Quick Before You Forget

The things I was told to tone down are the very things that have helped me find my people.

The fangirling. The enthusiasm. The laughter. The big feelings. The way I see possibility and connection everywhere I go.

For years, I was told a lot of this was too much. Turns out, I was just being me. And the people who love those things about me? Some of them are people I never would have met without the power of the internet.

That is why I'm coming in hot today with a hot take that's sure to ruffle some feathers: social media saves lives. I believe that with my whole heart. And I have proof. I am proof.

In this episode of Quick Before You Forget, I'm sharing why I believe the things that make us different are often the very things that bring us together.

From Taylor Swift and Andrew McMahon to Alex Warren, Dashboard Confessional, The Fray, and 10 million views on my roller coaster videos, I've discovered that music, fandom, and shared experiences are about so much more than entertainment.

They're about belonging. They're about finding people who feel the things you feel. People who understand why a lyric makes you cry. People who celebrate your joy instead of asking you to turn down the volume. People who remind you that you're not alone in a crowded room. We're talking about why internet friends are real friends, how fandom creates community, why comment sections can become places of genuine human connection, and why the most meaningful thing you can build online is relationships, not an audience.

I'm also sharing three lessons I've learned about creating meaningful connections:

Share what you love. Your enthusiasm is an invitation for your people to find you.

Remember that we're writing the story together. Connection is a conversation, not a performative show and tell.

Connection is always more important than content. Behind every view, comment, and follow is a human being who wants to feel seen.

Here's what I hope you remember: You were never too much. You are the secret sauce. And some of the people who will help you remember who you are are people you haven't even met yet.

💛 YOUR TURN: What's something or someone you love that led you to connect with a person you couldn't imagine life without? Tell me in the comments. I want to hear your story.

Subscribe to Quick Before You Forget for conversations about courage, connection, personal growth, music, mindset, and remembering who you are while becoming who you're meant to be.

Love what you love out loud. That's how your people find you.

Meaningful Moments

00:00 Social Media Saves Lives: An Unpopular Opinion
01:00 How Do You Build Genuine Connections Online?
02:00 The Mindset Shift That Changed Everything
04:00 Rachel Hollis, RISE, and Coming Home to Myself
06:00 When Being Different Feels Like Being Too Much
08:00 Why I Treat Internet Strangers Like Best Friends
09:00 Taylor Swift, Music, and the Power of Fandom
12:00 The Milwaukee Brewers are winning the World Series ...and Belonging
15:00 How Merch Connects Us in the Wild
17:00 The Fray, Dashboard Confessional, and a Wild Connection
18:00 Why Internet Friends Are Real Friends
20:00 Comment Sections Can Build Community
22:00 Finding Your People in Concert and Coaster Lines
26:00 10 Million Views and the Power of Shared Emotion
27:00 What Happens When You're Told to Tone It Down
28:00 You Are the Secret Sauce
31:00 Three Ways to Create Meaningful Connections Online
34:00 Supernatural, Courage, and Curiosity
36:00 The People You Haven't Met Yet
37:00 Love What You Love Out Loud
38:00 Next Episode's Question: Setbacks and Wins

God handed me the microphone this week. And this is me going with the flow.

Two guest recordings moved. A solo episode took their place. And the question from Coach Doc waiting for me was one I’m still living my way through: What is your biggest fear, and how do you plan to overcome it?

My answer surprised me.

Past me was terrified of change. She needed things to go according to plan to feel safe. Present me is learning to trust the next step without knowing where it leads. And future me? I’m afraid I’ll run out of money before the work I feel called to do is done.

Following last week’s conversation with Nick Nanton about the stories we believe about our past, present, and future, I’m exploring another possibility: time is happening FOR us, too. Sometimes it’s redirection. Sometimes it’s “not now.” But God does not miss.

In this solo episode of Quick Before I Forget, we’re talking about faith in uncertain times, giving our past selves grace, choosing excitement while we’re still afraid, and the people who help us keep going. I’m also sharing why Swifties in Healing means so much to me and inviting you to help shape what comes next. I haven’t solved the fear. This is me taking the next step anyway. 

