“No matter how bad the situation is, something good will come from it. Most of the time you don’t see it… But once you’re through it, the other side is so incredible, it’s hard to explain.” -Bruce Jeppesen
Welcome to the Recipes for a Great Life Podcast! This show will bring together incredible speakers, authors, mentors, and entrepreneurs. We will cover amazing food and recipes, health, wellness, fitness, and finances. Give thanks to those who have served our amazing country and communities.
You will learn from our guests the required skills and mindset of how to heal and grow. We will share information, give you ideas on how to reach your personal potential, and with the heart of a servant, possess the ability to show others how to follow their dreams, passions, and potential.
It makes no difference what walk of life you come from or your past experiences, as those things happened for you, not to you. It is okay, advantageous, and preferable to seek advice from those who are already doing what you want to do and the kind of income you dream to create.
No matter your setbacks there is a way to triumph over those experiences, become a force for good by simply making small changes each day of habit and mindset shifts. The lessons, guidance, advice, and leadership will help you grow in a way you never thought possible.
Takeaways:
00:52 Things Happen FOR Us, Not to Us
05:20 Step Up and Get Out of Your Comfort Zone
11:15 Challenge Yourself!
15:28 Do What Makes You Feel Alive
18:03 There’s a Way Out
Resources:
Book
New Podcast Alert!!! Are you ready to experience inspiring moments? Join Bruce Jeppesen, author of the best-selling book, Recipes for a Great Life as he takes you on exciting adventures every week with amazing guests and meaningful conversations.… Share on X
Quotes:
04:56 “Sometimes we don’t want to bother people because we think they’re being bothered all the time and in many cases, that’s exactly the opposite.” -Bruce Jeppesen
07:20 “If you truly want to grow, you have to shed anything that is holding you back.” -Bruce Jeppesen
18:42 “When you start on your journey for yourself, you’re going to launch into something you’ve never experienced.” -Bruce Jeppesen
19:49 “No matter how bad the situation is, something good will come from it. Most of the time you don’t see it… But once you’re through it, the other side is so incredible, it’s hard to explain.” -Bruce Jeppesen
Meet Your Host!
Bruce Jeppesen is a military veteran turned farmer who later became an online Master Chef. His journey has allowed him to learn a few lessons that he can teach through his passion for food. Nowadays, he spends his time conveying wisdom of life, teaching others how to cook, and enjoying life on a farm with his dog.
Transcriptions:
Bruce Jeppesen: My name is Bruce Jeppesen. I want to welcome you to my podcast named Recipes For A Great Life.
God told me a year ago that I would have an Amazon Best-Selling book by the same name, and that I would be working on getting this podcast off the ground. There is no way that I would have ever believed it. But that’s where the idea came from. I want to give back and inspire others to pursue their dreams and passions as well. We’re gonna bring you amazing guests and a range of topics about overcoming adversity, our passions, our dreams, incredible food and many other things. I want to create events where we can gather together in person and build lifelong friendships. I believe that is where the true value is. But these podcasts have such an amazing way to reach out to people and connect with a lot of people when we cannot get together in person.
I believe that each and every one of us has incredible value that we need to learn to dream again, to make those dreams come true and leave that legacy behind for ourselves, our families and our friends. I believe God has placed me here to share my faith in him and to serve others. And I believe that I went through all of the things that I have so I could truly understand what it feels like. And then when I encounter people who are struggling, then I can have a much better understanding of what they’re dealing with. But there’s one major lesson that I learned along the way and fairly recently, is that things happen for us, not to us. Let me say that again, that things happen for us, and not to us. That’s the difference between coming from a scarcity mindset and a negative mindset to an abundance or positive mindset.
In my work, there are four cornerstones that I want to include in this. And those are cars, food, veterans and dogs. It is my passion to bring these four cornerstones together to reach as many people as possible and share memories, build lifelong relationships and awesome memories. My passion for food really took off during my years in the military states in the southeast where I got the fresh seafood for the first time, all of that incredible barbecue. I got to go visit a waffle house for the first time. That makes sense to some of you. I have a huge passion for cars, four by fours, boats, aircraft. And pretty much anything that makes a lot of noise and has a lot of horsepower. I don’t care where you go, whether you’re a car person or not, or if you have interest in any of these things. But when you see a cool car, almost everybody stops and looks at it. And it doesn’t matter what it is. Whether it’s a supercar or a hot rod, a four by four, whatever. But people always seem to take notice.
