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Jessie Benson
36 Plays9 days ago
Have you ever thought about making a big change in your life? Meet Jessie Benson, a life coach who lives full time on a boat. - A far cry from her days as a home owning anesthesiologist who decided that life did not fit who she wanted to be. This fascinating conversation dives deep into making changes and living life to its fullest!
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Transcript
Introduction to Outdoorsy Educator Podcast
00:00:02
Speaker
Hello and welcome to the Outdoorsy Educator podcast, where learning gets a breath of fresh air. I'm your host Alistair, and each week I talk with people from all walks of life to explore how education, the outdoors, and real-world experiences shape who we are.
00:00:19
Speaker
From classrooms to campfires, trails to town halls, we dig into the lessons that move us, challenge us, stick with us, and can make the world a better place.
Meet Jessie Benson: From Medicine to Adventure
00:00:35
Speaker
And on this week's episode of the Outdoorsy Educator podcast, we have Jessie Benson. Jessie, how are you today? Fantastic. I just finished my run walk, so I'm ready for this.
00:00:47
Speaker
Good for you. I'm a little envious, as we just said before we started recording. I've been working this morning, but then that's my plan when we are finished. It's a beautiful day here in North Texas, so I'm going to take advantage of it.
00:01:01
Speaker
Well, first all, thank you so much for being here. I really do appreciate your time. Why don't you tell our lists listeners a little bit about who you are and about yourself? Third thing, I am Jessie Benson. My social media community called me Dr. Jessie, and that's because I was an anesthesiologist and an ICU physician. i was double board certified.
00:01:21
Speaker
I practiced both for eight years because that's how long it took me to pay off my quarter million dollar med school debt and give a six month notice because I knew early on that was not for me, but I knew I had to pay off that big old debt before I could get free.
00:01:36
Speaker
So then i went off to have many careers, which we can talk about. But the biggest one has been a life coach. And that's what I do now. Life coach and full time adventurer. ah live on a boat and I help people figure out what their big life adventure is and most importantly, how to get there.
00:01:54
Speaker
I love it. We are going to get into the boat life in in detail, I hope, shortly, because it's not something that's ever on my radar, and it just fascinates me.
00:02:05
Speaker
um But you said you you're an anesthesiologist. What originally drew you to your career in medicine? if we you know We go back a little while. Why that path originally? Why?
Breaking Away from Societal Pressures
00:02:15
Speaker
Yes. Well, I was that prototypical a student, type A A student, I'll say. Right. and everybody in my life said smart people go to medical school and i wanted to do lots of other things. In fact, I almost went to art school to be a photographer. And again, very well many people in my life said I would be wasting my life. I could do that as a hobby, which interests me interestingly enough, i'm actually also a professional artist now. So I did eventually become a professional artist. Good for you. And
00:02:46
Speaker
and So I took the path and I did a few different majors in college, ended up in biology, which is my version of pre-med and then went to medical school. And I loved learning. love making A's on tests. Like learning was my thing.
00:03:02
Speaker
But then when got into the real life of it, of like staying up all night, taking call, having someone's life in my hands, I realized, whoa, this is not the same thing as just studying a book and taking a test. This is like serious business.
00:03:16
Speaker
um So it was mostly just because I was a good student and and I wanted approval. That's like the big thing. I did not want to disappoint the people in my life. And so i did what they thought was best for me as long as I could. And then I didn't anymore.
00:03:31
Speaker
Good for you. was it it It sounds the way you're talking, like it was quite a gradual process. Was it gradual or was there like a specific moment or two that you went, something has to change? it was it was probably once I actually started getting into the clinicals and I realized, whoa, like this is not for me. But by then, I had already accrued that quarter million, which by today was about 450 mean 450,000, that quarter million, which is about now.
00:04:00
Speaker
to give you like today's dollars. I thought, there's no way I could pay that off. And so even though, even before I started practicing early on in my clinical training, I knew it wasn't right for me. I knew the only way out was through.
