Episode 143

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Published on:

30th Nov 2025

Brian Wetjen S3E143

Omaha-based artist and web developer Brian Wetjen recounts a childhood programming the family’s first computer to make it funnier, leading to the heady early days of web-based businesses and entrepreneurship. Wetjen also shares his transformative plant-medicine journeys that have quieted his anxiety and OCD, and sharpened his attention, presence, and being in the world.

Brian Wetjen is an Omaha-based artist, web developer, husband, and dad who moves between paint and pixels, plants and code—from his home office and Hot Shops Art Center—to create calm, nature-infused art and human-centered websites. A lifelong Nebraskan, his curiosity has recently deepened through plant-medicine journeys that he describes as profoundly transformative, quieting anxiety and OCD and sharpening attention and presence. He shares music, books, and playlists freely, seeing art, psychedelics, code, and culture as different ways to explore, heal, and help people feel more at ease in the world.

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About the Podcast

Lives Radio Show & Podcast with Stuart Chittenden
Every Sunday at 9am on KIOS 91.5FM, Omaha's NPR affiliate, Season Three of Lives will tackle the big questions: What is a good life? Why are we here? How might we feel more connected? These and other big questions about how we live will be explored each week. Through intimate conversations, fascinating guests will share their spiritual, philosophical, artistic, and cultural approaches to exploring the wonders of our human experience. Join me as we delve into the practical and profound possibilities of living well.

As well as listening to this Season Three of Lives being broadcast on KIOS, listen back to Seasons One and Two, featuring fresh voices and diverse perspectives on culture, community, business, and more. From the Midwest and beyond, inspiring guests share compelling stories spanning the fields of politics, business, media, community activism, arts and humanities, philanthropy, and more.

On air since January 2017, Lives Radio Show & Podcast initially broadcast on the community radio station Mind & Soul 101.3FM in north Omaha, housed at the Malcolm X Center, and more recently broadcast with 1st Sky Omaha.
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stuart chittenden

I'm Stuart Chittenden—an existential coach, Certified Humanist Professional, and the creator and host of Lives Radio Show & Podcast. My work centers on helping people explore who they are, what matters most, and how to live well in a world that often rushes past those questions.

Throughout my journey—from law in London to brand strategy and community dialogue in the American Midwest—I’ve always been drawn to what lies beneath: the quiet, often unspoken work of making meaning. Lives is one of the most enduring expressions of that calling. For over eight years, I’ve invited guests from all walks of life into deep, human conversations about identity, purpose, and how we shape—and are shaped by—our stories.

Whether through coaching, workshops, or the microphone, I create space for reflection, connection, and the rich conversations that help us live more fully.