The One Life Show

Episode Summary: A rarely-told, difficult personal story — finding a dead body while working a lawn-care job in New Hampshire, and the encounter with a grieving father that changed how Mike sees everything since. The message: you only have one life, and there's no better time than now to create the one you want.

What You'll Learn

• A true, difficult story from Mike's lawn-care job days, and the encounter that changed him
• Why the way one grieving father responded left a lasting impression on how to treat people
• A challenge to do an honest self-audit: are you living your own life, or someone else's version of it
• Why kindness and consideration matter just as much online as in person

The Story

About 20 years ago, Mike and his dog drove a 1972 VW van from Missoula, Montana to Canterbury, New Hampshire, to live with a college roommate and his wife in a farmhouse in the woods. Right after college, Mike had traded a cum laude English degree for a busboy job and various other work out West — making good money, genuinely happy, but with a constant internal voice pushing for more, never fully satisfied.

Out West. After college, a few good years out West having fun, still wanting to put that degree to use somehow. Feeling a bit lost, a college friend with a "real job" suggested New Hampshire — maybe a university job, maybe Boston. So Mike and the dog headed east.

The Job. A corporate lawn care company turned out to be the only "real" job Mike could find that didn't require dressing up — salary, benefits, but casual, with gas covered and plenty of field time. His first real car (one where the AC and speedometer both worked) came with it. The job wasn't bad — Mike saw every corner of southern New Hampshire and only had to be in the office a couple hours a day. It confirmed something he already suspected: he's a one-man band, and the traditional career-to-retirement path was never going to have his name on it. He works for experience and knowledge.

The Day I Will Never Forget

One fall morning, Mike headed to a small coastal town on the New Hampshire/Massachusetts border for his first job of the day. Working in the backyard, he spotted what looked like a lawn chair with a scarecrow or a dozing older man in it. Moving closer to avoid startling anyone, he realized there was a shotgun propped between the figure's legs — and then saw the rest.

It was real. A 23-year-old military veteran had taken his own life in the backyard of his father's house. Mike walked, numb, to a machine shop across the street and calmly told the workers there what he'd found. They confirmed it.

The Father

Mike leaned against the work truck, blank, waiting for police. Then the father arrived — sprinting from his car, through the front door, yelling "No." Moments later, he walked back out, composed himself, and approached Mike directly. He asked Mike's name. He asked if Mike was okay. He said nobody should have to witness something like that, thanked him for getting help, gave him a handshake-hug, and apologized before going back inside.

Read the complete show notes and resources on mikemurphy.ai.