In Episode 17, I'm sharing some thoughts from the past week in two clips. First, on how our search for purpose, giving with expectations, and how special (and not special) we all are. In the second clip, I'm talking about how time is the currency of life, about making mistakes and how to respond to our mistakes, and about how powerful it is to list out your values. Enjoy!

In the last episode of the podcast, Episode 15, my friends Christian & Sam shared very personal stories of their experience with burnout & depression. I shared a little bit of my own experience in that same episode, but it is here in Episode 16 that I am going solo to go even deeper. In this episode, I share three deeply personal and vulnerable experiences I have had with burnout and depression. This is the most personal and vulnerable I've been on the podcast, or on social media in general, and to be honest, logically it makes no sense at all to me to be posting this. But as was discussed in Episode 15, there is power in sharing these stories, and that's why I'm doing this. So I'm excited to be sharing this vulnerable, but authentic, part of myself with all of you. Enjoy.

In episode 15, I sit down with my childhood friends Christian Chen & Sam Lin. We talk briefly about Christian's new YouTube channel (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzybKJG_A1gwcE3sYdFWHPg), then transition to the topic of how our mindset greatly influences how we feel about our own lives, regardless of what is actually going on. We then get into the centerpiece of the conversation - each of us shares our own personal stories of burning out. The term, for those who don't know, means feeling mentally exhausted, lack of motivation & hope for positive change (more on this in the intro).  Christian & Sam's experiences included depression (not clinical) so we talk about that too. After sharing these individual stories we talk about takeaways and lessons we've gotten from our experience. This is a topic that applies to everyone, and I applaud these two gentlemen for being so open and honest. I think this is a very valuable discussion to listen to. You can find both Christian & Sam on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/chrischen.chen/ and https://www.instagram.com/mochi3sam/.

In Episode 14, I get on a call with my friend Jathun. He is currently a freshman at Cal Poly San Louis Obispo as a mechanical engineering major, so we talk about how he's doing there, how the transition has been, and what he's learned so far. Jathun has also been dancing, breakdancing, for four years and was part of a club at our high school called "Hip Hop Elements". We talk about how he got into breakdancing, how doing it has helped him, how he rebuilt a dying club as its President, and him breakdancing at SLO. From all that, topics like the value of technique, of community, and of focusing on progress. The latter half of this conversation is all about passion, finding something you enjoy doing. As we state in the episode, passion makes people interesting, relieves stress, creates communities, and can often be an emotional outlet. 

You can find Jathun on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/j_tunez/

The bboy club at Cal Poly SLO: https://www.instagram.com/cpslobreakers/

Hip Hop Elements at James Logan High School on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/jlhs_hhe/ and on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCG6pqfrP97URNEguBNoLftQ

In this episode, I sat down with Eliza Andrada and Bianca Bucu. We talk about relationships, such as monogamy vs polygamy, dating apps, finding "the one", soulmates, etc. We talk about culture, namely language, foods, norms, and beliefs - how important it is to respect other people's culture and surround yourself with people who respect yours (especially your partner), and the importance of and how to pass culture down to our children (as immigrants & children of immigrants). Our last major topic is social media culture, like how easy it is to share our thoughts & our lives with others, and the cause and impact of that (ie. haters). There are plenty of other mini-topics in the episode like card reading, superpowers, and celebrity crushes. 

You can find Bianca here: https://twitter.com/bucubianca & https://www.instagram.com/biancabucu/

You can find Eliza here: https://twitter.com/Eliza_andrada & https://www.instagram.com/eliza_andrada/

Jhayden and I are both passionate about martial arts, so in this episode, we share the insights and lessons to life that we've gotten from our years of training. We're talking about putting our ego and pride in check during difficult situations, building confidence in yourself, prioritizing your happiness, working on a passion, pushing through discomfort/doubt/fear, and more. We also share what we've noticed about life after high school, like how we used to be concerned with the way we act around people, but now, we feel it's more important to be authentic. Martial arts has been a huge influence on how I've grown up to be who I am today. If there is anything at all that you admire about me, there's a pretty good chance I can trace it back to my time training. You can find Jhayden Calangi on social media here: 

https://twitter.com/jhaydencalangi

https://www.instagram.com/jhaydencalangi/

In this episode, I interview DeAndre Wilson, a man who rolls around a 230-lb tire for 2-5 hours around his home city because he was inspired by his father who passed away from cancer five years ago (may he rest in peace). We talk about that incredible story, how his father ended up rolling the tire, how it passed to him, and what the tire meant to them both. Later in the episode, we also talk about how the tire has come to mean so many different things to people all over the country! Perhaps most amazing of them all is that it represents hope. We also talk about mental toughness, goal-setting tips, dealing with haters. We give advice to those who are struggling with something in their life or know someone who is, which ironically starts with not getting advice. All that in the first 40 minutes of a conversation lasting over an hour. 

You can find DeAndre on social media here:

Facebook & LinkedIn: DeAndre Wilson

https://www.instagram.com/deandredwilson/

https://twitter.com/DeAndreDWilson

Read an article about his story here: https://t.co/xaUAayIxkb?amp=1

In this episode, my guest is Elizabeth Barton-Mattos (IG @renelizz), someone I've known for 10 years now. We talk about college classes, the dorm life, how friendships have changed since entering college, her life as a freshman at UC Berkeley, being involved in politics, public speaking, the importance of making decisions for yourself (like choosing a college/university to attend), seeking happiness, motivating yourself, and more! If you are planning to go to college, or are interested in learning about it, this is the episode for you! If you're already in it, there are tips and stories you might find entertaining, helpful, or interesting.

In this episode, I present an idea from an amazing book "Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy Seals Lead and Win" by Jocko Willink and Leif Babin. The idea of Extreme Ownership is a powerful idea that allows us to gain power in our own lives to be who we want to be, just like how we can use the scientific concepts of neuroplasticity and cognitive dissonance to shift the way we think (mindset) and behave (habits) to be the people we want to be (identity). This episode really is the perfect one for the Eric Chow Empowers Podcast, because these ideas are very powerful ways to empower ourselves to live more consciously with more joy and authenticity.

In this episode I interview Promise Rhodes, a singer-songwriting entrepreneur. We talk about her life story such as how she got into music and entrepreneurship, lessons from traveling, losing and developing trust, religion and faith, being authentic to yourself and prioritizing yourself. I didn't know much about Promise before this interview, but we both enjoyed this conversation and got value out of it, and I hope you feel the same way. 

We connected through Isaac Mashman's (Episode 5 of the podcast) Facebook Group called Team Legacy. If you want to meet people who have side hustles, have a great attitude, want to live authentically and leave a legacy check it out.

Promise recently started her own podcast, which you can check out here: https://anchor.fm/promise-rhodes

Her music on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/ThePProm/videos

Her Twitter: https://twitter.com/PromiseJRhodes

Her Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/promiserhodes/

Her cat's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mety_metyfloof/