About It
I’m going to talk about real experiences and lessons learned from life love and the pursuit of happiness. Will we find it? possibly. Are we about it? Most Definitely! Come along for the journey as we venture through the up’s and downs together.
About It
Finding Joy Beyond the Daily Grind: Rediscovering Your Passion and Purpose
Ever find yourself wondering where that creative, adventurous part of yourself disappeared to? That's exactly what we're diving into today—rediscovering your inner child that gets buried under adulthood's endless responsibilities.
Many of us hit our late 30s and suddenly realize we've been so focused on building our lives that we've forgotten to actually live them. The mundane cycle of work, chores, and occasional weekend fun can leave us feeling empty despite all we've accomplished. But there's good news: that creative, passionate side of you is still there, just waiting to be reawakened.
I share my own journey finding fulfillment beyond the 9-to-5 grind—from learning to surf with a Navy rescue swimmer mentor (eventually matching Navy SEAL swimming standards!), to spontaneous cross-country adventures like flying to Pittsburgh with my nephew to catch Tom Brady's final game against the Steelers. These experiences remind us that life expands when we stop just thinking about possibilities and start pursuing them. Whether it's joining a softball league, starting a podcast, making travel plans, or simply trying something new in your community, the key is taking that first step. As the saying goes, "You miss 100% of the chances you don't take."
What's your "beach" in life? What passion or interest have you been putting off? Your joy might be found in something grand like international travel or something simple like joining your local chess club. The point is to find what makes the world melt away for a while. Ready to stop talking about it and start being about it? Share your stories with us—because a life fully lived is the greatest adventure of all.
I know there's your own thing. You've been thinking about doing, thinking about trying, thinking about just getting into, and that's what I hope to inspire. I just want to bring value to the listeners here. Welcome to the show. Talk about it or be about it. It's the About it Podcast. Here we go, go Go. I'm your host, bradley. Marcello, fasten your seatbelts and look for a hairpin for departure. Good morning everyone. Welcome to the show.
Speaker 1:I just wanted to thank each and every one of you for being here and taking time out of your day to connect with me. My hope is that you'll find today's show entertaining, informative and somewhat inspirational. If you enjoyed today's show, please consider giving a like, follow or share. Let's get going. All right, everyone, let's get the show started.
Speaker 1:I thought I'd switch things up today and kick off the show with a little weather report Across the Midwest. Here it's going to be a bright and sunny day a high of 85 degrees and a low of 67 at night, looking like no clouds in the sky. Thank goodness for that. It's going to be swimming weather in the day and camping weather at night. So on today's episode I wanted to get into that creative side of you. You could call it, your inner child even. I think that so many of us get caught up in the pressures and responsibilities of life that many times we lose that side of us or quiet it down a bit. Well, today I just wanted to speak to that person inside of you. I believe that for so many of us, especially the adults you know, you graduate high school, get out into the real world and kind of lose a part of yourself, you know, and they say, middle age these days is, you know, it's not 50 years old, it's actually closer to 38. So you get about halfway through life and you start realizing hmm, maybe I haven't done everything I wanted to do. I spent all this time working for what I have, but what do I have to show for it? At least that's how we're left feeling on the inside, and I'm here to tell you that you don't have to lose that part of yourself is, in fact, one of the reasons why I have started this podcast right here as we speak, because I realized that there was more into me than just a nine to five or taking out trash every Tuesday, rinsing and repeat. You know what I mean and for many of you, you're blessed enough that you have already discovered this, and I congratulate you guys.
Speaker 1:For some of us, though, including myself, I think we might need a little encouragement. Doesn't just have to be ball games on the weekends and getting drunk with your friends. There can be more to it than that, and I think many of us find the joys in life, such as having children, and the pride and fulfillment that comes along with that taking them to their little ball games on the weekends, going to their plays, seeing them graduate elementary school, grow up and I think we can have a part of that for ourselves as well and, of course, the days of mindless, carefree freedom and, you know, the spring break. Life might be over for many of us, but there's more to life than that. For some of us that might be feeling a little stuck in life. There's some avenues I've found that I just wanted to share with you Again. This podcast show that I've taken on here is something that I've made a part of my life. To have a creative outlet, for example. I think many of us have a lot of thoughts and ideas going on in our head, and having a way to get that out a creative outlet is one thing that can be really helpful and beneficial. Something I've enjoyed doing in the past is YouTube videos. Actually, my family and I and friends used to go out on the boats quite a bit in central Florida and I would bring my GoPros along with us, and I'm really glad I did. It turned it into more than just a day out on the lake. It became a documentary of that time in our lives and shooting and recording and the editing that followed. That'll always be a part of us and it was pretty fun too, and again now we'll have memories that we can look back on for the rest of our lives.