“Sometimes we don’t want to bother people because we think they’re being bothered all the time and in many cases, that’s exactly the opposite.” -Bruce Jeppesen
What I want to bring to you are people who have vast experience from every walk of life from where they struggled, from where they started out to become multimillionaires. And that they have this true passion to help others as well. There’s so many people out there that want to do good, that are doing good podcasts and they want to give, they want to help, they want to teach. But a lot of people won’t take the time to go ask them. Sometimes, we feel that we’re inferior or that we don’t want to bother them because we think they’re being bothered all the time. And in many cases, that’s exactly the opposite of what happens. A lot of times, speakers will go to events. And very few, if any people will ever walk up to them afterwards to visit with them. There is so much incredible opportunity out there for each and every one of us, if we will just take the time to step up and get out of that comfort zone, where we can challenge ourselves to gain more knowledge, to become better speakers. To learn more, and expand beyond where we currently are.
This past year, I joined a group called 365 Driven Society. And then they’re the group created by Tony Wathley and his wife Lisa. And in that group, I have gained so much knowledge, connections, and have found that there’s so many people out there that truly care about each one of us as individuals. And they are cheering for us to succeed versus a lot of people who experience the opposite from even their own family, from spouses, maybe even their best friend. People often try to hold people back because so many people get comfortable where they’re at and they don’t want to step out. But when they do, one of the things that happens is maybe their best friend will say, oh, why are you doing that? Why are you trying to lose weight, whatever. But what has been found is that so many of those people that do that, they don’t want to get out of their comfort zone, they want to drag you back down.
“If you truly want to grow, you have to shed anything that is holding you back.” -Bruce Jeppesen
But the thing that you have to learn to do, which is very, can be very difficult and painful is to cut those people out of your life. I’ve had to do that with some friends. I had to deal with some family members. And it just goes against what we’re taught for so many years of our lives. If you truly want to grow, you have to shed anything that is holding you back. I know people that have done it. And though that was very difficult, they really took off afterwards because they weren’t surrounded by that negative mindset. So that’s why we listen to these podcasts, we watch interviews, maybe YouTube videos. And you go back and you look at some of the people who really started self improvement, or self help, or personal development. Personal development seems to be the big buzzword these days. But when you stop and think about it, there’s so much to it. They say that more people are afraid of public speaking than they are dying. I can honestly say I used to be one of those.
I used to hate my own voice and the way that it sounded. And as I started to learn and to grow, to get out of that comfort zone, we were all created to be here to do something special with our lives. So many of us believe that we don’t have that in us. And that is not something that we should do. But sometimes, you might get that opportunity for promotion at work. Or to change careers and start something else. Maybe you want to go out on your own, but you don’t have the skills so we let fear hold us back. Fear holds us back from so many things. But that’s where joining these groups that gives us opportunities to learn where people will believe in you, and they won’t cut you down. But they will encourage you and lift you up. That right there is absolutely one of the best things you could ever experience.
I personally hired a speaking coach. Because before I hired her, there was no way that I could even do what I’m doing now. It’s a very freeing and actually an exhilarating experience to know that you’re fighting something that has held you back all your life. So I encourage you to do that. Find people you connect with, get in Facebook groups. Instagram has some amazing places. Get on YouTube, type in personal development, and see who comes up. You see some of the people who are currently doing the very best right now. You can go back and look at the people who started a lot of this. You can buy books. I highly recommend reading and challenging yourself. Make your daily schedule, just do all these kinds of things. This is what I’ve been doing, and I can’t even begin to tell you the difference that it makes. I still have a long way to go. But because it’s something that means so much to me, that’s why I’m here. That’s why I’m doing this. That’s why I want to share it.
I’ve had people encourage me the last, just over a year, I’ve never experienced in my life. And I can’t even believe the difference that it makes when somebody does that for you. So I want to share something personal. I used to have a job. This is basically what I’ve been talking about with challenging yourself and stepping up, or moving on as I looked for that dream job. I had it in the back of my mind. I did everything I was just talking about. I learned about it. I researched it. I talked to people. I got the job. I went through all of the learning, and I got to go to my first office where I started working. I was absolutely overjoyed. I can’t believe I’m doing my dream job. This is so awesome. On, and on, and on.
