Meet Aaron Cruz: Strength, Spirit, and the Long Road In

Who is Aaron Cruz? And how did he become the man behind the disciplines? In this opening episode, we lay the foundation. From family and identity to work, belief, and the contradictions that shape a life, this is an unfiltered introduction to the ongoing conversation. Not a highlight reel, an origin story.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Welcome to Cruise Control. Navigating the Chaos. One conversation at a time. This is an ongoing conversation with Aaron Cruz, a competitive bodybuilder, mixed martial artist, ironworker, business owner, researcher, philosopher, spiritual explorer, and much more. Each episode explores where physical discipline meets inner work, where strength, belief, ancestry, and purpose intersect. No scripts, no personas, just an honest conversation about the many layers that shape how to move through the world. Let's get into it.

SPEAKER_01 0:40

Hello there and welcome to Cruise Control, episode number one. We are thrilled to be with you today and very excited to be launching this new podcast. I'm your co-host, Errington Williams, and today I'm joined by the man of the hour, Aaron Cruz. Hello, everybody. Say hello. Welcome to Cruise Control. Big things have small beginnings and away we go. Now, I think I want to do this in reverse, almost reverse engineer this show. When we talked about it, which we've talked about it at length for a long time, I simply asked you to give me a list of things that you consider you are that represent you. And here's the list: son, brother, father, friend, trainer, competitive bodybuilder, mixed martial artist, fighter, lover, nutritionalist, business owner, ironworker, archaeologist, philosopher, spiritualist, archaeologist, researcher, tattooed, motorcyclist, and hunter.

SPEAKER_02 1:46

I I think that I think that sums it up.

SPEAKER_01 1:50

And it sounds like quite a bit. That is a mouthful. And I think that, Aaron, before I just turn you loose onto the world, I I want to sort of set the stage here because we met each other through training. Sure. And if you've ever done legs day with Aaron, you you you try to find reasons to avoid doing the legs. So you start asking questions.

SPEAKER_02 2:16

I usually see people a lot less after a good leg day.

SPEAKER_01 2:20

You you start to ask questions to get them talking, and I just sort of realized, wow, this guy's, you know, knows a lot about a lot of things. And you had mentioned to me that, you know, you thought about doing a podcast, thought about writing a book, and you know, you turn me on to Rogan and Huberman and Goggins. Who else am I missing? That's a pretty good representation of what's out there.

SPEAKER_02 2:42

I mean, between the three of them, they cover quite a bit.

SPEAKER_01 2:45

And you know a lot of these, or you know some of these guys personally.

SPEAKER_02 2:49

Sean Ryan's another great podcaster, yeah, of course. Yeah, I I've I've been lucky enough to train jujitsu and judo a little bit in the past with with Joe Rogan back in Hollywood when he was still in California on Sunset 101 and Little Armenia. He would come to the dojo quite a bit. He's a he's an avid mixed martial artist. And we've we've rolled and grappled and banged each other up pretty good in the past. That's a good place to start. He's an awesome guy.

SPEAKER_01 3:15

I mean, I think that in talking to you and learning uh from you about a lot of things, you know, first and foremost, training and nutrition. I I, you know, who I thought you were. And once, you know, you started sort of peeling back the layers, sort of talking about other things, I I immediately thought, here's someone who's got something to say. And I was thinking of the reason for wanting to do this. I think initially, although you said you had wanted to do something like this, I said, I hey, I had a this morning it came to me. We need to do a podcast together. And I think that it was rooted in this day and age, so much information, so much misinformation out in the world, it's become extremely difficult to know who and what to trust. And in developing a relationship that's three to five times a week for a good hour, a lot of what you've said has made sense to me. And I think trust has been built. And it's out of that having a sense of trusting someone, which again in this day and age is really hard to do. I thought, okay, we need to go public with these topics.

SPEAKER_02 4:28

Absolutely. Oh, that's that's amazing. That's that's that's wonderful that you have that trust with me and and kind of accept me in your day and in your space, and you know, interacting with with each other. It's it's a lost art, you know, people are getting so disconnected and conversations and and and honest dialogue between humans is less and less, and I think it's what's missing in the world a lot. And fortunately, I've had had had some experiences in my life growing up here in the valley in Palm Springs. I left here for for quite a bit and kind of went out and tried to find humanity all over again when it was kind of falling apart around as a young person. And the experience I I've had out there kind of shaped who I am. And you're right, like uh it's time to share this information. And, you know, for a for a long time, I rejected the the opportunity to share my experiences with people. I thought they were just personally for me. And I was kind of greedy with my experiences and my opinions and how I view the world and what's important to me. I kept that to myself, even from my family, my my immediate family, my mom, my dad, my sister, cousins, and grandparents. You know, I I kind of went out on my own journey in life and found some things out myself. And I think, man, what an what an opportunity I have to kind of start with communication again and have have conversations with people again and share my story now because people have been kind of biting at me in the ankles to open up and tell my story. And I think it's a perfect time to do it, especially after meeting you and talking to you, and it just kind of unfolded pretty organically. So I think at 50 plus years of my life, I kind of be a little bit greedy to not share. So I'm I'm I'm ready. I'm an open book. I have lots of stuff to talk about. And just in that introduction, all those things that you said that I've accomplished, archaeology fighting, that that whole list has opened up so many doors of of knowledge and education and experiences that that I'm ready to share.

