Manders Mindset
Hosted by Amanda Russo, The Breathing Goddess, who is a Breathwork Detox Facilitator, Transformative Mindset Coach, and Divorce Paralegal.
Amanda's journey into mindset and empowerment began by working with children in group homes and daycares. She later transitioned to family law, helping people navigate the challenging emotions of divorce. During this time, Amanda also overcame her own weight and health challenges through strength training, meditation, yoga, reiki, and plant medicine.
Amanda also shares her personal journey, detailing how she transformed obstacles into opportunities by adopting a healthier, holistic lifestyle.
Discover practical strategies and inspiring stories that will empower you to break free from limitations and cultivate a mindset geared towards growth and positivity.
Tune in for a fun, friendly, and empowering experience that will help you become the best version of yourself.
Manders Mindset
99: Why A Strong Support System Matters with Brandon Rainaud
In this special, heartfelt episode of Manders Mindset, Amanda welcomes close friend Brandon Rainaud for an inspiring conversation on resilience, adaptability, and the importance of a strong support system. Originally planned as a different kind of episode, Brandon stepped in to share his insights and experiences, embodying the "figure it out" mindset. Together, they explore the power of support networks, how to handle life’s unexpected challenges, and why embracing change can lead to growth and new opportunities. This episode offers listeners practical wisdom and inspiring stories to help shift mindsets toward resilience and possibility.
In This Episode, You’ll Uncover:
- [1:25] - What it means to live by the "everything is figureoutable" philosophy and why it’s so powerful.
- [5:30] - Insights into Brandon’s upbringing, family dynamics, and how navigating a family divorce shaped his resilience.
- [14:15] - Brandon’s shift from studying criminal justice to finding his passion in EMT and paramedic work.
- [21:45] - The story behind Brandon’s bold decision to leave Massachusetts for a fresh start in Arkansas.
- [30:10] - The importance of having a strong support network and why it’s been pivotal for both of us.
- [42:55] - How stepping out of your comfort zone and taking risks can lead to personal growth.
- [55:20] - How curiosity, resilience, and the willingness to explore have shaped our perspectives on life.
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Stay tuned Brandon will be back on Manders Mindset, very soon.
Welcome to the Manders Mindset Podcast. Here you'll find both monologue and interviews of entrepreneurs, coaches, healers and a variety of other people when your host, Amanda Russo, will discuss her own mindset and perspective and her guest's mindset and perspective on the world around us. Manders and her guests will help explain to you how shifting your mindset will shift your life.
Speaker 2:Welcome to Meander's Mindset, where we explore the power of shifting your mindset to shift your life. Let me ask you, what do you do when life throws you a curveball? Do you panic or do you figure it out? Or maybe you do both. Something today's guest shared with me privately at one point when I was stressing over something years ago, was you've got three options. You can stress about it, you can start making a game plan or you can do a little bit of both. In today's episode I share a bit of my own story. Someone really close with me was supposed to be interviewed and aired for episode 99. And then I was supposed to be interviewed by them for episode 100. But they had to bail on me and while that might sound like a setback, it's actually the perfect opportunity to talk about the importance of having a strong support system and having that figureoutable mindset.
Speaker 2:My guest today is my best friend in the whole world. He's honestly one of the only people I can say without a doubt will be in my life for the rest of my life and he has been such a huge part of my journey and really helping me keep that perspective. When things don't go as planned, you can figure it out. Where there's a will, there's a way, and leaning into that support system when things don't go as planned is really important because they can really help you shift that mindset and shift the way you're showing up. So let's dive in and talk about why having people who support you can make all the difference in life's unexpected moments. I've had no issues hearing you whatsoever, so I don't know if it's a me thing, I don't know if it's a you thing, I don't know what it is.
Speaker 2:But we're gonna shift our mindsets and we're just gonna do it. We're just gonna do the thing. Everything is figureoutable. Do you believe that Everything is figureoutable?
Speaker 3:Yeah, I think so.
Speaker 2:You didn't even question me on that phrase. I like that. Why didn't you question that phrase?
Speaker 3:I mean I believe that everything can be solved or figured out or solved or something. I mean it's more like a problem-solving mindset.
Speaker 2:There's very few problems that just can't be fixed, I suppose and this is why we're very close, because I love that you think that, because so do I, and some people, when I say that, are like did you say, figure out of all, I didn't come up with the word. It's a book. It's actually a book, like book, yeah, but like some people are like what the hell is that word? But you didn't even bat an eye. And I love that.
Speaker 2:I am so excited for this, literally, oh my God. I am here with one of my favorite people in the whole entire world and one of the people you fucking are. Don't shake your hand at me, get the fuck up, I'll play you through the fucking computer. And yeah, we have. This is all the sides of Randall's mindset for you, but I'm thrilled. Welcome back. We are here today with one of my favorite people, one of my best friends in the whole world, brandon Raynaud, and you know he really helps me embody that everything is figureoutable mindset, because when shit hits the fan, when somebody bails on me, somebody that I really think has my back, I can always count on Brandon for literally any and everything, doesn't matter what it is, and I'm thrilled to be here with Brandon today. Everybody needs a Brandon in their life. They really do. You just take your hand and be all you want. Thank you so much for being here with me. How are you?
