March 3, 2026
From Pharmacy to Fiction: Calvin Swartz's Unconventional Journey of Transformation
Send a text In this captivating episode of Living the Dream with Curveball, we welcome the multi-talented Calvin Swartz, a former pharmacist turned novelist, paranormal investigator, and educator. Calvin shares his extraordinary journey that has taken him from a challenging start in the pharmacy world to becoming a successful author and professor at Rutgers University. He recounts the life-altering moment when he survived a horrific car accident, which reshaped his perspective on fear and spi...
In this captivating episode of Living the Dream with Curveball, we welcome the multi-talented Calvin Swartz, a former pharmacist turned novelist, paranormal investigator, and educator. Calvin shares his extraordinary journey that has taken him from a challenging start in the pharmacy world to becoming a successful author and professor at Rutgers University. He recounts the life-altering moment when he survived a horrific car accident, which reshaped his perspective on fear and spirituality. Calvin also discusses his recent literary projects, including his latest book, *10 Things I Learned from the Billionaire*, and his award-winning novel, *A Tortoise in My Hair*, blending humor with profound themes of mortality. Join us as we delve into Calvin's experiences with paranormal investigations, the lessons he learned from extreme wealth, and his insights on aging and personal transformation. This episode is a treasure trove of inspiration and wisdom for anyone looking to embrace life’s twists and turns with resilience and creativity.
Want to be a guest on Living the Dream with Curveball? Send Curtis Jackson a message on PodMatch, here: https://www.podmatch.com/hostdetailpreview/1628631536976x919760049303001600
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21:56 - (Cont.) From Pharmacy to Fiction: Calvin Swartz's Unconventional Journey of Transformation
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> Curtis Jackson>Welcome to the Living the Dream podcast with Curveball. If you believe you can achieve, Welcome to the Living the Dream podcast with Curveball. If you believe you can achieve, Welcome to the Living the Dream with Curveball podcast, a show where I interview guests that teach, motivate, and inspire. Today's guest is someone whose life didn't just walk in a straight line. It swerved, rolled over five times at 65 miles an hour, came out untouched, and turned into art. Calvin Swartz is a former pharmacist. He is a longtime EYE executive in the industry. He is a novelist, paranormal investigator, health experimenter, and late in life professor at Rutgers. Calvin watched Casablanca for the 54th time and said, I could write something like that. And he did. He, we were talking in the green room and he told me that he just recently wrote the Pope. So he has interest in life. So we're going to be talking to him about everything that he's up to and going to be up to.
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> Curtis Jackson>So, Calvin, thank you for joining me.
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> Calvin Swartz>I'm thrilled to meet and to get a chance to kind of chat, because I like talking and I like sharing, elements of my journey. And actually, it was the talking. You know, I used to love to talk to students at Rutgers, and before I knew it, I was mentoring a couple students. Then I mentored some more, and it's all talking and relating. And then before I knew it, they said, why don't you teach? So a few years ago, at 74, when most people my age are trying to play golf, I started teaching at Rutgers University. But I'm thrilled to be here. Curtis.
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> Curtis Jackson>Well, shout out to Kate and Gordon for making this interview happen.
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> Curtis Jackson>And why don't you start off by telling everybody a little bit about yourself?
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> Calvin Swartz>Sure. I'll do it quickly. I began life at, Rutgers, studying pharmacy. I was not put on this earth to be a pharmacist because I hated chemistry and I hated physics and I hated science and I hated everything. But I was kind of pushed into it by my overbearing mother. I did pharmacy for 12 years. One morning, because I'm spiritual, I awoke, opened up my eyes, told my poor wife out there, I quit. She thought I was quitting the marriage. I wasn't quitting the marriage. I was quitting my profession. And, we just bought a house. We just got married. Calvin, what are you going to do? I said, I don't know. So I sat home for six months, and, you know, she's teaching and I'm watching you Know the Rockford Files and stuff. And I had to do something. So I had a, I had a relative get me a job selling eyeglasses of all things. And, within a year I liked it, talking to people, I'm having fun. within a year I got a job with a company called Exotica. They were just kind of starting out and they went on to become the biggest eyewear company in the world by far. I was number one in the country, loved everything about them and became a regional manager. And I stayed there 25 years until some spiritual thing happened. You said it before, Curtis. I watched Casablanca and I decided to write a novel based on my watching Casablanca. And then my whole life changed completely again. I became a journalist.
