August 1, 2025 • 14 mins
We live in a world that doesn’t stop moving — and somewhere along the way, we forget to actually live. In this episode, I talk about what it feels like to be on autopilot, why slowing down feels so hard, and small ways we can make space to breathe again without losing momentum
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
Hey everyone, welcome back. Thanks for tuning in to another
episode of Still Standing Strong. I appreciate the kind words,
I appreciate the ratings. Thank you so much for listening,
and I hope that this is making a difference already.
(00:25):
This is just season one. This is just me talking
introducing different topics we'll certainly delve into later on in
coming seasons. I would love to have different hosts, guests,
all of it to spice things up, a little bit
of hot sauce hopefully coming soon. But today our topic
(00:49):
is going to be just how darn fast life is
moving for all of us, regardless of age. Think about
those times where you are driving, and you're driving a
long distance and all of a sudden, you turn on
(01:10):
a podcast, maybe this one, or a playlist of songs
that you enjoy, and before you know it, you're ten
miles down the road and it's like, what happened? Did
I fall asleep at the wheel? That's autopilot? Or maybe
those times where you're trying to fall asleep and you
(01:33):
end up waking up in the middle of the night,
close your eyes, and all of a sudden, four hours
later year you're awake again and it feels like five minutes.
That's life. That's how my life has felt up until
this point too. There have been some pretty slow moments
(01:54):
in my life, but for the most part, it is
flying by. What do we do with that? Do you
feel it too? Is it just me? I'm a pretty
fast guy, but I think it's happening to all of us,
especially as we get older. It seems to happen more
(02:17):
and more. And I have a theory on this. Here's
my theory. Life moves fast. When you build a routine
and you do the same thing over and over again,
your brain is always trying to find the path of
least resistance, and of course, if there's something that it's
(02:38):
familiar with, it's going to follow that same path, that
same trajectory. So if that's a five day work week,
nine to five, maybe it's best, maybe it's not. But
if you're in an exciting point in your life, or heck,
even if you're not, the struggle makes you strong. Diamonds
are created under pressure. Right, I'm going to tell you
(03:02):
how to how I and hopefully how to for you
fix this, But first let me tell you a little
bit about my experience with this. I remember a moment
when I was younger, when I was around sixteen years old,
I was standing in my parents' backyard, my childhood home,
(03:24):
and I had this epitome or whatever it was called
at the time. I'm only sixteen. College is so far away,
at least two years. Then I'll have to get a job.
But that so far, I have so much time. Life
(03:48):
is going so slow. I'm enjoying this. And what's incredibly
ironic is that at that exact moment, that's when I
felt like things started flowing by, flying by, I guess
flowing if it was a river, but flying by. And
(04:13):
of course that traverses the items that I've spoken with
everyone about in my life, which have thrown many a
wrench what did I call them? Life wrenches at me.
But even with that, I've I ended up, of course,
finishing high school, going to college, experiencing loss, trauma, going
through all all of the normal life things, you know,
(04:36):
different relationships, new friendships, all kinds of things, and it
just seemed like everything flew by. And now I'm, you know,
double that age almost How does that happen? And for me,
it didn't hit me until I turned thirty. This isn't forever.
(04:59):
This is isn't going to be forever. I have to
find a way to slow this thing down. This is
a video game, and I need to find a way
to put some tar in the engine of life. You
need to find a way to fling an arrow into
this rocket that's propelling me so far forward. It's a
(05:21):
lot of anxiety that you start to feel when all
of these things are lining up in your head. And
I mean even in my career, there are moments where
I'm answering emails at ten o'clock at night and I'm
just thinking, what where did the day go? How am
(05:41):
I already here? I remember signing in for the day,
I remember grabbing my coffee. I remember jumping into my
first meeting, and all of a sudden, it's ten Eastern time.
I don't know if that makes a difference, but time
is something that is inevitable. I think I said that
in the prior episode. There's there's nothing you can do
to slow down or stop time. You can't physically stop it,
(06:08):
but you can give your brain an opportunity to perceive
it to be going slower. You can almost trick yourself
into believing that that week was actually nine days instead
of seven. It'll surely feel like that. And we can't
(06:28):
just take a vacation for two days and come back
later and say, oh, we're good now. You have to
be intentional. That's one of my favorite words, is I've
gotten older. Intentional, intentionality. It applies to so many different situations,
but in this one, you have to be We have
(06:49):
to be intentional about what we're doing with our lives
and with time. So here's what I do, and then
I'll give some fixes, some updates, some recommendations, some suggestions,
and see if those help you and let me know.
(07:11):
We have an email now still Standing Strong Podcast at
gmail dot com. I did create an Instagram page still
Standing Strong Podcast. We're also live on Twitter or ex.