Speaker 3:I'm doing well. Thanks for having me.
Speaker 2:Thank you. So who would you say Brandon is at the core?
Speaker 3:I don't know how to answer that one. We're still working on that Work in progress. I guess you know this. Yeah, I don't know how to answer that. I'd say like work in progress, like always trying to be better.
Speaker 2:I don't know if that's that's how we go with that. It's supposed to be a thought-provoking question. I get you. So now can you take us down memory lane a little bit? Tell us about your childhood upbringing, family dynamic. However deep you want to go, I think it helps everybody understand a little bit of the foundation of how you got to today, 2024 yeah, so grew up with mom, dad, sister and brother went through a divorce into my high school years.
Speaker 3:Otherwise like family's rock solid, ended up graduating high school, going to college for criminal justice. Then went into the ambulance field. From there went to paramedic school. Currently work as a firefighter paramedic. It's kind of like a bare bones of it siblings, older, younger brothers younger sisters older were you close with them?
Speaker 3:uh, justin, yeah, yeah, I would say both of them actually pretty, pretty close, talk weekly at minimum. Growing up, were you guys close then too? Me and Justin always. Kayla is five years older than me Once we got into our adult ages. Yeah, for sure.
Speaker 2:That makes sense. Approximately how old were you when parents went through the divorce?
Speaker 3:I believe it would have been 14 to 16, somewhere in that age range.
Speaker 2:How did that shape? You post that.
Speaker 3:I mean it was a lot, but I mean I think that's any kind of like divorce. Divorce is hard on everybody for sure, so I don't know if it had much play into who I thought I was becoming Still didn't give me like a straight and definite answer on where I wanted to be or what I wanted to do, but it definitely gave a perspective on life and relationships, I guess.
Speaker 2:What sort of perspective?
Speaker 3:Just seeing what worked, what didn't, the hardships that come of the decisions made, and whether that's good or bad, I guess Decisions made, do you mean?
Speaker 3:When I say that on all sides, like I said, divorce is hard, but there are things that happened with this one that was, you know it wasn't like pick a side, you know what I mean Like both sides of what had happened had good things they did, had bad things they did. And then as a young kid, growing up, teenager or so, you got to see those decisions being made, what came of those decisions being made, and you know it wasn't until a couple of years later, I guess, that you could actually put into rationale of what actually happened, if that makes sense now.
Speaker 2:Did that change living situation for you?
Speaker 3:yeah, a little bit. We stayed in the family home for a couple years and then we ended up having to move to a. Well, we were trying to get a new house, like downgrade not downgrade but smaller home, easier to pay for, kind of thing. And that came with a another life lesson, which was we had the mortgage taken away from us from a family encounter and it took.
Speaker 3:I was going into my senior year of college or high school when that happened and it put myself, my brother and my mom kind of on the street. Obviously, me and my brother could go to my dad's house and my mom ended up on the couch at her mother's house. So it wasn't like we didn't have a roof overhead, it was just not quite what we were expecting. So that gives some. I think that one out of everything in the childhood that one hurt or hit the hardest and that has shaped the, the thought that I can't, I don't, deviate from, which is money isn't everything, and I will never put money over someone because I've had that happen. So it's just money. I guess it's kind of like what I took away from that, from that experience wow, approximately how long was that?
Speaker 3:till new new house we were able to get another one. Probably five or six months maybe, maybe a little less than that. It wasn't like too too long after, but it would. It definitely put a wrench in the gears yeah, no, that that makes sense.
Speaker 2:Okay. And now, post high school, you go to college. You go to college for criminal justice and you decide criminal justice is not for you. And why is that?
Speaker 3:So where I went, all the professors were saying, like you know, you got to do something more than just go to college. You can't just get a degree and come out and get a job. You have to go through an internship, you have to go through further training, you have to do something while you're in college to stand out more. I opted for the EMT program on campus. So I did a couple of write-outs with them on campus, fell in love with it because I went to college for criminal justice but that was on the mindset of I could probably be a good officer. I wasn't really committed to yeah, this is what I want to do. And so I did the EMT program and fell in love with the, the club that put on for on campus. The next year I got my EMT license. I was, and then from there I just jumped into the EMT field.
Speaker 2:Okay, how would you know that it was for you once you started doing like the EMT?
Speaker 3:Like I said, like I wasn't one to be um, I wasn't like gung-ho into yeah, I want to be a police officer, I want to be a cop or whatever. But like when I started ride outs with this club, it was like, yes, this is where I could see myself, these are the people I want to hang out with, these are the people like this is what I want to do. This is interesting and problem-solving, and like I could see myself doing this and that ended up like making the decision of all right, yeah, like this is what I'm doing.
