Next Level University

Why Real Personal Growth Always Affects Your Relationships (2056)

• Kevin Palmieri and Alan Lazaros

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In today’s episode of Next Level University, hosts Kevin Palmieri and Alan Lazaros unpack how personal growth often shifts and sometimes breaks the relationships we thought would last forever. They talk openly about outgrowing childhood friends, the pain of losing connections, and learning the hard way that not everyone wants to change with you.

Kevin shares his emotional story of walking away from a friendship hurt by addiction, while Alan explains how his strong focus on goals and dreams left him feeling misunderstood. Both offer practical advice on choosing who to keep close, how to manage expectations, and why your values play a key role in who sticks around. This episode is a must-listen for anyone going through growth and feeling the weight of changing social circles.

Link Mentioned:
Next Level Monthly Meet-ups - https://www.nextleveluniverse.com/monthly-meetups/ 

Learn more about:
Free 30-minute Business Breakthrough Session with Alan -
https://calendly.com/alanlazaros/30-minute-free-breakthrough-session?month=2025-04
Free 30-Minute Podcast Breakthrough Session with Kevin -
https://calendly.com/kevinpalmieri/free-30-minute-podcast-breakthrough-session-with-kevin

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NLU is not just a podcast; it’s a gateway to a wealth of resources designed to help you achieve your goals and dreams. From our Next Level Dreamliner to our Group Coaching, we offer a variety of tools and communities to support your personal development journey.

For more information, please check out our website at the link below. 👇


Website 💻  http://www.nextleveluniverse.com

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We love connecting with you guys! Reach out on Instagram, Facebook, or via email. We’re here to support you in your personal and professional development journey.

Instagram 📷
Kevin: https://www.instagram.com/neverquitkid/
Alan: https://www.instagram.com/alazaros88/

Facebook ✍
Alan: https://www.facebook.com/alan.lazaros
Kevin: https://www.facebook.com/kevin.palmieri.90/

Email 💬
Kevin@nextleveluniverse.com
Alan@nextleveluniverse.com

LinkedIn ✍
Kevin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevin-palmieri-5b7736160/
Alan: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alanlazarosllc/

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Show notes:
(5:12) How changing priorities naturally affects friendships
(6:26) Kevin’s story about losing a longtime friend
(9:12) Alan on the emotional cost of personal growth
(14:20) Living with intense purpose vs. casual living
(16:58) Meet like-minded people and jumpstart your journey to achieving your dreams while optimizing your life. Join Next Level Group Coaching. https://www.nextleveluniverse.com/group-coaching/
(18:06) Kevin on prioritizing key relationships
(22:50) Alan’s realization about spreading himself too thin
(26:42) How time and responsibility shrink social life over time
(29:33) Nostalgia for simpler times and youthful freedom
(31:42) Outro

Send a text to Kevin and Alan!

Kevin Palmieri:

I think that we all understand at a fairly deep level that when you grow and when you change and when you evolve and when you go in a different direction, it is 1000% going to affect the people around you. I think the thing that surprises us the most is how those people react.

Alan Lazaros:

We've done a lot of episodes in the past about growing pains. Lot of episodes in the past about growing pains. One of the biggest growing pains on this journey for me has been how my personal growth and personal development has impacted my relationships. When you grow, you must change. When you change, the people in your life sometimes react positively and other times they react negatively.

Kevin Palmieri:

Next Level Nation today for episode number 2,056, why real personal growth always affects your relationships. I don't know why I didn't. It is a real shame. But why are we surprised? I know Now it makes total. It's like Perfect sense. It makes perfect sense. But in the beginning was I naive? Was I just ignorant, did I not? Maybe I just assumed everybody wanted to grow in the same way, in the same direction, at the same rate of speed that I did? Why?

Alan Lazaros:

is it so surprising when it happens? What was the misbelief in hindsight? Mine was if I get better, better my relationships should also get better.

Kevin Palmieri:

That is so wildly not the case I don't think I had any specific beliefs, it was just I didn't. I did not have a assumption. I didn't have an assumption that if I improved my relationships, well, I don't think it was that, it was more. Oh, my goodness, I've changed a lot and now things are not aligned like they once were.

