Just Roll With It

Just roll with it. This is the Elevate Pult Podcast, and I'm your host, Chrissanne Long. And with me, as always, is Rob Arturi.

Just rolling with it.

Rolling with it. That's what I told you, and it's gonna be great. You're gonna love it. Rolling with it.

Rolling with it.

So do you like change?

Uh, it depends. Uh, generally speaking, I think most people don't like change, but then that's usually because we, um, we like most things about— I mean, if you're, if you're miserable, then change is probably a good thing. Um, I guess I can cope with a modest amount of change, but right Yeah.

Well, so you, you like change you can control. I mean, I think all of us, if we're intentionally trying to change, that's a different reaction we would have to change, right?

Okay, so unexpected change. Yeah, right. That would be a no. Like when they change the menu at like a restaurant I like. Yeah, I don't, I don't, I don't appreciate that.

Right. Well, I mean, John at my office came in the other day and one of his favorite lunch places is Tropical Smoothie because it's like half a block away.

Sure.

And he said, you know, something horrible happened. And John is not really into these really overly emotional types. So I was like, what, is everything okay? He goes, they just removed my favorite item from the menu at Tropical Smoothie. And I'm like, oh my gosh, that's devastating. He goes, no, I'm serious. This is a big deal. He did not like it at all. And I said, oh, time to find a new place to go. He goes, yeah, I'm thinking about it. So I mean, you'll almost X the entire, ixnay the entire situation, say, if you don't like something that they've changed on you.

Yeah, I've done that. I have done that. And it didn't really make sense as to why it changed. But yeah, that's a problem. I'm with you, John.

It didn't make sense to me, right? Like, if it doesn't make sense to me, I don't want it to change.

I agree.

I'm currently combating that, the exact same situation, because one of our daily, um, rituals is stopping for coffee and, and soda. I get a soda in the morning. I'm not a coffee drinker, don't crucify me. Um, but we stop at 7-Eleven.

How are we friends? I don't know.

Sometimes I know, I know. I mean, I'm, I'm half Cuban. How do I not drink coffee?

I don't know.

I, I don't have an answer, but that is the fact. So we stop and get coffee, and 7-Eleven brand, like nationally, changed the way that they're doing coffee. And they have this app that I use to have like 10,000 points on the stinking app. And they always ask me to take a survey, like, how did we do? And I'm always like, I love my 7-Elevens in Lakeland. Woo-hoo. I'm always a big fan. However, um, and they're, they're locally owned. I know the owner, he's a super great guy. He's always very receptive and, and very helpful whenever, you know, something isn't exactly the way we want it in the store. But I said, wait a second, you just took away French vanilla and hazelnut and replaced it with blueberry flavored coffee. And I'm not even the coffee drinker, but poor Craig. Craig was like devastated. I mean, the look on his face was legitimately sad and morose because he walked in there and he couldn't get the coffee that he'd become so accustomed to. And so every time that little survey pops up, I'm like, bring back French vanilla and hazelnut coffee, please.

Those are like staples too. That's not even like a— like blueberry is like a crazy, like a seasonal type of like, you know, it seems like it would be seasonal, but no, it's like the summer version of pumpkin spice, you know, that like— that's— or the McRib.

Well, there's hope because if pumpkin spice is still coming, Craig will— Craig will be happy. But we'll see. But the verdict is out on that one.

Craig and a lot of soccer moms.

Yep, everybody likes the pumpkin flavored stuff in the fall.

Not me. I'm so over it.

Of course you are. You're so contrary. So—

touché.

But my— so our discussion about rolling with it, you know, it's like it's easy to tell somebody else to roll with it. It's also easy to make changes when you're in control of them. But a lot of the changes that we're making, we're not in control and we feel very resentful, very angry, very bitter, very frustrated. Very even irate to the sense of how we're reacting to some of these changes that have been imposed upon us that we cannot control or do anything about, or we're kind of helpless to. That got me thinking about resilience and what do you do. It's one thing if it's like 3 days or a week, it's like a hurricane, right? I lived through Hurricane Andrew in Miami when I was in high school, and that's a period of time. And you know, as soon as the trees get cleared out from the street, and as soon as the power gets restored, and as soon as all of these things— so you can kind of see it visibly starting to get back to normal. Um, you, you know that this is only temporary, and so you can roll with it. It's a lot easier. But we're dealing with so much change being heaped upon us that a lot of us emotionally are just getting to the point where we just can't hack it anymore. We're just like, we're becoming ugly. We don't like that about ourselves. We're, we're maybe we're, we're Once, for me, it's the moon, during the cycle of the moon, I feel a little bit not myself sometimes. So what do we do?

Do you howl?

Pardon?

I said, you don't like howl, do you?

No, I don't howl at the moon.

I'm kidding, I'm kidding.

But my mood, I mean, the moon is truly something that controls my mood and I've learned to try and control that, but I don't even always succeed. So yeah, I mean, I think that's kind of the discussion here is how are you doing? How are you rolling with it?

Well, I agree with you. I think everybody's had a lot kind of thrown at them in a relatively short period of time. You know, this is, we started back with this when in March really, and it was supposed to be for a short period of time, just like a hurricane. We can weather the storm. And here we are basically 6 months later, and we're still kind of dealing with the fallout of all this. And there really is no anticipation or no anticipated date when this will end.

Right, and depending upon who you're listening to, it's a year, it's 2 years, it's forever. We're always gonna wear masks.

