Bonus #185 - Live Call Show Vol. 42 [PATREON PREVIEW]

Summary

Stavvy's World Episode Bonus #185 – Live Call Show Vol. 42 [PATREON PREVIEW]

Release Date: June 18, 2026
Host: Stavros Halkias
Theme: Chasing Big Life Changes, Advice on Taking Risks and Moving Abroad

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Episode Overview

In this live call-in episode, Stavros ("Stav") and his co-host Elders answer a listener's question about leaving his small town and job for a spontaneous move to Paris—spurred by an adventure, a brief romance, and a desire for a more exciting life. The hosts dive deep into how to handle feeling stuck, the impact of family pressure, and why sometimes taking a big leap is exactly what you need. The conversation is filled with personal anecdotes, practical advice, and classic Stavvy encouragement.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Caller’s Story: Small Town Stagnation & The Allure of Abroad

[01:07–04:09]

• Background: The caller (let's call him D) gives context: Grew up in a small town, attended local college while living at home, ended up with a degree he calls “functionally useless,” and currently works random jobs at local ski resorts.
• Restlessness: He’s always felt a push to leave for bigger things (“run away and fucking move to a city or move abroad and just get out of my small town.”)
• Family Ties: Close family and friends make this urge complicated.
• Recent Developments: After a failed attempt to work at a European ski resort, he took a job at a local ski mountain, which led to a 4-week gap that he and his sister used for an 11-day backpacking trip through Europe—including Paris.
• Paris Connection: Met a girl on Hinge in Paris and spent three days together; now she's inviting him to move to Paris. He’s seriously contemplating it, citing dissatisfaction at home and excitement for adventure.

2. Should He Do It? Stav & Elders’ Response

[04:09–11:24]

• Unanimous Enthusiasm: Both Stav and Elders are emphatic: do it! Stav calls it “the most open and shut question we’ve ever actually gotten.”
• Stav’s Perspective:
  • On Taking Chances: “If you felt sort of directionless and have this malaise and this is just sort of naturally in front of you, and you’re young enough... just fucking go. What’s the worst that can happen?” ([04:26])
  • Low Stakes, High Upside: The caller has no high-paying or ‘serious’ job holding him back, no mortgage, no kids—it’s the perfect time for bold moves. Even if Paris doesn’t work out, he gains stories and experience, and can always get another ski job.
  • Transformative Value: “There are certain moments in a person’s life that dictate how your life turns out. I’m not kidding. This is one of them... If you become a guy who lets guilt and the familiar and inertia... stop you... you will be the coward who didn’t go to Paris forever.” ([07:49])
  • On Family Guilt: “You cannot let your friends and family guilt you into this. You cannot, bro. You will literally... this is crazy to heighten this so much, but... you’ll regret, you will, dude.” ([07:49])
  • Personal Experience: Stav openly shares the pivotal moments where he chose courage (moving to NY for comedy, leaving Cometown at its financial peak): “I’ve been courageous like, five important times in my life. And the rest of the time, I’ve been a complete coward.” ([07:49–09:15])
• Elders’ Perspective:
  • Practical Encouragement: Echoes Stav’s advice, emphasizing “you’ve got nothing to lose. And hey, worst case scenario, you’re just back in six months to a year. Who gives a shit?” ([11:06])
  • Europe Suggestions: Recommends Chamonix, a vibrant French ski town: “So many young people really doing that ski bum life up there.” ([10:31–10:48])

3. Handling Friends and Family Pushback

[07:24–07:45]

• Caller’s Concern: Family will put on a guilt trip if he leaves, making him doubt the decision. He asks for outside confirmation he’s not crazy.
• Hosts’ Validation: Stav assures, “You gotta go now, bro… if you don’t go now… you will literally… be the coward who didn’t go to Paris forever.”

