September 2, 2025 • 68 mins
In this engaging conversation, Host Rick Hanson and Tonja Waring explore their shared hometown of Ree Heights, South Dakota, reminiscing about their childhood experiences and the values instilled in them. They discuss the essence of a good life, emphasizing family, relationships, and the importance of authenticity.
The conversation shifts to their travel experiences, highlighting the cultural lessons learned and personal growth achieved through challenges. Tonja shares her journey of self-discovery, the impact of kindness, and the ripple effect of making a difference in others' lives.
The discussion culminates in the importance of finding joy and purpose in life, encouraging listeners to embrace their unique paths.
Please rate and review this podcast wherever fine podcasts are downloaded.
The Don't Die Rusty Podcast is recorded with Riverside.fm. Riverside is leading the charge in technology and convenience in terms of remote podcasting. You can help support the Don't Die Rusty Podcast by Clicking Here to sign up.
Takeaways
- The good life is defined by family and relationships.
- Traveling opens up new perspectives and cultural understanding.
- Authenticity is key to personal fulfillment.
- Challenges can lead to significant personal growth.
- Kindness has a ripple effect on the community.
- Embracing one's unique journey is essential.
- Joy and purpose are vital for a fulfilling life.
- Listening to one's heart can guide important life decisions.
- The importance of community and connection in small towns.
- Life experiences shape our understanding of the world.
You can find Don’t Die Rusty on all Social Media platforms:
Instagram: @dontdierusty
Facebook: Don’t Die Rusty
TikTok: Don't Die Rusty
You can find The Rick's at:
Rick Hanson
Instagram: @rickhanson24
Facebook: Rick Hanson
Ricky Brule
Instagram: @ricky.brule80
Facebook: Ricky W Brule
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:01):
Well, hello, Don't Die Rusty Nation.
Tonight, I have a guest, Tanya Waring, and I have to tell you that she is the first personthat I have interviewed or had a conversation with from my hometown, Rehite, South Dakota.
That is amazing.
(00:24):
That's awesome.
I know we've known each other a long time, right?
Well, we have known each other a long time and it's funny that, you know, it's funny how,you know, I reached out to you and on social media and we started talking a little bit and
then I had to remind you of a few things in high school that was kind of funny.
(00:51):
That was funny.
I totally forgot about that.
Well, for the audience here, when I was a freshman, well, I was an eighth grader going tobecome a freshman.
in those days, there was like an initiation.
And last day of school, you're trying to scare the new freshmen and people are justrunning around town.
(01:15):
It's the end of the year.
And Tanya here and Janet Ryman.
drove me, I was sitting in middle of them and I'm an eighth grader and they're a juniorand a senior and I feel like I am something because I'm riding around with two high school
girls already.
You were something, Rick.
(01:36):
You were something and you are something.
And yeah, we have all of what, 200 kids in the whole high school, right?
Janet was probably heading off to college and here you were, eighth grade going intofreshman year and we took pity on you.
Didn't want you to get initiated by those meanies.
(01:57):
Well, I know you certainly helped me out there and I certainly appreciate it, but it waslike, certain, it's one of those things I'll never ever forget.
Cause it was like, how do you know, it's kind of like life.
I've been places where I don't know how I end up in the middle of where I am, but I endedup there and it all ended up good.
(02:20):
Yeah.
Well, so after you and I talked, I called Jan and I said, do you remember that?
And she goes, no, I don't really remember that.
But no wonder Rick likes me so much.
That's right.
No, I don't know.
It's one of those memories you will never forget.
(02:42):
you know, and it's cool because like I said, you're the first person from Rehites thatI've had a conversation with and it's amazing how when you leave a little town and you go
different directions, but you still have those roots.
Yes, yes.
(03:04):
And you know, I was someone, I never wanted to leave Rehide, South Dakota.
I envisioned that I would marry a rancher, have children, you know, do some farming stuff,have a garden, take care of my kids, maybe do a couple of cattle drives.
And my life just went a completely different direction.
(03:27):
And I still...
My kids will laugh because if someone asks me something about myself, I always start with,I grew up on a cattle ranch in Rehite, South Dakota.
I went to a two room country school.
I rode my horse to school some days.
And you know, going to Rehites was big town because I grew up 15 miles from Rehites and Igot to go into town and play softball.
(03:57):
and go to Iverson's Tavern and get a soda pop and go maybe over to the grocery store.
And that was the city for me.
I don't know what it was for you, but that was the city for me.
And I remember you from the time we were little kids.
Well, you know, it was and it was fun because, know, the thing about Re-Hites too, you'dmentioned softball, which is funny because it didn't matter what age you were, boy or
(04:31):
girl, as long as you had to have everybody play or you didn't have, you didn't get to.
Yeah, everybody had to show up, right, to make a team.
And one of the things I love about how we grew up, Rick, is there was such an opportunityto participate.
(04:53):
You know, the same size basketball team got filled with 50 kids from a class as 500 kidsin some of those bigger towns.
And we had a lot of opportunities in grade school that people didn't get till maybe theywere juniors and seniors in high school.
Yes.
And that is, that is the cool thing about growing up in a little town or in a little areais, is that.
(05:22):
And also, you know, it was funny.
It's before cell phones, of course.
And it's even with cell phones these days and landlines those days, mom and dad would havestill found out quicker that you did something wrong in town because everybody kind of
(05:42):
It's funny how they say it takes a village, in, you know, I'm just talking about Re-Ice,maybe even Miller.
People would have said, do you know what those kids were doing?
You know, if you were causing trouble and it's interesting these days, like, and it wasjust so fun.
I look back at times, don't, Bob the Geist and other people, we just had fun.
(06:12):
Yup.
mom and dad would play, I mean, my dad would play volleyball.
We'd go play outside.
We'd go do something or whatever, you know, it was just one of those fun times or going,you know, high more to old Suttlers day or whatever you did, you know, everybody, it was
just fun that we got to do that stuff.
But you're right.
(06:33):
It's funny because I was talking to somebody, oh it might've been a couple of months ago.
And I said, when we went to here into the fair,
Going to McDonald's was a big thing.
Life was eating out.
Yep, yep, that was a big deal.
Well, I have, uh what you're talking about reminds me of it takes a village to raise achild.
(06:59):
And everybody in that town had permission to reprimand a kid if they were doing the wrongthing and nobody thought anything about it.
And if someone else didn't, someone else was going to.
I have a story.
I was in Dallas, Texas and I'm eating at a Vietnamese restaurant.
and I'm hearing this guy talking about all these different places that sound familiar likeSouth Dakota.
(07:25):
And I couldn't help myself.
I'm like, hey, are you from South Dakota?
He goes, no, I'm from Minnesota.
And I thought, okay, well, he just shut down the conversation.
No big deal, didn't really bother me.
I just thought, okay, well, he wasn't that friendly.
And then I get ready to leave and he goes, hey, he goes, I.
(07:45):
family that comes from South Dakota from a small town you've never heard of it." And Isaid, really?
What's the town?
And he goes, Rehide, South Dakota.
And I said, oh my gosh, we're probably related.
And the person I was with just about fell off their chair because he knew how smallRehide, South Dakota was.
And if I, if he hadn't been there, he wouldn't have believed that this guy and I weretalking about all the different families that we knew and everything else.
(08:15):
And the whole story about the six points of separation, uh you know, that's alive and wellin South Dakota.
South Dakota is a small state.
And typically if someone is from the state, it doesn't take long until you have someone incommon that you know.
And that you just don't find, you know, with other people and how we got to grow up andwhat a true blessing.
(08:44):
that was for anybody who grew up in that area.
Definitely because traveling or going anywhere, when I say Rehite, South Dakota, it isamazing how many people know someone from Rehite, South Dakota, you would, us growing up,
(09:07):
we would have never thought of that, but it just keeps on, it's a big.
I guess it's a big circle that you never realize that stuff.
And do you know this person or do you know that person?
Yeah, I do, you know, or it's so fun.
I've been places and they, well, I know this person and well, that's very, very cool.
(09:32):
And you can be, like you said, all over.
Here's another funny one is I went to, I lived in Australia for a year and I was overthere.
And of course,
I met some rodeoers, which was fun.
In all of the places in Western Australia, I go to this rodeo and I meet these people.
(09:59):
Of all the places they could have rodeoed in America, they rodeoed in South Dakota.
Wow!
Yeah?
And, and then it's funny how started connecting people and how it goes, you know, and,they were, and they were bronc riders.
So of course they knew the at Bowers and you know what that, you know, it's just funny howlife goes and you can go like I'm on the halfway around the world and they S they wrote in
(10:30):
the South Dakota, they wrote an S DRA, but uh
And then they were trying to get a pro card at one, they were going to, but that's besidesthe point, but it's just funny how life goes and how that happens.
Well, I was going to say, I think we really need to give the Abouwers a big round ofapplause because they really put Re-Heights on the map.
(10:52):
uh Those three brothers, Bronc Riders, World Champions, the 10 years that they just ledthe PRCA and Bronc Riding and who they are as people.
I don't know how well you know the Abouwers, but they are just an incredible family and
Number one, a lot of times if I say I'm from Reheats, people know it because of Billy,Robert, and Danny Atbauer.
(11:22):
Definitely, know, Danny was a year older than me and then they moved to Moorcroft andBilly was a senior when I was a, he would have been, he graduated with you, didn't he?
Now he, Billy and Wanda graduated a year before Janet.
Danny was in my class.
(11:43):
So Danny and I were in eighth grade together.
See, they went to the other country school.
They went to Como country school.
I went with the peasants to Cedar country school.
And then in eighth grade, Danny and I went to eighth grade together.
And then before he, we started high school is when they moved to Moorcroft.
(12:03):
But Billy stuck around and they always claimed they were from Rehide, South Dakota.
And I love that.
mean, and it makes Reheats proud too.
And that's very cool.
Cause and it's funny that you say like Cedar and Como because I went to school of coursein Reheats.
And when you tell people like, I had third, fourth and fifth grade all in one class, oneroom, you know, they go, it's just amazing how people don't realize.
(12:37):
they didn't grow up that way.
And I honestly think that it helped me or for sure it helped me because as a secondgrader, you're listening to all the classes around you or a third grader, you're listening
to all the classes around you and then you keep learning as you go.
(12:57):
it's for me, and it would have been the same down there too because everybody's in the oneroom.
Yep, well we had two rooms.
So we had kindergarten through fourth grade, I think was in one room and then fifth,sixth, seventh, eighth in another room.
And it was great.
I mean, I just had so much fun out there.
(13:20):
And you know, I think it just makes you a really good person because you can't get awaywith anything.
Nobody's hiding.
You're all there, you're all participating, not one person better than the other.
I mean, we were all just raised the same way, very similar values.
(13:41):
And none of us had that much.
So we weren't competing.
We weren't competing with each other.
We were just there to have a good time.
And I have a saying about life, and that is, I'm just here for the rodeo.
Stuff is gonna happen.
I'm just observing.
I'm just here for the rodeo.
You might think you're at the circus, but I'm here at the rodeo.
(14:03):
Anyway.
I like hearing that.
