What Was That Like - True Stories. Real People.

Do you remember the stress of being a teenager?As an adult, you might look back on that time in your life with fondness. You had no bills to pay, and no worries about where to live, because you were still at home with your parents. You didn’t have to buy groceries – the food was just there. You could get a job if you wanted some extra spending money, but you didn’t really HAVE to work. Why didn’t we appreciate that time more?But in reality, teenagers DO worry about things. They worry about grades, and whether they’ll be able to get into a good college. And if they do get in, if they can afford it without racking up a ton of school loans. They stress about body image, and about fitting in with their group of friends, and sometimes there’s some family conflicts that can be part of the stress. Then there’s dating and relationships, and that’s a whole subject in itself. And on top of all that, they have the pressure of having to decide what they want to do with their life. So in spite of the fond memories, being a teenager isn’t always easy.Today you’re going to hear my guest, Martine, talk about something she experienced when she was 16 years old. By all accounts, she was a teenager with a pretty good life. She lived in a decent house, with her parents and her sisters. She went to school and she hung out with friends. Life wasn’t perfect of course, but she was happy.She certainly wasn’t worried about her family’s home being invaded by armed men in the middle of the night. Until it happened.Twice.Martine’s website:https://MartineCadet.comMartine’s podcast:https://visualizeandcreate.lightcast.com/This episode is sponsored by the Jordan Harbinger Show, one of my favorite podcasts:JordanHarbinger.comThis episode is also sponsored by the Music City 911 podcast – real 911 calls analyzed by a veteran 911 dispatcher – search “Music City 911” on your favorite podcast app. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I know, you might be surprised to see What Was That Like show up in your podcast feed today. New podcast episodes come out on Fridays every two weeks, and today is not one of those “new episode” Fridays. What I have for you today is a bonus episode, because I want to introduce you to another podcast that I think you’ll love, because I know how much you enjoy hearing people tell their very personal stories. I love those stories myself, which is why I’m subscribed to this show.The podcast is called The Secret Room, and it features anonymous guests revealing true stories – stories they’ve never told before. Sometimes it can be a tragic one, like witnessing the murder of someone you know. Or it might be about having a secret love affair with someone on death row. The variety of stories and topics are endless, because everyone has a secret.The host of the show is my friend Ben, and I think he and I are similar in a lot of ways. He’s very empathetic as the guests come on the show and talk about these things that are very personal to them. Ben and I talked about this idea, and we thought it would be nice to share each other’s podcast with our audience. I’ve only done this once before with another podcast, because I have to be 100% sure that the content I bring you is something I know you’ll enjoy. The Secret Room definitely meets that requirement. So today you’ll hear Caroline’s story. When she was a kid, she accidentally discovered a shocking secret that her dad was keeping. What happened after she confronted him would change her world forever.If you like this episode, I encourage you to find The Secret Room on your favorite podcast app and subscribe. I’ll see you next week. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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