4. Life Lessons & Philosophy

[11:24–12:50]

• Why Take Big Swings?
  • Success isn’t the Point: Even failed experiments make you more interesting and fulfilled. “You go back and you talk about your six months in France, you’re so much more interesting than the version of yourself that just stays there the whole time.” ([11:39])
  • Be an Inspiration: The stories and risks you take can help inspire younger people from your hometown to do the same.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “Just fucking go. What’s the worst that can happen?” – Stavros, [04:26]
• “If you become a guy who lets guilt and the familiar and inertia of how you grow up stop you from having new experiences, you will be this guy forever. You will be the coward who didn’t go to Paris forever.” – Stavros, [07:49]
• “There are certain moments in a person’s life that dictate how your life turns out. I’m not kidding. This is one of them.” – Stavros, [07:56]
• “You’ve got nothing to lose... worst case scenario, you’re just back in six months.” – Elders, [11:06]
• “Even if you move back, now you’re the guy... who went to France. You’re so much more interesting than the version of yourself that just stays there the whole time.” – Stavros, [11:39]

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• [01:07] – Caller begins sharing his life story
• [02:45] – Describes ski jobs and backpacking trip to Europe/Paris
• [03:30] – Meets Parisian girl, considers moving for her
• [04:09] – Stav and Elders begin advice: “Go for it!”
• [06:50] – Hosts break down why the risk is worth it
• [07:49] – Discussing family guilt and crucial life choices
• [09:15] – Stav reflects on his own pivotal life decisions
• [10:31] – Elders recommends Chamonix as a young ski town
• [11:06] – “Nothing to lose” recap and closing thoughts

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Conclusion & Takeaways

Stav and Elders give an unequivocal green light: pack your bags for Paris, take the risk, and don’t let inertia or family guilt slow you down. The episode is a powerful pep talk about seizing opportunities when young and unencumbered: the worst that can happen is way better than forever wondering "what if?"

Final advice:

• Take the big swings while you can.
• Don’t let familiar comforts or guilt dictate your life.
• The stories and growth you gain from risk are worth far more than security.

Host Sign-off:
Stavros encourages the caller to call back with updates from Paris, wishing him luck and reaffirming the pod’s ethos: be bold, chase experience, and make life interesting.

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End of Summary

Transcript

[A]

Hi, diva. It's Rachel and Jordan.

[B]

Yeah, hi.

[C]

Quick question.

[A]

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[D]

Ugh.

[B]

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[A]

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[B]

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[A]

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[B]

Do you love hair raising? Allegedly true stories about the paranormal? Then you should summon the podcast Scared to Death. It's the popular horror series with more than 60 million downloads to its name and is co hosted by me, Dan

[A]

Cummins, and me, Lindsay, co host and also Dan's wife. Each week on Scared to Death, we share bone chilling tales from old books and creepy corners of the web. And even some submitted by our listeners on.

[B]

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[D]

So quick context. Grew up in a small town, America. Went to college right down the road from my house, stayed at home during college, got a degree that is functionally useless, and have been working random jobs ever since. Sort of directionless, career wise right now.

[B]

Okay.

[D]

And I've always felt this, like, push that gets stronger the older I get to like, run away and fucking move to a city or move abroad and just like, get out of my small town.

[B]

Sure.

[D]

You know what I mean?

[B]

I get that. Of course.

[D]

Even though I like.

[B]

You're talking to two guys moved to New York in their 20s. We get it.

[D]

Exactly. I love my family and I have a lot of really good friends that I love. So that makes it like, a little harder for me, of course, to like, grasp that. But anyway, six months ago, I fucking hate my job and I need something new. So I was looking at ski mountain jobs in the Alps.

[B]

Hell yeah.

[D]

But I was like, too late in the season to do that. So I just got a ski mountain job like down the road from me, and it's been awesome.

[B]

Beef up the resume a little bit. Beef up the be up. Beef up the ski resort resume a little bit.

[C]

Yeah.

[D]

And then maybe next year, maybe next year, I got you somewhere In Europe?

[B]

Yeah. That's awesome.

[D]

So I got the chance to go on, like, there's like a gap, four week gap between spring and summer or summer and winter. We get laid off for four weeks. So I said it. Backpacking trip to Europe for 11 days.

[B]

Yeah, dude.

[D]

Yeah. It was sick.

[B]

That's awesome.

[D]

I was telling my sister about it, and she was like, that sounds cool. And I was like, hey, you want to go? Because she happened to be finishing up her semester. So, yeah, we went and explored Europe a little. Right.

[B]

Love that.

[D]

And it was, like, awesome. It was dream come true. For, like, the last 10 years. It's been something I want to do, right?

[B]

Hell, yeah.

[D]

In Paris, I met this girl off Hinge, and we had like a pretty, you know, three.

[B]

That's awesome.

[D]

Three solid days together, dude.

[B]

That's the dream. Backpacking trip. Shack up with a Parisian for a fortnight. Nothing better than.

