In this episode of AMERICAPLUS, host Cole McCormick reflects on a transformative road trip to Arizona, where he spent quality time with family during Memorial Day weekend. Cole announces the transition into "Phase Two," a new chapter for the show aimed at personal growth, spiritual exploration, and fostering healthy relationships.
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It's time for a new phase. What's up, everyone? It's America Plus. I'm your host, Cole McCormack. It's another week, another episode. What's going on, everybody? It's Sunday, 05:49 in the PM. Beautiful day to be alive, folks. Welcome to another beautiful week of America Plus. I'm coming to you in good vibes right now. I'm coming to you right off the road. I was doing a little road trip to Arizona. Shout out to Arizona, by the way. Arizona's legit. Visited my family. Saw my mom. Saw my sisters. Saw my grandma. And, yeah, dude. It's just a great just a really good week. It's Memorial Day weekend, so, like, we're chilling. I didn't plan on going there for Memorial Day weekend. It just happened to be Memorial Day week, I should say.
And, it was a good time, man. I saw that new movie, Lilo and Stitch. Anyone see Lilo and Stitch? I thought that was alright. It was fine. Not as good as the original. I grew up with the original Lilo. But, the the remake the Disney remakes just, like, suck. Why did Disney not just do a new animation style? How come Disney has been, like what's up with the live action? Why do we need live action? Live action is stupid. Like, I don't understand why we don't just create a new era of Disney animation. Because, you know, all the animated Disney movies, the one reason why they're famous is because there were eras in that like, within the animation.
There's the thirties and forties and fifties, and then there's, like, the sixties. And then there's, like, the weird, like, eighties where, like, nothing really did anything. And then you got the nineties renaissance. It's like, why don't we have an era of the Disney animation? It's so strange. And, anyway, whatever. I digress. I don't like live action. I like animation. Well, anyway, what we're talking about this week fine. Guys, talking about eras, talking about life, talking about this is like an insularity episode this week, folks.
We are now so if if you're on the audio, and you see the picture on your screen, the episode image, it's like a half and half thing. I have updated the show's official image. And, pretty much, folks, what this is symbolizing is America Plus is entering in a new phase. I like to call it phase two. Phase two. We've been in phase one for a long ass time. We we we've been in phase one since, like, 2023. So it's been a long ass time. And, pretty much I mean, these phases, they're not, like, big promises. I'm not trying to do some, like, some Marvel at Comic Con thing. I got some, like, big, like, here's my ten year plan for everything going on. Like, these phases are really just, like, for me, for my mental, for me to, like, figure out, like, am I doing what I should be doing right now? Am I am I, like, slipping up a little bit? You know? Like so, like, pretty much, this is the third phase. It's phase two, but it's the third phase.
The show started out with phase zero. That was, like, the cold open. That was episode one. That was episode one going through dude, I don't know when phase zero ended. Sometime in 2023, I think. Because I started the show in 2022. And, pretty much, I it was me just, like, getting my footing, you know, just figuring out how I wanna do this show, and, like, how can I actually involve myself with Value for Value? I was, like, obsessed with everything going on with Value for Value. Now Value for Value is just, like, it's just, like, the thing. You know? I'm not, like, hyper obsessed with, like, pushing that. Like, it's just Value for Value. It's just the narrative. If you're getting anything in return of this, like, just show that value in return. You know, that's all value v for v is.
So that's what phase zero was a little bit. Just me being obsessed with Bitcoin, obsessed with value for value, and just, like, going through just, like, running through all the things that I was interested in, and trying to, like, figure out if I have, like, a niche, if I have a general thing that I wanna focus on. And then, phase one that we're just coming out of. Phase one was establishing my consistency and figuring out growth, both in terms of pushing myself within personal growth, growing the show a little bit. I had a really big goal of just, like, trying to get more and more listeners. Listeners. I wanted the show to be better and better each week. And I followed that through all the way through all the way through until now. You know? We did have a pretty long break, like, a six week break after my dad passed away, And which is something that I didn't expect to do. Like, I I I didn't expect for there to be this, like, insane moment within phase one. You know? I didn't know that would happen. And I've been sitting on phase two for a while. I've been sitting on this for a minute because I never thought that I was, like, ready ready.
