An Inspirational Journey: From Tragedy to Triumph

What is the motivations behind why many people choose to start RVing and how pivotal life events push them to seek a more fulfilling existence. Patti Hunt is joined by guest Mark Chabus, a professional chef turned life coach, who shares his family's transformative journey into full-time RVing. Mark discusses discovering passions, dealing with personal tragedy, and finding joy in culinary arts and coaching. The conversation emphasizes the importance of living life fully, taking bold steps, and not letting fear or societal expectations hold you back. The episode also features useful RVing products, tips for safe travel, and the significance of strong support systems in achieving a meaningful life.

Reach out to Mark Chabus
His book Remembering The Spirit 

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Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Did you start RVing because you wanted more out of life? I'm Patti Hunt and you're listening to the RV Life Podcast Now. Over the last several years, I've heard so many people say things like there's something missing in my life or things like I want to live life more fully. I totally felt that same way and I think a lot of us did. Look at 2020. That caused people to really take a look at their lives. So many of us, including me, decided now is the time. It's the time to get out and live life more fully. This created more RVers and campers than ever before Over the last several years. I've asked a lot of people why they started RVing and some of the answers I've received we're looking for more in life, to get out in nature, to show my children the country, chasing sunshine, following our dreams, to be more free, more family time and adventure, and wanting a better life Now. The RV Life podcast was created to educate, entertain and explore the RV lifestyle with a mission to inspire others to live their life to the fullest. To inspire others to live their life to the fullest, whether you are full-time, part-time, sometime or thinking about RVing. We are glad you chose to join us and today our guests will provide tips that we hope will inspire you to live your life more fully. It is now time for this week's fun fact, and it's brought to you by Open Road Resorts, and it's got five amazing locations. Two of them are in Montana, one is in Idaho, one in Texas and now their newest location in Nebraska, called West Omaha KOA. It's a great place to stay. It's a great place as a stopover away. It's a great place to stay. It's a great place as a stopover. There's so much to offer at this campground and in and around the campground. There is a lot to offer, but a lot of people are now talking about going to places like Glacier National Park and Flathead Lake, and this could be a great stopover on the way to some of those locations. That Open Road Resorts has Polson Flatlight KOA Holiday or Polson Motor Coach Resort, and this resort is Class A only and it is rated in the top 10 motor coach resorts in the country. So amazing places. Go to OpenRoadResortscom to find out more.

Speaker 1: 2:50

Now the fun fact I love to look at words and their meaning, and today I looked at the word dream, and the meaning is a series of thoughts, images and sensations occurring in a person's mind during sleep. It cherished aspiration, ambition or ideal. So I had to think about dream and what that meant. To me it's a goal or a desire, and that's the steps to making your dreams come true. Today, we're going to share some steps to help you on your way. I read this quote and it said tell me what it is you plan to do with your one wild and precious life. And this was by Mary Oliver. I just thought that was a really cool quote that I wanted to share, because we do have this one wild and precious life and my guest and I can certainly relate to the wild part. And this fun fact was brought to you by Open Road Resorts, and again, you can find out all about their five amazing locations at openroadresortcom.

Speaker 1: 3:59

Now, when you're traveling or when you're just at home, as I am right now, you're traveling, or when you're just at home, as I am right now, the open road really made me think a lot about clean, fresh, safe water, because we go into campgrounds and we hook up to those spigots and the water. Let's face it is not great, to say the least. Last week I started using the Clear 2-0 Gravity Water Filter Pitcher. This is like it says a pitcher. I needed something because the water in the house I am staying in tasted so bad and it was actually giving me a stomachache. So I talked to my friends at Clear 2-0, barb and Key, and I asked them what can I do? So they suggested the Clear 2-0 Gravity Water Filter and I said, okay, I'm willing to try it, and I've been using it for over a week now. The water tastes better, it smells better, I no longer have a stomachache and I know, because it comes from Clear 2-0, it is better, safer, cleaner water. For more information, go to clear2ocom and let them know that the RV Life podcast sent you.

Speaker 1: 5:14

Okay, so excited for my guest today. From a very young age, he had a great love for food, which ignited a culinary passion that became a lifelong journey. He attended culinary school and spent two decades as a professional chef. A personal tragedy reshaped his worldview, promoting a desire to guide others through their own transference. The journey also inspired a book, remembering your Spirit, which started his career as a life coach. After a decade of coaching, his dual passions materialized, blending culinary expertise and life coaching. Wow, we definitely have to hear more about this Now. My guest today, mark Chabas and his wife and four children also chose to experience the full-time RV life. They are now back into a home, but we're going to find out all about his journey. Welcome, mark, to the RV Life podcast.

Speaker 2: 6:16

Hey, patty, it's great to be here. Thank you for inviting me.

Speaker 1: 6:19

I'm so glad to finally get you on. When I talk to somebody we've known each other for probably over a year now and when I talk to somebody and we connect and I know there's great information that you could provide our listeners, I just can't wait to get you. Couldn't wait to get you on. It's taken a little time, but here we are, so let's just jump back a little bit. I'd like for my listeners to get to know my guest. Let's talk about you. A wife, four kids, two boys, two girls, right, yeah, what are their ages?

Speaker 2: 6:54

So Lily is 14. She's the oldest, so it goes from top to bottom 14, 12, 10, 8.

Speaker 1: 7:01

Wow so full house, as we call it. Yeah, full house. Wow so, full house, as we call it. Yeah, full house, okay. So years ago, you decided full-time RVing was a good idea with four kids right, with four kids. Okay, go back to the time where you made this decision. Take our listeners through that experience.

