Uncle Marv: Back from a Podcasting Break

Hello friends, Uncle Marv here and I am back after a little bit of a hiatus. So first let me apologize for taking so much time off but we are back and if for some reason this is the first time you've checked out this podcast, my name is Uncle Marv and this is an unhealthy podcast and we're going to talk about some things that relate to health and wellness, self-care and all that sort of stuff. But let me first address my absence for those that have been listening, wondering where I am at.

I'll just say no excuses. What happened to me is the same thing that happens to everybody. You get busy and certain things get pushed to the back burner and that's what happened with this.

So what happened was, well, around September, things got really busy with work, projects for the end of the year, customers and stuff like that. I've got to have a day job to pay the bills and keep everything working. Podcasting is secondary.

But in terms of podcasting, I have another podcast that is for the business but also for the tech industry and that is a pretty robust podcast and September got busy for that. There were conferences that I attended. One of them that I was an emcee for and kind of like a co-host for the conference so that got really busy.

There were three other conferences where I attended as a media person and I did on-site podcast interviews there and then had to publish them afterwards and there were anywhere from eight to twelve interviews per conference. So of course that gets busy and you just fall into this trap. So that podcast took precedence.

This one kind of fell to the backside and it is what it is. However, another thing that happened was, I believe it was September as well, I had sat down to do a three-week course with Dinah Feinstein from Max Pat Health and many of you will recognize that name because she has been a guest on this podcast before. I think she's done two or three shows with me.

She was the one that introduced me to cauliflower pizza and if you're interested in that, you can go find that. I'll have a link in the show notes to it. But her and I did that show, I believe it was back in June of 2024 and yeah, I eat cauliflower pizza on a regular basis now.

But having said that, let me go back to what happened because there was a little bit of a realization for me that as I'm going through this with her, I'm coming up with my own thoughts about what in the world am I doing. So if you've ever gone back and listened to the very first episodes of this podcast, I talked about this being a personal journey to my own self-care and getting myself back into quote-unquote shape after not doing anything for 10 years. And let's just say I'm not like a lot of people, I'm not terribly out of shape, I mean I am probably a little overweight but it's more I have a belly that I didn't want.

But I don't have any real health issues, I don't have any real desire to go out and be in the best shape of my life. I spent the first 48 years of my life being in the best shape and competing with world-class athletes, even the ones younger than me. So when I stopped playing basketball, when I stopped being active, I said I was done.

So when I found myself doing this podcast and talking to other people that had a motivation, whether it was a health scare or whether it was they needed a change in life, there was a lot of people that I talked to, a lot of listeners that reached out and said, I needed this. And so when I was going through those three weeks with Diana, where in effect she was interviewing me, I was at a situation where I was like, you know what, I don't need this. Yes, I want to be healthy but I want to do it on my terms.

I didn't want to do anything structured; I didn't want to do a program. And let's face it folks, the bottom line for me is that it really turns out I didn't want accountability. So I had to come to a realization with that.

But I didn't do that until after I finished the three weeks, after I had gone through all of the other busy stuff and had some time to sit back and look at, geez and crackers, why had I not put out a show in quite some time? And the bottom line is it was me. And feeling like, you know what, that's some sort of accountability that I did not want. I had lots of topics; I've got a folder full of stuff that I had written down and notes I had taken. 

I even have recordings that I started and either did not finish or decided I did not like them so I didn't publish them. That's going to have to change. So that's where we are with that.

Now you're going to say, well, what changed and what is the motivation now? Well, one is I do have this desire to live healthy and be happy. So I'm going to have to put myself back on this accountability track and either do the podcast or do a program or do something. So my first step is to get back on the horse with the podcast.

The other thing is we are coming up to a conference called PodFest and that is a conference for podcasters like me where we just kind of get together, we meet, we of course see people in the industry that can help us with how to do a podcast, here's the equipment for a podcast, here's how to grow a podcast. All of that good stuff. But a lot of that conference is really just meeting other podcasters and networking with them and hearing some of the stories and some of the growth that they're going through.

You find people that are similar. There are people that I've spoken with and met that are great friends now that are nowhere near the IT business that I do. They're nowhere near the health that I do, the health and wellness, you know, podcasting. 

But they are a podcaster and we have that in common. So I'm going to be going to that in just a few days. And I've had a couple of meetings with some of them already and they're like, oh, tell me about your podcast.

And I tell them and realize there hasn't been a new show in three months. So I want to get back to that. So this is one reason that I'm putting out a show.

