No Human Is Useless: William Plange on Depression, Purpose, and Building a Healing Movement

On this episode of Build a Beautiful Life, Mitzi Campbell interviews Ghanaian motivational speaker and author William Plange, founder of the nonprofit No Human Is Useless. William shares how unmet expectations after school, job struggles, debt, and comparison led to depression and a retreat to a forest community, where calm and a female voice inspired him to return to the city and start an errand-running business. During COVID, his grandmother forced him out, leading him to post on LinkedIn, gain U.S. connections, sell “invisible” mugs, and later write the nine-time international bestselling book No Human Is Useless, which became a global movement. They discuss finding purpose in discomfort, gratitude, social media comparison, entrepreneurship sacrifices, functional depression, men’s reluctance to seek help, his Healing Room sessions, and a hybrid September conference in Ghana that accepts donations.

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Learn more about Mitzi

00:00 Show Rebrand And Mission

00:21 Meet William Plange

02:28 Why No Human Is Useless

03:51 Depression After School

05:22 Escape To The Forest

06:53 The Errand Boy Breakthrough

08:07 COVID Eviction Turning Point

10:07 Invisible Mug Metaphor

11:16 Book To Global Movement

13:18 Who Was The Voice

15:47 Finding Blessings In Discomfort

19:34 Entrepreneurship Versus Jobs

22:07 Healing Room And Mental Health Market

24:26 Men Opening Up

25:34 Biggest Struggles Today

25:54 Marriage Pressure Myths

26:34 Social Media Comparison Trap

28:31 Chasing People Ahead Of

29:18 Gratitude Through The Past

30:29 Bills Versus Purpose

31:58 Forest Life Fulfillment

34:49 Functional Depression Signs

36:55 Healing Room Safe Space

39:07 Advice To Younger Self

41:34 Conference Details Donations

43:14 Monetizing Healing Work

44:34 Final Thanks And Goodbye

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Or listening to Build a Beautiful Life with Mitzi Campbell. When I started podcasting four years ago, my show was called Blessings, Shining a Light on the Blessings and Lessons of Life. I have learned so much since then, and I've evolved in my mission and in my brand. So my show is now called Build a Beautiful Life with Mitzi. And I hope that the things we talk about here can help you to do just that. Today I welcome my first guest of the summer. I wanted to bring my friend William Plonge to you all the way from Africa because I wanted to highlight that no matter where we are in the world, we all experience the same human things. At the heart of it all, we feel joy. We can all feel love. We can feel gratitude. But on the other side of the coin, at times, we all feel unsure, unsettled, stressed, betrayed, anxious, and we all struggle in our own ways. William is a Ghanaian-born motivational speaker. He's an author. He is the founder of a beautiful nonprofit organization called No Human Is Useless, a global movement to support people dealing with depression, situational challenges, and the search for personal purpose. Purpose is essential. We all need purpose. We all yearn to make meaning of our lives all across the world, from all walks of life, all ages, races, religions. And this is our universal quest as human beings. And when we understand this concept and are willing to engage in deep conversations about real issues, we can help make life beautiful. And William and I both believe that all humans deserve to have beautiful lives. Welcome, William Plonge to the show.

SPEAKER_00 1:47

Thank you, Misty, for having me. And it's a blessing, especially being the first on the show after the rebrand. So thank you so much for having me.

SPEAKER_01 1:55

I'm so glad to have you. And it was really just synchronicity that you came up in my feed somewhere, and I was ready to do interviews. And I thought, I've got to have William come on the show because of your mission and everything that you stand for and everything that you're building. And especially because it's so cool to me when you can have a connection with somebody who lives on the other side of the world. You still have the same fears, the same excitement about life, the same wants and needs and desires. We all are connected in that way. Even though if it weren't for the internet, we never would have met. I'd like to start out by just letting the audience know a little bit about your personal experience, because that is the thing that was the catalyst for you to start your nonprofit, No Human Is Useless. So I want to know a little bit about that story and specifically if you could talk about what inspired the name No Human is Useless, whether there was a time in your life when you felt useless, because it's a very unique name. And I know that this came from your personal journey with depression. So if you could tell us the story, just lead us into your whole story of how it all got started.