SPEAKER_01 6:42

Well, knowing you as well as I know you, think I know you, I think everyone is I know everyone is in store for some some really interesting insight. And we sat down collectively and decided, let's, you know, let's map out season one, ten episodes. Now, I've been hosting podcasts, several podcasts for well over a decade now, and the the absolute worst thing you can do is tell people what the next episode's gonna be. It's never a good idea. But in this case, not only are we gonna tell you what what season one is going to be, uh, you know, to someone who's just listening to this who doesn't know you, I imagine, well, who is this guy? What does he know? You know what I would, you know, some not skepticism, but some sort of you know, trepidation about, okay, here's another guy who's gonna be sharing his life and and and whatnot. But okay, here we are, episode one, meet Aaron Cruz, strength, spirit, and the long road in. Episode two, Desert Rays Growing Up in Palm Springs. Episode three, Fueling the Machine, a Beginner's Guide to Nutrition. Episode four, Forging the Body from the Gym Floor to the Stage Lights. Episode five, my favorite. Behind the Velvet Rope, Pouncing Myths and Reality.

SPEAKER_02 8:02

I think that's gonna be a lot of people's favorites.

SPEAKER_01 8:04

It's gonna be a big download of there. Episode six, The Cost of Learning, Bad Business Decisions, and the Hard Truths. Ouch. Yeah, I'm with you on that one. Episode seven, Gods in the Sky from Religion to Astrotheology. Episode eight, as above, so within, an introduction to astrotheology. Episode nine, Shaman's Screams and Smoke, The Medicine Man in Hollywood. Episode 10, Hormones, Sex, Gender, and the Human Blueprint. AK Let the Lawsuits begin.

SPEAKER_02 8:42

Whole lots of conversations here, whole lots of stories.

SPEAKER_01 8:45

So so I have for the better part of a year been listening and talking with Aaron about these kinds of subjects. And I just want to share with that with people right out of the gate as almost a teaser to what they can expect and what's gonna what's gonna happen here. Because it's I'm really excited about this. So here we are at the beginning. For someone who's meeting you for the first time, how would you describe yourself?

SPEAKER_02 9:09

Uh I'm just a man trying to have a human experience, to be honest. I'm not an expert at anything. I I think I know very little about one thing, but I know lots of lots of information about lots of things. And that's kind of helped form and shape my opinions and how I maneuver in the world and and interact with people. And it's what made me a better person, a better son, a better father, a better husband, a better this, that, and the other. You know, all those that big list of descriptors that you kind of read off and introduced me at, it's not who I am. It's just things that I've done. So, like you said, they're layers of who I am. So I don't technically know how to properly describe myself. I'm I'm I'm a human trying to have a human experience and try to be better today than I was yesterday, and hopefully along the way. Stories that I have and and experiences that I've had can help you guys be better people as well. I'm not a teacher, I'm not trying to push an agenda. I'm just trying to share my experience, the human experience, and it's so complex, and there's just so many people out there, and we just need to have conversations again and have interactions and kind of come back to the the beginning of humanity again.

SPEAKER_01 10:27

Which of those identities that we listed would you say come came first for you?

SPEAKER_02 10:33

Came first. Yeah. Well, obviously a son. Son. Well, yeah, because I was I was young. Okay, that's good.

SPEAKER_01 10:40

We're gonna go back on the timeline that starts when I was a basically I'm trying to humanize you here. What what kind of kid or son were you?

SPEAKER_02 10:47

I was a very curious kid.

SPEAKER_01 10:49

I did know your mom, by the way.

SPEAKER_02 10:50

So I can't.

SPEAKER_03 10:51

She's listening to she's she's excited to to be here because mom, I know you're out there and you're gonna learn a lot about your son. Thank you for everything.

SPEAKER_02 11:00

So as a kid, you know, I was I was curious. I was I was out and about. Growing up in Palm Springs was was different than the Palm Springs that people know nowadays. I lived on a small street and it was all family neighborhood. Every house on the side behind you, it was it was just families. It was it was husbands, wives, kids. And at any point in time growing up, I could walk right into my neighbor's house without knocking on the door. It was just very welcoming. It was it was it was an amazing place to grow up.

