. We have another round of Limitless and Breathe With Cannabis coming up. We're going to have another round of the Coach With Cannabis cohort starting around August probably, so I'll keep you guys updated on all things. But, ray, I'm super excited that you were available today to come on and do this with me. It makes me feel so, so happy that I got to send this off with you and to everyone who's been listening every week, tuning in, trust me, this is not goodbye, it's see you later.
Speaker 1:Make sure you go on Spotify, apple and check out the highly optimized podcast. The first episode back will be released next week and you guys can expect to see some awesome stuff over there. I'll also put my email address in the show notes of this episode. If there are any guests that you guys would like to see some awesome stuff over there. I'll also put my email address in the show notes of this episode. If there are any guests that you guys would like to see me interview that you think have a really good story, a really good journey, I'm always open to hearing recommendations from other people that have really awesome friends. I mean, again, life is all about who you know, so I'm always down to connect with more people and until next time, guys, may the source be with you. Thank you so much, Rachel. Do you have any closing thoughts? You'd like to leave us with my baby.
Speaker 2:No, I'm just really proud of you. I've loved watching your journey and I think really amazing things are in the work for you and everyone else, and so I'm just excited. Thanks for having me for the final episodes.
Speaker 1:Thank you to everyone who tuned in. I love you guys so so much. Like I said before, you can find highly optimized podcast on spotify, apple just google it. You can take a trip down memory lane and have a good laugh with me if you listen to some of my old episodes, especially the early ones, because you can see where I started, so that if you have that voice in your head that says, oh well, ryan must have just always been able to communicate like this or whatever, go listen to the first episodes and realize I did not start like this. And at that point what you also realize is whatever excuse you've been telling yourself, stop telling yourself that excuse. Start today, because the time's going to go by anyway and if you start today, a year from now you'll have 365 days worth of reps under your belt at whatever you want to do. So I love you guys, sending you so much love. I'll see you over at the Highly Optimized Podcast and may the source be with you all. Peace for now.
