Episode 31 - Transformative Travel and Personal Growth: Neo Johnson's Inspiring Journey

Can one transformative trip change your entire life? Neo Johnson's story suggests it can. Starting from a dark period in 2019, Neo recounts how a tragic loss prompted his journey towards a life filled with travel, personal growth, and unexpected discoveries. Listen as Neo details his experience of visiting 72 countries, from his first significant trip to Barbados amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, to his current adventures in Colombia. This episode promises an inspiring deep dive into the unpredictable nature of life and the power of shifting perspectives.

What does it take to shed 150 pounds and change your life? Neo Johnson, formerly known as Alistair, opens up about his battle with obesity and food addiction. Now a certified personal trainer, Neo shares the emotional and psychological connections to food that he had to understand and overcome. We discuss the daily commitments required to maintain weight loss and the importance of recognizing personal triggers. This conversation is a candid look into the challenges faced when living in different countries while trying to maintain a healthy lifestyle, highlighting the universal presence of temptations like sugary foods.

Ever wondered how cultural immersion can transform your outlook on life? Join us as we explore the profound impact of living abroad indefinitely. From the intricacies of everyday tasks like banking and transportation to significant societal differences in elder care and disability assistance, we examine what it's like to truly embrace diverse cultural landscapes. Neo also shares his passion for coffee culture, explaining his move to Colombia and his love for cities like Medellin and Bogota. Tune in to discover how liberating your mindset can lead to remarkable personal achievements.

Neo's Website and Info - http://bit.ly/m/BeingNeo
Neo's Podcast - https://podcastindex.org/podcast/6851562

Chapters

• 0:18 Transformative Journey Through Travel and Mindfulness
• 6:56 Overcoming Obesity and Food Addiction
• 18:02 Cultural Perspectives and Travel Experiences
• 25:29 Exploring Colombian Coffee and Life Perspectives
• 37:17 Global Travel Opportunities and Resources

Transcript

Jim Santos: 0:18

Welcome to Travels with Jim and Rita. Jim and Rita, I'm your host, jim Santos, and in this podcast series you can follow along as my wife Rita and I work out our crazy plan to outfox the real estate market in the US and actually increase our retirement nest egg by spending the next three years or so living abroad and exploring the world. Are we bold, forward-thinking pioneers or just plain nuts? Let's find out together, shall we? Hello, and welcome once again to Travels with Jim and Rita. While we were cat-sitting in Indiana, we recorded several episodes, so there's a bit of a time lag. By the time this episode airs, for example, we should be somewhere in Eastern Europe, but that's okay. Time and space are both fluid concepts, especially when you're traveling, so let's just ignore the space-time continuum for now and get on with the program. Now. Today's episode is a bit of a departure.

Jim Santos: 1:15

Although he has traveled to 72 countries over the last few years and is currently in Medellín, colombia, neo Johnson's journey has been both physical and spiritual. After a dark period in his life, neo was able to make an incredible lifestyle makeover. With over two decades of experience as a certified personal trainer and a working canine trainer, neo's journey has taken him across the globe, shaping businesses and transforming lives. But what truly sets Neo apart is his insatiable thirst for improvement. He approaches each challenge with a fresh perspective, relentlessly seeking new ways to elevate performance and drive results. He's the creator of the website FreeYourMind. store and host of the podcast being Neo, and he's here with us today. Neo, it's a pleasure to welcome you to Travels with Jim and Rita.

Neo Johnson: 2:01

Man, thank you so much for having me. Welcome you to Travels with Jim and Rita. Man, thank you so much for having me. Anytime I listen to an intro, I'm humbled by the fact that I've done any of those things. I'm just like trying to escape my life. I'm like, oh, that sounds so, that sounds so nice.

Jim Santos: 2:16

You're still a young man. Wait until you're in your 60s, like me, and look back on all the crazy stuff you've done.

Neo Johnson: 2:22

You know you would have said that to me in my past. I know I said wait till I'm in my sixties. What do you mean? Nothing's going to change. But every single day I feel like, oh my goodness, what was I thinking? How did I get to this point right now? So, um, thank, thank you for that. And I will say 42 feels like. It feels like I'm in my sixties with the amount of wisdom I've gained since my 20s. But I hope I'm blessed with the period of time to make it to my 60s and I have no idea what that'll hold for me at that point. So, very cool and thank you, thank you. Thank you for having me on. I really do appreciate conversations with people all the time.

Jim Santos: 2:54

Now you mentioned some trouble in your 20s. Your story actually begins with a pretty dark chapter in your life. Do you mind sharing that with us? Giving us a little bit of background?

