Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Hey, good morning.
[00:00:02] It's early.
[00:00:04] We're gonna go a little deep here. So you ready? Buckle up, get situated, grab a drink. Your favorite kind.
[00:00:13] Let's do this.
[00:00:15] Here we go.
[00:00:17] It's early.
[00:00:18] It's early January and it's Monday, and a lot is changing.
[00:00:27] One weird fact, for whatever weird reason I'm watching Pluribus on Apple tv, It's.
[00:00:38] It's like nothing I've ever seen. And I kind of can't believe that I've watched all these episodes.
[00:00:46] If you have Apple tv, I can't even say if I can recommend it, but here we go.
[00:00:52] To combine with that.
[00:00:54] By the way, this is a very personal podcast episode. Part of me wonders why I even make this public. But I hear from you listeners and viewers who say you connect and you have sometimes similar ideas and thoughts.
[00:01:12] And that keeps me going because I do this for me as I talk about a lot. And in fact, I can highly recommend you do this for you.
[00:01:21] In fact, if you want a Here's a tech tip brought to you by Voice Recorder Pro.
[00:01:27] Voice Recorder Pro is a fantastic app where you can record your voice and then upload it to Dropbox and put it on your podcast or upload it to YouTube directly, which is exactly what I do.
[00:01:38] So it's great. There's no camera, no fancy stuff. I literally have my phone sitting on a pillow and I'm in practically in the dark.
[00:01:48] And I like this because I feel it's more intimate and private and I can just be me. There's no fluff. There's no cameras or filters. Anyway, that was the advertisement from Voice Recorder Pro. Tell your real story and share it with the world.
[00:02:10] Now back to our regularly scheduled programming.
[00:02:13] Back to Pluribus.
[00:02:16] So I have to add this because it makes kind of all the difference in the world. It is currently Monday. I don't know, I think it's the 11th or something of January. And personal note, but if you follow me, you'll. You'll sort of catch on to this.
[00:02:32] Today is the very first day that I am absolutely alone.
[00:02:39] My wife is off to work.
[00:02:41] My one son is living in Austin, Texas, and my other son is now living in the Hague in the Netherlands, where I live. Well, I live in the Netherlands, but it's a different city an hour away.
[00:02:53] So this is the very first day of sort of real empty nest.
[00:02:59] And so I don't like this phrase. I was about to say it. I was about to say, I'm not gonna lie. And I don't like the phrase because my joke with the phrase is that. Oh, so every time you don't preface what you're about to say with I'm not gonna lie means that you're possibly lying. So I don't like to say that phrase.
[00:03:21] And frankly, it annoys me when people say it. I'm not gonna lie.
[00:03:24] Oh, so you're lying. The rest of the stuff you tell me, so I'm not gonna lie.
[00:03:33] But it's kind of freaking me out.
[00:03:36] And I mean, my kids are late teens, early 20s, and that means 20 years of my life, I've had kids.
[00:03:46] And as of today, I don't.
[00:03:50] I mean, I do. They're still.
[00:03:52] They're still alive, but they're just not no longer living with us. And I knew this day would come. Of course, I'm proud of this day. Of course. They're off doing their own things. They're both doing well in their own ways, and I'm super excited for them.
[00:04:08] And that's that.
[00:04:10] However, and my wife is off at her 9 to 5 job, and creative boy here is like, this is your dream, isn't it? Now you get to create whatever you want.
[00:04:20] Yep, it's true. It's just.
[00:04:24] It's freaking me out. So there you have that, but that's actually not working. What I want to get across today, oddly, although maybe, as many people say, there are no coincidences, I'm watching this Pluribus show on Apple tv. And also oddly. And I rarely do this, but I'm watching it alone.
[00:04:46] Maybe that's a sign of the times. Usually I watch something with my wife or one of my sons, right? And I'm watching it alone. And maybe that's a sign.
[00:04:54] So it's really different. And even the advertisement for it, it's like, oh, the unhappiest person in the world has to convince the world to be happy. Or something like that, Right?
[00:05:06] Whatever. I watched an episode and I thought, okay, I'm intrigued.
[00:05:12] Mostly because it was very different from the mainstream.
[00:05:16] And later I saw a trailer for it and they said something like that. They said, this is not that show you're thinking of. It's not that show either. Oh, you're thinking of the other show. It's not like that either. And it's not.
[00:05:27] It's really different. And if you stick with kind of pulls you in. Because in good Hero's Journey format, you know, we have the problem.
[00:05:40] I think we have our guide. Our guide is probably Carol, but we are not at the solution yet. I do not see the plan And I do not see what success looks like. And so I'm super intrigued.
[00:05:53] In case you don't follow my stuff, I am a huge fan of Hero's Journey, especially Donald Miller's version of it from his book Storybrand.
