Episode 12: Enjoy the Little Things

In this episode, we slow down and zoom in on the moments that often slip past us—the quiet wins, the tiny joys, the everyday comforts that make life feel fuller when we finally choose to notice them. Enjoy the Little Things isn’t just a reminder to be present; it’s an invitation to rethink how we measure a meaningful life.

We've all been through hard times and tragedy; but it's always important to remember how a shift in perspective can go a long way. And that shift doesn’t stay contained—it inspires a domino effect. The way you show up becomes lighter, kinder, more intentional. Others feel it. They mirror it. They pass it forward.

This episode is about choosing presence over pressure, connection over comparison, and impact over perfection. It’s about recognizing that the smallest moments often spark the biggest change—not just in your life, but in the lives around you.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:12

All right, what is going on, everybody? Welcome back to another episode of the Daydreamers Podcast. My name is Esteban. I am your host. Uh, if you're new here, welcome. Happy to have you and happy to have you join this uh community of daydreamers. Um man, so happy this episode obviously is going to come out on a Friday. So happy Friday to any of you listening the day of, whatever it is that you're doing, wherever you're at. Uh, happy you're making the time to listen. There's a lot going on. Uh very excited for this episode, obviously. There's a very uh nice topic that I got to bring in uh for this week, another very passionate subject for me, but also lots of fun things that have been going on, you know, in the background. As I talked about before, World Cup is still very much ongoing. Uh, some of the teams have been advanced to now. At this point, at the time of this recording, Mexico has advanced, broken the curse. For any of you who are Mexico fans or soccer fans, you know that it's a long-standing history in the World Cup that Mexico hasn't made it past the second round, and now they have. They're making history as it is. They won all three qualifying games as well. That's history in the making for them as well, uh, and for the league altogether. So very much rooting for them. USA has advanced now as well. So that's gonna be a very fun watch, you know, coming into the the 4th of July weekend, and to see some of these teams even making history. Like I know Argentina is gonna be playing the day that this episode comes out, um, you know, to see Portugal play, Colombia play, all these teams that, you know, could be potential favorites. We'll see what happens. Unfortunately, we were rooting for Germany in this household as well. They didn't make it through. What an intense ending. Uh that one went into penalty kicks. So, you know, unfortunately, we didn't get a chance to um, you know, make it far there with that team. But it's okay. We at least see what um what's gonna be happening, obviously. Sorry, I'm I I I gotta be honest with you guys. I'm laughing here because Cuddy was um doing some a little susp suspicious. This is totally off the rails, but I have to I have to tell you because uh I have to tell you guys who are listening. So I always get a kick out of, you know, and I again I've I've said this before. Uh I never grew up with dogs. And I recently became a dog owner the moment that I started dating my girlfriend. She had a pug when we met, and obviously I became a very proud um dad to our now pug, Cuddy. Cuddy's his name. Now, this young man, he's a little bit of a I don't know, how can I say this nicely? Uh he tweaks out quite a bit. He's a little bit of a tweaker, and he does some very strange things. I probably most of you dog owners know that your dog have a your dogs have a couple of like weird tendencies. In his case, he likes to lick everything, he likes to stare into space, he does some he does some weird shit sometimes, and so I can't I can't help but sometimes just kind of watch him like and observe him and just going, what the hell's going on in his mind? And uh yeah, sure enough, he was staring at his bed his bed for no reason, and he was he was licking the bottom of his bed. I don't know why, and so uh I I threw a pillow at him to try to in hopes that he would stop making noise, but I couldn't help myself. I do I it made me laugh. So, anyways, um nothing like a little dose of uh mentioning Cuddy in in every episode, but nonetheless, what was I saying? We're talking about the World Cup, that's right. Um, yeah, so excited to go into the weekend, see what other teams are going to be playing, qualifying for the next rounds. It's elimination now. So uh for any of you keeping up, any team that loses at this point does not uh move on to the next round. So um, yeah, we'll see. We'll see in a couple of weeks here what it comes down to with these teams, if a team makes history, if it's one of the favorites. Um still hoping to go to a watch party, at least one, you know. Again, it's like you know, win in Rome. When the time comes that the World Cup comes around, you will kind of want to make the most of it, enjoy it. It's really only every four years. Um, so we'll see what happens there. And speaking of, you know, making the most of uh uh of these moments and enjoying these sports events, very excited when this episode comes out. Today's the day that we're we're headed to the Dodger game. My girlfriend and I are gonna go watch the Dodgers play the Padres, but they're playing us here in LA, so very excited for that. Um always a competitive game. We'll see if we see any arguments or people talking, you know, talking shit to each other. That's typically how these things go. Um, nothing like a little competitive edge. Uh, but we're at home, so it's all good. Um and we're we're gonna be doing the first, at least for me, uh we're gonna be taking a little bit of the the the bus route going into the stadium. For a lot of you who have ever been to Dodger Stadium or locals to LA, you know that getting in and especially getting out of that stadium is a pain in the ass, unlike any other. So we're gonna be taking the bus this time um you know to a local station. That's just gonna be a little bit easier. Um and and you know, excited to to at least save ourselves that that stress. There's also a place I haven't talked about this much on the podcast, actually, but uh another thing to know about myself and obviously my girlfriend as well, we're both very big foodies, and we love trying new places, and we obviously like all kinds of different foods. Um and over the last couple of years, we've both introduced ourselves to to lots of really cool food places, and and a place that recently we went to when we were in LA, we went to go watch a DJ set that in for a DJ that we really like. And afterwards she told me about a place called Avenue 26. It's a local taco spot in LA. Uh, it's not far from the arts district, if I have my if my memory serves, and it's uh it's really good. It's one of those taco stands, it's literally in a parking lot. It's nothing but a bunch of pitched tents and just a big old like table layout where they're just cooking all the different meats. You literally walk up, the line is long, but it moves very quickly. And like you literally walk up and they're like, What do you, you know, what would you like? And you literally just tell them, you know, and I I I like you know, I'll tell them in Spanish, like dos de asada, dos de pollo, una quesadilla, whatever, like you just ask what they and they'll literally just put it together for you in seconds right in front of you, and they're like, Alright, next, and they just they keep it moving. So tried that a few weeks ago, and man, one of the best tacos I've had um outside of like having them in Mexico. Like oh god, so good. I'm looking forward to having them again after the game. So that's something that we look forward to. Um hopefully I want to try more spots. We