How Therapy Completely Changed My Perspective // The Happiness Blueprint e017

Diego and Max from Bridgewater State University share how they’re trying to get off their phones, how they face the challenges of high expectations, and what keeps them solid when times get tough!

0:00 Diego and Max from Bridgewater State University
3:06 Making Campus Feel Like Home 
7:29 An Effort to Put Away Phones
14:35 Staying Resilient in Tough Moments
19:01 Pressures of a Legacy
21:11 Advice for Past Self
26:53 What Makes Diego Happy
27:50 What Makes Max Happy

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Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

This is the Happiness Blueprint.

SPEAKER_00 0:03

The podcast where we uncover how people build happier lives.

SPEAKER_01 0:06

Awesome friends. Welcome back to the Happiness Blueprint Podcast. I'm here with Bridgewater State friends. Scott, thanks for coming and joining us. Would you want to introduce yourselves to the podcast?

SPEAKER_00 0:14

I'm Diego. I do um spring traditions events. So usually the big events that everyone um expects to happen, that's usually on my job.

SPEAKER_02 0:23

Um, and I my name is Max. I'm the digital marketing coordinator for uh Program Council. I also help run the school's uh social media accounts. Awesome. Um through um my official titles, the digital concept specialist, and I also do um uh Kate Montuscalco's um social media editing for um her brand's baseball for baddies.

SPEAKER_01 0:41

Awesome.

SPEAKER_02 0:42

Yeah, what a brand name. Okay, that was she is awesome. She does a whole bunch of major book baseball content. That's incredible. I love do I love working with her, she's awesome.

SPEAKER_01 0:51

Very cool. Uh is social media your your column that something that's most of what you're working on.

SPEAKER_02 0:54

Yeah, that's that's where I mainly live um is like the social media world. Um I'm trying to branch out. This is why I came to this conference um to try to branch out and find different avenues um of ways to market because I find myself mainly um on social media a lot and I want to branch out to like the physical marketing or like the social marketing where you'd get like text messages or like emails or stuff like that.

SPEAKER_01 1:15

Yes. And Diego, are you also involved in the marketing side of it, or what role or what aspect of the events are you most involved with?

SPEAKER_00 1:20

Um, usually just like planning, like um one of the uh events that's happening is the spring spectacular. Imagine basically marketplace with um rides, vendors, um, stuff to sell out, usually um the events that people expected, like uh homecoming stuff like um our um drag show. We're doing that soon, and uh other stuff like that. It's usually the stuff like you expect to see. Like everyone talk about it. You're a senior who went here a few years ago and said, Oh, yeah, I love the drag show, I love the spring spectacular, I love the other stuff.

SPEAKER_01 1:52

That community aspect, I think, is the key to all these events that are putting on this idea of bringing people together. I think baseball for baddies is the only sample. I'll come back to here. It's like baseball is generally thought of as a male-dominated sport, it's not this is a way to include women in that uh avenue. I understand the name here correctly.

SPEAKER_02 2:06

Yeah, that's what I love about that brand, is that it's taking a lot of the female audiences, the younger uh audiences, and also the casual fans and merging it into one and creating the cohesive and like inclusive uh place where people could talk about baseball and not really be as um subjected to different opinions by a male audience, even though I am I am a male and have been a you know big baseball fan throughout my life, thanks dad uh go socks. Um and it just it just came to me naturally because I I reached out and then applied for her social media editing role, and it just it kind of happened really quickly, and I was really appreciative to get in that quickly. This started at the um in like the summer going into uh last year, and I'm so thankful for that role.

SPEAKER_01 2:49

That's incredible. Yeah, and I think it's beautiful to be bringing so many different communities together. That seems like the the goal of events, and I think the goal of making people happy here is that like that is why we put on events, that is why we want to build communities to increase happiness on campus. That's kind of where it all funnels back to here. Uh, how are you fostering that on campus? Like, what are some of the things you're trying to do to build these communities on campus so that people are happier, that Bridgewater feels more like a home and less of just like a place where you come to study and hopefully pass finals at the end of the semester?

