What Was That Like - True Stories. Real People.

One of the most difficult things we go through in life is when a close friend or a family member dies.We all know it’s gonna happen to a lot of the people we know and love, but it’s still unpleasant, and uncomfortable, and sad. We even try to avoid using the word “die” – somehow it doesn’t sound quite so bad if we instead say, “they passed away”.But as awful as death can be, there are times when it’s actually a relief. What if your loved one has a terminal disease, and they’re just in pain all the time, and they know that their body is not going to heal? The idea of death, and the peaceful rest that it brings, can then be something that’s very appealing. We’re talking today about medical assistance in dying. It’s also called assisted suicide. It’s something that brings welcome relief to people who are suffering.You’re about to hear my guest, Courtney, talk about her own experience with this matter. It wasn’t that long ago that she wasn’t really even familiar with this idea, or that it was even legal where she lives, which is in Canada. But now, she has personally observed how it works and how beneficial it can be.This is the heartbreaking, and wonderful, story of the choice that was made by Courtney’s mom.Courtney’s email: court.chalmers@gmail.comThis episode is sponsored by the Tapes from the Darkside podcast - https://www.tapesfromthedarkside.com/This episode is also sponsored by the Smart Cleaning School podcast - https://www.smartcleaningschool.com/podcast Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I’m really happy to bring you this episode today, but it comes with a content warning, because it includes discussion of suicide.For a long time, I’ve wanted to have a story about hoarding.This is something I personally find really interesting. We’ve all seen pictures or videos of the inside of the home of someone who’s a hoarder. And of course, the reality TV show, Hoarders, puts it right out there. And everyone sees that and wonders, how does someone allow their environment to get to that point?And then I discovered Margy. She works in the podcast industry. I guess you could say I knew “of” her, and then later we became more connected because she’s a listener of this podcast, and I’ve watched what she’s been doing to achieve some amazing business success. When I found out that she had dealt with hoarding first hand, I knew I wanted to have her on the show.But what I love about this story is that it’s not just about the shocking reality of dealing with the hoarding issue.Some of the things Margy and I talk about are How she channeled grief into energy How a seemingly impossible challenge made her unstoppable The one unexpected thing that a lot of high achievers have in common And the bizarre name she came up with for her podcast Just before our conversation, you’ll hear a brief (1 minute) clip from the very first episode of Margy’s podcast.To contact Margy, DM her on Instagram:https://Instagram.com/heymargyMargy’s podcast: We Get It, Your Dad Diedhttps://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/we-get-it-your-dad-died/id1565341223Margy’s blog: https://margywithahardg.comThis episode is sponsored by the DNA Today podcast – where you’ll learn about the amazing new developments in genetic technology. Listen on any podcast app or at DNAToday.com.This episode is also sponsored by BetterHelp – online counseling. Get 10% off your first month by visiting BetterHelp.com/WHATWAS. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If you’ve listened to this podcast for a while, you know we’ve covered a lot of pretty horrifying stories. Mass shootings, animal attacks, plane crashes – we’ve heard the first-hand stories of the people who have actually experienced those things. And when we talk about those stories, we do talk about the tragedy of what happened, but I also like to include the positive side – how the guest recovered from it, what they learned, how they’re helping others who might have gone through a similar situation. No matter how bad something was, there’s almost always a positive aspect in the story, and I try to make sure we find that.Well, today’s episode is different. No one dies, no one has a limb torn off, nothing like that. Every so often I like to have a guest on who has a really unusual occupation. You probably remember when I talked to Spence about his job as a modern day lighthouse keeper. I also talked to Dan, who consults with white collar criminals and prepares them as they’re about to go to prison for the first time. I love hearing about unusual jobs like this. And I know you do too – because I always get really positive feedback about those episodes.Today’s guest is Jen. She has an unusual job, and it’s in the wedding industry. She goes to the wedding rehearsals, the wedding itself, the reception afterwards – she’s involved in all of that. But the thing is, most of the people at the wedding don’t even know she is being paid to be there. In a lot of cases, only the bride knows – because the bride is who hired her. Jen makes her living as a professional bridesmaid.Jen’s websites:www.bridesmaidforhire.comwww.jenglantz.comwww.finallythebride.comJen’s books: Always a Bridesmaid for HireAll My Friends are EngagedFinally the BrideInstagram:www.instagram.com/jenglantzLinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/jenglantzTwitter:www.twitter.com/jenglantzTikTok:www.tiktok.com/@bridesmaidforhirePodcast:You’re Not Getting Any YoungerThis episode is sponsored by the Jordan Harbinger Show, a podcast I’ve subscribed to for years – JordanHarbinger.com/START.This episode is also sponsored by the Total Life Freedom Mastermind community – collaborate with experts to grow your business or side hustle – TotalLifeFreedom.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