always talk about food places and we never really get to try some of them just because we forget. It's always one of those things, right? If if any of you can probably relate, like you always remember, oh, I want to go to I want to go try this food place, I want to go try this new restaurant, and you have all these ideas when it's not relevant, and then the moment you have to come to decide, oh, what do we want to try? And then you just kind of sit there and go, shit, I genuinely don't know. I had a million things in my head a few days ago, right now, couldn't tell you. Um, but anyways, nonetheless, excited for that. Uh Dodgers are in first place, by the way. At the time of this recording, just want to remind any of you who are not Dodger fans, uh, you can hate all you want. We're in first place. Sorry, not sorry. Um, and also, listen, I gotta address this if there's any baseball fans listening. If there's anybody here listening who is claiming and that's a baseball fan and claims that Dodgers are ruining baseball, that the organization is ruining baseball because they buy all their players, the only thing I'm gonna say is this they are not the only team that has money to buy players and to spend that money. But when you have other teams that could have bought a pitcher like Blake Snell, and you chose not to buy that player because you didn't want to spend that kind of money, and then another team, the Dodgers, spend that money and we win a championship with it. Well, you're just mad because you didn't make the move that needed to be made. That's all I'm gonna say. Um that's the end of my rant there. But um other than that, you know, excited to have uh a lot of sports on. Also, you know, football season's around the corner, fantasy football is gonna be around the corner too. Gotta start figuring out uh uh what the draft's gonna look like, what these fantasy leagues are gonna look like as well. Um hopefully gonna go to a couple of games for that too. And um also I have to mention, just because we talk about all kinds of entertainment here, I am so excited that at the end of September, uh gonna go get to see Bruno Mars. I mean, that is I'm so excited. I I've seen um Silksonic, which was his duo pairing with Anderson Pack. I've seen them in Vegas, and it's probably the best show I've ever seen. Um, but this one especially because also I think the Romantic might be my favorite album, the most recent album that Bruno Mars dropped a few months ago. Probably might be my favorite album. Um, because yes, I am a hopeless romantic, and and I but I also love a lot of the music that he made. Some of it's very like um it's very old school. Um, old school, like uh even like Spanish vibes, very Latin American vibes for a couple of these songs too, like Spanish rock, even a little bit. So love the tone and the feel of that album. So I'm so excited to see him perform that music live. Um, my girlfriend and I had to have his album on constantly, and just to kind of see him live is gonna be great. We're we're gonna watch him at SoFi and uh we've been to that stadium before, we love it, so we're gonna be happy to see him there. Um, and then of course, you know, I can't go without mentioning too that uh when it comes to you know, we got to see a couple of movies. We're we're we're still working on on watching more. Um, as I've mentioned before on other episodes, we're looking forward to Spider-Man brand new day, then the latest Spider-Man franchise for Tom Holland. Um, and it's gonna come out at the end of July. We got our tickets already. We're gonna be watching it in Dolby, which is like that big surround sound theater too. So uh myself, my girlfriend, my sister, my brother-in-law, um very much looking forward to that. And I'm very excited for myself. I've decided that, you know, since I haven't gotten to sit down and I love doing movie marathons once in a while. Like I know I'm pretty sure like we're gonna run through the MCU from Iron Man 1 all the way to what we've led up to in uh Avengers Doomsday as we get closer to that time of the year. Um, you know, we when my girlfriend and I are dedicated and we want to binge, we'll we'll sit there and we binge. I mean, we binged the MCU the first time when she hadn't really like watched all of them. I think we binged it probably like in a month or two at most. So we can definitely do it again, and we're very excited too. Um, but I'm probably gonna binge and watch all of the Spider-Man movies, starting with Toby McGuire's movies, and then Andrew Garfield's as well, and then I can't go without mentioning the two Spider-Verse, the animated um Sony Spider-Man movies with Miles Morales. Um, and I'm pretty sure I'm gonna be bringing in and I'm gonna ask my brother-in-law if he's listening, he knows. I definitely want to sit down and watch these with him again because I am excited to announce that, as I mentioned before, I'm gonna have my very first guest on very soon. And that guest is going to be my brother-in-law, Daniel Embry. So um, we're very excited to have uh this episode, you know, coming soon. We're we're gonna be talking a lot about Spider-Man, all the Spider-Man films, raking our favorite films, uh, what we like and what we don't like about each of the Spider-Man, and uh kind of what we're looking forward to in this new movie, too. Um we're both nerds about it, that's why we're gonna talk about it, and we're gonna have a really good time. Uh, you get to know a little bit more about him as well, and I'm very excited that he's agreed to be here. So um look forward to that. And and I'm gonna be getting some feedback from all of you uh who tune in. What question what do you want to hear us talk about? You know, what questions do you want us to maybe ask each other? What we what do you want me to ask him? What should he ask me? Um, you know, we're just gonna we're just gonna mess around. We're gonna we're gonna we're gonna you know talk our shit and and and enjoy our time. So look forward to that that's gonna be coming out prior to the end of July. So uh more details to come soon. So with all of that said, today's episode is something, you know, that I was very much looking forward to, not just for the topic's sake, but you know, again, as I mentioned, like sometimes I try to figure out what's gonna go with that topic, what kind of you know, character can I look for, TV show, movie, and and um you know I've mentioned before we've been binge watching Ted Lasso again in leading up to the new season, and there's so many things that I like about that show, a lot of the character development, and of course the main character Ted, um, you know, how much of an optimist he is, he really you know tries to bring the light into any situation. And you know, one of the big things that I was very much looking forward to was to, you know, the the topic I wanted to talk about. I want I wanted to find something that told the story about making the most of things, you know, and um how life can change in an instant. And I've talked about this before, but it's you know, things can happen unexpectedly, or even just, you know, your whole life can be turned upside down with a phone call. And um there are people that you can appreciate that even in moments like that, they do their best to not only for themselves, but to remind everybody around them that there's still a lot you can make the most of. And even through tragedy or through very difficult times, you can still find a way to even enjoy the smallest things, to enjoy the small wins, or to um, you know, really just it's plain and simple, you just enjoy the little things because you know you don't want to waste the time and the life that you've been that you've been gifted. So um, you know, with that said, I kept thinking, oh my gosh, well, there's so many examples in Ted Lasso that I could use, but I talked about that show already so much, even dedicated an episode to it. So I'm like, no, I gotta find something