Walt Walton: The Spinout, Ecclesiastes, and a Song for Mom

What does it take to break a generational chain? Walt Walton joins the show to talk about the spinout that almost killed him, the verses that turned him around, and the song he wrote for the mom he lost.

We get into how Alex became Walt for life, what it's like to homeschool three boys (Noah, Zeke, and Hesi) who build mud colosseums in the backyard, and the basketball scouting report on number 21 (he's a defender, four steals a game, crashes the boards). Walt also opens up about being raised by a single mother, bouncing between family homes when she went away to get clean, and the dad who eventually stepped in with a Bible.

It's a conversation about laughter as healing, music as a bridge between grief and joy, and what surrender actually looks like when you've spent years trying to hold the wheel yourself. Walt talks about reading Ecclesiastes for the first time, getting baptized on Easter Sunday, and learning that some of the worst chapters of your story might be exactly what prepares you to be the chain breaker for the next generation.

Plus: a comedian who voices over animal videos, why Kawhi Leonard's laugh is contagious, and the two-word philosophy Walt leaves listeners with at the end.

Follow us today for some weekly joy.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Welcome to A Fiercer Delight. I'm Matt and this is a podcast where we just have conversations kind of centered on the idea of joy and happiness and perspective. So hopefully uh this isn't your first time. If it is, welcome. And my guest today is what's your name? Walt. Walt. Walt Walt. Walt Walt. That's not your real name.

SPEAKER_01 0:22

No, no, no. Real name's Alex. Better go by Walt. Have you always been Walt? Uh it's been quite some time. I've always been Walt, yeah. Walt suits you.

SPEAKER_00 0:31

They can't see you, but you feel like a Walt. You act like a Walt. I think you could do Alex, but I was thinking about this this morning. Not Al. You can't call me Al. You just don't feel like an Al at all.

SPEAKER_01 0:43

Not at all. It's like too formal. It's just different. It's like when uh Jesus gives some of the disciples different names. Yeah. Along the way. It's kind of like I just take the name and ran with it.

SPEAKER_00 0:53

So you took Walton and just became Walt Walton. Yeah. Uh so high school and stuff and sports, were you like listed as Walt Walton? Yearbook, were you Walt Walton?

SPEAKER_01 1:03

Or were you Alex quote Walt? Everybody called me Walt or A Wall or A Walker or Walt Disney. Yeah. Anything you could do with the name, they name flipped it in. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:16

I started calling you Walter Knoll Florist because there's a commercial on TV, there's St. Louis Florists that are named Walter Knoll, and then they're florists. And so I bet no one in high school ever called you Walter Noll Knoll. No, I don't think so. That one didn't make it. Walt Disney's pretty funny. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Nicknames are Do you do nicknames with your kids now? You uh You got three kids?

SPEAKER_01 1:38

Kind of, yeah, yeah, yeah. There's uh Noah. Um does Noah have a nickname? Not quite. That name's kind of easy. They say Noah Boa. Okay, but not really. Like it's just like to make fun of them, kind of. I don't know why.

SPEAKER_00 1:54

But yeah, I feel like Noah's not a super it's not a name that calls for a lot of nickname. It's short, it's easy, it flows. Like I'm Matt. You don't really nickname that. I guess it's a nickname of Matthew, but Matt doesn't really require that much nickname. Noah's kind of short, simple.

SPEAKER_01 2:10

Exactly. And then there's Ezekiel and we call him Zeke.

SPEAKER_00 2:13

Got to.

SPEAKER_01 2:13

Yeah. It'd be hard to like be yelling at him and say that many things. Exactly, exactly. And then there's Hezekiah and we call him Hesi. Hezzy.

SPEAKER_00 2:20

Yeah. So yeah, you roll off the tongue. So dad of three, uh, husband of one, you got a wife.

SPEAKER_01 2:29

That's right.

SPEAKER_00 2:30

Yeah? Yeah. And so what's a family dynamic look like for you?

SPEAKER_01 2:34

Uh man, it is uh I wouldn't say chaotic. Um but yeah, active. Man, they're always busy. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Always busy for sure.

SPEAKER_00 2:48

So when you you get home, that busyness hits you. How does it manifest? Is it let's wrestle, let's play catch, hey, help me with this homework, let's play this video game. What do the kids require? What kind of jungle gym are you as dad? Because they're gonna crawl all over you, but how are they crawling on?