Speaker 2: 7:19

I think whether it was a good idea or not depends on who who gets this. So I'll tell you how, where the idea came from. We were living in New Jersey at the time. Both my wife and I were working full-time and we had four little kids, right, and they were. We were at that crazy time in our life where it was just chaos all the time and but we were working crazy hours, we had extraordinary bills to pay, right, living in New Jersey, and we just felt like we needed a break. So we went down to Florida and rented a little cottage by the beach in Jupiter and my sister was nice enough to come down for a couple of days and watch the kids so Kate and I could go out to dinner one night. So we're sitting across from each other, nice, great dinner, great glass of wine. And I just had this crazy idea. You know what happens when you go on vacation, right, you get overcome by ideas and inspiration, and so that's what happened and I said you know what? We we're not really satisfied in our lives. We love. Everything was great between Kate and I and the kids. Obviously we just felt like, job-wise, not really that satisfied, and also we lived in New Jersey.

Speaker 2: 8:29

I grew up in New York and then moved to New Jersey when we got married and we felt like we were there because our parents chose to be there not because we chose to be there, and not that we had anything against where we live but it was more like maybe there's something else out there, right? Like that idea that there's things that we don't even know exist. Maybe it would be great to travel around and see what that looks like. Maybe we could live somewhere else. So I had this idea that we would go back to New Jersey, sell our house, sell all of our stuff, buy an RV and travel around the country and decide where could we go? Would that look like? Kate, feeling good at the time, was like yeah, I think we should do it. I got all excited because once I like locked onto an idea and it seems like it's gonna work that when the engine turn on and like energy starts falling through, I still was a little bit nervous.

Speaker 2: 9:17

The next day I woke up and I was like for sure, thought that she was gonna say no, I think it was the wine talking and I don't know if I really want to go and she said all right, what's the first step? And I was just like wow. So I grabbed the laptop literally within the first hour of being up, emailed our realtor that we had used to buy our house two years before that and said we're listing our house, let us know what we have to do. And just started going on YouTube and looking at videos of families that had done what we wanted to do and it just felt like everything clicked into place.

Speaker 2: 9:51

I was actually just talking about this exact story this morning and I was saying that it was an opportunity for me to really understand aspects of myself that I didn't even know existed.

Speaker 2: 10:03

And so now it's been five years and we'll go through the entire journey and I look at where I am today and I'm really spending a lot of time just being introspective and understanding who I was designed to be and how I best fit into my work on the planet and what I'm supposed to be doing here, and I realized it was a really good foundation for me, because, as I really look at who I am today, I think, oh yeah, I made a decision based on what I felt was the right thing for us at the time, even though, logically, it made no sense at all and we had a lot of from family and friends that everyone thought we lost our marble. They were like you're crazy, what are you doing? What are you talking about? But it didn't fit into the box. But that didn't matter to us at the time. It just felt right and that's what we used as our guidance system to determine if this was the right thing for our family or not.

Speaker 1: 10:56

And, yeah, this is what we get, to use that terminology. This was five years ago, so pre-COVID, when pre-everybody doing it. So five years ago people really were crazy to do it. And I say that in fun because I think all experiences that we do whether we feel like they're crazy, they become something crazy it doesn't matter. It was about you saying there's more, there's something out there, and you were driven to do it and I think that's the goal. So that'll be our first tip in living life fully Jump in.

Speaker 1: 11:35

Yes, whatever research people feel like they need to do, however much they need to think about it. Before you jumped in very quickly, I took a whole four months before I jumped into the whole RVing, so way longer than you did, but I. So who cares what people think? What did you get out of it? What did you learn from it? I think that's what's important here. When we say there's more to life and it sounds like I'm using my own words, but that kind of sounds like that was where your head was at, not happy with our jobs and what else is out there. Because, as I say to my kids and people know that Dan and I have five kids I used to have this belief system of you graduate from high school, you go to college, you work for 40 years, 40 hours a week, blah, blah, blah. Get your two weeks vacation to retire. But let's just get real and let's just get into it.

Speaker 1: 12:34

And this could be a subject that's a little, I want to say, emotional for people, because we're going to talk about it. We're going to talk about, sometimes, those things in life that happen that cause you to wake up and do things, and the hope, I think, for both of us is that people don't have to go through that. So I just want to go back to a year ago. It's been almost a year since my mom passed.

Speaker 1: 12:58

I had the opportunity I'm so grateful from January to the end of June when she passed, to be with her every possible moment of the day and stay with her while she was in hospice, and the one thing that happened during that time that I want people to know is, at the end of the day, she was 87 years old, so she lived a long life, but it wasn't full so many regrets of what she didn't do. She didn't travel, she didn't really move from the house that she'd lived in for forever. There was nothing that pushed her to go and do, and there were regrets, and the point here is to help people not have the regrets at the end. Do it now right. How do you advise people on that? You're the life coach.

Speaker 2: 13:50

Let's give them Absolutely Everything you said I would agree with, and that's the thing is. I think everybody would say that there's books written about it, right, People have been interviewed on their deathbed and what are the themes that show up? What are the regrets that most people agree with? No one says I wish I worked more. No one says I wish I made all the right decisions, stayed in the same house like always. I wish I traveled more. I wish I invested more time into my relationship. I wish that I wasn't so afraid to do things that were outside of the box. So it's the same thing that keeps showing up and I feel like we could learn from those things.

