How Growing Plants Can Help You Grow As A Person with Garden Marcus

[00:00:00] Zach: You learn lessons in self development from a lot of sources, books, webinars, podcasts, like this one, but have you ever looked in your garden for ways to grow?

[00:00:09] Jeremy: According to our guests today, caring for your plants may be one of the best ways you can learn to better care for yourself. Coming up today on the fit mess.

[00:00:18] Marcus: I stand by the idea that by bettering mind, body and spirit, , you welcome opportunity. You welcome, , experience that is beyond you and, and greater than yourself. So work on yourself first so that when the opportunity presents itself, you are agile and able to, , bend and adapt as necessary. 

[00:00:41] Zach: that's talk's most popular gardener, Marcus Bridgewater, AKA garden Marcus today, he'll share knowledge from the plant world that teaches us about ourselves and opens our eyes to what we can achieve.

[00:00:52] But first I'm Jeremy and I'm Zach we've spent years pushing ourselves to learn more about our own physical, emotional and mental health, and picked up a few coaching certificates along the way. But really we're two guys who got sick of our own shit and started making changes to be healthier, happier, and live more meaningful lives.

[00:01:07] And each week we talk to world class experts with advice to help you do the same.

[00:01:12] Jeremy: 

[00:01:12] All right, I'm gonna start with a confession. I do not necessarily enjoy gardening. Mostly because I have a lot of things to keep alive already. I've got kids, I've got dogs, I've got a cat. I've got, you know, they've got a lot going on. And so spending time in the garden is not necessarily where I, where I long to be.

[00:01:29] It's not what I want to be doing, but I respect the shit outta people that can do it and can do it well. And as we're about to discover, there is a lot we can learn about better self care from going outside and bare feet and working with our hands and getting them real.

[00:01:42] Zach: Yeah, like you I'm, I am not good at it. As a matter of fact, I have like, I have three plants in my house right now they're like my beta project. If I can keep them alive, maybe I'll expand. And one of them is doing well. The other two are not doing well. And I think , they all require different levels of water.

[00:02:01] And I just, you know, bleary-eyed with no coffee and Migo and throw water in 'em.

[00:02:07] Jeremy: Wait, you're you're beating me. Let me, for example, I know this is an audio podcast, but I'm gonna show you this on the screen. This that you're looking at Zach is a money tree that my wife has had planted next to my desk for a year. I've never watered it. I've never done any. I've never shown it.

[00:02:24] The sun, I didn't even know it was there for like six. So, yeah. Oh, I got, okay. I'm hearing Cheryl say downstairs. She waters it. So I am the world's worst gardener because the money tree that's supposed to help this, uh, little production be successful. I didn't even see it for six months. That's how bad of a gardener I am.

[00:02:43] Zach: Well that explained our bank account,

[00:02:45] Jeremy: does explain our pick, 

[00:02:47] Zach: Well what's really weird. And we talk about it in the interview. Like I really dread . Going outside and working on my yard. I really do. And I don't know why I get this anxiety about it. I get this feeling. I think it's my OCD. I think it's my type a, because like, even when you make a garden look good, it's still not like, you know, 90 degree edges and perfect looking.

[00:03:11] And I can't, my brain can't deal with that, but once I get out there and I'm in the dirt for a couple of minutes, like, it just all goes away.

[00:03:18] Jeremy: I'm kind of the same way, uh, only differently because going into it, my thought processes and, and by the way, I have a very small lawn. Very, very. My thought process is, ah, I really gotta mow the lawn. I better carve out four or five hours to spend out in the yard, mowing the lawn.

[00:03:35] It takes like 12 minutes, right? Like it's, it is not a big deal, but in my head, it is just this Herculean task. That is just way more than I have time for there's all these other things that are way more important. But it is, it's the keeping up with the Jones. Like, you know, my neighbors have perfect lawns and so, and, and ours, like we share basically a property line.

[00:03:53] So when he mows his lawn, it is like out of a magazine. And then there's a line in the grass where it is just six inches of just Clover and grass. And I'm just like, I do not know what I'm doing out here. Somebody else needs to do this.

