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This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von

#622 - Miles Teller

with Miles Teller

Published November 4, 2025
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About This Episode

Theo Von sits down with actor Miles Teller for a wide-ranging conversation about his life, career, and new film "Eternity." They talk about growing up in Florida and moving frequently as a kid, his family background and early injuries, and how experiences with illness and loss in his family shaped his empathy and outlook. They also dive into the themes of love, mortality, and the afterlife in "Eternity," discuss military service and veterans' mental health, and reflect on prioritizing relationships and normal life over constant work.

Topics Covered

Relationships Personal narrative Mental health Veterans mental health War and empire VA healthcare Stand-up comedy Travel and tourism Storytelling Work ethic

Disclaimer: We provide independent summaries of podcasts and are not affiliated with or endorsed in any way by any podcast or creator. All podcast names and content are the property of their respective owners. The views and opinions expressed within the podcasts belong solely to the original hosts and guests and do not reflect the views or positions of Summapod.

Quick Takeaways

  • Miles Teller describes losing his home in a wildfire and how the experience underscored the importance of relationships over material possessions.
  • His new film "Eternity" explores a whimsical afterlife where people must choose a single eternity and confront past and present loves.
  • Teller emphasizes how much he values collaboration on set and dislikes dictatorial directing styles, framing filmmaking as a team sport.
  • He traces a lot of his empathy and curiosity to growing up around serious illness, loss, and nursing homes in his family.
  • Both he and Theo reflect on how hard it is for the U.S. to bring soldiers back from war psychologically, despite knowing well how to send them.
  • Teller talks about consciously protecting his personal life, often turning down work so he can enjoy "Miles life" with his wife, friends, and family.
  • They discuss the joy and freedom of dancing and live music, including Miles' deep love of the Grateful Dead and the Dead & Co. community.
  • Theo shares stories from touring small markets and meeting fans, describing stand-up as a way to create genuine human connection.
  • They recall reckless and funny childhood antics in Florida, from concussions to anti-tobacco floats and prank-filled high school days.
  • Teller recounts working with Tom Cruise on "Top Gun: Maverick," praising Cruise's work ethic, script focus, and leadership on set.

Podcast Notes

Introduction and how Theo and Miles know each other

Recalling first meeting at Troubadour in Nashville

Theo says his home base is Nashville and remembers meeting Miles and his wife at Troubadour through mutual friend Will Stelly[0:54]
They mention LSU connections and Todd Graves[1:37]
• Miles says Will Stelly is an LSU boy and notes seeing Todd recently

Todd Graves and the Triceratops skull

Miles says Todd Graves owns a Triceratops skull and has lent it to a museum in Louisiana[1:45]
• They joke about people in Louisiana hanging Mardi Gras beads on the skull and not caring much about formality in museums
Theo compares Louisiana museums to central Florida museums he grew up around[2:35]

Florida childhood stories and the Cooter Festival

Cooter turtle and Cooter-tober

Miles explains that his Florida county had a "cooter festival" celebrating a type of turtle called a cooter[2:51]
• He recalls The Daily Show visiting his county twice: once for the cooter festival and once for a nearby town that "banned the devil"
They pull up information about "Cooter-tober" in Venice, Florida, advertising events like Cooter Carnival and Cooter Comedy[3:47]
• Miles notes the festival didn't start until later in his youth, likely after he was out of high school

Origin of the cooter turtle name

They look up that "cooter" came from the African word "kuta" meaning turtle in Bambara and Malinke languages[4:30]
• Theo jokes about how the name could be misinterpreted as slang for anatomy, and Miles clarifies they're back to talking about the animal

Double vaginas, nicknames, and body humor

TikTok woman with two vaginas and "Double Barrel Cheryl"

Theo mentions a woman on TikTok with two vaginas who DMed him[5:04]
Miles tells a story from an Ohio wedding about a classmate nicknamed "Double Barrel Cheryl" because she had two vaginas[5:39]
• Miles says she supposedly used one vagina for her boyfriend and was saving the other for her husband, which he finds oddly beautiful
They riff on how they would use two vaginas or two penises, joking about AM/PM use and Yelp reviews[6:48]

Woman's medical story and empathy pivot

They watch a clip of a woman describing being born with two vaginas, two uteruses, and a serious esophageal defect[7:17]
• Miles notes the intense music under the clip makes him feel like their earlier joking tone was out of sync with how serious her situation is
They imagine the practical and social difficulties of having two penises, especially during high school[7:58]