00:04:14
Speaker
And so I finished the training. I finished the this additional training as an ICU doctor and I did my best to enjoy it. So it was really like a snap decision, but the gradual was trying to pay off that debt year by year.
00:04:28
Speaker
Yes, I mean, students, I've just finished my PhD literally in the last couple of weeks, and i understand, because now it's you are tied to that student loan debt for a while, for a while. And it's um I'm very fortunate to have accrued, in a funny way, accrued to slightly me later in life when I figured out exactly what I wanted to do. um i feel like I dodged it for a little bit by not...
00:04:55
Speaker
getting into what I should get early in life. Because yeah, we all have a lot growth to do and and and change. um So how many years?
00:05:06
Speaker
No, sorry, go ahead. Go ahead. One thing on the debt, I would tell my people I work with, like, do not trade job prison for for like money prison, for debt prison, because they're both
Financial Freedom vs. Job Security: Jessie's Advice
00:05:17
Speaker
painful. Like before you leave,
00:05:19
Speaker
have a very good financial plan because you'll be just as miserable figuring out how to pay your bills as you are figuring out how to get up the momentum to go to work every day. they both I don't recommend either one. i would you mind That's a really powerful thing to say. Would you mind talking a little bit more about that? Because I suspect, well, I know there's lots of people trapped in that cycle. I wish I could do something else, but I can't afford to pay my bills if I do something else.
00:05:46
Speaker
And that cycle continues. Exactly. And so a few main parts of it are, and is really get down to what you absolutely need. Like I would even think about, do I want this or do I want freedom?
00:06:00
Speaker
Like, do I want to buy a fancier car or do I want freedom? Do I want the house in the neighborhood that all my doctor friends live in? Or do I want the house that is totally good enough for me? And so it's really like daily decisions on the big things and the little things. And If we're always holding up those those two things in our hands and looking at them so that the ever present was my end goal was my end goal was my end goal because it is so easy to pedal away 5,000 10,000 20 and five thousand ten thousand twenty and if we have it, all sudden it's gone. And then we're like, we're never getting out. So one spending. And then the other thing I did was get debt free.
00:06:34
Speaker
And there are different books out there to read on how to do that. All kinds of great information on how to get debt free. But the other thing is also put a nest egg away. Like I do not recommend leaving without that emergency fund of six months, living expenses, modest living expenses, because then we have,
00:06:52
Speaker
some wiggle room. And someone's even expecting that they want to do an official training, like how you went and got a PhD, unless they're going to have grants or other ways to pay tuition, save that too. Because I definitely believe in like setting our site on big dreams, but not without a big plan.
00:07:08
Speaker
yeah Right. I'm a leaper, but not without a plan, not without a safety net, because it's really hard to be creative and dream about our future when we literally are worried about paying our rent. It's just our brain goes into into like fight or flight and it stays out of creativity. And we're not going to come up with our big vision and our plan to get there when we're in fight or flight.
00:07:30
Speaker
Yeah, I couldn't agree more. The thought of student loan debt scared the life out of me. um But i really sat down and looked. and I knew this is what I wanted to do with my life.
00:07:40
Speaker
And there was very much a glass ceiling without these qualifications. So part of being able to break through that glass ceiling was in crewing, in our situation, the debt associated with the PhD.
00:07:52
Speaker
And it was ah it was a struggle. It was you know an emotional struggle Is this really the right move? Ultimately, for me, it is. But, you know, proceed with caution on that front, very much so.
00:08:07
Speaker
Yeah. Sounds like you were very intentional about your debt. Yes. really Yeah. and And, you know, I drive a 19-year-old car and things like that. And that's the sacrifice I'm making. If I hadn't got the student debt, yes, I could get the nice car. Yeah.
00:08:24
Speaker
But with age, i really that that's not going to make me happy at all. well And also it's it's decreasing in value, whereas my income hopefully will increase.
