Many individuals traverse life perceiving an outwardly successful existence while grappling with an internal disquietude. This episode elucidates the poignant reality that, for some, the catalyst for transformation emerges from life-altering experiences. Our guest, Dixon, recounts a harrowing health crisis that compelled him to confront the incongruities between his aspirations and daily existence. Through his journey—culminating in the establishment of the "Someday Now" movement—he illustrates the necessity of pursuing one’s dreams without delay. As we engage in this discourse, I encourage you to reflect on your own life, to consider the dreams you have deferred, and to contemplate the steps necessary to awaken your true purpose.

Life often presents a facade of success, where individuals may appear accomplished in the eyes of society yet feel an unsettling void within. This dichotomy is poignantly explored as our guest, Dixon, recounts his transformative journey following a life-threatening health crisis. A pulmonary embolism in 2014 served as a catalyst, compelling him to confront the dissonance between his external achievements and internal dissatisfaction. Rather than succumbing to complacency, Dixon embraced a radical paradigm shift, embarking on a quest to reclaim his passions and dreams that had long been relegated to the realm of 'someday.' Through the lens of his experiences, he illustrates the importance of living intentionally and purposefully, urging listeners to reflect on their own lives and recognize the often elusive nature of fulfillment. His narrative underscores a powerful truth: the best chapters of our lives are not solely behind us; they can be written anew, regardless of age or circumstance, if we dare to act decisively rather than defer our aspirations indefinitely.

Takeaways:

• The podcast emphasizes the importance of pursuing dreams rather than postponing them indefinitely, urging listeners to reflect on their true desires.
• Dixon's life-threatening experience catalyzed a profound transformation, compelling him to realign his life with his authentic self and aspirations.
• The discussion highlights the concept of 'drifting', where individuals gradually lose sight of their passions and identities amidst life's responsibilities.
• Listeners are encouraged to embrace discomfort and take bold actions, as this can lead to profound personal growth and fulfillment.
• The 'Someday Now' movement is introduced as a call to action, motivating individuals to seize the present and chase their dreams without delay.
• Dixon's journey illustrates that it is never too late to reclaim one's passions and live a life of purpose and adventure.

Links referenced in this episode:

• Go with Dixon
• GoWithDixon.com
• Substack

Have you ever looked around at your life and realized everything appears successful on the outside, but something feels off on the inside?

Have you ever promised yourself you pursue that dream someday, then that trip.

Take that trip someday.

Write that book someday.

Live purposely someday.

What if someday never comes?

Today's guests learned firsthand that life can change in an instant.

After a life threatening health crisis forced him to confront some hard truths and he stopped waiting for the perfect time and started chasing the life that he was called to live.

From launching a paraglider off of a Colorado mountain to pursuing world class endurance goals and inspiring others through his Someday now movement, his story is a powerful reminder that our best chapters aren't necessarily behind us.

Stay tuned because this conversation may be the wake up call you've been waiting for.

It's a season of cultural confusion, changing values, and endless noise.

The world is broken into pieces, but where others see division forever, God is cultivating Creators of connection.

Bridge Builders welcome to becoming bridge builders.

Reverend Dr. Keith Haney will be your host throughout this journey.

This podcast is for those who feel stirred to lead well with wisdom, courage and radical compassion.

We address culture's hardest conversations each week with biblical common sense and focused clarity.

Our goal isn't just to win debates.

Our goal is to stand in truth, offer radical grace, and actively build bridges of trust.

Wherever you are, it's time to stop watching from the sidelines.

Let's build together.

Grab your blueprints.

Today I'm excited to welcome Brian Dixon Mekong.

Dixon is an adventurer, author, speaker, and founder of Someday now movement.

After years of building what appeared a successful life, he realized that he had slowly drifted away from the from the man he was created to become.

Instead of settling into comfort, Dixon chose to pursue the dreams he placed on hold.

He trained as a solo paraglider from Colorado's Lookout Mountain, chased ambitious goals and endurance goals, and rebuilt his life around intentionality instead of autopilot.

Today, through his speaking, writing and upcoming book, Hold My Beer, I'm Going Back into the Game, Dixon helps people recognize and reverse the slow drift that often keeps them from becoming who they were truly meant to be.

