What is reality? Often people's initial assumption is that it is a quantifiable place that all life on earth resides. However human beings are really only equipped to perceive a small percentage of everything that exists around us. The famous essay "What is it like to be a bat" written by philosopher Thomas Nagel, dives well into this point and our current understanding of consciousness. My belief is that the human brain has evolved over hundreds of thousands of years to effectively filter out the background noise of our overwhelmingly complex realities. But is that to say the background noise is completely useless? If we could tune into it from time to time could we bring back some valuable information into our regular ego driven awareness?

Over the last couple of years I have noticed the difficulty I face with choosing and maintaining relationships as an adult. Your immediate group of friends has a major influence on who you will become; personality traits, interests/hobbies, career opportunities, vacations, dinner parties, even the music you discover, can all be based off of people you bring into your circle. Growing up I always felt like making friends came naturally just based off of the environments our parents/guardians placed us into. As we grow older we develop into the people we want to be, and quite often become more selective in who joins us in this process. Not too mention we tend to become more busy and don't usually accommodate people we've never met before into our fast-paced schedules. In this episode I express some personal stories and concerns I've had to deal with entering into my 20's. Hopefully, some of my experiences will help as you continue your pursuit of becoming a functional friend-making adult!

The twenty-first official episode of The Angst Podcast. To me fitness is a life-long journey that many people miss. We are each given an incredibly capable machine that comes with no instructions but requires constant maintenance. When I was growing up I was told about the fitness lifestyle continuum "Sickness, Wellness, Fitness". We all fall somewhere along the spectrum, however as we age we slowly but surely move towards "sickness". The pursuit of "fitness" rewards you with a larger buffer zone. If you only live your existence in the "wellness" space, then a catastrophe could occur forcing you into sick health. These setbacks come in many forms; the loss of a loved one, a financial blow, age, a car accident, the flu, a sprained wrist, a nasty rumor about you, or almost anything you can think of that would change your existence for the worse. If you have trained and honed your body and mind for these situations, then you are not only better equipped to deal with them but are likely to recover from them more efficiently. I propose that many individuals in our society never get a taste of their own fitness potential. We've lowered the expectations of the greatest endurance animals on the planet to 45-60 minutes, 3-5 times per week. In this episode I outline some potential downfalls to our current world view of what fitness actually means, as well as hopefully offer some realistic solutions.

The twentieth official episode of The Angst Podcast. Milestones. In this episode I decided to share some personal experiences that made me very conscious about internet security and potential online identity theft. The internet has allowed millions of individuals across the globe to share, research, reconnect, inspire, learn and teach! But at the cost of potential privacy. Although some of our personal information is shared voluntarily via social media, personal blogs and podcasts, infinite amounts of data is being collected and stored without our consent. Should you not be able to maintain an online persona without having all your information collected/sold to big corporate institutions? Going forward we will have to be very suspect of new technologies that limit our individual freedoms. Don't get caught with your pants down. Or your password exposed.

The nineteenth official episode of The Angst Podcast. In this episode we explore a spectrum of ideas ranging from intellect and I.Q to political hierarchies and societal status. Does earning the title of polymath or genius free you of your ethical societal obligations? Are you born with a maximum intelligence quotient or can a disciplined individual take advantage of their environment and increase their intellectual capabilities? I'm not sure. I'm just a random guy on the internet! But I work through some of these ideas today and am excited to have a conversation about them with you.

The eighteenth official episode of The Angst Podcast. The trip.  This episode I decided to recount my own personal experiences consuming magic mushrooms and my interpretation of the events years later. I did not consume scientific mushrooms but MAGIC mushrooms. These experiences are my own and not based off of any particular scientific research or understanding. I would honestly credit these days to be some of the most influential and unique experiences of my life. Hopefully this podcast provides some insight for both the seasoned and novice altering consciousness individuals

The seventeenth official episode of The Angst Podcast. Happy Halloween. I wanted to explore the possibilities of what an actual zombie apocalypse would look like. What is the threshold that separates human beings from zombies? Is it their limited range of motion and muscle coordination? Their thirst for brains? Their autopilot (host) like nature? How long would it take for us to notice a infection spreading? Could we be turning into zombies so slowly that we barely notice the transition? If that is the case, maybe we could find a solution by fighting back against physical and mental atrophy.

The sixteenth official episode of The Angst Podcast. Canada recently legalized cannabis after 95 years of prohibition, setting the stage to become a global pioneer for proper drug education in the 21st century. Across the world humans debate and struggle to find concrete definitions of what constitutes safe and necessary drug use. Aspects of our society such as professional sports make their best attempts to monitor and punish performance enhancing substance abuse, without solving the issue entirely. In the modern age of nootropics, no current infrastructure exists to monitor academic performance enhancing substances. This leaves an individual attempting to find academic success the holistic way, behind the curve. No drugs were consumed during the recording of this podcast.

The fifteenth official episode of The Angst Podcast. The rebrand. Everybody's got to eat right? So why do we put such a crucial component to life on the back burner? In a modern age of hustle lifestyles people are always on the go, eating only when it's convenient. We have automated the process expecting meats and produce to come in boxes and plastic packing, seldom questioning the source of our farms. To me this is a threat to our connection with our environment and therefore our own reality. I invite you all to rise to the challenge of becoming your own free willed chef, gardener and nutritionist. Take charge of the ingredients going into your body and I promise you will feel the improvements. It's a difficult journey, I know I'm on it as well; but together we can get back to the roots of healthy eating.