different. And so one fun thing that I did was I started looking through my DVD collection. I have a bunch of DVDs, I love to be old school, and and I even I literally even asked, that was one of the only things I wanted for Christmas was uh old school DVD player. So I sure did get one last Christmas, and um, you know, just trying to build up my DVD collection more and more because I love it's nothing like when I was a kid, you know, putting on a DVD to watch a movie, it just felt like you were set. It's kind of it kind of felt similar almost to like, you know, uh finding your seat in the movie theater and buying the popcorn, um, you know, or or you know, whatever snacks or drinks you were gonna bring into the theater with you, and just taking that seat and going, okay, we are here at the movies, like it's time, it's movie time. Um, very similar, like nostalgic feeling was to like, you know, sit down with my family or with friends and and pop in a DVD and watch a movie. So in any case, I was going through my DVD collection and I was like, oh, and I found a a DVD of a movie that I love, and I've never I don't know if I've ever talked about it on the podcast, but it's one of my favorite movies of all time. It's probably not a movie that a lot of you know by name or maybe have even seen. Um, but it's it's a movie that came out 20 years ago, I believe 2006. And when I saw the the cover of the DVD, I'm like, yep, that's the one. That's the one I'm gonna watch. This this definitely revolves a lot around, you know, difficult times, tragedy, but also bringing in the concept of making the most of what you have and um you know being not just not so much even just an optimist, but just remembering to enjoy the little things. And that if anything, that can be a building block for overcoming tragedy and and difficult times, um, even without that being the intention, but just the presence of that mentality, the presence of that approach really can get you there. Um and that is very contagious. You know, it starts with one person sometimes when you're in a room full of people, when you're, you know, in in in your in your classroom, you know, if you're in school, if with your colleagues, with your family, with your friends, you know, that the the group of people that you surround yourself with. Um it takes one person sometimes to bring in that that way of thinking um or that approach to really turn turn it all around for everyone else um that that that might be there to witness. And and you just you never know what kind of impact it can make. And so I love that concept. And um, so when I pulled this DVD out, I was like, oh, okay. And and and I was like, I gotta watch this again. Um the movie's called We Are Marshall, and I'm gonna dive a little bit into the movie first, just to kind of give you some pretext of like why this topic also was so important to me. Um the movie's called We Are Marshall, it is a football movie, it is another movie based on a true story. Um Stacked Cast, by the way. This movie has so many famous actors that probably this was one of the earlier films they did in their career that kind of helped them, I don't want to say launch their career, but kind of helped them continue to get you know acclimated to probably being in Hollywood and getting more you know movies to make. Like I know uh the star of the film, Matthew McConaughey. Uh so if you haven't heard of this movie again, uh definitely a star actor right there in and of itself. Um and and also probably the first movie that I can recall watching Matthew McConaughey in. And um his performance in the movie is is great. Um, we also have here, I gotta pull up the full cast list too, because I'm so bad with names. Um let's see here. We are Marshall Cast. So he uh yeah, Matthew McConaughey plays the main character, he's the coach in the movie. Uh also, oh my gosh, I can't go without mentioning uh one of our Marvel stars, Anthony Mackey, uh, who is known as playing the Falcon or the new Captain America, um, but also obviously known for a lot of other films as well. Um, he plays one of the players in the movie. Also, um, a couple other people to mention, Ian McShane, um you probably know if even if you have watched the John Wick films, um he's he came out in the the Dwayne Johnson uh the rock uh Hercules movie, if you saw that. Um and a handful of other actors. If you watch the movie, you're kind of like, oh, I recognize a lot of these people. Um they were just much younger. But um, but anyways, this re-watching this movie, it it uh, you know, I don't want to spoil it for anybody, but there's something very tragic that happens in the movie um with the football team in this movie, and it's something that the entire town goes through. You know, a lot of people are mourning and and dealing with grief, and you know, the football program is is about to get shut down because of this tragedy, and you know, you start to see all these people the way they cope with their grief and the the sadness that the whole town is feeling. It's like there's this huge cloud, you know, this huge sad cloud over the entire town, and um there's a lot of people that just don't know how to deal with it. And like football, in a way, is the last thing on their mind, but at the same time, football is a lot of what drove the faith and the unity in that in that town, in that community, and so you know, you have the few players that you know are are um you know trying to keep things together, trying to be the glue for the team, and so you know, they they start to kind of hope, you know, to push for the continuation of this football program, and um you know they're trying to find a new coach for the team. Um I'm here describing it and I'm basically giving away kind of what happened. Some of you are probably wondering, like, you know, what happened. So just I'm gonna spoil the movie. I'm gonna I'm just gonna kind of say roughly what happens in it, but you still gotta watch it because it's a true story. You can look up the real story, what happened. But it's in West Virginia, uh, and this football team basically um they're the the movie you know shows they're on a they're playing in away game. I think it's like a I don't know if it's a contending game or or what it is, but it's a very competitive game and they end up losing. And um the this this football team, Marshall University, you know, they obviously got a flyback to um to their to their hometown. And um, you know, they've just lost the game and and there's you know some tensions about them losing, but also just kind of like it shows how tight knit the whole team is, the coaching staff and everything. And then um what ended up happening that year, I think it was 1970, 71 that the plane on the way back uh was struck by lightning and it was a big plane crash, and everyone on board um passed, unfortunately. And it was like a huge tragedy for that town and for that school, you know, not only the the entire team, you know, with the exception of a few players that didn't travel with them because they were injured. Um you know, but most the pretty much the entire coaching staff and even some people that just worked for the school, certain parents that all traveled in that one plane and they all didn't make it. And it was obviously, you know, the m the film shows a bit of, I'm sure, which is only a piece, um, you know, or just a small percentage of what, you know, the pain and suffering that that town really went through. But, you know, then you you quickly realize and and it's what I love about this movie too. You know, there's a lot of films out there that are based on true stories and they can often be very scary or very sad, you know, things to to to retell or for people to relive. I'm sure if you know, if you live in a moment like that and you have to watch that on screen again, you know, that can be a very difficult thing um uh to relive. But one thing I do love, you know, being from the outside, uh looking in