Alan Lazaros:

That you have any friends growing up that you thought you'd be Biffles, best friends for life. Of course biffle was a big word back acronym, big acronym back in kevin and i's day of course we did the preschool, kindergarten, middle school, high school together and then I went on to college in corporate, and you did not do the college thing stay.

Alan Lazaros:

I had many biffles which, by definition, you can only have one best friend for life. We were on a podcast recently together, three-person conversation, me and Kevin. He said my other best friend and in my head I went you got to pick one brother.

Kevin Palmieri:

I know, I know I'm going to pick a random third.

Alan Lazaros:

I don't know if I want you to pick, because I think it would be mad.

Kevin Palmieri:

It's hard because I spend so much freaking time with you. If I had to pick one, I don't know Best business partner.

Alan Lazaros:

I'll take that.

Kevin Palmieri:

Yeah, yeah, best business partner for life.

Alan Lazaros:

Biffle, Biffle. So you had a biffle.

Kevin Palmieri:

Yeah, many.

Alan Lazaros:

Let's keep it anonymous. But I had one and I'm thinking of this person anonymously and I was so sure we were going to start a company together, we were going to go to college together, we were going to build a—we were going to be friends. I remember his father and his uncle would hang out all the time. They were brothers, obviously, so it's a little different but he and I would talk about how they still get together all these years later. They would go and they would ride their motorcycles together and I was like, yeah, that looks really cool. They're in their mid-40s, early 50s, they're getting together. That must be such a trip. To have grown up together and to still be close all those years later. It just seems very endearing. And then you grow up and realize that that is wildly not the case, depending on the journey you choose, particularly personal development.

Kevin Palmieri:

Well, it makes sense because, okay, what's happening when you're growing? You're changing your priorities, you're changing your focuses, you're changing your responsibility, you're changing your intentions, you're changing your habits, You're changing so many things about yourself which, by definition, is going to affect your relationship. So if one of those two people had a conversation with their partner and they had a they went through a growth phase where they said you know what this, this riding this motorcycle thing? Yeah, I feel like it's kind of dangerous and I'm not really spending time with my family like I used to and as I get older, it's not as much of a priority. That relationship has to change now. Yeah, Doesn't mean it has to break, it doesn't mean they can't be friends, it doesn't mean they can't hang out, but, by definition, something is going to change and it kind of has to. I was thinking the other day I had a really good friend in high school, Really, really really good friend in high school.

Alan Lazaros:

Was it me? No, it was not you.

Kevin Palmieri:

No, he ended up getting hurt and he went down a path of just not goodness, just addiction and all sorts of stuff, and I remember how challenging it was for me to realize I was never going to be friends with him again. Yep, it was fucking devastating. It's the worst. It was the worst. I remember it was like the hardest thing, felt like it was the hardest thing ever at that point. Now that wasn't from a place of me quote unquote still emotional about it at all.

Kevin Palmieri:

I still get sad about it, yeah for sure for sure, not emotion in your eyes right now not not like um, it doesn't keep me up at night, or anything like that, but I remember we I would have a song that would play and it was like oh, every time I heard that song it was like oh my god, oh my god, we're like brothers. We're like brothers. You lived with this person. Right, I lived at this person's house. I didn't I it wasn't for them, like it's not, we didn't live together, but I live there while he lived there, like I lived with matt. I moved in to live with matt. Yeah, this person lived there while I lived there, so it wasn't I don't think he was very I don't think he was very happy that I was living there.

Kevin Palmieri:

One night he came in so I was staying in the guest bedroom and he came in hammered and he got in my face. He's like dude, why'd you fucking leave man, why'd you leave me behind? And I was like dude, I gave you every fucking chance in the world, every chance in the world. Like, how fucking dare you say that to me? And I was like you better, you better better back up, son. You come in here with your drunk ass trying to throw blame at me. I ain't the one and you know I'm not the one. So you better back the fuck up is that actually what you said?