Speaker 2:Now you say problem-solver. Do you like problem-solving, problem solving?
Speaker 3:yeah, I would say so. I'm very I would say visual learner. So if I can, if they're, and like I've always grown up doing grew up with doing puzzles with my dad, you know what I mean like, um, very into working through something and to try to get a, an answer or a solution or something like that. So that's that's definitely something I've been interested in. And, like when it came to the EMT side of things, like every everything is just okay, let's investigate, let's see what I can do, what can I see, what are what is being told to me and what does this lead me to as either the problem or the root cause or something like that.
Speaker 2:So it's problem solving okay, you know, it's like, even like at the beginning, like you agreeing with me that everything is figureoutable, there's a way to solve all the problems. Okay, and you liked that part about the emt oh yeah, for sure okay, and you mentioned, you liked those people, you liked that culture yes how so?
Speaker 3:especially like the, the crews that I worked with on campus. We were all like-minded individuals. You know a lot of us were criminal justice majors. It felt like a community that I could definitely get involved with and I ended up doing it. I got my EMT the next year. The year after that I was the training officer for the club and worked quite a bit with. We worked with the on-campus police and the city fire department to do trainings and work with that kind of thing. So that got me into the culture and meeting the fire department, understanding what they do or getting a. At this point in my career it was getting experience with the fire department and learning what they do and learning what the police can do and how we all work together for, at the end of the day, like a goal or a outcome, you all work together for a goal or an outcome, so you like the team dynamic.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I would say that's probably exactly it.
Speaker 2:Would you say you always have. Did you grow up playing sports?
Speaker 3:nothing like super crazy. I didn't play sports through high school or anything like that. I guess I would say yes, because through high school I did do the like the tv club, and that took a lot of teamwork to get done and set up and broke down and put out for the school. So yeah, I would say the team dynamic is something that I'm big in.
Speaker 2:So post-college where we go from there.
Speaker 3:Post-college I ended up moving out to Boston, started on a private ambulance in the area. I was out there for two years, just about Jumped around from company to company and then ended up in paramedic school, had a little bit of a hard time the first time and then I spent, I think, three years at a different company before I moved to Arkansas and became an EMT out here and I want to get into that shift.
Speaker 2:I do, I do very much so. So yeah, my Brandon goes from fucking Massachusetts his whole life little town, south Hadley, massachusetts, to Boston, massachusetts, to Arkansas when do I even begin? First of all, like why did you decide then was when you were going to leave Massachusetts and go to Arkansas.
Speaker 3:I had a back injury and a back surgery, so I had been out of work for on and off for two years and it was one of those I didn't really like where I was living. Work wasn't in it for me, had had gotten broken up with, and it was one of those things where I'm like you know what, I just need a different scenery, I need different people, I need to get out for a while and get my head straight, kind of. And so I had a friend who had been out here for a year or two prior and they convinced me to just come out, fly out, give it a try, see, and worst comes to worst. You leave.
Speaker 3:That was my thoughts on it for sure, your mindset on it. You hesitated to say that. Yeah, Are there any people on this?
Speaker 2:network that get away with saying that Some guests, I feel like, say that just to get me thinking I don't even know and I'm like, bro, we get it, we get it. And I can tell you're trying to not say it. I love that mindset, though like you're not stuck. I love that mindset. I can do anything, go anywhere and I'm not stuck, I'll just come back. Even like when I went to, I'll just come back. Even like when I went to Bali, I'll just come back. You don't have much to say on that. Your faith changed.
Speaker 3:You take wild trips that I would never, I could never do.
Speaker 2:Why do you say that?
Speaker 3:Huh.
Speaker 2:Why are they trips that you could never do. But you could move to Arkansas, you couldn't go to Bali.
Speaker 3:Yeah, because I planned six months to move out here.
Speaker 2:I planned for 10 days to go to Bali.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that is not nearly enough time for me. There's no way For my birthday coming up to just put in reference my birthday coming up, to just put in reference my birthday coming up in june. I have started planning with my brother last month for a trip and that was still like I don't know, like this feels weird, like I I'm what over six months out for this trip and I'm still like I need to look into this more, like to do that and be like, ah, you know what, let's just take a trip and in 10 days, here's my flight, here's where we're going. I stresses me out, man.
Speaker 2:Why.
Speaker 3:Cause I need, like I said, I like to be able to ration that rationale everything you're like, plan things and let things come to be with I don't know, just like more time to think on it. I guess I'm not as deep dive into the like. Spontaneous is not where I'm comfortable, I guess.
Speaker 2:You don't think your Arkansas move was spontaneous?
