3 Year Anniversary Reflections: The Evolution And Growth of Mr. Whiskey & Couple O' Nukes

Today, I sit down with Diana Devi as she interviews me in celebration of the three-year anniversary of the Couple O’ Nukes Podcast. Ms. Devi guides me through a conversation about my personal growth, my transition from the military, and the evolution of the show from its early origins to the self-improvement platform it is today. Together, we explore the intense, unexpected, and often chaotic journey I’ve taken over the past few years as I learned how to build a podcast, build a business, and rebuild myself along the way.

I share how leaving the U.S. Navy’s nuclear community shaped everything about the way I work, think, and stay committed to long-term progress. Ms. Devi and I discuss the demanding pipeline of becoming a nuclear operator, the mental health battles within the military, and how those experiences became the foundation for the discipline, endurance, and mission that fuel Couple O’ Nukes today. We also talk through the major milestones—from traveling out of the country for the first time, to learning comedy, to navigating adulthood outside the structure of military life—highlighting how each step pushed me into deeper purpose and broader service.

Finally, I walk through why I shifted the podcast from a military-focused concept into a global, life-improvement resource for anyone feeling lost, isolated, or unheard. Ms. Devi and I explore the heart behind this show: reaching niche audiences, elevating hidden stories, confronting trauma, and helping others rebuild their dreams in the aftermath of chaos. 

Website: https://coupleonukes.com

Exodus, Honor Your Heart, & Nulu Knives: https://www.coupleonukes.com/affiliates/

Want to be a guest on Couple O' Nukes? Send me a message on PodMatch: https://www.podmatch.com/hostdetailpreview/1726279485588093e83e0e007

Sign Up For A PodMatch Account: https://www.joinpodmatch.com/coupleonukes

*Couple O' Nukes LLC and Mr. Whiskey are not licensed medical entities, nor do they take responsibility for any advice or information put forth by guests. Take all advice at your own risk.

Transcript

 Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to another episode of Couple of Nukes, and this time I am being your host and interviewing Mr. Whiskey today. And how are you today, Mr. Whiskey? I am doing great. It's interesting to be interviewed on my own show, but I think it will help draw out a lot of great conversation in celebration of the three year anniversary of the podcast today.

And that's a big that's a big thing. Most podcasts don't make it that long. So tell me a little bit about how you're feeling about this. For sure, and I, I wanna start with, for everyone listening who's not aware of the statistics, most podcasts, almost half of them don't make it to 10 episodes.

Only about 4% make it to a hundred and only about 3% make it to 200. After that point, it does go up a little bit statistically, because most people, once they're at 300 episodes or more, they're in it for the long run. And I was on track for 300 episodes before 2026, but. No shows with no, no. The worst type of no shows, no show with no excuse, and then ghost.

That is the worst combination, but they have pushed my schedule back, but we'll see. We're still gonna hit 300 episodes pretty quickly here, considering the timeline. Thanks to the fact that I went from one episode a week. To every other day. And if I had the manpower and ability to E even less and sleep even less than I already rarely do, I would go daily.

But it is a huge demand when you are just a single. Nuke running a whole reactor here, as I like to call it, but it's so strange. Three years has gone by like that. It doesn't feel like forever. But when I look back at where the show first started to now, and I put together the chronological timeline of all the events I've been to, everything that's happened, it's just mind blowing.

It's like, wow, it's been. So much in such a little amount of time and so little in such an amount of time. It really has just been mind blowing and I really don't count the three years in the same way that everyone would when you hear three years because. When the show first started, it was every few weeks a poor quality episode would come out.

Eventually it moved to, now we have video, and now we're out with an episode each week, and then it went to every other day. And so really, I would say the first year and a half of the show's existence was, I wouldn't even count it. And I think they say it takes about 20 episodes to find your cadence, but I think.

That's if you have a, a good head on your shoulders and research first for me, it was just like, we're starting a podcast, we're just gonna wing it. And so there was a lot of wasted time, a lot of dead time that I don't count. So it's been a podcast for three years, a good podcast for about a year and a half, and it's been a business for only about two.

A year and a half. So it's gone through a lot of change and so have I. Yeah, and I was going to just ask. You can't have gone through that many changes and that much growth during that period of time as far as on a business perspective from what your podcast is without undergoing some pretty significant personal growth.