SPEAKER_00 3:08

Thank you very much. So I grew up with my grandmom, and at that time she owned a bar, a drinking bar. So my daily routine, I go to school, I come back home, I sell alcohol, I do my homework. That was what I was doing during my childhood. But I figured one thing out. In that community that I grew up in, everybody is going to tell a young schoolgoing boy or girl that make sure you go to school, make sure you take your book seriously, make sure you are first in class on top of everybody. Because if you do your life, it's going to be beautiful because you're going to land a good job. You're going to buy your car, get all the best things in life. Then they make references to people who own cars and they tell you that these people took their studies seriously. And after school, they were first in class and after school, they had all these things. So I grew up with that mindset, over expecting a lot from my life that right after school, my life is going to be beautiful. So I completed school with good grades and then I was struggling to get a job. And that's where the pressure started for me. Then I get these kind of jobs that the salary is too small, so I use my salary as transportation back to work. So at the end of the month, nothing to save. I need to borrow money and go back to work. So I was always living in debt and I wasn't happy within. Then I see my friends who I was way better than in class. Those who were bottom three in the class, they were fortunate, they had good jobs, they bought their cars, and they were living that life that I was promised that I was going to live if I was first in class. So all this thing baffled me up. And one day me and my friends we had a chit chat, and one of them who was very last in class, but fortunate with life, passed the comment to me that, hey, William, you need to get a life because we are all moving. And that really struck me so hard. And that time, my only option was my family. My only source of comfort should be my family. But my family also barely noticed me at that same point. Because as a firstborn, I'm expected to contribute to the bills at home. And I wasn't doing it because of my inability of having a good job to do. So all this thing became so depressing, chaotic in the city. I was living in the city. So one day I couldn't take it anymore. I said, hey, I want to leave this place so I can go where nobody gets because anytime I saw my friends doing well, I felt a bit jealous and I felt so bad inside. So I took it off one day and I moved from the city to go live in the forest. Right? I didn't know what I was doing. I just wanted to move away. So I knew this small family who lives in the forest. I called them and they said, Oh, I can come over. So I went there and it was hell. No electricity, no good drinking water. Sometimes we drank from a stream that looked green in color. And when we wake up in the morning around 4 a.m., we need to walk like five hours into the deep farms to get food stuff so that we can come back home and prepare food. I wasn't exposed to this kind of life. As a young boy growing up from the city, this wasn't the lifestyle I was known to. But this is what I had at that time. So I was just doing it that way. But after a week, I realized that inside of me, I was getting calm. I wasn't thinking about not having a job. I was getting more happier within. And I realized that it was because of the people I found myself with, there was nothing like competition. There was nothing like somebody wanting to be better than the other. We are all loving people in that village, in that forest. So I was getting healed within naturally. So one evening around 9 p.m., I love to meditate and pray a lot. So around 9 p.m., I went to sit under a tree and I was like, hey God, is my life always going to be this way? I want to have an encounter with you. I want to hear your voice, talk to me. I was just saying these random words. Then within 30 minutes, I hear a voice, a female voice. I remember vividly. A female voice whispered in my ear that William, go back to the city, start a business called the Errant Boy, and that's all I had, errant boy. So six months down the line, I came back to the city, and mind you, it didn't explain to me what to do with the errand boy, just errant boy. I came back to the city, got somebody to design a logo for me with my name, Mr. Plunch, and I said, Hey, add the errant boy to it. That's my slogan. So we had a beautiful logo, Mr. Plunch, the Errant Boy. And I remember when I posted it, some of my friends saw it and they called me, William, why the errand boy? That is so childish. You're a full-grown man. You need to use errand man, not errand boy. And I go, you don't know how I got this message. Let me be. So I maintained the errand boy. And guess what? In the spot of a week, I posted it and said, hey, if you're a busy scheduled person and you want somebody to run errands for you, pick your kids from school for you, do the groceries for you, do your laundry for you, call on me. I'm the errand boy. And within the week, I get calls from high-profile people lawyers, judges, policemen, bankers calling me that, hey William, I saw your logo. Can you help me do this for me? Can you help me do this for me? And that business took off. I wasn't getting much money, but I was so fulfilled within me when I'm able to set in to help somebody and they say, God bless you, William. Thank you so much, William. That alone made me feel so special within me. Right. So fast forward, and I'm coming to how come new humanity business came to be in COVID. When COVID