Speaker 3:No, because I had three. Like the seed was planted long before I moved, and then it was only just a matter of getting everything in line to where it makes sense. The time frame made sense. Everything in line to where it makes sense, the timeframe made sense. The you know, I had a place to work was the first thing I worked on. Once I got that, or, the first thing I did was change my licenses over so that, you know, I could get a job out here. Once that got done, I started looking for the job, got the jobs and then from there I went to housing and from there I went to how I'm getting down here. So I had plenty of time.
Speaker 3:It took, like I said, probably six or eight months to actually finalize all plans, to actually move, and I would say that it's a little. It's not quite the same as your, your trips, because it's it's easy to do a trip in. Okay, you want to go somewhere, 10 days, right, boom. Whereas after after that trip, though, you come back to where you're already established me. There was no coming back, at least. Yet you know what I mean. Like there was no, there was no plan that I'm gonna be out here six months and then I need to find something back here to fall back on. Today was the. These are these steps I'm taking to move somewhere completely different, completely foreign, and how I can ensure my most success down here. I guess is the best way to say it. So you know what I mean I.
Speaker 2:I get what you mean, but I like how you mentioned that you aren't stuck. You could try it and then go back God forbid even if it was fucking five years from then, if you were suddenly like you know what, or even if it wasn't back to Massachusetts, even if you were like I don't want to be an open star anymore. You're not stuck, you know. I love that you mentioned that.
Speaker 2:I I think that with everything like whether it's a job, whether it's a a hobby, whether it's a move, like you're not stuck in it if you do it. So even like a lot of I speak to a lot of new entrepreneurs on the podcast who, like, recently left their nine-to-fives and it's so many people in their lives they're like, oh my god and dude, you could get another job, even if it's not the same job, get another job. You're not stuck in because you make one decision. You know it's not gonna, it's not gonna necessarily change your whole life just because you choose f versus y. You know. So I love that you mentioned that, because that holds a lot of people back from pursuing anything, because they think, once they do it, that there you go.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 2:You know, Because even if you went to Arkansas and then you were like I don't want to be in Massachusetts and I don't want to be in Arkansas either, there's fucking 15 states you got 48 more to pick from 48 states and you know tons of countries. Okay, Brandon, I don't want you leaving the country. You don't think I should leave the country for a trip. You are not moving out of the country. If you move out of the country, I'm coming with you, okay.
Speaker 3:Right.
Speaker 2:You heard it here. If you think you're gonna say to me I'm moving to Japan, well, I'm moving to Japan too.
Speaker 3:Okay, Deal, I'm not fucking kidding. I know, I know.
Speaker 2:I ain't kidding.
Speaker 3:No, I know better than to think that you're not kidding.
Speaker 2:I'm not. I don't give two fucks, I'll fucking pack my shit. I'll fucking pack my shit and go. I will. I'll leave the car out in the book of play, or one way and go. Mm-hmm, I would. I really would shut off my auto-pay and we'll go. Bye, don't drive me, I'll go. Maybe that's that spontaneous mindset in me, but I don't know what the way. But I wouldn't be stuck. I could always come back. Everything is figureoutable. There's a way, there is a will, there is a way To shit there is a will, there is a way.
Speaker 2:For sure. If it's not, it's either a law of nature or death. You can't figure out a way to bring somebody back Like her deceased dog from when she was a kid. They don't have a way to do that. Yet. That's not a figureoutable thing, right? Because of course you'll have those people that'll be like. This isn't figureoutable, okay, karen, okay, karen, thank you. You know You're looking at me like I'm fucking nuts. You already know that I am Brandon.
Speaker 3:No, definitely not.
Speaker 2:So I want to transition it a little bit. You have been someone that's been able to embrace, change a lot in your life I guess so do you not think so?
Speaker 3:yeah, I mean, I don't, I don't know how, how, for I guess it's, it's something I haven't thought about where it's like, looking back, yeah, I, there's a lot of change that has happened in my life, but to me it's you know my life, so to me this is what a normal amount might be. So for for someone to be like, wow, you've gone a lot of that, it could be like you know, I'm like, well, how much, how much have I done that other people have done? You know what I mean. So I just I haven't put it into that thought like, yeah, sure, I'm changing every. I try to be like I said, I try to be better than I was, and that means you have to embrace the change and you can't. That means you have to embrace the change and you can't. While I'm not comfortable in the spontaneous, I'm comfortable in, I guess, thought about and calculated moves to put me in either a better spot or to create the change that I want to see, if that makes sense.
Speaker 2:Okay, is there anything that's helped you with that?
Speaker 3:Family, friends. For sure, the support network I have is one of my biggest driving factors. I know I want to see all my friends do well and succeed and I know that the circle that I've created of friends want the same for me. Like when I moved down here, I've had quite a few people be like arkansas, are you fucking sure? And I had to look at them and be like, yeah, yeah, like I'm going to try it. And they're like, okay, well, we'll see how this goes. And hell, yeah, man, there wasn't anyone who's no, like that's dumb.