[00:04:04] Zach: my lawn takes about an hour and a half, it used to take three hours and then I upgraded to an actual like riding lawnmower. So.

[00:04:13] Jeremy: Nice. Well, all of this though, this isn't just garden chat. As it turns out, working with your hands, working in the yard, mowing the lawn, working with your garden. There's a lot that you can learn about how to take better care of yourself in doing so. And one thing you can do to make sure you're taking better care of yourself is making sure that your body's getting the nutrients it needs. That's why I use athletic greens 

[00:04:32] 

[00:05:25] Jeremy: ADINSERT 

[00:05:25] ???: So,

[00:05:25] Zach: like you said earlier, this isn't just garden talk. We are talking about how you as a person can grow as well. And to a better human being. Our guest today is talk's most popular gardener, Marcus Bridgewater, AKA garden Marcus. We started by asking him where is passion for plants came from

[00:05:41] Marcus: Um, my passion for gardening. Came from, , a place of, of trying to keep plants alive. I got my first house after I came to Houston, Texas, and I was working at a private preparatory, and I bought my first house and my, , oldest friend's mom. She owned a nursery and she gifted me. 16 plants is a house warming gift.

[00:06:06] So me and my mom, we drove them back to the house. I put 'em all over the house and within two months, more than half of them were gone.

[00:06:14] Jeremy: See, this is, this is why I'm not a gardener. I got two kids, two dogs, a cat, a wife. I got too many things to keep alive. I can't keep plants alive too.

[00:06:22] Marcus: I can understand that, buddy. I truly can. I don't have that long list of things. I just have about two 50, uh, plants inside and like 700 or so outside. So. Wow. That's amazing. Yeah, but I won't say that that amounts to what a kid's running around will feel like. Uh, hopefully I'll know what that feels like someday.

[00:06:40] Um, so I got those plants home. I was really, really desperate to keep the rest alive. So. That sparked one of my quirks, which is like, okay, now I gotta research. So I was doing research and I learned some things, but a lot of things didn't work for me. , one of the things I found out, I was just watering too much, really.

[00:07:02] So I started trying to just temper myself. Be conscious of what I was doing. And that led to, , someone saying, Hey, you know, you like plants and you talk about, and you've asked a lot of questions about these plants that you wanted to keep alive. Have you ever considered going to your local department stores, nurseries and asking for their discounted plants?

[00:07:22] And I had never considered that was even an option. So. I went to inquire and came back with truckloads of plans that were pretty disgusting looking in a lot of ways, but, um, they were my opportunity to learn and I spent the next long while nurturing and, and developing connections. And then you'd see your sprout of a green leaf and you're like score.

[00:07:49] And then it turns into a vine and you're like, oh my gosh. And then now it's a full on plant and you're. That's awesome. We're buddies. We did it. And, and so it was a great, a great, uh, Experience of companionship and growth. And, uh, the like, so I hope that answers the question, but I, I can't guarantee that I stayed like within a trap

[00:08:12] Jeremy: No worries. No worries.

[00:08:14] Marcus: so, but with that, , just the plants themselves, they kind of gave you a, a moment of realization that, you know, caring for plants and caring for people are similar, especially yourself.

[00:08:24] Right. Mm-hmm yeah, there was a, a moment of, of aha that happened where I had, uh, some ferns in my, , sweet potato that I had been nursing back and I moved it to a location and it started to die down and the Fern did the same, but I had other ferns that I had brought back in other sweet potato that were still doing okay.

[00:08:46] So it was like, what happened to these? So. After a couple weeks of watching them decline and was like, well, they don't like it here. I simply moved them to a new location and I watched them start thriving again within a couple weeks. So I had this aha moment that I can't make them grow, but I can provide and nurture environments where they want to.

[00:09:10] And that changed how I interacted with all facets of life all over the place, because all of a sudden it was more about nurturing the environment and, and nurturing the relationship or whatever that living creature was not just trying to force that living creature to do something.

[00:09:29] Jeremy: Yeah, and I definitely wanna get into that, but I'm also curious about how that impacted your own life. Do you, do you have, did you bring sort of your own mental health struggles to, to, to the garden and, and start to sort of find solutions to problems you were having? How did, how did that come together for you?

