Transcript
Speaker: Well, day two, still on the Inca Trail, still on the steep incline. I'm in a spot of the trail, not quite halfway in. This is where the groups usually break up and just kind of go at your own pace. What am I learning?
Speaker: I'm learning you can almost do anything if you take little small steps. The guides actually talked about taking little baby steps. I also learned it's a lot easier to go at your own pace if you're by yourself. In the world right now, there's a challenge with a lack of connection.
Speaker: And there certainly are challenges when you're not around others, when you're not connected to others. But one of the blessings is it kind of allows you to go at your own pace and that can be a
Speaker: That can be a great thing. Sometimes you need someone beside you to pick you up and motivate you. Sometimes you need someone to be with you where you are at. And that can certainly be helpful and important when you can't move, when you can't take baby steps.
Speaker: But right now on this portion of the trail, you can probably hear in my voice, I'm pretty winded by the experience. But we're in this beautiful spot where there's a beautiful tree canopy with lichen. It's a beautiful trail.
Speaker: Not so beautiful that there's just constant steps. There's really no flat spot for the foreseeable future. But you know, once again, I'm always looking at what is the world, what is the universe trying to tell me? And I think for this portion of the trail, it's trying to tell me sometimes you're in a steep climb.
Speaker: Sometimes you're in a steep climb all by yourself and that's okay. Sometimes it's actually beneficial. Steffie stuff is kind of burst ahead with some of the faster folk in the group.
Speaker: And that's okay. That's good and it can be good to have that experience. We talked last night, I have this little tiny, cute little book that hopefully I'll show on YouTube. I went on Amazon and searched for miniature books and I got this adorable little hardcover book that actually came with a little case and it's small.
Speaker: two inches by two inches.
Speaker: and I think it's based on Taoism but it has a bunch of verses 81 verses and we've taken turns kind of reading a verse kind of a motivational quote for us I'm a big fan of motivational quotes sometimes I gotta keep saying them so I believe them sort of preach faith till you have it
Speaker: There's a lot of wisdom in those quotes on this trip So much people in their 20s and early 30s They're still in the competitive mindset I'm competitive on some things Some things like this
Speaker: Not so much. I'm in competition with the mountain. I'm in competition with my mind, my body. Trying to make this an experience. Enjoy the journey. I finally did hit a flat spot. Beautiful river.
Speaker: Maybe you can hear it in the background, maybe not. But this is kind of like the Andes jungle is what it looks like. I'm not sure if that's actually the case or not. Very much looks like my experiences of traveling and hiking in Costa Rica. But you can do amazing things when you pace yourself.
Speaker: Sometimes you can probably really hear the water here. It's rushing pretty good. All of this is glacier runoff, supplies a lot of the drinking water. Just absolutely gorgeous. It's beautiful. I struggle with not being obsessed about the destination.
Speaker: I struggle with saying this is what I want to accomplish and then tick it off. I've done it. The bucket list. You know, some say you should actually have a bucket that you put stuff in that you don't need anymore. I don't need to accomplish this. I don't need to accomplish that.
Speaker: For me, frankly, it was money. I thought money would bring happiness and joy. I grew up fairly middle class in Canada.
Speaker: I thought things like a sports car would bring me happiness. It didn't. It actually brought me unhappiness. Then I had to worry about where to park it. Had to worry about damaging the rims. Had to worry about it getting hit. Couldn't take it just anywhere. Stressed me out. Decreased my happiness. So I got rid of it.
Speaker: But a cheaper stick shift, Volkswagen GTI, love it. That brought me joy. But enjoying the journey. And frankly, sometimes you can enjoy the journey. Sometimes things are going to flat out suck.
Speaker: There are parts of this hike as you look at the terrain and you hear my breathing increase. It's not fun or easy, but I guess that's the way things go in life.
Speaker: If things were easy, perhaps everyone would do it. There's probably some value in things that was a struggle. So I'm going to try to lean in, lean into that.
Speaker: and make that my learning point for the day. Oh man, this is not easy. This is where I wished I planned the trip more than a month in advance and had more time to train.
Speaker: Specifically, doing stairs. I did some stairs. That certainly made it easy. Kind of lit up my calves. I was pretty good at stretching. But, this is a bit of a different experience. I am using hiking poles.
Speaker: A lot of the 20, 30 year olds are not. At least they're not using them all the time. After we climb several miles on the trail, I'm being instructed to have water by some of my other teammates. I'm just gonna stop for a minute and take a look at a beautiful view of the clouds, the mountains.
Speaker: The vegetation is just absolutely gorgeous. And I guess, yeah, this is tough. But this is such a blessing to be able to do this. This also did not cost much money. I think I've referenced it before. I think it was maybe 15 to 1600 US dollars. I used air miles to fly here. You know,
Speaker: For me, that's an experience. An experience worth having. Meeting people quite frankly from Australia and from England has been an absolute blessing. Just seeing and hearing cultural differences.