Speaker 1:Some might call them hobbies. This might even be jobs for many of you. Other folks like to go out fishing, for example. These hobbies, these outlets, hobbies and connections, I think are part of what makes life fulfilling, and I believe the more we can find of that and get involved with, the more whole we can be as a person. So I guess what I'm saying in short is, if you find yourself in that position where you're wanting a little more out of life, well I'm saying, just go find it. Really, there's so much out there and one of the best ways to get started is find what interests you and go talk to someone about it. Go find someone that is involved with that, connect with them. They could even be your mentor or something like that, you know. And then all of a sudden, you find yourself releasing some of that energy inside and maybe even becoming a part of something bigger than you thought originally, than you thought possible, and I also think that these are some of the moments that can turn into those unexpected parts of life that you didn't see coming and surprise you in the best way possible. I want to encourage you to find your thing, basically, and don't worry about holding back. Go to the beach, go out to the lake, have fun. Don't worry about all the pressures that you deal with in life. Let them go. Find those little moments where the rest of the world melts away. This is where I want to encourage you not to maybe follow the standard procedure of, you know, necessarily self-medicate and do what so many others do in that sense and give up. I'm wanting you not to give up. There's a bright, beautiful world out there and it's ready for the taking um.
Speaker 1:Speaking of beaches, that is one thing I love to do From a young age. For example, I had a mentor when I was about 14 years old, he taught me how to surf. This guy was a Navy rescue swimmer. He trained with the Navy SEALs and all this stuff. And, goodness, good Lord, when I first got out in that water with him, I did not know what I was doing, even though I grew up at the beach. I grew up around water, learned how to swim from a young age. This guy would be miles ahead of me in the water, obviously, but I gained so much value from it. I learned how to get up on the surfboard, control it, chase a wave down, learn about the swells and the tides and the sets coming in and out, and eventually I became kind of all right at it.
Speaker 1:And he got older, of course, and I started getting older, um, and catching up with him. That was, that was the fun part. He he got to be over 40 to 50 years old and now I'm, you know, 25 and 30 years old and got a lot more experience at it than I did before, and to be able to start keeping up with him at some point was pretty big for me. In fact, I even eventually took the Navy SEAL entrance test Not officially, of course, but you can look their stats up online and all that good stuff, and they have like a 500 meter swim, for example Um, I know that he took that when he was in there and all that good stuff, but they have like this minimum median and then like an optimal swim time, which is around nine minutes, I believe, for 500 meters swim. Eventually, I did achieve that, so I actually do thank him His name's, david for that.
Speaker 1:Um, if he wouldn't have got me into surfing, I might've just been up on the beach instead of out in the water and never been able to swim that fast. These days, I think I'm also slowing down too, though, which is okay. You can't expect to keep some things up forever. All right, I know what you're thinking. All right, keep your minds out of the gutter. There's a pill for that. But yeah, so what's your beach in life? You know, like, what's your surfing story? What can you find that'll give you that feeling of inside that you're accomplishing something?
Speaker 1:Basically, I think that's what most of us are looking for is to basically not feel mundane inside and to feel a little more than average inside. And to feel a little more than average Could be joining the company or church softball team, for example. Maybe that's something to look into. I remember I used to work at Disney and, man, good memories, I used to be on the company softball league there. And of course, disney owns ESPN. They have the ESPN fields there in Orlando.
Speaker 1:Man, if that's a chance I never took, then I don't know what I would say here, because even the fact of just getting to tell you that you guys, that that I got to take part in something like that, it feels pretty special. So I mean, I'm reminded of the old cliche you miss 100% of the chances that you didn't take, right. So I don't want you to feel silly for taking that chance, kind of like Nike, right, like just do it, just get into it and, of course, just be about it. Don't just talk about it right, think it, try it, do it, be about it. That's what this whole show is about. Anyway, I'm not just thinking of talking of concepts here. I'm not just speaking on theories. This show is about things that I've personally been through, witnessed, seen, things that I've done right, things that I've been about, not just talked about. So even reach out to the show right, like the email is aboutitcast at gmailcom and again follow the show for more stories. Maybe they'll inspire you to be about your own thing, right, because I know there's your own thing you've been thinking about doing, thinking about trying just getting into, and that's what I hope to inspire. I just want to bring value to the listeners here. One of the biggest ways I've acted on that commitment in my life is traveling. Actually Now, I know not everybody can get into that, but I do promise you more stories on that in the future on this show.
