 Hello, my friends. So I know that times are weird and times are tough. And this whole pandemic is affecting us in lots of different ways and some very scary ways and ways that we don't even quite know what's going to happen. And we're all trying to hold it together. Me included. I have my fine days. I have my good days and I have my bad days. And I'm sure a lot of you can relate to all of that. But today's video I thought I would share with you one of my favorite people on the planet. And actually, I know that she's one of your favorite people as well. And that is Dana. You all know Dana from the videos. We've been on countless adventures together. But Dana is one of the most incredible humans I have ever met. And I am very fortunate to call her one of my best friends. And a little bit of backstory is I met her at her cafe here in Boulder a little over 10 years ago. She owns the Walnut Cafe. It's this beautiful spot with great food and great community. And that's how we we first met. And since then, you know, we've been on bike adventures. She's helped crew me at the javelin 100. She has helped hug me after multiple breakups and heart aches. She helped counsel me when I decided to stop drinking alcohol about five years ago. Dana has one of the biggest hearts of any human I have ever met. She donated a kidney to her brother at one point. She has been through a lot herself and she's gained a wisdom from all of that. As a boss, she has about 90 employees and she takes care of them like family. I mean, she's told me countless stories of her paying rent for employees that come to her and need a little extra help or whatever they need. Dana and Xanta are there for them. And right now, Dana and Xanta have put in a ton of their own money to keep paying their employees and keep feeding them food because they mean a lot to her. And Dana and Xanta are not like super rich people. They own a successful business, but they're just straight up generous. And what I love most about Dana is her kindness and her heart. And I go to her when times are tough and I get mentorship and wisdom. And you know, we hang out a lot when times are good too. I would say 95% of the time we hang out. We're having a great time riding bikes or goofing around or watching Christmas movies or whatever it is. And so I thought I would go over to Dana's house today and just sit down and ask her some questions. And hopefully she will glean her wisdom on us. And I really hope you enjoy it. I'm sure you will because you already love Dana. So let's go over to Dana's house. So it looks like we're not six feet apart, but with the magic of cameras, we really are six feet apart. So don't worry. Yeah, we got the tape measure out right over there. Exactly. So first question. This is a very important one. What is your favorite flavor of pie? Oh, that is an important one. You know, I ask people this all the time, like if you could only have one pie for the whole rest of your life, what would it be? Because that's a big commitment. It's like marrying pie. Anyway, I got to go with chess pie. What? What? Chess pie? Chess pie. Yeah. And no one knows. Like, I know. Do you know what chess pie is? Chess pie. Chess pie is like this old southern recipe. And it's mostly the flavors vanilla, but it has corn meal in it and of course sugar and butter and it's really simple. But part of it is my mom used to make chess pie. Okay. And she would have these things called bridge club where everybody like the little ladies came and played bridge, right? And they would have like a saucer with black coffee and I call it a sipping pie because you just take like a little bit. It goes a long way because it's super sweet. And I remember rushing home from school to see if they finished all the pie. Okay. But yeah, chess pie man. It's a sleeper but it is so good. Now we get into the heavy stuff. What do you do Dana? Because I look to you. What do you do when times get tough? And you can talk about this exact one, but also, I mean, you've been through a lot of stuff in your life. It's true. Well first Ryan, the reason you've come to me is not because I'm all that wise. I just have more experience because I'm older. That's not why. As soon as you're like my age, you're going to be like some whipper snapper being like, Hey, I'm going to go to Ryan for advice, although that's hard to imagine. I come to you from pie. I know. Yeah, but it is, it is a tough time. Yeah. And of course, I, boy, I have been in it. Like I'm just going to talk about the COVID-19 experience in particular. Like because yeah, we, I mean, we've had a lot of grief in our life. Like, you know, oh my God, my brother passing, my parents passing, you know, crunching up my body and stuff. But this particular instance, and you've seen it, but boy, I have felt it mostly because I'm a small business owner and I have three little restaurants. Yeah. And people really do get super close. Like you're a family. Yeah. And that has been my, my biggest anxiety is, you know, the whole, the whole future of like those people, I have people who have been with me like my kitchen manager has been with me since 1989. Yeah. So it's like, and people have, you know, a lot of seniority. They've been there a long time. So I have really felt it. And I think that we're all collectively grieving because there's this big thing of like, what's going to happen out here? And we don't know. Yeah. We don't know at all. That scares the out of us. The children watching. I know the out of us. Because we really don't know. Like what is it? What does it look like? What does it look like next week? What does it look like next year? Like, we don't know and how this is like changed the world forever. So boy, I have had some days for sure where I was just grieving. Yeah. Grieving what was and because we know it's never going to be the same because we've had this experience. Yeah. So I'm telling you, I like had a few days where I was just like a mess. And