A Queer Understanding
Weekly conversations about all things queer. A space for members of the LGBTQIA+ community to share our stories, struggles, and triumphs, and talk about how we're breaking glass ceilings and making an impact on society.
A Queer Understanding
Dr. Joshua Caraballo: Harnessing Resilience & Embracing Queer Identity Through Life's Challenges
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What if the darkest times of your life could become your greatest strengths? Dr. Joshua Caraballo, an I-O psychologist, joins us to share his extraordinary journey of resilience and transformation. Through his memoir, "I'm Not Dead . . . Yet: How I Turned My Misfortunes Into Strengths," Joshua offers an unfiltered look at overcoming mental health battles, addiction, and cancer while embracing his queer identity. His story serves as a beacon of hope, particularly within the LGBTQ+ community, as he reveals strategies for self-acceptance and the dismantling of harmful societal narratives.
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Resilience Through Adversity
Speaker 1Dr Joshua J Caraballo, an industrial organizational psychologist, unveils his award-winning memoir I'm Not Dead Yet. How I Turned my Misfortunes Into Strengths. This powerful narrative chronicles his journey through immense personal struggles, ultimately emerging as a beacon of hope and resilience. In his memoir, dr Caraballo invites readers to walk alongside him through his battles with mental health, addiction, self-hate, cancer, survival and embracing his queer identity. With raw vulnerability and honesty, joshua shares his life's darkest moments and the strengths he found within them. This memoir is an invitation to anyone facing similar hardships, providing a connection and a message of empowerment. Joshua's experiences highlight the incredible power of resilience, the lessons learned from adversity and the crucial importance of self-acceptance. His narrative offers practical coping mechanisms, strategies for managing mental and physical health challenges and a profound message about embracing one's truth.
Speaker 1As a cisgender, gay Puerto Rican survivor, joshua's unique perspective speaks to a broad audience, particularly those within the LGBTQ plus community. The memoir is marked by heartfelt introspection, vivid descriptions and relatable anecdotes that evoke a wide range of emotions. Vivid descriptions and relatable anecdotes that evoke a wide range of emotions. Themes of survival, empowerment, overcoming adversity, self-discovery and the journey towards self-love and acceptance resonate throughout the book. Joshua's story stands out as a deeply personal account that touches on universal themes, making it a must-read for those seeking solace and inspiration. Here's our conversation. Welcome, dr Karabalo.
Speaker 2Thank you so much. I am so glad to be here. Angelica and Cassie, thank you for having me, and please call me Joshua.
Speaker 1Sure Okay.
Speaker 2So, joshua, I was really excited to have you on because we're in somewhat similar field of research. Well, of doing research, we're researching different things. Tell just a little bit about my background. Some find it surprising, but of course I see the value of the connections that I have. So I started out my trajectory in school learning about acting. That was my undergraduate degree and then, for my master's degree, I learned all about motion picture producing. And I sit here right now talking to the two of you obviously not a motion picture producer, not really an actor either, although I love doing anything related to motion pictures, visual arts, let's just put it that way.
Speaker 2But what I had realized through that trajectory was that the entire time I was actually studying human behavior. Studying human behavior it wasn't super official, but it was there the entire time and that was really the motivating factor, and psychology helped me to see that as well, and so for me it became a no-brainer to go right into business psychology, and so that's how I've landed where I am today. But really, what really resonates with me in the industry more than anything else is human flourishing and human well-being, and the reason why is because for quite some time in my youth I did not flourish, I did not know how to flourish and I was even told that I didn't deserve to flourish in so many words because of who I was. And once I realized a few things that there is a possibility for people like us to flourish queer people specifically speaking and that there is nothing wrong with us. There's wrong with people all over the world and all different flavors takes.
