Noah May: From Breakdown to Breakthrough

Wendy & Rich 0:01
Coming to you from the Freedom Federal Credit Union Studios, Hartford County Living Presents, Conversations with Rich Bennett. 

Rich Bennett 0:27
Today's guest brings a level of honesty encouraged that stops you in your tracks. No May has been fighting battles most people never see. Depression since he was 13, anxiety diagnosed at 18, and moments in his life when the weight of it all nearly took him out. But instead of staying silent, he chose to use his voice. Noah is now the host of the lethal venom podcast along with two others where he speaks unfiltered truth about mental health, life, and the struggles so many folks quietly carry. He's a proud Auburn University graduate from the great State of Alabama, a storyteller at Hart, and someone who knows firsthand what it's like to feel like an outcast to feel not good enough and to fight his way back from the edge. What I love about Noah is that he's taken every painful chapter and turned it into purpose. He's become a voice for anyone who's ever felt alone, misunderstood, or afraid to open up. I'm telling you right now, those of you listening you're going to get a lot out of this. We've talked about mental health a lot on this podcast, and a lot of times how it leads to addiction. So today, we're not talking about mental health too. We're also going to be talking about his podcast, but we're also going to be talking about survival, resilience. And what happens when someone refuses to let their darkest moments define them? So Noah, first of all, I got an ass, man. How you doing today? 

Noah May 2:16
I'm doing really good. I'm doing really good. 

Rich Bennett 2:19
I have to ask you this because before we start it, I noticed a tattoo on your arm. What's the tattoo? 

Noah May 2:28
So I have the word fighter on my left arm. 

Rich Bennett 2:32
I love that. 

Noah May 2:34
And I have a survivor on my right arm. 

Rich Bennett 2:37
That is freaking awesome, man. And I'm taking it because of the anxiety, depression, and everything else. 

Noah May 2:47
Yeah. They kind of play a role in the story a little bit. I'm down the line. So I can go more in depth about the tattoos and the meetings behind them. 

Rich Bennett 2:58
Go for it, man. The show is all yours. 

Noah May 3:03
So as you kind of have mentioned, I have been dealing with the mental health struggles for, but technically 

Rich Bennett 3:12
decade now, 

Noah May 3:12
a 

Rich Bennett 3:12
right, 

Noah May 3:12
it's been almost a decade. And when I was 13, that's kind of when a lot of my mental health struggles began. I got diagnosed with it. I was officially diagnosed with it at 14, but I showed signs early at 13. 

Rich Bennett 3:29
Of depression? 

Noah May 3:31
Yes. 

Rich Bennett 3:32
Okay. 

Noah May 3:32
So it's kind of started from... my grandmother was real sick at the time. She got diagnosed with Alzheimer's and dementia. And so, that sickness kind of did... did me in a little bit about... for depression. I also kind of had... started becoming a little rebellious during that time as well. 

Rich Bennett 3:57
I 

Noah May 3:57
kind of started being a... not doing well in school. I had a really bad porn addiction at the time. I was hanging around really. Kids that were bad influences on me. 

Rich Bennett 4:06
Right. 

Noah May 4:07
And everything kind of just took its toll on me. 

My... 

It's the following year in 2016, when I was 14, my mom ended up catching me. With the porn addiction and we had like a... I kind of talked to her for about two hours. 

Rich Bennett 4:27
Wow. 

Noah May 4:27
It's built everything for two hours about just the past year. Essentially what was going on at the time. What I was really going through. And she said, "Okay, we'll... take you to the doctor and we'll see what he has to say and see if we can get this figured out." 

Rich Bennett 4:47
Right. 

Noah May 4:48
So I went to the doctor and he said it's no question you have depression. I mean, there's just no is obvious that you have it. Everything was just red alarm, everything so he put me also in depression medicine and basically for the rest of high school career, this was kind of going into high schools, so my first year of high school was with the depression medicine. Essentially all throughout high school it was just kind of a battle with depression. It 

Rich Bennett 5:23
my 

Noah May 5:23
was a, I have a special form, it's called clinical depression and of course, anyone that doesn't know, um, clinical depression comes and goes in waves. There's 

Rich Bennett 5:34
Yeah. 

Noah May 5:35
not really a, you can't really depict when it's going to happen, so throughout high school that was just kind of what I dealt with and then, um, I turned 18, that's kind of went things I had to get introduced as well. I was a senior in high school at the time, it was the 2020, this was about a month for the pandemic started, 

Rich Bennett 5:57
when 

Noah May 5:59
and it was about February of that year. I started having these weird nauseous spells to where I would actually like have full on. Vomit allot. 

Rich Bennett 6:11
Wow! 

Noah May 6:11
We initially thought, we initially thought, oh, I have the flu, I have some going to say it in this. We just thought it was something simple as that. 

Rich Bennett 6:19
They didn't think it was like side effects from the medication you were on? 

Noah May 6:24
Well at point, I had been taking the medication for four years. 

Rich Bennett 6:27
Oh okay, 

Noah May 6:29
so we didn't have any suspected 

thing about it, being anything with the medication at all, and my medicine had not changed, so I was still taking the same medicine, same pills at the time, so I, we were kind of just out. We went to a doctor, he didn't see anything out of the ordinary or alarming, and so he said, I think prescribed me some medicine and we kind of just went on. Well this kind of kept going on for a month, off and on. I was in and out of school because the nausea was so bad right, I got really sick from just whatever it was that I couldn't go to school. I stayed out of school. I think between January and the time I got diagnosed, I was probably, I missed about a month's worth of school. 

Rich Bennett 7:27
Wow, holy shit! 

Noah May 7:30
Because of how frequent I was having to stay out. We started having questions because this was just so normal. It usually would happen 

in the morning before I would go and get ready to leave to go to school, or just what happened in the middle of the night, about 1 2 3 a. m. in the morning. And I looked at my mom and I said, I don't know what this is. It's not the flu, because I don't have fever, I don't have chills, I can't. I'm not having trouble keeping food down. This was always a middle of the night early in the 

Rich Bennett 8:11
situation. 

Noah May 8:11
morning 

It was just a weird 

Rich Bennett 8:17
feeling. 

Noah May 8:18
And my mom said, well, do you think it's your depression acting up? And I said, well, I've never had this kind of feeling from it, so I don't want to say it's the depression. 

Rich Bennett 8:31
Yeah, 

Noah May 8:32
so we went back the doctor, and he ran some tests, he looked and checked everything, and nothing screamed abnormal at the time. And this is something you never really want to hear your doctor say. He actually had no clue what was going on. He said, but that doesn't mean that there's not something going on here. There's obviously something happening or else you wouldn't be having these spells. So I said, okay, he asked me, was there anything in your life at that point that was getting to you? Was there something that was kind of bothering you? And I said, well, no, because school wasn't as bad as it was. I was making all these in all my classes at the time and was doing really well. And I said, well, besides from one class, that's kind of difficult right now. 

No, I wouldn't say school was a problem. He said, let's try an experiment. He wanted me to say out of school that whole next week, and just see if school was cause of 

Rich Bennett 9:51
it. Okay. 

Noah May 9:53
It's really enough, it was. 

Rich Bennett 9:56
Really? 

Noah May 9:57
At the time I didn't know about it, but after looking I think it was from my history class. I was having to take a political history class and of course I hated plot-takes and I hated like American history. 

Rich Bennett 10:13
Right. 

Noah May 10:15
And 

the teacher I had was really hard, he was just a dick to a- 

Rich Bennett 10:22
Right. 

