Mental Wealth Podcast

Rob
Hello and welcome to the Mental Wealth Podcast with me, Rob and with Mukund here. How are you Mukund?

Mukund
Hello Rob, good afternoon. How are you? I’m doing well.

Rob
Doing well, man, doing well. It’s coming up to the end of the year. I feel like we haven’t done a podcast in a little while. We’ve been doing… We’ve been way too busy.

Mukund
I agree, we had doctor Ethan Levine the past couple of episodes. It was amazing talking to him, getting a professionals involved, right? You and I were interested in.

Rob
Another thanks.

Mukund
Seeing how he does his behavioral psychology behavioral therapy, so that was very interesting. I hope our viewers also got something out of it.

Rob
It was fascinating talk. Talking to Ethan. Yeah, no, I was. Just thinking about the. Fact that the start of the year, you and I, it was you and I chatting on this on this. We had, we had Google meets and then we had various platforms. We were just chatting on and trying to figure out the best strategy to do this. And it’s it’s, it’s been so great to speak to experts like Ethan to be able to sort of get their perspective and try to understand more about the world around us rather than you. And I just chatting away, but it’s been, it’s been an interesting few.

Mukund
Months. Yeah. Yeah. And this has been a process we also had Jake giving his personal opinion on him. Running his professional coaching power, people can bring out their best in the work at their work. Or rather, you know their mindset, how to make it better. Happiness is where is what you like doing kind of messaging. And Doctor Ethan is more clinical and you and me sharing our experience for the past year more than a year, right doing this? We’ve been chatting our own experience, which I hope a lot of our listeners also find relevant. And yeah, it’s been a very challenging, rewarding experience so far, right?

Rob
Hey, you. You bring up Jake and I’m just. I was just thinking the other day. I was talking to someone about. They were trying to hire. A manager at their work and. It was interesting that I was able to sort of bring a a perspective that Jake had taught us about leadership and about channeling what what you’re good at and making sure that you’re making decisions that are right for both your team and yourself at the same time. And I was sort of replaying that conversation we had with Jake in my head when I was having this. Conversation with my friend and it’s it’s so. Rewarding for me personally when I think about the fact that we’re. Meeting these people. And that was so. Great for me to meet Jake and sort of learn more about the business side of leadership. And just learn more about allocating your own resources in the most effective way, both personally and for a from a business point of view. And these conversations that we’re having, like you were just saying, we really hope that benefiting people that are listening. But for me personally like I’m thinking now about some of the things that both we’ve learned from Jake and from Ethan and. It’s really interesting that these topics come up both personally and through the podcast, right. It’s great for for me to be part of the mental health podcasts, and I really.

Mukund
So. Yeah. Thanks, man. Thanks for joining me in this journey. So I hope it continues for as long, at least in the near future. I’m sure we don’t, we can’t always predict what’s like what’s going. To happen. So with that said. Today’s episode, or rather today’s sharing of experience. What do you have in mind?

Rob
So the big the big shared experience that we’re all having right now, at least in the Western world, is the. The calendar is coming towards the end of the year and what you know it brings for me at least it brings a whole bunch of emotions, right? We’re talking about change, progress, what have we achieved? What do we want to achieve next year? People are, I feel. I feel this sense too. People are a little bit anxious right now. I feel like there’s a societal angst. There’s a lot going on where people are sort of questioning the world around them a little bit more, both because of technology, with the influx of AI and both because I think political leadership is a little bit unstable. And so that carries forward to people’s relationships too. I think in a personal way. I’m not an expert in any way on this. I’m just speaking from my lived experience, so to speak, I. Think people are a little bit. Worried. How do you feel right now? What’s going on? And I’m. I’m in just outside Toronto. You’re in New Jersey. How are people in? The states right now what’s going on?

Mukund
The big thing in on people’s mind is election in. 10 days, nine days. It’s the it’s November 5th. It’s the following Tuesday, not the coming Tuesday following Tuesday.

Rob
Yeah. In a week.

Mukund
It’s going to have a big impact in the on the US. And of course, it’s gonna impact the world a lot of. Things. Can happen. So that’s I mean you turn on the news, it’s there 24/7 at least for the next week. Because one of the most influential and consequential elections we will ever have. The second thing, apart from the politics, is the technology product which you talked about. It’s every day. I would say scare everyday improvement of AI in the ChatGPT with voice video, you know that is impacting overall you know the movies you watch the the TV shows you watch and also. Everyday thing like. The CEO’s getting scammed out of their investments, what I’ve heard or seen in past few months out of two AI right people impersonating somebody else that’s going to be more prevalent going forward. That’s going to be more common. People are still trying to understand what that GPT is and the power it has so. These two are two different things, but you know it’s gonna affect our future, right? So that’s one thing that is in the back of my mind and I am. I. I I ask myself, am I scared or am I? Anxious, right? So. Right. You get scared if you do not know what the future holds, right? You don’t want it to happen a certain. Anxiousness is uncertain how it’s going to go right?

