Most men spend decades chasing something they can't name — and by the time they figure out what it was, they've already lost everything trying to get it.
That's the story Chris Robbins lived. Corporate career, seven restaurants, millions of dollars raised — and millions lost. A father he loved deeply — and could never quite reach. A life built entirely on the outside that was quietly collapsing within.
In this conversation, Chris and I go deep on what it actually takes to wake up — not the motivational version, but the real one. The one that happens in a parking lot at 1am, finally realizing you never actually grieved the man who mattered most to you.
We talk about the father wound — what it looks like when you realize your entire career was really just an attempt to get closer to your father — and what opens up when you finally see that. We get into grief, the kind men avoid for years because nobody taught us how to move through it. We talk about what it meant for Chris to step back from being the provider, become present for his kids, and how that shift — as humbling as it was — turned out to be the thing that changed everything.
Chris is the founder of Soul Degree, a wilderness-based men's retreat and coaching program he's been running since 2017. He's a meditation guide, yoga teacher, breathwork facilitator, and End of Life Death Doula. He's also pursuing a Master's degree in Spiritual Psychology — not because he has it figured out, but because he's still a student of this work. That comes through in every minute of this conversation.
If you're a man who's been running hard and starting to wonder what the hell you've been running toward — this one's for you.
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Ready to go deeper? Start here: https://www.manuncivilized.com/start
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Connect with Chris: https://www.souldegree.com/
Connect with Traver:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/traverboehm
Substack: https://traverboehm.substack.com
Website: https://www.manuncivilized.com
Chapters:
00:00 From Corporate Life to Soul Work
04:25 Building an Empire, Losing Himself
08:29 The Moment Everything Cracked Open
14:26 Becoming a Father Changed Everything
26:04 Why He Called It Soul Degree
29:26 What Men Don't Know About Grief
32:31 What Is the Soul, Actually?
36:45 His Father, His Grief, and the Weight He Carried
42:23 Family, Therapy, and Doing the Work
45:18 Finding Himself on the Other Side
51:09 For the Man Who Doesn't Know Where to Start
54:41 Wrap-up & Connect with Chris