That's a good saying.
I like that one.
Because, know, for me, sometimes I get bucked off, but I do get back on again.
Yeah.
Well, I think anybody who's been successful has experienced failure.
Even if they don't see it that way, there's a resiliency.
And I really wanted to know more about why you were in Australia for a year.
(14:28):
uh You told me that and I didn't realize that, I guess, because I also spent six months inAustralia.
Well, I was actually over there on an agriculture exchange.
went, I came out here, I actually came to Black Hill State.
I played football and that's what I said.
(14:49):
That's what I said I did.
I came out here to Black Hill State to, I didn't know what I wanted to do for educationwise, but I knew I wanted to play football.
I play football, chase girls, but I didn't catch them up, but I did know how to party atthat time.
I admit that stuff, but which is interesting because in within the two years I knew that Ididn't know what I wanted to do and I wasn't going to ever go to the NFL.
(15:17):
And those are dreams that you have to realize in life.
So I went back home.
worked for, I worked for, well, it had been Ted Jennings or at the time, think it wasNoah's anyway, I worked for Dale soon and.
I saved up all my money and I got on an agriculture exchange and I went to Australia for ayear.
(15:42):
And, and it's interesting because I learned a lot and I learned a lot about myself.
And I think that was the best thing for me because you grow up because mom and dad aren'tso close.
They aren't a drive away.
You, that's a long flight.
(16:03):
over and I lived, I lived in Western Australia.
I lived in a little town called Pinjara.
So it was, it was fun, but you know, my first month there we had and that's all we did.
We never left.
And then after that being on the exchange, I, because we worked so much, then I got myweekends off and I got to go do stuff and hang out.
(16:24):
And, uh, and it was good.
I, I met, uh, I met my ex-wife over there and it was good.
But, I, and you know, Rachel and I are still friends and it's really cool.
It was just, we, it was not meant to be, we should have just been friends at the time.
So it's good.
And you know, I got to see a lot of things and I got to grow up and that's one of the bestthings I think I've, I think more kids or more humans need to learn.
(16:56):
Cause I wanted to get into your traveling, but I think more humans need to do that.
So why did you?
Uh, where were you in Australia?
Well, now I'm interested to know if it was the insurance agent, Jeff, who talked about theAustralia Agricultural Exchange.
forget his name.
(17:17):
Is that how you learned about it?
actually, actually, no, I, I, I, there was a deal in the back of like the, uh, what is it?
Uh, it wasn't the tri-state.
It was a green pages.
You remember?
And I just, I signed up and then I had to go to Sioux falls to do a, interview you first,like say, do you have anything, you know, to check you out see if you're going to be good.
(17:43):
And it ended up, mean, I, I got lucky because I,
happened to be with the, was the president of the Angus association over there in WesternAustralia.
And when I got there, they had, oh geez, the Royal show that, you know, it's kind of likethe state fair.
It's a big deal.
(18:04):
The Royal show, you know, I flew in and I had actually, it's funny now coming from anothersmall team, but you got to remember it's Angus, the Angus association, but I
It was Ankeny.
That's who I was working for is Ankeny before it became Cannon River and then Eagle Passnow, but I mean Eagle Pass, but I walked into the, I flew in, am jet-legged.
(18:31):
mean, you know, I sat in the Sydney airport for 10 hours before, you know, and then I had,then I flew to Perth and they picked me up.
And then we went right to the Royal show to the Angus association deal.
And I'm wearing an Ankeny Angus ranch uh coat when I walked in and it was like, I was astar.
(18:57):
And in Western Australia, you're walking in with that.
then they talked to me and, know, and, and I learned a little learned how to be civilized.
Cause I still ate like a uh country kid with my stakes, know, and they, it's funny how Isat there and I.
But it was a fun night and I learned a lot and I found a lot of good people and I maderules.
(19:22):
I didn't hang around with the Americans because there's a bunch of egg people over there,I mean from America and I didn't hang out with the Americans because I went to Australia
to be with the Australians.
And I picked Australia because I could have went to Europe or wherever else, but I pickedAustralia because...
(19:43):
English speaking and but it was good.
It was really good.
So that's how I got over there.
How did you get over there?
So I was gonna sign up for an agricultural program and then I decided, Shelley Hoppin wasour foreign exchange student my senior year.
Like you, I wanted to take a gap year and thought it'd be great to go to Australia.
(20:07):
So I spent most of my time in Adelaide on the coast.
uh My flight over was just a huge experience.
I'd never been on a plane before.
Lucky me, I had all of those little hot California surfer dudes going over for a bigsurfing competition.
It was the same year as the America's Cup when Australia had the America's Cup over inPerth.
(20:32):
So that was a pretty big deal.
yeah, it was just a really eye-opening experience.
Unlike you who got married over there, I was afraid to meet anybody.
uh I met a really cute guy who wanted me to extend my visa and I just wasn't willing torisk a relationship.
(20:57):
I wanted to get back to family.
So I stayed for six months.
you know, I forgot about the eating thing.
Like one side of Australia is very rogue.
All the prisoners went to Australia, right?
And the other side is British and they're very proper.
Mm-hmm.
And culturally, was just, that was an interesting dichotomy for me.
(21:22):
uh Kind of being rogue and proper at the same time, and I was neither one of those.
Well, I was with a very English family and you had T at 10 and you had T at four and itdidn't matter what you were doing.
You stopped everything for T at 10 and four.
(21:44):
And it was interesting because in Western Australia, when you went down to like, likedifferent towns had different ethnicities that were like the Italians were in other towns
and
You know, mean, it was just, it was, were predominantly Italian or wherever else.
And then that was interesting to see, but my family was T at 10 and four and it was fun.
(22:10):
It was good.
And like I said, then I met a lot of cool people and I didn't, and this is going to befunny.
It's not funny, but it's interesting because
Coming from where we came from, we accepted everybody for who they were.
(22:31):
Rehites, you may, it's funny how people in other places think about stuff, but the firstplace I ever saw anybody, first time I ever saw racism, we'll say, was in Australia.
And we were walking, we were in this little pub and an Aboriginal walked through.
(22:56):
And they said, get on your side of the bar.
it was like, the, you know, we didn't know I was actually, I was with a group of, theywere from Norway and Denmark and we were in there just having a good time.
And we just walked out because I just, that was nobody ever.
I've never been around that.
And then, and then I went to, and we were at a nightclub and I, my, one of my goodfriends, the one that rodeo'd over here, Jason Hennibrey.
(23:25):
You know, and, and well, it wasn't him.
was, it was another people anyway.
It doesn't matter the story, but we were in this nightclub and they wouldn't serve usbecause we had an Aboriginal with us.
And I'm going, I've never been, I've never seen such a thing, which was interesting to me.
It's changed now, but I mean, at the time it was just like new because I just, we justaccepted everybody for who they were.
(23:51):
That's just the way it is.
There is a lot to learn culturally and going to a different area and throughout my lifewith my travel and just different things that I've experienced.
I always said we had four religions and Rehites primarily it was Catholic, Methodist,Lutheran and Presbyterian.
There were some other things but you know I didn't even realize other philosophies existedand
(24:20):
Racism, like you say, there was a big Greek population where I lived and a lot of racismtowards Greeks.
But in South Dakota, we have our own racism towards Native Americans.
I think sometimes we just don't see it because of the water we swim in.
But travel and these experiences, the thing that I appreciated about where we grew up isI, like you, didn't have racist tendencies.
(24:50):
or judgments or those kinds of things that I think some people are naturally born into.
We got to kind of gloss over that in our very homogenous Rehite, South Dakota, Miller,South Dakota, Highmore.
uh We just didn't have those experiences.
(25:12):
No, and you know, and then after I got back, I played a lot of softball and I played a lotof softballs on the reservation.
And, you know, I mean, so it's just the way it is, you know, I mean, that's, but it was,it was interesting, but I learned a lot and I learned, you know, when I flew in, it was,
it's interesting.
And I think it's all over the world.
(25:33):
doesn't matter.
It could be America or Australia or wherever, but when I flew in, I'm sitting in Sydneybefore I went and I'm sitting in.
you know, waiting on my layover and I'm talking to people and I knew more about Australiathan they did.
And you were in Adelaide and I was in Adelaide for a little bit.
(25:55):
And Sid Kidman, the largest landowner in Australia came from, from Adelaide and you know,and I was telling them some Australians a story and they said, I didn't even know that.
Which was interesting to me, but there's a lot of cool history in
in Australia and I learned a lot there, but the thing that got me still, it would get mewherever I go.
(26:20):
But growing up in South Dakota, I, I, I, I, when I, I was in, like I said, on the labor,you're watching the news and this guy in Brisbane got ate by a shark.
And I said,
water isn't the ocean.
I don't think I need to go over my knees, you know, kind of thing.
uh
(26:43):
the ocean.
Seeing the ocean for the first time when I was 21 years old was just absolute amazing.
Maybe I wasn't even 21, maybe I was more like 20, but I was like a kid in a candy shop andI still am.
I just absolutely love the water.
(27:03):
I think towards the end they had sharks.
kind of in the bay or on the, I don't know where I was in the water.
Cause I saw one and I'm like, I was on a, I was on a windsurfer and my knees startedshaking so badly that I fell into the water, right?
(27:26):
I mean, that's how, because that's just our relationship to sharks.
you know what?
Life is meant to be experienced and
I love your tagline, don't die rusty.
And your purpose really is to show people to get out there and live life and do thingsthat if your heart is calling you to do it, go for it.
(27:54):
Most of the fear that I've overcome in my life is simply by doing that thing that I'mafraid to do or worried about and realizing that it's not that big of a deal.
No, and that's why I, uh, there was the time that, uh, a couple of years ago, I really gotinterested in it because I always had this calling to do a podcast and I, I started out
(28:21):
with project Rick because I wanted to, as after my mom died, I wanted to, it kind of gaveme a reality, you know, that you don't live forever.
And I wanted to, uh, show like how people.
grow into their life and then Don't Die Rusty came in and I said, no, this is not ProjectDirk, it's Don't Die Rusty.
then my buddy, Ricky Brewley helped me get this rolling and it has taken off.
(28:49):
you you don't know how you affect people, but it hit me.
mean, that's our similarities are both our moms have passed away and
It affected me to the point where I really, I just, I probably drove myself crazy becauseI wanted to live so much.
(29:17):
You you just don't realize until it happens.
want to, like, I am stopping myself from doing something so I pulled the trigger and I,you know, wear out, don't rust out.
Yeah, yeah.
And I think it's important to realize that some people, you know, are perfectly contentstaying where they are.
(29:39):
Like my mom was so content being at home watching Perry Mason for the 45th time the sameepisode and Cool Hand Luke.
And when I say she was really content, she was really content.
I would ask her to go do things.
No, she didn't really want to.
(30:00):
And I was there when she passed away.
And her only thing when she told me that it wasn't her time to go was because she wantedto ride a horse.
Right?
And she grew up riding horses.
And then she just had this picture like when it'd be cool to ride out to the sunsettogether.
(30:21):
I want to do that with Chloe.
