Welcome to THE TRUE NORTH COLLECTIVE℠ PODCAST: SEASON 3! With co-hosts Rachel Bellotti and Jenell Riesner, this is a gathering of un-sugar-coated conversations celebrating the untold stories of everyday people fearlessly finding and living their true north.
In our own search to discover and live from our TRUE NORTH, we continue to meet many interesting, courageous people from all walks of life, doing all sorts of amazing things to live life in their own unique way. Stories from all over the world. Stories with heart. Stories with grit. Stories with plot twists. Stories going untold - until now. This season, we celebrate these untold stories of everyday people who are fearlessly living their true north and inspiring each of us to do the same.
Today, we talk to Lee McClendon IV, an old friend of ours from Milwaukee who has developed a passion and giant love for coffee. We have always been inspired by his persistent passion for coffee and how that passion has helped him to stay present and true to himself and connected to the world around him. We unpack passions, habits and if it’s possible to be too happy, and how passions connect us. This beautiful soul has an innate joy for life that is both calming and so contagious. He once decided to up and move across the country with only what he could carry on his back, hopped on a train and then kept moving around following his heart wherever it led him. He is currently in Austin, TX, trademarking new coffee recipes, learning about the coffee trade, and spreading cheer wherever he goes. We hope you enjoy this sweet episode and are inspired to reconnect with what you love, no matter what that is. Shake ‘n bake!
*note: this episode includes explicit language appropriate for those ages 16+
RESOURCES MENTIONED:
- Dunkin Donuts Coffee
- Shake ‘n Bake
- Stone Creek Coffee
- Kickapoo
- Basement/church coffee
- Hershey Museum
- Gary Vee
- Arts Mission Oak Cliff
- Affogato
- Soco coffee drink by Lee at GoodThings coffee in Austin, TX
- Music from: https://www.jukedeck.com/
3 KEY TAKEAWAYS:
- There are always going to be tough times, and you have a choice around how you experience those times. You can let them take you down or you can choose to shake it off, pick yourself back up, and keep on moving. And sometimes having a mantra to pull you through can help remind you of who you want to be. We love Lee’s mantra – SHAKE ‘N BAKE – and invite you to try it out or find one that works for you as a reminder of who you want to be along your journey of life.
- Sometimes big change (like moving across the country) can seem overwhelming and scary and maybe even impossible, however, you can actually practice building confidence around change in smaller ways. Try changing smaller things, notice how it feels, celebrate the fact that you did it, and remember what allowed you to be able to take action. Then, start going bigger and bigger as you build confidence in yourself.
- Passions are connectors. They have an innate ability to connect us to ourselves, to each other, to new people, to confidence, to creativity, to life. Allowing ourselves to embrace our passions can give us a chance to not only feel joy in doing the thing but also experience the depth of a thing, the breadth of a thing, the art of a thing, the nuances, the quirks, the subtleties that actually mimic life. And when we can experience them with our passions, we can translate that same approach to life and experience life in whole new, deep, expansive, subtle ways.
TIME-STAMPED SHOW NOTES:
- [2:00] Bad karaoke
- [6:00] Dunkin Donuts for life!
- [9:00] Introducing Lee
- [12:30] Living with optimism
- [14:30] Starting over
- [21:00] Being nomadic as a way to learn to handle change
- [23:30] Coffee + passions as connectors
- [38:00] Appreciating the depth of your passions – the origins, the art, the journey
- [44:00] Coffee as a catalyst for change
- [50:00] Monetizing your passions
- [55:00] Allowing your relationship with your passions to change and evolve and ebb and flow and go away and come back and reinvent themselves
- [1:00:00] What did you use to do for fun as a kid?
- [1:03:00] Finding grounding anchors as you take big life leaps
- [1:08:00] How do you live your TRUE NORTH?
- [1:08:30] Contact Lee via IG @coffee_cheers