Speaker 2And yes, there are people who are doing wrong things in the queer community as well. But overall, we should not be painted in such a broad brush and when we are, there are ramifications to that that really affect our souls, if you will. So I felt that it was important to get into an industry to where I can help be the solution, or part of the solution, to undoing those harmful I'd say atrocities that institutions are really behind. It's not just institutions, it's communities, it's religiosity and not all of them. So I'm not trying to, in turn, also paint a broad stroke, if you will, but it's a huge part of why the queer community has historically had so many issues grappling with our own self-efficacy, self-love, etc.
Speaker 1Wow, so you mentioned some of the challenges you had growing up and where are you from originally?
Speaker 2So I was born in New York, staten Island, new York, and at a very young age we moved. I think it was like seven or eight. We moved down to South Florida and I lived there for about three decades and then I decided to seek a job and got one here in Denver, colorado. So I've been here for the last two years.
Speaker 1Okay, nervous. Some of the messages that you received about your, as you said, lack of worthiness, then that come from family or society as a whole.
Speaker 2Both. So growing up, I grew up in a Jehovah's Witness household and I was very young age that God would destroy me if I decided to move forward and act on these desires that I had. And obviously we know it's more than a desire, One of the things that really gets me going and I'll try not to go off too much on the tangent about this, but I think this is important to say, not just for queer people, but for anyone that can hear this out when we are reduced down to one act, it is so disrespectful to us because of course we have sex, of course we're sexual beings, but that is such a small part of who we are and our queer identity and every single time we are reduced down to that act, it just it boggles my mind, because I don't talk about straight people, I don't hear people saying you know straight people are, you know they're fine unless they have sex. It's like that just is something that I can't get over. So being taught that at a young age, obviously in your formative years, for me I believed it, I believed that there was a God. This is all that I knew, and I started to internalize that own hate, if you will, that fear, and I knew from the youngest age, before I even knew what sex was, that I was gay. I knew that I had a visceral reaction and attraction that was more than sexual it was spiritual, if you will to the male form, and once I realized that I had to square that away in my life.
Speaker 2Society is yet another example. I grew up in the late 70s, early 80s, so we had the AIDS crisis that took place. A lot of queer people, especially gay men, were dying. It was a lot of confusion, a lot of misinformation that was being spread and disinformation as well, and society also taught me the same thing that, Jehovah's Witness, religion taught me, so it was like a two-for-one, if you will. If I were to get myself out of the religion and go into the world somewhere, I would be feeling the same way. Now, society, from my perspective anyway, has gotten a lot better over time. There was no such thing or no thought in my mind that gay marriage would ever be law of the land, and that's a beautiful thing that has happened for us.
Speaker 2However, in these last few years I don't have to tell you or your listeners we've gone back in time in a lot of different ways, and so there's a lot of sort of like me remembering what it was like to grow up and how important it was for our communities to figure out ways for us to protect each other. Back then it was through bars and clubs. That was the main way, but here in this day and age it's gotten to be a lot more inclusive, so there are a lot of other ways for us to congregate. So sorry to spend some extra time talking about additional things, but I think it all becomes relevant as to yes, you feel oppressed, you feel like you can't be completely who you are, but also there are some bright sides to that and we have grown as a society over time.
Speaker 2Now, the religion that I mentioned and obviously there are other religions that believe similarly those have not changed as much over time, although there are some changes. Like I know, the First Baptist Church of Denver Now, not all First Baptist churches, but the one that is here in Denver is very inclusive. They accept queer people. So I just mentioned that, not to give them free publicity or anything like that, but to state that there are churches that are actually squaring away their histories and trying to do something better about it. It just needs to be done more.
Speaker 1Right, yeah, absolutely, we are aware of some affirming churches. You have a friend who is a pastor of a church that she started. I know a couple of people who were like so.
Speaker 1So yes, it's. It's unfortunate that there aren't. That hasn't happened in Lord Austin, for for religions that preach so much about love and acceptance, there isn't as much of it as they purport there to be. It's like it's like it's split. There isn't as much of it as they purport there to be. It's like it's discipline Everyone except you guys, right, right, so as a Jehovah's Witness. So it's interesting that you said at a very young age you realized that you were gay, even though you didn't necessarily equate that to sex Right. And also at a young age you were hearing that certain acts were wrong. So I imagine that really instilled a fear in you to divulge or even be willing to experience your own feelings.