Dixon, welcome to the podcast.

Reverend.

How you doing?

We're finally connecting here.

We finally are.

After after much, much consternation, we are here.

So I'm glad to talk to you.

You too, man.

I really appreciate you having me on the show.

Oh no, I'm looking forward.

This is a great Conversation.

I'm looking forward to you kind of helping us to get out of our comforts.

I just wrote an article from my blog last week about getting out of our comfort zone.

So I'm looking forward to having this conversation.

Oh yeah, comfort's a big topic.

So I'm asking my favorite question.

What's the best piece of advice you've ever received?

Oh, gosh, that's an easy one.

I do a lot of reading and I love quotes from people that I, you know, read over the years.

And Henry Ford's got one of the best.

Whether you think you can or think you can't, you are correct.

And that speaks to mindset, doesn't it?

That's mindset, exactly.

I love Henry Ford.

I spent some time in the Detroit area, so I, I appreciate what he's done.

Yeah.

Oh my gosh, what a story.

Yeah, exactly.

So you often talk about drift.

What exactly does drift mean to you?

Yeah, yeah, drift to me.

You know, I'm kind of one of those guys that did became a people pleaser early on in my life and kind of lived the expected life of kind of the provider and the guy on the white horse that's meant to serve, which is great.

But inside of that role, a lot of times men especially will drift away from kind of that, that fire they have when they're younger.

And in my case, I kind of got watered down inside of not guarding my own dreams, inside that role of, you know, which, which was a great role.

I have three boys and I had a marriage for a long time that, that didn't work out.

But drifting just means gradually losing a little bit more of yourself until at some point you're.

You don't recognize yourself anymore, which was my case.

Well, we don't get there overnight.

So what were some of the warning signs that you noticed later on?

Because I'm sure you didn't notice at the time when you would have stopped drifting.

But as you look back at it, what were some of the signs that you noticed that you were drifting?

Well, that's just it, isn't it?

In my book, I call this kind of state of being a man zombie.

And someone who's asleep at the wheel really doesn't recognize any of the signs.

And for guys that aren't taught to talk about their feelings or be vulnerable, unfortunately a lot of these changes only happen when something critical happens.

And in my case it was a near death experience.

So there weren't any signs.

And that's kind of why I'm writing the book.

To wake.

I call it wake up, realign and move forward.

So.

So what does that look like for men?

Because like you said, men are busy, you know, building the dream, living, taking care of family, doing.

Doing all the things we're supposed to check off our list.

Says this makes you a good father, a good husband.

What are some of the things that we need to be mindful of to make sure we're not falling into that drifting category.

Yeah.

And, boy, it's kind of easy to do because I think that Hollywood idea of the man on the white horse and the provider is also an idea of a guy who just doesn't.

Doesn't say much and just quietly, you know, serves.

And that's one of the strongest things that we have as men.

But in my case, and I see it in a lot of men that I work with, if you have a dream for yourself, you really need to guard it within that.

Within that role.

And in some cases, we end up giving almost too much.

And what I mean by that is I ended up doing a lot of the things and my whole identity became kind of that, that provider servant, which was great.

But I had dreams early on as a young man to be a writer and an adventurer, and I had a whole bunch of dreams to travel.

And once I got into the role of providing and being a father and raising a family, of course those came first, as they should.

But I kind of talk about it like, hey, man, if you used to play guitar when you were younger and that was a big part of your life, and then as you go through that process, at some point you might forget how to play guitar.

And then you get spit out in midlife going, who am I and what am I doing in this world?

So this is kind of the impetus for the book, which is all about, you know, reclaiming that fire and relooking at either the dreams you used to have or the ones that have come along recently that you want to accomplish before it's too late.

Right, Right.

So take us back to your story.

You had a life threatening embolism that became a major turning point in your life.

Take us back to that experience and kind of what?

Let's walk us through that.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

I had divorce, bankruptcy, unemployment, and just a kind of a really low point in my life.

And then a few years later, as I was trying to rebuild, um, I'M a big mountain biker.

I'm a big outdoor guy here in Colorado.

And so I'm a snowboarder, mountain biker, and paraglider.

