What are We Grateful For?

Thanksgiving is a wonderful time to reflect on life and all that we are grateful for.  Join Rob as he discusses #gratitude during this week's 🔴LIVE STREAM🔴!  

Rob planned on discussing what he's grateful for in life with regard to the (7) different areas of life that we set goals in:  Financial, Physical, Personal Development, Family, Spiritual, Social, and Career.  

Tune in for a perspective change and an attitude of gratitude...and see where this episode goes during this holiday recording. 

Transcript

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Well, hi there, and welcome back to another episode of the All Around Growth Podcast. My name is Rob Kaiser and I am your host. Today is Friday, November 25th, 2022. This is episode number 473 of a show where you join me with my family on our small farm and homestead where we talk about the five W's and how as we grow all around. Wow. Okay, I need to turn that off apparently. And um, yeah, today's show, if you haven't already figured that out, is going to be a little bit unusual in the fact that it's a live stream, first and foremost. And not only is it a live stream, it is a live stream, not on any normal Friday, but today is a little bit different in the fact that it is Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, the day where many people are in an active state of decompression or uh perhaps chaos as they prepare for Thanksgiving 2.0 or 3.0 or whatever the case may be. In my case, for those of you who are watching uh the video that is, you can see I'm wearing a Santa hat. I've been out on the square in Medina downtown with the Medina Oddfellows selling Christmas trees as we do every year and have done for the past, well, at least in my case, the past three years. Uh and the organization has been doing so in the square for about 15 years, I would estimate, as far as I can tell, talking with the people that are involved in this. Uh, so I've been down there since 8:30 this morning, came back to let the dog out, do this, grab a quick bite to eat. And it sounds like some of the guys are actually going to stay up there later. We've got a cool new fire pit. Actually, I took some pictures of that, meant to take some before I left. But for those of you in the telegram chat, t. Well, that we obtained, if you will, uh, is quite nice. And those of you who are uh mechanically inclined uh will certainly appreciate this. But enough chitter chatter, let's get into the meat of today's episode. The topic of today's show is what are we grateful for? What are you grateful for? And what I want to do um today is just take a moment to share with you some of the things that I'm grateful for in the seven different aspects of life, you know, financial, physical, personal development, uh, family, spiritual, social, and career. Okay. And um, so let's let's go ahead and do that. And then after I've you know flapped my proverbial gums for a little while, if anybody out there in the telegram group, uh, which is where the link was shared to call, granted, it was a late share, it's been a hectic couple of days. You know, we haven't really done Thanksgiving ourselves here on the farm yet. We're doing that tomorrow. My brother and his daughters are coming in uh tonight. They may actually show up while we're live streaming. Who knows? So if there's some interruption from family, that would actually kind of be awesome. So, Matt, if you're out there listening and you've got the girls, um, you know, by all means pop in, say hi, jump online, and tell everyone hello. But, anyways, uh, and enough of that. Um, yeah, it's it's it's uh we're doing Thanksgiving tomorrow. Many of you guys have done Thanksgiving yesterday. You know, we've talked about some of that in the group, seen some turkeys, seen some rib roasts, everything looks awesome. And I'm really first and foremost, I'm grateful to be sharing in this with you. I'm grateful to be doing life with you. So, you know, thank you to uh thank you to those of you who are watching, thank you to those of you who are um, you know, appreciating the Santa hat. And um, you know, I'm I'm just I'm very grateful for all of this, and uh, you know, so so without further ado, let's get into uh you know gratitude in all aspects of life and where I'm coming from with that before we take calls from anyone who wishes to contribute with gratitude in their life and and how it might relate to the show in that uh in that regard. So, you know, with regard to the financial aspect of life, one of the things that I am grateful for is the introduction of Financial Peace University into my life, and not simply the introduction of Financial Peace University, but the actual decision to take action on the program and implement it into my life fully as outlined in the program, including but not limited to giving, because I think that is the most critical part in getting out of the financial hardships that we are currently in and understanding what it really takes to receive, right? So that is what I am grateful for. That has opened up so many doors into understanding things