Sometimes growth starts with doing something you aren't completely comfortable doing.

In Part 3 of our Fishing Without Bait conversation with sports broadcaster Austin Cairns, that idea becomes a common thread connecting everything from professional wrestling and broadcasting to mindfulness and simply paying attention to what is happening in front of us.

Austin has spent enough time around independent wrestling to learn that what happens behind the curtain can be just as complicated as what happens inside the ring.

How often do we accomplish something meaningful and immediately start thinking about what comes next?

In Part 2 of our conversation with sportscaster Austin Cairns, that question becomes an important part of the discussion.

Austin describes himself as someone who spent a lot of his college years wanting to “go, go, go.” There was always another project, another opportunity, another goal. The problem was that constantly moving forward also made it easy to burn out and difficult to appreciate what was happening around him.

What happens when you don't know what you want to do with your life?

For Austin Cairns, the answer began to emerge during one of the most uncertain periods imaginable.

In Episode 530 of Fishing Without Bait, Jim Ellermeyer begins a conversation with Austin about growing up in Carnegie, Pennsylvania, navigating high school during the COVID-19 pandemic, and gradually discovering an interest in broadcasting.

Sometimes an older conversation suddenly feels like it was recorded for the moment we're living in now.

That's why we're going back into the Fishing Without Bait archives this week.

As another school year begins, social media and its relationship with young people is once again a major part of the national conversation. Questions surrounding screen time, online safety, social comparison, mental health, age restrictions, and the responsibilities of technology companies continue to make headlines.

There Is No There: Learning to Live by Moments

What are you working so hard to get to?

That's one of the questions Producer Mike brings into Episode 529 of Fishing Without Bait. Jim Ellermeyer's answer cuts through a lot of the noise:

What happens when a person is taught that something was wrong with them before they ever made a choice?

That question sits at the center of Episode 528 of Fishing Without Bait. Jim Ellermeyer and Producer Mike examine the doctrine of original sin and the lasting effect that messages about guilt, shame, obedience, and unworthiness can have on a person’s life.

What does it actually mean to “be like the Buddha”? Jim Ellermeyer and Producer Mike explore how being more awake, compassionate, intentional, and less attached to outcomes can help us participate more fully in the life happening right now.

In Fishing Without Bait 526, we continue our conversation with Vic Costik of the New Rust Pittsburgh Podcast.

Part 2 explores authentic living, LGBTQ+ belonging, community-building, healthier relationships and the artists, makers and wonderfully weird people behind Vic’s love letter to Pittsburgh.