Rob
Do you think? For me, I I don’t know whether the the same distinction is for you, but for me, for me, anxious is myself, and fear is for the future, for my nieces and nephew, I’m. I’m. Fearful about their. Future. I’m more like anxious for me, speaks to the feel. Of my own personal like nervousness about what I’m doing and whether I can influence anything. I don’t know if I’m fearful about the things that I’m going through in my future, but I’m fearful of the other people’s future, like the. Younger generations? Future. Right now, mainly because I feel like we’ve thought we’ve talked about previously, but I feel like it’s just so unknown like there’s just so much we don’t know. About what? Like you were talking about with Chachi, BT and any sort of large language models, any of this tech, a AI technology, you know, these big companies open AI the the Facebook, llama large language models. What Google is doing with deep mind like all of this, this technology is. There are obviously people within these companies that know more than us about what’s happening with this technology and what it’s capable of, but I feel like they’re sort of releasing it piece meal. They’re releasing it a little bit like, oh, we can do this. We can create an article that sounds like a human Rd. We can create a podcast that sounds like two people speaking, and then the release a news article about it. But I feel like.

They they’re probably that and maybe this is. The conspiratorial part of my. And this we don’t want to go down this rabbit hole, but I feel like there’s. Probably five years. Of like, oh, by the way, we can also do this in the future, right? They already know a lot of the things this is capable of, and I’m sure, just like with any technology, there’s little pieces that are being sort of like protected, let’s say, by these companies, cause they’re not quite sure.

Mukund
Great.

Rob
First of all, what it’s capable of and what? And secondly, what the repercussions are for releasing this technology right can? What you know, can it create whatever nuclear weapons can it create biological warfare? Biological diseases? Can it do these? Can’t they don’t know? Who knows? Right. For whatever reason, they’ve gotta keep these things sort of. Protects it, and so that’s where the fear comes in. Like, what is the next five years look like? What is the next? You talked about the election a lot, but that that to me is sort of the is always the fear. There’s not so much that. The result of the election, but people’s reaction to the result? Like I, I just feel like people are so divided and whether that’s just because I spend most of my time online like most people do, I don’t know. But I feel like there’s a level of division that hasn’t existed for quite some time and I feel that even though I’m not in the states right now, so I’m I’m I. Can’t even imagine what you. You know, people like yourself feel living in the States and being part of it.

Mukund
Well, there’s not much I can do other than doing my civic duty to go and vote. Yeah. Wherever you fall, you know leaning left-leaning right, whatnot. It all depends on what the collector. So. Wants, right? It’s. That’s why it’s a democracy. I respect the institution. I respect the process. If it doesn’t go my way, well, it doesn’t go my way. What? What can I? Do right so no one person can change the outcome. People cry.

Rob
I’m smiling because like, you’ve got to be the only person online that feels that way. That’s got to be the first time that sentence has been said. Like, oh, well, if. It goes my way like.

That’s just I never hear that at all from anybody.

Mukund
I mean, even if even if you’re in the US, what can you do, right. You, you cast your ballot. You your ballot has your local elections, your state elections, the national elections. You voted how you would like the outcome to be, but if it doesn’t, what what can you do?

Rob
Yeah.

Mukund
So that kind of removes the power from everybody. Right. I’m talking about 99% of the people who are following rules. I’m not talking about the one person who causes chaos.

Rob
Yeah, you. Yeah. You. You. There’s there’s. Obviously there’s a a media led process by which they have to focus on the 1% that’s causing chaos from the loudest person, gets the gets the attention because it gets the clicks because it gets the advertisements and then, you know, there is that element too. And you know, you’ve got to sort of understand that maybe.

Mukund
Right.

Rob
You know, it’s not interesting to just continually say like everything’s fine. You’ve got something has to be on fire for it to be interesting. I mean, the thing that the thing that’s on fire is gonna.

Mukund
Right, right.