Noah May 10:22
That's in there. And my doctor, we came back for the weak and I said, "Well the nauseous belts have not been as severe now." They've kind of have gone away and he said, "I did some digging and I think that you have anxiety." And he said, "Let me explain." Because at that point I kind of knew what anxiety was. the time, and that typically was, most people have tightness right here, they can't breathe, they're having a lot panic attacks 

Rich Bennett 10:53
At 

Noah May 10:53
or whatever they have, manicheaded because of the breathing real fast. That's what my definition was. He said that that's what most people have. He said, "In some instances and it's not abnormal but it's not common that you can have nausea and vomiting can also be a form of having anxiety attack." 

Rich Bennett 11:18
I never knew that. 

Noah May 11:21
So, that was news to me. 

Rich Bennett 11:23
Yeah. 

Noah May 11:24
I did not know that either. I was like, "Love to be the minority of everything." 

Rich Bennett 11:29
I 

Noah May 11:31
thought, "Okay, so I said what can we do Because at that point we were like, "Okay, well, how do we stop 

Rich Bennett 11:43
to..." 

Noah May 11:43
it?" 

Rich Bennett 11:43
Right. 

Noah May 11:43
And he said, "Well." 

He said, "Here's some options that you can do and this can be your decision." If you want to switch to homeschool, if going in person is making you nervous and is causing it, if being at home will stop it, I don't have a problem with you doing homeschool. He said, "I can write a personal doctor's note. I can come talk to them if I need to." The tell them that he's got a medical problem going on, just to kind of have reassurance, 

Rich Bennett 12:16
Right. 

Noah May 12:16
and try to get something approved. I said, "Well," he said, "Think about it, and just call us and let us know what you 

Rich Bennett 12:25
do." 

Noah May 12:25
want to I said, "Okay, we were going to fall through with it, but with COVID, it actually 

Rich Bennett 12:35
happened anyways." It 

Noah May 12:36
happened anyway. The school closed out for three weeks initially, because they were like, "Okay, we're just going to have like an extended spring break and then first of April we'll come back." Well, of course that rolled around, then it's cancelled school for the rest of the year at that point. You're 

Rich Bennett 12:55
a senior this year. Okay, that was the class. 

Noah May 13:01
I was a COVID baby. How was the graduating class of that year? So from March until August, I had kind of a 6 month free span of school. 

But the anxiety at that point had already had severe repercussions from it. 

I developed, I lost a lot of weight during that time because throwing up all the time, you lose the weight. So I initially had lost 20 pounds during that time. I weighed 140 before it started, and then by the time we got a diagnosis, I was 120. 

Rich Bennett 13:41
How tall are you? 

Noah May 13:44
At the time I was five, nine, five ten. 

Rich Bennett 13:49
That's a lot. That's 20 pounds, a lot to lose. 

Noah May 13:55
Yeah, it was a lot of my body at the time. 

Rich Bennett 13:59
Yeah. 

Noah May 14:00
So he prescribed me with insure and which people that don't know that's a protein shake that has a lot of fat and that helps people gain weight. He wanted me to drink one a day. 

Rich Bennett 14:12
Okay. 

Noah May 14:13
So he said drink one a day, don't drink it too fast because of health, thick and fat it has in there and protein. You'll get sigrall quick from it. So he said sip on it throughout the day, just take one a day to sip through it. 

Rich Bennett 14:27
Wow. 

Noah May 14:28
He said that it does have a bad taste, so if you want to mix it up with ice cream and make a milkshake out of it, you can do that. So we, and this was this was right before a school had officially got canceled and so I was like well, I'm going to have to drink this regardless if I'm at school or not. So my mom was like are you sure you want to go to school and drink it and I said well, I've got to gain the weight back. 

Rich Bennett 14:57
yeah. 

Noah May 14:58
I said I can't just do all of this at when I get home because I would just be not enough time in the day. and I said, if they ask questions, I'll just be honest with 'em and tell 'em what's going on. I-I didn't really care at that 

Rich Bennett 15:11
Right. 

Noah May 15:11
point. Um... so I took the first sip and I was like... 

Oh, 

Rich Bennett 15:17
nasty. I 

Noah May 15:19
was like, oh, I don't know if I want to drink this at school in Hell, 'cause I can't make a milkshake there. Oh, ehm, mate. And I got vanilla too, flavor- 

Rich Bennett 15:30
It 

Noah May 15:30
ooh. 

Rich Bennett 15:30
does not taste like vanilla. It's kind of 

Noah May 15:34
I 

Rich Bennett 15:34
the--- 

Noah May 15:34
said, 

Rich Bennett 15:34
"taste on it, mate. It's still got 

Noah May 15:38
This... 

Rich Bennett 15:38
that--." stop. Oh, God. 

Noah May 15:42
The saddest thing about that, though, was that after I had a drink it for so long, it actually started tasting pretty good to me. 

Rich Bennett 15:49
Yeah, you stood, yeah. 

Noah May 15:51
So, I actually ended up not having to mix it up with milk. I was creaming anymore. I could just drink it like it was, which was kind of like, 

Rich Bennett 15:58
STRAIGHT?! 

Noah May 15:59
I don't know-- And, yeah, 

Rich Bennett 16:01
well, I do see people that do that. They do drink it straight. I wouldn't be able to. But, 

Noah May 16:08
but... Well, at first I couldn't and enough, or I had a drink it for so long. 

Rich Bennett 16:13
Yeah. 

Noah May 16:14
Adapted to me, and I said, "I don't know if this is sad or--" 

Rich Bennett 16:17
Wow. 

Noah May 16:18
don't know-- 

Rich Bennett 16:19
I 

Noah May 16:19
that so... I had to get on the way back, and I had enough time now, what school being now, I 

Rich Bennett 16:26
Right. 

Noah May 16:26
could focus on that. But the damage really had already was done. At that point, I really didn't have... There was just-- my body had really gone through it. 

Rich Bennett 16:39
Yeah. 

Noah May 16:40
I was real shaky going downstairs. I had-- a lot-- all my strength was gone. 

Rich Bennett 16:45
Uh-uh, mm-hmm. 

Noah May 16:46
Point. My arms were gone, my legs. Going down steps, I shook really bad. Going down the steps, because of all the weight that I did 

Rich Bennett 16:56
Feel like you're 

Noah May 16:57
on 

Rich Bennett 16:57
gonna 

Noah May 16:57
the floor. 

Rich Bennett 16:57
pass out at times, right? 

Noah May 17:01
I didn't feel like I was gonna pass out, but I just didn't have a lot of-- 

Rich Bennett 17:04
I should say, fall down. Is what I meant. Because of how 

Noah May 17:08
I 

Rich Bennett 17:08
she-- 

Noah May 17:09
felt like I 

Rich Bennett 17:10
Yeah. 

Noah May 17:10
was-- I was afraid of falling. 

So I felt real weak going down anything. I couldn't-- I can't open any-- 

Bottles anymore at the time, because of all the fat that was in my hands have basically turned to bones. Any-- I couldn't really open-- I could open like a-- a bottle that had a smooth rim 

Rich Bennett 17:38
Yeah. 

Noah May 17:38
around it. If it was like water bottles that had like the jagged kind of the rough ridges around it. I actually couldn't open it, because my skin right here would peel up. 

Rich Bennett 17:49
Mm-hmm. 

Noah May 17:49
So my skin would kind of peel if I was trying to open up any kind of bottle with the rough lid. So I would always have to use my shirt, or have to use a gripper to help open bottles up. I get real shaky in my hands now. That's kind of a symptom that hasn't really better. As 

Rich Bennett 18:13
gotten 

Noah May 18:14
I said, it had repercussions. This is still stuff I deal with, daily now. I can open bottles now, and I'm not as shaky in my legs, but my arms. If I met it like an odd angle, my arm's 

Rich Bennett 18:30
Mm-hmm. 