Also, I had made it a point that once PodFest finished, I would reach out to some of the previous guests that had been here, as well as some new people that I've already spoken to and said, yes, we'll do a show, but it needs to be in the new year. So there are going to be some upcoming shows. So this is the time for me to get back on the horse and do what needs to be done.

And that's where we'll be. So before I sign off here, because that was the first thing I really wanted to tell you about, I do want to tell you about, I did go back and listen to the first recording that I did with Diana. And just for full disclosure, I was the one that actually recorded those shows.

I was supposed to send them to her for her to use, and I didn't, at least back then. And so I just, I think it was last week, finally sent those recordings to her and she will be listening to those and deciding what she can do, because they're really for her program. It wasn't for me on my program.

But because I recorded them, I had the audio recordings that I went back and listened to. I listened to the first one, and it's interesting listening to some of the key takeaways and putting myself back at that time, remembering why I was at a frustrated point of structure and accountability. But I do want to at least tell you the takeaways that I got from that.

Her and I will discuss if we post that or if I can post that here and you guys can hear what I went through. It's a little personal, don't know if I want you hearing that, but I'll tell you the takeaways that we got for that. And some of the takeaways that stood out for me, and these are basically quotes that I'm going to take out.

And one of the first ones is, shame and judgment have no home here. And this concept comes out of Diana's core philosophy of creating a non-judgmental nutrition coaching environment, which basically that's what I wanted to do with the show. That's what I want to see when I'm talking to other people.

So many of these programs that are out there, the national programs, the ones that are in YouTube, they are judgmental. They literally say, this is the way and you need to do it this way or you will not succeed. And we all know that that's bullcrap.

You know what? I'm going to go ahead and go, that's bullshit because everybody's different. People react to food different. People react to exercise different.

People react to medication different. There's a lot of things that go into what makes people successful in dealing with their own health and wellness. So that was something that stuck out to me when we were talking about Diana's program and the fact that, you know, being non-judgmental is probably one of the first things that needs to be at the core of whatever you decide to do.

And, you know, a non-judgmental state, it basically makes people feel safe and supportive doing all of this. Another concept that came out is if you want different, you've got to do different. And that's another core thing that when I talked about doing the show, when I was trying to come up with the name and where I was going to go with it, a lot of it had to do with simply the fact that a lot of things, at least in my judgment, my opinion, there are a lot of things that we can do by just simply eliminating what's unhealthy in our lives.

Our unhealthy habits when it comes to food, if we're dealing with relationships, our unhealthy habits when it comes to how we talk with our significant others, our partners, our friends in general, how we treat ourselves in all these areas. So a lot of it is coming down to if you want different, you need to do different. And it really starts with us.

It doesn't start with somebody else telling us what to do. A lot of times we know what to do, we just don't do it. So the first step is just to do it.

The other thing is to look at some of the things that are out there. When it comes to eating, whether it's adopting a policy of clean eating or looking at the influence of holistic health as to how we do stuff, you've got to break the habits of what put us in the situation that is causing us to want to change. And you've got to just basically fight that.

So again, if you want to be different, you've got to do different. The third thing that she, let's see, here's another one. You are the expert in your life, not me.

And that was something where I was struggling with answering a question. And it was one of those things where I don't remember if she's made the comment, well, don't tell me what I want to hear, tell me what you need to say. And it was the whole idea of this philosophy where these things that we go through when it comes to our life, our health, our wellness, anything that we do, it's all personalized and driven by the individual, not this program that is cookie cutter for everyone because life is not cookie cutter.

So as we're going through stuff and as we're sharing stories, going through programs, we have to realize that we can't allow somebody else who doesn't know us, who doesn't live our life, doesn't walk in our shoes. They cannot be the experts in our life. They can be the experts in nutrition.

They can be the experts in physical therapy. They can be the experts in all these areas. But when it comes to our life, we have got to be the expert of our own life.

I've got some other stuff on here, but I'm going to save those. But I wanted to quickly talk about where my mindset was in all of this. Of course, explain my hiatus and mention the fact that we're going to be back.

The podcast will be back up to full strength, whatever that may be, very, very soon. As I mentioned, I've got some incredible guests lined up, some of which you already know, and some new ones that I think are really going to be not only intriguing, but they're going to give you some great ideas on how you can do what I call live healthy and be happy. So stay tuned.

Thanks for sticking with me and Uncle Marv here. I'll be back soon. And until then, Holla!