July 18, 2024 • 31 mins
The conversation between Karol and Jason Mattera covers their shared high school experience, their move from New York to Florida, and the contrast between the two locations. They discuss the challenges and benefits of living in Florida, the reasons for leaving New York, and the impact on their families. Jason also shares his perspective on success and personal growth. The Karol Markowicz Show is part of the Clay Travis & Buck Sexton Podcast Network - new episodes debut every Monday & Thursday.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:05):
Hi, and welcome back to the Carol Markowitz Show on iHeartRadio.
I'm wrapping up my vacation, so no monologue today, but
stay tuned for an interview with Jason Mattera. I'll be
back with a monologue on Monday.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
And more great interviews for you. Thanks for listening. My
guest today is best selling author and writer Jason Mattera.
Speaker 3 (00:24):
Hi, Jason, Hey, Carol. Great to be on the show.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
So nice to have you on. So you and I
have this funny connection where we went to the same
high school but not at the same time, which we
only recently figured out right, not at the same time
part because I knew who you were, like, we knew
each other, but we didn't go there at the same time.
Speaker 3 (00:45):
Well, I think we found out. It was at a
sea pack many years ago. We were just chatting. I
think there was a there's a long time ago, so
I could be miss remembering the details, but there was
like a blogger's row who you were there? There was
yes and okay, so I'd go there, and you know,
part of my job there was just to talk to
(01:05):
the bloggers. I was working for Young America's Foundation at
the at the time, and you know, It was a
great conversation. And you and I were talking and you
was like, oh, yeah, I went to I went to Brooklyn.
You're saying you went to grew up in Brooklyn. You
you went to high school in Brooklyn. I was like,
oh yeah, I went to high school and the middle
school in bay Ridge. And You're like, yeah, me too,
and like, okay, well there's only a few high schools
(01:27):
and middle schools in bay Ridge. And then you told
me it was a Delphi Academy. Oay here, you know, Well,
so what.
Speaker 2 (01:32):
Makes it extra funny is it's a tiny, tiny school.
My graduating grade was thirty two people, like it was
in the entire grade, not just my class. How big
was your class?
Speaker 3 (01:45):
I never graduated from there. I ended up transferring because
their athletic department fell apart and I was there on
a basketball scholarship, right, yeah, yeah, totally fell afar it.
I think a sophomore has.
Speaker 2 (01:57):
A lot going for it. But then, you know, every
few years it kind.
Speaker 3 (02:00):
Of used to just blow up, and I was part
of that evisceration. But the class sizes were small. I
mean I maybe had like fifteen seventeen kids in the class.
It was it was, it wouldn't have been a very
large graduating class.
Speaker 2 (02:15):
But so see, the thing is that, like I again,
I recall the meeting you at Seapack, but I feel
like we already might have known that we went to
the same school, which again it's a small school. Maybe
we just like heard through mutual people. But I remember
like meeting you and being like, we both went to
the same school. You know, it's just it's it's funny.
But now we both live in South Florida, where Floridians
(02:38):
where ex Brooklyn Floridians. How's that going?
Speaker 3 (02:42):
Oh, Florida is a paradise. So I moved out of
Brooklyn when I was seventeen years old, went to college
in New England, and was in DC for a decade
after I got married my wife. My wife convinced me
she hated the DC area. I mean, she did not
like you start woman, the lack of community everywhere. I mean,
(03:02):
she's she's conservative, of course, you know you met her,
we hung out, but she's not really into the day
to day politics and she was just bored her. So
her real estate company at the time was in Seattle
it still is, and I was working for Warner brothers
and I just traveled a lot. So she said, why
don't we just go back to Seattle. I was like, yeah,
what happened, I'll live in the Pacific. We're in Seattle
(03:24):
for ten years and just got it was always liberal,
but it just went Yeah during BLM, George, you know,
George Floyd Covid, we we got to get the hell
out of here, right, and that's when we migrated. Made
the decision, you know, sort of around the same time
you did to to move to South Florida. And just
the comparison, I mean, the quality of life, right, it's
(03:46):
a unit, like it's just a universe. It's hard to
describe in detail, like when you're going to some hellhole
like East Germany, Communist state of Seattle to Florida and
you're like, wait a second, there aren't just homeless junkies
like in the in the in the playgrounds, like the
playgrounds are actually meant for kids and not for people
to post up and do drugs. Really, it's you forget
(04:09):
what like you forget what sanity.
Speaker 2 (04:12):
In ny in uh yeah.
Speaker 3 (04:14):
With our public officials look like like you like, you
forget what the sane city looks like. And then you're
able to compare it like Seattle, the same thing for La,
you know, New York City, Like these are failed these
are failed states, essentially failed cities, right tolerant, So we
like we're done with that. I mean, I understand the
people who feel like they're called to Like I remember,
you know you talked to Alicia Krause, good friend, and
(04:36):
her and her husband feel like they called to La.
That's fine, Like I get it. Uh, that's your mission field, Okay, cool,
I'll be praying for you, but I ain't gonna be
over there, no.
Speaker 2 (04:46):
I you know. The thing is, I love that conversation
with Lisha and we disagree, you know, Like I'll leave
a comment on somebody who's like Instagram post where they're
complaining about like wherever they are, and I'll be like,
you have to get out, and She'll be like, no,
you don't. You have to stay and fight, you know.
So like I get her, I really do, And I
think that in a lot of ways. I mean, I'm
(05:06):
sure you did. Also, we stayed and fought as long
as we could. It wasn't like we were like the
second things got bad, we were out. We stayed for years.
We considered it for years and it was tough. It
was tough to leave. And I do feel like so
smart all the time. The functioning thing the fact that
when something goes wrong, and I, you know, I try
(05:28):
not to compare like New York City to suburbs of
you know, Florida or whatever. I try to do like
equal comparisons, but like New York to Miami, for example,
when something goes wrong in Miami, it gets fixed. It's
not perfect. It's still a city, it still has homeless people,
it still has issues. But it's just the expectation that
(05:49):
things will get fixed is something I just never had
in New York. Like like when something went wrong in
New York, you just expected it to stay like that
because that's how it goes and that's it. And it's like,
you know, there's a pothole, Someone's gonna come fix it. This.
Speaker 3 (06:05):
It's a difference between obviously there's no utopia if you're
looking for utopia, and I'm gonna find it on this
this side of life, but there's no toleration of dysfunction, yes,
And that's that's the key. And I remember when when
the moment I was really adamant with with Kenja my
wife said, we have to get out of Seattle. This
is just we had four We still have four young kids,
(06:28):
but two of our younger ones were just born. Was like,
we really have to make the move.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
To just know, Jason has two sets of twins, like hero,
you know, we'll get we'll get into that.