So do you wanna maybe give us the top three things as far as where you think being a podcaster has changed you and given you that opportunity for growth? I don't know if I can individualize it to three points, but I'll share plenty of change. And I think one of the most important parts about that change is keeping alignment with who you are and what the show is.

It was never meant to be a money maker or be a, business, and so monetizing it without losing the heart of it. Is something that's really important to me, and I've seen some people lose sight of that. Some people will start a podcast strictly for business and it's already aligned for that.

So for me, finding the balance and keeping the heart of it was really important. The biggest change would be that in general, the timeline of the past three years is just chaotic. In the past three years, I. Transition from military to civilian. That alone in itself is such a big change. I went from a home of control and conformity, which was reflected upon in the military as well, to being an individual, to being introverted, not allowed to leave the house, not allowed to talk to people, to becoming a podcaster and talking to people from around the world each day.

During this time, I left the country for the first time ever. I traveled across states by myself. For the first time ever, I performed open my comedy. For the first time ever, I started singing lessons. I did the worm. There was a lot that has happened in the past three years. Wait a minute, wait a minute.

Wait a minute. Just hold on there a minute. Did I hear you say you did the worm? Was that in, in all of the discussions about that, was personal growth, one of the milestones. Okay. And you were there to witness it on the new media cruise? Formerly The podcasters cruise, yes. So you can testify. I can testify because I did not do a worm the year before.

Oh, okay. So it was a, well, so what do you think it's gonna be next year? I think next year will be a completed successful worm. So this year, we'll, we'll say it this way, did and attempted are two different words. So year one of the crews there was no worming. Year two, there was attempted worm. Year three, it will be worming successfully, and then the next year will be once a day.

Oh, okay. I highly encourage you if you attend the cruise again as well, to also do the worm. I think that should be one of your milestones. I, I personally like Argentine tango and I kind of stick with that, but, I don't know. I did belly dancing, so I guess. The worm is on the floor and belly dancing is standing up, so maybe they're kind of related.

I don't know. We'll see. It's like Argentine tango, but your partner is the floor, so. Exactly. Yeah. You just, and if you get a shiny enough floor, your partner could be your reflection, and so yeah. Okay. It's that's, that was one of the milestones, but I think the biggest one, like I said, leaving the country for the first time, traveling across states for the first time, some of the not so fun milestones that I had to bring up because this is a dark subjects podcast.

Doing taxes on my own, getting a water bill, getting an electric bill, getting a gas bill. Transferring that stuff, setting that stuff up, doing all the adulting stuff. 'cause in the military I say, that sounds like adulting it, and it is a scary time. In the military it's kind of nice because you.

Have a level of independence and sovereignty, but you also have your handheld in a lot of categories. That makes it easier to, easier to do taxes, easier. You, your housing arrangements are taking care of you, so it's pretty nice and efficient. And there's a lot of military clauses, so that transition.

It is already difficult. Like I said, it's so interesting like Pod Fest. The first year I went, I met more people in a single day than my entire life. I talked to more people in a single day than my entire life, and some people won't believe that, but it's the truth. God, God, as my witness, I grew up not really allowed to leave the house.

We didn't have a lot of social outings. My father picked and controlled my friends and enemies for me, more enemies than friends, and so. Pod Fest was an experience where I'm on my own. I'm not representing my family, I'm not representing the military like I was representing me. And at that time it was an identity crisis where Mr.

Whiskey and my real identity were two different individuals because it was almost at that time it was like when I wasn't Mr. Whiskey. It was nothing. Who I was, was just a guy who walked his dog and that was it. Mr. Whiskey was the one going to all the social events, going to all the meeting, all the people.

Everything I had in my life socially was through work. And so it was really interesting split that. I that I merged. I merged the two personalities, so to speak. Come. So let's talk about that a little bit more, because I think that is one of the things that really is part of, of, because you put yourself out there and because you've done those things that now you're bringing all of these parts of you kind of together.

And so what does that, what does that look like for you and what does that feel like for you and how is that reflected in the podcast? Sometimes I don't have my hat on. That's the biggest change. It's my Clark Kent glasses. I guess if this is my Superman uniform, so to speak, although I'm more of a Batman kind of guy.

