Episode 5: Embracing Your Worst Moments

In this episode, we're diving into the parts of our story we usually try to avoid — the mistakes, the regrets, and the versions of ourselves we’d rather leave behind. But instead of running from them, we're exploring what happens when we choose to embrace them.

Drawing inspiration from The Weeknd’s Dawn FM, we look at how the album turns pain, heartbreak, and past chaos into a guided journey toward clarity. Just like the transition from his darker eras into the reflective, almost cinematic world of Dawn FM, this episode unpacks how confronting your “worst” moments can become a pathway to reinvention. It’s about learning to sit with your shadows long enough to understand them — and realizing that growth often begins in the places we least want to revisit.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:12

All right, what's going on, everybody? Welcome to another episode of the Daydreamers Podcast. Or if this is your very first time listening to an episode, welcome. Happy to have you. We're always welcoming more daydreamers coming into this uh little opportunity to just listen to all kinds of fun and inspirational things that I've gotten to learn over the years. That's what this pr show is pretty much all about. And bringing in new topics, being able to hopefully even bring other people into the conversation. That's that's gonna hopefully be in the future as well. Uh let's see, what's what's been going on? Uh uh we had to we had to make some adjustments here the first time I started recording. Uh I I love him to death, but uh my fur baby, my pug, he apparently had a very long weekend. My girlfriend and I went on a little trip this weekend, so he was uh being watched um uh by by her mom. And uh apparently that was a long weekend for him. I don't know, he needed a lot of rest. So we brought him back, took him on a walk, and gave him his food and everything. And the moment he finished having dinner, apparently it was like time for hibernation, and he went into full gear. If any of you who have ever had like pugs or Frenchies, you guys probably have heard or already know. Do they have the most wonderful time uh trying to breathe, especially when they're sleeping? So he was snoring away. And though we love to hear him snore, and sometimes it's even a little like white noise for us to go to bed, uh, didn't necessarily do me a lot of justice on the microphone for the podcast, so um, we had to make some adjustments, but all good. Love and the death. Um and I just didn't feel the need that maybe you guys needed to hear that for 45 minutes. Um, but nonetheless, um lots to look forward to, by the way. I'm excited. This is a really cool time when it comes to uh you know film and entertainment, you know, all things entertainment. I I think you know, as many of you have heard on the previous episodes, as I love to not only reference movies and TV shows and even music, just getting to hear all kinds of new stuff and even get to tune into things that I haven't seen um or heard before. So I know there's a lot, I gotta do a lot of catching up on movies, by the way. I used to be a real frequent moviegoer, especially to the theater. I just I guess I just haven't made a lot of time for it. Like I used to be, what was it, uh, for a while I was at a theater I worked at the AMC Theaters for a long time. Fun fact, that was one of my first jobs going into college. I actually got to work with a couple of buddies of mine too. So that was a fun job. Probably my favorite job before I graduated college, no doubt. Um, and got to work at a couple different theaters, obviously getting movies for free and getting to do fun screenings and events. Lots of great stories that I have with that job that I'll definitely be able to tell more down the line in this podcast. But, you know, one of my favorite parts of the job, of course, was getting to watch movies pretty much wherever and whenever I had a chance to, and getting to stay in touch with all the movies, you know, because then you have all these frequent guests and people that come in asking questions and want to know about them. So it was always fun to be like an insider, you know, in that aspect too. I even worked at the one in downtown Disney for a while, uh, for those of you uh you know on the West Coast, there was one in downtown Disney many, many years ago. Um, and it closed down, I think, in about if I have this right, 2017 or 2018. Um, and it was a sad time. I was there till the very last day when it closed. But we had all kinds of great premieres, especially all the Disney, you know, properties, all the Disney IP, um, you know, whether it would have been Pixar or Marvel or whatever it was, I got to be there for gosh, what was it? Um I think I started working there when uh one of the newer Star Wars films came out when Get Out had just come out. Uh I was there for uh Black Panther, Avengers Infinity War, uh Incredibles 2, I think was the very last film that we had that summer before it closed. So lots of great, you know, stories and interactions with people, you know, who were big fanatics and fans and getting to even help build the excitement, you know, for for the movies. And and don't get me wrong, there were some crazy times too, and some chaos to deal with, but nonetheless, uh a good time. And um, I feel like you know, I I miss being able to do that. I watched so many movies back then and I was an ABC Stubbs member. By the way, AMC is not sponsoring this show by any means. I'm just putting out my my personal experience, but um, and yeah, I've got I've gotten to enjoy you know uh lots of movies and different experiences. The 40X, the IMAX, the Adobe, all those different types of you know, screens and formats for movies. Used to love going to CityWalk too to watch that really big 70 millimeter screen for IMAX. It's like one of the biggest screens you could possibly watch a movie on. Um and I'm I miss it. So I'm gonna have to I'm gonna have to go back and get more into watching