Well, it'd be really cool if we could have our whole family there.
But there wasn't.
you know, huge regrets for her.
Myself, after I got over the fact that I wasn't going to marry a rancher and I wasn'tgoing to be, you know, on the ranch, I ended up going to Seattle, Minneapolis, uh lived in
(30:45):
Texas.
The last two years I've traveled to 15 countries.
um I've done things I never, ever imagined would happen for me.
But those were all a calling.
Those were something that it was like, hey, that spiritual nudge, try this, do this, whatabout this?
(31:06):
And I happen to believe in big goals.
And it's not important, this is from Jim Rohn, he's a philosopher, it's not important thatwe set big goals, not so that we achieve them, but to become the person it takes to
achieve them.
And if you're someone who has this desire that you sit there going, yeah, but I can'tbecause of the money.
(31:34):
I can't because of this.
I can't because of that.
Just change that but to an and.
You know, I want to receive $100,000 a year, but I'm a single mom of three kids.
I want to receive $100,000 a year and I'm a single mom of three kids.
Your brain does something different when you switch your butts to ands.
(31:59):
And I call that getting rid of your big butt.
Well, I have to tell you, you know, I'll tell the audience here, you and I had talkedbecause you wanted to kind of know what we might talk about earlier.
And then we talked about a few other things and.
I changed those things of I think.
(32:21):
And the, you know, but and hope, you know, it's no, I will and I can, and this willhappen.
And you've changed that in today.
Because of you, I had a conversation with one of my coworkers and I said, here's the deal.
(32:42):
You have the talent to do these things, but you got to stop saying, I think I'm better atdoing your job.
You are better.
And you, you affected me in that way.
And so then it keeps on going down the road, you know, and I, I truly believe that myself.
Yeah, well we have 30 trillion cells listening to us, right?
(33:07):
Listening to how we speak.
And how we speak is a big deal.
And how we talk to ourselves, the words that we choose.
And another thing is I really believe that when God plants a desire in our heart, like youhave a desire to make a difference for people, you heard something that said, don't die
(33:31):
rusty.
Right?
And you have that desire and whatever challenges we're born into.
Look, we don't come to this world on an even playing field.
Some of us have health issues.
Some of us have financial issues.
Some of us have racial issues.
Some of us, you know, we're just born in different ways for our sole purpose.
(33:56):
But who we are, God plants
everything within us to achieve that goal, that burning desire that we have.
And that burning desire that you have, is as unique as your thumbprint.
It's different than the burning desire I have.
(34:17):
You might go after your burning desire with a whole bunch of people saying, that's crazy,why would you want to do that?
Right?
Why would you, who wants to do that, right?
But that's your unique desire.
That's why you keep your unique desire to yourself and you work with God to make thathappen.
Just knowing confidently 100 % you have everything within you to achieve that goal foryourself, to live that dream for yourself.
(34:46):
It doesn't matter if you impact one person, five people, 500 people, 5,000 people.
What matters is that you're living authentically.
Living authentically to who you are.
And that is one of the difficult things about being raised in Rehide, South Dakota.
There's kind of a cookie cutter and a standard, and you follow the cookie cutter becauseif you don't follow the cookie cutter, you got your mom, your brother, your sister, know,
(35:17):
your aunts, your uncles, the neighbor, they're all watching.
So sometimes it's even a little harder to break out of them.
And you are very right there.
I think I've, you know, I think, uh, that's why I kind of live in Spearfish because I, Ilive in my own little world.
(35:42):
And because, you know, I always thought the good thing that here's the other thing aboutgrowing up in Rehide, South Dakota is, and, and it's a different in this today and age,
but there is only three channels.
If you were lucky on TV, you know, I mean,
And one of them was PBS.
So what I'm saying is mom and dad, and then you watch what mom and dad watched that youdid.
(36:07):
The kids only time you maybe I got to watch what I wanted to watch was on Saturdaymornings, you know, with the cartoons.
And that was the only time there was cartoons on when you're a kid.
But the good thing about that is I read a lot of books.
Cause I would go to my room and read books and that got my imagination going.
(36:27):
And then that got me.
wanting to do other things in life.
And I feel lucky in that aspect and wanting to ask questions.
And I think that's the big, for me, if anybody would say who I am, I want to know aboutyou.
want to know, this is why I love the concept of the podcast is because I want to learnabout people, but I also want to get things out so people start thinking about things too.
(36:58):
And
I think it's, I look at it growing up and reading a lot of books and I still, as you see,I read a lot of books.
Yeah, so what's your favorite?
Well, that's a funny question because I, I was, I just posted, well, actually the lastepisode I said there's five, I read a deal that there's five books in five movies that
(37:27):
have affected your life.
What are they?
But my favorite book right now, and it, it will not, it hasn't left yet is the book of joyby Desmond Tutu and Dalai Lama.
Cause I think that has affected my life more than
any book that I've ever read because I liked the going back and forth and I liked thehuman touch that they had, the connection, I should say more the human connection, even
(37:55):
though they believe differently and they talk differently, I learned from both sides.
Yeah.
Now is Desmond Tutu the Episcopal um bishop from South Africa who was instrumental in theapartheid movement and then the Dalai Lama Buddhist from Tibet now living, where is he
(38:20):
living?
Anyway.
in Dharamsala.
in India?
Yeah.
And, you know, that movie is on Netflix and it's awesome to, you know, think about howmuch conflict we have between religions or between political parties uh going on in the
(38:43):
world and to see these two grand leaders, these really incredible human beings.
and to see them interact in such a joyful way.
And joy really is the highest vibration, the highest resonance.
I don't know if you're into the law of attraction.
(39:04):
Law of attraction just means that like attracts like, but law of vibration when we startlooking at that is really how can we increase our own energy in such a way that we become
that kind of light in the world.
like the Dalai Lama and Desmond Tudo.
(39:25):
And um then that's joy.
That's doing things that bring us joy, that's smiling big.
Those are acts of kindness.
Those are the things that no matter where you're born or where you live or where youtravel to, those are the essence that we should strive for in being human, in my humble
(39:49):
opinion.
Well, I agree with you there because I think too many people look at the short term um andnot the long term because joy is a long term.
I've, I try to bring joy or happiness or a smile to people every day.
(40:13):
And, and I attribute it like, I mean, I attribute it to who I am because that you, whenyou see me, you're a, you get, you get rich.
I might be a dumb ass some days or I might be, but I try to be nice to whoever.
We did an episode about judgment, and everybody judges people, but in the end, I wanna bethe person that gives everybody a fair shot, or most everybody.
(40:46):
And I wanna bring peace and joy and thought.
to this world and maybe this is the way to do it.
So Rick, I just have to say, it's not even I want to, you just are.
My memory, like if, even when you first reached out to me on social media, my memory ofRick Hansen is about a six year old boy, six or seven.
(41:19):
You were tall, right?
How tall are you?
How tall are you?
Six months.
6'1", I don't remember at that time.
Yeah, but I just remember this lanky kid, super tall, skinny, knobby knees, super knobbyknees, red hair, and a smile that took up probably three quarters of your face.
(41:44):
You just radiated joy and were happy.
You always had a smile.
You weren't loud or getting attention, but you were just that.
ray of sunshine.
And I think that's what you were born for.
I think this is what you were born for.
(42:07):
If I can compare the essence of who you were and who you are, it's just coming back to whoyou are, remembering who you are.
Well, thank you.
do.
The only difference now is uh I still have the knees, but I don't have any red hairanymore.
(42:33):
It's almost gone.
You can give anything to have that hair back.
And freckles, know, and kind of, I just have this picture and I think you were wearingblue, like the color blue behind you.
um anyway, I just want to congratulate you and say I'm really proud of you for being trueto who you are and finding your way.
(43:00):
sometimes,
what we need to do is just really stand in who we are.
We can lie to other people about who we are, but we should never lie to ourselves.
Knowing who we are and honoring who we are is one of the most precious gifts we can giveourselves.
And I really think that's what we all get to if we're blessed to live long enough.
(43:27):
Or once we get to that point, then we get to go.
do whatever we're gonna do, wherever we do it, you know?
I do, agree with you because I think, I think there was a, well, I know there was a timespan in there that I probably wasn't my authentic self.
And you try to mold into what you thought people wanted you to be.
(43:54):
But then there's a time that the mold has to break and you have to get back to who youwere.
And I think in the last 15, 20 years, I've learned.
I've learned who I should be and who I am authentically.
And like I said, what you see is what you get.
And that's just the way it is anymore.
(44:16):
I don't want to lie to myself anymore and say, this is who I can be.
just saying this is who I am.
Yes.
And then being the strongest, best, highest version of that.
Because who you were born as is more than enough.
More than enough.
(44:38):
You know, we might have had teachers tell us we should
it's interesting.
you know, or parents or someone tell us we should be something different, but, and youwanted to say something, so.
No, I was just saying that it's interesting you say that because I'm, I was actuallyworking on it it'll come out tomorrow and I'm putting a post out, but I've read something
(45:01):
today and we have to realize we're one of one.
There is no other person like us.
Yes.
Yep, we are one of one.
And I just, sometimes people don't realize that you're one of one.
(45:22):
And I got thinking about that today, because I just think about things at work and then mywalks in the morning and other things.
I was thinking, how many people don't realize that they're one of one?
That they are truly, and so be your authentic self, be the person and learn.
(45:43):
who you are.
You might have a, I have different interests than my sisters or I've had differentinterests than my dad and they're better at things than I am, but I know who I am.
Yes.
And what a great world we live in that we can be one of one, but everything's connectedtoo.
(46:07):
You know, we can't do something to someone else without doing it to ourselves.
You know, everything in the world is connected.
Everything is energy and energy is everything.
(46:28):
Yeah, so we've been talking about a little bit about too much about me probably, but whatif you just give us a little history of you because people probably will come on here and
say, well, Rick, you talked a lot about yourself with Tanya.
So let's hear something about let's hear about you.
Okay, so em I graduated with a math and computer science degree, which is pretty logicaland pretty standard and accepted.
(47:06):
Like I said, I really didn't know what I wanted to be when I grew up.
And one day I walked into a Barnes and Noble and I discovered this ancient Chinese secretcalled Feng Shui.
which is about arranging your home in such a way that it like sends a signal out to theuniverse about what you want.
(47:27):
It's a way to change your life.
And I'm really good at it.
I'm an expert at it.
And I love it.
It is just something that has been the foundation of my life.
um Even as a single mom, I made sure my kids' were arranged right.
that our house felt good.
(47:49):
I always did everything I could to put great energy into myself and into our home so thatthey'd feel supported.
And then I used it in business and I had an opportunity to work with a small pillowcompany in Minnesota and really just kind of attracted this situation to myself.
(48:13):
It was 2008, I had failed.
Well, a lot of people, I don't even think I failed.
I was a real estate broker at about 60 listings and then the real estate market crashed.
And with 32,000 other realtors, 32,000 of my other best friends, I say, I couldn't find ajob.
And I'd gone through bankruptcy, foreclosure, divorce.
(48:38):
I was going to food shops with my kids.
And I think I put out about 200 resumes.
and nobody was hiring.