00:08:35
Speaker
So from an investment standpoint, don't know. That's just where I kind of landed and decided to do that. Yeah, exactly. And even like the people in our life may not understand why we drive the 19 year old car. Well, they don't have to understand because we're we're figuring out our own life and our values are
Embracing a Nomadic Lifestyle
00:08:53
Speaker
ours and theirs are theirs. If they want the fancy car and to keep working until they're 65 or whatever it is good for them. But like you have your own values. I have mine.
00:09:01
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. No judgment on anyone who's doing the opposite of me at all. yeah i just know what what works or what gives me peace at the end. And that's different for everybody. yeah um beley But you did have, it's safe to say, about you know in the beginning of traditional life, you went you became an anesthesiologist.
00:09:21
Speaker
I believe the little I read about you, I try not to read too much about my guests because I want to hear from directly from them. You owned a home. You probably had belongings. You had purchased some things.
00:09:33
Speaker
um What was that? act And now you you sold it. You sold those things. What was that? I think a lot of us dream about that. What would it be like to sell our home, your belongings, the emotional side of that? Could you talk a little bit about what that was like?
00:09:49
Speaker
Yes. I can give you a few iterations of it. I sold my house when I left medicine. and went to travel for an eight month RV trip, right when i left medicine about 10, 12 years ago, that felt very freeing. That was just like, whoa, I sold my house. I'm going in an RV. I'm traveling all over the country.
00:10:07
Speaker
Then i settled and and bought a sweet little piece of land and I built my own house, like literally designed it, physically built it with someone, with my cousin. He was a builder. I literally like that I was in that house. So when I sold that house, I had a much more emotional attachment to it. So that was a lot harder.
00:10:31
Speaker
Then fast forward to my most recent house. i I had one more house built for me and there wasn't that much emotional attachment because I picked everything out. But that is not the same thing as like.
00:10:42
Speaker
putting my literally sweat into it. And so there have been different iterations. So how how someone feels about selling their house is going to be a little bit different based on their emotional attachment to their house. My my most recent house, I've lived in it for 18 months. It was beautiful, but It wasn't worth staying to go to not go live a full time adventure life. So that was a pretty easy house to leave.
00:11:04
Speaker
And since then, i've been traveling. i have done a full time trike life for about five weeks where I lived in camps and had a recumbent trike that I rode across um like Florida.
00:11:17
Speaker
Then I went on to backpack for a week. thought that was not for me because it just wasn't my thing. And then I did an electric scooter life where I was on like a hyper scooter to kind of go like 60 some miles an hour. But I tapped out at like 25 and camped on that.
00:11:33
Speaker
And then I moved on to a boat, which is the for me the perfect combination of adventure and home. Because I always loved my home, but I wanted adventure. Now I have both in the same structure.
00:11:45
Speaker
that you Again, you're speaking my language here because having mean I think about the house we we've lived for seven or eight years. And if I sold it tomorrow for some reason, it's not the house I would miss. It's you know the blood, sweat, and tears that we painted that room. We replaced that. We repaired this.
00:12:02
Speaker
And the memories and the emotions hatched from that rather than the bricks and mortar. It's like the identity. i so i The house was me.
00:12:13
Speaker
Yes. And we actually, one of our our children, we talked about this hypothetically, we sold our house. And really, they talked about the fact that all the things that make our house a home, we would be taking with us is the little Christmas decorations and those kind of things, the things that wherever we would hypothetically end up, those things would go.
00:12:35
Speaker
And I thought that was a very interesting perspective. It is a beautiful perspective. Yeah, I love that. I'm going to assume that those certain things, heirlooms or things of memory, wherever you live, wherever you end up, a boat, a tent, a house, they're going to stay with you forever.
00:12:54
Speaker
They are I've narrowed it down to a closet at my sister's house, and that's literally like my taxes and, like you said, my my most precious items, the ones that have the the feeling in them.
00:13:06
Speaker
Right, that's exactly. And that's sometimes I'm sure we all have done this. I think about, with you know, my house was to burn down. What things would I grab? What non-living things would I make sure made out of the house? And yeah, it's nothing of monetary value.
