We've Made Everything Too Easy | Michael Easter From #489 | The Way I Heard It

A life with no risk or pressure, is the life of a zoo animal.

I returned home from camping in the desert yesterday. My cell phone decided to act up on the return trip so Google Maps was of no use. Luckily I took note of landmarks on the way up to the desert and my compass in the car helped me navigate. I'm placing road atlases in both of my vehicles now.

“There is nothing better for a person than that he should eat and drink and find enjoyment in his toil. This also, I saw, is from the hand of God.” Ecclesiastes 2:24

5:28 I remember after 9/11 how quiet it was with no aircraft’s in the sky’s.

Embrace the suck. Learned that term in the US military. However, growing up on a Nebraska farm in the 70s and 80s taught it to me years before I enlisted in 1988. I wrestled in high school, and in the military when I was stationed in Germany. My job was building pallets and pushing them on cargo planes. Out in the weather, doing heavy lifting, especially when Desert Shield/Storm began, it was like when I was a kid. I gained 50lbs of muscle in 6 months. The 92 drawdown left me a Mr. again, and I got a job in a factory as a machinist. 130F in summer, 105F in winter, and Nebraska can get rather chilly. Walk out of 105F into -10 and it surprises you a bit. Went back to the USAF in 2000, figured I may as well go back since Juan and Rico were doing my machinist job south of the border, and what do ya know.. while I am deployed to Kuwait in September of 2001, we start another 'little' thing. My 04 deployment, I was 35 and being worked like I was when I was 21 back in 90-91, turns out your body doesn't like that and it broke. Everything but my back is trash, my back is quite good to be honest. Ten years hobbling around on a very small fixed income. First ex was getting most of my money, then the second ex decided I needed to live in a truck again. Bought some land in 2013 with money I scraped up for a down, and in 2015 when the first ex was finally out of my income stream, I started building with my meager VA compensation. Built my shop, then my house, clearing the forest by hand, building the foundations, pouring concrete, putting up walls, putting the roof on the shop.. The concrete and the roof I had help, two guys for each job. Lived in a ratty old 1971 Travco RV. Remember, limited mobility from the sandbox fun, and I was running chainsaws, moving rocks and logs by hand, and renting skid steers and mini excavators to do all the dirt work. Lived frugally and paid off the loans in 2021, thats how I can do so much now on VA compensation. I see someone else commented they make $21k every other week and he is 48. I can't even imagine that. I don't even get $4000 a month, its less than that and I am not allowed to earn more. I'm still not making what I made on active duty. I sacrificed so much, worked through a huge amount of pain, I live with pain and discomfort. My life will be shorter because of everything that I did and happened to me. Rarely drank, never smoked, was extremely active until 2004. I'm still active, but not as much because everything hurts and I am trying to cut weight without running. I'll never run again. I hide all the things wrong with me, nobody knows unless I tell them. Yes, its been a rough life. It was rougher than I have made it out to be, because I am not allowed to talk about certain things here. I'll take a life like this over a soft one, without having to work for anything, no struggle, no challenges, no stress... because I can handle almost anything life throws at me now. The funniest thing to me is nobody can ever see what I write on here, YT hides it. It helps me sort things out in my head when I write these. Sometimes people hear about my life and it gives them hope that theirs will get better, or gives them determination to persevere and keep struggling ahead. Since 2019 I have been silenced, and thats ok. I've found other ways to motivate and inspire people.

Thank you, The Mikes! I hate to say this: I learned something! Plus, it's great to put a face to the name of Car Talk's long-time seat-cushion tester!

im almost 60 , and i was lucky enough to learn to cook the good stuff for many years , still lucky so far !!!

You always have such great guests. I am looking forward to reading his book.

Thanks for another interesting, meaningful podcast, Mike. I grew up around a generation of hard working, tough-ass people, who didn't give a shit about one's feelings if you weren't pulling your weight. There were no "participation trophies". But I was taught work ethic, how to fix and repair things, and a sense of accomplishment when I did. To this day, 65 yrs. old, I've never had to pay anyone to fix or repair anything I own .. point being, most people nowadays want instant gratification with little effort .. just throw money at it and the problem is fixed .. but when the "money well" starts running dry, stress, anxiety, and desperation takes over .. easy street isn't so easy. Too many people live life in the never-ending cycle of chasing the almighty dollar.

Thanks