The Mightiest Warriors
The Mightiest Warriors is a podcast that shines light on the remarkable stories of humans who have transformed profound adversity in their lives into a force of compassion, leadership and service to others.
"He who has a why to live for can deal with almost any how."
Victor Frankl
The Mightiest Warriors
From Kansas to the Cadillac Dirtbag: Potter Wonderland's Journey of Happiness
Potter Wonderland wasn't always the free-spirited rock climber known as "The Cadillac Dirtbag." Growing up in Kansas, he followed society's prescribed path—college, steady employment, material pursuits—yet found himself profoundly unhappy until age 24. Everything changed when an algorithm-suggested documentary about rock climbing appeared on his screen after watching a PCT hiking film. The very next day, Potter drove to Joshua Tree, where fate arranged a life-altering encounter with climbers who handed him a harness instead of just letting him watch.
That first successful climb triggered an awakening so profound that Potter immediately quit his job, moved into his Cadillac, and embarked on a nomadic lifestyle living on just $277 monthly. In Yosemite, he met his aptly-named mentor "Cliff," an old-school dirtbag who taught him not only climbing techniques but the art of minimalist living. Six years later, Potter hasn't looked back or returned to conventional employment.
What makes Potter's philosophy truly revolutionary is his relationship with fear. Rather than viewing fear as something negative to avoid, he learned to befriend it, using the mantra "I'm here because I want to be" during difficult climbs. This profound shift extends beyond climbing into every aspect of his life, forming the foundation of his "Quit Your Job" campaign and "Adventure Live" tour. His message resonates deeply with thousands who yearn for authentic happiness but remain trapped by conventional expectations and fear of the unknown.
The universe seems to reward Potter's courage and authenticity. From establishing first ascents in remote locations to receiving healing remedies from indigenous people in Mexico, his unconventional path has revealed connections to nature and humanity that most modern humans miss while spending 95% of their lives indoors. His story challenges us to question our beliefs about success, security, and what constitutes a life well-lived.
Follow Potter's adventures on Instagram @TheCadillacDirtbag6 or support him on Patreon for exclusive climbing beta and behind-the-scenes content. Perhaps his greatest gift is showing us it's never too late to follow our happiness—the path may appear perilous, but the universe has a way of providing exactly what we need when we have the courage to leap.
To purchase Essental Provisions amazing Meals Ready to Eat (MREs) go to; https://essentialprovisions.com/
Welcome to the Mightiest Warriors podcast, where we talk with people like you and I who've gone through the forge. Through their humbling and heroic stories, we break down what's vital and essential so we can all be nourished and supported through our shared experience, our shared experience. This episode of the Mightiest Warriors is sponsored by Essential Provisions, a whole food, nutrition, sports and performance company dedicated to nourishing the warrior in each of us, and it is my great pleasure to introduce Potter Wonderland and Potter, I'm just going to read a little bit about you from the Google AI Gemini. There's a lot of information about you out there, but Potter is a climber, rock climber known for establishing new routes, particularly in Joshua Tree and Tuolumne, if I'm pronouncing that correctly, potter and he's also known for his nomadic lifestyle, often referred to as the dirtbag climber, and we'll explore some of these names.
Speaker 1:Joshua has just had amazing experiences rock climbing, in addition to some of the new roots that he has discovered and explored in Joshua Tree and other places. I've been just very impressed in the short time that I've known you, potter, and your generosity and spirit for sharing, really opening to the world what it's like to be out there in these pristine, beautiful places, really creating community for the climber world, for the nomad community, and also an advocate for essential provisions. He's been thought, has been generous enough to try our products and he's the warrior that we are looking to nourish. So, potter, great to be with you, my friend.
Speaker 2:Yeah, thanks, mark. It's awesome to be here.
Speaker 1:Let's just start Potter by getting a sense of your background. You know where you grew up and what kind of inspired you and motivated you to get into rock climbing.
Speaker 2:Yeah, totally, it's a long wild story. I'm originally from Kansas, so I didn't really know rock climbing existed for most of my life. I moved to California about six, seven or actually eight years ago. I moved out with a friend that I went to high school with and I basically moved to California to do like through hiking, so like the PCT, or basically just long hikes. I wanted to be out in nature, as Kansas doesn't have a lot of nature, and and I, you know, was really inspired on just like kind of switching up my life as I was. I was pretty unhappy, you know, most of my life and, uh, growing up in Kansas, um, it just it just wasn't, wasn't for me. So I moved to California to try to try to find something new, um, and I was basically watching a documentary on the PCT and Amazon prime, you know, auto played the next movie and it was Valley uprising.
Speaker 2:Um, and I'm like, what is, what is this? What is rock? Whoa? Like I've never heard of this before, right? So, um, it's actually actually funny. I like could not take my eyes off of it and, like, as I'm watching it, I'm like, oh, my god, where's the closest climbing area to me? And it happened to be Joshua Tree.