And I'm like, okay, that's cool.

And so I went home and thought nothing of it, because I've.

I've done that for years.

I got a lot of scars on my body for being outdoor guy.

But fast forward three months later, at the end of May Memorial Day.

I had woken up feeling like I had a broken rib.

And I had taken a bike ride up one of our taller mountains here in Colorado, Mount Evans.

And I just couldn't keep up with my normal bike partner.

And the next day, my partner at the time's like, man, if you wake up with this hurt, you know, rib thing one more time, you should go to the doctor.

And I did, and woke up with that same pain and went to see my primary physician.

As I'm sitting in the waiting room, they call my name.

As I follow the nurse back, everything goes blurry, and I collapse.

And they rushed me the ER and did an mri, and they're like, you don't have a small or medium.

You have a extremely large, massive pulmonary embolism, which is a blood clot that had come three months before from the bike wreck.

So it kind of came out of nowhere, man.

I mean, I forgot all about that incident.

And then here it is.

You know, a blood clot had gone into my pelvis and grown over those months.

And then when the spring biking season started, it pushed it up into my lungs.

Thank goodness.

Thank goodness.

Because if it would have gone in the other side, it was a heart attack, or if it would have broken off to the brain, it would have been a stroke.

Yeah.

Wow.

So it was kind of a weird out of left field story, right?

It was.

And you also said, so since you brought this up, I'm going to kind of have you do this.

You said men don't like talking about your feelings.

What were some of the things you were emotionally going through as all that was happening around you?

Yeah, I think.

I ended up kind of going down roads that were in opposition to my own voice.

As a young man, out of college.

And I ended up, instead of becoming a writer, I had all the opportunities that God and life gave me to become a writer and get involved in a relationship that would work for me, but instead, I. I directionally chose.

I became a blackjack dealer, of all things, to kind of help pay the bills.

And I got involved in a relationship that.

That was kind of wrong, was very wrong from the beginning in terms of, you know, just one of those situations that forced, you know, a relationship.

And, and so my point is, is that by kind of pushing down my own wants and needs as a young man, I never got to explore all that.

So I felt like I went on this journey down some rabbit holes in the career realm as well as the relationship realm, to where I was doing things that, you know, career wise and relationship wise that I knew weren't right from the beginning.

So I kind of talk about that's kind of like, for men, if.

If something's wrong deep down and we don't talk about it, it's kind of like putting a, you know, a small.

A slow boil on.

Of water on your stove.

And, you know, over time, that's gonna blow up or.

Or boil over, isn't it?

I was a mortgage broker at that point.

I'd gotten out of blackjack, but complete financial and relationship destruction.

Um, and then the pulmonary embolism hit.

And I, I.

After that, I was like, you know, I, I didn't ever even really like the career that I was in.

And I certainly kind of got into the.

A relationship that wasn't aligned with, you know, where I wanted to go.

And so I started asking some shallow questions, like, who am I?

Why am I here?

And what is my purpose on earth?

And that led me back to a dream that I had followed up on before all that, which was.

Sounds crazy, but it's kind of like a big kite.

It's called a paraglider.

I had moved to golden, and just by living in this apartment, I happened to be in the.

The center of Colorado paragliding.

It was the landing zone for these guys that were launching off this mountain and landing in this field every day.

And over time, I became obsessed with that and started training for it.

And after a year of training, my whole goal was to launch off this mountain like these guys were doing.

And I had to put all that to rest.

When I became a provider and got married.

Right.

Because that's what responsible guys do.

And so that kind of dream went to sleep with me for 25 years.

And then fast forward.

After the pulmonary embolism, I was at a work conference.

I kind of went to a YouTube for realtors, and the guy that was teaching was using paragliding videos in the background as his teaching for YouTube videos.

And I went up to him afterwards.

I'm like, man, man.

25 Years ago, it was my big dream to see if I had the guts to launch a paraglider off Lookout Mountain.

And the guy's name was Tim.

It was almost like out of a movie.

But he.

He's like, well, just because you're 50 doesn't mean you can't do that.

I could help you do that.

I'm an instructor.