[00:09:43] Marcus: Well, you know, , I had been brought to Texas to, to be a teacher, an administrator, and a technical director at a private preparatory. And the 40 hour weeks, uh, at different points in the year became 70 hour weeks, 90 hour weeks. And so those weeks really taxing on my mind, my body and my spirit. And I found that I would be in a state of decline.

[00:10:06] , and my wellbeing would suffer. My temperament would suffer, uh, my, my creativity, my ingenuity, all those things suffer it. So. I sought out solutions, but then at the same time I had this garden and anytime I spent in the garden, I found my wellbeing being nourished. So. I saw this correlation. I was like, well, I need to spend more time in my garden, even during the times where I'm the busiest, even though it's really hard, because it's gonna make it easier for me to get through those long days, it's gonna make it easier for me to transition.

[00:10:42] So the garden became an reprieve. , to help me adjust to the long hours and to the hardships that I was experiencing. So the, the garden became a, a great tool to make sure my mental health was focused on positivity and rooted in peace.

[00:11:02] Jeremy: I think that's so important. That's something that people ask us about all the time is, is sort of mindfulness meditation. People, especially people that struggle to meditate. I, I often encourage them to just take up a mindfulness practice and something like gardening, something where you can just sort of lose yourself in the activity.

[00:11:18] Talk about how important that is to just find that time to slow down and really just focus on what's in front of you.

[00:11:25] Marcus: Uh, it's essential. , and I go back to why I think our plant companions have the, uh, the. Will to grow despite the plethora of, of things they face. And in terms of adversity is because they are, are able to focus. On their growth and make it incremental moment by moment. And, and let that be what their focus is.

[00:11:52] We, as human beings can easily get distracted. And so finding things that have, , versatility to them, I find, especially for my mind, that can go all over the universe and be in any given place at any given moment. , the garden keeps me. Focused so that my abstract thoughts can still exist, but they're able to be, , filtered in a way that makes them so much more cohesive.

[00:12:20] And, and I found that when I describe this thought process to my elders or to, to people who are masters in their field, it seems to be the same essence. I'm not a master in the field of gardening by any means. The, the idea is the same that you can lose yourself in whatever it is that inspires you while you push yourself and you learn, and you also utilize facets of your creativity, you never thought of, but to get to that state, you have to in the now focus and, and find patience to see the nuances, to try new things, to engage with what is there in front of you.

[00:13:02] And one of the biggest distractions from engagement. This up here and what you're doing with it. And most of us have done this as a means of keeping track of what we're doing here. So we're completely discombobulated on our engagement in order to engage the outside. We typically now gotta pull out this thing, which is a contradiction in a way.

[00:13:25] Jeremy: Yeah. Yeah. I, I would argue the hundreds of plants you have, uh, on your property, there would, would disagree with your statement that you're not a master because, uh, you make it look good.

[00:13:36] Marcus: Well, thank you. Thank you very much. Uh, I, I appreciate that. I'll tell you this. Um, the masters aren't there have not sent me a certificate. I have not had the long bearded guy hand me the staff yet, so I, I, I await the nighting. Uh, while you're waiting for that. I do, I do wanna ask about, , the few times I do get out in my flower beds, in my, in my yard, I, I have this dread of, of, you know, working in the garden just because I typically do kill everything I touch. , but when I do go out there, like I have this anxiety, I have this worry, I have this, ah, you know, this like this feeling and then I, and then I'm there and I'm doing it.

[00:14:20] And my hands are in the. And, you know, I've read so many articles on like grounding and just like being in contact with the earth. Right. So good. And you know, 20, 30 minutes later, like I feel better and I don't, you know, touch the ground all that much. Some, I would love to hear your, your perspective on.

[00:14:37] Just touching the ground, like with your bare hands and your bare feet. Oh man. Okay. So, you know, I'm so glad you guys are the first people to bring that up to me in this context. Uh, so that I can like share this, this thought process I've had recently, because it's pretty incredible. We share so many properties with the ground.

[00:14:56] We share so many properties like, like chemical properties , and parts of our, , chemistry, uh, that is so aligned with plants and with the earth. It makes sense that when you connect with these things, you're fueling yourself in a way that you have it in some time. And when you consider that all of our shoes used to be made of skin and leather and things that like.