Speaker 2:Um, I moved to Long Beach originally, so literally that night, um, I kind of just stopped everything I was doing and packed my bag and drove to Joshua Tree the next morning. Um, and it's funny looking back at it, you know, I was like scrambling around and like hiking boots and I'm like, oh, I'm a climber and all this stuff. But it was really this, the whole way that I started, really kind of inspired my Adventure Live tour and everything like that. Because, um, because I went there and just camped alone and I woke up after the first day of being there and there was a group of climbers at my campsite and they were going to climb the rock. That was, like you know, coming out of my campsite and I'm just like, oh my God, can I please watch? Like I just like I came here to learn how to climb and you know, I'd love if I could just watch what you're doing. And they're like watch, like here's a harness and go try it. So you know, I tried it that day and was instantly hooked.
Speaker 2:I was pretty scared. I think I tried like three different routes before I finally made it to the top and I kind of told myself like, all right, I'm not leaving Joshua Tree until I get up a rock climb, like an actual route, and I finally made it up one, I think like my third try, and I was just like this is what I've been searching for my entire life, like the feeling I had inside, the feeling I had while climbing, the quietness in my mind while I'm up there. It's just everything I've been looking for. And so, basically, after that, I quit my job and I haven't worked since. It's been about six years now and I moved into my Cadillac at the time and, yeah, I lived in the front seat of the Cadillac for about a year and a half and I lived off $277 a month during that time.
Speaker 1:Wow. So I'm just trying to imagine from Kansas to Joshua Tree, to imagine from Kansas to Joshua Tree, and it sounds like you have this epiphany once you're actually on the rock and moving up and love it, love it First experience. It sounds like.
Speaker 2:Yeah, totally Like I. My mind kind of runs a lot and is very it just thinks a lot and when I'm climbing I'm just in that moment and it's just me, mother nature and the rock, and that's like I just love it and it. It really taught me to slow down and really be able to like find my happiness, if that makes sense it does make sense and I I now understand your uh instagram the Cadillac Dirtbag. Yeah, yeah so there you were.
Speaker 2:Yeah, my first year, you know, I'd run into people and they're like, oh, you're that guy living on the side of the road in a Cadillac and I'm like that's me, the Cadillac Dirtbag. So I kind of was like known as that for a little while and yeah, when I got social media I was like, oh, what a great name for that.
Speaker 1:So at any point did you get like professional instruction, or you just embraced this and it became a process of self-development and trial by error? What was that experience like for you?
Speaker 2:So I did. It's really interesting. You know, most people start indoors, especially nowadays, um, which when I started climbing I I actually didn't know indoor climbing existed, um. So it's kind of funny. I actually went to camp or in yosemite after I quit my job. I was only in josh Joshua Tree for about a week or maybe two, and then I was like you know what? I'm going to Yosemite. I don't care if I climb anything at all, I just want to look at El Cap and become inspired. And so I went to Yosemite, went to Camp 4, you know, was laying there one night listening to somebody play guitar, and it turned out that that man ended up becoming my mentor. He was a old school Yosemite dirtbag. His name's Cliff, and you know he taught me all the ways, the Ranger training. You know, how to, where to sleep, when to sleep, when to come out, how to save as much money as you can. So he didn't only just teach me how to climb, he also taught me how to dirt bag, which I'm forever grateful for, um. But you know, it's really interesting.
Speaker 2:My first climate, my real first climbing season ever, was in Tuolumne Meadows, um, the first route I ever climbed. The third pitch was completely unprotected. And you know, I followed Cliff through a lot of this like pretty scary, dangerous climbing, and I got hooked on it basically, and so he, he pretty much like has made me who I am today as the climber and the dirt bag, um, and yeah, without him, you know, I probably wouldn't be here. I've had a couple, I've had a couple of close calls because I did, I did teach myself how to climb. I, I, I just read books. Um, you know, I didn't, I didn't pay anybody to teach me, I didn't. You know YouTube anything, I just like read, you know mountaineering, freedom of the Hills, and like watch Valley uprising, and was like I'm going to give it a try because this is what I need in my life, you know, um, so I definitely had some close calls like early in my career that, um, you know, still to this day I'm like I don't really think I should be here. But the universe, I really believe in the universe and that, you know, certain things are supposed to be, and so I just basically was like you know what this is, what I'm supposed to be doing, like she's the universe, she's teaching me lessons and she's teaching me how to do this universe. She's teaching me lessons and she's teaching me how to do this, but in a way that only I will understand, if that makes sense. And so it was a long.