Speaker 2: 14:26

But I have to be honest when, although those things were great, I didn't really think much about that until we had hit the road. So I remember one of the first RV park that we were and we attracted a lot of attention because we had four kids running around the RV, right. So people would stop by. Just how RV parks are. People are super friendly, Everybody has great conversations, it's awesome and people would come over, especially the older couples, and they would say you know what you're doing it.

Speaker 2: 14:54

I wish I would have done it, then I wish I would have what a great experience. So I don't think we realized that part of it until we were in it and people were just basically giving us that feedback. We realized that part of it until we were in it and people were just basically giving us that feedback. The thing for me was that I was really just trying to go with what felt good to me. Like it just felt for the first time in my life I was giving myself permission to do something that felt exciting to us, even though it made no logical sense, even though it pissed off everybody around us, and but it just felt good. And that's when I feel like one thing after another, things started clicking into place because of that.

Speaker 1: 15:29

Absolutely, and so much comes to mind. I had a coach that used to say what other people think of you is none of your business, and I have to remind myself because I always was worried about what other people thought. There you were in a campground with four people, little people, kids running around and the older generation saying I wish I had done it. And I, having five kids and nine grandkids, I could certainly say that myself, like how different work life had been. And you can't go back and what it could have should have, it's just yeah, that would have been cool to have that experience with the kid. Okay, but passion has always been something you followed. So I want to get back to what we talked about.

Speaker 1: 16:11

As a young kid, you had a love of food and you went down the road of culinary. You were a. Every time I look at your Facebook page, my mouth, I salivate. I truly had a French chef, right, am I saying that right? So, yeah, I love food, I am a foodie, I think I'd like to cook, but it's a sometimes thing. So you followed your passion even from a young age. Give our listeners a little bit of that story of going down that road.

Speaker 2: 16:45

Yeah, I was introduced to food through contrast and the reason I say that is because my parents were not cooks. They did not cook big, elaborate meals. We didn't really sit at the table every now and then, obviously, but it wasn't like a everyday ritual. At five o'clock there was a meal on the table and now that my kids are getting a little bit older, I don't hold it against my parents at all. I understand it's chaos all the time. The kids have different sports and activities all over the place, so we're on the go all the time. Might eat a little bit more fast food than I'd care to admit, but it's reality. But yeah, it was. My parents were not big cookers.

Speaker 2: 17:18

When I went to other people's houses like I had a really good friend whose mom was like this incredible Italian cook and she would cook these phenomenal meals and I would have three, three plates because it was just so good. I didn't know it could taste that good. I was used to pasta and then spaghetti out of a jar and I thought, okay, I was hungry. Now I'm not hungry. To me that was food. Then all of a sudden you start tasting delicious food and you're like, whoa, I didn't even know that was possible. And the same thing with my neighbors. I had three neighbors that lived across the street and they were all from different parts of Italy and they all had amazing food and the smells coming out of the kitchen all the time and they were very welcoming and they would have me come over and taste their soups and sauces and stuffed artichokes and all these incredible food. So, yeah, I developed a passion for it and I realized I didn't have a lot of money, so it felt like I could go out to eat to enjoy these meals, and I didn't have parents that were pumping out these meals. So I was like I need to learn how to do this myself. So that was it. I just started watching the food network and I started going online back in the day. Now I feel like it's so much easier, but just looking up different stuff, and it took me a while. But the first dish that I mastered was rigatoni alabaca, because that was my favorite thing I would get from a restaurant. It took me a while, but I got it. So that was the meal that got me through college and people used to come over all the time and I'd make rigatoni alabaca with garlic bread and all this stuff and cheese or salad, and everyone loved it.

Speaker 2: 18:40

So when I graduated from college with a degree in psychology, I was home like, okay, now what do I do with my life? I didn't see myself going down that road and I didn't know what I wanted to do. And my sister said to me you know what, in your hardest times in college, the thing that got you through it was food. You loved cooking. You loved sharing meals with people. So why don't you look into that? And yeah, I looked into the French Culinary Institute. It looked amazing online. I was like this is so exciting.

Speaker 2: 19:08

I brought this idea up to my mom and she was like no, it's a terrible idea. You just graduated with a degree in psychology and not going to culinary school. Plus, her dad was a chef for a little while. So she was like I don't want you to have that lifestyle. You're going to be working holidays, weekends, going to be crazy. It's a really tough way to make a living. And I was like, well, I'm just going to go check it out. And I went into the city, because it was in downtown Manhattan, and I just completely fell in love. I was fitted for a uniform that day.

Speaker 1: 19:36

Wow and again taking out. I think sometimes we look at people, we look at the RVers, we look at the people sometimes on social media and YouTube, and it looks all pretty and perfect and what's behind the scenes is you didn't necessarily have the support. Here you were with a career in psychology, and food was your passion and, regardless of everybody saying you can't, you shouldn't, it's not a good idea Putting it all down, you did it anyway and I like that idea of what's possible, what's next, and this idea of doing the same thing for 40 years of our life to retire, no longer fits the bill for me, and I think that's the case for a lot of people. Okay, so fast forward a little bit. You said, and I quote, you had a tragedy that reshaped your worldview, and I want to hear a little of that story. But I also want to talk to people about the outcome being how you turned that pain into opportunity for growth. So will you share a little bit of that story?