Music, dancing, and Grateful Dead fandom

Dead & Company shows and losing shirts in the fire

Miles talks about seeing Dead & Company multiple times, including at the Sphere and the San Francisco 60th shows with John Mayer[9:00]
He says when their house burned down, one of the things he was most upset about was losing his vintage Grateful Dead shirts[9:14]
• Fans reached out to his wife on Instagram and mailed shirts from their own collections, which he describes as a loving community gesture

Vibe of Dead shows and dancing

Miles describes Dead & Co. sets as improvisational, never the same twice, and sometimes "lightning in a bottle" on one of the weekend nights[10:54]
He says he dances hard at shows and sweats, pushing back on the stereotype that people just sit around high[11:12]
• He ties his comfort with sweat and humidity to growing up in Florida, where you always have a thin layer of sweat

Humidity in the South and mischief nostalgia

Theo describes Louisiana humidity as so strong it makes handshakes hard to land and says you start sweating just from having a thought[11:40]
He says warm, humid evening air makes him feel mischievous, reminding him of teenage bike rides at sunset looking for things to do[12:00]
• Miles notes that in places without air conditioning he has more imaginative dreams because he's more acclimated to the actual climate

Theo noticing Miles dancing and philosophy of having fun

Vegas nightclub memory and "have fun yourself" theory

Theo recalls seeing Miles dancing alone at a Vegas DJ set after a UFC fight, impressed by how free he seemed[12:55]
Miles shares an idea he heard: if you want everyone at a party to have a good time, the best strategy is to have a good time yourself[14:04]
• He says he's always loved rhythm and dance and that music of many kinds-DJ sets, Bob Seger, classic rock, rock piano, jazz, blues-gets him moving

Family, aging parents, and retirement

Taking his mom to blues in Nashville

Miles describes taking his 77-year-old mom to a blues club in Printer's Alley in Nashville where a New Orleans musician was playing[14:51]
He says as his mom gets older she sometimes seems childlike in her fascination and the purity of her enjoyment[14:59]

Theo's mom Gina and Miles' mom Mary

Theo shares a photo description of his mom Gina, jokes that she looks a bit like Willie Nelson, and notes she listens to every episode[15:28]
Miles says his mom's name is Mary, spelled M-E-R-R-Y, because she was born near Christmas[16:11]
• He recalls pervy-sounding neighborhood men from old home videos mispronouncing her name with drawn-out "Merry" and noises that now feel inappropriate

Parents retiring and dad tinkering

Miles' dad was born in 1954, recently retired around age 70, and likes doing outside work[17:24]
Theo describes his stepdad building many birdhouses and even a doghouse after retirement just to have alone time and keep busy[18:33]
• They joke about retirement driving some people into constant tinkering and small construction projects

Childhood bus driver and silver-dollar belt buckle

Miles recalls a school bus driver nicknamed "Fingers" because he was missing a couple of fingers and pointed with the nub[18:54]
The bus driver had a belt buckle covered with hand-glued silver dollars that young Miles thought was very cool[19:10]

Concussions and reckless childhood games

Basketball with an aluminum bat

Miles describes inventing a game with his sister using a basketball and an aluminum bat; on his second swing the bat bounced back and knocked him out[20:11]
• He says teachers suspected his parents of abuse because he repeatedly showed up with black eyes and concussions, though they were from accidents
He tried to hide injuries with a surfer haircut, covering what he calls a "tennis ball" swelling on his head[20:40]

Losing the Palisades home in a wildfire

From London shoot to Studio City robbery to Palisades

Miles was filming a movie in London when his Studio City house was robbed; he initially thought they'd just upgrade security and stay[24:54]
His wife Kelly felt too violated by strangers going through her things, so they bought a house in the Pacific Palisades[25:08]
• He says it was the first LA neighborhood where Kelly felt truly safe and was actually excited to return, and they invested effort into designing it together

Community feel and neighbors affected by the fire

Miles emphasizes the Palisades community was full of long-term residents who had raised kids and grandkids there over 30-40 years[26:53]
He notes it's especially hard for older neighbors whose homes were destroyed, because at 70 they don't have time to rebuild from scratch[26:37]
He describes an elementary school across the street and guys on bikes pulling wooden boxes to ride kids home, likening it to "Pleasantville"[27:07]

