Are You Being Programmed? Media, AI, and Protecting Your Peace in a Noisy World

We live in a world that won’t stop talking. Our phones buzz, our feeds scroll endlessly, and even our gym playlists are shaping how we feel, think, and move through the day—usually without us realizing it. In the latest episode of the podcast, three Gen X dads sit down to ask a simple but uncomfortable question: Who’s actually doing the programming here—us, or our media?

How media quietly scripts our identity

For many of us, movies and TV weren’t just entertainment; they were training manuals for who we thought we were supposed to be. From Braveheart and Gladiator double features to Baywatch and comfort sitcoms, screen stories became the lens through which we understood manhood, courage, relationships, and even how we were “supposed” to react to danger.

In this conversation, we explore how “television programming” really did program us—especially as Gen X kids raised on big‑box‑office action and cable reruns. We unpack everything from childhood suicide notes and Faces of Death to the way a single VHS tape or movie night could leave emotional fingerprints that last for decades.

The media diet: what you consume consumes you

Today, the idea of a “media diet” isn’t a metaphor; it’s survival. What we watch, listen to, and scroll doesn’t just inform us—it shapes our nervous system, our sense of safety, and our baseline mood. Hardcore rap at the gym might give you a boost, but it can also slip into a mantra that keeps your system locked in fight‑mode long after you rack the weights.

We talk about using music strategically—different playlists for writing, training, and decompressing—and why some content simply isn’t worth the nervous‑system cost. There’s a big difference between being entertained and being agitated, and that line is easier to cross than most of us realize.

Parenting in the age of TikTok and “infinite scroll”

If you’re raising kids right now, you’re not just managing screen time; you’re managing identity formation in real time. In the episode, we dive into how daughters and sons are navigating Instagram, TikTok, and Snapchat—and how much of that is about connection versus comparison.

We talk about:

• Why some kids self‑regulate social media surprisingly well while others get swallowed whole

• How to prioritize honest one‑on‑one conversations over rigid “rules” that don’t fit every child

• Why many of the people who built these platforms won’t let their own kids use them—and what that tells us

The goal isn’t to create fear; it’s to create awareness—and to give parents a more grounded way to talk about what’s real and what’s engineered.

When language becomes a weapon

The episode also tackles the weaponization of language and how subtle shifts in vocabulary can polarize a society. Whether it’s how we describe protests, immigration, or violence, the words we choose aren’t neutral—they carry emotional weight and political leverage.

We explore:

• How redefining “violence” to include words sets the stage for justifying actual physical violence

• Why clips of protests and police interactions rarely show the whole story

• How media incentives reward outrage, fragmentation, and “us vs. them” narratives

When you zoom out and follow the incentives—who benefits, who profits—it becomes much easier to see why everything feels so inflamed all the time.

News, noise, and how much you really need to know

Traditional news is collapsing, trust in media is plummeting, and at the same time we have more access to information than any generation before us. We talk about the decline of legacy outlets, layoffs at major newspapers, and why many of us feel like we’re drinking from a fire hose of crisis.

The question we wrestle with is not “Should you be informed?” but rather “How much information can you take in before it starts to damage your ability to live well?” Sometimes, the bravest thing you can do is limit your intake and refuse to let every global emergency colonize your nervous system.

AI, robotics, and drinking from the fire hose of change

No modern conversation about media and mental health is complete without talking about AI. From fears of Skynet and killer robots to the quiet reality of synthetic videos that can spark very real human reactions, AI is accelerating faster than our nervous systems can comfortably adapt.

In the episode, we explore:

• Why AI isn’t just a tech story—it’s an emotional and existential one

• How synthetic media can manipulate perception and behavior at scale

• What it means to adapt without surrendering your agency or humanity

The goal isn’t to offer doom or denial, but to find a sane middle path where we use the tools without becoming tools ourselves.

Dropping the masks and protecting your peace

Underneath all the talk about movies, music, protests, news, and AI is a deeper invitation: to drop the masks and stop living as a never‑ending “self‑improvement project.” Sometimes the most radical act is to accept who you are, stop trying to constantly remodel your personality, and actually be present in your own life.