Speaker 3 (06:38):
Yeah, I have gray hair now. It's because, uh, four
four kids in two and a half years is quite
a shock to the body. But so I remember, I'm, I'm.
We lived in an action, a nice a nice part
of Seattle. So it wasn't the there was still homeless issue,
but it wasn't out of control, right, The crime wasn't.
It was one of the nicer areas. So on the
(07:00):
main road, and there was this broken down vehicle that
some dude was living in. And in Seattle, the law
is you can't have your vehicle in the street for
more than seventy two hours. Of course you get a ticket, right,
but they you know, they tolerated it. Well, you know,
the broken down vehicle tires probably hasn't been started in years. Right. So,
and this is a main area where kids are. There's
(07:20):
a daycare nearby, and I always see a line of
kids walking and they have, you know, they have the
ropes basically right, and someone in the front and someone
in back, and they're leading this procession of like pre
K three four right, and they passed by this car
they've broken down car, and it's like a massive looks
like a katana blade like in the in the window
like and then he had I looked closer. I stop.
(07:42):
I was like, surely it's not like this massive sword
like you would see in like a samurai movie. And
it was then he had a butcher's knife. He had
a few of the knives, just like on the window.
So I call the police and I reported it, and
the police says, well, what do you want us to do?
I was like, what are you what do you want
us to do to do? Well? Uh, firs start maybe,
(08:04):
why don't you come here and see why this homeless
guy on drugs has a massive sword in his cart.
Were like, well, you know, it's like if you have
a gun in your residence, there's nothing we can do about.
It's your residence. Says well, it's a broken down car
that he's been illegally parked for months now. It's not
his residence. Nothing happened, uh, And I said you know what,
(08:29):
they don't care, Like none of the officials cared about
cleaning up the dysfunction. They didn't care about public safety.
So I'm willing. I mean, it's only so far. I
was willing to fight, and it just wasn't. I was like,
there's not a fight any longer. Let's go and let's
raise our kids in a place that doesn't tolerate or
(08:50):
this crime and and and public insanity and and the
and the drugs and the you know, I mean there's
still you can shopliff there with impune. Basically, it's I
was like, why are we choosing to live here where
we can go to South? Right?
Speaker 2 (09:06):
Yeah? Absolutely, I mean childhood is so short. This was
another point that I made with Alicia that you know,
I had to get my kids out because yeah, maybe
my husband and I could have waited out New York
and had to turn around. And I believe in New
York maybe ten years from now it'll be better. But
ten years from now, my kids will be in college
and I couldn't have them have that be their childhood.
(09:27):
The thing about police, though, it's like, you know, you
feel bad for these police officers because you know they
can't do anything like, it's like they're literally their hands
are tied. You get stories all the time about how
police get in trouble for any kind of No, forget
about I'm not talking about shootings or anything. I'm talking
about small little things that police do not you know,
(09:49):
a million percent by the book, and they get in
trouble for it when they try to stop a robbery
or stuff like that. And then you get police who
are just like, why am I bothering? Why would I
come out and look at this guy's machete if nothing's
going to happen anyway?
Speaker 3 (10:03):
And why am I going to be the next That's
what they're thinking.
Speaker 2 (10:07):
The feeling of like why would I risk myself? Is?
Speaker 3 (10:10):
I get it?
Speaker 2 (10:11):
I really do get it, and it's unfortunate, and you know,
I hope.
Speaker 3 (10:15):
And the virtual reality. We use the phrase virtue segnaling,
but it's so obnoxious in these areas. I go to
Jiffy Lope to get an oil change. I don't want
to see a Black Lives Matter banner. I just want
an oil change. Yeah, you doing? Like? Come on? Now?
Am I expecting? Like? And I would say the same
thing if if I was going to get an oil
change and someone was trying to give me a lecture
(10:36):
on why I should be pro life, right, I would
agree with them, right, But I mean time and place
like I'm just here for an oil change. That's it.
I go to homeact or whatever. You know, I just
want to shop. You don't have to have this massive
trans flag in front of me everywhere every eye I
go is the fruit I'm eating? Trans?
Speaker 2 (10:53):
Is that?
Speaker 3 (10:53):
Why? Like what are you doing? Like, just come on now,
we shop without this ideological agenda. We just have a life.
And it's so it's so hyper politicized there in these
areas and from from the left, and I just don't
see that in Florida. I mean, I live in the
area Jupiter. It's very conservative, but it's not hyper politicized
from the right right right. It's a difference.
Speaker 2 (11:14):
It's completely different. You don't see that at all. Actually,
I I you know, I was in an ice cream
parlor recently and it had like an American flag up,
and I was like, wow, look at that, you know,
but that's not politics to me that you know. I
have no idea how that person is voting just because
they have an American flag up. It's it's not a political.
Speaker 3 (11:31):
You know how they're voting. Come on out.
Speaker 2 (11:34):
Well, I know they're voting because they're in Florida. But
you know, as you know, the Floridians say when you
get here, like you know, don't New York or Florida.
So right, we're going to take a quick break and
be right back on the Carol Marcowitch Show. So you
have two sets of twins and beautiful wife. You guys,
(11:58):
really such a lovely family. What do you feel like
you've made it? Is that something that you experience?
Speaker 3 (12:07):
You know? And I love the questions this question you
asked your guests, because you get a variety of answers,
and I would say the short answer is no. But
I don't think I would ever answer yes to that
question because every as I mean, you know, this as
whether it's your career, whether it's family, every season brings
(12:31):
new challenges and new opportunities for growth. So I always
like having a sense of whether it's an urgency or
whether it's man this is this is a new frontier
and I can learn from this and grow in this
process and develop whether it's a new skill set, whether
it's you know, as a dad and husband, developing more patience.
Speaker 2 (12:53):
I should have added, you're a best selling author. You
gave me some great tips. So my book was coming
out on you know what to do? And so I
feel like, you know, if you haven't made it, who's
made it?
Speaker 3 (13:03):
Well? I don't. I again, I don't. I don't want
to cap myself because there's so much I want to
do professionally vocation have tons of ideas. Uh heck, I
run ideas by you, and I will continue to do
so because I'm constantly churning stuff out of my head
and I don't want to ever get comfortable and say, well,
you know, I've I've I've made it and there's nothing
(13:27):
more to do and and of course I'll still do this.
I just don't like that mindset. So for me, in fact, uh,
and I wonder if this is the case for you,
being a parent is actually helped me vocationally because it's
expanded my capacity to to learn to be patient, to listen,
better time management, right because we have a few hours
(13:47):
of the day really that that that are are dedicated
to work. So I'm actually more proficient and efficient What
do I do? So I would say in every new season,
I'm trying to look for like one of these growth
areas and my life. Uh. And I never want to
have the mindset I've I've made it, because really, if
you say you've made there's always someone who has surpassed
you in something, right, There's always someone who has can say, well,
(14:10):
I've I've done You've done this, while I've done this,
And I never I don't like the comparison games. Everyone
has their own, their own skill sets, their own their
own uh seasons in life, and I just I just
want to be like faithful what I'm given am am,
I faithful Stewart and what I've been given in this
moment and in the season. And if yes, I view
that as an accomplishment, but I think those and those
(14:32):
moments of growth will continue to the day I die.