And especially after my dad dies, and now I'm grieving, and I'm moving through the grieving process, You know, I I was always just, like, thinking about when will it be time? When will it be time? And I use Midjourney for making images. Right? The AI Midjourney. And I am always, like, experimenting with, like, what's, like, the new image? You know? I originally made the phase one image, within Photoshop. And then I made the phase zero image that you can scroll down to to to the older shows. I made the phase zero image within, like, Instagram or something. I don't even know what I did. Just like silly shit. But now, I got this mid journey image. And I'm trying to express expansion and a new vibe, a new aesthetic growth, a, like, a little bit of growth, like, within the prompting of this image, I was referencing the atomic age aesthetic, which is, like, nineteen fifties, '19 sixties, atomic bombs slash, like, space age sort of a vibe. You know, America plus is always about, like, pushing forward. I wanna look forward. I wanna try to bring helpful and useful things for the future, just, like, helpful positivity for for people.
And so, I wanted, like, that type of aesthetic. I wanted, like, 1950, sixties retro futuristic aesthetic for this new flag. And I think I got it. I think I like it. I mean, I I actually really like it. I've been sitting on this image for, like, over a month now, like, two months, I think. And, just letting it simmer within my heart. You know? I'm sort of, like, very, like, artistic and spiritual when it comes to doing things like this. And so I don't wanna just, like, do it right away. But I am someone who needs to, like, like, I can tell when it's time to just, like, boom, boom. Like, it's time to you know what I mean? It's time to something to go for it, dude.
And, that was this week. That's that's right now. I didn't know what I was gonna talk about until, like, a few hours before I was gonna talk about it. So I'm happy about this right now. And so what's this what's the phase two about? Okay. So okay. So phase one so phase one was about establishing growth and consistency and figuring that out, you know, and seeing where I was within this mode. And now phase two. What is phase two about on a spiritual level? Phase two is pretty much me. I'm doubling down on what I believe in, and this is health, spirituality, healthy relationships.
Last week, which is a great episode, last week's conversation with Seth, the spiritual skeptic, that was, like, one of my best episodes, like, best performing episodes in terms of, like, views on Twitter, and downloads within, like, the recent, like, post dead dad downloads. Pretty good pretty good reception. And so I would like to have more of those types of conversations, within phase two. And I know I've had a lot of different moments where I've been like, I'm doing more conversations for sure. I'm doing more interviews. And then, like, it just doesn't come to be. You know? And that's, like, for a myriad of reasons. Like, sometimes, like, the people that I'm actually talking to to do the conversations, those plans fall through. And then I just don't feel like talking to someone, or I haven't done my due diligence to talk to someone. And it's like, okay. I'm just gonna talk about myself.
And but now I'm not gonna make any big promises. You know? I want the conversations to happen when I feel like they should happen. If I have this this mode, this, like, criteria of of being helpful of of giving helpful and useful positivity, you know, I don't wanna just play the interview game. I'm not trying to play the algorithm like that, because I think a lot of things like that can turn, sticky. You know? Like, it can turn, like it can turn into a shtick. It can turn into I don't know. Just something that's not very authentic. You know? And so Excuse me. Everything that's gonna if it's gonna be authentic, there's gonna be times when I'm just talking. You know?
And then there's gonna be times when I'm actually bringing on someone that I think is aligned with the with what I'm doing. You know? And I wanna talk about things that I think are that are actually helping me and are interesting me, and I think that will interest you, the audience. And so that's pretty much, like, the biggest thing. You know, I'm always gonna do my best to to push all that. This is more this is more mental. This is a mental thing for Koli. You know? This is not anything to be, weirded out about or anything to be, like, like, oh, what's Cole doing now? Like, this is just, like, simple stuff. You know? This is just, like, me saying, I'm putting myself up against this ideal, this narrative of it's time to move forward in life, and it's time to it's time to just, like, put myself up to a higher bar, aim for a higher bar. You know, phase two of America plus.