We talk about:

• The difference between speaking from a wound versus a scar

• How to move from survival mode into authentic living

• Why “protect your peace, protect your people, protect your principles” is more than a slogan—it’s a way of navigating a noisy world

It’s about reclaiming your attention, your agency, and your ability to be where your feet are—especially with the people who matter most.

From surviving to thriving in a changing world

The episode closes with a look at personal growth and future aspirations in a world that’s changing faster than any of us can fully process. We explore what it means to become an “elder statesman” in your own life—to move from proving yourself to providing perspective, support, and stability to others.

You don’t need to fix the entire world. You just need to tend to the part of the garden you can touch. That might mean becoming more intentional about your media diet, setting better boundaries around your attention, or finally dropping a persona that no longer fits.

If this resonates, the full episode goes much deeper into these themes—with stories, mistakes, and hard‑won lessons you can actually use. As you read or listen, consider one simple question: What’s one small shift in your media diet that would make your life feel lighter this week?

“Average Olympian” to Fly Girl: Inside a World‑Class Pole Vaulter’s Mindset

Why do some athletes keep chasing higher bars long after the world thinks they have peaked? For three‑time Olympic pole vaulter Anika Newell, the answer starts with a love of the grind, an “audience of one” mindset, and an unshakable belief that there is always another level to reach.

In this episode of Corson’s Corner, Anika sits down with host Spencer Coursen to talk about the pain, pressure, and purpose behind a 20‑year commitment to pole vaulting, and what comes next when the runway lights finally go dark.

“There’s Always a Higher Bar”

For Anika, pole vaulting is more than a job, but it’s not her identity. She describes the event as “literally flying,” and what keeps her hooked is the fact that there’s always a higher bar waiting—15 feet becomes 15.1, 15.2, 15.3, and so on, with no real ceiling on what might be possible.

Training days often mean brutal solo workouts on an empty track with nothing but a stopwatch and her own internal standards. She loves pushing her threshold to find out whether she is truly at her limit or just bumping into the comfort‑seeking part of her brain. That willingness to “enjoy the suck” has become her competitive advantage.

Rebuilding Technique After a Decade Pro

Despite being a ten‑year veteran in the sport, Anika essentially tore down and rebuilt her technique with a new coach. She moved from a stiff, muscle‑through‑it “bodybuilder” style to a fluid, dance‑like approach where she and the pole move as one.

Her coach rarely hands out compliments, which Anika prefers; she wants direct feedback, not sugar‑coating. The payoff is obvious: she’s hitting personal records in the weight room and on the track, and she finally feels like she truly understands how to pole vault at a world‑class level.

From “Average Olympian” to Audience of One

In 2024, Athletics Canada dropped Anika from funding and told her they didn’t see any future potential, effectively labeling her an “average Olympian.” That phrase rattled her, especially after three Olympics and multiple World Championship finals—an “average Olympian” is statistically rarer than most people’s dream partner wish lists.

After a long emotional slump and a reset at home with family, she reframed the insult into fuel. She realized she didn’t need a federation to validate her career; she needed to impress herself. In the following indoor season, she ranked top‑10 in the world, proof that her potential was never up for external debate.

Acknowledge, Identify, Decide, Act: Her Resilience Framework

When it comes to stress, fear, and adversity, Anika uses a simple four‑step framework: Acknowledge, Identify, Decide, Act. She first acknowledges the problem and widens her perspective, then identifies the root cause and her options forward. From there, she decides on a path and acts, instead of spiraling in emotion or indecision.

Spencer connects this to the military’s OODA loop (Observe, Orient, Decide, Act), and Anika explains that she built her own version during the mental battles leading up to the Tokyo Olympics, where fear was often her biggest opponent. The system is logical, portable, and works whether she’s dealing with competition anxiety, life stress, or injury.

Turning a 6–8 Week Injury into a 15‑Day Comeback

Five weeks before the conversation, Anika rolled her ankle in a pothole while running strides on a grass field. The result: partially torn ligaments, a sprain, and a bone contusion—a classic “6 to 8 weeks” diagnosis.

Instead of panicking, she went straight into “assessment mode,” breathing, checking swelling and pain levels, and mapping out next steps. She decided on day one she would be back in two weeks. Then she attacked recovery from every angle: twice‑daily brutal PT, daily meditation, grounding walks by the water, breath work, reading mindset literature, consulting a nutritionist, cleaning up inflammatory foods, and leveraging sauna and other tools to push blood flow and healing.

