Episode 3: Trusting the Process

 In this episode, we touch on what it means to "Trust the Process" — the kind of trust that asks you to keep moving even when the results aren’t visible yet. Inspired by Pixar’s Soul, we explore how purpose isn’t something you chase down; it’s something you grow into through consistency, curiosity, and the courage to stay present. This is your reminder that progress doesn’t always look dramatic. Sometimes it’s quiet. Sometimes it’s slow. But every step, every spark, every moment of showing up is shaping you into who you’re meant to become. If you’ve been doubting your path, this conversation can remind you of why you started and what the journey is all about. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:12

All right, everybody, welcome back to another episode of the Daydreamers Podcast. My name is Esteban. I'm so happy that you're here. For those of you returning listeners, thanks for coming back, and thanks for tuning in. And for anybody that's new, welcome. Very nice to meet you. Uh, we're just here to talk more, you know, motivation, inspiration, how that ties to entertainment, whether that be film, television, music, love all that stuff, love talking about it, love creating dialogue of it. And, you know, for those of you who have given feedback again, much appreciated. And even to a couple of buddies that I've gotten to talk to over the last couple episodes, I'm very glad that, you know, things are being received well. And also things that we can continue to talk about and bring up, things that can be innovated, new things that we can create on this approach, all of it is much more than welcome. So thank you again. And um also a couple things that I want to do, you know, as we kind of kicked every episode off, I want to, you know, do a little check-in, see how everybody is doing, and also just talk about some of the stuff that's been going on lately, whether it's in my life and in media, you know, just some fun things. I know I've talked before in the last episodes. I'm a big Marvel fan, you know. We just had uh some more details about the next Avengers film, Avengers Doomsday. Uh that trailer was shown at Cinemacon. Uh, this is basically a uh a convention they have every year for uh all the theater owners out there. So AMC, Regal, Edwards, all those companies, and their executives go check out all the studios and their demos for all the movies that are coming out. So anybody from Sony, Universal, Disney, uh, Warner Brothers, Paramount, they all get to kind of show, uh, you know, put on a little expo of all the movies they've had success over at the box office and things that are you know up and coming, and it's really exciting. There's a lot of good stuff coming this year, a little something for everybody. And um the other cool thing, obviously, is that we've had a lot of talk about not just movies that are coming out, but also um some good TV shows. I will say, you know, I am, and it's probably already clear, much more of a movie person. That's kind of what I'm more drawn to. I grew up on watching a lot of movies, not as much TV shows, but I will say lately I've been kind of upping my game a little bit. Shout out to my girlfriend, she's been helping me out a little bit too. Because honestly, up until I had met her, the only TV show I really sat and binged was Stranger Things, and that wasn't even right away. I wasn't somebody that really understood the show right away or kind of hopped on it when it became popular. I I honestly, if anything, avoided it. I as it was again, I wasn't drawn much to watching TV shows, but I also kind of felt like you know what, everybody's hyping this show up, and it doesn't even really catch my attention. I don't even know much about it, and I'm not gonna just jump on it because everybody else likes it. But then, as we all know, COVID hit, and a lot of us were stuck at home for a while with a lot of time on our hands, and so I figured, you know what? Let me just give it a shot. Let me watch the first episode. It was the beginning of a like a Saturday or something, and I I was I was home alone that day, too, so I was kind of just chilling. I was like, Yeah, I'll just see what happens. Watched the first episode, and I was so invested, again, to my surprise, I binged the first season that same day, and I was like, okay, I stand corrected, I understand why everybody's hyping this show up. And at the time, I think season three was about to drop or had just dropped, and so I got invested. But that was the only TV show that I had really binged and watched religiously. And the thing, too, is I also, you know, there was a bias for me there. It worked out because you know, I'm big into sci-fi. I grew up on a lot of sci-fi movies and also a lot of nostalgia. You know, my parents uh grew up in the 80s, and and there was a lot of you know classic films that came out during that time, and just kind of like the retro look to things I'm also really into. So it was kind of a bias for me to enjoy that show. It was a given. But then, you know, I started watching other shows. Like I know a show that I I watched um, you know, with my girlfriend for the very first time, uh Ted Lasso. Again, it's a show that a lot of people talk about, and I didn't know what to expect or exactly what the show was going to be about. And I mean, it is literally centered around this guy who is like the ultimate optimist, makes