Discovering the destruction via TMZ drone footage

Miles says the first image they saw confirming their house had burned down came from a TMZ drone video[26:37]
He is frustrated that media coverage of the fire led with celebrity homes, overshadowing regular families in the community[28:42]
He reacts emotionally to seeing a photo of his destroyed house and his 1975 Bronco that he'd owned for eight years[28:42]

Evacuation and what they took

From their vantage point on Via de la Paz, they saw the fire start around noon and watched it quickly threaten homes as winds picked up[28:42]
• He describes gridlocked roads, people abandoning cars, and women running with babies within an hour of the fire starting
Miles was taking care of his grandmother, whose husband had just died; he had to help her gather meds and evacuate slowly[30:37]
They grabbed only a couple of T-shirts and a few items, assuming they'd be in a hotel for a few nights, not lose everything[31:32]
• He remembers his brother-in-law telling Kelly to make sure Miles grabbed certain jerseys, but he couldn't accept their home might actually burn and didn't know where to stop choosing objects

Psychological impact of losing everything

Miles describes the disorienting feeling of living in rentals where nothing around him has any personal history or attachment[32:42]
He says looking around and not seeing any reminders of his life or memories "fucks with your mind" even if the rental itself is nice[32:12]
He tells Kelly that one day they'll be able to tell their children that they lost everything and figured it out, framing it as a bonding experience[33:02]
• Kelly introduces him to the term "bright siding"-telling someone to look on the bright side in a way that can invalidate their pain-when he tries to emphasize the positives too quickly

Discussion of the film "Eternity" and its themes

Premise of the afterlife world

Miles explains that in "Eternity" when someone dies, they take a train to a Grand Central Station-meets-World's Fair space and are assigned an afterlife coordinator[34:07]
Each person must choose a single eternity-once chosen, it lasts forever-and the options are themed worlds like capitalism world, smoking world, or whimsical things like "Miami Beach spaghetti and cocaine"[34:37]
• They joke that some eternities sound like existing places (e.g., Miami or a night at Carbone) and imagine a Willie Nelson world where everyone looks like Willie Nelson

Love triangle and choice between two loves

Theo summarizes that Elizabeth Olsen's character has to choose between her first love, who died in the Korean War and has waited ~60 years, and Miles' character, her later husband[35:28]
Miles says some widowed viewers told him that scenario is their nightmare, having moved on and then confronting past and present loves together[36:19]
He likes that the film makes people think about their own lives, love, family, and what might be beyond death[36:23]

Tone: balancing comedy and sincerity

Miles emphasizes the movie is original, funny, and sweet without becoming slapstick; it maintains emotional stakes and sincerity throughout[37:19]
He notes that after the Toronto premiere, the after-party was full of couples deep in conversation, showing how the film provokes reflection[37:56]

Afterlife coordinators and supporting cast

Miles praises Da'Vine Joy Randolph, who plays a coordinator and had just won an Oscar for "The Holdovers," and John Early, whose sassy performance he finds impressive and very funny[37:37]
Theo says Early's facial expressions in the movie killed him and that he wants to watch more of his work[39:07]

Archives of memories in the afterlife

Theo describes a section of the film where characters can walk through a museum-like archive of their life memories after choosing an eternity[39:54]
He says the idea that after death you might tour exhibits of your own life felt fascinating and comforting[40:07]

Love, consciousness, and what matters at death

Theo's DMT experience and primacy of love

Theo shares that in DMT experiences, as he feels like he's leaving existence, the only feeling that seems to matter is that love is the most important thing and everything else is a fool's errand[40:39]
He says those experiences made him feel that consciousness is who we are and that the body is just a vessel, with consciousness able to exist and evaluate love outside the body[41:00]

Relationships over things at the end of life

Miles agrees that the most important thing in his life is relationships, and that on his deathbed he won't care about his Bronco or movies but about his wife, friends, family, and higher power[40:39]
He feels that what you invest in relationships is what you get back, and that belief has guided him well[42:10]
Theo reflects that heavy touring made him feel he'd spent too much time working and not enough nurturing relationships, and he's relished a recent break to attend games and go on dates[42:55]

Stand-up touring, connection with fans, and small markets

Touring 250+ markets and meeting people

Theo says he's done around 250 markets in four years on a tour, including smaller cities like Casper, Beaumont, and Toledo[43:13]
He often does meet-and-greets after shows, hugging people and "taking the temperature of humanity," seeing many people searching for similar things[44:19]
He frames the podcast as more than jokes and information, aiming to create connection with listeners[44:37]