Speaker 3:You know, it is what it's, it's a change. And they knew where I was at, you know, prior to the move, and they can see how much I've grown and improved from now and like how the change I'm sure like for better or worse, not that you know good times and bad, they're always going to be a thing but from where I was then to where I am now, you know I am a changed person and I'm I believe I've changed for the better. So, yeah, change is something that I strive for, because you're always going to be working towards in my head, you're, you always need to be working towards being better that brings me into a text message that I don't know if you remember sending to me this.
Speaker 2:I think it's pretty old, but I'm gonna read it to you because I look at this probably at least once a week and and I love this and this is what made me think that you are good at embracing change not even just seeing your life as an outsider but because I have this text message in my favorites on my phone and it's from Brandon, and it says Change is one of the most difficult things that we face, but change is inevitable.
Speaker 2:One reason we don't like change is we get comfortable where we are. We get used to our friends, our jobs, the place we live and even if it's not perfect, we accept it because it's familiar. And what happens is because we're not willing to change. We get stuck in what God used to do Instead of moving forward into what God is about to do. Just because God's blessed you where you are doesn't mean you can just sit back and settle there. You have to stay open to what God is doing now. What worked five years ago may not work today. If you're going to be successful, you have to be willing to change.
Speaker 3:I want to put this right out there with that one. That is not a quote for me. That was a quote that I've heard. I believe I can't recall but it was. Those are not quite my words. I really like that is a quote that I enjoy. But just to be clear that that is not something that I've come up with. I have no credit on that one. I think it was. I can't remember, I know it's.
Speaker 2:It's at the end of his song, somebody's song.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I'm trying to remember who it is.
Speaker 2:I screenshotted part of this text message from you.
Speaker 3:Yeah, but yeah, I'm trying to remember the song name, but the great rapper at the end of his song I think it's hobson maybe, and so he's rapping on his about his life and then at the end of it is like that, you know, if you can think of like the, the, the sixties robotic voice, like the sixties black and white TV sound, that's what is that quote? And I don't know exactly where it's from, other than his song, but I I do remember sending that to you. I don't remember the exact topic, but it was something about something you were going through.
Speaker 3:I'm like this freaking fits perfectly and like, just so you, yeah, I'm like that's why I needed to send that one to you for sure about embracing change yeah because change it's always gonna happen yeah for for better, for worse, it's gonna happen and I guess, if like it, like if, if it's gonna, if something's gonna happen, I want to uh be able to leave it. I guess this is not a great way to put it, but if change is inevitable, I want to be able to make sure that I'm the reason and the change that is happening is for the better or to make me better. I don't want a situation of change to come up and, you know, be worse off or be like worse because of it. If that makes sense, just let things happen to the point where it's. You know not where I want to be. If it is something that that ends up to where I don't want to be, what I can do and take a inactive role in making the change to be better?
Speaker 2:an active role in making the change to be better. I get that. I think it was in regards to because it was in like 2022. It was in regards to me leaving a job. I was having a hard time leaving yeah, that sounds right but.
Speaker 2:But that's been like. That's been like a theme of my life, because I just have, I have a difficult time with Even if it's something I know is meant to happen, even if they know it's happening. It doesn't matter what the situation is. I just used to have a hard time fully letting go. But then, even when you mentioned that and I love that message because it's inevitable what worked five years ago, even for your life, job, career, location, might not serve you anymore or at some point you know again, like tying all back into the arkansas as well, like, and you're not duh, no, like so many people like, even like family members of mine, I'll quit a job. And they're like, oh my god. And it's like bro, first of all, I have a college degree, I have experience, I have a good work ethic. Like I'm not gonna be screwed.
Speaker 3:Like you know what I'm saying. There's always something they've begun, and you know yeah, no, absolutely like there was.
Speaker 2:It's. There was a toxic job. I left without fully having a full plan and it's. Listen, I'm not going to spend my life here when I'm miserable and it's really badly affecting my mental health at some point, it's what's gonna get. You know, it's like everything's figure out. Well, I'm gonna fucking figure it out. I'm not, I'm not stuck and I'm not gonna settle. I'd spend enough of my fucking life settling and I'm not gonna do it. I'm just not.
Speaker 3:Life's too short life's, life's too short and what, what you know what happens with seeing, seeing the, the stuff that we do here or like my career, is what. I'll be 30 in june and that's. I still consider that for the most part like all right, we're getting older but we're still. We're still young, I'm still healthy enough to go out and do things, like I can do all that stuff and I'm not going to stay somewhere that is going to bring me down or take advantage of me to where you know in in way, if I make it to or like when we make it to 55 and stuff, it's okay.
Speaker 3:I've seen a lot of sick people from there forward and like quality of life for me is like something that we can take advantage of now. We might not necessarily be able to take advantage of it later. You know what I mean and so, while you know know I take a lot of planning and the, the trips and stuff I take, I'm still trying to get out there, see things, do things, uh, and then change further. You know, going back to the change thing and change to make sure that by the time that I'm in my older years that I hopefully will will have a better quality of life and be able to still live the life that I want to live.