at a much deeper level than understanding what freedom really is. You know, it wasn't until I became well, it wasn't until I became debt-free and then established some savings in terms of like what Financial Peace University refers to as baby step three, three to six months in savings. And at that point, I realized I have options, you know, I have more options than I ever thought. And that is when the rest of this started to align. Physical, right? Now, admittedly, I'm not at the peak of my physical uh capabilities. I'm I'm I'm I'm not optimized physically, if you will. Uh have I ever been? I don't know. But one of the one of the things that I'm most grateful for with regard to my physical life, you know, as I'm sitting here talking, I I almost want to say I'm most grateful for the epilepsy that I have, which might which might seem weird, because that's that might seem like a burden. And oftentimes it is, but I you know, my initial gut thought was I'm I'm grateful for the inclusion of um of uh uh functional medicine, you know, learning about functional medicine. Hi there, everybody on Facebook, and I am you know hey there to everyone watching. I I I this is this is fantastic. I wasn't really expecting this, this whole live stream. Granted, it was planned, but it all came together really uh quickly, especially today, in terms of how the day shook out. But yeah, as I'm thinking about what I'm grateful for in terms of you know the physical aspect of life, I'm thinking about, yeah, functional medicine is great, but I'm almost grateful, more grateful for the fact that I have epilepsy, which kind of led me to that, which leads me to I don't know, maybe understand and empathize with people in a different way. As far as personal development goes, um, you know, I I'm I'm I'm grateful for uh I don't have the book handy. It the book 48 Days to the Work and Life You Love. I'm grateful for Dan Miller, the the work that he's produced, the community that's uh come to be with the 48 Days Eagles. My participation uh in that community has really been an integral part of my own personal development over the past year, year and a half. And I believe that's reflected or has been reflected in the growth and development of the show. So, you know, I talk about that a lot. I've been talking about that more and more lately, specifically the goal setting guide. And as I go through after the fact and update the show notes, get this uploaded into the podcast form and then update the show, the description in uh YouTube and elsewhere, I will make sure I link to that again because I think that that is perhaps the single most important thing that has uh that I'm grateful for with regard to my personal development is exposure to this goal setting guide, which I've linked to in multiple episodes in the past. So if you can't wait until I update the show notes and you want to figure out what this is and find what it is and download it, just go to allaroundgrowth.co and look at the past few episodes and look at the show notes there. You'll see goal setting guide, the link there, easily referenced. Check it out, you can download it for free. And that provided the framework basically for what it is that we're talking about today, these seven aspects of life, because that's how we set goals, looking at three years out, one year out, and ultimately what we can do today. And that helped provide a framework for the show, a framework for my life, and ultimately, you know, helped me uh hone in and focus the message that I'm sharing with you here today. So, as far as my family, the fourth aspect of life that we're talking about, that I'm talking about today, in terms of gratitude, uh, what am I grateful for with my family? I don't even know where to begin. I feel so blessed with the family that I have. My parents, first and foremost, you know, every I talk about the homestead here so frequently, and the homestead is a result of what my parents initially had in mind when they bought this property 15 years ago. And you know, granted, things went on hold for damn near a decade, and it wasn't until five years ago when things finally began to be constructed here, and I'm I'm grateful for my family because my parents, specifically in this case, because they've been open to ideas, receptive to change. They've effectively, like all of us, have been forced to adapt, improvise, and overcome. And you know, as a result of this and working together as a family, I'm now working directly with my parents here, building a business with them. And it when I when I think about that, that that this is the reality of my life at this moment, and this is something that we talked about ten years ago, literally a decade ago, at this time, the holidays. I'm extremely grateful for my family and my father, who told me from a youth, do what you love and do it well, and the money will come. And the only modification I have to that statement is do what you love, do it well, and the wealth will come because it's wealth is not simply financial, wealth comes in the you know, the eight forms of capital, all aspects of