Speaker 2:It was a long beginning for me. Um, for about a year I climbed, like my first year of climbing. I basically just climbed with Cliff and my best friend, river, and when I was with River you I would be up on up there and I'd just be like all right, river, like yeah, like if I fall, man, you got to run back. Take all this, like I was just like putting myself in it. And you know, when I look back at it today I'm kind of like, you know, a little reckless.
Speaker 2:But you know I can thank my mentor for all of that because he really he really inspired me on like the old school climbing and the bold climbing and you know, just adventure climbing. You know I've never really been big into grades or like how hard I can climb. It's more of like the experience I get and you know how the day goes. I don't, I don't care if I ever become the strongest climber ever, as long as I'm happy every day and I can thank Cliff for that where I feel like if I would have learned indoors, I might be more focused on like the physical side of climbing and like the strength side of it and I might lose the love for adventure of it and I might lose the love for adventure. So, you know, I'm really grateful for him and how I started and all the time he took to really, you know, show me how to be a Yosemite dirtbag.
Speaker 1:Well, that's beautiful, Potter, and, like you, I am a firm believer in the cosmos speaking to us, giving us feedback, particularly when we're on a path that is largely motivated by our passion. And isn't it interesting how what we need emerges on that passion pursued. So you know there's right, Cliff, and it's ironic to me that your rock climbing mentor's name is Cliff. I know, and you know the people we need. You know, as we look back, I find, as I look back on my life, certain people, at certain critical times, change the timeline you're on, and it sounds like Cliff was one of these people who emerged to help you do just that. That's great. Is he still connected to your, your life or um, or or have you sort of moved on in that relationship?
Speaker 2:Uh, no, no, yeah, no, he's, he's definitely still in my life. I, you know, drive by him all the time. Um, we do climb a little less, um, nowadays. Uh, like I said, he's a little less um nowadays. Uh, like I said, he's a little. He's a older yosemite dirtbag um, so he is doing a little different things than I, um, but yeah, I do agree, like it was.
Speaker 2:I feel very lucky that all these things came together where, you know, I'm just like I want to become a climber. And then, you know, the universe is like boom, here's, here's this, boom, here's that, boom, here's this. And I'm just like, how did this happen? And you know, six years later now, I'm still like, still, things are happening like that. You know where it's just like I don't know how, how this is happening, but it is and it's, it's the universe, she, I've learned that she's always taken care of me and uh, yeah, it's really, it's really special. And you know, as we were kind of talking about previously, you know it's uh, it's just hard to, it's hard to put into words, like the belonging and everything that I feel in this lifestyle and like I don't know, it's just it's really hard to put into words, but I do. I just feel so lucky that all these things are coming together and I just feel like I belong. So it's, and, like I said, just what I'd been looking for my entire life.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I completely get that. Potter and I often refer to these as the universe gives us feedback, as synchronicities in physics. In physics, if you get into the rabbit hole of quantum physics, you begin to see that reality has a structure. It's not this void, blank, meaningless space with objects just sort of all around us. It has a very thoughtful and intelligent and conscious structure, and so much of what you describe affirms that. As we bring our consciousness, our passion, into the reality that we're experiencing, the extent to which that is aligned results in things happening. We might call them good luck or geez. What an amazing coincidence. I think there's something so much more transcendent, as you say, it's hard to put words to it, but that for me, these stories become spiritual because they do take us beyond this sort of mundane reality of the physical world and the material and, uh, what you describe uh is is so much beyond that.
Speaker 2:That's, that's awesome, yeah, and it feels honestly, it feels like, as I've followed my happiness, more the universe looks after me, more almost it's, it's almost like she rewards me. It's really interesting. We're. Like you know, I haven't worked for six years. Like you know, I lived off, I lived off cold, or I had coffee.
Speaker 2:My first year in the Cadillac. I had coffee for breakfast, coffee and gum, I guess, for breakfast, peanut butter and jelly for lunch and a cold Chaguardi for dinner. I didn't want to waste any money on propane, I didn't want to cook, I just wanted to eat everything as little as I could. And you know, I was like I'm never going to work again and I just was like if I run out of money, I run out of money or whatever, whatever. If I starve to death, whatever, whatever. If I die up here on the rock, whatever, whatever. At least I'm following my happiness and the universe. It seems like she is basically just like oh well, here's food and here's sponsorships and here's this, keep following your happiness. And it's just like it's so easy not to worry anymore, which is like an odd thing to say in the current state of the world, but it's just like it's. It's, the universe really seems to be taking care of me, the more that I follow my happiness. And it's, it's a it's. It's incredible. There's just nothing like it yeah, mean that's.
Speaker 1:That is just so amazing that you've have gotten to that point. I mean I, you know I practiced medicine, potter, for many, many years and you know you meet lots of people from all walks of life and you know, I would say the majority of people that I've met along the way have never really discovered that level of passion that you described, that sort of I hate to use the word oneness because it does have that sort of new age connotation but when the separation between the subject, the observer and the world that they're observing disappears, that's where the passion unfolds and where we do tend to be given what we need to continue on that path.
