Introduction of Hosts and Podcast
00:00:08
Speaker
Gotta love that sound. Hi, guys. I'm Steppy Stuff, and this is Bobby, and we are Between Two Teeth. That's right. We're Between Two Teeth. Hi there, Bobby. What are we talking about today? I don't have a clue, because you wouldn't tell me what we're talking about today. So what are we getting into? I gotta check something out.
00:00:29
Speaker
Very cool. I had to erase something real quick. Now I'm ready to go with my next idea.
Announcing Machu Picchu Adventure
00:00:35
Speaker
So we have a new adventure coming up and it is in, or it's going to be in Machu Picchu.
00:00:43
Speaker
In my life, sometimes I don't fully think through things. I think you should have to be able to spell Machu Picchu correctly before... It's an M and a P, I think. I'm just going to call it M and P. But how many C's? A lot. Or one. I don't know. I don't know. No, it's actually two, I think. So we committed... You needed to learn how to spell Machu Picchu. How many hours ago?
Inca Trail and ADA Session Planning
00:01:01
Speaker
Like four or five hours ago that we're going to do the Inca Trail. It's a lead up to doing what we're doing at the ADA annual session.
00:01:10
Speaker
I'm excited about this because I know that so many people have talked about kind of the spiritual journey going up to Machu Picchu. And I am excited that we've also decided to do kind of an overnight backpacking style adventure. It's many nights. It's not just overnight. It's many nights. Right. Over many nights. Yeah. Well, it's like a far distance. It's like... So what's the limitations on weight for these backpacks?
00:01:37
Speaker
five kilograms. Oh, sorry. I didn't understand. You're not metric. So I don't even know what that is. Like 12 pounds or something like that. 13 pounds. So you are, oh, sorry. Am I keeping you awake there? It says YouTube. People can literally see.
00:01:56
Speaker
They just saw your airway. I think you're a Malin Petty one. Inside joke, there we go. Anyways, so we committed to the, that's how I'm gonna be looking during day two. We're excited about this because it's a guided trip, I believe.
Spiritual Journey vs. Overplanning
00:02:13
Speaker
Have you researched this at all? You know, I find that the most spiritual awakening happens from not being in total control of something. So what has served you well?
00:02:25
Speaker
And I wish I could do it. And one of the magical things about you is that you will go into things with an attitude of, oh yeah, we got this. This is no problem.
00:02:37
Speaker
It's probably the height of my ego. And if I was a little bit more humble, I would have planned more. There's ego involved. And the part of me that is pretty cocksure that I'm going to be able to handle anything that comes over the ridge, that's like just my essence. And we're going to have to capture some of this. You're going to have to keep subscribing to our channel so you can follow the adventure when we.
00:03:02
Speaker
some of the footage part of I think part of humbling myself which I might experience on much listen okay go is to like figure out like how to start planning a little bit more because in part of the reason
00:03:18
Speaker
I plan my entire life and i know my entire life means something different from your entire life but my entire on your own journey planning and following a plan and following the set stop stop stop being binary is like this way or this way there somewhere in between.
00:03:39
Speaker
Yeah, but usually you overcorrect first. And if you've ever... Yeah, I'm a planner. Yada, yada, yada. It serves me well and serves me poorly. I wouldn't be where I'm at today if I wasn't a planner at some point in my life. I have been an overplanner, borderline robotic, and I am learning how much joy one can have when they don't necessarily plan everything. You gotta plan something. Something you gotta
Fitness Concerns for the Hike
00:04:07
Speaker
And, you know, especially if you're in a dangerous area or, you know, weather gets to be an issue. You and I ride motorcycles and weather gets to be kind of a big deal there. Bob has two favorite motivations. One is weather. I do love the weather. If I had to come back and watch. If you see him at SmileCon, know that he wants to discuss the forecast. Forecast, yes. If you go up to Bobby at SmileCon, say, Bobby, what's the weather look like? So I will lean into that.