But either way I digress. What I'll say is, it was, it was interesting because Pod Fest, like I said, that was kind of the catalyst for everything. So I was podcasting. Like I said, when I. To go back to the Origins, 'cause that explains a lot of what we're gonna get into. I was driving about 16 hours a weekend and you can only listen to so much music.

At least in my case. Some people they can listen to 16 hours of music straight and be fine. I needed more than that. Hearing the same songs, even exploring other kinds of music, it gets to the point where especially when you're driving overnight and you haven't slept in three days, music just can put you to sleep.

As I like to say, you don't fall asleep behind the wheel. You just wake up in another lane. And I had done that many times and so I was like, you know what? These YouTubers I used to watch growing up, they have a thing called a podcast. I don't know what it is, it's audio only. That's weird, but I'll try it out.

And it was perfect for the car because I wasn't watching anything other than the road. Hopefully, that's the idea. But yeah, I started listening to podcasts and discovered them from there. And I fell in love with comedy. I was in such a dark space in the military because of all the suicides, because of the toxic command climate, the bad leadership medical issues going on, listening to a podcast where these people were just joking and having good heartful conversations, and it was about family and and humor.

I really fell in love with that. When I observed the nuclear community. Very few people make it through the nuclear training pipeline. They describe it as drinking water from a fire hose, and if you've never done that, it's not easy. It's about four to five years of education at a college, advanced college level packed into less than two years.

It is difficult. You have class for eight to nine hours a day. Sometimes you have mandatory study hours on top of that. These are, this is not like college. This is like every day studying some of the hour, some of the exams are eight hours long. Like this is an academic ringer and a lot of people don't make it through it.

They either attempt suicide, complete suicide, or they drop out academically. A lot of it had nothing to do, which is a reflection I came to today thinking about the nuclear operators and everything. My origin story, it's more so a matter of commitment than academics. That's what I think it really comes down to, and that's the whole episode on its own.

But because of that. You have some of the smartest people in the country that make it through that program. Only a small percentage of people can even join the military. People think anyone can walk into a recruiting office. It's not true. There are educational requirements, physical requirements, tattoo requirements, drug requirements, alcohol requirements.

There's a whole lot going on, and a lot of people get filtered out of that small percentage. They say about only 1% qualify to be nuclear operators of that 1%. Only a few make it through, and I could calculate, the percentage for you if you really wanted, but let's say if you had a class of maybe 30 to 40 people, or 20 to 40 people, only about five to 10 make it out at most.

A lot of people got out and each segment of the school, it's three sections, less and less people were there. So by the time you get to the fleet, it's like no one that being said it's, or go ahead. It's kind of similar then the journey that you had with the nuclear as the journey with podcasting.

Because if most of the people, what, I don't remember what percentage. You said, make it only to like 10 episodes and you're less than half, close to 300. That's quite an accomplishment. So do you think there was some, some skills that you learned through that, through the nuclear training that you brought into your podcasting and have used?

I would say it comes down to commitment and work drive. And I say that because a lot of nuclear operators or people in that training program, they gave us a speech. They said, all of y'all are the kinds of people that you didn't study in high school. Most of y'all were just naturally smart, had good memories, did the bare minimum and excelled.

They said, this school is not that place. You will have to try here. And most of us, you know what we did? Ugh. Maybe you had a tri chief, but not me. And I had that wake up call. I realized I had to actually study. This was different. This was not high school at all. And I. Locked in with colored pens and a protractor and I made notes, color coded notes, and I studied, and I, I trained and a lot of people didn't wanna do that.

And I get it. We were all 18, 19, 20 years old, we wanted to. Go out and go on dates and explore the town. We were right by Charleston, and people wanted to have a life outside of the school because you're at school all day for, six to nine hours surrounded by people in uniform. No windows, no phones, right?

So you get out and you want to explore life, especially fresh outta bootcamp. But. I realized that the more work you put into it, the easier the time you had in a nuclear pipeline academically, the more free time you had. Some people didn't want to study because to them it was a, a sign of shame. It was, we're no longer smart or, this is below us.