Speaker 2 (14:35):
What kind of stuff do you like writing about or
talking about? What's like your what do you consider your beat?
Speaker 3 (14:42):
Well, right now, I do a lot of uh, a
lot of writing on the intersection of faith and culture
all right. For Liberty University, they have a think tank
called the Freedom Center, and part of that is a
like a web publication that analyzes the news of the
day from a biblical world perspective. The Contract with him.
I enjoy I've always enjoyed that, and it was a
(15:04):
change of pace from what I was doing, which was
covering true crime for many years with Warner Brothers. And
before that, you know, just I still view myself in
the conservative movement. Don't think you ever know you ever
leave or can get kicked out, per se. But and
before that was activist with Young America's Foundation, had multiple
(15:24):
best selling books. So I've just enjoyed the different opportunities
to grow and develop different skill sets over the years.
So you know, like you, I'm a political junkie at art.
I love talking about politics, covering politics, and have had
the opportunity to work outside the conservative media and I've
(15:46):
been successful in it, thankfully, and I've learned a lot
from people in a field I never thought I would
get involved in.
Speaker 2 (15:55):
What would you say is our largest cultural problem?
Speaker 3 (16:00):
Oh man, this is another question you asked your guests,
and everyone has such a great answer, right, and I
probably wouldn't disagree with facets of them, But if I
had to pinpoint, and there's many, you know, there's many
areas of breakdown we can see in our society, but
(16:21):
I think the biggest one on a fundamental level. If
I said, Jason, this is the fundamental issue. The breakdown
in society is that there's no social cohesion around a
singular worldview, right, and that is there's different assumptions of
what America was and what America should be. Fundamentally, and
(16:44):
previously we have the American experiment was built on a
Judeo Christian consensus. It was that the voice of government
is not the voice of God, the one that endows
us would write, and government is very limited in scope.
Why to protect the dignity, inherent dignity of individuals. It
was an understanding against deepen Judeo Christian values of human depravity.
(17:07):
That means you don't want you want to have these
checks and balances which were supposed to have. And with
the three different branches of government, uh, And it was
an understanding that there are different forms of government. There's
church government, there's family government, there's your civil government, and
these all supposed to work in unison with one another,
(17:27):
and each has their level authority sphere jurisprudence, and one's
not supposed to really leap from the other, but the
smallest like that, if you look at the Foundings Fathers,
they placed the smallest emphasis on civil government and a
very large emphasis on self government. It plays a very
large emphasis on church government. They placed a big influence
(17:49):
on family government because they knew that's like virtue. So
like when people, you know, James John Adams would say
our constitution was made for a moral and religious people.
He was saying, like virtue was the most important thing,
and this was like our consensus. This was the consensus
of the country. We just don't have that anymore.
Speaker 2 (18:09):
We get to that, how do we get back to it?
Speaker 3 (18:13):
Well, I would say you would have there would be
they would be almost like a revival of repentance and
humility that would have to sweep mostly these I mean everywhere,
but definitely these these areas of the country. Yeah. I
don't know if anytime soon, but we would have to
come back to a unifying worldview. And we don't have
(18:35):
that unifying worldview when you when you have such large
and significant vocal portions of the country that believes America
is inherently racist and evil and they can't look at
the good the progress of America. They hate religion, right,
they hate anyone who views and they'll smear you like that.
You know, blockhead on from political when on MSNBC, and
(18:59):
it was like, oh, you believe your rights come from God,
you must be a Christian nation.
Speaker 2 (19:04):
I'm a Christian nationalist.
Speaker 3 (19:07):
Remember of the Christian Nationalist's crew.
Speaker 2 (19:09):
Was surprising for a Jewish person exactly. Uh.
Speaker 3 (19:13):
And so that's I think that's a fundamental breakdown is
we don't have a similar worldview. Where in the past
you had similar you can still have disagreements. We had
the consensus of what America stood for, and you didn't
have people. I mean, you've always had people the hard
left to de spise the country and believers of communism
and wanted to tear America. But there was a very
(19:35):
small minority. And now they've increased their presence and they've
had their long march through the institutions and they've taken
them over. So uh, I think where we'll get where
it's going is you're going to have more conservatives like
do what we did. You couldn't look for the places
that that don't undermine our values, that either celebrate our
(19:57):
values or reinforced the values. They're gonna and you're gonna
have this bifurcation blue and red, and people are going
to see which of these world views work. All Right,
you want your tax dollars paying for trans surgeries for
illegal aliens, fine, set up shopping California. Good luck to you.
Like the twenty five dollars minimum wage where everyone who
(20:18):
has this lower skill level is going to be unemployable, unemployable,
go to California. Right. You want illegal aliens just just
ransacking your schools and and your kids are not gonna
you know, whatever the next COVID is going to be,
they're going to have We're fine, go set up in
New York. Fine, go ahead. So I think you're going
to have this uh, this settling where it really is
(20:40):
going to be a separation of of of red states
and blue states, and we'll be able to have like
hard data and we already sort of do on where
this is. You know where it's going. But yeah, I don't.
I don't see how reverse in that trend anytime soon.
Speaker 2 (20:54):
Well, all that would be fine, I mean, and you know,
maybe even preferable, But I think that what ends up
happening is that the left is not content with just
having control over their own areas. They want control over everything.
I don't know, I feel like the you know, the
ideas of like national divorce or that kind of thing.
(21:16):
I actually don't think any of that can work because
of the fact that they want to have it all.
It's like when they don't have their own kids, they
want control over your kids. And so I see the
same thing happening in you know, regional kind of disagreements.
And more than that, I'm not sure that they could
even face reality. You know, there was the thinking like, oh,
(21:41):
the debate between Governor DeSantis and Gavin Newsome, that would
be it was so clear to me that you know,
DeSantis crushed him in every way, and to me, I
hate it that they even did the debate because I
was like, we've had the debate in real life and
Larida one. But a lot of people walked away from
that debate being like, no, Gavin Newsom made some good points,
and you know Ron Santa is actually lying about how
(22:03):
good things are in Florida. It's like, can we get
through to any.