that this film does is it really highlights you know the people that in that town, the you know, the people that maybe still work for the school, that didn't, you know, that weren't on that plane, a parents of those kids, um, you know, they were sons, they were you know fiances, uh teachers, uh uh what you know, whatever whatever have you, like they they all uh impacted, you know, the the their loss impacted somebody back home. And you start to see how some of these characters they highlight all the different ways that people mourn, the way they grieve, and the way they cope with that with that loss. And so that in and of itself is a really great telling of us as people, how we all manage things differently, how we handle those emotions, how we, you know, keep ourselves busy, or that we sit with that pain, we don't know how to quite get past it, how we carry it with ourselves, um, how we express it to others versus when we're alone. And in the midst of all of that, you know, you have them start trying to rebuild this program and the few players that you know weren't on the plane and um you know, their varsity members, but I think it's only four of them that of the varsity team that that survives and they they still wanna the you know, for them football is life and and uh they don't wanna Give up the program. And you know, the the board of directors or the people that help run the school are thinking it's not the it's not appropriate, it's not the right time to continue the football program after what's happened. It's just going to be a reminder of what we've lost. And, you know, why would we do that? It doesn't feel appropriate. It almost feels disrespectful in a way to all those who have lost somebody. But, you know, the players at the same time. And half the town, even, you know, the these four varsity players that are still around, they they bring the whole town together, so many people in the community, not just the school, you know, people that go to the school, but just people in the town who still believe and trying to honor them by continuing the program, not to give up, not to completely let this program shut down. Um, and and it's you know very inspiring, obviously, to see them do that. But it's still also this level of like living with the reality, like, okay, the hope is great to have, but there's also a realistic part of that, which is how do we how do we put together a team with only four varsity players? You know, they don't let younger players play, let alone like, you know, they keep saying, you know, they don't have they're not gonna let freshmen play, you know, brand new people that are barely starting college to play on this varsity team. You know, we don't have a lot of you know, people on the athletic board, you know, our let our athletic director passed, our coaches aren't around anymore. Where do we even start? Um, you know, and and Anthony Mackey, who plays the captain of the team, uh, he says, you know, we could you could start with a coach. And so the at the president of the school keeps calling all these candidates to try to you know find a coach, and not a single person that he's called, you know, agrees to come into that situation. Because, you know, they want to be sensitive to it, or maybe they feel it's not appropriate for them, or maybe they don't want to walk into a hot mess. I mean, there could be a number of reasons why you probably wouldn't take that offer um, you know, if you got that phone call. But then cut to Matthew McConaughey's character, he is uh he's a football coach, he knows a lot about football. He's got a family of three, they live in a in a different state, um, or at least a different city, but they live a couple hundred miles away from um from Marshall University. But he hears about it in the paper. Again, 70s, he's reading the newspaper, so um, and he sees that there's a job opening for a head coach. And he could tell that the wheels are turning in his head when he's reading the newspaper, and he's already thinking about it, and then he he uh ends up giving the school a call. And the president of the school finds out and he goes and visits him, and uh uh coach Jack Lingle is Matthew McConaughey's name, and so uh the president of the school goes and sees Jack, and you know, he's introducing him to his family, they're kind of quirky and fun and a little unorthodox. You know, the kids are just kind of playing outside, being rough with each other, and he's got this like not quite southern, but I guess almost like a country style uh like accent to him kind of vibe, and uh, but he's like very lighthearted, very fun, and um, but he's very personable, very like intentional with the way he talks to people, and um you know the president's kind of looking at him like you know, the president's dreamed, he's been dealing with the situation now, I think like four months by that point, dealing with all the stuff, and he looks at the coach and he just goes, I I have to ask one thing because you're the first person that I've interviewed for the job, and you have you're not an alumni, you're you know, you have no ties to the university whatsoever. Like what you're comfortable here with your family, what possibly would make you want to to to to to pick up the phone and and and talk about it and be and you know express your interest. And it it's a really cool moment where you know uh Matthew McConaughey's character Jack, he just looks at him and he goes, You wanna want you wanna know why I pick up the phone? That that that's what you want to know? And he's like, Well, you know, when I heard what happened, I looked at my family and I just kept thinking, you know, what what would I do? How bad would it hurt if you know anything ever happened to them? And then I thought, you know, there's gotta be uh, you know, a a town and a school and a community that's really hurting. They gotta be hurting real bad. And I thought, well, maybe I could help. And it's as simple as that. Like that's all literally all he says. He just says, Maybe I could help. You know, and the the the president of the school kind of looks at him and he could tell us the first time his life his eyes kind of light up since the the tragedy of you know what's been going on, and he just looks at him, like kind of like almost lost in watching him talk. And Matthew McConaughey goes, Yeah, that's about the realest why I could give you. Probably the only why that I got. And cut to next scene, he's officially the head coach. And you start to see this trickle effect, this domino effect of that attitude, that approach that he has, where he's trying to simplify his approach, that he's just there to help and he's trying to do a job. Um, and he learns to also work through some of the sensitivities of the people that may not appreciate that he's you know heading on this effort to rebuild this program and keep playing football at the school when a lot of people maybe feel like it's not the right time, it's not appropriate, or you know, whatever the case. And so it's it was a really cool, cool thing to see how that kind of played a domino effect throughout the film. And, you know, the reason why I describe a lot of that, you know, first part of the movie and and and how it kicks off, and you know, it is the it's just the fact that like you know, I really wanted to talk about what it means to enjoy the little things and and you know how you make the most of the time that you have. And like, you know, just like in this movie, you see all of us know like life life can move very quickly sometimes. And I think you'd be surprised sometimes how much we miss out on you know, in terms of what to enjoy on a regular basis. You know, things pass us by so quickly, you know, weeks turn into months, and then before you know it, you're like, wow, another year went by. Or, you know, like my girlfriend and I, we're like, wow, you know, it feels like just yesterday we moved into this apartment, we've been living