My Journey Through Addiction | Kyndal Ray Edwards

In this episode, we sit down with Kyndal Ray Edwards, also known as “A Walking Testimony,” to talk about his journey through addiction, recovery, and purpose.

Kyndal shares how his struggles began at a young age, growing up in Florida and eventually turning to drugs, crime, and a cycle of destructive behaviors that led to multiple arrests, overdoses, and time in prison. After years of living that way, everything changed on April 12, 2019, while serving a five-year sentence. That moment became the turning point that led him toward recovery.

Today Kyndal is walking across the United States on a continuous route, with the goal of reaching all four corners of the lower 48 states. His mission is to raise awareness for mental health and addiction recovery, and to remind people of one simple but powerful message... you matter.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:12

Welcome, welcome, welcome everybody to uh Never Alone Live. Uh, we are very excited to be here today. We have Kendall Ray with us today. Kindle Ray, who is walking across America. Kindle, you uh you are an inspiration to so many people. We're so excited to uh to have you be here and share with uh with people watching. And Kendall, just let's just jump into it. You know, tell us about Kindle. What uh what where are you from and you know what brought you into recovery?

SPEAKER_02 0:48

Absolutely. Well, well, Johnny and Barbara, uh Barbie. So Barbie, I appreciate y'all having me on and uh letting me come on here to share. Can y'all hear me?

SPEAKER_03 0:58

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_02 0:59

Yes, okay, okay. Uh, I need to be back on the screen. Okay, I see what's going on. All right, either way, we're up and going. Um, my name is uh Kendall Ray Edwards, aka a walking testimony, walking across into all four corners of the lower 48 states of America for mental health awareness and recovery. And I'll get into that part a little bit later. Um, but what's up, y'all? Um, you know, just a 13-time felony convicted person that believes that uh my past does not defy me. I was born and raised um in the church, actually, in a good Christian family. My parents are actually still together. I think they just hit 37 years of marriage. Um, just got to see them a few days ago. So that was really, really awesome. Always good to connect with them. Um, every Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday night, I was in the church. Um, I even did homeschooling for quite a while. My first year in public school was the fifth grade. I was a very, very sheltered child. Um, so whenever I found out what freedom was a little bit, I ran with it pretty, pretty hard. Um, you know what I mean? Um, but I grew up in a pretty good household. Um, my dad was disabled at a pretty young age. Um, so me and him didn't have like a very, very close, super um talkative relationship growing up or anything like that. Um, we have a much better relationship now. Um, but yeah, I uh I learned how to play music in the church as well. I play guitar, I play a little bit of piano, um, I sing, I write songs, and that all started in the church. Um, sadly enough, the first person I ever got high with was the bass player in the praise band of the church that I was going to, which is kind of wild. Now, um to backtrack a little bit, um, growing up in the church, and and you know, I'm still um a Christian and I'm definitely believing God and I like to come out here and share my faith while talking about mental health and recovery. Um, I was actually sexually abused in the church at a very, very young age. Um, I didn't understand the severity of that till years later. And then um in years later, like we ended up going to a different church. We ended up at a church um that we had a little Debbie vendor who would always give me like all these boxes of little Debbie's that weren't like on the shelf anymore, but were still good to eat. So now I'm like 12 years old, 198 pounds, size 36 men's pants, no self-esteem, no confidence in myself, just depressed. Like, I got a good household. I'm in church all the time. Like, I know what the love is, but internally I'm just thinking, like, hey, nobody actually loves me. I don't love myself, whatever, not where it was. Um, led to my freshman year of high school. Um, just years of going in and out of that. And um went to my freshman year or high school was the first time I tried to take my life. I'd actually saved up some like lunch money and stuff that I was using to go to school and buy lunch, save up some of that. Um, bought um a firearm from a kid at school. I didn't know anything about guns or anything like that. I just know it had a bullet and I didn't want to be there. And um went and had a talk with myself, the apartments we lived in out off Nightbox Road in uh Middleburg, Florida. Um there's apartments and then beh on uh the parking lot like goes back to back with um some garages that are backside to uh like a fenced area that has trees and stuff behind it. So like I go back there one day and I have a talk with myself, said that I didn't want to be there. Um ended up putting it to my head, pulled the trigger and it jammed. Um, turned around and tried to shoot again and it fired. So at that point, I understand that I didn't uh well, I didn't understand it. I really didn't understand it, kind of scared me and freaked me out. You know, I'd never heard like my ears ringing from something like that. So you kind of tossed it, ran inside and cried myself to sleep. Um years later, um, in 2017, right before I went back to prison for the second time, um, was the second time that I had tried to um end everything. I went and popped 11 box, 11 boxes, of course, even fold and cough. Um, thought that would just end everything. I didn't want to be there. Um, that used to be like the biggest of my addiction um was actually K2 and cough medicine. So um, you know, backjack to like high school, um, I always was like an intellectual person. I'm a smart person, I had common sense and all of that stuff, but I just didn't care about things. I didn't care about homework or anything. I think I graduated with the lowest GPA. Like I had a buddy who was like, Oh, I got a 2.007, and I'm like, oh man, and I look at mine, I'm like, it was a 2.000 across the board. Like, technically, I should have failed, but my teachers knew that I didn't need to be back there. I just didn't apply myself the way I should have. They knew I was smarter than that, you know. They knew that I knew what was going on, I just didn't care. Um, and uh, so coming out of high school, I actually tried to join the Marine Corps. I was in the delayed entry program for about eight months, and this was in the highest bit of my addiction to K2 and cough medicine. Um, I was I was getting obliterated and going and going to do PT with these guys. Um, and this actually I lost a lot of my weight doing PT with these guys and then sweating from the drugs and all of that stuff. Um lived with my recruiter for two months, ended up getting kicked out of um my parents' house because I was smoking the K2. And my parents were like, oh, just because you can pass a drug test, you can't be doing, you're not gonna stay here. Um, ended up uh taking my recruiter's firearm to the people that were some of my best friends at the time who were making it, selling it to all these gas stations and like selling it on the internet to all these people everywhere. Um, I go over there and I could have just gone and been like, hey, I just need some for free, and they would have given me whenever I wanted it. Um, I went over there in the middle of the night with this firearm and took every bit of it from them. Um, just took all of it. I had no need to do it, I just did it. Um and it's crazy that that was over 15 something years ago, a very, very long time ago, when I was just back in Clay County, Florida. The lady that I robbed reached back out to me. She's like, Is this so and so? And I was like, Yeah, she's like, Oh my gosh, like, would you like to meet? And I was so nervous to go meet them. But um, I went over there and we had a really, really gone good conversation. There was apologies and forgiveness happened, and it was just really, really incredible. And I did these people that I could call anytime, like, um, not to like glorify, but whenever I was using or if I was partying, they'd be like, anytime in the night, if you need somewhere to go, Kendall, like you come over here. Um, you know, and and I had to do that many times. And I did these people wrong. And I treated my family. I used to pawn my family stuff all the time when I was in the midst of my addiction. But before I ever knew what drugs were, I had a problem with um lying and stealing. Um, my parents ran a storage facility called Atlantic Self-Storage. They ran the office and there was an apartment above the stairs. All the people that couldn't be there every month to pay their bills. There was a big book that had all these credit card numbers. I was 11 and 12 years old getting addicted to pornography because I had all these credit card numbers. And like there was video games online that I would buy myself to like number one in the world out of like 10 million people at 11 or 12 years old. This was like four cameras were like a huge thing, you know what I'm saying? For like document and stuff, and like um where I where I well, messing up was doing it in the first place, but where um I got caught messing up was I used my mom's credit card, I had access to thousands of credit cards or hundreds of credit cards. I end up using my mom's out of her wallet, and then she put two and two together why all these people were calling after their cards were getting declined, trying to pay their storage bills. It was me. Like I had to tell some of these people face to face as a young kid and talk about an embarrassing, humbling moment. Like, yeah, I stole your credit card and I bought a lot of pornography with it. Like, to have that conversation with somebody is hard. I was going to church and giving out all the passwords to all these websites to other kids at church. Like, and I was getting in trouble, like I got caught for doing it kind of thing. Um, it was I was a bad kid before I even knew what substances were. Um, you know what I'm saying? Now, um, you know, fast forward to actually the first time I ever smoked very shortly after I started um, you know, smoking. Um, I got in trouble in teen court. I got um in trouble in a driveway. I was driving to somebody to their dealer's house who robbed them for like a hundred bucks or something like that. They were knocking on the dude's door, they were we were smoking inside the car, and the neighbor called the cops, the car uh cop pulled up and smelled the weed in car, and we all got in trouble. That was my first time getting in trouble. And I went to teen court and my best friend to this day, his name's William. He prosecuted me in teen court, and now like we're both on the other side of things. Yeah, um, he was actually just went to the jelly roll concert with me the other night. Um, yeah, Will, like he was my prosecutor in teen court, but we've both changed these lives, um, each other's lives around. We've seen each other at our worst. Um, but uh just um I I uh I lived with my recruiter and I tried to go into the military two months before boot camp, or maybe a little less, um, I ended up taking my mom's laptop and getting in trouble. Um, went to jail on a grand theft. I got dropped to a petty theft, I got released on my own recognition. I wasn't allowed to my my recruiter wanted nothing to do with me. I had actually taken like a couple of his nice sweaters and went to Play-Doh's closet, and um, on top of that, and he he actually found out about that and he was so upset that I took those sweaters and he was like, I want absolutely nothing to do with you. Actually, um, while I was locked up or within after me leaving his house, somebody had actually come and robbed his house and they thought it was me. Um, which I actually had nothing to do with it at all. They found the person that did it, but all signs led up to me, especially with the way I was living. But um, never joined the um military. I got out of jail that first time, was right back in jail two weeks later in another county for buying a Dr. Pepper on somebody's credit card. Um, spent Thanksgiving 2011 in the Duval County jail um for like three, three or four weeks there. Um, went straight into an inpatient rehab from there, teen challenge, um, out of Jacksonville, Florida. Did like nine months there, almost got in a fight with somebody, walked off the scene. Um, they uh they packed up all my stuff while I was walking back to the center and dropped all my stuff out in the middle of a parking lot and said you're not allowed back on our property. Um, and then it was just a cycle of in and out just doing stupid stuff. I was in and out of jail all the time. Now when it comes to my addiction, I've um you know, I've never put a needle in my arm. Um, I've tried almost everything and most stuff I really didn't even like. I was locked up so much that I didn't have a chance to go down a crazy, crazy, crazy path of actually using because I was always locked up. Like being locked up was my saving grace over and over and over. It just I was practicing the definition of insanity by doing the same thing over and over again, expecting the different results, thinking that I could get away with it this time or that I could do it better this time, and I couldn't. Um, but um yeah, and uh it was actually my first time doing a year in the county jail 2013 where this journey was inspired, where I read a newspaper article about a guy that had walked across the country and he didn't walk across word cause just to promote exercise. Um, and I got out in 2014, got a hold of him, and um me and him talked, and I decided that I was gonna put together a walk to take off January 1st, 2015, and it never went into play. But um, that kind of led up to me where we're at now, and um yeah.