Speaker 2: 20:39

Yeah, so I was enrolled in the French Culinary Institute at the time. This was 2001. And my girlfriend was working for Cameron Fitzgerald and she was in the 101st floor of the World Trade Center when 9-11 happened. So she passed away in that tragedy and, as a result, I experienced depression and anxiety and just a slew of issues that were related to that, just from PTSD and all of that. And it was difficult. It was a really difficult period of my life.

Speaker 2: 21:11

I felt like my model of the world made so much sense to me for so long and when that tragedy happened and I think a lot of people can relate to this just shifted everything right. So you have that which I think everybody went through, shifted everything right. So you have that which I think everybody went through. And then it was to me because of the gave birth to this idea of spirituality, right, which I only had. My only introduction to spirituality was through religion, that I was taught from my parents and church or whatever, and this was like a lot of things that were happening to me, like having these spiritual sort of, as you could say, experiences opened me up. It opened up my way of looking at things.

Speaker 2: 21:53

I won't get into too many details because I know we're short on time, but that's why I wrote the book. Remembering your Spirit is what happened, starting from the night before 9-11 up until about eight years later when I met my wife, and there's every like all the whole entire roller coaster of emotions and all of the mystical experiences that I had, the healing journey that I went on. But yeah, it was absolutely really. It was all about growth and understanding myself and understanding why I'm here, and maybe that had to do with why. At 20, what was I in my thirties? I forget the exact date that I decided to sell our home, sell the content and just embark on an RV, because I had already been through an experience in my life where I realized you could start at nothing and rebuild yourself back up and it will be okay, you're going to be okay. So maybe that was like had a lot like to do with laying the foundation for me to have the courage to make a decision like that.

Speaker 1: 22:50

Yeah, and so the big piece, the big tip here is tragedy will often change somebody and it certainly did for you. And I've read the book and it's very detailed and it's very. It's a tough read in the beginning, but what's great is the transformation, the opportunity for transformation. The tip we're trying to give here, this next tip, is don't wait for that, don't wait for the tragedy. Don't wait till you get to your deathbed to say I would have, could have, should have. We all are just working our way through these things.

Speaker 1: 23:28

Like you said, getting in an RV, you really didn't take a lot of time. You didn't have it all figured out. Everybody was saying don't do it. I think there is, over the last three years, a little more support. So when I decided to get in an RV, I didn't have the negative comments because I probably wasn't open to hearing them, but I knew people were probably talking behind my back. There was that I could just ignore. But the tip here is for people to not wait. Not wait till it's too late, not wait till I retire. Even people who say let me wait till I retire Now, let me just also take a step back and preface this whole thing by saying we are not trying on the RV Life podcast, to push our agenda, encourage or promote the idea that everybody should go RVing full time or even RVing at all. The idea here is do something that you're passionate about, do something that fills you up, and for you, it could take time till you find what that is, but go out and do something.

Speaker 1: 24:35

So, from that tragedy and you said how you turn pain into opportunities for growth Wow, because, as a lot of people know, right now, dan is in the hospital. He's still in rehab. It's been an incredibly difficult time, without a doubt, but from that, what opportunities are there for growth? And how do you even do that when you're in the middle of what you're in? For me, it is continuing to do the things that I am passionate about the podcast, getting back to our YouTube videos, going to events, doing those things that I'm passionate about. So I think that sometimes people need time to figure out what it's at. What is it? What do I want to do Now for you? After this tragedy, you wrote this, the book Remembering your Spirit, and I highly recommend it, people, and get it on Amazon. You then decided you wanted to go into life coaching. So tell us about that and how that happened. What did that look like?

Speaker 2: 25:40

Yeah, so that was not part of my original plan. It was just because my wife was pregnant with our first child and I had these stories and I just felt like I had always thought about getting the stories in a book, so they were in one place for people that needed to hear those sort of inspiring things and my experiences because that's really what got me through a lot of my healing process was reading and listening to other people's stories, because you feel so alone when you go through a tragedy like that, right, they feel so personal and it feels like everything's just happening to you. And when you can read a story, a book or multiple stories of people that have gone through something similar, there's something very comforting about it, right, and so I wanted to contribute in some way. That was my idea of creating why I wanted to write the book, and so I wrote the book, published the book and I was doing speaking.

Speaker 2: 26:28

I was on a speaking tour and it was, I remember, the first person that ever reached out to me. She said I read your book. I was really moved by it. I want to have similar experiences. I want to have a practice, a spiritual practice. What can I do and would you work with me? I was like, like, as what? I didn't even know what that looked like, cause I was a professional chef at this point. That was my whole thing, and I was like, yeah, and then I ended up tracking down Tony Robbins, getting him to train. He was offering a coaching program, basically, and that's the coaching program that I took. I wasn't trying to be a life coach. I just always have to investigate what's the best way to show up for somebody, and this person wanted me to be coached to them, and so that was the birth of me becoming a life coach, which has been like 13 years ago now.

Speaker 1: 27:15

So when we talk about dreams and I gave this definition in the beginning we talked about dreams and something you imagine while you sleep. I think a lot. For me, let me just speak for me, and I've heard other people say this a dream is something that happens when I'm sleeping. I could daydream, but that's not necessarily reality. I've come to realize that when I take step, when I try and create something of a plan, that's when your dream can become a reality and again, the hope for this show the word plan, though.

Speaker 1: 27:46

I see plans and it's funny because I was talking to a business strategist and he said the plans are made in Jell-O and it sounds like that's how your life has been in your planning as well as mine. I have the sort of plans and they are etched in Jell-O. They're soft and movable and squishy and all of that stuff. Now fast forward a little bit. You decide to combine your culinary skills and, by the way, when I come visit you, I need my favorite food, which is the vodka sauce. That all sounds great, but my favorite, absolute favorite food is beef welling.