Speaker 2:That's so true, you know. I know the Bali thing that I did was fucking risky, but that's the other thing. I got gifted a retreat so I paid for my plane ticket, you know, and not that money is everything, but it was a retreat with a, with women, that I really wanted to go on. This retreat. I had known about it when I was unemployed when I first found out about it and I vision, I imagined myself attending this, you know, and it was one of those things that I hadn't left the country only once, when I was in high school with my whole family, only to go to Jamaica. But it was like I don't know what tomorrow brings. And you know, my cousin was 31 and she recently passed away and she was the only family member of mine who's been out of the country. She's gone to Puerto Rico twice and she's done some traveling herself. And she even said to me man, if I was able to go to Puerto Rico right now like for free and just pay for the plane ticket, I wouldn't be here right now. And that was because I talked to her about it, because a few people are like you went to bali like that last minute. You wait because I quit my job to go to bali too. I was another job, I fucking quit, yeah anyways. But you know, I that's something I do. If there's something I want to do and the job you ain't doing it, I'm like, oh, you ain't doing it, I'm doing it, but we going, I'm gonna figure it out. Yeah, I'm gonna fucking figure it out.
Speaker 2:Life is short and I've seen so many people close to me in my life, past young, early and with freak things. You know, shit happens in the blink of an eye. Like one of my good friends in high school, lynn, she didn't even graduate because she passed from colon cancer at 16. And my naive ass. One of the last things she said to me was that she just hopes to graduate high school. And I fucking thought she meant because of grades. You don't know. You know, and I don't want to look back and be like damn. You know, if I would have quit my job I would have got to have this life-altering experience, but since I did it, I didn't get this great experience.
Speaker 2:Yeah there's a balance, you know that's for sure again.
Speaker 2:There have been things that I also have missed because of, because of work or because of whatever. And you know, honestly, prior to even just a couple years ago, I missed a lot of shit because of work, but then it just it was kind of a reality to me. People in my life are getting older, I started losing more people, and it's just. Life is flashing before my eyes and it's long, but it's also fucking short and you know, you never know what's gonna happen and it's wild.
Speaker 3:You know it's wild because you know you graduate college at what? 21, 22 probably? And then you spend the next couple of years kind of like, okay, we're out of college, whatever. And then you get to almost 30 and you're like is that this real? Like I can do what I want now and this is strange, like. So I think it's good that you can like, you know, you can go out and say you did the things you did. For sure, I was a little late to the party and that's why I'm trying to make up for that now what do you mean?
Speaker 3:you were late to the party well, like you're saying, I've never been out of the country. This is going to be my. Okay, I went to what niagara falls when I was like 13, but other than that, this will be my first trip outside of the country in my adult life. Right, so I have no idea what to expect. I I can.
Speaker 3:I've been on plenty of flights like nationally, but to fly out of the country to go through a customs, to go through that, to go into like a resort, that is just you know, for I mean, for them it's you know, every day, everyday things, and this is normal and for me it's gonna be. This is a vacation. This is a real vacation that I've, that I'm taking for myself, and it's one of the longer vacations I've ever had. So this is gonna be to be my. Hopefully, if I can plan this correctly, it'll be the first trip of many coming to be either out of the country or to go do things or see things that I haven't even thought of doing. It's a wild, wild, wild experience, for me at least.
Speaker 2:No, honestly, same though it's, it's, it's a wild, wild, wild experience for me at least. No, honestly same, though, like prior to, prior to hearing about the retreat, I didn't even know bali existed, like I didn't. I didn't even fucking know it was in indonesia and I didn't even know I had to go through custom. I didn't know any of this shit prior to just booking a flight. Let's, let's go. And you learn stuff when you do stuff like that sometimes. But that was my first. You know, like, I went to jamaica, but it was for five days, that was.
Speaker 2:It wasn't as far of a trip. I was with my whole family. I was in high school but I was a junior, like, so I wasn't fully an adult really either. You know, I hadn't smoked weed ever. Granted, I drank a little bit at the resort, but it wasn't. It was different. You know what I'm saying. Like I was with my whole family, like the drinks I was drinking was like frozen pina coladas and it was my first time getting quote unquote drunk because it was strong alcohol in Jamaica. But it was different, you know. So Ollie was like and where are you and Justin going? Cancun, that is so exciting.
Speaker 3:I'm pretty pumped.
Speaker 2:How long are you going for?
Speaker 3:It's seven days.
Speaker 2:Ooh.
Speaker 3:So, like I have quite a few friends who have done trips to mexico and they're like, they're like if you can do like five days, minimum seven days or is like pretty solid, because it'll like you spend the first day or two getting used to the area and then after that it's just okay. You know where, uh, you know where, like, the beaches are, you know where the bars are, you know where the, the restaurants are. Seven days gives you plenty of time to explore the resort and then, since we're like we're going to like the, the downtown drag of I don't know if it's downtown, but like the super touristy part of cancun, so you can just walk the city if you really wanted to, or rent a golf cart and you know there's plenty of time for all that stuff.