00:04:36
Speaker
So Machu Picchu, it's over 40 kilometers. The problem is, and okay, yeah, you're in shape, yes. You were number one at a certain distance, at a certain time in your life in the state of Texas, yes. Unimportant. Unimportant, but yeah. I'm not a runner. Who knew? I'm not a runner. And altitude is a great equalizer. That's what I'm scared of. Once we signed up for it, I'm like,
00:05:03
Speaker
Oh my gosh, I gotta start doing stares like a lot. And I've been working out for the past year and a half, really, but I haven't pushed myself. It's okay. And I've done a daily thing where, don't laugh, I'm gonna watch your face. If you're watching us on YouTube, you can see Steph's face, but on podcasts, you can't see what Stephie Steph is doing.
00:05:30
Speaker
I haven't pushed myself and sometimes I get on a treadmill and it's hard to do more than 12 minutes or 15 minutes. I got five weeks to get ready for this thing. And I'm a little bit nervous about that.
00:05:46
Speaker
Oh, I mean, maybe. Yeah, I just I guess I just have such a different mentality with it when we signed up. I'm not scared of athletic things. You're like, I'm an athlete. Oh, I'm not scared because then you were saying there's multiple trails. I'm like, gosh, I hope you signed up for the long. Yeah, we did the longest. You know, you'd be like seriously. Yeah, I know the
Weight Gain Story and Trip Contrast
00:06:05
Speaker
max like you. So max spiritual kind of enlightenment. So if you weren't coming on the trip, I'm not sure I'd take the max. You probably take the trolley.
00:06:14
Speaker
We did have, we were trying to do a motorcycle adventure. Here's the rub. Last September, the same time, last year, that's why it's called last September. What are you looking at? We went to Italy on a motorcycle adventure. I literally gained like 16, 17 pounds over like three weeks. We were on a motorcycle, but we walked six miles a day, but
00:06:41
Speaker
eight, six times a day. Yeah, I'm hoping Machu Picchu will be a little bit of a different kind of thing because I need something to push me. I need frankly, I need something to to scare me or something to train for. I just hope five weeks is enough time to do it.
00:07:02
Speaker
We'll let you know. Tell me about the spiritual side of this because I haven't really looked at that a lot. I haven't thought about that. Where are you coming from there?
00:07:12
Speaker
I've just had, I've heard stories that the sunrise at Machu Picchu is kind of equivalent to a spiritual awakening. I think we can find connection with the earth and have that kind of be a little bit of a spiritual awakening. And so I would imagine that people who make this journey, if they have a higher belief, maybe they experience that higher belief on the top of that mountain is Machu Picchu a mountain.
Trip Planning and Mental Health Benefits
00:07:42
Speaker
Hmm, I don't think so. We haven't planned it out that well. I don't want to sound like I know what I'm talking about. And I don't really want to say it's a settlement. It's like something that's in the mountains that was a very important
00:07:57
Speaker
spiritual place I think to the Incas I need to do some you know I like to plan to do research on this thing Bob to say don't read anything about it and just ask people on the way out hey what is this no I don't want to seem like that touristy person here's where I'm gonna push you a little bit
00:08:17
Speaker
The research is pretty clear in that if you take a vacation, there are health benefits to that. And we'll say mostly mental health benefits. There's also an advantage if you think back about a trip that you went on and that's where having photo albums, videos, you know, one of the great things about social media is that like one year reminder thing or whatever that is. However,
00:08:46
Speaker
there is good evidence in planning something like this is supposed to bring you joy. It didn't bring me joy today because there was like multiple movie pieces. I don't think it's brought you joy. It actually frustrated me. I'm actually excited. Who's going to cover the practice? We've got to get someone to cover the practice. We've got to figure out what we're doing staff wise, what we're going to do with staff. She's like, yeah, we'll be fine. Unfortunately, we're in Chicago. We're supposed to fly back and then get on a plane here.
00:09:12
Speaker
you actually had a brilliant idea. You're like, let's just bail on our flight from Chicago to Dallas and just fly from Chicago to Lima, Peru. Genius. You know, you come up with good ideas.
00:09:23
Speaker
I appreciate that. I'll take that. Will you take that under advisement or no? Yeah. This is where having two people. You and I think differently at times. We think very differently at times. And also, timing is everything in life. I'd hate for the message here to be, oh, I'm so laissez-faire and I have never planned anything in my life and I'm where I'm at by just luck.