And that became me asking myself, hmm, I wonder if that's kind of what I could use to get me back on track as, you know, who I am, since I had kind of lost my own identity.

Was the.

Was the flight.

So you survived a blood clot and your first thought was, let me jump off a mountain?

Yeah, man.

You know.

You know what's funny about that, Reverend?

It sounds crazy, but if you're someone who's asleep at the wheel and just going through the motions of your.

I needed to feel like I was alive again.

And I really.

When I say fell asleep for 20 years, I really was.

I felt like I was a, you know, a paycheck and a limo driver, and I felt like I was doing all the.

Checking all the boxes of bringing home the bacon.

But any semblance of who I was as a.

As a man originally, I just.

I just put to bed with.

With that whole.

My whole identity kind of became, hey.

And that's all great.

And I don't want anyone to think that I don't honor my journey, but in terms of what I needed to guardrail for myself, I threw it all out the window, if that makes sense.

No, it does.

You threw it off a mountain.

That makes a lot of sense.

Yeah.

So let's get into your book.

I love the title.

Hold my beer.

I'm going back into the game.

What inspired you to write that book?

Yeah, yeah.

I'll tell you, it sounds crazy, right?

But, like, if you're a guy at a.

At a.

If you're a guy at a bar, maybe, like, what.

What would be the.

What would.

If someone said, hold My Beer.

Or even if you're at a college party, it's usually associated with someone's about to do something a little dangerous and someone's about to not overthink a decision to maybe, I don't know, go do a double backflip off of a roof into the pool while everyone cheers.

Right?

And so I'm not, I'm out to redefine that Hold My Beer energy as what we need as men in midlife to make a non negotiable decision to change our lives.

And when I say change our lives, meaning get back in alignment with what we're meant to do in this life before it's too late.

If we've been out on a, on this train and on this journey and we haven't really dug down and said, hey, you know, what do I want to accomplish before it's all over?

What kind of legacy do I want to lead or leave?

That's what Hold My Beer is all about.

It's an energy that says I am doing this no matter what.

And maybe I would give the example of if someone's trying to lose 20 pounds and they say, I intend to go to the gym today versus I am committed to go to the gym today.

Well, which one's going to get the job done, right?

And so that is really the essence of Hold My Beer energy.

There is no going back when you decide to non negotiably, I call it lay down the gauntlet.

I am going to spend two years of training to launch this mountain.

And that journey led me into other things where I could point that energy.

And it's the reason the book came about, because I went to school for journalism, always said I was going to write a book, but also put that dream to sleep for 25 years.

So now here I am going, you know what, I am going to launch the mountain.

I am going to write the book.

And it ended up helping me meet the woman of my dreams five years ago.

We just got married last September.

Her name's Mina.

So a lot of big changes from Hold My Beer Energy.

I love it.

Congratulations on that, by the way.

Thank you very much.

So who is this book written for?

Who are you trying to connect with?

The Hold My Beer energy?

Yeah.

Well, it sounds like it's a book for men only.

And that's of course from my perspective.

The only story I could write is from a man's perspective, but on a bigger scale.

Really what I'm talking about, Reverend, is disengagement.

And that does not just affect men.

You know, women are kind of the original sufferers of disengagement back in the day when they didn't have the right to vote or they couldn't go back.

Couldn't go into the workforce for a long time.

And then they'd struggle with all these things of, should I go back into the workforce?

Should I stay at home with the kids and this and that?

And so it feels a little weird to be a man talking about this.

But there is this whole other side of being disengaged in life.

And tell you what, if we flip the script over to teenagers, what are they doing today to be disengaged?

Or young kids?

They're on their phones all day.

Right.

Everyone's, in a way, checked out and kind of going through the motions of school and career and even family.

And my goal with this was not just to write the book, but the book is not like, here's the five steps to be engaged in your life.

It's really meant to shake people up.

And then once they read it, I want them to join what I've formed called the Someday now movement.

And it's just in its infancy right now, but I had this idea, like, if I got done reading this book, okay, am I gonna.

What's next?

And the next piece I want people to do is join a community that says, I am committed to steward my life for the time that I have left and manifest and become the person I've always wanted to be.

And so I'm hoping to grow this into a movement.

Right.