here for six months already. Like that, that completely blew our mind. Um, and so, you know, but then you realize, like, how many moments have you taken the time? Let's say, like, any of you listening, just in the last seven days, in the last week, from the time that you're listening to this, how many times have you sat down with yourself and just taken a moment to go, wow, I've had a lot that had, you know, that I've I've enjoyed this week? Or like, you know what, you sat down for a moment and go, Wow, I'm really, I'm really happy to have this. I'm really happy this happened. I'm really grateful that I got to go to this thing, I got to see this person. Let alone that not only you sat with yourself, that you let somebody else know you were appreciating a moment you shared with them, that you had with them. And I'm willing to bet that more often than not, you really can't recall how many times you sat down because maybe you didn't take a lot of moments to sit there and just appreciate the moment right then and there. Um and so it's crazy, you know, that's that's in a week's worth of time. You can imagine maybe in a year's time, you know, how much we take for granted, or and you know, and again, we're we're human, right? I think it's not something to be ashamed of per se, but you just realize sometimes when you really think about how much time can pass us by. And there's a lot of moments that also pass us by that we can maybe maybe enjoy a little bit more or appreciate and and and make the most of those moments to remind ourselves that even when bad times come around, man, I'm really happy that at least I also made the most of those good times while I had them and when they come around. Um, and it obviously sets the precedent for any future good times that that might come your way. And I think too, don't get me wrong, the other thing I want to be very sensitive to is, you know, when we all deal with tragedy, it it can even be an almost frustrating and annoying when if you're dealing with something very heavy that you feel that maybe most people don't even understand what you're really going through, or at least you feel that way in that moment, right? Like I don't want anyone to tell me they understand or that they get it or that they they know what it's like to be in my shoes, and you know, sometimes you don't want to hear that. You want to just have a moment to feel the pain, feel whatever it is that you're feeling. Um, but also I think it is important to remember that whenever you feel that you are ready, or maybe you don't know when you're gonna feel ready, but if you know there is gonna be a time where you want to be able to move on or to get past some of that pain, that hurt, um the what lays the foundation for you to do that is your perspective. I think a lot of times, again, as as people, it's a very human thing to think that when you're going through something tough or there's a really difficult time that you're managing emotionally or mentally, it's almost like you're waiting for it to be over. I think we all tend to do that as humans, is like, okay, you know, we just lost someone or something very tragic happened, or we, you know, we experienced a traumatic experience, even if it wasn't directed to us, but we witnessed something. Um, it it can feel like the pain you might experience or the emotions that kind of you know hover over you, you kind of just are waiting for them to be over because you just don't want to be hurt anymore. But you're almost waiting for the experience to take care of that for you, versus you feeling like I'm just so drained, I'm I'm exhausted, I'm I'm hurt, things have been so unfair lately, how could I possibly have anything else in me to, you know, how could I have the capacity to move on, to push myself, to, you know, I have nothing left. My energy, I'm on, I'm on empty. Um, but whatever, and I and again I've kind of said this before, but if any of you have ever overcome or finally gotten to a point after a really tough, dark season in your life, and you found a moment to enjoy again after that, you found some level of happiness or peace after said, you know, difficult time, it means that your perspective at a certain point in time or your mentality did shift. Now, did you intend that? Did you mean that to happen very, you know, uh intentionally? Maybe, maybe not. But the point is that had to have been the first thing that your mind did to allow you to be happy, to allow you to enjoy something, to be at peace with something. And that's where I think it is important for us to be reminded, even if sometimes we don't want to hear it, that perspective does really matter when it comes to overcoming things or getting through a lot of things. Um, because that's kind of that's that's literally the expression of like us taking uh you know full responsibility of of what we choose to do, how we choose to react to things that happen to us in life. Um, I think that quote says something along the lines of like life is 10% what happens to you, 90% how you choose to react to what happens to you or what you do with it. Um, and it's very true. It's really all about perspective. And sometimes it's better to look forward to things that can go right than to only worry about the things that can go wrong. I mean, I think we and look, I'm gonna be the first one to admit I am such an overworrier. Sometimes I can worry about even the smallest things. I'll think worst case scenario. I don't know if any of you are like this, but like I very much tend to go worst case scenario in my head when I think about all the outcomes or thinking about future plans or or how something might go. Um, you know, and it's very easy to. And I think sometimes we even do that with ourselves because we don't want to be disappointed if we get our hopes up. Or maybe we have done that in the past where we've gotten our hopes up and we've been disappointed so many times we don't we feel like we keep hurting ourselves doing that, so we'd rather just expect the worst. And people say all the time, I'd rather expect the worst and hope for the best. Um, but I I I want to be sure people understand, and I have to remind myself of this a lot, it's also okay to you know hope for the best, but also to expect something good. It's it's okay to do that, and I think we don't give permission to ourselves to do that sometimes. Um, and and I think some of us who have experienced tragedy, you know, or sad times in our life, uh others may not have. I you know, sometimes we might feel this um sense of comparison, or even like we sometimes even invalidate our own difficult times because we might feel like, well, people have had it worse. Or like you might look at your best friend, your partner, a family member, you know, we're like, maybe you're having something that's difficult for you at that time. And maybe you might look to your left or to your right, and you might see someone or know someone that, like, man, they've been through a lot more than me though. They've been through a lot rougher times than me. First of all, doesn't invalidate what you're going through. Everybody who deals with something difficult, it's relative to that person, it's subjective to that person. And so it doesn't invalidate what you might feel or the level of difficulty that you are having at that time. You know, I think prior to, let's say, as an example, you know, as as as sad as this is, if if any of you have lost someone, there was a point in your life prior to that first experience of you losing someone in your life. And up to that point, especially if you were already, you know, uh at least somewhat of a young adult, where you know, you were a little more matured to experience some of these things and really comprehend everything going on around you. Prior to losing that first person in your life, you when it first happened to you, you had never known what that was like. And there are probably people around you who had had gone