It just was incredibly difficult.
And one night I was looking at classified ads.
Remember the newspapers?
We didn't have phones, we didn't have Indeed, we didn't have any of that stuff.
(48:59):
And I'm looking at these jobs and it's like none of them interest me.
They didn't feel aligned with integrity for me.
And so...
I don't know why I just stood up off the couch and I said, look, God, I want you to bringme something that's worthy of who I am.
I want to sell something that I believe in.
(49:20):
Like with my whole heart, I don't have to, I'm not bamboozling anybody.
You know, I really want something that uses my talents.
And about a week later, Frank Collin said this pillow company was looking for someone andthey needed someone just like me.
Well, that was music to my ears.
(49:42):
Then I met Mike Lindell with my pillow and the rest they say is history.
At first I wasn't going to work with him.
I just said I didn't ask for a pillow.
I don't want to work in a rundown bus barn.
This isn't, you know, this isn't what I want.
But I kept hearing a voice say, this is what you asked for.
(50:05):
This is what you asked for.
And I used Feng Shui.
I use
law of attraction, manifesting, affirmations, everything that I've learned to live and tofollow that voice.
And I became one of the top three infomercial hosts.
(50:25):
I wrote one of the most profitable newspaper ads.
I redid their website.
It increased sales by 41%.
And
I mean, it was hard work.
I worked for them for three years doing trade shows at the Minnesota State Fair, at theIowa State Fair.
I drove all over.
for the first time, wasn't home with my kids.
(50:49):
And yet, you know, I just knew that I was supposed to be there.
And, you know, that's how things work when we're willing to surrender to that burningdesire to have something.
and step into maybe the fear, listen to that higher voice, receive, receive theoverflowing.
(51:13):
How many times do we say we want something and we just kind of push it away?
So I've done that.
I've been a bestselling author.
I've had an aquarium business.
I've had a real estate company.
I've just been open to doing whatever it took because my number one priority was to be amom and to be with my kids.
(51:35):
And so that's kind of what I've been up to.
After I became an empty nester and after my mom passed away, my dad was in a really goodplace.
My kids were gone and I thought, why not travel?
So I walked 550 miles across Spain, something I'd wanted to do.
And then I went to 15 countries the last two years.
(51:57):
My last trip being an African safari.
um The last two weeks I've been head down writing another book.
and um just staying in the flow, seeing what life has to offer, seeing where I can make adifference.
(52:20):
Well, I see you making a difference.
I mean, it's fun being on social media now following stuff, but it's interesting toMichael in my pillow is I'm watching the infomercial and I said, I know that I know Tanya.
So that was funny.
You know, so many people I would get...
(52:43):
The coolest thing really was I think I was on TV as much or more than anybody else.
That infomercial played a bazillion times, right?
But yet I was never recognized.
I was only recognized by people who knew me from Riai, South Dakota.
Brad Constantine, remember Mr.
(53:03):
Constantine's son?
You probably don't.
He was like a senior when I was in ATV.
And he said he heard this infomercial went, oh my gosh, that's Tanya wearing.
He walks in and he goes, oh my gosh, that's her.
People recognize my voice, right?
I mean, it was just the wildest thing.
(53:24):
And that's why I always say ask and it is given, it's biblical.
I asked God to bring me something that was worthy of who I am.
Well, here's the funny thing.
I'd been in a couple of car accidents.
I had whiplash.
I didn't sleep well at night.
My neck hurt so bad.
went to a chiropractor probably three times a week.
And the MyPillow actually fixed my neck.
(53:49):
After a couple months, my neck started to heal.
I started to feel better.
So did I get a product that I believed in 100 %?
You bet I did.
You bet I did.
For 50 bucks, 60 day money back guarantee, 10 year warranty.
Man, I
never felt bad about twisting someone's arm to buy my pillow, because I believed in it.
(54:13):
And if it didn't work for them, man, they could do something else.
It was life-changing.
Well, and that's the thing, you have to do things that you believe in, because if youdon't believe in, you're not being your authentic self there, like we were talking
earlier.
Yes, but you know, one of the hard lessons I've gotten to, and it was last year, I'm 59now.
(54:40):
So I was 58 years old, and I think there's this Pollyanna thing that happens in ReeHeights South Dakota because my experience is that people tell the truth.
If they tell you they're going to do something, they do it.
Why?
Because everybody else is watching.
Your reputation is important.
(55:01):
That's not how the rest of the world works.
That is not how the rest of the world works, unfortunately.
And those have been hard lessons for me, just learning that, yes, I have to do what Ibelieve in, but a lot of people out there are selling a lot of stuff that is not in your
(55:23):
best interest, it's in their best interest.
And, you know, it just is.
It just is, not right or wrong.
I just had to shift and understand and trust my intuition a little better.
But the other thing is I'm not really interested so much in what other people are doing.
(55:45):
I'm interested in who I'm being.
And that's, that's very, I guess I, I see where you're coming from there.
And, and what I'm hearing from you is, uh, kind of saying to Rick, that's who you are too.
(56:07):
Like you said, I've, I've told people it's, it's funny how you say that coming from Riai,South Dakota, you tell the truth because that's what I've told everybody.
I may have a lot of money, but I, I'm, if I'm going to tell you, I'm going to do it.
I'm going to do it.
I'm telling you the truth that I'm going to do whatever I can to do it.
And this is the way it is.
(56:28):
I have no other thing but reputation.
Absolutely.
And sometimes things happen.
You know, I'm supposed to be in Nepal in two days speaking at a Nomad conference and itjust didn't work.
I was in Africa, things happened, I needed to come home.
em You know, that was hard for me because I do honor my word and I do my best andsometimes there are situations, right?
(56:58):
The other...
em
Option is to never promise anything and not do anything so you never mess up.
Integrity is just that fine line.
It's just, you know, challenging yourself, doing your best to do it, knowing thatsometimes you fail.
But the first thing to do in restoring integrity is to let that person know that you fellshort.
(57:21):
Don't hide from it.
Just say, know what?
I apologize.
I'm not going to make it.
And I would that
My full intent was to be there.
How can I best support you or what can I do to make this better?
So now I'm doing the presentation online, right?
(57:43):
It's 2.30 a.m.
in the morning that I'm doing it.
No problem, no problem.
I'll be up, I'll be ready to go.
I'll deliver the best presentation that I can, right?
Launch and adjust as my mentor Gary Barnes will say.
Well, that is, that's, that's cool.
(58:05):
Um, cause you need, we all need to learn to adjust and we all need to learn that noteverything works out in the way it goes.
But if you promise something, you're going to do it and you're doing, you're still doingit.
So that is awesome.
Yeah.
Anyway, that's all I got, Rick.
uh
it.
(58:25):
Well, you have my question is, so what brought you to walk across pain?
So I am one of the most faithful people I know.
Not religious.
I don't go to church, but I listen to the higher voice and I get visions.
(58:46):
Sometimes things just hit me and I pay attention to that.
And I was watching a movie called The Way.
And I don't know if you know this, but going through bankruptcy, foreclosure, divorce,
you know, raising three kids by yourself, it takes its toll.
(59:09):
You know, just shoving down hurt, pain, anguish.
And something told me when I saw that movie that I needed to do the Camino.
I needed to walk the Camino de Santiago.
And I just put it in my back pocket.
I knew that when I became an empty nester,
(59:32):
That was what I was going to do.
uh And I did it.
That was the first trip that I took.
Some people carry their backpacks.
Some people, you know, push them forward.
Some people just do it kind of the way it was intended where you just walk, you show upwhere you show up.
Other people will rent hotels and know exactly where they're going to stay.
(59:55):
I went by myself, pretty unprepared, 25 pound pack.
up over the Pyrenees first day, totally kicked my booty.
um But at the end of the first day, I realized that, man, mindset is everything.
Physically, I was not prepared for that, but I am one tough mutter.
(01:00:23):
and I realized that there was a lot of things that I knew I could be doing that I thoughtI couldn't.
So that was my first lesson.
The second lesson really was just unraveling this 1,100 pound hairball that I had beencarrying with me for a long time.
I'll get choked up.
(01:00:45):
But I started to climb this other hill and I thought,
my God, not another hell like the Pyrenees, know, man, I just don't know if I can do this.
And I heard that voice say, Tanya, your greatest challenges are behind you.
And I bawled that entire day walking.
(01:01:05):
And there's something really amazing that happens in hiking.
It's scientific.
It's just how we are designed as people.
Emotions are stored in the body.
But having those walking sticks just right, left, right, left, I think it's EMDR orsomething, you know, your eyes going left to right, something happened that I just
(01:01:31):
released this 1100 pound hairball that I had been carrying around.
And in 36 days, I was always provided a place to stay.
I had everything I needed.
um I met amazing people, amazing people who wanted me to continue walking with them.
(01:01:55):
But I knew I needed to walk alone because I knew my spiritual work, my emotional healing,my mental.
I wasn't, I needed that time to just release everything that I had been holding in.
So highly recommend it.
Don't worry about doing it perfectly.
It'll all work out.
(01:02:16):
Um, you know, I miss my train.
I miss my train.
had two hours to find the train in Spain, in Madrid, on the plane, in the planes, I don'tknow.
Um, and I missed it.
I just couldn't communicate.
I just couldn't find it.
And I just started bawling like a baby, like my life, like, my God, what am I going to do?
(01:02:44):
And then it-
I realized I could just buy another train ticket for 120 bucks or 60 bucks or 70 bucks.
Like the things that we make such a big deal aren't that big of a deal.
And learning to travel so low has been one of the greatest.
(01:03:06):
Gosh, educations.
I just feel like I can go anywhere, do anything, look through a clear lens.
I've seen cultures, I've seen mindsets, I've seen beliefs.
I've seen the poorest of the poor be the happiest and the wealthiest of the wealthiest, bethe most unhappy.
(01:03:29):
Not that we can be the wealthiest of the wealthiest, because we are.
We're in the top 1 % if you're born in the United States of America.
We can be happy.
We can stop complaining.
We can appreciate the little things.
We can lighten our load.
We can start letting go of all this stuff and really start looking at experiences and whatkind of difference we want to make.
(01:03:55):
In Nepal, I met a young woman, 15 years old, lost her father in an earthquake when she was15.
She's 25 now, excuse me.
But she's raised her brother and her sister and taken care of her mom since she was 15.
With no education, she taught herself English, but not formally educated in the low-castesystem.
(01:04:21):
It means that as a woman in Nepal, she gets paid half as much as anybody else, and thenbeing low-caste, sometimes she's not even allowed to go into a place.
But being able to meet her, sit down and talk to her and mentor her and figure out
What her heart's desire is, it's this, to buy goats and sheep, to give to the women in hervillage so that they have more power to feed their families.
(01:04:54):
In her village, men are typically alcoholics, highly physically, mentally, and verballyabusive, and women can't get divorced.
And this young girl,
That's her dream.
So definitely moving forward, looking at ways that I can support her and fulfilling herdream em as she moves forward.
(01:05:28):
And wherever you are, whatever you're doing, it's not that heroic.
to sit down and talk to someone and see how you can make a difference.