the most of life even when things aren't necessarily going perfectly in his life, and he's just an inspiring person just by being who he is. He brings light to you know uh a bunch of people that maybe you know their light's a little bit more dimmed or things are a little bit more complicated, and it's just a really feel-good show. It's the definition of a feel-good show. I think people even online say stuff like, you know what, Ted Lasso is about the closest thing to therapy I'm ever gonna find. Um, and and it's true, it's it's a really feel-good show. So I highly recommend too if you're in in the need for something like that. Um, but where was I going with that? Oh, yeah. So, you know, there's a lot of stuff that I enjoy. And then when it comes to music, I know I touch on music a little bit too, and that I want to definitely talk more about that. You know, my music taste is all over the place. I I I really enjoy hip hop. You know, I I grew up loving hip hop dancing. I did that in high school, fun fact. So, excuse me, I, you know, really was into a lot of that music. I still am. Uh, you know, it gets me through a lot of my workouts or just when I'm kind of just relaxing. I love um, you know, old school hip hop, new hip-hop and rap, even you know, a lot of RB, but I also like you know other genres. I love classical jazz, even just to have it in the background. That was big studying for you know music for me when I was in college, especially. Um, I love also, no surprise there, film scores. Now, for those of you who don't know what film scores are, when you hear that term, it's basically all of the background music that you hear as the movie is playing. So, like, if you ever get a chance, there's videos you could probably find on YouTube for sure, but like it'll show you what a scene looks like without the background music, and then when you add it in as like one of the final pieces to that puzzle, the movie, the music behind that scene, it changes completely. The music sets the tone, creates anticipation, even gives you like a sense of what you're supposed to feel in that part of the movie. So, you know, I I even have like vinyls of just what the film scores are of uh you know, some of my favorite movies, and music is part of what makes that movie, you know, it kind of gives it identity a little bit. And and it you listen to that back, and I don't know about anybody who has done this, but like again, I used to study a lot with music in the background, but it was really hard for me to stay focused when I would try to use certain music for movies because then all I'm doing is envisioning that part of the movie. If I hear a piece of one of the you know score songs, I already know what part of the movie that is in my head, so it's like it was never gonna allow me to focus. If anything, it was gonna make it even harder for me to concentrate. But that's neither here nor there. Point is my music taste is all over the place, and I think it's kind of the same with movies and and uh television. I will say the one other fun fact I will share, my favorite film of all time is Jurassic Park. No one will ever, ever take that away from from me and and and will change my mind on it. I grew up wanting to be a paleontologist, I was obsessed with dinosaurs, so as you can imagine, that was like the perfect movie for me as a kid. Um, and I've got a range of other favorite films, but that is the top number one. Um, so you know what, as a matter of fact, anybody listening to this episode, go find me on Instagram again, find the the my Instagram page for the Daydreamers podcast, and please drop in, let me know what uh your favorite movie is of all time. And there's no wrong answer here. Literally, no judgment. Everybody's got a favorite though, or favorites, or something that you think is you know should be a top five for anybody's list. Please let me know. And as a matter of fact, you know what? I'm gonna do this in real time here. So I'm gonna have this on my Instagram story. I figure why not? I'll put it up there. Let's see. Yeah, I'm gonna do this right now. Let's let's go ahead and put it up there so that way you guys, as anybody tunes in, you can also just drop it in. Oh my gosh, and let me tell you, I'm I'm not even 30 yet, but I already feel like I'm falling so behind on how to use social media and and how to how to post certain things. I feel like such an old man doing this. Uh let's see, here we go. So favorite movie of all the time. Okay, perfect. Cool. Alright, I'm gonna put that on my story. So anybody who wants to go follow me, if you don't already, it's literally uh it's daydreamers underscore pod. So come find me on Instagram. And if you follow me on Instagram already, just my personal page, it's in my bio, so come find it. And uh yeah, I'll be posting some fun stuff on there. I'll probably be putting clips on there of like reviews of my favorite movies or movies that I just watched for the very first time, TV shows I'm tuning into, new music I just heard that I love. You'll probably be seeing a lot more of that too. So yeah, come come come check me out there. Um, but okay, enough of the chit chat and all the fun stuff when it comes to movies and TV and music. I did want to jump into uh a topic today that is not only very important to me, but I feel like it's very prevalent for all of us at some point in our life. It's something that we've gone through. And even if maybe