through that experience many times over. And unfortunately, maybe things were more difficult for them because of what they've gone through versus you experiencing it for the very first time or not having known what that was like yet. And and the, you know, I I I I hope you're I hope you guys are able to follow me here, but I I bring that up as an example because I feel like again, we often compare our suffering. And I feel like sometimes it's unfair to our to ourselves. We it's unfair to us when we don't necessarily sit with what we're dealing with and how to cope with it. Um, or we invalidate it again. You know, you don't want to do that. I think it's just if anything, um, you know, we all have different levels of or different degrees of of pain and suffering and how we manage it and what our capacity is to have, you know, strength at times like that. But I think the the the the common denominator here is that everybody goes through pain, sadness, suffering, or any kind of low point in in their life. We all do. And you know, the the the feelings that come immediately after those feelings first set in, they're all justified, you know. All the initial feelings we get from a moment like that, it's very justified and it's very difficult to manage. Um, but you know, if you're someone like me who believes that everything does happen for a reason, which I, you know, I am a firm believer in that. You know, I ever any time that I've seen something happen, and you again, as humans, we were like, why? Why did that have to happen? Why did that happen have to happen to me, of all people? You know, and I think a lot of us have felt that way. And it's likely that we're not the first person ever on earth to experience something like this. Um, you know, but we can't help but feel that way. But I I know I've always felt like, but it has to be for a reason. And a lot of times I've had those aha moments where I'm like, oh, I think that taught me something that was gonna help me down the line. Maybe years later I realized, well, you know what, that other situation that I maybe I wasn't sure of why it happened years ago, now I kind of understand. It helped me build tough skin, it helped me think about something differently, or it helped me, you know, maybe um be a little bit more um strong for someone else that would then deal with it that's close to me. Um, you know, but again, I I'm a very firm believer in everything does happen for a reason. And I think if and if you're someone listening and you feel that same way, you know that something better is just on the horizon. It doesn't stay bad forever. It it never it never does for anybody. Um, and again, that perspective helps you realize that. I definitely feel that way too. Um and and if you don't believe that, all I can tell you, if you really truly don't believe that everything happens for a reason, if you haven't tried that mentality or that way of thinking yet, and you feel like life has really dealt you a bad set of cards, it doesn't hurt to try if you haven't tried it yet. That's all I can tell you. Because sometimes you know we get so stuck in the ways of coping, the ways of thinking, the ways we think are best to manage situations, but often we don't realize that it's just our comfort level kicking in again. We don't want to try new things because if anything, we feel like what I'm gonna risk, I've already gone through so much and now I'm gonna risk trying something new and then might have disappointment there too. Why would I do that? Or maybe you just can't help it. A lot of us get, you know, obsessed. I talked about this in a previous episode when I was talking about, you know, what discipline and and and you know, we we get so obsessed with sometimes the way we discipline ourselves or the way we think about certain things that it's an attachment, it's an addiction, and then we can't let it go. We don't know anything else. And again, that's the human in any of us, right? And sometimes what that addiction derives from is we don't know anything else, you know, and I think there's that breaking point sometimes that we all reach where we realize trying something new is probably the only option I had to get on the other side of that situation. Um, you know, I I've been through many things in my life where I was so stuck in my ways, and the finally the moment that I tried something different, it got me to a different place. I there's that quote. I I don't know why when I hear this quote in my head, I hear like an old Southern woman telling me this, you know, in my head, but it's like if you keep on doing what you're doing, you're gonna keep on getting what you're getting. And if that's not what you want, then do something different. And it sometimes it really is as simple as that. Like, you know, I think even when we're like I'll give you a really funny example, and and I I remember someone told me this the other day, and I didn't I didn't know this until a few months ago, and somebody reminded me of it. Um, you know, when we're babies, and I know people are like, where are you going with this? Why why are we talking about babies now? I promise I'm going somewhere with this. Um, you know, when we're babies and we're first learning to walk, to stand on two feet, um, or like to move around, you know, we we have our parents telling us what to do, we're trying to guide us, but at the end of the day, we're really truly figuring it out on our own. It isn't until our brain and our body really starts to make those connections how we start to do some of those things. And I'm I'm I'm breaking this down, I'm really like dumbing this down for myself, excuse me, because I don't know all the the biology and science behind it, but I know the basics in terms of that's what babies start to do once their brain develops and is able to kind of you know instinctually do some of these things, you know, build a level of you know, a sense of balance on their two feet and all these things. And one thing that I I found very interesting that somebody told me a while back is that us as human beings, our bodies are designed that whenever we want to reach down and grab something from the ground, we're supposed to bend our knees and keep our body straight and grab something off the ground. That's what our body is designed to do. But what do a lot of us do as adults? We bend over to pick something up instead of bending our knees. And that when we see a baby, if you've ever watched a baby try to pick something up, like probably from the ages of like anywhere between one and three, if they're just recently learning to walk, watch them pick something up for the first time. They don't bend over to grab it, they bend their knees with their back straight and pick it up. And I I use that as an example to say, like, along the way, you know, there are certain things we do instinctually because it's all we know. And then we try other things. Now, for the sake of this example, maybe it's not the best example in terms of maybe our bodies aren't supposed to be bending over the way we do, but the point is, is as we grow older, we learn different ways to do things with our body that allows us to make things more efficient, that we can do things faster. Uh maybe it's more adapted to the height that we grew into, um, you know, whatever size we are. But we learn to do things over time. But there's a time in our life where it's there are certain things that it's just all we know. And sometimes we only get further in life, we only evolve more in life the more we try different things. And a lot of times what's difficult for us to accept is that whether we like it or not, probably 90% of the new things that you've tried in your life came from something you saw of someone else, something that you heard from somebody else that somebody maybe even gave you recommendation or a suggestion to try. Um, but you you're able to pull it from something that was outside of just what you knew. And that's