Speaker 1:And so it's really remarkable what you share and just the courage where you know that I mean. So many people would say, geez, I could never do that, I couldn't afford, I wouldn't survive it. I'm struck with what you seem to have a strong belief that if you just kept moving forward, you know things would continue to happen for you, and that, indeed, is has been your journey thus far.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and that's. You know that plays into my you know my quit your job campaign and my adventure live campaign and you know I get a. I get a lot of people who reach out to me and you know they are like oh, one second, I got a car. I'm sorry, I'm on a little forest road right here.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's OK.
Speaker 2:But sorry about that. Ok, so that's part of the reason. You know I did the Quit your Job campaign and the Adventure Live tour and I get a lot of messages where I'm like you know, I would love to do what you're doing or something similar to it. I just don't think I can or I don't. I like I couldn't do it to your extent and and you know I was I did get a lot of you know flack for the quit your job thing where they're like ah, you know, like all of us can't quit your job and this and that, and I'm like I understand that and you know more.
Speaker 2:So what I think we should all be focusing more on is our happiness and like taking fear, because you know fear is fear, is like like I think we should all have a good relationship with fear, like fear shouldn't be bad, like when people are scared or in fear. We should be embracing that. I believe, and you know a lot of people are like oh, I'm afraid that I'm not going to like it. So what, you don't like it, go try it. If you want to try it, go try it. You know, and like, if like people are kind of you know like, oh well, I could do it, but I want to work a little bit at the same time and I'm like do it, you know. Like what is going to make you happy. I feel like a lot of people put their happiness to the side and that's where the whole like quit your job campaign and the adventure live tour came from is because I'm just showing, I just want to show people that, like you know, you don't, you don't have to live off $277 and eat cold shep already. Like you don't have to, right, but you don't need to be afraid to try the things you want to try. And you know I have.
Speaker 2:I had no idea how long I was going to be doing this, or if I was going to die, or if I was going to not enjoy it and be like, oh, actually, I want to go hike the PCT. Or if I was going to not enjoy it and be like, oh, actually I want to go hike the PCT. No, you know, but I just followed what I thought was going to make me happy and I'm like you know what, this is what I want to do right now. And you know I get that like everyone can't just do that, but I do believe you know that, like, people should have a good relationship with fear and if they're afraid to, you know, quit their job and go see if they enjoy living in the woods for a season, or, you know, it could be anything. It could literally be like cutting your hours in half, so that way you're focusing on yourself more, like it doesn't matter as long as you're not putting your happiness aside for someone else.
Speaker 2:You know, that's one big reason I never, really I've never been interested in ever getting a job again. I've always been like, well, if I run out of money, I'll move to a cave and fish, and that kind of stuff, which is, like, you know, a little ignorant, but whatever To me, I'm just like, you know, a little ignorant, but whatever To me, I'm just like I want to continue following my happiness and I'm not afraid of what happens in between. And so that's where that's what the whole quit your job campaign is. And, um, you know it really just means quit, like quit your job, don't listen to the norms, like you don't have to do what people do. Like when I lived in Kansas, you know, I, I went to college, I was an EMT, you know, uh, security guard for a while I was like doing the job thing. I was like getting a condo, you know, um, being in relationships like doing what society told me to do, and I didn't like doing what society told me to do and I didn't. I wasn't happy until I was 24 years old, you know.
Speaker 2:And so, especially in today's age, I feel like it's hard for people to just pull the trigger and do what they want to do, and I personally believe everyone should just do what they want to do, and I get that it's not that easy, but in any way you can, you should really try to be as happy as you can be and do what you want to do, whether that means you have a little bit less money in life, or whether that means you're a little more hungry or maybe you get hurt or something like that, but are you happy? Hungry, or maybe you get hurt or something like that, but are you happy. And, um, that's what really inspires me is just happiness. And, you know, help helping other people realize you know that they can do it too. You know, on the other side of the messages I get are hey, man, I just quit my job and I'm so happy and thank you very much.
Speaker 2:Uh, you know where it's like the yin yang of like, hey man, I can't do that, but like I want to. Uh, you know how do I do it. You know, it's just like there's all these contrasts and I I just I think if everyone just kind of push their comfort level a little bit and took those fears that they have of like I don't, like I want to take the summer off but I'm not going to have money for the fall right, just like take those fears and put them to the side and be like what's going to make you happy and follow that, and I promise the universe she will look after you. And that's what I've been learning and that is that is why I push the adventure live tour and the quit your job campaign I mean, that is such a powerful and inspiring message, potter, I I fear.