And I realized that work ethic and intelligence aren't counterintuitive to each other, I understood that mindset because at first I, I was the same way. I said, like my, my one sister, she always had to study and work hard to get her grades and I would, play video games and get the same grades.

So for me it was like, wow, now I have to study like, not me, but I, I realized I had to, and the reward was worth it. When I realized studying led me to higher grades that were like, wow, this is great. It's an interesting environment. Some of the smartest people in the world. There was people there.

They could flip through a reactor manual like this thick and have it all memorized instantly. These were people who just had genetic gif of memorization, that they had photographic memories, right? It wasn't just about intelligence. And so I think it's the same with podcasting. I'm committed to the longing, the marathon mentality.

Everything I make, I'm making with the idea that, hey, what if someone finds this 20 years from now, 10 years from now? I make this with the idea that most podcasters don't see success until a hundred episodes minimum. Sometimes three, 500 episodes. People have this wrong notation about podcasting. They see the big celebrity podcast and they try it, and I have had podcasters on my show.

I interviewed a few weeks later, I'm like, Hey, your episode's out. And they're like, sorry, I'm done. Podcasting. I quit. I thought I was gonna make 40 grand a month and I'm making zero. I'm losing 40 grand a month. People don't realize it takes a lot of time, a lot of effort about the statistics change, obviously.

But last I saw about 75% of all the income in the podcasting industry. 'cause it mirrored, the OnlyFans industry was made by 0.001%. That means all those big time celebrity podcasts that you see, they were making almost all the money. The average income for podcasters, it was about 40. Depending on what softwares you use.

For some of them was $4 a month. For some of them it was $40 a month, just based off of. If you don't have sponsorships, monetizing and filling links, there's a lot of passive income streams. But to, to circle back to your question, it's about that long-term picture. And through nuke school, you kind of have to filter out the, the instant gratification, the, the short term, the procrastination.

You need to get rid of all that to succeed, or you just give up and you, and you drop out, you change rates or you. A lot of people will fake mental illnesses and other things to get outta the program or attempt self harm to get outta the program, and then others just actually crack under the academic and military pressure and do take their lives.

We had one to three attempts a month when I was in. So with all that you've done and grown in the past three years, plus what you did, through what you learned about yourself and the way that you were able to be successful there. What do you see the next three years being like? I am very excited for the future, even though I am a very paranoid and pessimistic person.

I'm a, I'm a weeping prophet. I am very excited because everything that I do podcasting wise, and this is important for anyone running a podcast or business, everything I do. Builds upon itself, the things before it, and the things after it. So everything that I have done this year has been setting up a foundation for next year to be way more successful with the way I have, learned about YouTube, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, studying and learning statistics about podcasting, about monetization, about thumbnail design, everything I can, absorbing all this knowledge.

Every speaking engagement, every book that I'm featured in, every book that I'm writing, it's all with an alternative goal. The creation of itself, whether it's a speaking engagement or a book, that is one part. The next part is. We're using this now to speak at a different event next year or to collaborate with this person next year.

Everything is created to set itself up and so 2026 in the years afterward, it's looking like what I have. Intention, and God willing is more speaking engagements, each one bigger stage and more professional quality. My idea is continue improvement, right? And that should be any podcaster's goal.

No matter how big your show gets, never stop looking for ways to improve, because eventually you'll backslide, you'll get complacent. And that's actually number one thing in the Navy. They say in reactor safety, complacency kills because you'll be working the nuclear plant day in and day out. No incidents.

You get complacent. You start signing paperwork without verifying stuff. You start blazing over your valves, your, your numbers, your gauges, and then something happens. Complacency, kills, and it will kill your business, and it will kill your podcast, and it will destroy your life if you don't keep up with continual improvement.

Continual education. I like the term, I'll borrow it from Steve Wright, one of my buddies. He says he is a lifelong learner. He will never stop learning, and I think that's what we need to do. So how does all of this, as far as, that's kind of the vision overall of what you want the podcast to be with regard to your content.

What is it that you are, what is your purpose or your motivation with the content that you're sharing? Is there something in particular that. You want to, to say or to communicate For sure. And that's actually undergone change more than anything. So like I, I kind of hinted at earlier because of the filter through the nuke school program, the people you get are some of the smartest and hardest working.