came up, my grandmom one day, and mind you, my grandmom took care of me, paid my school fees, did all the good stuff for me when I was growing up. But when COVID came up, my grandmom woke up one day and said, Hey William, I am broke, I need money, so you need to move out of this house. So I want to rent your room so I can make money. And I thought it was a joke. I stepped out, I came back, and my grandmom had packed all my stuff, my bed, my clothing outside the gates. William, leave this house. Father, the whole world was crashing on me. So I had this mindset. My grandmom was a leader in the Catholic church. So I decided to go to the church with my mom and bring some elders to come and plead on my behalf because I knew she would have reverence for these church people. Now I made it worse because when the people came to speak to her, she told them bluntly that, hey, the church didn't hold my house for me. It's my own property, and I decide what to do with it. So my grandson should leave this house. So I had to leave. And it was all tears. People mentioned that, hey, you don't like this, your calm grandson, this loving boy. Why are you treating him bad? But little did I know that push was going to be a blessing for me. Right? So my mom had to organize some money and I went to rent a small wooden structure, like a ghetto. I dug my stuff in there. I need to maneuver myself in a way to enter. And anytime I woke up, I am praying and I'm crying because I thought my whole life had come to an end. So one day I jumped on LinkedIn and I posted a picture of me in the forest. And I said, hey, sometimes we need to go through pain and struggles to find our blessings. Sometimes people have to push us through uncomfortable situations so that we can find our blessings. Because I had my first business idea in the forest, not in the city. So when I profited, this man from the US saw it and said, Hey, William, I think you have an amazing story. Let me introduce you to this group in the US. If you want to share your story, I'm like, cool, I want to share my story. So we had a Zoom meeting, me and about 30 businessmen and women, and I told them my story. They loved it. And at that time, I have these marks that I make. I call it the invisible marks. So they are black marks. You don't see anything on it unless I pour hot water in it. So I can put your image on it, but you don't see it till I pour hot water. So after I told them my story, I made one of the marks with the CEO of that networking group. So I brought the mark out and I'm like, hey, human beings are like these marks. And I didn't know where these words came from. I said, human beings are like these marks when you're not aware of your worth, when you're not aware of the beautiful things the universe has blessed you with, you look black like this. But sometimes when we go through pain and struggles, that is the hot water, pain, struggles, uncomfortable situations, those things doesn't mean we should end our life. It means that it's going to challenge us to pay attention to the beautiful things you are not paying attention because of the noise we are looking for forward to on the outside. So while I was doing that, and I was saying these words, the email started popping up slowly, and she saw her face and she was like, Wow, William. And they all loved it. And the next minute they started ordering these masks from Ghana to the US. I started shipping these masks from Ghana to the US. And I started making some cool cash. And I always said thank you to my grandmom because if she hadn't sucked me from the house, I wouldn't have got to the ghetto, jumped on LinkedIn, and even have this mindset to do what I do to meet these people. So fast forward, I became a member of the group, and one day I was meditating, and that same voice that I encountered with in the forest whispers in my ears and says, William, these people love books. Every time they are talking about books, and you have a story. So why don't you put your story in a book and title the book, No Human Is Useless? So the name came from that voice, that encounter I had in the forest. And till today I say that maybe I had to go through depression to go to the forest to have this encounter. Just this little encounter with that voice. So it led me to writing my book. I never thought of becoming an author. It wasn't part of my plan, right? But I became an author, wrote the book Low Human issues. And currently it is nine times international bestselling in four countries: US, UK, Canada, and Germany. So I decided to, okay, why don't I turn this into a movement with the same name? I register this nonprofit because I realized that people in my country go through the same channel that I went to. Going to school, expecting to become wealthy after school, and life doesn't go as planned, and they get depressed, and some commit suicide. So why don't I use my story to move to schools, move to places where people are and tell them my journey so they could know that after school is not automatically guaranteed to be successful. Life can throw many things at you, but it is up to you to turn it around to purpose, like what I'm doing. So it has been so good. I started this no human issues less. I go to school, I go to prisons, I do healing room sessions, and it's all about storytelling. People coming to share what they've been through and how to overcome it to inspire other people to also come out from that situation. So if you ask me why don't human issues came about, it came from my journey and that little tiny female voice that I encountered in the forest.