Noah May 18:30
shake. 

So I have real shakyness in my arms from that. 

And everything that I did made me anxious. It was just like a switch. So going anywhere, maybe never visited-- it didn't matter if it was five minutes down the road, if it was to a person out of hung out with 5,000 times. Everything made me nervous. And then, if there was any change in the schedule-- 

Rich Bennett 19:02
Right. 

Noah May 19:02
--regarding Saudi attacks, it was just a weird thing to have. 

Rich Bennett 19:07
Where'd that going outside? Did you have any problem going outside? 

Noah May 19:13
Going outside wasn't really a problem for me. 

Rich Bennett 19:16
Okay. 

Noah May 19:16
But, going anywhere, where-- 

Rich Bennett 19:20
Away 

Noah May 19:20
Involved, 

Rich Bennett 19:20
from 

Noah May 19:21
leaving-- away from the 

Rich Bennett 19:22
the [inaudible] 

Noah May 19:22
house, 

Rich Bennett 19:22
Yeah. 

Noah May 19:23
or leaving the house. That, it triggered it. Mm-hmm. So, for the rest of that year, it was kind of a struggle. 

Rich Bennett 19:34
Yeah. 

Noah May 19:35
The 

depression really spiked back up during that time. I had to actually see what I thought at that time, which I didn't really tell anyone, but I did. 

But then later that year when COVID had started, I actually got diagnosed with COVID. 

Rich Bennett 19:56
Hush. 

Noah May 19:57
So, and I had COVID for six months. 

Rich Bennett 20:00
Six months? Wow. 

Noah May 20:03
I was one of the long-term 

Rich Bennett 20:06
Yeah. 

Noah May 20:06
COVID symptoms. Uhm, I basically had lost since a smell or taste. Those those were the only two symptoms I had, didn't have chills, fever, nausea, nephrine. It was, uhm, I just had lost my sense of smell or taste. 

Rich Bennett 20:23
Yeah. 

Noah May 20:24
So we I was still going to places, even though I had COVID at the time, because I was on diagnosed. 

Rich Bennett 20:32
um, 

Noah May 20:32
I actually ended up getting missed diagnosed because a COVID test that I did came back defective. So, uhm, this was probably about a month or a month and a half before I got diagnosed officially with it. So this was probably end of October, version of November. 

Rich Bennett 20:47
Okay. 

Noah May 20:48
Went. They did kind of an enswab of my nose to see if there was any kind of COVID bacteria in there. Well, the test came back a few days negative. So I thought, okay, cool. I don't have it. I just have a cold. That's what they originally thought it was. Was it cold? 

Rich Bennett 21:05
Right. 

Noah May 21:05
But after a month of it not getting better, we went back to the blood work and I actually got diagnosed with COVID through my blood work. That actually had to take the blood cells in my bloodstream. So we looked, I looked at my mom and I said, I've had COVID this whole time and I have been going to places, which was a warm mask, but I was going to class. I was going to like, storage if I needed to go after class. So, I mean, I was, I was just a walking hazard for a month of never And we had to do not the temperature checks to go into our college at the time. 

Rich Bennett 21:46
Because right. 

Noah May 21:48
We COVID. So if you had a fever, you couldn't come in. Well, I didn't have any fee for symptoms. I mean, my temperature was pretty much normal. Like 97, 98. I mean, in that normal range. So I was always able to come in, let alone. I had COVID at the time. 

Rich Bennett 22:08
And you say, it cracked me up from wrong, but you were high school you graduated, 2020, right? I so I want to point out something here for all of you listening and we've mentioned this several times on the package. The class of 2020 were really hit hard because of COVID. Anxiety and depression went freaking sky high. And sitting here listening to Noah when he's talking about the anxiety, my daughter was class of 2020 as well. And everything you mentioned with the shakes and all that, I felt like I was listening to my daughter. Because she was experienced the same exact things. Didn't like going away from the house. You know, she was just sitting her bedroom all day, but she was constantly getting the shakes and feeling nauseous. And we couldn't figure out why. Took her to the doctor. Well, whatever, she got to the doctors. So I mean, those of you listening that say, no, the class of 2020 know it's all in their mind. No, it is not well. Mental health is always mine in your mind, but it is a fact that class. You guys had hit. I want to say when he comes to mental illness, you guys got hit the hardest because you lost your final year of high school. Yeah, I mean, you were doing it in school. Did you even have a graduation? 

Noah May 23:47
We did have a graduation. It was. And I think we had it on time. At that point, we had been out of school for a month. 

Rich Bennett 23:58
Okay. 

Noah May 23:59
Two months, kind. Well, two months, yeah. At the time they had shut it down for two months. We thought on that time it would get better, but it 

Rich Bennett 24:09
Everybody. 

Noah May 24:09
was just it just felt like it was getting 

Rich Bennett 24:12
Yeah, 

Noah May 24:12
worse. We had us out on our football field. 

Rich Bennett 24:16
outside. 

Noah May 24:16
Um, so we had it outside and we were limited to how many people could 

Rich Bennett 24:22
yeah, 

Noah May 24:22
come per student. We had I think four people could come per student. So it could be like, immediate family and everyone else could watch it from home. 

Rich Bennett 24:33
yes. 

Noah May 24:34
And so that's kind of how our normal graduation ceremony went. Um, we were split up. We were six feet apart on the football field, and we didn't really have to wear a mask since we were outside. Um, but it was just 

Rich Bennett 24:49
It was 

Noah May 24:50
not the It was weird, because I actually had work. I was actually on, uh, what was that? I think one of the top seven guys in my class 

Rich Bennett 24:59
right. 

Noah May 25:00
and total, and as a reward for doing that, I actually was able to work a graduation thing. I was like a assure or something. And so I kind of saw how indoor graduation was. So different, 

Rich Bennett 25:16
Yeah. 

Noah May 25:17
then we have, we always had ours at Arena that we were, um, that was Cluster a high school that we used all the time for special, um, for special occasions. We always used it for, um, special graduation ceremonies. I mean, it was, it was something that was always normal, 

Rich Bennett 25:39
yeah, 

Noah May 25:41
but it, as you said, it was just weird going in there initially with no way we've had, we still had graduation practice, which I was a little 

Rich Bennett 25:54
did. 

Noah May 25:54
surprised 

Rich Bennett 25:54
Wow, 

Noah May 25:54
we 

Rich Bennett 25:55
yeah. 

Noah May 25:56
Which when we did practice, of course, we were like, this with each other. 

Rich Bennett 26:01
Right. 

Noah May 26:02
Uh-oh, because we hadn't seen each other for so long. We were just like that. So, um, 

Rich Bennett 26:09
it, wow. Yeah, because I know of my daughter, it was, they did it, it was in the school, but everybody had to wait outside. They were bringing a student in one at a time. They could bring in their family. They would walk across the stage, get their diploma. You have to go outside and get pictures taken. That was it. Nobody in the audience or anything. It, it was, was sad and it was hard. It was hard on all you guys back then. A lot of people don't realize that. You know, and even the teachers, because a lot of the teachers with the exception, maybe your history teacher, a lot of the teachers loved their students and they didn't get to see them leave. You know, but, oh, God. Alright, so the anxiety, they finally diagnosed that. You did put the weight back on, right? Over some time. 