War widows, cost of conflict, and stats

Thinking about widows in "Eternity"

Theo is struck by how many women in history were widowed by war, prompted by Elizabeth Olsen's character's backstory of losing a fiancé in the Korean War[45:16]

Pulled-up statistics on widows

They read that World War I produced an estimated 3-4 million widows from ~9.7 million military deaths[45:00]
They read approximate figures for other wars, including about 325,000 widows in WWI in one cited figure, ~405,000 in WWII, and around 36,000 in the Korean War, acknowledging variation across sources[46:39]

Louvre heist, Mona Lisa theft, and criminals bragging

Recent Louvre jewelry heist

They watch a news-style breakdown of a Louvre heist where four individuals arrived on scooters and a truck with a mechanical ladder, broke into a gallery, and stole royal jewelry in about four minutes[52:58]
Theo and Miles are amazed at the low security and joke the Louvre needs to "button up" and get basic cameras like a Ring doorbell[53:29]
They wonder how thieves can sell such famous items: whether on the black market, parted out as stones, or by waiting generations[54:03]

Historical Mona Lisa theft

They read that the Mona Lisa was stolen in 1911 by a man disguised as a museum employee who hid overnight and removed it from its frame under his smock; it wasn't discovered missing until the next day[54:03]
Theo speculates some museums might fake thefts to generate publicity or richer storytelling about their institutions[54:59]

Criminals slipping up from bragging

Miles notes many criminals on most-wanted lists get caught because they eventually tell someone what they did, especially when high or drunk[55:28]
They act out a scenario where someone drunkenly confesses to murder, then the next day tries to brush it off as a joke[55:19]

Working with Tom Cruise and filming Top Gun: Maverick

Auditioning and Cruise's professionalism

Miles auditioned for "Top Gun: Maverick" in front of Tom Cruise after having worked once with the director before[1:06:59]
He calls Cruise a consummate professional and one of our great actors, praising his filmography that combines commercial and critical success in a way that's hard to match[1:07:29]
Cruise labors over the script, often starting script meetings at page one and talking for hours, sometimes not reaching the intended scene before time runs out[1:07:29]

Constraints of filming with the Navy

Miles explains that the Navy doesn't stop being the Navy for a movie; they shot on active carriers and within real training schedules[1:08:36]
He describes the Theodore Roosevelt aircraft carrier as feeling like a submarine inside-tight metal hallways, nothing for comfort, all functional as a wartime weapon[1:09:05]
They often had only small windows, like two hours, to shoot on the flight deck before operations resumed[1:09:37]

"Nightmares are also dreams" sailor quote

Miles recalls telling a sailor "living the dream, huh?" and the sailor replying coldly, "Nightmares are also dreams," capturing the harshness of life aboard[1:10:05]

Military service, VA system, and veterans' mental health

"Thank You for Your Service" and the VA being overwhelmed

Miles played a soldier returning from war in "Thank You for Your Service," based on real people's stories[1:15:23]
He says he learned the VA is not broken but overwhelmed, facing more need than capacity[1:15:34]
Nonprofit programs that help veterans with PTSD or transition home can only take limited numbers and need funding[1:16:15]

We know how to send soldiers, not bring them back

Miles quotes his writer-director: "We've known how to send men and women to war for centuries; we still don't really know how to bring them back," referring to psychological reintegration[1:15:50]
He notes that leaving the tight brotherhood of a unit and dispersing back home makes it harder, because those comrades are the ones who truly understand what they went through[1:17:40]

Training, special forces, and socioeconomic patterns

Miles points out that basic training for some roles is short because the military needs numbers, whereas special forces like Navy SEALs train for years and are older when they serve in elite units[1:17:32]
He observes that military service is increasingly concentrated in certain socioeconomic and geographic pockets, so many Americans don't personally know anyone who serves[1:18:18]

Theo's encounter with a returning service member

Theo recalls meeting a father at a Vanderbilt football game who had just returned from a year-long deployment in Qatar; his kids mentioned the dad had seen Theo perform there[1:18:55]
He describes asking the kids if they were glad their dad was home and feeling moved by the visible sacrifice and reunion[1:19:26]

Complexity of "thank you for your service"

