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July 8, 2025 • 26 mins

📦 Ever had your lunch stolen by a baboon mid-safari? We have. And it taught us everything we need to know about stress.


In this wild and wise episode, Rusty and Erica take you from Tanzania’s Ngorongoro Crater to your own nervous system, showing you how to convert stress—rather than collapse under it. With laughter, story, and science, you’ll learn how to turn pressure into power, anxiety into action, and static into sacred signal.


đź§  Highlights:


  • Real talk on cortisol, chaos, and midlife mental rewiring
  • A Stress Conversion Kit (breathwork, reframes, body resets, and joy cues)
  • How to stress-proof your environment with tiny, sustainable shifts
  • Why celebrating your small wins might just save your sanity
  • And yes… a baboon theology moment you won’t forget


🎧 If you've ever felt maxed out, melted down, or just plain crispy around the edges—this episode’s your exhale.


You’re not weak for feeling stress. You’re wired for it. And now, you’ve got tools to transform it.


Tune in and let’s turn tension into triumph.


#ConvertYourStress #LatitudeAdjustment #AgingHeroes #MindsetMatters #StressToStrength

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Transcript

Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Imagine this. You're sitting in the back of a
safari truck crater. Cliffs rise around you like the
ribs of the ancient gods. In the distance, a lioness
sprawls under a lazy sun, looking like she owns the entire
continent. And maybe she does.

(00:20):
You got a lunch box in your lap,the kind with a hard boiled egg
and apple and a sandwich wrappedin suspicious cling wrap.
Then, just as you're about to take a bite, a baboon, yes, a
baboon, sprints across the grasslands like a linebacker on

(00:40):
espresso, launches into the trucks, snatches your lunch, and
disappears into the tall grass, booting in triumph.
Welcome to the Ngora Ngora Crater Amigos, home to hippos,
wildebeest, flamingos, and apparently professional lunch
thieves. But here's the wild part.

(01:02):
What happened next wasn't panic.It was laughter.
Shared laughter, The kind that converts a moment of chaos into
a story you'll tell for the restof your life.
Welcome to The Latitude Adjustment, the podcast where
aging isn't a slow fade, it's a bold freaking encore.
Join Rusty and Erica, 2 Rebel hearted guides with a suitcase

(01:23):
full of stories, a camera, a compass, and 0 tolerance for
boring self help. They're not here to fix you,
they're here to remind you you were never broken.
So whether you're craving clarity, connection, or just a
passport stamp for your next chapter, you've docked at the
right port. Grab your sun hat, loosen your
grip on the grind, and get readyto chart a new course.

(01:45):
Mind, body and soul. This is the latitude adjustment.
Hey everybody, welcome back to the Latitude Adjustment.
Today's episode is brought to you by the letters COR&T.
I'm talking about cortisol, baby, that stress hormone that

(02:07):
turns us into tense, grumpy coconuts when left unchecked.
Maybe sometimes I do feel like aa grumpy coconut.
I think yesterday your grumpy coconut fell on my head.
Yep, but also the same hormone that gets you out of bed when
the alarm hits, helps you hit the brakes when a toddler runs

(02:28):
into the street, and apparently helps you dodge baboons on
safari. Stress isn't the enemy, it's the
invitation. The question isn't if you feel
it, it's what you'll do with it.That day in the crater, we saw
it all. From A-Z.
Wildebeest in migration, Elephants rolling in the mud,

(02:51):
Flamingos standing like 1 leggeddreams.
They were beautiful. But it wasn't the grandeur that
stuck with me. It was the reminder that
wildness and stillness live sideby side.
Oh. Exactly that baboon moment.
It could have wrecked the whole vibe that day, but it didn't

(03:12):
because we knew something vital.You can feel the stress, but you
don't have to live in it. You can convert it.
You can alchemize it. That baboon was the Yogi Bear of
the park. True.
It's very true. And that's what this episode's
all about. How to take the static in your
chest, the buzz behind your eyes, the heaviness in your