Neo Johnson: 3:05

Absolutely. I don't know if that dark chapter ever changes. I feel like it's one of those clouds that kind of just carries around with me. It wasn't in my 20s. The dark chapter for me was 2019, which really just led me down the road of wanting to take my life. I had planned on meeting my first niece. She is still the only niece in my family but, more importantly than that, she is the only Gemini in my family.

Neo Johnson: 3:28

I am a Gemini and I have always felt my entire life that I was misunderstood in every aspect of my life. That said, I met her and I had planned on taking my life after, and I had a friend that took his life. Literally the day I was going to take mine, I was alerted by a phone call from his wife about it. He had been trying to get a hold of me all weekend to talk and I couldn't make the time because I was trying to enjoy my niece and, long story short, it changed my plans. Obviously, I'm here now. So, no, I didn't take my life.

Neo Johnson: 4:00

That really caused me to look at things differently and adjust things differently. Shortly after that, I got divorced and then, shortly after that, navigated COVID life in general and started traveling really full time, which is where you'll find me now, traveling full time. So the dark period, I can't say it's one thing. I've always kind of had this aspect of depression or feeling like I was missing what I was supposed to be doing or how I was supposed to be doing it. And you know, the funny thing is, the more and more I live this life, the more and more I realize that most of us wake up not really sure of what direction we should go or what we should be doing, and we kind of just react to the daily challenges. That is life. And you know, we wake up years later and we're like, oh my goodness, what did we do and how?

Jim Santos: 4:45

did we get here? Yeah, I was going to say I think what you're talking about sounds a lot like being human.

Rita Santos: 4:51

You're right. Yeah, it's the journey we're on.

Jim Santos: 4:53

Yes, so where did you, uh, where did you go on your first trip?

Neo Johnson: 5:00

Oh, that's a very good question. So, if we're talking like first trip as an outside of the country, my first trip outside of the country was Barbados, which is a small Caribbean island right where the Caribbean Sea and Atlantic Ocean meet, and that was, you know, when I was younger. First trip adult life Now when I decided I was going to start traveling again was Columbia, and I came to Columbia with totally different ideas of what I was going to expect and have and fell in love with it and I'm still here and that initially was for a coffee farm. I came to Columbia my desire to be here in Columbia was to buy a coffee farm. I'm still in the process of buying a coffee farm.

Neo Johnson: 5:40

There's a lot that has changed, developed, really mitigated what I had initially thought and what has been the reality of buying a coffee farm in another country, but that was my first country and I have been all over Europe. I have not delved deep enough into Asia that is something that is on my list for 2025. But all of Latin America, central South America, throughout the Caribbean, have really been my hotspots. If someone were to ask me my favorite place, I'm originally from New York, born and raised, so my favorite place on this earth outside of New York, which there's no place like it, is Madrid, spain. Really, I love Madrid. I absolutely love Madrid. I love the culture. It feels like all of the greatness of New York, with all of the liberties of Europe, the history, the culture, and it's just so much more laid back and relaxed, but still, you know, people are kind of busy and doing the things that they need to do to get through life. So it's a it's a nice balance for me there.

Jim Santos: 6:35

You know, I understand from your website that you struggled with your weight, uh, for a while as well. Um, as someone who faces that struggle himself, I was curious how what that had to do with your, with the spiritual changes that you went through, or your changes in your outlook on life.

Neo Johnson: 6:51

Absolutely everything. I'm actually so glad he asked that. So let me just backtrack a little bit. The name Neo was not my original, my original name. My original name I was born Alistair, and so names for me are very important, but Alistair was my born name. I changed my name after I lost 150 plus pounds to Neo, and Neo signifies new right. The definition of the word Neo is new and so for me, you know I am a certified personal trainer.

Neo Johnson: 7:18

I spent time in pharmacology school. I have a really extensive background in health, nutrition and fitness school. I have a really extensive background in health, nutrition and fitness, and when I was, you know, over 350 pounds, arguing with my then wife over why she kept shrinking my pants and had to admit to the fact that I was, you know, a 40 size waist, I realized, oh my goodness, it's not her, I'm fat. So you know the struggle of trying to lose weight when you know everything about nutrition and fitness, and then not being able to lose weight is how we got to Neo and the 150 pounds lost, because I literally had to become so desperate that I was willing to listen, learn and understand and re-understand everything I thought I knew. So the aspect of the spiritual journey. There's nothing more difficult than I've ever had to do in my life than kick the addiction I have with sugar and change my diet to be where I am now the most challenging and I've been divorced twice. So me saying that kicking the sugar addiction I had was the most challenging thing. Seriously, it has allowed me now in my life to recognize I can accomplish anything. It has allowed me now in my life to recognize I can accomplish anything.

