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Tangentially Speaking

428 – Kyle Thiermann in Colorado (Big Wave Surfer/Podcaster/Writer)

By July 18, 2020June 16th, 20224 Comments

I guess when you grow up surfing waves taller than the trees that tower over your house, you learn to be careful. Kyle is one of the most deliberate, thoughtful, open-hearted dudes I know. He makes as many mistakes as the rest of us, but he squeezes every possible lesson from each one of them. Check out his podcast here, follow his adventures on Instagram here.

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Intro music: “Brightside of the Sun,” by Basin and Range; “Your Wicked Ways” by The Mighty Olas; “Suffer Well,” by Simon van Gend Band; “Smoke Alarm,” by Carsie Blanton.

4 Comments

  • Awesome podcast! Great episode!
    I just wanna share some empathy… I’m a portuguese dude the same age as Kyle… and I also have been through a major breakup 4 months ago, just in the beginning of the fucking pandemic. But to add to it, I had moved to Australia for a year working holiday visa. So, major breakup all alone in the antipodes of where I’m from, Australia, during a pandemic. How fucked up is this? Hehe.
    I love your podcast Chris. Wish I could be an interesting enough guy to have one of these convos.
    All the best!
    André

  • Powerful stuff. I thank Kyle for laying his suffering out that we the audience may learn from it.

    I could strongly relate with this idea of how difficult it can be when your seniors and teachers keep telling you about “your potential.” Through all my young life I was regarded as this “genius” straight-A student with a really big IQ and a lot of talent for drawing and such. My parents expected great things from me and for a while it looked as if I was really going to ‘make it big’ in the world.

    And then… years pass and you realize you never really got to these places you were supposed to arrive. Your parents show their disappointment because you ‘squandered your potential’, you didn’t know how to harness the few opportunities you were given, you didn’t keep your mouth shut and played the corporate game well enough –“in this world you need to learn to eat shit” is one of my father’s favorite phrases.

    And it’s really hard to overcome that. Hell, I’m still struggling with it, trying my best not to compare myself with other people’s accomplishments. The only valid comparison is with your *own* previous accomplishments. It also helped me to understand that not everyone in this world has to reach their goals at a very young age; some people are like Picasso, who was mentioned in the conversation, who attained fame and fortune at a very early age, and some people are like Cezanne, who kept working and polishing his craft right until his senior years.

    And yeah, some people are like Van Gogh as well…

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