Speaker 2: 28:25

Okay, we can do that.

Speaker 1: 28:26

You said I knew you could Just keep that in mind, but so then you decide to combine these two things. Yeah, Because again, you have this plan, you have these ideas, You're really going with the flow, following what you get excited about. And so culinary skills, chefs and life coaching how do they blend together?

Speaker 2: 28:49

So for me uniquely, it's because of my personal experiences. So when I was a chef for many years, I never realized it at the time, but eventually I got to this point where I could go to any cocktail party, have any conversation, and somebody could say what do you do? I'll say I'm a chef, and they would get all excited. Oh wow, what do you cook? What's your favorite food? What's your specialty? Where'd you go to school? It's an encouraging, inviting, exciting conversation usually and I enjoyed that and it was a great coffee tables coffee what am I trying to say? Cocktail party conversation starter. When I transitioned into life coaching, people are like oh, what do you do? I'm a coach. People would tense up, they would freeze up. Where's the conversation going? Because all of a sudden we're talking about food, which has all these good feelings to it. Right, there's tons of things tied into it too. Oh, coaching, what does that mean? Is he going to try to analyze me? What should I be doing with my life? What am I not doing with my? All this stuff bubbles up to the surface for people and that was a weird experience for me to see people go from so excited oh, let's talk about food to I don't know what to talk about, or they're freezed up and I'm looking at them like did I say something? But I do know that. So there was that part. So then transition to the second part.

Speaker 2: 30:06

When I was chefing, I owned a catering company for 17 years. I didn't realize this until many years into it, but I started to have very personal relationships with my clients. I would go in there and plan a party with them but really get to know them because it's a process. And then also, when I was cooking for the actual party, there could be 200 people at their house and there's always a crowd in the kitchen of people hanging out, and it didn't matter that. And I did all hors d'oeuvre cocktail parties. So you can imagine the amount of food that I was pumping out for 200 people in the kitchen. People would be in there like I was just hanging out and having conversations with me, and eventually I like learned how to deal with that.

Speaker 2: 30:50

But the thing for me is that I loved engaging with people. I love getting to know people Right. And so when I transitioned out of like cooking into coaching, and then I had that sort of okay, what does this mean now, I realized that I'm very passionate about food. That never went away. So, even though I'm not a professional chef anymore, I'm still very passionate about food and I'm very passionate about coaching and helping people. So how can I put these two things together? And that's what I. That's basically what happened, and the idea is let's talk about food, get to know each other. What's your favorite food? Why is beef Wellington your favorite food? What's the? When was the first time you ever had it? Where's the best place you've ever had it? Now we're building a rapport, we're having a conversation, and now you feel comfortable and safe and we're having a good time, and then we can talk about maybe something that personal and challenging for you so much more to talk about.

Speaker 1: 31:44

I'm going to take a little break because I have to talk a little bit about OpenRoads Fuel Card. It is one of our sponsors. This conversation is a little different than what we have usually on the RV Life podcast, and I love that. I get to do what I'm passionate about. That's what this is about. But let me talk a little bit about this fuel card.

Speaker 1: 32:00

For those of you who are RVing, driving a diesel as a lot of you did and I had a diesel pusher, a 40-foot Monaco Diplomat and 40-foot 100-plus-gallon tank with a 25-gallon reserve you're talking about a lot of fuel. So this fuel card, the card, is free to get. You sign up for it, you attach your bank card to it and then you have an app that shows you gas stations around the country that you could go to and save money on diesel fuel. I have saved literally thousands of dollars. I wonder, if I go back to the company and I ask them to look up how much money I've saved over the last three years, if they could figure that out, but I'm sure it's thousands of dollars. They actually recently started sending out emails once a year as to how much money you did save, so that should be interesting.

Speaker 1: 32:52

But OpenRoads fuel card and you could go to myopenroadscom the information's in the show notes If you had diesel. You have to check this card out. So let's get back to it, because again, this is about following your passion and to live life to its fullest. You've got to tap into that passion and some people can you give some tips? Because sometimes people say I don't know what I want. I don't know what I want to do. Do I want an RV? Do I want to camp?

Speaker 2: 33:21

Do I want to find my passion right, like this thing that exists and you're out there searching in the world for it, and when you find it, then you're going to be satisfied for the rest of your life. And I think passion is a moment by moment thing, right, I think, if this is what I'm passionate about right now? Right, this I'm passionate about Italian food for six months. Right or now, I'm passionate about eating out versus cooking at home. Now I'm passionate about eating like a vegetarian lifestyle for six. And it's about giving ourselves permission to follow what excites us in the moment. Right To tapping into that inner authority, that inner guidance system that's in all of us, that basically registering the excitement within us and giving ourselves permission to follow that. Because that's the thing is. You don't people are so afraid to make wrong decisions, bad decision, and the thing is there's no such thing as a bad decision. Right, because you can always course correct Again.

Speaker 2: 34:37

We sold everything. We sold our house, we sold all of our stuff, we tried to save as much money as we could. We had the whole thing planned out the best way that we could, but the truth is we got to a point where we were in Arizona and they dropped to a freeze. Basically overnight they had 30 something inches of snow. Our Arctic package broke, our pipes froze, everything broke, everything that could have gone wrong went wrong. We ended up having to drive back I think it was 14 hours or 15 hours or whatever it was back to New Jersey with our tail between our leg.