Had to do a lot of abbreviations in the handle,
but it's the still Standing Strong podcast without the vowels.
Let me know, we know if these help, if you
(07:33):
have any suggestions. But we don't have to start huge,
massive event. We have to start small, in a palatable,
digestible Here, I'm going to make up a word eatable way.
Maybe you have a lot of meetings, Maybe you have
(07:53):
a lot of conversations with your spouse or your friends
or your family. Make sure that you are I should
probably say this is number one. Be unbelievably present for
at least one conversation, one meeting in one day. Don't
just keep yourself an autopilot. Be intentional. That's what I do.
(08:15):
I also will compliment it the cherry on top of
the whipped cream with Do something different in your day,
in your week, in your month. Do something that is spontaneous,
or as spontaneous as it can get. So, for example,
(08:36):
you work five days a week, nine to five. Maybe Saturday,
wake up, go get a go get my favorite thing.
Go get a slurpee from a favorite gas station. If
you don't like slurpees and it's freezing cold over there,
go get a hot chocolate from a gas station. I
don't know if I've never gotten that before, but those
(08:56):
might be good. But it's different. It's an event in
life that is new. Or if you haven't gone to
see a movie lately, go to the movie theater. Or
if you don't want to spend money, go to the park,
go for a bike ride, go for a walk. Do
something different, and I can promise you your life will slow
(09:17):
down just a bit for that week. And if you
start doing those things. Almost build a routine within a routine,
but the routine is being unroutine, being spontaneous. Building a
routine of spontaneity, your life will begin to slow down
in all the right ways. And you have control over this.
Because again, if you want your week to fly by,
(09:38):
your job is stressful, that's going to be a whole
nother episode. Or you are wanting to get through a
very painful event in a week, or there's something you're
not looking forward to. Yeah, let the routine fly. But
we only get one chance to live our lives. Let's
make sure we take advantage the time we have here,
(10:01):
and we don't want to fly through it. Another good
example is say say no to something that drains you.
If there's an event that your friends invite you to,
if there is an event that your family invites you to,
or if there is just something that you have on
the docket that you're not looking forward to, say no.
Break the routine. That doesn't mean say no to everything.
(10:23):
By God, you want to make sure you're getting out
there and living your life, but break the routine. Or
when someone asks what do you want to do for
the day, take thirty seconds and pause and think about
it and dwell, what does this make sense for my day?
Here's an example of my with my favorite drink. I
love analogies. You'll get a lot of them on this podcast.
(10:44):
I like coffee. I love coffee. I blame my wife,
but I actually taste your coffee before chugging it. Of course,
there is a practicality to drinking coffee. Those of us
like creamer or sugar in or coffee. There's more to taste.
(11:04):
But take time to taste the coffee before the practicality
of the caffeine kicks in. Use that analogy in many
other things. If you're getting a milkshake, if you are
going on a walk, if you're going to work, do
something different, break the darn routine. Do something that adds
more time to your your brain's perception of the day
(11:27):
in the week. What do you think about that? Let
me know, let me know how that goes. But if
you have any suggestions for me and for the folks
of the world, let me know. Let's talk about them.
(11:48):
But you know what, life moves fast, a lot of times,
far too fast. It's okay to step out of the blur,
even just for a moment. You can always get back
in the blur as they say. I'm sure someone says
that I just did. But life only gives you one
(12:10):
chance do things that you will be proud of or
you would regret not doing in your life. And here's
a reflection question. We're going to have one of these
per episode. Then we'll get some positivity, and then we'll
call it a day for everyone out there, where in
your life, could you hit pause, even for five minutes
(12:31):
and give yourself space to breathe remember that deep breath
from the prior episode. We want to make sure we're
doing that all right. Thanks for joining again. Hit me
with those answers on social media Instagram, Twitter, x whatever
(12:55):
in God's green earth it's called these days. Send me
an email. Let's take it back a few years and
give me some emails. But here's some positivity. You are
in control of this. There are so many things within
life that we are not in control of. You are
in one hundred percent control of how intentional you want
(13:16):
to be with your life. With the time, yeah, you
can't do much about the time itself, but you can
give your brain the perception that things are slowing down,
which adds to happiness. It will, and it's okay. If
you're older or younger and you're just realizing this, that's okay.
There's never a time that's too late to begin. But
(13:41):
we can do this, all of us can. This is
just like anything else. If you want to get to
the gym, start with signing up, start with looking into it.
Walk into the gym, get a feel if you want
to go, buy some new shoes, get in the car,
start her up. Takes the first up to make a change,
(14:03):
but if you don't make that first step, it does
not happen. But thanks again for tuning in to the
Still Standing Strong podcast. I appreciate your time. I hope
that you appreciate mine. And remember we're still Standing Strong.