Rob
Get all the. Attention. It’s gonna get all the. It’s it. It’s almost like. Donald Trump is the personification of that idea. Right? You, you say enough loud things in a loud, crazy way, and like all the attention goes to you and it’s almost like he is like, he’s like all of that, like the loudest person saying the craziest things. And he gets the attention. And that’s sort of what’s led to this. Whatever you want to call right now, the situation where a lot of people are divided and a lot of people are a. Little bit worried. About what’s to? Come like you said, what other than voting? You know, there’s not a lot that an individual can do, but also there’s not a lot when you think about it. And I think about this in a sort of a I’m from the UK originally, but I think about this in the Canadian way is that it doesn’t really affect me on a local level like that political element to it who the Prime Minister is in Canada. You know, it’s cool whether it’s conservative or or a liberal, you know, taxes may change a little bit, you know. Some laws like you know. May change a little bit, but on the whole and not not a lot is going to change and I think a. Lot of that. Is something that maybe people have to keep in mind when they’re when they’re looking. At this and if they. Are worried about what’s to come, is that? Is is the fear sort of built up? Is it built up by media and advertising to get clicks? From my perspective, a lot of it is a lot of it is sort of driven by that idea of pay attention to this because it could affect the. Rest of your. Life. Well, maybe it will. It’s likely what?

Mukund
Right, so my not a solution per se, so maybe people in the similar same boat. Of anxiousness of, you know, fear. It’s just to. Identify what is causing this, right? Yes, the election is a huge thing to take on, but what about the election? Is the candidate. Is it certain policy? Right. If it doesn’t go your way, what are you going to do? It starts time to start doing a backup plan or Plan B. Right. It may not solve all the problems. It might just be lip service, but at least that helps you focus on what is causing anxiety. Right, that that’s why I was able to or rather that’s why I tried to be specific when I told you about the elections, the ChatGPT part of it, right. It’s not technology in general. So the good there’s good things happening, bad things happening. But how is anything going to affect you personally? Right. And also there’s the other Middle East crisis, Middle East War happening. You know, a lot of the immigration issues. I mean there’s you turn around, there’s a there’s a problem, but that your life can’t be a problem. There can be problems in life for you to solve, but life cannot be full of problems, right?

Rob
Do you think? Maybe this is just me, but do you think part of it is the fact that we have? These devices on us at all times, and so we have access to this information all the time. Do you think that’s why a lot of it is affecting people more or is it?

Mukund
I don’t think it’s it’s access per se. It’s OK, you. You have say for example you are the immigration is personal to you. For example, right what can. You do about it. Right. Are you in a position of power to do anything? Most probably not. So what is it that you’re worried about? Number one, I’m. I’m not saying this lightly. Right. I’m saying this, you know, in a very kind of trying to help you kind of thing.

Rob
Right. You’re saying separate yourself from the from the problem like.

Mukund
What is it? Exactly. I mean, yes, yes there is. There is there is an immigration problem. Yes. What is it that you’re worried about? Like, how is it impacting you personally, right? If it’s impacting you personally, how is it impacting you personally? Honestly it is not impacting me personally, but that’s not to say that I don’t care about it. I’m so concerned of the people coming in concerned of the due process.

Rob
Yeah.

Mukund
Concerned. What the US is going to do, but what am I expected to do in this me as an individual?

Rob
Yeah. I mean both of you and I are immigrants to the countries that we live in. Like, you know, you’ve come from India to live in the US. I’ve come from the UK to live in care to, like, I have a great respect for people that uproot their entire lives and families and loved ones and move to a new country thousands of miles away.

Mukund
Right, right. The important thing is, I mean, I know we’re talking about immigration now, but. You and I have been lucky or privileged enough to have access to the system that gave us livelihood in a new country. Yeah. For so many years. It’s not to say that people who come here don’t follow the process. Maybe they don’t have the means. They don’t have the process. Their country is not as good as India or Canada from.

Rob
Yes.

Mukund
A privilege or from an access point of view. Right. So I feel bad for them, but there’s nothing I can do other than support the politicians making laws that you like, right? That’s so that’s what I meant by, you know, making sure that what you’re worried about is relevant to you. There’s global warming also to throw in the mix.

Rob
Yes. Yeah, I mean, global warming. It’s so funny, like, not funny, but like, it’s so interesting that the sort of like planet level concerns country level concerns, city level concerns and like planet Level 1 could could change everything for everybody and all of all this other stuff.

Mukund
Then home there.

Rob
Is basically meaningless. Because you know 1° warmer and we’re we’re all basically gone.