The result: she was running in seven days and back vaulting on day 15, exactly as she had declared. For Anika, it was a powerful demonstration of mind–body connection and what happens when attitude and systems align.

Document, Don’t Perform: Authenticity on Social Media

Unlike many athletes trying to “be influencers,” Anika’s content strategy is simple: she documents her real life instead of creating performances for the algorithm. She films workouts primarily to study technique and then repurposes footage if it might be helpful or interesting to others.

That authenticity cuts both ways. A reel of her squatting with chains in a public gym went viral and drew criticism from people who didn’t understand that this is normal elite training. She shrugs off the hate, noting that people “only hate up,” and that some percentage of detractors is the cost of doing real work in public.

Batteries, Vacuums, and Protecting Her Peace

Anika is fiercely protective of her peace and keeps a small, intentional circle. She resonates with the idea that people are either “batteries” who recharge you or “vacuums” who drain you, and she has no problem cutting off relationships that consistently pull her energy down.

She grew up with steady, resilient parents who modeled calm problem‑solving instead of emotional meltdowns, giving her an early blueprint for distress tolerance. Today, that shows up in how she handles adversity, chooses friends, and manages her mental health during long stretches of isolated training.

Modern Dating, Masculinity, and Wanting to Be in Her Feminine

The conversation turns candid when Spencer asks about dating as a high‑performing woman in today’s world. Anika says bluntly that she has yet to see a man “outman” her—she often finds herself leading conversations, making plans, and driving the connection.

She would much rather relax into her feminine, but that requires a masculine presence she can trust to lead with clarity, consistency, and emotional safety. Dating apps feel more like endless window‑shopping than intentional partnership building, and she is uninterested in playing small‑talk games or pretending not to care. What she wants is simple: a consistent, caring partner whose ambition, values, and capacity to love match her own.

Sacrifice, FOMO, and Life After Elite Sport

Chasing Olympic‑level goals has meant sacrificing almost everything else for eight‑month stretches of each year: birthdays, weddings, girls’ trips, spontaneous dinners, and normal social rhythms. She lives “under a rock” during the season, but insists it has been 1000% worth it to pursue her dreams while she’s young.

Even so, she is honest about the loneliness and FOMO that come with that path and the looming question of retirement. Anika views 2025 as her “full send” season, intending to leave everything on the track and then step back to explore life beyond the runway. She imagines a six‑month pause after the season to see what opportunities and goals emerge, and only then deciding whether to chase a home‑soil Olympics in LA 2028.

Following Bliss: Attitude, Resilience, and Joy as a Compass

Asked what advice she would give someone who wants to emulate her approach to life, Anika narrows it down to three pillars: attitude, resilience, and following bliss. Attitude means owning your reactions instead of throwing tantrums and staying coachable in the face of hard feedback. Resilience means getting back up after each knockdown and finding a new door when the first one stays locked.

Following bliss is her way of choosing paths that genuinely light her up, trusting that joy leads to both purpose and, eventually, profit. For Anika, pole vaulting is what she does, not who she is—but the way she does it reveals a blueprint anyone can use to chase higher bars in their own life.

From Rock Bottom to the Ring: How Boxing Helped Haley Beat Depression

When you first meet Haley Wheeler, you see the confident boxing coach with 100K+ followers, packed classes, and a new fitness app on the way. What you don’t see right away is the small‑town girl from Turkey, Texas, who lost her period for three years to anorexia, later gained 60 pounds through binge eating, and used boxing to claw her way out of depression.

In this episode of Coursen’s Corner, Haley shares how she turned a cardio boxing class into therapy, a career pivot, and a platform to empower women far beyond the gym.

Small‑Town Roots and Small Dreams

Haley grew up in tiny Turkey, Texas—so small that her graduating class had only 15 students and everyone played every sport just to field a team. She was the classic small‑town all‑star: basketball, track, cross‑country, cheerleading, dance, and gymnastics, with weekends spent riding horses and four‑wheelers instead of scrolling social media.