(03:35):
bones. And those bones can be heavy,
heavy. And turn it into fuel, not fire.
Stress can be sacred. It signals, it protects.
But it also accumulates, especially in the second-half of
life when the losses stack up and the expectations don't back

(03:56):
down. You want to know who wasn't
stressed? The Maasai we saw that day.
Tell us more. The Maasai are a semi nomadic
herding tribe who live like theyhave for 1000 years on the day
we visited the crater, you couldsee a Maasai tribe seated in the
distance, their blue and red Plaid robes glowing like embers

(04:19):
in the mist calm as clouds, the.Colors were amazing.
Lions give them space. Do you know why?
Because they walk with presents,with rhythm, with deep, embodied
awareness. You don't survive that long in
Lion Country by being frantic. You survive by moving like you

(04:44):
belong. Stress isn't something they
eliminate, it's something they honor and then transmute.
We can learn a thing or two. Let's break it down, everybody.
Chronic stress isn't just a buzzword.
It rewires your brain, shortens your fuse, and makes your immune
system pack its bags. But the good news?

(05:05):
You can rewire it back. Have you ever heard of post
traumatic growth? I've heard of post traumatic
stress. Well, this is the potential flip
side. It's real.
Your brain is a jungle, constantly pruning, rewilding
and adapting. I like rewilding.
Yeah, the difference between surviving and thriving is what

(05:29):
you do. Attention.
Good stuff. And here's the jungle gospel.
What fires together wires together.
Every time you feel stress, you tell yourself this is too much.
Then guess what? Your brain learns?
Stress equals shut down. What fires together, wires
together. But if you start saying this is

(05:50):
energy, this is information, right?
This is calling me to act. Then suddenly you're not just
enduring, you're evolving. Let me tell you something else
that happened in that crater. We were headed out, was late
afternoon light casting that beautiful Instagram glow, and
the safari truck stalled, just kaput, middle of nowhere, lions

(06:13):
maybe 30 yards back, no signal. Our driver muttered something
that definitely wasn't in the tour brochure.
So in that moment, just a littleflickering of the chest, Titan
brain jumped straight to worst case scenarios.
MMM stranded eaten. Viral TikTok story titled aging

(06:34):
heroes become lion snacks. You know those things.
But then something amazing happened.
I looked at Erica and she was laughing, not forced, not
panicked, just honest soul deep laughter.
Because the truth hit me. We are here.
We're alive. We're going to be eaten.
But we'll be delicious, you know?

(06:56):
We're in a moment that matters. I chose to laugh, not because I
wasn't scared, but because I knew fear didn't get to drive.
And not 2 minutes later, the engine coughed back to life.
But we had already converted themoment from stress to story,
from tension to truth. Let's recap what we've talked

(07:17):
about so far, Rusty. Today we rode through crater
floor philosophy, baboon theology, and Maasai presence.
We reminded you that stress is not a failure.
It's a signal. And the sacred task is not to
erase it, to use it, to shift it, to convert it.

(07:38):
Coming up next, we're giving youtools, rituals and real talk,
not to avoid stress, but to dance with it like a barefoot
Jaguar under the stars. That's segment 2, the stress
Conversion kit. Bring your banana peels and your
inner baboons. It's time to turn pressure into

(08:01):
power. All right, engine heroes.
You stared down the baboons, survived the stalled engine and
watch the lions sunbathe like they own the place.

(08:23):
It's time to talk tools. Welcome to the Kit Moon.
This is where we show you how toMacGyver your mind.
You don't need a psychology degree or a box of incense to
manage stress. What you need is rhythm,
intention, and maybe even a goodplaylist.
Because stress ain't leaving. It's baked into the batter.

(08:46):
But how you stir it, that's where the magic is.
Let's. Start with the truth bomb.
Stress is just your body trying to protect you.
It floods you with cortisol and adrenaline so you can run, fight
or freeze. Yeah, great if a Jaguar jumps
out. Less helpful when your inbox is
full or your mother-in-law has opinions about your chicken

(09:09):
salad. The problem isn't stress.
The problem is unconverted stress.
That's right. That's when your body keeps
sounding the alarm, but you never let it finish the story.
So your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to
finish the damn story, turn the stress signal into movement, and

(09:29):
release it into insight. So here's your press conversion
kit. Here's what we keep in our own
jungle, tested by Boon Approved kit #1 Breathe like you mean it.
We're not talking inhale for five while thinking about your
taxes. We're talking ocean breath.