00:09:48
Speaker
And although some of that is true, I am not that person. I'm actually a hyperplanner. I'm a perfectionist at the very core, but I found myself in the last few years in a spot where it's been nice just to be laissez-faire about a lot of things. That has helped me out because I need to see that. I need to hear those messages. Now, when you were
00:10:14
Speaker
I'm normally you and it's instructive. You get to see what you're like. Yeah. And I'm like, Oh my God, I'm going to have a heart attack at age 40. No offense. I don't think so. And what I would say when we did the Ukraine mission trip and there was a lot of planning that went into place for that and you handled a lot of that load.
00:10:39
Speaker
But I was doing some trips on the back end and I'm like, you know what? Steffi stuff's right. I'm not going to over plan certain things. What it meant was I kind of missed being able to get a train cause I didn't realize it was like a national holiday. The day I'm trying to get trained, there's no train spots. Ended up having to do different things and the different
Improv Class Insights on Creativity
00:10:58
Speaker
things worked out better.
00:11:01
Speaker
Isn't it the way the life goes? Who knew? Yeah. I mean, the universe has a plan right now. I'm just at a spot in life where I am enjoying and leaning into this, just the space and opportunities that.
00:11:14
Speaker
You know, you just don't know what you're getting into and that's okay. And that terrifies me. It's not, it's not necessarily great for running a practice. I'm not talking about running a practice. What I'm talking about is life stuff outside the office. Maybe when you go on vacation, I know there's always a planner, but it's also nice. Or I should say yes. And
00:11:35
Speaker
It's also nice to have space for adventure. Freedom. In the unexpected agency, yes. Oh, very good. Nail. It's nice calling the shots. Bob and I are in an improv class, and one of the things we talked about today was having pauses and the dramatic pause.
00:11:58
Speaker
And it's more than dramatic pause, it can be very impactful and it can change a scene. So for instance, and I'm going to ask Bobby here for some space and grace, basically just don't say anything. Oh my gosh. If I were talking, if I said, I did something and
Embracing Spontaneity in Adventures
00:12:19
Speaker
I let the pause happen.
00:12:22
Speaker
in that space, you're giving your audience a chance in their head to imagine what, what in the world might I have done or what have they done that they want to get off their chest when they're talking to someone else versus if I say, I did something and then Bob quickly fires back, what'd you do? And it doesn't allow people to really become invested and your message gets watered down because you're creating an height of a scene right at the start versus
00:12:52
Speaker
I did something. Wait. And then Bob might go, oh my goodness, what did you do?
00:13:04
Speaker
And it allows the scene to build slowly versus having rapid back and forth, almost like an argument already. Calm people talk slowly. So I say that because as we kind of talk about just improv and the nice existence of a space, sometimes it's nice to improvise, have adventures because it gives people a space to be creative.
00:13:32
Speaker
And so when you're on an adventure, you're on a journey, sometimes having no plan gives you space and opportunity to have the best kind of adventure. Would you agree? Oh, I could say so. I agree with that. And sometimes not having a plan causes a really bad problem.
00:13:57
Speaker
But most of the time we'll be here all week. Yeah, but most of the time it doesn't. Back to this Machu Picchu Inca Trail adventure. We're not sure if
Altitude Acclimation Concerns
00:14:09
Speaker
we're going to be on a mountain or if we're climbing off a stone surface. Here's the dealio. Altitude is a big deal.
00:14:20
Speaker
And if anyone has any input, put it in the comments as far as like, I think I got to start getting that mask thing that you're wearing that helps out with that. So I thought we were going to fly into Lima for a couple of days early. I have one of my chums that's down there that we're going to try to reach out to. I thought that was at like 10, 11,000 feet, but it's like 500 feet elevation. It's like Dallas. So we're not going to be able to acclimate. So we're not acclimating in Lima.
00:14:48
Speaker
We're gonna start planning. We're busy. No, we're in Chicago. No, no, no, I hear you, but instead of spending a couple days in Lima, maybe we go and spend a couple days at the base of Machu Picchu, whether that's a mountain or a stone structure. I'm not sure. And the planning part says we actually, the group leaves from Lima.
00:15:10
Speaker
So we got to get one of those suffocating things for a couple days. Well, actually that would be pretty good. But where was it going with that? Creative juices. I don't know. So I'm nervous about it. Fitness conquers fear as well. I've been working out for a year and a half. I say I haven't been seeing results. Are you running yet?