SPEAKER_01 13:22

That gives me goosebumps. It's such a cool story, and I think it makes me want to ask you a few different questions. But the one thing that stands out first is the idea that you had to go to a place where you were shutting off the noise of society. You had to go into the forest, and you had to not have the conveniences of being in the city so that you could connect to the essence of yourself. Do you think that voice was an angel, God, your higher self? Are they all the same? Who is the voice?

SPEAKER_00 13:59

For me, I think it's an angel. The reason why I say that is when I was five years old, I used to see this image like a female with wearing a veil, all dressed down. Then the first time I saw her, I thought it was Mary. So when you go to the Roman Catholic, they have a statue of the Mary. So I thought it was Mary, the statue that has been placed there. So I rushed up to go call my grandmom to come and look at the Mary because we were Catholic at that time. Now I was standing with the image and my grandmom, but my grandmom said she couldn't see anything. I was the only one seeing it at that time. Right? So sometimes I feel like it is that image that I saw, that female image that I saw that came back to the forest to whisper to me. That's my strongest thing about it. Because I had that in Counter when I was a child. This is the first time I'm saying this everywhere. I've never said it anywhere.

SPEAKER_01 14:49

Well, I'm glad that you have the courage to say that. Because many people have experiences like that. We see things that only we can see. We hear things that only we can hear. And in the past, you would have been labeled crazy, or even at the worst of times, might have been committed or burned at the stake or something, you know. But honestly, I have experiences like that all the time. I 100% believe that there are angels guiding me in my life. And many people believe that. And so I love that we're talking about it. And I think we should talk about it more because we all need guidance. And the interesting thing you mentioned was that it's only through the darkness and through those really difficult things, like your grandmother had to kick you out. She had to say, You cannot live here anymore. And you were homeless and had to move to the ghetto. And that's tough. Your friends were telling you that you had to get a life. Like all of those things are so hard to go through. And many people wouldn't bounce back as easily as you did. So, what kind of advice do you have for somebody who is going through a dark period, who needs to use that as fuel to rebuild something in their lives? How can people do that when they're really just not seeing the light? They're just in the darkness.

SPEAKER_00 16:09

Yeah. So, one thing I always say is God, your higher self, whatever thing you believe in, it hides your blessings in discomfort. The beautiful things, the best things in life, they are always found in tough situations. That is one truth that I want everybody to know. Because in Ghana, when you want to mine gold, you need to go to the deepest crust of the soil to get it. And it's very dark, it's very tough to go there. So the best things in life, they are found in those situations. All right. But sometimes when people are going through this, it might feel like it is forever. And that's where the issue comes in. I went to the forest in 2014, and guess when I started doing knowing my issues, it's 2020, there about. So imagine all these years. It is never easy, it's very tough, and it feels like things are not are never going to change. It's taking forever and all of those stuff. But I'd get to advise people if you're watching me, if you're going through this situation, I tell you there is a blessing in there, it is hidden, and you need to find out. But you don't fight it with chaos, you don't fight it with strength. It takes calmness to get all these answers. Like me, I went to the forest. I'm not saying go to the forest, but I went to the forest, and that's where I had my answers. And it was because the city was so noisy. Everybody was saying, go find a job. And I was thinking outside myself. So the forest gave me that relaxing moment, that calmness to go deep into myself and perhaps have this encounter with this voice I'm talking about. But it's never going to take forever, and the blessing is hidden in there. So you should be even helpful.

SPEAKER_01 17:43

It reminds me of the story of the Buddha who, you know, Siddhartha, who went and sat under a tree and became enlightened. And it's very interesting that nature, being in nature, helped you connect to that voice, that angel, and you had to be open to it. You were out there, and I love what you said about the people of that forest community. Their purpose was to get food and bring it home, prepare it. That was their purpose. Their purpose was nothing more than just the cycle of life for that day. And there are people who live their whole lives that way. And actually, we all do if you think about it. We're all just working to be able to continue to live another day. One thing that strikes me about your story is, and it's a very good thing for people to think about is that you were told, as we all were told, that if you get good grades, you're going to be successful. And we all know now that we see people, especially a lot of these young people who are doing things online and working with AI and technology, they're able to make lots of money. And many of them have not gone to college and have not maybe not even been a student. So I don't know. It is interesting that you saw that. And I think we should still all strive for excellence. I do believe that you want to be academically strong, absolutely. But to understand that isn't going to correlate to automatic success. You definitely need to do the work. And what you described as these menial jobs that you had to take that kept you stuck in the cycle of poverty. And that happens to so many people. So that's where the idea that you knew how to be successful, you knew how to get an A, that probably was something that helped you, even though it didn't translate automatically, it helped you to become an entrepreneur, which is where the real money started to come in. What do you think about for young people today, the idea of entrepreneurship versus the type of job that keeps you stuck? What kind of advice do you have on that front?

SPEAKER_00 19:50

For me, I'll be blunt on this. I would tell you that going as an entrepreneur is the best, right? But it takes sacrifice. It takes sacrifice. And it will be very smooth for you if it is based on passion. If passion takes you through that entrepreneurship, it becomes much easier because at the end of the day, you are expected to make sales and in business, you could go three months without sales, and you can go like a week with about one year's sales, you can come at once. All right. So what if you are going through three months without sales and you don't have passion for it? You are going to be tempted to quit and say, Oh, this is not good for me. And then you jump on something which is even wrong. All right. So first I say make sure I will choose entrepreneurship, but our advice that make sure it is driven by passion. Because the passion is going to drive you to keep doing it even when sales are not coming. All right. Now, on the other side of getting a job, you are going to see money every month. Yet the money cannot be used for something meaningful for you that will make you feel so okay. But then you're going to see money every day, every month to sort some pet bills. But you can go a week and take get money as an entrepreneur for like a whole two years, big money for two years without working. And it's there, yeah. So it depends, it's dicey. It depends on your heart and the sacrifices if you are willing to make the sacrifices and make sure you build a business around your passion.

SPEAKER_01 21:17

Yeah. What would you say is your biggest sacrifice that you had to make?

SPEAKER_00 21:22

As an entrepreneur, is to go three months without sales. Go three months without deals.