She stood in my hotel room before I left and said, Tanya,
You didn't just make a difference in my life.
(01:05:49):
You made a difference in my brother's life, my sister's life, and my mother's life.
And my brother's going to make a difference in a whole bunch of lives that he's going toimpact.
And my sister's going to make a difference in all the lives she's going to impact.
So by you being willing to see me, because you feel like it feels like you are the firstperson in my entire life.
(01:06:17):
who sees me, it's gonna have a ripple effect.
And I think we need to keep that in mind.
You know, whether it's don't die rusty, whether it's do random acts of kindness, each andevery one of us has that ability to make a difference for someone.
(01:06:43):
We froze.
Yeah.
Can you hear me?
Well, hello, Don't Die Rusty Nation.
Tonight, I have a guest, Tanya Waring, and I have to tell you that she is the first personthat I have interviewed or had a conversation with from my hometown, Rehite, South Dakota.
That is amazing.
(00:24):
That's awesome.
I know we've known each other a long time, right?
Well, we have known each other a long time and it's funny that, you know, it's funny how,you know, I reached out to you and on social media and we started talking a little bit and
then I had to remind you of a few things in high school that was kind of funny.
(00:51):
That was funny.
I totally forgot about that.
Well, for the audience here, when I was a freshman, well, I was an eighth grader going tobecome a freshman.
in those days, there was like an initiation.
And last day of school, you're trying to scare the new freshmen and people are justrunning around town.
(01:15):
It's the end of the year.
And Tanya here and Janet Ryman.
drove me, I was sitting in middle of them and I'm an eighth grader and they're a juniorand a senior and I feel like I am something because I'm riding around with two high school
girls already.
You were something, Rick.
(01:36):
You were something and you are something.
And yeah, we have all of what, 200 kids in the whole high school, right?
Janet was probably heading off to college and here you were, eighth grade going intofreshman year and we took pity on you.
Didn't want you to get initiated by those meanies.
(01:57):
Well, I know you certainly helped me out there and I certainly appreciate it, but it waslike, certain, it's one of those things I'll never ever forget.
Cause it was like, how do you know, it's kind of like life.
I've been places where I don't know how I end up in the middle of where I am, but I endedup there and it all ended up good.
(02:20):
Yeah.
Well, so after you and I talked, I called Jan and I said, do you remember that?
And she goes, no, I don't really remember that.
But no wonder Rick likes me so much.
That's right.
No, I don't know.
It's one of those memories you will never forget.
(02:42):
you know, and it's cool because like I said, you're the first person from Rehites thatI've had a conversation with and it's amazing how when you leave a little town and you go
different directions, but you still have those roots.
Yes, yes.
(03:04):
And you know, I was someone, I never wanted to leave Rehide, South Dakota.
I envisioned that I would marry a rancher, have children, you know, do some farming stuff,have a garden, take care of my kids, maybe do a couple of cattle drives.
And my life just went a completely different direction.
(03:27):
And I still...
My kids will laugh because if someone asks me something about myself, I always start with,I grew up on a cattle ranch in Rehite, South Dakota.
I went to a two room country school.
I rode my horse to school some days.
And you know, going to Rehites was big town because I grew up 15 miles from Rehites and Igot to go into town and play softball.
(03:57):
and go to Iverson's Tavern and get a soda pop and go maybe over to the grocery store.
And that was the city for me.
I don't know what it was for you, but that was the city for me.
And I remember you from the time we were little kids.
Well, you know, it was and it was fun because, know, the thing about Re-Hites too, you'dmentioned softball, which is funny because it didn't matter what age you were, boy or
(04:31):
girl, as long as you had to have everybody play or you didn't have, you didn't get to.
Yeah, everybody had to show up, right, to make a team.
And one of the things I love about how we grew up, Rick, is there was such an opportunityto participate.
(04:53):
You know, the same size basketball team got filled with 50 kids from a class as 500 kidsin some of those bigger towns.
And we had a lot of opportunities in grade school that people didn't get till maybe theywere juniors and seniors in high school.
Yes.
And that is, that is the cool thing about growing up in a little town or in a little areais, is that.
(05:22):
And also, you know, it was funny.
It's before cell phones, of course.
And it's even with cell phones these days and landlines those days, mom and dad would havestill found out quicker that you did something wrong in town because everybody kind of
(05:42):
It's funny how they say it takes a village, in, you know, I'm just talking about Re-Ice,maybe even Miller.
People would have said, do you know what those kids were doing?
You know, if you were causing trouble and it's interesting these days, like, and it wasjust so fun.
I look back at times, don't, Bob the Geist and other people, we just had fun.
(06:12):
Yup.
mom and dad would play, I mean, my dad would play volleyball.
We'd go play outside.
We'd go do something or whatever, you know, it was just one of those fun times or going,you know, high more to old Suttlers day or whatever you did, you know, everybody, it was
just fun that we got to do that stuff.
But you're right.
(06:33):
It's funny because I was talking to somebody, oh it might've been a couple of months ago.
And I said, when we went to here into the fair,
Going to McDonald's was a big thing.
Life was eating out.
Yep, yep, that was a big deal.
Well, I have, uh what you're talking about reminds me of it takes a village to raise achild.
(06:59):
And everybody in that town had permission to reprimand a kid if they were doing the wrongthing and nobody thought anything about it.
And if someone else didn't, someone else was going to.
I have a story.
I was in Dallas, Texas and I'm eating at a Vietnamese restaurant.
and I'm hearing this guy talking about all these different places that sound familiar likeSouth Dakota.
(07:25):
And I couldn't help myself.
I'm like, hey, are you from South Dakota?
He goes, no, I'm from Minnesota.
And I thought, okay, well, he just shut down the conversation.
No big deal, didn't really bother me.
I just thought, okay, well, he wasn't that friendly.
And then I get ready to leave and he goes, hey, he goes, I.
(07:45):
family that comes from South Dakota from a small town you've never heard of it." And Isaid, really?
What's the town?
And he goes, Rehide, South Dakota.
And I said, oh my gosh, we're probably related.
And the person I was with just about fell off their chair because he knew how smallRehide, South Dakota was.
And if I, if he hadn't been there, he wouldn't have believed that this guy and I weretalking about all the different families that we knew and everything else.
(08:15):
And the whole story about the six points of separation, uh you know, that's alive and wellin South Dakota.
South Dakota is a small state.
And typically if someone is from the state, it doesn't take long until you have someone incommon that you know.
And that you just don't find, you know, with other people and how we got to grow up andwhat a true blessing.
(08:44):
that was for anybody who grew up in that area.
Definitely because traveling or going anywhere, when I say Rehite, South Dakota, it isamazing how many people know someone from Rehite, South Dakota, you would, us growing up,
(09:07):
we would have never thought of that, but it just keeps on, it's a big.
I guess it's a big circle that you never realize that stuff.
And do you know this person or do you know that person?
Yeah, I do, you know, or it's so fun.
I've been places and they, well, I know this person and well, that's very, very cool.
(09:32):
And you can be, like you said, all over.
Here's another funny one is I went to, I lived in Australia for a year and I was overthere.
And of course,
I met some rodeoers, which was fun.
In all of the places in Western Australia, I go to this rodeo and I meet these people.
(09:59):
Of all the places they could have rodeoed in America, they rodeoed in South Dakota.
Wow!
Yeah?
And, and then it's funny how started connecting people and how it goes, you know, and,they were, and they were bronc riders.
So of course they knew the at Bowers and you know what that, you know, it's just funny howlife goes and you can go like I'm on the halfway around the world and they S they wrote in
(10:30):
the South Dakota, they wrote an S DRA, but uh
And then they were trying to get a pro card at one, they were going to, but that's besidesthe point, but it's just funny how life goes and how that happens.
Well, I was going to say, I think we really need to give the Abouwers a big round ofapplause because they really put Re-Heights on the map.
(10:52):
uh Those three brothers, Bronc Riders, World Champions, the 10 years that they just ledthe PRCA and Bronc Riding and who they are as people.
I don't know how well you know the Abouwers, but they are just an incredible family and
Number one, a lot of times if I say I'm from Reheats, people know it because of Billy,Robert, and Danny Atbauer.
(11:22):
Definitely, know, Danny was a year older than me and then they moved to Moorcroft andBilly was a senior when I was a, he would have been, he graduated with you, didn't he?
Now he, Billy and Wanda graduated a year before Janet.
Danny was in my class.
(11:43):
So Danny and I were in eighth grade together.
See, they went to the other country school.
They went to Como country school.
I went with the peasants to Cedar country school.
And then in eighth grade, Danny and I went to eighth grade together.
And then before he, we started high school is when they moved to Moorcroft.
(12:03):
But Billy stuck around and they always claimed they were from Rehide, South Dakota.
And I love that.
mean, and it makes Reheats proud too.
And that's very cool.
Cause and it's funny that you say like Cedar and Como because I went to school of coursein Reheats.
And when you tell people like, I had third, fourth and fifth grade all in one class, oneroom, you know, they go, it's just amazing how people don't realize.
(12:37):
they didn't grow up that way.
And I honestly think that it helped me or for sure it helped me because as a secondgrader, you're listening to all the classes around you or a third grader, you're listening
to all the classes around you and then you keep learning as you go.
(12:57):
it's for me, and it would have been the same down there too because everybody's in the oneroom.
Yep, well we had two rooms.
So we had kindergarten through fourth grade, I think was in one room and then fifth,sixth, seventh, eighth in another room.
And it was great.
I mean, I just had so much fun out there.
(13:20):
And you know, I think it just makes you a really good person because you can't get awaywith anything.
Nobody's hiding.
You're all there, you're all participating, not one person better than the other.
I mean, we were all just raised the same way, very similar values.
(13:41):
And none of us had that much.
So we weren't competing.
We weren't competing with each other.
We were just there to have a good time.
And I have a saying about life, and that is, I'm just here for the rodeo.
Stuff is gonna happen.
I'm just observing.
I'm just here for the rodeo.
You might think you're at the circus, but I'm here at the rodeo.
(14:03):
Anyway.
I like hearing that.
That's a good saying.
I like that one.
Because, know, for me, sometimes I get bucked off, but I do get back on again.
Yeah.
Well, I think anybody who's been successful has experienced failure.
Even if they don't see it that way, there's a resiliency.
And I really wanted to know more about why you were in Australia for a year.
(14:28):
uh You told me that and I didn't realize that, I guess, because I also spent six months inAustralia.
Well, I was actually over there on an agriculture exchange.
went, I came out here, I actually came to Black Hill State.
I played football and that's what I said.
(14:49):
That's what I said I did.
I came out here to Black Hill State to, I didn't know what I wanted to do for educationwise, but I knew I wanted to play football.
I play football, chase girls, but I didn't catch them up, but I did know how to party atthat time.
I admit that stuff, but which is interesting because in within the two years I knew that Ididn't know what I wanted to do and I wasn't going to ever go to the NFL.
(15:17):
And those are dreams that you have to realize in life.
So I went back home.
worked for, I worked for, well, it had been Ted Jennings or at the time, think it wasNoah's anyway, I worked for Dale soon and.