Neo Johnson: 8:29

So you know, I think that at first people think it's just you know I eat too much or I eat the wrong things or you know whatever.

Neo Johnson: 8:32

But the reality is when you really get into diet and nutrition, you know, emotionally we seek such a level of comfort from food that you realize it has such a hold on you in so many different areas. And for me I really had to just learn myself, learn the traumas, learn how it was experiencing love and emotions through food and just all of the different things. And for me every single opportunity I get throughout, every single day, is a new opportunity for me to understand how I'm feeling, how I'm viewing the moment, how I'm taking on whatever the challenge is, how I'm remaining and keeping and guarding my peace throughout the situation. And all of that has come from food. It sounds almost crazy to say it, but I think if you think I love coffee, if you think just about the emotional response to having or not having the first cup of coffee in your day and why you even have an emotional response to that, you'll really start to understand how much more food is responsible for how we navigate life and I'm still learning that every single day.

Jim Santos: 9:36

How long did it take you to lose that 150 pounds?

Neo Johnson: 9:39

Surprisingly enough, not very long a little over a year and a half.

Rita Santos: 9:41

Very long, a little over a year and a half about 16, 16, 18 months. Boy Jim, you did a hundred pounds in about a year.

Jim Santos: 9:49

Yeah, we, uh. I faced a similar challenge. We were living in Ecuador at the time and I was well more than a hundred pounds overweight. I think that the clinical term is morbidly obese. I love that morbidly. And they're not just obese, you're morbidly obese, yeah.

Neo Johnson: 10:05

You know what, though, it's important? It's important to say that, though. I mean the reality is I wasn't going to start losing weight. My wife was nine years younger than me and she was genuinely fearful that I would die before her. And so I mean the morbid thing is real, because we're only living or dying, and the reality is most of us are dying every day and doing more of that than we are living.

Jim Santos: 10:25

Well, we were walking a lot every day trying to get into that habit, and one day we got we're out on a hike and met somebody who had just made a big, successful hike of his own, and by the time we got home we had this crazy idea in our head that we were going to hike the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu. So we gave ourselves a year to get into shape and over that year I lost just over 100 pounds.

Neo Johnson: 10:47

Fantastic.

Jim Santos: 10:47

Congratulations, but the problem is, come back to the States and put it right back on. Oh, okay, but you're right, it is a daily challenge.

Neo Johnson: 10:55

It is, it is. I think there's always room for adjusting that. Most people don't understand the metabolic changes that can be made. I live outside of the the country full time and it's not like I don't experience the love and desire to eat other food and I've been able to do that and experience those things and, you know, stay sub 10% body fat. So it's, it's amazing. It's, it's absolutely an amazing thing once you get there. But I mean, listen, you lost a hundred pounds so you could do anything you want, man, you just take the direction.

Rita Santos: 11:24

I think it's easier to maintain your weight when you live in a country like Colombia or Ecuador, where you have all access to fresh fruits and vegetables, you know, at the markets.

Neo Johnson: 11:37

I don't know that I would agree with you, but I understand that perspective for sure. I think that a lot of people I have clients that say that to me all the time they're like oh you know, you've only been able to keep this weight off because you don't have the same kind of temptations. You're in a third world country and I'm like what are you talking about? My addiction is sugar and I'm sorry, but there's no place in this world where you can't find delicious things coated in sugar, absolutely Like everywhere. The donut may be different, but it's still a donut and that's the problem. So I don't necessarily think it's those things that are available. The other thing I would say is that my eating style is carnivorous, so I really only eat meat, and if I choose to have a day where I eat something that's outside of meat, it will be that, but it's still not necessarily a fruit or a vegetable. Typically it's, I don't know, pancakes or French toast or you know something that feeds the addiction.

Jim Santos: 12:30

Well, I think what Rita was saying was that when we're outside of the country, we tend to live differently.

Rita Santos: 12:35

And the sweets in Ecuador were not sweet.

Jim Santos: 12:39

They weren't that good.

Rita Santos: 12:41

Well, we're so used to fructose corn syrup and all the other additives that are in food here and sweets that you eat here. It is not that way in Ecuador. That does not exist.

Jim Santos: 12:54

And I think we're more active when we're traveling.