SPEAKER_04 11:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 11:31

And then my grandfather, on my mother's side, he had a pretty, pretty well-known establishment right downtown in the middle of Palm Springs. So I grew up kind of meeting all different kinds of people. Celebrities would come in and buy toys from him. It was the hot spot during spring break. Spring break in Palm Springs growing up was amazing. It was like the first place spring break was celebrated on a big scale. I mean, there was millions of people downtown, Palm Springs, and you know, downtown Palm Springs, it's one road in and one road out. Yeah. And the main part of that part of downtown, it would take like three hours to do a lap in a car. That's how nuts it was.

SPEAKER_03 12:11

They had to they had to change the laws about the type of clothing women could wear. 100%, right?

SPEAKER_02 12:17

And it kind of sucks because at the time they they made the laws to only reflect women because women wore G strings back back in in spring break days, they'd be walking downtown on the back of motorcycles, hanging outside of the back of pickup trucks, and they just have almost nothing on. They'd be topless, uh, string bikinis, phong bikinis. And so at the time when they dissolved spring break in Palm Springs, they made it into local law that women can't have those things on in public, which is horrible, but but now it's okay for men to, and it's kind of funny.

SPEAKER_01 12:50

So I've seen my fair share of banana hammocks rolling up and down the streets.

SPEAKER_02 12:53

There's lots of banana hammocks downtown Palm Springs, but no women in the G Strings.

SPEAKER_01 12:57

Yeah, that they can get a ticket.

SPEAKER_02 12:58

Absolutely. A man cannot. One hundred.

SPEAKER_01 13:00

Calling for equality. Yeah, yeah. Moving forward. Bring it back, please, a little bit. You mentioned your grandfather. What, you know, who was the biggest influence on you when you were younger?

SPEAKER_02 13:11

Oof, that's a that's a good question. Ironically, it wasn't anybody in my immediate family. And we'll get into those kind of layers. I love love my family to death. But I I grew up in an era where, you know, my sister and I were of mixed descent, and I don't want to get too much into culture, but we have, you know, Anglo-American descent, and from my mother's side, and my dad's side is pretty brown. He's Filipino, Pacific Islander, a whole kind of Polynesian vibe in the family. And so our families were kind of to me, my experiences, but our families were kind of separate. And so I always looked for influences outside of the immediate family for some reason. And so I started out in martial arts when I was real young, kept myself busy doing that, skateboarding a whole lot. My grandfather, I got really close to, but not until later on in life when I was an adult, actually. And he was kind of a local celebrity, and I never considered myself to be so close to him as a child, but as adults, we hit it off wonderfully and kind of made up for lost time while we still had a little bit of time together.

SPEAKER_01 14:25

He's all over the Frank Sinatra documentary.

SPEAKER_02 14:27

Yeah, Frank Sinatra, I guess.

SPEAKER_01 14:30

Yeah. In the place he called home is the name of the Sinatra documentary about his life here and your grandbrother as a big part of it.

SPEAKER_02 14:39

I remember in the back of his store, he had a wall. There was a station where we would wrap presents for like birthday presents or Christmas presents. And on this wall, when you walk into the back of the office of his toy store, there was this list of people that had credit. And it was people like that, you know, it was famous people, celebrities. I just remember as a kid going, holy smokes, like all these people know my grandfather. It was it was pretty cool. It was an awesome, awesome place to grow up in.

SPEAKER_01 15:06

Yeah, that. Now, at what point did you mention martial arts as a young, as a young man? I mean, what point did training and physical development become a serious part of your life?

SPEAKER_02 15:16

Well, I think I started karate when I was five or six.

SPEAKER_04 15:21

Wow.

SPEAKER_02 15:21

And then I grew up watching Bruce Lee movies with my dad. He would always have Bruce Lee movies on TV. Kung Fu Theater came on on Saturdays, and I would watch all these kind of martial arts fights. And I remember the first time I seen Bruce Lee, and I think the first one I seen might have been Enter the Dragon. And Bruce Lee was a small structured man, but he was so physically chiseled and dominant. And he did this flex where he kind of spread the lats from his back and tightened his abs up, and he looked like a human cobra. And I thought, holy shit, I want that.

SPEAKER_03 15:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 15:59

And so my first experience of that, then I'd start doing push-ups and sit-ups and training harder to develop my body. And then I remember my dad had a book in the house. It was called The Art of Dynamic Tension. And it had an Asian man on the cover, another, another martial artist, and he developed this way of working out with no weights. So it was just all mind muscle connection, making tension in your muscles, stretching your muscles. And then so I started learning about how the body functions at an early age, but really didn't apply it to its potential until I got older and started bodybuilding. But I was always working out through high school, junior high, even before that, I was training.