Wow.

I love that.

It reminds me of the shirtless guy movement.

You remember that?

I've seen that video, I'm sure.

No, refresh my memory on that one shirtless guy.

So I used to show this to churches I was working with.

And it's like, it's back in the 70s.

So some.

One shirtless guy gets up and he starts dancing, and he's just dancing.

And then some other shirtless guy comes and joins the next thing you know, because somebody else joined the shirtless guy, the entire audience starts dancing, just crazily dancing.

But it's because one guy had the courage to say, hold my beer.

And then somebody had the courage to join him.

And what I like about what you just said is when you talk about making.

Starting a movement, you need someone to join the shirtless guy up in front so that the movement's just not one shirtless guy dancing.

Yes.

And I like the idea of community.

Cause community is so powerful.

Yeah.

And I really see this as through.

Through Kind of speaking and workshops, maybe even some retreats.

It's not just about men, but.

But my story is, is coming from a man's perspective, but in terms of, you know, women recognizing in their partner, you know, what signs women would recognize a lot sooner than, than a guy would ever say, hey, I'm not happy in my life.

And that there's, there's things I want to talk about.

And boy, it's funny because the audience that this is originally meant for is middle aged men kind of waking up.

Is the least likely audience of people to buy the book.

Right.

Like, are men gonna actually go out and buy a book like this?

I mean, that's kind of the challenge.

Is the stubborn middle aged man is stubborn.

So he doesn't.

He continues to be asleep or he continues to not think he needs to change.

And then we get into our 60s and 70s and go, Whoa, what happened, man?

You know, it just all went by so quick and I still got dreams that are here.

What happened?

Right, yeah, that bucket list.

I never, I never checked anything off of.

Yeah, exactly.

Yeah.

Every book is a little difficult to write.

What chapter for you in your book was probably the most difficult one for you to write?

I'm struggling with that right now.

It's been ongoing with chapter three.

Everything else has fallen into place.

But chapter three is technically called the man trap.

And that sounds weird because guys are so good at like, what I said before.

We're good at being providers.

We're expected to be providers.

We want to be providers.

We want to be unselfish and give and serve.

And my whole point is, for some people, you know, that's a great journey for all of us.

But if we have some things that we want to work on for ourself, you need to put that into play during those childbearing years, which is a little tough.

Or maybe you put it on the back burner.

But once the kids are out and you turn this age, you know, I'm 56.

You really looking around going, well, what now?

And so revisiting that and re bringing that back to the forefront is really what this is all about.

Yeah.

I love the concept of your book.

If you said to readers, I hope if nothing else, if you read this book, there's just one thing I really, really want you to get out of it.

What is that one main message that you really want the book to communicate?

I want, I want people to wake up, realign and move forward.

Meaning take massive action on the one thing in your life that you want to accomplish.

And a lot of other authors would tell you, well, maybe there's a lot of self help that says, well, maybe you should start small and try to, you know, you know, start on something you're comfortable with.

And in my case, I really felt like, what's the biggest, hardest thing that I've always wanted to do?

That sounds crazy.

And I put all my energy into that two year journey of learning to fly, by the way, this guy Tim.

I mean, it's not like going to the gym when you're paragliding.

It only works when the wind blows.

So you kind of have your rig ready at a moment's notice, or you have it in your car and you're just looking outside for the leaves to start rustling and then you pick up and run out and go practice.

Now how impractical is that?

If you're at work in your cubicle, you're like, hey, I gotta go, I gotta go practice, because the wind's out.

So that's, that's kind of, you know, that whole thing of picking up and moving forward in the one big dream.

I mean, we all know what that is deep down.

And it's either something that you've always wanted to do or you or.

Or that something that you've been putting off for a long time.

And it may be something that you've looked at recently that's come aboard and you just keep one compromise at a time.

Well, I'll get to it.

When?

Someday.

When.

I mean, the whole idea of the Someday now movement is to bring our someday into the present.

And this is why I started writing on Substack recently.

And this is where I'd kind of tell people to get an idea of what we do.

Is kind of read some of these articles about why do we stay in relationships that don't serve us, or why don't we speak up inside of relationships, or why don't we speak up in our careers?