you feel like you haven't gone through something like this yet, maybe you will at some point. And um, you know, the the the this topic is is trusting the process. Now, this can mean so many different things to to any one of us and what experiences we've had or that we're going to have. But you know, the big thing for me about this is uh I'd say two main things that surround this idea for me that I feel like are always so important to keep in mind and let alone to be able to talk about, especially with the people around you who kind of support you through you know any kind of process that you're going through personally, whether it's trying to, you know, achieve something, you know, a personal goal of yours, you're trying to get to the next step in your career, or a personal endeavor, a business you know, a business you're starting, or um even in any kind of relationship in your life, it could be a number of things, you know, but but there's two main things that I feel are really important to keep in mind. The first one is what it what it is to be determined and consistent and have that drive when you're on the way to something. Because oftentimes, look, if you're trying to achieve something or you have a goal in mind and you're hoping to get there, you're you're you know you're working hard or you're trying to put in certain effort, you're being very mindful of things, it it also takes a level of patience. I think we all know that. A lot of times when we're striving to achieve something, it's not going to be in our timing and it's not gonna be as quick maybe as we want it to be. So it takes and requires a certain level of patience. But I think also it's not just about you sitting there waiting for it to happen. I think it's also about what do we do in that waiting period. And, you know, there there was a uh a pastor that I heard recently say, and it was actually very cleverly put the way he was describing the whole, you know, message that day, but he said something about you have to embrace your, and I quote, in the meantime. So that's the period he was describing. It's the in the meantime period of your life. And again, we all have those where we're in a period where we're we're we're on our way to something, but we still don't quite know when it'll be that we finally find what we're looking for. And I that in the meantime for us can be a few months, it could be a couple of years, it could be maybe just a couple of days. But again, it's different for everybody. But I think the the beauty in describing something like that is what do you make of that time? What do you do in that time, other than just the same routine of putting in the work and the time? Don't get me wrong, the the consistent work and and the routine that you might have created for yourself to try to achieve something, it's very important, it's crucial. It's probably the foundation of almost anything that you achieve, but it's not everything because it's also what do you do in that waiting period when things necessarily haven't gotten to the level that you're trying to get them to? And so you think about okay, other than my work and effort and the routine I've built, what else am I doing to fulfill myself? What else am I doing to bring, you know, any kind of fruitfulness into my life when things necessarily aren't exactly where I want them to be yet? And that can look a little bit different for everybody, but the effort to do something like that is the same. And what I mean by that is, and I'll give you an example. Let's say you're you're you're you're interviewing for jobs. You can't quite get the job that you're hoping for, you've been trying to find something that's kind of you know, kind of the best fit for you, or something that you feel is gonna fulfill you at the end of the day. And you're interviewing though, you're getting phone calls here and there about setting up interviews, or maybe you're getting back, you know, about you know, hey, we maybe want to set up some time with you, you know, just stay, you know, or or you get a hold of somebody that maybe is going to connect you to somebody that could get you closer to maybe interviewing for the job. There's a number of things that you can maybe achieve along the way. But it it comes down to, okay, well, while those interviews are coming in or you're waiting for those interviews to happen, um, what kind of stuff are you doing for yourself in the meantime? Are you stepping outside every day to get some fresh air, to maybe go get some exercise? Are you maybe making some time that maybe while you're still looking for a job and you don't quite have a full day of work every single day? Are you making use of some of that time to spend time with a loved one or a friend that maybe you don't always get time with? Are you maybe making some time to get close closer to any kind of um you know spiritual practice that you might want to have or that you haven't put in a lot of time into lately, or even just meditating or um grounding yourself in some of the things that are very much to build your own um you know mental and physical health. Any number of things. Maybe you've been wanting to cook more and you haven't gotten a chance to do that, or to bake a recipe that you saw that you haven't gotten to for a while, but now you have some free time, even though you haven't gotten maybe that job yet that you're hoping for, you have free time that you can use to