Speaker 2Yeah, absolutely I. I was told over and over again you can be gay, but you can never act on it. So that was that's what I mean when I say they were distilling down my entire world into one act. And to to imagine yourself trying to say how do I square this away? Because what I first tried to do was say, okay, well then I need to be straight. There's no world here for me to be who I am or what I think I am, and so I need to do everything in my power to be straight. And, as you could probably imagine, the more I tried to be straight, the harder it became for me to be myself. I was just adding layers upon layers of garbage onto the realness of what was inside of me and getting more and more away from my core and who I was as a person.
Navigating Family and Faith Differences
Speaker 2I learned something through psychology. It said when you are validated by society and by friends and family and people that you love, but the validation is not true to who you are, you feel empty inside because you're not being validated truly for your core values. What you're being validated for is a show. It's a play that you're putting on, and so you're only validated when you're in that show and it becomes so exhausting to put on the play and be the main character that you cast yourself in so that you can be accepted in this world. And the moment that you realize that you could still be in a play, you could still have a story, but you could play yourself and still do well and still be successful and still find flourishing. I think that's where the key is. But it's easier said than done, and so as I got older, it became more and more scary, because you know you reach the age of 18 and you're wanting to explore your sexuality more and more, but super scared to even engage in that, because that is the tipping point, according to the religion and others, where you just become a horrible person. You're equated with some of the most atrocious individuals in the world, like murderers and et cetera, and this is in the Bible not that it verifies anything, but that's what they use to say that you better not go there.
Speaker 2And so when I was 18 and I was able to leave my house, I went back to New York and, as you can imagine, I did everything that I wanted to do and I wasn't able to do because I had been suppressing that for so long and just about three or four months I started to feel very sick, a lot of pain in my chest, and I went to the doctor Fast forward after some tests and I realized I was told that I have hodgkin's lymphoma and it was in stage four. I had to fly back to south florida to be with my family and tell them what had happened. And what do you think was the first thing that I thought in my mind this is my punishment from god. This is what I deserve.
Speaker 2I went off the deep end. I did the very thing that I've been withholding and suppressing all these years. Now I've done it and now I have to pay the price. So I deserve it. And what that does to someone mentally and let me be careful about the way I talk about this Sometimes the reactions from people is like oh my gosh, I'm so sorry for you. Your parents should have done better. That religion sucks. I kind of disagree with all those things, although I understand why somebody would go down that route.
Speaker 1OK.
Speaker 2I'm not here to disparage religion. I'm not here to disparage my family. When people make decisions in their lives to align themselves to a religion, they're doing it because they have their own justifications. It doesn't mean that it's okay for people like myself, but if we're ever going to start to understand why people behave the way that they do and of course I want to have some type of relationship with my parents then this forces us to try to just at least understand why they're acting the way that they are.
Speaker 2My father underwent a lot of turmoil in his life. He was abusing drugs and alcohol, he belonged to a gang, he hurt a lot of people and, according to him, even might have killed someone. And when he found the Jehovah's Witness religion, it gave him the structure that he needed to become a better person and in his mind, this was the potion that turned around his life and that saved him forever. And it worked for him. It actually changed his life, and so he wanted to share that with the rest of his family. I can't fault him for doing that. When I was born, he had no idea that I would be a gay man.
Speaker 2I'm not excusing the negativity and the harm that religion does. So I want to be clear about that. But the very potion I always like to say this the very potion that religion can be for some people can also simultaneously be a poison for people. And I think holding those two truths simultaneously and still functioning, I think, is very important for us, because this is how we're able to have some sort of communication.
