Just Be

Welcome to the Inspired Teacher Podcast! Today, I want to be honest about something I think a lot of us struggle with—this constant drive to grow, improve, and be “better.” It sounds noble, right? But if you’re anything like me, that mindset can sometimes become exhausting. I’ve always been an all-in kind of person—wrestling taught me to push hard, and teaching just reinforced it. But recently, a conversation with a psychologist friend reminded me of something important: “Try to be better, don’t try to be perfect… and sometimes, just be.” That hit me. In this episode, I’ll share reflections from that chat, plus insights from Laird Hamilton’s story in Liferider and Srikumar Rao’s book Modern Wisdom, Ancient Roots . It’s a reminder that maybe we don’t always need to chase the next level—maybe we just need to show up, be present, and appreciate the amazing people we already are.