The Transformative Power of Telling Your story with Scott Johnson from the “What Was That Like” Podcast (Part 2)

Scott is the founder and host of “”what was that like”” podcast.

A podcast with true first-hand stories – a plane crash, a mass shooting, a bear attack, a train derailing, and more. The guest tells us exactly what happened and answers the question, What Was That Like? 

In this episode, Scott shared some of the intense stories he has heard in his podcasts.

He talks about one of his guests who experienced an earthquake at the base of Mount Everest, a lady who escaped her house from severe flooding, and many more dramatic stories. 

As the host of this podcast, he felt many different emotions from hearing some of his guests’ stories, and he aims to inspire his listeners through his podcast.

Episode 162 of The Beyond Adversity Podcast is a must-listen for anyone going through a hard time and someone who wants to expand their knowledge about the happenings in life.

“The Beyond Adversity Podcast with Dr. Brad Miller is published weekly with the mission of helping people “Grow Through What They Go Through” as they navigate adversity and discover their promised life of peace, prosperity and purpose. 

https://whatwasthatlike.com/ |

https://computertutorflorida.com/ |

Scott Johnson’s Episode 1

Transcript

[00:00:00] Dr. Brad Miller: To give people some idea, what are some of those who may be, stranger where or more intense stories that you've had?

[00:01:15] Scott Johnson: Michael, who was at base camp at Mount Everest, had an earthquake, and some of the people he was with were never found. But he survived. Just being at Base camp on Mount Everest is a story in itself.

[00:01:29] Scott Johnson: But to be there when an earthquake happens - he wasn't planning to reach the summit, but part of his team was already on their way up. And so that was pretty wild. There's another lady, Leslie, who lives in Nashville. There was severe flooding going.

[00:01:49] Scott Johnson: Her house was flooding, and she was there with a friend. He was helping her gather up some stuff, and they were going to try to escape somehow. Yet, at that time, her house caught on fire. Because her car in the garage had started floating, it hit a gas line or something. And so there was natural gas leaking, and there was fire, and her house was dangerous then to be in, but they couldn't get in the car and drive away.

[00:02:15] Scott Johnson: there was water outside the door, so she's on the phone with 9-1-1. And she's saying, "Okay, do I burn? Do I drown? You know what's better?" Then the neighbor comes on a jet ski, so she and her friend get on the jet ski. So there are three adults, and had two dogs with her.

[00:02:33] Scott Johnson: They're all on the jet ski, and it was waterlogged. He couldn't get it started again. Finally, you got it started. They took off, and as they were leaving, the house exploded. Things blew past her hair. And the way she tells the story, she's very animated.

[00:02:48] Dr. Brad Miller: That sounds like an out-of-the-top action movie, where the biggest float shit happens, and the heroes are runaway.

[00:02:53] Dr. Brad Miller: The jet ski or that guy kind of thing. That awesome.

[00:02:57] Scott Johnson: It's funny when she got to the hospital; this was the local news. She got to the hospital. She wasn't hurt. But she was at the hospital, and they were saying, "why are you here?" And she looked at the TV, and that was her house with the helicopter. She said, "look, that's my house."

[00:03:13] Scott Johnson: That's why I'm here.

[00:03:14] Dr. Brad Miller: The context of these amazing stories, and even some of the more lighthearted ones. But what I'm looking for here, Scott, is have you seen any common themes amongst the folks you've talked to about how they got through these dramatic episodes, had they somehow other, through their life, prepared themselves in some way or other bad things happen?

[00:03:32] Dr. Brad Miller: No, we don't always prepare ourselves for the moment, but some people may be gone through military training or something. Had they prepared themselves, or during the moment, had they had a certain attitude of calm or demeanor, any common themes you may have seen in the stories you've been privileged to.

