Parker Yablon: What's going on Elevation Nation coming off a great episode this week with Betsy Kaplan. She's the founder of grief, sweat and tears, an incredible community bringing together people who are grieving through physical movement in New York City. And she's obviously a program director, experience camps, doing incredible stuff in PR. If you haven't seen that episode, definitely check it out. Sam is back from one of my favorite places in the world, Puerto Rico. So we're going to recap. a little bit of that today and how his solo trip was and I have to say it, if you're looking on YouTube, my fingers are all messed up. I got six stitches playing too good of basketball, Sam. You know what? Like that's what it's come to. I've like gone so hard. The pickup basketball at Equinox is all I got these days. And you know, I went a little too hard, six stitches in my hand.

Sam Panitch: ⁓ I give you a lot of credit. You have been bawling a lot lately. How does it feel to have something that I would say is like your new passion be taken away from you? I guess it hasn't really hit yet. It's only been a day. Talk to you in a week.

Parker Yablon: It's been a day. I think we'll have to see. think I'm on the IR right now for about two weeks or so. One actually Equinox basketball courts are closed this week starting today through Sunday. They're doing a charity event. Great timing and I'm gone next week. So before we know it, I'll heal. I'll be back better than ever. But yeah, new hobby. It's it's been cool. I'm actually nervous when I move where I'm going to play next.

Sam Panitch: Okay, good timing to get hurt. Yeah.

Parker Yablon: So that is something that I'm gonna have to figure out. But yeah, it's been cool, dude. I think I'm gonna have to. I wonder if the talent in Upper West Side of New York is the same in Hoboken. We'll have to see. Yeah, I'm sure. I'm sure it's gonna be great. The talent here, I'm the smallest on the court and I gotta earn my stripes, dude.

Sam Panitch: I get that. You're have to join a men's league, man. Yes. Absolutely. There you go. Okay. Good. I love it. Well, Parker, you brought up a new concept that I've never heard before for today's episode, I guess in honor of my Puerto Rico trip a bit. You're calling this hush fatality. Where did you even hear that man? What is that?

Parker Yablon: Yeah, so hush mentality is like a, it does. It sounds like a little bit of food. Kind of sounds like a, I think of hush puppies. You ever have those? Yeah. ⁓ you know, Gemini are our favorite friend came up with this concept, but this trend is a thing I I've been reading about it a little bit and, ⁓ Hilton actually, and a magazine travel tomorrow.

Sam Panitch: Sounds like a food. Yeah, of course.

Parker Yablon: shows that the number one motivation for travel right now in 2026 is not to go party. It's not to go crazy. It's not even to go travel and experience a ton of things. It's simply to rest and recharge. They found that more people are traveling to rest and recharge, opposed to be able to like go, go, go, which I found was very interesting. And for you going to Puerto Rico, I know it was fully rest and recharge for you, but you also did it alone.

Sam Panitch: Yeah.

Parker Yablon: So talk us through that. What did it look like for you to be there in another place, in an island in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean? What was it like?

Sam Panitch: I actually, it wasn't rest and recharge at all. I didn't sit on the beach. The only time I read my Kindle was when I was waiting for my surf lesson to start. I did very little resting. And I think, I was talking with my mom about this. I think because I was there solo, which, I mean, we can do the whole episode on that concept alone, I was struggling a bit to figure out my own head, right?

Parker Yablon: Okay.

Sam Panitch: So there were times when I was tired, but instead of saying, you know what, I'm going to go take a little nap or relax on the roof or sit and read for a bit or sit by the beach. That to me was, I was confusing being tired with being uncomfortable, being alone. And so anytime I got to those points where I was feeling tired and I wanted to go back to my, you know, Airbnb and sit and be inside and not be near people, I was like, ⁓ it's because you're scared to be alone. You're scared. You don't want to be out in public by yourself anymore. You're tired of that. And so was tough for me. You know, if you're with someone else and you're both after a long day, you're tired. Maybe you want to go sit back and take a nap. You have that other person that confirms with you like, yeah, let's take a quick break. For me, I kept challenging myself of like, ⁓ if I stop going, if I stop doing that's me hiding from being alone and really embracing the city and being on vacation. And so I did very little resting. I did a shit ton of walking and exploring and time by myself just walking around and listening to the sounds of the city. ⁓ So, yeah, but I feel rested. I feel recharged. But it was certainly a challenging type of vacation.

