Some conversations you walk away from knowing something shifted. Episode 46 of The Padernacht Podcast: Brick by Brick was one of those.
I sat down with Jeffrey Seitz — a writer, creative, and storyteller whose journey sits at the intersection of faith, discipline, brotherhood, and personal transformation. Jeffrey has been quietly building something for fifteen years: a debut novel called A Dragon from Heaven, set in a fantasy world called Yondera. He has a Master’s in English from SUNY New Paltz and a Brand Storytelling certification from Cornell. He’s worked in healthcare, hospitality, and backstage at professional wrestling shows. He was once the voice of God in a church production of Godspell. And he had one of the most honest conversations I’ve had on this show.
What I didn’t expect was how much of Jeffrey’s story would land. Not because of what he has accomplished — but because of what he has been willing to face.
I’m Steven Padernacht with The Padernacht Real Estate Team at Keller Williams Realty NYC Group. This is Brick by Brick.
Who Is Jeffrey Seitz?
Jeffrey describes himself as a creative — but that word doesn’t fully cover it. He’s a storyteller in the truest sense. His father read to him and his three brothers every night growing up, and something about the way a story can make you need to know what happens next never left him. He was homeschooled from kindergarten through high school. He went on to earn a Master’s in English and a Brand Storytelling certification from Cornell. He has been building a fantasy novel since he was 18 years old.
But the Jeffrey Seitz who sat across from me in this episode isn’t the same person who started that book. The version of Jeffrey who started writing at 18 was hiding — from insecurity, from perfectionism, from the parts of himself he had poured into his main character and then refused to look at. This episode is the story of what changed.
“If You Argue for Your Limitations, You Get to Keep Them”
One of the first things Jeffrey said that stopped me was this: growing up, whenever people told him he had an amazing voice and should do something with it, he would use what he called “the Moses excuse” — slow speech, slow tongue, God can’t use me, there are better people for this.
He spent years advocating for everything that was wrong with him. Afraid of being ridiculed. Afraid of being made a fool of. It wasn’t until he came across the quote — if you argue for your limitations, you get to keep them — that something started to shift.
The other line that hit just as hard: comparison is truly a thief of joy. And in acceptance comes peace.
The Wasteland Project — A 100-Year-Old Poem That Still Hits
Jeffrey is in the middle of a creative video project with filmmaker Mike Press: a dramatization of T.S. Eliot’s The Wasteland, filmed at the Salehouse on the Hudson River. He’s released the first part across three videos, with four more parts to come.
When he described why he chose the Salehouse — the Hudson River, the bridge overhead, the crossing between worlds — he said something I keep coming back to. The Wasteland is about people locked in the suspension between living and dying. Commuters crossing London Bridge. People going through the motions, not sure if they’re really living or slowly dying.
He said: “It’s like every entrepreneur’s worst fear — being locked in that suspension between living and dying, going through the grind of nine to five, not sure if you’re really living or you’re slowly dying.”
The poem was written in 1922, just after World War I. Jeffrey argued it’s never been more relevant. In a social media age built on broken images and fragmented attention, Eliot’s question — where do we go from here? — has only gotten louder.
A Dragon from Heaven — The Novel He’s Been Afraid to Finish
Jeffrey started writing A Dragon from Heaven when he was 18. It’s now over 300 pages. It’s a portal fantasy — characters move between Earth and a world called Yondera — inspired by C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, and, unexpectedly, professional wrestling. The main character is named Kris Johnson.
For years, Jeffrey couldn’t bring himself to finish it. He described it as a case of a creator getting in his own way — but also something deeper. He saw too much of himself in his main character. Specifically, the parts of himself he despised. Until he was able to face those parts and accept them, he couldn’t give the character — or the reader — a reason to care.
He said: “I had this world, but I wasn’t giving you a reason why you should come into this world.”
On this episode, Jeffrey publicly stated his goal for the first time: he wants the book published and ready to be read before he turns 35. He’s 33.
The quote he came back to more than once: “There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story within yourself.”
When I pushed back — if you’re afraid someone will steal the idea, how will you know if you don’t put it out there? — he laughed and said: “You’re right. There’s no greater agony than bearing an untold story.”
The ACE Summit Wood-Chopping Moment
This was the part of the conversation I wasn’t expecting.
Jeffrey has been part of the ACE Sanctuary Brotherhood — Action Cultivates Excellence — for about two years, introduced by Rob Tracy. He described his first ACE dinner: walking into the Salehouse, seeing Dave Regina, and almost turning around and driving home after an hour and fifteen minutes of travel because he thought Dave was “the scariest dude in the world.”
He was insecure. He has celiac disease — an autoimmune condition with no medical cure — and had always felt physically and socially insecure around men he perceived as more successful or physically bigger.
At a “Tear It Down” ACE dinner on March 25, 2025, he was confronted in Dave’s breakout group with a simple question: Are you truly happy? Are you telling yourself the truth? That night, he became vulnerable for the first time. He opened up. And something started to break open.
Then came the ACE Summit in the Catskills. That Sunday morning, Jeffrey woke up at 5 AM, sat alone by the fireplace with his ACE Journal, and wrote things he had never had the courage to write. A contract with himself. A promise to become the man God intended him to be.
Later that morning, on a hilltop, after the kettlebell workout, came the wood-chopping exercise. Jeffrey cut one piece of wood and was panting. Dave passed by and said: “You’re holding back.”
What followed — I’ll let the episode speak for itself. But when Jeffrey finally split that piece of wood, the men around him gathered and celebrated like he had won the Super Bowl. Jeffrey had his eyes closed. He was convinced he was in a dream.
“These are not my blood biological brothers. These are strangers to me. Yet they’re celebrating over me. They are treating me like I belong here.”
He broke down. He pointed to the sky. He called it his God moment.
That afternoon, still processing, he opened his Bible. The first verse his eyes landed on was Isaiah 45: Truly, O God of Israel, our Savior, you work in mysterious ways.
He still can’t watch the clip on his Instagram without breaking down.
Faith Is Not a Performance
One of the most clarifying things Jeffrey said in this episode was about faith. He grew up in a faith-based home and believed deeply — but somewhere along the way, faith became a performance. Something you had to do correctly to earn the result.
He reframed it here. Faith, he said, is not a performance. It’s not a guarantee everything will be okay. It’s not a substitute for doubt. Faith is the acceptance of doubt, not the repression of it.
His definition of faith as an acronym: Forsaking All, I Trust Him.
And the difference between Christianity and every other religion, in his words: “Jesus didn’t come so you could feel good because you were sick. Jesus came because you were dead and you needed to live.”
What Jeffrey Wants His Legacy to Be
At the end of every episode, I ask every guest the same question: long after you’re gone, how do you want the world to talk about you?
Jeffrey’s answer was one of the best I’ve ever heard on this show.
He wants to be remembered as someone who didn’t hold back. Who took action. Who was a man of his word. Who forgave himself. Who didn’t let comparison and perfectionism stand in his way. Who decided it wasn’t about him — it was about them. Who gave it all back to God. Who spent his life in the uncomfortable zone.
“Someone who was brought up in the realm of comfort, who spent the rest of his time in the uncomfortable zone, being okay, walking and wandering in the wilderness, knowing that everything was going to be okay.”
Watch or Listen to the Full Episode
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Connect With Jeffrey Seitz
📱 Instagram: @jseitz
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