The new normal, we're gonna walk around with masks on. Everybody's gonna look like the Lone Ranger. It is a lot for people to process. Personally, because I've been through, in addition to COVID, a lot of personal and professional changes over the past 6 months, and some difficult but positive for sure. And one of the things that I found was I only have so much bandwidth. I only have so much energy and attention to give to different things. So one of the things you have to do is prioritize. And I started limiting my interest and engagement with other things, like specifically cable news. I have not watched cable news since mid-May, and I feel outstanding. I'm— I get news from other sources and things. I'm not completely— not living under a rock by, by any means, but it does take up more of your attention than you think. Um, you know, I, I do a lot on social media, but for some people, just giving up on social media for a period of time is incredibly cleansing and, and refreshing. And sometimes you need that. Sometimes you have— something has to give. And I think what we do as people all too often is when we're overwhelmed, we focus on the things we didn't expect, that we just didn't see coming, and we feel like, oh gosh, this is just I'm, I'm just getting swamped by all of this, right? But what you have to do in those situations is reassess and look at it and say, okay, so now I have these things on my plate, what can I slide off, right? It's just like your lima beans when you're a kid. You can slide them off the table, give them to the dog if you don't want. Sometimes, you know, you've got to just do that in life with something that just doesn't really need your attention. And I think we can all do a better job of figuring out kind of the hierarchy of what really matters in our day-to-day life. You know, I was a news junkie, I was a politics junkie, I loved that stuff. And I was kind of surprised pleasantly that it really— none of it mattered to me. It didn't really change anything about my life giving it up for a period of time.

One of the questions I always ask, if it— and I've never done it and I've never really felt the need, although I'm sure it would be a healthy experiment and something that I could take a look at, get a lot of takeaways from, but I've just never I've never allowed other people's opinions or actions or attitudes that I disagree with to truly impact me, right? I read something I disagree with. Shoot, I, I receive— I'm— I opted in to an email list that I, I'm diametrically opposed to just because I want to understand the other side. So that's just kind of a weird funky thing about myself. I don't, I don't feel like it's an awful thing to hear what other people who don't agree with me or don't think the same way that I think, think. But my question that I always ask is, if it was so awesome, why did you come back to social media? Like, if, if I were going to do it and find it to be so amazing, is there something that I need to come back to? Or I'm not sure. That was always my question. It's like, okay, I took a 30-day Facebook break and now I'm back. I'm like, why'd you come back? Yeah, that's to each his own. I'm not trying to—

No, that's, that's a good— no, that's a good point. That's a good point. I mean, personally, for me, I don't— I didn't set a time limit. I didn't even do it like a cognizant, uh, uh, you know, I didn't make one of those, uh, obligatory, like a cleansing challenge or something. No, it wasn't anything cliché like that, or, or I'd make a post about it. I'm— as of today, I'm quitting this, or like some, um— I mean, I've already gone on the record on my feeling on resolutions, uh, on this podcast. And so I don't really do that sort of stuff. I just I just let it go. I just, I just stopped watching, right? And then, and then you look back after a few weeks and you're like, gosh, I haven't watched the news for like 3 weeks, and next thing you know it's 3 months. And, and I can't tell you that there's— I can't say I'll never watch it again, but I, I have no plans of, you know, I, I just actually, to be, uh, to be fair, just today deleted all of the cable news shows that I had on my, my DVR.

Uh, because for you, that's awesome.

I don't have any, any plans on watching them again in the future. And I'm pretty sure that, uh, no matter what happens in November, I could probably tell you today what the conversation is going to be about in, you know, come November. So quite frankly, you know, I've got other things that are more important to me, so something has to give. So yeah, when you're confronted with something unexpected, sometimes you have to look for those things that you can just just put on the shelf for a little while, maybe permanently, maybe a little bit a while. But I don't know that it's necessarily about, you know, giving up on social media because, well, social media is the devil. Well, if that's the case, then you're right. Then why would you come back to it? On the other hand, if you look at it and say, look, I'm just kind of overwhelmed right now, I've got a lot of things going on, this takes a bit of my time. And if you have an iPhone, it tells you just how much of your time social media takes. And sometimes you look at that and you say, wow, I'm like, that's hours of my day that I could be doing something more productive at a time when I need to be more productive. So, you know, that's just my 30-second Tony Robbins speech. But I think for me personally, I have done it and it has been a real positive thing for me.

And that's taking control. Like that's taking control and ownership and acknowledging my own part in my life, right? That I have choices that I either turn on my phone or turn it off. Uninstall my Facebook app and then don't reinstall it because I'm wishy-washy about the fact that I'm not wanting to be on Facebook. You know, it's, it's sticking to something and saying that you're gonna— it's saying you're gonna do something and then sticking to it. Um, which, you know, I think as adults a lot of us have a challenge with that. You know, it's diet. Oh yeah, it's, it's all of these new behaviors that we would love to change about ourselves, but we don't. Now that's a different— let's, like I said at the beginning, the frame is I get to choose that, right? I get to make those intentional decisions. But rolling with it is when you're not able to kind of control what's coming at you. You know, it's rolling with the punches. It's understanding that life isn't, you know, as easy all the time as, you know, as it seemed to be before we were in this period of time that we don't necessarily know how long it's going to go. But a lot of people are sharing things that they're doing, you know, and I'm just terming them as rolling with it because You know, it's kind of the whole adage, you know, making lemonade out of lemons when life throws them at you, right?

Mm-hmm.