00:13:21
Speaker
It's, um yeah, silly things that would appear silly on the surface have of an emotional attachment. Now, you say you' you're living on a
Living on a Pontoon Boat: Challenges and Rewards
00:13:29
Speaker
boat. Again, deliberately, I'm sure I could have Googled this and I chose not to.
00:13:33
Speaker
I can't picture what kind of boat or know what kind of boat you live on. And of course, there's many, many different styles. Could you talk to us about where it is you now live? Yes. So I was anti-boat for a long time.
00:13:47
Speaker
it just seemed like nothing was flat. There wasn't space to to like do yoga and to set up my workstation, like where I do my coach calls. And the perfect combination for me has been a pontoon with have like a canvas, complete canvas enclosure.
00:14:09
Speaker
It's 24 feet, I think, but it's totally flat. And the person that I bought it from had thankfully pulled all the chairs up except for the captain's station and...
00:14:23
Speaker
the very back and so it is essentially a floating living room that is a studio apartment there are everything is flat so I can do i can do yoga on the floor as you crossfit on the boat I do my podcast recordings on the boat like I literally do my entire life on the boat I have a refrigerator that plugs in I have a propane stove I have an electric stove for when I am at like a at a slip at like a marina or park.
00:14:50
Speaker
And so that for me was the best because i'm I'm big into like having a lot of open flat space as opposed to other kinds of boats that the floor is kind of slanted and everything's sort of more like an ah RV feeling where it's built out in every direction.
00:15:05
Speaker
That wasn't for me. So I think it's that someone's going to live on a boat is think about the exact things they're going to do on the boat and pick the boat that they can do those things on it. Right, yeah, making the boat pick your life rather than trying to figure it out. I see. it And again, these are obvious questions for anyone who knows anything about boats, which I don't.
00:15:26
Speaker
So do you generally, your boat is it stationed in a marina, is that... Yes, for now. Yes. Yep. And then the cool thing is, is if I'm in the same place for a bit, I get a sense of community, which I lived before in a really small, sweet town with one stoplight in the whole county. It was just everybody i everybody knows everybody in a really precious way.
00:15:48
Speaker
And when I'm in one place at one time, I get a sense of community with the people. And for instance, my sweet little dog of 15 almost years passed away about a week ago. And where I am, the people got me a card and flowers. And so it's a way to be a full time adventurer, but still get that sense of community if that's important to a person.
00:16:09
Speaker
I love that. I don't know if you've ever seen ah even half the show, Queer Eye, that's on Netflix. um It's, you know Five Guys. Heard of it, but I haven't seen it. Okay, mean, it's now finished. I think it ran for this its inspiration of it, ran for about 10 years.
00:16:25
Speaker
It's these five guys, and they go in and kind of revamp somebody's life, something well-designing. And they've got a guy who does you hair, somebody does clothes. All these different things. But the they have one, a guy on there who does interior design.
00:16:39
Speaker
He usually doesn't renovate their house, but looks at and goes, how can we maximize this? And the very final episode of the last season, they actually renovated somebody's boat.
00:16:51
Speaker
I say again, renovated the wrong one. They went into it and there was just stuff piled everywhere. I'm sure it's not abnormal for a family to have three living on a boat.
00:17:02
Speaker
There was just piles of things everywhere. And he completely redid it, but obviously it was a boat and this was a first for him because things needed to be light. um you know things i again wouldn't think of and just it's just a different beast altogether and it was fascinating to look at all the creative ways space could be developed to to make the boat fit around their life rather than they were they didn't have to shoehorn their life into a boat that wasn't right for them anymore yeah i totally agree and what helped
00:17:36
Speaker
me with that more than anything was the adventures I did leading up to the boat because I learned princess backpacking is the one I like the least but it taught me the most and that's because I literally got down to like I need you know eight q-chips until I buy some more or I need um you know one two shirts that i that I wash instead of like six shirts.