Mukund
Exactly. Yeah. So what can you do? Well, can you not drive your car? Well, maybe some instances, some you can. Can you not use your water to water your plants? Yeah, maybe in cooler weather, like how we have now, it doesn’t need as much watering. So it all depends on the situation. So what is it that you can do? But what you do you should be happy that you’re. Doing your part. And not saying, hey, my neighbor is not doing this. We can’t. You can’t really control him. You might be driving, you might be commuting to work on a cycle, but the neighbor might be driving B12 powered SUV, so you never know. Right, so you can include your wishes on anybody else, right?

Rob
Yeah, it’s sort of like trying to think about sort of taking control for yourself and going this is. Not if, if. If it’s not something you can control, maybe there’s some an element to it where you can say if it’s something to do with, for example, the environment and it’s global warming. Maybe locally you can you can take part in a recycling program there, there.

Mukund
Exactly. Exactly.

Rob
Are like there are local local. Proactive steps you can take. What if it’s certain political thing? Maybe you can volunteer for your favorite party. Or candidate there are there are there are active steps you can take. You don’t have to be a passenger. And sort of. A A passenger of of fear and anxiety. I think a lot of, certainly for myself, when I get into that process of worrying about things, it it almost like stops me from taking it active and I have to remind myself, like, Oh no, you can actually. Do something here where you can take a small part in trying to fix this. You may not fix the actual bigger problem, but you can be a part of the solution. You don’t have to stand back and let let the negative emotion overwhelm you. So, so to speak.

Mukund
Exactly. So what you can do is take part in the local. So. Activities, local elections, local you know communities to. Influence what’s happening and you can join the school board, the PT or something if you want to implement in the school that’s that you think will be beneficial to the students, all those things. So, so. Acting local will have a global impact. But you act global. You need to be in a very powerful position to do that, like the leaders of certain countries are not able to control the global warming, for example. So what is it that you can? I don’t believe in making noise just for the sake of making noise, because that doesn’t, that’s not a solution. So we need to have some actions. What is this? Something that you like to be done? That’s just sharing what has worked for me trying to. Identify what is bothering me, what it is that I would like done, and maybe be the source of the change.

Rob
Yeah. And also we’re sort of working within the same system, so like. Well, within a capitalist system trying to sort of enact change that will benefit the environment or benefit our local society in general. So. What I like to do, you know, you and I have talked about this is support companies. That are. Creating products that have a benefit on society, we talked actually about life stroll right life. Stroll is the the clean water. How would you describe it like a filtration product that helps.

Mukund
Exactly. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, by the way, we’re not. Being. Sponsored by them, it’s just a personal experience I’ve written a couple of blog posts it as well because I took it on my trip to Guatemala earlier this year. Very convenient. I mean, I take my water. Bottle everywhere I go. Especially, I mean the US is not much of a problem. They’re safe drinking water sources, 99% of the places. If not, there’s access to bottled water. If I’m going out to the US since I do not know the local country, that becomes questionable. The quality of the. Water. So life stroke kind of eliminates. That counts. Just because of this technology, I believe we know it’s .02 point, 01 microns or something. It filters out anything less than 0.020.01 microns.

Rob
Right. And then so. If you bring it, you don’t have to, then buy plastic water bottles, right?

Mukund
Exactly. Yes, it has. It comes, it comes. I mean the the lots of products, 1 is just the straw which you can directly put the straw into the source into the water source and drink from.

Rob
That that’s so it’s. OK.

Mukund
Mine was in the container in a flexible bottle with the straw built in, so I just had to fill up the water and then the straw does the rest. Yeah. So those types of companies, it eliminates the plastic, the recycling part of it. You know, uncertainty. You can go. We climb one of the volcanoes. I took water with me. There’s also rivers and streams locally. So it just.

Put your mind at ease. Right. You get to enjoy nature. You can enjoy your trip rather than worrying about really gonna fall sick. Knock on wood. None of us have fallen sick yet. It’s been 2. Months. Since you’re back.

Rob
Yeah, for sure.

Mukund
But the reason I think you brought it up is to show the companies that are environmentally. Really. Too many plastics you know to to ensure this clean water supply.

Rob
Yeah. And just to sort. Of say like. You don’t have to not get involved in the capitalistic element of it. You can still buy products and do that thing where you get to control the kind of companies that. You work with so like my.

LifeStraw is a great example of those companies that are. Having a beneficial impact and you know the the the idea is that you find out more about the what the the companies that you are purchasing from are involved in in society in general. And then you then you can make a like a tangible impact it’s it’s tangible it’s you know you’re basically using your resources to.