(09:51):
Deep low belly, expanding breaththat tells your nervous system,
hey, we're not dying, we're justlate for a dentist appointment.
Try this right now. Inhale.
Slow, slowly through your nose for four counts.
Hold for four. Exhale through your mouth like
you're fogging up a mirror for six counts.

(10:13):
Do that three times and tell me your shoulders don't drop like
coconuts from a tired tree. Shake the static animals
literally shake after a threat. Watch a dog after a vet visit.
Oh. Our dogs definitely do that.
Humans, we just Stew. So stand up, shake your arms,
your legs, your hips, put on a dumb song and move like you got

(10:38):
ants in. You're so wrong.
That's right, do it like nobody's watching.
Laughter and shaking resets yourvagus nerve.
No, that's not a cruise line, it's your built in chill switch.
The two-minute reframe. Write this down.
Write down what happened, what Imade it mean, and what I can do.

(10:58):
Simple, but not easy. Stress is often the story we
tell ourselves. Change the story and you change
the chemistry. So here's an example.
My partner snapped at me. Means I'm a failure.
That's the bad story. Here's the reframe.
My partner's probably stressed. I'll ask how they're doing.
I'm still worthy of kindness. That's the story that heals.

(11:21):
Right, the joy cue. What's one small thing that
reliably makes you smile? A smell?
A song flavor. For Erica, it's the first sip of
hot Chai. For me, it's hearing seagulls
argue. Keep that joy cue handy.
Stress shrinks your perspective,joy expands it.

(11:45):
And when you train your brain tospot small joys, it rewires the
whole jungle. Right on.
So let's do this week's Aging Heroes Challenge.
Convert 1 Stressor. I love it.
Pick one thing that's stressing you out right now, big or small,

(12:09):
then walk it through the conversion process.
Here we go, number one, name it,get specific.
Not everything sucks, but I'm overwhelmed by work emails #2
you're going to feel it. Give it 90 seconds, breathe,
move, let it rise without editing.

(12:29):
Then third frame it. You're going to ask, is this a
threat or a request for attention and #4 act on it.
Move that energy, respond, reframe, reach out, or even.
Laugh. Bonus points if you tell a
friend about your conversion story.
Hey, Rusty, do you want to hear my conversion story?

(12:51):
Damn straight. We're building a movement here,
and shared stress becomes sacredwhen it's spoken.
And if all else fails, go change.
It's a metaphorical baboon. Life's going to throw surprises.
Might as well get some steps in while you're at it.
Quick recap. We packed your stress kit, done
breath work, took shake breaks, created narrative reframes,

(13:16):
attended to joy cues, and given you a weekly challenge to help
you walk it like you talk it. You've got everything you need
to turn stress into fuel. Not because stress is fun, but
because you're not here to wilt,you're here to rise.
Coming up next, in segment 3, we're bringing this out of the

(13:36):
jungle and into your living room.
How to turn your home, your habits, and your relationships
into stress converting ecosystems.
That's right, we're talking rituals, rhythms, and the tiny
tweaks that make Big Magic, so don't miss it.

(14:03):
All right, heroes. So far you've laughed with
baboons, packed your stress conversion kit, and reframed
chaos into clarity. But now it's time to bring it
home, Literally, Because your environment can either feed your
stress or help you alchemize it.That's right.
You can't always control what happens out there in the jungle,

(14:24):
emails, in laws, weather, news cycles.
But you can shape what you come home to.
You can create a refuge, a rhythm, and a vibe that helps
your nervous system know you're safe now.
Let's get something straight. Stress doesn't come from big
life events. It seeps in through the clutter,

(14:48):
the noise. You know those constant
notifications, right? The light that's too harsh or
the schedule that never seems tobreathe.
Yeah, big stressors demand your attention.
The little ones just kind of chip way at your sanity.
Very true. So today's segment is all about
stress proofing your personal habitat, turning your home, your

(15:12):
routines, and even your relationships into the kind of
soil where peace grows. Now you're talking my language,
personal habitat, and no, I loveto refresh a space.
This is true. So let's start with your space.
My favorite place. I'm not talking about Pinterest
perfection here, I'm talking alignment.