SPEAKER_00 12:15

Dude, there's a you that's a story amazing. I mean, uh, you know, you you've been through a lot, you've seen a lot, you know, uh the credit cards and all that stuff. Uh that's that's that's crazy talk, but you know, talking about insanity and you know, waking up in jail cells and getting into jail cells. Krista knows about that.

SPEAKER_01 12:37

Yeah, I can relay about the it being your saving grace, too. Like I kept getting in trouble, but I kept coming out and doing the same thing and then using the legal stuff, the coffin cold. We did that even before I was even getting in trouble. Like yeah, no one ever talks about those days.

SPEAKER_02 12:58

Um, I had the withdrawals from that stuff was so bad. Um, like I used to wake up, especially with the especially with the spice, um, and mixing the two. Like I was taking two boxes of Corcetan in the morning before school and then two boxes after school. Um, and that's 64 pills a day I was taking. The day that I tried to actually, and when I took 11 boxes, I took four shy of the afore, the full 11 boxes, and I think that was 172 pills or something like that. Um, and I used to wake up off of one box the next morning, I would still wake up high. Off of those 11 boxes, I woke up the next morning completely sober. Um, and it was like, what happened? Like, I almost like, did I lose a whole day? Yeah. But I did it. It was like one of those god things, you know.

SPEAKER_00 13:43

Um yeah, I've I'm pretty sure I lost a few years, you know. Just uh, you know, when you when you drink and drug every day, you know, uh, and it's just the same thing over and over and over, trying to figure out the next scheme, trying to figure out the next how am I gonna get this dollar to pay for this? You know, it's uh it's uh it's the absolute definition of insanity. And today we're talking with Kindle Ray, and Kindle is uh the walking testimony, and Kindle is on a walking journey, and you were in jail, and you started this fitness regime, and then it's uh and then it has then you got clean and via an article decided that you're gonna walk all over the country. Now let's let's back up and talk about you know getting into the fitness portion in jail.