life, right? And in this case, seven aspects of life. Like we've got our financial wealth, our physical wealth, the wealth in terms of our personal development, the wealth in terms of our familial relationships, our spiritual wealth, our social wealth, and our career. You know, we we've got it all. And I learned that I can build the life of my dreams around work that I love with my family through this personal development that I just spoke about, right? So moving on, I'm yeah, I'm grateful for my parents, I'm grateful for my family, I'm grateful for my siblings. I'm I my my siblings are are are like my best friends. You know, I I have such a such a close relationship with with my with my immediate family and and and and many other of my extended family. And it's it's wonderful. Uh, I I I just I understand that this isn't the norm, that we aren't the norm, that that maybe we're an exception. And I and maybe that's part of the reason why I feel compelled to share whatever message that I have to share in the form of this podcast, because I also believe that if maybe your family isn't and doesn't have the dynamic that my family does, I believe that we have the capacity to change that. I believe that we have the capacity to change our family tree. I believe that we have the capacity to, you know, change. Yeah, I don't know how else to frame it. Change our family tree. I know some of you out there doing that that that listen to this show. I know that you guys are actively doing that. You come from strange families, man. I've heard some of your stories. It's weird. I don't know how you ended up being the person that you are. You know who I'm talking about, and man, I'm proud of you because you're not you're not your family tree. You made a difference, you changed, and you know, like I didn't have to go what you went through, but my family empowered me to understand that if that were the case, I could do the same. So, you know, for you out there listening, you shall remain nameless. I don't want to, I don't want to, you know, bring up anybody's weird past, but you know, understand that if you're somebody out there that's got a weird past too, man, you you know you can modify that. And if you want to like connect more with people that are actively doing that, then join us over at t.me slash all around growth because that's what people are doing, and it's awesome. So, you know, join us. Uh I it the the relationships there have been have been that have been cultivated or are just are just quite quite frankly, they're amazing. And we'll talk a little bit more about that in the social aspect of life, which we're coming up here after the spiritual aspect of life. Number five, what am I grateful for with regard to the spiritual aspect of life? If there's anything that I'm grateful for, I'm grateful for my longing to know more. And and I fully understand and know that I can't know. I won't know. I don't I'm just a human like you, you know, I'm just a normal guy. It's not our place to understand this, you know, what what what what made this world that we're in. It's it's it's you know, it's fun to think about, but we're not gonna understand it. And I'm I'm what I'm grateful for is my my my relentless pursuit of trying to wrap my head around this. And ultimately what that's resulted in is the the the cultivation of a relationship with God. Okay, and I choose to pursue that in the way that I do. I'm not gonna talk about that. It's it's irrelevant now. You choose to pursue that in the way that you do, and if you're not, I don't know what to tell you. I'm not here to preach, I'm not here to well, whatever. I'm not here to to to tell you what to do. I'm just here to say that I'm grateful for the desire to learn more and connect more with things I don't understand. And the desire to take action with regard to deepening that relationship with God has provided me with the experiences that I can't even begin to articulate. And that is what I'm grateful for. With regard to the social aspect of life, and I'm gonna invite anybody who wishes to call in, you know, that wants to chime in to do so. Um, because we got social aspect of life and then career, and then if no one really wants to chime in, then that's cool because I'm gonna wrap this up and get back to the square, the public square downtown Medina, which is where I have been all day and where I anticipate going to return to, and that is part of the whole social aspect of life. You know, a few years ago, I decided that it was going to be in my best interests to get involved with the community for you know a number of reasons. Um, I it just seems like a good idea, you know. At that point in my life, uh I I had a number of reasons for for a desire to get involved with my community, and I chose two options in order to expand my social horizons, if you will, with regard to my local community. Because I think online interaction is great, but I think if we're not taking steps to get involved locally, we're we're missing out. That's a that's a key component into this balanced life that we seek, that I seek. All right. So uh