00:18:03
Speaker
And so it really helped me get down. So when I got on this boat, i felt like I was moving into a mansion. Like, you know, I'm like, I need to have 12 volt refrigerator. This is awesome. Lucky you. And so exactly. So to kind of pare it down before really helped me and it helped my then i And then instead of i felt like I was i was moving up in in space instead of moving down. So that really helped my psychology moving on to the boat.
00:18:30
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. I mean, just it's all perspective, right? I mean, it's it's something I think about quite a bit. um Again, sort of going back to, you know, the cars.
00:18:41
Speaker
I know in my mind, if I bought that a car in six months, I'd maybe want another one or another one or another one. But now I look at my 140,000 mile 19 year old car. can You know, what it gets me. I just drove it to Kansas and back.
00:18:56
Speaker
It's seven hours each week that this weekend. And the memories I've made in that, because I can't i do a lot of car camping and things. And yeah, it's it's it's been it's a really good representation of, you know, gaining a good, healthy perspective.
00:19:12
Speaker
um and And I love the fact that you you see it rightly as gaining space because you've had that experience of not very much. Yes. When everything i own literally is on my back, plus my dog on the front, hanging her from a sling.
00:19:29
Speaker
I was like, wow, I've moved up to the daytime. Right. And I love that. I think that's such a a healthy outlook to have. um Now, as wonderful as it seems to have been this move for you, I'm sure there's some challenging days. Could you talk tell us about some of the challenges you've faced moving it onto a goal?
00:19:49
Speaker
Yes. So one thing is temperature. Because I but want to live outdoors. but i don't want to be enclosed like when i go into other boats and they're enclosed really love the canvas size even when they're shut there's like still like wind still gets in little places so it always feels like fresh air well the the the flip side of that or the price for that is cold like it was 22 degrees of at least one night and then 20s a few other nights this winter and it's cold even with a little so little space heater
00:20:23
Speaker
22 degrees in a boat on the water with canvas sides is cold. And so the physical discomfort, but in the end, it is so worth it. Like I say, I would so much rather be cold on a boat than warm in my old house, even though i loved my house because it's It's totally worth the price. So temperature management, I really had to change. had to widen my acceptance zone of tolerable temperature. So I got a fan and I got a heater and I used one or use the other at the extremes. And otherwise I try to just acclimate because ah it can put me in a state of, of
00:20:59
Speaker
unhappiness to be like, oh, it's hot. Oh, it's cold. Well, yeah, you get to go outside in a boat. That's part of it. And to kind of just like, that's part of it. That's part of it. That's part of it. I get to see the alligators. I get to hear the birds calling like right outside, outside on the dock.
00:21:14
Speaker
And so temperature has been the main thing. Everything else has been just awesome. I'd say temperature. That's it. I love that because, again, it's relatable.
00:21:25
Speaker
um yeah have've done I haven't like done any long distance through hiking. I do have done 100 miles at a time, several times. And you know sometimes you wake up and it is hovering around freezing or the below.
00:21:37
Speaker
You're in your tent and... And your initial thought is ah this is miserable. Well, you know, what am I doing? And then I kind of look at the time of like a lot of people are getting up and going to the office. They're sitting in traffic, all of that. and Yes, they might be a little warmer.
00:21:52
Speaker
How lucky am I to to have this opportunity to wake up, get a cup of coffee and truly appreciate that cup of coffee that's warming me up. um rather than just go, go, go.
00:22:05
Speaker
I find it very good for my mental well-being to take those breaks and kind of reset. makes me appreciate what I have in my life even more. Yes, because no matter what we're in what what we look at determines what we feel. We can look at the beautiful sunrise or we can look at the chilly body and, oh, I'm so cold.
00:22:25
Speaker
is We totally determine which experience we want to have. Absolutely. it's ah It's funny, I was just looking Instagram this morning and somebody I followed prioritizes watching the sunrise and the sunset every day because it sets them up correctly for whatever they have on during the day and it helps them sleep better at night when they can release the stress of the day as the sun goes down. And they were like, this is free.