Speaker 1:I think of fear as the opposite of love. Anything that creates a wall, an obstacle between who we are and who we would like to be is just so often accompanied by levels of fear that leave people unable to move beyond it. And I find often it's our beliefs. You know, we hold on to certain beliefs as if they're true, right and in my own life I was a kidney specialist. I did what doctors do. I had a lot of training.
Speaker 1:But, I wasn't real happy with my work. My wife Leanne and I had a son, alex, had a son, alex, who's now 32. Alex had Down syndrome and had a few health problems, and it motivated me at that time in my life to totally pivot, to jump, to get into the free fall without a plan but somehow truly believing in my heart that I would land on my feet. And then, and that's exactly what happened in my own life, uh, potter and and, as I look back the last 25 plus years, I would have never predicted uh getting me. You know I wrote a couple of books I. I started to um, uh, get into nutrition more and things that you know. I wrote a couple books I. I started to get into nutrition more and things that you know doctors are never taught. You know mind body skills. You know more time communing with nature.
Speaker 1:And everything in my life changed when I began to question the beliefs that ultimately I would come to realize, many of which were not true and, as a consequence, they weren't serving me. They were leading to behaviors that weren't able to serve me in a satisfactory way, and for so many of us, we just continue with that and live a life that may result in a decent income and a title and whatever material we want to hang on to, and yet there's very little deep satisfaction there, and so I just really love what you're doing and how you, how you sort of met that head on it. To me it feels very spiritual and very sort of philosophical, and to inspire others to sort of rethink where they're at in their lives in a way that leave them able to sort of jump Right and to know that the parachute will open or they'll land on their feet.
Speaker 2:Exactly, or if you don you're, you'll still be okay, you know, yeah, yeah exactly, exactly so that relationship with fear is.
Speaker 1:I just love what you, how you frame that um. So in the, in the quit, your job and in your sort of adventure land activities, I know that sort of building a community that's inspired by this is very much an additional passion of yours. What's that community like today?
Speaker 2:Connor, yeah, so it's really interesting Growing up I didn't have social media at all. Like, growing up I didn't have social media at all. Um, and I I climbed for about I think three years before I, ever before I actually did get social media, Um, and so I'm also a very like I have like social anxiety and you know, I just like it's hard, I don't know it's hard for me to be social, which is interesting because I'm quite social online and stuff like that. Like it's just interesting how I got into it, but like, like, like I keep kind of getting into. Is you know I was, I was just so unhappy for so long Like my, I was like my living in Kansas from, you know, when I was born to 24 or whatever, however old, I was 22, um, you know, I, I was kind of just like going through the motions and I was just so unhappy that, um, you know, I didn't really ever, I didn't ever know happiness really existed, you know, until I was about 24 years old and I just like it changed my life so much to find happiness that I was like, any way that I can, I just want to let like help people find their happiness, because I couldn't find mine for a very long time and even still to this day, like myself and happiness are like we're always butting heads right when I'm like, oh, I kind of want to do this, and happiness is like, no, you don't you want to do this, and I'm like I don't know heads right where I'm like, oh, I kind of want to do this, and happiness is like, no, you don't you want to do this, and I'm like I don't know.
Speaker 2:It's like I don't know, but like, basically, what inspired me to get into, you know, creating a community around this was that was to pass along the information that like, look, dude, some kid from Kansas with mental health like he also, he followed his happiness and you can do it too, and it built. It built. I don't even remember how or when my Instagram started going. I mean, I'm not like super popular, I only have like 7,000 followers or something like that, but they're all very loyal, which I love. Like you know, I, like I said, I get a lot of messages from people who are like, hey, man, I just want to let you know I quit my job last week and I'm moving into my car and I'm doing this and you know, you're a big inspiration or you know, hey, I'm, you know I can't really do what you want to what you, what you do, but you've inspired me to, you know, take the summer off or something like that, and I just want to let you know it made me. It made me feel really good and like it, just since it was so hard for me to find happiness and like I didn't even realize happiness was a thing, that was really what inspired me to be like, look people, you could be happy, Like I get.
Speaker 2:Society and like the norms want you to do all this stuff and like I get that sometimes you have to be, you have to do what you have to do, to like pay rent or whatever. You might have a lease or whatever. You might be in the middle of something. You might have a sick family member that you need to take care of, or something, but don't forget to take care of yourself because, like, it was just so hard for me to find happiness that that's all I want to show people is that, like you can be happy, um, doing whatever you want, and it could be living off $277 a month, or it could be like going bouldering on the weekend, or it could be like going to a sports game, or it could be like going to dinner, it could be anything. It doesn't have to be outside, it doesn't have to be an adventure, it just like follow your happiness.