Noah May 27:02
Over some time, but when I got COVID, it reversed everything that 

Rich Bennett 27:07
so 

Noah May 27:07
had, 

Rich Bennett 27:07
you lost it again, 

Noah May 27:09
lost it all again. 

Rich Bennett 27:10
Cheers. 

Noah May 27:11
Um, so 2020 for me was just a shit show 

Rich Bennett 27:14
Yeah. 

Noah May 27:14
of trying to get everything, um, take of and finally about April of that year of 2021, COVID broke. I finally broke from it. I could taste something again. It was like a new awakening for me. 

Rich Bennett 27:32
Right. 

Noah May 27:33
I was like, I was so happy of being able to, taste and smell something again. 

Rich Bennett 27:39
um, 

Noah May 27:40
Um, and then for the next two years, it was just kind of a battle with my anxiety. It was, is a, everlasting battle that I had 

Rich Bennett 27:51
um, 

Noah May 27:51
of trying to maintain it and trying to do something that can, it down, but it's just like it seemed nothing worked. 

Rich Bennett 28:00
yeah, calm 

Noah May 28:00
Nothing wanted to go the way I wanted it to go. Um, 

and then about 2022, I started, I started going to therapy. End of 2021 to 2022. 

Rich Bennett 28:13
Okay. 

Noah May 28:15
And it did have some help in it, but it was kind of, it was minor to maybe moderate success. 

Rich Bennett 28:24
Right. 

Noah May 28:24
Um, there were still, it was just not a full 100%. Oh, I'm back to normal. Everything's fixed. Um, one to us unconscious felt I think April of 22 and she put me on this anxiety medicine that I had not tried before. 

Rich Bennett 28:41
Um, 

Noah May 28:42
absolutely godsent. Anxiety went away. The 

Rich Bennett 28:45
Wow. 

Noah May 28:46
anxiety went down. It was just like a, light switch 

Rich Bennett 28:51
wow 

Noah May 28:51
of couldn't do anything to know who I'm able to go to all these places. I've really enjoyed going to it was, it was literally a huge mindset change. It was, it was like a new life. 

Rich Bennett 29:08
Wow. 

Noah May 29:08
Um, so I actually went, we went on vacation that year to Katelynbury. We always would go there every year, every summer, and I remember the last time we went, I didn't have a good time because my anxiety. 

Rich Bennett 29:24
Oh, 

Noah May 29:25
I was nervous all the time. I couldn't do anything. This, that year was a complete 180. It was like, shouthead me. Was back. I didn't get nervous. And I turned that trip. I was absolutely able to eat out in restaurants at the time. And I was able to actually enjoy vacation that year. It was a fun trip. 

Rich Bennett 29:50
Now, okay, so this was after COVID when you went back when you had fun, right, at Gatlinburg? Was this after the fires or before the fires in Gatlinburg? 

Noah May 30:01
This was after the fires. 

Rich Bennett 30:03
Really. And you had no, that is all man. That is some good ass medicine. They gave you because I seriously, because a lot of people going there thinking of the fires, especially if they are, they have anxiety, they would be like, No, no, no, no. I don't want to go there. What if this, what if it happens again? But you went and you had a blast. Wow. 

Noah May 30:26
Well, I think I had actually gone back to Gatlinburg, like a year after the fire says happened. This was kinda before I got diagnosed with anxiety. So, um, that never really worried me. Uhm. 

Just before I went off to Auburn, I don't know what I would have done if I didn't have this medicine I transferred off. I don't know. I honestly don't think I would have been able to do it at all because of just how bad man anxiety 

Rich Bennett 31:11
Yeah. 

Noah May 31:11
was. And so when I went down there, had no problems at all with anxiety. It was just like a completely, it was just like a new mindset. And then now going into present day, I still deal with depression spells. That's something that I don't think is ever gonna get healed. 

Rich Bennett 31:31
I don't think that ever goes away. 

Noah May 31:32
no. 

Rich Bennett 31:33
I think 

Noah May 31:33
So. 

Rich Bennett 31:34
So, everybody, you have different forms of depression. Everybody gets depressed, you know, every once in a while. I think you're able to control yours a lot better now though, right? 

Noah May 31:47
A little bit. There's times where it gets too severe to where I can't really control it or anything. But uhm, If I'm happy, it doesn't really come. 

Rich Bennett 32:01
yeah. 

Noah May 32:02
Come. But the anxiety for the most part has been really mitigated. I mean, don't get me wrong. I do have spells and moments of that. But they don't actually lead to like throwing up. 

Rich Bennett 32:16
Right. 

Noah May 32:17
So I don't really have full-on anxiety types. I get nervous here and there. You know, human normal. 

Rich Bennett 32:23
Yeah. 

Noah May 32:24
Uhm, but nowhere near the multitude of what what it was. So I think for the most part was healed. I honestly, I think it was completely healed and taken care of depression. You know, it's just kind of a daily. Yeah. It's just going to be something I have to deal with for the rest of my life. I mean, I might be able to grow out of it. But 

Rich Bennett 32:47
I don't Cause 

Noah May 32:48
know. 

Rich Bennett 32:49
you said the depression started with your grandmother and she had Alzheimer's. I take it. You and your grandmother were very close. 

Noah May 32:57
Yeah, we were very close. Growing up, we always used to have moments of we read animal books. I was a gentle lover. And so we would buy any kind of book. If it was like a two page brochure or like a 

Rich Bennett 33:13
Right. 

Noah May 33:13
thousand pages. We got every little book that we had of animals in there. And we would always look at it. That was kind of my best memories with her. And we always watched house hunters together. She loved house. 

Rich Bennett 33:29
Oh my God. I 

Noah May 33:31
She 

Rich Bennett 33:31
love that 

Noah May 33:31
watched that. 

Rich Bennett 33:32
show. 

Noah May 33:33
She watched the house. Hunter's international. So that was kind of what we watch for her when sleep. It was this. We would always watch that. And you know, me and her would always talk about what house you think they're gonna get. And I said, I don't know how you use me like this house. And so those were some of the best moments and 

Rich Bennett 33:49
Right, 

Noah May 33:49
memories I have with her about that. She also helped some of my school work to if I was out sick for like a sick for a week and had to play catch up. She always helped me. 

Rich Bennett 33:58
right. 

Noah May 33:59
I remember one time she did help me with taking down science notes and I think English vocabulary at one time. So we we were closed and then when she got diagnosed with it, it was just she was just not the same person. 

Rich Bennett 34:13
Now and it's hard to watch somebody go through that. Especially when you're that close to them and I've had friends go through that and it just, yeah, it is hard. You're listening to conversations with Rich Bennett. We'll be right back. 

Let's take a little break here. I want to talk about one of my sponsors Maryland Pickers. Maryland Pickers is a local junk removal service. And they also have dumpster rentals as well. I actually called Jeremy when we were doing our spring clean this year. And he brought the dumpster out and quick to answer the phone came out the day he said he was going to pick it up answered all my questions. Everything was fine. Phenomenal very professional to work. So if you're looking for junk removal service. If you're looking to rent a dumpster contact Maryland pickers greater Maryland pickers. We give them a call at four four three two zero six one eight five nine again that's four four three two zero six one eight five nine. Tell them that Rich from Hartford County Livingston. So you went to actually wait a minute before you went to Auburn. When did you get did you get to tattoos after Dory College or before or dorm or Dory? 

Noah May 35:34
um 

it's kind of a mixture of all the above. that. 

Rich Bennett 35:39
okay 

Noah May 35:39
so the first time to I got was a cross this 

Rich Bennett 35:43
i like 

Noah May 35:43
one i got it 18 it's actually my least favorite one. 

