Its the end of March already. and its been a roller coaster ride since January. First off a huge shout out to "V" for letting me know in person you read the news letter. It meant more than you could know. I am still getting a feel for how this should be formatted. If I am being honest I wish I could just sit down on video and share the story and just paste it here. Writing is a fine skill to have but we all know I talk. A lot. A lot a lot. So for this month I will do a section on the professional stuff I have done with advice I want to put out in to the universe, and one on what's been going on personally. Oh yeah and I will have my promotions at the bottom so you can connect with me on the level you need.

I have been surfing the chaos for almost a year now. March of 2025 I was sideswiped out of a full time job and into being a contractor overnight. It was a sudden and jarring change that I wasn't prepared for. What I learned from it though was that I had lost control of my own path and had become so compressed and sucked into chasing someone else's dream that I had nothing left. It still is a long journey of figuring out the next steps, figuring out who I am (see the personal schtuff below), and most importantly generating income from nothing. In general I had hoped to survive until September 2025 and hoped the seeds I planted would bring me something stable. They did not and yet I made it all the way through the year and into 2026. I have learned to see my future by trusting my past but I am the first to tell you that's chaotic in nature.

So for the last two months I have been trusting that money shows up for me (based off of previous skills, paying attention to my life, and honesty never giving up.) I chose to prioritize my happiness and peace which for me means taking a job working for the man on someone else's schedule is emergency level action only. That has meant being vigilant to only pursue opportunities with a clear path to income while balancing my future building endeavors. And it also meant telling certain money that it wasn't the right path for me. And let me tell you that's scary as f@#k when you don't have the next income set up or even identified.

The Consulting

So what I have been doing is balancing consulting for an ambulance company while also physically working on the ambulance with them in a specially defined way. I had to learn to set some boundaries with how much I wanted to physically work vs consulting and growing on a higher level. Believe it or not that was new for me. And I believe because I did that and kept my energy high I found my way to an adjacent flow of income that allows me to be a patient advocate and break up my weeks. Understanding the difference between what is needed right now and what the future holds takes focus and communication. Not just with others but with yourself.

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The Mentoring

Along with the EMS work I have been picking up hours at the EMT school I teach with. It is sporadic at best but the pay is good and I make a difference in someone's life. In truth I love the fact that I am a celebrity there due to the many hours of video lecture I recorded podcast style. In the videos the students get education my way and the humor I bring to everything. Then when I am in person with them its so easy to connect and help them understand the information and apply it. As you can expect I am a holistic teacher as in its not just text in a book or skills to perform but also a balance of personal and professional life. There is no way to keep it separated even though we try for some idiotic reason. My goal is to help them build a career that suits their lives instead of having the career take over their lives.

Along those lines I joined forces with the owner of the school to do group tutoring with him about twice a month and that has been feeding my soul. Being able to pinpoint needs for those willing to put in the work is so much more rewarding than following an agenda on a time table that has to be completed. Then finally the universe started filtering in freelance students to tutor one on one through Wyzant.com and that's something I love to do. It was a very happy moment when a student reached out to me and allowed me to do what I love most - helping others be awesome.

How can I help you be Awesome?

The Podcasting

I have been going strong with "Wise_N_Nerdy: Where Fatherhood meets Fandom". What blows my mind about this show is we get great guests who think and act on a higher level while also having a blast with our comedy and chaotic game show style, yet it is hard to grow the audience and get more traction. Joe and I did go to Connooga and honestly it wasn't for us. I was going to write about it in the Feb news letter but life distracted me. At this point we did talk about it on the show but professionally it did nothing to move the needle forward that I could sense. Overall Wise_N_Nerdy is a show I love to show my father/nerd side on.

"Be Awesome Together" is the show I do with the lovely and talented Tyra Burton. It is a creators corner where we share our experiences and insights with humor and connection. As you might imagine with her being a professor of social media and marketing and what you read of my life above our schedules are always in flux. We decided to do the show on the first and third Tuesdays of the month with topics that have direct actionable takeaways and answer direct questions. It is the first time in my podcasting life I have taken a weekly show to a bi-monthly show and I am getting used to it.