maybe work on some of these things. It doesn't just have to be the routine and the and the same effort just focused on one specific goal. There are other things, and some people sometimes use that term. Um uh I'm gonna I'm doing a little side quest, you know, which is obviously a reference to like a video game when you have little other missions you can do while you're aside from the main story of the game that you're playing. Side quests can be some of the most fulfilling things you've ever done. And again, I emphasize that because it does take its own level of determination and consistency and a drive that is similar to what you're trying to build towards on your main goal, but you're also, and I hope I haven't lost anybody here, but you're also building towards some of the other things you're going to achieve and find in yourself along the way. Those are some of the most beautiful things, and they're also beautiful because they're unexpected. You're not necessarily asking for it. Again, your mind is on the big prize. In this case, the example I was using, getting that job, right? Excuse the truck that's backing up in the background, by the way. There's a lot of busyness going on in my complex this week, so forgive for any background noises. I don't know if any of you can hear, but let me see. I I know there's also this background noise. You can hear um my dog, I think, snoring in the background. Let's see. Yeah, you can hear it a little bit. You might have picked it up on the mic, you might not, but if you didn't, that's okay. Um he's snoring away right next to me. Um, anyways, uh what I was saying is there's a level of uh of beauty that you find in some of the other things you achieve on your way to the main goal. And that brings me to my other point, which is you know, when it comes to talking things like, oh, this this in the meantime period and and how you know what you make of it. It's also the perspective that you find in some of these, uh, if you want to call it the the journeys along the way. You know, if we stick to the the the same example, finding a job, um, or let's say in this case, maybe even starting up a brand new, you know, business venture. And you know, it's gonna take a lot of steps along the way, trying to make sure that you have the right people around you, that you're financially supporting it properly, that you have the right vision and blueprints and planning along the way. All these logistics that you're trying to make sure you have in order to build what you're trying to achieve. But it's also, you know, when you have those other wins along the way, it takes perspective to see them truly and to appreciate them. And you know, I I I I think about a lot that you know when you have something, a goal that you're trying to reach, there's gonna be a lot of things that happen unexpectedly. And sometimes that means there's gonna be a maybe a setback. And I know last week we talked about you know what it means to have certain bumps in the road. You know, you're gonna have roadblocks, you're gonna have things that maybe you know happen to that you're gonna come across that are gonna potentially either slow you down or cause you to go in a slightly different direction. And when you think about all of those things as they come into your journey, into the pathway that you're trying to take, there's it's always important to remember that there's always opportunity along that path, but you ultimately have to make the choice in terms of what you're gonna make of it. And again, that can look like so many different things, but the point is the choice is always going to be there. And I last week I know I said something along the lines of sometimes it's not a setback, it's a setup for something else. And you know, I I think about let's say you're trying to you're trying to reach a goal and there's something that slows you along, you know, down, slows you down along the way. Um trying to think of a very simple example. Let's say, you know, you're trying to you're gonna try to enter a competition for something, and you're in your goal is first place, and you know that in whatever competition this is, it might take a certain level of training or practice. And you know, not every day of practice or training is gonna be the same. Some days are gonna be smooth, some days are gonna be very, very productive, other days are gonna feel like, man, I just can't quite get this right. I'm I'm off my I'm off my rhythm, I'm not quite getting what I need to today. I feel like my momentum isn't quite there, or maybe I'm losing progress, or you know, days of self-doubt, whatever it might be. But also, there's gonna be other things along the way that you're gonna encounter that you can learn to appreciate. As an example, in this training or or practice um um example that I'm talking about here. Let's say you're training for it's something physical, like some kind of weightlifting competition or a sport. Odds are when you're in the middle of training or practice, you're gonna have people that are helping you do that, right? Whether it's a personal trainer, maybe somebody that's an expert in that sport, whatever it might be, right? And let's say, let's use the trainer as the example. You have some kind of personal trainer helping you achieve this goal that you're preparing to hopefully get first place. They're supporting you in that goal, but then what do you also encounter? This