My guest for the latest episode of Creative Spirits Unleashed is Peter Barr. He’s a repeat guest with this being his third time on the podcast. We last spoke in July 2021. You might remember that Peter and his wife began living out of their RV six years ago, with the intention to live a life of adventure. In the prior two conversations Peter spoke about some of his harrowing experiences in the mountains, and this conversation had plenty of that and more as he describes two of his biggest changes in the last few years, as he became a father 3 years ago, and then discovered a reason for his vertigo. That became it’s own journey.

Peter is known as a “peak bagger”, which means he loves to get to the highest places everywhere he goes. In Peter’s case, that means he’s made it to thousands of them. He has hiked all 900 miles of trails in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, reached the highest point in 40 U.S. states and was the second person to reach the high point in all100 North Carolina counties. He completed the 2,181 mile Appalachian trail in 2010. And that’s just the beginning. He’s climbed the Adirondack 46ers, New England Highest Hundred, all summits (790 of them!) above 4,000 feet in elevation in the Eastern United States and more than 2000 ranked peaks nationwide. He’s also the author of the definite guide on Carolina fire lookouts titled Exploring North Carolina’s Lookout Towers.

When you listen to this conversation, remember those statistics, because Peter tells several stories of achieving peaks and also making the difficult decision to turn around when the conditions are not right. You will also get a sense of his perseverance when he tells the story of his journey through the vertigo-causing brain tumor. Many would have given up, and without a doubt, this one tested his limits.

We spent some time reflecting on the mindset required to navigate the kind of challenges that Peter seeks out. Once again, Peter gives us a masterclass on balance under pressure.

Enjoy this conversation with Peter Barr.

My guests for this episode of the podcast are Bernie Harberts and Julia Carpenter. You might recognize both of those names, as they have both been on the podcast individually. What made this episode special was that we did this conversation while they were on Bernie’s 24 foot sailboat “Grit” as it was anchored off Shackelford Banks, a barrier island off the coast of North Carolina. Picture a skinny, long stretch of sand, marsh and small trees about 8 to 9 miles long, standing between the Atlantic Ocean and the mainland.

Bernie and Julia have been out there for about 2 weeks, sharing both sailing and horse adventures. And believe me, they have had some adventures! In this podcast, we talked about what to do when the kayaks, the only way to reach the island, took a deep dive. They shared the story of a harrowing night of gale force winds, wondering if the anchors would hold. You won’t believe the story of the help they received when their anchor fouled as they were making their way out to the Atlantic side of the island. Sometimes, help isn’t really help.

After a short break after my 100th episode, the podcast is back with a returning guest. Corey Vaughn is here for his 4th episode. In 2024, we spoke both in the Spring and in the Fall as he shared his 1000 day plan to see how far he could take his water ski goals if he chose to really go for it. The plan culminated with the World Waterski Championship held in late August of 2025 in Italy.

Corey has been both brutally honest and deeply courageous in sharing his journey to uncover his full potential. As he said more than once, he wanted to find that edge. If you are someone who has wondered for yourself: what if?, this conversation is for you.

We do get to the “results” of his 1000 day plan in this conversation, and his season ended with an unexpected twist. We get into how he is handling that twist, and what happens next for him, which is really inspiring. And there is even more gold in this conversation as we explored the behind-the-scenes thoughts, feelings and beliefs that Corey navigated as he balanced multiples pressures: the declaration he made to go for it, his training, both mental and physical, his family obligations, his business running a vibrant ski school and even what it is to turn a passion into both a quest and a business.

Here’s what Corey has to say about himself: Sometimes I still pinch myself to make sure I’m not dreaming. I have been living my life’s dream since 2009, and it just keeps unfolding in surprising, fulfilling and exciting ways. From my daily activities at the Bum Pass Water Ski Club to my interactions with people all over the world, while coaching or skiing on the pro tour, I aim to stay rooted in the mission that animates my entire career: to spread, foster and promote the three things I hold dear - Peace, Love & Waterskiing.

I hope you enjoy this conversation with Corey Vaughn.

I have just released the 100th episode of the Creative Spirits Unleashed Podcast. For most of the 99 episodes of this podcast, I have been your host. In this episode, the tables are turned. This time, it’s me answering some thought provoking, and in at least one case, tear-inducing questions asked by Stevie Delahunt.