And we end up staying in these without taking action.

We end up staying in these scenarios that don't serve us.

I see a lot of that.

The adventure part of this always kind of intrigues me.

I'm a little curious what it must have felt like for you the moment you did your first solo launch off Lookout Mountain.

Yeah.

Yeah.

That was so crazy.

That was the culmination of not just two years of training, but I had, like I said, 25 years before.

I had done 12 months of training and I almost was ready and then I had to shut it all down.

So it was really almost 30 years of waiting for this 25 minute flight.

And I actually documented it on YouTube.

I have the video footage of the day, which is a pretty, pretty cool story on live where you play tv, but the feeling of pulling that glider up and we do a reverse launch, which is we, we're looking back up the mountain when we pull the glider up and then we flip forward, forward and start running.

And we call it a committed launch.

So you are running with all of your heart and confidence that, that, that the glider will lift you off.

And it did it.

It took me right up.

And the funny part was, as I told you, I lived in the, in the apartment.

When I moved to, to Golden, Colorado, I lived in an apartment at the base of Lookout Mountain, which got me into paragliding.

And on that day I happened to be looking down, going, I'm doing this, man.

You know, lots of energy, right?

So this was all the impetus for me putting these thoughts down into an essay.

And then eventually it turned into the book, which hopefully we're coming out in the fall.

If I get chapter three done, that is.

There you go to get chapter three done.

What, what did this experience teach you about fear?

I'm just curious because I know I, I don't like heights personally, but, but I'm sure this event taught you something about fear.

What did it teach you about fear?

Yeah, there's a lot of that.

And I, I gotta say, man, I'm no like super adrenaline junkie or anything like that.

My whole story isn't really about paragliding, but I think it's about conquering.

Not only the fear, the fear of paragliding and looking down and all of that, well, that's one thing, but you learn to trust the process and you learn to trust, in my case, the intention, my gut, saying this feels right to me and I'm finally moving in a direction that feels right to me.

And if you look at it from the 10,000 foot view, I mean, no pun intended, but there's a lot of fear that keeps a lot of us stuck, especially at this stage of our lives, isn't there?

And we're afraid, we're fearful of starting the business or finally traveling or what.

Who am I?

You know, one of the scariest questions that I think is, what do I want to do with the rest of my time to make sure that I honor what I was given.

Right.

And if you've been sleeping a long time or you're.

You're kind of on autopilot, I think just asking that question is like, a lot of people, like, I don't, I don't know what I want to do.

Well, this book is about discovering that and taking those steps.

Right.

We kind of already know what the other side of the story is.

We already know what it looks like to sit around and eat processed food and watch Netflix and gain weight or do all these things that don't serve us.

But what does it look on the other side when you're like, I wonder what chasing my dreams would actually feel like if I haven't gotten to it yet.

And I could personally tell you it's amazing, right?

I mean, it kind of.

I don't know, it's a positive flywheel.

It just.

Yeah, exactly.

You know, I, I did the, I did the lookout thing and then I was like, well, what else can I do?

I. I want to get really fit again.

And then I started chasing the Leadville 100 mountain bike side.

And when I was done with that, I'm like, well, why couldn't I write my book that I always said I was going to write?

You know, it's.

And it, it even went into the relationship side of things when, where I was like, I wonder if I approach relationships differently, how that would work.

And the theme that keeps showing up for me is every time I go all in.

And that's kind of what hold my beer is.

You go all in, non negotiably in each one of these journeys.

And even though that's fearful, the rewards have been amazing and so much better than zombie life, by the way.

My zombie life anyway.

Right?

Exactly.

Yeah.

So how can ordinary people reintroduce adventure into their everyday lives?

You just talked about we need to get out of that zombie life.

Are there some things you would say to ordinary people?

Hey, just take one step to get back into that everyday adventure life that you're missing.

Yeah, I would almost.

An adventure can be.

It doesn't have to be launching off a mountain.

It could be coming off a mountain.

Yeah.

Adventure can be following what's important to you.

And that means, like, if you've always wanted to be a chef or you want to pick up guitar again, then I highly suggest that you take massive action and you join a cooking class or you go buy a guitar and you non negotiably commit to giving back to yourself.

