When I left the military, I was always looking for more and for the next thing to grow, so I decided to become a smoke jumper instead of enjoying retirement.

Smoke jumping involves jumping out of airplanes into areas where vehicles can't access, landing in tight drop zones with all our gear to put out wildfires.

When fighting fires, we patrol the area to ensure there are no hot spots left, and we literally wet the whole area down to prevent flare-ups.

My training for the challenge lasted six months, covering approximately 30 kilometers daily, totaling about 900 kilometers a week, which was well planned and enjoyable.

Firefighter roles often include impulsive behaviors like addiction or dissociation, which are designed to protect us from overwhelming feelings.

Cleaning is much harder than it seems; during our first job, we struggled with a large post-construction home, realizing that cleaning requires significant effort and skill. It took us five days to clean the house, which was a terrible experience for the customer because I had to return the next day and apologize for the lack of progress.

For shift workers, staying on the same shift for at least two weeks is crucial to avoid detrimental effects on brain and body health.

I spent two weeks finding a job at a cleaning company in San Francisco, where I had to deal with long commutes and a taxing schedule, but it was essential for learning about the cleaning industry.

We were working 12 to 15 hours a day, six or seven days a week, and I didn't want to go to a dinner with our investor, but we felt we had to attend.