And, um, so Craig and I have been on a, uh, purge, and we talked about the purging, and I really didn't know what we were doing when we started. So that's also a part of the whole thing is, uh, serendipity and, and letting life be a little bit unplanned. I think a lot of people who are planners are really struggling right now because they just can't see around the corner. Or even know where the corner is, I guess. But in our situation, one day Craig and I were walking and we were talking about like things that we could do to keep ourselves occupied while we weren't as socially booked as we have been, you know, most of our business careers. And I said, you know, we really need to get rid of stuff. And his question was, well, what are we going to do when we get rid of stuff? I said, I really don't have an answer for you, but I know that we need to get rid of stuff. So that's where we started. And we started started with the purging and I am, I don't know, I'm kind of proud. I'm not ashamed. I'm kind of proud of the fact that it was over 4 tons of stuff that we just got rid of. And it wasn't, I know I talked about books, but it wasn't all, it wasn't 4 tons of books for crying out loud. But you know, it was just a lot of old furniture and old TVs. There was one TV that Craig had when I met him that was probably a ton all by itself. I mean, the two of us couldn't pick it up and carry it. On, you know, the two of us, like two people could not physically pick that puppy up.

So yeah, people that used to steal TVs back in the day deserve a lot more credit because, uh, you know, if you're gonna burgle somebody's house today and steal their flat-screen TV, you could do that with one arm. Back in the day, if you were gonna steal a TV, that was a commitment. I mean, you better be hitting the gym because those things were—

you better bring a buddy.

They were no joke. Um, yeah, no, I, I agree. I think that's a You know, that's a positive. Uh, I, I try and look at things, uh, you know, when you were talking about things that I'm, you know, how you handle certain things, right? I've always talked about that internal locus of control, like that people have way more control over the things that are happening to them than they would like to admit, because frankly, it's easier to talk about the things that you can't control. But, you know, part of rolling with it is positioning yourself so that you are best prepared to deal with those things that you can't, you can't change, right? Because, uh, if you ever read Jordan Peterson, you know that it was a quote from, from his book, The, uh, 12 Rules for Life, that life is suffering, right? I read that like 10 times, and I'm just like, depressing. Yeah, it sounds depressing, but the truth is, is that, you know, without darkness, you, you don't appreciate light. Right. And vice versa. And life is difficult. And there is just— they see one constant in life. There will be periods of suffering. There'll be bad things will happen in everybody's life. And it's been that way for the course of humanity. That doesn't mean we have to define our lives based upon those things. But it does help to understand that if we kind of expect that you're going to have ups and downs, it makes it a little bit easier to tolerate it. And a little bit easier to triage those problems as they come up. So, you know, for instance, there's a lot of challenges with the— I hate to use the term new normal, and I refuse.

But you just did it, and you've done it twice on the show.

I know, but both times I've qualified it by talking about my loathing of the phrase. So that's my justification. But anyway, I think, you know, if you can be somewhat prepared for the fact that things are not always going to be what you want, and, and expect some things to, to fall out, um, then that gets into that making lemonade from lemons. Okay, so you don't have as many social engagements. You're a very social person, you were always booked solid, there were always events with Bridge Local, this and that. Well, that stuff hasn't happened for a long time, and you know, you could either sit around and lament the fact that you have all this free time, or you can, uh, to turn that into something more positive and getting rid of you know, 4 tons of old stuff, which is far more productive, right?

Right. And, and being productive is important. At least it is to me. Um, I, I don't know that it isn't to everybody, you know what I mean?

Like, yeah, I, I get— I mean, not everybody, but again, it just depends on how much control do you think you have over your own life. I mean, you know, when, when the, the horse carriage is, is just careening for the cliff, do you just sit there and scream, or do you try and grab the reins? And, you know, I think we can all agree that different people have a different approach, right? But I think we can also all agree that one approach might give you a fighting chance. The other one is just making noise while you await the inevitable.

And the inevitable is not necessarily truly inevitable. You know, you've got stories of of people who have found inhuman strength to lift a vehicle off of another human being because they just weren't going to sit there and not do something. Right. And so, you know, there are absolutely examples of things that, you know, if you just don't let the inevitable be the inevitable, you can make something else happen.

I would venture to say that the only— the only people for which the inevitable is truly the inevitable are the ones who don't grab the reins. Are the ones who don't make the effort, because roll with it, or roll with it, because then it does become a self-fulfilling prophecy, right? You just assume that the worst is going to happen, and you just wait it out. And then guess what? Your lack of action will most likely usher in the result that you feared the most.

But rolling with it, yeah, at this period of our lives is taking whatever comes and figuring something valuable or something good, or taking a— you know, for me, I'm always looking for the lesson. I'm always looking for the for what can I take away from this. I remember a conversation with my friend Jill years ago when I started, you know, really coming to grips with how much power I had over my own emotions and strength that I used to say it was, you know, I was the victim and I didn't have. And it's like you get to the point where you're— you get a flat tire on a busy interstate during rush hour and you're like, Okay, what am I gonna learn? 'Cause there's something, there's a reason that this is happening. Like instead of going, oh my gosh, this is horrible and woe is me and this sucks and I hate the world and there's a black cloud over my shoulders and everything is doom and gloom. It's like, okay, where is the good thing that's gonna come out of this? I'm gonna meet somebody, I'm gonna have an ex, something's gonna happen.

Something's gonna come on the radio.

Yeah, probably the AAA guy. Well, you know, it's just a situation here. And I was actually sharing, I mean, I have to say this, I am not always optimistic about everything that happens to me.