Speaker 2:Well, that's fun.
Speaker 3:I'm excited, for sure.
Speaker 2:I love that for you. Oh my gosh, did I say you're late to the party? I'm 28. And I, okay, I did this at technically 27. Right before I turned 28. So, and it's just when timing happened to fall, you know. And then I was actually asked a question, that something I had never fucking been asked before, right before I like had to make this decision. And I was like, oh shit.
Speaker 2:But this, this guest said to me on the podcast and was like you know, it's deep. Because I said something like oh, it's important to get curious about, like your life or whatever. He's like it's deeper than that. And I'm like, okay, and you know, like at the end of your life whether you call it a deathbed, or just when you're older, like what's gonna make you look back on life and be so freaking grateful that you did and experienced xyz, and like you could almost shed a tear because you're so thankful that you got to exceed or experience or whatever.
Speaker 2:And I was like I'm working at a job that I hate. That's really far away from me and there's so many things I hate about it. There's so unorganized. My pay was late, like nothing is good. The girl shared an office with me it's not even nice and I'm just like what am I doing? I could use this paycheck and go to Bali and you know, we'll just get a new job when I come back and I'm like I'm gonna. And I did, it was. It was Well. Thanks so much. I loved this, brendan. This was Well. Thank you so much. I loved this, brandon. This was great. This was great. I have a question for you have you heard of a man named Jay Shetty?
Speaker 3:Can't say that I do.
Speaker 2:No, that's okay. That's okay. I just asked. He's got a podcast. He's an author, motivational speaker, he's a monk, whatever. Well, he ends his podcast in two segments and I incorporate them and I end mine with them. So I've got two segments for you. First segment is called the Many Sides to Us Five questions that need to be answered in one word each. Okay.
Speaker 3:Oh Lord, okay.
Speaker 2:This is going to be fun. What is one word someone who is reading you for the first time would use to describe you as?
Speaker 3:Someone who's meeting me for the first time.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 3:We'll say outspoken.
Speaker 2:What is one word someone who knows you extremely well would use to describe you as?
Speaker 3:Make me think I don't like it. Something that someone would know, or someone that is close to me? I don't know. I would like to use the cheating answer of trustworthy.
Speaker 2:What is one word you'd use to describe yourself?
Speaker 3:Ever-changing.
Speaker 2:What is one word that, if someone didn't like you or agree with your mindset, would you use to describe yourself?
Speaker 3:I like to think respectable.
Speaker 2:If they didn't like you.
Speaker 3:Yeah, because if I don't like someone or they don't like me, I like to think you can still be like oh, that guy's respect, He'll give respect. It's just not necessarily. I don't know.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 3:Otherwise it'd be probably loud.
Speaker 2:Okay, what is one word you're embodying right now?
Speaker 3:Curiosity, I guess.
Speaker 2:Why would you say curiosity? What are you curious about?
Speaker 3:The big thing is this whole opportunity to come on here. I've never done this before. Big thing is, you know, like this whole opportunity to come on here.
Speaker 2:I've never done this before, never, never deep dived into a mindset of mine, or why I think what I think. Oh, I love that, I love that and I love this. Okay, second segment is the final five, five questions, and they can be answered in a sentence what is the best advice you've heard? Or?
Speaker 3:received. I don't know if it's the best, but I would say it's one that I really liked recently and it's from a silly TV show which would be be curious, not judgmental, I think a lot of people know what that's from.
Speaker 2:I don't.
Speaker 3:What is it from the dead lasso series? That's one of my favorite quotes from that whole set, or that whole three seasons what is the worst advice you've heard or received?
Speaker 3:I don't know if there's any specific quote or time that I think of like specifically, but in general, it would be just not attempting. Something like this is a food that I think of like specifically, but in general it would be just not attempting. Something Like this is a food that I think I would want to try my hand at making, but it's like a super specific technique. And then having someone come and be like yeah, it's a hard dish to make, Like eh, it's like. Well, you're telling me not to try something, which means I won't get better at something, which means I can never be good at something. So I guess the just not trying.
Speaker 2:What is something that you used to value, that you know a lot of value.
Speaker 3:The one that comes off the top of my head would be you can pick your friends and you can pick who you hang out with, but you can't really pick your family, and sometimes family are what screw you over, and that has happened. So that's kind of my thing. Sure, I can respect everybody, some people that you know. Just because you're family doesn't mean you know we're the best or where I have to go to go to bat for you, if that makes sense.
Speaker 3:If you could describe what you would want your legacy to be. As if someone was reading it. What would you want it to say? What I've done in my career and that's not just like my professional careers you know, fire and paramedic but also in like with my friendships and and relationships that I made everything better, or like I was good at my job and people were better at their jobs or friendships or relationships, or situated even just life in general, because I was there.