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> Calvin Swartz>I, became a cable TV talk show host here in Central Jersey. producer, co host, and I started teaching at Rutgers. Then I wrote my second novel.
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> Calvin Swartz>That's why I wrote the Pope. and then the most interesting thing, the new Bold Authors Network.
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> Calvin Swartz>I'm almost done here. Bold, Authors Network last January was run by Kay Wagner, a wonderful, author, best selling author. and she said to me, calvin, the book you wrote this tortoise book.
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> Calvin Swartz>there's books inside that. I said, what do you mean? She said, calvin, you worked for the richest Italian in the world, for 25 years. I said, I did.
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> Calvin Swartz>He owns the Luxottica Group that owns Lenschcrafters and Pearl and Ray Ban and stuff.
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> Calvin Swartz>did you learn anything? I said, I learned a lot of stuff. I mean, I'm near 25 years. She said, that's a book. So she and I started talking last May. We kind of, I kind of scribbled down some of the things I learned and boom, before we knew it, we're writing a book last July. And then, 10 things I learned from the Billionaire got published in December. And that's my life story, Curtis, sort of.
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> Curtis Jackson>Well, I know that you survived things that most people wouldn't walk away from, including your car rolling five times at highway speed. So talk about that experience and how your brush with death experiences has changed your relationship with fear.
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> Calvin Swartz>Sure. it was, August of 74. I was a pharmacist. I had my own pharmacy. I had just gotten divorced my first wife, and I was not in a great mood spiritually in my head, and things were rough and I was coming home, I was driving home, it was about 8 o' clock at night and I had a little Volkswagen. and I, was at a traffic light and some guy kind of Made a finger gesture at me, and he was challenging me to do a drag race. And since I was young and semi crazy, I accepted the challenge. And the light turned green and we both peeled out. And this is a 25 mile an hour zone.
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> Calvin Swartz>And before I knew it, we're going about 60 miles an hour, on a city, a little suburban street. And it was dark. We didn't see the road curve. So he hits me and I swerve my car, and because the Volkswagen has a low center of gravity, it then loses, control. And I'm rolling over five or six times. I close my eyes. I said a prayer out loud to God, I know you're going to take me, just like I'm talking to you, Curtis. I said, dear God, I know you. I, know I'm going to die. I, know you're going to take me. do me a favor, just leave my arms and legs attached and just make it painless and take me. And that car's rolling over five, six times. It's a thud. I, the, car is crushed, it's upside down. I open up my eyes. I touched myself.
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> Calvin Swartz>I'm alive. I'm not, up there or down there. And I kind of climbed out because it started to smoke.
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> Calvin Swartz>And I sat in somebody's steps, front porch.
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> Calvin Swartz>Police, came, of course I lied. They said, what happened? I said, I'm minding m my own business.
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> Calvin Swartz>Somebody hit me. and he, couldn't understand how I survived that accident. And then he took me over and I actually sent the ambulances back because it wasn't a scratch on me. Nothing, Nothing. He showed me that when my car. And there were no seatbelts back then. So, I'm kind of flying around. He said, when your car lost control, you went between the tree and a pole. And if your car six inches either way, your car hits that tree or pole, you're dead for sure. And then he said, I don't understand this, and he's just doing a visual thing. He said, it would appear your car is wider than the distance between the tree and the pole. So we don't know how you got through there.
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> Calvin Swartz>And that was a kind of a wake up call, Curtis, that something was kind of happening, in my life.
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> Calvin Swartz>But nothing much happened for a long time after that, until the last 10 or 15 years, things began.
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> Calvin Swartz>Strange, wonderful things have begun happening.
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> Calvin Swartz>But that, that was powerful and, and you know, I use the word inexplicable, to explain. There, there are no explanations for that. And the funny thing, whatever I'm saying to you, Curtis, is all provable stuff because, you know, the tree and the pole and my Volkswagen and went between them. So that's all, you know, that's all records in the township. So, you know, I'm not making any anyway.