(15:34):
Does your space feel like it matches the energy you want to
have? We once had a guest room we
nicknamed the Stress Cave. I remember that Room of Doom.
Piles of unfolded laundry. Probably mine.
Unopened mail and that weird tension of things we were

(15:56):
ignoring and every time we walked past it our shoulders
climbed up an inch. Absolute truth.
So we did what we like to call aroom rewilding.
Nothing fancy, but cleared out the guilt piles and we added
some plants, some soft light, a chair we actually liked, and the

(16:18):
space ultimately became a place where we loved to go and read
and stretch, nap and dream. That space helped to convert
stress. Before it was just where we
stored it. Your outer environment impacts
your inner one. You don't need a remodel.
No. Just a reset, a drawer, a corner

(16:40):
1 little altar of calm. Just a.
Quick refresh, let's talk about rhythm.
Routine is A to do list. Rhythm is a flow.
Stress builds when we move against our natural energy
cycles. That's why I stopped doing early
morning zoom calls. I am not my best self at 8:15.

(17:01):
You're not. My sentences are still warming
up but I am great around mid morning so I moved my meetings
and it was magic. Start tracking when you feel
alert, foggy, hungry, energized.Tune into that.
Then build habits around those waves and not against them.

(17:23):
You'll feel less like you're paddling upstream with a broken
oar. And don't forget breaks.
Real ones. Not scroll your phone and get
angrier breaks. Walk, breathe, stare at a tree,
talk to your dog. I love talking to my dogs.
Now let's talk relationships, because people can be piece or

(17:45):
they can be your trigger. If you live with someone or even
just talk about them a lot, create a stress protocol.
Seriously know each others signals.
Have a code word. Ours is.
Pineapple. When one of us says pineapple it
means I love you but I'm maxed out.
Please don't ask me to discuss dinner or taxes or the meaning

(18:10):
of life. Just until I've had a 5 minute
break and maybe a snack. We also do a Sunday download.
That's right. 10 minutes to ask what's coming up this week, what
do we need support with and where can we tag in for each
other? It's the perfect touch base and
also time to just connect with each other.

(18:31):
Yeah, that one rhythm keeps so much drama off our plates.
It doesn't prevent stress, but it converts it into partnership.
Here's something powerful. How you start and end your day
frames how your body holds stress.
If your day starts with a blaring alarm and doom

(18:51):
scrolling, you know doom scrolling, Yes.
Yeah. You're training your brain to
panic before coffee if it ends with Netflix until your eyes
burn and falling asleep with stress still stuck in your neck.
Erica. Well, your nervous system never
lands. Try this one sacred start and

(19:14):
one soft landing. Morning might mean 5 minutes of
breathing, stretching and experiencing gratitude.
Night might be a bath, a hot tea, or writing down what you're
letting go of. We love to light a candle.
Sometimes we do it at night, sometimes we do it in the

(19:36):
morning. Could be at any point in time,
truly throughout the day. What that says to us is that
we're home, we're safe, we are resetting.
We survived any of those things.That's what matters.
A few years ago I was burning out hard from work stress.

