Oprah & Music Star Mike Posner on His 3000 Mile Walk to Happiness

Summary

Summary of "Oprah & Music Star Mike Posner on His 3000 Mile Walk to Happiness"

Podcast: The Oprah Podcast
Host: Harpo (Oprah Winfrey)
Guest: Mike Posner
Release Date: August 12, 2025

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Introduction

In this heartfelt episode of The Oprah Podcast, Oprah Winfrey welcomes Grammy-nominated singer, songwriter, and producer Mike Posner to discuss his transformative journey of walking nearly 3,000 miles across the United States in search of genuine happiness. The conversation delves deep into Mike's struggles with fame, his quest for inner fulfillment, and the profound lessons he learned along the way.

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Mike Posner's Early Fame and Personal Struggles

Mike begins by reflecting on his meteoric rise to fame with hits like "Cooler Than Me" and "I Took a Pill in Ibiza." Despite his success, Mike shares how the external accolades failed to bring him the internal satisfaction he sought.

Mike Posner [05:20]: "When your sense of identity is challenged, you start to look for who you really are."

Oprah empathizes, noting the common misconception that external success automatically leads to happiness.

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The Decision to Walk Across America

Amidst feeling empty despite his fame, Mike recounts the pivotal moment inspired by the passing of his friend Avicii, which propelled him to embark on his cross-country walk.

Mike Posner [08:31]: "I have to walk across America. I have to walk across. I have to."

Oprah highlights the irony of writing a song about career decline only to see it reinvigorate his popularity, emphasizing the unpredictable nature of fame.

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Facing Challenges on the Journey

As Mike begins his trek from New Jersey, he confronts numerous physical and psychological obstacles. The relentless miles take a toll on his body, but his spiritual resolve keeps him moving forward.

Mike Posner [23:54]: "Step one is take one step. Because these fears and doubts, they're not a signal that you're on the wrong path. They're a signal that you're on the right path."

Oprah underscores this as the second lesson: "Take one step." She commends Mike's ability to overcome fears by simply starting the journey.

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A Near-Death Experience: Rattlesnake Bite

Tragically, midway through his journey in Kansas, Mike is bitten by a poisonous rattlesnake. This life-threatening incident brings his quest to an abrupt halt, leading him to spend three nights in the ICU.

Mike Posner [32:07]: "Love is the only thing that you take with you when you die."

Despite the severe injury, Mike's spirit remains unbroken, and he emerges with a deeper understanding of true happiness and personal growth.

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Lessons Learned from the Journey

Throughout his walk, Mike distilled five profound lessons on finding happiness, which he shares with Oprah and the listeners:

1. Great Ideas Seem Crazy:

   Mike Posner [21:29]: "Not all crazy ideas are great, but all great ideas are crazy."

2. Take One Step:
   Embracing the journey begins with taking that first step, despite fears and doubts.

3. Embrace Physical and Mental Pain as Growth:

   Mike Posner [25:54]: "Pain increases linearly, but your consciousness is enlarging exponentially."

4. True Happiness Comes from Growth:

   Mike Posner [39:11]: "True happiness comes from growth. It doesn't come from getting other people like you."

5. Don't Wait:
   Urging listeners to act on their desires without delay, as time is finite and unpredictable.

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Concluding Reflections

Mike's journey across America wasn't just a physical endeavor but a spiritual pilgrimage towards self-discovery and inner peace. He emphasizes the importance of internal validation over external accolades and encourages others to embark on their paths to wholeness.

Mike Posner [43:47]: "We are creators. We're not just here to deal with what's happening to us. We're here to create our own reality."

Oprah commends Mike for his resilience and the invaluable insights he offers, reinforcing the episode's overarching theme: true happiness is a product of personal growth and self-awareness.

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Aftermath and Future Endeavors

Following his walk, Mike reveals plans to undertake another monumental journey—hiking the Continental Divide Trail. This next adventure symbolizes his ongoing commitment to personal growth and uniting people in a divided world.

Mike Posner [54:17]: "So we're going to be averaging about 30 miles a day. That's an ultra marathon every day for 100 days."

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Closing Remarks

The episode concludes with Oprah expressing deep gratitude for Mike's openness and the inspiring lessons he imparts. Mike also introduces his online community, Inner Bloom, aimed at supporting individuals on their personal growth journeys through music, dance, and meditation.

Mike Posner [55:57]: "It's a space for miracles and transformation."

Oprah invites listeners to subscribe and stay tuned for more enriching conversations in future episodes.

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Notable Quotes with Timestamps:

• Mike Posner [21:29]: "Not all crazy ideas are great, but all great ideas are crazy."
• Mike Posner [23:54]: "Step one is take one step."
• Mike Posner [32:07]: "Love is the only thing that you take with you when you die."
• Mike Posner [39:11]: "True happiness comes from growth. It doesn't come from getting other people like you."
• Mike Posner [43:47]: "We are creators. We're not just here to deal with what's happening to us. We're here to create our own reality."

---

This episode serves as a poignant reminder that true happiness and fulfillment stem from within and that the journey towards self-discovery, though fraught with challenges, is ultimately rewarding.

Transcript

[Oprah Winfrey]

We did a cross country trip from here to New York. And she was in charge of the radio.

[Mike Posner]

Yeah.

[Oprah Winfrey]

When she drove. And then I was.

[Mike Posner]

It was just the two of you?

[Oprah Winfrey]

It was just the two of us.

[Mike Posner]

I took a pill in a bezel to show Avicii I was cool. And when I finally got sober, felt 10 years older. Aw, screw it. It was something to do. There was this year in my life where I was only making music and I got to this point where there was nothing to write about. Cause my whole life was in the studio.

[Oprah Winfrey]

Right.

[Mike Posner]

Something you have, you have to get.

[Oprah Winfrey]

Out there and live.

[Mike Posner]

Yes. You don't want to be high like me, never really knowing why. Like me, you don't never want to step off that roller coaster and be all alone. You want to pray?

[Oprah Winfrey]

Yeah. Let's. Let's have a prayer.

[Mike Posner]

Dear life, love, God or the universe, we ask that you give us the stories, the conversation, the jokes, whatever is needed to make a difference in someone's life today. And we thank you for this opportunity and just this time together in that we're just in gratitude. Amen.