the movies. I have friends, a few that listen to this podcast actually, who are really into going to movies every weekend. Um, even even my barber, who who when every time I go, um is telling me all about the movies you know that they've seen and that they're gonna see, going to the drive-in, another great experience that I love too. I love going to the drive-in. Uh, hopefully I get to make it out there again soon, too. Um, but lots of uh the the Blockbuster Summer you know movies are coming out, Mandalorian and Grogu for any Star Wars fans. I know that movie's coming out in May, and I know also in July is Spider-Man brand new day, so looking forward to that. Um also I can't go without mentioning, being a big Hollywood Halloween fan myself, I love spooky season and I always look forward to it. I prepare for it a couple months beforehand. Um, that we just passed the halfway to Halloween mark. Um, as of I'm recording, it's been a couple of days already that we passed that mark. But yeah, so spooky season is around the corner uh for anybody who's excited. Um so maybe any spooky movies that are coming out soon, I'll be looking forward to that as well. Um, but yeah, also Ted Lasso season four. I know I talked about Ted Lasso in a previous episode. The new season is coming out this summer. I know my girlfriend and I are very excited to kick that off. Um and if anybody's been watching the show, please, please let me know. Maybe it's a good time for you to binge watch the show before the you know season four comes out. Um I was also actually talking about this to my family and to my girlfriend as well. Avengers Doomsday comes out at the end of the year for any of you that are kind of keeping track and are Marvel fans and know it's kind of the next big Marvel movie um coming out at the end of the year, uh after Spider-Man, of course. Um it's it's gonna be kind of like you you know, it's one of those where a lot of people talk about you want to be keeping track of all the different storylines and characters, and it's a lot to keep track of. Um, but I don't know. Uh might make a push to watch the entire MCU again and all the different characters uh that are involved in the Marvel Cinematic Universe to lead up to Avengers Doomsday. Um it'll be a big push, but I think I think we can do it. We'll see. I'll keep you posted to see if we get that started and how far we get. Um But you know, talking all movies aside and TV shows, I'm actually excited for today's episode because um this will be the first episode, it's episode five today, where I get to reference in particular uh uh an album, the a music album that I really enjoy and an artist that I've loved for many years, but especially when it comes to his storytelling through his music, and I think it really ties well into the topic today, so I'm excited to dive into that. Now, today is uh a bit of a it's a deep topic. It it can it can be very uh very deep subject, but I'm also excited to bring some light to it and and to understand that you know that's kind of the whole message here, you know. So um what I really wanted to dive into is the concept of embracing your worst moments. Um now, full transparency, and I want to be sure every episode is is met with this disclosure too. This is you know, what I get to talk about here is not a professional opinion. Um, I've gotten to learn from a lot of others that have been around me, and and I'm still learning so, so much about just you know, life experience, but also just a lot of these lessons come into play at any moment. And, you know, I have my share of things that I know I can definitely work on, even in these subject matters, but I like talking about them even just because it, you know, sometimes it helps me when I talk about it out loud. It's like it's it's therapeutic almost a little bit to understand and remind myself, like, okay, yeah, if I'm gonna talk about some of these things, I got to practice what I preach, right? And it's not something that's just I'm preaching from my own origin of knowledge, you know, I'm I'm preaching based off of what I've learned from other people, but it allows me to keep myself accountable too, no doubt about that. So um the topic that, though, that I really wanted to dive into today was, you know, something very relevant to I think a lot of us. We can look back at a part of our life and know that we've been there, done that probably more than a couple of times, I can say for myself, no doubt, is to embrace your worst moments. Now, look, I'm not gonna sit here and pretend that that doesn't sound absolutely ridiculous when you're trying to tell somebody, especially when they're going through a really rough time, that to just simply tell them a blanket statement like that. Embrace your worst moments. That that is a very difficult thing to do. I think let's just get that out the way. I think we all know that to embrace anything that might be very difficult for us in our life uh is not an easy thing to do. And it might even sound ridiculous sometimes. Um, but I think there's a couple things to consider first and foremost when it comes to any of our worst moments. The the term worse or bad in terms of a moment in our life is subjective. You know, I think it's very important to always remember that what we might consider our worst moment could be just another Tuesday for somebody else. You know what I mean? And I think we often have even heard, I know I heard it a lot growing up, is like, hey, it can always be worse, or somebody has it worse, so be grateful for what you have. And look, I'm also a very big advocate for having gratitude. I talked about it in my previous episode, an attitude of gratitude. I'm all for that. But I also understand, and I think it's almost unfair sometimes to expect everyone to just off the cuff have this mentality of like, oh, well, somebody has it worse, so I can just get over my rough time or bad moment. Well, that's that's also not necessarily the I think the message there. I I think we all need to