Pod Insights LifeBlood 2563: The Call to Adventure About this episode Why do some people chase the unknown while others stay where it’s safe?
From astronauts launching toward the moon to entrepreneurs building something from nothing, there’s a powerful psychological force driving exploration, risk-taking, and growth.
In this episode of LifeBlood, George Grombacher explores the deeper reasons behind the human desire to venture into the unknown—and what happens if we ignore that call.
If you’ve ever felt restless, curious, or like you’re meant for more… this episode is for you.
The unknown isn’t something to fear.
It’s something to understand.
And maybe… something to answer.
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0:45 Speaker 01 Yesterday, the rocket ship, the Artemis rocket, took off, left planet Earth, out into the unknown. Not a metaphorical thing, not a theoretical thing, literally.
1:04 Speaker 01 In ignition, fire, smoke, billowing smoke, human beings strapped on top of this rocket ship blasted off en route, headed back to the moon. When you see something like that, what do you think? I was thinking about it, I'm like, you know what? Who does that? What kind of person actually signs up for that detail? Who says, you know, I know that it's not a guarantee, in fact, pretty low probability that every necessary step, the sequence of events that is required to blast off the rocket ship with the human beings attached, actually makes it to where it's going to
1:48 Speaker 01 go, and then, and then, actually makes it back? That's the part about the moon landing that always got me. The original one. It's like, okay. I can see getting there, but then getting it back? Like, how do you? You can't blast off again, and I understand there's not the gravitational, uh, same gravitational program and atmospheric program going on to the moon, but still, just still, it's crazy to me. So what kind of person says that? What kind of person says, you know, not only am I going to get up early every day and leave my warm bed to get out into the cold world? What could, they say, I'm actually just going to leave Earth. I'm going to leave planet Earth.
2:31 Speaker 01 And then you start to sort of level that down a little bit. It's like the same person or the same kind of person that says, you know what I want to do? I want to become a pilot. I want to pilot a small aircraft and fly around
2:47 Speaker 01 really far above Earth in a tin can. Who wants to become a diver to go to the bottom of the ocean? Who wants to climb to the top of Mount Everest? Who wants to found a company? What is it that makes somebody walk excitedly toward the unknown? Intentionally into that unknown? So many people are building comfortable lives. Inside of the known, there are some of those who go the opposite way. So we're all existing. Life is full of dichotomies. Yin and yang, night and day, left and right, up and down, all that stuff. But we are definitely living between safety and possibility.
3:33 Speaker 01 When you think about safety, it's telling you, hey, just stay right here. You're, you're good. You've got enough. Possibility says, but there's more. You could become more. Get out there and find out. And we're constantly negotiating between those two things. We build a life that's safe enough and just interesting enough to keep that possibility voice on our shoulder quiet. Then there's some people that can't get it to shut up. So here's the thing about our brains and how that plays into it, because obviously it does. Our brains, it's not just rewarding success.
4:16 Speaker 01 It rewards the pursuit of something unknown, of something uncertain. We've got dopamine that's spiking, not when you get the thing, but when you might get the thing. So that means the unknown isn't just scary. It's neurologically and chemically exciting. So that's interesting. Thousands of years ago, that really did matter because those human beings who were bold enough, brave enough, dumb enough, who explored, they went out and they found new land and new food and new, new things to trade with and new civilizations and cultures, new opportunities. The ones who didn't, well, they survived, but they didn't expand.
5:00 Speaker 01 So within you and me and everybody else right now, that same ancient programming is asking, should I stay or should I go?
5:11 Speaker 01 Some people way more wired for stability. Some people, I would imagine, a significantly smaller percentage of the population are wired for exploration.
5:23 Speaker 01 It's a psychological, what psychologists would call openness to experience. Just put it differently. Some people feel alive going through their routines. Others feel alive in the uncertainty outside of routines. Because when you're doing something brand new, there's no routine to it. And the one person, they want a predictable career path. Another wants to start a business. One wants to climb Everest. Another wants to go to the moon. Not better or worse, but it is certainly different. And if you ignore your wiring, there's a cost, as there's a cost to everything, but you will pay for it.
6:03 Speaker 01 I think that a lot of us miss this is that the people who go into the unknown, they're not necessarily fearless. They are driven by meaning because they've realized that a life that is too safe, it seems unfulfilled, it's empty, maybe not right now, but it will be slowly. It's the whole boiling a frog thing. And that's a dangerous thing.
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7:27 Speaker 01 Because having a sense of ennui or boredom, it's not like a, it's not like a thunder crash or a thunderclap outside. It's not a fire alarm. It's just soul sucking a little bit at a time, day after day. Till one day, you're like, what happened? This is it?
7:49 Speaker 01 So explorers, trailblazers, people out there finding new paths. They're not avoiding fear. They're just choosing a life where fear is the price for them to feel like they're actually alive.
8:04 Speaker 01 Think about every great story. Follow the same kind of pattern. Hero's journey. You're in the ordinary world. You hear or feel a call. At first you hesitate, but then you go.
8:18 Speaker 01 And yeah, that is storytelling, but it's also psychological because the call to adventure is a real thing. And it manifests as restlessness, curiosity, frustration, that calling and feeling that there's more for you, you're meant for more. I think that most of us feel it, but very few of us act on it. So the question is, why do some people explore it's? What happens if you don't? What happens if you ignore or drown out that voice that's calling you? What happens if you do choose comfort every time?
9:01 Speaker 01 You're not going to collapse, you're not going to hit by a bus. It's not like you're failing. It's not even like you're doing anything that's wrong. You're just slowly diminishing yourself. A little bit at a time, you're going to get less curious. You're going to have less energy, so you'll be less energized. And I believe that you will be less alive. Until the world gets so small. Hmm. So what's the practical application here? I don't think you have to go into outer space, but we all have some version of it. Maybe it's some conversation you've been avoiding. You've got a business idea that you've not acted on.
9:46 Speaker 01 There's a standard that you see you'd like to hold, but you're not. There's a life that you could build, but you just haven't. That's it. That's your unknown country, your frontier. That is your call. Two kinds of people out there. Those who hear the call and stay, those who hear that call and go. None of it's easy. Both are hard. But they go because they've realized something that a lot of people will never do. In the unknown, that's not where you lose yourself. It's where you find out.
10:28 Speaker 01 It's where you find out what you're really made of, what you're capable of, if you really like it or if you don't.
10:35 Speaker 01 So listen to the voice. Answer the call because the life that you want, it's not hidden from you. It's just on the dark side of the moon. It's that one little step. It's a couple of steps away from where you are right now. To begin, begin. As always, brothers and sisters, do your part by doing your best. GLP-1s are changing weight loss.
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Previous 2562: Better Decision Making with Haywood Spangler Next 2564: Intentional Living with Dr. D. Ivan Young Page updated November 10, 2026 · transcript and summary are machine-generated