person is a human being too. They have their own life goals, they have their own troubles and challenges and things that they're working through. And you might get a little taste of that. You might have a personal conversation with this other individual where they might share a little something about themselves. You might maybe one day go have dinner with their family, they might have dinner with your family. Maybe you learn something personal about them that they're really going through. That's a tough time. And maybe, just maybe, you giving them something to do, giving them a purpose, giving them certain sort of fulfillment, maybe that they're finding and training you and allowing you to reach your goal is filling their cup. It's fulfilling them. And that alone is an achievement that you maybe weren't looking for, but you still found it. And not only is it necessarily a reward, you know, it is a rewarding feeling if you happen to catch it, but it's also realizing, wow, I maybe just unlocked a potential for something that maybe I didn't even know I had. I'm over here so caught up in, you know, what I'm trying to achieve in my own personal success and my own personal capacities and capabilities, but I'm also unlocking another capacity for something good that I didn't even know I had. And and on top of all that, you also then there's this probably very fulfilling feeling when you realize I achieved that without even trying, without that being my intention. And that's the most beautiful thing you could achieve is when you give something to somebody that gives them hope, that gives them purpose or meaning in this life, especially when you didn't intend to, it was merely just you being you, or you you know, trying to do something for yourself and you brought someone into that experience, that that gave them something, I don't I don't think you can beat that. And and you know, I think the the the other really cool thing uh uh about you know make building those connections or having other experiences. Sometimes is that they they're hardly ever expected, and those are probably some of the most humbling moments as well when you realize that your your perspective changes. You realize that working hard isn't everything that there is when it comes to any type of journey. Again, is that a very foundational, important piece to the puzzle? Absolutely. I think having discipline and a routine or put putting in a certain level of time and effort into things to achieve something is the foundation for anything. Again, building a relationship with somebody, uh achieving something in your career, achieving a personal goal of yours. It's a very important part of it, but it's really not everything. Because there's so much more to unlock, so much more to find in that in the meantime period of your life. And you know me, I I definitely had to find another movie that I could tie this to. And I I thought a lot about, you know, what are what are some movies that have told stories about somebody in the in the film where you know you have you have this process they're trying to go through where they don't quite know you know what they're ultimately going to achieve, or they don't necessarily know how they're gonna get to their end goal, but that's that's what they're determined to do, and they find some other things along the way. And there's a a a Pixar movie that that I really love and and I got to re-watch it in preparation for this episode that I had only watched it once before, and I'm sure I'm sure I'm surprised at myself that I never watched it more often than that. But I watched it when it first came out, and I realized that there was a lot of the movie I couldn't really recall. I didn't have a lot of memory of the movie, so I said, you know what? But I do recall that it was something about this character trying to find their purpose, and they got something else out of it that they weren't expecting. Uh the movie's called Soul, and it's about a uh a musician, a pianist, who uh his name is Joe Gardner, and you you're introduced to him. Again, spoilers for this movie. It's been out for a few years, but any movie I talk about here, I'll probably be talking spoilers unless it's like a brand new movie or something that just came out. Um but again, I I won't I won't touch every little part of the movie, but just some details here. Um, but it's it's about this this this man named Joe Gardner. He loves jazz music, he's very passionate about um, you know, being able to get the gig of his life. You know, he's a middle-aged man, so he's been trying to chase this for quite some time. You know that uh he had uh a love for jazz music because of his his dad, who has now you know passed on, and his mom is constantly reminding him that, hey, this isn't a career, it's it's a passion of yours, but ultimately it's not paying the bills, and you're still, you know, you you're you you've been at this for so many years, you're a grown man, and you're still not quite finding your your your what you should be doing to take care of yourself, you know, not just a passion project or whatever. And you you see him go through this struggle where he, you know, he's also teaching band kids on the side, but for him that's just something to pay some of the bills, sure. But he doesn't really find much fulfillment in it because and and the reason why you see him at the beginning of this movie, his the reason for him