then when that happens, because it happens to all of us, I have to, there were a couple of times I just had to like yank myself in to the present. Yeah. The present moment and just be like, okay, there's nothing wrong with right here, right now. And I know some people like you can yank yourself back into the present and maybe your granddad is in a hospital bed suffering from this or, you know, whatever it is. But the angst that most of us feel is what we're whipping up. Yeah. Like our storyline of what could happen or what might happen. Humans are good at that. We get wrapped up and stuff and start working. We can't sleep because we're like, this is going to happen and this is going to happen. My life is going to crumble. Yeah. Yeah. And then you wake up and you soak it. Yeah. Feel better. Yeah. So you got to be super present. You got to be like the Jedi of, yeah, be right here. Don't be way out there. Yeah. And then, you know, the other thing is it has helped me so much throughout any challenge I've had my entire life. Once I got this dialed in. That's when I started appearing to be wise. And it's, I mean, I talk about it a lot like my superpower being kindness. Yeah. But really what that is is getting out of yourself and looking of ways to be of service, looking for ways to contribute, like listening to someone, actually doing errand for someone, like paying somebody's rent, like feeding someone, like anything that you can do. It gets you out of yourself and it's great at putting you right in the present. I have this, and I'm sure you've seen it. I'm sure you've heard me talk about it. But I have this mantra sometimes when I'm in, you know, it's possible I could go down the rabbit hole, you know, like when I can recognize that, like, wow, man, I have got to get out of this space that's going forward. I think I could just tell it off my head. My mantra is I'm grateful. Yeah. Like you've got to start there. Yeah, for sure. You, you've got to start there. So I'm grateful. I accept, like that's huge, because, you know, like, look at the situation we're in, like, we don't accept it, then we're never going to be content. We're never going to get to a space of right now is okay. I appreciate, so not even acceptance, but appreciating. I look for ways to contribute. So we talked about that. I care about others, getting yourself out of the way. I care about life, because again, you have to recognize how amazing it is that we get another day here. Yeah. I am and this is the next part. I am an awe of life and grateful to be a part of it. So that particular little thing, it's, it just pulls it all home for me, man, because it's like, not just grateful, but just being an awe, like that we get to have this journey. And, you know, it, that pulls me back. And, you know, I don't, I don't want it to seem like, you need to know this, like that, you know, yes, or superpower may be kindness, but it doesn't mean that we're just superheroes and that we don't feel hurt cry and that we don't grieve and that we don't get angry, you know, at this and everything. But you always have to, though, come back to now. And, you know, having experienced some loss, I mean, we all have, one of the things is like just knowing that we are going to lose, like, eventually we just get old and, you know, hopefully, right? It's part of life. You get old and you die and all that happens. But when we think about today, right now, right now, like everything that we have, we have to be grateful for. For sure. Because you don't even know if that's happening again. Totally. Tomorrow could be a completely different thing. It can all be taken away in a moment's notice. And that's really been important for me. And it's something as I get older and wiser to your Jedi level. I do appreciate the little things. We were just sitting outside looking at the clouds and I was like, wow, the clouds look really cool today. And I can get lost in that moment. Whereas when I was in high school, I don't think I would have really cared that much about clouds or nature or a bumblebee flying on a flower. Oh, that's cool. That's part of life. But I'm more focused on girls and bikes and college or whatever. But now it's the little things. Yeah. You know, because that's part of the journey. Yeah. So you've always been a big athlete your entire life. And getting outside for you is very important. That's one of our main connectors for sure is going on adventures being outside. Have you always been that way? And if not, what's some advice for us to get out there more? You know, and what does it do for your heart and your soul? From the get out there guy. From the get out there guy. Yes. Yes, I really have. But you know, that comes, I think it's the same as you, anyone who's fortunate enough to like have a little gang around your neighborhood, you know, just like growing out with the neighborhood kids and being outside and just spending as much time as possible out there. There's a freedom about that. You know, when you talk about riding your bike, how much freedom you got. And there's a freedom about just, you know, having a couple of pals and, you know, stomping around in the woods, you know, or just having your feet in the dirt and just that kind of play. Play, that's the key word. I think as we get older, who become adults, playing is seen as something that's only for kids. Yeah. And adults don't play as much anymore. You think about we're in our houses, we're in our offices, we're in our cars, we're inside all the time, we're not really connected to mother nature all that much anymore. Yeah. But you have held on to it. And I think a lot of the audience here, they, you know, they realize the importance of getting outside, but it can be hard sometimes, you get a little depressed or the weather's not perfect, or maybe you're, you have a blister on your toe or something. But just for me, some of like the most simple moments of walking barefoot in the grass can just