Mukund
Exactly.

Rob
Improve things locally and nationally, internationally as well. So I think it’s a neat idea.

Mukund
Extending this a little bit, companies that clean up the ocean company is called Ocean. No, their aim is to clean up 90% of the plastics in the ocean.

Rob
OK.

Mukund
Does a very pious undertaking, just because it’s, I mean, of course it is privately funded or rather. It’s a startup I would like to invest in companies like that because that does. Lead directly to how we experience the future. Right.

Rob
Right. And that that’s something where I talked about the difference between fear and anxiety for me. I like if I can invest in companies that are benefiting the future generations, I feel like that is some sort of way of it doesn’t get rid of that fear. Fear of what’s gonna happen in the future. But it allows that. I don’t know what you would call it, but the control part, the control senses of your brain to sort of. Make tangible links to the steps that you are taking and so you could have a positive impact and maybe that removes some of that unknown.

Mukund
Right, right. Yeah.

Rob
Known because there is now a known, there is now a goal in there. There’s a there’s a a an actual. Like you said, they’re trying to clean up the ocean and they’re trying to clean up 90% by 24 C you said.

Mukund
Exactly. Yeah, 2040, yeah.

Rob
Well, that would be an incredible step if they’re able to do that, especially with all the plastic products and things like that. That’s another thing that I think about quite often.

Mukund
And even and even in your own and and everybody, everybody knows this. But you know, try to reduce your plastic consumption. You cannot control how the food comes in, which is a bigger debate going on. Why should we as consumers? Try to control how we consume products, which we have no control over the packaging, right? So if I’m just saying an example, if if your oranges comes in a plastic bottle, how can you? Not. Buy that plastic bottle if you want to consume orange juice. So it it’s a way. Maybe you can squeeze oranges yourself, but you know that that’s not a very practical solution. If it’s it’s only one. One example.

Rob
Yeah, just imagining taking like handfuls of orange juice. Out of the grapes.

Mukund
Exactly. So I mean, that’s a debate, but now it brings into question of actionable items, right? Maybe the companies that does it have to find more sustainable ways of packaging and that’s another completely different industry that leads to ocean cleanups, job right, cleaning up.

The oceans. So everything is connected if I mean I’m hopefully some CEOs listening to this, but you know in the packaging. Industry, you know, please try to use some sort of a biodegradable material or something. Join. Join us. We will share the message together, right?

Rob
100% any any environmentally friendly company that has a product that they’re trying to promote, like if you’re listening to this and you want to talk about it, we. Will listen and we will chat about it.

Mukund
Definitely yes. We are passionate about it. We are personally invested in it, so please reach out to us.

Rob
It’s a yeah. It’s one of those that. The times of the. Year where you start to think about. Those kind of things.

Mukund
So end of the year. So this is one thing not learned, but this is one thing that I’m building upon. Anxiety controlling the anxiety which kind of started this, the topic that started all this conversation. A fear of the unknown, which we have a separate podcast on, so that’s all the anxiety part of it. So localize it. How does how does it affect you? Because that will sort of sort of give you some control on how you can find relief. Yeah. So so that’s my pitch on on anxiety.

Rob
No, it’s good. I think the difficult thing I think for people right now, I think a lot of that’s just in this time period. That is not just like if we talked about the election, but not just the the bigger ramifications that that it’s it’s coming at. A time where. You know, you’ve got American Thanksgiving is coming up. We’ve just had Canadian Thanksgiving. So we’ve spent time with family. That brings up a lot of different emotions for people spending time with family. You might have relatives who disagree with you. Speaking of politics, or you might have, you know, difficult relationships with your relatives where you’re not speaking with some. And so it’s a very like it. It’s one of those times of the year where I think it’s. It’s not just about reflecting on what’s to come, but also like how you interact with people and how we interact with the world around us and whether I always think about like, am I making healthy choices when I’m on my phone? What am I reading? What am I angry? Who am I speaking to on a daily basis like? With with relatives you don’t. You don’t get a lot of control over your relatives. They they’re gonna be there at Thanksgiving. They’re gonna be there at Christmas and at your various holidays.

Mukund
One thing I’d like to talk mentioned regarding that right is it’s not if people are talking unless it’s a fact.

Rob
Yes.