Parker Yablon: Yeah, it's funny you bring that up because I kind of had something similar the other day. JJ was gone and I was like, do I want to come home and just eat and sit on the couch and maybe read to your point or do some more work or go out and maybe do like a solo dinner, sit at a bar and just hang out. And it's like, I imagine for you too, you're like, okay, I'm here. I'm in Puerto Rico. I got to take advantage of this.

Sam Panitch: Yeah.

Parker Yablon: But you know what, at the same time, like I'm here, like no one's telling me I have to go travel and walk around and do 5,000 more steps. Why can't I go sit in my hotel room and just hang out? Because that sounds enjoyable. It's like we're our own internal, I mean it's almost like the two people that we wear on our shoulders. It's the one that's saying, Sam, go, go, go do, like please go, go. Or it's just like, dude, just like go chill out, it's all right. This is your vacation. Just do what you want. Do what makes you happy. And I give kudos to you to pushing yourself to know and have the self-awareness to know that you felt the tension with you wouldn't be happy going back to your hotel room and sitting and reading at Kindle because you think it would be a waste of time.

Sam Panitch: Yeah, I was kind of like, can do that in DC when the weather's nice, you know, like, let me go keep exploring, keep meeting people, keep trying new things. But overall, man, you know, my first solo trip, I know, our buddy Miles has done a lot of solo traveling Parker, I don't think you've done any solo trips beyond a work trip, right?

Parker Yablon: anywhere. Not like that, where it's completely going to another place. You know, one day maybe there'll be opportunity. However, I mean, I told you the other day, was like, feel like that ship had sailed in a sense, unfortunately, or maybe it hasn't. But, you know, it's hard to just say, hey, I'm going to go dip for three days, four days by myself. But I'm jealous. I was sitting here. I was like, I'm jealous of you.

Sam Panitch: Yeah. Yeah.

Parker Yablon: because it sounds incredible.

Sam Panitch: Yeah. mean, it's one of those things where, it was mostly incredible, but there were certainly some moments of, ⁓ discomfort, not like badness, not like, ⁓ this is a tough vacation, but more just discomfort. And I knew at those moments that this was a new skill that I needed to develop and why I was outside of my comfort zone and pushing myself, right. Sitting in a bar by yourself, eating dinner and not looking at your phone. It's hard, especially when the bartenders are busy and not like hanging out and talking to you. Right. So what do you do? You sit and you read the menu a hundred times. You look around and you look at the vibes and like hope that someone comes and sits next to you and that you can talk or you just be with your own mind. And so it's just that like awkwardness of, really want to look at my phone. Like I'm feeling uncomfortable. Let me look at my phone and trying not to allow myself to do that. I think helped me grow a lot.

Parker Yablon: try to take in the... being present. So I. I was going say my question to you, though, is like, is that anxiety, that dilemma that you're facing, is it worth it than just saying, you know, I'm going to look at my phone and I'm just going to have the peace. like, that's the crazy thing. That's the dilemma. It's a dilemma because we sit there and it's like, ⁓ I'm going to put this thing away. I don't want to look at it. I'm going to try to be observing.

Sam Panitch: ⁓ That being said, pretty much every dinner. ⁓ go ahead. Yeah, I do. I think it is.

Parker Yablon: Or should you just say, screw it, I know this thing is going to give me joy during this meal. That's it's such a hard dilemma.

Sam Panitch: No, because it doesn't give you it doesn't know I think it's not hard at all because it doesn't give you joy. It gives you comfort. It's a difference. Your phone isn't giving you joy. It's not giving you happiness. It's not giving you a new experience. It's a shield that you get to put on to make yourself feel comfortable. It's a blanket. It's a distraction that allows you to not think about where you're at or not feel awkward or that people are staring at you. So no, it really like wasn't a ⁓ challenge. It was it was more of an instinct to grab it.

Parker Yablon: comfort. Yes, that's a good point. That's a good point.