Rita Santos: 12:56

We're out and doing more things.

Neo Johnson: 12:57

True.

Jim Santos: 12:58

We do enjoy the food in other countries, definitely, oh, yes.

Neo Johnson: 13:01

I think one of the things is that you just are not focused on it, Right? I mean, when people start asking me about, okay, well, what am I going to have for breakfast? And I'm like, you know, I don't even think about breakfast. And it's not because I don't want to eat or it's not because I don't enjoy breakfast, it's just because you know I'm thinking about the focused on. Oh, my goodness, what am I going to eat when I wake up? You know, you take a minute and open the door and you're like wow, this is a view I don't see on a regular basis.

Neo Johnson: 13:31

Or you know, this is these are noises I don't hear on a regular basis. It's just you start focused on living your life and not focused on what meal are we going to have next and what's the next thing I'm going to eat, or when am I going to eat next, or you know what's the dinner I'm going to have planned for this birthday party. It's just food winds up not being the priority that we make it in the States.

Rita Santos: 13:48

And you know that in itself is a benefit. Yeah, I think that food noise kind of quiets because you're thinking and planning and experiencing something totally different.

Neo Johnson: 14:01

Agreed A hundred percent. And that I mean and again, I think that's why you know food is not just a diet thing. There's so much more about making adjustments in your life that allow you to have that benefit of living and having vitality, and it not being centered around what's your next meal and I mean, my goodness, in the U S even simple things like beverages. Why in a gas station? I mean, you guys know this, but in a gas station in the US, the variety of beverages versus anywhere else in the world is just drastically different. How many ways can you kill yourself in the gas station with beverages?

Jim Santos: 14:36

It's insane. I get a 96-ounce cup.

Rita Santos: 14:38

Yeah, I think the thing that always amazed me when we came back from Ecuador, we'd go into a grocery store and there'd be 5,000 different brands and options of cereal. I'm like really.

Neo Johnson: 14:52

Cereal. Yes, oh my goodness, absolutely. Those kinds of things always boggle my mind. I'm just like why you could just make your life so much simpler. So, yes, that's 100% I agree with that. But even with that said, those things in the changes you know really have been changes I made before leaving the country and so it's been. It's been challenging at different times to, you know, stay disciplined, but you know, if you can do it in the U S, you could absolutely do it anywhere.

Jim Santos: 15:17

Did the physical travel you were doing help shape your spiritual journey as well?

Neo Johnson: 15:21

I think it constantly does. I think that's one of those ever evolving things because of the fact that when you're in any any other culture and you're there to learn and lean in on the culture, it's going to change you, because people live here differently than they do anywhere else. You know challenges that people have that you think are huge, huge challenges. People are here and like, ah, you know, it's okay, it's not really life, let's live life. Let's look at the real challenges that exist. And so I mean, just in that aspect of changes, conversations with strangers like the one we're having right now absolutely shaped my thought process and mind and everything. You know, the spiritual journey of life is really what you make it to be and that's going to be if you're open to self-aware enough to leaning in on change and wanting to really improve.

Neo Johnson: 16:10

I think that that's the thing that most people lose is, and they live life and they're not really trying to improve it. They're just, you know, going through the days and I mean I don't say this like I'm perfect, I say this as a person that's a recovering person that just let the wind blow me where it wanted to. You know, there was really no intention, it was more of. I've got to get these things done because I work for this company. I work these hours, I need this paycheck to pay these bills, to live in this house, to drive this car, and you know that's not really living, that's just functioning. You know, breathing, yeah, functioning, I don't want to do that anymore.

Jim Santos: 16:46

I want to really live. Yeah, it's easy to get into that habit of just doing the same thing every day and not even thinking that there are other options.

Neo Johnson: 16:52

A hundred percent. A hundred percent. Now. Were all your trips solo? Yes and no. So I have traveled with a few romantic connections. I've traveled to my ex-girlfriends. I have had some friends travel in. I have several friends that have traveled in and still welcome traveling friends to come and visit and hang out with me here in Columbia and anywhere else I go. So no, but most of the time when I'm picking a destination it is with absolutely no one else in mind other than myself, right?

Jim Santos: 17:19

What do you feel you've learned from your travels?

Neo Johnson: 17:21

Oh, my goodness, what have I learned from my travels? I don't. I don't even know where to start on that one. I'm constantly learning on my travels so many different things. That is such a great question. I have learned that I know nothing and that my culture and experience is so absolutely limited that I should not take anything that I know as gospel, because the reality is, everything I know is only shaped by what I've experienced, and there's so much I haven't.

