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Sean Dietrich speaks to Everything Nash about his new book, Over Yonder, overcoming childhood trauma, spreading light and goodness into the world, and more.
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0:01
Hey guys, it's Gail with Everything Nash
0:03
here with the fantabulous Shawn
0:05
Dietrich. So glad we get to talk today,
0:07
Sean.
0:08
I'm I'm proud to be here.
0:10
Well, we have a lot to talk about. I
0:11
want to start with because you're coming
0:13
to Colombia and I'm going to be there um
0:16
in October. Talk about being in
0:18
Colombia. Talk about what you're doing.
0:19
You're touring. You're talking. Just
0:20
give us all the details. Uh well, I am
0:25
going to be doing a show there and uh
0:27
I've been doing my oneman show kind of
0:30
all over and uh I never set out to do it
0:34
and I never thought this would be
0:36
anything I'm doing with my life but uh
0:39
over the last 10 years it has kind of
0:41
evolved uh from an evening of
0:44
storytelling into an evening of audience
0:47
participation. And really all I all I
0:51
aim to do wherever we visit is make
0:54
everybody feel really really really warm
0:56
and good uh for as long as we're
0:58
together even if it's an hour and then
1:00
we do a meet and greet afterward. Uh
1:02
whoever wants to stay, I will I will be
1:06
the last one to leave the building. I'll
1:08
I'll stay as long as they want me to and
1:09
hug everybody's neck who's come. And so
1:11
sometimes our meet and greets last for a
1:14
long long time. And uh but I like it. I
1:17
love it.
1:18
So, you said this isn't what you set out
1:20
to do. What did you set out to do?
1:22
Uh, I don't know. I I when I was
1:26
younger, uh, music was really important
1:28
to me. U, so I kind of kind of supposed
1:31
I would be a musician. Uh, and I did a
1:34
lot of bluecollar work and I do
1:36
bluecollar jobs in the day. Uh, and then
1:39
I would play music at night and I played
1:42
in churches, but then I also played in a
1:44
lot of places that my mother did not
1:45
want me to play. and uh and I made my
1:48
living that way. And I guess I suppose I
1:50
thought that that would just kind of be
1:52
what I do. Uh and I was happy with that.
1:56
And then I started riding kind of on a
1:58
on a whim. I didn't really set out to be
2:01
a writer. And my writing just kind of uh
2:04
snowballed
2:06
and uh I did this this little event at
2:10
the Dothan Library in Dothan, Alabama in
2:13
Houston County. I mean uh yeah anyway I
2:18
was uh I was there and they had asked me
2:21
to do to speak and I said well you don't
2:24
you don't want me to talk I don't know
2:25
what I'm doing and I had self-published
2:28
one book at that point and they said
2:30
well please come and give us a little
2:32
talk I think we have some people here
2:33
who'd like to see it and I said well
2:36
okay I finally gave in and my wife and I
2:38
showed up and I brought a guitar and uh
2:41
I was in the back room of the library
2:43
there were maybe 10 chairs set up
2:44
plastic chairs and I thought maybe
2:48
half those people would come and uh as I
2:52
was setting up the microphone and
2:54
everything,
2:56
people just kept coming in into that
2:58
room and coming into that room and
2:59
pretty pretty soon it was standing room
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only in that room and people were kind
3:03
of filed out the door and I was just I
3:05
had no idea what to even think or do and
3:08
I came onto the microphone and said,
3:09
"What do you want me to do to
3:12
everybody?" And they said, "Well, just
3:14
tell us a story." So, I told a story and
3:17
they said, "Well, well, sing us a song."
3:18
And so, I sang a song. They said, "Well,
3:20
read something from your book." So, I
3:21
read something from my book. And that
3:22
ended up being what my very first, you
3:24
know, quote unquote show. And ever since
3:28
then, it's been what my wife and I do
3:31
pretty much full-time. So, uh, and that
3:34
that's been a long time ago. So, anyway,
3:36
I found you when you wrote about the
3:39
sweet boy named Preston with Down
3:41
syndrome. Yes,
3:42
we adopted our daughter also. So, I'm
3:44
always into adoption stories. And I
3:46
remember I think I was I think I was on
3:48
my way to Alabama with my husband for
3:50
some reason. And I was just sobbing
3:52
reading the story. Um and then I
3:54
followed you through your whole El
3:56
Camino journey. Like I've just followed
3:58
your journey. What I'm want to know and
4:01
I'm asking you this because you've been
4:02
vocal about it. Your childhood was not
4:04
the best,
4:05
right?