[Oprah Winfrey]

Amen. Hi and welcome to the Oprah Podcast. Thank you for spending your valuable time here. I'm really excited about this episode because as you just heard, my guest is Grammy nominated singer, songwriter, producer, who literally stepped away from his larger than life life to spend six months walking across the entire United States to find happiness.

[Mike Posner]

What up, doe? My name is Mike Posner and I'm walking across America, which is what we're.

[Oprah Winfrey]

Going to be talking about today, how you can find it. And now I know not everyone can do that. But the lessons he learned along the way are ones that I believe are going to spark your own pursuit of what everyone is ultimately looking for. And that is to feel like you belong, to feel a sense of joy and happiness. Of course, you know his hit songs like Cooler Than Me and as we just heard, I Took a Pill and Ibiza. Welcome to the Oprah Podcast. Thanks for doing this, coming all the way here, Mike.

[Mike Posner]

My pleasure.

[Oprah Winfrey]

I saw Mike speak a few weeks ago and I had never heard your story. I'm sorry I didn't hear your story.

[Mike Posner]

You don't need to apologize.

[Oprah Winfrey]

I'm so moved by your story. Everyone sitting around me were all crying. They had tears in their eyes and I wasn't crying, but I was so moved by your spirit. I just thought, here is a person who has become a whole human being, which is what we're all looking for, is to become whole and to stop the search for perfection. And what you were able to share with the audience in that search was just so moving. I thought, you're one of the people that is obviously carrying the light. You're one of the light carriers on this planet. And I wanted to know you. And the best way to get to know you was to have a conversation. And I thought, I know when I have that conversation, I'm gonna wish that I had some microphones there. So I called my producers right away and said, there's this guy, Mike Posner. And they went, the Mike Posner. And so thank you for moving your schedule around to be here today.

[Mike Posner]

It's my pleasure. Thank you for having me.

[Oprah Winfrey]

So let's talk about. I took a pill in Ibiza when wrote that what was going on in your life, it's just. Is so everything about that song speaks to what it means to want to be famous, trying to be famous, wishing you were famous, all of that.

[Mike Posner]

Yeah. Well, it was a lot of madness. And you've been famous for a long time, so you can identify with.

[Oprah Winfrey]

Yeah.

[Mike Posner]

With this. And I had attained a certain amount of success.

[Oprah Winfrey]

Yeah.

[Mike Posner]

And I wasn't able, against my ego's best wishes, to sustain that. So I came out of the gate.

[Oprah Winfrey]

You were at Duke.

[Mike Posner]

I was in college.

[Oprah Winfrey]

When you wrote Cooler than me.

[Mike Posner]

Correct. So I wrote this song in my dorm room and it became this worldwide hit and it was my first single out. So I thought, oh, that's just what happens when I put songs out. You know, with my.

[Oprah Winfrey]

When your first song is a international hit, you think, oh, that's how you do it.

[Mike Posner]

Right. And so I'm parading around the world and, you know, taking my shirt off at shows and making more money than any 23 year old should be making and.

[Oprah Winfrey]

And people screaming your name and all those things.

[Mike Posner]

Right. And what happened was this. The next song I put out, it wasn't as popular. It's still pretty popular, but comparison will do a number on you.

[Oprah Winfrey]

Yes.

[Mike Posner]

So I thought, oh, gosh, that's not good. And then the one after that was even less popular by the numbers. As if this is the only metric of art, but this was the metric I was concerned with at, you know, 2023. Yeah. And suddenly I found my. My schedule had just kind of emptied. And this trend continued to where my career was basically considered over. And people would call me a one hit wonder, you know, I guess which was true at the time, but it was, it was challenging. It challenged my identity because I was so wrapped up in being this young, popular Young man who.

[Oprah Winfrey]

How long did that last before it started to fade?

[Mike Posner]

Couple years.

[Oprah Winfrey]

Yes.

[Mike Posner]

Couple years.

[Oprah Winfrey]

So you're riding high.

[Mike Posner]

Riding high. I thought this last forever. Now, in hindsight, dwindling was the best thing that ever happened.

[Oprah Winfrey]

Of course.

[Mike Posner]

But at the time, I. What do I do now? You know, who am I? And when your sense of identity is challenged, you start to look for who you really are.

[Oprah Winfrey]

Yes.

[Mike Posner]

And so I got to start this. This journey of, okay. If I can't rest in being popular. And if I'm really honest, when I was at the top, I wasn't all that happy anyways. I grew up sort of like a shy and depressed kid. And I thought, you know, if I got this record deal and I got this fame, that I would just feel more secure in myself. I thought this would be concrete evidence that I matter. And of course, you know, that's not an external job. That's an internal job.

[Oprah Winfrey]

And so, like, so many people now think, if I get this many followers, if I get this much attention, if I only had this thing going for me, everything would be okay.

[Mike Posner]

Right.

[Oprah Winfrey]

And you. And I know it's never the outside.

[Mike Posner]

Correct. And so this is like, everybody has something that they put in front of them in the future.

[Oprah Winfrey]

Yes.

[Mike Posner]

That they tell themselves is going to make them feel better.

[Oprah Winfrey]

Yes.

[Mike Posner]

And so while the specifics of my choice, which was fame.

[Oprah Winfrey]

Yeah.

[Mike Posner]

Hey, you know, I get that. I'll feel better. Yeah. That's singular to me. Not singular to me, but more specific to me. It's not universal, but this action of placing our peace and happiness in the future is a pretty darn universal thing that we humans do. And why my story, I think, resonates with people is I was, I guess, blessed and privileged enough to actually get all the things. I got the fame, I got the attention from the opposite sex. I got nominated for a Grammy, I got the money, and I still felt empty. I thought, like, well, like, what's wrong? Do I need to get more of it? Like, and I can tell you that achieving fame or success in the music industry, while not an inherently bad thing, did not change my moment to moment experience of life one iota. Like, not one iota. And that was disillusioning. It was because when you haven't gotten the thing.

[Oprah Winfrey]

Yeah.

[Mike Posner]

You can still look forward to getting it.

[Oprah Winfrey]

Yeah. And because you think that thing is going to fill you up.

[Mike Posner]

Yeah. It's somewhere in the future. If I get it, I have this thing called hope.

[Oprah Winfrey]

Yeah.

[Mike Posner]

Now it's hoping. Probably the wrong thing, but you still have the hope. When you get it, that hope is replaced by disillusionment.

[Oprah Winfrey]

Yeah.