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> Calvin Swartz>It was interesting stuff. It continues to be interesting.
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> Curtis Jackson>Well, you, you experienced a healing moment in Nazareth witnessed by four people. So talk about how that moment changed your, your mind about, spirituality and did it change, your scientific background as a pharmacist?
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> Calvin Swartz>Sure. By the way, that, that, that, that was such a wonderful moment for me because it's beyond, you know, by the way, I always tell everybody, I'm a regular guy, you know, here in Central Jersey, you know, I'm from Newark, regular guy. I, always wear a Rutgers hat. I go to Rutgers football games, basketball games. You know, I eat tuna fish submarine sandwiches. I would try to impress upon people I really am a regular guy, do all the regular stuff. I watch old movies. you know, I like watching Dirty Harry and I like watching Sound of Music. So, But there are certain things that, that make up my life that are inexplicable.
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> Calvin Swartz>So in 2016, I had hurt my, I had hurt my knee really bad. actually, in 2015, I, hurt my knee really, really bad. And I went through a couple of years of all kinds of treatments, for my knee again to try to avoid getting a new knee. I had everything done to my knee that mankind can do. I mean, I had some illegal stuff done. I got ahold of some dmso, it's called dimethyl sulfoxide and they use that in Europe to inject it into the horse's knee to help a horse run faster. It's kind of illegal, but it's an anti inflammatory. I had ozone. I mean, I had blood platelets, I had, I had stem cells. Everything was done in my knee. I had physical therapy. Nothing worked. So that, that summer, July, August, I knew I had to get a knee.
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> Calvin Swartz>I was now walking with a cane. Tremendous pain.
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> Calvin Swartz>and at the same time, my wife and sister and sister Laura and cousin had planned a trip to go to the Holy Land, in Israel and do stuff. And I couldn't go because I couldn't walk. And I didn't really want to ruin the trip for everybody because they wouldn't go if I didn't go. So, you know, I said a quid pro quo. I'LL go. I'm in a lot of pain. I have to walk with a cane. I'm not happy, but I'll go. but the deal is, I need to do two days for. For the things I want to do. And they said, fine.
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> Curtis Jackson>Well, I know that you, said, after watching casablanca for the 54th time, you know, you decided to write a novel. So at that time, what was really going on in your life? Was it boredom, m. Or calling, or what was it?
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> Calvin Swartz>Well, yeah, I didn't finish the. I'll finish real fast, this healing story. real fast. I'll finish it, and then I'll tell you about the Casablanca thing. But here I am, walking with a cane, and, I, went to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, a really holy place, and climbed through a little tunnel, and there I am in the same room where Christ's casket, is, where he was buried and where he resurrected from. And my last day there, I went to Nazareth, to Mary's church. and I'm all by myself, and I'm walking slow and with pain. Cane. And I have a cane. And. And I did some kind of meditation there. and. And, eventually I start to walk out of that church after doing some meditation, and all of a sudden I yelled, oh, my God. And everybody came running.
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> Curtis Jackson>Are you all right?
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> Calvin Swartz>What happened? And I said, I got healed. No more pain, no more operation, no more cane, no more nothing. So I got healed. But anyway, to the question you just asked, Curtis, I watched Casablanca a bunch of years ago, and there's a last scene. Humphrey Bogart shoots the bad guy.
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> Calvin Swartz>It's a German guy. It's in 1942, and I'd never written anything in my life. And then Claude Rains, this wonderful character actor, picks up a bottle, of Vichy water. It's like Perrier, and looks at the label. And anything in 1942 had the word Vichy in it. Generally meant you were conspiring with the Germans. He throws it in the garbage, and boom. All of a sudden, out of the mysterious universe, a novel pops into my head.
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> Calvin Swartz>And I never wrote anything in my life. Came down here, sat in my chair, and I outlined Vichy, water. That's the name of my first novel. And it just became a vehicle for me to change my life completely around. And it took me 10 years to figure out who, what, where, when, and why all this happened. And I did.
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> Curtis Jackson>Here we are.
