Living the dream with podcast host and positivity expert Ed Waters

Welcome, um, to the living the Dream podcast with curveball. If you believe you can achieve, cheat, cheat. Welcome to the Living the Dream with Curveball podcast, a show where I interview guests that teach, motivate, and inspire. And today I am joined by special guest Ed Waters. He is a fellow podcast host, and Ed is a real positive person. He looks at life through open eyes, and he's all about self improvement and education. And on his podcast, he tries to uplift people and to teach, motivate, and inspire, just like I do on mine. So we're going to be talking to him about everything that he's up to and about his podcast and anything else that he wants to talk about. Ed, thank you so much for joining me today.

Curtis, I am m so pleased to join you here today. Thank you for having me.

Why don't you start off by telling everybody a little bit about yourself?

Well, I'm Ed Waters. I'm almost 57 years old. I got injured at work, so I am disabled. And through that traumatic experience that I went through, I wanted to really end my life. So I reached out for assisted suicide. Uh, thank God the doctor had foresight and said, hey, we suggest you do this. So I seek counseling, and nothing, uh, really got me out of it. And I started podcasting out of anger and hostility and just feeling dead in America. So I came up with the podcast Dead America, and I reached out to other individuals seeking answers and education through conversation. And that's basically how I got started podcasting.

Well, what did you do, um, on the job that you got injured on, what kind of work were you doing?

I was a maintenance supervisor at the time of my last injury, and I sustained several injuries, but I kept going, kept going, and I was taken out by a simple fall, which really threw me into a spin. I just did not understand why. But basically, I didn't have a lot to do at work other than supervise the crew, make sure that the pool was ready in the morning, and the maintenance was attended to throughout the day.

Were you working for, like, a big company?

Yeah, at the time, I was working for manufactured home company out of, uh, Peoria, Arizona, and basically, we had a big resort there of park model mobile homes that, uh, snowbirds would come down to Arizona during the winter months and then go back to the north during, uh, the summer months. So I basically oversaw the maintenance of the day to day operations of that company. I was on my way to regional maintenance supervisor at the time of my injury, which really upset my apple cart.

So how hard was it to adjust to life changing events. And how did you manage to adjust at an older age with all the life changing events that you've.

Know, Curtis, that's a, uh, really good question, because it took a lot of years to overcome my self sabotaging attitude after that injury because I felt like I was worthless, I wasn't a man. And through discovering who I truly was, instead of identifying as who I used to be in a physical role, I didn't really ever anticipate I would be podcasting, but this is where the good lord put me, and this is kind of where I stuck. So, yeah, going through traumatic experiences, I thought I had a bottom, but I didn't know the bottom was that far down. And when I hit, I really about lost everything. I lost my home, I lost my job, I lost the insurance that I had, uh, basically my wife and myself and my animals. We climbed into a van and packed up and basically was homeless for a little while until we decided what we had to do, uh, because I couldn't do a lot, it was frustrating. I found myself putting my last little bit of, uh, belongings into a little storage shed before I fled Arizona to return to Oregon. And I had a mental breakdown in the parking lot, just lashing out at saying, why? What is this all about? Why? Me and my wife came out wondering, uh, what's going on? Who are you speaking with? And I really put my wife through a lot of turmoil because of my own angers, my internal frustrations, and living through all of that and her sticking with me. I started podcasting to vent, and then I started listening to other stories about people going through traumatic experiences and having to reinvent themselves. So I started podcasting. I've never been a good speaker. I never liked school, so I really had to learn new things. And, uh, by learning new things, I had to give up a lot of those things that I thought I already knew. And through my own experiences, I was able to open up and really empathize with others about what they were going through. I could never really understand what they were going through, but I can really empathize with people now, understanding that we are in this together, and we all have struggles, so why make it harder for somebody? And that's my mission now, through conversations, not only can I educate myself, I can educate others that are seeking to learn new things.

Well, speaking of, uh, your podcast, tell people about your podcast. Tell us how long you've been doing it and what your podcast is all about.

Well, I started dabbling in podcasting back in 2017, but about three years ago, I really got touched by the bug. That's what I say it is. It's a bug that you get. And the experiences that I have had through podcasting really reinvented who I am today. I reach out to other people, and I haven't been able to do that in some time because I'm so swamped with people that want to be on the podcast, which is excellent. I'm so humbled by that. But through conversations with experts, homeless people, and, uh, people wanting to just share with others, that's what Dead America podcast is truly about. Because somewhere, somehow, we all kind of have this feeling that we're dead in America right now. And that was the inspiration. We shouldn't be feeling dead in America. We should have a pride. We should be lifting each other up and not putting roadblocks up for people. We should reach out and give advantage, don't take advantage. So, the more that I talk with people, the stronger I get with my message. And, uh, therefore, I can look down the ladder and hopefully bring people up to my level. And then if they excel past my level, that is the ultimate goal here. So it's about lifting people up, especially out of those feelings of disparity and hopelessness and, uh, uh, feeling weak and, uh, we all have power and turning inward and looking into what we truly are and what we have to offer the world. That's how things change. One conversation at a time.

So, what's the most interesting guest that you would say you have interviewed in your time in podcasting?

The most interesting guest, I would have to say, is Dr. Twyla Dell. The woman is fascinating. She's out there on the front lines fighting the gasoline. Know we're hungry in America for gasoline and around the world. So I really admire what she is doing, and I found so much hope and inspiration that there's people out there trying to reverse some of the damage that we've caused around the world.

Okay, well, tell the listeners how we can listen to the Dead America podcast. Give out your contact information.

Okay. You can find the Dead America podcast just about anywhere you listen to your podcast episodes. Uh, we have a website. It's Deadamerica website. Everything about us is there. And you can also send us an email at podcast at DeadAmerica website.

All right, we'll close us out with some final thoughts, maybe anything that we haven't talked about that you would like to talk about, or, uh, just any final thoughts, any words of encouragement for the listeners out there?

Curtis, I really want your listeners to get out of their box, experience new things. Reach out and indulge yourself with a person that you don't agree with and really don't overspeak them. Listen to them and see where your common ground is and really just have an open conversation and challenge yourself to learn something new out of that conversation. This is where we will really build our inner self and uh, through doing that, we will build a better tomorrow for everybody.

Yeah, listeners, remember, give advantage, not take advantage. Also remember to follow rate, review, share this episode to as many people as possible. We all need some positive, uplifting words, especially through all the things that we're going through these days. Please be sure to follow rate and review once again, Ed, thank you for your time and expertise and all that you're doing in the world with your podcast. And most important of all, thank you so much m for joining us, uh.

Tonight, Curtis, I had a blast, and thank you for having me, sir.

For more information on the living the Dream podcast, visit www.djcurveball.com. Until next time, stay focused on living the dream. Dream.