Come on, Pollyanna, we've had this conversation.

But when it comes to my overarching, once I can get through the mud, once I can get through the shitstorm, oops, you're gonna have to bleep that. Once I can get through the crap of the emotions that kind of are my instinct sometimes, I can see the other side. And so there's this funny story that my grandfather used to tell about two little kids at Christmas. They both asked for a pony, and one, Christmas Day, comes down the stairs, he sees a pile of manure under the Christmas tree, and goes running back upstairs crying because he thinks Santa is so cruel, and how dare he trick him, and think, you know, why would he give him such a horrible gift? And the other kid comes downstairs and sees the pile of manure and goes hightailing it outside, because he knows there's a pony out there, And it's just one different way of looking at the different lens of a situation, right?

Mm-hmm. Yeah, I think. But a lot of that goes back to your, you know, is it optimism or pessimism or is it really just response? Yeah, it's, it's your ability to see something bigger. And I think a lot of us get tunnel vision. And, and I think, uh, we, we get hyper-focused on what is in front of us and we lose context from it. And, you know, from a lot of people like, um, our, our dear friend Brad Sundgren, right, who has revealed to the world his, uh, crazy obsession with squirrels, uh, but as a result of being home with the COVID quarantine and working from home, uh, you know, to— he had some extra time and couldn't really do too much else, so he started making these craft things. And he ended up in the newspaper. They even called him an artist. So shout out to Brad the Artist. But, you know, I think it's, it's a matter of, uh, what do you do? He has this, this crazy new hobby, and it's absolutely hysterical, the stuff that he does, but he found an outlet for it. And that's one of those things where you can look at it and say, well, I can hyperfocus on the negative parts about this, or I can find a way to, to exploit it for something better. So it all comes down to, you know, to you. I mean, nobody— people working from home, there are some companies that they won't even be back in the office until next year, right? They've already made that decision, and even that's not set in stone.

So, so here's a funny, another funny thing that, you know, it's going back to, all right, March, I think maybe early April, one of, I think my brother, oh no, I know exactly what it was. It was April Fools. It was April 1st. And my brother sends a text message that says something about, you know, football has been canceled. And in April, that was a joke. It was ha ha ha ha ha. And then as we get into the fall, we're starting to question, all right, well, they've taken, they're only going to play. Conference games, you know, so we're rolling with it, like literally as we go through this whole process and what doesn't seem realistic or even possible is becoming, you know, a harsh reality, which is, you know, but what do we have? What options do we have? So, I wanted to talk a little bit about kind of where we went, where we've pivoted since the purge. And then I also think that there are some really cool things that are happening, if you look at them as cool.

Um, perception is everything.

Everything. So we are now in the process of kind of demoing our house. So we have moved everything out of the living area, um, all of the Tupperware, all the pots and pans, all the plates. We've got 2 plates, 2 forks and 2 knives, 2 bowls. A couple of things that we've kind of pulled, pulled aside so that we can live with them. And everything else is going into some other areas of the, of the house that will eventually also be demoed. But, you know, Craig and I sat and talked about what's the dream and what do we want to do and how do we want to do this. And so the most exciting part, and this is what I love about my husband, is I get to do some of these things that most husbands would never let their wives do. So today, tonight, the highlight of my night is I am going to get to go home and tear down what I call the corral. So when we bought the house, Craig thought of it as a fixer-upper, and then we started our business, and then we never got around to fixing her up. So it's just kind of been what it has been. And so this— the people who we bought the house from, who Craig bought the house from, decided to do all kinds of weird things to the house, inside the house. And one of my most hated things— and of course it has had— I'm telling you, See, I'm not always positive because I hate the corral. Like, there is no other word for it. So, so I get to go home tonight, change my clothes, and get a Sawzall, and I get to cut the corral out of the house. And I'm so excited. Like, this is like— joy is exuding from me. Like, I'm, I'm so excited. I haven't been this excited since the last time my husband gave me the opportunity to be like the woman that I am. And when we bought our chainsaw after the hurricane and we had some trees to knock down, he let me be the chainsaw person. So I don't know, it's just therapeutic, but it's also just exciting to be a woman who gets to go do these things.

Yeah. Well, you definitely sound excited and, and I'm very happy for you.

You should see me. I'm jumping up and down.

Save your energy for the demo work.

But yeah, well, so that's, that's kind of where we are right now is all of that has kind of as we've been rolling with it. We're at this point where that's kind of the, the next step. And who knows what it's going to be and how long it's going to take, or, you know, whatever. But that's kind of what we've decided to do, and it's been a fun little journey for the last few months getting it to the point where it is now. And here we go.

I just have— every time you talk about this, I have this vision in my head of Craig standing on a, on a carpet and slowly sinking through the floor in a hole.

Oh, you're talking about the money pit?

I can't help it. Every time somebody Talks about major renovations, but look at it this way, in the end, in that movie, the house is beautiful. So yeah, you know, it just takes a little more than 2 weeks.

But the, the, the most exciting part for me has been seeing the light in Craig's eyes. Cuz I don't know if our listeners know Craig's background is construction. So before I met him, he was in commercial construction for like 15, 16 years. And then he did what we call crash the car and walk away, you know, moved, you know, fully came to, to 100% working with the business with me. And so he's really for the last 12 years, hasn't, no, 10 years hasn't done anything with construction. And there've been years when I've, you know, when, yeah, you know, business is growing and it's what do you do if we don't, what are we gonna do if it, if we don't make it, if we can't turn this corner? And I've like, you know, you can always go back to construction. No, I don't want that. I don't want that. So now I get to see him in his whole creative side and all of the ideas and the vision that he has is super fun. Because I'm always the ideas person. So I've said a couple times, like, now I know what it's like talking to me when I have ideas, because he just goes and goes and goes. And I'm like, I like it, I like it, keep going.