[00:03:48] Scott Johnson: Not so much in the preparation aspect because a lot of the things that happened to my guests weren't prepared for at all. But there are a couple of common threads though that I've seen. One is that, in a lot of cases, they want their experience to help others. That's why they want to get their story out there, either to help others recover from it or to avoid going through the same thing.

[00:04:11] Scott Johnson: The couple that came to mind is a girl named Jill. And the title of that episode is Jill was kept in a basement. She was human trafficked for three years. And so she wants to get that story out there to raise awareness and help prevent other girls from being trafficked.

[00:04:29] Scott Johnson: There's another man, Bill Mitchell. His daughter had just graduated college. She is about to embark on a marketing career with a big corporation, and her boyfriend murdered her. And can you imagine getting that phone call as a father? But that's his cause. Now he has written a book called When Dating Hurts, it's about awareness of dating violence.

[00:04:49] Scott Johnson: He has a podcast, and he's channeled that bad thing into something good, and he's saving lives and honoring his daughter at the same time. A lot of people want to raise awareness about a particular subject.

[00:05:05] Scott Johnson: There's one with a guest named Margie, and she was teaching overseas. She got a phone call from her mom, and her mom was not one to mince words. The very first words were, she said, "dad's dead; he killed himself. And so, to raise awareness of suicide, a big part of her story of their episode was that she went back home.

[00:05:29] Scott Johnson: Her parents, her dad particularly a hoarder in a six-room house. And so she spent the next several months cleaning that hoarded house. And so there's, it's like a dual meaning in that one, but a lot of them is to raise awareness of suicide or other things like organ donation, important things that they want to get out there and can do that through their story.

[00:05:51] Dr. Brad Miller: And that's one of the reasons I ask you about that, Scott, because so many folks I talked to on beyond adversity have had some bad thing happen. They've had a death in the family or tragedy. A disease, heart disease, or covid or whatever, what would be, or have they gone through a mental health crisis or a divorce, or something has happened to them, or maybe they, their business crashed and that, that led them to be dramatically different.

[00:06:14] Dr. Brad Miller: I've had some human trafficking stories and some stories, but suicide ideation and getting through health issues and stuff, but they now are passionate advocates or champions of those causes. That's a cool thing to see. And I was just wondering that whole process then, how has the passion the seas folks impacted you?

[00:06:32] Dr. Brad Miller: Have you had moments when you said, okay, this is even getting to me a little bit, or maybe I'm starting to feel, catching my throat about what's going on? Have you ever heard these things get to you?

[00:06:41] Scott Johnson: Absolutely. Yeah. as far as a cause, after I talked to Jennifer and the accidental death that she caused, I became much more aware of myself and distracted driving.

[00:06:52] Scott Johnson: Okay. We can. Please pay attention to all kinds of other things other than the road, like what we're supposed to be. And all it takes is a second, and you can cause a great problem for multiple families. But yeah, as far as the stories affecting me, I have to tell you, yes.

[00:07:09] Scott Johnson: sometimes I'm in tears. Just like the guest is when they're telling the story. There was a recent if somebody wants a good cry, here's a good one. The episode called Courtney's mom chose when to die. And this is about medically assisted death. That is, I knew when we were recording that it would be a super impactful story when my audience heard it.

[00:07:34] Scott Johnson: I can't tell you how many people say I was listening in the car on the way to work, and I had to stop and wait while I gathered myself together before I could go to work. But it's an amazing story. Yeah. And then a lot of them are like that

[00:07:46] Dr. Brad Miller: when you've changed, and then that because a process of carrying out a mission or advocacy to help be a conduit to change others.

[00:07:55] Dr. Brad Miller: And I notice how you do your podcast and edit and so on, that you. Often we'll frame the story, and you'll interject a word or something to frame things in there. And that tells me you're listening, not listening carefully, but you are looking. Put it in context and frame it.

[00:08:09] Dr. Brad Miller: And tell me a little about how you do that, Scott. How do you do that? How do you choose the words to help frame the next part of a story?