Kevin Palmieri:

no, I didn't say almost any of that. I probably cowered in the corner. No, I did say, like dude, I gave you every, every option, every opportunity in the world. I stayed behind for you, I went out of my way for you. I was the only one there, only one there, yeah, but you couldn't see it. You can't blame me now. That's not fair. It's not fair to blame me. Nice, it was brutal.

Kevin Palmieri:

I don't know why I'm mentioning any of this, because it doesn't have anything to do really with the episode other than the relationships part. But yeah, I think growth, I don't know, I think I was ignorant to the fact that if you change, everything changes. And the hard part is, yes, some people will be like hell, yeah, good for you, usually when it benefits them directly. But many people, unfortunately, will be like oh yeah, you can't hang out anymore. Oh yeah, oh, you're that type of person now You'd rather go to the gym, okay, yeah, okay. Oh, you have a podcast interview. Oh yeah, okay, can't come to the fucking barbecue anymore, oh, okay. And then eventually they stop calling you and they stop texting you. Now, for me it's like hell, yeah, now I don't have to say no anymore, so I don't really mind it that much. I don't mind it that much, but I understand that is one of the and we're joking about it, but I understand that's one of the deepest pains for people oh yeah, it's the worst, so I don't want to lessen that.

Alan Lazaros:

Just because I'm smiling and laughing for some reason when kev tells these, it's because he's built something of himself, and I was thinking about this earlier too. We're both very overall, we're very statistically fulfilled with where we've ended up, so it's easier to laugh about it now. Yeah, yeah, whereas that could have gone a whole nother way, and at the time it was not funny at all. And the only reason why I can be playful now is because, obviously, you know, we've built a life that we can be proud of. So things all worked out, but at the time it was to me, on the, on the development journey, the personal growth journey, the hero's journey, whatever you want to call it relationships were the hardest by far.

Kevin Palmieri:

Do you think it's because you were growing so much? Or do you think it's because you didn't understand, like, what was? Yeah, what was? If you could coach old Alan, what would you say? Coach Old.

Alan Lazaros:

Allen. What would you say? I would say you are thinking at all times about your future and you're extremely goal-oriented. We did a training yesterday, monthly meetup Shout out to anyone who came. It was about what the top 3 percent of goal achievers do differently and it was just reason number one. Reason number two, reason number three, that most people don't achieve their goals because, statistically speaking, most people don't. Most people don't have clear written goals that they achieve most people don't achieve their goals and dreams.

Alan Lazaros:

Great title, nice, I think that was one of the learning objectives. The title was different. I can't remember it off the top of my head. Great, great objective. Oh, thank you. Well, so an FYI, by the way.

Kevin Palmieri:

Announcement I've been fired. I'm not going to be on him anymore.

Alan Lazaros:

Kev has not been fired. I made the announcement yesterday on the meetup.

Kevin Palmieri:

Was there celebration and confetti.

Alan Lazaros:

There was mostly tears, no, tears of joy. Ultimately it was a whole opener of Kev was supposed to be here. Kevin and I have had some conversations. We're eight years into business. We're both spread very thin. We don't have a lot of time. We got to start reallocating our time. Kev has a bunch of stuff he has to do. We have some of the team that's traveling it was a whole thing but ultimately I'm going to be running the department for monthly meetups and Amy was there, christina was there, we still have the virtual event coordinator, we still have the chat master and I'm going to be the presenter. And it really has become and I'm okay. I said this to them too. I said I'm okay with it if this turns into similar to book club, where this is kind of live coaching. So I'll come with a presentation and it'll be a topic that's specific and I'm here. I said I'm not here for fun, I'm not here for that. Like, we're here to learn, ultimately, and Kev can't be here. But don't be afraid to engage and also don't feel obligated. So, anyways, that's just an announcement.

Alan Lazaros:

But what would I say to my younger self about this? The growing thing and the outgrowing people or the relationship shifts. Alan, you're very future oriented. You're very goal oriented. You don't really know that other people aren't, because the people around you are acting like they are, and or you're just delusional and thinking like maybe you're not thinking about it. But when I look back, everyone around me always talked about dreams and goals, always. I'm not kidding. I mean from the moment I met you to now, we've been talking about goals and dreams. We've been talking about goals and dreams, and by met I don't mean we met in middle school, but we reconnected in our mid-twenties. So it's kind of a whole thing. It's not easy to tell that story, but when you and I reconnected in our twenties, we've spoken about goals and dreams and hyper-consciousness and personal development and success and achievement and relationships and health, wealth, life and love, pretty much every time we've ever hung out. For the most part, that's my life, I I don't feel like I ever talk about anything else, to be quite frank, and occasionally we do.

