Ep 8: Storyteller. Poet. Healing, Connection, and the Courage to Live Fully || Andrew Riis

Most people spend their whole lives running from the dark. Andrew ran toward it.A poet, storyteller, and farm kid from Canada, Andrew has walked through grief, darkness, and seasons of life that would break most people. And instead of rushing past them, he learned to sit in them. Trust them. Let them change him.In this episode, he shares a philosophy rooted in nature, ancestry, and a radical refusal to live with a closed heart. The kind of conversation that makes you want to slow down, breathe, and actually feel your life again.This one's going to stay with you.WHAT WE COVERThe muddy river on a Canadian farm that shaped everything Andrew believes about being aliveWhy feeling empty despite having everything traces back to one thing: our relationship with deathWhy connection isn't something to create. It's something to return toWhat nature actually teaches us about rest, grief, and trusting the dark seasons of our livesThe tidal river moment that redefined faith and resilience for AndrewSimple practices to come back to yourself when the darkness feels like it won't liftWhy Andrew is finally ready to tell his own story and the one line that called him out: "Stop being willfully blind to your own truth"TIMESTAMPS00:00 — Andrew and Mahdieh open: green energy, farm life, and who Andrew really is01:19 — “A soul so in love with the sacred opportunity to be alive”03:14 — Why staying soul-connected matters: ancestors, war, and peace as a birthright06:01 — The root cause of modern disconnection: our relationship with death and control09:23 — How consumer culture invented the self and sold us safety10:03 — Connection is something to return to, not create (the leaf analogy)11:32 — Why Andrew looks to nature: trees, rivers, and what’s stood the test of time13:45 — The leaf that’s always red and orange — what nature teaches us about hope15:08 — Rest as the missing piece of becoming: learning to honour the winter16:26 — The tidal river: trusting that the ocean will come to you20:21 — How a decade of telling others the world is friendly was actually Andrew convincing himself25:03 — What to do when you want to heal but don’t know where to start27:44 — Breathwork, nature walks, and the five-things practice29:21 — Stop colonising your own emotions — meet your feelings with curiosity34:00 — When you face the mirror, magic starts: synchronicities, the stranger named Peter37:39 — Beyond overcoming: what’s possible when you stop defining yourself by your trauma41:06 — What season Andrew is in now and why spring is finally arriving44:19 — “Stop willfully blind to your own truth”: the moment he chose storytelling over another agency46:28 — “I don’t want to die with my song unsung”CONNECT WITH ANDREW RIISLINKEDIN — https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrewpriis/ INSTAGRAM — https://www.instagram.com/andrew.riis/CONNECT WITH MAHDIEHINSTAGRAM — https://www.instagram.com/mahdieh.rassafiani/FOLLOW YOUR NEXT STEP PODCASTINSTAGRAM — https://www.instagram.com/yournextstep.pod/TIKTOK — https://www.tiktok.com/@yournextstep.podYOUTUBE — https://www.youtube.com/@YourNextStepPodcast