Episode 139
Emotional Connections: The Moments That Shape Us
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Life is all about those little moments, and I really want to dive into that today. I recently reflected on my journey, where I covered 500 miles in Cornwall using my electric wheelchair, and it hit me how my life is just a collection of moments. Yesterday, I had a powerful encounter with a paramedic from 33 years ago who helped me during a critical time, and it brought back a flood of emotions. I realized that our experiences aren’t just a straight line; they’re a bunch of moments that shape who we are. So, let’s chat about the moments that matter, how we can cherish them, and reflect on what they teach us.
Reflecting on life's fleeting moments can be profound. Steven Webb shares his journey of exploring the significance of moments in our lives, particularly through his experiences over the past year. He embarked on a remarkable 500-mile journey around Cornwall using his electric wheelchair, meticulously documenting his adventures. As he revisits his diary, he realizes that life is not just a series of events, but a collection of moments that shape our existence. Each encounter, each emotion, and each experience contributes to the mosaic of our lives. During a poignant moment, he reconnects with Melvin, the paramedic who flew him to Salisbury 33 years ago, triggering a flood of emotions and reflections on how interconnected our lives can be, even across decades.
Steven encourages listeners to reflect on their own lives and the moments that have defined them. He emphasizes that memories are stored not in a linear fashion but as emotional experiences. Whether joyful or painful, these moments teach us resilience and shape who we are. He shares personal anecdotes, like the time he walked his dog and how that experience became a lasting memory. These moments, whether big or small, can hold great significance.
As the episode unfolds, Steven invites us to cherish every moment, reminding us that they are fleeting yet impactful. He urges us to embrace the good and the bad experiences alike, as they all contribute to our growth. Life is about collecting these moments, learning from them, and creating new ones that define our journey. The essence of his message is clear: every moment is a gift, and it is up to us to recognize and appreciate them as we navigate through life.
Takeaways:
- Life is made up of moments, and those moments are what shape our experiences.
- When I look back at my life, I remember the moments that made me feel deeply.
- Collect moments that are meaningful, both good and bad, as they shape who you are.
- Emotions play a huge role in how we remember and store our life experiences.
- The universe might have a plan, and every moment could teach us something valuable.
- Cherish the small moments with loved ones, as they will be significant in the future.
Transcript
Hello, and welcome to Stillness in the Storms.
Speaker A:I'm Stephen Webb, your host, and I want to talk about moments of just moments in your life.
Speaker A:And in the last 12 months, I've done 500 miles around Cornwall in my electric wheelchair and I was keeping a diary.
Speaker A:And when I was reading back through it, I realized that the whole of the journey was made up of moments.
Speaker A:And yesterday I was doing an interview for ITV West Country.
Speaker A:It's all going to come out anyway, but I can share it on this podcast, so you get an exclusive.
Speaker A:Now, just after I finished doing the interview, it all went quiet.
Speaker A:And then Steve come over and said, I've got someone to introduce you to.
Speaker A:And it was a guy called Melvin.
Speaker A:This guy was the paramedic that was on the helicopter that flew me to Salisbury 33 years ago.
Speaker A:And as stoic as I was, I just.
Speaker A:The feelings all welled up and I did cry a little, but I just.
Speaker A:It made me think about how my life.
Speaker A:And I want you to consider your life and how much of your life is not a linear progression.
Speaker A:It's not no this and then that, but it's just moments.
Speaker A:Everything is stored in our brain and in our bodies as moments.
Speaker A:If you write a book or if you tell stories, you tell stories in moments.
Speaker A:And with that, how do we make sure that these moments are important to us?
Speaker A:By the amount of emotion they give.
Speaker A:Now, if you think back in your life of all the moments that mean something to you in some way, or the moments that hurt you in some way, they will all be for an emotional reason of feelings.
Speaker A:And this is the way the human body stores things, whether it's for a moment of fear.
Speaker A:I remember walking my dog, golden retriever.
Speaker A:He was a dog for the disabled, so he would help me out around the house.
Speaker A:And I was walking him up Carvoza Road, and just as he got to one of the gates, another dog jumped at the gate and barked at him.