SPEAKER_00 3:15

Um, collabs, dude. A bunch of collabs. We recently did um there's um the legacy center, which is for a lot of um black and um people of color, and we go there. I like going there. So recently we did um we helped fund their black um Black History Month uh event. It was nice. We had some speakers, we had um the mayor of Brockton, which is from a little close by um Bridgewater. When we had um Hearst, we had him speak. We had our president, um Fred Clark, love you, friend. Uh we had him speak about it. So we usually, if we are not making the events, we usually help fund um like smaller student organizations to do it just to like build that um well uh relationship, like to like know that we got you and you got us.

SPEAKER_01 3:59

Yes. And Max, what motivates you to work on this project? I assume, yeah, what David mentioned is a powerful way about building community. But what motivates you? Why is it such an powerful thing for you to be a part of?

SPEAKER_02 4:08

It motivates me because the process of going through um coming up with content or searching the idea, editing, place production, all that stuff, it's difficult. It's hard to do, and I love doing difficult things. I like challenging myself with thus myself to the limits where it makes me want to scream and cry at my um my my mindset is I want to go back to my dorm room at the end of the day, tired, but like a happy tired. I want to I want to go back to my dorm room and feel like I want to give up, but I know I don't want to give up because I am that person that's relentless and wants to keep working. It's that process that wants to keep me going and it makes me happy because it could be different. It could be different from day to day. I could be recording a video one day, or I could be shooting photo, or I could be editing in my office at whatever time of the night. I could be up until 2 a.m. editing, I could just say, screw it. I don't wanna I don't want to edit anymore. I want to just want to go to bed, I want to treat myself nicely. It's it's a different varying role, and I think that's what has helped me out a lot um throughout my content creation years because I started base small working on films at my ice film festival, and then it kind of created some more content creation based. And I'm really grateful for like how that change happened because I've met so many great people and I I can't take it for granted.

SPEAKER_01 5:17

That's incredible. Yeah, I think you're right that it is uh important to do hard things and to routinely do hard things, where that is where growth is found, right? I love it's weird that growth happens over time and I can be happy and comfortable and safe, and that's not realistic here, right? We have to be willing to just struggle a little, to suffer a little, to have those late nights, to go through uh D, was that kind of your same motivation for events? What motivates you to make people happy?

SPEAKER_00 5:37

Um, what motivates me? I guess um just the opportunity to do this stuff. We did um it was fun like doing the drag show last year. It was fun um holding uh carnival, holding the concert. That was fun. We did um me on trees, we all wearing the same shirt. Yeah, but um doing neon trees, what motivates me is like the ability to like have these conversations, the ability to talk to these people. We recently talked to um a talent agency that holds like a bunch of people, like a bunch of comedians. And like if you told me two years ago that I would be talking to people like that and like building a relationship for people like that, that would have motivated me for like the next five years.

SPEAKER_01 6:15

Is it tough? Uh, as you talk about these people, I assume they're people with status, with yeah, some some celebrity status or otherwise following other some kind of like uh public general respect that we all uh admiration pay towards them. Uh does that intimidate you? It's tough to feel comfortable in those rooms when you're with those bigger names. Not really.

SPEAKER_00 6:34

It's just because like um, I I don't like to overthink those things because like I feel like showing that you're overthinking it might show something bad. But if you just like constantly um just keep a cool composure, I doubt they'll really care about because um a bunch of people like see celebrities as like uh like a higher being. And so um I generally think that like if you cheat them chill, they'll cheat you chill back because they got no reason to be I know how the same thing through camera work.