two two things. One was you know, find a church to get involved with, and this the the whole idea of finding a church was part of Financial Peace University. Was I sold on the idea of church? No, quite frankly, I wasn't. I was still of the mindset, and I'm not even sure if I'm not of the mindset now, but I I I I pretty much believe that governments and churches are institutions of control, right? But generally speaking, I'm also of the belief that churches are one of several institutions where good natured people have a tendency to congregate, and it is my desire to get involved with good-natured people. So I began attending a church, and I've talked about that in the past. Um, won't get into that now. And I also decided that in addition to a church, volunteer organizations would be a good thing to participate in. I've gone, I so I did my research, I looked into all the local, you know, uh volunteer organizations, the Rotary Club, the Kiwanis Club, the the local uh Moose Lodge, the Oddfellows, the uh the United Way, the Salvation Army, the uh there were a couple others. You know, I I looked into at least half a dozen different organizations that felt like a good fit for me to you know give back. And I chose the independent order of odd fellows, the Medina uh Morningstar Lodge number 26. And the past three years with my involvement in that organization has been nothing but positive. As a matter of fact, the introductory music and the outro music of the show is a song written by uh brother Jerry Tackett. Uh I don't even know what the song is called. I think it's titled I'm an odd fellow. Um and it, you know, it resonated with me. And I I reached out to him and said, Hey, I do this podcast. Can I use this for the the excuse me, the introduction and um the exit music? And he said. Yeah, of course. And um, you know, and and and and that's been a big part of my life. And I'll go ahead and show you something while I'm thinking about this. And this is something that I carry with me uh regularly, in addition to everything else that's in my pocket here, including a myriad number of lens wipes in my wallet. But uh what I am looking for, I have yet to find, which is mildly hysterical because golly, because I'm talking about this, and usually it's quite readily available, and of course, now it is not, but I've got it. So oh my golly, that's a quarter. Um this is this is not turning out to be to be good. Um but here's the deal with the odd fellows. Not only is there a lot of symbolism, you know, with the odd fellows, but what what we do is we command you to visit the sick, relieve the distressed, bury the dead, and educate the orphan. And this is not coming into focus, and I'm gonna go ahead and just try to end that. But the reality is um, the odd fellows is an organization that has been around for over 200 years, has a long history of, in summary, it it was a bunch of tradesmen that got together and coordinated to help the community in a time where services like healthcare and funeral arrangements and things like that just weren't as readily available as they are now. And in a time when relationships were far more traditional than they are now, and you know, um a man died, the support systems weren't there to take care of widows and you know, orphans, perhaps whose parents both died, and the odd fellows were there to bury the dead, you know, visit the sick, relieve the distressed, educate the orphan, and basically, you know, you you could you could say that they they they they were caretakers of the community, and the history resonated deeply with me, and I wanted I wanted to be a part of that, so I did. And the first event that I participated in was the event that I'm doing today was the Christmas tree sales, and I didn't know anything. I I went there to scope it out to see who the guys were, and figured, well, there's no better way to get involved than just show up and help out. And half of the guys, that very first time I was there, they just presumed I was a member because I just showed up and started helping out, and a lot of the old guys they realized that I was was some guy, and you know, who was I, and so they invited me back, invited me up into the lodge, and then you know, uh were like, hey, what's your deal, you know? And so here I am three years later. Um, I'm a member, and you know, I I think it's a I think it's a great community. We had an awesome experience today, as a matter of fact, a few guys from another local lodge up in Cleveland drove all the way down here to buy a couple trees, visit us, and just talk with us. So it was cool to connect with some other guys. We'd never really had anyone visit us like that. Um, and a couple active members, leaders in that lodge came down, and it was just really uh it was a really nice, neat experience to connect with them and and uh and do that and and learn about what they do, and they could learn about what we do. And really, it was almost like uh you know, hearing again. I'm not I'm I'm still kind of a new guy, I've only been around for a few years, but to hear some of the guys that have been around