The David Soto Jr. Podcast

Just because you don't want to think about it, doesn't mean it's not going to happen. We are all going to die and if we become aware of this our perspective on life will change. That's why I came up with an exercise—make a todo list. A six months to live, todo list.  In this episode, I go into greater detail in why I think this exercise is important as well as my lists from the previous years...

In this episode, I respond to this message that showed up in my inbox.  "I have a question and I’m sure I could google it, but since you’ve actually written books, I wanted to know where do you actually start...? I want to write a book on my experiences with being a parent [with] a son and daughter playing sports. I want to write something to the parents to be and say if I could go back, [I'd...

If you listen to last week's episode, you know that I am struggling with wanting to got to work and wanting to stay home with my family. With over twenty years in HVAC and Building Trades, finding work is not a problem. It's just that... I'm a writer damn it! When push comes to shove, I'll take a job and bring home the bacon, but I am hoping I can both do it as a writer. In this episode, I talk ab...

Jobs and I never really work. I have been fired or dramatically quit almost every job I ever had—starting with the first one.  Being an entrepreneur seemed like the most appropriate thing for me to do. Problem is since having my business stolen from me in 2017, I have not had an income. And with a baby on the way, I am no longer going to be able to eke out an existence living off my savings.&...

By the time my son is born, I will be just a couple months away from my 45th birthday. I am going to be an old dad. There is no doubt about it, and I am perfectly fine with it. In this episode, I tell you why I am grateful for waiting until middle age (I intend to live to be 100 so technically I won't be middle age until I hit 50) to start a family.  If you want to read the article that inspi...

Seven of the top ten causes of death in the United States: Heart disease, cancer, chronic lower respiratory disease, stroke, Alzheimer’s disease, diabetes, and kidney disease can all be directly linked chronic inflammation. (FYI Accidents, Influenza, and Suicide are the other three. Also, diabetes itself leads to at least three other diseases on this list.) What causes chronic inflammation? For on...

Of course, I like to—or at least try to—live in the present but this time of the year, I like to take a look back on the year and acknowledge my accomplishments and express some gratitude.  I used to do this in the form of essays but now that I am a podcaster, I thought why not make it an episode.  In this episode, I review the past year and talk about some of my major and even minor ach...

You never really notice the effects of eliminating something from your life until you reintroduce it. I have considered myself a minimalist for several years and every now and then, I've tried to take it to another level. Once I got down to fitting everything I own into a van, I felt I reached a minimalist level just under that of Gahndi. Now that Vanlife is over and I'm living with a partner who...

I've made a big discovery over the past couple weeks. I am a serial run away-er and I have been running away for decades from something I can't get away from—me. If you read one of my most recent articles, you know that a recent counseling session made me realize that I have been depressed for most of my adult life and what I thought was me "dealing with it" was actually me trying to run away. Run...

We talk about physical health so much. Diet, exercise, kale shakes, prescription meds, obesity, smoking, seatbelts are all almost daily topics of conversation yet we refuse to talk about mental health—which is probably the root source to a majority of our health problems. In this episode, I talk about the stigma of mental health and how it affects our lives and especially mine. I just think that i...

I'm back! It's been four months since my last episode. Where have I been? "Out of pocket," seems like the appropriate response since I say I was "deployed." A better response is to say I just wasn't emotionally available. You Know Who and I have been through a lot these past few months. I call it Operation First Trimester. Listen to find out what I'm talking about. Here is a link to a related arti...

I reached out to my Instagram followers again this week for a podcast topic. I ended up with several and decided to talk about them all. In this episode, I talk about the end love my life... Vanlife. After two and half years it's coming to a close. Yeah, I loved my life on the road but nothing is forever and circumstances change. I talk about why I podcast. The biggest reason is I can't STF up so,...

God bless John and Paul but those fools were wrong. Love is not all you need. Trust me, I know. I have loved a lot of women. And no I'm not bragging about conquests. I literally mean I have loved a lot of women and they have loved me back—most of them. Love comes easily to me and I give it easily. So what's the problem? Why have none of these relationships, with all this love, ever worked out? Bec...