Well, that's great. I mean, that's, um, again, you know, there's a lot of people doing a lot of home projects and things. I mean, between the lack of other stuff to do, it's not like many people are taking lavish trips right now. I'm pretty sure there aren't many people going on cruises right now, if that's even a thing right at the moment. But, uh, and with, with interest rates real low, people are refinancing, pulling out some money and doing stuff around the house. I have a friend who's a handyman and he's just like booked solid. So I think a lot of people are kind of sharing the same, you know, the same thing. The interesting thing to me is, you know, we could talk about rolling with it, right? And the general theme there is that for people, uh, whether it's other things or whether it's COVID or kind of a mix of all of it, there's uncertainty for many. There's, uh, kind of a negative connotation with all of this. But I, for me, and, and here's my Pollyanna moment, I look at it like this. I see businesses everywhere, they're struggling, some businesses are closing there's definitely a lot of change. And as you led this off talking about whether or not we like change, I think most people look at change, uh, because so often it, it can be unexpected and it can be negative and we don't want that. But I look at all the things that people are doing, like you investing in the place that you live. I look at all of the construction that we see going on all around us right now. Now, sure, economically speaking, You know, but the borrowing money is a good time to do that. But at the same time, that means that there's a lot of other people out there who are just as optimistic about the future because you're not going to build a giant high-rise someplace if you think that things are just really going to go down the tubes. And, and I think if, if we focus on that and realize that, you know, it might be— this is obviously nobody expected this. I mean, there's the jokes about 2020, just abound. I mean, as we have this conversation, there are, you know, two hurricanes barreling down on the state of Louisiana. And, you know, it's just one of those things. It's, it's a weird year. And I really can't wait to ring in 2021. But having said that, I think there's a lot we can learn from 2020. And I think that having the right attitude is, is important and making the most of it.

Well, and I think if we look at ways to roll with it, we'll be the ones that come out on the other side. I don't want to say more successful, but having triumphed, having something to show for some of the challenges that we've endured. You talk about innovation and you talk about the disruptive side of entrepreneurship. Disruption is kind of the cycle of innovation.

Absolutely.

You know that, you know, the story of Kodak, you know, Kodak was prime, ready to be leading the digital photography stage and they just didn't see it. They didn't see it for the forest, for the trees. And so the companies that are now looking at it and going, okay, I need this thing to be over. I want this ride. I wanna get off. I just want it to go back to normal. Those are the ones and, and businesses and, and people, families too, you know, if we're not able to roll with it. So cute, funny story. Um, but right before we were, we were having this conversation, going to take y'all back 3 years to a day on the beach with my mom. And I'm talking to her the way that I talk to everyone and anything. I'm always looking at ways that somebody can up their game or, you know, take it to another level. And my mom is an amazing teacher. She's always been an amazing teacher all of my life. That was kind of like the shadow that I lived under, you know, was trying to live up to the reputation that my mom had and knowing that everybody loved Anna Maria Myers as their teacher. And so I was on the beach talking to her, and I said, Ma, you really need to get into, like, um, she was teaching online classes, but they weren't like virtual Zoom-type classes. She was just providing them with a, a, a conversation board, an assignment board. They would assign, you know, so there wasn't a lot of lecturing that was recorded in the same style that she teaches. And that's what makes her an excellent teacher, is that she just has this teaching style that's very connectable. It's authentic. She's very real. She's very personable. She cares, and it exudes out of her skin. So, um, I told her, I said, Ma, you need to— let me, let me help you teach. Like, let's talk about e-learning platforms. Let's talk about, um, learning, um, learning management systems, LMSs. I would love to, like, get into a project with you and, and kind of help you to do your lessons like once a year. And then, you know, you really could just work on augmenting them or improving them. She's like, no, that sounds so much work. That's just too hard. I'm not there. Yada, yada, yada. So fast forward now 3 years later and we're in COVID. So she's like wanting, a couple of weeks ago she was saying, well, I've gotta start teaching on Zoom and I really don't know what to do. I've never done it before. And I said, well, why don't you come to the office and I'll help you? She's like, you'll help me? And I'm like, of course I'll help you. I'd love to help you. I wanted to help you 3 years ago, but I'll help you now.

Better late than never.

So it is the fact that yes, Zoom is not the ideal way of delivering an educational experience. It's nobody's first pick, but it is where we are right now for a lot of people who e-learning is the only option. And so, I'm just looking at the opportunities that professors and teachers and students have to be able to take away some learning experiences. Yes, you're missing— somebody posted kind of jokingly about the whole college experience. It's like, wait, you're not— people don't just go to college to go to college. They go to college for the experience of being in college. And so they're losing that. And I feel sorry for that, and I'm sad, but I can't— I'm not going to have a funeral and mourn it because there's so many other opportunities. That we can also be looking at as, as ways that this is opportunity for us to create new habits, new experiences. And I just, I'm thrilled that I got to have that time with my mom to help her through, you know, her uncertainty with how to use a Zoom, how to run a Zoom room.