SPEAKER_01 7:04

It's giving me this great freedom that everyone is just people, and you tend to meet people that we think have status, our favorite baseball player, whoever the starting pitcher of the Red Sox is in the game seven of the World Series. It's like he's just a guy, like he is great at baseball, he is unbelievably talented as one thing, but he also still goes to bed at night and goes, was I good enough today? Did I do this right? And to me, it's like obviously you did you wouldn't have been on the mound if they didn't think you were good enough. No, but everyone is just people, and that's been a really humbling thing. I think also underscores why it's so important to help make people happy and try and make people happy, is because everyone's struggling with whether they are at the top of the pedestal or yeah, with us in the mud of society here. Uh, why do you think it's so important to bring this happiness to Bridgewater State?

SPEAKER_02 7:44

I think it's important because we we we live in a world where we are consuming with our phones, which is kind of incurrent for me to say because I work with social media so much and so much of my time is focused on okay, how do I create um content um that makes people happy? I think it's getting away from our phones. Although you may see something like on social media saying, like, hey, we have an event coming, come come show out. Um, it's important for us to put our phones away and really live in the moment. And at some point I've kind of we kind of like tried to bring into this trip a lot more because I said like right before we left for the flight, and like, hey guys, can we like put our phones down while they go to dinner? Like, I I really want to have those conversations, but I'm the one that's recording and vlogging this entire trip. Like, I'm going around with my DJI OsmoPoc and I'm like recording everything. I'm like, hey, what's up, guys? Like, this is cool. Um, and everyone's like, What are you doing? You've you've been recording so much. We're like, I'm like, I want to capture everything, I want to make sure that this vlog is is good. But I think stepping away and like getting out into the real world and using your eyes to see and feel and to smell what's around you is really making people happy. Is that the true five like what are those, like feelings or like the senses? Five senses of it's like the five senses of like what feels real to you. And I think humans have adapted that sixth sense of like being on your phone and or being on your computer or your TV. And I think we keep, I think we should try to get away from that if we want to feel that real joy.

SPEAKER_01 9:06

That's a really interesting point. That the most valuable thing that our phones bring us is when it takes us off of our phone. So the phone is great to find the concert, but the joy isn't going to the concert, it wasn't in seeing in the market for the concert. And it's really interesting as we scroll through, it's like, listen, I love my favorite memes, I love my favorite streamers, like this is all great and fun. But I don't know if that's a lasting happy because that's happiness in the way that like MMs make me happy. It's like it tastes great, but like my life isn't better because I had a pack of MMs from Water's boot.

SPEAKER_02 9:30

I think what was great for me was when I went to Coldplay this past summer. I was at I was at the affair night um at Gillette Stadium and all the time. Oh wow, yeah. Hold him on you and be part of it. It was it was crazy to see. Oh my gosh, me and my best friend were that when we were like, shout out Liv by the way. Um, you're like, I don't know. Uh are we gonna see something at like 8 a.m. when I wake up from work the next morning about this? Where are you at? And then and then sure enough, it popped up. They were having an affair. Holy crap. Um, but they had a mo they had like several moments in the show where to just put your phone down and just listen to the music and really feel the rhythm. Brutal Mars, even like his um residency at Vegas, he talks about like, hey, put your phones away. That's what's just enjoying the music. Let's just let's just vibe together. Let's really live.

SPEAKER_01 10:15

It's strange. Uh, I went to a show and they put our phone in like these bags, so like the people, like I know what you're talking about, but they're like locked up, uh, which scares me because I think I'm so used to like, what if there's an emergency? How am I gonna? And it was shocking to me. It's like I still have this device, okay? It's still on my person. And I'm panicking of like, what am I gonna do without this thing? And it really highlighted to me of like, there's a problem here. I've gotta tighten up, I've gotta find a way to be comfortable in my own skin with me without this escape by pocket. If I'm uncomfortable in the room, there's a lull between songs in the cons. We're like, I gotta find a way to just be okay here. Uh, Diego, is this something you're also aware of here? It's something you're aware of on the college campus. Like, how are you helping both yourself overcome this? How are you helping students on Bridgewater State get out of this kind of rut that our society as a whole is on itself in?