Speaker 2:Um, and that's what inspired me to create a community and that is why I keep continuing on with the community because, to be honest, you know it is it does feel weird after my first three years of climbing without social media, where now I'm like, oh, okay, today I'm going to go, like shoot photos, Right, it's like it's not really why I climb, Um, but it does keep me going, Right.
Speaker 2:So it is, um, you know, an interesting line with me, with the social media and the community, and like my happiness, but I make sure, because I can help inspire other people to be to go find their happiness.
Speaker 2:It's a small price for me to pay to, like you know, create some content and stuff like that and and post and talk to people and that kind of stuff, Even though you know I'm I am a little socially awkward and I don't know exactly what to say and I just kind of ramble, ramble, ramble, which, like you'll probably see in this podcast, but, uh, you know, um, I, I do really appreciate my community and I, you know, I've I've had a lot of ups and downs with them and you know I went through some burnouts where I'm like I think I'm going to retire and I got like so many messages and so many comments and they're just like dude, you can't.
Speaker 2:I'm like you know, you guys, you guys, you know. So, like you know, I owe as much to them, you know, for keeping me where I am and keeping me, quit your job stickers on like their boss's computer and stuff, and I'm just like I love humans Like you guys are so amazing, you know, and so it's, it's, it's really, uh, I'd say my community is all over the place. But I think the main thing is, you know we're, we're, we're really, we're really tight and like I'm not going to lie you and I'm going to be straight up with you and I think they know that and yeah, I think that's why my community is not very big, but we're pretty tight. I love that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, sounds like just a loyal tribe and people can see authenticity a mile away. You just ooze it, potter, and you're in flow state in this podcast, by the way, just as I know you are when you're climbing a steep vertical. So much of what you describe, potter, you know as a clinical guy. You know Lexapro and you know people in modern life.
Speaker 1:I'm always struck by the statistic that the average American spends more than 95% of their time indoors, 95% indoors. And when they're outdoors, you know walk into their car or they're walking to the subway. You know kind of full speed ahead. You know very limited peripheral vision and that is the current state. You know we've, we I often think that we're a species with amnesia, we've sort of forgotten where we've come from. And when I, when I look at your life and when I hear you talk about what you do, I realize that you haven't forgotten where you've come from. I, you know that that is what is deep inside of us um, uh, struggles to manifest and you have found ways to completely unleash it, and I can imagine many people who are stuck in their jobs or in their relationships or in these beliefs that I'm not good enough, I'm not rich enough. I'm not popular enough. Your story is exactly what they need to hear and to contemplate. So what a great service.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I think that all kind of plays back into fear. Right, where my first 24 years of life, fear and I did not have a good relationship, right, like fear was scary. Fear was not a emotion that I embraced, where once I kind of switched that and fear and I had a better relationship. Then fear wasn't scary. It was just this emotion that I felt and that I got through. This emotion that I felt and that I got through, um, and I really do think that's what holds everyone back from doing what they want or what they need to do for themselves is fear, and it could be. It could be small fear, it could be big fear, it could be I don't want to die, or it could be I don't want to run out of money, or it could be I don't want to my car to break down, it could be anything, right, um, and so I think that question yeah, that's just a big first step that I took was just seeing fear as not a bad emotion and more so like an emotion that's it's driving me a particular way, um, and like listening to fear and embracing it. Like, like, when I'm I do a lot of free solo climbing and, um, I do a lot of like Tuolumne. I'm not too sure if you're familiar with the climbing in Tuolumne, but it's pretty pretty run out and scary. You can get very hurt or die on a lot of routes here.
Speaker 2:And you know when I, when I'm up on the wall, you know I uh, in these situations typically not free solo. Know when I, when I'm up on the wall, you know I, in these situations typically not freesolding. When I'm freesolding I'm typically like just in bliss, but like you know, if I'm on a run out or something like that, um, I fear is there. Right, like I feel fear. I feel the situation, but instead of, you know, taking it negatively and letting it run me, I just embrace it and feel it and I'm like this is fear. This is what fear feels like. And you know, one of my main things is I always kind of lean into the wall and shut my eyes and I whisper I'm here because I want to be, and that just like reminds me. You know, like no one forced me to come up here. Like I am here because I want to be.
Speaker 2:This fear is a normal reaction. You know it is. I should be feeling it, everyone in this situation would be feeling it. But instead of letting fear win, I just embrace it and let it, let myself feel the emotion. And you know, climbing has helped me deal with that in normal life where, you know, growing up I've mentioned, I wasn't very happy and I didn't know. I didn't know who I was or anything like that. You know, I was looking for myself, searching for myself, and once I just kind of started letting all my emotions go and let it just be, I sort of found myself and, uh, the fear, the fear aspect and becoming friends with fear was very big in my life, um, very big for me, and I think it would do a lot for a lot of other people as well. And just like I think fear should, just it should not be a negative emotion, I think it should be a positive one and, um, you know, I think that'll help a lot of people.
