The Story Continues…

Over the past few months, life has been moving at lightning speed. It feels like Jessica and I have been sprinting past a record number of major life milestones.

Our daughter Peyton graduated from the University of Tennessee. Just a few weeks later, we found ourselves helping her hunt for a tiny apartment in Manhattan to begin the next chapter of her life. Like every parent who’s watched a child walk across a graduation stage and then pack up and sail off into the unknown, I found myself seeing two people at once—the remarkable young woman she’s become and also the little girl whose hand I once held crossing the street to Anchorage Public School.

At almost the exact same time, our son Brady has been preparing to marry his high school sweetheart, Sophie. This August, our family will gather in Jackson Hole to celebrate the beginning of their own story. I can’t quite believe it… where do the years ago?

And, somewhere between becoming full-time, official empty nesters, planning a destination wedding, orchestrating a move to New York and reflecting on how the years disappeared so damn quickly, Jessica and I gave ourselves a gift we hadn’t enjoyed in a while.

Time.

We spent two weeks wandering through Amsterdam, Ghent, Bruges, and London. We lingered in cafés. We wandered boutique shops and centuries-old churches. We stood in front of masterpieces that have inspired generations and even spent a morning walking through Westminster Abbey, where scientists, poets, kings, artists, and philosophers all rest together under one roof, each having contributed their own chapter to humanity’s story. It was sensational.

But this particular trip wasn’t necessarily about checking famous places off a list.

It was about slowing down long enough to enjoy each other. To notice. To wonder at the world. To explore and…

To formulate even bigger, better questions.

Somewhere along those cobblestone streets and on those quiet canal walks, I realized those big questions were becoming the heartbeat of The Story of Us Project.

When I first started this podcast, I thought maybe I would create a series of interesting interviews.

I imagined sitting across from fascinating people, asking thoughtful questions, and sharing interesting conversations.

We’ve accomplished that for sure but…

What I didn’t expect was what started to happen after the first dozen or so episodes.

I stopped seeing individual interviews.

I started seeing connections.

• A family friend unknowingly echoed an ancient monk.
• A entrepreneur reinforced something a musician had just said.
• A physician arrived at the same conclusion as a philosopher who lived centuries earlier.

Different cultures. Different disciplines. Different ages. Different lives.

Yet somehow they kept pointing our conversations toward the same enduring truths about what it means to be fully human.

That’s when I realized this wasn’t simply becoming a podcast. It was becoming a part of the tapestry. Just another little piece added thoughtfully to a living, breathing human conversation stretching across centuries, reminding us that, while our technology changes, our deepest questions rarely do.

Why are we here?

What gives life meaning?

How do we love well?

Why do we suffer?

How do we become more fully human?

Those questions have been asked by humans since our creation. And, they’ve become the foundation of The Story of Us Project.

They’re also many the questions we’ll continue exploring throughout Season Three.

A Different Way of Thinking About Technology

One question has followed me through nearly every conversation I’ve recorded this past year.

Has technology brought us closer together…or simply connected us more efficiently?

Like many of you, I’ve spent plenty of time worrying about what our devices are doing to us. We scroll more. We pause less. Sometimes we know what strangers think before we’ve even take time to listen to the people sitting across from us at our own dinner table.

It’s really easy to conclude that technology is the problem. Heck, I’ve vilified it plenty in these blog posts and on our show. There’s a lot about modern technology we should rightfully be worried about.

But after conversations with authors, neighbors, friends, storytellers, psychologists, physicians, entrepreneurs, and spiritual teachers, I’ve come to a different conclusion.

Technology isn’t writing the story.

We are.

The same tools that can spread outrage can also spread love. The same platforms that divide us can also introduce us to ideas and people who completely change our perspective. The same microphone that can amplify anger can just as easily amplify compassion, curiosity, and hope.

That realization has changed the way I think about this project.

The goal isn’t to escape technology.

The goal is to redeem it.

• To use it intentionally.
• To create genuine human connection instead of superficial engagement.
• To replace outrage with understanding.
• To learn from people whose lives look nothing like our own.
• To remind ourselves that behind every profile picture is a honest-to-goodness real human who’s carrying a story we know almost nothing about.