Each episode, each week, I'm gonna do my best to say, okay. Is this a phase two thing, or is this a phase one thing? You know? Am I am I slacking a little bit? Because phase one, I gave myself permission to slack here and there. In phase two, I just wanna push myself to go that extra inch and to maybe, you know, have some more clips, you know, to maybe have some more more conversations throughout the weeks. Just like a little, like, a little bit more, you know, 1%, two % better. That's what I want America Plus to be. That's what I want phase two to be. So, yeah, man, that's what I think is going on right now.
I'm happy about it. I'm certainly I feel blessed. I feel compelled to do America Plus. I feel compelled to do the podcast because, you know, I'm not sure how many people would feel the way I feel after their parent died. You know? It's very interesting. I know Kyron in Australia. Kyron Down from the Mere Mortals, you know, he's been continuing continuing to podcast. And, you know, I haven't really asked him anything specific. But, like, it's very interesting that, like, you know, you feel like you should just continue doing things after a tragedy happens.
And so, I guess, I feel grateful for that, that I feel like I'm in this mode. I'm not, like, totally, like, helpless. You know? I will be totally honest with you about where I'm at in the grieving process. I I mentioned it last week. But I I have identified that I'm in the depression phase, the the depression stage of my of my, grieving. And that's not to say that I'm, like, really down, down, down, you know. But there's just things that are just not hitting the way that they should be hitting or used to be hitting. You know? There's things that, I'm slipping up on. There's things that I'm, you know, not really resonating with as much. You know? Just, like mainly, I I mainly noticed it on my YouTube consumption. Okay? So, like, usually, I'm watching self development. I'm watching self help. I'm watching spiritual stuff. I'm watching informational stuff. And then, the thing that I'm watching the least of is, like, Star Wars and Marvel content, you know, like rumors and lore.
And I've noticed in the last month or so, the Star Wars and Marvel stuff was, like, becoming more of my algorithm. And whenever I would click on a self help or a spiritual, it would just, like I'm just, like, I'm just, like, bored with it. You know? I'm just, like, not interested in it. You know? So I noticed just being more interested in the fantasy stuff. And it's, like, why why is that going on, Cole? So I was able to observe that behavior for a minute. And, you know, that's just where I'm at. You know? I'm in that phase. I don't know how long it's gonna happen. I will say this, that I think that I have been moving through the grieving process on a linear matter so far.
The you know, they always say the Internet always says the AI always says that grieving is never a linear process. You're never gonna go through all these stages at once or, you know, one at a time. But I can also like, I can tell you with a clear conscious that I have been moving through it, one by one, you know. The first stage is denial. I would personally replace the word denial with shock. And so, like, I was shocked for a while. I was shocked for, like, for, like, a like, two months or maybe three months. And then I can tell you that I was, like, angry. You know? I I I even expressed that on the podcast. I I felt like I had a chip in my shoulder.
You know? I just wanted to get in and get out. You know? I wanted to do my work and get the fuck out. Just get paid. Just do my job. Get whatever, man. We're just going for it, dude. Like, like, you don't know what I like, I I I made jokes, like, you don't know what I've been through, man. You don't know what I've been through, dude. And then that sort of faded away. And then, I think it's like bargaining is next. And there was a little bit of time when I was trying to figure out, like, in my head, I was, like, running through my dad's life story. And I was trying to figure out, like, could could could something different have happened? What if he did this at this time? Like, what if I said this to him at this different time in his life? Like, well and and I held, like, guilt for, like, certain moments in my life, pertaining to, like, health and things like this.
And it's like that's like bargain bargaining. That's me trying to figure out, like, how could I have done something different to change the outcome? You know? And then that fades away. Because it's like, you know what? I can't really deal with that shit. I can't really correct any of those mistakes. If I think it's a mistake, I can't do anything different in the past because it already happened. And so it's just like, okay. So so the bargaining faded away. And that was in, like, you know, January, February, March, March ish, and then, the depression, you know. So now, I'm here.
And, certainly interesting, you know, I'm certainly grateful to be to be able to have the time to to see my family. And, I'm happy that I feel open enough to share that with people around myself and you. You know, I guess I'm being honest on the podcast. You know, I don't know how long this is gonna be, but I'm doing my best to move forward. And so mentally and creatively, if there's a new phase, if I'm establishing a new phase within my life, you know, like, then then I can move forward. If I know where I'm at, then I can move in that direction. If I know where I'm going, I can move in that direction. So I'm establishing phase two for America Plus, and I aim to be better with my creativity. I aim to be better as a podcaster.