[Mike Posner]

So that's where I found myself writing that song.

[Oprah Winfrey]

And you were disillusioned because you saw your friend up on stage and you realized what number one you didn't. You didn't have that anymore. Or where were you in the process of your own fame then?

[Mike Posner]

Sure.

[Oprah Winfrey]

You were looking at Avicii.

[Mike Posner]

I was in the VIP section with Avicii's manager. And I said, I'm gonna go. I'm gonna go in the crowd, the main crowd. Cause I wanna experience this show up front. I lied to him. And I was experiencing envy. And at the time, I still drank alcohol, so alcohol and envy are a heck of a mix. What I wanted to do was I wanted to go in the crowd and see if someone would recognize me because I was so empty. Someone that just. Even if it's a stranger, someone would say, are you Mike Posner? Are you that guy who sang cooler than me to just give me a sense of I matter A hit.

[Oprah Winfrey]

It's like a dopamine hit.

[Mike Posner]

Yeah.

[Oprah Winfrey]

Yeah, but you're right. Give me a sense of I matter. So you're looking for the I matter from external forces. Yeah.

[Mike Posner]

Correct.

[Oprah Winfrey]

That's the thing about fame, I must say. If you believe it and you rely on it for the definition of who you are, it will eventually let you down.

[Mike Posner]

That's right, it will. That's right.

[Oprah Winfrey]

So tell us about growing up, your childhood in Michigan. Because the story that you tell, you told this conference, and also you tell in your TED Talk about your dad wishing for you. Health and happiness. Tell us that story.

[Mike Posner]

Yeah, it was like this strange mantra he was always beating into my head. I grew up in Southfield, Michigan, which borders Detroit. My parents are both from Detroit. My father, like, he would always wait to her alone, too. Like, my mom would leave the room, my sister would leave the room. He'd poke his head back in. He'd go, remember, there's two H's in life. Health and happiness. Health and happiness. He's always saying this. My whole life. He wanted me to be healthy and happy. And the healthy part, more or less came naturally or easy to me. But the happiness I struggled from a very young age. I remember feeling really shy and feeling like I didn't belong, Feeling like I didn't belong. I remember feeling accepted everywhere, meaning I had friends, I was in social groups. But I never felt like I was really. Like I really belonged there.

[Oprah Winfrey]

And something was missing. There was an emptiness.

[Mike Posner]

There was an emptiness, yes, from a young age. And I don't know if we all have a version of that emptiness because I only have my experience to compare it to. But this emptiness for sure has a giant part in me creating this story that if I get this fame, the emptiness will go away.

[Oprah Winfrey]

It brings me such joy, dear listener, that you're choosing to spend your valuable time here with us. Coming up, what was behind Mike Posner's decision to walk across the entire United States of America from sea to shining sea, nearly 3,000 miles on foot. Plus, he's going to share the five lessons to finding happiness he learned along the way, even after getting bit by a poisonous rattlesnake. Stay with us.

[C]

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[Oprah Winfrey]

Welcome back to the Oprah Podcast. I thank you for joining me. I love this inspiring conversation I'm having with Grammy nominated singer, songwriter and hit producer Mike Posner, who left his life in Hollywood to walk across America on foot, trekking through 13 states over six months. And he's here to share the five lessons on finding happiness he learned on his journey. Let's get back to it. What made you decide you wanted to walk across America? I know you made that decision after you'd written the Ibiza song and that song went, I mean, it's been downloaded I don't know how many billions of times.

[Mike Posner]

Yeah.

[Oprah Winfrey]

And so that song, writing that song returned you to the whole world that you thought was the world that you wanted to be a part of. Correct.

[Mike Posner]

This is a very ironic move. You know, you write a song about your career ending.

[Oprah Winfrey]

Yes.

[Mike Posner]

Just a singer.

[Oprah Winfrey]

Who already blew his.

[Mike Posner]

Shot, and then it reinvigorates your career.

[Oprah Winfrey]

Yes.

[Mike Posner]

So, yes, I had this second wave.

[Oprah Winfrey]

And were you different with the second wave? Were you more.

[Mike Posner]

I was a little better.

[Oprah Winfrey]

Were you a little better?

[Mike Posner]

I was a little better because at that point I realized, hey, this. Like, this success, it comes and goes. So I had my first rise to success. I thought, oh, this is. This lasts forever. I'm the man. This is definitely going to go forever. The first time it disappeared, I thought, oh, my gosh, I blew it. It's over. And then the second wave, I realized, oh, this is my job. I'm supposed to make art. And this thing called popularity, it just does whatever it wants. And my job is to tell the truth in my music and my art and kind of not pay attention to that.

[Oprah Winfrey]

Right.

[Mike Posner]

So it. I was a little better.

[Oprah Winfrey]

A little better.

[Mike Posner]

But you asked what preceded me making this decision to. To walk across the U.S. why did.

[Oprah Winfrey]

The idea intrigue you, though?

[Mike Posner]

One is, I was drawn to it because it was so hard. Right. I knew that for me, to have the growth, to make this shift of filling up this emptiness, to go from external validation to internal validation, I'm not gonna achieve that by doing something easy or doing something I already know. Going to the studio, getting another. Like, I need to do something that challenges me.

[Oprah Winfrey]

Did you think you were too soft?

[Mike Posner]

Oh, yeah. You thought you were too inherently. And then on the trip, I realized how soft I was right before I left.

[Oprah Winfrey]

So tell me. Let's explore that a little bit.

[Mike Posner]

Okay.

[Oprah Winfrey]

You thought you were too soft. What about you? Your life, your upbringing, all of it made you think I'm too soft? I need to toughen up a few things.

[Mike Posner]

Okay, so one, the external part of my life, like, if you just looked at it on paper, yeah, everything went perfect. I'm talking like, I'm a kid who grew up getting straight A's, went to Duke University, got a record deal before I even graduated. My first song is a hit, even though the second was a big. Still had another hit. Making millions of dollars, nominated for, like, it was going pretty good. On that.

[Oprah Winfrey]

From the outside, you look like who everybody else is trying to be or wants to be.

[Mike Posner]

Right. And so I'm Jewish, Right. My father that we talk about, he's Jewish. Well, we have a tradition in the Jewish lineage to have a bar mitzvah. When you're 13?

[Oprah Winfrey]

Yeah.