Speaker 2:Cause they just look at it that way, and you know, my first 24 years of life, I didn't look at it that way. There was no way that fear could not be a negative emotion, right Like there was no way, and it's hard to explain how it can be a good emotion. But you know, once you start you'll see what I mean.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean, that's just such an epiphany what you described, butter, and I love that. I love that sort of silent self-talk of I'm here because I want to be in the right place at the right time, doing the right thing, because it's all aligned with what your soul is more deeply passionate about and that alignment has a way of you know the way that you describe fear, you know fear is an energetic state that really are opportunities for us to understand more about where our mindset is. At Many things that I've been fearful about in my life, I get to the point where I would ask myself what do you have to believe to be true in order to be experiencing the fear that you're currently experiencing? And when I begin to kind of pull the veil on those belief patterns, they're all like oh, you know, you're not good enough, or you're not skilled enough, or right, you're going to fall and not be able to get up. People are going to think you're crazy, blah, blah, blah, right, whatever those beliefs are.
Speaker 1:And so I think, as people begin to recognize fear as an invitation to explore their patterns of beliefs, most of which are more illusory than they are true, it really does unleash or liber expression of that and how that manifests, and so I've looked at some of your photography. It's just breathtaking. Potter, where can people access your photography and some of your stories? What? What are your social media um connections that people can can look at if interested?
Speaker 2:yeah, I mean, uh, right now I really just have, uh, instagram and patreon. Uh, on instagram I post, you know what I'm up to, and then I also post all my adventure live tour stuff on there. Most of my photography is, you know, I take a lot myself, but I do also, you know, a lot of friends come out and shoot me as well, which is really nice. It's kind of funny, like with my sponsors that pay me. You know, I'm kind of like, well, I feel like we should be paying a photographer less than me, because it's like you know, I'm not really that, but I do post all my stories and stuff on Instagram and then on Patreon I have more of like detailed beta, basically like where you can camp for free stuff that I don't really like just blast all over the Internet. I put on Patreon more like detailed stuff like that and then kind of just like behind the scenes stuff. But yeah, it's really just Instagram and Patreon right now.
Speaker 1:So if they Google Potter Wonderland they'll get links to those those sites.
Speaker 2:I'm assuming. Yeah, I believe so. My Instagram is at the Cadillac dirtbag six and I have like a little link link tree thing in my bio that you can contemplate Potter the. You know what's to come.
Speaker 1:But are there any climbs that you dream about, that are on your sort of bucket list, that you haven't yet taken on? Or do you just kind of navigate as the spirit moves you wherever you may be?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean, that's a. You should see my to-do list. Honestly it's a, it's a long one, but you know I am, as I mentioned earlier, I'm not really. I don't really have any like hard climbing goals. I've never really cared too much about how hard people climb or how hard I climb. I've always cared more about the adventure. So I personally really like first dissenting, um, I like to be the first person there, um, and just kind of make a, find the path of least resistance and be the first person to, you know, be there and unlock this cliff.
Speaker 2:I remember, you know, I was just in Bernal, mexico, just this past winter, putting up some roots ground up on La Pena, which is the third largest monolith in the world. And you know, there was one route that I was putting up ground up, which I'm not too sure, if you know what ground up means. Up means basically you stand at the base of cliff cliff with a drill and you're on your on your shoulder and all your gear on you and you basically just go up the cliff and you have to. If you can't place your own protection, you have to drill bolts, um, to protect certain moves and stuff like that, um, while you're on the climb and it's very adventurous and like what I live for, like I absolutely love that kind of climbing and you know, there's one instance where I was putting up a route ground up in Bernal. It's named Pachamama and I was on. It's a multi-pitch but this was the first pitch and I remember I had just walked around La Pena the day before, a couple days before, just scouting areas and seeing what lines I wanted to do first and I had found this line and there's a group of, you know, indigenous who, like, live there, have lived there their whole life, and they're like clearing the path, um, for like future climbers to come and stand and belay and start to climb from, while I'm like on the cliff, you know, hanging from a hook and putting in a bolt and like I'm like we are just opening this area to people and it's like this incredible experience. And you know I remember I like that route in particular was I think it ended up being like 510c, that pitch, um, which is, like you know, I'm not like the strongest climber in the world, so like putting up 510c's, like while holding on, and like or hanging from a hook, or there was one move I couldn't hang from a hook and had to, you know, hold and drill at the same time from a stance, and you know, it's like it was pretty for me, like very exciting, and, um, you know, I was like I had been transformed, basically.
