Today marks the end of my 2020 podcasting journey and I am delighted to have had a chance to connect with my dad as the final podcast in the Calling On You series. This has been an amazing journey where I spoke with a new person every day of the year. The anticipation of my dad closing out 2020 and being the final podcast of the year (podcast #377) was not only special but felt complete since my mom was episode #1 on the very first day of the 2020 year. My dad spoke about inheriting his work ethics and setting goals - something he learned from his father but also the pressure that we put on ourselves and the down side of perfectionism that comes with excessively high expectations. He talks about how his mom taught him to “go for it because what do you have to lose” mindset. We talk about how important love, family, friendships and finding support can be for all of us and to not feel like we need to take on all of life’s hardships alone. We talked about how important self exploration and developing self awareness is - to look beyond our fears and try and see what is below the surface because that is why the key to overcoming most of our fears. I tend to think about this like Plato’s allegory of the cave where most of our fears are like shadows dancing on a wall and it isn’t until we can get out of our caves and explore our fears will we discover that what we thought we where afraid of all along wasn’t what we where making them out to be. When we strath ourselves and push beyond the boundaries that we feel limiting us is where the world really gets interesting, vibrant and full of color. We will meet amazing people along the way if we have the courage to invite them in and connect more. I want to wish everyone a happy and healthy 2021.