Neo Johnson: 17:50

I think traveling for me has just confirmed the fact that my space and time and this space and time continuum is just so, so minuscule. Really, I think. I think that I think I am. You know, I listened to your introduction and I'm like, wow, I have done those things, but I don't feel like I've done anything and I feel like there's just such so much more. I want so much more. I need to experience so much more. I want to be able to process so many more things I want to fail at, just in general, with everything. So I know that that sounds like I didn't, I didn't answer anything, but it's really because I just I have, I have so many more questions.

Jim Santos: 18:27

No, that's. That's an important realization, that a lot of people just never see, and the the widened perspective that you get from travel is really important oh my goodness, yeah, it really, it really is.

Neo Johnson: 18:38

you get from. Travel is really important oh my goodness, yeah, it really, it really is. And I think one of the things that is still so shaping for me is I I'm blessed to have these opportunities to speak to people like yourselves that have been out of the country and have traveled, and I have friends that I've met along the way that do that. But one of the greatest things I'm still learning right now with some of the most simplest tasks is why it's so important to stay outside of your country. You know, like when people travel a lot of times and I get this because I've had to do this before in my past but they'll travel out on like a vacation and they do it internationally because they want to do that and they have the ability to, and that's great. But if you're traveling as someone that's going to a new culture on vacation, you live differently, you observe differently, you learn differently.

Neo Johnson: 19:21

And when you travel with the goal and the understanding of it's an indefinite amount of time that I'm going to really go and allow myself to soak in the culture. It's just so expanding. It's such an expansive process and, you know, a simple task like. I had a debit card that needed to get replaced. It just arrived on Saturday, this past Saturday. I've been waiting for it for a month. It arrived in the country three days after it was mailed and yet yeah, yeah, we get it, yeah, yes.

Neo Johnson: 19:56

I mean, that's such a task. People are like I don't understand. I can't just walk in a bank and get an Epic card. It's an easy thing, but it's really not. Yeah, Simple things.

Rita Santos: 20:07

We used to say it took three tries anytime you wanted to change utilities, get a new phone.

Jim Santos: 20:15

Driver's license was a couple of trips.

Rita Santos: 20:17

Oh, that was a couple of trips because we had to take a test, and in a different language, and oh yeah, it's definitely different One of the other things now that you bring that up.

Neo Johnson: 20:26

So I have been a canine trainer for I don't know 20, I guess it's going on 24 years now. I don't even know how that time has passed. But in either case, I have a service dog and I travel with him everywhere, everywhere In the United States. I don't consider the US dog people. I know that people in the US consider themselves dog people, but I do not. That said, anywhere in the US, whether it's a grocery store, costco, it doesn't matter where. I have no issues bringing my dog into. Anywhere I go, he does travel with me in cabin on every flight I take. All of these things are great.

Neo Johnson: 21:02

However, here in Colombia, in Ecuador, in Peru, in Argentina, a lot of other places that have been specifically in Latin America, some places in Europe, I have issues entering different places with him. I can't go to the grocery store with him. Sometimes, depending on who is at the metro, which is a public transportation system here in Colombia, they will give me a hard time or a headache bringing him with me. So those kinds of things are an adjustment and even that, in my perspective, I'm like huh, I don't understand. They have blind people here in Colombia that have people that have seeing functioning eyes walk them around. I'm like, why don't you have a seeing eye dog? No, why not? You can have a seeing eye person. That's so weird to me. You know things like that are just such an adjustment still, and you know it's just the reality of different cultures and experiencing different things and realizing that you know the United States, as vast as it is, is still very limited.

Rita Santos: 21:54

I think, though, like with the blind example too, those Hispanic cultures are more into family and more into people, and it's a job. And it's a job. You're giving a job to someone, yeah.

Jim Santos: 22:09

There are cities we've been into where they have people. Instead of parking meters, they have people.

Rita Santos: 22:14

Right.

Jim Santos: 22:14

We'll watch your space for you. We'll watch your car for you.

Rita Santos: 22:22

You know you tip them when you drop your car off and they'll keep an eye on it for you.

Neo Johnson: 22:23

You see that a lot in ecuador, because that's how they earn their money. That's true. That's true. That's a good point, and I hadn't even thought about that perspective. They have that as well, where people are like they're, you know right.

Jim Santos: 22:30

We also knew uh an american who came to ecuador was going to open up uh retirement homes yeah. And couldn't understand the reaction he was getting from people, because it was like why would you put your elders in a retirement home? Why wouldn't you just take care of them at home? Yeah, and it's that cultural thing. You don't do that. It doesn't matter if you can afford it or not, you just don't do that.