I am an expert a very few things if any. Today's topic is not one of them, but that doesn't mean I can't share some thoughts and opinions on the subject. The subject? Racism! Specifically, the fact that I don't think it will ever go away. Why do I say this? Because I don't think it has diminished over that last 100 years one bit. Rules and policies have been put in place. We as a country have made...

Does anything good come from fear? I don't think so. While recording this I did realize that maybe fear keeps us from doing dumb and dangerous stuff but does it? Or is that more common sense than fear. In this episode, I talk about the two types of fear, which I completely made up. Supported and Unsupported fear. Whether you are afraid of something because of past experience or not, what you are a...

Two very successful people recently killed themselves. Maybe we should redefine success. But that's another podcast. The death of Kate Spade and Anthony Bourdain reaffirms something I had been thinking about and prompted me to publish something I wrote a couple years ago. An article I wrote after I had the vision of sending a bullet through my own head. The thing I have been thinking about is how...

I'm 44 now. I guess this is my 2018 birthday podcast. Nothing special really to talk about. I pretty much took the week off. Not really. I'm a writer, I write and create every day but I did have a little birthday getaway up in the mountains. It's almost over, then back to... I don't know what. The land of the internet I guess. In this episode, I talk about my week in the mountains and the accompli...

Well, I published another book and nobody cares. Not one bit. I launched Moncada and 5 people bought the damn thing. Three of them were friends helping me out. I had a pity party for about a day and then I got back to work. I got more books to publish. In this episode, I talk about what I went through and what happened a few days later that made me forget any doubts I had. I work things out on cam...

If you don't know why I do these podcasts, why any of should do anything in our life, really, it's for myself. It might seem silly. Yeah, I want to help people and all but what I have realized is that people don't want your help unless they ask for it. The thing is people aren't going to ask you for anything unless they see you have something they are also striving for. Basically, lead by example....

As a writer, the most important tool in my arsenal is my computer. When it goes down it needs to be fixed or replaced ASAP no matter the cost. Now, when mine went down the other day, I replaced it with a used one. When that didn't work, I went out and bought a brand new one without returning the first one. (but with the intent to) Why do I bring all this up? Because I dropped $1700 without any pro...

Insecurity got the better of me not too long ago. Some feedback on my first book, or rather the lack of it, led me to self-doubt and feeling like an imposter. I decided it was time to rewrite the book. Funny thing happened when I started reading it. I went from one extreme to the other. I got my confidence back. It's a great story. I love it. Yeah, it could use some polishing but it's pretty damn...

I have my up days and I have my down days. The day I recorded this was a down day. I felt lower than whale shit. The first thing I decide to do was to go see a movie and eat some popcorn. That helped a bit. Next, was a nap and then, the recording of this podcast. In this episode, I talk about anxiety and depression. I don't have a solution for you, but I do document me trying to work through it my...

I know the title is deceiving as I haven't actually sold one million books and am now passing on that knowledge to you. In Episode 17 I made the declaration that I was in the process of selling one million books. This is me documenting the process. Make no mistake, I have no idea how I'm going to sell one million books, but when it happens, we'll have these podcasts and videos telling the story of...

I have both blogged and vlogged about it before. I even think the article got picked up by The Goodmen Project, now that I think about it. I recently had an experience that reaffirms what I believe about doing what you love. I went salsa dancing. For the past four Tuesdays, I have gone to salsa class. The is the first time I have taken a partner's hand in four years maybe. What took me so long? Wi...

I am a firm believer in affirmations. Some people call them prayers, some refer it to as putting it out there in the universe. Whatever! All I know is that if I write something down, say it out loud, or think about it often; it WILL happen. All that being said, I thought it was time that I made a declaration. I am in the process of selling a million books. ONE MILLION! I have had such a strong des...