Here’s how this episode came to be. I began working on a 100 episode retrospective about a month ago. This alone is a daunting task, because that’s a LOT of episodes, and my guests have inspired a lot of wisdom. Encapsulating so much inspiring advice in one single episode might be a bridge too far.

Just as I was realizing a retrospective will take more than one episode, I got this message from Stevie: “I saw that you are at the 99th podcast, and I was curious who the 100th podcast was going to be…someone should be interviewing you on your podcast. If you don’t have anyone, I will do it! You should be the 100th guest on your podcast, just so you know.”

Without blinking an eye, I jumped on this offer. Stevie was kind enough to send me some questions, and I may be borrowing many of these for future podcast guests.

One of the things we talked about in this episode is a glaring insight I’ve gleaned in my look back over the last 100 episodes over five years. What I thought this podcast would be about has taken a slightly different turn. Where I set out to explore issues in balance work and life, I found that instead, the prevailing theme is balance under pressure. It’s a subtle difference in words that is night and day in practice.

That means in a few episodes, I will be changing the language at the introduction to reflect today’s reality.

In the meantime, enjoy this episode where Stevie interviews me.

My guest for this episode is Carolyn Swinton, who is an Executive Coach and consultant, and who also happens to be one of my former clients. We worked together years ago when she was the Chief Nursing Officer of a large hospital organization. We’ve stayed in touch over the years, and more than once, after we had a meaningful conversation, I hung up thinking “We should have recorded that for a podcast.” Well, we finally did it!

This conversation touched on a number of themes – everything from making the distinction between knowledge and wisdom to learning to take nothing personally to finding hope when everything seems out of kilter. Carolyn has a way of empowering people to live a purpose driven life, and that was one of the core themes of this conversation. She emphasizes the value of learning to be present, something that is much easier said than done, and yet it becomes very possible when talks about it.

Here’s more about Carolyn:

Carolyn Swinton is an Executive Coach and consultant drawing on her 30+ years’ experience as a C- suite executive. Guidance is often needed to unleash the power and potential that lies within us all. Carolyn’s purpose is to guide and support individuals and organizations in their journeys to achieve their full potential and live their best lives. She utilizes the proven practices of traditional and directed coaching, powerful questions, reflective practices, and deep empathy to support a deepening self-awareness, effective communication, and the cultivation of meaningful relationships to help clients awaken to their truth.

Carolyn has coached middle and senior leaders in the healthcare and business sectors and is the right fit for clients ready to deepen their self-awareness and master the tools they need to effectively communicate, resolve conflict, and achieve operational and cultural transformation. Most recently, she served as a Chief Nurse Executive for the largest healthcare system in South Carolina. In addition to her executive coaching, she also serves as Affiliate Faculty at the University of South Carolina College of Nursing, and Affiliate Clinical Associate Professor at the Clemson University School of Nursing.

Carolyn has coached leaders utilizing the Leadership Circle 360 and Leadership Maturity Assessment Profiles as guides to support leaders in developing an understanding of themselves and others. Coaching in alignment with the principles of vertical development, Carolyn supports leaders in transforming their way of thinking, speaking and being to achieve sustainable change.

Carolyn is a Fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives, Fellow of the Riley Institute Diversity Leaders Fellowship Program, and an ANCC Board-Certified Nurse Executive. She is a certified Newfield Network Coach for Personal and Professional Mastery, International Coaching Federation Associate Certified Coach, Certified in Leadership Circle 360 and Manager Edition, My World View Practitioner for Adult Development, and is an Everything DiSC Certified Practitioner. Carolyn has a doctorate degree in Nurse Executive Leadership from the University of South Carolina College of Nursing.

Carolyn serves on the boards of several state and local nonprofit organizations whose mission is to support the underserved and disadvantaged to gain social and financial stability. She is the author of “Chasing Hope- A Nurse’s Reflections on Healing and Hope,” “Reflections of Nursing” and co-editor of “The Untold Stories of Nursing.” For fun Carolyn likes to read, play the guitar, and travel.

I know you are going to love this episode with Carolyn Swinton.

My guest for this episode of the podcast is Tik Maynard. If you follow Road to the Horse, known as the world championship of colt starting, you know him as the winner of the last two years. Besides that distinction, he is a 3 day event rider, clinician, and horse trainer.

Yet,Tik shared a very simple bio about himself:

Author of two books. Father of two kids.

Also: three-day event rider, husband, juggler, dad-joke teller, Road To The Horse competitor.