Those people are also some of the most strange, I won't name names, but think about some of the smartest people in the world. They're probably a little weird, and not in a bad way sometimes, they're just different. They're different, right. And you look at some of the mad scientists in the past, you look at some people right now in, in America and across the world, and you, I'm sure you can think of at least someone.

They're strange people. They just think differently and there's a spectrum of nuke ness from hey, he's just a little socially awkward to, and don't let him around your dog. There's a spectrum of weirdness. And it's interesting because those conversations were so fascinating to me. We had a term nuking it out, and that refers to nuclear operators to have a tendency to lack common sense to overthink.

To be well articulated and to argue technical points. Well, and I'm not gonna claim or deny any of those. Y'all determined that for yourself, but because of that, these conversations were unfolding and one day we were debating a meme for those who don't know what that is, it's a joke on the internet.

And there was one that said, Hey, will you push this button? You get millions of dollars immortality, right? But there is a snail. It is going to track you down forever. It's also immortal. And if it touches you, you die. So we were sitting around a couple of nukes, a couple of nukes. We were sitting around as a couple of nukes and we were debating this conversation about how to stop the snail.

You can't kill it. How do we stop it? And we got into genetic DNA levels and generational science and. Astrological and physics. Like, we had such a nerdy conversation about stopping the snail that I was like, this would be such an interesting podcast. There's a lot of, comedic shows out there that are, just a couple of guys being bros.

This was gonna be like a nuclear navy edition of it, because it was a community that's very unique that people would find like, wow, what is this? I, I never realized the nuclear navy, they had this preconceived notion of military people and so it was gonna be shocking, but. We were also going to highlight the mental health issues, the mass suicide epidemic, the addiction rates, the sleep deprivation rates, the isolation.

Nuclear operators have one of the hardest jobs in the military just as a result of the lifestyle. You're working holidays, you're working weekends, you're working, rotating shift work, I jokingly say, 'cause I don't sleep much and I don't eat much, and I always say. The reactor never sleeps. So neither do I.

Right? We work 24 7. Now the reactors do get shut down, but that's a different story. Point being that's what I want to highlight, but it was just me. I'm just a nuke. No one else saw the big vision. People were like, oh, podcast, that's stupid. I don't, I don't get they. No one was on board, and it's hard to sell someone your dream.

Especially when you're not offering any money, you're, you're asking people to put themselves out there on a public platform and talk. Most nukes are socially awkward and hate being recorded or talking to people. So I didn't have a way to get those conversations naturally. And then I left the Navy and so when I left, I really lost ties.

And so the pivot was into military mental health. 'cause I said, okay. We'll just be military mental health until we find some nuclear cohost and make it a couple of nukes, and that didn't happen. And what happened as a result of that, I found negative. I have great respect for the men and women serving this country and for the people who serve them.

But I got boxed down in East Down as a military guy helping military people, especially military men. I was just a man's man, military guy, and that wasn't who I wanted to be. It wasn't who I was. I was never a military hoo rock kind of guy. I had a Navy spirit for a little bit, and the Navy actually destroyed that.

That's a different episode. But I got tired of going to these conferences. Oh, there's Mr. Whiskey, the military guy up in military guys. I wanted to help everyone. I've always been a serve all of God's people. So I had to rebrand, get into self-improvement as a whole, because I do a lot. I do women's menstruation, I do men's health.

I do, domestic violence, sexual assault, fitness, faith. People have constantly bombarded me for three years saying, Mr. Whiskey. You will go nowhere. Your show title is not SEO Friendly. It's not optimized for searching or discovery. People don't know what your show is about, reading the title and when you serve everyone, you serve No one.

But I have continuously stayed anchored in the origin of what this once was because one of my main messages is in subtitle is Rebuilding Our Dreams, rebranding our Lives is that life will. Crush your dreams and will often go wrong. What can we do that is as close to alignment as that as possible and rebuild from there?

And now I have something far greater than what was gonna be. A couple of guys joking about nuke life. I have something that has had people write in and say, Mr. Whiskey, this episode changed my life. So the vision God had was much bigger than what I had as just a navy jokester. And so the change has been disappointing.

