In this Heroic Plus One episode, Brian Johnson shares a personal story about the walking trail he and his family built on their land outside Austin. He reflects on moving from Ojai, California, to Texas, and how the trail has become a cherished family space. Brian describes his recent effort to retrain his feet to walk barefoot by tackling a rough gravel section of the trail while carrying a 20‑lb ruck, describing the sharp, painful sensations of rocks jabbing his feet. He uses the physical discomfort as a metaphor for life’s challenges, repeatedly affirming, “I’m getting stronger,” and extending the mantra to a collective “We’re getting stronger.” He invites listeners to join him in the “ow ow ow” chorus, emphasizing shared struggle and growth. The episode closes with a reminder to subscribe, visit heroic.us, and explore the broader Heroic platform’s resources for personal optimization and heroic living.
Chapters
Hi, this is Brian. Welcome back to another Heroic Plus One. As you know, if you've been following along, we live out in the country outside Austin. We're blessed to have a little land, and on that land, we're blessed to have a little walking trail. It's tied for first as my favorite thing in the world. I created it with Emerson within a few days of moving here. Fun fact, we moved here exactly 6 years ago to the day. I did not realize that the day I wrote this was the anniversary of the day we moved here until I typed that. Now, before we moved to Austin, we lived in a sweet little town in Southern California called Ojai, and I wrote some Plus Ones forever ago about how I used to hike the first part of the trail out there barefoot. You can check them out. I got them linked in this Plus One. Now, at the time, I could walk the trail barefoot. The kids and the wifey couldn't do that. These days, the kids and wifey can easily walk our trail barefoot. And I cannot. Fun facts, our kids have never worn shoes on our trail and have never worn anything but minimalist shoes since they were born. Actually, that's not true. Emerson got some sweet cowboy boots when we first got here, and they did have some rain boots with normal soles on them, but that's not quite the point of this plus one. This is. I've been training my feet to get strong enough to walk barefoot again. It's been a few weeks and I'm way stronger. Most of the trail is basically dirt that cuts through trees and loops around the property. Walking on that part is easy enough, but we have a long gravel driveway road kind of thing on one part of the half-mile loop, and that part is about a tenth of a mile and consists of loose rocks of various sizes. Here is a reenactment of me walking down that section a few minutes ago with a 20-pound ruck on as I get strong again. Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow. Each little and big rock was jabbing my feet in a wonderfully not wonderful way. To which I said to myself, I'm getting stronger, I'm getting stronger, I'm getting stronger, I'm getting stronger, I'm getting stronger. And that is the point of this plus one. You got some wonderfully not wonderful rocks you're walking over these days? I repeat, of course you do. You're human, and a human aspiring to be heroic, no less. I feel the pain With you, as you walk over those rocks today, know that I feel the pain with you. If you'd like, I will join you in the ow ow ow ow ow chorus. Let's not pretend the challenges don't often hurt; they do. But let's also not forget that when we do it right, we're getting stronger. So if you'd like, I'll join you in this chorus as well. I'm getting stronger. I'm getting stronger. I'm getting stronger. Make that we're getting stronger. We're getting stronger. We're getting stronger all day, every day together today. P.S., the wifey and the kids just headed out for a sunset walk. I'm going to see if I can join them. Hey, this is Brian. Thanks for spending a few minutes with me today. If you enjoyed it, please hit subscribe so that the best of the show keeps landing in your feed. Then head over to heroic.us. That's heroic.us where you'll find the full library of wisdom I've created over the last 20 years, as well as the app, advanced training programs, coaching, and everything else we've built to help you optimize your life, actualize your potential, and live heroically. It is day 1. We are all in. Let's go.