00:15:36
Speaker
I'm doing 0.25. I've got terrible, I've got terrible running form. If I, if I didn't have headphones on right now, I'd run and show you an example of my poor form. Okay. You were a college runner. You've got running form. Um, I, quite frankly, I would be served well running if I was 50 pounds lighter.
00:16:04
Speaker
Part of what we're doing, and we're doing it over on Instagram, is we're gonna be showing kind of our own kind of well-being. Us and the biz, call it the gram. The gram, okay, the gram.
00:16:14
Speaker
trying to go on a journey, and part of that is just to show and crank things up. Frankly, both of us, I think, have been working on things as far as how to live our best lives. Okay, sleep, gotta get better sleep.
Balancing Relaxation and Health
00:16:30
Speaker
Nutrition, figuring out what's gonna work and what works for you nutritionally is not gonna work for me.
00:16:35
Speaker
I have had so much fun having a laissez-faire approach to life, whether that's nutrition, which I'm not advocating for other than
00:16:45
Speaker
You're not advocating for nutrition? Life is a balance. Sometimes it stresses you out trying to be perfect. I would say progress, not perfection. And I would say if you have healthy boundaries for yourself, try to ride that out. The only reason I talk about this is because I've been where you're at.
00:17:08
Speaker
Well, and as a college athlete, that's a whole different level. I know what it's like to know every calorie that goes in your mouth, to know that you have to have a pattern eating schedule. Otherwise it doesn't work. I know what it's like to have a specific time to go to bed. How is specifically how many hours of sleep?
00:17:28
Speaker
Okay, let's not dig into a tunnel on that. Oh, I'm not trying to dig. I'm just saying, I'm trying to understand. I'm trying to express why I'm out of lazy for life because it's not that I'm lazy. No. And you've been, by necessity, you had to be highly regimented. And I guess where I'm coming from is it has not served me well. What? What are you laughing at?
00:17:53
Speaker
He said these microphones pick up like everything. Yeah, they do pick up everything. I'm just noticing like, I'm going to see if they pick something up at like around 17 minutes. Oh, okay. Well, you guys will have to rewind and go back 17 minutes. 17 minutes. But figuring out what's going to work well for you. I love what you said. Progress, not perfection. I actually, I have that on a sticky note on my computer at the office. Progress, not perfection.
00:18:17
Speaker
And I'm not advocating for a poor work ethic. You have to be a dog after what you want in life. And I would not say don't go after it with every cell in your body, but don't care about everything. So part of what we do with between two teeth is to push people to do certain things. Live left love. Live left love. It is hard.
00:18:42
Speaker
to arrange a trip to Machu Picchu and go on the Inca Trail when you're in private practice and you both work together as the only surgeons in the practice and you've got to get someone to cover it. You've got to figure out what you can do with staff. We have a conference, a wellness summit. It's a well-being summit. Well-being. Bob's a key opinion leader. Yeah. And so I'm speaking. Or well-being. So here's the challenge.
00:19:08
Speaker
and stress management okay okay we're speaking friday and then saturday we're flying out of chicago to peru great i'm excited it'll be a great adventure but here's what i'm worried about go to an improv class while we're there go to an improv show second city but here's my challenge how much
00:19:27
Speaker
fun as all that. No, but so I gotta have, I gotta have dress clothes that I might be carrying up the mountains or no metal with Machu Picchu. We have buddies in Chicago. We're going to be right back over there. We're going to Dr. Alberti, Dr. Balberti is going to take our clothes. I don't know if I'm going to trust her with my blazer and my dress shoes. We just have two, we've got friends in Chicago. I know, I know. Dr. Colmina offered his office up for like just storing whatever stuff we needed. He's never offered
00:19:55
Speaker
I mean, I think we're going to be fine at all, you know, after trying to send them cookies. Yeah, I think we're going to be good. I think at a wellness conference, people are going to be very well intentioned. This is going to be my push is I want you to say, Bobby.
00:20:10
Speaker
Stop worrying about that. It's all going to work out. I would love the ADA building to house our between two teeth jackets until we can pick them up again. Oh, yes, yes. Well, that's part of the other reason that... Is that part of the problem? That's part of the problem. Are we going to be back in Chicago though? I don't know. We're going to be in Chicago. We're literally in Chicago four times in the next two months. So we need to look at the calendar because if we are back then I'll just pick them up. We're getting off track here. No, we're problem solving. This is good stuff. No, okay.