SPEAKER_01 21:29

Yes. So it's not consistent. But what you described is the essence of purpose and meaning. So you described that you have passion for something, you have a drive for something. It's almost like it's a calling. It's a little bit of a spiritual spin, I think, in as an entrepreneur. It's because it's like something deep within you that drives you, even though you don't have a reliable income in a lot of cases. So that's really interesting that you bring that up. Um But there's so much opportunity out there. What do you see are the biggest opportunities for people as entrepreneurs and even in your own field, in your part of the world?

SPEAKER_00 22:11

Yeah. So in my space, for instance, with depression and with what I help people recover, I think there's a very big market in what I do because every single human being, every single youth, every single person on the streets having a smiling faces, doing their things on a normal basis, is suffering deeply inside that they can't talk about. And the reason why I noticed this is usually organize a session I call the healing room. All right. And when I announced it, I needed only 30 people because it was a small space. We have an intimate conversation, no recordings, no judgments for people to pour out what they are going through. And when I shared an announcement on TikTok, I get 54,000 views, over 100 people in my DMs saying, William, I'm going through a lot. I want to be part of this. I want a whole lot. So I realized that almost every human being, regardless of they having a house, a car, having a job, not having a job, is going through something. And that makes my area, my space very lucrative. Though I've not monetized it yet, because I'm just putting myself up there for people to understand what we are about. And one thing is this in my part of the world, people have not really understood that I need to see a therapist. They don't understand that thing. Because we've grown up with that mindset that you need to be strong. Even when you're weak, you need to be strong. You need to man up, especially the men. You need to man up. So people have not really understood this thing. But with my sessions like the healing room, I get people coming in, coming to pour everything that they've never talked to anybody about for over 10 years. But they feel free to talk about it because I start off by sharing my story, showing them pictures of what I've been through and what I'm doing, and gives them encouragement to do the same. So I'm even now thinking about having a coffee lounge and call it the healing room where people will just have come have coffee and have interactions, one-on-one interactions with people who are also going through stuff so that they can heal together. So it's a very big market. It's just that it's very hard to get finances to run it here. So that is my only challenge. Otherwise, a company organization giving me grants to do a lot of these things would be a very big market.

SPEAKER_01 24:26

I think people need that emotional support all over the world. And what you just brought up about the difference between men and women, culturally speaking, that men are taught to be tough, to man up, like you said, to not express it when they are struggling. Do you find that it's mostly women coming in for help, or is it also men?

SPEAKER_00 24:53

So this. And I'll use my hearing room session as an example. We could have like seven women and three men.

SPEAKER_01 24:59

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 24:59

And that's how bad it still is. Because women open up a lot than men. Because probably the culture has made it look like it is so normal for a girl, for a woman to open up, but it's not normal for men. And we are still struggling. But I can see that many people are championing causes about men's mental health to just change the narrative. But it's gradual.

SPEAKER_01 25:22

Yeah, I think we do need to change the narrative. And I see a lot of those groups as well. But I believe it actually takes more strength to express strong emotion than to hide it or suppress it. It's very interesting. What is one of the biggest problems that you see people struggling with today?

SPEAKER_00 25:44

No jobs, lack of finances. That is a major, especially among the youth. If you put 10 people there, eight of them, financial struggles, no jobs, or even if they are working, their salaries are not enough. That is the major thing. And we have others, smaller group of people. I'm 35 years, I'm married, and it's eating them up. Some are married, no kids, it's eating them up. And those are some of the things that I encounter people with. Lady comes to me and says, I'm 35 years, I'm not married. All my friends, I'm getting married. And I ask her one question: Who made the laws that compulsory you're supposed to be 35 to be married? And you can clearly tell that it's because of the societal pressure, the norms that have been thrown to society, that is what is eating them out. I said people get married at the age of 40 and they give birth. Some get married at the age of 18 years and they divorce at 20. So it's no rush, it's just a perfect timing.

SPEAKER_01 26:36

That's right. And how do you feel about that kind of pressure? We all seem to be really susceptible to comparing ourselves to others on social media. Everyone, I know everyone, even my age, I'm 59, and we all, no matter the age, go online and see other people that we automatically compare ourselves to, and it makes us feel bad about ourselves or feel behind in life or feel like we just aren't where we want to be. Do you see people struggling with that, specifically so comparing themselves to others on social media? And how do you feel about that?