SPEAKER_00 10:57

Um, usually just like being really entertained, trying to like take the attention away from the phone, which is a monumental task to ask. But um trying to um what's the word? Oh be like crazy about it, not like insane, but try to be like the funniest thing to be, and definitely retention. It would be great if like you like do an event, do XYZ, and then like you have people saying, like, oh yeah, that one guy, he was um funny, he was hilarious. That's like a lot of things I like to do because like I doubt I'm gonna like do insane stuff. I'm not gonna be the next Michael Jackson have like the millions of people from like the most smallest village, not my name. But it's nice to like when they see you, yeah. Um, but like I'll be happy if like I bring people back to like these events, step by just being me, like attracting them with my personality and whatnot.

SPEAKER_01 11:54

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SPEAKER_02 14:47

Um, I would have to say because I'm type 1 diabetic. I I live day to day uh living with that, and I'm so grateful for those around me that have helped me throughout my life. Um my mom has been really caring and has really looked out for me and has really loved me and taken care of me um as much as she could and minded packing for this flight. Torturous um to come here. It was torturous because she was like, Make sure you have all these snacks and stuff, and I go through TSA and I and my entire thing of apple juice gets tagged and like oh crap, this stinks. So I'm like, they're getting like hand searched and everything, it's all it's all bad. Um the gift of giving is so powerful because it just it can just continue to grow because once someone gives, they're gonna want to give back because they want to f they want others to feel that feeling, and I think that's the biggest blessing in my life that I found is that my mother has continued to show me the way that giving is more powerful than receiving. I think that's it's really special in this life and for everybody around us is to uh treat life as it is a gift because you are getting only a few opportunities to make success or to do certain things in life or to you know go to that show, go to that schooling event, go do a podcast like this one. You only get single amount of things in life that have to give them that give you opportunities, and I think making people happy with gifting and showing them that we do care about you, we do want to hear your opinion and what you want. I think that's very key, especially in a wolf that I am.

SPEAKER_01 16:14

I think you're right, and I think uh our own fragilities uh really expose this to our world, and I think as I reflect on my own journeys, it's like sometimes I wish my health was picture perfect and everyone loved it. That's not realistic, right? Everyone's got their own pork, everyone's got their own battles they're bearing. I think uh it can be easy to be down about those, but it's always very also important to be grateful for the perspective it gives us and how much more beauty we can see in life when we know what the other sides of life can look like. Uh yeah, Dave, what motivates you to keep putting on events, keep making people happy on campus?

SPEAKER_00 16:44

Um really it's it's spike. Um I feel like um I gotta do it. I feel like if I don't, I I'd rather be the winner who like did all that cool stuff than the loser who's like, oh that event was bad. I like I gotta do it. It's like like I have this opportunity to do it. Like I'm in Ohio talking to a bunch of cool people. I gotta take this opportunity because like what what if someone else did it and um like did it better? I gotta like do that.

SPEAKER_01 17:19

I think there is that, I think it's like a healthy competitive spirit that's relevant here. Yeah, of we don't want to be competitive in the sense of like I win, you lose. But there is like a I wanna outdo you. I think you can do this event, I think I can do it better. And here is how I can make more people happy than that. And I think that's an important uh I find it myself important to like keep in check at times, but also a valuable thing of like, yeah, competition is good, it's breeds better events, breeds more half people, and that's an important thing.

SPEAKER_02 17:43

I think that's my biggest like go out there. I want to be better than you, like all the time, and I and I want to show you how I'm going to be better than you. It's also one of the like more negative things that I think about myself and was like, okay, maybe I needed to, maybe I do need to like step back and think about what I'm actually doing and just take a dig of breath for a second, not make everything so bad live, but I am growing up and raised at a very good bandwidth, and so that's just the way I run.

