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Yellow, this is Rambles and Shambles with Honor. It's just me today. So I've had about five different ideas for this prentice episode, and somehow I think they've just all mushed and become the same one conversation. So hopefully this makes sense. I've interviewed over 20 people now, which is kind of weird when I say that out loud. I knew I really liked talking to people, but I don't think I've ever really sat down with someone and asked them much about their life. Like I'll ask them what they love and what makes them happy, but not much about the origin story. I actually bumped into someone recently and they said, it's funny, I've known that person for years, but I never knew what they were like growing up or why they ended up making the choices they did until I listened to the podcast. It was so weird listening to them, you know, in my ear. It was just, it was so funny. Then I got a message from someone else who'd said, I've always wondered why this person pivoted so much in their career, but now I get it. And I loved that. Not that everyone agrees with someone's decisions, but just once you hear the story, sometimes the decisions make a lot more sense. And I don't think we ask each other those questions very often. Most conversations are, so you know, what do you do? Oh, cool. And then that's kind of it. You don't really get to ask why they ended up doing it, why they changed their mind, why they took a risk. Like you just don't get that whole story. So that's been a really fun part for me. Uh, not just hearing, you know, what someone does for work, although I find work stuff very interesting, but hearing about how they got there and, you know, and where they're kind of heading in the future, even. Because every single person I've interviewed has definitely surprised me. You know, once you hear the whole story, you realize things make sense. I've also been getting a lot of really lovely messages from people listening. The ones I love the most are when someone says, it feels like I'm sitting and having a coffee or tea with you both. Um, though sometimes I'm having a Milo, guys, just FYI. But I honestly didn't expect that. That wasn't something I was aiming for when I started the podcast. But the more messages I've got, the more I realize that not everyone has those sorts of conversations, connections, or friends. Like not everyone has people around them that they can sit with for an hour or so and just be curious about each other's lives. Um, and some of the people that have messaged me have, you know, moved away from their family. Um, they've had to move for work, they're still trying to find their people. And I hadn't really thought about that before. I think I've been incredibly blessed. No, I definitely have been incredibly blessed throughout my life to be part of some amazing communities, whether it's through work or sport, volunteering, or just the people around me. I've always had people that were happy to sit down with me and have a coffee and have any kind of conversation. And I think that I've probably taken that for granted. So when someone tells me they feel like they're sitting here with me having a coffee, um, I don't really hear that as a compliment anymore. I just think, well, maybe just everyone deserves to have people in their life they can just be curious with and laugh with and talk about those bigger questions and stuff. Um, so if someone gets a little bit of that while they're listening on the way to work, I think that's pretty special. Uh but every now and again I'll get a message from some complete wanker doodle, and it's something like, Well, I'm a VP of this company, and your podcast really aligns with our leadership philosophy, blah blah blah. And I crack up. I'm like, mate, like have you listened to an episode? Like, or did you I don't know, I don't know what you thought, but I think you've just completely missed what I'm trying to do. This isn't really like a business leadership podcast, not trying to tell people how to be successful. I just really like people and I really like hearing about how they ended up, where they've ended up. That's it. Um and I don't know, it's just really stuck in my head lately because after talking to so many different people, I keep seeing a lot of people online trying to tell everyone else the right way to live. Like, go to uni, don't go to uni, start a business, don't start a business, travel while you're young, buy a house, work hard, don't work too hard. And it's just like, okay, like really? Because after sitting down with all of these people, there's there's genuinely, I don't think there's a right answer. Okay. I just don't think there's one right path. And I also think that we're really quick to make assumptions about people. Someone tells you what they do for work, and somehow we've decided we know exactly who they are. I hear it all the time. People are like, oh, you're incorporate, blah, blah, blah. Work is your life, or you know, they've got their own business or they're a tradee. And it's like, what does that actually tell you about someone? Not much. Not much. The story is always more interesting than the job or what they do. And I can be passionate about my job and still have other things going on in my life. Just FYI. Um, I think it's just I struggle with that a little bit. Because I agree with a lot of the advice that's out there. Definitely do things you enjoy, travel if you can. I mean, I love doing that because I I can at the moment. Spend time with people you love, you know, don't stay anywhere that's making you miserable forever. Absolutely. I don't