Rita Santos: 22:53

Yeah, because they feel like that's their responsibility. That's what they want to do, and I admire them for that. I think it's wonderful.

Neo Johnson: 23:04

That is true. I'm sitting here listening to you and I'm thinking it's 100%. But there's always such a slippery slope on both sides, because I also look at parents here that I feel abuse their children because they don't work and they could, but they're expecting their children to just take care of them and I just I look at it sometimes and I'm like you're an able body, why are you not working for yourself? But they give the responsibility to their child and say, hey, you know, you've made it to this point in life and you're here and alive.

Rita Santos: 23:32

Some of those you know like people in their 50s or 60s. They might not be educated at all, but the kids might be that's true too. You know, and yeah, it's hard to say, it's hard to say what's going on all the time. It really is.

Neo Johnson: 23:50

I was going to say. Some of it is that, but I know some cases where it's not necessarily that either, but in either case it doesn't change the fact that it's still. It's a perspective thing. It's definitely a, you know, understanding that there is a different perspective and even as you just said it, I hadn't really thought about like the jobs and the parking spots, Like there are definitely different things where I could see someone saying, well, we don't want to train a dog to do this because this person hasn't had a job in you know however long and this can help them.

Neo Johnson: 24:19

So yeah, I mean there's, there's again, it's.

Rita Santos: 24:21

It's the fact that the traveling allows you to say that and for me to say Hmm yeah, I know.

Jim Santos: 24:24

Yeah, it allows you to to admit that there might be another side.

Neo Johnson: 24:28

So yes, that's, that's agreed. I think that that's one of the biggest things that keeps me wanting to travel is that you really grow and your mind expands and you learn, and, and I mean, isn't that what we're supposed to be doing? We're not supposed to learn because people tell us to go to school. We're supposed to learn because we want to improve our minds and understand life a little bit more and a little bit better People and all these things.

Rita Santos: 24:49

And become more accepting, more accepting of difference. It's okay if somebody's different, you know.

Neo Johnson: 24:56

It's the thing that makes them who they know. It's the thing that makes them who they are.

Jim Santos: 24:59

That's the thing that should be celebrated. I agree 100%. Now we have a friend who lives in Medellin and she's really happy there. She's been there for years now. How long have you been there?

Neo Johnson: 25:08

This will be year four. Oh, that's great.

Jim Santos: 25:11

What attracted you to Colombia, and Medellin in particular?

Neo Johnson: 25:14

Medellin I actually hated. I'm still not a huge fan, if I'm being honest, of Medellin. I love Colombia. I'm not a huge fan of Medellin. I say that everyone's like are you serious? You're not, I'm like no.

Neo Johnson: 25:29

So my favorite coffee in the world that I have tasted to date is from Guatemala. Guatemalan coffee, for me, is it's like heaven in a cup, and it doesn't matter what region of Guatemala. Guatemalan coffee is great. However, it's very distinct because the acid level in Guatemalan coffee is higher than most, and most people attribute that to a bitterness. It's not really a bitterness. There's a whole lot to that conversation.

Neo Johnson: 25:51

I digress, and looking at buying a coffee farm for me personally, I'd love a coffee farm in Guatemala, but my coffee taste is not the coffee taste of everyone. So, um, columbia has the widest variety of coffee of almost any country in terms of coffee producing countries, and so, whether you like a high acid, a low acid, the coffee variety here really suits for everyone. So that was my number one reason for coming to Colombia. The reason I settled into Medellin is because Medellin is one of the very few regions here in Antioquia where, in Fredonia, jardim, some of the other cities and pueblos around Medellin, you can actually grow coffee. They have a really strong coffee farm culture and for the other businesses that I own, it allows me to do those other businesses while finding a coffee farm that's close. So airport travel, coffee, all of those things are kind of here, whereas if you're in other places, in other countries, you either don't have the same type of infrastructure or even here in Colombia, like the coffee triangle, is so far removed from some of the other things that it would make the other businesses that have more difficult to run. So that's the reason Medellin, that's the reason why Colombia, but my favorite city here in Colombia has got to be Bogota. I absolutely love Bogota. I love the people in Bogota.