There is a LOT more to Tik than this bio indicates, and I’ll leave it to you to look him up on the internet to find all the things he’s accomplished. However,talking about this simple bio was a great kickoff to a very deep and intentional conversation.

This conversation ranged from the very practical – how did you prepare for Road to the Horse to the philosophical – how do we balance our training with horses in ways that are acceptable? Confidence was a theme that ran throughout.

We talked a lot about his latest book, Starting in the Middle:How Horses, Those Who Study Them, and 265 Minutes with One Colt Helped Me Find Myself at Midlife. This is a horse book that’s really more about learning, navigating doubt and cultivating a spark. It’s by far my most highlighted book in the last few years.

My guest for this episode is Stevie Delahunt, returning for the 3rd time. We spoke about this time last year, after she finished the endurance race known as Tevis a 100 mile endurance ride on the Western States Trail in California. This ride is legendary, with only 39% of the entrants completing the full race this year. Stevie was one of those riders, along with 2 other riders competing on her horses. She had a total of 5 horses in the race, and the other 2 horses made it to mile 94. This is just an incredible feat, especially considering that her focus was more on process than on getting the buckle.

This year, she not only finished Tevis, she followed that the next weekend by finishing a half Ironman triathlon. We spent a fair bit of time in this podcast talking about what it takes to finish two such grueling races.

We went pretty deep in this episode, including speaking about Stevie’s theory that all truths are paradoxes, how to manage your doubts and outs, the value of having process versus outcome goals and so much more. I’ve been out to Oregon to ride with Stevie 4 times, and each time I go, gain more strength in my mental tools, have fun and learn a lot. Stevie walks her talk.

Here’s what Stevie says about herself:

Stevie Delahunt graduated Michigan State University with two degrees and an intent to pursue law school at Georgetown University where she had been accepted. She switched gears and went to the French Pastry School of Chicago to learn how to do wedding cakes and set up shop in the Windy City. While in Chicago she learned of the world’s toughest horse race, the Mongol Derby, and she again let life guide her into constant change. On the other side of successfully completing the Mongol Derby she took a job with a startup company in Rhode Island and learned coding and marketing for the online business.

The endeavor in the world of start-ups gave her strong leadership skills and an education in business models she applied to starting her second and current business of horse related retreats.

Stevie’s current business encompasses several facets of the horse world including beginner riding instruction, advanced Bootcamp style retreats for riders wishing to participate in difficult horse riding survival races around the world, horse shoeing, and endurance racing with horses which includes doing the worlds toughest one day one hundred mile horse race; the Tevis Cup.

Stevie believes that adversity is a necessary part of life and being prepared for adversity as well as creating it for oneself is essential and is a tool she uses in teaching both horses and humans, both young and old.

I hope you enjoy this episode with Stevie Delahunt.

My guest on this episode of the podcast is Kyle Pertuis of Mindfit Coaching. Kyle and I have known each other for at least 25 years, first meeting in Lake Lure when he was in the hospitality business. Now he is a coach, and I was intrigued to hear what he’s been up to in the last decade or so, and what drove him to make such a huge career shift.

In this episode, we are catching up with each other after many years of not seeing each other, and along the way, Kyle offers many coaching insights that apply to many different domains. For example, he has some really useful distinctions on what makes a good team.

Here’s a summary of his biography:

Kyle Pertuis is the Founder and Head Coach at MindFit Coaching, Inc. in New Braunfels, TX. He is a seasoned Professional Executive Coach and Leadership Development Consultant with a 25-year track record in designing and facilitating programs to optimize strong organizational culture, business growth, leadership development, personal effectiveness, and employee engagement. Kyle’s coaching and consulting expertise have supported numerous Fortune 500 companies as well entrepreneurial start-ups.

Ultimately, his coaching style is rooted in his passion to support people with a values-based approach to creating positive and lasting change in their business and personal lives. As Founder of MindFit Coaching, Inc, he works primarily with leaders and their teams enabling them to maximize their highest potential and performance levels. For well over a decade Kyle has taught, trained, and certified over 1000 professional, executive, leadership, and life coaches.

Kyle says Simply Stated--Coaching is not a BUSINESS—it is a MINDSET and an enhanced level of communication to inspire, motivate and empower others to act!

This episode was a real treat for me to catch up with a longtime friend and colleague. I hope you enjoy this episode with Kyle Pertuis.