I aim to be better as a human being. I aim to be better as a conversationalist. I aim to be better within my manifestations. You know, this is phase two. I move forward without a dad. I move forward with the knowledge I have of my spirit. I move forward with what I know to be true, which is love and compassion and, good work ethic, and focus. You know, like like like, I'm I'm trying to hold on to the things that I believe in and use those to, like, push me forward. You know? And so that's where I'm at, dude. You know? I guess, this week is gonna be short. You know, that's really all I have.
Let's just celebrate phase two together, and and the continuance of value for value, dude. So yeah, man. Shout out to that. Let's head into the value for value section. America Plus is a value for value show. Folks, what that means is I do my best to come online, and I share a topic that I think is helpful for myself, and the world, and humanity. And you if you're getting any value from that, you can, send me that value back. Return that value in any way that you like, whether it's a retweet, or a follow, or a subscribe, a comment, a message, a DM, a follow.
You can do any of that, or you can also support me with money if you feel compelled to. I have a PayPal, the America Plus PayPal. And then you can also support me on the fountain app. Go to valueforvalue.info for more info, then download the fountain.fm app. It's the best way to support the show. Fountain.fm is a modern podcasting app that lets you send small bits of Bitcoin to your favorite podcasters. If you send some bits of Bitcoin with a message, that's called a boostagram, y'all. And I'm about to read some boostograms. I only have I have two boosts one boostagram.
One of them comes from at pies, our boy, Pies, dude. So consistent. Hello, Pies. He's a part of the America Plus crew. He sends in 100 Satoshis. And this is from last week. He's, boosting from, for last week's episode. He says, pre listen boost. Thank you, sir. Boosting is loving. I hope you listen to last week's episode. I definitely recommend to listen to the conversation I had with Seth, the spiritual skeptic. He his podcast, Spiritual Skeptic, is hilarious. Talks a lot about, like, you know, clearly, spiritual stuff. He talks about UFO stuff. He's really funny, really entertaining, and the conversation is just really good. So check out that video. Check out that that episode.
I really encourage you to do that. I got another one coming in. Now there's no name on this one, but there is a user. At user six three seven five nine six seven five, he sends in, they send in. They they send in another 100 Satoshis, dude. No message. Just 100 sats. Thank you, sir. Boost. It's basically you put Bitcoin with anything, and all of a sudden, that is more efficient. That's the America Plus crew, y'all. That's value for value. Shout out to that. Shout out to those folks. Yeah. Value for value is like barter and trade, dude. Barter and trade on the Internet in real life, it's a international lifestyle, really. I like Value for Value, personally.
And along with that, a cool thing about Value for Value is that there's also music that's being released via Value for Value. And what that means is, I can play a song that's being released via an RSS feed, And this song has a Bitcoin lightning wallet hooked up to it, and so I'm giving the artist a split of the audience's Satoshi donation. So pretty much, I got the song here from Middle Season, called Inside Out. As soon as this song plays, and you wanna send in some small bits of Bitcoin, 90 percent of your donation is going to go to these musicians right here. And I'm just trying to put a highlight on some music that I really like, and that's what America Plus is all about. Good music, good vibes, good future.
And, yeah, man. Thank you so much for listening. Thank you for vibing with me. If you've been here since the beginning, shout out to you, dude. Shout out to the America Plus crew that's been here since, you know if you've been here since day one, send in a boost. If you've been here since, like, since phase one, send in a boost, dude. I need, like, like, I know who you are, dude. I I know a few people, a few individuals who have been around. If you have been following my show for any length of time, let this moment let this new beginning of a new phase be the time for you to show me that value and tell me just how long you've been listening, if you support me, what you wanna see in the future from me. I just wanna engage with you, and I want the show to be as best as possible. Okay? So while the show is playing, think about that. Consider, consider supporting me, v for v.