Speaker A:Frightened the hell out of him.
Speaker A:He almost jumped up and ended up on my lap.
Speaker A:If there was mobile phones around then, I'm sure it would have been a brilliant meme moment and shared all over the world.
Speaker A:But what was funny about it, he then relaxed and carried on walking up the road.
Speaker A:But every single time that he would walk near that gate, he would have the same feeling.
Speaker A:He would slow down, he would go behind a chair and he would walk past the gate rather quick and then slow down and back to normal.
Speaker A:So he remembered that time as a moment, as a real big feeling, just the same as when I got drunk on Guinness once when I was about 14 years old.
Speaker A:I cannot even smell it now because my whole body feels the same as it did in that moment.
Speaker A:So between my tummy rumbling and my labored breath, this podcast isn't going to be hugely long and because I am still struggling with breathing, I'm struggling with talking too much.
Speaker A:But I just wanted to share the most profound moment yesterday when he came over and he told me about.
Speaker A:He showed me a little logbook and I was along the bottom line.
Speaker A:18 year old male flying to Salisbury.
Speaker A:He told me about the way they had to get special permission because they had to land outside the city hospital and the room was very tight to land and the pilot looked at him and said, see that little green area down there?
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Never going to land down there.
Speaker A:He said, not only that, we got a land between those three white rocks, like, oh, it's so small.
Speaker A:But anyway, it's like it was a crazy land in there to train on new equipment the night before, they had to practice getting a patient into the air ambulance in the same way because I was so poorly.
Speaker A:I had no idea I was that poorly.
Speaker A:He said, you are really ill.
Speaker A:It wasn't just touch and go, it was touch and go whether or not you would get through the night, let alone whether or not we would get you all the way to Salisbury.
Speaker A:It was one hour and 29 minute flight and they had to get special permission because they took off with just one pilot, a paramedic and a consultant.
Speaker A:And so you think back 33 years ago and then yesterday in that moment, nothing happened in between.
Speaker A:Those two moments were connected and it was almost like I've known him all my life but I'd never met him beyond that day when I was chewing on the bottom of his knees because we were so compact in there.
Speaker A:They could barely get me in there without considering chopping my feet off.
Speaker A:Let alone.
Speaker A:He was about 6 foot 2, I think, really tall, so it's no wonder he was literally sat on top of me in the air ambulance.
Speaker A:These little small things, they're not like they are now.
Speaker A:And yeah, it's just life is about these powerful moments.
Speaker A:It's not about no linear every day and all these things.
Speaker A:So just when you have these moments, collect them, Collect them like as if that's your whole life.
Speaker A:When you go and visit your mum, give her a hug.
Speaker A:When you go and spend some time with your grandchildren, give them a hug and sit down and feel what you're feeling in that moment.
Speaker A:Because that's a moment that you'll remember.
Speaker A:It'll go by so quick, 10 years will just flash by and then that child or that grandchild will look up and go, do you know, do you remember when you used to visit me?
Speaker A:And you'd go, yes, we sat there and you played with this car.
Speaker A:It may not seem like a moment today, it may not seem important right now, but in 10 years and 20 years time it will be so important.
Speaker A:And I just want you to think back in your life the moments that have shaped you, the moments that have made such a difference in your life and the people that made a difference in your life.
Speaker A:Now then these could be good or bad.
Speaker A:The body doesn't choose to store good or bad.
Speaker A:It just chooses to store anything that gives emotion.
Speaker A:So bad experiences, it will store it to protect you.
Speaker A:It doesn't do it out of like I'm going to store those bad moments so I'm going to ruin your life later.
Speaker A:It stores them in order for you to learn, you know, whether or not we learn we're not very good at humans and who people still do bad things and we have bad experiences.
Speaker A:And equally good feelings and emotions don't get stored quite so well.
Speaker A:When I think back to my life, it's more about the moments that I was hurt most, that I went through most, my rock bottoms.
Speaker A:The time when I found myself in a position where I never felt so alone.
Speaker A:It's strange me saying that because I have family around me at the time I had a partner, but I never felt so alone in my life.