Speaker 2: 35:11

To all these people that said we told you it wouldn't be a good idea and say, and whatever, we took the RV to the to get it repaired and ended up being in there for six months, I think. But there are no bad decisions. Everything. We are here to learn, to grow and to evolve, and none of that happens unless you're willing to live life. So if you're going to put yourself in a box and be afraid to make bad decisions, that's going to be your experience. And if you're willing to just take risks and enjoy and see if it works out and if it doesn't, then you're course correct, right, see if it works out and if it doesn't, then you're course correct, right?

Speaker 1: 35:51

Yes, and there's so much there. So when we talk about we want tips for people to live life to the fullest, there was chock full so people could go back. Nice thing about the podcast rewind re-listen to that. I absolutely agree 100%. Your passion's not outside of you, it's in you. It's not some secret thing that you find and then for the rest of your life, there it is. It's what gets you excited, what gets you up in the morning and what gets me up in the morning. Today may be different tomorrow and going out and doing some of those things. When we talk about living life to the fullest and all these things living your dreams and all these things that people say it's not some big secret. That's what it's about and what gets you excited. And if you can do that today and then look to do it tomorrow and keep doing that, and then, like you said, course correct.

Speaker 1: 36:41

I spent three years on the road. We've had our breakdown. Course correct, I spent three years on the road. We've had our breakdown. We've had our situations where it's okay, what are we doing for money? How are we going forward with this? Yeah, a little bit of better planning might have helped that. But who knows, we might have overthought it for so long that we stayed sitting in that house during COVID, just sitting there, because it seemed safer than going out on the road. I'm grateful for everything in my life that's gotten me to where I am today. Every challenge, every quote, unquote mistake. Everything that I did has led me to where I am today.

Speaker 1: 37:20

And I went to college, graduated a year early because I decided to like I wanted to graduate high school. I graduated high school a year early because I decided I had to get to college. I had to get to my career, have my own money, get out of my house. So I graduated high school a year early. Most people don't know that I went to college. I wanted to be a doctor. After a year of those early morning anatomy classes I decided I wasn't good enough, I wasn't capable, I couldn't do it. I did go into psychology, so I graduated with a degree. I then decided now what am I going to do? I had a degree in business and psychology. I became a teacher, got my master's degree in teaching, took 45 extra credits. So I'm actually two classes and a dissertation away from a PhD because I thought that what outside people would think of me would be different is what I came to realize.

Speaker 1: 38:13

I taught high school for 20 years, loved the students I worked with, but I was burned out. The system is broken in my opinion. Whole nother conversation. And so then I woke up one day about 12 years ago and said, okay, what now? And I have put all that aside. But the point is that nothing that I've ever done, none of those things the learning, the challenges, the things I've ever been through without that I wouldn't be where I am today and I'm pretty happy with where I am today. I know I, yeah, really following your passion. Just give yourself permission to go out and do you. Don't worry about what other people think. As a coach said to me and I have to say to myself all the time what other people think of us is none of our business.

Speaker 2: 39:05

Absolutely, and I love that so much because it's something that, yeah, we definitely need to remind ourselves that all the time. And the thing is, we need to realize that nobody understands you. Your job in this life is to understand yourself. It's not possible for other people to understand you, so no one should really be telling, no one should be that authority figure in your life telling you if that's a good idea or not a good idea, because they don't know you. They don't know how you were designed, they don't know how you think about the world. They don't have access to that. They think they know you, but they only know you through the filter that is themselves. Right, so they would make a best decision for you based on what they know about themselves. They don't really understand what would make sense for you. Yeah, it's totally irrelevant.

Speaker 1: 39:50

Yes, and I'll tell you again, you do coaching and I just want to put it out there. Your website is markchabascom and I'll put that in the show notes so people know how to spell it and get to you. Great social media. On Facebook, you are actually cooking, which is such torment to me. So you're cooking and the way that you combine cooking with the conversation and the messaging, I can't even describe it. So I'm just going to invite everybody to go to Facebook and check out those videos. You're making sourdough bread and you are just so passionate and just the conversation is so helpful.

Speaker 1: 40:31

So, whether people are looking to make that sourdough bread or the bagels you were making bagels one day whether they're looking to make that or to hear that information, because it's so helpful and supportive, because I will say and I'm sure you agree, I could not be where I am today, and especially with what I've had going on for the last several months, without the help and support of life coaches, my health coach, my mentors all of these people, including you, have really helped me and I think that, again, people, none of this for my listeners, none of this is scripted, mark, and I did not talk before the podcast and say, okay, this is the road we're going to go down. We literally just said we're going to free flow, we're going to provide tips for our listeners to help them live a more fulfilled life. That was the goal. So one of the big things, one of the big tips, I think, is to let people know they're not alone. So what you just said and that I think at some point we all need some kind of support system.

Speaker 1: 41:38

So can you talk about life coaching, what that looks like, people having a support system? Can we go down that road a little bit? Yeah, I think you're on this spot.