But also so much more rewarding than expected. It's evolved and I think it's reflective too, of the time period of my life of a young man leaving the military, becoming a civilian adulting for the first time. And I never really had a childhood because of the traumatic environment I went through. But adulting on my own and having to be an adult are two very different things.

And, moving in a professional direction. The military is a profession. But you're not always a professional, that's for sure. Especially when you know, you have a bunch of young guys, fresh outta high school, hanging out together, living together, doing the job together. And so I am very, like even my journey of faith has matured so much.

My intelligence, my articulation, everything has grown and evolved along with the show and as a result of the show, I don't think, I think if I had gotten out into the civilian world. And just been working a blue collar job that I would've been not only miserable, but I wouldn't be anywhere as successful as proud or self-loving as I am.

Not that I have a lot of that, but to the degree that I do have it is the result of podcasting because podcasting. Wasn't just talking behind a microphone. It was socialization. It was taking me around the world. It has brought me to people and put people in my life who have shared things I would've never discovered if I had stayed off in a little bubble.

Great. So do you have any thing you wanna talk about or share before we conclude the episode? I think you've given us a really good understanding of how you have grown so much over the three years and also about what it is that you're trying to do, which is to help others. So. Yeah, I know for the future, I really want to get into more niche topics, not niching down, but addressing niche topics like I have a interview coming up soon here about binge eating disorders.

It doesn't affect. It affects a lot of people, but not to a wide public media scale. And what I really wanna focus on in 2026 is getting those people who feel alone and unheard. That has always been my goal. Even my ministry radiating faith. It has been about the faith for those getting outta prison divorce in the military because those are people very isolated, have lost their support system, are going through an identity development.

And so. I really wanna reach people like my episode on why being skinny as a woman isn't as perfect as it seems like that reached someone who felt unheard. And because I talked about being skinny as a guy, I was constantly de masculinized. People said that I wasn't masculine, that I wasn't strong, that I wasn't a real man because I was skinny.

Y young women who are skinny, if they are unhappy with their body or going through mental health issues or whatever it is, they get told by everyone else, you're skinny, so you're pretty, you have everything a woman could want. Shut up. And I reached a woman who had been told that her whole life with my story, and the guest was sharing about growing up as a skinny woman and having health issues and being ignored.

And that reached her and that has stuck with me more than anything in the past three years. That is like the testimony that I share all the time because. That is what I want to be able to do. A lot of podcasters chase after numbers and it's a very beginner mindset to have because yes, more numbers means more reach, but reach doesn't always mean engagement and retention, and that's what's more important.

I say you could have 10 clients who pay you every week, or you could have, a million clients that half of them don't pay you or never show up again. It's about retention and engagement and so I want to reach people. As small as it may be. I, I always say, this is God's show and he's gonna take each episode to the right person at the right time.

And that might just be one person, and it might be after I'm dead. It's not about that, in faith, I always say it's not about witnessing the conversion, it's about planting the seeds that lead to it. And I think podcasting is the same way. It's not about the big numbers, it's not about the big income, it's not about the public, comments online.

It's about did you reach someone? That message is now in their mind, and maybe it's in the back of their brain and heart for a long time before it ever takes to fruition, but you did your part, and that's how I really feel about my show and what I want to do is reach those more niche topics. There's so many Vietnam veterans, and I've already interviewed a few that their side of the story was never told that what they did was never in the mainstream media or the news that it was just.

I glanced over. Sometimes intentionally, sometimes just by accident. There are people in domestic violence in, sexual abuse who are survivors, who feel like their story will have no impact. I've gotten to work this year already with authors who shared their story for the first time, and as they read their chapter aloud at the event that I was hosting with Janine Hernandez, they were crying because it was the first time they shared their story and they saw people in the audience reacting live to it.

And I think podcasting can be difficult 'cause you don't see all their reactions. But I know just from, from people who have shared and from listening to podcasts and from the live audiences, that it is reaching people. And sometimes that doesn't always reach you, but it's believing that it is, and it, it can be.

And Diana, what has your experience been with like. Reaching people. 'cause I know you've been podcasting for a little bit too here. Has it been frustrating or have you been pretty levelheaded about it? Or how would you feel? So it, it has been really interesting. I've just started, I have 22 episodes in and I did have and it's, it's a small things, right?

