How a 13-Year-Old with EDS Turns Pain into Power Through Resilience and Mindset

Most kids your age are busy with school and hobbies, but 13-year-old Sam Richardson is teaching us what true resilience looks like, living with Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (EDS) while pursuing his passions and redefining what's possible. When pain and fatigue aimed to hold him back, Sam discovered that mental strength, creative outlets, and a fierce determination to keep moving forward turn obstacles into stepping stones.

Sam’s journey began with a silent struggle, tired legs and unexplained pain that went unnoticed until a diagnosis at age six. Gluten, processed foods, and gut health became key to managing his condition, but that was just the start. Despite daily chronic pain, Sam doesn’t just cope, he conquers—building muscle through tailored exercise, advocating for his needs in school, and staying positive through acting, Lego-building, and even earning a second-degree black belt in Taekwondo. His story reveals how mental resilience and a proactive mindset can defy the limits that others might accept as inevitable.

In this heartfelt episode, you'll discover:

• How Sam uses food labels, supplements, and movement to manage EDS symptoms effectively.
• The mental strategies he employs to override pain and stay focused on his goals.
• Why sharing feelings and asking for help are signs of strength, not weakness.
• The importance of celebrating achievements, big or small, despite ongoing health challenges.
• Practical advice for young people facing invisible disabilities and the power of a resilient mindset.

Sam’s story is a reminder that being strong isn’t about never feeling pain, it's about showing up every day, despite it. His ability to navigate health struggles with courage and creativity offers invaluable lessons for anyone facing their own unseen battles. Perfect for parents, teachers, or young listeners seeking inspiration to push past limitations, this episode proves that resilience is a muscle you can develop and strengthen over time.

If you’ve ever felt held back by invisible challenges, Sam’s journey will ignite your inner strength and inspire you to keep going. Don't miss this celebration of perseverance, positivity, and the indomitable human spirit.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

When you feel like life has dealt you a hand of unfair cards. Instead of voting, you double down. You're stuck in the game. You face battles. You felt broken. But hey, do us a favor. Put your hand on your heart. You feel that. You're still here. Welcome to the Resilience Files Unlock, where survival meets transformation. Back to the Resilience Files Podcast. I'm your host, Carrie Bernanz, and today's episode is a special one. Resilience doesn't always look loud or dramatic. Sometimes it looks like it's showing up quietly every day, even when your body is working against you. Our guest today is so special. He's only 13 years old. And as we do here on the Resilient Styles Podcast, we love to read our guest's essay. Well, Sam is gonna read his essay today and tell us more about his resilient journey. So, Sam, take it away. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 1:09