SPEAKER_01 16:42

So there was a physicality that you picked up or turned on to at a pretty young age. What made you take it to the next level and start to bodybuild, I guess, professionally, and you got into combat sports? I mean, what was it? What was the moment that you decided to take it to the next step?

SPEAKER_02 17:03

Well, yeah, like we said, I started martial arts training when I was very young. And later on, like an adult stage of life, when I was an archaeologist, actually, I had been bodybuilding very amateur, not competitive, not seriously, but I've always been developing muscle in the gym through junior high, high school. Got up into my adult stage of life. And when I owned my own archaeological firm, I had lots of free time because a lot of my work, I was technical writing. I was writing proposals, I was writing technical reports, amendments to contracts, dealing with government agencies. So I wasn't doing so much physical archaeology anymore as a owner of an archaeological firm. So I had lots of free time. And I'd kind of let my physical stuff go a little bit as I was an archaeologist. So I said, man, I'm gonna get back into the gym. Went and got a gym. And I had already been in mixed martial arts at the time, but not bodybuilding. And so when I went into this gym, the owner of the gym, I guess he was a fan of mine from fighting. And he said, Oh my gosh, Aaron, hey, how you doing? Welcome to my gym. We'd love to have you as a member. So I became a member at this gym in Palm Springs and started working out there on days off or free time that I had. And I told myself, if I'm gonna do this, I'm gonna do this. And that's kind of always been my directive in life. Whatever I get involved into, I kind of go full blast. I don't I don't half-ass much. And so when I get into something, I really dive into it and try to get the most out of what I can, try to learn about myself. So I put myself kind of on an experimental diet and training routine that I have never done. Kind of tried some new new things and new ideas, new concepts, played around, see what, see what works. And the owner came back to me at the gym and said, Oh my gosh, your transformation is amazing. Like everybody's asking me, like, who trains you? Everybody's asking me who controls your diet. And the owner of the gym said, I don't think anybody. I think he's just doing it himself. Well, is he a trainer? And he said, No, he's just just an individual working out. He was a fighter, he's done martial arts his whole life, he's been in the gym his whole life, but now he's kind of looking like a bodybuilder. So I was approached by the owner of the gym, and he says, You know, there's really good money in consulting with people. Since you figured your body out so well, why don't you help these other people figure out their bodies and issues they're having? And that was sort of my introduction into training other people, private clients. I said, okay, I have some free time. I own my own company. I'm in the gym quite a bit. It's just gonna keep me in the gym a little bit more than I was before, which is not necessarily a bad thing for me at the time. So I took it as a positive opportunity and I started training people. And at the time, I started doing amateur competitions and bodybuilding, and I was I was doing pretty good. I did really well. And there was a a legend in bodybuilding that we grew up with. I'll just call him Chris. I don't want to name drop too many people, but Chris came back to Palm Springs and he's big on the world stage. He's a legend in bodybuilding. He said, Wow, cruise. He said, Man, you're looking good, man. What are you doing? I said, I'm trying to catch up to you, brother. And he watched me work out one time and he said, Oh, you're gonna hurt yourself. And I thought like I had to lift heavy and go go all out and go crazy. So he's the first one that really keyed in, like mind muscle connection, and it's not about power lifting or lifting as much weight as you can, but you still want to work to failure. So he gave me some pointers, and I did my first bigger show at uh Lou Ferrigno. It was at the casino, and Lou Ferigno, who played Incredible Hulk back in the day, he's also on stage against Arnold Schwarzenegger. He brought a big-scale bodybuilding show to Palm Springs, and I entered it, and I did pretty well. And I did that a couple times in a few other shows, and I just kind of found a knack in figuring my body out, and that helped help me help other people figure things out.

SPEAKER_01 21:22

Yeah. I I'm curious, you know, to back up a little bit, because I wasn't someone who naturally or was, you know, sort of encouraged into athletics. I was more the guy, you know, listening to records. Okay. What was it about what did the gym give you as an environment that other environments did?

SPEAKER_02 21:44

I think it was a place of of it was kind of a sanctuary. You know, the the gyms can be super therapeutic. And for me, it was a good place to get out of my head about everyday life and just go and invest in myself and kind of push through my own demons. humans and and work through my own pains and and change your body. It's pretty freaky when you think about bodybuilding. You have an idea of what you want to look like. You look like something else. And you can you can control your own destiny and actually make your body change in appearance to the rest of the world. I think we're the only animal on the planet that can consciously just change physically how they appear. And I got addicted to it, you know, I got I got addicted to pushing hard, pushing myself to failure. And then the whole mental connection comes in on top of that. It's not just physical. You're kind of opening up your mindset and and and and knowing and learning that when things are difficult and you want to quit if you go a little bit farther there's some reward on the other side of that difficulty. And to me that's that's where the magic happens in a lot of aspects of life you got I've always put myself in difficult situations and I've always came out on the other side of those difficult situations with some benefits and some things to share some knowledge some understanding some some lessons.