Mukund
They are just giving their personal opinion. We can different our personal opinions as long as it doesn’t intrude on in our relationship or how it affects others. Right. The you cross the line when it starts affecting others with your beliefs. If it does, then if you’re just like, you know, shooting the breeze, if you’re just talking, you know, just ************ over dinner or something, it doesn’t really matter. The other thing is, you know, we should stop taking it seriously because at the end of the day, like you said, it’s your family. You, you’ll be seeing them again. I thought that was, that’s something I learned that other than fact, everything is a person.

Mukund
If it’s a fact, there’s nothing to argue about. If it’s a personal opinion, again, there’s nothing to argue about, just as how you are, you know, mostly just as how you are unwilling to change your point of view, it’s the same for everybody else, right? Unless it affects somebody else’s life.

Rob
Yeah, I I think the the challenge for a lot of people is they have people in their lives who they have to speak with what they disagree with on various serious issues, whether it’s politically or personally, whatever the issue is, how how? Do you like? For me, there’s there’s people that I can avoid socially if I disagree with them. I don’t mind getting into debates with people that I disagree with on political points or or any sort of societal issue. Really. I’ll, I’ll. I’ll talk with anybody and listen to anybody’s opinion and sort of give my own and have a conversation about it, that that comes from. Qualifying as a journalist and sort of interviewing people that I disagreed with all the time and just having conversations about various topics, I think that’s important to do. But I think for a lot of people we talked a little bit about this before, but sometimes you have to separate your opinion from your emotions and your ego, right? So a lot, a lot of people are very tied to.

Mukund
Got it, got it.

Rob
Their way of thinking is if it’s it is them, it is their, their sense of self is so tied to I believe this. I’m rob and I believe this. I’m account and I believe this. Well, yes. Yeah, that’s true. That might be you. But. Your beliefs are not you. You built your beliefs from something and you can you can separate that and and just as when you have that conversation with someone. What I’ve tried to do when I’m having a conversation with people I disagree with is sort of separate them and their opinion. As you were saying their their opinion is just that it’s a good point that you don’t debate facts right. There are facts and there is there is science.

There is a real although. We’d but better not get into that.

Mukund
Science is a very controversial topic nowadays.

Rob
Now I was going to say we better not get into what what science and what isn’t because we’ll go down a rabbit hole there. But there is a a level of reality that everyone sort of accepts and it, you know, we don’t disagree on. But then there are opinions that are quote UN quote offensive that sometimes you have to sort of fight back on, right, for example. There are racist people. There are sexist people. I will always challenge those people. I will. That’s not for me. That’s not a debate that is not there. There are people that will have those opinions and I don’t. I use the word opinions for their they. Are. People that, for whatever reason have come have come into the beliefs that people of different genders. Different races are beneath them. That is not an opinion. That is just your ego saying something that’s.

Mukund
That is correct. Yes, that’s correct that like if it affects, if it affects others, that’s when you need to fight back or.

Rob
Right.

Mukund
Talk back like.

Rob
100%.

Mukund
So if somebody’s racist in their interaction, usually, it’s at the detriment of somebody else. At that point it will be visible. You know which brings about how you talk to them or how you interact with them, but that is something very specific and it’s tricky how to. Deal with this.

Rob
Right. So if you have say you have someone in your family that is, I don’t know that has that, that, that kind of opinion where you fight back against, do you, do you think you engage with that person, whether it’s a, you know, a Thanksgiving dinner coming up or a Christmas thing in two months time, do you do you try and have a conversation or or or are. You like for you. Personally, let’s speak personally, but for you personally, are you the type to sort of? Engage in conversations to those kind of people. Or do you? Do you avoid them if they have an opinion? That say that that for whatever reason.

Mukund
It’s me. I would avoid the whole group if I know that person’s gonna be there. I just don’t. Won’t go there because I know myself. I can’t not.

Talk, talk, something that’s going to ruin the entire evening for everybody. So I would just remove myself from that because I I know my limitations to know what I can and cannot.

So I just remove myself from that situation.

Rob
Yeah, the the, I, I I would like to think I would do that. I think part of me is very motivated to counteract that kind of opinion. So I would want to be there because even though I might ruin the day for everyone else, I feel like that kind of opinion has to be fought back again. So I try to. Sort of. I see what you’re saying. Like everyone else is enjoyment depends on that not being the center of attention. But for me, it’s so difficult when I hear people have not necessarily different opinions. But like you said, things that affect other people. If it’s someone that you really disagree with, you know, maybe that’s you’re right. Maybe just avoid that conversation. I think for a lot of people the next few months is that time of year where it’s we’re looking at what have we achieved. In 2024, what what is 2024 look like when we look back in five years time, we’re going to go, OK, what did we do in 2024 and what did that look like? And for me, I’m thinking about our our work on, but it was the the pedal My Way podcast. Now we’ve got the mental wealth podcast we. We’re still very focused on physical fitness, but part of the way through the the year, we realized that we were getting a lot of engagement about mental health topics. So we sort of started talking about that and the mental health podcast has been part of my life for the last.