Hi, I'm Sam. I'm 13 years old and I have Ellis Danlos syndrome, hypermobility type. I was diagnosed when I was six years old after always feeling tired in my legs. I didn't really know it was pain at the time. I just felt tired and couldn't always keep up with the kindergarten sports my mum put me into and had to take lots I couldn't seem to walk or run for very long without my legs becoming really sore and tired. I didn't really understand what until I got a bit older. I struggled with PE and endurance activities, money especially. I would always walk at the back of the cross-country race. It didn't feel nice. I grew up eating normal food and even though we were healthy, I didn't really know what foods were making my pain and fatigue worse. I was really often it was really after one Christmas when we had a lot of sugar and pastries that my mum and dad noticed that my pain was a lot worse. For EDS kids, the cold can be worse for joint pain also. It's a bit like rheumatoid arthritis that way. A physiotherapist checked out my joints and recommended I go and see a rheumato rheumatologist. You have to be a certain amount of hypermobile joints on something called the Baiton test to be diagnosed with EDS. Turns out it's in lots of foods that I was eating. So for about seven years now, I have had to stop any gluten foods. I also had to cut out processed foods and sugars. More recently, my mum and dad discovered I have something called gut dysbiosis where the health of my gut is poor. Poor gut health is also connected to EDS, so we had a bunch more tests done. In the past seven years, I've had all kinds of tests done. I've had blood tests, restricted diets, vitamins, C B D oil, physiotherapy, and prolotherapy where they put needles into the back of my knees. When I was younger and even up to quite recently, at night, well not at the moment, but at night the pain would be so bad that my mum and dad would have to carry me into bed in pain. I didn't s I did start to go swimming regularly, as it was easier on my joints and I needed to do some exercise that didn't hurt. But it eventually became difficult, and again, mum and dad would have to keep carrying me out of the pool. It w it felt very embarrassing, but I kept pushing every week nevertheless. Now I'm thirteen, the pain is no better. It's still here every day, but something has changed in my mind and how I deal with it. I realized that if I could realise if it was coming on badly during swimming, I could take a reset, some food or a rest, and sometimes even push through. The pain is felt in my brain, so I had to find a way to turn it off immediately. Mentally. So some days it worked and some days it didn't. Everybody with EDS is different. Some kids don't even really get that much pain. They just get injured easily. We're all different. What I do is I know that become mentally very tough around certain things in my life to manage it. I read food labels to make sure there's zero gluten anywhere and like just not not too much of sugar or added flavour colours like um what sort of stuff, artificial stuff. I try to eat every two hours or just eat a lot because I have fast metabolism to stop the hyperglyglycemia running out of food in my body, which triggers pain, because when I don't eat for a while, when I dig when I don't when I don't eat for a while, my legs can hurt when I'm hungry. I go to the gym gym to build stronger muscles around my joints, even though some days that triggers my pain. I know I have to do it. And like a lot of the time gym does feel really good for me. It's just and I have friends who do it with me, so that also makes it a lot better. Uh I ride a pedal bike to school, like a pedal assist bike, like e-bike, but it's not the full throttle, it's just the pedal assist. Even though other kids ride full throttle, I still want to make an effort to exercise on the way, so I'm actually still moving my legs. I take CBD oil to edge off the pain, because pain relievers don't work and are bad for my gut. They just don't Many other kids take them who have EDS, but I don't want to make my stomach worse because I already have the whole gut thing. I take between seven and ten natural supplements a day to keep my body working properly and make sure making sure everything is moving well. I read, build Lego, and keep myself busy to help my mind be strong and creative, which helps distract me from pain. I took up acting, which also make me feel good. It's very fun, I've achieved a lot of stuff there. Things I've achieved, despite being diagnosed with EDS hand-having death, I have I've gotten my a black belt in taekwondo, well second damn black belt for anyone main parts and school plays and medals for acting in Australia. I've swam at sometimes help around the house and do chores. As long as I take breaks, like sometimes the pain comes on while I'm doing that. But anyway, and that's pretty much it.

SPEAKER_00 6:10

Wow, Sam, thank you so much for sharing that. How do you feel reading that out loud?

SPEAKER_01 6:15

Well, yeah, I feel like it's a good thing for people to know about this. Like, I feel comfortable reading this out loud. After all, I did mention being an actor. This is no acting, by the way. This is just me talking from my heart. I I don't feel like uncomfortable reading.

SPEAKER_00 6:32

Yeah. Well, thank you so much for trusting us with that. One thing that stood out to me is that you're very young, and this started when you were very young. I I would like to go back to your early experience. When you were little and your legs had felt very tired, but you didn't know it was pain. What did that feel like?

SPEAKER_01 6:51

Well, a lot of the time it wasn't as much pain. It was a lot of tiredness. So, like, once again, I would always get carried around and I would just say that my legs were tired to my parents, but they didn't really like they didn't fully know what was going on until later when we actually discovered what was going on. So, like, are you asking about before we figured out what it was or when Yeah, before yeah, before you figure it out. Yeah, because like I like when running and doing activities, I did feel a bit slower than some of the other kids, because like, you know, my legs were just getting really tired and I didn't know what's going on, and I was like really young, so yeah.

SPEAKER_00 7:38

Yeah, I bet that felt very confusing, especially when the other kids didn't feel that same way. What moment did you realize like something was going on different than the other kids at your school?

SPEAKER_01 7:48

Well, once again, we talked about that one Christmas where it you were eating sugar, like a lot of desserts and stuff, and also specifically a lot of gluten. We didn't really know about the sugar part there. Mm-hmm. We mainly just realized that the gluten was making it worse. Like, because even though my legs didn't hurt as much, like it was more tired and sore, my legs felt a lot more sore after that. And even after I figured out and cut out gluten, my legs still hurt, but they hurt a lot less than they did when I had gluten.

SPEAKER_00 8:20

Yeah, that makes sense. At the moment at that time, prior to finding out your diagnosis, you were doing races. You said you were in cross-country and you happened to be in the back. At that moment, did you feel like you were giving it all you got during those races? Or what did it feel like to be in the back and walking, or did you just feel like maybe this just wasn't your sport?

SPEAKER_01 8:40

Yeah, I felt like I wasn't much of a runner. Like I didn't know that that was actually something to do with my legs. I just thought that just I didn't feel like that was sort of me. And say I'm not like super much of a runner, but like I'm better than I was, of course.