Well, yeah, I think that ultimately when you, you touched on it earlier, in, in any kind of period of, of change, and, and let's face it, we've had world wars in history. I mean, there's been other tough times in the grand scheme of things, because this isn't— this is an international thing. This has affected every part of the globe, and this is not the, the, the worst thing that's ever happened by a long shot. But it is, it is impactful. But in anything, whether it's, you know, a, a forest fire, whether it's some kind of natural disaster, or whether it's an economic downturn, the businesses, the individuals, the, the, the things that can survive the difficult times, they do emerge stronger. Not just from— not just personally, but because think about it, when you have a, an economic turndown and a lot of businesses go under, but the ones that survive, they're the first ones out. It, though, the best example of this is Forrest Gump. Remember the movie Forrest Gump?

Yeah.

And they were out on the water during the hurricane and they almost died at sea, but every other fishing boat was destroyed in the harbor.

Yeah.

But what happened? Because they were the ones that made it, now all of a sudden everything was, you know, they were turning up shrimp. Yeah. And they, they made a fortune from it. So, you know, that's the best way I can illustrate this point, that if you can just ride it out if you can, if you can quote roll with it, see, see what I did there? Yeah, you can, you can, you know, that there are good things around the corner. And I think you just have to be optimistic about that because ultimately there's no, nothing is promised. We don't know what's going to be. But if you just look at it from the way you want to feel at the moment, you know, maybe it's better, maybe it's worse in the future. But if optimism makes you feel better today, then what do you have to lose?

Right? Well, and so examples of rolling with it that I had coming my way this past— well, since we last got together. So we're still in the current situation where bars are closed. And the ordinance has not changed. And so I, you know, I've been looking around at how are these, how are these bars going to survive, and granted, some of them are not going to, and that's That's the reality of the situation.

Sure.

But I know that, you know, through conversations with the, you know, legally, you know, we talked like we mentioned Molly's on the last episode had, you know, reinstated their, they had always had their food license because they always served St. Patrick's Day. They always had traditional Irish fare once a year. And so they always maintained that license for that purpose. And then they just went ahead and said, okay, we're gonna do a restaurant. We're gonna stop smoking. We're gonna, you know, we're gonna roll with it. It's not what we want, but it's what we've gotta do. And so I got a call from Swan Brewing, from Dan at Swan Brewing, and he's like, hey, I just need to get the word out that, that Ant, Chef Ant from Cuban B's Food Truck is now permanently gonna be at Swan, so I can be open and I want everybody to know. So he didn't ask me for that and he's not paying me for that, but you know, I hope I'll get a beer when I go back. But you know, it's how you roll with it. You've gotta have these conversations with people and say, okay, Can we do this? Can you do this? Or what is it going to take to make this thing happen so that we can get to the next phase? And what if the corner that we're waiting for doesn't come in 2 weeks? Can we get to 2 weeks? Can we get to 4 weeks? I'm still rolling with it in that way. Like, you know, when I meet with my family and whatnot, how's business? I'm like, well, I mean, we're here, you know, and I just— it's, it's a precarious place to be. It's not comfortable. I feel very vulnerable, but, um, I'm rolling with it.

Uh, you know, I see this all the time, right? I see this on Facebook. People are, uh, kind of vacillating between being optimistic one minute and then like really miserable and, uh, kind of depressed and curmudgeonly. Curmudgeonly. Is that in Webster's? I don't know. I don't know either way.

Well, we'll get it added.

There you go. There you go.

So, um, part of my purging was getting rid of my CDs.

Mm-hmm.

So, um, you know, it's funny, you know, it's like thinking that's another role with it, right? The music industry has for years been dealing with grappling with how to roll with it since, since Napster, right? I mean, you're pirating music and, and, well, I mean, back in the day, I guess we were recording it from the radio on, on cassette, but, um, You know, these are the things that are just a part of our, our reality. And so I had, um, an entire contractor's bag full of all of my CDs, you know, and I just called it my sound, my soundtrack, you know, the music that I would play going to Tallahassee and coming home, or, you know, just when I was feeling sad, I'd play this song, or when I was feeling happy, it was this song or whatever. And then you just, you go to that moment. Music is so powerful. It takes you to that specific moment in your life. And you remember when that song came out, who you were with, where you were, what you were doing.

Sure.

Um, so I, um, I pulled out all my CDs and I made my Spotify, um, Chrissanne Long soundtrack playlist, right? So pulling those CDs and going, okay, what are the 3 songs or the 2 songs or just the 1 song that I bought the CD for? And then, you know, plugging it into my Spotify. And that was fun. That was like a cool activity. It was like, It was somewhat like sad and somewhat happy, and it was just such a random— because I'm just pulling— I'd already dumped all of the CDs into the contractor bag, so I'm just pulling them out and looking at them and then putting them into my Spotify and then playing them until I find the next song. And so I'm going to put everybody on a quiz. This is a quiz for everyone, and you know, it'd be great if you didn't Google it. So it would be super easy to Google, but one of the songs that just that totally made me happy and started bouncing, and it's a perfect, perfectly themed with this episode, is the lyrics are that— I'm not pulling the obvious lyrics, I'm pulling the less obvious. Okay, so I'm not going to use any singing sounding, song singing in my reading. I'm just going to read them like I was at a trivia game, right? I can't get enough of that funky go, go, go rhythm. What song and what was the artist that— what is the name of the song and what is the name of the artist that played that, that released that song, but that those lyrics are on? What am I saying? Um, so what we want you to do, this is our first little, quick little contest. What I want you to do is Um, send a Facebook message to the Elevate Polk Podcast page with the name of the artist and the name of the song, and we will give you a gift card to— drrr! Swan Brewing. So all you got to do is send us a message, let us know that you heard the question, know the answer, and one winner, the very first person to send us a message, will get a gift card.