4:06
And you have been so vocal about sharing
4:08
that part of your story and I'm really
4:10
curious why. Uh simple uh because
4:15
when we go through trauma,
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it's a wound and after that wound uh the
4:23
body just like the mind
4:26
tries to repair it and it does a pretty
4:30
lousy job at first because it's it's
4:32
such a deep wound. So what happens a lot
4:35
of times is infection and so infection
4:38
starts to take over it physically but
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it's very similar mentally and you get a
4:43
lot of pus buildup and you get a lot of
4:45
fluids if that wound is not addressed
4:48
correctly from the beginning and it we
4:50
rarely do you have this infection and
4:53
the only way to get an infection out of
4:57
your body or your mind is to drain it is
5:00
to get is to to address it. So,
5:04
I find that talking and being vocal
5:06
about things like that, going back and
5:08
talking through it is like letting go of
5:12
all that buildup, that infection that's
5:14
been growing, that pus. And the more you
5:17
do it, the more you speak about things
5:20
that you're afraid to talk about and the
5:22
more you decide that you're not going to
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avoid it and and and engage in pure
5:29
avoidance, the more you experience
5:32
healing and the more the less power it
5:34
has over you. The more you do it, the
5:35
longer of a period of your life that you
5:38
make that normal for you, the power that
5:41
your trauma has over you diminishes
5:44
almost to nothing. And that is kind of
5:48
miraculous. It's kind of sweet. Uh, and
5:50
it's it's it's
5:53
something that
5:55
is counterintuitive when you grow up
5:56
that way. Uh, the first reaction when
5:58
you go through something bad is to just
6:00
kind of move on with your life and
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ignore it. And I I've noticed that so
6:04
much in my own family and also in other
6:07
people that I meet. And my goal is to
6:12
help people see that it's it's okay to
6:14
talk about it. In fact, talking about it
6:16
will set you free. The longer you do it,
6:18
the more you do it and the more open you
6:20
are to doing it will allow you to talk
6:23
about it. And because we're such
6:25
empathetic creatures as humans, when I
6:28
see somebody talking about it, I'll
6:29
start to talk about it. So, if someone
6:31
sees me start to talk about it, well,
6:32
hey, maybe I'll start talking about it.
6:34
And it's the yawn. It's the yawn reflex.
6:37
If they see me yawn, well, maybe they'll
6:38
start to yawn, too. And
6:41
that's so powerful. Um, I want to get to
6:44
your book, but before you just performed
6:47
at the Grand Opry.
6:49
Yeah.
6:50
I I do a lot of interviews back there,
6:52
and I always say, if those walls could
6:55
talk about being part of the Grand Opry.
6:59
Well, uh, this past time was my sixth
7:03
time and I wish I could say that, you
7:06
know, it gets like old habit, you know,
7:10
but it it not for me at all. But that's
7:13
because I
7:15
that's because out of all the people
7:16
there, I don't belong there. And I think
7:21
I think everybody kind of knows that on
7:22
some level because I I'm I'm
7:26
a lot different than uh than I I took a
7:28
a different route than a lot of the the
7:30
bigger names there. And so uh when I go
7:33
there, I have a ball with the staff,
7:38
with the uh oh my gosh, with the
7:41
security guards, with the ushers. I
7:43
mean, those are my those are my people,
7:44
and I genuinely love those people. Uh
7:48
the ground opery the first time I did it
7:51
was
7:53
so transformative for me. Uh my dad was
7:56
a huge fan of the Grandal Opry. He died
7:57
when I was 11 and I walked out to the
8:00
crowd and people were out there at the
8:03
opery and I looked out in the audience
8:07
and I saw a huge poster board. Someone
8:10
had printed out a photograph, a major
8:13
large photograph of my dad and they were
8:15
holding it up in the audience and I saw
8:18
that and I just about lost it and
8:22
actually I did. I I doubled over on
8:24
stage and I was I was crying and uh
8:28
people were still kind of like, you
8:29
know, cheering me on. Come on, get up to
8:31
the microphone. And I remember saying to
8:32
myself in that moment while I'm double
8:35
over on the stage, I said, "All right,
8:38
buddy. You got to get it together. you
8:39
are on the grand old oper. You cannot
8:42
just sit out here and cry. And I sucked
8:44
it up and I don't know how I did it, but
8:47
I I swallowed all that in a moment and I
8:50
was normal Shawn there for a second and
8:52
I got up to the microphone and I said
8:54
words that I had been waiting my whole
8:56
life to say. I said over the microphone,
8:58
I'm just so proud to be here just like
9:01
many Pearl would have said. And uh it
9:04
was it's amazing. It's amazing.