SPEAKER_00 8:56

That also comes with Yeah, well, I think that shows a lot of courage for you, especially at a young age, just to keep showing up even in the midst of pain. And I can teach a lot of people those moments. I know you said there were moments that you had to be carried out of the pool. And remind me, was that before or after you found out your diagnosis?

SPEAKER_01 9:19

Well, it was a bit after because I started swimming training a lot later because of course I've swum in two different groups. So I swam at this Palm Beach pool, yeah, then at Laurie Lawrence, and then the Palm Beach Pool, little fun thing. So there wasn't really much that we were doing that would trigger my pain. But when I moved to Lowry Lawrence and started swimming at higher levels and like being better, getting better at swimming and doing a lot more of it, I noticed that that also mainly triggered a lot more pain because I was doing a lot more laps, going a lot faster, pushing a lot harder. And that would sometimes trigger Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 9:56

So I wanna take a moment and like what did you feel like when you found out your diagnosis and you you all like went to a doctor and you saw a specialist? Were you surprised? Like, how did that make you feel at that moment?

SPEAKER_01 10:12

Well, the problem is since I was so young, I can't quite remember how it was when I got diagnosed. I just remember like finding out all this stuff was cut out. I had diets, I had vitamins, I had CB, I had all that stuff. Like it just a bunch of stuff just started happening. I just didn't really know. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 10:38

We're gonna have a lot of people that have children and a lot of people that are gonna send this to their child because there's other children that go through a variety of diagnoses during some point early childhood. I guess in that moment of like maybe between then you don't remember because it was so young, it was so early. But now, was there ever a moment where you felt like, you know, you had to change your complete diet? Did it just feel like, okay, this is just what it is, or did you ever feel like why can't I eat gluten or those things?

SPEAKER_01 11:14

Well, I did feel a lot of that at the start where I just like like I I missed eating all this delicious stuff that I used to do. But over time, it's just become just the normal thing for me. Like I've gotten a lot better with diets, especially with my recent diet. I've had this big diet, but um, I went well with that. I didn't do any cheats, I didn't like have breaks from my diet. I did exactly what I was supposed to do with the diet until it was over.

SPEAKER_00 11:45

Yeah. Oh, good for you. Wow. I will say, you you are a strong boy. I think so many people like when people just naturally fast or do a diet, it's very difficult and it's very hard because you're like, you want to break it, you know. But it takes a lot of strength, and I appreciate you continuing to share that. Did at that moment of you going through that, did you know anyone of your other friends or people close to you that was diagnosed with any type of illness? Did it feel relatable or did you feel like you were all alone in that journey?

SPEAKER_01 12:18

Well, the thing is none of my friends really have any of that stuff. Well, not that I know of. But uh one of my close friends, uh, am I allowed to mention names?

SPEAKER_00 12:31

If you want to, if they're close to you, but maybe uh if if it's a better if it's a person that you don't like, don't say their name.

SPEAKER_01 12:38

Yeah, I'm sure I'm sure he wouldn't mind. So one of my close friends, Maximus, he I know he went through a tough time. Uh I don't really feel like it's my sort of place to share that. Anyway, so he um his um parents, they're vegan, and like so that means he has to be vegan too, except the problem is he doesn't really like being vegan, so he f he struggles with that a bit.

SPEAKER_00 13:05

Yeah, well that makes sense. I can understand that. And I know some other people that have a similar story. It definitely has its challenges. But that is interesting that there is some relatability there of like you have a special diet, he kind of has a special diet due to circumstances. I wanna go to like present moment. So what keeps you what helps you stay mentally strong on the days when the pain is really bad, when you do continue to play the sports? You said you were a black belt, second-degree black belt, right? In Taekwondo?

SPEAKER_01 13:42

Yeah, second and black belt. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 13:45

That's amazing.

SPEAKER_01 13:46

Which is belt, yeah. Um, well, a lot of the time I so I actually am not currently doing taekwondo anymore. Because I just started I was a lot young, it was like two years ago when I stopped. Because I wasn't I was a bit, but I wasn't super as much mentally strong as I am now, and I just because taekwondo used to be fine for me, but then it started just not being good with my EDS, my legs would just hurt and I would have to go. It's with like you said, with the um figuring out how to overcome that sort of stuff. Yeah, I've done that a lot more because I I know that pushing through I'll feel a lot better afterwards. I feel like I've overcome it, I feel stronger mentally and physically after a nice big session of swimming. And I did, like when I there's times that I did overcome it, I felt so good afterwards.