Alan Lazaros:

I remember at Thanksgiving we had some conversations that I thought were I don't know kind of I don't want to say irrelevant, but definitely not a super useful of our consciousness, useful use of our time and effort. So growing up I didn't understand. I lived in an echo chamber where everyone had goals and dreams, even this friend that I'm referring to, similar to your best friend. At the time, we talked about starting a company together. We argued Apple or Microsoft and Bill Gates and Steve Jobs, and we were talking about we built our first Steve Jobs. And we were talking about we built our first computer together. And we had dreams. We were going to build a video game company together.

Alan Lazaros:

And I had another friend of mine, we were going to be pro gamers and I just realized that this whole goal and dream thing might've been more a by-product of my goals than it was of theirs. And now that I look back, what I would tell Alan is you're a dreamer through and through, you're an achiever through and through, you're a goal-oriented person through and through, and other people around you are going to appear to be more goal-oriented than they actually are. And what you don't realize is that goals in conflict and core values in conflict are going to arise later in life. When other people stop at base camp one or base camp two or base camp three and I've even said this to you I said, kev, I have to do this. I feel called to do this. I'm going to consider myself a failure if I don't do this. I'm going to regret it if I don't keep climbing.

Kevin Palmieri:

Not everyone has that apparently.

Alan Lazaros:

And when I say apparently, I don't mean that as some pretentious thing. I mean that, as I don't know what that's like. What I do know is I am supposed to continue to grow forever, I'm supposed to climb the highest mountain possible, and I've always felt that way. I've never, ever just played basketball to play basketball. I've never snowboarded just to snowboard. I've never had a conversation just to have a conversation. Everything has always been building and I last piece here is I always say this, I say this to my clients I build the self, I build the family, I build the business, I build the self, I build the family, I build the business, I build the self, I build the family, I build the business. I don't do anything outside of those three things. Every day, every second, every minute, every hour, every day, every week, every month, every quarter, every year is building the self. Personal development, the family, emilia, myself, our immediate family, and then the business businesses.

Alan Lazaros:

And we were talking about a charity. She's going to start an environmental charity. It's going to be a part of Evolve Ventures, it's going to be called Evolve Environments and we're already talking about what we're going to do with that. And every day, just on our walk. We were talking about that. We're going to Yellowstone National Park on a road trip and she's talking about logging endangered biodiversity as the first step in building that charity. And it's okay. Awesome, purposeful travel. I'm never going to travel, just to travel. I'm going to make every second count, and when I lived in a way where I didn't make every second count, I was miserable. So I don't want to go back and unfortunately, a lot of people find it difficult to be around someone like that.

Kevin Palmieri:

What advice? Because we joke about it all the time. It's like all right, welcome to next level university where you will level up your life, your love, your health and your wealth and lose most of your friends.

Alan Lazaros:

Mm, hmm, mm-hmm.

Kevin Palmieri:

What constructive advice. As two humans who have done a lot of growth and lost a lot of people, what constructive advice would you give on setting the right expectations for growth?

Alan Lazaros:

I made the mistake of using my brain instead of my gut. You and I talked about this earlier. I have a client right now who's doing a civic certification. It's a financial certification and we're sort of study buddies for lack of better phrasing and I'm helping him and we went through all the questions. He's like I feel like I need to figure out. When I go with my gut, sometimes I change my answer and I get it wrong. And I went through 20 questions and I said brain or gut, brain or gut, brain or gut and check, check, check. Okay, what did you get right, what did you get wrong? Did the brain win or the gut win? This is a financial certification. The brain won. It wasn't close. Don't go with your gut. Go with deductive reasoning, go with analytical thinking, go with your prefrontal cortex, but when it comes to people, do not do that. Go with your gut. So that's the most practical advice I have is I use my brain for everything. That was a huge mistake I should have. I should have trusted my gut with people.