9:07
There's such a tradition. such an
9:09
American tradition. It's It's amazing.
9:11
It really is. Okay, let's talk about
9:13
your book, my friend. You have a book
9:14
coming. Is this your fourth?
9:16
This is my Well, this is my 20th book,
9:19
but it's my fourth uh novel with the
9:22
with this publisher. Actually, it's my
9:26
I think it's Yes, I think it's my fourth
9:28
novel with this publisher.
9:31
Maybe maybe my sixth if you count my
9:33
non-fiction.
9:34
talk about it and talk about the
9:36
difference like so novel and you've
9:37
written all these books about your life
9:39
and what's the juxosition there just
9:41
give me all the details
9:43
um
9:45
okay uh you know well I've always loved
9:47
novels I've read I I dropped out of
9:50
school when I was in the seventh grade
9:52
after my dad my dad died when I was 11 I
9:55
tried going back briefly and then I just
9:56
dropped out uh and I kept up with
10:00
entertainment and ed and my education
10:02
and the only way I knew was by reading.
10:04
I went to the library every week and
10:07
novels were super important to me
10:08
because they were you can learn a lot by
10:11
reading novels. So, I've always wanted
10:14
to write fiction. But it really hit home
10:17
with me when I was uh
10:21
when I was starting u writing at all. As
10:26
I watched people and I asked I was
10:28
asking friends, I noticed that the world
10:30
was kind of sad. People are sad. And I
10:32
said, "Why, you know, where are you
10:33
getting your information from?"
10:36
Uh, and I'd listen to their answers and
10:39
they would say, "Well, we we read the
10:40
internet. Uh, we we watch Netflix or or
10:45
you know, streaming services and we read
10:47
novels and we and I noticed nobody's
10:49
really getting their information from uh
10:53
from historians or from or from
10:55
self-help off. They are they are, I
10:57
guess, to some degree, but most people
10:58
are getting it from these entertainment
11:00
sources." And I thought, you know, if I
11:02
write novels, perhaps I can say some of
11:05
the things I want to say in a different
11:07
form that people will enjoy. I don't
11:11
know. So anyway, I started writing
11:12
novels. And uh this novel in particular
11:15
is about
11:17
uh a character that that I really kind
11:20
of got into. Uh, and he's a man who
11:25
I don't know how much to reveal here
11:27
because I can never I can never figure
11:29
out how much to reveal, but he's a uh
11:31
he's just an everyday guy who who
11:34
figures out a few things about his life
11:35
that he did not know. And uh he's going
11:38
through a lot of health issues and then
11:41
it's also about a young woman who who
11:44
discovers uh some things about her own
11:47
self that she didn't know. And somehow
11:49
these two stories interweave. I don't
11:51
know how much to give away. I'm terrible
11:53
at this. Uh anyway, in short, the book
11:58
is about found family, which all my
12:01
books to some degree are about found
12:03
family because I have such a splintered
12:04
family myself. The people who have been
12:08
incredibly formative in my life have
12:10
been found family members. I mean, you
12:14
mentioned Gettysburg. I was just in
12:15
Gaysburg last week and I went with a guy
12:18
who who has been like a surrogate dad to
12:21
me and we were together and it was the
12:24
greatest week. I mean, we made so many
12:25
memories over that week. It was just
12:27
incredible and he's not related to me
12:30
and yet
12:32
I've never felt more related to somebody
12:35
in my life. So, uh that's my books all
12:39
contain that theme of that found family.
12:42
Um, found family. It sounds like you
12:45
have a rockstar wife because it was her
12:46
idea to do El Camino, right?
12:48
Oh, yeah.
12:49
I need to be friends with her.
12:50
Yeah, she's a lot. She's she's uh she's
12:54
huge in my life. She's uh
12:57
she's she's probably the most
13:01
she's probably the the reason I'm even
13:03
alive. She's just wonderful.