Speaker 3 (22:06):
Of those people, which is why I said there needs
to be humility and repentance to all this awful thinking
and ideologue ideologies that that have warped people's minds. But
I think more fundamental is we're doing. When I went
(22:28):
back to and said, you know, our problem was world views,
and we had you know, we had a Judeo Christian consensus,
it was it was a spiritual aspect to this all,
and it really was, there's there's we were accountable to
God ultimately, and we have to govern ourselves and our
families and our churches. And I think those who maybe
(22:50):
not on the hard left, but those who still who
would consider that that religion and matters of the spirit
are important to them need to come to that understanding
and realize that really the government, this behemoth out there
is not like, is not a god and is acting
like a God, and this is a false deity. And
(23:12):
once they come to that point where there's is the
lack of trust in government, maybe layers can be built
back where they're more understanding of where right of center
folks are coming from. But you know, Carol, we we've had,
you know, the progressive error which started this right beginning
of the twentieth century, even a little bit before that
(23:33):
up until now, so we've had more than one hundred
years of sowing these seeds of disarray and decay and
disbelief in the American experiment and it's just going to
take time. I don't think we can. One election is
not going to do it. You know, if we look
at the candidates who we have, you know, I know
(23:53):
you and I look at what's going on, and we say,
we could have had the guy. We could we could
had the Santus on stage and we would be actually
talking about, you know, about issues. But you only can
play the hands that you were dealt. So I think
each election is important because it sort of either accelerates
the bleeding or staunch is the bleeding. But more importantly,
(24:16):
people need to really get I would say, on a
local level. That's where the change is going to happen.
It's not going to happen top down. It's going to
happen organically. People getting involved in their houses of worship,
They're getting involved with their communities. They're not neglecting their
families or having strong families. And I think you said
something that is so key is that the left is
not reproducing conservatives in the most part having big families, right,
(24:39):
The left isn't doing that. So they're looking for the
area of reproduction and that's the classroom. And that's why
school choice is so important. That's why it's getting accountability
for the curricular that's out there is so important, and
that's why the left is pushing back. That's why to
a normal person like, wait, can't the drag clean stay
out of public libraries for kids? Like why do you
(25:00):
have to read pornography? Like what do you have to
read gay porn in school?
Speaker 2 (25:03):
Like?
Speaker 3 (25:03):
What? Well?
Speaker 2 (25:04):
What I always say about that is that nobody runs on, hey,
let's have porn in the school library. It's very insidious.
It's not open. It's it's all very like if you
don't like what we're doing, then you're the book burner,
and it's not If it was out in the open,
I think it'd be a much clearer conversation.
Speaker 3 (25:21):
But you know, well it's not there. But how have
we I think we fought back successfully on the local level,
and it's been organic movements, you know, moms and dads
going and running for city council or school council and
making these changes. I think too often we can because
the left operates this way. They view in big federal
government terms, we've got to get in and we've got
(25:42):
to change everything from on high. I think it's conservatives
take the opposite strategy and just change your If you
can change your local community, if you can run your
family successfully and you know, really disciple with your kids
and making sure that you're having the biggest impact there
and the kids around you, then we're in ensuring that
there's another generation that is in stilled with the values
(26:03):
of freedom and carry that on. So I always think, like, what,
especially in political seasons, it's chaotic, it can be overwhelming.
You like, we we can cover it, but we have
very little power other than voting or reporting. Right, We're
we're sort of we are following what's happening, but it's
(26:24):
not like we can pull the levers really much, right,
So we just got to have to report on it
and cast or vote where it happens. But where we
do have power, and that is with our families, with
our local communities. It's like, maximize that, exploit that as
much as possible and really set the tone in the
spheres that you can govern. And if conservatives were were
(26:45):
intent on doing that, I think they can have some
generational impacts. Again, we're not taught like playing the wrong
game here. The left play the long game. Conservatives have
to play the long game.
Speaker 2 (26:55):
I love that and it's optimistic, you know, the you
can make changes on these smaller levels that will last
for a long time. I think that's the way that
the path forward. I like that a lot. We're going
to take a quick break and be right back on
the Carol Marcowitch Show. So end here with your best
(27:18):
tip for my listeners on how they can improve their lives.
And maybe that is maybe it's focused on your family.
Speaker 3 (27:23):
But yeah, you know, maybe you're asking for tips to give.
Speaker 2 (27:28):
To other peoples.
Speaker 3 (27:31):
No, you're gonna regret this, Carol, your listen. Now, well,
I'm a work in progress in this I'll tell you
all I know works in progress, but admits a chaotic
election season and again it can be all consuming. What
I've what I've learned over the years is it's helped.
It's helped me as an individual, which which helps me
(27:52):
be a better husband, better father, And that is to
have daily rhythms that I'm ensuring I'm hitting and rhythms
hit the body, the soul of the mind. Right, So, uh,
the body, Like, regardless of what my schedule is, I'm
trying to get to the gym or do some type
of exercise every single day at least find easy, right,
(28:12):
and my wife, I'm like, I'll take the kids. Both
of you love to run, go for run, Like we
need to work on our bodies. We need to be
able to It sounds cheesy, but it's true. Like you
need the right level of sleep. It's amazing how better
you feel when you exercise you sleep well in your
diet is you know somewhat Okay, I'm working on the
diet part because kids love their chicken fingers and French fries,
(28:34):
and I want to salad at the restaurant, right my,
I'm gonna be healthy and then I'm just like coaching
there their French friese not letting even go to ways less,
especially in this Biden economy, that's expensive right there. Needing
that so body right, nourishing, nourishing the soul, the spirit.
(28:55):
For me, I'm trying to set the pace of my day,
my mindset. In the morning, it's a devotion, reading the Bible,
whatever that is for a person to nourish their inner
man and get that day started where again brings it back.
It's not just a temporal, materialistic reality, but there's a
spiritual reality too. So let's say focus on that. That's
that's helped put it for me, put things in perspective
(29:19):
and the mind right. There's so much learning out there,
and that's why your original question, have I made it?
I'm like, man, there's so much to know. I don't
think I'll ever make it in that is, the older
you get, the more you realize how little you do
know about how the world works. So I'm always looking
for new ways to learn a new skill or learn
(29:42):
something different, I think, and now with podcasts with AI
and I'm been on an AI vendor just listening to
so many podcasts. I've never thought i'd be listening to
on people discuss it in depth and detail. And I'm
not necessarily a coder or my technical skills are very limited,
(30:03):
but it's interesting, it's fascinating, and I'm like, it's always
nourishing the mind and doing something and you know, I'll
still doing that and setting a rhythm that takes place
within my work schedule, so my you know, my hobbies,
my passion is still the same. But if I know
that I'm hitting these three rhythms that focuses on my body,
(30:23):
my spirit, in my mind every day as best as
my ability, and I just feel better. So I would
encourage Again, it's me personally, but I think your listeners
should should give it a shot at least one of
the three and see where it goes.
Speaker 2 (30:39):
I like that a lot. Thank you so much for
coming on. He is Jason Mattera. Read his books. He's
such a great writer. Check him out anywhere. Where. Can
people find you.