Take care,
Hey everyone, welcome back. Thanks for tuning in to another
episode of Still Standing Strong. I appreciate the kind words,
I appreciate the ratings. Thank you so much for listening,
and I hope that this is making a difference already.
(00:25):
This is just season one. This is just me talking
introducing different topics we'll certainly delve into later on in
coming seasons. I would love to have different hosts, guests,
all of it to spice things up, a little bit
of hot sauce hopefully coming soon. But today our topic
(00:49):
is going to be just how darn fast life is
moving for all of us, regardless of age. Think about
those times where you are driving, and you're driving a
long distance and all of a sudden, you turn on
(01:10):
a podcast, maybe this one, or a playlist of songs
that you enjoy, and before you know it, you're ten
miles down the road and it's like, what happened? Did
I fall asleep at the wheel? That's autopilot? Or maybe
those times where you're trying to fall asleep and you
(01:33):
end up waking up in the middle of the night,
close your eyes, and all of a sudden, four hours
later year you're awake again and it feels like five minutes.
That's life. That's how my life has felt up until
this point too. There have been some pretty slow moments
(01:54):
in my life, but for the most part, it is
flying by. What do we do with that? Do you
feel it too? Is it just me? I'm a pretty
fast guy, but I think it's happening to all of us,
especially as we get older. It seems to happen more
(02:17):
and more. And I have a theory on this. Here's
my theory. Life moves fast. When you build a routine
and you do the same thing over and over again,
your brain is always trying to find the path of
least resistance, and of course, if there's something that it's
(02:38):
familiar with, it's going to follow that same path, that
same trajectory. So if that's a five day work week,
nine to five, maybe it's best, maybe it's not. But
if you're in an exciting point in your life, or heck,
even if you're not, the struggle makes you strong. Diamonds
are created under pressure. Right, I'm going to tell you
(03:02):
how to how I and hopefully how to for you
fix this, But first let me tell you a little
bit about my experience with this. I remember a moment
when I was younger, when I was around sixteen years old,
I was standing in my parents' backyard, my childhood home,
(03:24):
and I had this epitome or whatever it was called
at the time. I'm only sixteen. College is so far away,
at least two years. Then I'll have to get a job.
But that so far, I have so much time. Life
(03:48):
is going so slow. I'm enjoying this. And what's incredibly
ironic is that at that exact moment, that's when I
felt like things started flowing by, flying by, I guess
flowing if it was a river, but flying by. And
(04:13):
of course that traverses the items that I've spoken with
everyone about in my life, which have thrown many a
wrench what did I call them? Life wrenches at me.
But even with that, I've I ended up, of course,
finishing high school, going to college, experiencing loss, trauma, going
through all all of the normal life things, you know,
(04:36):
different relationships, new friendships, all kinds of things, and it
just seemed like everything flew by. And now I'm, you know,
double that age almost How does that happen? And for me,
it didn't hit me until I turned thirty. This isn't forever.
(04:59):
This is isn't going to be forever. I have to
find a way to slow this thing down. This is
a video game, and I need to find a way
to put some tar in the engine of life. You
need to find a way to fling an arrow into
this rocket that's propelling me so far forward. It's a
(05:21):
lot of anxiety that you start to feel when all
of these things are lining up in your head. And
I mean even in my career, there are moments where
I'm answering emails at ten o'clock at night and I'm
just thinking, what where did the day go? How am
(05:41):
I already here? I remember signing in for the day,
I remember grabbing my coffee. I remember jumping into my
first meeting, and all of a sudden, it's ten Eastern time.
I don't know if that makes a difference, but time
is something that is inevitable. I think I said that
in the prior episode. There's there's nothing you can do
to slow down or stop time. You can't physically stop it,
(06:08):
but you can give your brain an opportunity to perceive
it to be going slower. You can almost trick yourself
into believing that that week was actually nine days instead
of seven. It'll surely feel like that. And we can't
(06:28):
just take a vacation for two days and come back
later and say, oh, we're good now. You have to
be intentional. That's one of my favorite words, is I've
gotten older. Intentional, intentionality. It applies to so many different situations,
but in this one, you have to be We have
(06:49):
to be intentional about what we're doing with our lives
and with time. So here's what I do, and then
I'll give some fixes, some updates, some recommendations, some suggestions,
and see if those help you and let me know.
(07:11):
We have an email now still Standing Strong Podcast at
gmail dot com. I did create an Instagram page still
Standing Strong Podcast. We're also live on Twitter or ex.
Had to do a lot of abbreviations in the handle,
but it's the still Standing Strong podcast without the vowels.