make me feel, ah, this is great. Yeah, so good. Because that's a little planet, you know, that is our playground. But um, I've actually been playing more during this time. What I mean is like, I'm not like, oh, I'm going for, you know, 30, 40 mile bike ride, I'm going to go from here to there and then ride back, whatever. I'm doing more of just taking my, you know, commuter bike and jumping. Priority 600. It is. And I don't, I don't have a timeline. I don't have a place to go. I'm not doing any of that. And I am just exploring and just, well, you know what, it feeds my soul. Like, I'm glad you asked this. I'm just doing this. Like I, I'm riding around. I'm wearing my, you know, buffing because that's the kind considerate thing to do. And it's not great to like hammer up a hill, you know, with your thing on, but especially if you have bad breath. Exactly. But anybody that I see, like if I'm encountering anyone, I make sure my buff is up. But I'm just riding around Boulder and exploring and, you know, doing different things. And here's my thing. Whenever I see people, this has been awesome. Instead of just like, because you know, you can't like smile with your eyes or whatever, you get this. And so I've just been throwing the peace sign. All good. And you know what happens? It's so crazy. Like almost everybody like throws the peace sign rather than like, you know, wave or whatever, where it's like peace. And it kind of means more to me right now because of that collective shared experience of like, we know, like we're all going through something. We don't know all the exacts, but we're all going through something. So it almost feels better to just say peace, you know, offer that up instead of, I don't know. It's kind of reminds me when I've done some bike tours and the Harley dudes ride the other direction, they always like wave or do the little Harley sign to you to even the cyclists. And it's just a nice way to connect with the human for just a split second. And sometimes that's all it takes to connect with another human is a smile or just, you know, one of these, the peace sign is like, okay, I have a community and I have a neighbor and I feel like I'm part of this. And that's big for people with what's going on. There's lots of information and misinformation. And everybody kind of thinks they're an expert in some way. And that's just how humans work. And it's easy to get for lack of a better word, you know, angry with people on social media or online or part of our community, they think, Oh, what you're doing is stupid. There's no point wearing a mask or whatever it is. And we were talking about this the other day about how we treat people in those moments. And let's go back there because I think that's a very valuable lesson. How do we treat people in those moments when you want to be a little sharp or, you know, get back at them on, you know, the Facebook or whatever it is, but you hold back. Yeah, Karen on Facebook. Karen on Facebook. Yeah, I don't know why they say Karen, but yeah, I think about this. I mean, it's a conscious decision. We were talking about that where you have to choose it. And it's kind of like choosing kindness. Yeah, actually, because, you know, someone who's like attacking someone on social media or whatever. And we've had it happen. Oh my God, we had someone go off on one of the restaurants. And I was like, are you kidding me? We're not even open. But anyway, you know, I have, for me personally, like, I don't have those kinds of conflicts on social media, right? Because I just will not participate. Yeah, I just won't. Like I have that is it kind? Is it true? Is it necessary? Let's go say that again louder. When you're posting on social media, I like to think, is it kind? Is it true? Is it necessary? Those are great. Like, you know, I don't, I don't have to be right. Yeah. I don't have to, I don't mind sitting like this and having a conversation with someone like I'm really interested in someone's opinions and how they feel. But it can get really blown out on social media. Act with intention, like to slow down enough that you're like, how am I acting? And then one of the things I that has really helped me in the last couple of weeks. And it's maybe it's thinking about judging it, but maybe judging myself, which I know people are, I don't judge yourself, but this isn't a good way. I really was thinking about, okay, when we look back on this, like, you know, maybe it's next spring, maybe whatever, like, who do I want to be? Like, who, what kind of leader do you want to be? How do you, you know, what, what do you want to present? Like, and I, you know, I want to be genuine. I want to be authentic. I want to be me. But in all of those things, I really hope and try to really act in a way that it's kind. Yeah. And looking back on it, you want to be like, okay, I handled that situation in a mature way. I could have been a jerk, but I chose not to be a jerk. And I'm proud of that. And I can look back on that conflict and be like, okay, I did it right. Because it's so easy just to like hammer back at somebody with a, you know, a quick little comment or something mean. It's really easy to be mean. You know, somebody says something to you online or in real life and you're like, oh yeah, well, you're a, I know. You know, just on social media, I think it's like real life. Like, I don't, I don't fight like that either. Like, you know, with my wife, we have some boundaries and stuff. Like, I just don't think you should have to say things or do things that you can't take back. One of the things that I noticed that happens is that people do shoot off that comment or that or they post something that's like maybe off color or polarizing for people, you know, politically or whatever. And they start to get this thread of like people just like going off. And then all of a sudden it's like, oh, I was just joking. It was just a joke. Well, the joke created all of this energy that went towards