Speaker 1:I've been fortunate enough in the past to be able to travel a lot. Actually, I've been to 30 states and about four countries I believe at this point maybe five, and I can't wait to tell you some of the places I've been, the things I've gotten to do. Um, one of my couple of my favorite cities I've been to actually are, you know, st Louis. I've been there. I've been up to the arch. I've been to Kansas city and seen the chief stadium. You know, go, louis, I've been there. I've been up to the Arch. I've been to Kansas City and seen the Chiefs Stadium. You know, go, super Bowl winners, right, pittsburgh is an amazing city. I've been to Cleveland, ohio, seattle, washington. I've been to Houston and Austin and Dallas, texas. I've even seen Amarillo right, that's in a song. It's pretty cool. I've flown over the Grand Canyon and the Rocky Mountains, but enough about that for now.
Speaker 1:I don't want to seem like I'm bragging. Of course, like I said, I consider myself fortunate and blessed to have been able to take part in some of those adventures. I wasn't on my way to party or to do anything crazy, I'm just glad I got to enjoy God's creation. You know what I mean and I look forward to plenty more of that in the future. In fact, I'm actually reminded of this.
Speaker 1:One time, at band camp right Now, I was in Florida hanging out with my nephew, drew. One time and this is another story of just being about it we thought it'd be awesome to go see Tom Brady play against the Steelers, and their game happened to be in Pittsburgh. In fact, I think it was Tom Brady's last game against the Steelers. So we came up with a plan and we actually followed through with it. We booked the airplane tickets, I got the rental cars lined up in the hotel, drew said okay and we took off.
Speaker 1:We flew to Pittsburgh and actually I'm wrong, we flew to Cleveland, ohio first, because we wanted to make it even more interesting. My grandfather actually grew up in Cleveland, ohio, so I wanted to show Drew where my grandfather went to high school. We always heard the stories but never got to see the place in person. So we added a little road trip along the way, touched down in Cleveland, got our rental car I think it was a Black Ford Explorer at the time Toured around the city a little bit and got to stop by my grandfather's old high school that we only heard about, took some pictures and enjoyed the sights a little bit before continuing on to Pittsburgh Again.
Speaker 1:If you only think about it, you're going to miss out, right? So we get to Pittsburgh and I got to say it's one of the nicest cities I've ever been in and I'm talking about the people there, like you guys are awesome. I think we spent the whole weekend there and didn't even get beeped at one time in traffic. In fact, I think the only horn we heard the whole time we were there was an Uber driver picking up their passenger from somewhere just to get their attention. But yeah, we got to Pittsburgh, got to our hotel and checked in and then got to tour around that city. I mean it was pretty cool. We got a lot of cool pictures.
Speaker 1:Steelers Stadium itself sits between some mountains and there's actually three rivers there that connect together. I think it was like an old military site even back in the civil war days, because there's like one, two, three rivers that all come together at a certain point and it creates the most beautiful backdrop. By the way, for a steelers game and buccaneers game that we went to. You got the mountains in the background, the water around you and the open air. I swear it smells better there. That mountain air is something else, but I can just remember basically having the best time there, and we would have never been able to do that if we didn't just do it. Just be about it. You know what I mean. I actually used to live in Pennsylvania, so I was so glad that Drew said yes to this, because then I got to show him the beauty of that state too and he got to experience some things that he never would have otherwise.
Speaker 1:And I think you see where you guys see where I'm getting with all this, whether it's taking grand adventures, a cruise, a flight, renting a car, going on a trip going to another country. I will tell you my travel story about Jamaica sometime, trust me, for example. Or just sitting at home recording a podcast, editing a photo that you took on a walk in the local park, making a YouTube video joining the softball league, or even your local chess club no judgment here. Right, like for real. I love chess myself. Even no lie.
Speaker 1:All I'm trying to get at is just don't give up on pursuing life, don't give up on finding your thing. Life doesn't just have to be mundane, it doesn't just have to be routine. You can find those moments of joy in the smallest or the grandest of things. Life doesn't have to be boring, trust me, and it's not.
Speaker 1:One of the most important things I'd like to leave you guys with is, for example, psalm 1611 says the fullness of joy is found in God's presence. He is the originator of joy. Without him, there is no joy, there is no love, there is no peace. Romans 1513 says May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that, by the power of the Holy Spirit, you may abound in hope. Romans 1212 says Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. And John 16, 24 says now you have asked nothing in my name. Ask and you will receive, that your joy may be full.
Speaker 1:And to tie all my points together with one last Bible verse Proverbs 17, 22 says a joyful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up bones, and that's the point of this whole episode. Right there, I'm looking in part to speak to those with a crushed spirit, those with the dry bones. We all know that jesus raised lazarus from the dead right, and I believe he can raise you up too. So pray, speak to god and go find your thing. I know god believes in you and I believe in you, and I'm sorry if I got too religious for some of my listeners. Actually, I'm not sorry, but just letting you know that this is where inspiration took me this morning. Right, I'm on here to say what I got to say and that's what I had to say. Again, thank you guys for joining us on the About it podcast and you know, peace out.