SPEAKER_00 14:42

That's great. I'm really proud of you. That shows true resilience, not giving up when it's hard and you push through. And um, and I I think you were probably checking and adjusting. And if there was moments that you felt like you couldn't do it because of feeling too weak, would you give yourself a break or a moment to stop and to like regather yourself or just take the day off?

SPEAKER_01 15:03

Yeah, sometimes I would um like I would have a bit of a break. But yeah. Since like I said, since taekwondo was a little while ago, I didn't really do all this stuff. But since swimming is a bit more recent, I would take breaks during my swimming and then like just have a snack or a break or just whatever I needed, just sit in the side a bit, and then I would go back in and just maybe just do like an arms, like just use a pool boy in my legs and just use my arms for like strokes.

SPEAKER_00 15:37

Yeah, I love that. And I'm so happy that you found something that you really love and enjoy doing. And in regards to swimming or even doing any type of sport or even being in class, do you feel comfortable at moments when you are weak to share with your friends or people around you what's going on? Or do you just keep it to yourself?

SPEAKER_01 15:58

Well, of course, I do often like I do if my friends and I like playing a game at break and like I start to feel it coming on, I'll I'll just tell them and then hopefully they'll understand and like a bit of a break, and then like if we're like playing tag and we're running around, I'll just let them know. I'll have a bit of a break. And and with teachers, like if I'm in class and I need some food, there are certain teachers like I can just ask them and then they're happy to let me go back and get some food, and like I can just eat in class, and that makes it feel a bit better. Maybe take a break. Cause once again, yes is mental, and of course, so is school, like learning stuff, so sometimes it can be a bit stressful, and then that can as well as getting things that trigger my EDS are things like getting frustrated or annoyed or being sad or that.

SPEAKER_00 16:52

Yeah. Well, thank you. In regards to that, things that trigger what's a few things that what's one or two things that you can do every day that helps you feel more in control?

SPEAKER_01 17:06

Well, once again, I do s I can sometimes mentally override it, but that can be quite difficult, and I can't do that all the time. So sometimes like I might read, I might watch something, most I might do some gym, like sometimes and I might just take a break from whatever I'm doing. Once again, take a rest, eat something, eat eating is a is a big part of it too. And uh then I can just do something I and then I'm okay again.

SPEAKER_00 17:38

Yeah. When you say mentally override it, I think some people might ask you, what is mentally overriding it? Is it saying like you convince yourself that it's something different or that the pain is going away?

SPEAKER_01 17:51

Yeah, like kind of being mentally strong, because once again PDS is a mental thing, and if you can control it enough, you can bring it down a bit. Like if not fully, just a bit, like, but it can be quite difficult, and I can't do it all the time. Oh, well, I'm really oh go ahead, I'm sorry. Especially if it's really bad. Yeah, it's quite difficult.

SPEAKER_00 18:18

Absolutely. Well, I'm proud that you've created a system for staying strong during those moments. How do you make sure EDS isn't something that defines who you are?

SPEAKER_01 18:29

Well, I like to stay positive and just try not to focus on it too much. I mean, I'm happy to talk about it today, but um, like I once again I I just do what I can to be normal and it's actually been a lot better recently. Yeah. Than it used to be. Once again, I've I've gotten stronger physically and mentally, and that helps a lot.

SPEAKER_00 18:53

Yeah. Well, I love that. I think that's an important reminder that you are more than your condition and that you are I think that's beautiful and someone definitely Let's go back to some of your achievements because I do feel like you are pretty remarkable to, you know, EDS that challenges you physically, but despite that, you earned a black belt. I think that's incredible. Like, how has how has um how has that helped you? And I know that you stopped because of your body and you said like you needed to take a break for your legs, but during that process, like I also do taekwondo, by the way, and I know getting a black belt is a big thing. Like you go through a lot of rigorous training. What made you like continue on that journey despite having pain when you went through it?

SPEAKER_01 19:40

Well, of course, I so the problem is with taekwondo. When I was younger, of course, I did a lot more fun stuff in Taekwondo. But being younger, like I enjoyed doing that as well as doing the taekwondo because that helped me focus. But like, as I continued on, they kind of stopped doing the fun stuff a bit, and then that kind of made me like I'm sure if I did it now, I would be fine because I I'd focus more on the actual taekwondo than it just kind of helped me a bit more when we did like like little activities as well as doing taekwondo. Yeah. And um, except as we as like it just started being like just training and exercising, which I'd be fine with now, but two years ago I was as I was younger, as I said, I was just a bit more like wanted to do activities and actual taekwondo. So I'm sure I could join again and I'd be better, but like, yeah, it's just whether I don't know. Yeah, no, then and and also I felt quite good about um getting such a high belt. Like a lot of my they were also like I used I had a bunch of friends who did it with me, except as like seated in the belt, some of my closest friends decided to stop doing it. And then I kind of just had one friend who was still doing it, but then like I just kind of I don't know, because yeah.