feel valid in the fact that, yeah, if we're having a bad moment or it feels like one of our worst moments in our life, I don't think it's anybody else's job or responsibility, and let alone should we allow them to do that, it's a discredit how it makes us feel. I think if we feel that it's a very bad moment, then it's a bad moment. However, I think it's just sometimes good to put them into perspective. And I think not so much for you to get over it, I think just for you to understand and accept the fact that there are other people who have also had their very share of bad moments. And it it just means that we all learn to manage them in our own way, and we all have a different standard for how we can manage some of those said worst moments. And I, you know, I think sometimes too we we realize that, you know, there's really two ways we can look at what we consider our worst moments in terms of how they take place. Sometimes we just feel like, where the heck did that come from? That came out of left field. Like, how do we possibly think that we're gonna manage this when we we didn't even see it coming? We couldn't anticipate it. And it almost feels like this is just this unfair thing that was thrown at us. How can we possibly learn to embrace something like that when we're just processing sometimes? And then we have those maybe bad moments where we feel like we messed up, we made a mistake, we missed a step, and now we've trickled, we we've allowed for this bad thing to trickle into something horrible and awful, and then we then as a result take responsibility for it. We feel like it's all our fault. We feel that we need to maybe even put ourselves down or or shame ourselves for what has taken place. But I think there's something very important there that those two aspects or elements that we can look at in terms of what our worst moments can derive from. I think this is the first key thing we need to keep in mind. No matter where the bad moment came from, no matter you know how how we think maybe it came to pass, somehow, somehow, it is going to be a part of our journey, no matter what. I think none of us can ever expect or look around at anyone and think that they have not had what they might consider the worst moment of their life. We all have that by default in our life right now. And if we can go find that, and everyone else around us can as well, it means that it's a part of what life has to offer for us. Whether we decide it or not, whether we anticipate it or not. It's kind of like what I mentioned a couple, I think it was maybe even on my first episode, if I remember correctly, that a friend of mine gave me this quote, which was Life is fair because it's unfair to everyone. And I think that's the perspective we gotta come at it from first, is understanding that whenever we have our worst moment or worst moments, they're worst for us and from our perspective and our life experience specifically, but everyone else feels that way too. And that's kind of again the point of understanding that we're all gonna have our subjective worst moment. And yet anybody that you're talking to who can go back and reference what their worst moment has, they might tell you, whatever the story is, that they've now since been past it. Because they're telling you about a past memory or a past occurrence. That should be one of the key takeaways from the jump. Anytime somebody tells you about their worst moment, they're already telling you from a point in time where they've gotten past it. Doesn't mean they have fully gotten over it or they have learned to be like completely okay with it or at peace with it, but they've made it past it. That's one very key perspective to keep in mind. And same thing for you, if you're listening to this right now and you can reference a moment in time in your life where things were at their absolute worst, and now you're listening to this and thinking about it right now, you're thinking about something in the past. You've now gotten past it. And again, it doesn't mean you shook all of it off, but you're somehow living in a space where you've made it away from that situation. And maybe you haven't thought about it in a while, and you're only remembering it right now because I brought this concept up. Or maybe you're thinking about it now because it still lingers in your brain once in a while, but maybe it wasn't maybe it's not bad right now the way it was six months ago or a year ago. You see what I'm saying? So I I think that's one very important perspective of it. And I think the the the other thing that I I I really like in terms of how you can kind of learn to embrace sometimes, even if it's after the fact, because I think that's the other, that's another really good thing to keep in mind. When whenever we talk about embracing some of these worst moments, it doesn't mean you have to embrace them right then and there when they happen. I think sometimes it it's you know, as my as my dad has always said since since the day I can remember, time and a place for everything, right? That's a quote that I have learned to live by and and my dad has always lived by. And it's a very appropriate quote, especially for a lesson like this. Like, there's a time and a place for you to feel the pain that you're feeling, the the suffering, the the challenge that has hit you in that moment, to to go through those feelings, to navigate them, to process them. Because sometimes that's the first step in you getting past them and to be able to manage them properly is you need to process. You need to go through the motions, as we always, you know, people always say. Um, but then later on can be that opportunity for you to make the time to embrace what has happened. Not because you love it, but because you love what it can do for you down the line, the doors that it can open. The opportunity can be for you to develop, to grow, um, or to build character in some form or fashion. And I think that, you know, sometimes it is that opportunity for reflection, but