Let me know, we know if these help, if you
(07:33):
have any suggestions. But we don't have to start huge,
massive event. We have to start small, in a palatable,
digestible Here, I'm going to make up a word eatable way.
Maybe you have a lot of meetings, Maybe you have
(07:53):
a lot of conversations with your spouse or your friends
or your family. Make sure that you are I should
probably say this is number one. Be unbelievably present for
at least one conversation, one meeting in one day. Don't
just keep yourself an autopilot. Be intentional. That's what I do.
(08:15):
I also will compliment it the cherry on top of
the whipped cream with Do something different in your day,
in your week, in your month. Do something that is spontaneous,
or as spontaneous as it can get. So, for example,
(08:36):
you work five days a week, nine to five. Maybe Saturday,
wake up, go get a go get my favorite thing.
Go get a slurpee from a favorite gas station. If
you don't like slurpees and it's freezing cold over there,
go get a hot chocolate from a gas station. I
don't know if I've never gotten that before, but those
(08:56):
might be good. But it's different. It's an event in
life that is new. Or if you haven't gone to
see a movie lately, go to the movie theater. Or
if you don't want to spend money, go to the park,
go for a bike ride, go for a walk. Do
something different, and I can promise you your life will slow
(09:17):
down just a bit for that week. And if you
start doing those things. Almost build a routine within a routine,
but the routine is being unroutine, being spontaneous. Building a
routine of spontaneity, your life will begin to slow down
in all the right ways. And you have control over this.
Because again, if you want your week to fly by,
(09:38):
your job is stressful, that's going to be a whole
nother episode. Or you are wanting to get through a
very painful event in a week, or there's something you're
not looking forward to. Yeah, let the routine fly. But
we only get one chance to live our lives. Let's
make sure we take advantage the time we have here,
(10:01):
and we don't want to fly through it. Another good
example is say say no to something that drains you.
If there's an event that your friends invite you to,
if there is an event that your family invites you to,
or if there is just something that you have on
the docket that you're not looking forward to, say no.
Break the routine. That doesn't mean say no to everything.
(10:23):
By God, you want to make sure you're getting out
there and living your life, but break the routine. Or
when someone asks what do you want to do for
the day, take thirty seconds and pause and think about
it and dwell, what does this make sense for my day?
Here's an example of my with my favorite drink. I
love analogies. You'll get a lot of them on this podcast.
(10:44):
I like coffee. I love coffee. I blame my wife,
but I actually taste your coffee before chugging it. Of course,
there is a practicality to drinking coffee. Those of us
like creamer or sugar in or coffee. There's more to taste.
(11:04):
But take time to taste the coffee before the practicality
of the caffeine kicks in. Use that analogy in many
other things. If you're getting a milkshake, if you are
going on a walk, if you're going to work, do
something different, break the darn routine. Do something that adds
more time to your your brain's perception of the day
(11:27):
in the week. What do you think about that? Let
me know, let me know how that goes. But if
you have any suggestions for me and for the folks
of the world, let me know. Let's talk about them.
(11:48):
But you know what, life moves fast, a lot of times,
far too fast. It's okay to step out of the blur,
even just for a moment. You can always get back
in the blur as they say. I'm sure someone says
that I just did. But life only gives you one
(12:10):
chance do things that you will be proud of or
you would regret not doing in your life. And here's
a reflection question. We're going to have one of these
per episode. Then we'll get some positivity, and then we'll
call it a day for everyone out there, where in
your life, could you hit pause, even for five minutes
(12:31):
and give yourself space to breathe remember that deep breath
from the prior episode. We want to make sure we're
doing that all right. Thanks for joining again. Hit me
with those answers on social media Instagram, Twitter, x whatever
(12:55):
in God's green earth it's called these days. Send me
an email. Let's take it back a few years and
give me some emails. But here's some positivity. You are
in control of this. There are so many things within
life that we are not in control of. You are
in one hundred percent control of how intentional you want
(13:16):
to be with your life. With the time, yeah, you
can't do much about the time itself, but you can
give your brain the perception that things are slowing down,
which adds to happiness. It will, and it's okay. If
you're older or younger and you're just realizing this, that's okay.
There's never a time that's too late to begin. But
(13:41):
we can do this, all of us can. This is
just like anything else. If you want to get to
the gym, start with signing up, start with looking into it.
Walk into the gym, get a feel if you want
to go, buy some new shoes, get in the car,
start her up. Takes the first up to make a change,
(14:03):
but if you don't make that first step, it does
not happen. But thanks again for tuning in to the
Still Standing Strong podcast. I appreciate your time. I hope
that you appreciate mine. And remember we're still Standing Strong.
Take care,
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