And yeah, dude. Enjoy this song. Inside Out by Middle Season. Enjoy. Even if my world is falling apart, you're by my side and breaking ball That's America plus, bitch. Stay free.
It's time for a new phase. What's up, everyone? It's America Plus. I'm your host, Cole McCormack. It's another week, another episode. What's going on, everybody? It's Sunday, 05:49 in the PM. Beautiful day to be alive, folks. Welcome to another beautiful week of America Plus. I'm coming to you in good vibes right now. I'm coming to you right off the road. I was doing a little road trip to Arizona. Shout out to Arizona, by the way. Arizona's legit. Visited my family. Saw my mom. Saw my sisters. Saw my grandma. And, yeah, dude. It's just a great just a really good week. It's Memorial Day weekend, so, like, we're chilling. I didn't plan on going there for Memorial Day weekend. It just happened to be Memorial Day week, I should say.
And, it was a good time, man. I saw that new movie, Lilo and Stitch. Anyone see Lilo and Stitch? I thought that was alright. It was fine. Not as good as the original. I grew up with the original Lilo. But, the the remake the Disney remakes just, like, suck. Why did Disney not just do a new animation style? How come Disney has been, like what's up with the live action? Why do we need live action? Live action is stupid. Like, I don't understand why we don't just create a new era of Disney animation. Because, you know, all the animated Disney movies, the one reason why they're famous is because there were eras in that like, within the animation.
There's the thirties and forties and fifties, and then there's, like, the sixties. And then there's, like, the weird, like, eighties where, like, nothing really did anything. And then you got the nineties renaissance. It's like, why don't we have an era of the Disney animation? It's so strange. And, anyway, whatever. I digress. I don't like live action. I like animation. Well, anyway, what we're talking about this week fine. Guys, talking about eras, talking about life, talking about this is like an insularity episode this week, folks.
We are now so if if you're on the audio, and you see the picture on your screen, the episode image, it's like a half and half thing. I have updated the show's official image. And, pretty much, folks, what this is symbolizing is America Plus is entering in a new phase. I like to call it phase two. Phase two. We've been in phase one for a long ass time. We we we've been in phase one since, like, 2023. So it's been a long ass time. And, pretty much I mean, these phases, they're not, like, big promises. I'm not trying to do some, like, some Marvel at Comic Con thing. I got some, like, big, like, here's my ten year plan for everything going on. Like, these phases are really just, like, for me, for my mental, for me to, like, figure out, like, am I doing what I should be doing right now? Am I am I, like, slipping up a little bit? You know? Like so, like, pretty much, this is the third phase. It's phase two, but it's the third phase.
The show started out with phase zero. That was, like, the cold open. That was episode one. That was episode one going through dude, I don't know when phase zero ended. Sometime in 2023, I think. Because I started the show in 2022. And, pretty much, I it was me just, like, getting my footing, you know, just figuring out how I wanna do this show, and, like, how can I actually involve myself with Value for Value? I was, like, obsessed with everything going on with Value for Value. Now Value for Value is just, like, it's just, like, the thing. You know? I'm not, like, hyper obsessed with, like, pushing that. Like, it's just Value for Value. It's just the narrative. If you're getting anything in return of this, like, just show that value in return. You know, that's all value v for v is.
So that's what phase zero was a little bit. Just me being obsessed with Bitcoin, obsessed with value for value, and just, like, going through just, like, running through all the things that I was interested in, and trying to, like, figure out if I have, like, a niche, if I have a general thing that I wanna focus on. And then, phase one that we're just coming out of. Phase one was establishing my consistency and figuring out growth, both in terms of pushing myself within personal growth, growing the show a little bit. I had a really big goal of just, like, trying to get more and more listeners. Listeners. I wanted the show to be better and better each week. And I followed that through all the way through all the way through until now. You know? We did have a pretty long break, like, a six week break after my dad passed away, And which is something that I didn't expect to do. Like, I I I didn't expect for there to be this, like, insane moment within phase one. You know? I didn't know that would happen. And I've been sitting on phase two for a while. I've been sitting on this for a minute because I never thought that I was, like, ready ready.
