December 11, 2025 • 10 mins
In this episode of the Building Better Humans Project, host Glenn Azar challenges listeners to step up and live life to the fullest. Drawing from a powerful poem by Rudy Francisco, Glenn encourages listeners to remember that they're still alive and to act like it. She shares four areas to focus on: relationships, career, health, and personal growth, and invites listeners to take on new challenges and adventures. With a mix of personal anecdotes and inspiring stories, Glenn reminds us that life is a gift and that we have the power to choose how we live it.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
Apodjay production.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Eighteen. Then as I here walking back to the building
Better Humans Project podcast, I've had a little I would
say hiatus are somewhat forced hiatus from the podcast, which
a few of you have noted and messaged me. But
just to give you a brief update on what happened,
was the van is getting fixed. That's where the podcast
gear normally, since I thought i'd take about a week,
I had a week's worth a podcast locked in, already recorded,
(00:33):
already uploaded, and it's now been three weeks. And say
for a couple of weeks there the podcast gear was
just locked in the van and I didn't go and
pick it up. So now I've picked it up because
the problem with the van's a little bit bigger than
what we thought it was. But anyway, we are back.
I'm about to head away on holidays and I'm just
with a million the kids, and we're just going to
rack up a couple of quick potties for you to
have something to listen to over that next week and
(00:54):
then we'll be back million. I are actually going to
try something new for Mayhem Mondays. We're going to record
just while we're out and about on our phone and
just using some road mike. So if that works, then
we'll have a Mayhem Monday out on Monday as well.
Today's episode is pretty simple. I guess it's tying into
the not dead Yet lifestyle, and it's this line from
(01:15):
a Rudy Francisco poem who already says, you are still alive,
so act like it. And to me, this entire conversation
is about the philosophy that we live by here, the
not dead Yet lifestyle, which is not about being reckless.
It's not about being impulsive, it's not that yolo type
thing that was a big a few years back. It's
about choosing to live the depth and the width of
(01:35):
your life, not just the length of it. And I
want to challenge you today, heading into twenty twenty six,
to step up in a way that maybe you haven't before.
Now that could be in your personal relationships, in your health,
in your career or business, in how you just show up,
in how you challenge yourself, in how you live while
you're still alive. So we're going to go deep on
(01:56):
that today and I hope that you find some value
in it somewhere along the line. I feel that most
people stop living and start just exis. It's almost like
we forget that we're alive. We forget that we're allowed
to dream again because we think we get too old
for that. We forget that we can take risks. We
forget that we can say yes to life. And the
crazy part is that most of the things that frustrate
(02:19):
us aren't even real problems. They're just inconveniences dressed up
as catastrophes. In Rudy Francisco, Francisco's poem, which I will share,
he has a line that captures this perfectly, and I'll
share just this line, but later on I'll share the
whole poem. He says, tell me, how blessed are we
to have tragedies so small it can fit on the
(02:39):
tips of our tongues. Let that sit for a moment.
Most of what we call problems are just evidence that
we're alive. And yet most people don't act like they're alive.
There are people whose time was cut short through accidents, illness,
just bad luck, who I reckon would give anything to
(02:59):
live another year, maybe even just one more day, one
more sunrise, one more chance. Feel like we owe it
to them. Those people are not walking the earth anymore,
as much as we owe it to ourselves to live
with depth, with intention, and with courage to say yes
and figure it out later, to get uncomfortable and do
it anyway, to squeeze every drop out of this life
(03:21):
while we have the privilege of breathing. You're still alive,
but are you acting like it?
Speaker 1 (03:27):
So?
Speaker 2 (03:27):
I want you to step up in twenty twenty six.
And this is not motivational fluff. This is a real challenge.
Number one, step up in your relationships. Be present, communicate better,
lead your self, city can love better. Put effort where
effort is needed, and I'm pretty sure your partner will
tell you where that needs to be. Step two, step
up in your business or career. Stop coasting, Stop doing
(03:51):
the bare minimum, build the skills that move you up.