also for us to be honest with ourselves. I think sometimes when there's a really bad moment in our life, especially if it if it comes out of nowhere, and it's not even something that we did wrong or that we, you know, caused to happen in our life, it comes out of left field and it could be just a reality check. And I know that's also why I think a lot of times it's hard for us to embrace a very negative time in our life. It's because it is also that reflection of maybe just how we're living our life in general. You know, maybe we needed a reality check in that moment. Maybe we needed a little taste of humility to understand, like, you know what? I was riding high, I thought that you know nothing was gonna stop me, and then suddenly something hit me and I don't know what to do with it. Why is it slowing me down? It's it's it's it's taking away my progress. At least in my head, I think that it is. What am I supposed to do with that? Like, this interruption of my flow is almost, you know, it's making me mad, it's just frustrating. Like, why? And then you have that big question mark. Why is this happening to me? Why does this have to happen to me right now? The timing couldn't be worse, and that's usually how we feel too. It's inconvenient and it couldn't have happened at a worse time. I don't think the timing is ever gonna be great. Let's remember that too. But I think that taste of humility, that reality check, is sometimes what we need to understand that if we want to continue to evolve and to grow in whatever path we think that we're on, we sometimes can you know we're we're in the rhythm of things and we're we're we're living in some sort of success or we're thriving on a very good rhythm in our in life, we lose sight of certain other things that are very important to us, and and we maybe we lose a part of our character that is crucial for us to succeed in sometimes the path that we're on. So life is gonna remind you that it's not gonna be a perfect rhythm. You're gonna get pushed off every once in a while, and that's kind of the point because life is never gonna be a perfect flow. You know, there's any metaphor you can put to life, like any any process that we go through, any rhythm or or or flow that we try to jump into in our day-to-day life, it's never a perfect line. I mean, it's it's it's even um you know, there there was a I'm gosh, I my references are so all over the place, but I remember there was an interview, it was like a round table, one of those roundtable interviews with celebrities, and uh a celebrity had mentioned that you know they they they felt like they were living either at at super highs or super lows, and that I guess they were talking to their therapist and they said, like, why do my highs feel so high? Why do my lows feel so low? And that the therapist kind of told them, Well, that's how life is supposed to be. Because if you didn't have your highs or your lows, um think of it as a heart monitor. It's supposed to go up and down. If you take away all those highs and lows, you flatline, and that's it. Your life is meaningless, it doesn't have anything. What gives it meaning, what gives it a certain rhythm and sense of direction for you, and that it gives value is that it goes up and down. That's the whole point. That's that's how it's supposed to be. And again, that's how it is for everybody. And you know, there's things like social media and the way we have these perfectionist, you know, images or visions of how people live their lives, and ultimately it's not reality. I doubt you'll find anyone on the street that can actually genuinely, with full honesty, say that they've never had a rough moment or they've never had a rough patch, or things that have interrupted their, you know, their flow of life. There's always gonna be things that that come across that will interrupt or redirect you in some form or fashion. And that's okay. And it's not always gonna be tragic, but it's sometimes it it, you know, again, it's subjective. Every person has their expectations for what life should be, and sometimes it's just not gonna be what we expect it to. Um, and you know, at the end of the day, it's it's it they don't define you. Any of those worst moments, any of those interruptions, they don't define you. But they can help you decide who you want to be, you know, and and you developing a certain level of character, you know, you learn to thrive in that chaos, you know, thriving in a chaotic situation, that's a superpower. And we develop that over time, and and going through multiple of these experiences where life really throws something that it feels like the worst day of your life. I mean, we've all been in high school where like we've got a crush on somebody and we get embarrassed, or we got our heart broken by the person that we just cannot stop thinking about, or we get a, you know, if you're you know a smarts person and you love school and you get your first F or you know, whatever it is, in that point in time, we feel like that's the worst day of our life. And the again, the funny part about that, you know, I referenced and mentioned earlier, you know, you look at other people and it's subjective to everybody, and what you might think is considered your worst moment or how bad something is. You could even look back at past memories of yourself, and what you thought was your worst moment at 16, 17, 18 years old is probably not, you know, if you're in your 20s or 30s now, um, you're like, oh, that wasn't even close to my worst moment. Because now looking back, I've had way worse things happen to me. But again, it's all perspective at the point you are in life and the things you've been through, the things you've also endured, and the things that you have grown through, they all add a perspective to why some of those things happen, and ultimately that they not they're not gonna define where you're going in life. Now, you know, I I I I think the the the the really cool tie-in that I had, and I was thinking about, you know, again, lots