SPEAKER_02 14:35

Um, so actually that part didn't come till years later. So I I tried to put together that walk to take off January 1st, 2015. My life was not in the right place. So um there was a girl that I was dating that I want to say in August or September, um, we met this trucker dude in my parents' apartment complex who um we had already taken a bunch of cough medicine, but we went over to this dude's house and got drunk, and he ended up roofing us, and it just ended up being a whole bad thing. Um, I ended up going outside to smoke a cigarette, um, got in an argument with somebody and then started causing problems and got jumped by like six people. Um, I deserved every bit of it. Um, like I apparently, and I don't really remember it, but apparently when the cops got there, my mom was out there and they were like, like, we'll we'll let him go if he just shuts his mouth. They end up hogtiging me in the back of the cop car, and I don't really remember. Some dude in jail a couple days later is like, Hey, dude, you were the dude hog tied in the back of the cop car when we arrived in the Sally Court. I'm like, What are you talking about, bro? I don't remember that. He's like, Ask Officer Johnson. Sure enough, like a couple days later, I see all like, Hey, was I really hogtiged? He's like, dude, you're lucky you've been locked up here so much, and we know that that wasn't you. He was like, Because you deserve to get pepper sprayed and tased and everything. I was like, What? He was like, You were running your mouth. Something um turns out that that trucker ended up holding the girl like hostage, like and with a crack deal. It was a it was a whole thing. They ended up getting charged for it was a it was a big thing. Um, so that led to me being put on probation. I wasn't gonna be able to take off January 1st, 2015. So I said I would finish that probation halfway. I I told myself I was gonna finish. I've never finished a probation in my life. So I'm gonna finish it half the time and get off early, and so I could take off um, you know, um June or July of the next year, January 1st, 2015. I'm breaking into a post office instead. I ended up going to prison, the FBI, the Secret Service, like postal agents, and everybody came. Never ended up charged federally, actually. Um, it ended up being a burglary to a structured conveyance. I got 18 months in prison with two years of probation. I was supposed to go straight to rehab. I got in trouble in prison smoking K2 and blacking out on my way to breakfast, um, right in front of the lieutenant's office. They said that I was in the grass, spinning in a circle right in front of her window, and I didn't even know it. Um, like come to like I wake up and there's a flashlight in my eye. I'm sitting right in a in a chair in the grass, and there's a nurse. Um caught 50 days in confinement. I was at adult camp. They ended up taking me from adult camp to youth offender camp. I got out of confinement like 30 days early. I did a boot camp program. You do 120 successful days, you get to leave. It's basically going to military boot camp without the combat or the weapons. You got to run an obstacle course, you got to do the craziest workouts, um, schooling, and I picked up every bit of trash on every corner of Bushnell County, Florida, um, because of that. So um, like that's kind of where I got my sense of loving working. Actually, with the Marine thing, I got the sense of loving and I knew that I was capable. I had heart, I always had heart, I always pushed myself hard. Um, so when I joined the boot camp program, like I was a shoe-in for the program. I did everything so smooth. I would have been the person that they voted never to come back to prison or get in trouble again. I wrote the speech for my graduating class that I had a lieutenant come shake my hand. He's like, I've been doing this for like 25 years, and this is the best speech I've ever heard. And boom, sure enough, I'm right back in prison. I got out and I violated probation three times, and my judge dropped my probation with a year left. Where do you hear that? You don't hear that, you know what I'm saying. One of those violations of probation, I had a $500 bond on. I've never heard of a violation, a bond on a violation of probation. I'm the only person I know to this day that's ever had that. I don't know why. The only thing I can explain is God. Um, literally showing like how prevalent he is in my life and how much purpose my life has that I'm supposed to do big things because I should be locked up for a very long time for everything that I've done. Um, you know, like I said, I have 13 felony convictions. There's people doing 10 to 20 years with minor felonies, with one or two felonies, you know what I'm saying. Um, so uh I ended up uh getting out of prison early. My my judge dropped it with a whole year left and said, Don't let me see you back in the courtroom. A couple months later, I was right back in his courtroom. Um, two days before Mother's Day in 2017, me and some of my friends were doing um a bunch of LSD and um and cocaine in my parents' garage. And um we ended up leaving in the middle of the night, walking like really, really late to a gas station. Came back hours later. We were locked out of the house. Um, we we had a garage in the garage window. I kind of went through the garage window to open the back door to the garage. My mom came out, I was like, your friends need to leave this, that, and the other. I'm like, no, we're not going nowhere. Um, and and my dad, who is disabled, like I mentioned, um, he came out and tried to tell me what to do, and I wasn't having it, you know. Um, got into this big argument where my dad at first like went to go pick up the guitar. Um, my co-defendant like took the guitar. He's like, nobody's swinging no guitars at nobody. This big argument. My dad ends up getting the guitar again, swinging me um it missed, and it hit my mom in the nose, and she started leaking from her nose. And that's whenever I got violent with my dad, and it ended up to um a big fist fight that led to um to him out on the garage floor. Um, he regained consciousness uh probably a minute or two before the cops got there. And um, and then I ended up going to jail on the domestic with against my father. Um, and and me and my father have a great relationship now, you know, better than than it ever was like growing up or anything like that. Um, so just to clarify for anybody wondering, because I've had people be like, oh, this man's a father murderer and different things, like through different posts. I'm very open about my stuff. I'm not proud of these moments. It was a bad moment, but it's um it was just a moment in my life I can't take back, but I've had to move forward from and I've grown from it. Um, so in that moment, I get out of um, I go to jail. Um, the girl I was dating at the time, um, the only other time I've ever been bonded out in my life, she bonded me out. Um, I was staying in a hotel for a couple weeks. Dude, um, my old my co-defendant, him and another person, they talked me into going kicking in a drug dealer's door. Something I used to do with gangbangers um back in the day, like bulletproof vest and everything. Never been in trouble for like the life that I used, like when I we actually tried to join a gang, I never got trouble doing that stuff when I was a minor. Um, doing this stuff older was different. Like I said, I would never do that again. And boom, he talks me into it. Um, and I ended up making the choice to go with them. We go kick in this drug dealer's door that I didn't know exactly a month before. One of my co-defendants, the two other people kicked in that same drug dealer's door and held everybody up with shotguns and guns that took their save phones and everything. Um, so now they have a security system inside of their house that we are there, they were supposed to be there, they weren't there, or I would not be here today. I'd be in there on a home invasion. Um, they hit the camera, we all booked. I ended up getting caught up a few weeks later on um an armed burglary. I didn't have a gun, but both of my co-defendants had a gun in the camera, so I got an armed burglary charge, ended up catching five years in prison.

SPEAKER_01 21:34

Wow, sorry, I just talked and you know your story.

SPEAKER_00 21:40

No it, you know, take a take a break for two seconds. Uh, because I want we got to get into the walking portion. I wanna really want there's a lot of stuff to discuss here, and uh, but I'm gonna jump over to the comments because we got some uh celebrating going on. Uh Amber Lynn, uh, our friend from TikTok, she has 17 days. Congratulations, Amber. Love you. We're so proud of you. And then right below, Allison Russell, uh 101925. Um, you just just starting over again, and you're in the right place, and we're so glad you're here. Um, hearing uh Kendall's testimony, uh, what it was like, what happened, and what it's like now. And uh, you know, put your put your put your game face on because uh we're gonna talk about some fun stuff here in a second. So, all right, brother. Uh, you're in prison for the last time uh for five years. What happened next?