Well, it didn’t take very long to realize that I had built that job to be much more up on a pedestal than it really was. People didn’t treat each other near time. Coworkers is what I’m referring to, is what I had anticipated. Some of them were downright, mean backstabbers. They would do things to get you in trouble. And those are the kind of people that I talked about who will hold you back that you need to cut free. Well, in a work environment, that’s pretty hard to do. So you have to look at getting yourself out of there. So I stayed. I took it as long as I could. I learned a lot, and that’s where so much of my experience comes from is I battled my own issues with deep depression and suicide.
In fact, it was in that job the last time I had considered suicide. I chose a day to do it. And on my way home, I had the stock come to my head. Because I had this dog at home, he was just the coolest dog I’ve ever been around. Every time I come home, he is just super excited. He just jumps, barks and spins it around, and all that. So every time I came into the yard, it just made my day. And on my way home that night after work, I thought if I do this, he will never understand why I didn’t come home because I wasn’t going to go to my house and do it. And that thought, that was a divine thought that came to me. And that site is what kept me from doing it.
So I went home. I hug my dog. Like I’ve never hugged him before. But the appreciation that I had right then, the realization was that a level that was so far beyond anything I’d ever experienced. So I took the time, I went to see a psychologist and he was actually someone who knew my family. Someone that my father trusted so I knew he would be a good guy to go talk to. I went, I didn’t tell anybody. In fact, I didn’t tell anybody for probably 10 years.
But the amazing thing was I went in there and he came out to get me. He said: “What did we got into the office?” I sat down and he said to me: “I’ve been doing this for over 30 years. But when I walked out and I looked at you, you looked like the saddest person I’ve ever seen in all of my life.” And the thought that came to my mind was like, Oh, great. But we talked for about over an hour. But that’s all it took. He knew a little bit about the family. He knew we were active outdoors, outgoing people. And he says: “Your biggest problem is you don’t have an outlet. You go to work, you go home and you sit. You need to get your hobby back. You’ve always loved working on stuff. Go buy some tools, and go start fixing some.”
So I left his office, and it felt like the weight of the world had been lifted off my shoulders. I took the first deep breath of fresh air and appreciated like, I don’t think I ever had before I got home. First thing I looked for was what I needed to do to finish the inside of my shop so I could set it up the way I wanted. I bought some tools, and I started working. I never looked back. But I knew that if I left that job, there was no way I could come back to it. So I gave it everything I could.
And then one day, I had a supervisor and we had this one guy in the office. That was just a total dick, and he enjoyed being that way. I just had this really warm, comfortable feeling. It was like, today’s the day I had this big smile on my face. A coworker was sitting right next to me and I said: “Today’s the day.” And she looked at me, says: “What?” I said: “I’m done.” So I called my supervisor, I say: “What do I need to give you for a 30 day termination notice.” Because I was gonna go out, right, I wasn’t gonna just quit and get mad. I had done everything I could to do it right, and I was not going to stop there. So I contacted him, he told me five minutes later he had it in his hand. The best feeling I ever experienced was to walk away from them.
“When you start on your journey for yourself, you’re going to launch into something you’ve never experienced.” -Bruce Jeppesen
I walked away from over $70,000 a year, and that was 15 years ago. I didn’t have a family like so many people do. But if you want out, there’s a way, maybe you can’t make a rapid departure like, I can promise you that there’s a way and that’s what the guests of this show, and the things that we’re going to talk about. We are going to help you and show you ways that you can do that. And then when you do that, when you start up, maybe on your own journey, your new career working for yourself, you’re going to be able to launch into something you’ve never experienced. And that’s what I’m trying to share this way that I am because it is the most freeing thing I’ve ever experienced. And I want other people to experience it. There’s no reason to live like that anymore.
“No matter how bad the situation is, something good will come from it. Most of the time you don’t see it… But once you’re through it, the other side is so incredible, it’s hard to explain.” -Bruce Jeppesen
So thank you for listening. Thank you for being a part of this first episode. It has been a real challenge to get this far. It has been a struggle to get this far, but it has been so very much worth it. One thing that we don’t realize is that when we go through hardships, we go through struggles, things we don’t understand. I can promise you, no matter how bad the situation is, something good will come from it. Most of the time, you don’t see it. When you’re going through most of the times, you can’t even think that way. Maybe you’re in such a deep depression or horrible situation that those thoughts never even crossed your mind. But I can assure you, once they’re over, once you’re through it, the other side is so incredible. It’s hard to explain. So thank you again, like you were here.