You know, if you can recharge your own batteries, you're going to be a better partner and a better father and a better friend and a better businessman.

And you know, us as humans, we, we want to strive for something and we want to put our effort in.

And it feels so much better if you're actually in alignment.

So maybe, maybe you feel really foggy at work and you're just kind of done with it or your, the whole career thing.

I hats off to those who knew what they wanted to do and did it, by the way, because that wasn't my story.

I'm always like, oh, guy wanted to be a doctor, became a doctor.

Awesome.

You know, I wanted to become a writer, but I became a blackjack dealer.

I mean, that's misalignment in a lot of ways.

So for, for the regular guy that's in his routine, I would say start looking and you already know what it is.

What are those things that pull at you that you've always wanted to do and start doing them?

I mean, just on a little aside for me that I still have in the future, I've always wanted to do some standup comedy and I took a class a year ago and I want to get back.

I'm going to, I'm going to commit to doing that.

And by the way, I've always wanted to play guitar.

I've failed three times in my life.

But it's these little things that will align you towards.

Oh, I've always wanted to travel.

Well, set the trip to Australia with non negotiable energy.

You know, those are, that those commitments are what will push you out of that day to day routine, if that makes sense.

I love it.

Yeah.

So the theme of this podcast is bridge building.

What does bridge building mean to you?

Yeah, and I love that.

I love the theme because you really have a lot of great leaders on.

I was listening to the guy that was talking about living intentionally.

Yeah.

And then Aja as well.

And you know, building, building bridges really is about community in my world.

And, and I know, so in yours where if you're a leader, you know, how can you help and serve to help other people find their purpose or at least help them along their way?

I mean, to quote another famous quote, like, if you help another enough people in life get what they want, then by default you'll end up getting what you need.

And I think that's powerful as a leader.

Um, so I, I try to give whatever I can to whoever I meet out there freely.

And I know that, you know, that'll come back at some point.

And it's not a tit for tat thing, like when you're young.

Well, I did this for you.

And I'm like, hey, man, in this mindset, I'm like, how can I help you?

How can I serve you?

You know, what do you need?

You know, and if.

Maybe it's something small, maybe it's just a kind word to someone who needs it.

Right?

Yep.

All that, that's good.

I. I would probably point out my, My instructor, Tim.

I call him my Yoda.

But this guy committed to almost 24 months of running out the door and helping me with, you know, training sessions and flights, and I did over 100 flights, practice flights to get ready for this.

But what kind of generosity is that, man?

He.

He just kept giving and giving and I'm like, man, I. I want, I need.

In my essay I wrote, we need more Tims in the world.

And I'm like, I'm following that example.

Like, how can I help?

How can I give?

I've been given so much.

I need to.

I need to give it back.

That's awesome.

So here's some lightning round questions for you.

All right.

Oceans.

Oceans or mountains?

Oh, I gotta say mountains.

I'm a Colorado guy, but I am learning to surf.

There you go.

Sunrise or sunset?

Sunrise.

I like to.

I like beginnings.

New beginnings.

Coffee or tea?

Coffee all day long.

Probably too much.

I know this one, but.

Adventure or comfort?

Yeah, that's the answer.

Adventure.

Adventure to fight.

Comfort, actually is what I would say.

Favorite book you've read recently.

Building Brands by Rory Vaden.

Very good.

Yeah.

Most underrated.

Life skill,.

Consistency.

Doing those small things every day to make those small changes that end up making the big changes.

Underrated.

Biggest fear you've overcome?

Not living the life that I was supposed to live, you know?

Yeah.

One word that describes your life today.

Mm.

Vibrant.

I like that word.

Vibrancy.

Your favorite place to think.

On my mountain bike, two hours a day.

Lots of thoughts.

Most important leadership trait,.

I would say giving, you know, being generous with time.

I think that's kind of goes.

Yeah, just being that way with your, with your spirit as people will hear that message, you know,.

Bucket list.

Adventure you haven't completed yet.

Wow.

Uh, I want to go do some helicopter snowboarding in Alaska.

And that's a seven day, oh, my goodness, nine day trip where you spend a lot of money, but they bring a helicopter out to you every day, have some good food, and they fly you out to the mountains.