not feeling so fulfilled teaching these kids in a band class is because he feels that it's taking away from or it's distracting him from him reaching his ultimate goal, which is to have this gig of a lifetime in his jazz music career, you know, being able to play a gig at a jazz club that could put him on the map and make him one of the biggest jazz musicians ever. That that's his ultimate goal and desire. And, you know, he feels like he hasn't just he just can't quite get it. And then he gets a call from someone that he used to teach, which is part of the irony in this movie that is a really cool message. There was a student he used to have that has now made it in terms of being a drummer and is in the jazz music world, performing at a club, and calls him for an invitation to say, hey, one of the biggest musicians uh in in this space is gonna be performing at your local club here in New York. And we would love to have you come join because I know you know I want you to know the only reason I have been playing, you know, the biggest reason, and the only reason, arguably, is because of you and what you taught me. And what's funny is the care the character Joe at that point in the movie, all he hears is that he has an opportunity to play the gig of a lifetime with this world-renowned artist. And he is like, he's on top of the world, he's ready to play the gig of a lifetime, he's finally done it, and yet he's he's realizing like really quickly that it's like it's taking over him. He's he's so happy, and then something very unexpected happens, which is you know, first you see him on the phone, he's like, you know, all excited about this opportunity. He's calling people, he's excited. He's walking on the streets of New York and he's like avoiding every possible, like he just misses like a bunch of plywood falling on top of him and crushing him. Somebody's cleaning up a bunch of nails on the concrete floor, and he doesn't he walks right through them without stepping on a single one. Um, all these things, he's walking through traffic and not a single car is hitting him. So it's like describing how much on top of the world he feels. And then as soon as it feels like all that slows down, he takes one more step on the street and he just falls into a pothole. Which is hello, tied back to episode two. Here we're talking about all kinds of setbacks and roadblocks and all that stuff. He falls into a street pothole. And then, next thing you know, you see this like weird animation of him as like this, like all I can describe is maybe like a little bit of like a blue. It kind of looks like him, his like his profile, like he wears a hat and glasses, but it's like almost like a ghost version of him, like Casper the ghost almost, a little shape of him, and he's like in this dark space, and he realizes that oh, um, I'm going to what they call in the movie the Great Beyond, and people around all these other little souls, which is hence the name of the movie, they're all headed to the Great Beyond. And he's like panicking. He's like, No, wait, I can't be dead yet. What are you talking about? No, no, no, I'm I'm not. No. Uh I have to play this gig. And he's not even worried about being alive. He's specifically worried about and tied up to with you know, playing the gig of a lifetime. And he starts learning a lot about what this, you know, he, you know, he he tries to escape the end of his life, and he doesn't want to go yet. And then he finds himself, you know, trying to navigate this like weird, dark, animated, like space that they they call this like there's the great beyond, which is after everybody's passed on, and then there's this other space where it's like the great before is what they call it, where they have all these little tiny baby souls that are growing right before they're gonna go to planet earth. They have to develop personality and and and basically like their premature soul is building itself up before it goes to Earth and it's born into a brand new human being. And um he starts walking around and realizing that uh they hire certain people that have passed on, they call him mentors. So it starts naming like really big historical figures, like you know, uh it talks about like Abraham Lincoln being one or Gandhi being one, like, and that they walk around and mentor brand new souls and help them build their personality to then go into the world. And um they confuse him to be one of those. So he's walking around, and again, he's only wrapped up in like, how am I gonna get to Earth? I don't care about all this stuff, I just want to get to Earth to be this gig of my life. And then he gets tasked as a mentor because he sees that maybe there's a possibility he could mentor somebody and find a way to use that new soul to get back to Earth, to his body. Meets supposedly a soul that has had the hardest time being mentored by so many people, but can't quite find the final piece to their to their puzzle, to their soul to make it to Earth and to finally go be a brand new human being for the first time. And long story short, he he pretty much is is realizing that he's trying to use this lost soul, if they if you want to call it that, to just help him get back to his body. And even if he has to cheat the system and pretend to mentor this person, this soul, that he'll get back. And he starts to do it and he kind of starts to become a little successful, but then he gets back to earth, but