Awesome. Who doesn't like, uh, free beer?

And, and funny, when we were setting this up, I'm like, Rob, just roll with it. I said it'll all make sense when we start, once we start having the conversation.

And I did, because I pick my battles in life.

You get a gold star.

I get a gold star. Any more of those gift cards for Swan Brewing? I can't get a beer with a gold star.

Well, I might, I might know a place.

I know a guy.

Yeah, I know.

That's a great example of the, you know, on personally, I think I understand where they were going with this whole thing of, you know, eliminating, you know, shutting down bars. Well, what is a bar? And then you have to, you know, you find ways around it. And, you know, people were criticizing some of these sports bars basically saying, well, how can they be open? And it's not really fair to criticize them. Because they didn't make the rules. Nobody, you know, the, the, the BFO Brady's people didn't lobby the, the governor to shut down those that only served alcohol. I mean, that's not, you know, but it's an unintended consequence, right? Just as there are small boutiques that would never have more than a few people in at a time, they had to shut their doors. But meanwhile, you could shop for tires at Walmart with, you know, hundreds of your closest friends. So You know, nothing is perfect. And I think, you know, I've criticized it. I know a lot of other people have. Um, you know, some of my favorite places around the county— one of the ones I really was irritated by was the Yard on Mass, because here's a venue that the time that I went there when they were initially reopened and before they had to close again, they were like the kings of social distancing. They had the best practices. And let's not forget 2/3 of that place is outside, which is probably the best place you could be, uh, you know, if you're concerned about small spaces and close quarters and lots of people. So, but because of the license that they had, they had to close their doors. Now they're doing the same thing, uh, Swan Brewing, uh, did, and good for them. But, you know, nothing is perfect, and I hated to see it. I love that place, and I genuinely think that there's a lot of places that are far less safe than, uh, than the art en masse, but because of a licensing issue. So, you know, again, you can sit there and you can kick the dirt and complain, or you can find a workaround. I mean, we can debate when it's all said and done whether or not this particular criteria that they've used and the policies were right or wrong, but that's not, that's not putting money in anybody's pocket right now. That's not helping people feed their families. We can do that. There'll be a time and a place for it, but I'm glad—

in the meantime, the lemons are going to get sour and you're not going to be able to make lemonade, right? You know, you might as well do something while you can.

Good for them. The tenacious ones will survive. Uh, Swan Brewing and The Yard en Masse are two of my personal favorites in this town, so, uh, I'm glad to see they're, they're fighting through it. And I think, uh, I'm quite confident that they will be around for, uh, for a long time to come as a result. So I think others can learn from that. And, and one day this will end. We, uh, Who knows when that might be, but, uh, when it does, um, drinks are on me at, uh, The Yard and Swarm.

All right, I, I'll take you up on that offer. Okay, um, maybe we just do like a little crawl too, you know, the downtown.

I like it. Stop at a few places in between.

Mhm. So, um, so how, how— we, we've talked about a lot of things. I don't know Did you get to say everything you wanted to share about your, your rolling with it and how you're rolling with it?

Yeah, I mean, I'm, I'm— again, you know, you go through changes, personal, professional, and, um, I've, uh, I'm actually— I just accepted a position for the first time in 10 years.

I will have a, uh, a boss, and one that you were resistant to, I hear.

Yeah, well, because I, I didn't know as much about the position, uh, and you know, at the time, and I was kind of hesitant, but, you know, the, uh, fear and apprehension is, is often alleviated with knowledge. So, uh, as I learned more, it, it really felt like the position was, was perfect. And, uh, and I was, uh, it's, it's a great group of people and, uh, it's a great organization, and I'm, I'm happy to, uh, to do it. But I think it's something that was unexpected and, um, But sometimes you have to look for the opportunities that, uh, that arise. And I still have my business, but I'm just, you know, gonna have, uh, gonna do that a little bit differently. And then it's time for a new chapter. So sometimes things, you know, things happen in, in life both around you and, and to you, and the only thing that you can control is your response to it. Even if it's bad, even if it is unpleasant, Uh, and, and, you know, even if it forces you to make decisions that you don't necessarily want to make, uh, if you have the right mindset, I think good things do present themselves. Uh, you use the word today when we talked earlier, serendipity, which is basically the combination of luck and positioning oneself, right? And I'm a huge believer in that. I, I always have been. And, uh, and it This is just one more example of where that rationale, that mindset has never failed me. So, you know, it's a, it's a new chapter. It's why I say I'm excited for 2020 to end, but I don't feel like this was a lost year. I feel like it was just a really, really long lesson.

We still have, we still have a whole quarter to get through, buddy. So don't put this one in the books yet.

We do. No, I'm not. I'm not. Lord knows what is around the next corner. I don't know. But we're three-quarters of the way there. And, uh, uh, you know, what is that? What is— at, at the bare minimum, it's that, uh, that lyrics from that country song, uh, and you're going through hell, just keep going. Um, you know, you don't want to stop and look around. Just, just keep focusing on, uh, on, on a better— on a better place and, and a better situation. And, you know, you'd be amazed what opportunities present themselves when you think about them in a different way. You know, and the idea of, of making some of these changes for me was, was not on my radar and was not something I was considering. But as you, as you move forward through it, you realize, wow, this really, this could very well be better than anything prior.