[Mike Posner]

That's when you're supposed to become a man. Now. I went from 13, then I was 31. I didn't feel like a man, even though I had a bar mitzvah, you know? So I think that we in our culture now lack some rites of passage, especially for our young men. Even though I had attained all these things, I didn't feel that. I didn't feel like an adult. I realized, I think even though I didn't want to admit it at that time, my life was really about making it one. Making myself more relevant, more popular, getting other people to like me more and more, almost maniacally. Being obsessed with how many people love me, how many followers do I have on Instagram? How many comments do I have under this Instagram post? You know, just when you really look at it, it's pretty unhealthy, pretty sick.

[Oprah Winfrey]

Yes. If your life is depending on how many people like you out there and how many comments you get on posts when you don't get them, then it means your life can't be good.

[Mike Posner]

Right.

[Oprah Winfrey]

If you're depending on that to make your life okay, then that means your. Your life is never in your own hands.

[Mike Posner]

Right. 100%. Now, ironically, my experience has always been whenever I'm aligned, that's when the biggest numbers.

[Oprah Winfrey]

That's the way it works.

[Mike Posner]

Yes.

[Oprah Winfrey]

That's the way it works.

[Mike Posner]

So we talked about why I felt soft. But there's another thing. The person we told the story about, Tim Avicii.

[Oprah Winfrey]

Yeah.

[Mike Posner]

Who? I went, was in the audience, and I mentioned in the song, I took Capilla visa. He killed himself. And I remember I was on the way to the studio one day, and my assistant said, tim is dead now. Here was this guy who had everything I wanted, and he. And it clearly didn't fill him up because he chose his life was so painful that he chose to end it. And I got in my assistant Nick's car that day, and we were driving in the studio, and there's just one thought looping in my head. It's just, I have to walk across America. I have to walk across. I have to. There was this feeling like my life at some point is going to end. And this dream of yours that. That called to you, that's either going to happen in your life or it's not. And there's no more next year. Like, he's gone. One day you'll be gone, too. So you want to do it or not? It's funny how death can illuminate Life.

[Oprah Winfrey]

No, that's what it's here to do. I feel that with every passing, particularly of someone that I know, I know that it's happening in our lives to remind us how valuable living really is and to. And to get on with it. That's what it's there for. That's what it's there for.

[Mike Posner]

Get on with it.

[Oprah Winfrey]

Get on with it. So you decided to walk across America. You put it off, you put it off, you put it off. And finally, at 31, you did it.

[Mike Posner]

And it was scary right away. The people I worked with in the music industry said, you can't do this, you cannot do this. I said, why? You can't just stop making albums. You can't just stop touring. Like, this career that you've spent all this time building, it will not be here when you get back. This is a career ending decision. So. But this is one of these obstacles that happens on everyone's spiritual journey, which is you start on the path and a bunch of people tell you, don't go on that path, even though the little voice in your heart is going, this is the path. This is the only one.

[Oprah Winfrey]

I have to go. Yes, I need to go.

[Mike Posner]

But everyone in the external world is saying, don't do that.

[Oprah Winfrey]

Yeah, for me, that was moving to Chicago, moving to Chicago and actually starting the Oprah Winfrey show there. But everybody had said to me when I was in Baltimore, you will fail. You're walking into landmines. You'll never succeed. You're already a big fish in a little pond. You need to stay here. It's too big for you. It's too big for you. So I understand this. Yeah, that was mine. This was yours. Everybody has the thing. I loved one of the things you said and you say in your. You said in the talk that I heard, not all crazy ideas are great, but all great ideas seem crazy.

[Mike Posner]

All great ideas. Not all crazy ideas are great, but all great ideas are crazy.

[Oprah Winfrey]

All the great ideas are crazy.

[Mike Posner]

And so.

[Oprah Winfrey]

Or seem crazy to somebody else. They're like, well, that's the craziest thing I ever heard. You're going to America.

[Mike Posner]

When you decide to change your life for the better, don't expect a whole bunch of people roll out a red carpet for you or, you know, cheer for you. Often it's the opposite. And I think life is perhaps rigged in the way that we make a decision. And sometimes it tests how serious we are.

[Oprah Winfrey]

Yes, exactly. That's what it's there for. And that's actually lesson number one. So you walked, made the decision to walk across America in search of happiness.

[Mike Posner]

Yes.

[Oprah Winfrey]

And that was the first lesson of happiness.

[Mike Posner]

Yes.

[Oprah Winfrey]

Is that they're crazy, the crazy ideas.

[Mike Posner]

Yeah. Not all crazy ideas are great, but all great ideas are crazy.

[Oprah Winfrey]

Okay. And so you decided to begin your journey on the coast of New Jersey.

[Mike Posner]

That's right.

[Oprah Winfrey]

And you say you learned a second lesson on finding happiness right at the start. What was the start? First of all, you had to drive to New Jersey to get there.

[Mike Posner]

Right? Right.

[Oprah Winfrey]

And then you realize that's a long. That's a long way.

[Mike Posner]

Yeah. So I had fears and doubts of my own, like, am I gonna permanently damage my body?

[Oprah Winfrey]

Cause how many years did you put it off before you actually did? Five years. Five years. Okay.

[Mike Posner]

Five years.

[Oprah Winfrey]

Now you actually gonn.

[Mike Posner]

Now I'm going. I announce to my friends, my family, my audience, I'm going to do this.

[Oprah Winfrey]

Yeah.

[Mike Posner]

And we're driving across the country and it's like I'm looking out the window and it's like this thing just keeps going, you know, it's like it's a long drive. I'm like, it's a day just in Kansas and we're going 70 miles per hour. And I have all the fears and doubts that I always had, which were, am I going to damage my body? And then the fears and doubts about. Of my agents and managers.

[Oprah Winfrey]

Yes.

[Mike Posner]

I let come inside my brains.

[Oprah Winfrey]

Is it true that I won't have a career when this.

[Mike Posner]

I have a lyric in one of my songs. I say, don't think other people's thoughts. I was thinking other people's thoughts too, like, I'm gonna ruin my career. And then lastly, the biggest fear of all is, what if I fail? Like, what if I risk it all? I hurt my body and I don't even make it. So it's like I'm not even leaving to walk across America. I'm leaving with a chance to walk across America. So I'm driving across and the gravity starts. What I'm going to attempt to do starts to set in. But on April 15, 2019, I stood off the coast of New Jersey. It was really important that I started in the water. I wanted to walk coast to coast. The saltwater waves are crashing on my back. I had my father's swimming trunks on and I took a step. And right when I took that step, all these fears and doubts about what might happen if I chose to do this, they disappeared because I was doing it.