Speaker: I love meeting people, brings me joy, brings me energy, and so that's certainly been a big blessing. Part of my journey here too is to figure out my why.
Speaker: I've talked about it on prior episodes. You know, what's your why? Why do you do what you do? Thinking of something, spending time with it.
Speaker: writing some stuff down, scribbling it out, trying it on. As I said previously, my why was to push myself and others to fully live, laugh, and love. Part of what we try to do with between two teeth
Speaker: is to put something out there, to connect, discover, and inspire. And it's not just lip service, that's the lens at which we kind of look at all kinds of stuff. I think we do a good job on some of that. We do a poor job on other components. But we put something out there.
Speaker: Part of it is the push. Part of it is you can take a motorcycle journey to Italy if you so choose, but you don't have to. Get yourself out of your comfort zone. You can hike the Inca Trail if you so choose, but you don't have to.
Speaker: You know, what's your adventure? There's things that you can't do if you have little kids, but there's also things you can do if you have little kids. Probably one of the best experiences that I did when my boys were small was mission trips. We went to Costa Rica
Speaker: in Nicaragua and Africa and they had a chance to see different cultures, see kids living a different experience.
Speaker: And they were young. My youngest at one point was five. And he saw a lot of really interesting things. My 10 -year -old, you know, one of my favorite stories, we spent a day in a local community. It was a community right by the dump in Costa Rica.
Speaker: And I grew up in a small town in Canada. I had never seen such extreme poverty in my life. It was extreme. I was kind of nervous for my safety and the safety of my family.
Speaker: And at the end of the day, you know, they always tell you as a parent, ask an opening -ended question. Kids love yes -no questions. But I just said to my oldest boy, I said, David, tell me about today.
Speaker: And in my mind, I was thinking, oh my gosh, the poverty extreme couldn't get over it. And he said, well, dad, the kids didn't have many things, but I think they're the happiest kids I've ever seen in my life. And I was floored by that comment. I talk about that comment a fair amount because it helps to remind me
Speaker: the importance of perspective. It also helps me things that kids see that adults have so much that gets in their way.
Speaker: Things often don't make you happy. It's important to have food and shelter to feel secure. You know we had a chance to work with a bunch of Ukrainians that got pushed out of Ukraine on our Ukrainian mission.
Speaker: And that's bad. They spent time in a bunker for months before they got out of there. Hearing bombs go off constantly. My son was with me on this trip. He got a chance to see kids that were
Speaker: had to stop their studies. He had just finished college. These kids had to stop because of the war. One of our helpers, one of our translators, was 18. He hadn't started university yet. He was in a different country. He was in Warsaw.
Speaker: His parents were in a different European country. His brothers were in yet another different country. He had nothing but the clothes on his back. Really puts things in perspective and when you're having a struggle
Speaker: It's really helpful for me at least to see that. And it kind of resets me. I am famous or infamous.
Speaker: causing my own challenges and problems at times whether it's overthinking things or I have too much stuff in my life that's weighing me down or I worry about things that I can't change
Speaker: usually doesn't help you. I had a patient one time, I'm an oral max facial surgeon in Dallas and the patient was in her late 70s. I had to remove all of her teeth and deliver a denture and she smiled before the procedure. She had a toothless smile and then with denture in a
Speaker: Toothful smile afterwards and I paused and I said, you know, I gotta ask you You seem like one of the happiest people that I've ever met What's the secret?
Speaker: And she said, you know, I think it's two things. One, I always tried to live by the golden rule. Do on to others as you'd want them to do on to you. But she goes, secondly, if there's something going on that bothers me, if I can do something about it, then I'd do something about it.
Speaker: or at least try to. If I can't do something about it, then I stop worrying about it. And it was really such a great perspective. It's easier said than done. I know a lot of us have anxieties related to
Speaker: negative self -talk a lot of us are just burned out. Steffi, Steph and I are active with a wellness initiative with the American Dental Association and burnout, depression, anxiety, substance abuse is a real problem.
Speaker: with healthcare professionals, as it is with lots of other groups. And being proactive, having some tools in your toolbox, de -stigmatizing mental healthcare, quite frankly even, de -stigmatizing taking time off for yourself.
Speaker: to prevent burnout, to get away, to have a different experience. You know, I'm not overly worried about work and anxiety or things like that as I'm walking up this trail.
Speaker: I'm putting one foot in front of the other trying to look at the beautiful scenery around me and to try to think of my my new why my new purpose so Anyways on that I'll end off the the rambling I Appreciate y 'all listening What's your adventure?
Speaker: What's your why? What would you like to do? What are you afraid to do? What do you need to do? Those are all important questions to ask yourself. Check you later.