Miles says Adam Schumann (whom he portrayed) felt that "thank you for your service" can be complicated-sometimes said to ease civilians' guilt, and often by people who don't know what the soldier actually did[1:19:50]
What really moved Schumann was a stranger at a gas station shaking his hand and saying "welcome home" and being glad he got home safe[1:21:19]

Acting career, genre choices, and collaboration style

From class clown to serious roles

Miles started in high school as a class clown and comedic relief in plays, then did a serious monologue and classmates laughed because they couldn't take him seriously[1:22:30]
That reaction pushed him to work on drama and prove he could do more than comedy[1:22:45]

Range of interests and role selection

He went to college for four years to train and started working in films in his early 20s, with early movies like "Footloose" and "Project X" around age 24-25[1:24:12]
He says he chooses projects based on genuine interest-he's done music films because he plays instruments, blue-collar and military roles because of family and friends, and he hasn't yet done a sports movie but wants to[1:23:03]
In the beginning he took what he could get to pay bills; people critiquing early choices don't realize he didn't have multiple options then[1:23:59]

Collaboration on set and dislike of dictators

Miles prefers collaborative directors who aren't threatened by ideas from actors; he believes in "best idea wins" and sees film as inherently collaborative[1:24:14]
He dislikes working with authoritarian directors who lead with an iron fist and make him feel he can't speak up; he thought arts would be a refuge from rigid authority[1:25:41]
He approaches acting like team sports and music bands he grew up in, wanting to be a strong link in the chain and, when number one on the call sheet, to lead from the front and know everyone's name[1:26:08]

Bleed for This and transforming for roles

Miles played boxer Vinny Pazienza in "Bleed for This"; he notes Paz is Dana White's favorite boxer and the film helped connect him to the UFC world[1:26:34]
He explains Vinny broke his neck, wore a halo brace, and still trained intensely, risking paralysis, leading to one of sports' great comebacks and eventually the Boxing Hall of Fame[1:26:17]
Before that film Miles had just played a pudgy best friend type and didn't care about having a six-pack, but for Pazienza he had to transform physically into a boxer[1:27:36]

Roots of empathy, moving as a child, and kids losing childhood

Family tragedy and nursing home experiences

Miles' grandmother outlived all but one of her children, with several dying young; his uncle became a quadriplegic at 17, so Miles spent a lot of time in nursing homes[1:28:05]
He recalls the unsettling environment of nursing homes for a child-beeping machines, wandering patients with dementia, dim lighting-yet it shaped his empathy[1:28:05]

Moving between five states and meeting new people

By age 12 Miles had lived in five states; he thinks constant moving taught him to open up, fit in, and be accepted by new groups[1:28:40]
He jokes about threatening to become goth and paint his walls and ceiling fan black when his family moved from South Jersey to Florida, hoping to embarrass his parents[1:29:15]

Kids' innate happiness and losing childhood too early

Miles describes filming in underprivileged areas abroad where children happily play in landfill-like environments, kicking trash like a soccer ball[1:30:11]
He says children are innately happy when they don't know other ways of life, and it's touching but also sad[1:30:59]
He feels it's especially tragic when kids have their childhood taken away early or are burdened with adult emotional responsibilities because adults in their life are struggling[1:31:32]

Florida high school antics: SWAT, DARE, and getting friends in trouble

SWAT (Students Working Against Tobacco)

Miles describes SWAT-Students Working Against Tobacco-as a Florida youth organization similar to DARE, with floats in homecoming parades and anti-tobacco messaging[1:31:27]
They look up SWAT and confirm it is a statewide Florida program aimed at mobilizing youth to de-glamorize tobacco[1:32:15]

DARE officer Bob and drug dog demonstrations

Theo remembers his massive DARE officer, Mr. Bob, who once gave the talk from his car because he couldn't get out, speaking through a megaphone[1:32:49]
At school assemblies, they would hide a real bag of weed or a scentable proxy in a student's bag and have a drug dog find it, to the shock of the kids[1:33:22]

Tree float hotbox disaster

Theo tells a story of a homecoming parade float built as a large paper-mâché tree; his friend Patrick stood inside with blunts, intending to have smoke emerge from the top[1:33:48]
They forgot a breathing hole, so no smoke was visible outside while Patrick intensely hotboxed inside for the entire two-hour parade[1:34:24]
Patrick was so high afterward he couldn't go to school for a week and needed his mom to stay home with him, and Theo jokes he might have "died for a second" in there[1:34:26]