[D]

That's what I'm saying. It was sick. So now she's like, hey, you should come live in Paris. And I'm like, all right. I feel like there's a lot of things pushing me in that direction. Like, I really got nothing going on here.

[B]

Yeah, America sucks dick.

[D]

America sucks dick. It's getting exponentially getting worse. Goes on.

[B]

Yep.

[D]

So I'm like, I don't know, maybe I should just go to Paris and, like, see what's up. Even though, like, I know realistically, maybe it doesn't work out with this girl, but who cares?

[B]

Who fucking gives a fuck, dude? Like, that's the thing. If you felt sort of directionless and have this malaise and this is just sort of naturally in front of you, and you're young enough. Like, you're. You're young enough. You don't have shit kind of holding you back. Whatever. It's like, just fucking go. What's the worst that can happen? You're going to fucking. You have to get to find another fucking ski lodge job. Yeah, I got to. I got a hunch you'll be able to find. They're not asking about the gap in your resume when you fudgeing. Apply for a ski lodge job. And listen, it doesn't work out in Paris. Fudge it. Try a different city. You know what I'm saying? Like, yeah, that's. To me, this sounds cool. And this sounds like the kind of thing where what do you really have to lose, you know? Like, go see if you like it if it doesn't work out with her. All right? You lived in Paris for six months, and it was a Cool. You'll be able to tell that story for the rest of your life. And by the way, that might be enough for you. That might scratch this itch, right? Like, because I'm like, you know, I remember starting because we have a very me and elders do have a very specific kind of like dork dorks around America, like, thought of like, you know, moving to New York is like, like, that's our Eat, Pray, love, right? When you're like a fudgeing, we're like a fat schlub who's like, I want to get into comedy. Like, New York is like the ultimate thing. And yeah, I, I, and I remember when I was like 20 being like, man, if I don't make it in New York, I'm going to fucking kill myself. Right? Well, in the reality is like, the older I got, the more I'm like, I would see friends of mine who would like, come to New York for 10 years, that was all they needed. Then they moved back. I saw people that moved in for. Moved here for a couple years, had a great time and left. People who moved here and realized it wasn't for them. Like these, these experiences. Look, could you be a fucking guy who just lives in Paris and you have fucking French kids and like, whatever, yeah, that's one way it could work. Could you be a guy who just has an awesome or not even awesome, but like, oh, the weirdest six months of your. Like, you have a, you, you and this girl have a weird relationship. You break up and then you stay in Europe and backpack for three months and get your dick sucked in Berlin and fucking, you know, go train to train, whatever the fuck, like, right? Either way, to me, you're never going to. This is so perfect because you don't have a job that you're that worried about. Your expenses, it seems like, are probably low. This is the time to do it.

[D]

And believe me, this is the time.

[B]

Believe me, if it wasn't, I would tell you, right? I would tell you it's fucking dumb. But you know, you're not, you're not about to come up for tenure at your fucking university. You're not, you're not about to get promoted. You're not about to make the union. You know what I mean? Like, right, you're fucking serving up hot chocolate and teaching kids how to go down the bunny slope, right? Like you can find that job after you wash out Europe. Worst case scenario. So this is the time, bro. This is the most open and shut question we've ever actually gotten. Cause I Don't even see one negative if I'm being completely honest.

[C]

Yeah.

[D]

So the reason I needed, like, some outside perspective is because I'm gonna talk to my friends and family about this, and they're gonna be like, oh, but we'll miss you. And they're gonna hit maybe a little guilt trip. And, like, you should stay. And, like, we won't be able to see you. And I just needed someone else who's, like, on the outside with no dude.

[B]

Yeah.

[D]

Association.

[B]

How old are you, bike?

[D]

Out of curiosity, did you say 27?

[B]