💬 What would you love Swifties in Healing to become? Meetups, journals, coaching, something else? Tell me what would help you most.
🌈 Subscribe and join our Ground Crew as we use music, mindset, and movement to remember who we are while we build who we’re meant to be.
Vote for my for Ryan Seacrest's Top Host: https://tophost.org/2026/ty-schmidt

Meaningful Moments:

00:00 God Does Not Miss: Trusting God’s Timing
02:08 How Time Happens For You, Not To You
03:56 What Is Your Biggest Fear?
05:01 Finding Purpose While Facing Financial Uncertainty
09:25 Fear of Change: Giving Your Past Self Grace
12:43 Choosing Excitement Over Fear—Even When You’re Scared
15:05 How Connection Helps Us Move Through Fear
17:30 What’s For You Won’t Miss You
19:19 Finding Your Next Step Through Faith and Purpose
21:41 The People Behind the Views: Building Community
24:07 Music, Mindset, and Movement: Tools for Personal Growth
26:32 Help Shape the Future of Swifties in Healing
28:58 Taking the Next Step Before the Fear Is Gone
32:29 Giving Yourself Grace When Plans Change

This week's soundtrack:
Patient Zero by Taylor Swift
Slow Down by Max McNown
Spinning by Andrew McMahon
Maps for the Getaway by Andrew McMahon

Twenty-four-time Emmy Award-winning filmmaker Nick Nanton has spent his career telling extraordinary stories, working with people like Dolly Parton, Bruce Springsteen, Post Malone, and Tony Robbins.

But in this episode of Quick Before You Forget, Nick shares something he calls potentially the most important thing he'll say:

“You are the sum of the stories you believe about your past, your present, and your future.” Here's where it gets personal.

In my previous episode, Patient Zero, I explored those exact three things: my past, my present, and my future. The experiences that shaped me, the beliefs I'm learning to question, and the person I'm becoming.

And then Nick sat down with me and, without realizing it, reflected so much of that journey right back at me. What followed was an unexpectedly emotional conversation about creativity, ADHD, overcoming self-doubt, finding purpose, redefining success, and building a life that actually feels meaningful.

We explore why your perceived weaknesses might be your greatest gifts, why rejection doesn't always mean no, and why even the most accomplished people can spend their lives chasing a finish line that keeps moving.

Nick shares lessons from his upcoming book Creativity Protects You, his work with extraordinary people, his songwriting experiences, and the personal boundaries that protect his family and relationships. And through it all, we return to one idea: You don't have to rewrite your past. But you can change how you understand it, what you believe about yourself today, and what becomes possible tomorrow.

I lost count of how many of my own mantras, values, and beliefs were reflected back at me in this conversation.

I finished this recording with Nick Nanton breathless. And speechless.

Life happens ✨ for ✨ you, not to you. God is good. And the future is bright. 🕯️

Watch the full episode and tell me in the comments: What's one story about yourself you're ready to believe differently?

Subscribe to Quick Before You Forget for meaningful conversations about courage, connection, creativity, purpose, and remembering who you are while becoming who you're meant to be.

Meaningful Moments

00:00 The Stories You Believe Shape Who You Become
00:35 Meet Nick Nanton: Creativity, Hope & Opportunity
01:10 Creativity Protects You: Finding Your Superpower
06:40 Rewriting What You Believe About Yourself
08:05 Past, Present & Future: The Stories That Define You
09:00 Reprocessing Your Past and Giving Yourself Grace
10:40 How to Believe in a Brighter Future
13:00 One Adventure a Week: Creating a Life You Love
15:00 Why Serving Others Creates Opportunity
18:10 Courage Means Feeling the Fear Anyway
21:00 Roller Coasters, Taylor Swift & Choosing Excitement Over Fear
23:00 Creativity Is More Than Art: Turning Obstacles Into Options
24:40 When Rejection Becomes Redirection
29:50 What Most People Get Wrong About Success
30:45 Beautiful Hell: Why Making It Never Feels Like Enough
33:00 Stop Moving the Goalposts and Celebrate Your Wins
35:30 The Power of Music: Andrew McMahon & Max McNown
37:15 How Songwriting Teaches Us to Feel and Connect
41:40 Fight for the Best Song, Not Your Own Idea
43:00 The Secret to Meaningful Interviews and Conversations
45:00 When the Right Message Finds You at the Right Time
47:45 Your Message Matters More Than Your Ego
49:00 Protecting What Matters While Pursuing Success
51:05 What Makes Nick Nanton Feel Seen?
53:45 Nick's Message to the World: Life Happens for You
55:15 What's Next for Nick and Creativity Protects You
56:55 Final Thoughts & A Message to the Ground Crew