disagree with any of that. But I also think some people have accidentally made responsibility sound like failure. Like, if you've got responsibilities, somehow you've chosen a boring life. I just don't buy that. Like, most people have responsibilities. Some people are paying off debts, some people are saving for something, people have kids to look after and feed, people are helping their parents. Some people are just trying to build a career because they want options later. We don't know. Some people are trying to stay afloat. Like, that's just life. I don't think those people are any less impressive than someone who's taken a completely different path. They're just doing different things. So I also don't think that having responsibility means that you've given up on yourself. I think that bit really frustrates me because I hear people say things like, just quit, just do what makes you happy. And I think, yeah, okay, maybe, maybe for you. If that's your situation, awesome. If you can make it your situation, even better. But that's not the case for everyone. Like some people just don't have the option to press pause for, you know, six months or whatever. And they don't have someone else paying their bills while they figure things out. Some people do not have a safety net. They are their own safety net. And that's okay. Doesn't make them any less brave. It doesn't mean you're settling, it doesn't mean you're living the wrong life. It just means that you're working with what's in front of you. And I think there's something actually really admirable about that. Like, I don't think there's an easy version of life for a lot of people. So I don't know. People talk like if you just find the right career or the right business or the right idea, everything just suddenly becomes easy. I don't know. I haven't seen that. Every person I've spoken to has had hard parts, different hard parts, but there's still hard parts. So you know, whether you're learning something new, changing careers, starting from scratch, working for someone else yourself, like nothing magically removes the work. You still have to learn, you still have to stick to things when they're frustrating. You still have to become good at something. Like you have to actually be good at something. I don't know about you, but every time I've learned something new, I've realized I wasn't very good at it at the start. That's just that's just how things work. Like whether it's sports, work, this podcast, whatever, you just get better by doing it, not by waiting for it to feel easy. Um, yeah, that's one thing I've definitely been thinking about lately after a few comments. And probably the last thing on my mind has been I've been thinking a lot about balance because I don't know why, but everyone loves talking about work-life balance. I don't know. I don't know how I feel about that. I just don't know if balance exists every day. I I just I can just talk from my perspective, but I think mine changes all the time. I've had periods where I worked way too much. I've also had periods where I've had to pull right back because my health needed more attention. And then there's times where family comes first, whatever it is. I've always got it pictured like, I don't know, like bubbles. You know, work, health, family, friends, learning, whatever, all floating around. Sometimes one needs more attention than the other. Actually, I don't really know whether bubbles, whatever. That's just where my brain's been, right? So I think after talking to all these people, it just made me a bit a bit slower to judge because every time I think I've got someone figured out, I realize I don't. And I think that's a really good reminder because I laugh because it happens to me all the time as well. People meet me through work and they think that's my whole personality, or they meet me through uh footy and assume you know that's what I'm interested in, or they'll see me reading an old engineering textbook and think I'm some science nerd that spends weekends doing equations, which to be fair, sometimes I am. Maths is still cool, but that's only one little part of me. Actually, the other weekend, uh, the week before one of the footy games, one of the coaches said, Oh, I didn't realise you had like an important job or something. And I just laughed because I wasn't offended or anything, but I just thought that's exactly what I was thinking about. He knows one version of me, and I'd probably done the exact same thing to him. And I think we all do it. We meet someone in one chapter of their life and somehow convince ourselves that we've read the whole book when really we've like read three pages or the blurb, if you can't be bothered. And there are parts of people that only exist around their family, or parts that only come out with good friends, or you know, parts people discover when they're 40, or maybe never. And none of us fit neatly into a job or a degree or a like sport or whatever, or a decision we made ten years ago. We're a little bit more complicated than that. Which is probably why I have enjoyed these conversations so so much. Um, every interview reminds me there's another side to someone I hadn't thought about. And it also reminds me that there's probably sides to the people that I see every day that I'll never know unless I ask. I don't know. That's I reckon that's a nice way to look at it for people. Anyway, that's enough from me. I should probably stop pacing around my living room before my neighbors think I've completely lost it. So I'll say goodbye. Uh shake your hands and um thanks for coming along to another ramble. See you in the next one, guys. Bye.