I saved up all my money and I got on an agriculture exchange and I went to Australia for ayear.
(15:42):
And, and it's interesting because I learned a lot and I learned a lot about myself.
And I think that was the best thing for me because you grow up because mom and dad aren'tso close.
They aren't a drive away.
You, that's a long flight.
(16:03):
over and I lived, I lived in Western Australia.
I lived in a little town called Pinjara.
So it was, it was fun, but you know, my first month there we had and that's all we did.
We never left.
And then after that being on the exchange, I, because we worked so much, then I got myweekends off and I got to go do stuff and hang out.
(16:24):
And, uh, and it was good.
I, I met, uh, I met my ex-wife over there and it was good.
But, I, and you know, Rachel and I are still friends and it's really cool.
It was just, we, it was not meant to be, we should have just been friends at the time.
So it's good.
And you know, I got to see a lot of things and I got to grow up and that's one of the bestthings I think I've, I think more kids or more humans need to learn.
(16:56):
Cause I wanted to get into your traveling, but I think more humans need to do that.
So why did you?
Uh, where were you in Australia?
Well, now I'm interested to know if it was the insurance agent, Jeff, who talked about theAustralia Agricultural Exchange.
forget his name.
(17:17):
Is that how you learned about it?
actually, actually, no, I, I, I, there was a deal in the back of like the, uh, what is it?
Uh, it wasn't the tri-state.
It was a green pages.
You remember?
And I just, I signed up and then I had to go to Sioux falls to do a, interview you first,like say, do you have anything, you know, to check you out see if you're going to be good.
(17:43):
And it ended up, mean, I, I got lucky because I,
happened to be with the, was the president of the Angus association over there in WesternAustralia.
And when I got there, they had, oh geez, the Royal show that, you know, it's kind of likethe state fair.
It's a big deal.
(18:04):
The Royal show, you know, I flew in and I had actually, it's funny now coming from anothersmall team, but you got to remember it's Angus, the Angus association, but I
It was Ankeny.
That's who I was working for is Ankeny before it became Cannon River and then Eagle Passnow, but I mean Eagle Pass, but I walked into the, I flew in, am jet-legged.
(18:31):
mean, you know, I sat in the Sydney airport for 10 hours before, you know, and then I had,then I flew to Perth and they picked me up.
And then we went right to the Royal show to the Angus association deal.
And I'm wearing an Ankeny Angus ranch uh coat when I walked in and it was like, I was astar.
(18:57):
And in Western Australia, you're walking in with that.
then they talked to me and, know, and, and I learned a little learned how to be civilized.
Cause I still ate like a uh country kid with my stakes, know, and they, it's funny how Isat there and I.
But it was a fun night and I learned a lot and I found a lot of good people and I maderules.
(19:22):
I didn't hang around with the Americans because there's a bunch of egg people over there,I mean from America and I didn't hang out with the Americans because I went to Australia
to be with the Australians.
And I picked Australia because I could have went to Europe or wherever else, but I pickedAustralia because...
(19:43):
English speaking and but it was good.
It was really good.
So that's how I got over there.
How did you get over there?
So I was gonna sign up for an agricultural program and then I decided, Shelley Hoppin wasour foreign exchange student my senior year.
Like you, I wanted to take a gap year and thought it'd be great to go to Australia.
(20:07):
So I spent most of my time in Adelaide on the coast.
uh My flight over was just a huge experience.
I'd never been on a plane before.
Lucky me, I had all of those little hot California surfer dudes going over for a bigsurfing competition.
It was the same year as the America's Cup when Australia had the America's Cup over inPerth.
(20:32):
So that was a pretty big deal.
yeah, it was just a really eye-opening experience.
Unlike you who got married over there, I was afraid to meet anybody.
uh I met a really cute guy who wanted me to extend my visa and I just wasn't willing torisk a relationship.
(20:57):
I wanted to get back to family.
So I stayed for six months.
you know, I forgot about the eating thing.
Like one side of Australia is very rogue.
All the prisoners went to Australia, right?
And the other side is British and they're very proper.
Mm-hmm.
And culturally, was just, that was an interesting dichotomy for me.
(21:22):
uh Kind of being rogue and proper at the same time, and I was neither one of those.
Well, I was with a very English family and you had T at 10 and you had T at four and itdidn't matter what you were doing.
You stopped everything for T at 10 and four.
(21:44):
And it was interesting because in Western Australia, when you went down to like, likedifferent towns had different ethnicities that were like the Italians were in other towns
and
You know, mean, it was just, it was, were predominantly Italian or wherever else.
And then that was interesting to see, but my family was T at 10 and four and it was fun.
(22:10):
It was good.
And like I said, then I met a lot of cool people and I didn't, and this is going to befunny.
It's not funny, but it's interesting because
Coming from where we came from, we accepted everybody for who they were.
(22:31):
Rehites, you may, it's funny how people in other places think about stuff, but the firstplace I ever saw anybody, first time I ever saw racism, we'll say, was in Australia.
And we were walking, we were in this little pub and an Aboriginal walked through.
(22:56):
And they said, get on your side of the bar.
it was like, the, you know, we didn't know I was actually, I was with a group of, theywere from Norway and Denmark and we were in there just having a good time.
And we just walked out because I just, that was nobody ever.
I've never been around that.
And then, and then I went to, and we were at a nightclub and I, my, one of my goodfriends, the one that rodeo'd over here, Jason Hennibrey.
(23:25):
You know, and, and well, it wasn't him.
was, it was another people anyway.
It doesn't matter the story, but we were in this nightclub and they wouldn't serve usbecause we had an Aboriginal with us.
And I'm going, I've never been, I've never seen such a thing, which was interesting to me.
It's changed now, but I mean, at the time it was just like new because I just, we justaccepted everybody for who they were.
(23:51):
That's just the way it is.
There is a lot to learn culturally and going to a different area and throughout my lifewith my travel and just different things that I've experienced.
I always said we had four religions and Rehites primarily it was Catholic, Methodist,Lutheran and Presbyterian.
There were some other things but you know I didn't even realize other philosophies existedand
(24:20):
Racism, like you say, there was a big Greek population where I lived and a lot of racismtowards Greeks.
But in South Dakota, we have our own racism towards Native Americans.
I think sometimes we just don't see it because of the water we swim in.
But travel and these experiences, the thing that I appreciated about where we grew up isI, like you, didn't have racist tendencies.
(24:50):
or judgments or those kinds of things that I think some people are naturally born into.
We got to kind of gloss over that in our very homogenous Rehite, South Dakota, Miller,South Dakota, Highmore.
uh We just didn't have those experiences.
(25:12):
No, and you know, and then after I got back, I played a lot of softball and I played a lotof softballs on the reservation.
And, you know, I mean, so it's just the way it is, you know, I mean, that's, but it was,it was interesting, but I learned a lot and I learned, you know, when I flew in, it was,
it's interesting.
And I think it's all over the world.
(25:33):
doesn't matter.
It could be America or Australia or wherever, but when I flew in, I'm sitting in Sydneybefore I went and I'm sitting in.
you know, waiting on my layover and I'm talking to people and I knew more about Australiathan they did.
And you were in Adelaide and I was in Adelaide for a little bit.
(25:55):
And Sid Kidman, the largest landowner in Australia came from, from Adelaide and you know,and I was telling them some Australians a story and they said, I didn't even know that.
Which was interesting to me, but there's a lot of cool history in
in Australia and I learned a lot there, but the thing that got me still, it would get mewherever I go.
(26:20):
But growing up in South Dakota, I, I, I, I, when I, I was in, like I said, on the labor,you're watching the news and this guy in Brisbane got ate by a shark.
And I said,
water isn't the ocean.
I don't think I need to go over my knees, you know, kind of thing.
uh
(26:43):
the ocean.
Seeing the ocean for the first time when I was 21 years old was just absolute amazing.
Maybe I wasn't even 21, maybe I was more like 20, but I was like a kid in a candy shop andI still am.
I just absolutely love the water.
(27:03):
I think towards the end they had sharks.
kind of in the bay or on the, I don't know where I was in the water.
Cause I saw one and I'm like, I was on a, I was on a windsurfer and my knees startedshaking so badly that I fell into the water, right?
(27:26):
I mean, that's how, because that's just our relationship to sharks.
you know what?
Life is meant to be experienced and
I love your tagline, don't die rusty.
And your purpose really is to show people to get out there and live life and do thingsthat if your heart is calling you to do it, go for it.
(27:54):
Most of the fear that I've overcome in my life is simply by doing that thing that I'mafraid to do or worried about and realizing that it's not that big of a deal.
No, and that's why I, uh, there was the time that, uh, a couple of years ago, I really gotinterested in it because I always had this calling to do a podcast and I, I started out
(28:21):
with project Rick because I wanted to, as after my mom died, I wanted to, it kind of gaveme a reality, you know, that you don't live forever.
And I wanted to, uh, show like how people.
grow into their life and then Don't Die Rusty came in and I said, no, this is not ProjectDirk, it's Don't Die Rusty.
then my buddy, Ricky Brewley helped me get this rolling and it has taken off.
(28:49):
you you don't know how you affect people, but it hit me.
mean, that's our similarities are both our moms have passed away and
It affected me to the point where I really, I just, I probably drove myself crazy becauseI wanted to live so much.
(29:17):
You you just don't realize until it happens.
want to, like, I am stopping myself from doing something so I pulled the trigger and I,you know, wear out, don't rust out.
Yeah, yeah.
And I think it's important to realize that some people, you know, are perfectly contentstaying where they are.
(29:39):
Like my mom was so content being at home watching Perry Mason for the 45th time the sameepisode and Cool Hand Luke.
And when I say she was really content, she was really content.
I would ask her to go do things.
No, she didn't really want to.
(30:00):
And I was there when she passed away.
And her only thing when she told me that it wasn't her time to go was because she wantedto ride a horse.
Right?
And she grew up riding horses.
And then she just had this picture like when it'd be cool to ride out to the sunsettogether.
(30:21):
I want to do that with Chloe.
Well, it'd be really cool if we could have our whole family there.
But there wasn't.
you know, huge regrets for her.
Myself, after I got over the fact that I wasn't going to marry a rancher and I wasn'tgoing to be, you know, on the ranch, I ended up going to Seattle, Minneapolis, uh lived in
(30:45):
Texas.
The last two years I've traveled to 15 countries.
um I've done things I never, ever imagined would happen for me.
But those were all a calling.
Those were something that it was like, hey, that spiritual nudge, try this, do this, whatabout this?
(31:06):
And I happen to believe in big goals.
And it's not important, this is from Jim Rohn, he's a philosopher, it's not important thatwe set big goals, not so that we achieve them, but to become the person it takes to
achieve them.
And if you're someone who has this desire that you sit there going, yeah, but I can'tbecause of the money.
(31:34):
I can't because of this.
I can't because of that.
Just change that but to an and.
You know, I want to receive $100,000 a year, but I'm a single mom of three kids.
I want to receive $100,000 a year and I'm a single mom of three kids.