Related Videos

Ashley McBryde, Girl Goin' Nowhere Debut at Grand Ole Opry: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-RhdqUFRUS8

Patient Zero solo episode: https://youtu.be/OZzY8h3Vnkc?si=cdCpFwxAW3Vrkk56

When the hate starts rolling in, you know you're doing something right.

This was a takeaway I was grateful to absorb just in time from my new friend Ann Marie Taepke, who we know and love as the Midwest Neighbor and for her work with The Holderness Family.

In our recent episode of Quick Before You Forget, Ann Marie spoke about content creation in 2026, and some of the challenges associated with being a person who chooses to show up online.

I received this information from her a matter of days before I got a direct message that would have broken a past version of me into a million tiny little pieces.

Instead, I bolstered myself on the truth: the person who reached out clearly hasn't been paying attention. The person is responding to fragments of my story, glimpses of adventures and trips that have on the surface made it seem perhaps like I'm not also simultaneously in a season of struggle.

Because I am not joking when I say I'm a living Alanis Morissette lyric right now: I'm broke buy I'm happy. Money stress is very real for a lot of us, and on the surface it may seem like so much of what I've been doing on my yellow brick road in 2026 may seem spendy and selfish.

In reality, it looks like chaos but every move has a purpose. His purpose. God is working through these stories, through every conversation, and in every connection. He is providing in ways that feel like He's turning water into wine.

Most of the experiences I've had this year have not cost me a dollar out of pocket, but have generously filled my life and my soul in ways that don't make sense.

But isn't that so true of God's plan in our lives? It's not up to us to make sense of any of it. It's up to us to trust. To keep showing up. To keep walking in faith. And that's what I'm doing. Through Him. With Him. For Him.

Any further questions?

Related episodes Say the Weird Thing with Ann Marie Taepke:
https://youtu.be/PHdtgKz7Umo?si=xqirh_xfZfW_-0x3

Fear vs. Excitement with Coach Doc:
https://youtu.be/YLtCdC9oQ8g?si=4y29Q6fMHJ8Mngqf 

How to Stop Losing Yourself with Coach Doc:
https://youtu.be/tBcgXngaxh0?si=Vk4aow_gBpU4wPIV

Terence Sullivan had no business writing a book.

His words, not mine.

He has a degree in painting, didn't know the “rules” of writing (especially with commas), struggles with imposter syndrome, and wrote his first manuscript with his thumbs in the Notes app on his phone while sitting with his young children at 4 a.m.

Then he met award-winning novelist and editor Ellen Baker and she saw the storyteller in him before he could always see it himself.

Years later, a viral storytelling series has become Alice of Oz, an adult gothic portal fantasy and the first book in The Oz Multiverse, where Alice Liddell, Wendy Darling, and the characters of Oz collide in a story about identity, power, imagination, and learning to trust what you know to be true even when the world tells you otherwise.

But this conversation became about so much more than a book.

We talk about the people who carry belief for us when ours falters. Imposter syndrome. Grief transforming into creation. Why Alice stops looking in the mirror. Raising children who experience the world differently. Letting go of false narratives and doubt. Following the next brick when you can't see the whole yellow brick road.

And then something happened none of us planned. We started talking about magic.

Tears became laughter. Laughter became full-body chills. And three people who had never shared a room before realized that maybe this conversation was supposed to happen exactly when it did. For anyone who has ever believed in something no one else could see yet, this one is for you.