What six or seven months we’ve been really sort of planning it working on it, speaking with guests, planning our topics. So the the for me like we, I’ve been on the digital marketing side of it. It’s been really interesting to sort of see how much it’s grown right. We we sort of we’ve got quite a few listeners. Now we’ve got people commenting and we love the comments, you know, you know, whatever you have to say, any feedback is good feedback. We’ll take it, we’ll, we’ll, we’ll engage with it and we, we we appreciate it. We’ve been very fortunate to sort of. Make some progress and I’m looking forward to what 2025 has for in store for the podcast because I’m just surprised so many people online in general are really engaged with the topics we’re talking about, like anxiety, like the the the after the podcast with Ethan you and I looked at the numbers of people that were listening and like, holy smokes. How did this? You know, we went from about like 1020 listeners to a couple of 100 / a certain period of time. It’s just it’s just amazing because. We know we knew. That people wanted to hear about this kind of topic and we were, you know, that people wanted to listen to. Not necessarily. Listen to what we’re talking about. The world’s experts talking about these mental health topics. But these mental health topics in general are important to hear about and to to, to get involved with. And so it’s been really heartening for me to. Sort of go. We’re putting in the hard work. We’re sort of, we’re trying some things we’re failing at some things we’re making progress bit by bit and I’ve really just really enjoyed the last. Few months and I’m excited for making that next step and talking with more experts about mental health topics in general. I I’ve learned a lot from Ethan about anxiety. I thought we talked with him a little bit. About that and. About how to deal with. The various sort of mental health topics, the various elements of. Being a person in today’s society, and I think these are interesting conversations to have and also I really.

Glad that we’re continuing to get people listening and involved in it and I I really I’m glad with the progress of the Mental Wealth Podcast is making. I think this can now be we’re we’re also looking forward to connecting with other people who have podcasts in the in the industry, right, the, you know, the mental. Health mental health industry is just sort of growing. Certainly the the men’s mental health side of things is is growing incredibly in the last few years and I think. There’s a great. There’s a there’s an interest there. I won’t say market, but there’s an interesting dynamic in in, in the fact that there are millions of people that are interested in these sort of conversations and very excitedly part of that. And I think we’re going to be making some good. Progress in the next few months.

Mukund
Of course. Yeah. Thanks, Ron. Thanks for bringing it up. Yes, Pedal My  Way, 2024 has been a very eventful. Here. We kind of narrowed down the podcast offerings we having its own brand mental wealth instead of tagging along with pedal my way. Peddle my way. The blog is more fun filled everyday fitness, blog, cycling, fitness, lifestyle. The mental health is more on mental health. For actually, it’s for everybody. We started talking as. Guys, the problems we relate to hopefully other guys are able to relate to that and get something out of it from our experience. That’s why we have some professionals like Doctor Levine come in. We also have others lined up as you know. Yeah. So we have come a long way, our viewership has increased or rather the listener base has increased. We hope the momentum continues you know. With the people who are listening, thank you so much for your support all this time trying to understand what you’re trying to do. The reason it’s going up is I believe there is a niche in this industry that people like. So we hope that, you know, you keep listening to us. You know, we have a lot of other. Topics, lot other ideas, lot other you know things coming up that you will hopefully you’ll enjoy, right? So 2025 is going to be filled with that as we continue to bring more exciting stuff for blog. And the podcast. And don’t forget the YouTube page as well. It’s an extension of the blog and the podcast. It’s another way to interact with us. You know, I once again thanks everybody. For listening to. Us. Right. Without you, we won’t be doing this.

Rob
You’ve got some great videos there on YouTube we we’re we’re just sort of going through them now and sort of. Making sure that the fitness side of it is is maintained as we look into the mental mental health side and there’s some amazing, amazing videos now that are getting a lot of engagement.

Mukund
Yeah, some of them are. The podcast voice is superimposed on some of my cycling videos. I thought that would be a different format. People might enjoy cycling, especially of my mountain biking of my gravel rides with the podcast recording. So two birds with one stone, I guess. But yeah, so different format, different shots, snippets. So we’re just trying to. There’s something we like doing. There’s something people I hope like listening to watching the videos, so we’ll just keep experimenting.