Neo Johnson: 27:11

People here in Colombia think I'm crazy when I say that, but it's just true. They tend to think people in Bogota are a little bit more cold, which is true they are a little bit more cold, but it's not because they lack love, it's just because they're focused. They're a lot more either in the political sector of life or in the business sector of life, and so people there are always on the go, trying to get done what they need to accomplish what they need to, et cetera, et cetera, whereas here in, like Medellin and some of the other areas of Colombia. People they seem really nice and very friendly all the time, but they usually have an ulterior motive.

Neo Johnson: 27:43

So it's one of those why and how, and it doesn't when I say that it doesn't have to be anything bad. It could just be well, I'm an Uber driver and I would love for you to tell any of your friends that come in that I could be their Uber driver too. And it's like oh, so that's why you've been chatting me up this entire time, so that I could pass your number on to other foreigners. You know. So it you know. It's just. It's one of those things where it's again perspective. What's the reasoning behind it? The reason for it? Bogota for me I absolutely love. Medellin is great, I'm not complaining, but Bogota is definitely my favorite city here in Colombia.

Rita Santos: 28:18

Now it has a higher altitude than Medellin, right or not?

Neo Johnson: 28:22

It is. It is Bogota has a higher altitude than Medellin. Surprisingly enough, I didn't think I'd have a problem with that when I first arrived. I live in Denver. When I'm in the US now, and you know, having been in Denver, I thought oh, this would be great. It still took me about a week of an adjustment in Bogota before I felt comfortable there because of the altitude.

Rita Santos: 28:39

Yeah, I think it's 6,500 or something like that. I've looked at that too, because we're thinking about traveling through Colombia sometime and maybe in a year or so, and I was looking at the cities that I thought I could acclimate quickly in yeah, I mean you can acclimate quickly in Bogota.

Neo Johnson: 28:59

The only difference is going to be how much walking you do, because it definitely takes a toll on you. In that regard, I really felt like I don't know. Denver is 5,892, I think, 5,892 feet, and Bogota is somewhere between 65 and 72, depending on where you're at in the city, and that it does take a toll while you're walking. But I walk a lot, and you guys do too, from what you've said. So that's really where the acclimation comes in. But the benefit is that the climate is a little bit cooler, so you're not drenched in sweat as you're doing it, so that makes it a little bit more enjoyable.

Rita Santos: 29:35

Yeah.

Jim Santos: 29:36

You mentioned some of your other businesses. We all know the phrase free your mind and the rest will follow. How did Free your Mind become your personal brand for your website, the freeyourmind. store.

Neo Johnson: 29:47

So Free your Mind is really just my life.

Neo Johnson: 29:49

Even as we've talked about opening perspectives, changing perspectives, adjusting, the only reason I was able to lose 150 plus pounds was because I had to open my mind to what was real and change my mind from what I thought was gospel. And so free your mind for me is, the reality is that you can really accomplish absolutely anything you want if you allow yourself to recognize that you may know nothing about what it is that you're trying to do in everything. In everything, I think the restrictions that we have on ourselves, from the intimacy and relationships, lack of career progression, our diets, how we raise our kids, how we attend school all of these things come from restrictions that we have in our mind, thought processes and limitations to the perspectives of what we've been accustomed to, from our own family, cultures and dynamics. And you know, being able to open and free your mind allows you to be able to accomplish anything, because anything and everything can only be done if you can first imagine it, and if you can't imagine it, it can never happen. So free your mind.

Jim Santos: 30:49

You've got a wide range of products and services on the website. You want to go over a few of those.

Neo Johnson: 30:57

I mean we can, but this is what I will tell everyone and anyone. Everything that I offer in terms of how I live my life have just been results of how I live my life. So you life consulting and those things, any of that stuff but all of it has come from me failing at one thing or another and me wanting to help people become a little bit more efficient in living life. I live my life in an extreme way. An extreme way in saying I like to be comfortable every single day. If I'm given a challenge, for me, it's an opportunity for me to grow whatever amount I can from solving that problem and challenge. At the moment, most people don't do that. So everything that's on my website is just based on people being able to become more efficient at what their set goals or dreams are and reflect that and how they live their life. So that's it. I would tell people go to the site, check it out if you'd like to Link up with me anywhere. I respond on all of my social medias.

Neo Johnson: 32:06

I actually just lost my Instagram account. Someone hacked it and there was no way for me to get back into it and it was like 30,000 followers gone and my friends were like what are you going to do? And I was like start a new account. Like what do you? What do you mean? You know, like I grew up before. I'll grow it again, it's just, it is what it is. But in that, in saying that, you know, I just tell people I'm here to help people. That's what I want to do. I want to help people experience the benefits of opening your mind and, you know, taking on the challenges that we've been too afraid to do in our past, and find the courage to really, you know, be their authentic self. You know, be their authentic self. I don't think most people live their lives authentically. I think, including myself, we live the life of you know how other people perceive us and reflect us, and we take that shape and we most often lose ourselves in that process.