so important to always remember because you have to be open-minded to that sometimes. Because that's what's going to allow you to evolve, especially to evolve and adapt from such tragic or very difficult things in your life. And, you know, I think one thing that that I loved about, you know, tying it back to this movie that I got to see, is that you find all the little you know, how different we all are, but in some way we can still achieve the same thing. Is like you have all these players um who and people in the town who are mourning this tragedy. It's a very tragic thing. It you know, when do you hear a story like that, let alone that it takes so many lives all at once, and so many people are mourning in the same space all at once. You know, that can be a very, very um, I mean, depressing, you you name it, like, you know, very difficult time. And um yet you start to see in this movie, and I know it's just a movie, but obviously you hear a lot of these stories. You can, you know, I've I've read a lot of interviews and and and things that were talked about back in the 70s when this happened, that all the ways that these people told beautiful stories about what uplifted them, what what beautiful stories came out of such a tragic situation, um, you know, how this one man who didn't even live in the town inspired so many people, gave them gave them permission to have that happiness for the first time again, to root for a football team, you know, to go to a game, to hang out with their family and friends again, um, to go to places they were afraid to go to, to meet somebody new in their life, like, you know, all these things that probably caused fear initially, and this one person inspired an entire town, or at least created this this this ripple effect that really changed the lives of a lot of people, and maybe even prevented a lot of people from going down a very dark path because a lot of times it is inevitable and it's very difficult to avoid. And so, you know, I I I round all this out to say that I I don't take for granted what we have the opportunity to do in this life when it comes to getting past and overcoming, you know, the difficult times. Especially, you know, that the foundation of that can be enjoying the little things. I think when we teach ourselves to enjoy the small things, to really leverage the small wins that we have in our life, that makes a huge difference when it comes time for us to overcome something extreme or very, you know, big uh and difficult in our life. I think it's like a it's they're building blocks, you know. I I think a really funny thing in the movie, um that I I have to mention this example because it's one that really isn't green in in my head in the movie, is um the the coach, he's kind of like a again, like a very like country boy, like very um you know, he finds the joke, he always tells out these like little silly jokes or examples. And um again, one of the challenges in the movie is you know, they don't have a team anymore, and they still want to play for the next season, but like they can't, they're not allowed to play any freshmen uh on the football team, and they only have four varsity players and then like a couple of returning sophomores, but they don't have a football team, and they try to go recruiting regular players that are of that age, but nobody is committing to um you know to their school to play as a as a as like a older varsity uh player, and so the coach, like being very you know, a very simplified approach, he goes up to the president of the school and he goes, Hey Don, uh I need you to do something for me. He goes, because I love the players that I he he meets the four players that are still around and the coach loves them and he's like, I love them. I just need 55 more of them. And he's like, so I need your and he's like, Oh, the president's like, I'm so sorry, I I can't help you with that. He's like, actually, I think you can. He goes, Don, what I want you to do for me, I want you to, I want you to petition the dup the NCAA. And I want you to ask them to make an exception for us, to let us play uh with freshmen. And the president's like, hey man, like you know the NCAA better than I do. Like they they're they're they're a straight line. They they they don't they don't break or make exceptions for anybody. And then he kind of looks at the president as he says that, and the coach just goes, he goes, Don, let me let me uh let me tell you a story. Something just happened to me. He goes, so yesterday, my boy shoot his pants, and um I was like, you know, it was a whole mess and I couldn't believe it. So obviously I called my wife and I and I, you know, because I had to I had to clean him, I had to clean him up and get you know get him all taken care of. And my wife looks at me or she talks to me on the phone and she goes, uh, she goes, Oh, oh my god, I can't believe that. She goes, I know he goes, I know, I can't believe it either. The boy's shit in his pants, he's four years old, he shouldn't be doing that anymore. And she goes, No, no, no, Jack, I I can't believe you changed a diaper. You finally did. And that the president of the school's like, uh, okay, yeah, what do you I don't understand what that means. What does that have to do with in in in and the coach Jack just looks at him and goes, he goes, There's a first time for everything. And he just like really intensely looks at him as he tells him that and he just goes, So just do me that favor. And I think little little things like that obviously is like you know, again, it's a kind of a symbol of a lot of times we try to have this, like, even a cheesy, optimistic uh, you know, outlook on things or an approach, even when times are tough, where like people might be like, Are you kidding me? In a time like this, you're gonna make jokes, you're gonna think, you're gonna make things sound so simple. Like things are not that simple, they're complicated. And then as the movie progresses, it keeps readdressing this that this is one of the important things they need in order to play a season of football is to get a team and to allow the freshmen to play. But the NCAA is the organization that needs to let them do that. And there's another point in the movie where you see the president sending numerous letters to the NCAA trying to get it approved, and they keep rejecting, you know, via you know, uh a physical mail. They keep sending him a letter saying that it's rejected. And so then he checks back in with the coach, says, I haven't heard anything positive back. And the coach goes, Hey Don, again, addressing the the president of the school. He goes, Are you married? And he goes, Oh yeah, yeah, 25 years in May. And he goes, Well, I'm willing to bet that you didn't propose over the phone. And he goes, Well, no. He goes, and I'm and I can guarantee you that she did not say yes to you in a letter. And he's like, Nah, come on, man. He's like, No, no, no, no. Listen, there's a first time for everything. And he kind of just looks at him like, you know what you need to do. He goes, You can do it, man. Come on. And so finally you see that the president of the school, like pouring rain, by the way, goes to a different state all the way to Kansas City from West Virginia, and goes to talk this, talk to somebody from the NCAA as they're walking out of the office. And, you know, and he basically, they're looking at him like, what are you doing in Kansas City? And he's like, Well, you know, I'm here because we want to play football, but we can't do it without your help. And the next scene he walks in and his suit's still wet, and he he he hands the the coaches you know the letter, and he looks at him and he goes, Well, I think someone's gonna change our diaper, and the letter says approved. And what I love about this as like a nice way to tie a nice bow on the on that moment or that little side story is you see the way the coach he jumps up and yells and celebrates like if they just