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> Curtis Jackson>Well, a tortoise in my hair blends, humor with mortality. So why do you think dark humor is such a powerful vehicle in exploring, existential themes?
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> Calvin Swartz>That's a great question. the title is A Tortoise in My Hair came from my own, upbringing because I was really, I was really, really slow to develop.
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> Calvin Swartz>And, and I always kind of thought, and as I'm writing this, that my father said he was an athlete and a great basketball player. And, you know, I, I wasn't then. And, and, and, and I always imagined him saying, I must have a tortoise, in my hair. And as I, I wrote that, by the way, you know, so your, your listeners, you know, know that, that torture tortoise. There's a Tortoise in My Hair, has already gotten six awards. It's got Kirkus Star, which is one of the highest book awards you can get. It's very, very prestigious. You know, I kind of pinch myself. You know, I keep getting these awards. but life, my life and the things that I like to do in life, it has to be this serious stuff. And, and, and, and I like to be, I like to be humorous and I like to bring in humor to help tell a story. I mean, I could watch, you know, I could watch comedians all day long. I do watch comedians all the time. One of my favorite comedians, Richard Pryor, and I try to absorb, Lenny Bruce was a pretty powerful comedian, and so I try to absorb some of their energies. And when I write, I think it's just better storytelling when you can put in humor, which is part of real life. Anyway, that's what I tried to do.
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> Curtis Jackson>Well, I know you worked for a billionaire for 25 years, and then later on you wrote 10 things I learned from a Billionaire. So what surprised you most about proximity to extreme wealth?
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> Calvin Swartz>great question too. yes. I'm, with one of the world's wealthiest, when we're as wealthiest men, and the team that put all this together with billionaires. And what surprised me most is their humanity, their caring, and the things they believed in and the things they taught me. These are basic things that people forget. And that's the essence of this book. And it's funny. You know, your listeners should know that an important five, five years ago, this guy, Mark Zuckerberg, you know, third richest guy in America, he flew to Italy five years ago to meet with my boss. And Mark Zuckerberg had an idea to take a pair of Ray Ban sunglasses or Oakley sunglasses and stick, and stick the essence of an iPhone inside. So Now Meta is selling medical assets. And that's the essence of what I worked around for 25 years. But what I.
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> Calvin Swartz>The question you asked, their humanity and their caring and their thinking processes, the things they taught me are basic, wonderful stuff that has been around for a million years. But today everybody's too busy and people forget One of the things the billionaire, taught me, that, everything you do in life is a sale. That's so important because if you think about it, you want to go out to dinner with four friends, each person wants to go to a different restaurant, and where you wind up is a sale is being made. So, what I learned the most is just simple, basic things about everyday life. If you're going to go meet somebody the next day, learn everything you can about that person. Study and learn and read so that everything about that person, you know, and you weave that into your conversation. powerful stuff, Curtis.
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> Curtis Jackson>Yeah.
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> Curtis Jackson>Another thing that's powerful is you lost £100 in two and a half months. So what was that, transformation. Physical, psychological, spiritual, or all the above?
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> Calvin Swartz>All of the above. I, And I write about that, actually verbatim and tortoise. So back in 1989, I was 350 pounds. I was a big. I was a big guy. And, I couldn't even walk up a flight of stairs in my house because I smoked. At the time, I was £350.
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> Calvin Swartz>And it bothered me and it scared me. And I knew I was actually dying. Anyway, I went to bed that night and the following, the following morning, I woke and it's kind of like I heard a word. I heard, the word trust. And I shook my wife. I said, why'd you say that? She said, I didn't say anything. You just woke me up. And I ran into my son's room and he was fast asleep. So I actually heard a word, trust. And then I thought about it and thought about it, and if I could bottle that piece of energy that went into me at that moment, I would be a very rich guy. because, suddenly I was completely overcome spiritually, with the need that I have to fix my life. So I then went on a diet, and I started to exercise and I threw away my cigarettes. And my wife said, you can't do, you can't do everything at one time. You know, nobody stops eating and stops smoking. You got to do one or the other. And I said, no, I'm doing everything right now. I'm taking it's like a line from the Godfather. I'm going to take care of all family business. and again, if I could bottle. So I put myself on 500 calories a day. and I was so possessed. and I started to walk a mile every night. Then two miles, my cigarettes crushed. And and actually there's a comedic element here. I'd lost £100. And this was back in the day when AIDS was prevalent and I was selling eyeglasses and I hadn't seen people in three months. And you know, in two and a half months I lost £100. So I actually go in to see some of my accounts and they don't recognize me. A, because I had lost so much weight and B, the word on the street was I had AIDS because, I must have been sick to lose 100 pounds so fast. if I could only bottle that. But it was a piece of spiritual energy that, that just completely overwhelmed me. mostly spiritual.