Overcoming Adversity and Finding Success
Speaker 2If we want to still be able to love Because you talked about loves at the outset If we truly want to love people and I truly want to love my parents I need to understand them. Otherwise my decision could be and might have been, for me to push them away forever and say I want nothing to do with you. You've caused me too much turmoil in my life and I'm not saying that anyone has made that decision in their life is wrong. I'm just saying from my perspective, I want to lead with love and I want the hardest thing to do is to lead with love with those who think, act and believe completely differently than you. And in fact we're in that sort of cycle again here in the United.
Speaker 2States, and I'm not trying to say it is any of our duty to try to love the other side, but for me and my perspective, especially because they're so hateful against us, but from my perspective, I that're so hateful against us, but from my perspective, that's what I want to practice.
Speaker 1I know it's hard, I know I'm climbing a mountain, so to speak, but that's what I think I was put on this earth to do and so that's what I want to do and it's a very martyr place to be, because you know it's not an easy thing to do for all the people to be in that space where you are, and I know it took some time for you to get there.
Speaker 2It has. I had to renegotiate a lot of different relationships. I had to fall back in love with myself. That doesn't happen overnight. If you figure for the first 18 years of your life, if you're taught a certain way, you're creating these mental grooves and you're automating a lot of behaviors and thoughts and beliefs, and so to undo that it's going to take a long time. So now I'm 47 years old and I still have things that I'll be working on and I will be working on things for the rest of my life, and I'm okay with that.
Speaker 2I don't ever think or believe of myself as a model for other people to have to emulate completely. What I would love to do and this is why I love to share my story is to help people pick and choose the elements that are going to work best for themselves, in conjunction with all the other queer people that are out there that have similar, drastically different stories, so that we can create our own model for success and for flourishing. That's where it's at. So you know some of the things I might say today.
Speaker 2Some people out there might think well, you know, I don't think I really align with that. I'm not trying to be friends with my uncle, joe, who tried to molest me when I was young, or actually did molest me, and now he, you know, or someone who is trying to make decisions, politically speaking, that are against our very being alive. I totally understand somebody saying, no, I'm done with that, you're out of my life, this is my mental health. So I think there's room for both is what I'm saying. I'm one of those people where I want to challenge myself. I want to challenge that Uncle, if you will. I want to challenge those other people that are maybe family members, that have told me I'm a sinner and I don't deserve to be here to see how there's some way that we can connect with regardless of that.
Speaker 1I'm sure Do you think some of the challenges that you went through contributes to you being successful in your career as a psychologist.
Speaker 2Oh my gosh. Yes, I think everything that has happened to me as it has happened, although if you would have asked me while I was going through it, I would have been like, oh hell, no, how dare you? Don't tell me that. This is something I'm going to learn from, especially when I had cancer, because it came back a second time and I was a victim at that point in time, and I think it's okay to play a victim. There's a proper time and place for everything. You just don't want to hang out there too long. And how long does it take? Well, every person is different. So for me it took a good couple of years, after being told I was in remission, to shake out of this sort of victim mentality. But that doesn't mean that all of a sudden I had all of this health and well-being. In fact, the opposite actually happened to me. I started to engage in drugs and alcohol and I was mistreating my body for quite some time after I was deemed in remission from the cancer treatments, and during that time I had good justifications for doing so, although in hindsight I was thinking to myself sometimes like why didn't you do that? Wow, you could have killed yourself twice over, you know, but understanding why. Through psychology, I learned that I hadn't dealt with those underlying issues that were there the whole time. So when the cancer was gone and I was in remission, I still had remnants of hating myself that I had internalized and I had to deal with that. I had to square that away and I wasn't able to until I got into so much trouble that I ended up in prison. A lot of love and, as you could probably imagine, you got plenty of time in prison to be scared, yes, but also to think, to contemplate and to really decide. If you want to make a conviction in your life, in other words, is this a trajectory that you want to go down? Do you want to keep going this way? Do you want to die? Is this how your life ends? My answer to all those questions was no. There's much more for me. I need to find out what that is. So, little by little, I knew that I had loved myself. Every time I had clarity, whether it be because I just couldn't get my hands on the next substance or because I had enough rest, whether it was for a day or just a few hours, anytime I had clarity. There was a voice inside of me my gut, if you will. That said, you're a good person. You need to stay alive, you need to do good things and you need to help people, and psychology happened to be a perfect way for me to do all that. So that's why I say everything that has happened in my life has set me up to become an IO psychologist. I just didn't know that at the time and I think that's okay.