And especially after my dad dies, and now I'm grieving, and I'm moving through the grieving process, You know, I I was always just, like, thinking about when will it be time? When will it be time? And I use Midjourney for making images. Right? The AI Midjourney. And I am always, like, experimenting with, like, what's, like, the new image? You know? I originally made the phase one image, within Photoshop. And then I made the phase zero image that you can scroll down to to to the older shows. I made the phase zero image within, like, Instagram or something. I don't even know what I did. Just like silly shit. But now, I got this mid journey image. And I'm trying to express expansion and a new vibe, a new aesthetic growth, a, like, a little bit of growth, like, within the prompting of this image, I was referencing the atomic age aesthetic, which is, like, nineteen fifties, '19 sixties, atomic bombs slash, like, space age sort of a vibe. You know, America plus is always about, like, pushing forward. I wanna look forward. I wanna try to bring helpful and useful things for the future, just, like, helpful positivity for for people.
And so, I wanted, like, that type of aesthetic. I wanted, like, 1950, sixties retro futuristic aesthetic for this new flag. And I think I got it. I think I like it. I mean, I I actually really like it. I've been sitting on this image for, like, over a month now, like, two months, I think. And, just letting it simmer within my heart. You know? I'm sort of, like, very, like, artistic and spiritual when it comes to doing things like this. And so I don't wanna just, like, do it right away. But I am someone who needs to, like, like, I can tell when it's time to just, like, boom, boom. Like, it's time to you know what I mean? It's time to something to go for it, dude.
And, that was this week. That's that's right now. I didn't know what I was gonna talk about until, like, a few hours before I was gonna talk about it. So I'm happy about this right now. And so what's this what's the phase two about? Okay. So okay. So phase one so phase one was about establishing growth and consistency and figuring that out, you know, and seeing where I was within this mode. And now phase two. What is phase two about on a spiritual level? Phase two is pretty much me. I'm doubling down on what I believe in, and this is health, spirituality, healthy relationships.
Last week, which is a great episode, last week's conversation with Seth, the spiritual skeptic, that was, like, one of my best episodes, like, best performing episodes in terms of, like, views on Twitter, and downloads within, like, the recent, like, post dead dad downloads. Pretty good pretty good reception. And so I would like to have more of those types of conversations, within phase two. And I know I've had a lot of different moments where I've been like, I'm doing more conversations for sure. I'm doing more interviews. And then, like, it just doesn't come to be. You know? And that's, like, for a myriad of reasons. Like, sometimes, like, the people that I'm actually talking to to do the conversations, those plans fall through. And then I just don't feel like talking to someone, or I haven't done my due diligence to talk to someone. And it's like, okay. I'm just gonna talk about myself.
And but now I'm not gonna make any big promises. You know? I want the conversations to happen when I feel like they should happen. If I have this this mode, this, like, criteria of of being helpful of of giving helpful and useful positivity, you know, I don't wanna just play the interview game. I'm not trying to play the algorithm like that, because I think a lot of things like that can turn, sticky. You know? Like, it can turn, like it can turn into a shtick. It can turn into I don't know. Just something that's not very authentic. You know? And so Excuse me. Everything that's gonna if it's gonna be authentic, there's gonna be times when I'm just talking. You know?
And then there's gonna be times when I'm actually bringing on someone that I think is aligned with the with what I'm doing. You know? And I wanna talk about things that I think are that are actually helping me and are interesting me, and I think that will interest you, the audience. And so that's pretty much, like, the biggest thing. You know, I'm always gonna do my best to to push all that. This is more this is more mental. This is a mental thing for Koli. You know? This is not anything to be, weirded out about or anything to be, like, like, oh, what's Cole doing now? Like, this is just, like, simple stuff. You know? This is just, like, me saying, I'm putting myself up against this ideal, this narrative of it's time to move forward in life, and it's time to it's time to just, like, put myself up to a higher bar, aim for a higher bar. You know, phase two of America plus.
Each episode, each week, I'm gonna do my best to say, okay. Is this a phase two thing, or is this a phase one thing? You know? Am I am I slacking a little bit? Because phase one, I gave myself permission to slack here and there. In phase two, I just wanna push myself to go that extra inch and to maybe, you know, have some more clips, you know, to maybe have some more more conversations throughout the weeks. Just like a little, like, a little bit more, you know, 1%, two % better. That's what I want America Plus to be. That's what I want phase two to be. So, yeah, man, that's what I think is going on right now.