of great references and and in in film and television where you know you have a lot of uh you know characters and and stories where excuse me where the character makes they turn their worst moment into something amazing, you know. And and uh but I think one thing that really came to mind was, and again, this this artist is one of my favorite artists. I've I've listened to their music for a very long time, and especially because it's a storytelling element, even through a lot of their um not just the themes of their albums, but also the way he has shot a lot of his music videos, it kind of helps tell the story of where he's at. Um and the artist I'm talking about is The Weeknd. Now, I didn't learn much about the weekend probably until after I graduated high school, and this was already like, and again, I'm I'm hit, I'm about to hit 30. So right what right around the time that I was, you know uh about to graduate high school, it was the first time I was hearing a little bit about who the weekend was. Now, for those of you who don't know, uh the weekend um he was at least when I first learned about him, he was best known for I mean, a great voice, Canadian singer, uh and songwriter, producer, and and he was also known for this really crazy hairstyle. The best way I could describe it, I know I don't have anything on video for you, but you could look him up now. But the best way I can describe it, his hair kind of looked like um oh gosh, I mean it uh it looked like a tree that just quite wasn't growing right, you know. Like if any of you have seen Harry Potter, there was like that really creepy tree that would attack them in the forest, and he was kind of deformed. And I don't know, you just look it up, you'll know what I'm talking about. But um his hair was just it was crazy. But if you listen to his voice, I mean beautiful voice. Um and he had quite a bit of different, you know, like underground music that was coming out, and he was already a very popular artist. Um, but he you know, I I guess the the best genre he probably fits into is like kind of a kind of an RB vibe with a little bit of maybe some RB rap or even some you know some of his more recent music is a little bit more um uh hitting different you know pop genres or you know, but in any case, one of my favorite artists, I've gotten to see him live. I got to see him live in Vegas once um with my sister. I mean, amazing show. Uh he's he sounded great live. And funny enough, the show that I got to see was the perfect, and that's actually what helped can't come to mind how I wanted to reference this. Was you know, just as a quick background, his music, pretty much his first few albums, were always about like the tough upbringing that he had, and you know, he grew up on the streets to a degree, um, he had a lot of problems with addiction and and substances, and um, you know, he he lived a very promiscuous life to a degree too, just in terms of his relationships with women and um, you know, toxic relationships and toxic behaviors in these relationships, and how all of these things kind of coincided and really made his life uh very difficult. He he had didn't have the best examples growing up, and and kind of his, you know, like a lot of us always hear, you know, you're kind of a you're a product of your environment. And this was a very, you know, his his music very much told that story. And that, you know, he would he was often fighting his demons. He was he was trying to work through a lot of his depression and sadness and heartbreak, all these things that he was kind of in a way expressing, but also kind of embracing through his music. Now, whether it was healthy or not, but he obviously turned it into something very successful. I mean, talk about living a very tragic life, or even just having tragic moments maybe in his life, and you know, and I'm definitely not speaking for him by any means, you know, but just in terms of how he reflected this in his music. If you hear a lot of his songs and even the titles of them, you know, a lot of them revolve around very sad topics if you really think about it. Oftentimes they're very relatable, like especially a lot of his heartbreak music, too. Like, you know, oftentimes him talking about heartbreak and the way he coped with a lot of those feelings through any sort of addiction that he had, um, or that he may have had. I think there's just a lot of references to that. And, you know, a lot of us could look at that and go, yeah, that that that'd be rock bottom, or that'd be a very, you know, huge low for me, and maybe it was for him too. But the point is that was kind of the tone overall uh of his music. And he had little spurs of maybe some more upbeat fun music, but overall those were always his tone. Though that was always his tone in his albums. And then he had a couple of albums that came out back to back, and this was around COVID as well, so it was also a very interesting time when a lot of the world felt, you know, low or more isolated than ever before. Is the weekend he the weekend came out with an album um called uh After Hours. And it was, you know, even the cover of the album is something that I think is a really cool, in a way, um, metaphor for where he was going with his music and the story he was telling, which was, you know, if you look at the album cover, he pretty much it's it's it's like a tinted red and black, but he's like he's very beaten up. He's like he's got like a bloody nose, and it he, you know, even when he came out with some of the music videos that came out with this after hours album, he comes out on the video kind of like bruised up and and he's wearing bandaging or he's bleeding or whatever it is, but he's like smiling through all of it. I think that was kind of like just a metaphor that he had just been so used to going through difficult times or maybe dealing with difficult situations, and he just kind of learned to smile through them no matter what. And that this was like the pinnacle of like after him having