[Oprah Winfrey]

And that's lesson number two.

[Mike Posner]

That's number two. Lesson number two. Is step one is take one step.

[Oprah Winfrey]

Oh, I love that so much.

[Mike Posner]

Yeah, step one is take one step. Because these fears and doubts, they're not a signal that you're on the wrong path. They're a signal that you're on the right path. If you didn't have them, you'd be playing it too safe.

[Oprah Winfrey]

Yeah.

[Mike Posner]

You'd be in the sandbox of your life. You'd be in your comfort zone. And so now some fear, like, you know, if a tiger came behind us, that's good fear, right? Listen to that.

[Oprah Winfrey]

Yeah.

[Mike Posner]

But this psychological fear, like our friend Eckhart Tolston, this psychological fear about a made up version of the future that doesn't exist anywhere but your own head. In my case, you know, what if I hurt myself? What if I fail? These are all made up scenarios. Day two complete. I broke my camera. How long do you think we walked today?

[Oprah Winfrey]

11.

[Mike Posner]

This is another obstacle that life puts in front of you to test you. How serious are you? Finished with the first week of the walk. And part of the sweetness of the joy you're gonna find is on the other side of that fear.

[Oprah Winfrey]

It's gonna be cold again.

[Mike Posner]

Yeah, it's gonna feel great. That's the dunk. Now we're in Ohio. Feeling it, not pretending it's not there. More great memories, more great people, more great experiences. And then getting on with it. Anyways. Indiana state line. Get a zoom.

[Oprah Winfrey]

You know, those concerns about your body are actually real. I mean, I walked 25 miles. I walked a marathon once when I was much younger. 26 miles. And you are aching and you are sore and you are, you know, the balls of your feet are, you know, burning. And it took you three months to get from New Jersey to Colorado. You could see the Rocky Mountains when lesson number three showed up.

[Mike Posner]

That's right. And it's right. It got real.

[Oprah Winfrey]

It got real.

[Mike Posner]

It hurt horribly.

[Oprah Winfrey]

And the hurt doesn't go away.

[Mike Posner]

No. And that's why I want to share the lessons with your audience. To go do this, because I'm laughing now, but when I had walked across Indiana, Illinois, and I'm into Missouri during a heat wave, a sunrise, and I'm into Kansas and I could barely stand up in the morning. And for me, you know, the spider web that I had got myself tangled up in in my old life, I had to go through this metamorphosis in a painful way. It was just my path. But it's not needed. Physical pain is not a requirement for spiritual growth. For sure not. But in my case, it was my path. And I was in this place where my body every day would speak very clearly. You know, usually you should listen to your body, but it would speak to me very clearly. Stop. What you're doing is hurting me, Mike. But spirit was speaking to me even more clearly and it was saying, keep going, keep going.

[Oprah Winfrey]

So that became your mantra.

[Mike Posner]

Keep going, keep going. Still is. Keep going. What up, doe? Just made it across the state line across Missouri. I'm now in Kansas.

[Oprah Winfrey]

Woo.

[Mike Posner]

Let's go. I walked across this, you know, state Missouri during a heat wave and I walked across Kansas. I walked into Colorado, walked 1,797 miles since that first step when, ah, you know, this pain shot up my left leg. And that's when I heard a sound I didn't want to hear. I knew what the pain was. I realized I'd just been bitten by a poisonous rattlesnake.

[Oprah Winfrey]

Time to take a quick break. When we come back, Mike Posner's walk across America comes to a life threatening halt the moment a poisonous rattlesnake bit his leg. Can you imagine? Stick around because you'll want to hear the inspiring life lesson he learned in that harrowing moment. That's next. Welcome.

[C]

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[Oprah Winfrey]

Back to this episode of the Oprah podcast. I'm joined by Grammy nominated singer, songwriter and producer Mike Posner whose hits like Cooler than Me and I took a Pill in Ibiza shot him straight to stardom right out of college. And I must say, he's a joy to talk to. A joy. We're gonna hear what Mike learned about himself when he became famous. He was actually unhappy. So in an unconventional way of searching for happiness and inspiration, he decided to walk across America coast to coast. Let's get back to Mike's fascinating story.

[Mike Posner]

Now. At first, I'm kind of playing it.

[Oprah Winfrey]

Off, you know, and it's just you walking.

[Mike Posner]

No, I had. I had invited my audience. I said, hey, if you find me, you can walk with me.

[Oprah Winfrey]

Yeah.

[Mike Posner]

So people would come from all over the US and sometimes they just want a picture with me. No problem. Sometimes it was like a scavenger hunt for them, you know? Like, it would be college kids on a weekend. Let's go see if we can find Posner.

[Oprah Winfrey]

Yeah.

[Mike Posner]

And. But sometimes it would just be people that didn't have anyone else to talk to, and I didn't really have anyone else to talk to either. So we would. We would join, I think, each attempting to alchemize our pain into beauty. So that particular day, there were two men with me. And then I have my walk manager who would go ahead of me each day. And so there were three people there, and they're all freaking out. I'm making jokes. I'm like, don't worry. I'm thinking, this is like a bee sting, you know?

[Oprah Winfrey]

And did you actually see the rattlesnake?

[Mike Posner]

I didn't see it.

[Oprah Winfrey]

Never saw it.

[Mike Posner]

I never saw it. So there's two ways to get bit by a snake, Oprah. One is if you're messing around with antagonizing it, which I didn't do. The other is to surprise it.

[Oprah Winfrey]

Yeah.

[Mike Posner]

And so it was the latter for me. Now they're saying, we gotta call 91 1. I said, okay. And then they're like, we have no service.

[Oprah Winfrey]

We have no service.

[Mike Posner]

Oh. Now at this point, the darkness is starting to creep in from the edges of my awareness. It was just dark, and then it was black. I was gone. I was just gone. And then I'd wake up and I'd see, oh, my gosh, I'm here. I got a rattlesnake bite. And one of the gentlemen said, I ran up the road. I got a bar Service. I called 911, and he was able to keep connection with her. And he had the phone. I said, let me speak to them. So he hands me his cell phone. And I said to the voice on the other end of the Phone, I said to dispatch, am I going to die? Because at this point, now I'm realizing this isn't a beast thing. The voice on the other end of the phone said, I, I don't know, sir. I end up spending three nights in the icu and they have this thing called Anti Venin.