I'm happy about it. I'm certainly I feel blessed. I feel compelled to do America Plus. I feel compelled to do the podcast because, you know, I'm not sure how many people would feel the way I feel after their parent died. You know? It's very interesting. I know Kyron in Australia. Kyron Down from the Mere Mortals, you know, he's been continuing continuing to podcast. And, you know, I haven't really asked him anything specific. But, like, it's very interesting that, like, you know, you feel like you should just continue doing things after a tragedy happens.
And so, I guess, I feel grateful for that, that I feel like I'm in this mode. I'm not, like, totally, like, helpless. You know? I will be totally honest with you about where I'm at in the grieving process. I I mentioned it last week. But I I have identified that I'm in the depression phase, the the depression stage of my of my, grieving. And that's not to say that I'm, like, really down, down, down, you know. But there's just things that are just not hitting the way that they should be hitting or used to be hitting. You know? There's things that, I'm slipping up on. There's things that I'm, you know, not really resonating with as much. You know? Just, like mainly, I I mainly noticed it on my YouTube consumption. Okay? So, like, usually, I'm watching self development. I'm watching self help. I'm watching spiritual stuff. I'm watching informational stuff. And then, the thing that I'm watching the least of is, like, Star Wars and Marvel content, you know, like rumors and lore.
And I've noticed in the last month or so, the Star Wars and Marvel stuff was, like, becoming more of my algorithm. And whenever I would click on a self help or a spiritual, it would just, like I'm just, like, I'm just, like, bored with it. You know? I'm just, like, not interested in it. You know? So I noticed just being more interested in the fantasy stuff. And it's, like, why why is that going on, Cole? So I was able to observe that behavior for a minute. And, you know, that's just where I'm at. You know? I'm in that phase. I don't know how long it's gonna happen. I will say this, that I think that I have been moving through the grieving process on a linear matter so far.
The you know, they always say the Internet always says the AI always says that grieving is never a linear process. You're never gonna go through all these stages at once or, you know, one at a time. But I can also like, I can tell you with a clear conscious that I have been moving through it, one by one, you know. The first stage is denial. I would personally replace the word denial with shock. And so, like, I was shocked for a while. I was shocked for, like, for, like, a like, two months or maybe three months. And then I can tell you that I was, like, angry. You know? I I I even expressed that on the podcast. I I felt like I had a chip in my shoulder.
You know? I just wanted to get in and get out. You know? I wanted to do my work and get the fuck out. Just get paid. Just do my job. Get whatever, man. We're just going for it, dude. Like, like, you don't know what I like, I I I made jokes, like, you don't know what I've been through, man. You don't know what I've been through, dude. And then that sort of faded away. And then, I think it's like bargaining is next. And there was a little bit of time when I was trying to figure out, like, in my head, I was, like, running through my dad's life story. And I was trying to figure out, like, could could could something different have happened? What if he did this at this time? Like, what if I said this to him at this different time in his life? Like, well and and I held, like, guilt for, like, certain moments in my life, pertaining to, like, health and things like this.
And it's like that's like bargain bargaining. That's me trying to figure out, like, how could I have done something different to change the outcome? You know? And then that fades away. Because it's like, you know what? I can't really deal with that shit. I can't really correct any of those mistakes. If I think it's a mistake, I can't do anything different in the past because it already happened. And so it's just like, okay. So so the bargaining faded away. And that was in, like, you know, January, February, March, March ish, and then, the depression, you know. So now, I'm here.
And, certainly interesting, you know, I'm certainly grateful to be to be able to have the time to to see my family. And, I'm happy that I feel open enough to share that with people around myself and you. You know, I guess I'm being honest on the podcast. You know, I don't know how long this is gonna be, but I'm doing my best to move forward. And so mentally and creatively, if there's a new phase, if I'm establishing a new phase within my life, you know, like, then then I can move forward. If I know where I'm at, then I can move in that direction. If I know where I'm going, I can move in that direction. So I'm establishing phase two for America Plus, and I aim to be better with my creativity. I aim to be better as a podcaster.