SPEAKER_01 3:06

Uh there's a good structure and schedule, I would say. We homeschool. Okay. Uh so usually we have a time limit where they do get to play. Um for Christmas, we bought them these little motor vehicles. Yeah. So we go in the garage and they just take laps and then it has Bluetooth, so we play music through there, and they're usually just riding around jamming for quite a while. Sometimes we have the backyard and they um have built like these little small colosseums, like almost with mud. Oh my god. So they just play in the dirt and like build all these structures and play, and then um usually I'm like, alright, cool, it's the cutoff time. Let's go in and knock out school.

SPEAKER_00 3:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 3:42

Yeah. So then we'll knock out school and have dinner, um, kind of have a little devo and yeah, just kick it.

SPEAKER_00 3:50

Did you um kind of always envision being a dad? Were you surprised when you took that step? Like as a kid, little Walt or little Walt Disney, uh were you thinking of, man, I'm gonna have a family, I'm gonna have all this stuff, that's where I'm gonna we're gonna be making mud coliseums in the backyard. Or is all that like sneak up on you and then you're like, okay, we're doing it.

SPEAKER_01 4:12

Yeah, I think it kinda snuck up on me for sure. I never seen myself uh really taking the route that I took as far as getting married and having children, uh, to say the least. So like man, when that did transpire, it was like, wow, this is uh a nuance almost. Um, because I was raised by single mothers, or I never really l knew what the marriage would l really look like. Um so yeah, to be in it and kind of different um family dynamic wise was like, yeah, for sure, like wow. This is great. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But I never really knew what it would be like to have children either until I started having them, and it was like, man, they all have their own unique personality, so to see them grow and develop and me be a part of that is like it was pretty cool.

SPEAKER_00 4:57

Yeah. I think it's probably always made up, but when you have some structure to follow, and like you're saying, you didn't necessarily have a father figure there in the house doing things. I didn't either, and so same when I had kids, I had a father figure I looked up to, but he wasn't in the house, he wasn't like committed dad who was there all the time. We'd see him, you know, sometimes. And so then when I had kids, it wasn't like okay, I remember when I was 14 asking my dad for help with this homework because my dad lived the town over. And so it's like totally made up. And so I'm trying stuff with my kids, and it's not based on sure, I see other people and I kind of imitate that. You see TV shows, you imitate that, you pray about it or whatever, but do you ever feel that where it's like, boy, I'm just like in the back of your head, you're just like, I'm just trying something here. Yeah, we'll see if it works.

SPEAKER_01 5:43

Yeah, for sure. You're just doing the best you can.

SPEAKER_00 5:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 5:48

And giving them all the wisdom that you can while you can. Um uh just preparing them for the world, you know, because they're a lot younger now, so nine, seven, four. Um, they haven't really explored and um seen what the world has to offer yet. So just prepping them for it when the time does come, especially with them being homeschooled, it's not like they're necessarily sheltered, like they do have time away where they get to go spend time with other kids and stuff, but um yeah, just prepping them for some of the things that they may see and encounter. Um and how do you react, you know? So just giving them wisdom along the way to where they can have that still small voice of like, oh dad, tell me about that. Instead of being like, Oh, whoa, what what is what's going on? You know. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 6:32

Yeah. So your childhood though, like you're giving your kids a markedly different childhood experience than you had. Yeah, for sure. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So you're s you don't have like a lot of things to model it off of. It's yeah, this was different for me, but I'm gonna be able to do this for you. And it it just looks different.

SPEAKER_01 6:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 6:53

And so has that been challenging at all to kind of bridge that gap? Or are you do you like rejoice in that ever? They're like, man, we're getting to do this a different way. Um, there's probably some parts about your childhood that were maybe better than what they're experiencing, but there's probably a whole bunch that's worse. So can you speak to any of those differences that you feel?