SPEAKER_00 21:11

Yeah, I think it has its own set of challenges, and that makes sense. And sometimes people do drop off as you elevate and you grow up, and you should be very proud of yourself. And um, and I get it, you know, like I I feel like different ages of our life or different seasons of our life. We like something more than another, and then sometimes in another season of your life, you may revisit things that you liked in the past. And I don't see anything wrong with that. That's that's the beauty of life, and as you grow older, you'll understand it too, even more. You mentioned that you're in acting, and I want to know, especially with EDS being really mental, how has acting helped you mentally?

SPEAKER_01 21:51

Well, I just really enjoy acting. Like I've never had a moment of EDS while while doing acting because I just enjoy it so much. It's one of those things. That I told you a mental break and just enjoy it. Like, cause I don't find that sort of stuff stressful. I just find it enjoyable. It's one of those things I can just enjoy doing.

SPEAKER_00 22:12

I love that as creativity has become a part of your own strength. And you say you don't even feel EDS when doing it. We might need to give you a script every five seconds. I don't know. Not that it happens every five seconds, but since that's like that's like you're you're beating muscle at that of the moment. I love that. Um I have another question on resilience for you. Um, because I know there's some young person that's listening today, and I know you mentioned, you know, when your body feels like it's giving up, you do a lot as far as like mentally override it. And I just kind of want to dig a little deeper into that question. Like, what helps your mind keep going? What exactly are you telling yourself at that moment, just in case someone says, like, well, what do I say? Because they they're frozen, they don't know what to say. They just want to what would you say to that person on things that they can say out loud or to themselves?

SPEAKER_01 23:11

Well, I just tell myself usually when I get pain, or this can be the other people too who also have EDS, just you can be strong, you you can do this. Like, that's what I think to myself whenever I feel pain. Because it's like it's achieving something. Like I said, when you actually finish the session, even if you're struggling, you feel so good. You want to remember the future, yeah, how it'll feel good afterwards, rather than feeling it in the moment, feeling the pain in the moment. Like because you know you'll feel so good afterwards, you'll you'll you'll feel so happy for yourself that you completed this, even with all the challenges. And while there were other if even if there are others who are doing it, like and but they they might have challenges, they might not, but you know that you faced your challenge and you just overcame it.

SPEAKER_00 24:07

Yeah, I love that. It sounds like you're your focus is on focus on is your your end goal, like what is the vision? What are you reaching towards? What is that goal for you? Um, and during your journey of having EDS and going through life in class and school, and if you feel like another kid is dealing with something like an invisible pain that people can't see, but we know that it exists. They know that it exists. One of the things that we talk about on the Resilience Fouls podcast a lot is this like mindset of invisible disabilities. And that's like a person may have something going on, but no one knows. And because they don't know, they don't treat the person with maybe a little bit more care or a little bit more gentleness or or even offer them help. Um, just a couple questions around that. When you are in pain like that, are you okay with accepting help or asking for help?

SPEAKER_01 25:09

Yeah. Often, like, once again, while while I did feel embarrassed, I did feel a bit embarrassed after like I would have to be carried away from stuff. But actually lately in the pool, I have been like able to get myself out of the pool like and just walk out because rather than having myself carried out of the pool or carried upstairs. So I can accept help, but part of being strong is yes, accepting help, but also remembering that you can do it.

SPEAKER_00 25:42

Yeah. I love that it's okay with accepting help and remembering you can do it, but for for moments that you are literally like, I'm in so much pain, I can't do this, and you're telling yourself that you can. Do you think it's okay with asking for help in those moments or to let someone know how you feel?

SPEAKER_01 26:01

Yeah, often like if I'm sore at home, my parents do encourage me to like let me know if something's wrong. So lately I have been letting them know if I'm feeling pain. So then they can know and then they can help me. And yeah.