many albums where even the music videos he was talking about, you know, how he was dealing with certain troubles in his life, and he was just kind of going through the motions, he was fighting his demons, trying to, you know, reinvent himself, he was reincarnated a few times over with the way he was trying to, you know, go through some of these things that he was dealing with. And then it's like he's now just kind of embracing the the craziness and chaos in his life. Um but then he, you know, soon afterwards comes out with this album, and it's called Don FM. It's arguably one of my favorite of his albums, and it's funny because then it's it's a very different tone to a lot of his other music. Because it it a couple of fun things about this, you know, if you're ever interested in listening to these albums, if you haven't heard of him or listened to his music, he he goes from this like sadder, more you know, uh lower pitch or like you know, more serious tone of RB to like this RB like soul, so a lot of the the vibes give like 80s, 80s pop music almost. And like the theme of this album, it's called Don FM, is like now he's created this um basically this like more lighthearted tone to his music where he's it's basically formulating the album as a radio show, and like an hour-long radio segment of this show where he's you know trying to basically guide it's like someone's guiding him or the way he's been guided through all of his pain and trauma to the lighter side, the brighter side of things. And it's really cool because not only is there a shift in the way his music comes out and the type of songs that are on this album, the subject that that it surrounds, you know, that it's more about him maybe like falling in love again, or maybe him trying to approach a woman differently than he has in the past, the way that even though he's seeing the hurt and still acknowledging some of the things that he's maybe sung about in the previous albums, but in a way that's like, But you know what, I know where I stand, and I'm gonna find peace with what I've lived through, and I'll ultimately be okay at the end of the day. Like it's that's kind of the tone that he goes to. And um, the other really cool thing about this album is Jim Carrey kind of does some of the narration, especially at the very beginning, at the very end of the album. And I'll just read a little bit of like the excerpt that he he he that Jim Carrey uh recites at the beginning of the album, where he basically says, um, he says, quote, you've been you've been in the dark for way too long. It's time to walk into the light and accept your fate with open arms. Scared, don't worry. We'll be there to hold your hand and guide you through this painless transition. But what's the rush? Just relax and enjoy another hour of commercial free-yourself music on 103.5.fm. So it's like it has that tone to it too, like it was a radio show. And what's interesting is Jim Carrey, his voice still sounds a little creepy in on the album, but it's like that's kind of the point. Like he still has this little bit of an eerie sound to his voice because it's like a metaphor for the fact that the weekend, the artist in this case, he's still kind of in a dark spot. He's he hasn't perfected his his his um his way of thinking, or maybe how he has found peace with you know everything that's happened in his life, but he's finding his way out. And this album, as you go through each song, it's like him getting closer and closer and closer to the light at the end of that dark tunnel. And you know, at the very end of the album, Jim Carrey also recites something that is kind of like a good punctuation to everything, basically just acknowledging that you know you you've now reached everything that you could. You know, you you maybe you were headed in one way and in in your life, and now you've kind of redirected. You know, it's time to look back on the things that you thought you owned. Um, you know, how many grudges did you take to your did your grave? Did how many grudges did you take to your grave? Excuse me. Um, you know, what were you ever in tune with the song life was humming? If pain's living on when your body's long gone, um, you may not have died in the way that you must. You know, he basically is just kind of going on and on about if you want to truly uh die in peace, pretty much, you kind of have to accept some of the things for what they were, and that it's okay. It hasn't defined you, you can still make peace with those things and make a better life for yourself for what you whatever time you might have left. Now, that's a very dramatic example of what we've been talking about here, but you know, I'm sure we've all heard a lot of stories that, you know, room rumors or not. A lot of them are probably rumors too, but like a lot of people that are in the industry, whether it is film, television, or music, you know, that they they seem to in one aspect to have this glorious, very luxurious life, you know, whether it's financially all of their success or just their fame and fortune, you know, um, in terms of being celebrities, but that they also have a very difficult time living in a in a in a regular, everyday human reality. You know, they struggle, especially when they enter the industry at a young age, they have difficulty, you know, their mental health is affected, and and the way they get to, you know, uh have a relationship with someone is very difficult, or the way that they get to avoid press to just go eat like a normal person, you know, all these things that you hear about. And, you know, having an artist kind of embrace some of these difficulties that they go through. You know, the the weekend, too, is often known to be a very private person in terms of his personal life. You know, he doesn't do a lot of interviews, um, he's not seen publicly very often, um, let alone talking about himself or speaking about his life. It seems to all very much be expressed through his music. And, you know, some of it's probably up for