SPEAKER_02 22:38

So um, and and I just want to say to Allison, do not get discouraged with that. Every second counts, and there's over 80, um, 84, 86,000 seconds in a day, 1,440 minutes in every day. So remember that every minute counts. And for the days that you have, you are accomplishing amazing things. Keep up the great work. Um, so yeah, five years in prison. Um I got arrested, I think August, August 9th, 2017. Um, and I got out November 6, 2021. So for my first like year or so, you know, I'm I was in county for a while fighting the time. I'm doing stupid stuff. Um, you know, I didn't I didn't hardly ever do drugs in jail or prison, but they were at they were accessible and they were available to anybody that doesn't know it, it's it's easier necessarily because you don't have to call numbers and wait on people to get to you, you just got to find the bunk to go to and make sure you got the money on your commissary to get what you need. Um, and it it's a sad reality, actually. But um didn't really use a lot in prison, um, or hardly at all. But I was the dude that would bring stuff through the gates and I would risk my time and everything like that. I was the dude that got along with everybody, but if somebody thought they could try me, because I was the little dude, I was the dude that stood up for myself. I did fight the biggest guy on the compound where I changed my life and got my butt, my uh head beat off a metal door like five times, and then me and the dude became buddies afterwards. Um, you know, I had to stand up for myself. Um, and I used to be the first person to stand up for myself. I hate mustard. One time a mustard packet went missing off my bunk, and I called out the dorm of 70 men and saying, like, whoever took the stuff off my bunk, let's go. I don't even like mustard, but you don't take my stuff. Um, that's just that's who I was. I was a very fiery person. I still have a short fuse and I have an anger problem, but um, I'm learning still daily how to manage it, but I'm so much better than I was before. Thank God for his grace and mercy, I swear. Um, absolutely. But um, so there was a couple different things that happened. One of the things that I used every once in a while was the box and something I'd never used on the streets, and that was one of the big things that is in prison. Um, and most of the time, like I said, I was the little brother of the dorm. Somebody was like, hey, bro, I got a really good deal for you, I'll give you something for free. I mean, I've paid for it a couple of times, but it was always because it was a good deal. Most of the time it was for free. Um, and just because of whatever. And sometimes I would even turn around and tell it, it wasn't always about using it. Um, but there was one day that I got in um that somebody was trying to give me some for free, and I got in an argument with them about something totally different. You know, how people just have differences of opinions and everything goes haywire. Um, it was one of those things, and I was like, you know what, bro? You can just have that back, bro. Like, I'm I'm good, I don't even need it. Um, and then and this is all within a few week period, I had joined a dog program, which was very therapeutic. So I was like, I was like helping raising, like help raising um abused pit bulls and stuff in prison, which was pretty awesome. Um, there was that, but I gained a lot of weight. So if you remember me talking about the first time I tried to take my life after realizing about the sexual abuse and the severity and then all the weight that I gained that led up to some years of running the streets and sweating and trying to join the Marine Corps and all these drugs, and then going to jail and working. Everybody tries to work out when they go to jail for the most part, or do some push-ups, or I'm gonna get in shape while I'm in here, whatever. Everybody tries a little bit here and there. So um, after all that, like I gained all this weight sitting in prison for an extensive period of time, eating just nothing but ramen noodles, you know what I mean? So gain all this weight. The most fit person I've ever known in my life sleeps in the bunk right next to me. Um, um, this black dude, his name was Chris Brown, and he was the nicest guy ever. But when I say zero percent body fat, this dude could run like a four-minute, 20-second mile. Dude was like 30 pull-up, no problem. Like he was a beast, a monster. Um, nicest guy. And he slept in the bunk next to me for like the longest time. It was if he was out of food and I had food, he got it. And it was opposite, like every every day type thing. So um, they would encourage me to come work out with them. But one day he was like, he's like, Boy, I'm gonna start calling you BBK. And I was like, What do you what do you mean, BBK? He's like, bad body Kindle boy, you need to get right. He's like, You're getting big. I'm like, dang, like he's so he was just so blunt about it. I'm gonna be a fat boy, and I was like, dang, I was like, I don't like. I laughed, of course. I laughed in the moment, but I didn't like it. Like, that made me feel some type of way, like this dude don't know the depression I dealt with my weight, and everything like that. So um, there was this other kid, he was a bigger white, and this dude, people used to make fun of him all the time, and he and he was the epitome of like, I do not care what people think. I'm not that way, I still care what people think to a big degree, and actually, it's more than I should, to be honest. I have anxiety and I have a hard time getting out of my comfort zone with some things, certain things. Um, but this dude would you would see this big white boy just sprinting down the fence line while people laugh at him every day, and he lost a lot of weight. Well, he ends up joining this group of elite people doing the most insane stuff, and he's out there for a long time. And me and him used to chat here and there and like eat together. So he's like, Bro, why don't you come out and join us, bro? It'll be good for you. It'll be good for you. I'm like, I don't know. So I joined this dog program and I start working out with them. So now I'm feeling better about myself. So within that period of working out, shortly after working out with them, um, I have this argument with this guy, and then a week before I claim my changing my life date, and I would say it's changing my life date over my clean date because I used days before that, but I don't remember what day it was. But it was a conscious decision that April 12th, 2019 was the day I needed to change my life. And that's what day, when I say my drug, that's just the day I changed my life in general from everything. Decided to not be the person that I was before. Um, but a week before that, my dad, so my birthday's March 30th. My dad was supposed to come visit me for the first time after like two or something years, not see him in person and talking to him a couple of times on the phone after that big fight in the garage. Um, so my dad comes and sees me, and we have a good conversation, everything was great. It was that next week, and my mom's like, son, like you know how it plays up, my mom reminded me on this journey. I didn't even think of it like that. I didn't even realize it. And subconsciously, that restoration, that relationship played a part in me wanting to change my life because it was that week later that I was like April 12th, 2019, because I think it was probably April 6th or 7th that my dad came and saw me that week later. Like, there was a couple of different factors that says that led up to me saying that this is like the day that I changed my life. And now I had already started working out and I had not been using, but that was the day that I decided to go even harder to push it. People mentioned writing goals. I thought it was the dumbest, the dumbest thing you could tell me was to write down something I wanted. Why would I write down something I want to do? Why wouldn't I just go? That's so stupid. I would sell that to people. That's dumb. You gotta write down goals to go get something. That's crazy. But it is like having that reminder or that checklist or having that grocery list when you go to the store to remind you what you need to get done that day and to not lose sight of it. Um, as dumb as I thought it was, I went and wrote down a 30-day goal list and I did it in the three G's. My first one was God first, and it was this is how many verses you're gonna read on a daily basis. This is how many times you're gonna pray on a daily versus, and this is like I would set myself spiritual goals. And then my next one was go hard. These were my physical goals. This is how many pushups you're gonna, this is how many burpees you're gonna do by the end of the month. You're gonna go bear crawl a lap around this thing just to say you did it. Um, like I would write all these crazy goals, and my last one was um grow up, and that was my mental health. You're not going to read just books that have fun stories in them. You're only going to read mind-elevating and mind-stimulating books. Um, you're going to meditate, you're going to put headphones in your ear with the other thing not plugged into anything, but under your pillow. So if no somebody thinks it's plugged into something, so