Thank you for your magic.

The difference between a story people hear and a story people feel is in how you tell it.

New York Times bestselling writer Kelly Madrone knows some things about how to breathe life into the words on the page.

She’s spent nearly 30 years in publishing as a writer, ghostwriter, editor, collaborator, and writing coach. And the day before we recorded this conversation, Kelly learned that the memoir she worked on with Jaclyn Smith had debuted at #9 on the New York Times bestseller list.

Though we do celebrate that massive career win with a great story involving a cactus, a fall, and a bear with some pears, this episode is actually about everything that happens along the way rather than "how to become a bestselling writer."

Because we're friends here, we go there.

The rejection. The rewrites. The falling down...sometimes literally into a cactus. The intentional, often hard choice to keep showing up. And the realization that the dream isn’t only the peak moments.

It's that, sure. But also it is learning how to tell the stories we collect along the way in a way that makes another human being lean in, connect, and feel something.

That’s where "Show, Don’t Tell" comes in. Kelly explains the difference with one line I haven’t stopped thinking about since we had this conversation: “I knew what happened, but I didn’t know how he lived it.”

That is this episode of Quick Before You Forget. Learn more about Kelly and her incredible work at https://kellymadrone.com/show-dont-tell

You’ve probably heard of The Holderness Family. (And if you haven’t…what rock do you even live under?)

But you might not know Ann Marie Taepke, the incredibly funny, smart, abundant human helping make the magic happen behind the scenes.

As Chief Marketing Officer and producer for The Holderness Family, and the hilarious creator behind Midwest Neighbor, Ann Marie knows a thing or two about creating content people connect with.

We talk about going viral, adult friendship, finding humor when life feels heavy, taking the leap before you’re ready, God winks, giving yourself grace, and why sometimes 85% done is more than enough.

Come meet the woman behind some of the internet’s favorite humans. Turns out, she’s pretty freaking cool too.

I taped this episode twice.

The first version looked better. I stayed on track. I covered more of what I planned to say. And I am not using it.

Because somewhere in this second version, I got emotional. I lost my place. I forgot which question I was answering. I went off the rails more than once. And it felt more like me.

Which, as it turns out, is also kind of the whole point of this episode.

When I was four years old, I was legally blind in one eye. I couldn't see Ariel from the Little Mermaid on the TV inches in front of me, but I could hear the music. So I danced anyway, freely and like no one was watching.

At 37, I started riding roller coasters…and closed my eyes.

Now, at 41, my eyes are open. And I'm learning that trusting God when you can't see what's next doesn't mean He gives you the whole plan. Maybe you only get the next brick along your yellow brick road.

In this solo episode of Quick Before I Forget, I'm answering three more questions from my Ground Crew about identity, self-trust, finding your purpose, faith, grief and joy, and what keeps us moving when we can't see the whole road ahead.

We get into The Little Mermaid, becoming someone my four-year-old self would trust, a devastating day that became the catalyst for the Emo Roller Coaster Gal brand, the yellow brick road, Meta Oakley glasses, and something Trent Shelton once told me about vision that suddenly means more than ever.

This one isn't perfect, but that's okay because neither am I. I'm human. And I'm choosing to let you see it anyway.

Eyes open. Arms up.

Quick before you forget: We don't need to see the whole road or the whole track. We just need to show up anyway. Together.

🎙️ Keep sending me your questions for Season 2. Next time (thank you Coach Doc): If past Ty, present Ty and future Ty were all sitting in a room together, what would they say?

I practiced being brave in the sky so I could learn to be braver on land.

And somewhere along the way, I became the Emo Roller Coaster Gal. But this was never really about roller coasters.

Welcome to Season 2 of Quick Before You Forget and my first-ever solo episode.

After 31 episodes spent asking other people the big questions, I realized it was time to answer some myself.

So this is the beginning of that story: from being told at 35 that I might need a liver transplant, to hearing the words “you are a miracle,” to years of making myself smaller, to finally deciding I’m done dimming my light.