Rich Bennett 35:48
really? 

Noah May 35:49
because of how they did it and where i went it's not where i wanted it i wanted it more on the side. 

Rich Bennett 35:55
okay 

Noah May 35:55
i can't do this out on the hand and i thought flood 

Rich Bennett 35:59
through 

Noah May 35:59
now people i was like now people coming here and get their dick tattoo and you can't tattoo the side of my hand i was 

like i said okay. oh of course it was my first tattoo and i was like find whatever i'll just go about your rules so i was like okay so i don't really like where it's placed um 

but it was first i i got it in 18 i got it right before i actually had started college so i was in between kind of graduation 

and um college. i remember all my friends were shocked that i got a tattoo it was not breaking news for me it was. i guess i didn't expect me to get a tattoo because i 

Rich Bennett 36:48
right 

Noah May 36:49
guess i thought that i wouldn't be able to get one and i have four and so it's just kind of a if anyone else in my grade did it it wouldn't have been a huge ordeal but yeah if i get one it's a huge problem 

Rich Bennett 37:02
come 

Noah May 37:02
or 

Rich Bennett 37:02
on. 

Noah May 37:02
it's like a 

Rich Bennett 37:02
"know 

Noah May 37:02
huge 

Rich Bennett 37:03
what dude." 

Noah May 37:05
it's like yeah it literally is breaking news on the light not news of me getting a tattoo. so i'm 

Rich Bennett 37:13
good. 

Noah May 37:15
so you know i had the cross for a long time and then the fighter tattoo this is i really it's my favorite one because i like hell as done the best yeah the rest of the tattoos i went to another place and all the rest of the three ones i got were really good about professionals. i really like them. i got this in 2021 i think or was it 22? 

it might have been 2022. 

Rich Bennett 37:47
okay 

Noah May 37:49
yeah i got this one in 2022 and then i have to do a lot muscle memory from remembering. survivor i got 2023 i think i got it around Christmas of 23 and then i got the butterfly 

Rich Bennett 38:05
i liked that 

Noah May 38:06
last year 

Rich Bennett 38:07
okay 

Noah May 38:09
so last summer so 24 i got that one um 

Rich Bennett 38:14
what's the story behind butterfly 

Noah May 38:18
um my mom actually wanted us to get matching tattoos and i thought i did not know what to get. um so she me and her got matching tattoos she kind of put some color on it i'm more of a black person so i like all black tattoos more than what color for some reason for me i like how they look on other people i don't want it on me for 

Rich Bennett 38:42
right 

Noah May 38:43
some reason weird mindset i have um she put some color in i just kept my plane um but i kind of have put in memory of my grandmother she really liked feeling she really liked butterflies and and they all have meetings i mean as you had mentioned the the words were for my overcoming under depression and anxiety so i dedicated the fighter one to that and the survivor to that as well um so i got those kind of um words and honor of battling mom and a hell 

Rich Bennett 39:22
right. 

Noah May 39:23
and then the cross was just kind of a since i'm christian i was always like and it was my first tattoo and i was like oh i don't know what to get because i remember my mom my mom was in the process of getting a tattoo removed 

Rich Bennett 39:40
oh 

Noah May 39:40
and i thought and i was like this is my time this is my time to be able to go and get one and so i took that opportunity and i said can i go get a tattoo and she said no and i said well i made teen i shouldn't even be asking you in any ways but there's been being an only child you can't do anything anything without being supervised so as you just always have to ask anyways so 

Rich Bennett 40:07
i 

Noah May 40:07
said 

Rich Bennett 40:09
go ahead 

Noah May 40:09
i was like mom i said mom i made teen i can i just get a small one and she said i guess 

Rich Bennett 40:17
a 

Noah May 40:17
she's small one and then she was like where you don't get and i said oh i actually didn't think i'd make it this far. 

um so i just went with her cross i thought i was basic but i was like uh 

Rich Bennett 40:35
alright so your mother getting that tattoo removed was please tell me it was laser is that 

Noah May 40:41
yeah 

Rich Bennett 40:41
okay i had a buddy of mine that i served in the marine core with and he didn't like his one tattoo so he got rid of it it wasn't laser the dumbass poor that's it all in short he got rid of the tattoo left a good scar but he got rid of the tattoo 

I don't think you can! I think he was just so damn drunk, he's oh my, it's like, ehm, he can't, I think he just poured it like, washed it real quick or s- I don't know. Just like "Dude, what the hell are you doing?" God- 

Noah May 41:24
I have never heard of anyone doing that. 

Rich Bennett 41:26
I- I've never heard of anybody doing that except for him. But then again, I've, a lot of the stupid things we did in the marine cry, I've never heard of anybody else ever doing. which 

Noah May 41:37
*cough* 

Rich Bennett 41:37
is probably a- 

Noah May 41:38
*laughs* 

Rich Bennett 41:39
good thing, 

Noah May 41:39
a 

Rich Bennett 41:40
very good thing. Alright, so you went to Auburn, and tricked me if I'm wrong. You went, were you going to Auburn for journalism? 

Noah May 41:48
Yes, I went there for journalism. I used to even majored in it in my community college. I never really changed majors at the time, because, well, at that point I was already too far in. I was like, well, I'm two years in, in it now, I'm not 

Rich Bennett 42:04
it and going- 

Noah May 42:04
changing 

Rich Bennett 42:04
Right. 

Noah May 42:05
I said, I'm stuck with it. So that was always kind of a journalism major before I- Well, before I signed up for college to begin with, my high school was real forceful about trying to pick a major, they wanted us to go and pick a major then and now, 

Rich Bennett 42:23
Mhmm. 

Noah May 42:23
so that when it came to signing up, it was an easy process. And I said, okay. Um, I still didn't know what I wanted to do at the time, so I was like, I don't know what I was going to do. And then, um, I remember I used to watch, um, Ellen's talk show all the time after school all the time, and I just had the idea of that. That's what I wanted to do is be a talk show host, but I was like, I don't know a major that is what I would major in so I looked online and I said one that said journalism. And I thought, okay. So I kind of just signed up with journalism, and that was kind of how I got my major was from that. So majored in journalism, the whole time I was in college from first day to graduation day. I've never changed majors, never changed anything. I didn't do a minor. I didn't get a minor or anything. Um, and I just got a bachelor's. I was not going to get a master's because I was already done and I didn't really need a master's for what I was wanting to do. 

Rich Bennett 43:35
Did you like writing? Because I would say one of the things, and we talk about this a lot when it comes to mental health, a lot of people are told the journal, and a lot of these people end up writing a book or whatever. So did you always like writing or just not that style, strictly like journalism, like, you know, news and all that. 

Noah May 43:56
Um, well, I did not know what the time that journalism came in all different 

Rich Bennett 44:01
Oh, yeah. 

Noah May 44:02
forms. So I was kind of under, I didn't really know what to expect. Shockingly enough, and maybe this is just from Alabama schools and colleges. I didn't do much writing in any other 

Rich Bennett 44:16
Really! 

Noah May 44:17
classes, really. Yeah, when I went to community college, I remember I did probably three or four papers in the two years span that I went there, and then when I went to Auburn, I probably did double that five or six, seven and a two and a half years I went there. It wasn't much. I thought it was going to be like paper everyday, paper everyday, and assignment everyday. 

Rich Bennett 44:42
Okay, wait a minute now. Alright, so being in the journalism field in college, did they have you getting an internship anywhere? 

Noah May 44:53
Yeah, I did an internship. I did my internship at a radio station. 