they leave you alone. You're going to sit Indian style on your bed for 20 minutes and close your eyes and think about the stuff that you want in life. And this was before like even rethinking about walking across America. Um, so fast forward, like I work really hard on myself for two years to the point that every single morning for over a year, I'm getting up between 3:30 and 4 30 every morning doing anywhere from 700 to 1200 core reps. Like right now, I'm doing at least 500 a day for 100 days. I was so intent on it. Like I was doing insane workouts. People thought I was crazy. One of my goals was do 200 burpees without stopping with a jump. And I did. And then my other goal was do 300 burpees without a jump and a little step. Like I would do a burpee, take one little all in one motion, take one step back, step forward, and right back into the next burpee. I did 300 straight to the point that like there was puddles on the ground from my sweat, and I just kept falling doing it. Like I kept hitting it was so like I went so hard and pushed myself to the next level and learned that I was capable. I was capable of something that I set my mind to, and I didn't think that was possible. So I do a 30-day goal list and then I set a 60-day goal list after I completed like 90% of the stuff. I was happy. It wasn't to complete everything, it was just to push myself as hard as I could. I completed like 90% of my goal list. Now I go to a 60-day goal list. I cut out sugar for 30 days. I cut out sugar for 60 days after that. Um, you know, I went vegetarian for six months just to see if I could do it. Um, like I disciplined myself so hard that whenever I moved over to work release and started having that transition back into the free world, but I was still under the system and the product of the system. Um, I was still getting up and doing a crazy workout before I went to work. Um, I was doing telemarketing. At one point, I had my mom for my birthday order me a wireless headset and I could get you in touch with people that tell you I'm at there taking calls, selling magazines. I'm doing I'm doing like lunges and stuff across the thing while I'm selling magazines. Um I just I was so intent on working out and I wanted to incorporate it into my lifestyle. Like I was so heavy on it. Um, it was it was just so crazy. So I didn't do everything right in work release. The one thing you weren't supposed to do that you had a phone was be on social media. Now, this is the thing. I wasn't out there harassing my exes or anything like that. I was using social media strictly for positivity, not no drama or anything like that. I was sharing my recovery dates and doing little positive videos like I do every morning. I've been doing that for years now. I did that in work release. Um, the only other thing I wasn't supposed to be doing that I did was meeting up with chicks. Um, I had this one chick that was coming to see me at my job, and I thought we were gonna start dating when I got out. You know, she talked about how bad her baby daddy was who was locked up in prison and everything like that. Um, she stopped talking to me while I was in work release because her baby daddy got out of prison and she started going back with him. Now they are actually both in prison for murder. Um, yeah, they they end up killing a dude over drugs. Um, it was really a sad situation, but it was one of those days that I was so bummed out that I was just staring at this canvas painting in our work, um, in our office at the telemarketing place, and it was the seven continents. And I was like, dang, there's North America. I was gonna walk across that back in 2015. Like, what happened? I even took a pencil and drew because I was gonna walk from Florida to California, and I was like, dang, like, you know, I'm a beast now. Like, I could probably even walk through the mountains if I wanted to. Like, if I walked across America, I mean I could even walk to Washington. And then like, it hit me like a ton of bricks. Like, dude, you've changed your life, you're in the best shape of your life, you're about to get out for the first time in over 10 years, like completely a free man, and you have a little bit of money saved up. You could do this now. What would you walk across for? And every day on social media, somebody, and at this point, I didn't have a following, it was more all the friends on Facebook or all the friend requests I sent that people accepted or whatever of mutual people. So all these people are posting. I'm like, man, I knew who that person was, or like I knew their brother, I knew their sister, or like dang, like I've been to their house and partied before, like it hit so close to home. All these people that I went to school with that I won't see at the next high school reunion. Um, you know, that uh I was like, dang, I've tried to take my life twice. I've OD'd like now I've been in County 11 times in prison twice. I'm pushing 30 months drug-free. Um like I could go walk across for this. So um a dude in my telemarket office, he had a laptop. I bought a laptop from him with one of my um bonus paychecks that they didn't send with the work release program. Um, and I started looking at so every day I'm on the phone, I'm doing squats and looking at GPS. I'm I'm looking at Google Maps, the mouse. I walked across America with the mouse numerous times. Okay, like just looking at like okay, this route, okay, I could do that, I could do that, I could do that. I literally the day, the couple days before I left, I had a I had a notebook that had like 55 pages of um what was it? Um the the old school um MapQuest. I I well I didn't use MapQuest, but I went to Google, I printed out 55 pages of directions in case I got lost and lost perception on my phone or something. I didn't know what I was gonna get myself into. Um but I did all of this stuff. I got out of prison November 6, 2021. Last time I've ever been behind um as a product of the system. So um got out November 6, 2021, did a couple of long walks, like from my mom's house in Orange Park, Florida to the Jacksonville Beach players, like 34 miles. I went and walked. It took me forever, all day, from like eight in the morning to 12 at night. I could crush that walk now. It took me so long. My mom picked me up like two minutes later. I'm passed out in the truck, like like that. Like now I can walk that kind of mile and still go hang out and do a lot of stuff afterwards. But um, I did some practicing and in the process of I was like, how I want to do something more than just walk. I want to walk in remembrance of people. How can I walk in remembrance of people that have lost their lives? So I was like, guys, I want to put together a shirt. If anybody has lost a loved one, if you could get permission, if you're not immediate family, I'd love to put some names on a shirt and walk in remembrance. So all these people started submitting names, and then I was like, wow, well, that's a lot of names. I don't know if I can put all that many names on one shirt. Like, I'm gonna have to find a way to cap this, and then it hit me. So um, and these are an example. This is one of the shirts. Um, each shirt is 180 names, and I only had one shirt for the first coast to coast from Jacksonville, Florida to Long Beach, Washington. Um, columns of 30, 90 names on the front, 90 names on the back. The top says a walking testimony on the front, the back says the journey of a lifetime. 180 beautiful songs that are no longer with us. Even though they're no longer with us, they're still being remembered and getting the journey of a lifetime, where the 180 on each edition stands for taking a 180-degree turn in the opposite direction from those things that are taking the people that we love and care about. Now, sadly, um, sadly, we're publishing the 2030 edition this week. That's over 4,000 names that submitted. And just to give even the most minor perspective, more than this, this banners the first 10 editions and 1800 names that people have submitted. And all these people are followers from social media on my Facebook that go and comment on a post that's always pinned at the top of my page to take names to walk in remembrance of. Um, so guys, when I say we're walking in remembrance, I don't just say it as because it sounds good or just because it sounds respectful. I literally mean it. I've hand typed every single one of these names personally. Um, so it's um it's important. So this is why we're out here walking. So that was one of the things I put together. Like I said, I only had the one shirt for the longest time. Um, but I wanted to walk in remembrance. I also wanted to fundraise for a nonprofit. Um, so for the first coast to coast, I raised $6,700 plus dollars for um the nonprofit to write love on her arms, based out of Melbourne, Florida. Um, and then my walking the entire West Coast, I was in a bad position, so I kind of just had a GoFundMe for myself um to help me, you know, just be able to cover lodging and stuff because the West Coast was so stinking expensive. Um, I did start monetizing that helped me go even further with the GoFundMe. Um, the GoFundMe took forever to hit the goal. Um, and then when I started this coast to coast, the nonprofit, which do you want me to wait to talk about that since you're gonna ask about that anyways?

