Episode Overview
Nine months after fracturing his femur in three places on an obstacle course, G. Scott Graham joins the podcast still mid-recovery — not narrating the comeback from a safe distance, but living inside it.
A career coach, Tai Chi teacher, long-distance paddleboarder, Appalachian Trail hiker, and EMT instructor, Scott is also the author of Come As You Are: Five Years Later, a memoir that moves between losing his husband Brian after 31 years together and the unexpected grief of falling in love again with Peter.
This conversation traces how movement once became a way of outrunning stillness, what Buddhist philosophy's concept of the "near enemy" reveals about mistaking momentum for avoidance, and why Scott insists equanimity isn't armor — it's the capacity to stay open to what scares you.
What We Cover
- Scott’s transformative experience hiking the Appalachian Trail and how it shaped his identity
- The distinction between movement as healing versus avoidance, and how to recognize the difference
- Exploring the practice of Vipassana and its relevance to slowing down and observing the mind
- The concept of equanimity as openness in the face of fear, not armor
- How slow movement and Tai Chi cultivate silence in the mind and presence in the body
- The powerful metaphor of “second arrow” in Buddhist teachings—how our reactions to pain prolong suffering
- The impact of grief, love, and loss on the body and the mind’s micro-movements toward acceptance
- The importance of persistence, grit, and pushing beyond comfort zones in recovery and growth
- The role of stillness in healing and how to distinguish genuine presence from hiding or avoidance
- Reflections on humor, vulnerability, and the humor in the strangeness of our ideas of strength
Resources & Links
Come As You Are: Five Years Later - Scott Graham book
Scott Graham on Medium
Scott Graham website
About the Guest
G. Scott Graham is an existential handyman — fixing what’s broken, realigning what’s off-kilter, and helping people rebuild their lives with meaning, purpose, and the occasional strip of duct tape. He’s also an author, career coach, business coach, and psychedelic support coach based in Boston, Massachusetts.
Scott is driven to help clients follow their “true azimuth” — a direction distinct from “true north.” It’s not about chasing some universal ideal. It’s about identifying what genuinely matters to you. It’s about recognizing the forces that pull your life off course and learning how to adjust so you still arrive where your heart wants to go. When you’re 90 and looking back, your life should feel like it was truly yours — filled with pride, purpose, and meaning. No regrets.
Call to Action
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Episode Credits
Produced, Edited and Mixed by Chris Forbes
Artwork Design by Utterly Create
Music is by Pictures of a Floating World from the Free Music archive.org
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