It's a small things that I had somebody come up to me, somebody that I know, and she said I was driving to work today. I was very frustrated because I was running late and there was traffic and I needed to be at work, and I heard what you said on the podcast about breathing, and that changed everything for me.

I was much calmer. I realized that I didn't have to be as much of a rush and just totally changed the way that she approached her day, her interaction with her children when she was in the car with them. So. Those things are the things that aren't seen as much, but have a significant impact on people.

And lots of times you don't even ever know that that's the case, but it is about the desire to reach people and to help them in some way, and you're gonna beat the statistics and make it to a hundred episodes, right? Well, I already beat half the, the big sta the biggest first hurdle is 10, so I'm at 22, and so I've got five that are in process right now.

So yeah, I'm gonna beat that. And, and they say about 20 episodes are required to kind of find your cadence in alignment with what you want to do, how you want to interview in terms of the length of the episode, what kinds of guests, so do you feel like you have pretty solid footing in moving forward?

What you want to do? I think so, and it's even, even with so 22 episodes, I do one a week, I went back and listened to my first episode and I'm like, ugh. Even 22 episodes in, which is not that long, that's what, five and a half months? Almost six months. But it is about being able to really find your way to be able to communicate what it is that.

Can help people. And sometimes it's things that you know because you've been there yourself and other times it might be things that you know from your expertise. I'm a clinical pharmacist. I dance and teach Argentine tango. I know a lot about movement, so some of them, some of these things come through in different ways, but it is about reaching people and it is about.

Working with people in a way that is I'll say intimate when you think about it, because they're, you're either in their ears or they're in the car and there might not be anybody else around. So it is really, even though it's not a one-on-one kind of reaction, it is because there's something that people are more open.

Because of the way that that information is delivered, that I find absolutely fascinating and something that really drew me to podcasting. And it's one of those things where you can see your growth. Like sometimes in a business, it's hard to look back and, and remember where you came from. But with podcasting, like you said, I've got a lot of episodes even, just from, like you mentioned a few weeks ago, I'm like, man I don't know.

I, I don't remember. It was great at the moment, but now it's like, man, but going all the way back to three years ago, it's like, wow. Same with social media posts, I go back to some stuff, I'm like, oh, we're, we're not gonna, why did I think that was a good idea? Yeah. Oh, why did I think that was a good idea?

Yeah. Or some things I'm like, oh, this is kind of cringey. But I remember it was so cool at the moment. And, but yeah, things, you change as a person a lot and I think it's interesting to be able to track all of that. And even like guesting on shows, from the shows I've guested on three years ago to the ones most recent, like.

And it's one of those repetition things. You really learn to tell your story into what to share. And you, I have found, and I don't know if you feel the same way, but I have learned a lot about myself through guesting on shows. Mm-hmm. And being asked questions that I don't ask myself, and even having guests on the show who say something and then I give insight.

I'm like, Hmm, I should apply that in my own life. That's the big one. Yeah. Yeah. Definitely. Well, first of all, you mentioned your podcast, but you didn't, you didn't say the name of it I'd, I'd love to know what it is. It is Midlife Reset, and it is for my women that I. Primarily focus on are menopausal.

But it's a lot for women, especially if you're finding that you don't have the energy, you don't feel good, you feel like an alien, so to speak, has invaded your body and wanna figure out what it is that you can do because midlife is a gift. There, you know so much more. You know what you like, you know what you wanna do, what you don't wanna do.

You wanna have the energy to, if you wanna climb Mount Everest or play pickleball, or do the worm. Yeah, do the worm right. Any of those things. So it's really about giving the information so you can make the choices. You can decide what your midlife is like, and to be ageless. And to be ageless because my business is an ageless life and I firmly believe that we can age in a way that we feel good, look good, have the energy that we want, and we're not a victim.

Any stretch of the imagination, and that has been one really inspirational thing. If I had to look back at all these three years of podcasting, I have met some amazing people from around the world, and the age has been the biggest inspiration because there are people I met a 90-year-old who published his first book at 90.

I mean, it has been so inspiring to. See people in their seventies who know how to use Zoom. Like stuff like that has been inspiring. But more importantly that I had a Vietnam veteran on my show who at 72 hiked the Appalachian Trail and became sober. I've seen people become sober. I've interviewed people who after 30 plus years of addiction became sober.