Sam Panitch: But I knew I didn't want to do it. I knew I didn't want to sit there on my phone. And as soon as I didn't do that, people would sit down next to me and I'd have conversations. My first meal, I met a couple that was visiting from Philadelphia, right? They were out to dinner. Talk to them about the podcast, talk to them about life, talk to them about food. They were great, right? Followed each other on Instagram. Great people. My next dinner was able to meet a couple guys on an excursion who hopefully they're listening, amazing guys, Brian and Justin. We had a full day, didn't know anybody. went by myself to El Yunque. Met these two guys that were on a trip, one in New York, one in San Francisco. both work in tech and we became buddies and they were kind enough to invite me. They said after the rainforest tour, we're to go snorkeling. I tagged along with them. Then we got drinks. We all showered. We met up for dinner and then we sat on my on my roof at my Airbnb and hung out and talked about life and that was great. Met cool people. Next day was anxious again because those guys flew out that night and then I was by myself again and I spent the morning a beautiful morning alone and then I took a surf lesson. I thought there'd be people in my surf class. I was the only one that showed up. So I got a private surf lesson. Yeah. Was I good? No, but I tried.

Parker Yablon: Were there waves? Waves can get pretty serious out in San Juan.

Sam Panitch: They were pretty small. They were good beginner waves. It was hard. Yeah, and so you have this thing on solo trips where it's this ebb and flow of like meeting people, wanting to meet people, wanting to be alone, being alone, right? And it's kind of just riding those waves of emotions that I think was a difficult challenge, but.

Parker Yablon: That's good. It is hard. It's fun.

Sam Panitch: At the end of the day, Parker, like, I'm really proud of myself for trying to go outside my comfort zone. I mean, my first night, my flight got canceled at Dulles. I ended up staying at the sketchy-ass airport hotel. I was close because there were no other flights that would have worked. But yeah, it was, was, you know, what do you do when things don't go exactly according to plan or exactly how you've pictured them in your mind? And that was a really good challenge for me. ⁓

Parker Yablon: I thought you were gonna cancel your trip.

Sam Panitch: to kind of just go more with the flow. So I'm glad I'm working on that skill set. It was a really meaningful experience for me. ⁓ The whole time I was thinking, would I want to do this again? Would I not want to do this again? Was this fun? Was this not fun? And I think beyond being fully fun, I think it was good for me. And I think a lot of times people don't go on vacation because it's good for them. They go on vacation because they want to indulge. But I think one of the things you and I love about travel ⁓ is the exposure to different cultures, the exposure to new experiences and going outside your comfort zone. And this was one way to certainly do that.

Parker Yablon: Well, I'm proud of you. It sounds like it was a great trip. Obviously a place that I've gone to many times that you finally got to see the beauty of, which is very cool. And I know you also saw some people down there as well that we know. And I think it's cool. I think it's fine. ⁓ There's no world where you're going to convince me that being with friends on travel is not better than going solo.

Sam Panitch: Thanks, man. Yeah.

Parker Yablon: because being with friends on travel is amazing. And you know what? I won't know because I haven't done solo. But if I was going to do a solo trip, Sam, I don't know if I would go to a city. I think I would do like a camp, like an overnight camping trip or something. Like literally like rent a campsite in the woods and like pop a tent up. And I feel like that would be really fun. We should do that. Like forget solo. We should do the try that one night. No phone.

Sam Panitch: Hmm. I don't know, Parker, think it, I know you can't really do a full.

Parker Yablon: We'll go and ruck our own food. We'll like, we'll make a fire. We'll do it.

Sam Panitch: That's like that show alone that I'm watching right now. You should do just a solo day trip, Go to like Quebec or like Canada or something.

Parker Yablon: ⁓ I mean I've had. Yeah, it's just like, it's hard. It's like, why would I go to Canada for day when I live in New York City? But it's a good point. lot of things happening. Maybe the opportunity will present itself to just say, you know what, I'm gonna go and do, but I'm glad you did it. It'll be interesting to see if you do it again. And I just...

Sam Panitch: Why not? Why would you not? Thanks, man.

Parker Yablon: It's cool to hear that it went well and that you also met people while you were there It's funny back to my story about last week when I was sitting at the counter Having a little bit of sushi at the bar. I was like you I was like, I'm gonna try to my phone away guys sitting next to me He was by himself. The rest were like couples and like whatever they were doing their thing And so, you know, I was trying to spark conversation the toro hand roll comes out to him and I'm like damn that thing looks really good How is it? He looks at me He said, good. And that was all I got out of him the whole night. And I was just like, God damn, like what a miserable dude. Sorry, maybe he wasn't miserable. Maybe he was going through something, but literally all I got was one word, good. And I was just like, okay, ⁓ I know my place here.

Sam Panitch: New York Man. Yeah, that's Alrighty then. That's tough. No, I love it. I appreciate the kind words and yeah, if you haven't tried being solo, even just a solo day in your own city, go be by yourself. It's good for you. Until next week, elevation nation. Peace.