for 10, 15 years or longer talk with these guys and really, you know, kind of talk shop on what we're doing, you know, what we're doing, how we're doing it, why we're doing it. It was it was pretty cool. And and and and this is a big part of the community involvement, social, social gratitude. It's just just connecting with your community, connecting with different generations. There's that that that that that lacks in this day and age, that true interpersonal connection with some sort of tradition, and and and and and I think that I think that we need that, you know. I think that that's important. And um that's why I've chosen to go this route and participate in the things that I do, church and uh volunteer organizations. So I think that those are important aspects of a social life. And oh, not to mention, you know, those are the first things that I'm grateful for. The other thing I'm grateful for, man, is old time, right? And uh, you know, I got a message from my friend Linny today who listened to the episode I did on Cliff Top. And if all goes well, you know, the three of us are gonna be riding down to West Virginia uh in late July of next year, maybe early August. I don't I don't really know when the dates are, but I am grateful for old-time music. I am grateful for the joy that brings me. I am grateful for what it does to me trying to learn this old music. I mean, I don't know if it's because I have brain damage or what, but when I have to learn these patterns and these rhythms, it's it's very difficult at first, but then when I put the pieces together, it's like solving a mental puzzle, and that's rewarding for me. And not only is it rewarding in the fact that I can feel like I'm doing something mentally challenging, but there's also the history and the tradition of the music and everything that ties into that and makes us who we are as people, right? So, you know, there's there's that. So those are those are three key things that I am grateful for with regard to my social life. And as far as my career is concerned, you know, I've had I'm grateful for two decades of a uh two two two decades of a career in the green industry. I'm you know, I I I went to college to study horticulture, and or at least that's where I landed after a couple different trial and error episodes at college 1.0 and 2.0. But eventually I figured it out. And yeah, I had a I had a good career, you know, over two decades, 15 years were spent with two different companies, you know. I uh I was a long timer and granted one of those actually with both, you know, I had several different roles working multiple different projects, and I basically did that until I wasn't a good fit anymore. And you know, if it wasn't in the in the in the in the goal setting guide, we learn that our career optimally should be a healthy combination or the end result of these other six different aspects of life, right? And I'm realizing that by working through Financial Peace University and then this goal setting workbook, that the two of those combined has allowed me to get to that point where I'm actually executing upon this whole idea of living the work and life that I love. And I have to think about that sometimes because it's not always easy to for me, at least, it's not always easy for me to come to grips with the fact that more than a decade worth of work and planning and all of that has resulted in where I'm at today and the message that I'm sharing with you in this very moment. And I am really grateful for that. And I want to encourage you that it's possible to do this thing that Dan Miller talks about, live the you know, build and create the life and work you love. But I don't think that it's possible unless we've got a good handle on these other six aspects of life financial, physical, personal development, family, spiritual, and our social life. Once we've got all that, at least not necessarily in line, but a better handle on how we're approaching that, only then I think can we really become at peace with our career and begin to move forward and take action if we are not. And I'm looking forward to going back up to the square. Normally, in the past, what we've done is on Friday, Black Friday, sell trees from nine until six. But last year, a couple of the guys stuck around and just, I mean, we've got a fire pit on this, you know, we get a permit and all this, and uh, you know, we have a nice fire pit, but we have this new fire pit. And like I said, I'm gonna share some pictures in the telegram group, t.me slash all around growth. So if you want to see the fire pit, connect with some rad people that are changing their lives and more, then check that out. And that will also give you an opportunity to chime in on future live streams because we're gonna do this every Friday moving forward. Today's a little bit different because hey, it's the third uh Friday after Thanksgiving, and we're all on different schedules and doing all kinds of things with family and everything like that. But um I lost my train of thought. Yeah, I'm going back up to the square, and uh, I'm just I'm I'm grateful to