Hey! I'd love to hear your thoughts, send me a voice note.

Most of us spend our entire lives answering the question “Who am I?” with labels.

Our name. Our job. Our past. Our accomplishments. Our failures. Our beliefs. The roles we play.

But what if none of those things are actually who we are?

In the second episode of Conversations I Wish I Had With My Father, I sit down with Dan Olschwang to explore one of the deepest questions I wish I could have asked my father:

Who am I, really?

But before we can answer who we are, Dan proposes an even deeper question:

What am I?

This conversation moves through identity, consciousness, the soul, conditioning, free choice, fear, fate, destiny, purpose, relationships, love and what it means to actually express who you are beneath everything life has taught you to become.

We explore how our families, environments, experiences and pain begin shaping our identities before we are old enough to question them, and how many of us eventually enter adulthood believing those accumulated experiences are simply “who we are.”

Dan introduces the difference between fate and destiny: a life being pushed forward by the fears and conditioning of the past versus a life being pulled forward by calling, passion and genuine self-expression.

I also reflect on my own life, from the environment that pushed me toward drugs, violence and ultimately prison, to discovering a completely different way of living that now feels less like something pushing me and more like something calling me forward.

We explore questions including:

• Who are we beneath our labels, roles and experiences?

• Are we our body and mind, or something deeper?

• How much of our identity is created by our environment?

• What is consciousness?

• What is the soul?

• Do we actually have free choice?

• What is the difference between fate and destiny?

• Are you being pushed through life by fear or pulled by something you love?

• How do you know when you're living on the wrong path?

• Can healing help us discover who we actually are?

• Is there such a thing as reaching your “highest self”?

• Why do some people seem to discover their gifts early in life?

• What do you do when you have no idea what your purpose is?

• Can the people we love influence our destiny?

• Why do we sometimes attract relationships that recreate our pain?

• Can love overcome fear?

• What does it mean to fully express yourself?

This is Conversations I Wish I Had With My Father, a series built around the questions about life, meaning, relationships, fear, purpose and the human experience that so many of us never had the opportunity to ask.

If there is a conversation you wish you could have had with your father, leave the question in the comments. It may become a future episode.

Subscribe and join us for a new conversation every Wednesday.

Learn more about Dan Olschwang:

https://www.danolschwang.com

Join Carlos Vasquez on Substack for weekly reflections on transformation, leadership, purpose and the human experience:

https://substack.com/@carlosvasquezofficial

#ConversationsIWishIHadWithMyFather #HowToBattle #CIWIHWMF #WhoAmI #Identity #SelfDiscovery #Consciousness #SelfRealization #Purpose #PersonalGrowth #InnerWork #FateVsDestiny #Healing #Love #Transformation

Hey! I'd love to hear your thoughts, send me a voice note.

Why does pain exist?

Is pain simply something to escape, or is it one of the most important teachers we have?

In the first episode of Conversations I Wish I Had With My Father, Dan Olschwang and Carlos Vasquez sit down for an unscripted conversation about one of the most universal parts of being human: PAIN.

Physical pain. Emotional pain. Suffering. Loss. Trauma. The ways we react to pain, the ways we run from it, and the ways it can shape our identities without us even realizing it.

But what if pain isn't only something happening "to" us?

What if it can also become a signal, a teacher, a catalyst, and even an opportunity to see ourselves and our lives differently?

Dan and Carlos explore the difference between pain and suffering, how our bodies and nervous systems experience pain, the coping mechanisms we develop, why certain experiences leave such deep imprints, and what can happen when we stop automatically turning away from discomfort and begin examining it.

There are no predetermined answers here. Just two people willing to ask the questions many of us wish someone had helped us explore much earlier in life.

Conversations I Wish I Had With My Father is a podcast about the questions that shape our lives but rarely get explored deeply enough.

What is love? What is success? What is pain? What is death? Why are we here? What makes a family? What does it mean to live authentically? And who are we beneath everything we've been taught to believe?

We may not give you the answers.

But we hope we help you ask better questions.

CHAPTERS

00:00 — Why Does Pain Exist?

08:00 — The Body, Medicine & Our Understanding of Pain

16:00 — Pain vs. Suffering

24:00 — Coping Mechanisms & How Pain Shapes Us

32:00 — Pain and the Human Experience

40:00 — The Space Between Pain and Our Reaction

48:00 — What Happens in the Brain & Nervous System

56:00 — Pain as a Change Agent

64:00 — The Experiences That Shape Who We Become

72:00 — Why Do We Ask, “Why Is This Happening to Me?”

80:00 — The Pain That Leaves the Deepest Imprint

88:00 — What Happens When You Stop Running From Pain

96:00 — Pain Is Not the Destination

104:00 — Be Patient With the Process

110:00 — Why We Created This Series

ABOUT THE HOSTS

Dan Olschwang and Carlos Vasquez come from different generations, backgrounds, and life experiences, but share a willingness to question assumptions and explore what it means to be human.

No scripts. No formulas. No predetermined answers.

Just honest conversation.

Subscribe for new episodes of Conversations I Wish I Had With My Father.

#ConversationsIWishIHadWithMyFather #CIWIHWMF #WhyPainExists #Pain #PersonalGrowth #Healing