interpretation, but I think overall, it's a really cool thing to see that someone can embrace. Like, yes, I've lived of a difficult life, or I've had a difficult time dealing with the things in my life and fame being a part of it, but I'm also using that to embrace and express what I'm feeling, and eventually get to a point where I can I can find peace with some of this stuff. Doesn't mean that I'm perfect now or that I'm you know a perfect person. Probably still gonna have some other rough moments too. Because I think that's even a beautiful thing as you listen to this album that is supposed to be lighthearted, there's still some kind of dark moments here and there or dark references, and it's a perfect analogy for just that's how life's gonna be. Even when you are in a better spot. You know, I I think that's another really cool aspect to think about, and I I've thought about this many times. Listening to this album is that sometimes we can overcome a very, very dark period in our life, or what's considered to be one of our worst moments. It doesn't mean that we've escaped ever having a bad moment again in our life. I think that's another big misconception that we all are guilty of, I think maybe at some point is wow, we worked really hard to overcome this really difficult thing in my life, in our lives, and now I'm I'm free of it. I don't have to deal with that anymore. And I think if anything, the the takeaway there or the message that you should have walking away from a situation like that or overcoming something so you know horrifying or awful in our life is that now we're just a little bit more equipped to manage the next time we might have a quote unquote worst moment of our life. And to understand that, yeah, it might look different, it might regard a different aspect of our life, um, it might come from a very different situation in our life, maybe one that we never thought would go wrong, but now we have a bigger expectation of ourselves to know that we can get past it, we can maybe have a better sense of how we learn to manage some of those things. Because, you know, at the end of the day, I think if we're gonna be completely honest here about any of our worst moments, oftentimes half of what's so awful about it is, you know, we talk you hear a lot of people say, you know, people fear the unknown. And I think there's the uncertainty of where this issue or worst moment may have came from, and also what does it mean for us down the line? Has this affected me now permanently? Has this prevented me from ever being happy again to succeed again, you know? And you know, I'll I'll be very transparent about something, uh, you know, and and and again, it talks a lot about no matter what is going on in life, you sometimes learn to overcome some of those worst moments just by embracing that you're not gonna know what they look like, or you're not gonna know why they're happening at that time. But it's not until the moment you learn to embrace what is, not because you love it, but because you recognize that it has its place in in your life on the path that you're on. It's at that moment you make peace with where you are, and you've already kind of made peace with where you're headed, even if you don't know what it looks like. Um you know, I I have gone through situations where um, as an example, where you know, years ago, you know, I was let go from a job, a job that I thought was gonna be my absolute end-all be all career. And yet, you know, at that time, I I felt like why is this happening? I I thought I had done all everything right, things came, you know, and and as we know, you know, sometimes it's just part of the reality that's you know, things change, plans change, the environment changes, people around you change, um, you know, uh maybe the way you you you you put effort into things change, your focus changes, and that goes for everybody and around you in life too. And sometimes it hits you like a bus, and you have no idea what's next. And it's that uncertainty that sometimes drives us crazy, especially if we're in this waiting period where we don't know what to do next, we don't know what the right step is. And how do we learn to be okay with this period of uncertainty? And it's hard. It's it's arguably probably one of the hardest things any of us ever have to do in terms of when we have something that is feels truly impossible to get through. But you know, as I've said before, and something I learned from quite a few different people around me, it's not about you forgetting that it hurts or forgetting that these times are are difficult or painful. It's accepting that these situations maybe are supposed to be painful or difficult because it's teaching us something, it's guiding us to something else that we're supposed to learn or grow into down the line. You know, I and then again, this is just for me. I know everybody is life, everybody's life expectations or where you're headed in life can be different. But like for me, I've always looked forward to the day I can have a family, you know, and and and and and and hopefully when that day comes, you know, I everyone always says that I hear people around me, even around my age, who have had kids already or started to have kids, that you know, you're never really truly ready for when you're gonna have kids. I I you know you always hear that. I've always heard that. But one thing that I've always thought about is especially lately over the last few years, especially after I graduated college and I started to have my own career and understanding, you know, kind of the life I've been building for myself, is any difficult moment that life has thrown at me, or any rough period I've had in my life, whether it be physical, mental, um, a little bit of both, um, you know, psychological, overcoming it and you know, developing into a uh a different version of myself, or growing into a different version of myself and developing new skills, learning to thrive in certain different difficult times or chaotic