SPEAKER_01 18:06

I'm the same, yeah. I think I grew up playing sports. Of course, sports are inherently competitive. I want to get playing time, but that means you don't get played down. I want to win the game, and that means you lose the game. And these two things are always tied together. As I got under the camera and it had to be the same of like, I can't compete against other photographers or videographers. I have to compete against me. I have to compete against what I was making yesterday and try and make it better today. And that has become a fulfilling journey, and I think an important one to be of like, if I was competing against other artists, they would hate me. Like, that's not a sustainable way to build a community to make people happy. That's right. Going to make this thing worse or trying to make better. Yeah. But by flipping it onto the internal side, it was like, okay, now it is sustainable, and now I am benefiting people by competing against me. Because if I can make this thing better, it makes you look better. If it makes your support sit more happy, yeah, and more people can benefit from that. Yeah. I think it's an important uh piece, yeah, be flipping around constantly, keeping them checked for our side.

SPEAKER_02 18:55

Absolutely, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 18:56

Um, I was gonna say how it's a little bit pressure though, because like this is uh our student organization program council. Um it's been around for like 50-ish years, so like everyone knows this is a thing. It's like one of the first like um student organizations you hear about once you go to Bridgewater State. And so, like doing all this crazy stuff, it's like I don't want to be the the person who did like the baton. I don't wanna know where like um Spring Spectacular was um Spring Carnival and it was just like just carnival rides, and so adapting that to uh uh having like a flea market and whatnot is like very pressure because like I'm essentially just jumping out of my uncomfortable zone, jumping out of my comfort zone. So it's like scary to do that, especially with like how um how people treat you. Like the second one uh bad thing happens, everyone like stacks on top of it. And sometimes it's um sometimes it's just like rifle hate, like they might have said something terrible or whatnot, and other times it's like like they made a oh you they didn't like like who we got for our concert, they didn't like uh who we had for our vendors and whatnot. So it's a little bit of pressure just like maintaining what what good we had for 50 years.

SPEAKER_01 20:11

I think the the key I'm hearing you say is like the goal is to leave Bridgewater State better than we found, exactly. Our communities better than we found it. Yeah the only way to do that is by taking a chance, yeah. And that requires vulnerability, and so then it's like, well, I'm scared, I might make this thing worse than I found it if this doesn't go how I planned it. Right. And that's where that competitive spirit I think comes in is like this thing has to go better because I need to go better because I want the twice to do better than I can. And if I don't succeed, then it might be worse. That's scary. But the only way, but if you don't take the chance at all, then it's worse than you found it, because if it's the same as it was five years ago, everything else has gotten better, and you're still stuck in the same route you're in. I think balancing that is a really challenging, uh yeah, challenging balance at times here. Absolutely. Two questions I'd love to wrap up with you guys here. Uh, one of them is advice you would have for your past self. Uh a lot about growth, a lot about how we could find our own happiness here. I think as we reflect on these things, sometimes there are challenges around there in the past, and if we knew then what we know now, that challenge would have been a lot more manageable. But that's not realistic at times. I think I have gained a lot of wisdom from hearing people who reflect on that, and like the advice you give your past self often is advice that I think I need to hear nowadays. So I'm curious what's some advice you have for your past self.

SPEAKER_02 21:16

Man, it's so deep because I'm at I I just had like a nostalgia moment where like all my past memories have just come back and it's like that one like edit like where you hear like the time traveling, like sound or whatever. Yeah. Um, if there's one thing that I just thought of like right now, is don't be afraid of saying no to things, um, especially when it could really hurt something personal or really like it could that it could really affect you mentally. Um I really found myself in a weird spot in my life, like it around sophomore year and of high school, and they it was a really weird time for me, and I realized that I needed help and I I didn't really want to say no. Like I didn't re I didn't want to say yes to therapy. But I I I was like, man, I really don't, I really don't get it. I don't need it. But then slowly after going and realizing that I did need I did need help is like yeah, I I needed these resources and I needed this help. Um I feel like be not being afraid to say no um has really kind of shaped my mindset too because like I re I I really wanted to say no to a lot of things in life, but I ended up saying yes and it ended up hurting me in in the long run. And if I were to go back and tell my past self, like you shouldn't have done this, I feel like my life and like what events may have transpired may have been a little bit different for me and how I could have shaped who I am today. Because I think I think in myself that as sort of like a mentor for other people who or someone that can that they can go to really ask for an opinion, and I really want that from other people is to really think that like hey, I am that support person, like hey, I can't go to you if I need help. Um and so if I were to just tell myself hey you do need help, it's okay it's okay to say yes to some things, but also say say no to things that can hurt you. I think that's what I would tell myself.