Kevin Palmieri:

This is good, this is mine Very different. Decide who you really, really, really really want to keep in your life. Like, decide, okay, what are your priorities for success and fulfillment and habits and all that. Like, let's lock down your external, skill-based priorities. Who are your priority people? You're probably not gonna be able to have 20 of them, though You're probably not gonna be able to have 20 of them, and you're probably going to let some people down. You're not going to be able to have 20 of them, though You're probably not going to be able to have 20 of them, and you're probably going to let some people down. You're definitely going to let some people down. You're definitely you're probably going to let some people down that you don't want to. Like, even the priority people are going to get let down. Depending on what do you value more? Right, like that's. That's a really big piece, but there's the reason I have very few relationships like very few deep ones is because I know I'm incapable of sustaining more. I just can't, I don't have the time and it's just not that big of a priority.

Kevin Palmieri:

I was talking about this on a podcast recently and we'll pop after this. I was talking about how I told my story about how my dad reached out when I was 26 or 27. I went and saw my dad. I saw him a couple times. The first time I went to his house, he gave me a large bushel of marijuana to take home with me. Shout out pops, appreciate that. It's a great gift. You know a great gift after not seeing your son for 27 years. Here's a bag of weed. You know what? I accept that. I accept that.

Kevin Palmieri:

And I was talking about how I got to the point where, eventually, I was like, honestly, I'm going to let this die, I'm just going to let this relationship die. And they were like, oh, that was. That was super mature of you. And I said, nah, it's not as mature as you think. It was more the fact that I knew it was awareness. I'm not willing to do what it takes to make this relationship successful. There's no point in drawing this out. There's no point, there's no way, it's not a priority. Okay, so am I going to pick going to see my estranged father over spending time with my wife?

Alan Lazaros:

no, that's so valuable to hear because I well again. You had more pragmatism when it came to relationships because you struggled with self-belief. What does that?

Kevin Palmieri:

even mean what is pragmatism, pragmatic practicality okay pragmatism, pragmatic same thing, different tense maybe pragmatism?

Alan Lazaros:

I do not know, that's the answer. You were more practical than I was when it came to relationships because I think you had lower belief. So I I was so optimistic yeah, I had so much belief that I thought I could. I, honestly, was naive enough to think that I could pour into 50 relationships and still be successful. You had to play closer to the hip for lack of better phrasing of I got to conserve my resources because I don't. I don't think I can win even with all of what I got. I can't give it away for free. And so for those of you out there and we did this on, maybe we were on a podcast, I forget where it was, but when someone asked me about saying yes or say, oh, group coaching, it was in group coaching. There was what would you say, should I say no more or say yes more? And I said it depends.

Alan Lazaros:

The low end of the drive to five means you're on Kevin's end, where you struggle with self-belief and you basically don't believe you can make it, even if you do everything you can, and you have to really learn how to encourage yourself and be supported and surround yourself with people who believe in you and all that kind of thing. If you're on my end of the drive to five, you are arrogant and don't know it, meaning you think you can bring everyone with you. You have so much belief that you think, oh yeah, I can have all these friends and succeed. And there's some integration there too, because a lot of companies and businesses like back when I was in sales relationships also helped you be more successful, and that's the whole network, is your net worth and all that stuff. So it does depend. But ultimately, if you're out there and you struggle with self-belief, you probably need to say yes, more, and actually have more relationships that you water and nourish ASAP.

Alan Lazaros:

You are not discerning. You're giving away all that, you have, all the time, because you feel like you're giving away from an abundant supply that's never ending. And then, when I got in my car accident at 26, I realized, uh-oh, this is not never ending. I only have a certain number of days on this earth and I need to invest my time more wisely. I am so disappointed in how Alan invested his time so disappointed. Now, that's not to beat myself up, it's to just admit that I spread myself too thin with too many people. So quality over quantity is what I would give me for advice.