[00:08:17] Scott Johnson: I think it's just empathy. I want to put myself in their shoes and think about how I would feel. If I was going through what they're describing right now, and that's for me, that's an easy thing to do.

[00:08:29] Scott Johnson: It's not easy for everyone. I've learned a little bit of a trick. I want to get out of the way and let people tell their stories. My guests or listeners have tuned in to hear that story, not to hear me talk about that story. I tell people ahead of time it will just be you telling the story.

[00:08:46] Scott Johnson: I'll probably interject with a clarifying question or say something just to, every once in a while, remind the listener that it's a conversation. It's not just a monologue. It's not just you talking. What I'll do sometimes is if I ask a question halfway through the story, depending on how the guest

[00:09:05] Scott Johnson: Answers that question. When I'm editing that episode, I'll take my question completely out. It just sounds like the guest is continuing to tell their story. And that's why many people say, man, you have people that are such great storytellers, and you never interrupt.

[00:09:24] Scott Johnson: I do interrupt, probably more than you realize. I'm able to, in some cases, take that out. It just becomes a better story because of that.

[00:09:32] Dr. Brad Miller: That also helps to move the flow of the story around because when people are involved with their story, we're very involved and where I want to go with you now for just a second here, Scott, has to do with a balance here in the world.

[00:09:45] Dr. Brad Miller: a lot of the stories you tell and share on what was that like or intense, but sometimes bloody and gory. And I know you have stories about, you mentioned, a guy getting his arm taken off. I know you have a story about a bear mulling a person and other people being hurt, injured, killed, and so on and seeing death.

[00:10:05] Dr. Brad Miller: It's a phrase that's sometimes used in the news, If it bleeds, it leads, and this type of thing. Sensationalism is where I'm going with the question here. Given that so much of the content of what you share is pretty intense and even gory stuff, how do you come to a balance, or how do you have a sensitivity about what is appropriate to share and what is sensationalism? or maybe if someone is trying to take advantage of this to gain some one-upmanship?

[00:10:32] Scott Johnson: Certainly, and I tell people that, or I address that really in my, in one. First contact with them as we're just beginning the process. I tell people I know what happened; it's pretty intense. I always want to walk that line and not go past the line into exploitation. I don't want the gory details just for the shock value of it.

[00:10:59] Scott Johnson: So, for the most part, I leave that up to the guest. They can talk. That to whatever degree they're comfortable with. It's the details. One of the things I always tell people, it's the details that make it a good story. So that's why I tell them I'm not. I don't have any time limit as long as it takes you to tell the story.

[00:11:17] Scott Johnson: That's how long it takes. It's the details that it's what people want. But I always want to end on a good note. You've gotten through therapy, you've gotten help, worked through these things, and you are now happy and living life, and I want to get the message out to people. You can keep going even if you've gone through something as terrible as whatever this is.

[00:11:41] Scott Johnson: there is life after this. And so that's how I try to end most things, most of the stories that way.

[00:11:48] Dr. Brad Miller: I think people want to sense that and have a sense that their life has a purpose. It's not just telling a story, just for the sense of, okay, here's my go story, but how can that somehow serve others?

[00:11:58] Dr. Brad Miller: Do you find that most people want to serve something in one way or another? They want to serve something.

[00:12:04] Scott Johnson: Absolutely. Yeah. We all want purpose. For a lot of people, this thing that happened to them that's what defined their purpose. They knew after that this was what I was meant to do. Either help other people going through the same thing or prevent people from going through it as I did.

[00:12:20] Dr. Brad Miller: I'm just a huge believer that people are seeking purpose and peace, and I think when people share the story often, there's a sense of bringing peace to their life. Everybody's got a big story. It may not be as dramatic as some of these, but everybody's got their big story.