SPEAKER_01 23:07

I think you're right, and thank you for sharing that. I think therapy is uh one of those taboo things I wish was more easily talked about. And I think you're right, it is a topic that we don't always want to talk about, and it is a personal thing, but I had the same spirit, so like I didn't think I needed it. I got into one session, went, boy, I'm in the right place. Surface out. Yep, they were right.

SPEAKER_02 23:24

I had one therapist with that I got and I was like, and she treated me with such respect and like was able to let me be open with my thoughts, and I was like, Oh yeah, yeah, I do need this. I'd like yeah, I I do need it, and I I was really appreciative of that.

SPEAKER_01 23:39

I think it's very dumb to think that on our first try of life we're gonna get it all right. Yeah, exactly. It's like there's nothing on the first draft, Dudwright. That's just not how the first try was.

SPEAKER_02 23:47

Like, I I want to be right, like I I want to be right all the time, and I like being right. Like, sometimes I'm not, and like I I have to learn that like I need to be okay with it, and it's it's okay to be wrong about certain things.

SPEAKER_01 23:59

And you alluded to setting boundaries there of saying no to things we want. I think boundaries is also like what's acceptable for me? Is it acceptable for me to have this this behavior that I'm not happy with? Is that acceptable? That's a boundary I need to set, but this behavior is not serving me. This is not a good thing. That's something I need to correct. I think you're you're right to be on top of those things. I think it's a good lesson to learn while we're still young and have the chance to course correct versus being 65 and going, boy, did I wish I took a different path when I was younger. Um awesome. Dave, what's the what's some advice we'd have for your past self here?

SPEAKER_00 24:27

Um just do stuff. Who cares about embarrassment? Yeah, like um, I used to, I think over COVID, I've like taught myself to like chill out and stuff and not be so uh energetic and excited for things. But um, as like um getting done with high school and going to college, I just learned to have fun. Like I recently um bought myself a skateboard over Christmas, which is not a good idea when your state just snows constantly. Fair enough, yeah. But um, I wanted to do it because like uh you know it's nothing for me and like who cares what other people are gonna think. I can't be perfect on my first shot. So like if I have advice for like anyone watching this and to my past self, just do stuff. If you go through the embarrassment, I doubt you're gonna like uh get grinded up at the other side. Like, like embarrassment is like the worst thing when you're like in your early to mid-teens, but like once you like finally try to figure out who you are and how like you do things, if other people think you're stupid, who cares, dude? If you're not hurting or humming anyone, I think I'll be so fine if people think I was a hot dummy.

SPEAKER_01 25:34

Yeah, I think you're right. I think embarrassment is an important part of growth here. It's like those are good stories. I look back, like stories I can tell people. It's like a lot of them ended with me being the butt of the joke. A lot of them is like things where I thought I could be a skateboard. It turns out I fell pretty bad and it wasn't quite for me. And that's okay. We learned. And I think the it's important not just like I don't think uh skateboarding is gonna change your life. I think the act of doing things that you want to try will change your life. And skateboarding is one piece of that, and it's like, we're not gonna be Tony Hawk. Most of us won't be Tony Hawk. Tony Hawk's the only Tony Hawk I can name since Tony Hawk, right? I guess there's a couple skaters here, but like most people get on a skateboard. I think the important part is like you fall down. I think it's a very physical reminder of like, I'm gonna jump down this one stair and you're gonna fall. You're gonna mess with the kick flip, and the board's gonna fall out, you're gonna miss all these things, and you're gonna do it again. You're gonna do it again. You're gonna get on the board, and eventually you will land a kick, you will go around the stair, and that is like a oh, if I put my mind to it, this thing will work. Yeah, and I think these like life lessons on the skateboard are so profound in such an important ways and such a practical, hands-on way to learn these lessons. I don't think it's so valuable. Right, of course. Beautiful friends. Thank you for chatting with us. Uh, I appreciate you. Sorry, I have one last question for you that I almost forgot about here. We're having too much fun talking. Uh, last question for you all. We talked a lot about yeah, events and putting on events. Uh, we're happiness poppy, we're happiness podcast, we're happiness company. Let's know one thing that makes you happy outside of it. So it could be a hobby you love doing, an activity, a place you love going, a food you love eating, just one thing that makes you happy. Uh, I'll put Max on the spot here first. So, Diego, I'm here to put you on the spot first this time. Just to switch up the order here for a little bit. So, yes, one thing that makes you happy.