00:22:54
Speaker
everyone could do it and it's such a grounding thing for them it just it sounds just just so very similar um yeah and living outdoors it's right there like it's right there you don't have to go out in the yard and look past the trees or go down six stairs or like six flights of stairs i mean it's right there just poke your head out and there's the sunrise there's the sunset have Absolutely.
00:23:20
Speaker
um Something I was thinking about, again, my naivety on the boat life is is screaming in this episode.
The Egalitarian Boating Community
00:23:27
Speaker
But I was thinking about like island time. yeah Things move at their own pace.
00:23:31
Speaker
Is there a similar thing in the boating community? Yes, there is. It's a very relaxed pace. The other thing that's very interesting is people lose their It's all like, even though someone has a bigger boat or a smaller boat, it's all sort of universal. Like people lose their, so much of our identity in the non-boat life is what we do for a living. That's like, what do you do for a living? What do you do for a living? What do you do for living?
00:24:02
Speaker
And then people kind of then they associate a whole set of beliefs about that. Oh, you must make a lot of money. Oh, you must not make a lot of money. Or you must be this kind of a person or that kind of person. But so often people meet, it's just first names and their boat name.
00:24:16
Speaker
And you could be talking to someone who makes a lot of money and they have like a big company. You'd be talking to someone who's who is not, who's like a you know a like a wonderful traveling musician that's just getting by but doing their dream.
00:24:31
Speaker
And Now they're on a boat. So it's very much an identity equalizer, which is super cool. because then it becomes about what you love and what you have in common and what you can learn from each other instead of what invites you.
00:24:48
Speaker
I love that. rub but It reminds me very much of your trail names in the through hiking community, a very similar thing. It's a great equalizer. And I, I found that too. like I love that. I love when I meet people hiking and it's just, here we are, we've got this in common.
00:25:06
Speaker
In the outside world, we may well not have even crossed paths. And it's it's kind of a beautiful thing because I like meeting people who are very different than I am to see what how our life experiences have brought us to this moment together.
00:25:20
Speaker
want Yes. And there's a sense of community and a sense of camaraderie in a sense. People just be like, oh, we like these. You might want to try this. And oh, I noticed you don't have this. Have you thought about that? that They just ever just want everybody else to succeed and have just the best vote experience.
00:25:36
Speaker
Right. And again, it it seems like a lot of parallels with them this a through hiking community. If you had a problem on your boat, I imagine there would be a small flock of people, you know, coming around and saying, how can I help?
00:25:50
Speaker
What can I do here? Have this. Exactly. Yeah. It's such a wonderful sounding community. Yeah. What would you say to somebody who felt maybe stuck in their life, their life looks good on
Pursuing Personal Fulfillment
00:26:06
Speaker
paper?
00:26:06
Speaker
Again, I don't want to say if that was your life, but you've been to university, you've got the qualifications, you were buying the house, you had a bright future in a traditional on-paper sense.
00:26:18
Speaker
If somebody has that niggling thought at the back of their mind going, this is actually what I want, Where and would you start with them or encourage them to think? you know What would you encourage them to think about?
00:26:30
Speaker
ten Well, the main ah main thing that I had to get through is what other people think of my choice, because people would say, you put so much time and money into becoming a doctor. You're seriously and not doctors, because they understood why I was leading, but other people, non-physicians.
00:26:48
Speaker
And We really have to be willing to do a life that other people don't understand and be okay with it. Be okay without our friends or parents or other people who are close to us don't always get it and be willing to push for what we want because we're the one that wakes up in the morning in our body. We're the one that goes to sleep on our pillow and has to live all the minutes in between. And so I very much encourage people to stick to that and to not let other people's standards to weigh them to the best their ability.
