In this week’s episode of In Search of More, I sit down with Dr. Charlie Powell — and this one really stayed with me.Charlie’s lived a life most people couldn’t make up. He started in biomedical engineering, then became a combat medic in the Gulf War, a trauma ER doctor, cosmetic surgeon, patent holder, successful businessman. From the outside, it looks like strength and success. But underneath it all, he was holding a lot — PTSD, exhaustion, and the emotional weight of everything he witnessed on the front lines.What I love about Charlie is that he didn’t just accept the system. He called bullshit. He saw how broken traditional medicine was — especially when it came to trauma and mental health — and went looking for more. He ended up diving into plant medicine, psychedelics, and all kinds of alternative healing. Not because it was trendy. Because nothing else worked.We talked about forgiveness, about parenting, about how even addiction and pain can become teachers if you’re willing to stop running and actually feel. This episode is a reminder that healing isn’t about fixing what’s broken — it’s about facing what hurts, and letting it teach you who you really are.Later in the episode, Charlie opens up about a documentary he’s working on called Healing Heroes: No Mind Left Behind. It started small — just him trying to connect with a few vets — but it’s grown into this beautiful, raw look at what it really means to carry trauma and still choose life. The film is all about veterans and first responders finding healing through connection, conversation, and yes, psychedelics. But most of all, it’s about not doing it alone.If you’ve ever felt like your pain isolates you, like no one could understand — this one’s for you. It’s a call to stop hiding and start healing.See you on the other side,Eli

In this episode of In Search Of More, I sit down with Roovy Shapiro for one of the realest, hardest conversations I’ve had on the podcast. Roovy talked about depression, suicidal thoughts, and growing up with deep emotional neglect. Not in a dramatic way—just straight up, the truth. The kind most people carry around quietly because saying it out loud feels like betrayal.What we kept bumping up against was this impossible thing—how do you speak honestly about your life when your truth might hurt your family. When healing means saying stuff that might offend the people who raised you. We’re not trying to shame anyone or burn it all down. But silence doesn’t heal. So what do you do with that?Roovy didn’t come on here with a five-step plan or some perfect Instagram-ready version of healing. He talked about what it looked like to fall apart after yeshiva, to hit rock bottom during COVID, and to slowly piece himself back together. What stuck with me was how he saw it—not as “I’m broken” but “this is what I was taught, and I can unlearn it.”We got into parenting, marriage, what it means to try and show up different than the generation before us. Not to be better. Just to stop handing down pain we never asked for.This episode doesn’t have easy answers. That’s not the point. The point is we’re finally asking the questions. Out loud.See you on the other side,Eli

I pulled this one from the archives. This conversation with my friend Ryan Carter was recorded more than a year ago. At the time, I wasn’t sure if I’d share it. Was my relationship ready for it? Was there enough here to make it worth posting? I kept coming back to it. And honestly, the timing couldn’t be more appropriate. I needed to hear what I said back then, because I’ve fallen into the exact pattern I’m calling out in this episode.This one is about what marriage actually demands from us. The kind of personal growth few other things require. It brings up the wounds we might otherwise avoid and forces us to either face them or settle for something less.We talked about learning to communicate, rebuilding trust, staying emotionally present, and the pressure of being providers without going numb. For men, that often means not withdrawing, not checking out, not losing ourselves in anger, and not silencing what we really feel just to keep the peace. For women, it can show up as stepping into control mode, trying to manage the relationship instead of staying open to receive. Both patterns create distance.The real work in a relationship is staying present within it. That’s what this conversation is about. Two friends being honest about what it takes to grow through the hard stuff.See you on the other side,Eli