SPEAKER_01 23:06

What is it you think physical discipline teaches someone about life?

SPEAKER_02 23:10

Well I think it holds you accountable you know you can't make make excuses for anything and then and and in life you can't feel sorry for yourself you you you can't you can't doubt yourself. You're the only person that can pick you up every day when the alarm goes off and you have to you have to face the world you have to tackle whatever whatever's waiting for you out there. And I think by intentionally working yourself out your body your mind training conditioning hardening your mind and your body I think the rest of the day it just becomes so much easier. Like what else what else is going to challenge you more than squatting crazy amounts of weights until you feel nauseous and you you squat one more like once you once you take yourself to that dark place and that that mental place where it fucking sucks you know that you you take you to a place where it sucks it absolutely horrible your body feels like shit you feel like quitting you're shaking you feel weak you feel nauseous and then you keep going just a little bit more and you give all that you can whatever comes in front of you the rest of the day as challenging as it is not as challenging as that last rep you did when it was difficult.

SPEAKER_01 24:26

Something you said to me that was so simple that it'll sound simple but in the moment it's I've carried it with me is is that it's not going to kill you. And whenever I'm doing something I go you know what what I'm getting ready to do is not going to kill me. Absolute. You know what I it sucks and the more it sucks the better it is for you. So we can talk about that later. And and you know then I'm out the door and I'm halfway home and I'm like yeah that didn't kill me. Absolutely and those are the best moments. Well let me ask you this people see the seep but they don't see the process what does the process of changing your body actually look like because speaking for myself and my own experience with trainers with you is it you know the alarm going off at 515 isn't the hard part the hard parts when you've been doing so much work giving it your all you know five six seven days a week you're three months in and no one notices a change you know that's to me is the most difficult part of the process. Absolutely what what what does that look like? What does that process actually look like?

SPEAKER_02 25:34

Well the process is the is the most important part like like people like you know Andrew Huberman David Goggins they're on a whole different level and they have different concepts about what's going on in the mind and the body the process is the most significant the most important part of your training it's the most important part of your daily routine because without the process you get really lazy you get stagnant and you quit moving and nothing happens and you revert back to being a piece of shit and the process is is about being committed to yourself. Now there's not you can't define the process of of getting in shape and doing doing difficulty and hard work like like clockwork you know at five o'clock I have to set my alarm and get up and do two miles. If that works for you that's that that's what works for you but you have to have a process and that process you you can't you can't slack on it. You constantly have to be diligent and investing in yourself and your body and your mind is all you really own. It's not your fancy car it's not your house it's not your vacation home it's not where you went on vacation last year it's not your watch or your rings none of that shit matters you know the only thing that you really have in life is your thoughts your mind and your body and more people need to focus on that I think and and for me when I started focusing on that I got much happier I became much healthier inside spiritually emotionally physically you know stop feeling sorry for myself for whatever reasons I was feeling sorry for myself and just get up and grind man and just getting up and grinding for me is an amazing amazing gift on the other side of that grind. And recently just for my mind I I was doing my process of things that I've never heard anybody do. And people would watch me in the gym going what the fuck is this guy's problem what is he on? Is he okay? And I just do nonstop continuous work for 30 minutes and I wouldn't change my pace. And it turned out to be and I know this is going to send out lots of red flags and everybody's going to comment about it. Oh it's not great. They're going to YouTube this this he shouldn't be doing that. It was for my mind I wasn't bodybuilding at the time and it turned out I was doing oh about 1800 reps in 30 minutes continuously nonstop. No weight change no rhythm change no exercise change just go. And I found out that right around 500 I'd start having conversations with myself and my mind trying to talk myself out of my process that I created for myself to get better. Yeah that's how strong the mind is and that's how weak we are so I'd argue with myself every day for about six months I did this workout five six days a week and I never slacked. I always finished what I said I was going to do but God dang man I probably had 20 conversations every day with myself like you don't need to do this shit. You can quit right now you've already done 500 reps of one movement. Nobody else in the gym did 500 and then I'd get to 750 well you can quit now you now you're definitely more than anybody else but it wasn't about that. For me it was about kind of conditioning my mindset to not be a quitter right because it's really easy to stop and talk yourself out of something. But I told myself I'm going to do this to strengthen my mind and it absolutely worked that's the the process is being committed to yourself. No matter what you do in life you have to be committed to yourself. You can't let somebody come around stand in front of you say this, that, the other, poo-poo, and derail you from your process. You have to be vigilant in your process for you because nobody really gives a shit about you but you. And if you give a shit about yourself more than anybody else you're already winning.