SPEAKER_00 27:11

So many people do that. I've got people who have worked out to me, they have good jobs, they have their cars, they have everything, but they see what I do and they walk up to me and say, William, I wish I can do what you're doing. So you take my job. Let's exchange. Meanwhile, I have my problems that I'm going through that is not seen on the social media. I only post the polished version just to promote what I'm doing. But aside that, I have my own problems that I don't talk about, and people don't know about it, but they wish to be me. Meanwhile, they wouldn't love to go through what I'm going through currently. But so I think that is, I feel so bad when people go through that. It also catches with us when we see something that we wish we could have been there on the social media. Sometimes we are also triggered. But for me, I try to remind myself that hey, it is not a race. I've also achieved so many things those people don't have. So if you see on my TikTok, I made a post that social media will make you chase people you're already ahead of. And I have had an experience, this person that everybody looks up to. They want to be like that. And I had an encounter with that person. And no, no, you've had so many achievements that day that everybody wants to look up to and be like them, don't even have it. So I make that post that social media will make you choose people you're you're already ahead of.

SPEAKER_01 28:33

That's very profound. What do you mean by that you're already ahead of? What does it mean to not realize that where you are in life is better than you think? Because you're comparing yourself to something that isn't real.

SPEAKER_00 28:49

So what I mean by the ahead of is you have something that people would love to have and they don't have it, but you don't regard it. So to them, they need what you have, but you are not being grateful for what you have. So in the end, it becomes like you are ahead of them because the people you are looking out to even need what you already have. So that's what I tell by ahead. But it doesn't mean that it's a competition with you're chasing something. But I just want to see be content with what you have because many people are looking for it and they don't even have it.

SPEAKER_01 29:20

Gratitude is very important. How do you keep gratitude alive in your life when you are feeling down?

SPEAKER_00 29:28

I never throw my past away. I have pictures of all the pain and struggles. So I just have to look at it and say, God, I'm thankful for how far you brought me. So my past has always been a reminder in every step I take. People say, throw away your past. I don't throw my past away. I need to look back back then, see how far I've been. And if I'm in a state of depression, I go back and say, Oh, I was able to overcome this one, this horrible one. So this one I'm facing right now, I can overcome it again. So that is what that has been keeping me going and making me so grateful.

SPEAKER_01 30:01

Yeah. It's a great idea to keep a record, either mentally or some people actually keep a list of your wins and things that you've overcome so that you can see that there is evidence of your success in life. By the very fact that we're still here, we have gotten through all of the difficult times that have been presented in our lives so far. So chances are we're gonna continue, if the odds are good, we're gonna continue getting through everything. And then I think that's so important. Why do you think it is that people are feeling more disconnected from purpose in today's world?

SPEAKER_00 30:42

So I feel that the system, how the system has been made, you need to pay bills, you need to electricity, water bills, whatever 10 bills on us would divert you to go look for something that will give you money, cash to solve those problems. All right. So I think it's the system. So people do not pay attention inwardly, they're always looking outside because they need to make money whichever way to pay their rent, to pay their bills, and all those bills that have been attached to our life right now. And so it's hard for people to actually because if you don't have any burden of bills and nothing, and if I get what to eat and I'm okay, I'm not thinking about any other thing, I can really focus on myself and my inner self. Right? So sometimes I feel like God sometimes strips away, breaks you down so that you can pay attention to yourself, and that's where you lose your job, you go through depression, everything seems like not working, so that you can have time for yourself and then you can find that purpose. Purpose is very silent and it comes in the quiet, but we are busy chasing a whole lot of things outside, and that is why it is we are missing on our purpose. That's why I can't.

SPEAKER_01 31:53

Because we need to be more attached to the self, more in tune with the inner awareness, right?

SPEAKER_00 31:58

And the bills you wouldn't allow you to have that time for yourself.

SPEAKER_01 32:01

Yeah. The bills are a distraction, but how would you compare that kind of lifestyle that you just described of having to work, get a little bit of money, pay the bills, and it's just this never-ending, very depressing cycle versus the people that you lived with in the forest who don't have that same cycle going on. They have a different kind of a cycle. Can you tell me what you think is better and why?

SPEAKER_00 32:25

So I can put it in two ways. The first phase makes you more happier because you are not looking for, you're not looking for so many things that that in in retail will be a distraction. All right. The forest is more happier than in the city. The life in the forest, that cycle makes you happier with the little you have, all right? But the other one, even if you have more, you still keep looking for more, yet you never get fulfilled. But the life in the forest makes you fulfilled within, all right. And that really helps. It's all about the mindset. When you choose to chase the life in the city, you'll keep wanting more and you will never be fulfilled because you can never get everything that you seek. But with the little that you have in the forest, that makes you even fulfilled without not even asking for more. So that's the difference.

SPEAKER_01 33:14

But isn't it interesting how people want what's in the city? And I'm using city as a metaphor. People want that city life experience over the maybe if they could let go of all of those commercial and material attachments, that life in the forest might be where they connect more to what really matters to a human being. Isn't that interesting to think of it that way?