[00:15:25] Conducted electricity. And now they're all made of, of plastic and rubber. You think about the disconnect we have with the planet that our ancestors had. It makes sense that there's been a teetering, so to say of peace and just like any good medicine when you get it at first, it kind of tastes funny, especially if you haven't had it in a while.

[00:15:50] . Even when you have just a little bit of. You start to feel something, but you think about how many people are disconnected with themselves. They might have a ton of aches and pain and they take an ibuprofen and feel nothing. But the guy who's been really conscious of himself, he takes the ibuprofen and he feels it's effect immediately.

[00:16:11] Well, the, the, the, the chemicals were the same. The difference was the person and where they seated in their own being. So I I'm, I'm a firm believer that the ground is an incredibly effective tool that I think we should be trying to utilize as we age and as we grow. , and I think, uh, a lot of people are not utilizing the tool.

[00:16:33] They, they don't give themselves the 30 minutes that you have. They say, ah, I put my hands on the ground. Nothing happened. It's like, no, that's, that's not how that works. It's it's, it's a very temporal process. It's a very slow and steady, very, uh, elongated process. And you have to appreciate each step and part of the process, if it is truly to have the medicine you need.

[00:17:00] Jeremy: So, how does that work? What's, what's a better way to engage with, with the earth and with ground to, to get all of those benefits that you're talking.

[00:17:09] Marcus: One. Whoa. So you take off your, your shoes. Um, find some, some grass or some ground, um, preferably some, , old ground that is, is not grass. We put there. So you might have to leave your neighborhood unfortunately, and go to a park, but you go and you find some ground, you put your feet on it. Um, and if you've been working in your yard and you've been cultivating your soil and you've already done it, um, I'm not saying to avoid your grass.

[00:17:36] I'm just saying like, if, if, if you're looking for it, find some, some quality ground, maybe your grass is already there. So you go outside, you put your feet on the grass, you put your feet on the ground, close your eyes. Take a deep breath deep as you can. And then slowly, very, very slowly, let it out and open your eyes.

[00:18:04] Now, if you take this deep breath and you have not been breathing for quite some time, chances are, you might get a little lightheaded. So you might wanna have some cushions around, or at least a buddy to, to stabilize yourself. But once you've let out that. Look around you and just stop for a moment and think about what you see. And as you make the circle, right? Cause I, because it's one thing to stop right here and take this picture, but take a full panoramic. You very slowly taking in all of the things you see and then put your hands on the ground. And do it again. And man, you are going to find that the, the energy inside you, the synergy inside you, the, the, the nuances in, in the things in the distance and the things up close that start to stand out to you are, are going to be pretty amazing, especially if you've done it long enough to get yourself, to ignore your cell.

[00:19:14] To forget about the idea of the deadline or how much money you owe for whatever it is. If you can do that for a moment, the clarity that comes makes all of those other things easier to deal with. I'm gonna give you one of my tricks that I, that I do, , on a pretty regular basis, I always have to bring my daughter to like lacrosse or something like that's outside on a big field and I always wear flip flops.

[00:19:39] Those are so easy to kick off and just you kick 'em off and stand there and watch the game. Yeah. , I've always kind of felt like that is like the moment where I'm growing, like just like a plant would. Right. Awesome. Yeah. Does that make sense? Absolutely. Absolutely. I, I, I think it, uh, it, it speaks to why so often we want to dig when we're kids.

[00:20:02] and we, we want to literally bury ourselves in the ground and enjoy what the earth is trying to provide us with. But, , I think more often than not, we. Laugh at what our kids are doing instead of stopping to think about why, so, or why we did it as kids as well. You know? , so I I'm, I'm really glad to hear that.

[00:20:23] I keep my flops on all the time for the same reason. It's like, I'm always just one kick away from the ground. Exactly.

[00:20:29] Jeremy: love that. I love that. , when it comes to, to gardening, it, it's something that you can very easily and, and you talk about this. You can very easily see the results of the action that you put into the thing. How, how can someone who's in their garden? How can they take that same lesson of, you know, too much water, not enough, you know, fertilizer?