00:27:20
Speaker
And then another thing is to be very practical about it. Like there is so much information out there about any any kind of life anybody could ever want to live that they can just research it. If there's anything you think you're interested in, research it. There are ways. And then the third thing, which I talk a lot with my clients, is like, I don't know what I want to do. I know it's not this, but I don't know what it is. And I tell them, just take the one next warmer step, the one next thing that's like a little bit closer to something you think you want, because that leads you to the next and the next. And then five, eight, 10, 15, 20, 20, 20,
00:27:50
Speaker
steps later, you're there. Like in my case, I left medicine. I became a life coach, a yoga teacher, and a meditation teacher. That was like the first iteration and a professional artist. Then i wanted to have a home bakery. So I had a home bakery.
00:28:03
Speaker
Then was making custom desserts because That was fun. Then I taught at my self-discovery book I wrote at my old college and I taught at a local alternative high school. So like the next thing leads to the next thing. if We have no idea what 20 steps is, but we will not get there if we don't take step one. That's what I do know.
00:28:21
Speaker
And so you don't have to know the end to just make a small step. So just start. Just do something. Just start. I love that. And I'm going to assume that you wouldn't be the life coach you are today if you hadn't had the bakery, taught in the school, all these things.
00:28:39
Speaker
You may not have realized, i'm I'm guessing, that this is where you would be at this point. But without all those experiences, you wouldn't be who you are. Yeah, I walk the walk. Like if there's something in my heart, I go for it. Like I feel like that's what I'm going go for a coach. Like there's something in in your heart.
00:28:55
Speaker
I hope you go for it. Like because I know how to go for it. I don't i I am an expert at going for it and I do it in my own life. Like I need to be the example. And so if there's something I want to do like leave my leave my old my old house that I left and go full time adventure. I'm going to do it because this is one sweet life and I'm going to make the most of it.
00:29:17
Speaker
And yes, so that's what I would say is the biggest thing, make a step and the next step and the next step. Don't be afraid to go for it because your life is so precious and you have no idea where you're going to go. Like everybody listening to this, you have no idea where they're going to be in 5, 10, 20 years.
00:29:33
Speaker
So just take that first step. Yeah, I couldn't agree more. I mean, I started this podcast so a year ago-ish with no goals or no, you know, I want to have you know a X amount of bliss in there.
00:29:47
Speaker
And I still don't. I've still got no idea. But um the the little steps I'm taking and the people I'm meeting, man alive, it's a joyous journey. Like, I'm having a blast. And where will will well I still be doing this in five years? I hope so, but I've got no idea. Yeah.
00:30:02
Speaker
but the just being on the journey has been so eye-opening and honestly just enjoyable yes and i love that you say that because that reminds me of another guide post in my life is fun i is it fun is it fun is it fun is it fun if it's not why are you doing it like figure out what's fun it's okay to have fun like you can You can have fun.
00:30:26
Speaker
It's like a wonderful thing to have fun every minute. I think that's not a reasonable goal that like most of the day you're having fun, whether whatever it is. Yeah. When did, when did, I wonder where it was in light.
00:30:37
Speaker
I think we all hit this point where you feel almost guilty about having fun and you have to reset. don't google it It's okay to have fun. Yes. Yeah, it's like fun is trivial. Fun is for people who aren't responsible.
00:30:52
Speaker
You know, you can find us for people who are wanting to give themselves a good life. That's who fun is for people who want to give themselves the good life they deserve. Yeah, absolutely. um My daughter goes to, not yoga, sort of like a jazz exercise class once in a while.
00:31:09
Speaker
And there's a lady there, and we think she's in her 70s. And she shows up in the bright colored clothing and just for no reason will bring Snickers bars and things for the other people doing.
00:31:22
Speaker
yeah and And, you outrageously love hats. Having fun and and my non-medical opinion, I swear there's something in it. Like that ability to have fun and mental and physical health being tied together. She's not afraid.
00:31:38
Speaker
She's not worried about looking silly. And here she is, 70 years old, and she's doing all these exercises. I just think, I don't know this lady, but I find it inspiring.
