Year Of The Opposite - Travis Stoliker's Substack Podcast

Two years ago, I got the call I’d always feared. A close friend had suffered a heart attack after years of alcohol abuse. Within 48 hours, he was gone. He died alone in a hospital bed, separated from loved ones by pandemic restrictions. But that isolation wasn’t new to him. His alcoholism had been isolating him for years. I often wonder—what came first? Did his alcoholism dri

Thomas Jefferson said: "I never considered a difference of opinion in politics, in religion, in philosophy, as cause for withdrawing from a friend.” The idea of choosing your friends or distancing yourself from family based solely on who they choose to support in a political election seems deeply unamerican to me. But sadly it seems to be very fashionable again as we grind throug

Back when I co-owned the restaurant chain Slice by Saddleback, I was looking for ways to increase the net income of the business. One of the things I became fascinated by was how sports stadiums would sell the naming rights to their stadiums as an advertisement to large businesses. Consider how many stadiums are named after companies, like the Staples Center or the DTE Energy Music

I Dreamed I Had an Interview with God by James J. Lachard (Jim Brown)"So, you would like to interview me?" God asked. "If you have the time," I replied, and God smiled. "My time is eternity. What questions do you have in mind for me?""What surprises you most about humankind?" I asked. God answered, "They get bored with childhood, rush to grow up, and then long to be children again.

Year Of The Opposite - Travis Stoliker's Substack is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.I used to say no—a lot. No to new experiences, no to challenges, no to anything that pushed me outside my comfort zone. But with The Year of the Opposite challenge, I started saying yes. It’s been about two ye

A quick update: The post that I get the most questions about is “How to get a CT Calcium Score.” The most frequent question is: “Where can I get one?” and “How much does it cost?”The cost question was a surprisingly hard question to answer. Year Of The Opposite - Travis Stoliker's Substack is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, cons

Yesterday I shared a statistic: 54% of American adults can’t read above a 6th-grade level. I thought it was pretty shocking so I wanted to note it so I could start investigating it. That’s why I shared it. But it’s the responses (some had to be hidden/deleted) that I want to talk about. The comment replies quickly turned into assigning blame to either teachers or parents. It

I want to be very clear: I am NOT endorsing or opposing any politician or candidate. But this is an incredibly important topic and I am hoping that I can break it down fairly and dispassionately. I am also going to try my best to keep my personal views out of it. I look forward to hearing your thoughts, comments, corrections and questions. Here goes…Year Of The Opposite - Travis

This is a hard post to write. It’s uncomfortable talking about sadness. Many of us have been conditioned to think that it’s unproductive or even wrong to discuss. While I do think there is some truth to the idea that we shouldn’t overly focus on our negative emotions, I also think that ignoring these feelings can give others the incorrect impression that everyone else has the

Note: Sorry for the poor audio on the podcast. I’m on vacation and don’t have access to my usual studio setup. Lansing is a fine city. I love my family here, I love my in-laws here, and I love my friends here dearly. But it is unquestionable to say that I hindered my career and my intelligence by staying in Lansing, Michigan.One of the truest things ever said about relationship