Alan Lazaros:

If I could go back in time, though, and talk to younger Kev, I would say Kev, you got to go meet some new people and you got to put yourself out there, and you got to get around some really successful people so that you can learn what it's like to be around people that really are achievers and you know. Learn how the world works a little more and put yourself out there and whatever it is, and I think that you had to learn how to say yes, and I had to learn how to say yes, and I had to learn how to say no for sure. You had to learn how to believe in yourself, and I had to learn how to, how to build more maturity and humility. It's, it's been a really interesting drive to five for both of us, and now that we're both more centered and mature, it's become very clear I was a hermit, for sure I was a hermit, for sure.

Kevin Palmieri:

I was not dude, I was a social butterfly still am. I. Like it, love it. I'm a hermit now, for sure. People are always like, how do you work from home? It's like what you don't want to you like. You like going to the office. Yeah, no, I really like connecting with people like, oh, good for you, cool, love that I connect with people too it's just different. Yeah, on a camera. But yeah, this is my fucking dream same next level lesson.

Kevin Palmieri:

I already gave mine. I, low-key got you to say your next level lesson without asking what your next level lesson was. Well, I feel like we could tie it in a bow. Oh, I don't think I could make it better than what I said, what I don't remember, what I. That's how good it was. I said it and I completely it's gone into the ethos I genuinely have. No, oh yeah, prioritize. Yeah, you have to prioritize. I'm not saying put an intrinsic value on people, but like who would you be most sad seeing less Start there, start there and prepare boundaries, because there will be people that just don't understand. But nowadays I'm just not super accessible anymore Because there's other stuff happening and at the end I've had times before where I was like, oh yeah, I could call somebody up and have that person over to watch the fights. I want to be alone.

Alan Lazaros:

It's not just that, but you can't sustain it. Well, that's a big piece of it, cause it's hey, do you want to get lunch? And then it's hey, you want to get dinner? And then it's hey, can you come to my?

Kevin Palmieri:

birthday. There's a way to do it. There's a way to do it. There's a way to to have a conversation and say look, alan, watch the fights. I just need to be very honest with you. I don't have a ton of time and I cannot guarantee the next time you and I are going to see each other. It might be six months, it might be six weeks, I don't. I don't know, but I'd love for you to come up. You can do it. It's just the person's. Probably they might say no Last thing.

Alan Lazaros:

I know we got to go. I think that this will be of value when we're younger. I don't think we fully understand. I certainly didn't. We don't understand how much commitment and time it actually takes to have a successful career. If you were to count the number of, I mean because, okay, last piece were to count the number of, I mean because, okay, last piece, preschool. And again, this is just the US, but also globally I know there's similar structures Preschool, kindergarten, middle school, high school, college, corporate. And then let's say you do eventually become an entrepreneur, let's say you do take that journey.

Alan Lazaros:

The amount of time you have available for friends dwindles the entire way. I had more time in high school than I did in college and I had more time in college than I did in corporate. I had more time in corporate than I did in entrepreneurship. So the amount of time available as you get older is significantly less. Assuming you actually actually, because you buy a car and you buy a home and you have children and you build a family and now you have a serious relationship instead of a dumb, silly high school one. I'm not trying to be mean, it's just the way it works. In college it's like, oh, I'll hang out with this girl and that's it, we'll just hang out and it's not a big deal. But when you, when it's your future wife or husband, you have to invest more. You have more responsibility, you have more, you have to take better care of it, and it does. It takes I mean, it's a full time job to be in shape as you get older. All of a sudden, fitness takes more time as you get older. All of a sudden, paying the bills takes a lot more time when you get older. All of a sudden, your intimate relationship takes a lot more time. Everything when you get older takes way more investment. And I think that's something we just were not well equipped to understand. Because when you get older, the responsibilities pile up so fucking much. And if you're not aware of that like it's great to have your own home, it's great to have a magnificent car, it's great to achieve your dreams but not aware of that, like it's great to have your own home, it's great to have a magnificent car, it's great to achieve your dreams, but underneath all of that is an investment that no one tells you about when you're a kid, and when you're a kid you kind of don't have to do that much other than show up to school and like pay for whatever and like pay for whatever. As a kid, I had a lot more time to do what I wanted instead of what must be done as a mature adult, and I think that's why we romanticize being a kid again, because when you're a kid, you can just say I want to go.