Speaker 3 (30:49):
Twitter or x on the Twitter check.
Speaker 2 (30:54):
Twitter.
Speaker 3 (30:56):
Thanks so much, Jason, Thank you, Carol,
Hi, and welcome back to the Carol Markowitz Show on iHeartRadio.
I'm wrapping up my vacation, so no monologue today, but
stay tuned for an interview with Jason Mattera. I'll be
back with a monologue on Monday.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
And more great interviews for you. Thanks for listening. My
guest today is best selling author and writer Jason Mattera.
Speaker 3 (00:24):
Hi, Jason, Hey, Carol. Great to be on the show.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
So nice to have you on. So you and I
have this funny connection where we went to the same
high school but not at the same time, which we
only recently figured out right, not at the same time
part because I knew who you were, like, we knew
each other, but we didn't go there at the same time.
Speaker 3 (00:45):
Well, I think we found out. It was at a
sea pack many years ago. We were just chatting. I
think there was a there's a long time ago, so
I could be miss remembering the details, but there was
like a blogger's row who you were there? There was
yes and okay, so I'd go there, and you know,
part of my job there was just to talk to
(01:05):
the bloggers. I was working for Young America's Foundation at
the at the time, and you know, It was a
great conversation. And you and I were talking and you
was like, oh, yeah, I went to I went to Brooklyn.
You're saying you went to grew up in Brooklyn. You
you went to high school in Brooklyn. I was like,
oh yeah, I went to high school and the middle
school in bay Ridge. And You're like, yeah, me too,
and like, okay, well there's only a few high schools
(01:27):
and middle schools in bay Ridge. And then you told
me it was a Delphi Academy. Oay here, you know, Well,
so what.
Speaker 2 (01:32):
Makes it extra funny is it's a tiny, tiny school.
My graduating grade was thirty two people, like it was
in the entire grade, not just my class. How big
was your class?
Speaker 3 (01:45):
I never graduated from there. I ended up transferring because
their athletic department fell apart and I was there on
a basketball scholarship, right, yeah, yeah, totally fell afar it.
I think a sophomore has.
Speaker 2 (01:57):
A lot going for it. But then, you know, every
few years it kind.
Speaker 3 (02:00):
Of used to just blow up, and I was part
of that evisceration. But the class sizes were small. I
mean I maybe had like fifteen seventeen kids in the class.
It was it was, it wouldn't have been a very
large graduating class.
Speaker 2 (02:15):
But so see, the thing is that, like I again,
I recall the meeting you at Seapack, but I feel
like we already might have known that we went to
the same school, which again it's a small school. Maybe
we just like heard through mutual people. But I remember
like meeting you and being like, we both went to
the same school. You know, it's just it's it's funny.
But now we both live in South Florida, where Floridians
(02:38):
where ex Brooklyn Floridians. How's that going?
Speaker 3 (02:42):
Oh, Florida is a paradise. So I moved out of
Brooklyn when I was seventeen years old, went to college
in New England, and was in DC for a decade
after I got married my wife. My wife convinced me
she hated the DC area. I mean, she did not
like you start woman, the lack of community everywhere. I mean,
(03:02):
she's she's conservative, of course, you know you met her,
we hung out, but she's not really into the day
to day politics and she was just bored her. So
her real estate company at the time was in Seattle
it still is, and I was working for Warner brothers
and I just traveled a lot. So she said, why
don't we just go back to Seattle. I was like, yeah,
what happened, I'll live in the Pacific. We're in Seattle
(03:24):
for ten years and just got it was always liberal,
but it just went Yeah during BLM, George, you know,
George Floyd Covid, we we got to get the hell
out of here, right, and that's when we migrated. Made
the decision, you know, sort of around the same time
you did to to move to South Florida. And just
the comparison, I mean, the quality of life, right, it's
(03:46):
a unit, like it's just a universe. It's hard to
describe in detail, like when you're going to some hellhole
like East Germany, Communist state of Seattle to Florida and
you're like, wait a second, there aren't just homeless junkies
like in the in the in the playgrounds, like the
playgrounds are actually meant for kids and not for people
to post up and do drugs. Really, it's you forget
(04:09):
what like you forget what sanity.
Speaker 2 (04:12):
In ny in uh yeah.
Speaker 3 (04:14):
With our public officials look like like you like, you
forget what the sane city looks like. And then you're
able to compare it like Seattle, the same thing for La,
you know, New York City, Like these are failed these
are failed states, essentially failed cities, right tolerant, So we
like we're done with that. I mean, I understand the
people who feel like they're called to Like I remember,
you know you talked to Alicia Krause, good friend, and
(04:36):
her and her husband feel like they called to La.
That's fine, Like I get it. Uh, that's your mission field, Okay, cool,
I'll be praying for you, but I ain't gonna be
over there, no.
Speaker 2 (04:46):
I you know. The thing is, I love that conversation
with Lisha and we disagree, you know, Like I'll leave
a comment on somebody who's like Instagram post where they're
complaining about like wherever they are, and I'll be like,
you have to get out, and She'll be like, no,
you don't. You have to stay and fight, you know.
So like I get her, I really do, And I
think that in a lot of ways. I mean, I'm
(05:06):
sure you did. Also, we stayed and fought as long
as we could. It wasn't like we were like the
second things got bad, we were out. We stayed for years.
We considered it for years and it was tough. It
was tough to leave. And I do feel like so
smart all the time. The functioning thing the fact that
when something goes wrong, and I, you know, I try
(05:28):
not to compare like New York City to suburbs of
you know, Florida or whatever. I try to do like
equal comparisons, but like New York to Miami, for example,
when something goes wrong in Miami, it gets fixed. It's
not perfect. It's still a city, it still has homeless people,
it still has issues. But it's just the expectation that
(05:49):
things will get fixed is something I just never had
in New York. Like like when something went wrong in
New York, you just expected it to stay like that
because that's how it goes and that's it. And it's like,
you know, there's a pothole, Someone's gonna come fix it. This.
Speaker 3 (06:05):
It's a difference between obviously there's no utopia if you're
looking for utopia, and I'm gonna find it on this
this side of life, but there's no toleration of dysfunction, yes,
And that's that's the key. And I remember when when
the moment I was really adamant with with Kenja my
wife said, we have to get out of Seattle. This
is just we had four We still have four young kids,
(06:28):
but two of our younger ones were just born. Was like,
we really have to make the move.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
To just know, Jason has two sets of twins, like hero,
you know, we'll get we'll get into that.
Speaker 3 (06:38):
Yeah, I have gray hair now. It's because, uh, four
four kids in two and a half years is quite
a shock to the body. But so I remember, I'm, I'm.
We lived in an action, a nice a nice part
of Seattle. So it wasn't the there was still homeless issue,
but it wasn't out of control, right, The crime wasn't.
