Choosing Your Own Path When Everyone Else Has Opinions | Episode 464

Choosing Your Own Path When Everyone Else Has Opinions | Episode 464

We reflect on how Voices for Voices grows past 460 episodes on community support and a mission bigger than budget. We share why gratitude, resilience, and honest mental health talk help us keep going and help others keep going too.
• celebrating the Voices for Voices milestone and thanking supporters across the world
• building a 501c3 nonprofit and creating content with a near zero budget
• what it means to share your voice and to help others share theirs
• mentors and teachers who shape confidence through hard and good moments
• learning to drop pride, keep researching, and accept help
• reframing mistakes as moments that do not define a whole life
• faith, purpose, and the drive to keep showing up
• mental health reflections and how therapy-like sharing can help
• choosing your own path, setting boundaries, and protecting your dreams
If you could do us a quick favor and give us a thumbs up, like, follow, subscribe, share, and maybe reach out to 25 or maybe 50 of your contacts in your phone and share voices for voices and our voices for voices TV show and podcast with them.

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*Voices for Voices is a 501c3 nonprofit charity. All donations are 100% tax deductible.

Chapter Markers

0:00 Welcome And Big Milestone Thanks

2:50 Zero Budget Nonprofit Momentum

4:29 What It Means To Share Voices

6:43 Swallowing Pride And Asking Help

9:36 School And Sports Lessons Over Time

11:17 You Are More Than Mistakes

14:54 Faith Drive And Consistent Work

17:57 Mental Health And Therapy Reflections

20:32 Follow The Show And Bigger Mission

22:50 Dream Big And Ignore The Doubters

24:02 Set Boundaries And Choose For Yourself

26:23 Closing Gratitude And Sign Off

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Transcript

Welcome And Big Milestone Thanks

Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices 0:02

Hi everyone, it's Justin here, Voices for Voices. Thank you so much for joining us. Whether you're watching, whether you're listening, whether you're here in the United States or you're somewhere across the world outside the United States, we welcome each and every one of you, whether this is your first episode or whether you've been with us from the beginning. Um it's hard to believe that we have surpassed the uh 460 total uh voices for voices, TV show and podcast episodes. Uh it's it's a it's just a surreal it's a surreal moment uh for us at the the organization uh to make it where we where we are. And we have nobody else to thank but you if it wasn't for it wasn't for you, we wouldn't have a show, we wouldn't wouldn't have the demand uh to bring content all across the board from easy topics to hard topics and everything in between. If you could do us a quick favor and give us a thumbs up, like, follow, subscribe, share, and maybe reach out to 25 or maybe 50 of your contacts in your phone and share voices for voices and our voices for voices TV show and podcast with them. That would be greatly appreciated. And that is something uh these are things that are free to do, so they don't cost you anything uh except uh maybe a minute or two of your your time. So thank you again for making voices for voices, what it is uh today, and what it will be in the future. Uh we uh we just have so many so many areas that at the outset of the organization had no idea that we would be uh working in and towards uh areas that you'll be seeing and hearing much more in the not too distant future. Um, but I understand, you know, competition and everything. So uh not going to share too much on what those are. You're you're gonna know, uh, but we'll just put it put it that way. Um and so we're grateful to be a zero budget goal crushing organization. And as you may know, if you've followed us, been part of any of our shows, we are a 501c3 nonprofit charity organization, which means we're a charity. So that's something also to think about. That uh who would have thought a charity with basically a zero zero dollar budget keeps crushing goals, keeps coming uh coming out with so much content for our shows, and as as you will begin to see uh so much other uh projects that we're able to do. And it's because of you. So thank you. Thank you for making voices for voices what it is, and thank you for continuing to believe in in the organization uh in myself. It's a uh it's a it's a real humbling experience. So what I would like to touch on in this episode is right, the organization. We're called Voices for Voices, and we talk about all the different ways we can share our voices, and the list just grows how we can share our voice. And this episode, I want to tell and share with those individuals who help make individuals who want to share their voice and who are able to share their voice, or an individual individuals who are sharing the voices of others. Uh you know, we think of you know, we think of teachers, we think of coaches, uh, we think of you know an orchestra director, you know, sharing the voice through through music. Uh, we think of uh teachers, professors uh with uh sign language interpretation. Uh there's so many people that we want to thank to give us and you the opportunity to share your voice. You have a blog, you have a following, maybe you have a show too. All the all the people and all the ways, all the things that allow us to share our voice are because of somebody else. I didn't get here voices for voices. We didn't get where get to where we're at on our own. I've I've talked through the story many times, and it was as recent as a couple of episodes ago, actually. And it wasn't until I swallowed my pride, until I, you know, I talk about learning and researching, and and if I wouldn't have learned and researched, then we wouldn't be here today. Because if I thought that, like, okay, I can handle everything, I can come up with all the ideas, and it's all about me, it's all about me, it's all about me. We wouldn't be here. And so I want to say thank you to each and every person. I'm not gonna be able to because it it would take quite a while uh to to go through the names, but you know who you are. You gave me not even just at the beginning of Voices for Voices, but even throughout the years. And uh even I look back at you know different sports that I played, the coaches giving me the opportunity. Sometimes I succeeded, sometimes I didn't. When I didn't succeed, there are times where I got just very depressed. But now looking back at all those all those individuals, good, bad, and different. Look back at these individuals, and in one way or another, they've helped shape who I am and who we are as an organization, and how being transparent is helpful to