Drywall punching and Christmas repairs

Theo's friend Jeff would blast Offspring's "Keep 'Em Separated" when angry and punch holes in his bedroom drywall[1:35:19]
Every Christmas, Jeff's parents' present was redoing the drywall his anger had destroyed; Jeff later joined the military[1:35:53]

Key West, live music, and wrestlers' conditioning

Key West as a happy place

Miles calls Key West his happy place, praising its live music scene on par with Austin and Nashville[1:40:06]
He enjoys walking or riding scooters bar to bar, noting every bar looks like it just went through a hurricane, adding to the charm[1:41:01]

Wrestlers' discipline compared to football players

Miles remembers high school wrestlers being in far better condition than football players and cutting 10-12 pounds in high school with sauna suits and skipped lunches[1:41:32]
Theo recalls a friend running in trash bags down the street before they even knew their school had a wrestling team, thinking it looked like punishment[1:42:02]

Balancing work with "Miles life" and long-term relationship with Kelly

Choosing when to work and when to live

Miles says he enjoys his "Miles life"-time with friends, family, and Kelly-so he's selective about back-to-back filming unless something is truly special[1:42:46]
He notes that constantly cramming social life into tiny windows between obligations doesn't feel real; people need unstructured time to themselves and with loved ones[1:43:11]

Thirteen years with Kelly and early doubts

Miles and Kelly have been together almost 13 years; he says she was the most beautiful girl he'd ever seen and later realized she is the most pure-hearted person he knows[1:43:56]
He met her around age 25 just as his career was taking off in LA; his Florida friends who moved out with him saw her as disrupting their "entourage moment" in a Valley house with a pool[1:44:11]
He admits he wasn't ready to settle down but also wasn't ready to let her leave, so he committed even amid that tension[1:44:25]

Being inseparable and enjoying constant togetherness

Miles calls Kelly his best friend; they're together from waking until sleeping, on set and off, and he never gets sick of her[1:44:56]
He says she's very hard to rattle, never raises her voice, and describes calmness as her superpower; he calls her "unflappable"[1:43:39]

Lessons Learned

Actionable insights and wisdom you can apply to your business, career, and personal life.

1

Material losses, even devastating ones like losing a home, clarify that what ultimately matters are relationships and shared experiences, not possessions.

Reflection Questions:

  • • What relationships in your life would you still have if you suddenly lost all your physical belongings tomorrow?
  • • How might you rearrange your time or spending if you treated relationships as your primary assets instead of your stuff?
  • • What is one small ritual or habit you could start this week to invest more intentionally in a key relationship?
2

Genuine collaboration thrives when leaders drop ego, stay open to ideas from others, and treat creative work as a team sport rather than a dictatorship.

Reflection Questions:

  • • Where in your work or projects do you tend to default to control instead of inviting other people's ideas?
  • • How could you signal to your team or peers that "best idea wins" really is the rule, regardless of who suggests it?
  • • What is one upcoming decision where you could consciously pause and ask for input before choosing a direction?
3

Empathy and curiosity are powerful skills that grow from truly seeing other people's realities, especially those dealing with illness, loss, or hardship.

Reflection Questions:

  • • Who in your life is quietly carrying something heavy that you rarely ask about or try to understand?
  • • How might your perspective shift if you spent an hour listening to someone whose background or struggles are very different from yours?
  • • What is one concrete step you can take this month to expose yourself to a perspective or environment far outside your usual bubble?
4

Societies often invest heavily in training people for extreme roles-like combat-but far less in helping them transition back, which creates long-term personal and social costs.

Reflection Questions:

  • • Where in your organization or community do you see lots of effort going into "sending people in" but very little into helping them come back out?
  • • How could you personally contribute to better reintegration or aftercare for people coming back from intense roles (e.g., veterans, founders, caregivers)?
  • • What is one system you're part of that might need a deliberate "off-ramp" or decompression phase that doesn't currently exist?
5

Choosing when to work and when to step back is crucial; if you never create spacious time for "real life," relationships and self-knowledge wither even as career success grows.

Reflection Questions:

  • • If you looked at your calendar from the last three months, what would it say you value more: work or your personal life?
  • • How might your sense of identity change if you built more non‑work time into your weeks to simply be with people you care about?
  • • What is one boundary you could set around your schedule in the next month to protect time for friends, family, or rest?

Episode Summary - Notes by Reese

#622 - Miles Teller
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