13:05
Will she be in Colombia?
13:06
Oh. Oh, yes. She does everything. She
13:09
she didn't go to Gettysburg with me,
13:11
which is very rare. She because it was a
13:13
kind of a guys trip, I guess. And uh it
13:16
felt very I called her. I said, "This is
13:18
weird." Because we have traveled Jam
13:19
Jamie and I have traveled the country
13:21
together and been everywhere together,
13:23
even all the way up to the Canada border
13:26
uh together and done it together. And we
13:29
have our roles and she is everything.
13:31
She is I do the stage stuff, she does
13:34
everything else. And uh without her it
13:37
was very bizarre. I said, I just feel
13:38
like h there's half of me here.
13:41
Well, I'm gonna have to be friends with
13:42
her. I'm gonna let you go soon, but I
13:44
have to ask you this yet because you
13:45
have been so open. Talk about your
13:48
faith. I love how when you kind of put
13:50
people in their place in your own gentle
13:52
way. Talk about your faith and why you
13:55
choose to be so open about it.
13:57
Well,
14:00
that's a really it's a good question
14:02
because
14:05
because I've noticed that everybody
14:07
brings to u their perception of faith or
14:13
a little bit of their own
14:14
interpretation. And this is what
14:18
causes so much division in people
14:21
because
14:23
they were raised in a culture of faith
14:25
that believes this and they're waiting
14:26
for my answer to say something that
14:29
either agrees with X Y and Z or
14:31
disagrees with XYZ so they can figure
14:33
out where I am where they can put me in
14:35
a in a in a in a pigeon hole and say,
14:38
"Well, no, no, he doesn't believe that."
14:40
So, yeah, you know, he's just not. Or
14:43
they can say, "Yes, he's one of us." And
14:45
I find that at the core of those of
14:47
these inquiries that I because I get a
14:50
lot of the
14:52
is the need to exercise this
14:57
primal instinct we have of of
15:00
classifying other people with us and
15:03
them. Uh if I can classify you as you're
15:06
part of them, you're not us. Uh then I
15:10
then I know where where we stand. But I
15:12
find that in my faith uh one of the most
15:15
defining characteristics is we are all
15:17
us. That there is no them. That that
15:21
I find an incredible unity
15:24
with my early
15:26
church fathers, the ones right after you
15:30
know I I grew up in the Christian
15:32
tradition. Uh so in 33 AD when Jesus was
15:38
you know was taken care of by the Roman
15:41
government uh the church that blossomed
15:43
out of all this I find such a kinship
15:46
with them but I also find a kinship and
15:49
have been finding more kinship with
15:52
certain people that I never thought I'd
15:54
have anything in common with. So, my
15:56
faith has been continually tested and
16:00
transformed and opened up.
16:03
I believe uh that I I wouldn't be here
16:07
if it wasn't for my
16:11
uh if it wasn't for the provision and
16:15
providence of God. And so
16:18
I know so little about this wonderful
16:22
benevolent creator, the great artist,
16:26
but I feel that it's important to
16:30
point upward so that people realize uh
16:35
that that
16:37
there's just more there than I think we
16:39
believe. I think there's more there than
16:41
we expect that we know. abundant love.
16:42
Love
16:44
which is the the uh fabric of who this
16:49
creator is and it's the fabric of the
16:51
universe kind of unifies us all and I
16:55
feel that we ought to give more credence
16:58
to that than we do. So again, I try to
17:01
talk about it and uh I take a lot of
17:03
heat for it because some people classify
17:06
me as a uh I mean one guy called me a
17:09
pantheist and I don't even know what
17:11
that means and then another person has
17:12
called me a heretic and uh I love these
17:16
letters actually when I get them because
17:19
I find that there are more people out
17:21
there who feel the way I do who feel a
17:25
brotherhood and kinship with every human
17:27
being
17:29
than than the people who
17:32
draw hard divisions between us. So my
17:34
faith my faith is quite simply uh I love
17:41
I love and I love God and I love you.
17:44
That's that's all I know.
17:46
I've said often I think we all just
17:48
stumble all the way home.
17:49
Yeah, I so agreed. I agree.
17:52
I'm gonna end it there because that was
17:53
good. Thank you, Sean. Good to see you.
17:55
I will see you in Colia.
17:57
I'll see you. Thank you friend.
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