SPEAKER_00 39:05

Oh sorry, I mean I always say the best stuff when I'm on mute. No, no, no. Let's uh let's let's talk about this now because uh uh we've just put the donation link into um the comments right here, right now. And from these donations, whatever we get donated uh today and call it over the next you know week, uh Never Alone Recover. We will match uh whatever we get in donations from this live stream because we uh we love what you're doing. Um, so keep going. Talk more about uh about you know what donations go towards.

SPEAKER_02 39:48

Which which, guys, if y'all are watching on these other ones, make sure you go tune into my Instagram live. If y'all donate from that live stream, never alone recovery is matching all donations to addic to athlete for for today or this week, or or I don't want to for a week for for a week, guys, for a week till next Wednesday, I'm assuming, or next Tuesday. Um, they are matching donations, guys. That is huge. We've never actually had this happen before like that. Um, so please, please, please, guys, it's a minimum of a three-dollar donation. We're not asking you to to spend all of your paycheck or anything like that. If you feel in to donate, just go donate the minimum of a three-dollar donation. Um, we have somebody that's willing to match, and it's uh that's a really huge thing. So thank y'all so much, Never Alone Recovery, for being willing to do that and sharing the link. Um, the link is shared in the Instagram live right now. My Instagram, if you're watching over here, is at a underscore walking underscore testimony. Um, or just go to testimony or Instagram and look up Kendall Edwards, the guy walking across America for mental health awareness and recovery. He says that a lot. I do a lot. Um, but uh so yes, I'm fundraising for nonprofit addict to athlete. I met them walking through Utah. They're based out of Oram, Utah, where all that crazy stuff just happened last month. Actually, he was on site at the college to be able to actually give guidance, counseling, and stuff like that. Um, um, Blue Robinson, who is over addict to athlete, the main director, and his wife. He is a clinician, um, a clinician licensed therapist. His wife is licensed on like in clin um therapy, um like um physical therapy and stuff like that. And um, and they're over this organization and um they've been running it for quite a while. Now they do uh have class like I've taken a recovery coach class through them, but I I still but I don't still like to use the word coach because I'm not in the position to tell people what to do. And I've also been told that if I do and somebody does something, it doesn't work out that it could be a liability against me in a lawsuit or something. So I have to be very careful with how I say things, and I learned that taking that class. Um, but um, but they're expanding to different places, they're out of Utah. I think they're down in the New Mexico and a couple other places. They're not, I want them to be a lot bigger than they are, just like I would love every organization that has a heart for mental health andor recovery to just continue to grow. Um, but I've literally met them walking through. I was on the news out there, and the news followed me for a day when I came in and did a podcast with them. The news even got part of the podcast. I got to share at one of their recovery groups as a guest speaker. Um, they also introduced me to my favorite shoe, ultra running shoe, A-L-T-R-A. If anybody wonders what this guy who's got over 9,000 miles on his feet across the country, I wear ultra running shoes. That's a big question I get. Um, but uh they introduced me to ultra running shoes, bought me my my a couple pairs of those shoes. They ended up buying me a laptop a few weeks later, um, because I told them I wanted to write a book and that I would even sign a contract or whatever, but that I wanted them to receive a proceeds from the book that I write. I'm still far from finishing the book, but no matter what, they will receive part of the proceeds from that book whenever it is finished. Um, so after I finished that entire West Coast, I went back and did a 5K every September, um, the first week of September, they do a remembrance 5K where they have like um like a hundred or two hundred yard quiet zone that has a bunch of um like little things stuck in the ground with with remembrance of people, people's faces and remembrance stories, kind of like this shirt. Um, so I've got to do that. I didn't get to do it this year because my Facebook got hacked and I've been in a bad position um this year compared to other years, but I got to go the last couple years. And last year when I did it, um, I had just finished pretty much the entire West Coast. And I was like, hey guys, whenever I start going back across, I want to fundraise for y'all because y'all have done so much for me and I love what y'all do. Um and I just love where your hearts are at. And they let me do it, they let me use their time allotted slot. We did a relay marathon to the Utah State Capitol, and I got to speak at the Utah State Capitol in front of a crowd of people. Um, and that was their allotted time slot. They've been there forever. I've only been there a few times with them. So that really meant a lot that they allow me to come out here and do this fundraiser for them. So um I hope to actually exceed the goal one day to continue.

SPEAKER_00 44:04

That's awesome. Nicole in the comments has already uh donated. So uh we're on a we're on a good start. Thank you, thank you, thank you, Nicole. Okay, so now let's start with this. Is the fun stuff? Let's talk about where where so you started in Florida, you've gone 9,000 miles. That's nine thousand miles.

SPEAKER_02 44:26

Oh nine thousand one hundred and thirteen.

SPEAKER_00 44:30

Nine thousand one hundred and thirteen miles. Okay, so the distance from Florida to California is how many miles? Well, I mean, it can be 2600 if you take the easy route.

SPEAKER_02 44:47

So I did I did closer to a 3300 mile route from um from Imperial Beach in San Diego over to Jacksonville Beach, but I didn't take a direct route. I'm one of those people that I wanted to go out of my way to see things, so I walked to Las Vegas. I walked to actually um in my memories on Facebook right now, I was um staying on Treasure Island, 36th floor in Las Vegas in the hotel for six days. Um, but I walked to Las Vegas, I walked to Grand Canyon, like I've literally walked to the Grand Canyon, um, to the forest gump point in Monument Valley, Utah, in my little forest gump outfit where I had the bubble gump at. I see. I went and did the little run to unforest gump point um where he stopped. If anybody's not familiar, that's where he stops at the end of the movie, turns around, says he's tired, and goes home. And was it the bridge? No, no, no. Out in the just in the middle of the valley with beautiful rock formations in the middle of nowhere.