[00:20:47] What, again, not a gardener. Don't don't know the lingo, but what, what can I learn from my garden? The actions that I put into the things that I care about and the end result of those things.

[00:21:00] Marcus: That every choice you make matters. That, the more you're conscious of your choices, the more you're likely to see. , experiences and outcomes you desire. So when it comes to gardening, , you want to think about your companion, your plant as a companion. And if you have multiple plants, there's multiple companions, it's a family.

[00:21:22] It is a, a, uh, a unit, an ecosystem. And you wanna think about how can you. Interact with those in a way that's genuine, but also in a way that's nurturing and is what the plant needs. So that often means you have to check yourself and check your choices, check your, , desire and your intention and, and make sure it matches with your action. Every plant has the potential for growth. Just like every person has potential for growth. 

[00:21:57] , have you seen like direct correlation, like in how. Distressed plant grows and becomes healthy and whole, and you know, human being can do the same thing. Have you seen anything like that? Absolutely. I've seen so many. , what comes to mind immediately is, , I talk about this in the book life versus the world.

[00:22:15] , the condition of, and, and for the listeners, just for the sake of the. Nature of what we're talking about. Life is the energy inside us and the world is the institutions and the industries we created to make life better. But somewhere along the line, the world took on its own, , desires and stopped caring about making life better.

[00:22:36] Now the world is just car about expansion at any rate. And so with the expansion, at any rate with the. The lack of appreciation for kindness, , patience or positivity. We have created industries around. Produce and product that then yield waste. So if it's not going to sell it, doesn't need to be taken care of.

[00:23:04] It doesn't need to be considered worth the time. And I think that that's happened to far too many people as well. So I see so many of the discounted plans, just like our, our homeless people. We have decided they don't belong. With the rest of everything because they didn't sell. , and it could be that like they had, , a root that had an infection or it could be that they had a leaf that was deformed and defective.

[00:23:32] So they weren't the ones that were the attractive ones. , doesn't mean that they are useless. Doesn't mean they don't have something to offer. Uh, doesn't mean they Aren. Capable of still growing into something incredibly beautiful, but more often than not, that would require time. That would require patients that would require resources that we have now decided as a society in the world.

[00:23:59] They're not worth giving. And, and that's sometimes hard to digest, uh, as you become a lover of life and you see how many spaces we have traded life for the.

[00:24:14] Jeremy: Speaking of sort of societies and communities, we talk. Time about how surrounding yourself with the right people, the right support systems is so important to help yourself grow and thrive very much the same I in the garden. Am I right?

[00:24:26] Marcus: Absolutely. Absolutely. , we are, are just like plants. We are affected by what we grow around and who's growing next to us and where we're planted. So we wanna be conscious of who's there. Sometimes a plant is giving off gases that kills all the plants around it. , and that might not be that plan's. It might just be the way that plant's ancestry has developed defenses.

[00:24:51] So what do you do? Well, you have to think about the environment that, that plant's going to thrive. And guess what, there are billions of plants. There are going to be plants that thrive with that plan guaranteed. You just have to nurture relationships so that you're actually listening and watching so that you can bring things together that are going to thrive.

[00:25:15] So I am fascinated by all this. And I, I love talking to you and your, your presence online. Like people have, you've gotten quite popular online. Haven't you . Yeah, I, I am. I, I just think it's really fascinating. So I'm not surprised at all that you've gotten quite popular, some things, but are you surprised by it?

[00:25:35] Like what's your reaction? Oh yeah. All the time.

[00:25:38] Jeremy: Right cuz you were a regular on TikTok before this, right?

[00:25:42] Marcus: Uh, no, actually, you know, um, not at all. Um, that's a great joke because I thought TikTok was a calendar app before I got onto to . I mean, when you think about it, right, as a guy, who's an administrator at a time, you're like, oh, they've come out with another app.

[00:25:58] And I was like, oh dude, that's great. I hope it helps people show up on time. No one shows up on time. We need one of those. So I thought TikTok was the solution. Turns out I was. Um, anyhow, um, no, I did not know that this is what would happen. I did not necessarily see this coming. , and in that same light, , for all of the youth out there who want to be influencers who want to be in positions of, , influence, I did not chase this.

