"Here I am, ten years old and my best friend dies of cancer. And so going back to school and trying to focus on your school work and trying to talk and connect with your friends when they're talking about really minor things and your friend just died. It was really tough. And you go to the funeral of a child and you never forget that, because it was a life that was not completely lived. And he lived as fully as he ever could live, just 13 years, but it just seems so unfair that such a bright light was taken away. There's just some things you must endure in life. You don't always have the answers but you wake up and do the best that you can," recalls Jill Englund in our interview for Living Adaptive.

Thirty minutes later, the recording is over.

One recording, containing one interview, with this one story, shared by one incredible person, and I am fundamentally changed.

I began podcasting over five years ago with not just the goal of entertaining listeners and myself, but also accomplishing three additional goals:

1. 1. I found power in stories and I wanted to leverage these stories to help build and empower my community.
   2. I wanted a project that fed my creative needs, didn't feel like work, and provided joy.
   3. Candidly, I felt like my life was a mess. I struggled a lot with adapting, appearance issues, accepting uncertainty, and finding meaning. Hearing the stories of notable guests helped me develop my own system to create a life where I could move forward and thrive despite the adversities I faced (find more here, https://www.livingadaptive.com).

Guess what? It worked.

I reached all of these goals and goodness flowed.

Creating my first podcast resulted in many amazing benefits including:

1. 1. Guests that I've interviewed are now close friends and I find myself often collaborating with guests on amazing projects.
   2. Podcasting opened the doors to competition, sponsorships, media coverage, and connections. All four of these doors helped grow my platform and thus more cool shit followed.
   3. I received the chance to partner with some of the most meaningful movements led by non-profits and individuals. These movements focus on valiantly fighting for the underdogs and making the world a better place.
   4. Most importantly, I am happier. Hearing stories from guests like Jill Englund, Diana Doyle, Brent Poppen, and countless others led me to live a more authentic life. I truly understand the importance of the present moment, the gift of life, and that at any moment our lives can change for the better or the worse. Realizing the volatility and uncertainty of life, I transformed my life. I went from doing what others expected of me, to instead, doing what I wanted to do. I became the main character in my story.

Podcasting can change your life.

1. 1. To become a podcaster, you need little investment besides time and energy. You need to consistently deliver quality content with a tenacity to keep going when downloads are low.
   2. Each of us has a story, a community, and a purpose. Podcasting provides a platform to share stories, an outlet where you can effectively support and expand your community, and an arena in which you can find purpose. For example, podcasting allowed me to share my story. What were once extremely vulnerable experiences that I hid from the world are now available to all. By making this jump, I learned that sharing these vulnerable experiences helped many. I transformed from a feeling of shame to one of pride in my stories. What's really cool is that some of my stories are now shared by powerful companies and individuals and I am often asked to appear on various platforms and share these stories.
   3. Similarly, by sharing the stories of notable individuals in my community I often receive feedback from listeners regarding the positive impacts of hearing these stories. Subsequently, we built a better and more empowered community through this storytelling and connection. Also, on the self-serving side, I feel great when I receive positive feedback based on what I produce.
   4. Podcasting creates an opportunity to learn from others. In interview podcasts, it's almost expected to ask pointed questions such as "what is your purpose in life" or "if you go back in time and avoid becoming paralyzed would you?" Podcasting allows us to cut through the fluff and get real. Less formalities and a rapid exchange of information.
   5. You receive the opportunity to reach out to individuals you likely wouldn't encounter in your regular life. If I didn't start Living Adaptive then I wouldn't have encountered Jill Englund. If I didn't start This is a True Storythen I wouldn't have met Joe Loya.
   6. Through relentless work, luck, and more, you can build a career in content creation. I won't tell you that podcasting alone will provide a livable wage, that's just bullshit for 99.99% of podcasters, but it can open doors to opportunities and provide a powerful tool to help build your own platform.

Almost everyday someone approaches me for help to either start or improve a podcast. I have yet to charge consulting fees because I am a shitty sales person (proud of that) and I am at a place in my life where I don't need the additional income. What feeds me is that I love to see a passion project become reality. Unfortunately, most individuals give up before finding the success they sought in podcasting, but every so often, I encounter a success story and I am thankful. If you want to try podcasting and you're willing to work hard and commit to publishing consistently, then I believe that podcasting will change your life for the better.