that. The anger and the judgment and all of that stuff. So no, I don't, I don't see how that's helpful. It's not helpful at all. But a lot of humans, even us, me, I mean, you go to that point where you're just like somebody, you know, insults you or something. And it just, it feels bad. And you want to be like, no, that's not true. And this is why, you know, it's sometimes you'd have to be the bigger person in those moments. And it's hard. But if I think it's something that we all need to remember, especially right now, because there's so much going on, we live in a, we live in a very polarized world politically and every other way. And it's so easy to be like, you're wrong and you're dumb, and you're wrong and you're dumb. And this is why. And then you have to think like, when you're thinking that way about you're wrong and you're dumb, and you're wrong, and you're dumb. And they're just like on to the next thing that's happening. They're just like on to the next conflict in social media or whatever. And don't even think about it. Yeah, probably. Oh, I got in the last word, whatever. But you are thinking about it. So the only person that affects, and I know everybody's like, you know, but it is, you're the only one who's holding that anger. Holding anger does no good at all. Just like when you're, when we're really kind to someone or we do acts of kindness, not only does that, is that great for the recipient, it makes you feel amazing. So I sometimes say that kindness is selfish, because it feels so great. That you're like, whoa, you know, man, she is so selfish and selfishly kind. Why is she so nice to everybody? Super kind way. But yeah, it's true. I mean, it feels, it feels great to be contributing and be of service. I'm just trying to be thoughtful, yeah, act with intention, be brave. Yeah, this is one of the biggest challenges of my career. And it's almost an honor to have the experience. It sounds really crazy, but it's like part of the journey. Like, of course, I would go through a global pandemic before I go out. But I'm glad, I'm glad that it's me, I'm glad that I'm doing it. And I don't know if that's arrogant kind of thing or whatever. It's like the guy that wants the ball in the last minute, 10 seconds. Give that ball to Michael Jordan. You're the Michael Jordan. You are Michael Jordan. I don't know, but, but I'm doing the best I can and I'm really like just, you know, trying to just figure it all out. So let's take it back to the present moment right here, right now in your garage, which I might have to move into if things go south and I can't pay my bills. You should because it's warm. There's a lot of gear in here. There's a lot of bikes here. Your picture. My picture's on the wall. So we're all going through it together. Some people out there are having a really tough time. Some people are probably doing okay. What are some things we can think about? You know, just snap us out of a funk. Mm-hmm. Well, I always come back to gratitude. Yeah. I mean, you have to be grateful. Even in the really crappy-ass times, like there's always something to be grateful for. True. And it's like that thing of like anything that you have right now has not yet been taken or you, you know, whether it's your health or it's this or it's that, like you have it. So fine, you've got to find something to be grateful for. Yeah. I mean, you probably don't even know this. But every single time you ask me to go on like a, you know, bike trip or whatever, like if I'm able, like I always say yes, right? Yeah. But I'm also aware of when it's happening. Like I don't know when the last time is that you and I will go on a bike, you know, journey or I don't know whenever I surf, I'm always like, I don't know when the last time is I'll get in the water and surf. So we have to be like really here, really present and be grateful for those things. Yeah. And we're going to get there again, too. Like we're going to get back to a normal. Yeah. A new normal, which might be even, you know, better in some ways. Absolutely. Yeah. Like it's all about the journey. It is about the journey. And this has been quite the journey. And I'm so grateful that you are part of my journey in my life. I love you in so many different ways. And I feel very grateful, grateful that we're talking about today. That you're in my life. I love you too. Thank you. And thank you. I'm very grateful to have this channel and to have a place to share my adventures and thoughts and ideas. And I'm glad that you've gotten to know Dana, one of my favorite people on the planet. And I know you love her. So right down below, how much you love Dana, send her some love. And if you ever come to Boulder, come to the Walnut Cafe. I think this is the part in your videos where you usually say and like and subscribe. Like and subscribe. Right. Because it is important, you know, the YouTube artist, because what you do, I get to see a lot of it firsthand. And it's pretty cool. But you know, it is how you're making your living. So it's important to like and subscribe. If you can, if you like this content, you better like this content. And also you have a Patreon. A Patreon. Yeah. Page. And so is that link? That's linked down below. Yeah. You're doing a great job. Thanks. She started your YouTube channel. There you go. Or you can just be on mine whenever you want. Yeah, there you go. I'm just going to be the guest. Okay, good. Well, you are a very beloved guest in real life, my life, but also a lot of people around the world. So thank you all for being part of this and supporting the channel. We got this. We got this. We got this. We all got this. One big hug for everybody out there. It's giving them a hug, Dana. Yeah. We're going to be okay. We love you. We're going to be okay. Bam. Bam. So just go be grateful. Yeah, go be grateful. Go walk barefoot in the grass, ride your bike around the block, sing Olay in a tunnel, whatever. Yep. Whatever it takes. Yep. Do it. Adios.