[00:06:03] And in a nutshell, there's a. I'm gonna put. Put on my fingers. There's a character who has a problem or a challenge, who meets a guide who has a plan to avoid failure and achieve success.
[00:06:19] Six. I just made six with my fingers. Six. Six elements of this, right?
[00:06:25] Character, problem, guide, plan, failure, success. Right? Super simple. So right now in Pluribus, well, avoid failure. That's pretty interesting. It's like, what is the definition of failure? And then what is the definition of success? So very interesting. Anyway, so this might be a little spoiler alert. So if you haven't watched the show and you plan to watch it, I'm going to try not to ruin it for you here because I can't even say I recommend it. It's pretty out there.
[00:06:55] So here's the thing I want to talk about today and this whole backdrop I've given you of my current situation and watching this show.
[00:07:07] And then. So what's happened? And again, trying not to spoiler alert too much for you here, trying not to ruin it for you, but basically this Carol, the hero of the show, every. Everybody on the whole planet, this isn't. I'm not going to spoil it here. Everybody in the whole planet, we're just going to call them zombies to make it simpler. They're not really zombies. And if you watch, you'll see what I mean. But everybody on the. Everybody on the planet, with the exception of 13 people, are like, the same. They're one.
[00:07:41] They're sort of one individual, and they're all the same. And if you dig deep into spirituality, they often talk about this oneness or being one, or we're all one, we're all together. So it could be sort of an extension of all spirituality and. Okay, that's cool.
[00:08:01] And so I'm an episode like 8.
[00:08:05] I honestly cannot believe I have watched it this far.
[00:08:09] And it's at the final episode and I haven't watched it yet. So the second to last episode, there's sort of a bit of an interesting turning point, and that is that I'm just going to call them zombie people. The zombie people are intrigued by Carol's creativity because as far as I understand the zombie people, they can't create anything new.
[00:08:39] So they know everything there is to know in the universe. They're like Google and ChatGPT all combined. And they know everything about everything in the history of humankind, and they know everything about Carol. So Carol says, what did I do on my third birthday? What kind of cake did I have? They'll tell her, right, so they know everything about personal stuff, but also factual stuff, so. So if you think about it, there's nothing to learn. You can't teach them anything that's already happened. So they know all of the information that's ever been created. However, what they cannot do is create something new.
[00:09:22] Now, if we. Funny that I mentioned Hero's Journey, because Hero's Journey, one thing that Donald Miller talks about is how it's annoying when you understand the Hero's Journey format or structure, those six elements. Character has a problem, meets a guide who has a plan to avoid failure and achieve success. Again, I put my fingers out, six fingers. And if you know that and you watch a show or you read a book, you'll see elements of the Hero's Journey or in some format, right?
[00:09:56] So here, what's now exciting about this show is that I, as a creator and remember, my theory is that we are all creators.
[00:10:10] However, back to Pluribus.
[00:10:13] How many of us create something new or how many of us actually share our creations with, you know, beyond our imagination or beyond our pen and paper, beyond our own computer or whatever, wherever we create our creations, how many of us share with the public, or at least a limited audience, are creations? Because the zombie people, apparently they cannot create anything new.
[00:10:47] So they are super intrigued by Carol, who is a writer. Of course, sometimes I don't like when movies have writers as the main character because I think, oh, that's because the writer wrote it and said, I'm the main character. And anyway, they are intrigued with Carol because she can create something new. So she has written books. And they're so excited because they want her to continue the next book in the series, because they cannot create the next book in the series. They could probably sort of mathematically extrapolate what it should be or what they think it should be, but they can't.
[00:11:29] Maybe they don't have imagination, maybe they don't have creativity. That's so again, they know they have all the knowledge in the world. And if you think about this, it's not too far from the current state of the world, right? We have Google, we have ChatGPT, we can have any answer at our fingertips in a blip of time.
[00:11:48] And yet, like, if we compare with ChatGPT, ChatGPT, I think ChatGPT can create a new story? That's actually an interesting question. What if I said, hey, chat GBT. My chatGPT is called Charlie.
[00:12:01] What if you're hey, chatGPT, create a new story that's never been heard before about a dog that goes on an adventure in the snow.
[00:12:12] Go. I don't know. I should do that. We should try it. In fact, if I remember, I will do that and I'll share it with you.
[00:12:18] So apparently in Zombie apocalypse, Apocalypse of Pluribus, and Pluribus, by the way, spelled pluri with an or, the I would have been is a number one. So I guess that's they are all one.
[00:12:34] Right, Whatever.
[00:12:36] So what's my point? What's your point? Bradley? Come on. You've got me here on a Monday morning.
[00:12:41] I've got a Monday meditation morning. A meditation Monday.
[00:12:45] And what are you trying to get across here? And what I'm trying to get across here is what is the human element in each of us that is unique?