[Oprah Winfrey]

Okay. So I just did a show about near death experiences and had Jerry R. Jeremy Renner on talking about when he experienced, you know, the other side.

[Mike Posner]

To me, it is a, this collective divinity of love. Love is the only thing that you take with you when you die.

[Oprah Winfrey]

Wow. That's so. Jeremy, it cannot exist. It rides in the coattails of love.

[Mike Posner]

Like everything else does in life. Nothing else freaking matters outside. What you love and love unequivocally and is in perpetuity does not change.

[Oprah Winfrey]

Wow. Love is the only thing you take with you when you die. Did you experience the other side? Did you have a near death experience?

[Mike Posner]

I wish I did.

[Oprah Winfrey]

Yeah.

[Mike Posner]

And maybe I didn't get near enough. I don't know. All I know is it went black.

[Oprah Winfrey]

Yeah.

[Mike Posner]

And there was nothing. There was no light. I didn't have guardian angels. I've experienced some of those things in other ways, breath work, psychedelics. But this one, it was black, Oprah, it was black. I wish, I wish I had that experience, you know?

[Oprah Winfrey]

Yeah.

[Mike Posner]

I wish Avichi was there saying, hey, Mike, it's all good. Yeah, it wasn't that. It was, it just went black. And I'm in the ICU and my legs just swell the size of an elephant trunk.

[Oprah Winfrey]

Yeah.

[Mike Posner]

And I, I, I go from walking 24 miles a day to now I can, like, barely. I have a walker to go to the bathroom and someone's got to help me and make sure I can stay up. Like, I can barely walk. So I'm like, now, like, now, what am I? Right. And they send me home after several.

[Oprah Winfrey]

Days, and so they use the antivenom. And, you know, you're going to live now.

[Mike Posner]

Yeah.

[Oprah Winfrey]

But your leg is, your leg is swollen the size of an elephant and you're still in pain.

[Mike Posner]

Yeah.

[Oprah Winfrey]

Yeah.

[Mike Posner]

And I thought, you know this word, antivenin? I'm like, oh, this is a nice word. I'm thinking it's like a cure.

[Oprah Winfrey]

Yeah.

[Mike Posner]

You know, like tomorrow I'm back on the train. They're like, no, this just makes it so you get to stay alive and hopefully keep your foot. So I got both of those things, but the doctor said, you're going to be messed up for a while. I said, how long? He's like, months. I'm like, it can't be months. I'm walking across the mirror. He goes, I don't know what to tell you. It's months. You got bit by a rattlesnake. So I go home, and I start to experience some conflicting feelings. I get sent home with a walker and sort of an uncertain future. And this part of me that loved this part one, because it was nice to be not in all that heat, Oprah. It was nice to not be walking 24. It was nice to be in air conditioning. It was nice to be around other humans. Most of this time, I'm alone out there. And I really liked that. And even though my left leg was in bad shape, the rest of my body was really enjoying the rest. Two, I got more famous than ever by getting bit by this doggone rattlesnake. Now, like, my last decade of my life, I've been, like, clawing desperately, like, you know, crawling around West Hollywood, trying to find whatever morsel of fame I can find and put in my veins. Then I walk away from it. I get bit by the snake, and I started to get more fame than ever.

[Oprah Winfrey]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Mike Posner]

And so there's a part of me. It didn't disappear, Oprah. The part of me is still there. Like, you did your intro, and you said, mike seems like a whole human being. I don't know if that's true. I know I'm more whole than I used to be, but all of these little things, they're all still there. I just know not to give him the steering wheel in my life anymore.

[Oprah Winfrey]

Got it. Got it.

[Mike Posner]

So this part of me is, like, having a ball. It's going, dude, you're.

[Oprah Winfrey]

Because you're getting all the attention.

[Mike Posner]

All the attention. Everything I ever wanted.

[Oprah Winfrey]

And also, if you stop right then, people would absolutely understand. You wouldn't be considered a quitter. You'd be considered, he got bit by a rattlesnake. What are you supposed to do?

[Mike Posner]

Right?

[Oprah Winfrey]

Yeah.

[Mike Posner]

This is, like, such a good reason to quit that most people wouldn't consider you a quitter.

[Oprah Winfrey]

Yes. And then you learned the lesson number three.

[Mike Posner]

Yeah. But this is, like, you know, for once in my life, I'm not doing this for most people or other people.

[Oprah Winfrey]

Yeah.

[Mike Posner]

This is about me. Yeah. And even though they wouldn't consider me a queer, I would know that I had a thousand more miles to walk. What up, doe? My name is Mike Posner, and three weeks ago, I was bit right here by a rattlesnake. And there was no way for me to become who I knew I was supposed to be and to maybe have a chance to taste that second H that dad wanted, the happiness than to walk that remaining thousand miles. I mean, this was straight from. We call it life, God, spirit, your higher self. Intuition was like, I'm supposed to finish this. And even though on the outside it looks like I'm not.

[Oprah Winfrey]

Yeah.

[Mike Posner]

You know, and, and so you have.

[Oprah Winfrey]

A chance to be the person that you could be most proud of. Correct. Correct.

[Mike Posner]

It's not about whether other people. People say, well, weren't you. Weren't you already proud of yourself? You'd already accomplished so much. It wasn't about the. The. The stat sheet, the highlight. It was this calling that I knew was there. And it's. You going to take the call or not? And there's no book you can read about it.

[Oprah Winfrey]

Okay, so let me read this off. After six months, three days, 13 states, 2,851 miles. 5.7 million steps. 5.7 million steps. Those of us who are just trying to get 10,000 every day.

[Mike Posner]

Yeah.

[Oprah Winfrey]

You were able to dive face first into the Pacific Ocean near Venice Beach. And you described that moment as an unfamiliar emotion. What was that unfamiliar emotion?

[Mike Posner]

Yeah. So after I learned the lesson before, which is your reasons to quit are excuses in disguise. So I decided I'm going to walk these thousand more miles. And I walked across Colorado and Arizona and California. I get in that ocean like you said, and this strange feeling washes over me. I expected accomplishment. It was an accomplishment.