00:31:49
Speaker
It's totally inspiring. She inspires me too. You just you tell me about her. There you go. There you go. It makes me makes them very happy when I think about that lady. As we kind of come around the home stretch here as we wrap up this podcast, I've got three questions that I'd like to ask my guests.
00:32:05
Speaker
You've touched on this far so far quite a bit, but it'd be interesting to see how we can avoid it down, about how your definition of success has changed over the years. Mm-hmm.
00:32:16
Speaker
like just tremendously. It went from other people think I'm doing a good job to I think I'm doing a good job. I like the way I'm living. i like the way I'm treating myself. i like the way I'm treating others. I like the decisions I'm making.
00:32:34
Speaker
So very much from other focused to me focused. And for me right now, my ultimate definition of success is having fun, whether I'm doing my podcast taking a walk. Like if it's not fun,
00:32:47
Speaker
Why am i doing it? So change from outer to inner to fun. if if And I would hope if listeners take nothing else away from this, going from other focused to me focused is a beautiful thing.
00:33:01
Speaker
That's going to stick with me ah for a long time. I love that.
Influential Books and Figures in Jessie's Life
00:33:05
Speaker
um You can take this question any direction you want of any compartment of your life. But has there ever been a book or is there a book that's been particularly impactful on your life?
00:33:16
Speaker
and Hmm. So funny because I was trying to make a list yesterday. This is ironic. um One book, which this isn't really on adventure, but it's sort of on getting things, accomplishing your life is Atomic Habits by James Clear.
00:33:30
Speaker
I read that years ago and I still apply those habits. So if you're trying to get something done, whether it's little changes in your life or big changes, like try to go out for that adventure. He has wonderful. It's a wonderful book on habits, psychology and how to make doing the things we want really easy for ourselves, how to set up a system that work.
00:33:48
Speaker
And then another one I love is untethered soul by Michael Singer. That's more, that's just more on the spiritual side of like realizing that we're sort of the ones who make us suffer. Like other people aren't making us suffer the ways we are choosing to think, make us suffer.
00:34:02
Speaker
So those are two. Those are two, like more on the practical side and then the more like spiritual side. I love it. of I often tell guests that one of the sort of the deep dark seeker of this podcast is, oh, I just get this longer and longer list of books I need to read.
00:34:17
Speaker
and I love it. I love it. I get to find out really impactful books. um And finally, I was thinking about your your current life now, of Life on a Boat. And I was thinking, is there any one person, if you imagine the situation, who came to your boat and said, i want to move on to your boat with you for a couple of days so you can show me the ropes, but you got to tap into their brain and ask them any questions you would want. This could be somebody living, non-living, somebody you know, somebody you don't know, famous, not famous, somebody you could just spend some time with on your boat and you get to pick their brain and ask them questions. Who might that be?
00:34:56
Speaker
My question, your question is very easy for answer. That would be Tony Robbins. um I know everybody has sort of a different relationship and some people just love him and think he's helped him a lot. Some people have never worked with him and his material and they think he's, you know whatever they think about him. But in my experience, he understands humans and he understands how to help them change the things that are making their life not feel like awesome to them. And so two days with him, that will be awesome.
00:35:26
Speaker
I love it. i He's one of those people, I know who he is and I know what he does, but I don't i don't know anything about him, really. So that's that's a good motivation to me to look into his philosophy people as well.
00:35:38
Speaker
Well, Jesse Benson, man alive, you've opened my eyes to so much. I cannot thank you enough for your time today. Thank you.
00:35:48
Speaker
Thank you again to this week's guest and I hope today's episode was as enjoyable for you as it was for me and perhaps even inspired your next adventure. If you did enjoy the show, please be sure to subscribe, leave a review or follow us wherever you get your podcasts. You can find more information at theoutdoorsyeducator.com or follow us on Instagram, TikTok or Facebook. Until next time, thank you so much for listening to The Outdoorsy Educator Podcast.