Meet Mike

We recently connected with Mike and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Mike, we’re so appreciative of you taking the time to share your nuggets of wisdom with our community. One of the topics we think is most important for folks looking to level up their lives is building up their self-confidence and self-esteem. Can you share how you developed your confidence?

You know, if you had asked me this question two years ago my answer would have been very different than it is today. Two years ago I would have said that my confidence comes from “faking it until I make it”, which is basically how I lived my life. I pretended to be a casino manager until I became a proficient one. I pretended to be a filmmaker until I became an award-winning one. I pretended to be a published author until I had published books, and the list goes on. I was a pretender, a faker, and a charlatan. Today, as I ponder the most honest answer to your question, I can safely pinpoint exactly where my confidence comes from: about a year and a half ago, after forty-three years in the proverbial wilderness, a cold heart of stone was neatly plucked from my chest and a living, beating heart was placed in its stead. This free gift of God, what we Christians refer to as “salvation”, was both unexpected and undeserved. I discovered that I was indeed a sinner in need of a savior. I realized that I could not save myself, and that I could no longer believe in myself, rather I had to believe in and rely on Jesus to see me through. My confidence comes from Jesus.

Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?

I’m a full-time RV journalist and photographer; I’m also a fine artist, podcaster, award-winning documentary filmmaker, and published author. My newest book release, “Abandoned Sulphur, Louisiana” (2022), takes my audience on a photographic tour of abandoned locations in southwest Louisiana. I completed my filmmaking degree at Western Washington University, and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts. Prior to being born again I was an occultist, hedonist, and self-proclaimed “dark artist”. I co-founded the “Dark Art Society” organization and podcast, authored a field guide to the dark universe artist Chet Zar had been capturing with his brush strokes for twenty years, and directed a documentary about his life and work titled, “Chet Zar: I Like to Paint Monsters”. After being reborn I felt called to change my entire way of life, which included my artwork and business. I rebranded my podcast, began authoring new content, and completely reworked a feature psychological thriller that I’ve been directing and producing since 2018.

My psychological thriller, “New Mexico True Horror”, has been in production now for six years and I’ve just completed a full re-edit (currently seeking distribution). This film has been produced entirely “in-phone”, and is the cornerstone to an “artificial reality game” that is already accessible online, on Patreon! The objective of the game is to determine how much of the film is fictional and how much is non-fiction, as the film is a combination of both. The Patreon page provides a carefully curated “behind-the-scenes” archive that can be navigated through the built-in tag system. Explore over six years of content and discover the shocking truth for yourself!

My podcast, “The New Archaic Revival”, now chronicles our life living full-time RV, off the grid, on a livestock ranch in Southern California, while simultaneously handling tough topics such as self-reliance, volunteerism, the role of God in our lives, and the dangers of modern living. There’s a little bit of everything in these eclectic episodes, from book and movie reviews to DIY life-hacks, along with wild stories from my “pagan” days, and spiritual insights.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

No matter who you are, perhaps the most important qualities to develop are: humility, service, and gratitude. Our modern world is anything but humble, and we equate meekness with weakness. We often look down upon those who take a moderate approach and we prop up the ruthless. Our world typically reveres the loud, proud, and boisterous. However, as Jesus said, Mark 9:35, “If anyone would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all”. Which brings us to service. There is truly nothing more important in this life than service to others. As cliche as it may sound, the gifts we receive from giving outweigh anything we could ever get by taking. Gratitude is a close sibling to service—the other side of the coin, so to speak. As with humility, our world is evolving away from gratitude and people are more and more self-entitled. Be thankful for what you receive. Dawn an attitude of appreciation for all of God’s gifts, from the simple pleasures of a beautiful day to the creative inspirations which fuel your work. If we approach life expecting that we deserve nothing, we will be ever so grateful for whatever we are sent.

My overall advice would be going all in on your personal relationship with God. Without a healthy relationship with God you will fail. Prior to my salvation I considered myself a deeply spiritual person. From a young age I had a fascination with spirituality, and was always seeking pathways that could lead to enlightenment. I believed that if I studied various world religions, practices, and “ways” I could develop a satisfactory hybrid of them all, which would lead me to success. I spent decades studying and cherry-picking the things I liked while throwing away what I didn’t, and developed an elaborate and ritualistic “personal religion”. In reality what this amounted to was self worship. I sought my personal satisfaction while shirking responsibility for my actions (though I never would have admitted to that at the time). In my case it took the near destruction of my marriage, the failing of my business, and a proverbial “ego death” before I finally surrendered what I perceived to be “control” of my life. My story is not unique, rather it is a variant of the archetypal story of all who are reborn in Jesus Christ. Don’t wait to be on bottom to reach up to Him for help! He offers it as a free gift. Develop a relationship with Him now, and go to Him for direction. He will ensure that you pursue exactly what you need to, when you need to, how you need to.

Alright so to wrap up, who deserves credit for helping you overcome challenges or build some of the essential skills you’ve needed?

I have only just begun to be successful, odd as that may sound, and it’s entirely due to my relationship with God. I owe it all to Him. Before salvation I struggled to be successful and yet I never was. I put on a show of being successful—that old “fake it until you make it” motto we already discussed—however, my life was a burning dumpster fire. After salvation I don’t struggle to be successful and I am. It’s the exact inverse of how it was before. As an adjunct answer to the question of who has been the most helpful I would also offer who hasn’t been: me. We are all our own worst enemies! Don’t rely on yourself. Turn to the Bible and learn about your creator—the only one you can truly rely on.

Contact Info:

• Website: Bio and CV: https://nrgcreations.bigcartel.com/mike-correll New Mexico True Horror: https://www.patreon.com/EmailsFromInfinity New Archaic Revival: https://www.patreon.com/NewArchaicRevival/posts New Archaic Revival Podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/newarchaicrevival
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/nrgcreations