Speaker A:And that might feel strange to someone that is alone, that doesn't have many people.
Speaker A:But for me that was horrible time.
Speaker A:And other times when I went out and contemplated my life and I even planned my suicide more than once.
Speaker A:I even took a load of tablets at one point.
Speaker A:Luckily I did go and get the help and I did end up having my stomach sorted.
Speaker A:That was when I was 18 years old, about six months before my accident.
Speaker A:But all these moments have shaped my life, shaped how I deal with things.
Speaker A:And it shaped me in the way I feel things deeply.
Speaker A:So when I shed a tear yesterday, when I cry for no reason or what feels like no reason, it's because I've learned to feel things deeply and that's not a bad thing.
Speaker A:And I've done it purely because of moments.
Speaker A:And I want that word to really sink in.
Speaker A:And I want you to think about your life and I want you to think about going forward about all these different moments in your life.
Speaker A:It may not be good, or.
Speaker A:It may not be what you want or desire, but they will shape you.
Speaker A:They will make you who you are, they will have an experience, and they will help you on a certain trajectory.
Speaker A:And that's just powerful.
Speaker A:You can learn to learn from them.
Speaker A:You know, every moment is a gift in some way.
Speaker A:You may not want that gift, you may not want that experience, but it is a gift nonetheless.
Speaker A:And sometimes you gotta dig a little deeper to see the gift.
Speaker A:Sometimes it might take a decade before you can see the gift in it.
Speaker A:And yeah, there's no real theme or topic to this podcast.
Speaker A:Just I want you just to sit down and spend a few minutes thinking about the moments in your life, Some of the moments that have shaped you for the good and shaped you what you may see as bad.
Speaker A:And if it does come, if your mind does remind you of bad moments, just think what that bad moment gave you.
Speaker A:It might be a terrible experience, but it gave you resilience.
Speaker A:It gave you the strength.
Speaker A:And who knows?
Speaker A:The universe may have a plan.
Speaker A:It's above my pay grade.
Speaker A:I don't believe in this.
Speaker A:That doesn't mean to say it's not true.
Speaker A:The universe might have a real big plan.
Speaker A:It might have a plan involved for you.
Speaker A:And who's to say a bad experience for you or me breaking my neck or something like that didn't have to happen to teach us from that moment in order to say something or do something 20, 30, 40 years on, or even for you to say something, and then for your grandchild or someone you know to then have that wisdom in order.
Speaker A:We don't know.
Speaker A:That's the truth.
Speaker A:So let's presume for a moment that the universe does have a plan, however much we might not like the plan.
Speaker A:We might hate the movie, we might hate the story, but maybe the universe has no choice.
Speaker A:Maybe everything is what it is because it has to be that way.
Speaker A:I don't know.
Speaker A:That to me, sounds like it sucks, but who knows?
Speaker A:I don't know.
Speaker A:And the fact that I don't know and the fact that none of you really know just sums up that.
Speaker A:Enjoy the moments.
Speaker A:Enjoy this time.
Speaker A:We are here.
Speaker A:We're here to experience.
Speaker A:This is our one opportunity to build moments, you know, collect them.
Speaker A:Collect the moments that are not so good to learn from and collect the moments that are really good.
Speaker A:But don't cling on to them, because if you click on to an old moment, it's like going out and having a really, really good time and then trying to recreate it week after week.
Speaker A:We all did that as teenagers.
Speaker A:We had an amazing night out on the town and then we say, oh, we must do that again.
Speaker A:It'd be amazing.
Speaker A:And then you go out and do it and, you know, I bet you, I bet you're thinking, yeah, that happened.
Speaker A:But you go out to do it again and it's nothing like it.
Speaker A:And you're like, not the same as last time because you cannot recreate, but always be different.
Speaker A:Always be different.
Speaker A:Might be similar, but it'll always be different.
Speaker A:That's my podcast for this week.
Speaker A:And yeah, sorry it's a little shorter, sorry it hasn't really got a deep topic, but I just wanted to record something but out there and say thank you.
Speaker A:Thank you for your support.
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