I aim to be better as a human being. I aim to be better as a conversationalist. I aim to be better within my manifestations. You know, this is phase two. I move forward without a dad. I move forward with the knowledge I have of my spirit. I move forward with what I know to be true, which is love and compassion and, good work ethic, and focus. You know, like like like, I'm I'm trying to hold on to the things that I believe in and use those to, like, push me forward. You know? And so that's where I'm at, dude. You know? I guess, this week is gonna be short. You know, that's really all I have.
Let's just celebrate phase two together, and and the continuance of value for value, dude. So yeah, man. Shout out to that. Let's head into the value for value section. America Plus is a value for value show. Folks, what that means is I do my best to come online, and I share a topic that I think is helpful for myself, and the world, and humanity. And you if you're getting any value from that, you can, send me that value back. Return that value in any way that you like, whether it's a retweet, or a follow, or a subscribe, a comment, a message, a DM, a follow.
You can do any of that, or you can also support me with money if you feel compelled to. I have a PayPal, the America Plus PayPal. And then you can also support me on the fountain app. Go to valueforvalue.info for more info, then download the fountain.fm app. It's the best way to support the show. Fountain.fm is a modern podcasting app that lets you send small bits of Bitcoin to your favorite podcasters. If you send some bits of Bitcoin with a message, that's called a boostagram, y'all. And I'm about to read some boostograms. I only have I have two boosts one boostagram.
One of them comes from at pies, our boy, Pies, dude. So consistent. Hello, Pies. He's a part of the America Plus crew. He sends in 100 Satoshis. And this is from last week. He's, boosting from, for last week's episode. He says, pre listen boost. Thank you, sir. Boosting is loving. I hope you listen to last week's episode. I definitely recommend to listen to the conversation I had with Seth, the spiritual skeptic. He his podcast, Spiritual Skeptic, is hilarious. Talks a lot about, like, you know, clearly, spiritual stuff. He talks about UFO stuff. He's really funny, really entertaining, and the conversation is just really good. So check out that video. Check out that that episode.
I really encourage you to do that. I got another one coming in. Now there's no name on this one, but there is a user. At user six three seven five nine six seven five, he sends in, they send in. They they send in another 100 Satoshis, dude. No message. Just 100 sats. Thank you, sir. Boost. It's basically you put Bitcoin with anything, and all of a sudden, that is more efficient. That's the America Plus crew, y'all. That's value for value. Shout out to that. Shout out to those folks. Yeah. Value for value is like barter and trade, dude. Barter and trade on the Internet in real life, it's a international lifestyle, really. I like Value for Value, personally.
And along with that, a cool thing about Value for Value is that there's also music that's being released via Value for Value. And what that means is, I can play a song that's being released via an RSS feed, And this song has a Bitcoin lightning wallet hooked up to it, and so I'm giving the artist a split of the audience's Satoshi donation. So pretty much, I got the song here from Middle Season, called Inside Out. As soon as this song plays, and you wanna send in some small bits of Bitcoin, 90 percent of your donation is going to go to these musicians right here. And I'm just trying to put a highlight on some music that I really like, and that's what America Plus is all about. Good music, good vibes, good future.
And, yeah, man. Thank you so much for listening. Thank you for vibing with me. If you've been here since the beginning, shout out to you, dude. Shout out to the America Plus crew that's been here since, you know if you've been here since day one, send in a boost. If you've been here since, like, since phase one, send in a boost, dude. I need, like, like, I know who you are, dude. I I know a few people, a few individuals who have been around. If you have been following my show for any length of time, let this moment let this new beginning of a new phase be the time for you to show me that value and tell me just how long you've been listening, if you support me, what you wanna see in the future from me. I just wanna engage with you, and I want the show to be as best as possible. Okay? So while the show is playing, think about that. Consider, consider supporting me, v for v.
And yeah, dude. Enjoy this song. Inside Out by Middle Season. Enjoy. Even if my world is falling apart, you're by my side and breaking ball That's America plus, bitch. Stay free.