Rich Bennett 44:58
Okay, so you really weren't writing unless they had you writing copy, right? 

Noah May 45:03
And I didn't write anything during that time either. 

Rich Bennett 45:06
wow. 

Noah May 45:06
I think I, Well, I worked at radio stations. I was more the sound board person. 

Rich Bennett 45:11
Okay, 

Noah May 45:13
if you've ever listened to radio and you hear the music playing in the background or you hear the commercials going or playing, that's what I did. 

Rich Bennett 45:22
Right. 

Noah May 45:23
So I would always go to the commercial, I was always controlling my assignments from the telephones. That's usually what I did, so I was full on behind the scenes. And then the radio station I worked at, your show actually was a podcast, well, podcast. They, 

Rich Bennett 45:41
I 

Noah May 45:41
um, 

Rich Bennett 45:41
like the air quotes. 

Noah May 45:43
They would just kind of take the audio from the broadcast 

Rich Bennett 45:47
Yeah, 

Noah May 45:47
and I would go in and take out the commercials and upload that as the podcast. So it was kind of like a live podcast that they did over the radio. 

Rich Bennett 45:56
right. 

Noah May 45:57
Um, I would go in after the, after the tape it was done and I would always go in and save the recording and then I would go and edit out the commercials and then upload that episode. So that's really all I did was.. Work in, behind the scenes, and I was edited the part in their, radio show. 

Rich Bennett 46:20
So I take it, is that? Cause, incredibly if I'm wrong again, but you love music, right? 

Noah May 46:46
and I was really, I hated reading and then something changed right before I went to Auburn where I started reading again and lived it, I think it was because, oh, I don't have to remember this for a test. 

Rich Bennett 46:59
I 

Noah May 46:59
to remember this for an assignment, I can just read it cause I want to. 

Rich Bennett 47:03
don't have 

Noah May 47:03
So, 

Rich Bennett 47:04
report. 

Noah May 47:13
okay, so, started doing reading again, but music I love, but they were a sports station so 

Rich Bennett 47:20
Okay, 

Noah May 47:20
they said it was too, it was essentially me sitting in the chair for two hours listening to sports. 

Rich Bennett 47:26
Oh, 

Noah May 47:28
oh, oh, and it was kind of a sports talk show and I was like, I don't care about this, but, but I loved the radio station, the people there were amazing, I loved working there, I just did not know it was sports. I said, luckily, I didn't have to talk or anything so that kind of saved me a little bit. Now, if I had to talk, I'd like, 

Rich Bennett 47:51
be 

Noah May 47:52
I know like, what do you know about football and I'll give you a, well, it has a ball. That's about all 

Rich Bennett 48:02
it's 

Noah May 48:03
I know. That's as bad as far as I can tell you about it and you score a point, get a touchdown at six points and in a few goals and extra extra point to make seven. 

So, I was very much didn't know 

Rich Bennett 48:20
just like running to sound. Yeah, and the funny thing is, because my one of my degrees is in radio and I was a music, this jockey, I didn't like talking to people. I just like, you know, playing the music talking up the music, but I did not like talking to people. I try to 

Noah May 48:39
be 

Rich Bennett 48:40
doing this. Yeah, but the reason I ask you about the reading and everything and the music because your first two podcasts, which was, I believe it's a Southern read and the other one's music talks, right? So, what made you decide to start 

Noah May 49:00
them? Um, the Southern reads podcasts was actually the first one I released. And lethal venom actually came from that podcast as well. Um, so when I went to Auburn, one of the classes I was taking was a journalism class that had like, two, three hundred people in It was in one of these big lecture halls 

Rich Bennett 49:21
they, 

Noah May 49:21
that 

Rich Bennett 49:22
Lord, 

Noah May 49:23
it was the biggest class I ever took. Um, we had a speaker come talk to us one day in class and he had mentioned something about a podcasting class. And I was like, parked up at my seat. I said, I'm awake. I'm here. I'm listening. And he had mentioned that he was opening a podcasting class here next year that if you were interested and maybe want to sign up and take it to talk to your advisor and get on the wait list for it. Um, immediately went to my advisor and I said, hey, I just had this professor come talk to us about podcasting class he was offering and I wanted to come kind of get signed up for it and be like, first ones on the list to be able to get into it. Um, well, so I was able to finally get in the class. I got accepted into the podcasting class. And one of the assignments that we did in there was pitch a pitch idea. 

Rich Bennett 50:15
Mhm, 

Noah May 50:16
And we had a pitch a podcast idea into the whole class and kind of get their opinions on everything. So the book podcast kind of stands from that I pitched that one and it had mixed responses some people like the ideas some people didn't 

Rich Bennett 50:30
right. 

Noah May 50:30
and then during that time, I actually had thought about the lethal middle show. I actually had, excuse me, I got an idea from, um, I thought I wanted to do more of a true seeking podcasts and I wanted to be kind of more of a variety show that kind of was more personal to me. And so the which before I got into class, I actually had wanted to do a podcast since 2021. So this was like a two year at that point, it was two years of wanting to do one. And so I thought about it for the longest time, but what I wanted to do. And then finally, Came up with that idea and I think I might have pitched that to the class and it kind of got the same credit go 

Rich Bennett 51:21
right. 

Noah May 51:21
response. Some like the idea some didn't like it. Um, it was kind of a thing of, I don't really care. I was still going to do it no matter what. 

The pretty much all launched this year, if I'm not mistaken, the book one might be last end of last year. But I think I didn't start posting episodes for all of them until this year I think. So, um, but yeah, that's kind of where all they came from. It came from a podcast and class. 

Rich Bennett 52:06
But your lethal venom is, I was going to, I mean that's your full time when now, right? Because that's got I think 85 episodes in. 

Noah May 52:15
Yeah, it, well, It's 84. The 

Rich Bennett 52:19
okay. 

Noah May 52:19
for some reason on Apple, they count the teaser or the trailer as an episode, I don't know, I hate that it's considered an episode. 

Rich Bennett 52:27
Oh, okay. 

Noah May 52:28
It's stupid. I want to 

Rich Bennett 52:31
oh 

Noah May 52:32
like, 

Rich Bennett 52:32
not really. I want to not really because you think about it. A lot of people before they go to listen to a podcast, they'll listen to that trailer first. And it's amazing how many podcasts don't have a trailer and they don't succeed. 

So yeah, that trailer is important. So I wouldn't say it's stupid. It's doing episode. Look how many how many podcasts are where there's a trailer, but the episodes are shorter than the trailer. 

Noah May 53:03
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 53:04
Either way, the good thing is you have made it further than a lot of other podcasters have so far. And that's, that's the important thing. The other important thing is you're out there talking about mental health, which is something that more people I mean, you're seeing more and more people do it, but it's great to see. The people that are going through it to actually out there, not just talking about it, but starting a podcast and talking about it. So with with this, and I'm trying to let me see if I can find it because your first episode of 

lethal venom, I'm not going to count the trailer with, okay, oh, wow. Okay. So February of 2024, right? Or February 2025? 

Noah May 53:55
Yeah. Is when I posted the first full episode. 

Rich Bennett 54:00
Okay. So what and I love talking to other podcasters because a lot of people want to get in the podcasting. And they call me all the time, I ask me questions because I've not long gone been doing it. So with this, what has been your biggest struggle so far for the podcast? 

Noah May 54:28
I don't think I really have had a struggle. I mean, I was more caught up with episode, like releasing episodes. I usually could do record it and have it out within a week 

Rich Bennett 54:44
Right. 