We’re talking fear vs. excitement, music as a tool for changing your mindset, the Yellow Brick Road, human connection, finding your people, the birth of Emo Roller Coaster Gal, and why I believe we can build unreal lives from the ground up.

Because the roller coaster was never the point. The point is what happens when you feel the fear and get on the ride anyway.

Quick before you forget: Remember who you are while you build who you’re meant to be.

And if you’re here with me now? Hi! I'm so grateful you're here. Welcome to the Ground Crew. We’re just getting started.

Meaningful Moments

00:00 — I think I found my purpose
00:58 — Why it's called Quick Before You Forget
02:00 — Being told I needed a liver transplant at 35
03:00 — "Ty, you are a miracle."
05:00 — Why I've documented my life publicly
07:00 — The backstage moment that changed something
10:00 — Why Season 1 needed to end
11:00 — Becoming the Emo Roller Coaster Gal
12:00 — Music, mindset + movement
13:00 — Human connection is the whole point
14:00 — The safe thing I'd been doing
16:00 — I'm done being small
17:00 — Welcome to Season 2 of Quick Before You Forget
18:00 — Why 22 questions feels significant
20:00 — There is no five-year plan
21:00 — It's always a no unless you ask
23:00 — The story is already hiding in plain sight
24:00 — Meet the Ground Crew
26:00 — Practicing bravery in the sky ⭐
27:00 — How did Ty Schmidt become Emo Roller Coaster Gal? 
28:00 — It was never about the roller coaster
30:30 — What I hope you believe because of my work
33:00 — Anything is possible
34:00 — Remember who you are
35:00 — Speaking the dream partnerships out loud

I was so discouraged after talking with Dr. Alexis Yamokoski, and at the time I couldn't even put my finger on why. (Also, before you go there, it had literally nothing to do with this genuine sweetheart of a human).

And now, four months later, I know.

It was April 2, and I wasn't seeing or feeling the light yet. I knew it was there.

But I was tired. No money. No sleep. No clarity. No momentum that I could see. And for the first time since starting this podcast, which is literally a dream come true, I went into a conversation and wasn't excited.

That bothers me. This genius Humanologist, speaker, author, and friend deserved better. But listening back now through the lenses of everything that has happened since? Holy crap.

Dr. Alexis Yamokoski was talking about burnout, exhaustion and what happens when we keep pushing through the whispers our bodies are desperately trying to get us to hear.

“Peak performance and exhaustion cannot coexist.”

There I was.

She talked about cognitive overload making it difficult to find words. THERE I WAS.

She talked about recovery. Intuition. Human connection. Getting quiet enough to hear what you already know. And then she talked about darkness becoming light. I couldn't fully receive the message because I was still living inside the part of the story that made it hurt.

Four months later, everything looks different. Yesterday, through a completely unreal and somehow perfectly timed chain of HUMAN CONNECTION that started when I helped save someone's life at The Fray concert in July, I ended up backstage with Dashboard Confessional and The Fray on the final day of their Summer of Light Tour.

I helped save a life. And there was a time alcohol almost took mine.

I AM THE MIRACLE. And after spending so much of my life looking for the light...I AM THE LIGHT 🌈

Which makes the timing of this episode release a truly divinely timed blessing and opportunity for an announcement: This is the final episode I had “in the bag” before taking an (intentional summer) break from recording, and apparently that makes it the Season One finale of Quick Before You Forget.

Of course THIS is the one God left me with.

Because Alexis's forthcoming book? From Burnout to Becoming Light. You cannot make this up.

Listen to this one a little differently. Listen to Alexis's extraordinary story and what she teaches about burnout recovery, human energy, flow, curiosity and intuition. 

But listen to me, too. Listen to what happens when the host slowly realizes the conversation she thought she was conducting might actually be the message she desperately needed herself. Maybe you need it today, too. Maybe you can't see the road yet. Keep going. You have no idea what's waiting farther down the yellow brick road.

🌈 Quick before you forget: You might be the miracle you've been waiting for.