Podcast Interview with Entertainer – Dan Meyer – Sword Swallower
Podcast Interview with Entertainer CoolKay: OK, here. Do I have the infamous, the one the only famous sword-swallowing Dan Meyer on the line with me. Dan Meyer: Uh You very well do good to be here. CoolKay: , Mr Dan. So how long have you been swallowing those things? Anyway, I'm curious. Dan Meyer: I started in 97. It took me uh - I practiced 10 to 12 times a day every day for four years, about 14,000 unsuccessful attempts. So I got my first sword down in 2 2001. So it's been about 22 years that have actually been practicing swallowing swords, but about 25 years that I've been been uh in the working on it. CoolKay: I'm kinda curious, I mean, that's kind of an unusual occupation. Where did the idea come from? Did you meet somebody else who did it? Dan Meyer: I'm gonna, I'm gonna give you a little bit uh a short version of my TED talk. Uh And if any of your listeners wanna watch uh my TED talks, I've had, I've done about nine of them around the world, but one of them is called, the first one was called Cutting Through Fear. And the 1st 20 years of my life, I grew up in extreme fear. I couldn't talk very well. I would shake and stutter. I was a scared shy, skinny wimpy kid with low self esteem, inferiority, complex, fear of failure and rejection. I was just a scared straight skinny wimpy kid got teased and beat up by the bullies all the time. And um, I, when I was 20 I moved to India as a short term Lutheran missionary for about a year and ended up almost dying of malaria fever the week before my 21st birthday and the night before my 21st birthday with 100 and five degree fever, I prayed a little prayer and said, all right, God, if you let me live till my 21st birthday, I will not let fear rule my life any longer. I'm gonna put my fears to death and take on risks and challenges. And that night I made just a little bucket list of 10 things that I wanted to do with my life. Visit all the continents. Visit the seven wonders of the world. Live on a ship on the ocean, live on a deserted island, live with a tribe of Indians in the Amazon. Uh work in the music business in Nashville, work [...]