not quite the way that he was expecting. And you know, along the way, there's all these other little challenges where like he ends up going back to earth, but he's not in his body, he's in like a he ends up in a in an animal's body instead, like a cat. And his actual body is where the that lost soul ends up in. So he's now he's watching all of these things happen and trying to tell this lost soul how to navigate a human body for the first time, and it's his own, but he's having this quote-unquote out-of-body experience, and along the way, he's realizing that this new lost soul in a human body for the first time is experiencing life in a very beautiful way, taking in all the little things, trying food for the first time and appreciating the taste of it and the smell of it, um, seeing that through a fresh set of eyes, this lost soul in a in a human body is meeting people that Joe, the main character, would normally interact with, you know, and again, the goal is Joe is trying to help this lost soul that's stuck in his body to still get to that gig so that he can then finally get back into his body and play the gig of a lifetime. And along the way, he's watching this lost soul appreciate things that he never did in his regular everyday life, and it starts to click to him little by little because then finally he finds a way back into his own body, and this lost soul ends up back into that space where they, you know, she can't come back into a regular body yet. She still hasn't earned her last piece of that puzzle. She's she still has to find it, and he realizes he goes back into his body, so first he's excited, he's gonna play the gig, and he plays the gig of a lifetime, he does, and he successfully he plays like you know, with flying colors, he he does a great job, and then he steps out, and you realize that he's happy about it, but the fulfillment isn't quite what he expected it to be. And he's then sitting outside with the world-renowned artist that he was excited to play with, and she sits out there and talks to him and she could tell something's wrong, so she goes, What's wrong, teach? And he goes, He goes, I don't know, I just I waited for this night my whole life and I just thought I'd feel different. And then she goes, She kind of looks at him and she goes, hmm. She's like, you know, I heard this this story about a fish, and this fish went to go swim up to an older fish and said, Hey, I'm looking for this thing they call the ocean. And the older fish goes, the ocean? Well, that's what you're in right now. And the younger fish goes, No, no, no, I'm in water right now. What I'm looking for is the ocean. And then she kind of gives them a look, like, okay, well, I'll see you tomorrow. And basically that story is uh, you know, at least my interpretation of it is that sometimes what we're looking for is right in front of us. It's right what we're in the middle of. But we we brand it a certain way or we we we envision it a very specific way. So we feel like if it's not exactly what it looks, what we expect it to look like, it means we're doing it wrong or we're not where we're supposed to be. When it could be that all along we've been doing exactly what we were meant to. We've always been in the place we're supposed to be. But it's a matter of how you look at it. And and this movie, of course, has a has a has a very beautiful message and lots of beautiful messages in the way that it ends. But I love the fact that, you know, from the get-go, Joe, this main character, you know, he he falls in that pothole and things already start to go the wrong way, and he's fully in denial of what's happening to him. And then, you know, he continues to feel like we all do, sometimes we feel like we're destined for more. You know, we're at a certain maybe standstill in life, we've hit this plateau where things aren't necessarily too high or too low, but we feel like we're destined for more. But that then we've defined this, what this achievement or success looks like, and there's only one way that we'll find it. There's only one version of it. And we get so attached and obsessed with that that we miss so many of the things along the way. And sometimes it is those little things in life that that that they give life meaning. And it's not just where we decide where we want our lives to go. It's sometimes where life just takes us. That that is the beauty in what life can give. I mean, the beauty of life is not just what accomplishments we achieve or the destinations that we reach, it's all the great things that can come with the journey on the, you know, uh along the way. On the way there, you're gonna encounter so many great things, again, that you may not expect and you weren't necessarily aiming for, but it it still presents itself with a lot of great opportunity to appreciate the things that we have in life. Um and it's not a comparison game of like, oh, you know, other people don't have these things, and we do. There's a level of gratitude to find in that perspective too, but it's just a matter of even just in our own personal journey, we're gonna encounter things that we realize, wow, how lucky I am to breathe this air, this fresh air, and to be able to have people to meet along the way that maybe I would have not met otherwise if I wasn't on this journey. Um, or maybe during a setback, you know, I got a flat tire, I got stuck at a subway station, I got stuck in a storm, and