AAAAAAAAnnnnndnddddd Finally I have launched the long anticipated coffee and comedy show "The Little Brown Pill." This is a prerecorded show that Josh Cooper and I started on a monthly basis and are now also trying to shift into a bi-monthly recording and publishing schedule. In fact this is a reminder to me to get him some dates to record today. "The Little Brown Pill is what happens when two hilarious, coffee-obsessed entertainers sit down, hit record, and let the conversation go completely off the rails—in the best way possible. Hosted by Charles McFall and Josh Cooper, this show blends comedy, real talk, nostalgia, and just enough coffee nerdery to make you sound smarter at your next caffeine-fueled conversation."

As a bonus note for those of you awesome people that get this newsletter - I am actively recording season 2 of "Finding the Stories" and hope to release it this year.

Therapy has been helping for sure but its been a rollercoaster ride for the last two months of high moments, happiness, and real hard days. With the uncertainty of the chaos that I surf I have struggled with making time to rest, depression, negative thoughts, and the drive to find certainty in an uncertain world. I was finding myself hopeless on the ambulance with long shifts and body pain. I never wanted to go back to that schedule. It was wearing on me even though it is in a way that I get paid well, am still treated like a consultant, and have a lot of agency in how the day works.

I found that what our mind sees and our bodies/souls feel is totally different. My knees and back hurt to the point that I looked and felt older than my father. Also there was such an absence of energy that I felt empty and hopeless. I was so burned out but I must push through anyway. The shining moments were when I was on the podcasts for that 2 hours in the week, or when I could actually connect with another human being and help them be awesome. One night I came home after a long day empty and surprised myself and my wife by blurting out "I hate my life".

That is no way to live and I had enough of it. So I started with the small things. Instead of pulling back from the stiffness and pain in my joints I spoke to my body and said we do it anyway. Just go. And that small thing helped start to clear up my mindset. For the last few days of doing shifts and other things I am not as stiff anymore when I get up. I found that I only really hurt after its earned (like a long day of non-stop going, lifting patients, on otherwise not protecting my knee.)

A second thing I did was to take myself from internal dialogue to external communication. I was getting lost in my thoughts (lots of driving with no human distractions) and ended up spiraling into negativity. And that's where the problem is. When we stay inside our heads it bounces off of our mental walls and becomes so noisy that it hurts. So in addition to me using the "I am" app to pop up motivational and inspirational thoughts I am practicing two things in communication. I am working (and its hard) to find the gratitude moments or remind myself why I am ultimately happy with my life. The other thing is to say the thoughts out loud to someone I trust. To start saying what I want out of life even if I think it will push people away or bring some other negativity to my life. I am finding its better to encounter negativity on the outside than on the inside. And safer too.

Even as I write this I struggle with the fact that two things can be true at the same time. I am awesome and happy and really good at being me. I truly help others be awesome. And in the same moment I am terrified about not knowing what's to come and almost always have the need to cry right under the surface. Its a fragile balance and if something goes awry it can really throw me into negativity. I am taking things one day at a time, focusing on what can be done, trusting the few people that I can in my life, and working with a therapist. Balance is the true unicorn of our lives.

Thank you to those of you who care, who I matter to, and who support me in all the ways. It truly makes a difference and is what keeps me going every day in a positive way. The fact I will never give up pushes me hard in sometimes a negative way and I am coming to terms with all of it.

Also I have been finding ways to let myself rest and be happy. To that end I have begun to prioritize and put some boundaries around getting downtime. I have also allowed myself just to be myself. Which means sometimes I do a fun video of older animation intros and put new music over them because it makes me happy. Sometimes I do a caffeination even when I am unmotivated because ultimately it feels better and truthfully people love it. And sometimes I let myself just not do anything and allow myself to believe is ok to take the rest today.

I hope my sharing helps you in your journey.

I have my own enamel pins!

I finally was able to create the pin of my mohawk owl in a jersey and I am very happy with it. They are $10 if I can get it to you in person or $10 + whatever shipping would be. Contact me through Charlesmcfall.com if you would like to order one. Here is what it looks like:

And please like share and subscribe on all of the social media platforms.I love you all and hope to be on time with the April newsletter.

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