Your brain does something different when you switch your butts to ands.
(31:59):
And I call that getting rid of your big butt.
Well, I have to tell you, you know, I'll tell the audience here, you and I had talkedbecause you wanted to kind of know what we might talk about earlier.
And then we talked about a few other things and.
I changed those things of I think.
(32:21):
And the, you know, but and hope, you know, it's no, I will and I can, and this willhappen.
And you've changed that in today.
Because of you, I had a conversation with one of my coworkers and I said, here's the deal.
(32:42):
You have the talent to do these things, but you got to stop saying, I think I'm better atdoing your job.
You are better.
And you, you affected me in that way.
And so then it keeps on going down the road, you know, and I, I truly believe that myself.
Yeah, well we have 30 trillion cells listening to us, right?
(33:07):
Listening to how we speak.
And how we speak is a big deal.
And how we talk to ourselves, the words that we choose.
And another thing is I really believe that when God plants a desire in our heart, like youhave a desire to make a difference for people, you heard something that said, don't die
(33:31):
rusty.
Right?
And you have that desire and whatever challenges we're born into.
Look, we don't come to this world on an even playing field.
Some of us have health issues.
Some of us have financial issues.
Some of us have racial issues.
Some of us, you know, we're just born in different ways for our sole purpose.
(33:56):
But who we are, God plants
everything within us to achieve that goal, that burning desire that we have.
And that burning desire that you have, is as unique as your thumbprint.
It's different than the burning desire I have.
(34:17):
You might go after your burning desire with a whole bunch of people saying, that's crazy,why would you want to do that?
Right?
Why would you, who wants to do that, right?
But that's your unique desire.
That's why you keep your unique desire to yourself and you work with God to make thathappen.
Just knowing confidently 100 % you have everything within you to achieve that goal foryourself, to live that dream for yourself.
(34:46):
It doesn't matter if you impact one person, five people, 500 people, 5,000 people.
What matters is that you're living authentically.
Living authentically to who you are.
And that is one of the difficult things about being raised in Rehide, South Dakota.
There's kind of a cookie cutter and a standard, and you follow the cookie cutter becauseif you don't follow the cookie cutter, you got your mom, your brother, your sister, know,
(35:17):
your aunts, your uncles, the neighbor, they're all watching.
So sometimes it's even a little harder to break out of them.
And you are very right there.
I think I've, you know, I think, uh, that's why I kind of live in Spearfish because I, Ilive in my own little world.
(35:42):
And because, you know, I always thought the good thing that here's the other thing aboutgrowing up in Rehide, South Dakota is, and, and it's a different in this today and age,
but there is only three channels.
If you were lucky on TV, you know, I mean,
And one of them was PBS.
So what I'm saying is mom and dad, and then you watch what mom and dad watched that youdid.
(36:07):
The kids only time you maybe I got to watch what I wanted to watch was on Saturdaymornings, you know, with the cartoons.
And that was the only time there was cartoons on when you're a kid.
But the good thing about that is I read a lot of books.
Cause I would go to my room and read books and that got my imagination going.
(36:27):
And then that got me.
wanting to do other things in life.
And I feel lucky in that aspect and wanting to ask questions.
And I think that's the big, for me, if anybody would say who I am, I want to know aboutyou.
want to know, this is why I love the concept of the podcast is because I want to learnabout people, but I also want to get things out so people start thinking about things too.
(36:58):
And
I think it's, I look at it growing up and reading a lot of books and I still, as you see,I read a lot of books.
Yeah, so what's your favorite?
Well, that's a funny question because I, I was, I just posted, well, actually the lastepisode I said there's five, I read a deal that there's five books in five movies that
(37:27):
have affected your life.
What are they?
But my favorite book right now, and it, it will not, it hasn't left yet is the book of joyby Desmond Tutu and Dalai Lama.
Cause I think that has affected my life more than
any book that I've ever read because I liked the going back and forth and I liked thehuman touch that they had, the connection, I should say more the human connection, even
(37:55):
though they believe differently and they talk differently, I learned from both sides.
Yeah.
Now is Desmond Tutu the Episcopal um bishop from South Africa who was instrumental in theapartheid movement and then the Dalai Lama Buddhist from Tibet now living, where is he
(38:20):
living?
Anyway.
in Dharamsala.
in India?
Yeah.
And, you know, that movie is on Netflix and it's awesome to, you know, think about howmuch conflict we have between religions or between political parties uh going on in the
(38:43):
world and to see these two grand leaders, these really incredible human beings.
and to see them interact in such a joyful way.
And joy really is the highest vibration, the highest resonance.
I don't know if you're into the law of attraction.
(39:04):
Law of attraction just means that like attracts like, but law of vibration when we startlooking at that is really how can we increase our own energy in such a way that we become
that kind of light in the world.
like the Dalai Lama and Desmond Tudo.
(39:25):
And um then that's joy.
That's doing things that bring us joy, that's smiling big.
Those are acts of kindness.
Those are the things that no matter where you're born or where you live or where youtravel to, those are the essence that we should strive for in being human, in my humble
(39:49):
opinion.
Well, I agree with you there because I think too many people look at the short term um andnot the long term because joy is a long term.
I've, I try to bring joy or happiness or a smile to people every day.
(40:13):
And, and I attribute it like, I mean, I attribute it to who I am because that you, whenyou see me, you're a, you get, you get rich.
I might be a dumb ass some days or I might be, but I try to be nice to whoever.
We did an episode about judgment, and everybody judges people, but in the end, I wanna bethe person that gives everybody a fair shot, or most everybody.
(40:46):
And I wanna bring peace and joy and thought.
to this world and maybe this is the way to do it.
So Rick, I just have to say, it's not even I want to, you just are.
My memory, like if, even when you first reached out to me on social media, my memory ofRick Hansen is about a six year old boy, six or seven.
(41:19):
You were tall, right?
How tall are you?
How tall are you?
Six months.
6'1", I don't remember at that time.
Yeah, but I just remember this lanky kid, super tall, skinny, knobby knees, super knobbyknees, red hair, and a smile that took up probably three quarters of your face.
(41:44):
You just radiated joy and were happy.
You always had a smile.
You weren't loud or getting attention, but you were just that.
ray of sunshine.
And I think that's what you were born for.
I think this is what you were born for.
(42:07):
If I can compare the essence of who you were and who you are, it's just coming back to whoyou are, remembering who you are.
Well, thank you.
do.
The only difference now is uh I still have the knees, but I don't have any red hairanymore.
(42:33):
It's almost gone.
You can give anything to have that hair back.
And freckles, know, and kind of, I just have this picture and I think you were wearingblue, like the color blue behind you.
um anyway, I just want to congratulate you and say I'm really proud of you for being trueto who you are and finding your way.
(43:00):
sometimes,
what we need to do is just really stand in who we are.
We can lie to other people about who we are, but we should never lie to ourselves.
Knowing who we are and honoring who we are is one of the most precious gifts we can giveourselves.
And I really think that's what we all get to if we're blessed to live long enough.
(43:27):
Or once we get to that point, then we get to go.
do whatever we're gonna do, wherever we do it, you know?
I do, agree with you because I think, I think there was a, well, I know there was a timespan in there that I probably wasn't my authentic self.
And you try to mold into what you thought people wanted you to be.
(43:54):
But then there's a time that the mold has to break and you have to get back to who youwere.
And I think in the last 15, 20 years, I've learned.
I've learned who I should be and who I am authentically.
And like I said, what you see is what you get.
And that's just the way it is anymore.
(44:16):
I don't want to lie to myself anymore and say, this is who I can be.
just saying this is who I am.
Yes.
And then being the strongest, best, highest version of that.
Because who you were born as is more than enough.
More than enough.
(44:38):
You know, we might have had teachers tell us we should
it's interesting.
you know, or parents or someone tell us we should be something different, but, and youwanted to say something, so.
No, I was just saying that it's interesting you say that because I'm, I was actuallyworking on it it'll come out tomorrow and I'm putting a post out, but I've read something
(45:01):
today and we have to realize we're one of one.
There is no other person like us.
Yes.
Yep, we are one of one.
And I just, sometimes people don't realize that you're one of one.
(45:22):
And I got thinking about that today, because I just think about things at work and then mywalks in the morning and other things.
I was thinking, how many people don't realize that they're one of one?
That they are truly, and so be your authentic self, be the person and learn.
(45:43):
who you are.
You might have a, I have different interests than my sisters or I've had differentinterests than my dad and they're better at things than I am, but I know who I am.
Yes.
And what a great world we live in that we can be one of one, but everything's connectedtoo.
(46:07):
You know, we can't do something to someone else without doing it to ourselves.
You know, everything in the world is connected.
Everything is energy and energy is everything.
(46:28):
Yeah, so we've been talking about a little bit about too much about me probably, but whatif you just give us a little history of you because people probably will come on here and
say, well, Rick, you talked a lot about yourself with Tanya.
So let's hear something about let's hear about you.
Okay, so em I graduated with a math and computer science degree, which is pretty logicaland pretty standard and accepted.
(47:06):
Like I said, I really didn't know what I wanted to be when I grew up.
And one day I walked into a Barnes and Noble and I discovered this ancient Chinese secretcalled Feng Shui.
which is about arranging your home in such a way that it like sends a signal out to theuniverse about what you want.
(47:27):
It's a way to change your life.
And I'm really good at it.
I'm an expert at it.
And I love it.
It is just something that has been the foundation of my life.
um Even as a single mom, I made sure my kids' were arranged right.
that our house felt good.
(47:49):
I always did everything I could to put great energy into myself and into our home so thatthey'd feel supported.
And then I used it in business and I had an opportunity to work with a small pillowcompany in Minnesota and really just kind of attracted this situation to myself.
(48:13):
It was 2008, I had failed.
Well, a lot of people, I don't even think I failed.
I was a real estate broker at about 60 listings and then the real estate market crashed.
And with 32,000 other realtors, 32,000 of my other best friends, I say, I couldn't find ajob.
And I'd gone through bankruptcy, foreclosure, divorce.
(48:38):
I was going to food shops with my kids.
And I think I put out about 200 resumes.
and nobody was hiring.
It just was incredibly difficult.
And one night I was looking at classified ads.
Remember the newspapers?
We didn't have phones, we didn't have Indeed, we didn't have any of that stuff.
(48:59):
And I'm looking at these jobs and it's like none of them interest me.
They didn't feel aligned with integrity for me.
And so...
I don't know why I just stood up off the couch and I said, look, God, I want you to bringme something that's worthy of who I am.
I want to sell something that I believe in.
(49:20):
Like with my whole heart, I don't have to, I'm not bamboozling anybody.
You know, I really want something that uses my talents.
And about a week later, Frank Collin said this pillow company was looking for someone andthey needed someone just like me.
Well, that was music to my ears.
(49:42):
Then I met Mike Lindell with my pillow and the rest they say is history.
At first I wasn't going to work with him.
I just said I didn't ask for a pillow.
I don't want to work in a rundown bus barn.
This isn't, you know, this isn't what I want.
But I kept hearing a voice say, this is what you asked for.
(50:05):
This is what you asked for.