SPEAKER_00 45:42

All right, so you started in San Diego and then went back to Jacksonville. Well, this that's what the first the first route, the very first one.

SPEAKER_02 45:52

Oh, the very first one started with my feet in the Atlantic Ocean. So I got out of prison November 6, 2021. January 1st, 2022, I went to the Jacksonville Beach Pier, put my feet in the Atlantic Ocean. I turned around and I walked 3,292 miles coast to coast. Um, Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Utah, Idaho, Colorado, Utah, Idaho, Oregon to Washington. Put my feet in the Pacific Ocean in Long Beach, Washington, April 12th, 2023. Um, and the reason that took so long is because I got a hernia in Alabama, walked to Colorado with it. It got so bad I had to get emergency Medicaid and have surgery and take a few months off to actually heal up. I did another 120 undocumented miles to my 900 um or my 9113 right here. Um, I did another 120 miles that's not documented from Oklahoma City back to my ex's house where I have met on the journey. We actually dated for three years. We just broke up in June. Um, it was mutual. She's an awesome person, and I wish her the best. Um, seriously. Um but but um like in Oklahoma, so I walked 120 miles from there back to her house because she came and picked me up in Colorado for me to heal at her house so I could do the surgery.

SPEAKER_00 47:02

Um, you started in Jacksonville, Florida, walked northwest to Washington, that's 3,300 miles. Uh, put your feet in the Pacific Ocean. How long did that take you with hernias and everything else?

SPEAKER_02 47:19

January 1st, 2022 to J um April 12th, 2023. So um, like a 13 or 14, 15 months. 15 months.

SPEAKER_00 47:29

Okay, and then you went from Washington so Long Beach, Washington.

SPEAKER_02 47:36

I walked to La Push, Washington, which is um where Forks, Washington, and the Twilight stuff's going on from the Twilight series movie. Then from there I walked to Cape Olva, Washington, which is just way out in the middle of nowhere, um, kind of thing, just to say I did it is the most um the true western point of the lower 48 states. And then I walked to Cape Flattery, which is the most northwestern point of the lower 48 states, and then I turned around and walked um that 101 back down to Long Beach, Washington, and then I crossed over the Astoria Bridge into Astoria, Oregon. Then I took that whole coast all the way down basically the whole Highway One and Pacific Coast Highway down to the southwestern point of California, Borderfield State Park. And then from there, I actually did seven miles back to Imperial Beach, where I started part three to walk from Jacksonville, Florida to all those points, all the way back to Jacksonville. I'm sorry, from Imperial Beach, San Diego, um, California, all the way back to Jacksonville Beach, Florida. Um, which I just finished that on August 17th this year. So I finished the third part of the journey August 17th this year. Um, you know, I'd like I said, I don't walk every single day, but from Jacksonville, I walk uh back to the Gulf side of Florida um to Cedar Key and then down to right now. I am in Bradenton, Sarasota area of Florida. Um, I'm literally about a mile or two from the Sarasota City limit sign, but I'm actually going to be walking the long way around through Bradenton Beach and Longboat Quay up through Sarasota, and so that's where I'm at now at the 9,1100 miles, and that has taken 827 days of actual walking, and then what January will be four years since I've started.

SPEAKER_00 49:20

So 827 days, you've gone 9,100 miles, so you're doing roughly 12 miles a day, and most days you're doing probably 15, 20, 30 miles, and then you have a few off days here and there, so you're averaging over 10 miles a day. That's a lot, dude.

SPEAKER_02 49:43

Oh yeah, oh yeah. I um I I do a pretty good thing. I just went and did a random um random marathon, like not a registered one, just to just to see if I had it in me because it'd been a while since I've been over 20 miles on in clear water the other day over a bridge, and it was terrible because that's elevation on the bridge.

SPEAKER_01 50:02

But you put the same effort you put into getting in trouble, you're putting it in a healthier way and helping others, like you literally took that same energy and just absolutely, and you know what?

SPEAKER_02 50:17

I think I might have even mentioned this on one of the TikTok streams like coming in, but um, you know, like speaking in county jails and stuff, like to talk to those people, it's encouraging to be able to tell them that they do have an advantage over people that have never lived that kind of lifestyle, um, that still struggle with the nine to five for 40 years, paycheck to paycheck, you know, like vacation every once in a while, but the ones that still struggle, like there's people that have done the same thing for that long and still struggle. When you have people that have been in prison, ruin their whole entire lives, get out and five years later own a um a million-dollar company. And I really do believe it is a drive and a motivation to go get it by any means necessary, it's just changing what you're getting and what your any means necessary is in a respectful and moral way for yourself and the accomplishments that you want, other than risking your life and other people's lives and your freedom in the process.

SPEAKER_00 51:12

So, we've got a couple comedians in the comments, and I love everything about it. So, Nicole said, When I was hungry, I ate. When I was tired, I slept, and when I had to go, you know, I went. Love that, Nicole. And Nicole's our first donator, so she can make all the jokes she wants. Thank you, Nicole. And then Kelly says, I will walk 500 miles and I will walk 500 more just to be the that's it. Now you're now I'm dating myself because I knew that's okay.

SPEAKER_02 51:45

Whenever I sing the plain white T songs, I um hey there, Delilah. Whenever I sing, like I'll walk a thousand miles or whatever, I'll be like, I'll literally walk. I put literally in it really fast.

SPEAKER_00 51:56

Literally, well, okay. So, how do people get a hold of you? Now we've got the donation box, and we want people to go and donate. And Never Alone Recovery is going to match whatever donations we get over the next week. Um, but how else do people find you? Because you post all the areas that you're at, and you love for people to come out and actually walk with you.

SPEAKER_02 52:17

Yes, so I will say I'm on all social media platforms basically, except for I don't really mess with um um X or Twitter, whatever. All right, so Facebook Facebook, TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube. Um, the four the four main platforms. Um I think uh it's gonna be a walking testimony on most. So this is what's messed me up. Me losing my Facebook page has messed me up because I went and started a whole nother page just for people to message me, but some people still have a hard time messaging that page. My personal profile has like it still had to be monetized and stuff, but it has spam stuff that's happened from a post from trying to fundraise for addict to athlete. There's a post over a year ago that I said I was trying to be misleading with a link or something, and it has a spam thing. So people tell me that they message me all the time, but I never get the message. Sometimes I actually have to go click on a profile and then click message if it'll even let me click it to see that they've sent me a message. It is the biggest pain. So as of right now, if it does, if you don't see the option on my Facebook to message me, my Facebook is KindleRay Edwards, that's K-Y-N-D-A-L, and I'm a blue check mark. I have a page, it's KindleRay Edwards AWT. If it doesn't let you message there, send me an email. Um, as much as I hate emails, emails is probably going to be the best way to actually get a hold of me. And that's gonna be a walking testimony 2022 2022 at gmail.com. Or if you have me on any other platforms, you can send me a message. Just know I do not respond immediately. Sometimes it takes me three or four days to go back to my TikTok and Instagram messages to even see what people have sent me. And I'm so sorry about that, but that's just there's a lot going on until I have an actual team and a manager and some major sponsorships. I'm that's kind of the position I'm in.