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> Curtis Jackson>Okay, well, I mean, you started teaching at Rutgers at the age of 74. So what did that experience tell you about starting something related life about aging that most people misunderstand?
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> Calvin Swartz>Another great question. you know, it's funny. And actually as we're sitting here talking, I'm actually thinking about this stuff. I'm actually thinking about it because, I never, you should know, in 1969 when I was at Rutgers and I was studying pharmacology, I, I said to myself, sometimes I talk to myself. And I said, calvin, whatever you do, I don't want to age traditionally. Now, I don't know what I have to do not to age traditionally, but I knew I had to do a lot of supplementation and stuff. you know, so, it's, it, I never dwell on it. I don't dwell on the age thing. I just do my thing. I'm walking around, and, and I know everything is functioning really well. And, and you know, to the listeners, the whole aging thing, the whole longevity, the whole, I mean, that's a life long pursuit and it's never too late to start fixing yourself. Actually in midlife it's even better that you just change things around. So I, I never concern myself with my age. And I still don't. You know, I'm now officially an octogenarian. I'm 80. I'm writing books. I want to write three more books this year.
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> Calvin Swartz>And I have my own podcast. I interview people literally all over the world. I never for One minute. Stop. And, you know, you always hear people say, oh, age is just a number. Well, it is just a number. But I don't dwell on it, you know, I mean, here I am teaching at 74. It's just something I'm doing. I don't think about it. And, you know, maybe I'm lucky. I have all my faculties. And, I also think that I'm sharper today than I've ever been. And part of that is something called crystallized intelligence. It means, if I can retrieve all the stuff I learned over all these 60, 70, 80 years, I, can retrieve that and then, continue to learn. I. I can perform and I can do stuff. And. And I. I just don't. I don't think about. I don't think about the age thing. I just do my thing. I still meant to kids at Rutgers. And, you know, it's funny, you know, I started mentoring a student. you know, she's a sophomore. She's 19. And I said, When I started mentoring her in September, I said, gee, you know, I just realized something. You know, I'm more than a half century older than you, and yet I'm, communicating. And we're talking on the same level, which is nice.
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> Curtis Jackson>Well, you've also conducted seven paranormal investigations. So after everything you have seen, whether you personally draw the line between skepticism
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> Calvin Swartz>and belief, well, I could talk to you all night, Curtis. These are great. These are great questions. Yes, I've done. I've done a bunch of paranormal investigations and some really. Some really unusual things I've seen. And, like I said, I said it before. I'm a regular guy. You know, football, basketball. I love college sports. I'm a regular guy. except, you know, when I was a journalist, I had the opportunity to do a lot of these things. And there is some of these things.
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> Calvin Swartz>There's no explanation. I'll tell you what it is.
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> Calvin Swartz>What I've learned that there are things. And why I wrote my book There's a Tortoise in My Hair, is to kind of pass along a message that there are things beyond, you know, our world. You know, we've got.
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> Calvin Swartz>We've got now, AI in our world, we've got. We had the super bowl in our world. We have a lot of stuff going on in our world. Yet, the earth is not necessarily the end all. There are just things beyond our understanding and our comprehension.
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> Calvin Swartz>and of course, in my experience, these things have been really nice things. I mean, I went with a. I went with a ghost hunter. Her name was Grace. And another fellow reporter of mine, we went to a. We went to a Presbyterian cemetery, where there's about 40 grave, markers, and they're all flat. And the cemetery said Presbyterian Cemetery, 1670-1750. And you know, oh, wow. So all the people buried here never even knew America got born. And so Grace, ah, who I was with, she had a specialized kind of microphone. And the three of us went over to a grave and we read the markings.