Jim Santos: 32:50

Well, tell me about your podcast, being Neo.

Neo Johnson: 32:53

You know, my first original podcast was the Keto Matrix podcast, and I love the podcast because I love being able to connect with people and have the conversations, but it was all based on diet and it got to the point where it was like there's so much more that needs to be said or so many other topics that need to be covered, and people were only talking to me about keto and only talking to me about diet, and I was just like, oh, I don't want to do that. I really wanted to continue having the conversation. So initially, I kicked a coffee podcast around. I was like I'll do you know, coffee conversations and stuff like that? And I was like, no cause, I don't want to do that either.

Neo Johnson: 33:25

And so this last year the end of 2023, I had something that really blew up on on my Instagram and I went from having an average of you know, a couple thousand people view my stories every day you know, a couple thousand people view my stories every day to 30, 40, 50,000 people viewing my stories, and that, for me, was very uncomfortable. It was really uncomfortable because I was like 50,000 people are viewing something that I'm going to post for 24 hours and it's like me, it's not edited, it's not created. In some, it's just me with my face in front of this thing and how am I going to impact these lives? So, all of that said, I was like getting a lot of questions on, like why is your name Neo? You think you're the one. Why is your name Neo? You just love the matrix, like all these and I was like you know what? I really need to answer that question, not once, but on a regular basis, because it changes. And so let's talk about what it means to be new every day. Let's talk about the topics and the things that hit my heart on a regular basis the challenges, the opportunities, the way I view life. Let's talk about what it's like to live every day as if it were new. So the being Neo podcast is what is it like to be new every day? And I just I talk about that. If there's guests that come on that want to talk about those things, we talk about that and that's it. I hope people come and have their mind and perspective challenged to look at whatever it is I'm discussing in a new way, shape or form, and if that happens, I love it. And if there's people that want to talk about the experiences that they've had and how their life has changed and the journey that they take. I love that as well.

Neo Johnson: 35:03

My biggest thing in life is that I want to lock arms with people and help them. My initial and original name I feel like this is important for me to say, alistair was a really traumatic pain point for me, and the reason is because Alistair, if you look up the definition, it's a Greek origin, but it means helper of mankind, and I was named after my grandfather, who passed away in my dad's arms when he was 12 years old. Now that in itself is like oh my goodness, how sad and it is. But my entire life I was told listen, you got to be like your grandfather.

Neo Johnson: 35:41

I've never met this man. Why are you putting all of this pressure on me to be this man? You know you named me your first son after your dad. I get it, I appreciate it, but like I don't know what it means to be the helper of mankind, I don't know anything about that, but it's been drilled into me for the longest time. I am finally now, at 42 years old, can honestly say Neo, my name officially changed and being new allows me to be more of a allow people to connect with me in whatever shape or form that they do, whether it's a stranger on the street or a developed and budded friendship. Lean in and help me lean in on this thing we call life.

Jim Santos: 36:35

Well, we've been talking with Neo Johnson, who found the courage and resolve to change his life, travel the world and is now helping others to achieve their goals. For more information, check out his podcast being Neo and his website at freeyourmindstore. You can find links to both of those in the show notes. Neo, thanks for joining us on Travels with Jim and Rita.

Neo Johnson: 36:54

Thanks for having me. I appreciate it.

Jim Santos: 36:55

It was a great talk you've been listening to travels with jim and rita. Thanks for your support and please continue to like and follow and promote on social media as you are able, and, of course, subscriptions are not required, but are always appreciated. Remember, rita and I will be at the international living ultimate go overseas boot camp in las vegas, ne Nevada, october 26th through the 28th. I'm going to be given four talks there and Rita and I will both be in the exhibit hall to answer questions about what we've done, where we've been and where we're going.

Jim Santos: 37:32

You can get more information or sign up at intliving. com/ events, but do it soon because it looks like it's going to be a sellout. If you'd like to read more about where we've been and see some photos and video, check out our blog at jimsantosbooks. com. You can access my books, audiobooks and short stories at jimsantos. net. We'd love to hear from our listeners as well, so if you have a question or a topic you would like us to cover or want to tell your own travel story, email us at jim@ jimsantosbooks. com. Until next time, remember, we travel not to escape life, but so that life does not escape us.