oh, yeah. All I was saying was the a couple of the guys last year went stayed up there after the official shutdown time, and everybody else on the square, the square's full of restaurants and bars and things like that. And after everybody was done with dinner, done having drinks and such, they were you know, kind of checking out the square, coming to hang out, um, you know, stand by the fire, just shoot the shoot the breeze with uh a couple, you know, a bunch of odd fellows. And uh, you know, and they they grabbed a few hundred bucks in donations. So I was kind of talking with them earlier and said, Yeah, maybe I'll maybe I'll bring my banjo or something, and um and I was encouraged to do that, and I shouldn't have opened my mouth, but apparently that's what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna bring back the banjo and uh I'm gonna tune it up, hope that the strings are not exceptionally corroded, and then try to try to play some banjo by the fire or something. I I don't know. This is gonna be weird, but um, it's gonna be a good time, and and hopefully at the very least, I can just pull it out and uh you know appease the savages and then put it away. Um we can go back to listening to Christmas music, but uh that's what I said I'm gonna do. So uh I was encouraged to do it. That's what I'm gonna do, anyways, guys. I I appreciate the tuning in and uh you bearing with me in the audio format of the casual nature of this Friday's live stream. Casual and the fact that it's been a fun, relaxing day on the square selling trees. It's going to get even more fun with a return uh to the square. And I look forward to catching up with you on Monday. Monday is going to be November 28th. We will do uh a bit of a weekend market recap, although there is no weekend market recap, but we are preparing for the winter market season, which kicks off next Saturday, December 3rd, with the market at Richardson's. And now we've got uh a lot to talk about. I I one thing I can say we're gonna talk about on Monday is probably Cyber Monday. We've been pushing some black, I say pushing, not as actively as I could have or should have been these Black Friday sales, but we're still trying to learn how to navigate all this online stuff. And uh to be completely honest, Black Friday sales and cyber Monday sales are not on the the the the highest part of my priority list right now in terms of what we're doing with ferments. So, you know, we'll talk about all of that in some way, shape, or form on Monday when we talk about, you know, just where we're at with market, kind of a recap, what's coming up, and then outline what's in store for the rest of the week. Because it's the end of the month next week, it's the beginning of December, and who knows? We'll probably have something from the old farmer's almanac because that's always good to check in with nature, the homestead, and get some outside perspective and seeing as it is the end of the month, we're in a season of transition. Thanksgiving. We are now officially into the holidays, as far as I'm concerned. And as you can see, for those of you on the live stream, I'm certain certainly feeling festive. I hope you are too. And for those of you who already have not decorated, I hope that you you know feel ready to engage in the decorating festivities at this point now, since we are post-Thanksgiving, and it is seemingly appropriate. For the first time ever, I've decorated early. I'm going to continue to do so in the future. And as far as you know, doing things differently in the future, I also learned of something called I I want to say uh Farmer Boy, a recording of Farmer Boy from the uh I don't know, Homestead. I'll try to link to that in the show notes, but that was a uh an awesome recording. And um Laura Ingall's book, if I'm not mistaken. Rachel, if you're out there, forgive me. It's new to me, but thank you for sharing this link with me because the first of four readings occurred on uh Thanksgiving Day. Okay. The there's four chapters that are going to be read. There's another one on December 6th, if I'm not mistaken, and two more before uh Christmas, the dates of which I I do not know, but I do believe the second reading is on December 6th. It is a live event on Facebook with this book being read, and it was a very pleasant experience, reminiscent of old-time radio, but enough of this, guys. I'm gonna wrap it up with one final thank you to you for listening to this show throughout the past couple of years. Listening to this show today, watching this live stream. I appreciate you. I appreciate you being a part of my life. I'm glad we're doing life together. I'm very grateful for that. And I'm very grateful for everything that was previously discussed. And uh, you know, doing this, doing these Christmas tree sales just fills me with gratitude. And uh I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm humbled and uh grateful to be able to have the opportunity to share it with you. So with that, I look forward to catching up with you next week and thank you for watching today. This is Rob Kaiser, and thank you.