Yeah, well, two things came to mind while you were talking. One is there are always also unintended consequences or perks or things that come out of that serendipity that are also worth mentioning. So out of your new position, we now get to figure out what to do with your podcast booth. And I'm excited because we're going to possibly open that up and have more opportunities for other up-and-coming podcasters in Polk County to have some space to use once we figure out how to reinstall it where it's going to be. So that's a cool thing. I think that our listeners—

Lovely little addition to downtown. Yeah.

Be fantastic. Yeah. And, um, the other thing that came up was you, you mentioned resistance, or I, maybe I said you were resistant to it. And then you talked kind of like about the fear of something new and different. And, um, and I had a conversation on one of our Bridge Local, um, mastermind, uh, meetings not too long ago. I think it was maybe 2 weeks ago. And the, the dialogue is this. All right. So we're in Polk County. Me frame this up a little bit before we wrap up. We're in Polk County. There's a lot of resistance to virtual conferencing. There's a lot of people who are tired of it already. It is some people who haven't even bothered to embrace it until today, like my mother, who had just was like, I don't want to do it, I don't want to do it. Well, now I have to. Okay, I'm going to do it. And she did it with a happy face. But then I— we were talking about networking and business growth and business development and how are we going to stay connected during this period of time. And, you know, you can grab on and hold on and stick those heels in the ground as long as you want. And that resistance can be whatever you want to describe it as, like why you're, you know, this is stupid or I don't want it, it doesn't matter, I don't know, it's inconvenient, whatever reason you want to give for locking your your heels and not wanting to embrace something new. But here's the fallout of that. So, elevate polk. Po' dunk polk is one of these things that comes to mind in all of the attitudes and all of the thoughts and all the good old boy and all these cultural challenges and nuances that exist in our community. And the rest of us, we're moving on. I know we're talking to like an audience of podcast listeners, which are probably not the audience of resistant to tech technology, but if you are listening and thinking about those who are resistant to technology, stop for a second and instead of saying, well, they're just podunk, or they're just old, or old-fashioned, or whatever, it's fear, guys. It's fear.

Yep.

There's nobody there to hold their hand. They don't know how. They've never done it before. They're afraid of being on camera. They don't know what they're doing. They've heard horror stories from the media, from the press about, oh, this Zoom, that and all this other BS. And so they're taking all of that and they're internalizing it and they're just saying, eh, I don't wanna do that. That's stupid. I don't care. That's not interesting to me. But it's a way for us to connect to them. So when I first started our business, a lot of consulting that I did was helping, um, the older generation adapting to Facebook and the new technology and using their cell phones and their smartphones and whatnot. And so instead of resisting them for resisting us, what if we went around it and said, you know, and obviously you can't say, hey, I know you're afraid, so let me teach you how to use it so you feel safe again. No, you've got to find a way to say this is valuable enough to you that you would want to be able to connect with me. And normally it's grandkids, it's family, it's, you know, things that will entice them to be. But if None of those things are enough. Sometimes it's just saying, hey, let me— would it be okay if I taught you how to do this so I could meet with you? I miss you. I can't see you. I would really like to get a chance to talk to you. But since we're so socially distanced and I haven't seen you in 6 months, could I teach you how to do it so that you and I can meet face to face on Zoom? These are the kind of the flipping of the script, if you will, ways, because we can just discard everyone that doesn't want to go roll with it and tell them that they're just going to miss out. Tough, tough. Um, but, or we could flip the script and say, you know, let's figure out how to bring you along. It's going to take a little time. We got to be patient. It's not easy. It's not for everyone. But those of you who have that person out there, because ultimately there are those businesses that are going to get left behind and those, those people in, in our families that are going to get left behind because they don't have the same mindset or the same attitude that we've been talking about on the show today.

Yeah, I think you're, you're absolutely right. It just comes down to what kind of future do you want and who do you want there to be a part of it. And I think we can all do our best because like I mentioned earlier, you know, people have ups and downs. There are sometimes I see people and they, they sound inspired, and other times they may be having a harder day and they feel a little bit, uh, I'm not despondent, but a little bit down in the mouth. Yeah, a little bit down. Just they kind of lose their way a little bit. I think we do have to kind of, uh, do our best to kind of pull each other along a little bit because everybody needs a little boost every now and then. And, uh, we're, we're all, you know, we're, we're all guilty of, uh, of kind of slipping back. And I think, you know, that's, um, that's why you surround yourself with good people. And, um, because when it counts, you know, they, they matter.

Yeah. Well, and, and, and, you know, I, I believe everyone matters. I believe that we have, you know, it's hard in a world where so many, where we're so, where we're so spread out and we're so in so many different levels of, of things. But I think we're all here for a reason. Um, and the more we can focus on the things we have in common and the things that unite us, the more chance we have of being able to roll with it in a, in a, in a sense of community and, and making ourselves stronger, healthier, happier, better off in the future. So I hope this was a fun episode for everyone to listen to. I'm waiting for those people who are going to come clamoring to our Facebook page with the answer to our trivia question. And if that's a success, then we can maybe do that again.

I like it. I like it. Cool.

All right. Well, thanks for listening, everybody. And remember, we have a new episode each week. So be sure to subscribe on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen. And remember to leave us a review. We promise to read every one. You can always find all of our episodes at Elevate Hulk. And if there's something you want to hear about on an upcoming episode, reach out to us on Facebook at Elevate Hulk.