Speaker 2And the last thing I'll say about it. What I love about it is that we all have like these thoughts about our goals and aspirations and all that's wonderful and great, but how many times in life do we actually achieve exactly what it is that we're looking for? And I think some people do, but in my lifetime it hasn't been anything like that. Everything that I've ever wanted has maybe looked similar to what I wanted, but it's been different and sometimes it's been totally different. And the learning lesson behind that for me has been acceptance Accepting what I am handed and understanding that at some point in my life. If I don't understand now, this is going to be something I can grow and learn from, especially if it's a negative experience, and that somehow I will get through it, unless I'm dead and then I won't. But if I don't die from this and I do get through it, then I'm going to become a better person, and that, to me, is so motivational.
Speaker 1Are you a fan of Palo Kolo? I don't think I know Colo. So what you were just saying, I have it as part of my signature line. The phrase is everything will be okay in the end. If it's not okay, it's not the end. Oh, I love it.
Speaker 2There's a Bible verse that I actually write about in my memoir. Now, I know this might sound weird, Like I'm not weird, I'm not religious, I'm not a Jehovah's Witness. But going back to, we go through atrocities in our life and what is the learning lesson? There was a Bible verse and I'm not going to get it right because I haven't memorized it word for word, but my father used to send it to me all the time, especially when I was in prison. He would send me letters and he would keep quoting this scripture. Maybe I could find it and send it to you. You know. This way, you'll at least know exactly what it is.
Speaker 2But it states that God will not put you in a situation that you cannot endure. Yeah, but with that situation, he will help you find a way out. And sometimes I remember that verse, like when I was really young, because we used to read the Bible all the time and I would think it's kind of ridiculous, Like I didn't even understand it or get it. But as I got older, whether you believe in God because I still do, we could talk more about that or if you believe in the universe or whatever it is that you believe in, this is a very profound statement. It's similar to if you're having a hard time right now, will you in three seconds, three minutes, three days, three years from now, Because the underlying lesson there is that nothing is forever right and if you're not dead, like I said, there's an opportunity that you will get beyond this. So I just love that so much. Thank you for sharing.
Speaker 1Yeah, so if you don't mind asking how long were you incarcerated?
Speaker 2It was 16 months, but I got out in 14 months because of good behavior. Although I barely got out, as far as I'm concerned, there was a bounty placed on my head. I talk again about this at length in the memoir and, yeah, it was just one of the most horrific situations I've ever been in my life. Situations I've ever been in my life. Yeah, so that's the other part of telling my story.
Speaker 2If I could stop someone else from having the same trajectory and also let people know that you could go pretty down and deep into the darkness and there's always hope. It's not the end for you, even if you feel like, well, why should I even try? Because now, after I get out of prison, I'm not going to be able to do anything. I have this kind of mark on my head. Everyone's going to understand and know like how am I going to get a job? How am I going to make money? All those things are possible if you want them. There are ways to work through it. Time and patience is a big thing to make it happen, but nobody is too far gone to change.
Speaker 1Right. So you said a bounty was placed on your head. Was it because you are a gay man?
Speaker 2It's a great question. I mean in prison. The label gay is there, but there are a lot of quote-unquote straight individuals who partake in gay activities or gay sex all the time. I've heard justifications such as well, I'm in prison. As long as I'm in prison, I'm going to get mine and that's it. I don't care how I get it or where I get it. There are people who are celibate in prison, but it's rare. I tried to be one of those people who are celibate in prison, but it's rare. I tried to be one of those people. I attempted at one point with a connection that I had, but I was too afraid to get in trouble.