Speaker 2: 41:48

No, it's fine. It's something that I'm passionate about and the thing that I would say to encourage people that don't currently work with a coach but thought about it and there's a million coaches out there and there's all different types. We've had all different trainers out there. There's different philosophies and thought systems. My whole thing is, if you're going to work with a coach, find someone who is passionate about helping you to understand yourself right and getting you to a place where you are your own authority, that you trust your own authority and that you make decisions based on what's best for you. Because when you hire a coach that gives you advice which I don't think it should be a part of coaching, because it's not really about advice, right, it's about empowering somebody the right decisions for themselves, and nobody really knows what's the right decision except for themselves. That's it. And even if you're a leader of a family, even if you're a mom and you have to make decisions for your kids and your spouse, or you're the dad and you have to make the decision, you're still generating those answers from your own inner authority. You know what I mean. You're not going to other outside sources. You don't want to hire a coach hoping that they'll help you make decisions. You want to hire a coach that's going to help you do things that you're not seeing.

Speaker 2: 43:06

Like to shine a spotlight on things that, oh, I didn't even realize that was holding me back. Oh, this is a story that I tell all the time. It's so familiar that I didn't even realize it's just a story, right? Let's say to someone oh, you said this, that and the other yeah, because that's the way that I am. But is that really the way that you are or is that just the way that you've been saying that you are? Could it be possible that there's another aspect of yourself that you don't even know exists? Right, because we're all conditioned from birth, from our parents, from church, from religion, from school system. We're all conditioned to be homogenized, to all be in this box for things to function a certain way. So we have to step outside of that box. Right, we have to challenge ourselves a little bit more.

Speaker 2: 43:49

Throw yourself into an RV for a little while, since we're on the RV podcast and just see what you're capable of, because the truth is, you don't know until you've tried it. You have no idea what's around that corner. Maybe you're going to drive to a different state and say I didn't realize I was going to like the mountains so much. I remember visiting my grandmother in Las Vegas growing up because she lived in Henderson and so all I knew was the long flight from New York to Las Vegas and then getting there and she lived. This was back a long time ago, when there wasn't really built up as much as it's built up now. But what I remember are what are the black widow spiders, is that?

Speaker 1: 44:25

are those the ones that hang out. Yeah, so I remember. Yeah, trans, what were they? Yeah, I was told about them. Thank goodness I, in the time I lived there, I never saw one.

Speaker 2: 44:34

Yeah, so was that. It was to me. I didn't see much grass, she was just. I had certain memories, I had a certain model of what I thought that landscape would be like. So that was it. I traveled through my whole life going I'll be okay if I never go to the desert again, like I'd be fine with that. Then, when we got out there, when we were traveling in the RV with the kids and we got to Arizona, right, I was just Lord. I could not believe that. I was like this is some of the most beautiful landscape I've ever seen in my life and it was so unfamiliar to me, right Cause, growing up in New York, don't know what you don't know what you don't know.

Speaker 2: 45:10

That's the thing. Until you get out there, you challenge yourself, put yourself in a different environment and see what you might like or don't like, or meet an aspect of yourself that you didn't even know was possible. Like how do I handle things? Like when you get knowed in with an RV and you can't get out and you're shoveling with the plastic fan toy shovel, like trying to get the RV out. You meet aspects of yourself in that process. How are you relating to your spouse you and I have talked about this in the past. How are you relating to your spouse when you don't have all these other distractions out there? Now it's just you and him in an RV, like no other distraction, and how are you working through those things? Now, all of a sudden, you have this opportunity and I think everyone, even if you didn't travel, went through this with COVID. They were like whoa, who is this person that I'm married to? Who is, oh my God, I didn't even realize these aspects with my children until you were locked in your house with them for 18 months.

Speaker 1: 46:05

Again, a lot of great information and I want to use your terminology bring light to the fact that I think we all need support. We all need the outside support. So, whether you're in a great committed relationship, whether you're you and your kid, whatever the scenario, having that outside support, having that and for everybody. Maybe it's not hiring a full-on coach, maybe it looks different, but definitely bringing up and being able to talk and talk things through. And again, don't wait until this major event happens. I don't know how I would have gotten through these last three months if I didn't have people like you and so many other people that I have. That I don't have to worry about pretending who I am. I don't. I'm able to ask for and get support. I know that in all the things that I've been through that have been difficult, challenging time, I've got the ability to get through it. Now that doesn't mean I have to smile through it all Doesn't mean you have to be happy through it all. Mean I have to smile through it all Doesn't mean you have to be happy through it all. And I think we are going down a path that could be this it's bigger, it's longer than just this show, this podcast this hour podcast show. So I am going to sorry, got a frog in my throat. I am going to which gears a little bit, wow, losing my voice. Which gears a little bit, wow, losing my voice. Which gears a little bit. Here I do want to talk about. There's just so much here and I'd love to stay on this topic. That's where my conflict is. I usually don't get stumped, so the hope is, let me just say that, so we have more to the podcast, but the hope is that people get out this idea of living their life fully, living their dream, finding passion, that they get out. Take that, at least take that first step today. That's what I'm going to wish for people Right now I want to talk about.

Speaker 1: 48:06

I just came back from the Music City Motor Home Expo that was in Tennessee. Now this podcast, in all fairness, is being recorded prior to that. It's getting out, it's meeting people, it's connecting with people, it's finding your people. So when I talk about the event that I was at and when I talk about the people from National Indoor RV Centers, they're real people, they're amazing people, they're supportive, they are authentic people and I think that goes along with what this topic is about finding people. I no longer spend time and energy on people that just drain me, and again, we could talk about that for a long time. Find your people that build you up, support you. It's okay if you say, hey, I want to go RVing full time and your people say that sounds crazy. But girl, go do it, you do you. That's okay. If they don't understand it, you could still support somebody. Now, national RV Centers has six locations across the country and again, I talk about them on the show. I promote everything they do because they do it with authenticity. It's an amazing company because it has amazing people. That's what makes the company amazing. And anybody looking now for a motorhome especially after the show, where they're like, yes, I want to go out in an RV, maybe we talk people into that. National RV, national Indoor RV Center is definitely a place to check out Now if you have that motorhome.