SPEAKER_00 33:38

It is. It is. And I feel like it's because of what had been promoted through the media to make people feel like the life in the city is best. Having the cars, having the houses is the best. Then going to live in the forest is the picture that has been created in the minds of people. And this is not a recent thing that's been done where yes. So within us when we're giving birth to, it was passed on to us, grow with it. So it becomes difficult to even let go because it is something that has been imprinted inside of you when you are birthed. So that is the challenge, and it's very interesting.

SPEAKER_01 34:14

It's fascinating. I grew up in a small town, and a lot of people left that small town, went out and had experiences in bigger cities in the United States, and then ended up going back to their roots, back to the small town, because it was more fulfilling in the end to have that more simple existence. And striving is a difficult way to live, right? When you're constantly striving and constantly feeling like you're not there, it's like being on that hamster wheel. So it's not surprising that we have people uh struggling and suffering with depression. You talk about something that I think is really a concept that we should bring up, and that is functional depression. I've seen you talking about functional depression. So that is when someone seems on the outside like everything is okay. And you ask them how they're doing, and they say, I'm fine, but really it's not. So talk about that a little bit and how you can know if a loved one is dealing with a functional depression and how we can help people when we see that this might be the case.

SPEAKER_00 35:27

One difficult thing about this functional depression is it is very hard to detect it unless the person wants up to talk about it. Because we all go through that. So the time I was invited to an event to come and speak, and there were so many big men coming, and it would be very good for me to network. And could you believe on that day I dressed so well and I didn't even have money for foo to go to the place? Somebody who could have given me money also disappointed me. So I had to go with the one bar of my foo. I went there, I spoke very beautifully. Everybody came hugging me, telling me that I did so well, they want to connect with me. And I was keeping a smiling face, hugging people. But meanwhile, I didn't know what I was going to eat right after the event. I didn't even know how I was gonna get back to me. The foo well, get me stuck in the middle of the road, what am I going to do? All those things were battling in my mind. Meanwhile, on the outside, I was hugging people, people saying I spoke so emotional, and I've changed their thoughts and all of those stuff. But I was suffering inside. If you pick 10 people in Ghana, nine of them is going through the thing, and you will never see it. They'll show up, they'll go to work, they'll go to church, they'll do everything normal, yet they are dying inside. And it's very hard because if these people are not able to talk about it, it's very hard to notice. And that's the challenge about this whole fashion repression. Unless perhaps they man up, they come into your DM or they trust you that you are not going to broadcast their pain and their struggles to other people. That is when they come to you too. And I'm trying to change this narrative through my healing room because now people have attended the healing room are now vocal. Something goes on, they call me because they have given you that safe space that their issues are safe with me and I'm not going to broadcast it. So they come to me and try to change that narrative through the healing room, through our annual conferences that we do.

SPEAKER_01 37:21

How's your relationship with your grandmother today?

SPEAKER_00 37:23

So my grandmother feels bad to date. I've told her so that it's she has even helped me. So she's forget about it. But I know that deep inside of her, she feels bad. But if it's been a while, I met her because I've moved out of that community. So to me, I have no thing in my heart because I should be rather be thankful to her for sucking me because that thing gave me the opportunities that I have today. But she feels bad that I still harbor some pain in me.

SPEAKER_01 37:50

It really was a blessing in disguise. And she probably knew that when you're a strong female matriarch of a family, sometimes you have to show tough love. And maybe that's what she was doing.

unknown 38:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 38:06

But I'm really glad that you were able to use those rock bottom moments to propel yourself and not only to propel yourself back up, but to help so many other people in the process. I think you should make the healing room like a little bit of a membership so that people from all over the world can join digitally. And you could you could do that. I could help you set that up if you're interested. Um, because that would be something really useful for people, and it would be a good way of kind of monetizing what you've got going on as well.

SPEAKER_00 38:38

I think I'd love to speak about this.

SPEAKER_01 38:40

Yes, what it's in the I think this needs to be a membership community.

SPEAKER_00 38:45

I love it.

SPEAKER_01 38:46

Uh that people pay a small amount of money to be a part of. I think that could be a very, very beautiful thing that could help so many people because your story, you have a way of lighting up the room. You have a way of really drawing people in so that they can see and feel inspired by you. They can see possibility. So tell me this. I have just a couple more questions for you. Wanted to know if you could sit across from your younger self during your hardest season, what would you tell him?