Speaker 2But what my point is that it comes down to like. Some people say it's a need, Some people say it's a desire. I tend to gravitate more towards it's a desire, but not a need, because you can actually abstain from sex and still live your life and flourish and be fine, Right. So I don't see it as an actual need, although there are doctors out there that would disagree with me. In prison, if you perceive that to be a need, you're going to find a way to do it and you may not identify yourself as gay or not as gay or not.
Speaker 2The bounty that was placed on my head, I think, is more about our and more about climbing up the ranks and showing others in prison that you cannot be messed with. So if you notice someone that may seem weak to you, like myself, I'm not a fighter. I'm five foot six and a half, maybe Soaking wet 130 pounds. I'm not a fighter. I'm five foot six and a half, maybe soaking wet 130 pounds. And I'm not a fighter. I'm a talker, I'm a thinker. That's how I fight, and in prison that only gets you so far. So not having that street smarts and being able to actually win in a fight, because there are people of my stature who can actually fight. I've seen it happen in prison, but I just wasn't one of those people. And once they realize that, I become a target.
Speaker 1So was going to prison the turning point for you, or did that happen sometime later?
The Power of Overcoming Adversity
Speaker 2Sometimes later. Yeah, because I have to tell you, it seemed like a really bad nightmare that was happening and I couldn't even fully process or understand what was happening. And then it's similar to when you lose something in life. In this case you're losing a lot of your privileges of being free as free as we want to say freedom is here in the United States and then having to grapple with that. So you go through all the motions of anger, frustration, sadness. So I had to go through a little bit of a process, if you will, before I started thinking okay, now, what am I going to do? And I'm so glad that I had that opportunity. I kind of wish it didn't happen in this way, but, like I said before, this was the way that it had to happen in this way. But, like I said before, this was the way that it had to happen for me to be able to learn.
Speaker 1Right, so you mentioned it a little bit in the conversation your memoir entitled I'm Not Dead Yet how I Turned my Misfortunes Into Strengths, talk a little bit more about. Well, I'm interested in the title and what motivated you to actually write it.
Speaker 2Sure, absolutely Monty Python's Holy Grail. If anyone's familiar with the movie, it's weird humor, it's British humor. So, you know, sometimes people are just like. You know, not for me, but I find it hilarious. And there are scenes where it's the dark ages, where people were dying from the black death and they're putting people onto carts because there's so many people just dying and there's this older man that they're trying to put on the cart but he's arguing with them and he's saying I'm not dead yet, I'm still alive, I feel fine, and they're just like, oh, whatever, and they just throw him on the cart. So in a way it's funny.
Speaker 2It's a little dark, but it's more than just that to me. Dark, but it's more than just that to me. It's me thinking about all the things that have happened to me and thinking to myself this could be it for me, and that happened to me when I had cancer twice and when I was in prison. I thought this could be the end for me as well. There's a couple of other things that happened to me where I was in the hospital because of my drinking habits, and I thought those could be the end for me, but none of them were Part of. That is luck, I think, and part of it is also because I believe that I have a story to tell other people to help them, and that's really why I wrote the book Turning your misfortunes into strengths or however you want to phrase it, for yourself, I think is a possibility that can really turn your life around.
Speaker 2In psychology we talk about the power of negativity and how it can do several things.
Speaker 2We see how fear is now motivating people in a certain way, especially if they identify as Republican.
Speaker 2I'll just say it Yep, fear can also do a lot of things that make you immobile, where you just don't want to do anything at all and you just kind of keep going down into a hole.