[Oprah Winfrey]

Yeah. You would think after walking the 2,800, whatever the 51, 51 miles.

[Mike Posner]

I was counting them.

[Oprah Winfrey]

2008. Don't worry. 2,851. I know I want to get.

[Mike Posner]

I'll never Forget that number.

[Oprah Winfrey]

2,851 over.

[Mike Posner]

When you're on mile 1901, you know exactly how many more you have to go.

[Oprah Winfrey]

So you, at2851, you realized you think you're going to feel a sense of accomplishment. You did feel some of that, right?

[Mike Posner]

It was a little different. Like I'm in the water and I felt this strange feeling that I never, like, maybe ever felt before. And the closest word I could come to it is happiness. But I think it's the happiness that dad was talking about, not the happiness of like eating a chocolate chip cookie. Oh, this tastes good. The happiness that comes from playing a part in the evolution of your own soul.

[Oprah Winfrey]

Wow.

[Mike Posner]

So that's when I learned this fourth lesson. I say true happiness comes from growth. True happiness comes from growth. It doesn't come from getting other people like you. It doesn't come from accomplishing anything on the outside. It comes from playing a part in the evolution of your own soul and knowing, hey, I played a part in becoming who I am now. And who I am now I'm proud of because it's not who I used to be. A goal is a funny thing. Right. A goal is like this thing we place in the future and we think we get there, things are going to be different. Of course, the goal that actually means nothing is who you become on the way. And so I had become someone different. I'm not saying I'm perfect because I'm not. I'm far from it. But I'm not who I used to be. And that's where this true happiness comes from. Growth. This self respect, it comes from growth.

[Oprah Winfrey]

What was lesson number five?

[Mike Posner]

So now I'm stepping out of the water and I got the health and I got the happiness, but I didn't have my dad anymore. In this form, two years before I started this wild journey, my dad got glioblastoma, his brain cancer, and he passed away before I started. And so he.

[Oprah Winfrey]

You had told him you were gonna do the walk though, right?

[Mike Posner]

I had not because I hadn't decided.

[Oprah Winfrey]

Oh, okay.

[Mike Posner]

But I had the idea and I knew I wanted to do it.

[Oprah Winfrey]

Yeah.

[Mike Posner]

Years before he ever got sick.

[Oprah Winfrey]

Yeah.

[Mike Posner]

So I had the idea and the inspiration.

[Oprah Winfrey]

So I was, what I was really asking was, had you shared the idea with him?

[Mike Posner]

I don't think I ever had.

[Oprah Winfrey]

Okay.

[Mike Posner]

I don't think I ever had.

[Oprah Winfrey]

So he didn't know that this was a goal of yours to do this in for work? No. Okay. Coming up after a short break, Mike Posner's fifth and final lesson on finding happiness. He learned this lesson while walking across America. Stay with us. You're listening to the Oprah Podcast.

[C]

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[Oprah Winfrey]

Welcome back to the Oprah Podcast. I'm with Grammy nominee Mike Posner, who's sharing how after rocketing to fame, he hit rock bottom and literally began to walk toward happiness one step at a time. I think these are lessons we can all apply to our lives. So let's get back to it.

[Mike Posner]

Lesson number five was don't wait. Because he never got to see me step onto this path, both metaphorical and literal, and witness me being truly happy in the way I'm describing it now.

[Oprah Winfrey]

And so as the participant in the evolution of your own self.

[Mike Posner]

That's right.

[Oprah Winfrey]

Yes.

[Mike Posner]

That's right. We are not little flakes of dust getting blown around by macroeconomics or our own emotions or whatever happens in our life. We are. We are creators. We're not just here to deal with what's happening to us. We're here to create our own reality.

[Oprah Winfrey]

You know, I love you saying that. You're not the same person. I can't imagine the experiences and the encounters that you would have, but you. I know that there was one that you were walking across like an Indian. Yeah, yeah. Share that.

[Mike Posner]

I was on the Hualapai reservation. It's post snake bite in Arizona, and I'm actually on Route 66.

[Oprah Winfrey]

So is every day more painful than it was before because you're still healing?

[Mike Posner]

Yeah. Well, every day is more painful than before just from doing it. Just from the steps.

[Oprah Winfrey]

Just from the steps.

[Mike Posner]

But this funny thing happens. So the pain increases linearly. So every day is a little more painful than the day before. But your consciousness, the space in which the pain and your own emotions are occurring, is enlarging exponentially. So to put it another way, every day the pain gets worse, but every day you care less that you're in pain.

[Oprah Winfrey]

Wow.

[Mike Posner]

Pain, it's. The physical sensation is more. But it's a smaller percentage of your.

[Oprah Winfrey]

Overall awareness because your awareness is expanding.

[Mike Posner]

Correct. Correct. And so this is sort of. I'm in this mindset more or less, and I'm on Route 66 I'm near the end of my day, so I'm maybe on mile 21 of the day.

[Oprah Winfrey]

So you'd walk from 5 to 5. You'd walk 12 hours a day or what was.

[Mike Posner]

Yeah, I start around 5am I'd do 8. I take a break. This was fun. I play games with myself. I do eight. I take a break, then do another eight. Now it's around maybe 11, 12. And that.

[Oprah Winfrey]

You've done 16 miles.

[Mike Posner]

Now I'm at 16. Now take another break. Okay, so now I got 16. My next segment, I'm gonna do four. Well, I already did two eight. So four is easy, right? So now I do four. Now it should be around 1:30pm I've done 20 miles, and every day I would say, now I'll do a victory lap. I'd do four more. So I would set my goal at 20 every day. I never walked 20. I'd walk 24. But this feeling of doing more than I said I was going to do fueled me as opposed to I'm doing just what I was supposed to do. So I would make my goal 20. I'd do 24. Instead of saying, my goal is 24 and doing 24, these little things gave me just a little more juice. I'd play games with the. The days of the week. I had psychological ties with each day of the week from school. Monday, I hate Monday. Tuesday, I hate Tuesday. Friday, I like Friday. Saturday, I like Saturday. Sunday, I like Sunday, because those are from high school, because Friday meant the weekend's coming. So I would make my day off. Thursday. Friday is the first day of the week. I. Even though it's the first day of my walking week, it still felt like the last day of the week because of these old psychological ties from high school. So I'm like, oh, Friday, easy. So I finished Friday. Already got one done. Saturday, I love Saturdays, too. Saturday's done. By the time I get to Monday, I'm already almost halfway done with the week.