Back then, her dreams were just as small as her town; on sixth‑grade career day, she would have said she wanted to be a teacher, mostly because that’s what she saw around her. It wasn’t until she left for college in Lubbock—armed with an ag economics and business scholarship and a love of math—that she realized how limited her worldview had been.

College, though, came with a culture shock: a “huge city” feel, endless restaurants, and a sudden awareness of how she looked compared to everyone else.

Discovering Boxing as Therapy (Not Just Cardio)

Haley first walked into a boxing class in college for a simple reason: she wanted to burn off the freshman 15. A friend dragged her to a cardio kickboxing session, and even though she had no idea what she was doing, the athlete in her kicked in and she instantly felt something click.

Very quickly, she realized boxing was about much more than punches and sweat:

• It gave her a place to release emotions she didn’t know how to express verbally as an introvert.

• It rebuilt the confidence she’d had as “the athlete” in high school but felt she had lost in a much bigger environment.

• It forced her to be fully present—because when you’re boxing, distraction gets you metaphorically (and sometimes literally) punched in the face.

She went from anonymous college student to early‑morning trainer, helping open a boxing club in Lubbock and running 5 a.m. to noon classes before heading to her own college lectures and bartending late into the night. That grind laid the foundation for what would later become her full‑time career.

The Hidden Fight: Eating Disorders and Depression

Behind the scenes, though, Haley was fighting a very different opponent. College brought not only freedom and fast food but also societal pressure and body comparison she had never experienced in her sheltered hometown.

Her journey with disordered eating came in two extreme chapters:

• Anorexia:
  She began by “cleaning up” her diet and training harder, then slid into extreme restriction fueled by perfectionism and the desire to be as small as possible. Compliments about her shrinking frame only reinforced the behavior, even as she lost her menstrual cycle for three years and watched her hormones and mood crash.

• Binge eating:
  Exhausted by rigidity, she mentally “gave up” and swung to the other extreme, using food as her drug of choice. Binge eating for her meant eating until it physically hurt, chasing a sugar high despite knowing it was harming her, and gaining roughly 60 pounds in just a few months.

During this period, Haley was working from home as a credit analyst, isolated during COVID and stuck in a cycle of overeating, shame, and depression. She describes feeling embarrassed and “silly” for using food to cope, especially as family and friends told her she “looked so good” while she knew internally how sick she really was.

Choosing a New Identity: From “Sick” to “Boxer”

Change didn’t come from a magic pill; it came from a mindset pivot. Haley reached a point where she realized she was letting an eating disorder define her life and rob her of the big future she still secretly wanted.

The turning point came when she felt just confident enough to walk back into a boxing gym. Returning to boxing:

• Reconnected her with an identity that wasn’t centered on weight, but on strength and capability.

• Helped her shed weight in a sustainable way while rebuilding mental resilience.

• Reinforced the idea that if she could see herself as “a boxer,” then her daily micro‑decisions—food, movement, rest—needed to match that identity.

She combined that with journaling, honest self‑audits of her habits, and embracing balance—what she calls an 80/20 mindset instead of all‑or‑nothing thinking. Instead of obsessing over a “perfect” day, she began judging herself over a week, allowing space for pizza and real life without spiraling.

Leaving Safety Behind: Career Pivots and Moving to Austin

Professionally, Haley bounced from credit analyst to real estate in Lubbock, underwriting and selling properties during the COVID boom. But she was also in an unhealthy relationship that left her isolated and disconnected from who she was.

When she finally left that relationship, she started rebuilding her life—making new friends, working real estate on her own, and admitting to herself that she wanted more than West Texas could offer. Lubbock, once overwhelming, now felt small.

A visit to Austin to see her best friend changed everything. Introduced to a built‑in community and energized by the city’s culture, she realized Austin could be the place where she finally aligned her life with her passions: boxing, women’s empowerment, and creative work in health and wellness.

She moved to Austin in May, initially planning to keep real estate as her primary career while “having fun” and getting her feet under her. By fall, though, she felt the pull to get serious about what she truly wanted—and that meant going all‑in on fitness and content.

Going All In: Content, Community, and a 10X Social Media Jump

When Haley decided to treat social media as a business instead of a casual diary, everything accelerated. She had around 10,000 followers when she arrived in Austin; within about six months, that number had jumped to roughly 100,000.