SPEAKER_01 29:31

So that's the process. Well you've worked in a lot of different worlds and had a lot of different experiences. Something that I do just want to touch touch on here in the beginning is you know you working doing physical labor. What how does that affect your mindset?

SPEAKER_02 29:51

I'm a physical laborer and basically all my employment was for a paycheck I I I had passions about things. I I did lots of physical labor I was in construction I was digging holes digging trenches painting houses I was a union ironworker I'd get up at four in the morning drive two hours to the city or to the coast and build a a school or a bridge or a pumphouse for for a a water facility and that's grueling it's it's difficult it's hard but you know that it's it's it's what I needed to do to make a paycheck at the time and to earn an income take care of my family buy the physical things but I was never I was never passionate about physical labor. I definitely wasn't lazy so it wasn't that I just I didn't I wasn't passionate like I didn't want to be the best construction guy ever but physical labor taught me that you know hard work is is is is what needs to happen to take care of something sometimes. Do you think that's lost its way a little bit now? Yeah it it it has though I mean the whole world's kind of following a different path in a different rhythm and you have all this AI stuff coming into the picture and and everything's automated. What's really lost is the drive for people to get up and do something and everybody's kind of sits back and and and feels obligated to to not work anymore not provide the there's so many different things out there to to filter through nowadays. I I think if people go out and they have that work ethic and this is one thing I learned in construction you get up at four in the morning you go to work you swing that hammer and you come home at six or seven at night you eat dinner and you go to bed because you have to get up at four to do it all over again there's something that that's in there that makes you resilient and kind of thickens your skin and toughens you a little bit and I think that's lacking nowadays. Yeah. I think people tend to run from that difficulty or that that that kind of hard thing stone.

SPEAKER_01 31:58

Hey Area I think you know growing up when I grew up you know you were a young kid you had a paper route you were out there riding that bike and and pushing lawnmowers and the neighborhood yards for 20 bucks in August in North Carolina you know it's so valuable and I just don't see a lot of it these days. No. Now the c the this the complete opposite end of the spectrum here and I just want to touch on this because we're going to talk to a whole episode about this you've been a bouncer in a titty bar head of security you know most people only have an understanding of that through the movies what is what and it's sort of what did that teach you because we can go down a few different rabbit holes yeah I mean you know what I mean I'm just trying to set the stage for a man who's of many talents.

SPEAKER_02 32:47

I I tell you what what I did learn from working at at a a strip club is that I don't frequent any strip clubs as an adult. Even if I'm in Vegas I just have a totally different perspective and experience and I I I have a lot of respect for the women that work in them. But I it what it taught me was just how kind of carefree people are with their money, their time their energy. A lot of these guys come in and think think these strip clubs are something that they're not you know maybe they're looking for a little side action away from home or some sneaky sneaky down low stuff away from their girlfriends or wives and it's really not about that man. You know sex is kind of it's one of the oldest industries on the planet and it's never going to go away but I did learn a great respect for these these women that do that. Most of the dancers when I was working were mothers they were you know all of them are daughters sisters companions most of them have kids at home and you know they take they take an opportunity to to provide financial security for their kids in that profession and that's all it wasn't like a chicken ranch or a whorehouse it was entertaining and but man there's we'll get into that was we're gonna have an episode just on that part of tripped over.

SPEAKER_01 34:06

Yeah. Well you know not a lot of people can look at their resume for lack of a better word and see bouncer at a titty bar and archaeologist. Yeah. And and too it's a wild one. I mean I don't I'm going out on a limb here but I don't feel like that's something that we would commonly see.

SPEAKER_02 34:26

Now at some point I know lots of archaeologists that hang out in titty bars though. I think you've seen everyone in town probably in that one particular titty bar yeah it's it's pretty wild you'd be you'd be surprised that's all I know you'd be surprised everybody comes to the door like I said it's the oldest industry.

SPEAKER_01 34:41

Well at some point your interests expanded beyond you know physicality and into philosophy and spirituality when did that start?