SPEAKER_01 7:09

Yeah, I would say uh generational chain breaker. Okay. Because there was a point in time where uh my mom went away for some years, got into some legal trouble, um, went to a like uh programmed uh uh um to get clean, essentially. Um so while she was away, I kind of jumped from family home to family home, family friend to family friend. So I was like a foster child, essentially, but uh not uh a part of the system. Um so man, each facet or each home that I went to, I got to see like different facets of life, uh essentially. And man, it was rough, uh kind of a rough upbringing for a while there until me and my mom kind of regrouped and got back together. Um dad did step in at one point in time and kind of um gave me my first Bible and showed me about faith and stuff. Uh so that was and introduced me to my first cousins on like his side and things, so that was different. But yeah, at times I feel like I do rejoice that they don't have to go through um everything that I went through. Um and uh what that brought, like that perseverance, um, this built uh endurance and hope and all the good things that bring me life. So I'm able to teach them like, man, there is so much more to life than what you would think. Uh yeah, and I just find different ways to express that to them. Um so yeah, I definitely rejoice. And at the same time, sometimes I'm like, oh man, you just don't know how good you have it.

SPEAKER_00 8:44

But I'm glad that's why I wondered if there's moments where you're just like and have you expressed, not like in a way where you're like trying to shame them, but have you expressed it like hey, this isn't this isn't a given. Not everyone has like these stable parents at home or this even place to call home that's the same for sure. Yeah. Have you been able to express that, especially to your oldest, or yeah, I'm like, man, this is not normal.

SPEAKER_01 9:09

Like the things that you have, uh a lot of k other kids may not have um your privilege in a lot of ways. So sometimes I try to express that to them and maybe watch a video of like other countries. Like, man, they don't even have clean water. Like, man, you gotta be appreciative. Like, man, you have a a bed to lay in, like man, some people have huts and cots or don't even have that, like uh the smaller things in life that's really appreciate everything that you have and everything you get to do. Both parents, wow, like you know what I mean. That's a privilege within itself too.

SPEAKER_00 9:41

So it's a w it's a weird sort of dichotomy because like as a dad, the last thing I want is my kids to struggle. At the same time, it's like struggle is what makes you. And so for you, like you're a guy a lot of people admire, and some of that is because you had such a hard thing. But the first thing you do as a parent is like try and take all the hard things away from your kids. So yeah, I love that you're kind of like showing them some of that without them having to like experience the depths of it. Because you don't want to go through some of the stuff you had to go through, yeah, yeah. But also it does shape you, and so I think that's hard as a dad is to kind of protect my kids, but then also allow the right kind of suffering to find them and help them walk through it. Yeah, but not heap suffering on them because then the I'm gonna make you tough kid. I don't know. It's a weird, right, right. It's a weird thing, and I guess as the kids age, you allow a little more risk and a little more of that pain to come in. Yeah, yeah. But yeah, for for you having just such a disparate experience, I'm sure it's like kind of this tug of war of like, okay, do you guys know what you got? Because I do. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 10:42

Sometimes I'm wrestling with it, like, man, hey, eat the peas, kid. That's right. Eat your peas. Eat your peas. This is your biggest problem in life, is whether or not you eat the peas.

SPEAKER_00 10:54

Um, so what uh lifts you up? This podcast has kind of taken in the direction of uh again, it's from a quote, a fiercer delight. That both in our pleasures and in our pains, we probably are a little too muted, a little too small or something. But what we have the opportunity in this life to do is kind of get into the depths of that and like enjoy life more and celebrate more and rejoice more. But but we try and play it cool or stay calm, and so we don't, and so we want to fear sort of light. So one of the things we like to do is just like gauge people on like what makes you delight, what brings you joy, what lifts you up when you're in a downtime, what gets you through it? Um so what are some of those answers for you? When I say the word joy, what images pop into your head? Where does your mind go?

SPEAKER_01 11:43

Uh uh I would say laughter. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Laughter and love. Um usually when they're displayed the correct way, then man, it brings you delight for sure. Yeah. Yeah. What makes you laugh? Uh just comedians sometimes a lot. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I would say comedians. Uh there's this one comedian, um, Tony Baker. He does like animal voiceovers. They're pretty funny. Wait, what do you mean? I don't know this. Animal voiceover.

SPEAKER_00 12:10

What's an animal voiceover?

SPEAKER_01 12:12

It's like he'll be a clip of an animal, like a cat or a dog doing something random. And then he just embodies what they're thinking. Yes, yes, exactly. And it's really super funny. Like, and he comes up with different words and gestures, slang and stuff, but yeah, that's pretty funny for sure.

SPEAKER_00 12:26

I'm gonna try it this weekend. We got a bunch of squirrels in our backyard. You don't know what they're doing. Yeah, exactly. And so I maybe I could voice that. Uh yeah, that's good. Have you seen the clip? I was thinking about you said laughter. Someone was showing me this. Kawhi Leonard, you're a basketball guy. Oh, yeah. Have you seen him laugh?

SPEAKER_01 12:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 12:45

There's a video going around him laughing, and it says on there, dude laughs backwards.

SPEAKER_01 12:48

I don't know what kind of thing I'm a fun guy. Um I don't even know you.

SPEAKER_00 12:56

Yeah, yeah. It didn't quite come out right. His laugh, but even that, like I watched the clip and I'm not even like being mean-spirited and making fun of Kwai Leonard. And if I was, that's alright. He's he's got enough good things going for him. But it's just like as soon as he starts laughing, you start laughing. It's this weird contagion. Exactly. So do you find that too if you're a person who likes laughing, uh laughing with your kids, getting them going? Uh what things do it, and then what does that look like in the family when you all kind of get going on something? Man.

SPEAKER_01 13:25

Uh trying to think of something that makes us laugh. It all depends on the person, I think. Um but yeah, it is contagious for sure. And then some people's laugh, like my la my wife's laugh is kind of funny. So sometimes if I tell you Describe it to me, what's her laugh?

SPEAKER_00 13:44

You say it's kind of funny. I want to.

SPEAKER_01 13:45

I can't even describe it. Yeah, but it's like uncontrollable almost. It's like an outburst. Let's lose. Yeah. So if I tickle her, then she'll do her real laugh, and then uh once she does that, then everybody else starts laughing, and then it's like a tickle fest almost. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, sometimes they get the people to laugh, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 14:01

Those distinct laughters do get people going. That's why like going to see a comedy movie in the theater, it's just like you just hope you're sitting next to the most bizarre laugher. Yeah. That movie's gonna be awesome. I'm sure in like uh when comedies open, they probably have under table dealings to pay people to get in there and laugh to help raise the ratings of it or something. Yeah, it's contagious for sure. Um, what else uh in your day-to-day, if you're not watching uh animal voiceovers, what other things just give you a lift? I know too, you've been through a bunch of hard stuff in your life. Most of us have, but you have been through hard stuff, and it it hasn't like hardened you or made you cynical or kind of made you like you still give a bunch of love and the benefit of the doubt. How do you not allow yourself to be calcified by these hard things?

SPEAKER_01 14:52

What has kept you soft? Man, I think faith for sure. Um, and just learning to appreciate life. Like you say, I've had it hard, but maybe other people have had it harder, or they're going through hard things. Um, so being able to relate to them and um love and care for them um the way that I would want to receive it, um, for sure. But uh yeah, just appreciating life. Every day is a new day. Um to grow and appreciate and find something that you can find joy or delight in. Yeah. I think another one of those things is sports. Um I like playing basketball, just seeing the ball move through the net. Uh I think it's like a little childhood uh memories that I have there. I used to have a goal out back and it had the chain net on it.

SPEAKER_00 15:36

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_01 15:37

So just like you just hear it every time.

SPEAKER_00 15:38

Cling, cling, clink, cling.

SPEAKER_01 15:39

Yeah, it just you know what I mean.

SPEAKER_00 15:41

Our city park courts had chain nets. Yeah. And then people would be like, Man, I don't like playing up there. I might get my finger up in the net. Like, you're not getting your finger in the net, dude. You can't jump that high. Like just dog each other. Yeah, just stay away from it. Yeah, I remember those chain nets. Uh, what kind of ball player are you? I've never seen your game, so give me a scouting report on Walt. Like, if you were in the film session, you're playing your own uh a team that had you on it, what would you say about this kid over here? First, what number are you? What's your number? Uh 21. Okay, so what would you say about number 21? Like, hey guys, number 21, this is what we gotta watch for. Give me the scouting report.

SPEAKER_01 16:18

He is a defender. He's probably gonna get at least a uh four more steals per game. So watch out for him. You know what I mean? Yeah, pickpocket, yeah. This sneaky, crafty. I'm putting you on that.

SPEAKER_00 16:30

So you're a dog on defense.