00:20:39
Speaker
Uh, so Peru going on something different. I'm going to ask a question and then I want a strategic pause for our listeners. What is it that you really want to do as far as going somewhere or taking some time to do something? What is it that you really want to do and you're not doing?
00:21:09
Speaker
Yeah, I think that was an effective pause. Right, so I'm going to answer the question. Oh, okay. To read back what you said is you're asking what do you need to do that you're not doing? What do you want to do? I said want versus maybe it's
00:21:25
Speaker
I don't want need. I think I'm living out what I want to do right now, which is to loosen up
Living Best Life Through Adventures
00:21:32
Speaker
the bounds, to have less of such a type A, just very ordered lifestyle.
00:21:40
Speaker
And it's so cool because I've had people that have reached out to me, and the one thing that they tell me, no matter when I admit them at whatever point in my life, is that they're like, Steph, you are living your best life. I love it. I don't know how you're doing it, but that's awesome that you are getting to maximize that. And part of that is us going on these adventures, having someone who plans them, for sure.
00:22:08
Speaker
But part of that is us going, why not? Let's try it out. Let's see what happens. I'm super jealous, by the way, of that. Because I get people send me kind of hate letters. Oh, I think that's the exception of the rule. I know people reach out. But I don't have a lot of people saying, oh, my gosh. And I'm not asking for people, although that'd be nice to put some comments. So Bob gets a lot of support.
00:22:34
Speaker
Yeah, but I'm always impressed with, and we talked about this on a previous episode, where I think you do a great job at creating a safe space. And people feel comfortable reaching out to you in a variety of ways. And that is good on them. That is good on you that you allow that space to happen.
00:22:59
Speaker
I think I'm finally getting to a point in my life where you have your friends that have, and I say friends, but the people you knew when you were in eighth grade, they've got jobs. They've got kids. Some of them have been through divorces and it's crazy cool how if you, the last time you saw someone was when they were
00:23:21
Speaker
14 years old and you guys are in your 30s now and you've got a whole lifetime of stuff that's happened in between and just connecting with a childhood friend and You know gosh the power we talk about well-being and I wish I could bottle that's that feeling up that positivity that energy and
00:23:41
Speaker
Because it's just magical. It's a neat feeling having connections that have been around for a long time. Yeah. I think both of us have been in situations where more recent kind of friendships turned into acquaintances or turned into just unhealthy kind of spaces. And you got to make, you know, we always talk about connection. Sometimes you got to unconnect.
00:24:09
Speaker
Yeah, that detachment.
Reconnecting with Friends and Well-being
00:24:13
Speaker
What it's taught me too about life and relationships is that you never know when, you never know who's gonna pop up back in your life. And it is, I really can't tell you the energy and positivity that that can have. When you look back, because when you see that person,
00:24:34
Speaker
you you experience all the good stuff from around that time period again and it's just man it's magic here's what i'm gonna do i'm gonna push our listeners if you're listening to this right now call i was gonna say push pause but if they literally pushed pause then they wouldn't hear us don't say but
00:24:53
Speaker
call someone. I would say direct message. From the past. Direct message on Instagram. No, no, stop. I wouldn't call. No. Personally, I just, I don't think I would pick up the phone. Pick up, if you got a rotary phone at home, do you know what a rotary phone is? Isn't it the one that rotated? Yeah, it's like that. It was actually super fun. Have you ever dialed a rotary phone? Call your grandma, but if you're on Instagram, send a message to someone that you maybe knew as a kid and say, hey,
00:25:18
Speaker
Love what you're doing. And I kind of, I'm kind of agreeing because sometimes that freaks people out. Yeah. Can you imagine like calling someone you knew in eighth grade as like a 30 something year old and just saying, like no other, like predetermined factors. Terrible to do that, but whatever way you feel is effective. Well, maybe they're not millennials. Millennials stop calling each other when text messages begin to thing. You're not wrong.