And you have a guide and snowboard all day and come back and do that seven days in a row.

I love it.

One word that best describes the someday now movement.

Hold my beer.

Energy.

I don't know.

One word.

Do it.

Gosh, I don't know.

I'm not good at one words, but.

Oh, I know now.

One word.

There you go.

Now there you go.

Yeah.

Now you get three words.

Three words to describe Hoe my beer.

Just do it.

We'll play off of the Nike part of that.

I love it.

So, Dixon, I would like to ask my guest this question.

What do you want your legacy to be?

I want people to look back and go, you know what?

That guy did not give lip service to his dreams.

He actually pulled the trigger.

And I used to be a competitive runner when I was younger.

I was a state champion, know miler and half miler.

And one of my favorite things on the final lap of the mile was to, I call it, you know, empty the tank.

And that meant that I'm going to lay it all out there.

I might lose the race, but if you're going to pass me, I'm going to make it.

I'm going to make it.

You work for it.

And so that, that idea of, hey, this guy emptied the tank, it took a little while, but he left it all on the track.

Right.

And that's what I want to be remembered for.

I, I didn't sit into the recliner and go, well, I guess this is, I guess this is all there is.

And then tune out for another 20 years until it's all over.

Right, that's good.

So we got something new on the show this year, A surprise question.

Pick a number between 1 and 10 for your surprise question.

Let's go.

10.

Who was the most?

Who would you like most to sit next to in a 10 hour flight?

And why?

Ooh, most to sit next to on a 10 hour flight.

I know this answer and I'll relate it to what I just talked about.

The king of emptying the tank just happens to be in track and field was Steve Prefontaine.

That was the famous, you know, 3,000, 5,000 meter runner from Oregon who was the Olympian that got fourth place but probably should have won.

And he just had that fiery attitude about life.

And I love that he called himself a front runner.

He ran from the front and he would, he would do that on purpose just because he thought doing anything less was kind of sacrificing his gift.

And so I'd love to pick his brain about how he approached.

He approached the same way in his life as he did with his running, you know, all out.

So, yeah, I'd love to chat with that guy.

Wow.

So, Dixon, where can people best find you and where will they be able to find your book when it comes out?

Yeah, absolutely.

We're kind of in the middle of whether we're going to publish on Amazon, but we also have some interest from New York, so trying to figure out if it's a traditional publisher or on Amazon.

But in the meantime, I'd love it if people would check out Go with Dixon on substack.

And those are the writings that are kind of leading up to the book launch.

And my website happens to also be GoWithDixon.com and you can read more about book and speaking and such.

But I would love for people to join my community now.

I feel like whoever's joining the substack is going to be a member of the Someday now movement.

So we need subscribers and we'd love to have you join us there.

It's kind of good old fashioned dream chasing.

Writing is really what it is.

There you go.

I love it.

Well, Dixon, thank you for joining us today for reminding us that purpose isn't found by accident.

It's discovered when we're willing to stop drifting and start living intentionally.

Your story challenges all of us to reexamine what we settle for.

Well, we postponed our dreams, our hopes, and we've allowed ourselves to keep from becoming who we were meant to be friends.

As today's conversation resonated with you, I encourage you to get a copy of Dixon's upcoming book, Hold My Beer.

I'm going back into the game.

Whether you're navigating midlife crisis, feeling stuck, or questioning your direction, or simply looking for the courage to take the next step, this book offers inspiration and practical wisdom for getting back in the game.

Be sure to follow Dixon substack and learn more about the Someday now movement where he's helping people stop postponing their lives and start pursuing what matters most.

So here's a listener challenge for you.

Before you move on with the day, I want you to challenge you with a with a question.

What's one dream, one goal, one relationship or calling that you've been put off, you've been putting off until that someday?

Ask yourself, what can I do today to make that something?

And I move on now.

Don't wait for a crisis.

Don't wait for the perfect conditions.

Don't wait for permission.

Take that first step again.

Dixon, thanks so much for joining us.

Wow.

You left that on the track, baby.

That was so hot.

Thank you for that hot ticket ending.

That was beautiful.

I appreciate it.