SPEAKER_00 26:17

Yeah. Well, good. I wanted to just re-emphasize that because I do know that um I think so often like we want to grow and we want to be so big and and we know that we can do a lot of things on our own, but I also want people to know that it's okay with asking for help and that they're not alone and that there are people that surround them, that love them, that want to help them. So at least if a person knows that something is going on, they're, you know, they're there in case anything goes worse than what it is, but they're also there to offer a hand of help in case, like, you know, you need that and that it's okay and it shouldn't be embarrassed by asking for help. It would only make you stronger and you know, have someone there.

SPEAKER_01 27:05

Yeah. Cause as I mentioned earlier, there are like my parents, but then there's also those friends and those teachers who help me out, like in class or school, or even like if we're if I'm hanging out with a friend, I can let them know. Most of the time though, since I'm hanging out with a friend, I'm distracted and I because I'm hanging out with a friend and I feel the pain because I'm focusing on them. But like, yeah, if I'm feeling pain, I'm happy to let someone know if like if necessary, like if I just anyway, as I told you, I can let people know if I'm feeling pain, they can give me a break or help me out.

SPEAKER_00 27:45

That's also that's good, that takes courage, and I think it's also important that people know that. Um Sam, if you could talk to your younger self, I know you're not you're not that old, you're only 13 years old, but if you could talk to your younger self um that just received the news that you have this, what would you tell him?

SPEAKER_01 28:03

Well, I'll probably tell him that he can work through whatever he wants to. Nothing's gonna hold him back. Nothing's gonna hold you back. You can like you can do this. You you can build up your mental resilience, you can choose whether you decide you don't want to do something, but you can also keep going through. Don't be afraid to accept help from others. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 28:24

I love that. Well, that was beautiful. Sam, is there anything else that you would like to share with the audience that that are listening today?

SPEAKER_01 28:33

Yeah, the uh the other day I had a swim carnival. And despite, of course, my EDS, I managed to, this was in my school, I managed to get, in spite not swimming for a while, I did manage to still get third place.

SPEAKER_00 28:49

Wow, that's impressive. I'm so proud of you. And you say you went to state level in swimming, right?

SPEAKER_01 28:55

Yeah. My peak of swimming was probably last year, but at the moment I've been doing more gym like exercising than I have been. I used to have a bit of struggle when doing gym, but um, now that I have like I have a special friend who does it with me, like I have a specific friend, and while he can't always do it, like I have other friends who also go. So that also makes it a lot better. Yeah. Uh when I have a friend with me because it can help distract me, and I can do it, I can do the gym with them. I can usually get through a whole session, and I just haven't really had any bad gym sessions lately.

SPEAKER_00 29:35

That's good. I'm so proud of you. Sam, I think your story, well, I know your story is so resilient. It's so beautiful. It shows the act of not giving up, mind continuing to pour into yourself mentally, that mental strength is by far the biggest skill that you could take away, especially from this episode. I really appreciate you being vulnerable with us, sharing this with and I know that some young person is listening to this today and they're being inspired and they're gonna push harder, knowing that if you can do it, they can I want to say thank you everyone for listening to the Resilience Fowls podcast. If this episode with Sam was inspiring to you, share it with someone else. If you know a young person that may be going through a challenging time that needs some inspiration, share this with them too. I don't know if you have social media. I know you're so young, but I know that you're acting and you're doing a lot of phenomenal things. If you have social media or anything that you would like people to stay connected on your journey, feel free to share it right now. If you don't, it's totally okay.

SPEAKER_01 30:38

Well, I do have a YouTube channel, but uh that's kind of just um it's not really anything special about this sort of stuff, it's just me doing Lego stuff. So and it's not I've only posted like a couple of videos. Well I'm saying that. I'm planning on doing more Lego stuff for it. And yeah, and my friend Jude and I, we also made a YouTube channel. We haven't posted anything yet, but it's gonna be an acting channel. Like it's gonna be because my friend Jude, he does acting with me. So that also helps a lot. Because like I have a friend who can do it with me, because he he loves acting just as much as I do. And we can just anything we do together, we're pla if we like we're just planning on maybe like taking videos like behind the scenes or like yeah sharing what we've done with on this YouTube channel. It's I actually can't remember if it got deleted or not, but like I hope it still exists. If if not, we'll try to make it exist again.

SPEAKER_00 31:40

Yeah, if not, you're 14 and you can create a hundred YouTube channels if you want to. And uh yeah, post the Lego stuff too. I mean, people watch people love watching people build things and people love watching people like make toys and move in motion, stacking stuff. And if you want to, do you know, and your parents let you, that's the key first. Ask the parents, and then you know, free range. Like you got the creativity, you can do this.