[00:26:24] And I stand by the idea that by bettering mind, body and spirit, you, you welcome opportunity. You welcome, , experience that is beyond you and, and greater than yourself. So work on yourself first so that when the opportunity presents itself, you are agile and able to, , bend and adapt as necessary.

[00:26:48] Jeremy: I love that. All right. I want to, uh, convince my wife that I know what I'm doing in the gardening. Clearly. I don't. What, where do I start? If I'm, if I'm a newbie, I gotta figure this stuff out and look smart. What, where do I begin?

[00:26:59] Marcus: Mm. Um, you know, I would say you begin with whatever inspires you as a, as a person, you go to your local department store, you go to your local nursery, you're gonna walk up and down the aisles. You're gonna look left and right. And you're gonna take some time, take some deep breaths and see if one of the plants calls to you.

[00:27:21] And if it doesn't try another. But eventually one of these plants is gonna call to you. And when it does, that's the plant you want to start with because that's the one you're gonna learn the most about. That's the one you're gonna actually care about. That's the one you're gonna develop a good relationship with.

[00:27:39] And because I believe so much of growth is about relationships. I think the more we start with quality relationships, the more we see the growth, we actually. To see.  My neighbor, um, when I moved into the house that I'm in, uh, he, he used to be a landscaper. Okay. And he came over one day and just looked at what I was doing and he didn't even say, hi.

[00:28:04] He just, he was like, Hey, uh, are you trying to kill all of your plants? And he gave me some, he gave me some tips, um, uh, as to what I was doing wrong. Okay. But I'd love to hear, I'd love to hear from you. Like, what are some of the common mistakes that, that people make? I know you mentioned earlier, like overwatering, but what are some other things.

[00:28:24] So overwatering them is one, , another one I think people do sometimes. And I I've done this, but again, I've done this for the experimentation, so I don't suggest it is planting the plants too close together that also can really negatively affect plants. So you wanna make sure you give each plant its space to grow.

[00:28:45] , another thing that affects, , plants. Negatively is, , a lot of times we put down these different kinds of cloth. And, and things to cover the ground. And we've not really considered the condition of the soil at hand. We've not Condi considered. So if you put that down and then you don't actually make sure that before you put it down, you've got plenty of thick.

[00:29:11] Healthy rich soil with things underneath it that are going to keep living. You're actually stunting the growth of that area. Not necessarily helping it a lot of times, I think, uh, we're so busy trying to fight the weeds. We kill the plant so, um, um, those are the, those are those kinds of things. Also thinking about what.

[00:29:31] Pesticides and what insecticides we use, because a lot of times we're like, oh, I see a problem. Go to home Depot. I see a thing that says this is gonna be for this thing. And then we use it. We haven't read the label. We don't know that by using this thing, there's a, a shelf life for 50 years, , in the soil.

[00:29:49] So then the next thing you go to plant, you have a really hard time and you don't know why, and it's actually because of what you did. Way back when, not what you're doing now.

[00:30:00] Jeremy: All right. Well, before we ask, uh, where we can find you on TikTok and all of the places online, is there anything important here that we have not touched on that you wanna make sure we mention?

[00:30:07] Marcus: Well, you know, the, only thing that I would talk about would be kindness. Patient's positivity. I know I touched on it a little bit earlier, but it's really important that we, we share more kindness. Patient's positivity with ourselves and with each other. And one way I've been talking about that is with, uh, seeds, uh, like we were discussing and the idea.

[00:30:27] , every choice we make is a seed planted in the forest of our future. So let's be more conscious of the choices we make today. So we live in a future with a canopy that we can all enjoy.

[00:30:40] Jeremy: That is beautiful. Where can we find out more about you and, uh, your amazing TikTok feed?

[00:30:45] Marcus: Uh, you check out TikTok, uh, at garden Marcus, you can check out Instagram, uh, garden underscore Marcus. Uh, you can also check out my company, uh, on Instagram at choice. Uh, the websites are choice forward.com and garden marcus.com. And please check out how to grow. It is available. Everywhere books are sold.

