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© 2026 Crooked Butterfly Podcast
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This is me, sharing where I'm arriving in thoughts, perspectives, and ideas after a dynamic 21 years serving in the Marine Corps and wrestling with "Who Am I"; authentically, and Who Do I Want To Be" now that the military construct is not forcibly shadowing my life. I've found that Nature and tackling the physical & emotional challenges of ultra endurance adventuring provide more insight and clarity on the why's of my experiences and the where's that I can seek for continued personal growth.
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A lot going on in the world and life the last 2 weeks. Spent a good part of that time ruminating on a comment I received regarding the last episode.
Such a narrow narrow mindset.
Or maybe, there always doesn't have to be a lesson in everything all the time - so just flow a little bit.
Do Hard Things. Doing Hard for the sake of Hard is not really what it's about. It needs to be purposeful and is relative. Today's hard isn't the same as yesterdays. And the purpose may or may not be the same as it was. Just some thoughts as I am incredibly excited for The Spine UK in an way I can't quite describe or put my finger on.
Just some babble about not being so reactive with our opinions that it causes us to be irresponsible with our actions.
Maybe it's just that I'm getting old and out of touch. Maybe not.
Happy New Year Everyone. Some thoughts leading into Christmas and the 2026 New Year.
The more I observe and talk about these things, the more I think I sound like my father.
Sharing why I decided to start fasting once a week for 36 hours and where it took me.
I was checking in with myself around being so irritable, grumpy, negative, and complainy the past few days and made a commitment to auto-correct. Sharing my thought process and steps to unwind it all. It was working great until I went to Whole Foods...
I get asked quite a bit about how to create culture. The simple answer is you don't create it, you're living it. You don't start out with a blueprint of how to create a culture. You begin by living the values you've spent time thinking about and invested in upholding ruthlessly and consistently.
If you give a little of something you have to someone who needs a little of that something - the net value is greater. It might not work with the numbers & maths, but it's absolutely true for the things that matter most.
Call it whatever you want, it still is so much more than can be described. You can't use loyalty to capture it and likely a distorted concept of loyalty would ruin what would be the greater part of the sentiment. Using our recent Annual Elk Camp Trip to try to build the picture of what I'm trying to talk about. Maybe it wasn't as well spoken as it feels or sits in my head & heart.
I generally have to manage my first reaction & pop up thoughts anytime someone talks to me with their arms folded across their chest or hands on their hips. More so with strangers than with knowns, but even still. There's lot of suggested non verbal communication and room for misinterpretation for sure. However, the majority of the time there's a trend or pattern of something - righteousness, dominance, arrogance, ego, know it all, excessive confidence... I constantly have to fight ...
A little clean up from last week's ending. People are messy. Life is complex. I believe that most people are good and well intended. Driven be self-interest to varying degrees, but that doesn't necessarily mean we are wrong or bad. Giving some tolerance & allowance for each other and ourselves to be messy w/o a major character flaw indictment, to be personally ok when others show up and elicit some sort of injury within ourselves, and not having to invent some narrative about another to d...
Kind of a babble this evening talking about spam email & phone calls through feeling guilty or held hostage by those free return labels that come in the mail. Not sure what prompted me to start a little rant about shit talkers and gossip champs leading into 'consider the source'. But maybe there's a full circle in there somewhere. Mostly not a heavy or deep session other than just listening to myself talk to let things out.
I've been asked for my thoughts/opinions regarding the Pete Hegseth address in Quantico last week. I was reluctant to share for the better part of the last few days as I am with the Tim Kennedy Stolen Valor discussion. But here I am, not speaking about it politically and almost as a bit of a continuation from last weeks struggle bus regarding the world & our country's state of the human element. 'Holding the Middle Ground' is much different than 'Fence Sitting'. I use holding vs occ...
Seems like the world is crazy and so full of ignorance, hate, & confusion. Not sure what it's all about, how we got here, or if even half of it isn't just sensationalized. The last few weeks I can't seem to shake the 'looping' on it all. In my head, when I try to break away from productivity sprints to refresh & refocus, I feel consumed with frustration and sadness; even anger, about the "news" (if that is actually is) and how people get so consumed.
After a long break, I'm digging back into sharing stories and my internal dialogue about life, leadership, and random thoughts. During my break I haven't been just slacking off; Connor and I have been writing a book on Leadership and these Identity Circles I've been working on. I've been engaged with a lot of material with Diesel Day & 'Checking In w/ the Left Hand' Framework, as well as, putting an incredible amount of energy into the Big Fish Foundation and personal growth. Connor &...
Some story telling and reflections that a Wolf Spider gave me regarding Resilience and Persistence. How we've let learned behaviors get transferred into areas of our lives where they don't belong...
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Tosh, It’s been a long time since our paths crossed. I came across your IG page and then your podcast. It’s really great to hear you brother. I especially enjoyed this episode and hearing you talk through your thought process. Recent events have caused me to repeat the following “ take a knee and face outboard.” Seems like an appropriate mantra to focus on everything happening lately. It’d be great to catch up sometime. I’ll remain optimistic that things will turn for the better. Hang tough and Get Some. Simper Fi Joe Katz.
Thank you for this honest reply to my question. You are a true gentleman and thank again. Stu