Alan Lazaros:

We were talking about how I used to ride my bike to the movies with the friend I was talking about at the beginning of this episode, and Emilia went near there because she was driving somewhere and that's where I used to ride my bike and she's like I can't believe. How old were you? I was like what year was it? Well, we went and saw Finding Nemo. It came out in 2003. So I was 13 years old, years old. She's like you biked 50 miles when you were 13 years old. She's like that was like a 25 minute drive. So, yeah, back then we did that. She's like that was kind of reckless. Yeah, 100. What's my point? You had, we just took a whole day. We just that's all we did that day just go to the movies.

Kevin Palmieri:

Yeah, it was a whole day.

Alan Lazaros:

Of course, I would never do that now. You can't just take a day Again depending on the size of your goals. Yeah Right, you and I certainly can't.

Kevin Palmieri:

I would love to, though I'm going to be honest I would. I long for that. I miss that, of course. I miss that. Can have you go into that. What's that like? Because you have all these dreams you've achieved, but now it's, it's just. It's just nostalgic to think back. It's just nostalgic like it feels good to think back of. I remember it was like you'd wake up. It's like what's the weather that looks nice outside? Wiffle ball fuck yeah, and we just play wiffle ball all day and it was the freaking. And then when we got too hot, we would go inside and play xbox and then, when we cooled down, we go play with a ball again. And it was like that was it. That was it. And then maybe we play tag at night. I was like, oh my god, what a day.

Alan Lazaros:

Huh you know I lived very different lives. I'm in there bungeenet. Am I 20th? What am I I need? How do I get to number one? I was playing video games, so I just wasn't.

Kevin Palmieri:

I wasn't very good at it. We were playing like MLB hits, where you'd like it was a baseball game where you could fight. Yeah, the good old days. All right, we're going to get out of here because we have other episodes to do.

Alan Lazaros:

I do want to make it clear, though I had a lot of days where I I remember we'd go to the beach 2009. Remember, we'd go to the beach 2009. We had a summer where we would party all night and every freaking nice day we would all get in the car and go to the beach and we'd drink all day at the beach. I mean, it was unbelievable. We played basketball all day, we'd party all night whose house we go into and the next day we'd wake up and we'd all beach it. And we'd beach it all fucking day and then we'd rinse and repeat that the summer of 2009 had to be one of the most reckless and fun, awesome summers I've ever had. It was your home from college, ain't got shit to do, right, and you're just you're just doing it and we, we all it was a big group of friends that did it all together and, yeah, we, we, we ran amok and we had a lot of fun. But the truth is we come on like you got to build a resume and actually build a career too. You, you can't just do that, because your future isn't bright if you're only doing that. But you can't.

Alan Lazaros:

Emily and I talked last piece, I promise, we talked recently about how we both have partied. We partied so much back in the day I don't feel like I need any of that ever again out of my system. And then some, you know, I mean I partied hard and I don't ever need to do that again. I don't need to do any of that. So I love simple, I'm a, I love that. So, anyways, I know not everyone feels that way, but there's something to learn in all this always, always, I can party every once in a while.

Kevin Palmieri:

Well, every once in a while, though, nothing crazy, I'm not like literally.

Alan Lazaros:

Well, you didn't party as much as I did either, by the way.

Kevin Palmieri:

No, I mean, I didn't go to college, I was blackout drunk in Oxford, Massachusetts but that doesn't really count for much. I'll have a strong whiskey from time to time. Four Locos.

Alan Lazaros:

No, I did Sp locos I was. I was drinking sparks before four locos, or even a freaking thing.

Kevin Palmieri:

Sparks were the original four locos. Come at me, bro. You were only supposed to have two. It said like do not drink any more than two. I was crushing four to six a night. Let's go, baby. What are we doing? They tasted like cough syrup. All right, as always. We love you. We appreciate Each and every one of you so very much, and at NLU, either in advance, we have family.

Alan Lazaros:

We will talk to you all tomorrow. Keep it next level, next Level Nation. Thank you.

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Alan Lazaros

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Kevin Palmieri

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