And I used Feng Shui.
I use
law of attraction, manifesting, affirmations, everything that I've learned to live and tofollow that voice.
And I became one of the top three infomercial hosts.
(50:25):
I wrote one of the most profitable newspaper ads.
I redid their website.
It increased sales by 41%.
And
I mean, it was hard work.
I worked for them for three years doing trade shows at the Minnesota State Fair, at theIowa State Fair.
I drove all over.
for the first time, wasn't home with my kids.
(50:49):
And yet, you know, I just knew that I was supposed to be there.
And, you know, that's how things work when we're willing to surrender to that burningdesire to have something.
and step into maybe the fear, listen to that higher voice, receive, receive theoverflowing.
(51:13):
How many times do we say we want something and we just kind of push it away?
So I've done that.
I've been a bestselling author.
I've had an aquarium business.
I've had a real estate company.
I've just been open to doing whatever it took because my number one priority was to be amom and to be with my kids.
(51:35):
And so that's kind of what I've been up to.
After I became an empty nester and after my mom passed away, my dad was in a really goodplace.
My kids were gone and I thought, why not travel?
So I walked 550 miles across Spain, something I'd wanted to do.
And then I went to 15 countries the last two years.
(51:57):
My last trip being an African safari.
um The last two weeks I've been head down writing another book.
and um just staying in the flow, seeing what life has to offer, seeing where I can make adifference.
(52:20):
Well, I see you making a difference.
I mean, it's fun being on social media now following stuff, but it's interesting toMichael in my pillow is I'm watching the infomercial and I said, I know that I know Tanya.
So that was funny.
You know, so many people I would get...
(52:43):
The coolest thing really was I think I was on TV as much or more than anybody else.
That infomercial played a bazillion times, right?
But yet I was never recognized.
I was only recognized by people who knew me from Riai, South Dakota.
Brad Constantine, remember Mr.
(53:03):
Constantine's son?
You probably don't.
He was like a senior when I was in ATV.
And he said he heard this infomercial went, oh my gosh, that's Tanya wearing.
He walks in and he goes, oh my gosh, that's her.
People recognize my voice, right?
I mean, it was just the wildest thing.
(53:24):
And that's why I always say ask and it is given, it's biblical.
I asked God to bring me something that was worthy of who I am.
Well, here's the funny thing.
I'd been in a couple of car accidents.
I had whiplash.
I didn't sleep well at night.
My neck hurt so bad.
went to a chiropractor probably three times a week.
And the MyPillow actually fixed my neck.
(53:49):
After a couple months, my neck started to heal.
I started to feel better.
So did I get a product that I believed in 100 %?
You bet I did.
You bet I did.
For 50 bucks, 60 day money back guarantee, 10 year warranty.
Man, I
never felt bad about twisting someone's arm to buy my pillow, because I believed in it.
(54:13):
And if it didn't work for them, man, they could do something else.
It was life-changing.
Well, and that's the thing, you have to do things that you believe in, because if youdon't believe in, you're not being your authentic self there, like we were talking
earlier.
Yes, but you know, one of the hard lessons I've gotten to, and it was last year, I'm 59now.
(54:40):
So I was 58 years old, and I think there's this Pollyanna thing that happens in ReeHeights South Dakota because my experience is that people tell the truth.
If they tell you they're going to do something, they do it.
Why?
Because everybody else is watching.
Your reputation is important.
(55:01):
That's not how the rest of the world works.
That is not how the rest of the world works, unfortunately.
And those have been hard lessons for me, just learning that, yes, I have to do what Ibelieve in, but a lot of people out there are selling a lot of stuff that is not in your
(55:23):
best interest, it's in their best interest.
And, you know, it just is.
It just is, not right or wrong.
I just had to shift and understand and trust my intuition a little better.
But the other thing is I'm not really interested so much in what other people are doing.
(55:45):
I'm interested in who I'm being.
And that's, that's very, I guess I, I see where you're coming from there.
And, and what I'm hearing from you is, uh, kind of saying to Rick, that's who you are too.
(56:07):
Like you said, I've, I've told people it's, it's funny how you say that coming from Riai,South Dakota, you tell the truth because that's what I've told everybody.
I may have a lot of money, but I, I'm, if I'm going to tell you, I'm going to do it.
I'm going to do it.
I'm telling you the truth that I'm going to do whatever I can to do it.
And this is the way it is.
(56:28):
I have no other thing but reputation.
Absolutely.
And sometimes things happen.
You know, I'm supposed to be in Nepal in two days speaking at a Nomad conference and itjust didn't work.
I was in Africa, things happened, I needed to come home.
em You know, that was hard for me because I do honor my word and I do my best andsometimes there are situations, right?
(56:58):
The other...
em
Option is to never promise anything and not do anything so you never mess up.
Integrity is just that fine line.
It's just, you know, challenging yourself, doing your best to do it, knowing thatsometimes you fail.
But the first thing to do in restoring integrity is to let that person know that you fellshort.
(57:21):
Don't hide from it.
Just say, know what?
I apologize.
I'm not going to make it.
And I would that
My full intent was to be there.
How can I best support you or what can I do to make this better?
So now I'm doing the presentation online, right?
(57:43):
It's 2.30 a.m.
in the morning that I'm doing it.
No problem, no problem.
I'll be up, I'll be ready to go.
I'll deliver the best presentation that I can, right?
Launch and adjust as my mentor Gary Barnes will say.
Well, that is, that's, that's cool.
(58:05):
Um, cause you need, we all need to learn to adjust and we all need to learn that noteverything works out in the way it goes.
But if you promise something, you're going to do it and you're doing, you're still doingit.
So that is awesome.
Yeah.
Anyway, that's all I got, Rick.
uh
it.
(58:25):
Well, you have my question is, so what brought you to walk across pain?
So I am one of the most faithful people I know.
Not religious.
I don't go to church, but I listen to the higher voice and I get visions.
(58:46):
Sometimes things just hit me and I pay attention to that.
And I was watching a movie called The Way.
And I don't know if you know this, but going through bankruptcy, foreclosure, divorce,
you know, raising three kids by yourself, it takes its toll.
(59:09):
You know, just shoving down hurt, pain, anguish.
And something told me when I saw that movie that I needed to do the Camino.
I needed to walk the Camino de Santiago.
And I just put it in my back pocket.
I knew that when I became an empty nester,
(59:32):
That was what I was going to do.
uh And I did it.
That was the first trip that I took.
Some people carry their backpacks.
Some people, you know, push them forward.
Some people just do it kind of the way it was intended where you just walk, you show upwhere you show up.
Other people will rent hotels and know exactly where they're going to stay.
(59:55):
I went by myself, pretty unprepared, 25 pound pack.
up over the Pyrenees first day, totally kicked my booty.
um But at the end of the first day, I realized that, man, mindset is everything.
Physically, I was not prepared for that, but I am one tough mutter.
(01:00:23):
and I realized that there was a lot of things that I knew I could be doing that I thoughtI couldn't.
So that was my first lesson.
The second lesson really was just unraveling this 1,100 pound hairball that I had beencarrying with me for a long time.
I'll get choked up.
(01:00:45):
But I started to climb this other hill and I thought,
my God, not another hell like the Pyrenees, know, man, I just don't know if I can do this.
And I heard that voice say, Tanya, your greatest challenges are behind you.
And I bawled that entire day walking.
(01:01:05):
And there's something really amazing that happens in hiking.
It's scientific.
It's just how we are designed as people.
Emotions are stored in the body.
But having those walking sticks just right, left, right, left, I think it's EMDR orsomething, you know, your eyes going left to right, something happened that I just
(01:01:31):
released this 1100 pound hairball that I had been carrying around.
And in 36 days, I was always provided a place to stay.
I had everything I needed.
um I met amazing people, amazing people who wanted me to continue walking with them.
(01:01:55):
But I knew I needed to walk alone because I knew my spiritual work, my emotional healing,my mental.
I wasn't, I needed that time to just release everything that I had been holding in.
So highly recommend it.
Don't worry about doing it perfectly.
It'll all work out.
(01:02:16):
Um, you know, I miss my train.
I miss my train.
had two hours to find the train in Spain, in Madrid, on the plane, in the planes, I don'tknow.
Um, and I missed it.
I just couldn't communicate.
I just couldn't find it.
And I just started bawling like a baby, like my life, like, my God, what am I going to do?
(01:02:44):
And then it-
I realized I could just buy another train ticket for 120 bucks or 60 bucks or 70 bucks.
Like the things that we make such a big deal aren't that big of a deal.
And learning to travel so low has been one of the greatest.
(01:03:06):
Gosh, educations.
I just feel like I can go anywhere, do anything, look through a clear lens.
I've seen cultures, I've seen mindsets, I've seen beliefs.
I've seen the poorest of the poor be the happiest and the wealthiest of the wealthiest, bethe most unhappy.
(01:03:29):
Not that we can be the wealthiest of the wealthiest, because we are.
We're in the top 1 % if you're born in the United States of America.
We can be happy.
We can stop complaining.
We can appreciate the little things.
We can lighten our load.
We can start letting go of all this stuff and really start looking at experiences and whatkind of difference we want to make.
(01:03:55):
In Nepal, I met a young woman, 15 years old, lost her father in an earthquake when she was15.
She's 25 now, excuse me.
But she's raised her brother and her sister and taken care of her mom since she was 15.
With no education, she taught herself English, but not formally educated in the low-castesystem.
(01:04:21):
It means that as a woman in Nepal, she gets paid half as much as anybody else, and thenbeing low-caste, sometimes she's not even allowed to go into a place.
But being able to meet her, sit down and talk to her and mentor her and figure out
What her heart's desire is, it's this, to buy goats and sheep, to give to the women in hervillage so that they have more power to feed their families.
(01:04:54):
In her village, men are typically alcoholics, highly physically, mentally, and verballyabusive, and women can't get divorced.
And this young girl,
That's her dream.
So definitely moving forward, looking at ways that I can support her and fulfilling herdream em as she moves forward.
(01:05:28):
And wherever you are, whatever you're doing, it's not that heroic.
to sit down and talk to someone and see how you can make a difference.
She stood in my hotel room before I left and said, Tanya,
You didn't just make a difference in my life.
(01:05:49):
You made a difference in my brother's life, my sister's life, and my mother's life.
And my brother's going to make a difference in a whole bunch of lives that he's going toimpact.
And my sister's going to make a difference in all the lives she's going to impact.
So by you being willing to see me, because you feel like it feels like you are the firstperson in my entire life.
(01:06:17):
who sees me, it's gonna have a ripple effect.
And I think we need to keep that in mind.
You know, whether it's don't die rusty, whether it's do random acts of kindness, each andevery one of us has that ability to make a difference for someone.
(01:06:43):
We froze.
Yeah.
Can you hear me?
Popular Podcasts
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show
The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show. Clay Travis and Buck Sexton tackle the biggest stories in news, politics and current events with intelligence and humor. From the border crisis, to the madness of cancel culture and far-left missteps, Clay and Buck guide listeners through the latest headlines and hot topics with fun and entertaining conversations and opinions.