won the championship game. And he's really just celebrating something that if you think about it, they got approved to play these freshmen players. They haven't even seen what the team looks like yet, they haven't recruited a lot of these freshmen yet. They don't know where they're gonna get them from, let alone how the season is gonna go and how everyone is gonna react. But you see that the coach doesn't consider necessarily any of that in that moment because he doesn't let it take away from the fact that he wants to enjoy that moment. So he jumps and screams and and he picks the guy up off the ground and holds him up and he's reading the letter, he goes, That's what I'm talking about. We're gonna go get us a team. And I love because it's one of the biggest moments of him celebrating that, and it's literally just I mean, it's a big deal, obviously, for the NCAA, you know, to approve something like that, right? In the world of sports. But it's the fact that he makes the most of that moment and he makes the most of it with anybody in the room with him because he wants to share that, he wants people to experience that. And I think, you know, if we can all learn from people that sometimes we just can't stand when they're being optimistic or they're trying to look on the brighter side of things or they're trying to tell us to do that. I think it's sometimes it's important to remember that sometimes, first of all, you don't know maybe what that did for that person. That optimist, and I and I, and I always tell people this is like don't underestimate the difficult times that people in the room that might seem like they have the brightest light or they're the happiest people in the room. Sometimes they're the people that have really gone through the most. And it took a lot for them to carry that optimism or to learn to wield that optimism with such grace. Um, but also when you hear that from people, maybe it's just because they're trying to, they're trying to elevate you. They want you to be on that page, they don't want you to be stuck in your in your dark times. They want to give you the tools and show you what could what even it could look like one day for you if you practice it and give it a shot. And, you know, if it if nothing else, you know, I I I I took such pride in wanting to, you know, use this, use this as a topic because you just never know what even sharing stories like this or um embracing uh this kind of mentality of like enjoying the little things, that it it it makes a difference. It can really change your life, especially when when those tough times happen. Because again, they can happen so unexpectedly, you never know when they can happen. And obviously, you're never really prepared for a lot of those things. But I think if you the best chance you might have at being prepared for something, or at least being able to manage it well enough to know that you can have faith in yourself to get on the on the better side of it, no matter how difficult, is just learning to appreciate the little things. And even if it's just something as simple as um one of my favorite motivational speakers, Inky Johnson, um, said this once that um one of the biggest blessings I have every single day is being able to walk out that door, go wherever it is that I need to go and make it back home safely. You know, even stuff like that we take so much for granted. Um, and so it it's important that we enjoy those things and we're grateful for those things because then when when when tragedy strikes or difficult times come around, we know that it's not always that. And we can feel sad, we can feel you know depressed or or or or or angry or whatever it is. Um, but it doesn't mean it defines the rest of our life or it defines who we are even in that moment. It just defines an experience that we're having, that we're human, and and and and you know, thankfully we are human enough and we're um alive enough to feel these things. And also a lot of times we feel this sadness or anger because we cared about something or someone. And um, it's just it's almost like you're keeping tabs on yourself. And life sometimes allows you to keep tabs on yourself. How much are you feeling? You know, what are you feeling? Where are you at? And maybe, you know, what this next move might be for you, whatever has happened to you, what is it directing you towards? What is it preparing you for? Um, or what is it allowing you to see differently that maybe you didn't before? So I hope if there's any takeaway from this episode, it's just if you can have something you enjoy today, if it's a small win. If you're at the beginning of your day, if this is the start of your day, find one thing, one very small thing to to enjoy as you know, as a small very, very small but simple thing. Um or if you're at the end of your day, think about something that happened to you. Yes, however small it might be. Um you know, uh you hit all the green lights on the way home. Um maybe you tend to always forget something. Uh maybe today you didn't forget it, you remembered it the first time. Um or even just something as simple as I I have a home to come back to. You know, all the things that you can be grateful for. Um but if you can right now and you're listening, find something that you can enjoy. Find a small win, something that you enjoy today that um that maybe you can recall a little bit more and take inventory on. And I think you won't regret it. I don't think there's any time you're gonna regret taking the time to recall some of the things that that are going well in your life or that you're you're you're appreciating, that you're always gonna appreciate. So I think that's everything for today. Um, I really enjoyed re-watching that movie. I highly recommend if anybody if you haven't heard of it or you haven't seen it, we are marshall. Um it right now it's it's available. I don't know if it still is uh or it will be how much longer uh on Amazon Prime. I had the DVD myself. Um it fluctuates in on and off of Netflix too. It's available for rental too on any of these you know platforms if if it's not available um to just stream, but highly recommend it. Uh it's a really inspiring. If you like an inspiring movie, it's a sports movie too. Um again, a great cast too. If you watch it, you'll see a lot of these actors when they were much younger. Um the way it's shot too, quick little film nerdy moment. The way it's shot visually, I love a lot of the shots they put in this, like different perspectives they put on, you know, where the focus goes, how they put a lot of nice scenery in the background, the lighting, amazing. If you like a visual movie too, that's very simple. This is a really well-shot movie. Um and it's just, I mean, who doesn't love Matthew McConaughey? I love just hearing him talk, let alone that he's in a motivational, inspiring movie. Um, it even clicked for me. I was just telling my girlfriend this that it even clicked for me. Like, I love the show Ted Lasso so much and his character, and I'm like, oh my gosh, this is this character is so much like Ted. And this movie came out 20 years ago. No wonder I liked it so much. Um, but in any case, if if if you can take anything away, just enjoy something today and find something to enjoy every single day. Find something to appreciate every single day while you have it. And um, so thank you all for taking the time to listen. I will always appreciate it. I appreciate every single one of you. Uh, I look forward to talking to you next week. Also, that first video episode, it's on its way. And yes, I will reiterate my first guest, Daniel Embry, my brother in law, is going to be on the show soon. Uh, we also are going to have that already with a video podcast going along with it. I'm very excited to have that conversation. Looking forward to being able to show our faces. Um, but nonetheless, I love every single one of you. Go make the most of today, and I'll talk to you on the next episode.