00:25:44
Speaker
And you don't have to send a long one, but I push you and encourage. Did I say hit the pause? Are they listening? Are we just talking for no reason? I don't think I said pause yet other than to say pause, but don't pause. Send a message, send it like, Hey man, just thinking about the times we had.
00:26:03
Speaker
many years ago. I have a list of people that I will pick up the phone and call. And it's a short list. It's not because I hate the people I don't call. It's just, that's another level. It really is. It's like, are we call buddies? Or is this a
00:26:24
Speaker
Is this a text-only line? I don't understand your generation. No, of course. Again, you have to dissociate this from business. I'm not talking about business and business relationships. I'm talking about everything outside of the business. Texting is easy. I get it. But here's what we want you to do. Whatever form of communication you think is appropriate for you, we want you to hit the pause.
00:26:53
Speaker
I keep saying the pause the wrong time. Just anyways, go do it, send the message, pause the video, and then come back on. Okay, now they're back. Do you think anyone actually did that?
00:27:03
Speaker
Afterwards. Anyway, just do it. Here's one of the things you and I talk about a lot, and that's why I've been so encouraged by a couple of the messages and the DMs that you've had from our listeners, is we all think good thoughts. We all think bad thoughts, too, at times. But we all think a lot of good thoughts. But how many of the good thoughts do you actually say to people?
00:27:31
Speaker
And it can be something that you never know the message that some people really need to hear. You don't know the difference your smile makes. You don't know the difference of you saying to someone, hey, you did a really good job with that.
00:27:47
Speaker
We don't know, but just get out there and say it. Yeah. I mean, delivering positivity is a big deal and it's not, I mean, you hear it, you hear that message now and you're like, Oh yeah, I would do that. But in the moment it's kind of tough. Sometimes it's tough to tell someone something as simple as, Hey, I like your shoes because you think it and you're just like, all right, you know, you didn't, you don't think that it's worth their time to hear that.
00:28:13
Speaker
we don't realize is that same person may have had their partner just rail into them about how ugly they are or you might have had say they just had their mom die or something and a stranger saying their shoes look nice could be the difference in their day.
00:28:31
Speaker
If you work with patients like we do, one of the quickest ways that I have found to develop rapport with a patient is to compliment them.
Preferred Hiking Footwear Discussion
00:28:45
Speaker
If you think their shoes are cool,
00:28:46
Speaker
You go, oh man, I like your shoes because they are, it, it distracts, it works their mirror neurons in their brain. But also someone dressed themselves this morning and they, there's something personal in what you're wearing and expressive. And even if you didn't put too much thought into it, yeah, maybe the message won't be as well received, but there's a lot of people that put a lot of thought into what they put on before they got the door. Yeah.
00:29:12
Speaker
back to the Inca Trail. If you have done that trail or have a favorite type of hiking footwear, we want to hear about it in the comment section. We'd love to do it. Now, I've ordered new Altras. It's Altras. It's, you know, why is it spelled with an A?
00:29:30
Speaker
I have no idea, ball at the corner. Foot drop, foot drop, zero foot drop, zero, negative five foot drop, foot drop, foot drop, ultra. Yeah, it's zero degree foot drop. There's zero millimeters, there's no heel to toe drop. We are not sponsored by ultra. Ultra. And I think once they see the videos of me doing so well on the Inca Trail, I think there's a sponsorship deal in the works. Well, guys, you've heard it here. We're gonna meet you on the Incan Trail. Did you just say,
00:29:59
Speaker
How do you say it? Inkin. No, it's not Inkin. Not like Lincoln. It's Inka. Inka. So the INCA. It's only Inkas. It's not Inkins. No, it's, well. We don't even know if it's a mountain. We don't know if it's a mountain. We're not the experts on this, but it has been, it's been awesome being part of the journey with you guys today.
Closing Remarks and Call to Action
00:30:22
Speaker
And Bobby, do you have anything else before we wrap up?
00:30:25
Speaker
Hit subscribe, follow the adventure, see if we can, see if I can make it up to Machu Picchu on this hike. And also check in along the way, we're going to be doing some wellbeing moments and we are so excited to connect with you guys in a real, we're real. World. Real way. Authentic way. Yeah, I don't know what I was trying to say. I don't know, just. Anyway, I'm Steffi Stuff, this is Bobby and this is Between Two Teeth. Thanks guys.