SPEAKER_00 39:19

I'd like to picture myself when I was young right now. Oh, so I'll tell him that I'll just say thank you for going through that, because that has made me who I am today. Otherwise, today I wouldn't be doing this. I'll be doing something else that wouldn't impact a lot of people. Right? I've got people coming to my DM saying, William, I attempted suicide eight times. I was about to try the ninth one and I saw your story on TikTok. I changed my mind. God bless you for what you do. And I had this message at a point where I wanted to quit because things were not moving well. I packed all my documents. As soon as I put it in a box, I get this message. I attempted suicide eight times. I was about to try the ninth one, and I chanced on your video. You gave me life, William. God bless you. I keep saying what you're doing. And I know it was a universe reminding me that, hey, you don't stop. Go pick it up again. So I just so I just went to pick up the documents and I'm still on this way. So I'll tell my younger self that thank you for all you've been through to making me who I am today.

SPEAKER_01 40:20

I love that message because we can't be who we are in any moment without the past versions of us. And so we should never beat ourselves up for mistakes or have regrets because it's that very journey, as imperfect as it is, that allows us to be the highest and best versions of ourselves in the present moment and even better in the future. When people finish listening to this episode today, what is one truth, one true thing that you hope that people will believe about themselves that can help them to build their own beautiful life?

SPEAKER_00 40:59

So one truth is you are so special, you have something beautiful inside of you, and it needs to come out. And one way it could come out is going through pain and struggles and uncomfortable situations because that will make you pay attention to what you've been ignoring to trigger it to come out. So when those moments happen to you, don't end your life. All right. Just keep calm and ask those questions, and in calmness, you get the answers for that beautiful thing to come out for the world to see. That's the only truth.

SPEAKER_01 41:28

In calmness, you will get the answers. And that's why those moments in nature, those moments when you're able to separate yourself from the noise are so important. All right, William. When is your conference? Tell us when the No Human is Useless conference is coming out.

SPEAKER_00 41:43

Yeah, so it's in September. September.

SPEAKER_01 41:45

And it's it can be virtual. It's gonna be held in Ghana, right? But it's virtual too, right?

SPEAKER_00 41:50

Yeah, so we need to do that this time. Yeah, it was gonna be it was gonna be virtual. So it's hybrid, both in person and then in virtual.

SPEAKER_01 41:57

And I know that people can donate to help support the conference. So I'm going to put the link in the show notes for people who would like to donate to your conference. And I want to say, especially to people in other countries outside of Ghana, is that your money goes a lot farther in Ghana. So you can make a donation, which to you might not be a big donation, but it will make a huge difference to William. I don't know. Can you give us an idea? Like if someone donated $100 to your conference, what would that mean to you and what you're able to give at the conference?

SPEAKER_00 42:34

$100 would be so good. So that's like 1,100 cities here. And $1,100 cities can do food, can help us pay parts of, let's say five, $500, right? $500 can pay for a whole auditorium. Wow. We want to use for the conference. Right. So $100, just imagine, $100 can do a lot. It can go into supporting people to come in and listen and attend for free.

SPEAKER_01 43:00

Scholarship tickets, it could pay for food for a lot of the people for the event.

SPEAKER_00 43:04

Well, yes. Water, drinking. Water. Okay. It can do that. I love it.

SPEAKER_01 43:08

Okay. I love it. So we'll put the link in the show notes and we're going to talk more about making something happen that I think will allow you to continue doing your work. Because I think a lot of us, when we do this kind of spiritual work as a helper, as a teacher, as a healer, we feel guilty asking people for money to do that. We feel like it's not a spiritual thing to do to charge people for this help. But you have to be able to live. You have to be able to keep doing the work. And so we need to get over that feeling. That's a money block. That's an obstacle, a mindset obstacle for a lot of people in spiritual work. And I would consider your work to be psychological and spiritual kind of work, that mindset work, personal development work that's even going a step beyond because you don't have as much access, like you said, to things like therapy. And it's just not as prominent there for people to go to therapy and have counseling and whatnot. So I think that what you're doing is super important, especially now that you're developing such an audience on TikTok where you've got so many people coming to and your DMs, we need to be offering them a place where they can get the help that they're asking you for. And you're not just giving it for free, even though that's amazing. But if they had a container where they could go and really experience your expertise and and get that energy, I think that would be such an amazing thing. So we're gonna work. We're gonna work.

SPEAKER_00 44:35

I would really love it. The healing room.

SPEAKER_01 44:37

I love it. I love it. All right. Thank you, William. I have loved talking with you today. Thank you for your time. What time is it where you are?

SPEAKER_00 44:45

So it's 6 35 p.m.

SPEAKER_01 44:47

Oh, that's not bad. It is 2 35 p.m. here in Pennsylvania. So it is four hours.

SPEAKER_00 44:52

Okay. Today is Friday.

SPEAKER_01 44:54

Oh, today's Friday. Okay. Okay, good. So we're only four hours. I never realized that.

unknown 44:59

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 45:00

All right, William. Have a wonderful day. Um thanks again for being here, and this has been amazing.

SPEAKER_00 45:05

So it was a pleasure. Thank you. Thank you.