Start acting like the role you want next, not the
role you're stuck in. The third is to step up
in your health. Start to exercise, train with intention, eat
like you respect yourself, Move your body because you're alive,
not because you're trying to avoid dying. Take on a
new challenge or adventure. I don't know what that is
(04:12):
for you. Run five k's go and do park run,
run a marathon, Do a triathon, go and track Kakoda,
do something. The fourth one is step up in how
you challenge yourself. Be a beginner again. Do hard things,
get uncomfortable, seek growth instead of ease. Don't go into
twenty twenty six the same way you went into twenty
twenty five. You've got more in you. You know that.
(04:35):
I know that. And when I say be a beginner again,
don't just do what you already know how to do.
Challenge yourself to do something new. Now. I want to
make an honest invitation. I want to invite you to
come on an adventure with me, with Milly, with our team.
Not metaphorical, not symbolic, a real one. I'd love for
(04:56):
you to come to Kakoda, Ossie, ten Peaks, Mount Klamajaro,
Ever Space Camp, all of which I'm doing in twenty
twenty six. I take people every year think they're not ready,
and they become unrecognizable. On the other side, adventure strips
away excuses. It reveals truth, It builds self worth. It
reconnects you with what matters. You are still alive, so
(05:19):
prove it to yourself. There's a mountain out there, a
jungle trail with your name on it. All you need
to do is say yes, and funnily enough, this is
where I can step in. Now, I just want to
share this Rudy Francisco poem and then I'll come back
on the other side of that.
Speaker 3 (05:37):
The following are all true stories. May twenty six, two
thousand and three. Aaron Ralston was hiking a boulder fell
on his right hand. He waited four days, then he
amputated his own arm with a pocket knife. On New
Year's Eve, a woman was bungee jumping in Zimbabwe. The
cord broke. She then fell into a river and had
(05:57):
to swim back to land in crocodile infested waters with
a broken collar bone. Claire Champlain was smashing the face
five pound watermelon being propelled by a sling shot. Matthew
Brobis was hit by a javelin. David Striegel was actually
punched in the mouth by a kangaroo. The most amazing
part of these stories is when asked about the experience,
(06:19):
they all smiled, shrugged, and said, I guess things could
have been worse. So go ahead. Tell me that you're
having a bad day, Tell me about the traffic, tell
me about your boss, Tell me about the job you've
been trying to quit for the past four years. Tell me,
the morning is a townhouse burning to the ground. Tell
me the snooze button is a fire exting which you're
(06:40):
telling me. The alarm clock stole the keys to your smile,
drove it into seven a m. And the crash totled
your happiness. Tell me, tell me, tell me how blessed
are we to have tragedies so small it can fit
on the tips of our tongues. You see, when Evan
lost his legs, he was speechless. When my cousin was assaulted,
she didn't speak for forty eight hours. When my uncle
was murdered, we had to send out a search party
(07:01):
to find my father's voice. Most people have no idea
that and silence have the exact same address. So when
your day is a museum of disappointments hanging from events
that were outside of your control, When you find yourself
flailing in an ocean of why this is happening to me,
When it feels like you're Guardian Angel putting this two
we notice two months ago and just decided not to
tell you. When it feels like God is a babysitter,
(07:21):
that's always on the phone where you get punched in
the esophagus by a fist full of life. Remember that
every year to me and people dive dehydration, So it
doesn't matter if the glass is half full of half empty.
There's water in the cup. Drink that shit and stop complaining.
You see muscle. Muscle is created by repeatedly lifting things
that have been designed to weigh us down. So when
(07:42):
your shoulders feel heavy, stand up straight, lift your chin.
Call it exercise. Remember that life is a gym membership
with the really complicated cancelation policy. Remember that you will survive.
Remember things could be worse to remember we are never
ever given anything that we can't handle. When the world
crumbles around you, look at the wreckage. Build a new
one out of all the pieces that are still here.
(08:03):
Remember that chew, I still hear. The human heart beats
approximately four thousand times per hour, and its pulse each
throb its palpetition is a trophy and graved with the
words you are still alive. You are still alive. I
act like it now.