These days, snowboarding is really popular in the colder climates, and of course everyone knows what it is. But it’s actually a relatively new sport, especially when compared to traditional snow skiing.The very first snow skis are dated all the way back to around 8000 BCE, and were found in northern China. They were basically long pieces of wood, like 6 feet, which is about 2 meters, and were covered with horsehair.Snowboards, on the other hand, have come about much more recently.Jake Burton is known as the “father of snowboarding”, and he recalled back when he discovered there was this new, unconventional way to move on snow. Those first primitive things were called “snurfers”.The first ski resort to even allow snowboarders to share the mountain with skiers was in Vermont, and that was just in 1983. Snowboarding has continued to grow in popularity, and it just became an Olympic sport in 1998.My guest today is Evan, and he loves to snowboard. He and his wife Kahlynn lived in northern California, they’re young and athletic, and they would go several times a year. It was pretty much their favorite way to spend a weekend outdoors.But there was this one Friday morning on the mountain that Evan remembers in detail, because he almost didn’t come home.You can contact Evan by email: Evan@userevidence.comThis episode is sponsored by BetterHelp – online counseling. Get 10% off your first month by visiting BetterHelp.com/WHATWAS.This episode is sponsored by Ghostbed – get 30% off sitewide at Ghostbed.com/WHAT. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

EMTs and other first responders see a lot of things. Sometimes, they arrive on scene and find a situation that they never expected to see.In Port Orange, Florida, paramedics were called to the scene of a car accident on Interstate 95. Only one car was involved. When they arrived, they discovered that something had crashed through the windshield of the car and hit the driver in the head. That “something” was still inside the car. It was a large turtle. The driver of the car survived, and surprisingly, so did the turtle.And then there are a lot of situations where first responders show up, and there’s nothing they can do. Accidents happen, and people die in a large variety of ways.Chrissy is a Paramedic, and she has a video where she talks about the variety of calls she has been on. Some of the things she’s seen are pretty traumatizing. You can see her full video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-2svI1Ofr9ASo paramedics are pretty much trained to expect the unexpected. But still, there are some things you would never even dream of happening.My guest today is Kennedy, a teenage girl from Idaho. She was in a rollover car crash, and while the car was rolling she was thrown out. That in itself is not really that unusual – when you’re not wearing a seat belt, it’s very likely that you’re going to be flung out of the car with great force.What makes Kennedy’s story very different is where she ended up.Kennedy on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/_kickitkenny_9/Kennedy on Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@_kickitkenny_9This episode is sponsored by Ghostbed – get 30% off sitewide at Ghostbed.com/WHAT.This episode is also sponsored by the Jordan Harbinger Show, a podcast I’ve subscribed to for years – JordanHarbinger.com/START. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Content warning - this episode includes descriptions of sexual violence and domestic abuse. Listener discretion is advised.Here in the United States, slavery is illegal. The 13th Amendment to the US Constitution was passed by Congress on January 31, 1865 and it was ratified later that same year.That amendment reads in part “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States.”But the fact that it’s illegal doesn’t mean it’s non-existent. The more common modern-day term for it is human trafficking.The numbers for this are staggering. Hundreds of thousands of people are forced into sexual exploitation just here in the US. And many of them are children.Ashton Kutcher is an actor, and he’s a father. He’s also become a major activist in the fight against human trafficking, through his foundation and the software that his team has created. There’s another person who’s also very active in this fight. Her name is Jill. She knows about human trafficking because she was a victim of it. She’s had some truly horrifying experiences – things that no person should ever have to go through. But she’s still here, and she’s doing everything she can to help put an end to it. And part of that fight is telling the story of what it’s