It was one of the nicer areas. So on the
(07:00):
main road, and there was this broken down vehicle that
some dude was living in. And in Seattle, the law
is you can't have your vehicle in the street for
more than seventy two hours. Of course you get a ticket, right,
but they you know, they tolerated it. Well, you know,
the broken down vehicle tires probably hasn't been started in years. Right. So,
and this is a main area where kids are. There's
(07:20):
a daycare nearby, and I always see a line of
kids walking and they have, you know, they have the
ropes basically right, and someone in the front and someone
in back, and they're leading this procession of like pre
K three four right, and they passed by this car
they've broken down car, and it's like a massive looks
like a katana blade like in the in the window
like and then he had I looked closer. I stop.
(07:42):
I was like, surely it's not like this massive sword
like you would see in like a samurai movie. And
it was then he had a butcher's knife. He had
a few of the knives, just like on the window.
So I call the police and I reported it, and
the police says, well, what do you want us to do?
I was like, what are you what do you want
us to do to do? Well? Uh, firs start maybe,
(08:04):
why don't you come here and see why this homeless
guy on drugs has a massive sword in his cart.
Were like, well, you know, it's like if you have
a gun in your residence, there's nothing we can do about.
It's your residence. Says well, it's a broken down car
that he's been illegally parked for months now. It's not
his residence. Nothing happened, uh, And I said you know what,
(08:29):
they don't care, Like none of the officials cared about
cleaning up the dysfunction. They didn't care about public safety.
So I'm willing. I mean, it's only so far. I
was willing to fight, and it just wasn't. I was like,
there's not a fight any longer. Let's go and let's
raise our kids in a place that doesn't tolerate or
(08:50):
this crime and and and public insanity and and the
and the drugs and the you know, I mean there's
still you can shopliff there with impune. Basically, it's I
was like, why are we choosing to live here where
we can go to South? Right?
Speaker 2 (09:06):
Yeah? Absolutely, I mean childhood is so short. This was
another point that I made with Alicia that you know,
I had to get my kids out because yeah, maybe
my husband and I could have waited out New York
and had to turn around. And I believe in New
York maybe ten years from now it'll be better. But
ten years from now, my kids will be in college
and I couldn't have them have that be their childhood.
(09:27):
The thing about police, though, it's like, you know, you
feel bad for these police officers because you know they
can't do anything like, it's like they're literally their hands
are tied. You get stories all the time about how
police get in trouble for any kind of No, forget
about I'm not talking about shootings or anything. I'm talking
about small little things that police do not you know,
(09:49):
a million percent by the book, and they get in
trouble for it when they try to stop a robbery
or stuff like that. And then you get police who
are just like, why am I bothering? Why would I
come out and look at this guy's machete if nothing's
going to happen anyway?
Speaker 3 (10:03):
And why am I going to be the next That's
what they're thinking.
Speaker 2 (10:07):
The feeling of like why would I risk myself? Is?
Speaker 3 (10:10):
I get it?
Speaker 2 (10:11):
I really do get it, and it's unfortunate, and you know,
I hope.
Speaker 3 (10:15):
And the virtual reality. We use the phrase virtue segnaling,
but it's so obnoxious in these areas. I go to
Jiffy Lope to get an oil change. I don't want
to see a Black Lives Matter banner. I just want
an oil change. Yeah, you doing? Like? Come on? Now?
Am I expecting? Like? And I would say the same
thing if if I was going to get an oil
change and someone was trying to give me a lecture
(10:36):
on why I should be pro life, right, I would
agree with them, right, But I mean time and place
like I'm just here for an oil change. That's it.
I go to homeact or whatever. You know, I just
want to shop. You don't have to have this massive
trans flag in front of me everywhere every eye I
go is the fruit I'm eating? Trans?
Speaker 2 (10:53):
Is that?
Speaker 3 (10:53):
Why? Like what are you doing? Like, just come on now,
we shop without this ideological agenda. We just have a life.
And it's so it's so hyper politicized there in these
areas and from from the left, and I just don't
see that in Florida. I mean, I live in the
area Jupiter. It's very conservative, but it's not hyper politicized
from the right right right. It's a difference.
Speaker 2 (11:14):
It's completely different. You don't see that at all. Actually,
I I you know, I was in an ice cream
parlor recently and it had like an American flag up,
and I was like, wow, look at that, you know,
but that's not politics to me that you know. I
have no idea how that person is voting just because
they have an American flag up. It's it's not a political.
Speaker 3 (11:31):
You know how they're voting. Come on out.
Speaker 2 (11:34):
Well, I know they're voting because they're in Florida. But
you know, as you know, the Floridians say when you
get here, like you know, don't New York or Florida.
So right, we're going to take a quick break and
be right back on the Carol Marcowitch Show. So you
have two sets of twins and beautiful wife. You guys,
(11:58):
really such a lovely family. What do you feel like
you've made it? Is that something that you experience?
Speaker 3 (12:07):
You know? And I love the questions this question you
asked your guests, because you get a variety of answers,
and I would say the short answer is no. But
I don't think I would ever answer yes to that
question because every as I mean, you know, this as
whether it's your career, whether it's family, every season brings
(12:31):
new challenges and new opportunities for growth. So I always
like having a sense of whether it's an urgency or
whether it's man this is this is a new frontier
and I can learn from this and grow in this
process and develop whether it's a new skill set, whether
it's you know, as a dad and husband, developing more patience.
Speaker 2 (12:53):
I should have added, you're a best selling author. You
gave me some great tips. So my book was coming
out on you know what to do? And so I
feel like, you know, if you haven't made it, who's
made it?
Speaker 3 (13:03):
Well? I don't. I again, I don't. I don't want
to cap myself because there's so much I want to
do professionally vocation have tons of ideas. Uh heck, I
run ideas by you, and I will continue to do
so because I'm constantly churning stuff out of my head
and I don't want to ever get comfortable and say, well,
you know, I've I've I've made it and there's nothing
(13:27):
more to do and and of course I'll still do this.
I just don't like that mindset. So for me, in fact, uh,
and I wonder if this is the case for you,
being a parent is actually helped me vocationally because it's
expanded my capacity to to learn to be patient, to listen,
better time management, right because we have a few hours
(13:47):
of the day really that that that are are dedicated
to work. So I'm actually more proficient and efficient What
do I do? So I would say in every new season,
I'm trying to look for like one of these growth
areas and my life. Uh. And I never want to
have the mindset I've I've made it, because really, if
you say you've made there's always someone who has surpassed
you in something, right, There's always someone who has can say, well,
(14:10):
I've I've done You've done this, while I've done this,
And I never I don't like the comparison games. Everyone
has their own, their own skill sets, their own their
own uh seasons in life, and I just I just
want to be like faithful what I'm given am am,
I faithful Stewart and what I've been given in this
moment and in the season. And if yes, I view
that as an accomplishment, but I think those and those
(14:32):
moments of growth will continue to the day I die.
Speaker 2 (14:35):
What kind of stuff do you like writing about or
talking about? What's like your what do you consider your beat?
Speaker 3 (14:42):
Well, right now, I do a lot of uh, a
lot of writing on the intersection of faith and culture
all right. For Liberty University, they have a think tank
called the Freedom Center, and part of that is a
like a web publication that analyzes the news of the
day from a biblical world perspective. The Contract with him.
I enjoy I've always enjoyed that, and it was a
(15:04):
change of pace from what I was doing, which was
covering true crime for many years with Warner Brothers. And
before that, you know, just I still view myself in
the conservative movement. Don't think you ever know you ever
leave or can get kicked out, per se. But and
before that was activist with Young America's Foundation, had multiple
(15:24):
best selling books. So I've just enjoyed the different opportunities
to grow and develop different skill sets over the years.
So you know, like you, I'm a political junkie at art.
I love talking about politics, covering politics, and have had
the opportunity to work outside the conservative media and I've
(15:46):
been successful in it, thankfully, and I've learned a lot
from people in a field I never thought I would
get involved in.
Speaker 2 (15:55):
What would you say is our largest cultural problem?
Speaker 3 (16:00):
Oh man, this is another question you asked your guests,
and everyone has such a great answer, right, and I
probably wouldn't disagree with facets of them, But if I
had to pinpoint, and there's many, you know, there's many
areas of breakdown we can see in our society, but
(16:21):
I think the biggest one on a fundamental level. If
I said, Jason, this is the fundamental issue. The breakdown
in society is that there's no social cohesion around a
singular worldview, right, and that is there's different assumptions of
what America was and what America should be. Fundamentally, and
(16:44):
previously we have the American experiment was built on a
Judeo Christian consensus. It was that the voice of government
is not the voice of God, the one that endows
us would write, and government is very limited in scope.
Why to protect the dignity, inherent dignity of individuals. It
was an understanding against deepen Judeo Christian values of human depravity.
(17:07):
That means you don't want you want to have these
checks and balances which were supposed to have. And with
the three different branches of government, uh, And it was
an understanding that there are different forms of government. There's
church government, there's family government, there's your civil government, and
these all supposed to work in unison with one another,
(17:27):
and each has their level authority sphere jurisprudence, and one's
not supposed to really leap from the other, but the
smallest like that, if you look at the Foundings Fathers,
they placed the smallest emphasis on civil government and a
very large emphasis on self government. It plays a very
large emphasis on church government. They placed a big influence
(17:49):
on family government because they knew that's like virtue. So
like when people, you know, James John Adams would say
our constitution was made for a moral and religious people.
He was saying, like virtue was the most important thing,
and this was like our consensus. This was the consensus
of the country. We just don't have that anymore.
Speaker 2 (18:09):
We get to that, how do we get back to it?
Speaker 3 (18:13):
Well, I would say you would have there would be
they would be almost like a revival of repentance and
humility that would have to sweep mostly these I mean everywhere,
but definitely these these areas of the country. Yeah. I
don't know if anytime soon, but we would have to
come back to a unifying worldview. And we don't have
(18:35):
that unifying worldview when you when you have such large
and significant vocal portions of the country that believes America
is inherently racist and evil and they can't look at
the good the progress of America. They hate religion, right,
they hate anyone who views and they'll smear you like that.
You know, blockhead on from political when on MSNBC, and
(18:59):
it was like, oh, you believe your rights come from God,
you must be a Christian nation.
Speaker 2 (19:04):
I'm a Christian nationalist.
Speaker 3 (19:07):
Remember of the Christian Nationalist's crew.
Speaker 2 (19:09):
Was surprising for a Jewish person exactly. Uh.
Speaker 3 (19:13):
And so that's I think that's a fundamental breakdown is
we don't have a similar worldview. Where in the past
you had similar you can still have disagreements. We had
the consensus of what America stood for, and you didn't
have people. I mean, you've always had people the hard
left to de spise the country and believers of communism
and wanted to tear America. But there was a very
(19:35):
small minority. And now they've increased their presence and they've
had their long march through the institutions and they've taken
them over. So uh, I think where we'll get where
it's going is you're going to have more conservatives like
do what we did. You couldn't look for the places
that that don't undermine our values, that either celebrate our
(19:57):
values or reinforced the values. They're gonna and you're gonna
have this bifurcation blue and red, and people are going
to see which of these world views work. All Right,
you want your tax dollars paying for trans surgeries for
illegal aliens, fine, set up shopping California. Good luck to you.
Like the twenty five dollars minimum wage where everyone who
(20:18):
has this lower skill level is going to be unemployable, unemployable,
go to California. Right. You want illegal aliens just just
ransacking your schools and and your kids are not gonna
you know, whatever the next COVID is going to be,
they're going to have We're fine, go set up in
New York. Fine, go ahead. So I think you're going
to have this uh, this settling where it really is
(20:40):
going to be a separation of of of red states
and blue states, and we'll be able to have like
hard data and we already sort of do on where
this is. You know where it's going. But yeah, I don't.
I don't see how reverse in that trend anytime soon.
Speaker 2 (20:54):
Well, all that would be fine, I mean, and you know,
maybe even preferable, But I think that what ends up
happening is that the left is not content with just
having control over their own areas. They want control over everything.
I don't know, I feel like the you know, the
ideas of like national divorce or that kind of thing.
(21:16):
I actually don't think any of that can work because
of the fact that they want to have it all.
It's like when they don't have their own kids, they
want control over your kids. And so I see the
same thing happening in you know, regional kind of disagreements.
And more than that, I'm not sure that they could
even face reality. You know, there was the thinking like, oh,
(21:41):
the debate between Governor DeSantis and Gavin Newsome, that would
be it was so clear to me that you know,
DeSantis crushed him in every way, and to me, I
hate it that they even did the debate because I
was like, we've had the debate in real life and
Larida one. But a lot of people walked away from
that debate being like, no, Gavin Newsom made some good points,
and you know Ron Santa is actually lying about how
(22:03):
good things are in Florida. It's like, can we get
through to any.