SPEAKER_01 16:31

Yeah. Who you guard? You guard like the one, two, who uh I usually try to guard the best player to prevent them from scoring, you know, any points for the other team. Okay. Uh but yeah, this it just varies depending on the team or if it's pickup or whatever it is, but yeah.

SPEAKER_00 16:47

So you got quick hands, strong hands.

SPEAKER_01 16:49

Yeah?

SPEAKER_00 16:50

Yeah, yeah. Offense? Nothing. Uh really good rebounder.

SPEAKER_01 16:54

Really good rebounder. Okay. Um, for sure. Yeah, I crashed the boards. Um, and I can shoot a little bit. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:01

All right, so that's a full game.

SPEAKER_01 17:02

Yeah. You got it all. Get finished well into the basket. Yeah, I wouldn't brag too much about myself, but I'm decent.

SPEAKER_00 17:07

Yeah. Yeah, that's good.

SPEAKER_01 17:08

I would say I'm uh forced to be Ragasau, for sure.

SPEAKER_00 17:11

That's a good little scouting report. Yeah. Yeah. Uh you said we were kind of talking about the path and you said faith then going through hard things and not becoming I don't know, people pain happens and then you become sort of the embodiment of your pain because you don't know what else to do with it. And you haven't done that. You've become probably meeker and softer and kinder when some of your circumstances in life were trying to push you down a path of becoming hardened and tough and mean or something. You fought against that. And you kind of just say, Yeah, it happened. Was there ever like a point where you had to make that decision? Or was it ever like, oh, I could see my path going this other way? Where I gotta like I don't know, I gotta rise up to meet what the world's throwing at me instead of just like submitting and figuring out the good parts of life. Man.

SPEAKER_01 18:06

Trying to think back to those days. Living reckless. Uh I think it was, yeah. Uh there's a point in time where I read uh Proverb. Um and it was Proverbs 1-7, the fear of the Lord is a beginning of knowledge. Uh fools despise, wisdom, and instruction. And I kind of started looking back at life. Uh I think there was a time where I was um it was gonna be a real bad accident. Um I was driving the vehicle and the wheels of the vehicle, I guess they were bald. Um it was a rainy day, and I was coming around this corner, this bin, and the car is like 360'd and so I'm like, oh man, and it was a narrow street um to where you Yeah, I was gonna hit something for sure. Um and after our 360, the car kind of aligned and I was going directly towards this telephone pole. Um and I feel like in the midst of that it was like a Jesus take the wheel type of moment where I felt like, oh man, I'm I started reflecting back on like, man, how am I living? Or all the life moments, like what did I do, what didn't I do, like all the regrets and reflecting, etc. etc. And at the last minute I kind of didn't overcorrect um but corrected and turned the wheel. And I went directly into this little small gap. It was like an alleyway. I don't know why I was there. Um and it was like a brick road, so I was like and then stopped, pumped the brakes, hit the e-brake, and was just sitting there like, man, whoa, like what just happened? Um and I guess the guy maybe lived in the building there. He even came out to look to see what was going on, like the tires screeched and everything. So and then after that I backed out and I'm going to work and read all of ecclesiastics. Um and Solomon, like the wisest, you know, person um to ever live. And he just said uh the the fear, once again, going back to that fear of the Lord uh to have fear and also just to rejoice and delight in in life. Um that's the best thing to do. So I think at that turning point I was realized, like, man, I am really despising wisdom and instruction. Let me uh search and pursue it. And from there kind of just made that uh life decision to surrender and give my life to Christ and uh yeah, end up getting baptized on Easter Sunday and um life just looked a lot differently than what it did before when I was trying to control things or be in control of what I would do, um, how it would move. It was almost like he was presenting to me a new a newfound life in Christ essentially, a new creature, new creation.

SPEAKER_00 20:48

Yeah, that's I I think about that, Ecclesiastes too. Just this idea that there's just a bunch of this world that we cannot understand and we won't understand, but we don't heed that instruction. We try to control it through being mean or through having all the answers, through lording over people. And what I've realized is the more we try to control, the smaller our kingdom becomes. Yeah. Because all of a sudden it's like there's fewer people around me because I'm always trying to control everything. And I'm bossy and I'm manipulative and I'm angry and I'm gossipy and I'm narrow, and all of a sudden it's like this kingdom shrinks and shrinks and shrinks and shrinks. Or, like to your example, I can just say, take the wheel. I don't know. Yeah, I know some things, but I can't know most of them. Let's play ball and let's see where it goes. And all of a sudden it frees you up. And that's kind of what Ecclesiastes says, because over and over again, it's like life is terrible, work is hard, this thinks, chasing money's no good, ambition is terrible, envy's the beginning of all this pain. It's just like terrible your leaders are gonna be terrible, governments are gonna fail you, all the stuff, and you're just like, this is the saddest thing ever. And then it'll hit you with so enjoy good food.