Noah May 54:44
because I just wasn't getting many messages on pod match. And it was like getting all these and I didn't send out a lot of messages at first. And then I moved from Auburn back to my hometown because of the financial reasons. You wouldn't imagine how much a week can get you behind. I have been constantly behind and cannot catch up for some reason. I'm hoping that next week and for the rest of December, I can play catch up and finally don't feel stressed out. But I was not really too, I was kind of more focused on trying to catch up. 

Rich Bennett 55:24
Okay. 

Noah May 55:24
So that's kind of the only problem I really face is catching up. Other than that, I really don't have any struggles on anything. 

Rich Bennett 55:32
Are you dropping one in episode a week? 

Noah May 55:36
I'm trying to at least post a week. 

Rich Bennett 55:38
Okay. 

Noah May 55:38
I mean, there have been some days I post three times a day. 

Rich Bennett 55:41
Okay, you'll 

Noah May 55:42
up. And 

Rich Bennett 55:42
catch 

Noah May 55:43
then, yeah, I'll catch up eventually. 

Rich Bennett 55:46
It's funny. I mean, when I first started, I was only doing an episode a month, then I went weekly. Now I'm three times a week. But one hour episode used to take all together like eight hours for me to do with the editing and Now, I got it down to a sign so an hour according an hour of editing and then maybe an hour of the marketing. Yeah, because now when the software use I have the templates when I edit everything goes right in there. The other thing I was doing when I first started a lot of people did is they were, you know, I was taking out the us the arms and all that. And to me, that took away from the conversation. And I didn't with that, I wanted the natural conversation, so I, I leave that all in there now. And I think that's why it's been so successful. And you had my buddy on... 

Noah May 57:02
The hero like, uhm, that I've done, I've posted 80 episodes so far. I think I have 200 of the drafts I've recorded. 

Rich Bennett 57:11
Wow! 

Noah May 57:13
So that kinda shows you how far behind I am. There you go. 

Rich Bennett 57:17
Laughs- 

Noah May 57:20
But, but, I have told people I said, okay, it is 200, but if I had something happen to me and I can't record, I have a lot of backfire. 

Rich Bennett 57:29
That funnel, yup. 

Noah May 57:30
I've got that. I've got a lot trying to lean on. 

Rich Bennett 57:34
Yeah. 

Noah May 57:34
So I'd like to say that it's kind of backed up for a good reason. I actually am able to play catch up, but, uhm, yeah, it-

Rich Bennett 57:47
You 

Noah May 57:47
People 

Rich Bennett 57:47
always-

Noah May 57:47
might think I'm a little crazy for that, but-

Rich Bennett 57:49
That's smart. That's smart. You always want to keep something in the funnel. I mean, all the recordings I have, I have- All the ones I've had recorded are scheduled all the way into February to be released. Or maybe March. You might be March now. And, and that's after three episodes a week because I'm recording three to eight episodes a week. So, no, that's smart. You gotta- What happens if all of a sudden, if you're recording and releasing as soon as you record it, then you don't have anybody wants to come on? Then it's like, you know this from radio, it's dead air. 

Noah May 58:29
Mm-hmm. 

Rich Bennett 58:30
You don't want dead air. At all. So, alright, that- 'cause when you started it was strictly solo, right? Or you had a co-host? 

Noah May 58:42
Mm-hmm. 

It's-

Rich Bennett 58:43
Solo? 

Noah May 58:44
Mm-hmm. 

Rich Bennett 58:45
Okay. So, what made you decide to start talking and have it- or have another guest on? 

Noah May 58:52
Well, it kind of stand from pod match. I actually, uhm, been going through a, uhm, crosses with a job I was working at prior and I was trying to mitigate, trying to go from this career to podcasting 'cause I hated this job I was working at. And so, I got an email from Alex that I thought was initially scammed, 'cause at that point, I was getting somebody scammed- 

Rich Bennett 59:20
Hahaha! 

Noah May 59:21
First 

Rich Bennett 59:21
Yo! 

Noah May 59:21
in emails, about everything and anything. But, I thought what is for podcasting? So, I don't know if it's for, uhm, if it's an actual- if it's an actual scam, 

Rich Bennett 59:35
it's 

Noah May 59:36
not. 

Rich Bennett 59:37
I 

Noah May 59:38
was like, uhm, 

okay, I can- I can do this. Um, so I signed up for the best decision I made. And so, uhm, I've just kind of had guests on, it's been a way for me to kind of prove the point of the podcast a little bit of being able to share the truth out there. 'Cuz there's so much truth I can give out there and kind of can cover on, which, luckily with guests, it's just kind of a never-ending cycle kind of of, I can always have people come on and give and share these stories of people. 

So, I always had like a, uhm, easy kind of a way to do this kind of 

interview, I guess per se. So, I, and of course with me being a, uhm, 

a journalist, a lot of people tend to have, uhm, I had a lot of interview skills already down, because of the, uhm, professionalism I had in interviewing people so I meant it wasn't, I mean it wasn't technically anything new to me. 

Rich Bennett 1:00:58
Right. 

Noah May 1:00:58
Uhm, so I was, I was used to it at the time. I didn't really have any kind of a, 

he's, I didn't really have any kind of negatives about it. So, it was kind of like, uhm, it was pretty much easy for me. I didn't, I didn't, I wasn't really camera shy, I wasn't really shy when it kind of interviews. I mean, it took some time for me to open up, but with me doing, you know, over 200 interviews, I've always told people, it gets easier to, the first one's always the scariest one, and then after that it's just easy and it continuously gets easy after that. 

Rich Bennett 1:01:39
All right, so, have you been on Richard Wilmore's yet? If not, okay, you're looking like, okay, you need to piss. it's 

Noah May 1:01:50
Is 

Rich Bennett 1:01:50
make 

Noah May 1:01:50
his 

Rich Bennett 1:01:50
your 

Noah May 1:01:50
punk, 

Rich Bennett 1:01:50
day, Richard. 

Noah May 1:01:52
I have him pinned on podmatch, I want to be on that show so bad and then his profile's hidden where I can't message him on podmatch, I was like, So 

Rich Bennett 1:02:02
I-I got you taken care of, don't worry about it. 

Noah May 1:02:05
So, I haven't pinned on pod-madge and once he opens that up and I'm gonna be first, uhm, 

Rich Bennett 1:02:12
I'll 

Noah May 1:02:12
I 

Rich Bennett 1:02:12
tell 

Noah May 1:02:12
am- 

Rich Bennett 1:02:12
him to look you up. 

Noah May 1:02:14
Okay. 

Rich Bennett 1:02:31
He's in North or South Carolina now doing it but the his setup is- you gotta watch some of his videos. It is- 

Noah May 1:02:40
Oh actually, 

Rich Bennett 1:02:42
he's awesome. 

Noah May 1:02:42
I have. I love the setup. The editing that he does for it is so, it's amazing. I love his show setup. It's-it's-it's a typical talk show stand-like setup. 

Rich Bennett 1:02:58
Well, that's because he wanted to be Ellen. 

Seriously, that's what he said. He always wanted to do a talk show like Ellen. And that's why- 'Cause who will come when he starts you seem to come out from behind the curtain and everything? 

Noah May 1:03:13
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 1:03:15
I-I'll 

Noah May 1:03:16
hit-meat him have a lot of like, 'cause that's how I wanted to do 

Rich Bennett 1:03:19
That's 

Noah May 1:03:20
that. 