Speaker 3 (22:06):
Of those people, which is why I said there needs
to be humility and repentance to all this awful thinking
and ideologue ideologies that that have warped people's minds. But
I think more fundamental is we're doing. When I went
(22:28):
back to and said, you know, our problem was world views,
and we had you know, we had a Judeo Christian consensus,
it was it was a spiritual aspect to this all,
and it really was, there's there's we were accountable to
God ultimately, and we have to govern ourselves and our
families and our churches. And I think those who maybe
(22:50):
not on the hard left, but those who still who
would consider that that religion and matters of the spirit
are important to them need to come to that understanding
and realize that really the government, this behemoth out there
is not like, is not a god and is acting
like a God, and this is a false deity. And
(23:12):
once they come to that point where there's is the
lack of trust in government, maybe layers can be built
back where they're more understanding of where right of center
folks are coming from. But you know, Carol, we we've had,
you know, the progressive error which started this right beginning
of the twentieth century, even a little bit before that
(23:33):
up until now, so we've had more than one hundred
years of sowing these seeds of disarray and decay and
disbelief in the American experiment and it's just going to
take time. I don't think we can. One election is
not going to do it. You know, if we look
at the candidates who we have, you know, I know
(23:53):
you and I look at what's going on, and we say,
we could have had the guy. We could we could
had the Santus on stage and we would be actually
talking about, you know, about issues. But you only can
play the hands that you were dealt. So I think
each election is important because it sort of either accelerates
the bleeding or staunch is the bleeding. But more importantly,
(24:16):
people need to really get I would say, on a
local level. That's where the change is going to happen.
It's not going to happen top down. It's going to
happen organically. People getting involved in their houses of worship,
They're getting involved with their communities. They're not neglecting their
families or having strong families. And I think you said
something that is so key is that the left is
not reproducing conservatives in the most part having big families, right,
(24:39):
The left isn't doing that. So they're looking for the
area of reproduction and that's the classroom. And that's why
school choice is so important. That's why it's getting accountability
for the curricular that's out there is so important, and
that's why the left is pushing back. That's why to
a normal person like, wait, can't the drag clean stay
out of public libraries for kids? Like why do you
(25:00):
have to read pornography? Like what do you have to
read gay porn in school?
Speaker 2 (25:03):
Like?
Speaker 3 (25:03):
What? Well?
Speaker 2 (25:04):
What I always say about that is that nobody runs on, hey,
let's have porn in the school library. It's very insidious.
It's not open. It's it's all very like if you
don't like what we're doing, then you're the book burner,
and it's not If it was out in the open,
I think it'd be a much clearer conversation.
Speaker 3 (25:21):
But you know, well it's not there. But how have
we I think we fought back successfully on the local level,
and it's been organic movements, you know, moms and dads
going and running for city council or school council and
making these changes. I think too often we can because
the left operates this way. They view in big federal
government terms, we've got to get in and we've got
(25:42):
to change everything from on high. I think it's conservatives
take the opposite strategy and just change your If you
can change your local community, if you can run your
family successfully and you know, really disciple with your kids
and making sure that you're having the biggest impact there
and the kids around you, then we're in ensuring that
there's another generation that is in stilled with the values
(26:03):
of freedom and carry that on. So I always think, like, what,
especially in political seasons, it's chaotic, it can be overwhelming.
You like, we we can cover it, but we have
very little power other than voting or reporting. Right, We're
we're sort of we are following what's happening, but it's
(26:24):
not like we can pull the levers really much, right,
So we just got to have to report on it
and cast or vote where it happens. But where we
do have power, and that is with our families, with
our local communities. It's like, maximize that, exploit that as
much as possible and really set the tone in the
spheres that you can govern. And if conservatives were were
(26:45):
intent on doing that, I think they can have some
generational impacts. Again, we're not taught like playing the wrong
game here. The left play the long game. Conservatives have
to play the long game.
Speaker 2 (26:55):
I love that and it's optimistic, you know, the you
can make changes on these smaller levels that will last
for a long time. I think that's the way that
the path forward. I like that a lot. We're going
to take a quick break and be right back on
the Carol Marcowitch Show. So end here with your best
(27:18):
tip for my listeners on how they can improve their lives.
And maybe that is maybe it's focused on your family.
Speaker 3 (27:23):
But yeah, you know, maybe you're asking for tips to give.
Speaker 2 (27:28):
To other peoples.
Speaker 3 (27:31):
No, you're gonna regret this, Carol, your listen. Now, well,
I'm a work in progress in this I'll tell you
all I know works in progress, but admits a chaotic
election season and again it can be all consuming. What
I've what I've learned over the years is it's helped.
It's helped me as an individual, which which helps me
(27:52):
be a better husband, better father, And that is to
have daily rhythms that I'm ensuring I'm hitting and rhythms
hit the body, the soul of the mind. Right, So, uh,
the body, Like, regardless of what my schedule is, I'm
trying to get to the gym or do some type
of exercise every single day at least find easy, right,
(28:12):
and my wife, I'm like, I'll take the kids. Both
of you love to run, go for run, Like we
need to work on our bodies. We need to be
able to It sounds cheesy, but it's true. Like you
need the right level of sleep. It's amazing how better
you feel when you exercise you sleep well in your
diet is you know somewhat Okay, I'm working on the
diet part because kids love their chicken fingers and French fries,
(28:34):
and I want to salad at the restaurant, right my,
I'm gonna be healthy and then I'm just like coaching
there their French friese not letting even go to ways less,
especially in this Biden economy, that's expensive right there. Needing
that so body right, nourishing, nourishing the soul, the spirit.
(28:55):
For me, I'm trying to set the pace of my day,
my mindset. In the morning, it's a devotion, reading the Bible,
whatever that is for a person to nourish their inner
man and get that day started where again brings it back.
It's not just a temporal, materialistic reality, but there's a
spiritual reality too. So let's say focus on that. That's
that's helped put it for me, put things in perspective
(29:19):
and the mind right. There's so much learning out there,
and that's why your original question, have I made it?
I'm like, man, there's so much to know. I don't
think I'll ever make it in that is, the older
you get, the more you realize how little you do
know about how the world works. So I'm always looking
for new ways to learn a new skill or learn
(29:42):
something different, I think, and now with podcasts with AI
and I'm been on an AI vendor just listening to
so many podcasts. I've never thought i'd be listening to
on people discuss it in depth and detail. And I'm
not necessarily a coder or my technical skills are very limited,
(30:03):
but it's interesting, it's fascinating, and I'm like, it's always
nourishing the mind and doing something and you know, I'll
still doing that and setting a rhythm that takes place
within my work schedule, so my you know, my hobbies,
my passion is still the same. But if I know
that I'm hitting these three rhythms that focuses on my body,
(30:23):
my spirit, in my mind every day as best as
my ability, and I just feel better. So I would
encourage Again, it's me personally, but I think your listeners
should should give it a shot at least one of
the three and see where it goes.
Speaker 2 (30:39):
I like that a lot. Thank you so much for
coming on. He is Jason Mattera. Read his books. He's
such a great writer. Check him out anywhere. Where. Can
people find you.
Speaker 3 (30:49):
Twitter or x on the Twitter check.
Speaker 2 (30:54):
Twitter.
Speaker 3 (30:56):
Thanks so much, Jason, Thank you, Carol,
Host
Karol Markowicz
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