SPEAKER_01 21:59

Yeah. Or eat and drink and be happy.

SPEAKER_00 22:01

A quart of three strands is not easily broken. It's not good for a person to be alone. Get friends. Um, and then just submit, like, okay, I'm not gonna understand everything, but I can enjoy this meal. I'm not gonna understand anything, but I can give some money towards this thing. I'm not gonna understand everything, but I can still be kind to my neighbor. And all of a sudden, when you do that, your kingdom grows.

SPEAKER_01 22:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 22:20

Like you're part of this like vibrant community instead of like I'm alone in a car that's spinning out of control. Now all of a sudden it's like, man, I'm in an SUV and I got kids in the back. Yeah. I have a family. And so it's like you make these choices and you can see your choice. It's like you gotta be alone trying to control everything, or you can go home and make mud castles and tickle each other at home. It's like you've made that choice, so it's kind of cool that you've gotten to live that out and see the fruit of your labor in some ways. Yeah, of surrender. Like surrender feels like such a bad thing, it's like a bad word in our culture, and it's like no, actually, there's some really healthy things to surrender to. For sure. And you get to live that out. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So what else? Uh what's your quick lift when and you I don't know, I assume you have bad days. I have bad days. I don't know how many you have a year, but when you're just having like, oh gosh, that's three in a row, where I'm like short with my family, or I'm not loving my work, or I'm just like, is there a way you snap out of it, or what brings you up?

SPEAKER_01 23:18

Every day's a good day, but some days are better than others.

SPEAKER_00 23:21

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 23:21

Um music for sure. Okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 23:25

Like what about it? What music? What type?

SPEAKER_01 23:28

Um, something about the sounds, frequency waves, um, that bring you joy. So just listening to a good song that will allow you to um either reflect on your past or uh push you into joy in your future. Um so it it just varies. Sometimes it may be rap, like uh the different artists that I can relate to. Um just seeing their origin story and seeing where they came from and how they had struggles, but how they overcame, or sometimes it may be worship, um just lifting up praise and giving thanks. Um sometimes it may be a little R and B uh or a little blues that you know um just breathes life into you for sure.

SPEAKER_00 24:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 24:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 24:08

I was reading about I I think it's like a electronica band or duo, and then I think they do a little bit of like sort of rap too. I'm not familiar with the band at all, so this is about half baked, but the person was having chronic pain and having to cancel a bunch of tours and just like everything hurt all the time. Not good for the career because they're on this world tour. And then all of a sudden, like they just stopped sort of doing the stuff they were supposed to do, or the doctors stopped doing some of the medications. I'm saying you should stop doing medications for this person. They did they started doing movement. And what they had stopped doing was movement because they were scared they were gonna hurt themselves, and actually the brain's power to be fearful of pain shut down the thing that would bring them joy, which was dance. And all of a sudden they're like, Okay, no, I don't think I think my brain's hypersensitive to this pain, and it's not real pain, it's like psychosomatic pain. And so they really just started dancing and moving to music, and all of a sudden their maladies start healing, yeah, like their lower back pain went away. And I'm not saying that works for everyone, but it worked for them, and it was just like this thing, like you're saying the healing nature of music for them, it was literal, like physically. So then they made a best-selling song uh that was about that, that was about like the freedom of movement to heal their actual body. Man, and it is like there's there's something to music, in it for forever since we've studied people. There's been music as part of their subculture that helps like the banging of drums or the stringed instruments or something that lifts.

SPEAKER_01 25:41

Yeah, sometimes it's a sad song, sometimes it's a happy song, but it doesn't matter.

SPEAKER_00 25:44

Both lift you in some ways. So I love that you've tapped into that. You make a little music, don't you?

SPEAKER_01 25:49

Yeah, I'm a bit of a wordsmith, I guess you could say. Um I can uh tell a story in a song for sure. Um yeah, it's just a little gift that I've picked up along the way.