Speaker 2:And uh, when I got to the ground, um, you know, like the mother of the tribe was down there and, uh, she was just like. You know, I I don't speak very good Spanish for someone who spends as much time in Mexico as I do, and so we were kind of speaking broken language back and forth. But I also have this stomach issue and I got down and she was like your stomach hurts, you know, and I'm like, yeah, it does. And she gave me this root and I just trusted her in the universe and ate it. And it's Aztec gold root, chicaue, I think it's pronounced and it basically like helped fix my stomach. I mean, I still take it to this day and it was just this incredible experience to me where no one had ever been here before, like they were clearing this, I was climbing this. No one had ever been here before like they were clearing this, I was climbing this, no one had ever been there.
Speaker 2:Before I come down, talk to this lady who has no idea who I am. She knew my stomach hurt. She gave me this thing, like I named the root patra, mama for mother nature, mother earth, and it's just like we are so connected with everything, so, my, with everything on the earth, on like the planet. Like, like you said, 95 people spend 95 of their life indoors. That is like insane to me because, like we are so connected to all of this that, like, once you get out here you'll feel it and that is my inspiration. That is like what, what? Like I don't care if I climb 515, the hardest climbing in the world, I could be a 511, 512 climber for the rest of my life, as long as I am in nature, as long as I am breathing in this air every day, as long as I am following my happiness. That is what inspires me and so you know it's.
Speaker 2:You ask, like, are there any particular climbs? Um, not really. Um, it really is just like I, just, I, just, I just want to adventure all the time. I just want to be out here, I want to be smiling, um, I just want to feel the intimacy that I feel while being, while living in this minivan. You know, like the intimacy I feel living in this minivan, stepping out, looking outside, going, climbing every day.
Speaker 2:You know, like this is where I'm having this podcast from Like no one's inside here, it's it's all. Everything's an adventure, and that's what really inspires me, and so that is where, yes, my to do list has probably 3000 rock climbs on it, like with having an adventure, and that, typically, is just something new. I love doing new things, whether it's in areas I've been, as long as it's a different climb or a different ridge or a different hike or a different meal, like like I just love new things and new adventures and stuff like that, but that's my biggest inspiration. However, if I had to choose one thing, I really, really, really want to move to Wadi Rum, jordan, and put up roots in Wadi Rum. That is like my big, big goal and that I hope I get to do someday.
Speaker 1:In Jordan. Yeah, wadi Rum, jordan. Yeah, did I hear that right? Yes, yeah, awesome, awesome stories and and inspiration fodder uh, it, um, you, it. You have have manifest and express so much of what I believe to be the secret sauce for for so many people, and it's been such a pleasure to share a small piece of your journey over the last hour or so.
Speaker 1:And before we adjourn Potter, I want to thank a medical director of Essential Provisions. As I said, we're a whole foods nutrition company and we make meals ready to eat. I think this is bison stew. We make meals ready to eat. I think this is bison stew, which is one of my favorites but our mission is to nourish the warriors, the quintessential warriors like yourself, potter, and for the company and Robin Gentry-McGee, who's our CEO and founder and the alchemist who creates these amazing foods. You know we all of us on the team have experienced these epiphanies meeting fear head on, finding finding ways to reframe and recreate opportunity and possibility. And what you said about we're all connected. You know this illusion of separateness is so powerful and you remind us that that in no way reflects the true nature of who we are, and I can't thank you enough for that, god, you are an inspiring, amazing guy and I'm so glad to know you and I look forward to vicariously experiencing your adventures, and hopefully in person at some point we can meet and explore together.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'd love that. Yeah, I mean, not only is it great to not be eating cold chef where it is, but yeah it's, it's amazing to be eating those. Like they're changing my life. But not that, not that wasn't the only reason. You know, I enjoy partnering up with you.
Speaker 2:Like you said, we, you guys and myself, you know, I feel like we are kind of on that same plane, like we've kind of we've gone through our journeys of unhappiness and we've kind of found our happiness and you know it's, it really is a breath of fresh air to speak with you all. And you know, sometimes when I say stuff like this, people are like you're, you are crazy dude, like you know, or like that just doesn't make sense. Or you know it's just like you know, or like that just doesn't make sense. Or you know it's just like you know it is a breath of fresh air to just kind of like say some things that I do think are a little bizarre, and you're just like, yeah, no, totally, I get that, you know. And I'm like, oh, you do get it, I can see, you know. And so, you know, when I talk to you all at Essential, you know it really does just, it is a bright part of my day for sure.
Speaker 2:I love being part of the team. I hope we get to adventure someday as well. That would be great. I'll be out here every day. I'm sure we'll get something Awesome.
Speaker 1:Well, thank you, potter, for your generous spirit and generosity for sharing, and I look forward to talking with you again, hopefully very soon.
Speaker 2:Yeah, totally.
Speaker 1:Be well, my friend.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'd love to chat anytime. Have a good one, Mark.