Yeah. Dude, you gotta go now, bro. You gotta go now. You gotta go now, man. And by the way. Yeah, no, no, it's. If you don't go now. And by the way, it's never happened. This is so. You cannot. You cannot let your friends and family guilt you into this. You cannot, bro. You will literally. This is crazy to fucking heighten this so much. But there are certain moments in a person's life that dictate how your life turns out. I'm not kidding. This is one of them. And if you become a guy who lets guilt and the familiar and inertia of how you grow up stop you from having new experiences, you will be this guy forever. You will be the coward who didn't go to Paris forever. Even if your life turns out good on some level, you've changed who you are. I'll regret you will, dude. And I'm speaking of a guy who's like, I. Honestly, dude, I've been courageous like, five important times in my life. And the rest of the time, I've been a complete coward. But it was, like, you know, moving to, like, just being like, you know what I want to do? Stand up. Even though, I mean, you know, I went to therapy because I want to do standup and my family guilt. Like, I had to have a therapist basically tell me doing standup was okay. And I still didn't listen, by the way. I went back to school, had to learn it for myself, and then was like, no, she was right. Moving to New York was a big one. Fucking leaving Cometown where I was making, like, 30 grand a month for no. For no. With no. Like, you know, certainty that shit would go well. And, like, we've been really rewarded more than I even fucking could imagine. And it's like, you know. And look, some bets haven't worked. Sure. Like, I've had some fucking bad. Some bad shit that didn't work out, whatever. But, like, you know, there's a couple moments where it's like, you know, you have to throw everything away or that are. That are scary. And it's like if you just power through that shit, you just become a better version of yourself. Win or lose, whether that situation went right or wrong. Now you're a guy who takes chances and doesn't let you know, doesn't let his family and guilt stop him. And that. That in and of itself will be bigger for you than even going to Paris, in my opinion. Speaking as someone who's, you know, who's had a couple of these moments and a couple hard conversations and a couple hard decisions. Yeah, that's my advice to you, bud. I couldn't. I couldn't more strongly believe that you should go.

[D]

Yeah, good to hear.

[B]

Yeah, so do it. And yeah, call. Call us back from a fucking French. From French Internet when you're all set up up there.

[C]

Absolute. Did you go, did you go to Chamonix when you were in Europe?

[D]

I did not.

[B]

Elder's just looking for an excuse to talk about his vacation.

[D]

Go ahead.

[C]

Well, you should definitely go. That place is fucking awesome. It's like.

[D]

Yeah, I mean, it's like, it's like a.

[C]

It like basically a French, like, ski bum town. And it was like, I was only there for one night with my wife, like near the end of our trip, but I was like, holy, this is the coolest place.

[B]

That's awesome.

[C]

It's just like so many young people really doing that ski bum life up there. And God, you should seek that out. I love you go out there, but definitely, definitely. Yeah, I fully agree with everything. Stop said. This is. This is. Sounds awesome. Yeah, Sounds like you got nothing to lose. And hey, worst case scenario, you're just back in six months to a year.

[B]

Who gives a. Yeah, but call us, call us back in a year. We want an update either way. All right.

[D]

Yeah, I will do so.

[B]

All right, big dog, Good luck.

[D]

All right. Thank you, guys. Love the pod. Love what you do. Keep it up.

[C]

Bye, buddy.

[D]

Thanks for talking to me.

[B]

Take it easy. Wow, he's got to do that.

[C]

Yeah, he's got tough do that, man. I mean, it's like if you drop your life and go to fucking Paris, half the reason is because you want to get French pussy and sounds like

[B]

he's got it lined up. And by the way, even if you move back now, you're the guy. Dude, how many people remember when we were like, I remember, like, I remember comics who came to New York failed, right? Older people. Yeah, but they were not failed, but they were just like, it just wasn't for them. Like, I had friends who like older comics who like were passed at the seller or, or had a TV credit and it's like, yeah, did you have the fucking exact career you wanted to? Maybe not, but those guys are you. You go back and you talk about your six months in France. You're so much more interesting than the version of yourself that just stays there the whole time. You just have like I had friends who came to New York, had some success and realized all this work isn't worth it. But they had some cool stories and a lot of those guys helped me just become a better stand up or like and you could be a guy who some kid from your hometown could talk to you about living in France and then totally, you could actually, you could help somebody else, you know. So anyway, it's beautiful. We're all for having transformative life experiences and taking gambles here on this podcast.

[A]

Hey everyone, it's me, Morgan Stewart and I have a new podcast called the Morgan Stewart Show. Join me each week as I talk about pop culture, fashion, my personal life and just a warning, I'm going to be giving my opinion on everything. I'll also have some really fun guests to join in on the fun. The Morgan Stewart show is out now. Listen and follow wherever you get your podcasts or watch full video on YouTube. Not sure if you have the experience to start your dream job. Good news. These days it's the skills that count. Udemy can help you get those in demand. Skills? Want to be an AI mastermind? Learn with us. Game developer. We've got you covered. AWS certified Cloud Practitioner. We can help you prep. You'll learn from real world experts who love what they do so that you can love what you do. Go to udemy.com for the skills to get you started and get set for your dream job.