(19:56):
I had a creative block. My fuse was the size of a guitar
string. I noticed you started snapping
at the toaster. True story.
So I picked a landing pad, a spot outside and I sat there for
10 minutes. No phone, just sky.
Just breath. Some days I repeated A mantra,
some days I solved a problem, and some days I just let my body

(20:20):
land. Right, that changed everything.
It became a sacred space and that daily rhythm.
It was like patching a leak in your nervous system.
We all need a landing pad, even if it's just metaphorical.
A place, a practice, a pause. Time for a recap.
Today we rewired Home base. We showed you that stress isn't

(20:44):
just mental, it's environmental.That your space, your rhythms,
and your people can help you heal.
You don't need a new life. You need a new approach.
One that honors your energy, your humanity, and your real
time needs. Coming up next, it's time to
celebrate because converting stress isn't just about coping,

(21:10):
it's about remembering that you're already doing better than
you think. That's segment 4, the victory
signal. Grab a drink, find a hammer, and
get ready to toast your tiny wins.
Cheers. All right, heroes, take a long

(21:41):
breath. You've earned it.
This whole episode we've been moving through the jungle with
open eyes and open hearts, learning not just how to manage
stress, but how to convert. It That's right, we didn't avoid
it. We danced with it.
We shook it out, named it, reframed it, and turned it into

(22:02):
a story with laughter, rhythm, and even ritual.
And now it's time to mark that transformation.
Because celebration isn't dessert, It's fuel.
Welcome to your victory signal, that moment where we honor your
deep, gritty, soul glowing thingyou just did.
You didn't none out. You stayed with it.

(22:24):
You met the pressure and you alchemized it.
Let's set the record straight. You don't have to wait until the
stress is over to celebrate. You celebrate because you're
still here, you're still curious, and you're still
adjusting your latitude. Most people think victory is
loud, but you know better. Sometimes it's just noticing

(22:47):
that you didn't yell back, that you took a breath instead of a
swipe, that you opened a window when you could have slammed a
door. That's the work, that's the
flex. Those moments matter more than
you think. Let me tell you about one of our
coaching clients. We'll call her Joy.

(23:07):
She was feeling overwhelmed, stress, eating, not sleeping.
Midlife transitions were knocking hard.
Sounds like we could probably call her Erica.
We asked her to try the landing pad practice. 10 minutes of
stillness. Same time every day, right?
No phone, no problem solving, just space.

(23:28):
She texted me later and said I sat, I didn't feel peaceful, but
I didn't get up and I didn't numb out, so that's a win.
That's the victory signal, right?
Not fireworks, not gold medals. Just quiet courage practiced
daily. So let's recap again on what we
just talked about. We named victory not as

(23:51):
something you achieve once you're fixed, but something that
you notice while you're still inthe thick of it.
We gave you permission to toast the process.
You raise your glass to effort, to breath, to beginning again.
And we reminded you that stress isn't the villain, it's the raw
material. The real story is who you become

(24:14):
when you work with it. Should we get matching T-shirts
that say ask me about my inverted cortisol?
Only if mine has a baboon swinging from a hammock on it
and add in may snap before coffee but recovers like a
legend. Basically the aging heroes
lifestyle right there. On a T-shirt, this episode was 1

(24:38):
long exhale. We opened up with a baboon in a
safari truck, reminding us that stress shows up loud, messy, and
often hilarious. Then we built your stress
conversion kit, breath work, body movement reframes and joy
cues, plus a weekly challenge toturn your biggest tension into

(25:00):
insight. Then we brought it home,
literally. We showed you how your space,
your rhythms and your relationships can be designed to
support peace instead of provokepanic.
And finally, we celebrated. We honored the alchemy, the
sacred moment you realize you'renot just surviving, you're

(25:20):
transforming. And friends, that's the kind of
victory that ripples through your home, through your
community, through your body. You're not behind, you are
blooming. If this episode hit your heart,
it spoke to you. Share it.
Text a friend, tag us, and go follow us on Instagram and

(25:40):
Facebook at Aging Heroes. You can also find our full tribe
at www.agingheroes.com. Coming up next week, episode 12,
Develop insight. We're diving deep into the
wisdom beneath the waves, the kind that shows up when you stop
performing and start listening. We'll be exploring intuition,

(26:06):
clarity, and the quiet. No, that only comes from sitting
with truth long enough to let itunfold.
O grab your journal and your jungle mug.
Insight is on the horizon. See you next week.
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