SPEAKER_00 54:05

Okay, so we have put your all of your uh social medias in the comments so people can find you. We've got your email in the comments so people can find you. Anyone that wants to help, anybody that that loves what Kindle's doing, like we love what we're doing, reach out to him. He will he will respond to your message. He might be walking while he does it.

SPEAKER_01 54:24

His signs behind him, too.

SPEAKER_00 54:27

And his sign, I mean, this is uh, you know, walking for mental health, walking for recovery. It's amazing what you're doing, brother. We're uh so proud of you. Over 9,100 miles walked so far.

SPEAKER_02 54:41

So, my my ultimate goal is to be the first person to walk on a continuous route to all four corners of the lower 48 states of America. So I already have the north after walking the first coast to coast, I went and hit the northwestern point, hit the southwestern point, and then walked another coast to coast. Now I'm I could have just gone from Jacksonville straight down, but I'm taking the long way. So, like I said, I went to Cedar Key. Now we're in Bradenton. I'll be in Sarasota here officially in a couple days after going through Bradenton Beach. And then from there, I will hit like through um um Punagorda or Punagorda or whatever, down to um Fort Myers, to Naples, to Marco Island, to Everglade City. Um, I believe my buddy's gonna try to come down. I think we're gonna try to do like a 60 plus mile walk over a 24-hour period or something through the Everglades to make it over to the reservation, go hit the casino, hit some slots for a couple minutes, and then we're gonna drop down into Homestead, and then we'll drop all the way down to Key West. I'm gonna go down, I'm gonna walk across all the bridges down there. It's gonna be beautiful. Um, after I hit the southeastern point, I'm hoping to maybe go cage diving with sharks uh or get on a nice deep sea charter to go catch some big fish. And then I'm gonna come back on shore, get my mind right again, and then I'm gonna take the entire East Coast up to the West Quaddy Lighthouse in Lubeck, Maine, to hit the northeastern point of Maine. And then I want to go try to do a hundred miles on each continent, all in remembrance of our loved ones who are no longer with us due to these causes, for the ones that are struggling to let them know that there is hope and that we do recover and that we all have value and purpose and that we all matter, and um, to continue to fundraise for addict, athlete, and other nonprofit and just spread light, love, kindness, and positivity everywhere I go, even though I don't have all the answers and the solutions. Um, what worked for me might not work for everybody. I just want to let people know that they can do it if they want to.

SPEAKER_00 56:28

My brother, thank you. Thank you so much for being here. Thank you for sharing your story with us. Uh, look forward to getting this out and getting this out to the to the public. Uh, thank you, everyone, for who joined us today. And uh, please go donate and you know, check out all of uh Kendall's uh social media platforms. He literally posts every day, he goes live while he's walking, he checks in and keeps everybody in the know of where he is. And uh one of these days, I don't know when, but uh you know, Krista and I are gonna be walking with Kendall.

SPEAKER_01 57:02

He'll be walking by me where I am in South Carolina on the coast. I know it. He'll be right by walk a little bit. But Johnny runs. Johnny will run a little bit with you.

SPEAKER_02 57:13

So you can run, you start training now. There you go.

SPEAKER_00 57:18

We're gonna get quick run a program.

SPEAKER_02 57:19

Obligation marathon, and and also um, to anybody watching, whether you're on any of these other social medias as well, I do motivation, uh, I do motivational speaking as well. Um, even though I don't do it all the time, it's not like I have a bunch of videos I'm always posting about doing it. Um, between mental health and recovery organizations, schools, and county jails. I've spoken over 50 times. I've been in three county jails, four schools, and a lot of different events, been on the news a lot. So if you know that I'm coming through your area, or maybe you have a connection in an area that you see that I'm going, I do everything by invite only. This is where the awareness and actually having people getting engaged and sharing what I'm doing, not just saying, Oh, I follow that dude who does it. Actually get engaged, being in part of this journey because your part is just important as my part. Um, sharing guys, reach out to your sheriffs in any of those counties, even if I'm not in your county. Maybe I can come to your county one day, even if it's not directly on my walk. Maybe I can travel to your county. Reach out to your sheriffs, reach out to um your schools, your local counties, your men, your local mental health and or recovery organizations. Let them know what I'm doing. Let them know I'm more than welcome to come in and share my story. It's not about how fast, guys. If I don't hit a world record, I don't care. If I'm not, if somebody starts now and still hits every four corner before I do because I spent so much time talking in places, I don't care about that. This is literally my life, and I've dedicated my life. If I stay single forever doing this, I don't care about that, guys. I'm just out here living my life coolest. I'm living my dream. Um, it's more than mental health. Mental health and recovery is the most important thing, absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 58:58

And making healthy choices, and that's what you're doing.

SPEAKER_02 59:01

And this was a dream of mine way before I ever even changed my life. So, of course, with the dream aspect, I'm gonna have fun. You know, you might see me out fishing on a boat one day or living my best life or having a good meal somewhere. I'm not out here to try to make anybody feel down or feel some type of way for living my life. I want this to encourage you to go out there and live your life to the fullest. Um, there's a lot of sacrifices that came with being out here to do this. You know, I don't have the comfort of living in the same place every night, having the same fridge and stock of the food, or or going out with the same people, or calling up my best friend, say, hey bro, do you want to do you want to go out to eat tonight? Man, I need somebody to talk. Everything has to be over phones for me, other than random people I meet in person. I do have a lot of that, but it's different when like there's a lot of sacrifices that come with it, but I'm still enjoying my life to the fullest, guys. Um, I'm walking for myself, I deal with my own mental health matters. You might not get 100% energy, a hundred percent positivity from me every single day. You're gonna get the real me every single day, but I promise you, the real me will show you how to turn a negative situation into a positive one.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:01

Well, Kendall, dude, we're so proud of you and everything you do. So, everybody in the comments, thank you for being here with us today. Go follow Kendall, and uh, we will see you uh next week. So, thank you very much, and my brother, just appreciate you and all you're doing.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:17

Thank y'all for letting me share, guys. I appreciate y'all. Thank y'all for everything y'all are doing.