I had to stay inside at this restaurant or this airport or whatever, and man, I met somebody really cool because of that. Or I learned about a new food spot that I was stuck in for a while that I would have not otherwise. Or, you know what, I had some time to think and I remembered something that maybe I didn't remember for a long time, and it had it brought back some memory or some value to my life that I maybe I wouldn't have been brought back to if it had not been for that moment that was unexpected, or that I necessarily wasn't anticipating or hoping for. And, you know, I think that you look at a character like Joe Gardner in this movie, and so many other, you know, uh characters I'm sure that we've seen in other movies and TV shows, you know, the journey is always gonna be unpredictable. But that's that's the guarantee you're gonna have with every journey you're ever gonna be on. No matter how much you plan for the journey to be something very specific, no matter how prepped or planned you are, there's a guarantee that something is going to happen along the way that you didn't expect or anticipate, but it's still gonna offer a chance for you to learn something or to gain something from it. And ultimately carry that with gratitude. And I think that's a lot of times in life what we miss. And we're all human, right? We're always gonna miss those things, and sometimes we remember it far much later after the fact. But it just is a reminder that there's times where we can just kind of sit back and look around when we're in that in the meantime period where we are still on the way there to our achievements and goals. You know, I I've I've gotten to talk to many people, you know, I got to working out in the last few years. I got into physical fitness and have gotten to meet so many people that had very different physical goals, that trained very differently, have different disciplines and habits and ways that they help themselves get there. But then you realize when you get into a space like that, half of the the beauty in that is some of the people you meet along the way, the things you learn about yourself, and the discipline you might have that you maybe didn't realize before. And also the reminder that when you maybe aren't making the progress you were hoping for, you're not alone in that. And that's that's a beauty in and of itself that you learn that a lot of people are dealing with some of the same challenges, even though they're on their way to a very different destination. And you know, no matter how difficult, how long, or how unpredictable that journey is, you can always expect that there's going to be an opportunity for gratitude and for growth. And ultimately, when you can obtain and seize those opportunities and and and sometimes you know not take those things for granted, and you get to just take those things in for a second and appreciate them, you realize now that the next time you encounter something unexpected, your perspective has changed. You have new tools, new ways of thinking about those moments where you can say, you know what, this was unexpected, but it's gonna be okay. And it probably happened for a reason. So maybe let me try to find what that reason is next time. Because maybe I'll walk away with something that I didn't expect. But ultimately, that maybe is even a tool I can use once I have reached the destination that it'll allow me to embrace it more and to always remember how I got here in the first place. And that to me is what makes the journey always worth it. Isn't just reaching the destination, but the things you could have obtained and learned along the way. So I think that's I think that's it for this episode. I think we pretty much covered everything. You know, again, trust the process. The process and and and your ability to trust it is ultimately what's gonna allow you to enjoy and embrace every step of the way, not just where you're going to end up, because it will never be exactly what you envisioned it to be, and that's the entire point. Maybe those sirens are my cue to go. So um uh, anyways, I just wanted to say thank you once again for everybody who sat and listened. Um, and uh I hope you enjoyed not just the the topic and the subject, but just maybe any again, any any any little bit of uh uh anything you can relate to or any level of perspective that maybe was helpful, or in addition to what you might have already had. I know in watching this movie again, you know, watching Soul, I I remembered some things about myself that I thought, yeah, I should do a little more of that. I should keep some of that other stuff in mind. So I hope you do too. Watch the movie, check it out if you haven't already, or rewatch it if you have seen it. It's a good, it's a good watch and it's a good feel-good uh movie. But um, yeah, otherwise, as always, please hit me up on Instagram and and let me know, you know, exactly what else you want to hear me talk about, anything you thought about the last three episodes now. Uh again, spread the word too. Please feel free to share with anybody. Again, uh I have this on Apple Podcasts, Spotify. I also got the main audio website too, so I have all those links in my bio at all times. So please feel free to go check me out and and then reach out if you have any questions too, or you're curious about anything. Um, drop in any suggestions. Otherwise, I will talk to you on the next episode. See you there.