If The Story of Us Project succeeds, it won’t be because we’ve built another podcast. (There are currently over 4 million podcasts vying for your attention-we’re not all that special).

If it survives and succeeds, it’ll be because we’ve worked hard to use the modern tools available to us to build an intentional community of people who still believe thoughtful conversation actually matters.

• People who remain curious about life.
• People who listen before judging others.
• People who understand that every person has something valuable to teach us.

I believe stories still matter.

I believe conversation still matters.

And I believe listening may be one of the most radical acts of love we can practice.

Welcome to Season Three

OK, so here’s the big news: Season Three officially kicked off this week. And, I gotta say, I think it’s gonna be the best season yet. We’ve used this Summer hiatus to sit down and record conversations with over 30 new guests.

Those episodes will be coming out TWICE weekly this time around. Every Wednesday and every Sunday.

You’ll hear from remarkable people whose lives could hardly look more different on the surface—a storyteller preserving ancient myths, neuroscientists exploring consciousness, historians, my eight year old nephew, physicians, artists, writers, photographers, teachers, spiritual thinkers, and ordinary people with extraordinary perspectives.

We’ll talk about the importance of maintaining a childlike sense of wonder. We’ll talk about Presence and Purpose and Forgiveness. Consciousness. Ancient wisdom. Modern science.

The stories we tell ourselves. And the stories that have shaped humanity for hundreds of thousands of years.

I’ve learned something fascinating from each and every one of these conversations…

We often enter the studio in completely different places. But if we listen long enough…

We almost always arrive at remarkably similar destinations.

• Humility.
• Awe.
• Gratitude.
• Love.
• Hope.

I’m beginning to believe that humanity has been walking around the same mountain for thousands of years, just describing it from different directions.

That realization has made me less interested in deciding who’s right and much more interested in asking one simple question:

“What can I learn from you?”

I’ve learned a lot this past few weeks. I simply can’t wait to share it with you.

So… dial up our show on your favorite device. Settle in to a comfy chair. Power up those headphones and invest in 60 minutes twice weekly to practicing your deep listening skills. I hope you find these conversations as valuable as I have.

I’d Love Your Help

This project has never really belonged to me alone. It belongs to all of us who believe there is still value in slowing down long enough to have meaningful conversations.

So as we begin this new season, I’d like to ask ya’ll for a few small favors.

• Listen. Not just for information, but for transformation.
• Share. Spread the messages and the conversations that move you.
• Recommend. Suggest the podcast to someone you know who enjoys asking big questions and…
• Follow along with us on Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, Bluesky, or wherever you spend time online. Let’s prove that social media can be used for something beautiful—for spreading curiosity instead of certainty, kindness instead of contempt, and connection instead of isolation.

And if you know someone whose story deserves a wider audience, I’d genuinely love to hear from you. Send me an email on the Start Here page.

Because, some of my favorite conversations have come from listener recommendations. There are extraordinary people all around us whose wisdom simply hasn’t found a microphone yet. Maybe you know one of them.

Finally, I’m excited also that this weekly publication, Letters from the Middle of It All, has returned.

If you subscribe for free, every Thursday morning, you’ll receive a new essay in your inbox—no strings attached.

• No spam.
• No algorithms and endless scrolling.
• Just one thoughtful letter each week.

These reflections are more personal than the podcast. They’re where I wrestle with the questions life is asking of me as a husband, father, business leader, and fellow traveler on this wonderfully messy experience of being human.

Finally, “Thank You”

Before we begin another season together, I simply want to say thank you.

• Thank you for listening.
• Thank you for reading.
• Thank you for recommending the show to friends.
• Thank you for the emails, comments, book suggestions, guest recommendations, and thoughtful conversations that have reminded me this project is becoming something much bigger than I ever imagined.

Remember… The universe gave us atoms and energy and matter.

But life gave us stories. (and technology gives us remarkable new ways to share them).

My hope is that together we’ll use those tools not merely to communicate more, but to understand one another much more deeply.

Behind every story is a person.

Behind every person is a life.

And together, those lives have become…

The Story of Us: From Cosmic Dawn to the Depths of Being

I’m so grateful you’re walking this journey with me.