Speaker 2 (08:28):
If that poem doesn't wake you up, I honestly don't
know what will like To me that's really worth listening.
It's one of the poems. And I really do love
Rudy Francisco stuff, and I listened to poems like that
all the time just because it connects with me. And
I think that one forgets sorry reminds us that we
sometimes forget how lucky we are to have problems. We
(08:49):
forget how fortunate we are to wake up at all.
We forget that discomfort is not really a punishment, it's
some preparation. In that poem, Rudy says, the human heart
beats approximately four thousand times per hour, and each pulse
is a trophy engraved with the words you are still
al Just such powerful words. He's a very very skilled poet.
So let me ask you something. What are you doing
(09:12):
with the gift that someone else didn't get? What are
you doing with the time that someone else wished for?
What are you doing with a body that still works,
lungs that's still feel, legs that still move. Are you
wasting it or are you using it? Because if you're
still alive again, act like it. Twenty twenty six is
not going to magically transform your life, but you can,
(09:34):
you can decide that this is the year that you
stop hesitating stop shrinking, stop doubting, stop existing, and start living.
And by living, I mean living deeply, living, intentionally, living, bravely,
living like someone who understands how pressure, how pressures it
truly is to have another sunrise at all. And if
you want a catalyst, if you want a space to grow,
(09:55):
to challenge yourself to reconnect with what it means to
feel alive again, join me on an adventure. Choose Kakoda,
choose as you ten, choose killin jar A, choose ever,
choose the version of you that you haven't met yet.
Because the world is waiting, your potential is waiting, your
life is waiting, and again, you're still alive, so you
should act like it. That's it, team, Thanks again for
(10:18):
joining me on the Building Better Humans Project podcast. If
this episode hits home, share it with someone who needs
to be reminded that the clock is still ticking, their
heart is still beating, and their life is still theirs
to build and I'll chat to you guys again next week.
Speaker 1 (10:37):
Thanks for listening to this episode of the Building Better
Humans Podcast with your host Glenna'sa for feedback. To stay
up to date, or go back and find an old episode,
head over to one eighty dot net dot au. Yeah,
the Building Better Humans Project par cares.
Speaker 3 (10:54):
Let's go,
Apodjay production.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Eighteen. Then as I here walking back to the building
Better Humans Project podcast, I've had a little I would
say hiatus are somewhat forced hiatus from the podcast, which
a few of you have noted and messaged me. But
just to give you a brief update on what happened,
was the van is getting fixed. That's where the podcast
gear normally, since I thought i'd take about a week,
I had a week's worth a podcast locked in, already recorded,
(00:33):
already uploaded, and it's now been three weeks. And say
for a couple of weeks there the podcast gear was
just locked in the van and I didn't go and
pick it up. So now I've picked it up because
the problem with the van's a little bit bigger than
what we thought it was. But anyway, we are back.
I'm about to head away on holidays and I'm just
with a million the kids, and we're just going to
rack up a couple of quick potties for you to
have something to listen to over that next week and
(00:54):
then we'll be back million. I are actually going to
try something new for Mayhem Mondays. We're going to record
just while we're out and about on our phone and
just using some road mike. So if that works, then
we'll have a Mayhem Monday out on Monday as well.
Today's episode is pretty simple. I guess it's tying into
the not dead Yet lifestyle, and it's this line from
(01:15):
a Rudy Francisco poem who already says, you are still alive,
so act like it. And to me, this entire conversation
is about the philosophy that we live by here, the
not dead Yet lifestyle, which is not about being reckless.
It's not about being impulsive, it's not that yolo type
thing that was a big a few years back. It's
about choosing to live the depth and the width of
(01:35):
your life, not just the length of it. And I
want to challenge you today, heading into twenty twenty six,
to step up in a way that maybe you haven't before.