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> Calvin Swartz>And it was a little girl who died at 12 years old in 1750. So Grace puts the. This special microphone over the grave. And she bends down and she asked the grave, are you a little girl? You know, just a question. And then 10, 15 minutes later, we all get together a little circle, three of us, and she plays back the tape. And there you hear a voice saying, yes, I'm a little girl. So, you know, inexplicable, you know, there are no, explanations.
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> Calvin Swartz>And you know, one time we did a ghost thing. And in an abandoned bank building, and we. There were seven or eight of us and the fiance of one of the guys with me, she took a picture of the basement and it was nothing. And two seconds later, she takes another picture with a cell phone. And you see this white orb, you know, no photoshopping, strange, stuff, but. But it's comforting and you know, there's nothing crazy happened. But these are things not to be, generally explained. So the message is, hey, maybe there is something out there beyond our understanding and it may be kind of nice.
00:26:59.089 --> 00:27:14.740
> Curtis Jackson>Well, another powerful experience she had is you turned down Steven Spielberg twice. So talk about that and talk about that. How that experience, ah, you know, sits with you when. When you talk about opportunity versus alignment.
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> Calvin Swartz>probably one of the great mistakes of my life.
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> Calvin Swartz>And, not, a month goes by when, that.
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> Curtis Jackson>That.
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> Calvin Swartz>That was born out of the fact. I could tell you later if you want. I, actually was in a movie with Meryl Streep. Funny story. I was in a Christmas
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5. I was the biggest person in the scene. And it kind of filled my heart and soul. Hey, I was in a movie. Meryl Streep, William Hurtman, Zellweger, directed by Carl Franklin. and then a period of time after that, I found out that Steven, Spielberg's company, they were having auditions for a movie they were going to film in Newark starring Tom Cruise called Water worlds. And I'm a Newark guy. I was born in Newark, proudly. And so I went to that audition and filled out the paperwork and stuff and actually asked me the credits. I said yeah, well I was in a movie with Meryl Streep, you know, one true thing. And you know, three, four, five, six weeks later, whatever, Martha, the casting agent person called me and said we have something for you. And here's the biggest mistake of my life. I said I still was selling eyeglasses then and it was an eight day shoot, this particular scene in the opening part of the movie. And, and I don't know what possessed me, Curtis. And I said gee, I, I don't know if I could take off from work. I'll have to pass, but if something else comes up, let me know. And so that was on a Friday. Monday afternoon, Martha calls back from casting. She said we have something else for you. And then here's the second biggest mistake I ever made. she said we have something else for you. And the second biggest mistake I ever made was now it's gone to my head, they want me. So I said to the casting agent, you know what, I'll, I'll do it, but I want a guarantee of screen time. At which point she started to laugh. She said we don't even give that to, we don't even give that to Tom Cruise, so why are we going to give it to you? And I said well, I'll pass. So I passed. And the strange thing is I would have been on screen a ton because that opening scene in the movie was 25 minutes long. I would have been in the movie and I blew it. And again, not a week goes by I, I don't think about that terrible mistake I made.
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> Curtis Jackson>Well, talk to us about your podcast. Tell us what we can listen to it and what we can expect when we listen to it.
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> Calvin Swartz>Sure, sure. So, again it's kind of a whole thing was kind of a spiritual thing. It was August of 2020 and of course my cable TV talk show, that I had here, it's NJ Discover Live, was on hiatus because nobody was doing anything because of the, because of COVID And I was on LinkedIn and I had just connected with a Rutgers sophomore. Her name was Claudine Smith and she actually was a track star at Rutgers, triple ah, jump record holder.
00:30:25.289 --> 00:30:36.659
> Calvin Swartz>And we kind of messaged back and forth and she seemed so grounded and so mature even though she was a sophomore. So I said to her, hey, Claudine.