SPEAKER_02 34:52

Oh that's that's early on in life I was a pretty introverted very serious kind of kid I consider I guess when I was younger I was probably a little awkward maybe I was constantly thinking and we'll get we'll get into this on on further conversations but you know there's some some activities that that I experienced when I was younger and I just kind of felt like hmm I need to go out and figure some stuff out myself so I started and a lot of these things had to do with religion what what we're gonna talk about in the future so I started at a young age looking at religion dissecting religion reading the Bible studying different religions Catholicism Christianity Jehovah's Witness spirituality all these different institutions that people go to and I and when I looked at the Bible it was kind of I had a weird weird moment I read this book that's supposed to be the word of God and here we go everybody's gonna be throwing fireballs this is why we're here this is yeah this this is yeah go ahead I want to first I want let let's let's premise let's let's kind of go back a little bit if you're religious my family's religious my girlfriend's Catholic beautiful I love that for you guys yes absolutely I'm not religious but I'm very spiritual and why I'm not religious is is a whole bunch of layers of of reasons why and situations that I've come to a resolution with and the things that I've learned and the people that I've talked to the Bibles that I've read I read the Bible a couple times trying to make sense of what happened with the family situation. And the Bible as an intellect of a young person made zero sense to me. Now people are gonna be like well it's because this, that or the other but word for word when I read that book it makes no sense. So if that's God's word God's language and God's directions for us it should make sense to me at this point because I'm looking for God at this age. I want to know God at this age and I believe me I found God I love I I love the creator I I love all that stuff I'm just not religious. I'm very spiritual so then reading those those words in the book didn't translate in my brain didn't translate in my spirit so what I did was started to look at language and I started learning about different languages and that that opened up many more doors we'll talk about. So spirituality is a beautiful thing I'm just not a religious person. So that kind of mentality and thought process started very young for me and I was very very quiet very very withdrawn very very much an introvert because I was constantly asking myself and trying to talk to the creation and and God about life and and things and I was kind of self-reflecting at a very young age which led me to leave the home nothing to do with you guys mom or sister. Love you guys you guys are awesome but I had to go find myself and find my own answers and and doing that beautiful experiences and wonderful conclusions and we'll we'll get into all that stuff.

SPEAKER_01 38:15

Yeah I would definitely say there was a moment five months ago where I came in uh asked you probably on legs day when what what what does it mean when someone says they're you know uh spiritual almost like calling bullshit on it and then you you led into a conversation that led to astrotheology and that was that conversation was had a video was shared at the same time that I was getting up before the sun came up and going on you know five to six mile walks before training with you watching the sun come up where you know I had a I guess a moment and your teachings and direction and my long walks through the desert watching the sunrise I think ultimately is probably the reason we're here. And it's a beautiful reason to be here. Yeah and there's a reason why in the 10 episode season one those episodes are towards the back end. I'm really excited to talk more about it and I believe in everyone's right to choose and to be different from me. I know telling anyone that this is what you should do. My girlfriend is very Catholic. That's a beautiful thing and it means the world to me that she's she it's something that she believes in and takes comfort in and so that's great. Well what what was there I mean was was there a thing or a moment of curiosity that led you to things like astrotheology or ancient uh symbolism yeah exactly what we're talking about is um my sort of search at a young age for answers that people really couldn't give me and that a book couldn't give me so it's it's it's layered and it's it's connected with lots of things.

SPEAKER_02 40:15

But at a at a young age like right out of high school I pretty much packed up and headed out and in doing so I got involved with some very spiritual aspects and spiritual experiences that helped me understand myself and the universe and my my place in it and also being an archaeologist for a handful of years I sort of look at things a little different artifacts and you know old texts and scripts and things that are in different languages and they they all make sense if you look at it through a different filter and a different lens other than what you think you know is correct. So when you put everything on the table you kind of see much more of the whole picture like a puzzle. If our life is a puzzle and religion is just one piece of the puzzle and everybody's only fixated on one piece of the puzzle and they think that one piece of the puzzle is the most important part of the puzzle, you're missing the whole picture on the table. And for me, I like to pick up every piece of the puzzle that's why we're here having these conversations because I've handled I think quite a few more pieces of the puzzle than most people get the opportunity to do.

SPEAKER_03 41:31

I agree with that.

SPEAKER_02 41:32

And religion's just one part.

SPEAKER_01 41:34

So something you said to me about religion I think probably in the same conversation on that particular day was you know talking about some of the brands of religion you said that they're all man-made and I went oh wow yeah you think we have a about a much of a grasp of God as we do a dog does has a clock. Absolutely you know um and everything that people seem to associate themselves with that's all was made by man and I'm pretty sure anyway I'm getting ahead of myself here no you're you're you're there you know you know so okay when you you know let's talk about now today when you look at your life today what of all the different roles you play is most important to you?

SPEAKER_02 42:22

Being a father being a grandfather being a father and a grandfather and how has that shaped your life your perspective? It's it well it's amazing because now I spent oh you know the greater part of 50 plus years just thinking about myself and and and my life and what what I need to accomplish, you know, but you have kids and you have grandkids, man, it's just different when you look at them in the eyes and you just realize all these experiences that I've had, you know, can help them as well and make their life a little easier and give them a little bit more understanding than maybe I had growing up or walking around looking for myself. Maybe I can open up doors for my kids and my grandkids that might help them be better people. Like talking on these these conversations in the podcast might help somebody I've never even met open up doors and make them better people. But my kids and my grandkids have definitely changed changed who I am as a person for sure. And I'm just I'm so in love with my my kids and my grandkids it's it's it's amazing.