[00:12:57] What is it that about you that Google and ChatGPT and the zombie apocalypse can't do or doesn't know or what can you create? And I'm not saying you need to create a story or whatever.
[00:13:13] What could you create? Even if it's a thought or an idea or a plan or something you want to do today, what is different from your regular pattern that you might be able to create?
[00:13:31] So where does this lead me? It leads me to remember me, empty nester now, and my wife's at work and I'm alone and I joke that I don't have a job, but I don't have a job. My job is a creator. So what does that mean? I need to create even though I don't have my family around me or I'm in a different circumstance and we're planning on moving at the end of the year, which is super exciting.
[00:14:00] And that's good. And that's good because that will then, you know, guide me towards the new goal, the new atmosphere, the new environment of where we will be living by the end of the year or early next year, then I have a goal to strive towards.
[00:14:16] And what is my goal in life now that my kids are out of the house and I.
[00:14:22] So in Pluribus, she can do whatever she wants. The zombie people.
[00:14:27] I shouldn't call them zombie people. The zombie people just want to please her. So if she says, I want a raspberry milkshake, they will make her a raspberry milkshake so she can do whatever she wants. And in fact, it's kind of interesting because the other non zombie people, like, there's this one guy, the French guy, and he's got just like, beautiful women in a casino, and he wins all the money. And it's interesting because he can have absolutely everything he wants. When does that get boring?
[00:14:56] And then what is that distinction between being a zombie who gets whatever they want or being a person who gets whatever they want and then different. What's different? And what is the joy in life then? Wow, we're good. Okay. I told you we were going deep. What is a joy in life? And I think the joy in life is, number one, creating, and number two, sharing it with someone else.
[00:15:24] So there you have it. Because also Carol, our hero, Carol has no one to share anything with. And finally, she sort of recalls her.
[00:15:34] What do they call it? Not ambassador, her chaperone. I think they like to call it her friend. She doesn't have any friends. She has no friends. She has no one. She has the zombie people.
[00:15:48] And so what can she do that makes her human? And in my humble opinion, it's creating.
[00:15:57] It's creating something from nothing, which means using your human imagination and gathering, yes, gathering what you experience in your past and the knowledge you have and creating something new and unique from it. I don't mean unique in that it's not going to follow Hero's Journey format. That's fine. But I want to hear your unique twist on the story, your unique twist on whatever it is you want to create. And again, I try not to say, you know, people think I'm an author and I want everybody to write a book, which is true. I can't deny it. I do think everybody should write a book. In fact, I think everybody should write a book every single year. But that's a completely different topic at this point. I want you to think, how are you human?
[00:16:48] How are you creating? What are you creating? And if you think you're not a creator, sorry, you are. You're a creator. So what are you going to create? Even if it's in the solitude of your own self and you don't want to share it with anybody, you can share it with me. No judgment. And I will just be happy that you created something. And remember, who are you creating for? You're yourself. Really? I want you to create for you. I create for me. I want you to create for you.
[00:17:17] Okay, I think I've got my Pluribus Meditation Monday podcast episode and YouTube channel uploaded here. Done here. And I thought it was quite insightful, this Pluribus show. So check out the Pluribus show and let me know what you think of this episode. Leave me a comment. Leave me a comment.
[00:17:38] If you resonate with any. Anything that I said here and I'd love to hear from you comment on the YouTube channel, if you. If you wouldn't mind. All right, Bradley Charbonneau, signing off.
[00:17:49] I'm creating like a fool. I'm creating here. I'm all alone.
[00:17:55] I don't. I mean, I'm my own boss, right? I could go pick daffodils all day, except it's snowy outside. But I can do whatever I want. And what do I choose to do?
[00:18:09] What is the most, like, human joy that I can do for me?
[00:18:16] And that's create.
[00:18:18] I remember. I also, unlike Carol in the zombie apocalypse, I have to, you know, make money and pay the mortgage and stuff. So I can't just say I want a raspberry milkshake. And it appears I could go buy raspberries and vanilla ice cream and make a raspberry milkshake, but I need to. I need to work for a living. So that combined. I don't think I'm really talking about work here, though. I'm talking about creating. And if you can make creating your work, then you have achieved the ultimate in paradise, in my humble opinion, and in fact, that's what I strive towards, is how can I create my work? How can I create my future? And by creating my present.
[00:19:00] Okay, this was a bit out there. I admit it, and I love it. And I don't deny it. And I'm not gonna say sorry about it. So I hope this is enjoyable and educational and entertaining. Leave a comment, let me know what you think, and I'll talk to you very soon. At the very least on Thursday. If you'd like to sign up for my Thursday Thunder newsletter, you can go to repossible.comtt for, like, Thursday thunder repossible.comt t. And you'll get a weekly dose of energy in your inbox and every single week. All right, thanks for listening and watching. Bye for now.