00:30:36.750 --> 00:32:18.849
> Calvin Swartz>I wrote her, you know, hey, how would you like to talk on the phone? I get to know you. And, you know, I met her students at Rutgers. So, you know, a few days later we talked on the phone, and she was just delightful and grounded and she had so much depth. And then a light bulb went off in my head. I can't do my TV show, so why don't I interview people like Claudine? And that's how I decided to do Conversations with Calvin. We the Species, right on the spot. And the title came from my notion that in the final analysis, we are just one species. we're all one. And I came out of the 60s and I believed in, in brotherhood and I was active in civil rights and, and all this stuff and, and peace and, So, that's how the channel got born. I, I knew I only wanted to focus on positivity, things about people. I, I never wanted to deal with politics or religion because you get in trouble and there's too many other things we can talk about to elevate people. and so, you know, five and a half years later, you know, I got, I don't know, 9,000, 9,200 subscribers and I've done 720, interviews, slash videos, literally, from people all over the world. And I'm so proud of Conversations with Calvin. We just species on YouTube, because I've interviewed people in Lebanon, in Cameroon, in Italy, in India, in Egypt, in Nigeria, in Australia, in Borneo. I mean, I could literally six continents.
00:32:19.088 --> 00:32:24.470
> Calvin Swartz>And we all focus, on positive, elements, stories.
00:32:25.109 --> 00:33:04.240
> Calvin Swartz>Nothing hugely controversial, but important. I do a lot of authors because I'm an author. So I interview authors because authors are a special breed. and, as it's grown and my viewership has grown and of course, I'd love to have you on my show, Curtis, by the way. For sure. We can talk about that when we go off air. I'd love that. I get so gratified because of the diversity of the things we talk about and the diversity of the geography and the diversity of the people. I'm, interviewing. And some long term, wonderful relationships have come, ah, as a result of that.
00:33:04.720 --> 00:33:27.379
> Calvin Swartz>and, it's an interesting podcast. And again, it keeps growing and growing. So I'm, very proud of that. And it's part of, that's also part of what keeps me young to have to, you know, think about doing that stuff every day. And, it keeps me young. It keeps the mind working. It's like a.
00:33:27.460 --> 00:33:31.539
> Calvin Swartz>It's like taking a. It's like taking a longevity pill, you know, talking to people.
00:33:33.220 --> 00:33:39.599
> Curtis Jackson>Well, for someone who might be going through a mid or late life crisis right now, what would be your, advice to them?
00:33:41.949 --> 00:33:47.899
> Calvin Swartz>don't dwell. and I mean, I listen, I think about that stuff all the time. I'm a poster boy. I'm 80.
00:33:48.619 --> 00:34:56.670
> Calvin Swartz>Yet. Yet I'm performing, you know, I'm performing at such a high level. And my advice. I'll tell you what my advice is. it's certainly most definitely not too late for anything. It's not too late to learn to do a new skill. It's not too late to push yourself. It's not too late to write a book. it's not too late to get healthy, you know, start. You know. listen, I do a lot of health pursuits, and it's never been too late. Most of m. My m. Health pursuits began in middle age 40, 50, man. So, you know, I exercise like crazy. you know, the diet. I haven't had anything with four legs to eat since 1975. Another long story. but all these things. So my advice to all the people out there who are aging, it's never too late. Tomorrow is the first day the rest of your life, and it really is. It's the first day the rest of your life. So talk about diet, talk about nutrition, talk about supplements, talk about exercise, talk about doing the right thing. You know, like a Spike Lee movie.
00:34:56.670 --> 00:35:13.599
> Calvin Swartz>Do the right thing. and. And absolutely, the body and the mind want to be healthy. It wants this stuff, and it makes no difference. It's never too late. And, you know, I'm a poster board for that.
00:35:13.599 --> 00:35:15.360
> Calvin Swartz>I mean, there's a lot of people like me out there.
00:35:15.599 --> 00:35:19.869
> Calvin Swartz>It's certainly never too late. so that's. That's my thing. Never too late.
00:35:21.710 --> 00:35:26.349
> Curtis Jackson>Well, tell us about any upcoming projects that you're working on that listeners need to be aware of.