SPEAKER_00 25:59

And um So you do that for fun sometimes? Sometimes, yeah. What is it?

SPEAKER_01 26:02

Like you get a beat or a melody going and just yeah, certain instrumentals that um uh that will hit me and I'll be like, oh man, I have maybe uh a hot eight or sixteen for it and yeah, throw it together. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 26:16

And then do you record them? Do you share them? Do you keep them to yourself?

SPEAKER_01 26:19

Sometimes. I don't know. Recently I have recorded uh uh my mom had passed it like uh two years ago, and I made a song for her, and recently I shared that. Um and that's really neat uh neat to share. The guy was like, Man, that's pretty good. Like you should you want me to produce for you? I'm like, hey, hold on, you know. So I might be onto something. Um but it's just practice, it's working a muscle, yeah, um, having the memory and being able to kind of just practice essentially. Um and over time as you practice you get better at it. Um, but yeah, it's nothing that I really hybridly focused on, but it's something that's there that I could pick up at any time, you know, and just yeah, create something.

SPEAKER_00 26:59

Well, you kind of hit the thesis of this podcast too, right there. Your mom had passed, deep, deep grief and pain, and then you're using this joy source to be able to meet that moment. So it's not saying this didn't happen, uh, and it's also not saying I can't do that until I heal fully. It's using that thing as a form of healing and merging kind of pain and pleasure into and I think that's what joy is, is like this deeper, fuller, rounder thing than just like a happiness where I don't know, I forgot about mom for a second because I went to Disneyland or something. It's like, okay, that's fine, but you're still gonna have to come back to reality. Yeah, you can't stay there. And so what you did is you took this awesome thing that has always moved you and helped you, and you merged it with this other thing that is really hard, and that's how you navigated the path. So I think that's a beautiful picture of that and how we're equipped to handle things, even though usually that's not our tendency.

SPEAKER_01 27:54

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 27:55

That's a great example. Write a song for mom. That's how you grieve, that's how you get through it. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 28:01

Because music can make you cry, it can make you laugh, it can bring you joy. Um, they can help you in your lowest times. Yeah, it just covers all the emotion.

SPEAKER_00 28:09

Yeah. I think with creativity too, like when I'm when I can't get any creativity going, I can't come up with the words that I need for something. There's certain things I can put in the back. I can hardly even hear them. They're like familiar songs that you just put in the back and all of a sudden it's like you're going on the thing. It's like it gets you to the neural pathway you need or something. But our yeah, our souls are tuned to music, and so uh it's awesome that you can make it. I cannot make it, but you can make it, and you're a lyricist and all of that, so I think it's cool you're using that and finding it and finding comfort in it. Yeah. Yeah. Do you want to do an original song right now to close us? No, I'm just gonna. Unless you got one. If you had one, I'd be like, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 28:50

No, nothing comes to my eye. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 28:54

Um maybe next time we'll have about have you better prepared for that, or we'll have some animals on the screen and you can do some voiceovers for that. That's what you should do. Some like sort of hip hop renderings of the squirrels in the backyard. There we go. Yeah, that'd be a good one. Like put it to a beat and the squirrels are yeah, I'd I'd watch that. I'd watch that. Well, anything you want to say in closing before we sign off?

SPEAKER_01 29:17

Um love unconditionally.

SPEAKER_00 29:25

Okay. What does that mean for you? Love unconditionally. I mean, I know what in theory it means, but what does that look like?

SPEAKER_01 29:31

Uh everybody that you come in contact with, give them a little love. You know what I mean? Whether it's a fist bump or a hug or a smile. Like, yeah, love unconditionally.

SPEAKER_00 29:39

All right. Yeah. Yeah. Pretty good words to live by. Well, Walt, Alex, Walt Disney, all the other names. Uh, DeWalt, thank you for your time. Thank you for being here. Thank you for sharing your story and your love. Thanks for choosing uh because you've chosen uh open life instead of closing your life down in some ways. Think of all the blessings you've poured out out of that, and how many people have grown and learned from you, and then you got these kids, the next generation that you're grooming and leading. So thank you for what you're doing each day, day in and day out, and chasing a fierce or delight. I hope you who are listening to this are doing the same thing, and we look forward to talking more with you next week. Thanks.