Aaaaaand we’re back!
At the beginning of 2025, Rachael and I started this podcast without any idea it’d become a top 10% most shared show on Spotify in its first year!!! After that incredible run, Rachael decided to step back so she could give herself more fully to other parts of her life. And, especially given the subject matter of the pod, I can’t applaud her enough for walking the walk and doing good things for herself and her family.
In the time since, a whole lot of work has gone into expanding Unobstructed.
Part of that has included bringing on Caleb Walker as a contributor with his own monthly column. Well, I’m excited to share that he’s also stepping in as the new co-host of The Unobstructed Podcast! You’ve likely had the chance to get to know him through his multiple guest appearances, but he’ll be regularly holding down the fort with me behind the mic going forward.
Caleb moved around a lot when he was growing up. He started mimicking accents when visiting family in Virginia and Alabama as a way to fit in. So, managing social cues became something he was really good at. That skill, among others, helped him adapt to the many new environments he found himself tossed into. More than that, he started trying to anticipate which of his chameleon characteristics he’d have to use.
That’s something we share.
This episode of The Unobstructed Podcast is about “leveling up” in life by collecting skills and experiences.
In this conversation, Caleb framed skill-building like role-playing. Once upon a time, he was a football player. Then he found theater. He still carries lessons he learned from both, but says he’s come to look at the chapters of his life as time invested in playing a role. That’s also the lens through which he decides what to do next—the role(s) to audition for so to speak.
To me, that’s like stacking transferable skills.
I didn’t really expect us to get into social masking or code switching, but I’m psyched we did. A lot of how we learn to navigate the world comes from stuff that shaped us during childhood. It seems like that’s when we experience being beginners the most. Then, somewhere along the way, we tend to stop trying new things. Caleb brought up the concept of being a “jack of all trades,” which is how we got to talking about the role of observation, impersonation, and leveling up… a powerful equation, so long as you also remember to get rid of what no longer serves you.
Auditioning for the wrong roles in life is how you get good enough to actually land the ones you want. We talk about all of this and more in the episode. You can listen below via Substack and also on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Amazon Music.
onward.