[Oprah Winfrey]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Mike Posner]

So I play these little, little games now. Going back to the. The reservation. So I'm on the Hualapai reservation. I don't remember what day it was. Don't ask me that. Okay. So I'm walking, and I always walked into traffic this way. You can see that because the most dangerous thing actually isn't rattlesnakes or bears.

[Oprah Winfrey]

It's being hit by a car.

[Mike Posner]

It's cars. So these cars are coming at me. You want to be able to see them. So if they're on their phone or Something, and they creep over that white line. You can jump by. So that's why I'd always walk into traffic. So I'm on the left side of the road, and on the right side of the road, I see a Ford F350. Pull over to the side. Now, immediately I started to feel like this old not belonging fear. And it wasn't an angry person getting out of the car. It was. I saw like a little two pairs of Vans skateboard sneakers. And you hop out. I see it's. I want to say a kid. He wasn't a kid. He's probably about 21, but he was a kid to me because I was 31, you know? So this young man, and he dangerously plays Frogger and crosses Route 66 over to my side. I'm like, oh, gosh, please don't get hit, right? He comes over my side of the road, and I meet this young man. I say, hi, what's your name? He says, rowan. We had a little bit of small talk. He turns to go back to his car. I says, nice to meet you. Takes a picture. And so, like, spirit or, you know, someone's telling me, like, there's. There's more to this, right? I don't need to tell you.

[Oprah Winfrey]

Yeah, yeah. Did you. Did you think he just came out to look for you or he's looking for. Well, I was in my ego walking.

[Mike Posner]

I was in my ego.

[Oprah Winfrey]

Yeah, yeah.

[Mike Posner]

So my ego's going, oh, he's here to get a picture with me or something. Right? And he wasn't there for that reason at all. So there's more. And I remember this question that my friend taught me. If you're ever trapped in the small talk and you want to go deeper, ask this question. I said, if I pray for you, what should I pray for? He takes a second and his eyes go down to the ground. He said, mike, five years ago, my father died from drinking. And three years ago, my only sibling, my big brother, who was like my rock, he died from drinking. And three months ago, my mom died from drinking. So if you pray for me, pray for my sobriety because I'm the only one left. He turns around, he says, wait. He darts across the road again, scaring the daylights out of me. He reaches in the F350, pulls out this little leather satchel, comes back across Route 66, presses it in my palm, and he says, sweet grass and sage. This will keep you safe on our land. Before I even understood what was happening, he was back in his car. He drove away the west, the way I was going. And he put a fist out the window like this. His way of saying, keep going. He disappears into the horizon. I'm just like you are. Now I'm crying. He wasn't there to get something from me. He was there to give something to me. And often these people that we think are challenging to us, they're there to give us some kind of gift. And it's like, well, well, well, he. He's on the walk of his life and he has not given up. So I'm going to do the same to the best of my ability.

[Oprah Winfrey]

Thank you for sharing that story. Thank you for sharing who you've become and helping us all to feel that we can get a little closer to being whole ourselves. I hear you're going to sing another song.

[Mike Posner]

Yeah, I would love to.

[Oprah Winfrey]

Okay.

[Mike Posner]

I would love to. Thank you.

[Oprah Winfrey]

Okay, what's the song and what's the story behind the lyrics?

[Mike Posner]

Okay, so this song is called A Beautiful Day. Oh, it's called A Beautiful Day.

[Oprah Winfrey]

I hope he's kept his sobriety.

[Mike Posner]

I hope so too.

[Oprah Winfrey]

But you have no way of knowing because you didn't exchange numbers or.

[Mike Posner]

We didn't. We exchanged sage and sweet grass.

[Oprah Winfrey]

That's great.

[Mike Posner]

You know, I have a feeling he's doing okay.

[Oprah Winfrey]

I hope so. Take us out.

[Mike Posner]

Okay. It's a beautiful day to be alive February in la Such a vibe Got a hundred different moods from from one day to the next.

[Oprah Winfrey]

And I've seen.

[Mike Posner]

A lot of things but still I know I'm blessed. Cause life is not a checklist I'm sorry to my exes Keep checking all my messages Done being a pessimist the old way wasn't working I know I'm far from perfect I gotta put that work it's time for a change It's a beautiful thing to be alive It's a beautiful day to be a lie so if you've got love then give it away here's to the joy and the pain It's a beautiful day to be alive now there's a part of me underneath the part that I let.

[Oprah Winfrey]

People see Mike Posner is already off on his next great adventure, this time hiking the Continental Divide Trail.

[Mike Posner]

I'm here packing for the Continental Divide Trail.

[Oprah Winfrey]

That is the natural ridge that splits America's river system. On one side, water flows to the east. On the other to the west, out to the Pacific Ocean. It stretches 3,000 miles from Canada to Mexico. Mike says it's one of the most challenging and grueling trails in the United States and takes about four months to complete this time. His intention is to unite people in a divided world. He says he's fueled by and walking toward love.

[Mike Posner]

If you've got love, then give it away. Here's to the joy and the pain. So we're going to be averaging about 30 miles a day. That's an ultra marathon every day for 100 days. Hey.

[Oprah Winfrey]

Woohoo.

[Mike Posner]

It's a beautiful day to be alive.

[Oprah Winfrey]

Wow. Thank you, Mike Posner. Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you for sharing your music, for sharing your journey, for sharing your soul with us. You are just. You are the light. Thank you, thank you, bro.

[Mike Posner]

I feel the same about you.

[Oprah Winfrey]

You can find Mike's online community. It's called inner bloomike posner.com and what are y' all doing over there?

[Mike Posner]

You know, we just have a call basically every Thursday. It's a free call. The community's free. And it's just people trying to join in the light. So it's about an hour to call. We do music, we dance, we do breath work, we do meditation. And people are trying to walk the path we talked about earlier. The path, when you first get on, is lonely. So we try to make a space for all of us building a community. It's a space for miracles and transformation.

[Oprah Winfrey]

That's wonderful. Inner bloom. My thanks to you listening and watching our conversation. I think Mike's five lessons are listen. Words to live by. I'll see you next week. Go well, you can subscribe to the Oprah Podcast on YouTube and follow us on Spotify, Apple podcasts or wherever you listen. I'll see you next week. Thanks, everybody.