Now that could be in your personal relationships, in your health,
in your career or business, in how you just show up,
in how you challenge yourself, in how you live while
you're still alive. So we're going to go deep on
(01:56):
that today and I hope that you find some value
in it somewhere along the line. I feel that most
people stop living and start just exis. It's almost like
we forget that we're alive. We forget that we're allowed
to dream again because we think we get too old
for that. We forget that we can take risks. We
forget that we can say yes to life. And the
crazy part is that most of the things that frustrate
(02:19):
us aren't even real problems. They're just inconveniences dressed up
as catastrophes. In Rudy Francisco, Francisco's poem, which I will share,
he has a line that captures this perfectly, and I'll
share just this line, but later on I'll share the
whole poem. He says, tell me, how blessed are we
to have tragedies so small it can fit on the
(02:39):
tips of our tongues. Let that sit for a moment.
Most of what we call problems are just evidence that
we're alive. And yet most people don't act like they're alive.
There are people whose time was cut short through accidents, illness,
just bad luck, who I reckon would give anything to
(02:59):
live another year, maybe even just one more day, one
more sunrise, one more chance. Feel like we owe it
to them. Those people are not walking the earth anymore,
as much as we owe it to ourselves to live
with depth, with intention, and with courage to say yes
and figure it out later, to get uncomfortable and do
it anyway, to squeeze every drop out of this life
(03:21):
while we have the privilege of breathing. You're still alive,
but are you acting like it?
Speaker 1 (03:27):
So?
Speaker 2 (03:27):
I want you to step up in twenty twenty six.
And this is not motivational fluff. This is a real challenge.
Number one, step up in your relationships. Be present, communicate better,
lead your self, city can love better. Put effort where
effort is needed, and I'm pretty sure your partner will
tell you where that needs to be. Step two, step
up in your business or career. Stop coasting, Stop doing
(03:51):
the bare minimum, build the skills that move you up.
Start acting like the role you want next, not the
role you're stuck in. The third is to step up
in your health. Start to exercise, train with intention, eat
like you respect yourself, Move your body because you're alive,
not because you're trying to avoid dying. Take on a
new challenge or adventure. I don't know what that is
(04:12):
for you. Run five k's go and do park run,
run a marathon, Do a triathon, go and track Kakoda,
do something. The fourth one is step up in how
you challenge yourself. Be a beginner again. Do hard things,
get uncomfortable, seek growth instead of ease. Don't go into
twenty twenty six the same way you went into twenty
twenty five. You've got more in you. You know that.
(04:35):
I know that. And when I say be a beginner again,
don't just do what you already know how to do.
Challenge yourself to do something new. Now. I want to
make an honest invitation. I want to invite you to
come on an adventure with me, with Milly, with our team.
Not metaphorical, not symbolic, a real one. I'd love for
(04:56):
you to come to Kakoda, Ossie, ten Peaks, Mount Klamajaro,
Ever Space Camp, all of which I'm doing in twenty
twenty six. I take people every year think they're not ready,
and they become unrecognizable. On the other side, adventure strips
away excuses. It reveals truth, It builds self worth. It
reconnects you with what matters. You are still alive, so
(05:19):
prove it to yourself. There's a mountain out there, a
jungle trail with your name on it. All you need
to do is say yes, and funnily enough, this is
where I can step in. Now, I just want to
share this Rudy Francisco poem and then I'll come back
on the other side of that.