Speaker 1: 49:45

I also want to talk about my good friend, jeff Bound at Motorhome Tires. I met Jeff. Unfortunately, I met Jeff after we bought the tires for our RV and because I just went in, I needed tires. We went in, we got the tires. The people did not do a good job. I will say that they didn't give us what we had asked for. It was a mess, and this is where finding those people that you relate to. Jeff has a company that will come out and put tires on your motor home and again, this man is just the real deal. He is a person I want to sit down with and just talk to, and he's been so supportive, as well as so many other people. So there's my advertisements for the day and again, but it's all about the same thing. The RV Life Podcast has advertisers and sponsors that are people that I truly trust and care about, and even my guests. It's gotta be. I don't just bring guests on to fill the space.

Speaker 1: 50:57

So now we are gonna switch gears again and I'm gonna talk about the question of the week and that is brought to you by Open Broad Innovative Tool Solutions, toll Solutions. I'm losing my train of thought, and they have a toll pass that covers the entire country 48C. This toll pass is $24 a year. It covers the whole country, like I said, and if you should get a toll, fine, they have concierge service that will work through it for you, so you don't pay all the extra fines and all that other. You have an app. You go on the app, you could tell show the app that there was a fine, or call the their concierge service and they will help take care of it for you.

Speaker 1: 51:42

But now let's talk about the question, and people have listened to the podcast before. No, I get a question of the week either from a listener, from social media, or just I wake up in the morning with a question. But today I'm going to ask you, mark, the question and what I'd like to ask is what's on your bucket list, so something that you've done or something you're thinking you want to do? Sometimes it's RV people in the RV world, but what is something on your bucket list you can share with our RV Life podcast audience?

Speaker 2: 52:17

I would say to do the top, the northern part of the United States so that's on my bucket list is to go. When we left New Jersey we went south and then all the way across the country and then came back through the middle. I'd like to go north and then travel back west so we could hit all those northern states. That's the bucket list.

Speaker 1: 52:39

That's a great one. That's on my bucket list because they are states I haven't covered yet. So I did all of the west coast in the United States. So I did Washington, oregon and California. We did a lot of that. I can't say all because it's like you said, you go to an area, things you didn't see or know. Or Oregon and California. We did a lot of that. I can't say all because it's like you said, you go to an area, things you didn't see or know or realize. And I want to go back to the area, but yeah, I did come across the top northern side. It's a great one as people are traveling.

Speaker 1: 53:06

There is a great program out there and it's called campgroundsorgcom and these are campground reviews and this week's campground. So we feature a campground every week and this week's campground is brought to you by RV Life Campgrounds and this campground is a Thousand Trails campground and it's called Thousand Trails Lake and Shore and it's in Ocean View, new Jersey, and it's right outside of everybody anybody who knows the New Jersey shore. It's right by Sea Isle. It's funny because I spent a lot of time in Sea Isle. It's easily accessible to a lot of the beach resorts in New Jersey. But if you want to stay at the campground and this is a campground I have been to they have 430 sites. They have full hookups, they have pooling sites, a dog park, playground, they have a lake with a beach area and it's just minutes to the actual beach. If you stay in the park, there's plenty to do, plenty of activities, plenty of things to do for the kids. They have a great pool and a water park actually at this campground, and just a great bunch of people.

Speaker 1: 54:14

Again, this is called Thousand Trails Lake and Shore Campground and it is in New Jersey. It has an 8.8 rating on RV Life Campgrounds, with 15 reviews. You can visit campgroundsrvlifecom to book your stay or you could see all the photos, the tips, the full list of amenities about this property. Rv Life Campgrounds is part of RV Life Pro and it's the most comprehensive source for RV parks, campgrounds, resorts, city, state, national parks and so much more. Just go to campgroundsrvlifecom and check it all out. Now, mark, how can people reach out to you? Lead them to your website? Tell our listeners how they can get to you.

Speaker 2: 55:05

Yeah, markchaviscom is my website, and if you put Mark Chavis on any of the other social media sites, like Facebook or, you'll find me first and last name Mark Chavis D-H-A-B-U-S.

Speaker 1: 55:18

Yes, and I will put that in the show notes for people, and I highly recommend, please, people reach out. They could ask you questions. You could also go to RV Life Podcast on Instagram or Facebook, ask questions, tell us your thoughts. We really want to hear from you guys. I totally appreciate people listening to the RV Life podcast. The only thing I hate is that we do have to wrap it up and come to an end, but let's not stop the conversation. I think this was a great starter for a conversation. We could do that private message on social media. Any question that comes to RV Life Podcast that is directly for Mark. I will make sure he receives that message, certainly. Whatever podcast platform you're listening to this on, hit the download button so you don't miss anything. And yes, thank you, mark. So much for the start of an amazing conversation.

Speaker 2: 56:18

Thank you for having me. It's been fun. Look forward to next time.

Speaker 1: 56:22

Yes, I love it and there's definitely got to be a next time, but there'll be a next time. I need people to reach out, and what does that next time look like? What do people want to hear? So, on that note, you have been listening to the RB Life podcast. I'm Patty Hunt, wishing you a great rest of today and an even better day tomorrow.