times, all of those parts of my evolution, if you want to call it that, as an individual, I'm glad I've gotten to have them because I love the fact that maybe the day I have a kid and they are going through a similar rough moment. If I can speak to any of those experiences, because I've been through a lot of difficult times and have learned different things about how to overcome them or get past them, I get to be an example and help them navigate some of those things. You know, and I've been lucky that, you know, when I grew up, my parents had many difficult situations that they helped me get through when I encountered them. Same thing with us, any of us who have friends who have dealt with things that maybe we're dealing with for the very first time, you know, or other family members or loved ones. They help us navigate some of these things because they've been through them and they understand. And I love that I maybe we'll get to pass that down one day. Um, and maybe it's not a kid. Maybe you're somebody's mentor down the line. Maybe you're meant to be a teacher or an educator of some kind or whatever it is, you might impact somebody's life down the line. And at the end of the day, you know, part of what our life and how it brings value to the world is what we leave behind for those who come after us. And it's really cool to think about the fact that, yeah, you you get to obviously do it for yourself first when you overcome something very difficult. But then when you've something really achieved and come, you know, made a comeback from your one of your worst moments, that's a really cool example to walk around with. You know, not to show it off per se, but to just embrace it and be like, okay, yeah, I really walked away from a really difficult situation. Maybe it even took me a while. I maybe even had some some rough moments where I wasn't doing things right at the beginning as a response to those really, you know, my worst moments. But I got to eventually turn it into something great. I got to turn it around, I got to turn my life around in a way that, yeah, it was okay. It was hard at first, but it was worth it. It was worth getting through. And to be able to pass something like that along, I mean, there's very few things that are more empowering than something like that. And I hope that any of you listening to this or have gotten to listen to this and you're thinking about something that you got through as one of your quote unquote worst moments, take a moment right now, be proud of yourself. Not because anybody else needs to know what that worst moment is. Maybe some people do, maybe nobody knows about what your worst moment was. Maybe you went through it alone. Um and that that can be difficult in and of itself to think about. But if anything, I hope that all of you can think of a time where you got through a really difficult period of your life. Sit there and be proud. Because if you're listening here right now, it means you got past it. So be proud of yourself. Um if I can send love your way and by any means know that I'm proud of you because you're listening to this and you were patient for almost 45 minutes and and made the time to try to get this far and hopefully take something out of this. Um, you know, I'm grateful to those who helped remind me that when I got through a really rough moment, that it had value, it had meaning, and it could help define who you wanted to be, not who you are or what you've been through or any any m mistakes you've made in the past. Just that it's gonna help define who you can be if you choose to really put the effort in and work hard to get there. Um so I I I wanna say that's pretty much it, you know. Um so you know, if if any of you are going through a difficult time too, don't let anyone invalidate how how difficult it might be for you specifically, um, but know that you ultimately are equipped to take anything from that situation and find value, to find growth, and that you are more than capable. The situation is in your hands for a reason, it's because your hands are the best equipped to manage it, and you just gotta find a way. Um But yeah, I'm glad that uh I'm glad that this topic was hopefully helpful to anybody listening. I also loved that I got to dive into some music. I I I look forward to hopefully diving into more. You know, I'll be honest. I I love a lot of music just for you know how things sound, how aesthetic they can be in terms of you know our ears and and and even just you know good rhythms, good beats, and just good, you know, good feeling music. But you know, every once in a while there's a good story to tell with some music, and hopefully I get to dive more into that um you know in in later episodes. But uh, but yeah, thank you so much everybody for listening, uh for making it all the way through the episode as well. Um if you're really enjoying this, if you're enjoying the the podcast and these episodes, please, as I've mentioned before, share with anybody in your life, family, friends, your loved ones, your neighbor, anybody you work with, anybody you sit on the on the metro with, if you carpal with anybody, um if you're in line somewhere at the grocery store, whatever it might be, uh spread the word. Let them know. If somebody wants a good lesson uh of life that I've also gotten to learn from somebody, and you want to spread the good word, put it out there. Um you want you know anybody that likes to talk music, film, television, send them set send them this way. Put them onto the Daydreamers podcast. I hopefully that they they won't regret it. I I highly doubt that they will. Um look forward to more episodes with all of you. I also got some again some more more content coming on the way, so I'm excited for for more engagement with all of you. Again, put it in my comments, DMs, what'd you think about the episode? I can't wait to hear more feedback and what else you'd like to hear from me. But otherwise, much love as per usual, and you'll hear from me on the next episode. Take care.