Oprah & Music Star Mike Posner on His 3000 Mile Walk to Happiness

The Oprah Podcast

Harpo

Society & Culture

4.2 • 1.5K Ratings

🗓️ 12 August 2025

⏱️ 54 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

A musical performance and in-depth conversation with Grammy-nominated singer, songwriter, producer, speaker and adventurer Mike Posner who brought his guitar to perform for Oprah and our listeners. When Mike Posner’s hit songs “Cooler Than Me” and “I Took a Pill in Ibiza” shot him to stardom at a young age, he quickly learned fame and fortune did not provide the contentment and joy he says his late father always wanted for his son’s life. In 2019, Mike literally walked away from Hollywood to set out to find happiness by trekking across the entire United States of America on foot beginning on the New Jersey coast and ending in the ocean at Venice Beach, California. Mike’s “Walk Across America” took him six months, he crossed 13 states, traveled 2,851 miles and took 5.7 million steps. Mike talks to Oprah about the five lessons to finding happiness he learned during his walk that are relatable to us all (even the moment a poisonous rattlesnake bit his leg, threatening his life and delaying his cross-country adventure.) Mike tells Oprah not everyone has to walk thousands of miles to find happiness, but he hopes the lessons he learned can help you find your own sense of belonging and joy. https://www.mikeposner.com hellofresh.com/oprahpodcast10fm Subscribe: https://www.youtube.com/@Oprah?sub_confirmation=1 Follow Oprah Winfrey on Social: https://www.instagram.com/oprahpodcast/ https://www.instagram.com/oprah/ https://www.facebook.com/oprahwinfrey/ Listen to the full podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/0tEVrfNp92a7lbjDe6GMLI https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-oprah-podcast/id1782960381 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	We did a cross-country trip from here to New York.
0:04.0	Okay.
0:05.0	And she was in charge of the radio when she drove.
0:09.0	It was just the two of you?
0:11.0	Just the two of us.
0:12.0	I took a pill in the bees.
0:15.0	To show Avichy, I was cool.
0:18.0	And when I finally got sober, fell ten years older, oh, screw it, it was something to do. There was this year of my life where I was cool And when I finally got sober Felt 10 years older
0:21.4	Oh screw it
0:22.1	It was something to do
0:23.1	There was this year of my life
0:24.4	Where I was only making music
0:26.1	And I got to this point where
0:27.3	There was nothing to write about
0:28.6	Because my whole life was in the studio
0:30.4	Right
0:30.9	Something you have to get from life
0:32.9	And live
0:33.6	Yes
0:34.2	You don't want to be high like me
0:36.6	Never really knowing why like me You don't want to be high like me, never really knowing why like me.
0:39.6	You don't never want to step off their roller coaster and be all alone.
	...

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