SPEAKER_01 43:26

Well and I gotta say knowing you and your your beautiful wife Liz between your kids her kids the whole collective tribe there's quite a few yeah there's a whole tribe there we're the modern day Brady bunch for sure when you showed me photos of the Hawaii trip it's hard not to reference the Ba Brady adventure I mean it really was like there's a lot of mouths of each luckily a l a lot of them are adults though. Yeah yeah it was it's very cool very diverse Yeah. Beautiful.

SPEAKER_02 44:01

It's a beautiful family. And I'm I'm blessed to have and share share my time on this this world with them. They're awesome.

SPEAKER_01 44:08

Later in life, you hit your fifties. I think it's important to, you know, I think the the very definition of, you know, what it means, what happiness means is to be useful as a man. You know, if I'm not being useful, I don't feel good about myself. So there's something Absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 44:26

That's a whole nother podcast topic, too. We can write that down. Yeah. I mean being useful today. There's there's there's nature, there's nature gender roles that we're supposed to fulfill and assume. And being a man is a is providing and protecting. And you know, there's a reason that one's episode number 10. There's a reason that's coming.

SPEAKER_01 44:46

And again, there's gonna be more fireballs coming from everybody else. Let's do it. Okay, let me ask you this define the word values.

SPEAKER_02 44:54

Ooh, values. In the sense that I think that you're asking, I I I I believe a value is sort of your weight and energy and effort and blood, sweat, and tears to accomplish what you think is just and right. And that that would be that would be values to me. Not monetary, not not anything like that, but how much you invest in yourself to accomplish what needs to be done.

SPEAKER_04 45:24

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 45:25

And those kind of values can be passed on to your kids and your grandkids because you can teach them what it takes to be a productive member of society, to put other people at equal or ahead of them and and hold other people up. Those are good values that you can pass on, but it takes work. And it on those values only have tangible value if you put the energy, effort, and and apply it into to making those results come.

SPEAKER_01 45:55

That's a great answer. What do you what do you hope that the listeners of cruise control get from these conversations?

SPEAKER_02 46:04

You know, there's lots of people that's been asking me to do something like this. So for them, I hope you stop asking me and just kind of soak it in and get to know me a little deeper. And, you know, some of your questions will be answered about why I am the way I am. If you're a stranger and new to who I am and what I've been through and experienced in life, put your seatbelt on, maybe a crash helmet. It's gonna, it's gonna be nice and bumpy. It's gonna be an adventure for sure. I've definitely come to terms that I've had some uniquely amazing, beautiful experiences in life that a lot of people may not get the opportunity to have. So I just want to open some doors, maybe get people thinking and having conversations and talking, talking to each other and having those con conversations and dialogue internally with themselves. Maybe just look at things through a different filter and a different perspective. And I hope that's that's what comes with it. Well, you I love conversations.

SPEAKER_01 47:05

You in some way answered my last question, but I'm gonna ask it. If someone is listening, is trying to find direction, a new direction in their life, what advice would you give them?

SPEAKER_02 47:16

Don't look externally. You gotta look internally. So everybody's looking for the magic pill or the new solution. They're constantly looking out. You have to look in. And that's something that I learned as a young person when I was that quiet, awkward kid trying to figure myself out. I I couldn't find it in a book, I couldn't find it in a story. I had to kind of go out and have my own experiences and and learn it for myself. So my my suggestion would be stop looking externally and and look inside. Define who you think you are, who you think you want to be, and somewhere along that process, you're gonna find out who you really are.

SPEAKER_01 48:01

So, what you're basically telling me is take Ozempic. Yeah. No.

SPEAKER_02 48:06

No Ozempic.

SPEAKER_03 48:08

No, no.

SPEAKER_01 48:09

You mean this shot doesn't discure everything, Aaron?

SPEAKER_03 48:12

The old Ozempic shot. I can't stand that shit. Holy sheep shit.

SPEAKER_01 48:15

Well, this has been episode one of Cruise Control. Today was about meeting Aaron Cruz and setting the stage for the conversations ahead. In future episodes, we will dive deeper into topics like nutrition, training, spirituality, belief systems, and the experience that shapes who we become. Thanks for listening, and we'll see you next time as we continue navigating the chaos. One conversation at a time. Bye guys. Take care.

SPEAKER_00 48:45

That's it for this conversation on cruise control. Thank you for spending time with us, listening, thinking, and navigating the chaos. These conversations don't end here. So take what resonates, question what doesn't, and carry it in your own work. Physical, mental, and spiritual. If you enjoyed the job, subscribe, follow, and share it. We'll be back soon with another conversation. Until next time, stay grounded, stay curious, and keep your cruise control steady.