EP 150: Luke Mehall — How Climbing Gave Him His Life, Creating The Climbing Zine, and Sustaining Creative Work

Luke Mehall is the creator of The Climbing Zine and The Dirtbag State of Mind podcast. In this episode, we take turns interviewing each other. I ask Luke why he started The Climbing Zine, what lessons climbing has taught him, what themes connect the stories he selects, and how to sustain creative work. He asks me about my origin story with The Nugget, what all of these interviews have brought to my life, and the difficulties I’ve faced along the way.

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We are supported by these amazing BIG GIVERS:

• Leo Franchi, Michael Roy, David Lahaie, Robert Freehill, Jeremiah Johnson, Scott Donahue, Eli Conlee, Skyler Maxwell, Craig Lee, Mark and Julie Calhoun, and Yinan Liu

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Show Notes:

thenuggetclimbing.com/episodes/luke-mehall

Nuggets:

0:05:18 – What Luke learned from Tim (the owner of Zia Taqueria) about business

0:10:48 – Why Luke started The Climbing Zine

0:13:11 – What characterizes a zine?

0:17:59 – The theme that connects all of the stories Luke chooses for The Climbing Zine

0:20:43 – Finding authors and stories, and why Luke almost never assigns stories/topics

0:22:46 – How climbing gave Luke his life and saved him from substance abuse and depression

0:26:37 – Why you can’t rely just on climbing for your happiness

0:27:55 – Sharing vulnerable stories that others can relate to

0:29:26 – Luke’s vision for his brand, and how he hopes to share his personal story through film

0:34:53 – How to protect the thing you love when your creative work becomes your job

0:38:57 – How Luke uses therapy to talk about his goals, and having a hype man

0:42:13 – Steven’s origin story with The Nugget, and what I am trying to do by sharing people’s stories

0:50:15 – What all of these interviews have brought to my life

0:55:01 – The most challenging parts of building The Nugget into a sustainable business

1:02:19 – Desiring routine and seasons

1:04:27 – My favorite podcasting moments

1:08:19 – Sustaining the effort, paying it forward, and closing thoughts from both me and Luke