me, it's helpful to the organization, and it's helpful to you. You know, many many of you know, you know, the story of you know me me growing up and and so going to going to college, just getting to that point of going to college um was hard. And so there were times where, again, I second guessed myself, I went with the crowd, and then there came a point where I started to step away from the crowd a little bit, where I started to take my studies more serious, still did my fair share of partying, got that, but all along the way, there were teachers and individuals that I would meet mold me, along with bosses and managers and directors and um deans uh so many people that somehow, some way I continued. And I think that's a big thing is continue on. We're living in a moment that moment does not define us as a whole person. Like, oh, Justin screwed up, so he's a screw up. No, I may have screwed up, and so I try to learn from what I may not have known, what I may not have seen, that might not have listened. Whatever the case may be, all these experiences and events have made me who I am, and so there's so many people along the 44 years of my life that have molded me. I can look back and be like, well, I wish this didn't happen, wish that didn't happen. Yes, there there are some of those situations, especially when I wasn't the nicest person in the room. But when we look past that, excuse me, when we look past that and we start to start to look really inside. What do we want to do? What do we want to get out of life? We're just gonna run the rat race like go to bed, wake up, go to work, be dinner, go to bed. Yes, those are aspects. But do those really define us as a person in who we are in totality? I don't think so. The reason I say that is because I'm here right now. There's any number of things that could have had me not here right now. So that's why I want to thank each and every person, whether I felt you were nice to me or not, whether I felt you helped me or not. But if I hadn't gone through different experiences, I don't know that I would have the drive that I have the dream and dreams that I have of wanting to be more of a helper in my life here on out the helping of others not that always helping myself. I also gotta think of for for me as a believer, gotta think of God as a driving force as well, because I I couldn't I couldn't have the energy to be here on a day that I don't have to be filming a show that I could just take the easy way out, and there's gonna be days where we're gonna go and not film shows, but we're gonna be working on our other projects. Then there's gonna be days when we're gonna film two or three shows. And the best way to find those is again wherever you download podcasts, you watch on Rumble, watch on YouTube, our channel. You're gonna see and hear our episodes the quickest that way, those ways, than a social media post. We still we still do social media posts. But we have a lot to give, a lot a lot to share. And so the best way I think is to film, do all the administrative parts, taking an episode that's filmed and doing the editing and titles and description, hashtags and all those looking at the cover to see how it looks and so thank you. Thank you to each and every person that I've come in contact with whether it was a good experience, whether it wasn't. But I kind of look at this as like, you know, a second, third, or fourth, or fifth, or fifteenth chance for me. And so that's why I'm here sharing about my mental health. And I have been and will and are sharing. So many times I could have given up, so many. You may be in the same boat. It's like, well, what's the use? Nobody cares. Nobody cares what I'm talking about or what what I think. Let me say this. If nothing else. Whether you go to therapy or not, that's not my I I'm not I tell you my story. I'm not telling you what you need to do. But if you don't have a therapist and you do a show or something similar at some point or another. Just like having a therapist. Sharing information, wanting to help people. It's a lot of what therapy is. Sharing how our days are gone, have gone, what we did, what's come up, what what type of obstacles have we have we run into? So thank you so much for making voices for voices what it is and what it will be. Both here in the moment and in into the into the future. Thank you. And again, we would love for you to follow us on social media. We're everywhere. Let us know how you're doing. And help us, as you've helped us to get to this point, to continue helping us reach and help at least three billion people over the course of my lifetime and beyond. We're well on our way and we're gonna do it. That's just the way it the way it's gonna be. Or maybe not. Maybe just to listen or watch. You go, you know what? That's exactly how I feel. Or how I've felt before. There's another person. Another human that's gone through or has gone through something similar. So I'm going to live the fight another day. I'm going to live, continue to live until my days are gone. And I think with that mindset, each and every one of us can be a better person. And don't don't don't forget this. Don't forget to dream. And don't forget to go after your dreams. Don't let somebody tell you you can't. There's the jealousy and envy that comes with that because they might see what you're doing. I don't want him to do that. Excuse me. I wipe my nose. Little itch. And I've gone through that phase. And so that's great. We can listen. We can listen to experience and listen to uh people's opinions. But don't ever forget that the buck stops with you. So you're the one that has to make the decision at the end of the day. Is that person that you talk to once a month or once who knows how often? Are we going to let them dictate how we feel and what we do on a day-to-day basis? Or are we not? I would almost beg you to listen, but you make the decision at the end of the day. What you want to do. And there's going to be people that are going to come, they're going to go. We need to do those things so we can operate at a at a high at a high um high efficiency. I don't know what I'm trying to how what word I'm looking for. So take time for yourself. Think things through. Listen to others. And then you make a decision and you go after it. So lastly, again, thank you to everybody. It's been a part of my life. Good, bad, and different. We are voices for voices. This is the Voices for Voices TV show podcast. Over 460 episodes in our portfolio, in our catalog. And we're just so grateful to have you with us. So hope you have a great day, great evening, great morning, afternoon, wherever you are. And we look forward to seeing you and sharing and talking to you on a future episode of our Voices for Voices TV show and podcast. Thank you so much. Have a great day. Bye-bye for now.