Rob
Yeah. And I feel like a lot of these conversations, like you and I could have an hour conversation about Seinfeld. We could do a whole Seinfeld podcast. You know, there’s just.

Mukund
Oh yes. Oh yeah.

Rob
So many different directions we can go in and it’s just interesting that there’s a. As you were saying, like it’s really the the the composition we have with the experts and the demand that people are that people have for this kind of content. It’s really interesting like. They I understand there’s a lot of people that are, that have big questions about mental health and about what they’re feeling and about what they’re going through as a person. And I know for me before, before I met you and before I started sort of listening podcasts in General, I was just. Sort of. You would Google like why am I feeling this way? What’s going on? Like why? You would like. You would get the Web MD version right like. It’s it was always like you probably have cancer. You probably are gonna die soon. Like, these are the steps I don’t want.

Mukund
If it’s the. It’s an existential problem every time.

Rob
Yeah. Yeah. So like you, you. Can’t there are things that? Google will throw up where it’s just that. There’s a there’s not a. Simple solution to a lot of life problems, right? But I think.

Mukund
Exactly.

Rob
Part of the solution is the conversation. It’s the it’s being, it’s it’s speaking about these. Things finding out that other people are going through similar things and there’s a community out there of people living community. 99% of people are going through these problems and it’s it’s in the conversation that you find the solution whether the solution is a tangible one or it’s the actual conversation itself.

Mukund
Of course. Of course, yeah. We have 2020. Five planned on new topics, some new team.

So stay tuned. I should also do a better job of releasing these things on. The. Newsletter as you know, Robbie, just you and me doing this now, right? So it just it takes time to do every single thing. So along with with our day jobs as well.

Rob
Yeah, we are. I’m very excited about part of being part of this and there’s there’s a lot of interesting things happening and I, like I said, I would really encourage people to reach out if they have any questions about what’s going on with us. And we, you know, I like to speak to myself. I’m pretty open and honest about the way any questions that people have. About to, you know the process of it and we can sort of. Go through this together and try to figure out what this what this all means and sort of it’s it’s I I think whether we’re talking about the the, the outside world itself or just the insular world of the Mental wealth podcast and penny way as a brand it it’s it’s interesting it’s exciting. And there’s a lot of promise to to what’s going on around us, I think. And I think that’s also a good answer to that, that when we started talking about today, we started talking about the fear and anxiousness. I don’t know why I focus on the negative emotions. Anytime we’re talking about a topic, right, I’m like, OK, let’s talk about these negative things, first of all. But I think that.

Mukund
Nobody, nobody wants a solution when they’re happy, because there’s no problem, right? Anxiousness fear. You know, depression, those need solutions. You don’t Google. Why am I happy? Right? You Google. Why am I depressed? You know, for example.

Rob
Sometimes I do, sometimes I Google. Why? Why am? I so happy right now.

Mukund
I mean you don’t Google Ohh! My body is working perfectly. Why you say oh, my arm hurts. Where does my arm hurts. Right, so there’s all.

Rob
Why am I so fast and awesome?

Mukund
So I think that’s what triggers the solution seeking activity when it’s something negative. When you’re when you’re unhappy with something. Yeah, I think that’s like when you’re unhappy with something, yeah.

Rob
Yeah, it’s interesting, isn’t it? Yeah. What can I? You’re right. It’s a. There’s a there’s a self improvement element to it. It’s. I want to improve this thing. How do I improve it? I don’t know if I have any sort of insight that can help people improve these these things, but I can certainly. Yeah, speak with you about these topics and hopefully like I said, it’s been beneficial to a few people that are listening and it’s, as I said, it’s my for my money. What I’m trying to do is focus more on the excitement element to it. Like the interesting thing I’m looking forward to and like we talked about the conversations we have with actual.

Rob
But it’s like I’m really excited to talk to Ethan again in the next few weeks because we’ve had fantastic conversations and it’d be great to get Jake back to talk about leadership. I have about a billion more. Questions for. Him that, that, that come up, you know that these are these are great comments to have and.

We’re making some progress and we hope other people are making progress with us because it’s that’s. What this is all about?

Mukund
If I think that will be a good. Way to end this episode once again, thank you to our listeners. Thank you to our viewers who is watching this on YouTube. It’s a sincere thanks from both of us. Thank you for your support and I guess till the next episode. Rob, you take it easy.

Rob
YouTube Icon Great speaking with you.

Mukund
Thank you, Sir. Bye. Bye bye for now.