This show has taught me. Hope more than anything. And I mean, that's kind of the point of the show, so I'd hope so. No pun intended, but you know, it has been great to see people in, in, I grew up in a home where once my father retired and hit his late forties, early fifties, gave up on life. I'm old now, son.

You gotta, you gotta wipe me, and it's like, no, dad. Yeah. Not until you're 80 or 90 at least, and preferably never. Yeah. I hope you can do that yourself, but yeah. I've seen a lot of people, not just him, who once they reached a certain age, they just put all these limits on themselves. They say, well, at this age I'm supposed to start slowing down.

I'm supposed to gain weight. I'm supposed to lose my, and it's all, it's all a mental thing because I've seen people in their seventies and eighties who are super muscular and not, and, and naturally too, people who are right. Out and about, and I have always believed that life is momentum.

The more you do, the more you want to do. The less you do, the less you wanna do. When you slow down, it gets hard to start again. It's never too late, but it has been so inspiring to see people, guest on the show and share their story. I've had people who attempted suicide and the gun misfired, and they lived, and then they helped create the hotline for suicide prevention and, and wrote.

They got into writing and it has been so amazing to see so many people take the hardships of their life and create it into something good. And all week. My, my saying this week on every show I've been on has been our look back is someone else's look forward, and I've really been put in that forward this week because.

I think whatever we go through, it's an opportunity to teach and learn. I've done a lot of, I've had a lot of guests on the show talking about victimization, staying stuck in the miy pit of self, victimizing of blame, shifting of, excusing everything. And I never want that for anyone.

I want people to prosper, and it requires healing and it requires teaching and passing on because eventually enough intervention and recovery will become enough prevention that we don't need any of it. I think that's the, that's the ultimate goal, and I'd, it'll take more than just a nuke.

It'll take a couple of nukes. Oh, see, a couple of nukes. Yes. Yeah. So we're here, but Ms. Diana, I want to thank you for unexpectedly hosting a podcast today, well, and this has been fun because I hosted somebody else's podcast, so I get to do the interviewing, so that's great. Right. And this is something interesting and I mean, you mostly interview women only, right?

Mm-hmm. So you gotta interview your first man. That's three years there. There we go. Yep. But thank you for this. Like I said, three years has come and gone so fast. When's your, your year end anniversary is coming up? No, it'll be in. May, may, it'll be, it'll be in May and I'll be there interviewing you.

There you go. Absolutely. Perfect. Well, all right, ladies and gentlemen, if you want to find more of Diana's content, you can find that in a description below. And then I have my website where you can actually see part of the change over the past three years has been multiple logo changes. And I've.

If you want to catch up on my travels and all the episodes, they'll be there on their website. And I think it's just so I, I'm in love with my own website because to me I get to see all the growth and I know everything that's been required for it. A lot of sacrifice. People don't realize I have had to sleep in my car.

I've had to go dates without eating. I've had to fly, I had four flights in one day, once to speak at an event. So it is a lot of sacrifice, but. It is very much worth it and I am so excited for the future now, the future sacrifices. I'm hoping I don't have to sleep in my car when it's 20 degrees anymore, but I am very excited to reach more people and to do great work and to connect with you in a future.

Ms. Diana, when you come back on my show, yes. You might have to do a four year anniversary show. We might have to, and it might have to be in person while we're Argentine tangoing, there you go. We'll have a microphone on and we'll do the interview as we're dancing. That would be interesting.

Dancing. Dancing with the nukes, that's what we'll call it. Not stars with nukes. But thank you so much for this and everyone, if you have thought about starting a podcast, I highly encourage it. One of the big lessons I learned research first. There's a lot more to it than you think, but there are so many resources for free out there that break down everything you need to know.

It will save you money. It will save you time. It will give you a better launch. Trust me, research it. But also don't be afraid to as Chris Grit. So says, start ugly. If you have your idea, go with it. Don't wait for the fancy equipment too long. Don't push off, push off, push off. Start it now. Develop along the way.

And if you. Decided to start a podcast from this episode. Send it to me and I'll promote it. So yeah. But everyone, enjoy Diana. Thank you. Thank you. Bye-Bye.