[00:31:06] Jeremy: Our thanks to garden Marcus author of how to grow, nurture your garden, nurture yourself.

[00:31:11] You can find links to him and his work in the show notes for this episode at the fit mass dot.

[00:31:15] Zach: So one thing I really loved about that interview and I've seen this so many times in my life is, you know, somebody needs to grow or maybe they want to grow, but they're just not there yet. , putting them in the right environment. Can just be all that mind shift that they need to get them to grow. So I, I loved how we talked about like, you know, some plants just need to be in a different environment in order to grow and, , sustain themselves.

[00:31:41] And it's the same thing with people. Like sometimes we're just in the wrong environment or surrounded by the wrong people , or like myself, my own inner voice, you know, being the wrong environment.

[00:31:52] Jeremy: Yeah. And, and sort of to that point, he talked about the fact that, you know, you can't force a plant to grow. You can only nurture what's around it and, and have it in a place where it has the opportunity to grow. And so I think that's a really important thing to keep in mind, especially maybe not for yourself, but if there's that person in your life that you're like, oh, why can't they just, why don't they see themselves the way I see them?

[00:32:11] You're not going to change them, but if there are things you can do to support them and sort of gently nudge them, they can, they can sort of start to find, find a way to grow and, and, and be.

[00:32:20] Zach: So the other thing I really loved and I, I mean, I've experienced it myself is. Just grounding with the earth, like getting your feet and your hands, like on the grass and the dirt. Like, I need to read more about it. Like I'm very interested in this. Like, I wanna understand what the, the science is there and I know that there's published science on it, but , just, if you just think about that, like just putting your feet on the ground

[00:32:43] Jeremy: Mm-hmm

[00:32:44] Zach: can have an impact on who you are and how you feel and how your body functions.

[00:32:51] That's just fucking mind blowing to.

[00:32:52] Jeremy: It's that. And, and like we talked about last week, you know, the connection with the earth in any, in any way, for me, it's getting in cold water, right? Like that connection to the earth. There's just something sort of magical that happens. Like you said, I'm sure there's all kinds of science that, that will explain it way better than my mystical thinking of.

[00:33:06] Oh, it's just, uh, there's some weird, energetic shift that happens. But, uh, but there is this something magical about just reconnecting with earth and most of it, I think is turning off your damn phone and not looking at the screen for a few.

[00:33:17] Zach: What'd you say I was on Instagram.

[00:33:20] Jeremy: uh, and, and to sort of sum it all up. I think, you know, one of the main things that, that he said that is so important, wherever you're at on this journey, especially if you're starting out on something is beginning with what inspires you don't worry about what's on Instagram and, and whatever competing messages that you're battling with and trying to figure out the best, best way forward, whatever inspires you is where you're going to grow the most, because you're going.

[00:33:41] Just develop energy from that experience. And it's gonna just keep feeding into itself. So start with what inspires you. Don't worry about what you think you're supposed to do or what someone else told you you're supposed to do. Start with that inner voice and what is telling you to focus on

[00:33:55] Zach: I don't know ma'am my inner voice is telling me to eat ice cream, cuz it's super hot out 

[00:34:00] Jeremy: it's very inspiring. It's a very inspiring message, Zach. Get a pint of Rocky road.

[00:34:06] Zach: no, no, no, no, no, no, no. It's chubby hubby all the way. Ben and Jerry's chubby hubby. That is my

[00:34:15] Jeremy: I'm, I'm noticing a trend as our shows end lately. You, you keep defaulting to ice cream. There's, there's something about this. That's making you wanna shovel ice cream in your face. What's going on there?

[00:34:24] Zach: it's mostly probably because I haven't eaten ice cream in like four months,

[00:34:27] Jeremy: that could be all right. Well, it sounds like Zach could use some support in our Facebook group.

[00:34:31] You can join that as well. You can, uh, find the link to do that on our website@thefitmess.com, all kinds of cool people in there with all sorts of support and accountability to help you reach your goals. Hope to have you join us over there. Again, the link is on our website, the fit mess.com, where we will be back next week with a brand new episode.

[00:34:46] Zach: See everyone.