Rich Bennett 1:03:20
what I'm saying. You would be perfect. I-you know what, I will make sure I get in touch with him after- after we're finished and say, "Hey, you have to get Noah May on your show. You guys would hit it off perfectly." He-he is awesome. Okay, he-he was his profile hitting. I'm gonna have to yell at him. 

Noah May 1:03:39
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 1:03:40
I'll stop. All right, so-go 

Noah May 1:03:42
Maybe he- 

Rich Bennett 1:03:43
ahead. 

Noah May 1:03:44
Maybe he's taking a break. I don't 

Rich Bennett 1:03:46
know. Hey, he could be here. That's Christmas. We'll let him slide. He-he although he's not being one of my elves, so I don't know what he's doing. 

Um, how can people get in touch with you and find your podcast? 

Noah May 1:04:02
well. So the podcast essentially, um, all three of the podcasts I have, um, they're available wherever podcasts are available, um, it's on all the major platforms, uh, Spotify, Apple, Amazon, I Heart LC Radio, YouTube, Pandora, um, wherever you get your podcast, it's most definitely there. Um, but it's on the major ones. So as long as you have one of the major ones that's Spotify and Apple, you can listen to it. And then, um, for socials for the lethal Vennon one, um, Instagram and TikTok, you can find me at lethal Vennon podcasts on there. And then for Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, it's Noah's Podcasts. This is kind of a summary of all the three podcasts I have in one place. And it'll link in. It's just my first and last name, no. Ma on there. I feel free to connect with me on there. I'd be more than happy, but, um, 

Rich Bennett 1:04:52
Easy as 

Noah May 1:04:53
does her typically 

Rich Bennett 1:04:53
the your link tree, right? Just put your link tree in the show notes. 

Noah May 1:04:57
Yes, I have a link tree and it lists all the platforms in there. So, um, all the information is on there. Uh, where 

Rich Bennett 1:05:07
my link tree is so at the night. I got to play with it and get yours looks nice. Mine looks like trash. [laughs] 

Noah May 1:05:16
I hollied 

Rich Bennett 1:05:18
there. 

Noah May 1:05:18
out 

Rich Bennett 1:05:18
Oh no, it looks, it's like, no, I definitely got to change mine. All right. So Noah, before I get to my last question, is there anything you would like to add? And I know you're going to have to come back on again because I know there's a lot more that we can talk about. And one of the things I and I keep talking about, we've done it a couple of times. I wanted to do a mental health, a virtual mental health round table again, where we had a few of us. I think it was like five of us on talking about it. So if I ever do that again, I'll let you know as well. 

Noah May 1:05:51
Oh, I would love to do that. 

Rich Bennett 1:05:53
Oh, they're fun and people learn so much from them. But what would you like to add before I get to my last question, once I pull them up? 

Noah May 1:06:03
Um, I would probably just say to people, you know, don't be scared to talk about mental health on anyone. And don't feel like you have to be kept quiet about it. Everyone deals with some form of depression or some kind of mental health, you'd be surprised to hear it. And be surprised to really learn about it. But, um, if you be more open about it and be able to share it more, I think people are not going to be throw stones at you, just find a good group of people. And that's really all you could really have is as long as you have a good support system and kind of open up, it will make you feel a lot better. 

Rich Bennett 1:06:45
Yeah, definitely. All right. So here's the hard part. Pick a number between one and 100. 

Noah May 1:06:52
I don't go with five. 

Rich Bennett 1:06:54
Well, 

Noah May 1:06:54
That's my lucky number. 

Rich Bennett 1:06:54
Why does everybody go with the low numbers? Actually, five. I don't know if anybody's ever picked five. Number 

Noah May 1:07:02
It's called me and they be like, oh, no, one's ever picked five. 

Rich Bennett 1:07:05
five. 

Oh, no, okay. Somebody picked this, but that's okay. It's a good question. If you knew you couldn't fail. "What's the one thing you would attempt?" 

Noah May 1:07:22
Oh, that's a good question. 

Uhm... Oh, well, we might be here for a few years. 

Rich Bennett 1:07:34
Uh... (Laughter) That's OK, go ahead, man. 

Noah May 1:07:39
Uh, 

I don't know I've never thought about it. Past me would probably what have said, uhm, be more bold and open. 

Rich Bennett 1:07:50
Hmm, 

Noah May 1:07:51
maybe, 'cause I tend to have to look trouble talking to people, and maybe if I would have shared my feelings a little bit more, and knew I couldn't fail from sharing it, I don't know. That's hard now, 'cause there's so much I can do, like, have back... Back when, 

Rich Bennett 1:08:12
Right. 

Noah May 1:08:13
uhm, 

I don't know. 

Rich Bennett 1:08:19
That's a hard question, 'cause I mean, there's a lot of things that come to mind, 'cause it could be job-related, could be hobby-related. There are so many things. You're like, 

Noah May 1:08:31
God, 

Rich Bennett 1:08:33
I'm trying to think... That is a hard question. 

Noah May 1:08:37
OK, I would probably say for someone who just said job-related, probably be more comfortable to interview, job interviews. 

Rich Bennett 1:08:45
OK. 

Noah May 1:08:46
That was something I was never gonna ask. 

Rich Bennett 1:08:48
OK. 

Noah May 1:08:49
Though, they were always stressful for me, and, 

Rich Bennett 1:08:56
uhm... Hmm. 

Noah May 1:08:58
Yeah, I don't know. 

Rich Bennett 1:09:00
Yeah, that's, uhm... 

Wow. I'm 

seeing here trying to, you know what? I think with me, I'd have to say a chef. 

For me, 'cause I've always loved cooking. 

Noah May 1:09:22
Hmm. 

Rich Bennett 1:09:22
But 

if I knew I couldn't fail, that's one thing I would definitely attempt, is to be a head chef. 

Noah May 1:09:30
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 1:09:31
I wouldn't want to own my own restaurant, because, oh my god! No way, I don't want all that extra act! That chef's finding it off. Dan, I'm good. No, I want to thank you so much, man, and I know we're gonna be talking again. I'll make sure I get in touch with Richard and 

Noah May 1:09:50
on--- 

Rich Bennett 1:09:50
tell him to get Get you on your, his show and, and if there's anything with the podcast or anything else that you need, let me know. I'll be out there, man. 

Noah May 1:10:02
Well, I appreciate you so much for having me. It was a great conversation. I had a really good time over here, so thank you so much 

Rich Bennett 1:10:07
me. 

Noah May 1:10:07
for having

Rich Bennett 1:10:08
Thank you. 

Rich Bennett 1:10:09
Thank you for listening to The Conversations with Rich Bennett. I hope you enjoyed today's episode and learned something from it as I did. If you'd like to hear more conversations like this, be sure to subscribe to The Podcast, so you never miss an episode. And if you have a moment, I'd love it if you could leave a review. It helps us reach more listeners and share more incredible stories. Don't forget to connect with us on social media or visit our website at conversationswithrichbent.com for updates, giveaways, and more. Until next time, take care, be kind, and keep the conversations going. You know, it takes a lot to put a podcast together. And my sponsors help add a lot, but I also have some supporters that actually help me when it comes to the editing, software, the hosting, and so forth. There's a lot that goes into putting this together. So I want to thank them. And if you can, please please visit their websites, visit their businesses, support them however you can. So please visit the following Full full circle boards, nobody does charcuterie like full circle boards, visit them at fullcircleboards.com. Sincerely, Sincerely Sincerely, saw your photography, live in the moment, they'll capture it, visit them atsincerlysoir.com. The Jonathan Lions Club, serving the community since 1965. Visit them at www. jopatownlinesclub. org, and don't forget to ee at the end of Jon Patel, because they're extraordinary.