Speaker 3 (05:37):
The following are all true stories. May twenty six, two
thousand and three. Aaron Ralston was hiking a boulder fell
on his right hand. He waited four days, then he
amputated his own arm with a pocket knife. On New
Year's Eve, a woman was bungee jumping in Zimbabwe. The
cord broke. She then fell into a river and had
(05:57):
to swim back to land in crocodile infested waters with
a broken collar bone. Claire Champlain was smashing the face
five pound watermelon being propelled by a sling shot. Matthew
Brobis was hit by a javelin. David Striegel was actually
punched in the mouth by a kangaroo. The most amazing
part of these stories is when asked about the experience,
(06:19):
they all smiled, shrugged, and said, I guess things could
have been worse. So go ahead. Tell me that you're
having a bad day, Tell me about the traffic, tell
me about your boss, Tell me about the job you've
been trying to quit for the past four years. Tell me,
the morning is a townhouse burning to the ground. Tell
me the snooze button is a fire exting which you're
(06:40):
telling me. The alarm clock stole the keys to your smile,
drove it into seven a m. And the crash totled
your happiness. Tell me, tell me, tell me how blessed
are we to have tragedies so small it can fit
on the tips of our tongues. You see, when Evan
lost his legs, he was speechless. When my cousin was assaulted,
she didn't speak for forty eight hours. When my uncle
was murdered, we had to send out a search party
(07:01):
to find my father's voice. Most people have no idea
that and silence have the exact same address. So when
your day is a museum of disappointments hanging from events
that were outside of your control, When you find yourself
flailing in an ocean of why this is happening to me,
When it feels like you're Guardian Angel putting this two
we notice two months ago and just decided not to
tell you. When it feels like God is a babysitter,
(07:21):
that's always on the phone where you get punched in
the esophagus by a fist full of life. Remember that
every year to me and people dive dehydration, So it
doesn't matter if the glass is half full of half empty.
There's water in the cup. Drink that shit and stop complaining.
You see muscle. Muscle is created by repeatedly lifting things
that have been designed to weigh us down. So when
(07:42):
your shoulders feel heavy, stand up straight, lift your chin.
Call it exercise. Remember that life is a gym membership
with the really complicated cancelation policy. Remember that you will survive.
Remember things could be worse to remember we are never
ever given anything that we can't handle. When the world
crumbles around you, look at the wreckage. Build a new
one out of all the pieces that are still here.
(08:03):
Remember that chew, I still hear. The human heart beats
approximately four thousand times per hour, and its pulse each
throb its palpetition is a trophy and graved with the
words you are still alive. You are still alive. I
act like it now.
Speaker 2 (08:28):
If that poem doesn't wake you up, I honestly don't
know what will like To me that's really worth listening.
It's one of the poems. And I really do love
Rudy Francisco stuff, and I listened to poems like that
all the time just because it connects with me. And
I think that one forgets sorry reminds us that we
sometimes forget how lucky we are to have problems. We
(08:49):
forget how fortunate we are to wake up at all.
We forget that discomfort is not really a punishment, it's
some preparation. In that poem, Rudy says, the human heart
beats approximately four thousand times per hour, and each pulse
is a trophy engraved with the words you are still
al Just such powerful words. He's a very very skilled poet.
So let me ask you something. What are you doing
(09:12):
with the gift that someone else didn't get? What are
you doing with the time that someone else wished for?
What are you doing with a body that still works,
lungs that's still feel, legs that still move. Are you
wasting it or are you using it? Because if you're
still alive again, act like it. Twenty twenty six is
not going to magically transform your life, but you can,
(09:34):
you can decide that this is the year that you
stop hesitating stop shrinking, stop doubting, stop existing, and start living.
And by living, I mean living deeply, living, intentionally, living, bravely,
living like someone who understands how pressure, how pressures it
truly is to have another sunrise at all. And if
you want a catalyst, if you want a space to grow,
(09:55):
to challenge yourself to reconnect with what it means to
feel alive again, join me on an adventure. Choose Kakoda,
choose as you ten, choose killin jar A, choose ever,
choose the version of you that you haven't met yet.
Because the world is waiting, your potential is waiting, your
life is waiting, and again, you're still alive, so you
should act like it. That's it, team, Thanks again for
(10:18):
joining me on the Building Better Humans Project podcast. If
this episode hits home, share it with someone who needs
to be reminded that the clock is still ticking, their
heart is still beating, and their life is still theirs
to build and I'll chat to you guys again next week.
Speaker 1 (10:37):
Thanks for listening to this episode of the Building Better
Humans Podcast with your host Glenna'sa for feedback. To stay
up to date, or go back and find an old episode,
head over to one eighty dot net dot au. Yeah,
the Building Better Humans Project par cares.
Speaker 3 (10:54):
Let's go,
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