00:35:27.150 --> 00:36:42.299
> Calvin Swartz>Sure. well, this. This book, 10 Things I Learned from the Billionaire, with Kay Wagner. We decided to make this a series. So it's called the 10 Things I Learned Series. And the next thing we're going to do together, we'd, like to do three books this year. The next thing is about adoption. My Journey, It Began, which I write about. And there's a tortoise in My hair. I read about the character's journey to adoption, which I also had a journey to adoption as my son was adopted. And, and we started messing around and doing this stuff, me and my wife. And it was in the 1980s, and we just wouldn't be able to we weren't, we weren't able to have a family, you know, the old fashioned way. And you know I had operations, seat operations, we did in vitro and, and, and, and then we went down this road to adopt which is a wonderful, wonderful thing. And there's so many emotions and there's so many things learned from that. So that's the next project. 10 things I learned about adoption without your contact info.
00:36:42.299 --> 00:36:44.739
> Curtis Jackson>So people can keep up with everything that you're up to.
00:36:45.380 --> 00:37:15.730
> Calvin Swartz>Sure. I'm on LinkedIn, Calvin Schwartz on LinkedIn. And the nice thing is there's only about four. There might be four or five Calvin Schwartz's in all of America. So I'm really easy to find. So I'm on LinkedIn, on Facebook, I'm Cal Schwartz. my website, Calvin Schwartz Calm. my podcast, is Conversations with Calvin we the species on YouTube and, and that's where I'm at.
00:37:15.730 --> 00:37:33.440
> Calvin Swartz>And I'm very responsive. I'm an old fashioned guy and people reach out and I'm always happy to connect and chat with listeners, with people, you know, while the going is good and so I'm really accessible for that stuff.
00:37:35.199 --> 00:37:37.079
> Curtis Jackson>We'll close this out with some final thoughts.
00:37:37.079 --> 00:37:42.239
> Curtis Jackson>Maybe if that was something I forgot to talk about that you would like to touch on or any final thoughts you have for the listeners.
00:37:42.799 --> 00:38:05.610
> Calvin Swartz>Sure. well I just hinted at it. the final thoughts. You know these are powerful books and I'm a very, very hands on author. You know, people pick up a copy, it's everything I write is on Amazon. You pick up a copy and you want to ask questions. Like I say, while going is good, maybe someday I'll be really, really busy. You know, the life changes. But right now I'm really hands on.
00:38:05.610 --> 00:38:30.110
> Calvin Swartz>Would love to chat, I would love to do book clubs, love to talk to groups of people. I'm motivational. I would, you know, I don't prescribe or anything like that. But you know, it's a great lifestyle. I've learned so much. one of the other things I want to talk about is longevity. I'm not a doctor, I'm not an expert but then again I'm doing all this stuff at a high level. So what I.
00:38:30.269 --> 00:38:43.250
> Calvin Swartz>What I'm saying is I'd love to, you know, people connect with me. I'm hands on. I'd love to, you know, I'd, love to reach out and love to chat and love to zoom and love to talk. I guess you could kind of figure out I love to talk.
00:38:44.929 --> 00:39:12.909
> Curtis Jackson>Yes, I can definitely figure that out. And ladies and gentlemen, calvinswartz.com keep up with everything that he's up to. Hit him up on LinkedIn, Facebook, check out that YouTube channel, check out the podcast, check out the books. Calvin is an amazing person. Shout out to Kaden Gordon again for a fire interview. And ladies and gentlemen, please visit WWE337.com to sign up for that Living the Dream newsletter.
00:39:13.309 --> 00:39:26.549
> Curtis Jackson>Leave a review, comment, you know, follow the show and share the website in the show with everybody you know. Thank you for listening and supporting the show. And Calvin, thank you for an amazing life and all that you do and going to be doing it.
00:39:26.549 --> 00:39:27.549
> Curtis Jackson>Thank you for joining me.
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> Calvin Swartz>Thank you so much, Curtis. in the words of Clint Eastwood, you made my day.
00:39:32.440 --> 00:39:45.079
> Curtis Jackson>For more information on the Living the Dream with curveball podcasts, visit www.curseballuh337.com until next time, keep living the Dr.
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