Speaker 2:I think I'm doing a pretty good job at it you are, I'll say that about you if you die before me yeah, thank you if you could create one law in the world that everyone had to follow, what would it be? And I want to know why.
Speaker 3:Oh, no One law to follow. Well, I don't know. The first thought would be the saying of do unto others that you'd want done to you kind of thing, of do unto others that you'd want done to you kind of thing, but in a way that there's no, there's no, you know, didn't be. I don't know, I guess that's not a law it could be whatever you.
Speaker 2:You can create anything like I've gotten.
Speaker 3:I've gotten some crazy answers, brandon something like that, where it's just be good to people. You know what I mean. Like that's the short and long of it.
Speaker 2:I get that, so why?
Speaker 3:You know, sometimes, especially what you can see on TV and Internet, social media and stuff is just always the bad. But I think for doing good things to people in person or like good, you know, charitable things, or just helping out or whatever, will mean a lot more to people. And it's not if it's not like for like social, not necessarily like social media, but, you know, as long as it comes out genuine, I think people, you know, will. I want I want to find the better word for it than enjoy it more, but it'll mean more to them that way. If people were better to them and it wasn't just, you know, seeing good things on Facebook or Instagram, it's, oh, this is, you know, this has been something that's happened to me and it was a great feeling that you know I could get that help or I could ask for this or like this could happen if people were, you know, trying to negate the bad that you see on social media with real interactions with people in person. I guess.
Speaker 2:Well, thank you so much. I loved this.
Speaker 3:Thanks, Lovastagor.
Speaker 2:This was so fun. Do you have any final words for the listeners? No pressure, but I like to leave it back to the guest. Anything you want to share?
Speaker 3:I'll just go with. We were talking about it all the time. Change is inevitable, but you can control the change for yourself and you can control it for the better. It might take a little work to get there, but it absolutely can be done. Preach, mic, drop.
Speaker 2:Little work to get there, but it absolutely can be done. Preach Mic drop I agree. Thank you so much. I really appreciate it.
Speaker 3:Thanks for having me.
Speaker 2:Oh my gosh. Of course, and thank you guys for tuning in to another episode of Manda's Mindset. I hope you guys enjoyed this reflective conversation that Brandon and I had, and I just wanted to share a few key takeaways for you guys to keep in mind, the most important one being the power of a figure it out mindset. Brandon shares how he believes this as well and how it's really helped both of us navigate setbacks with resilience and determination to figure it out, because there's nothing in life that you can't figure out. The next important thing is about embracing change and uncertainty from career shifts to moving to. Brandon dives into why he embraces change even when it feels uncomfortable, and we also discuss how making calculated, thought out, intentional changes can really help you grow in life in all areas of life. Help you grow in life in all areas of life. We also talked about the importance of a strong support system. Brandon talks about how a supportive circle of family and friends have really guided him through life's unexpected twists and turns and, honestly, my support system has done the same. I know that Brandon is one of those people that has my back and when things go awry, no matter what those things are, he's somebody that I can count on and when things happen in your life, who are those people for you? Because things will come up. We've all got our people. It's just a matter of figuring out who those people are for you. Starting a podcast has really helped me figure out who those people are for me. Another important takeaway is why curiosity is important and being curious and not being judgmental, and opening ourselves up to new experiences and perspectives and mindsets, if you will, and how it can be really valuable when we're facing any type of change, whether it's a positive or a negative change. We also talked about the idea of taking risks and creating meaningful memories, like Brandon's got an upcoming trip for his birthday and some of my recent adventures, as y'all have heard about. But we talk about why we are both committed to making the most of life now instead of waiting for that quote-unquote perfect time that will never happen, and we talk about how letting go of our comfort zones and embracing new challenges has helped as well, and why it's important to break free from our mundane everyday life that we're used to and create a fulfilling life are used to and create a fulfilling life. Well, I really hope y'all enjoyed this episode and you got to see a little bit of a different side of Randers. And stay tuned for the special episode 100 where my favorite person, my best friend in the world, brandon, will be back and he will be interviewing me. I have no clue what he's asking me, other than the ending segment. So if you've heard the Jay Shetty questions, you've wondered my answers. Stay tuned episode 100 you'll get to hear them, as always.
Speaker 2:Guys, thank you so much for tuning in to another episode of me and his mindset. I really hope the past over a year 99 episodes has helped you take one gem at least and allow you to shift your perspective, shift your mindset whatever word it is you want to use but allow you to look at life and the world around you through a slightly better lens, even if it's from one little gem that you have heard. I really appreciate all of your support and stay tuned for the next episode of Mander's Mindset. In case no one told you today, I'm proud of you, I'm booting for you and you got this, as always. If you enjoyed the show, I would really appreciate it if you would leave me a five star rating, leave a review and share it with anyone you think would benefit from this and don't forget you are only one mindset. Shift away from shifting your life. Thanks guys, until next time.