Her growth wasn’t an accident; it came from intentional strategy:

• She clarified her brand pillars: boxing, women’s empowerment, confidence, discipline, and a distinctly feminine aesthetic.

• She hired a professional videographer, batch‑shot high‑quality content, and personally edited her videos to maintain a consistent visual style.

• She used tools like ChatGPT to build content calendars, develop themes, and stay consistent with posting.

At the same time, her in‑person presence grew. Collective in Austin saw her hit the bag, learned her story, and brought her in to coach “Knockout Glutes,” a class that blends lower‑body strength training with boxing fundamentals and core work.

The result: women who might never step into a traditional fight gym suddenly had a safe, inviting on‑ramp to boxing—often starting with zero experience, painted nails, and a little bit of nerves. They left sweaty, smiling, and surprisingly proud of how hard they could actually hit.

Empowering Women Through Knockout Glutes and Online Programs

Haley’s approach to boxing is deliberately welcoming and technically sound. She starts beginners with foundational punches (the one‑two‑three), basic stance, and safe mechanics, then layers in rotation, footwork, and defense so they use their full body instead of just their shoulders.

Her philosophy: boxing should give you “real confidence, not fake confidence”—the kind that comes from feeling capable, not just looking fit.

To reach women beyond Austin, she has launched online training programs:

• Knockout Glutes (4‑week program):
  A lower‑body strength, boxing, and core plan available in both at‑home and gym versions, designed so you can do the boxing segments with nothing more than light dumbbells.

• Bikini Body Blueprint (6‑week challenge):
  A time‑bound program that provides structured workouts and group accountability for women wanting to lean out and tighten up in a healthy, balanced way.

These standalone programs are serving as the foundation and “bridge” to something bigger: her own training app.

The Body by Haley App: Scaling Her Mission

Haley’s next major step is the Body by Haley app, a subscription‑based platform designed to bring her method to women everywhere. Inside the app, users will be able to:

• Input their goals—whether that’s fat loss, muscle gain, or performance—and receive workouts built from movements Haley actually does herself.

• Follow nutrition plans tailored to different dietary preferences, from standard to vegan.

• Track calories and macros, including via AI‑powered photo logging of meals, similar to advanced food‑tracking apps.

• Join challenges with community chat, or upgrade to higher‑touch tiers that offer more direct one‑on‑one support.

She’s realistic that building an app takes longer and costs more than you think, but the vision is clear: to create a scalable ecosystem where boxing, strength training, mindset, and community all live in one place.

Staying Grounded: Faith, Journaling, and Boundaries

For all the momentum in her professional life, Haley is intentional about how she refills her own cup. She leans on:

• Boxing as her primary therapy and emotional release—even as she works to carve out time to train herself, not just her clients.

• Long walks outside with her dog, Zara, to reset when decision fatigue and stress pile up.

• Morning routines that include reading her Bible and journaling to process emotions, clarify goals, and keep her identity rooted in something deeper than followers or revenue.

She even uses AI as a reflection tool—feeding her journaling themes into ChatGPT to get prompts, affirmations, and reminders tailored to what she’s currently working through.

Most importantly, she protects authenticity as a non‑negotiable. Raised by a father who stressed humility, “no‑quit” energy, and staying grounded, she refuses to become one of those people who projects empowerment online while living out of alignment offline. The version of Haley you see on Instagram is the same one you’ll meet in class.

What She Wants Other Women to Know

Looking back, Haley says the advice she’d give her 18‑year‑old self is simple: stop people‑pleasing and apologizing, and be unapologetically yourself. Your life is too short to live small because someone else expects you to.

Her story is proof that:

• You can grow up with “small dreams” and still build a big life once you’re exposed to new possibilities.

• You can survive extreme mental health struggles and disordered eating—and rebuild a healthy, powerful relationship with your body and food.

• You can pivot careers, move cities, and start over, even when it means leaving something safe to chase something uncertain but aligned.

For Haley, beating depression with boxing gloves wasn’t just about throwing punches; it was about choosing a new identity, stepping outside her comfort zone, and deciding she deserved more than survival.

And now, through her classes, programs, and upcoming app, she’s helping thousands of women do the same.