Speaker 2I think Nietzsche said it something like if you look long enough into the abyss, you become the abyss. And and for me that's really resonated with me because it's easier the brain is built in such a way to really gravitate towards the negative, not because we want to become negative people, but because we're trying to save ourselves. And so understanding that was very helpful for me, because when someone goes through a lot of negative things in your life, you have to work extra hard to remind yourself to focus on the positive. And it's not about ignoring negativity, because that can be toxic as well. It's about processing negativity, like I said at the outset, for as long as you need to, but then, whenever you're ready, moving purposefully towards the positive in your life and making sure that you always have enough tools in your toolkit and enough things that are surrounding you so that when you need that.
Speaker 1You have the opportunity to tap into it, because that's very important. There are things in the book that I haven't even touched on.
Speaker 2There's a ton of things that I've gone through. We want to leave enough mystery so that people go buy it, yeah, yeah, yeah, I just was going to tease one other thing, but we don't have to get into the details, but I think it's important because a lot of queer people, I think, have undergone something like this. But I was sexually molested by a family member when I was young and really I wasn't able to process that until I was much older. One of the things about that that really kind of changed who I was.
Speaker 2I was told when this whole thing was happening that this was happening to me because they loved me and as a consequence of that, it was very, very difficult for me to separate what love and sex were and what they meant and why they could be separated. To me they were all the same. So everyone that I loved I felt like especially if they're another queer man that I had to have sex in order to show them that I love them. Even my friends, I love my friends and now we have to have sex because that's how you show love, as convoluted as that might sound. It was very difficult for me to understand and have to go back and separate that. I talk about that in the book as well. Okay, so that's the last thing I'll share, because you're right, I don't want to give everything away, but I think that's really important.
Speaker 2I mean, when you start to endure all of these things in your life, it does change who you are. You don't even realize some of the time why or how it's changed you, but having that relationship with yourself is so, so important so that you can begin the process of tearing away the layers that you've created for yourself over time to find out who you are, go back to that core and fall in love with that and then forge ways of making your surroundings, as I had mentioned, emulate what those core values are, so that you can live your life to the fullest.
Speaker 1Joshua, I have a question for you. If you could go back, what's the thing that you would tell your?
Speaker 2younger self. Oh, I love that question. I would tell my younger self that, no matter what happens, it'll be okay. I would tell my younger self that you are a really good person. No matter what you end up doing, you have a good heart and you are going to do good in this world. It's similar to the things that I told myself as I got older, but I had to say that, and I wish that was something that was instilled in me at a very young age as well.
Speaker 1And I wish that was something that was instilled in me at a very young age as well. Well, I could sit here and listen to you telling your story all evening, and I know you mentioned earlier on that you hope that your story changed someone's life. I'm sure it's going to change a lot of people's lives, joshua. One more thing when can we find your memoir?
Speaker 2Sure, it's on all the major platforms and stores, but if you just want an easy way to get a streamlined, look at that. I've written a blog with all the stores with links on it, on my website, which is drjoshsolutions. That's in place of a com or org. I know it might sound confusing, but it's that newer thing that I jumped onto and then I was like, why did I do this? Because people are always asking me how is that a URL? Anyway, so it's drjoshsolutions and you could reach me on social media the same way. My handle is usually drjoshsolutions.
Speaker 1And it's dr D-R, not Dr Snelldow.
Speaker 2Thank you so much. Yes, D-R-J-O-S-H and Solutions spelled just like the word with an S at the end.
Speaker 1Perfect, okay, so listeners. There you have it, dr Joshua Caraballo, an industrial occupational psychologist, a cancer survivor, who has overcome multiple challenges but continue to excel and dedicate his life to helping others. He has an award-winning memoir called I Am Not Dead Yet how I Turned my Misfortune Into Strength. You need to go out and get that book. It may just inspire you. It may just turn you away from doing something that you may regret. Dr Joshua Karabalo, we really appreciate having you on A Queer Understanding, and I can tell you this listen to your episode. I know it's going to change many lives.
Speaker 2Thank you so much. Those words are so sweet, Cassie and Angelica. It has been such an honor just to be here with you both and be a part of this conversation in your podcast. So thank you.