SPEAKER_00 27:03

One thing that makes me happy, um, when other people like laugh at my jokes, I know that's a tad bit self-centered. No, but like um uh when you like get a whole group laughing when you're able to like truly communicate and like um show your true self and things and show things that what you think is funny and other people are laughing, it's like it's almost like addictive in a way because like it knows that like it shows that you're safe in this environment and it shows that um like people like enjoy you, people like you're not a burden to it's a vulnerability thing.

SPEAKER_01 27:33

I think whenever we're vulnerable and it gets reciprocated and they go, Hey, you're safe here. And that's what comedy is, right? When I'm telling a joke, it's like if you don't laugh, now I'm embarrassed going back to this. Now I've made a jerk of myself in this moment. But when you laugh, it validates the chance that I took it, encouraged me to take another chance, whether it's a social chance, whether it's yeah, skateboarded chance. I think you're right, that's an important thing. Uh Max, what makes you happy?

SPEAKER_02 27:53

This is sound there's gonna be like a really weird answer, bitch. Being able to cry. Okay. That that's what makes me happy because I feel like for the longest time I felt like I was not able to cry, and that when I was younger, I was very emotional. I used to scream and cry all the time. Um, and I felt like I had cried all my tears and that I couldn't really feel anything real anymore. And it just recently I I really felt the need that I needed to cry again. And I've actually it just having those emotions like come back to me and having to feel something real, like hey, this is making me emotional, like hey, this is something that I really am passionate about and something that like gets me this way where I have the need to want to cry, it makes me very it makes me very happy that I've it makes me uh happy to be able to cry again, and that's a weird thing to say, I feel like is a weird thing to say, but I I I love feeling a good cry because I I don't know who said it but is but if you are able to smile, laugh, and cry in a single day, that's a good day. That's a really good day. And I feel like being able to do all those things recently has really been able to put me in better moods, to put me in better places and to strive for better things. And I I just I just love being here, man. I love this life that I'm living right now, and I love what I am doing, and I'm so happy to just be like I said, being able to cry, it feels like super niche to say, but I I just I just love this life and I love what I'm doing.

SPEAKER_01 29:23

It's so important to be present, and I think being present we often think about is like soaking in the good moments and it breathing smelling the roses. I'm like, that is part of being present, part of being present, acknowledging this isn't going my way. I don't like this right now. I am not happy right now, and that's a really important powerful part of human existence. I think there's a yeah, you can't have the highs or the lows kind of cliche here. I think you're right, but by acknowledging the lows, it makes you go, this isn't my favorite moment, but damn the other moments have been pretty good. The rest of this is going pretty awesome. And if this is my low moment, that's okay. We're all out a low moment here, and it's powerful to be able to have yeah, both of those and to make peace with both of those. I think it's really awesome. Yeah, I'm so awesome. Thank you guys for sharing your time, thanks for showing your wisdom. Thank you so much for the chat. Awesome. Thanks for joining us. Thank you. Thanks for listening to the happiness blueprint, powered by GBM6.

SPEAKER_00 30:09

It's about making people happy.