Five Things to Stop in Your Twenties

Show open

Produced intro voiceover leads into the live open from the Pathway Studios in Johnston. A host lets the younger co-host (addressed in the audio as "Bubba") tell a joke, thanks Dan, and asks that the laugh track not be turned on yet.

Dandelion joke cold open

• What does a dandelion eat?

The younger co-host tells a dandelion joke ('What does a dandelion eat? ... Dandigazelles?') as the cold-open bit; the hosts react that it made them feel sick, and one host notes he had eaten rough pizza.

Becoming men: farmer's market, gardening, and a terrible joke

The younger co-host (addressed as "Bubba"/"Buva") recounts a friend's dandelion joke from a day of gardening, then describes a trip to the farmer's market with friends for produce, seeds, and plants, and being proud of a buddy calmly fathering his son through a tantrum. He muses that between that, changing his truck's air filter at O'Reilly's, and doing yard work, he and his friends have 'finally become men.' The hosts riff on whether unfunny people get credit for bad jokes, and one host ribs him for buying kohlrabi at the farmer's market.

Tonight's rundown: three articles and Mike's perspective

• What are the five things you should stop doing in your twenties?

A host does the station ID, plugs the video version of the show (lifefromthepath.org / YouTube) so audio listeners can see his visible disappointment, then previews the night: a Relevant Magazine article ('five things to stop doing in your twenties'), a Family Radio update after Harold Camping's failed rapture prediction, and an article on smartphones as Bilbo's ring from Lord of the Rings. The hosts detour into the pronunciation of 'memes' (not 'mems'), and a host says he had an epiphany he tried to shape into 'Pope-style advice' but abandoned it as hubris, offering 'Mike's perspective' instead.

Stop seeking everyone's approval

• What are the five things you should stop doing in your twenties?

The hosts read and discuss item one of the Relevant list: stop looking for everyone's approval. The article warns against changing yourself to please everyone and tying self-worth to social-media likes. The younger co-host pleads guilty as charged and says the last couple of months have changed him; the hosts agree not to let others determine your future or play the comparison game.

Stop settling for the easy way

• Am I guilty of settling for the easy way?

The hosts discuss item two, 'stop settling for the easy way,' and the related 'stop thinking the life you want will come without intentionality.' One host gives the younger co-host a pass, then shares how his wife and kids went to Montana for a week and, left home alone, he became highly intentional - installing garbage disposals, tilling the garden, and building a paver platform for the garbage cans late at night before rain - realizing he is capable of far more than he usually does. They agree the point applies to everyone, not just people in twenties.

Be less busy: busyness, hipster hobbies, and knowing your lane

Unpacking the article's 'be less busy' subsection - having too much to do can be a form of passivity - one host argues busyness is a badge of honor and riffs on ditching a gas-station rewards card and throwing away anything untouched for a year (except photo albums), while the younger co-host admits he cannot say no and has piled on smoking meat, tea culture, and other hipster hobbies. One host suggests sticking to your lane and leaving expertise to experts ('hands and feet moving to the body'), the younger co-host counters that his twenties are for exploring, and the host concedes: the twenties are the time to figure out what you will and won't do with your time.

Stop expecting healthy relationships to just happen

On the list's relationship item - do away with casual dating, leave toxic people alone - the younger co-host, speaking as a college student, delivers a fired-up monologue calling casual dating 'the most obnoxious and disrespectful thing on the planet,' arguing that 'Netflix and chill' culture destroys young women's self-esteem and that he sees them as 'daughters of my god.'

List wrap-up: Relevant used to be more relevant

The final list item ('stop expecting your ideal future to happen without work') is judged a repeat, and the hosts conclude the five things are really two. They critique Relevant Magazine for phoning it in over the last ten years and the pressure to pad listicles, joking the article should have been called 'stuff everybody could do better.'

Family Radio after Harold Camping

• How is Family Radio doing nearly four years after Harold Camping's death?

The hosts read a Christian Post update: nearly four years after Family Radio founder Harold Camping's death, the station is on the mend - donations up, and Answers in Genesis added to programming after Camping's 05/21/2011 rapture prediction failed and he retired. They joke that steady donations may be old folks who never cancelled bank drafts, confess their own forgotten gym memberships and streaming subscriptions, and riff on the prestige of the MySpace top-10 friends list. They note Answers in Genesis is 'the ARC people' and wonder what the radio program is called.

Mike's perspective: labels, identity, and loving people you don't understand

• How can I better love people whose life experiences I don't understand?

The host addressed in the audio as Mike delivers 'Mike's perspective': reading the book I Am N about persecuted Christians and hearing TV criticism about race in America, he admits he is bad at loving people whose lives he doesn't understand - a black man in America, a Muslim American, a woman - and is tired of his first thought being the stereotype he grew up with. The hosts discuss how broad descriptions ('you don't know what it's like to be X') can be both true and used as weapons, how labels let people attack faceless groups instead of knowing individuals, and how Christianity uniquely calls for giving up personal identity into Christ rather than asserting uniqueness - illustrated by a Brad Pitt GQ quote reducing Christianity to dos and don'ts. The younger co-host adds the college view: campus culture splits between people militant about redefining identity and people too scared to talk about it, citing a heated marriage-and-family-class debate over gender and orientation.

Close: give up identity, point to Christ

Wrapping the identity discussion, a host says he'd rather know people as individuals than as groups because his mind defaults to the easy label, and defines himself by 'the people I hang out with and my savior' - trying to give up his own identity and point toward Christ's.