[00:12:37] Dr. Brad Miller: It may have been getting married, or it may have been when a child was born, or it may have been a vacation that went crazy. It may have been some life-threatening somebody had a heart attack. But everybody's got their big story. Yeah. You can tell it. So as we bring us around a little bit, do you have any tips for people with a big story?

[00:12:55] Dr. Brad Miller: They feel that they want to share any tips for them on how to share their story appropriately or in some form that can be meaningful or particularly maybe if they want to share their story with their children or grandchildren or somebody,

[00:13:08] Scott Johnson: that's a big factor. There are, there are some people who have told their story on my podcast, and that's the only time they've ever actually told that full story.

[00:13:19] Scott Johnson: And they will be gone someday. That may be the only thing their family has to listen to audibly to hear that story. I have interviewed. It wasn't on this podcast, it was on a previous one, but I interviewed someone who had talked about he had lost some weight. He was getting into exercising because he wanted to grow old.

[00:13:38] Scott Johnson: See, he wanted to walk his daughters down the aisle. And he ended up being killed in an auto accident, and his family contacted me because they had nothing. And by the time that podcast was down, they couldn't even download it from the internet. But of course, I still had the recording.

[00:13:56] Scott Johnson: I sent a, it was a CD with that audio recording on it of him to about ten different family members. And that's, how do you put a value on that? Yeah, it's a gift. It's a really valuable thing. It's inevitable. I've done 119 episodes. Now it's inevitable that some of those people are going to be gone

[00:14:23] Scott Johnson: but their story continues.

[00:14:24] Dr. Brad Miller: it's important, I believe, and I think part of what you're doing to leave a record or leave an accounting of what has happened to us, and that's a good thing. And you've been great at that, and it's a real gift of what you leave here. So what kind of final thoughts might you have, Scott, for folks who may want to find out more about your podcast or storytelling legacy that they can leave?

[00:14:46] Scott Johnson: I think everyone has a story. As you said, it might not be something like getting hit by a train or surviving a skydiving accident or anything like that. Fortunately, I'll often tell people you don't want to have anything happen to you that qualifies you to be a guest on my podcast.

[00:15:02] Scott Johnson: But yet everyone has stories. That's true. And it's what happens. Stuff happens to us every day, and we think, wow, that's interesting. But then, we forget about it. If we documented all of those things, we'd have a book full of stories. My advice to people is to be more aware or pay attention when something happens.

[00:15:23] Scott Johnson: I have a segment in my show called Listener Stories. This is something where people can send in if there's a story you can record in five. Record it on your phone, and send it to me by email. I'll play it at the end of a, at the end of an episode. And these are just short stories. There's nothing incredible or intense about them.

[00:15:40] Scott Johnson: I shouldn't say that. Some of them are intense, but it's, and I put it at the end of each episode because that gets people listening to the end. Because people love these stories. Everyone has stories like that. It's just a matter of being aware of them.

[00:15:50] Dr. Brad Miller: And I'm glad you mentioned that because I, one of the things I've loved about listening to a number of your episodes now is those.

[00:15:56] Dr. Brad Miller: Lister stories at the end because it gives people a little bit, just a little sense of ownership and behind the scenes type of, Sensibility about your show connected, directly. And I think that's part of what we're talking about here, Scott, where they want, no matter how we feel about it, people want to be heard.

[00:16:09] Dr. Brad Miller: they want to be recognized for having a value in this world. And I want to say from my perspective as a listener and a fan of your show, Thank you for bringing the light. Some stories are hard to tell and hard to listen to at times, but they need to be told.

[00:16:26] Dr. Brad Miller: And I think it may help people to have some of those, hard, maybe some of those hard stories to tell and get them out there and, because there is great value in it. So thank you for sharing that. And his name is Scott Johnson. And his Podcast is, "what was that like?" And we will put links to his show at our shownotes@drbradmiller.com.

[00:16:48] Dr. Brad Miller: Scott Johnson, thank you for being our guest on the Beyond Adversity Podcast today.