like – from the inside.I wanted to mention one thing that you might notice while you hear Jill talking about what happened to her. She laughs. She might be describing something that was truly terrifying, but part of talking about it is laughter. She and I actually discussed this, and she is aware of it. It’s not because she looks back on what happened and actually thinks it’s funny. Each of us relates to trauma differently, and a little bit of nervous laughter is just her way of coping as she talks about her experiences. Jill’s podcast: https://anchor.fm/boughtbythehourThis book is a good resource to learn more: Forced Sex Trafficking: What It Is and How You Can End It by Christopher Armitage https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B09X5XX94N/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?ie=UTF8&qid=&sr=This episode is sponsored by Ghostbed – get 30% off sitewide at Ghostbed.com/WHAT.This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp – online counseling. Get 10% off your first month by visiting BetterHelp.com/WHATWAS. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I live in a wonderful little town in Florida, called Safety Harbor. It’s in the Tampa Bay area. And one of the things that people love about this place is that there are lots of big, shady trees.There’s one particular tree that everyone knows about. It’s a huge oak tree, called the Baranoff Oak, and it’s named after one of the early property owners here. This tree is estimated to be over 300 years old, and it’s huge – the diameter of the trunk is around 20 feet, which is almost 7 meters. And experts have estimated that it weighs around 800 tons.If you do a Google search for Baranoff Oak, you can see pictures of it and you’ll see why it’s so special. You can also read about how, a few years back, the city took action to try to protect it, and in doing so, they almost killed it. It’s still there though, and I get to see it almost every morning.My guest today is Tessi. When she was younger, she had a job working outdoors. And by outdoors, I mean in the deep forest. So she and her co-workers were literally surrounded by trees – really BIG trees – all day. Some were over a hundred feet tall.Working in the forest is physically demanding, and Tessi loved being out there for days at a time. But things changed when one of those huge trees came crashing to the ground.If you would like to contact Tessi, she can be reached by email at tessiquane@aol.com. This episode is sponsored by the Wake Me Up Podcast – start your day with mindfulness, meditation, and motivation – WakeMeUpPodcast.com.This episode is also sponsored by Ghostbed – get 30% off sitewide at Ghostbed.com/WHAT.This episode is also sponsored by the Jordan Harbinger Show, a podcast I’ve subscribed to for years – JordanHarbinger.com/START.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I find it so interesting that sometimes we can take what seems to be a really small action, but it ends up being something really big.Back in 1998, I was living in Maine with my wife and our two young kids. I was working at a regular office job. Then one day, I needed to have some printing done. This was before the days of the high-quality inkjet printers, so it was common to go to a local print shop and get whatever you needed to have printed.While I was paying for my stuff, I noticed a small piece of paper on the counter. Someone had left a little note that said “I need tutoring in Microsoft Word. If you can help, call this number.” And I thought, yeah I know Word, maybe I can help. So I took the note and called her later. I ended up going over there and we spent a couple of hours going through the various functions of Word, and how to do things. And she paid me.So I thought, maybe this is a sort of side hustle that I could do in my spare time to make a little extra money. That’s how my computer business, called The Computer Tutor, got started. And it turned into a full time job doing computer instruction and computer repair, for over 20 years. And that whole thing started just by me happening to notice that little piece of paper on the counter in that print shop.Today you’ll hear my conversation with Jessica. Back in 2011, she was on the phone with one of her co-workers. During that conversation, she made a decision that she wasn’t all that comfortable with. And at the time, it didn’t seem like a big deal. But that seemingly small decision ended up changing the whole direction of her life.Jessica’s book, Impossible Odds: The Kidnapping of Jessica Buchanan and Her Dramatic Rescue by SEAL Team Sixhttps://www.amazon.com/Impossible-Odds-audiobook/dp/B00CJCVR6S/ref=sr_1_1Surviving Survival by Laurence Gonzalez https://www.amazon.com/Surviving-Survival-audiobook/dp/B00COR27P8/ref=sr_1_fkmr1_1Jessica’s podcast “We Should Talk About That” https://www.westatpod.com/Jessica’s website: https://www.jessbuchanan.com/Speaking engagements: https://www.jessbuchanan.com/speakingJessica on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/jessica-buchanan-tedx-speaker-nyt-bestselling-author-05ba7364/Jessica on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/jessicacbuchanan/This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp – online counseling. Get 10% off your first month by visiting BetterHelp.com/WHATWAS.This episode is also sponsored by Ghostbed – get 30% off sitewide at Ghostbed.com/WHAT. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Like a lot of people these days, I work from home. And I really enjoy that. But many years ago, I had a more traditional job where I worked in an office building with other people. And there was a thing I liked to do that some of my co-workers thought was a bit odd.We got an hour off for lunch each day. And sometimes I’d go to the breakroom and eat, or maybe a few of us would get together and go have lunch at a local restaurant. Pretty common stuff. But what I did some days is get in my car, maybe eat a sandwich while I’m driving, and go to the Sixth Judicial Court building. In this building are generally two types of people. There are those who are there voluntarily, because they work there. And the others are there, not because they want to be, but because they have to appear in court before a judge. These proceedings are pretty much open to the public. It’s just not something that a lot of people think about doing, unless you’re an oddball like me. I’d get there and quietly slip into one of the courtrooms where court was in session, and sit in what’s called the gallery. This is the open seating section where you might see family members of the person on trial, or newspaper reporters covering a case. Or people on their lunch hour with a weird curiosity about these things.Most of the time, the gallery is mostly empty. One time when I went in and sat down, the judge noticed me, and stopped what he was saying, and asked me why I was there, or how I was connected to this case. I told him I was just there to observe, and he continued with the proceedings.One of the times that kind of stuck with me was when I watched a sentencing hearing. The defendant had already been found guilty; I don’t remember what he had done. But he was there in the courtroom, in the orange prison jumpsuit, appearing before the judge. And I watched as the judge sentenced this person to spend ten years in prison. There was just something about that, that to me was really intriguing.And if that’s the kind of thing that YOU find interesting, I think you’ll enjoy this episode. My guest today is Jami. She lives in the Los Angeles area, and a few years ago she was opening her mail and found that she had been summoned for jury duty. And the case she was assigned to was a murder. Content warning for this episode – this story includes descriptions of violent domestic abuse, and murder. So please be aware of that going in.In the first half of our conversation, Jami explained the details of the case so you’ll know what happened. Then she’ll go through what she experienced as a juror – not only during the trial, but afterward when she was contacted personally by one of the family members of the murderer. Contact Jami through her podcast website (Murderish.com) or on Instagram (@MurderishPodcast).Jami’s NEW podcast is called Dirty Money Moves: Women in White Collar Crime. This show deep dives into cases involving a more rare type of criminal, women who commit financial crimes. In season one, host Jami takes listeners on a journey to investigate Mary Carole McDonnell, a self-proclaimed heiress and the CEO of a TV production company based in Los Angeles. This new podcast launches April 21, 2022.This episode is sponsored by the Wake Me Up Podcast – start your day with mindfulness, meditation, and motivation – WakeMeUpPodcast.com. This episode is also sponsored by Ghostbed – get 30% off sitewide at Ghostbed.com/WHAT. This episode is also sponsored by the Jordan Harbinger Show, a podcast I listen to all the time – JordanHarbinger.com/START. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Do you remember the movie called The Fugitive? It came out in 1993, and it starred Harrison Ford as Dr. Richard Kimble, who was unjustly accused of murdering his wife. Throughout the movie, he’s working to find the REAL killer. But at the same time, he’s the target of a nationwide manhunt, led by a seasoned US Marshal – played by Tommy Lee Jones. It’s a really good one. In a scene from that movie, probably the most famous scene, Dr. Kimble is being chased through a tunnel in a dam and gets to the end, and stops – because it opens to a drop off of hundreds of feet down, into a huge amount of rushing water. The US Marshal catches up to him, and the chase is over for Dr Kimble, because there seems to be no way of escape. He has no way out. But then, he does the unthinkable – he jumps. The story you’re about to hear kind of made me think of that kind of scenario. My guest is Adam, and he was out on a mountain hike, enjoying the scenery and having fun. But suddenly, in a split second, he was in a precarious spot that he never expected to be in.  And he saw no way out. This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp – online counseling. Get 10% off your first month by visiting BetterHelp.com/WHATWAS. This episode is sponsored by Babbel – language for life – purchase a 3 month subscription, and get 3 months free: go to Babbel.com and use the promo code WHAT Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices