Episode 10: Accountability

In this episode, we’re getting into a topic that’s necessary, grounding, and deeply connected to who we become: Accountability. Not the formal, corporate version — the real, personal kind. The kind that asks us to look at our choices, our patterns, and the impact we have on ourselves and the people around us.

I talk about why accountability matters not just in society, but in our day‑to‑day lives — in the small decisions, the big turning points, and the moments when it would be easier to shift responsibility elsewhere. This episode explores what it means to take ownership of our actions, to stay aligned with our values, and to recognize the responsibility we carry in shaping our own growth.

Because accountability isn’t about blame — it’s about clarity. It’s about stepping into who we say we want to be and choosing to move with intention. When we take ownership, we gain the power to redirect, rebuild, and reshape our circumstances into something stronger and more purposeful.

This episode is a reminder that holding yourself accountable is one of the most powerful responsibilities we will ever live with.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:12

What is going on, everybody? Welcome back to another episode of the Daydreamers Podcast. I'm your host, Esteban. Very happy to be back. And, you know, back into the groove of things, getting more into a rhythm of getting these episodes. I, you know, I was I was out for a little bit because I was sick. So I'm back, I'm back to be being in the groove of everything. Got a couple of episodes out. Obviously, um, even got a bonus episode out, answered some questions. That was a really fun episode to do. For me personally, selfishly, I'll say it was nice to kind of draw away from the regular routine and have a different kind of conversation. I definitely am gonna have more of that on the way. Um, lots of good movies coming out, some good album releases, TV shows that are gonna premiere that I'm gonna be binging as well. So I'm gonna be happy to start talking about that or leading up to anticipation of some of those things. Um, you know, so looking forward to all of that. Thank you all for tuning in. And again, if you're new here, go check out the previous episodes, lots of great topics that we've already gotten to to speak about. Um, this is a this is a you know, I always think about like how do I describe this podcast, what this show is. And I'll be honest, it's it's a little bit of everything, but it is a lot based around lots of good motivational topics, things that I've learned along my life's journey that have gotten me to this point. Um, I've been very fortunate to have so many very intelligent people around me, people that I've learned from, people that I've grown with, and and you know, their their energy, their, their knowledge, um, you know, their life experience. It's become a very contagious thing that I've been very happy to be a sponge and and just you know obtain a lot of really, really great things. And again, I've been very fortunate to have people like that around me. So um I like to just pass along the good word, the good stuff that I've picked up along the way. Um and we tie it to entertainment. I love movies, I love TV, I love music, and you know, I've always found this way of you know drawing inspiration from these things or feeling like they're very connected to to what drives me, to what allows me to be the very best version of myself. And you know, some people can overlook a movie or a TV show or even a song and think it's it's just a form of entertainment. That's all it is. Um, but for there are people out there that for them it's it's a really it's a direct link to something that that they relate to that that is a reflection of the story they are telling with their life or things that they're dealing with that they're going through. And at the end of the day, it's also a reminder that any of these creatives, any of these people that create this content or or put this entertainment out, it's a reminder that they're people too. And you know, the does sometimes that lifestyle maybe get become too big for an individual? Sure. And maybe it starts to dilute a little bit of what the entertainment is, but at the end of the day, we're all people and we all have some of the same life experiences, certain emotions that register certain um good, bad, and indifferent things that happen to us. It it registers to us on a human level at some point in our life. So it allows us to stay connected those ways and and feel like we're not alone too, at the end of the day. I think I, you know, I've always been fortunate enough to have uh, you know, lots of loving people around me. But I will also say, even in those moments where even the most loved people, the more the people that are surrounded by so many others in their circle, it's still easy to feel alone during certain life experiences. When when something you know strikes in your life and you don't quite know what to do with it, where to begin, or how to share it with anybody, you can often feel alone. And I think, again, that's a very human thing for a lot of us to go through. And sometimes it doesn't take for us to, it doesn't take for a conversation that we have with someone um, you know, to help us get through it or at least to be able to find this initial comfort that everything's gonna be okay. Sometimes we seek externally to something else that it uh, you know, allows us to maybe sit with ourselves a little bit and cope or to mourn or to grieve or whatever the the thing is that you need to do. And sometimes it's sitting down watching a movie, listening to an album in silence, putting some headphones on and escaping, you know, and and and a lot of that can kind of kickstart you in into the healing process and to be able to um be on your way to to finding yourself through the next chapter. So I digress. That's just another little summary of what this podcast is all about and what I continue to aim to be able to bring the very best of uh with these conversations and this dialogue. So I'm very excited for the topic today. Um it's a it's a really powerful one, one that I'm very passionate about. And um it's also, you know, something that is um, how can I say it's it means a lot to me, but I think it also very relevant to a lot of what we've got going on um uh I think in society. And it's very important for us to all understand the role that we play sometimes. Um and also I will say, you know, I've been able to kind of revisit uh some really cool movies with this podcast, you know, and this one in particular, and I'll dive into it a little bit later, but I got to rewatch arguably one of the best sports movies ever made. There's an argument out there that could be made. A lot of people will claim this. Uh Remember the Titans. There's a few others, don't get me wrong. I know there's even some movies that I haven't watched in a while. Like I know uh people like I know I I love Coach Carter, that's another really good one. Um A League of Their Own, classic. Um Field of Dreams is another one. Um Angels in the Outfield. Um, gosh, I know there's so many others that that that I'm missing or that I'm not thinking of right now. Um, not a movie, a TV show, but Ted Lasso is is is largely about uh uh uh a British uh soccer team, a football team, if you will. Um but lots of great sports films out there. Um and so anyway, got to revisit by watching Remember the Titans because I felt like it was really relevant to the topic I wanted to talk about in this episode. So I'm excited to dive into that. Lots of sports things going on right now, though. Obviously, the World Cup has kicked off officially, pun intended. Um, you know, gotta gotta be true to my roots. Of course, I'm rooting for Mexico. Gotta gotta uh hope that they make it very far. The day that this episode comes out, they're gonna be playing South Korea. Uh second game they're playing into the World Cup. It's gonna be a very good game, very competitive game. Really hoping that Mexico takes this one just to kind of get a good head start going into the first uh competitive rounds uh of the World Cup. Of course, rooting for USA as well. And um, in this household, we're also rooting for Germany. Uh, fun fact my girlfriend is part German. Uh her family uh some of her family is from Germany. So um, and for those of you who are soccer fans, football fans, uh, and have been watching some of the games already, uh Germany had their first game, and I I think they probably had the most dominant win of anybody. I could be wrong on that. Um, but one of the most for sure dominant wins in the entire first run of World Cup games, they won seven to one, I believe, which for those of you who don't watch a lot of soccer, um, that's big. Usually a typical score in a soccer game will probably be like three to two, or sometimes even like a tie, like two to two, one to one for the final score. This game was seven to one. And I think a lot of people even online were like, Jesus Christ, dude, did you really have to kick it off with a bang like that? Like, okay, now we all know you mean business, you're not here to mess around. Um, also, I know I don't I don't have enough knowledge of all the teams and their skill sets, how talented they should be. Um, but that's still a hell of a way to kick off the World Cup, if you ask me. So excited. Um, I'm gonna definitely be going out, hopefully, maybe to go check out a sports bar or something to go watch the the Mexico game. So excited for that. Um, and I know the USA game will be on Friday, I believe, as well. So lots of lots of good stuff there. Continuing also shifting sports, of course. Looking forward to the Dodgers uh continuous games. Uh, we actually are, my girlfriend and I are going to go check out. Uh we have tickets to go see the Padres play in LA. We love catching at least one of those games because they're very competitive. Um, and also obviously the rivalry is is is almost second to none. Uh, one of the biggest rivalries in baseball for sure. Um the games get a little rowdy too, not gonna lie. We've been to a couple games before at Dodgers Stadium, and as it is, Dodger fans can be kind of rowdy. Padre fans can certainly be rowdy. I've recently gotten to go uh to Petco Park to watch a Padres game. They weren't playing the Dodgers, unfortunately. Um, but I will say, you know, uh I could I don't care for the Padres. Sorry, guys. Um, I'm never gonna root for him. Uh, you know, I'm I'm I'm I'm a human being. I'm not gonna hate on nobody or their sportsmanship, but at the same time, when the sportsmanship isn't always there, I gotta keep it real. Sorry, Padres. Um, sorry, not sorry. So, anyways, I I will just put it out there. I did go get to go watch a game in Peko Park, and it was a really nice stadium. I cannot take that away. It was a really cool stadium. It was my first time there, had a good experience. It was also leading up to Cinco de Mayo, so there was a lot of really cool stuff there. Um, but anyways, now we're gonna be able to go back and and and see the Padres play in LA. So that should be good. Um coming up soon. And uh also football season, guys. Really, if any of you football fans, football is kind of around the corner. I mean, a lot of the last um trades are being made, and and and soon it's gonna be time for people to get their fantasy football leagues going. I know I personally uh have a couple of leagues that I usually try to keep up with the last couple of years, having trying to grow that a little bit. That'll be a good time and looking forward. I personally, full disclosure, um, I'll always root for the LA teams. So, of course, Rams, Chargers, um, probably a little bit more Rams, just because I do like Aaron Donald, though my favorite player is retired, might be coming back, though. Um, that'll be a subject for another time. I could dive into a lot of a lot of football stuff right now, but um but I've always been a uh a Detroit Lions fan at heart because we grew up with my dad being a Detroit Lions fan, his favorite player, Barry Sanders. Um, so we've always been a Lions household in that sense, and I continue to try to carry that. I recently got only really got into football a few years ago, so I gotta follow that fandom as well. Um, my girlfriend is a Commanders fan. Uh don't know how that happened. She barely got into football only a couple of years ago. We did fantasy football, and I asked her to join. She was like, Yep, let's do it. Sure, why not? I don't know what I'm doing, but I'll just pick players. You can kind of help me out, whatever. And some of the players she really started to like were from the Commanders, it just happened to be. And she's been a loyal fan, I have to say, Commanders a couple years ago, when she first became a fan, they were a very good team. Then last year, they kind of fell down the rabbit hole, didn't do very well, but she stuck to it. So she's remained a loyal fan. She's not just a bandwagon. I gotta give her credit for that. Um, so we're a little bit of a divided household, but that's neither here nor there. Thank you for the tuning into the sports segment of the podcast. Um, but it's you know, in a way, kind of it is a sports episode, so that's all right. Um also in in movie news and things to look forward to. Oh guys, sorry, quick quick interruption. Uh Cuddy was napping when I kicked off the episode. It seems like he's awake now. Um I don't know if you heard it on the mic, but he was chewing on his food. Uh he was having a, I guess, a late breakfast, if you will. And um you can probably hear him. Let me see if I can get him close to the mic here. Cuddy, do you want to say hi to everybody? What do you want to say to everybody? Okay. Okay. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, for sure. Alright. Um, he's still he's still chewing a little bit on his food. That's okay. Uh, but he says hi. He says hi, everybody. Uh, and again, for those of you who don't know, Cuddy is uh our pug here in this household. He is six years old, he is he has the heart of an old man, and he's big chilling all the time. Um uh, but anyways, what was I saying? Oh, yeah, in terms of entertainment, lots of I gotta tell you guys, there's a lot to look forward to. Um, but when I'm recording this episode, uh Spider-Man brand new date, the newest Tom Holland Spider-Man movie tickets had just dropped. I was able to snag my tickets for any of you Spider-Man fans. Hopefully you were able to snag yours too. There's always a big, you know, when tickets go on sale online, they do it bright and early, like at five or six in the morning, and then the websites tend to crash, which I know is a nightmare. I used to work at a movie theater, so I know the nightmare that people try to fight for tickets and and and try to get a hold of them. And so, anyways, secured my tickets. Um, I'm gonna be checking them, I'm gonna be able to watch it opening day. Very excited for that. Um, also lots of other movies that that that that are on their way. Toy Story 5 comes out this weekend. Um, I know that uh Supergirl comes out uh, I believe the following weekend as well. Um, yeah, Spider-Man, uh uh uh Odyssey, which I cannot wait to see. I haven't gotten my tickets for that yet, but I really want to go see it in IMAX. Um, yeah, lots of other movies on the way too, and I still got to check out some movies at this point. I'm probably gonna have to wait till they come out on on streaming or something. Like Obsession and Backrooms. I still haven't seen either one of them, uh, but I really want to see it out. And and you know, right now it's kind of the time for horror films. They're they're thriving right now. So um I want to check those out. Uh the last thing I'll say too is, and I have to mention this, and I'm sure I'll talk more about it, the closer we get to spooky season. I am a huge Halloween fan. I've probably mentioned that on the podcast here before. Um, huge spooky season fan. I I count down the days every year. I go to horror nights every year at Universal Studios. I mean, it's a huge thing for me. And uh they've already started to make announcements. This is usually around the time in the summer where they start announcing some of the haunted houses they're gonna have, and mazes, I should say, they're gonna have at Universal Studios. They've already announced Sinners, which let me tell you, I will I will make the time to say Sinners was my favorite movie of last year. Um, I've watched it a few times already. I don't get tired of that movie. The music in that movie, the score, everything in that movie is to me, I mean, it's damn near perfect. Um and and it was just a cool twist on like a vampire story. I think it was really dope. And and Michael B. Jordan killed it playing uh Twin Brothers. I mean, and the whole cast is great. Um, but anyway, love the music in that movie, and now they're gonna recreate um a portion of that movie as a maze. I cannot wait for that. Uh, it's gonna definitely be a popular one. Also, one of my favorite shows of all time, Stranger Things, of course, is coming back for probably its final rendition at Universal Studios Horror Nights because the final season, the finale, everything happened last year, so this will probably be their last appearance, at least for a while at Universal Studios. So I'm excited for that. And um more announcements, I'm sure, are gonna be on the way. Gonna probably snag my tickets soon to go. I'll probably I might even try to go more than once. We'll see. We'll see how it goes. Those tickets are they've gotten very expensive over the years, so especially if you don't want to wait in that two, three hour line, you gotta get express if you want to do it right. You know, if you're gonna go and you're gonna spend some money, spend some money on the ticket for sure. Figure out the drinks and the food situation later. Get your tickets, get the good ticket so you can get in early and um and and and you can skip the damn lines, dude. Two, three hours is not worth it for just a couple of maces that day. Anyways, I I don't want to go on a full tangent for that. Um, but yeah, that's all that's going on right now. Let's dig into the subject. Um so as I mentioned, you know, some a topic that that has been really relevant for me lately and um that I think it speaks to a lot of speaks to a lot of the the the the the chaos that's going on in society, but I think also just what we deal in our personal lives when it comes to how we how we how we take care of our responsibilities. And I don't when I say responsibilities, I mean it it rings true to everything that we're responsible for in our life, any any basic day-to-day stuff for our health, for our loved ones, for for our our careers, our jobs, what you know, whatever it is. But more specifically, you know, what I refer to in this case is how we hold ourselves uh accountable for things. Accountability is is is the big subject that I really wanted to touch on today. And you know, I I think there's a lot of elements to accountability, you know. You can look at it from the perspective of what do you choose to find yourself responsible for, and sometimes what what do we as people have a responsibility to? Um, you know, in terms of how we treat other people, how we engage with people, how we how we deal with even with difficult situations or difficult people. You know, we we all encounter those things in life, regardless of what our job is, what our family looks like, what our friends' circle looks like, um, where we live. All those are realities of what we deal with on a regular basis. It just might look different for everybody, but it's the the subject matter is the same. And so, you know, there's a there's a couple of things that that really came to mind, and obviously we all know, um, and and you know, I'm gonna put this disclosure out too, you know, I I don't like to get political or anything of that nature, but I think sometimes for the sake of just being a human being, being a decent person, uh keeping in mind what our responsibility is as people and human beings, um, some of that is far more it's far more significant than just to be held within certain boundaries of politics or or how you choose to vote or uh what what side you lean on any of that stuff. There are certain things that should exist across the board and shouldn't be separated by some of these lines that that we've that we've drawn up, especially over recent years. Um so that's what I'll say about that. And this subject matter is is a testament to that for sure. Um you know, and and the main thing that I thought about is when when it comes to accountability, and and again, am I speaking from from being an expert? Absolutely not. I think we all find ourselves at times learning from our mistakes and and having our share of, you know, excuse my language, having our share of fuck-ups, um, where we try to handle our responsibilities and sometimes we lose track. Maybe we bite off more than we can chew. Um, or sometimes we we're again we're human. The the the other part of being a human being is we're gonna lose track of things, we're gonna forget things sometimes. And and that's okay. You know, we gotta give ourselves room to make that mistake sometimes. But the key here, especially in terms of accountability, is what do we choose to do moving forward after we have made that mistake? Do we hold ourselves accountable to that and make the effort to do better wherever we can, or do we ignore the fact that some of that was our responsibility to take care of or to try to at least own that mistake and be better for it? Because I think one of the hardest things, and don't get me wrong, is it often very difficult, especially on in a mental sense, to accept our failures or our our mistakes? Oh, a thousand percent. There's there's elements of embarrassment and shame and and carrying the weight of it, maybe being too hard on ourselves, even a lot of that can carry weight and it's very difficult to manage sometimes mentally. But it doesn't mean that it's not worth the hard work and the effort, especially if it is mental uh hard work. It that's part of the process. I think anything that we achieve, whenever we get to a certain level of success or achievement in any aspect of our life, there was probably a share of uh of mistakes that we had to own in order to then accept what the victory could look like, what the achievement would look like in the future. Um that's part again, it's one of the stepping stones for it. And um what what I found so interesting in thinking about this topic um is the fact that it look again, it looks different for everybody, but one of the common themes for me that I think when it comes to our uh holding ourselves accountable is especially when it comes to engaging with other people, is how do we I want to say this right? How do we manage our own expectations and and furthermore, how do we hold ourselves accountable to how we engage with other people, um specifically with our own thoughts and opinions. Um I think one of the the very key elements here is that we live in a time where anybody at any given time can express an opinion or a thought they might have and put it out for millions of people to see in a split second. It's very simple. And um I think one of the crazy things about that, I mean, there's a lot of things you can think about when it comes to lear understanding that society, you know, that this is one of the realities we live in. But I think one of the most important elements to consider, and that is it is very a very wild thing to think about, is that we we develop this this lack of we we do things without thinking a lot of the time, as it is as human beings. But I think especially when you're put in an environment where you can share a thought or an opinion and feel that there is of no consequence to you, um it's it's a very scary thing. Because, you know, I think having the freedom to express whatever's on your mind, it's a beautiful freedom to have. But I think it's also something that uh is a huge responsibility of ours to know anytime we put out a thought or an opinion. Are we expressing it to send a message? Are we expressing it to anger people? Are we expressing it to stand up for something or are we expressing it? It because we maybe we want to make our self voices feel heard. Maybe we feel alone. Maybe we seek validation in some sense, um, or are looking for people to agree with us. And I think again, it's human to feel all these things, right? Um, the only thing I will say though is we often forget that because it's so easy to hit send on posting something uh or saying something online, we forget that this is accessible to everyone. And and and there's it's a double-edged sword, right? Because we often see on one hand that we can easily post something and then realize later, oh, maybe I didn't need to do that, or maybe I didn't need to share that with the world. Maybe that was something more for me to keep kind of to myself. I didn't need the world to hear that from me because maybe now it has created some kind of reputation of uh that that I don't want out there, or I've engaged now in a conversation that I don't want to be a part of, or that I actually don't feel that strongly about. I was just kind of saying something to say something to be a part of a popular trend or conversation, but I actually realize now I don't know that much. Maybe I don't have that much knowledge or insight, and I was just kind of talking to talk. Um, or you realize that maybe you feel like you're standing up for something that you believe in or that you feel strongly about. But then you realize, oh, now that I've done it publicly and put it out to the world to see, now you have people holding you accountable for what you said. Sometimes jobs will second guess hiring you, um, or uh people trying to get deals or contracts made and and that being a thing, or we even hear about it high-profile actors and directors and things. You hear a lot about this cancel culture that has come up over the last you know decade, arguably at least, that oh, well, we found a post uh that you put out years ago and we're gonna cancel you for that, or we can't give you the job, or we're gonna have to not be able to work with you because of that. So sorry. Or you're gonna have to apologize publicly and take it down and all that stuff. And that's a whole rabbit hole of uh of dialogue and back and forth that has been created, all from what? The ability to share your opinion in an instant. And it's it is to me, it it's worthy of acknowledging that how different that reality is, because the freedom was always there. But I think what has now changed, in my opinion, is that back then, and I'm talking before social media was a big thing that everyone just had, um, if you wanted to share an opinion, you needed to have some level of uh courage or bravery in your head to say, I'm gonna have to face any response or difference of opinion right on the spot as I say this face to face with five, ten, fifteen other people that are right in front of me. We don't have that anymore, at least not on a regular basis. Because when you're typing something on a keyboard and you post it, yes, you're gonna pop you could get likes or dislikes or comments, both positive and negative, immediately, but you don't have to, you the accountability isn't addressed to you right then and there. Because you can choose to ignore it. You can choose to pretend it's not there, you can choose to even engage with it, but at your own pace. And it still feels like you're a lot more in control of how your opinion affects other people. But the reality is people are still hearing it as soon as they read something you post it or hear it, and it's affecting them in real time. But the way it comes back to you isn't necessarily in in real time the way it hit them. And there is a significant difference. And and I speak to this passionately, and I bring this up to begin with, because I think there's a level of self-awareness that needs to kick in. You know, there's a lot of people that post as like a second nature, they don't even think about it. And and I'm not hating on those people, but I think it's it's worthy of mentioning that sometimes there can be an impact, positive or negative, to how you choose to quickly post something or send something, or even even if it's not social media, even take social media out of it. Texting versus calling or talking to somebody on the phone, a lot of those things it varies depending on the kind of conversation you're having, how much you want to be able to address things. Because even you know, the difference between having somebody on the phone with you and you say something to them that might feel bold or courageous, or just a very powerful statement and hearing them respond to you over the phone immediately, or getting their reaction in real time, versus you texting somebody and waiting for them to respond, not knowing what look did they have on their face as a reaction? What tone are they saying things in which they responded to you? They sound like they could be angry, but maybe also they're just kind of stating the fact, but they feel indifferent, they're not necessarily projecting any anger towards you. All of these differences should be a reflection of how not only differ how different things are now, but also the accountability that has to kick in. Because, see, if you were to go to a group of people and you knew they were talking about a subject, and I'm gonna make it lighthearted. Let's say for the sake you walk up to a group of people or you overhear a group of people saying, You know what, I Marvel movies are a lot better to me than DC movies. The DC movies suck. The Marvel movies are just so much better, and DC is just awful. And you, overhearing that conversation, you let's say you then just waltz right into that little, let's say they're they're they're let's say they're at a table, they're all sitting at a table, and you take your happy ass and you go sit down at that table, and you say, Yeah, well, I'll be honest with you. I think all the Marvel movies kind of suck. They're weak, they're making too many of them. I'm getting confused, I don't know how to keep up. DC's at least releasing one thing at a time. I can they're trying to do something new, something fresh, and I can appreciate that more. All you and all you Marvel fans that keep, you know, supporting all these movies, you guys are just you're you're just trying to be loyal fans because you just want it to be good and you're just hating on DC, but all of you are fake fans. Like, just think about that for a second. For any of you who are online on social media and are a fan of any of the superhero films, you know there's always a lot of controversy about which films are better. And how easy, and how many, probably hundreds of thousands of people go online every day expressing that exact opinion. But the difference is you can post about it on Twitter or on Instagram, whatever, uh, and then you can leave that post and never address it again. Meanwhile, people could be commenting or having banter in the comment section and fighting and arguing with you, calling you names, whatever, but you don't feel any consequence of it. Because you could just choose not to read it and leave it at that. But the same person goes to that table and makes that comment, like I just mentioned. You have to now deal with the fact that you have maybe 10 people at that table who could have a number of levels of differences of opinion with you. They could not like you for making that comment. They might not even like the fact that you sat down and jumped into their conversation. They might not appreciate that. One of them might be super obsessed with Marvel, or, you know, just for the sake of the conversation, they are so far removed from your opinion, they disagree with you so much. Now they want to they want to fight with you one-on-one. They want to argue with you, they get up, they want to get physical, um, uh, or they might start coming after you personally because they don't like that you just came up in their conversation and started sharing an opinion. But see, you as a person walk in with that self-awareness. Now, let's be real for a second. Does everybody have that awareness, even in person? Unfortunately not. I think we've all run into a couple of people where you kind of watch them do something like that. They go up to a group of people, make a comment they probably shouldn't have, and you're going, oh well, um, they just got hit in the face for saying what they said. Am I surprised? No, not at all. I wouldn't have done what they did. Right? But the but the the the the the fact still stands. You come to terms with that in real time. And there's often times too where if somebody makes a mistake like that, or they jump into a conversation that maybe they didn't need to, or they make a very aggressive comment and they suffer a consequence for it like that. What does that person walk away from that experience thinking? Maybe there's a chance I shouldn't do that again, or I should at least rethink the way I do that if I ever do that in the future. But see, once again, you do that on social media, or you do it just by typing something to someone, you can ignore it and never have it addressed again. Because the consequence is, the likely of you facing a consequence has is almost close to none. That difference cannot be ignored. And mind you, that topic I just mentioned, Marvel movies and DC movies, superhero movies, things that are fiction can become a situation like that. Now insert the topic of politics or certain morals and values that a culture might have. You can imagine how much more significant that difference becomes, acknowledging how different that interaction is, and let alone the impact it can have on the people that it is addressing, or the people that may read it or come across it. So why again, why do I bring that up and and why is that so important to me as well? One of the big things that you know that I thought about just recently actually was an analogy I kind of came up with that I feel is is is just really important when it comes to you know how you gotta hold yourself accountable when it comes to your opinion. And you know, I I one of the things that I thought about, and and I feel that is a very important lesson, is you know, having an opinion is not necessarily harmful to others. Just plainly having the opinion. You having an opinion in your head, you know, I like ketchup on my hot dog, but not mustard. That opinion doesn't hurt anybody, you know, and again, not just because of the subject matter, but let's say I keep that to myself, I just have it in my head. I don't tell anybody, it's of no consequence to anyone, right? However, how you choose to wield that opinion makes all the difference. Because let's say, and again, this is a very light-hearted example, but what I just said, I like ketchup on my hot dogs, I hate mustard. Let's say I said that out loud, right as someone gave me a hot dog that had mustard on it, and somebody maybe was trying to be a good host, but I express it very sternly, almost upset even, because it's the how, right? Now that host probably feels like, damn, I was just trying to be a good host, and now I kind of feel bad. And again, this is a very light-hearted and maybe not the best example, but the point is there is a slight difference in how I choose to express that same opinion. But if I keep it to myself, it's it's just an opinion that I have. It's me again, being human being a human being, like any of us. We probably have hundreds of opinions every single day that we keep to ourselves. Um and believe me, even me as a chatterbox, I don't express a lot of the opinions that I have in my mind because a lot of us just kind of go through it. It's it's a regular part of our daily brain activity, you know. Um, but again, how you choose to wield that opinion makes all the difference. And the analogy I kind of came up with, and I feel like it's a really cool way to look at this, is an opinion is like a sword. And I say that in the sense that it can be used for an offensive action, it can be used for a defensive action, depending on how you look at it. So it can be used offensively or defensively. Typically, when you think of a sword, it's a weapon for battle, right? For an attack. And I know I'm thinking this is a more medieval, you know, this is not necessarily the most modern times, not everybody's walking around with a sword, but just for the sake of the analogy, you know, a sword can be used in battle to attack an opponent, right? Somebody that you're fighting. Um, but it can also be used to protect yourself uh in in a battle, right? Uh, you know, if if you watch any type of sword fighting or anything, like even think of other examples. If you anything from uh the Star Wars films, the lightsabers, right? They use it kind of like a sword. They use it to try to attack the other person, but what do they also have to do constantly as they're fighting back and forth? They have to block the attack from the other person, right? They're constantly defending themselves along the way. In Star Wars, for those of you Star Wars fans, somebody shoots at them, they use that lightsaber to stop that that blast from hitting them. So it's equally used as a defensive uh tool, um, even in the sport of fencing. You know, I don't know a lot about fencing, I've never gotten into fencing personally, but I've had a couple of friends who actually did it um in high school and in college, and I remember one of the biggest techniques that they taught him, taught them how to do is how do they position their footwork in a way that once they strike, they can also bounce back to defend themselves. And what do they defend themselves with? It's not just them dodging the the fencing sword of hitting them, it's also how do they position themselves so they can quickly turn their own sword uh to block, to defend themselves. And so it's equally a tactic that is used and and and and it's the same weapon you're doing for both of those things. Um now the it's one of the most important strategies to keep in mind in terms of defending yourself as much as it is in a in an way to attack something or someone. But it, you know, knowing how to defend yourself and knowing to choose the right moment, picking your battles, so to speak, that's a very significant part of it. Because you look, an opinion, an opinion, if you look at it in this analogy, it can be very empowering. And the moment you gain confidence to express and wield your opinion, it's very easy to get carried away or lost in that power. Let's keep it a buck. Probably back then, when it was just swords, there were no guns or anything involved. You just sword was like the most elite weapon, right? And let's say you you carry this big ass sword, you feel like you're the shit, right? Like that there's no way around it. You have this, you have this big sword, you feel like nothing can stop you. And just like that, you have if you have this very powerful opinion, or at least it's powerful to you, it's it's it's significant to you in your head, you can often get carried away with that power. And again, why? Because we're human, we lose track of things sometimes. So it nothing to necessarily be ashamed of in terms of the nature of how that happens to us every once in a while. Um, but the way you express you know yourself within your opinion, it's the same as how do you choose to wield that sword, right? Like any weapon, a weapon is a huge responsibility. Why? Because it is capable of a lot. So it's not just about wielding it around and having this power. How do you choose to use that power? I'm gonna quote Spider-Man for the hundredth time. With great power comes great responsibility, right? Same concept. And, you know, I think the more responsibility you use it with, the less likely you are to harm other people. And the less you'll probably have to anyway. You know, a lot of times, the and I, you know, this is me kind of probably I'm I'm paraphrasing heavily, but I remember in in history, you would learn a lot about medieval times and you know, a lot of knights and stuff. You know, a sword was a was again probably the most elite weapon or one of the most elite weapons that ever existed at the time. But more often than not, a lot of these, you know, high-ranked knights and kings, they had a sword 70% of the time, unless they were going into battle, they weren't using the sword one bit. They just carried it around. Why? It was almost like a power move. It established who they were, it represented them. But they needed to be responsible about how they used it. Certain people were not necessarily the most dominant or powerful because they carried around their sword, waving it around at everybody all the time, but it spoke for itself that they handled it responsibly. They held themselves accountable, that they only they only wielded it or used it when they needed to. I'm trying to remember, there's a quote that just came to me, and I don't remember what movie it is. Um Gosh, and I feel like it's a period piece of some kind, but I'm not thinking of the movie. But the quote, and again, I'm gonna butcher the quote a little bit, but it's something along the lines of a wise king doesn't seek out war, but must always be ready for it. I I'm not gonna remember what movie it is. I'm gonna I'm gonna have to probably look it up at some point. Um but anyway, that that idea of knowing when and where to use it, because you know its impact, you know its capability. Um, and also being reckless with it. You often can even harm yourself when you don't use that weapon accordingly, when you don't use it wisely. If you use it recklessly, you can mess around and get yourself hurt, get yourself cut up. And that's also a problem. But it's a product of what? You not wielding it the right way, you not being responsible enough with what you have, the power that you have. Um, and we can't forget that the reason any of us would choose to, you know, let's say whether it's a sword or any other weapon, but again, keeping to the analogy, if anybody, even in those times, or even now, a lot of people use it for decorative purposes, but let's say for the sake of to protect yourself. People back then probably had swords even in their home, right? Um, or a weapon of that kind. They have it and they have it in their home. And the reason any of us would probably do something like that is not for necessarily the sake of attacking someone every time we got a chance to. If we have it in our home, it's likely because we want to protect ourselves and those that we love in our home space, in our environment. More often than not, that's there to pre that's there as a precaution to protect yourself. And so I think sometimes to, you know, those that we welcome into our home, we we keep that in mind. And we also have to remember that in the way which we, you know, we wield that sort of opinion, it's just an example for those who will come after us. I think it's another thing, important thing to keep in mind. You know, we are an example for others around us, whether we like it or not. That's just a fact, especially if you have a family, you have kids, you have friends even that might be younger than you are looking up to you in some sense. There's a level of responsibility there to always remember. And, you know, how you choose to wield the power that you have, whether it's the power of expression, whether it is something that that that that the power that you've been granted, that you've earned, how you choose to wield it sets an example for others that will come after you, generations that follow. And that includes your voice. Especially now. I mean, look at me. I'm the I'm the probably the I'm the tenth millionth person to have a podcast. I'm not new, I'm not doing anything new here necessarily. But the power of expression can be very powerful. And what you choose to say, how you choose to say it, can really make an impact, good or bad. And recognizing that is part of the process. Because also, you know, I I know that these recordings could last forever, right? My kids, my future kids, you know, God willing I have kids one day, they could hear this. And it's gonna be and it's gonna set an example for how we do things, how I how I chose to do things and to wield that power. You know, I'm I'm a chatterbox, I love talking, but I've also been very blessed and grateful to have a lot of people that have taught me a lot of great things, giving me things to constantly talk about and want to dive into that that are very positive and motivational. How do I what do I choose to do with that? It's gonna make a difference if I choose to do it the right way or if I choose to do it the wrong way. But being aware of that responsibility and accountability, it matters. It truly matters, and it matters for all of us who have that, especially when it comes to expressing our opinion. And, you know, this responsibility, it's one that can really can't take, it really can't be taken for granted. We're all human and again, we're all gonna make mistakes at times, and you know, and it's okay, but there are opportunities to learn from. And and but the thing that's gonna allow us to learn from those, you know, those said mistakes and to progress in a forward direction is accountability and understanding that those mistakes can harm other people. Because the other thing about being human and sometimes that we do make mistakes, and maybe something that we said might hurt somebody's feelings. I mean, even we learned this as kids. Sometimes we might be in the heat of a moment and we might say something to somebody that actually hurts their feelings. And in the moment, we maybe didn't even mean to do that. Again, because that I think that happens more often than we think. We don't mean to hurt somebody's feelings, but we're just so passionate in a conversation that we say something and then we realize, oh, maybe we crossed the line. Or maybe that wasn't the time to say something. Or maybe the comment was just a lot meaner than I realized, and I just wasn't aware of it at the time. And again, do we have to give ourselves grace for making those mistakes? Absolutely. Because then we'll never move on and evolve. But part of moving on is also accepting that we've made a mistake. And a lot of times it's not just accepting it internally, is how do we acknowledge that with the person that we might have hurt? I think we miss that part a lot. Because it's selfishly, you want to be able to move on and not carry the weight of it. And I think we talk about mental health a lot and the way we carry weight of things. That can weigh heavy on a person and it can really impact them for a long time. But the same goes for the people that you were speaking to, for the people that you might have affected, that you might have hurt their feelings, or you might have impacted them negatively in some way. That can also not be ignored. And you know, I I think a lot about for instance, you know, if you realize that you hurt somebody's feelings. Even if you didn't mean to, even if you don't fully understand it, there's something very powerful about going, hey, listen. I I didn't realize that I what I said was so offensive. And I'm sorry that I didn't understand that, or that I don't fully understand that. Maybe I I I don't I don't see things the same way, or maybe I just didn't I I didn't have that awareness. And and I apologize. I'm sorry, I'm sorry that it didn't make you feel that way. That can go a long way. You guys, that can make such a difference in terms of the impact you made. Is it gonna reverse everything? Is it gonna make everything go away? No, it it rarely does. But that's not the point. The point is you taking accountability and letting the other person know that you acknowledge them. You acknowledge them for being a person, for them having feelings or opinions of their own that that might impact them in some way. But you acknowledge genuinely, and the other thing is I've talked about authenticity in a previous episode. You gotta be genuine when you do it. Because otherwise, what's the point? Now you're just doing somebody a favor, but you're not acknowledging the reality of it for yourself. You gotta be able to do it in a way that says, look, even if I don't fully agree with maybe where they stand or or how things make them feel, there are always gonna be things that you carry that might offend you or make you feel some type of way that not everybody else is going to understand. And again, that's the nature of us all being human beings. But acknowledging that is a lot what allows us to thrive in society when we can evolve and live and thrive among other people that have differences from our own day-to-day life. We cannot ignore that. Because then how else do we live a life that truly allows us to hold on to very strong, meaningful relationships? Look, look, I'm I'm sure every single one of you that's listening right now has a family member, a friend, uh a significant other, somebody in your life that you're actually pretty close to or you get along with for the most part. I guarantee you you don't agree with them on everything. There might even be something that's of us of substantial value to you that you wholeheartedly disagree with, with that other person, but you still find a way to get along with them. And some of us, look, I know the reality of it. Sometimes we just don't acknowledge some of these differences, and that's what allows us to be productive or or or be civil with certain people in our life. And that's okay too. Because sometimes maybe that is the best way to keep the peace between you and another person. And part of that, why it works so often that you just don't maybe address some of these differences, it's not because you don't want to accept the reality of it. Sometimes it even just allows you to understand that I find it more important to me and it's more valuable to me to respect you and honor you as a human being, as a person, than to just have these constant issues because me and you disagree on something. I'd rather acknowledge you as a person and be able to keep the strengths of our relationship where they are. That can go a long way as well. And, you know, I I think one thing that's also very that's very beautiful about strengthening relationships when it comes to having an accountability, you also set a standard for future conflict. You know, I think that all of us can agree maybe over the last 10 years, lots of topics in the world have created maybe a divide that wasn't such an obvious divide before, or maybe the divide just the conversation was different, or it wasn't acknowledged as much. It wasn't as much of a public conversation. And these things sometimes can come at a time where we don't expect them, or they become such a big conversation in a way that we couldn't have anticipated, and now we feel the need to maybe choose a side of a conversation, we feel that we need to put out our our our two cents for a conversation, or to again in picking a side, and um I think you set the precedent when you can do that in certain elements of your life, that when other things come up that might be come up unexpectedly, you have now let that other person know, or other people know that that's how you handle those situations. You're not looking to be right, you're looking to do right. You want to do right by other people, you want to do right by your own self, and a lot of that is being accountable for what your opinion does, what what it can do, how powerful it is. And you know, I mentioned earlier, I know I get very passionate about this subject, and I mentioned earlier one of the beautiful things about in this case that I wanted to tie to the film Rem Remember the Titans, you know, that movie, it's a great football movie, it's a great sports movie, and it's very motivational, very inspirational when it comes to sports. But there's a lot of big social topics that are coming up in that movie. You know, the movie takes place in 1971, I believe, where um, you know, at that point, there were still not there were still a lot of um race relations going on. Uh I believe the movie takes place in Virginia, if I'm not mistaken. So there were still all white schools and all black schools, and uh, you know, there were a lot of social issues going on at the time, and and one of the big things in the movie is obviously you have this, and if you haven't seen this movie, please go watch it. It's a classic. Um, but it deals with the fact that there's a there there's a football team in Virginia, an all-white team, an all-white school, and um they suddenly find out that one year they're finally going to combine schools with an all-black school. So now it's gonna be a mixed-race school, which at the time was in at least, you know, at in that area during that period was almost unheard of. Um, all the surrounding schools were all white schools, so it was a big controversy. Obviously, you know, whether it be protests or or or political movements or whatever it was, you know, it was a big thing at the time. And the movie reflects a lot of that. And in the process of those two schools mixing, um, there was also, and and the main character played by Denzel Washington, he's a coach from, I don't know if he's out of state, I can't remember where where exactly he's coming from, but he's moved around a lot and he's a very good, he's known to be a very good coach, good reputation, uh, but mainly with black schools and black players. And um he then finds himself reassigned to a school that he thought at the time was gonna be an all-black school, but the moment the districts decided to combine those two schools and make it one mixed race school, they realized they had they put themselves in a pickle because now this coach is gonna be on the coaching staff of what used to be an all-white school and all-white coaching staff. And now him and his assistant coach are coming in at a time where people aren't accepting of it. And people don't want it. People in the town hate it, they hate to see him or all these players or their own kids mixing with you know with colored kids, um, playing the sport or being at the school, and obviously the the students themselves, the players themselves, they're all dealing with it in their own way as well. But what you start to see through the course of the movie is at first it's a lot of conflict, a lot of you know, butting heads, and and one thing I love about Denzel Washington's character, and again, this is based on a true story. I don't know how accurate exactly that it is, but it's pretty pretty closely based from what I understand and what I remember, is that he stays true to what he knows as a coach. And he acknowledges that there's race relations, there's a lot of racial issues going on, but he chooses to address the conflict first just as a coach, as a person. And it constantly carries through the film, like for instance, the very first time, you know, he addresses the team. There's a time where you think in the movie that all the white players don't want to go to the team meeting because they end up finding out that Denzel Washington's character becomes the head coach and he takes somebody else's job. But again, it was out of his control. And it, if anything, he at first in the movie, it shows a scene where he didn't want to take the job of somebody else because that wasn't his deal. His deal was he was gonna be the head coach of his own school, but now he realizes that they're gonna mix these two schools and he's gonna have to take over somebody else's job, take their title away from them. And he's telling like the district people, like, I didn't want that. I that's not what I was looking to do. I came here to take a job somewhere that was gonna be my own job. I didn't want to take somebody else's. That's gonna create a lot of problems, and I don't want to do that. I don't want to be that person. And you know, everyone's at the district's telling them that his hands are tied, that they're their hands are tied, they can't do anything about it. So he then he just chooses to accept it for what it is and wants to embrace it, but then he finds himself in a conflict where the coaching staff that already exists at the school doesn't like it. They take it personally, obviously, and let alone that who's taking it from them is is is a person of color. And then on top of that, you have a situation where he's also very disciplined. He is, he takes his coaching very seriously. But going back to what I was saying earlier, there's a moment where he's acknowledging his team for the first time. The white players don't like that he's becoming head coach. So at first, they don't show up to this first meeting. It's only his colored players that are gonna play for the school. And they're all like singing, having a good time in the locker room or in the gymnasium, and then he walks in, and there's this one guy that's being a big showboat. Uh, his character in the movies, I think his name is Petey. Um, he goes, he looks at the player because he's being off showboat. He's and Denzel looks at him and he goes, Uh, what are you smiling about? What are you having fun for? And he's like trying to set the standard for his players. But it's the very first scene you show him, you see him show discipline to anyone, and it's not a bias. He's being a coach because clearly you're not seeing him be harder on the white players than he is on the cutter players. He's being across the board, super disciplined, and you see that from the get-go, that he's, you know, there's this constantly these terms being used in the movie when they say, Oh, your kind versus my kind, and you know, obviously, again, big, big racial issues at the time that you know, things like that were being said, but it it it showed that he was not tailoring to that. He was going to be that way across the board as a coach, not as a colored coach, not as a person of color, as a coach. And and and it so shows through the movie that he'll be hard on a player regardless of their color. And he he was like that across the board. And that was something that even um the coaching staff that already existed there who end up agreeing to eventually start working with him, uh, at least some of them do, um, they respect the way he coaches, but they also realize, like, hey, you're being hard on some of these players. And they're like, Yeah, but you're babying some of the players, you're not babying everybody across the board. When I'm a hard ass on somebody, I'm a hard ass with anybody that comes across me and needs that, needs to hear it. And it's a message that goes through the film. But the reason I bring this up too, for the sake of accountability, because there's a lot of examples of it. You know, him as a coach, he holds all of his players accountable, regardless of race. He holds his coaching staff accountable. Um, but also, you know, some people keep him accountable for the position that he's in. You know, he's in a very controversial position. What he chews, kind of speaking to the analogy earlier about the sword or the opinion, he has a lot of responsibility with the position that he's in. And people around him constantly, whether it be his wife and his family, his people on the coaching staff, his own players, both uh, you know, uh both the colored players and the white players, all of his players keep him accountable for the responsibility and the role that he plays in their life, for what he's addressing, for what he's addressing for the town, the difference he's making, whether they win or lose, uh, the message they're sending to people, all of that stuff. But you know, and I think another beautiful thing is a lot of people, a lot of characters in this movie are held accountable for the way they have handled the racial and systemic issues that have been going on. You know, um you start to see that, you know, they go to camp and and and Denzel Washington as a coach really whips them into shape in the movie. And he forces them to congregate with each other and get to know each other. And some of them, like especially some of the white players, start to really understand that this is bigger than race. This is about this, or sorry, it's bigger, it's bigger than football. It is about the racial issues that are going on. And at the end of the day, well, we're here we're here to play football. We're not here to disagree with each other and create problems. So we should make it about football, regardless of what people look like or what or the color of their skin. And it's cool because you start to see them, some of them warm up and just enjoy football with their players, regardless of what they look like. And um eventually they even start holding each other accountable to understanding the other side or to understand the upbringing, to understand the things they need to be aware of in terms of helping the issue, not being part of the problem. And it's a beautiful example, all these different storylines and characters that are dealing with it in their own way, that it it touches on a lot of how we even as people hold each other accountable. Is that always pretty? No. Sometimes we get a reality check and we learn the hard way sometimes and we don't after the fact. But that's part of life, like anything. Sometimes we do have to learn the hard way. Um, but it's worth learning the lesson. You got to make the effort and take the time to learn the lesson. You can't just think that, oh, I'm gonna be handed the lesson on a silver platter and I'm gonna just run with it and I'll be okay. No, it takes it takes internal work as well. Um, and and I think the mute the movie is a is a beautiful example of that. And, you know, at the end of the day, you know, it's a happy ending. They win the championship, uh, the state championship in the movie, and you see a lot of these players at by the end of the movie, they've really turned their life around and they've made an effort. And people even around the players, you know, like some of the parents of these players don't they see that they've changed their opinion or they're starting to see more of you know um how to be a part of the solution at the problem, and their families are taking it hard, they don't want to see it that way. They they're stuck in their ways or they're stuck in their opinions. Um, but they realize that they continue to express it with hate or with division in mind and or exclusivity in a way that is harmful, and they have to recognize and they have to they're held accountable for it because it makes a difference. And um, I think all of us can be more aware of that in our life. It's easy to forget that, and again, especially with us being in a position where we can easily express an opinion at every any given time, and in a matter of seconds just throw the opinion out there and then forget about it and never worry about it again. The way you express yourself matters, and the way that reaches other people also matters. And again, I'm I'm I'm looking in the mirror when I say this too, because you know, I'm I don't want to be a walking confliction. I'm I I'm I do this podcast every week and love to talk about things, knowing that you know, what is my intention? My intention is to put out a good a good message, maybe just put some positivity out, talk about something that's motivational, inspire somebody maybe the way I was inspired by a topic or a conversation that I've had in my past. Um and to try to bring people together. A lot of these topics, the reason why I'm so passionate about them too, and they mean so much to me, is you can come from anywhere and you can have any background, you can be who you want to be, and this message, this this life lesson can mean something to you. It can be helpful to you, it can be a nice food for thought, regardless of what again what your background is or who you are, whatever you look like it doesn't matter. These these lessons are universal, these these parts of life are universal, and that's what I love so much about them. You know, the the fact that you know anywhere someone in the world can be listening to this, and it can still mean something to them. Acknowledging different realities, acknowledging these different backgrounds and and and perspectives in terms of how these things can be perceived. But that's also why I oh I will never claim to be the sole expert or the the top voice in any of these subject matters because I know what it's what it's done to impact my life, how it has shown up in my life, and maybe how it can show up in others' lives that I may not understand, you know, what that life experience looks like. But but maybe and then it's at least worth for the sake of helping, but also understanding that there's differences all around, and these things can still be received the same way. And and and I think we need to remember that a little bit more when it comes to you know how we hold ourselves accountable to what we say to people, how we choose to say it. And you know, I think anywhere that we interact with people in any social setting, at work, if we go to a restaurant or a bar, if we go to the grocery store, department store, if we're with family, if we're with hanging out with friends, how we choose to show up, especially expressing our opinions, our differences, it matters. Not because we're uh not because we're trying to prove something, but because at the end of the day it can impact somebody. And I think none of us should ever be ashamed to represent or stand up for what we feel is is important or what we believe in. But how do we choose to do it? Do we do it with integrity and love and and passion, but also with accountability, or we do it recklessly? Do we do it without compassion or understanding or self-awareness in a way that can harm other people? Because there's no way around the fact that when you do something recklessly, you are more likely to harm somebody, and that includes yourself. There's no way around that. Do you get lucky sometimes? Are you able to escape the consequence sometimes? Sure. Again, that's it's balance, that's part of life. Doesn't mean you always will, and it doesn't mean that every single time it can go without harm. Because you're just you're just increasing your chances of something like that happening. If we do what we can as people to keep ourselves accountable, to to carry that power, whatever that power looks like for us as individuals, we carry it with integrity and responsibility. That's our best chance at doing things the right way. And still being who we are as individuals. You don't gotta dictate how anyone else decides to show up for themselves, but you can dictate how you honor them for who they are because you also respect yourself enough to keep yourself accountable at all times. You always gotta show up as if that mirror is constantly in front of you. Because that's always gotta be the person you gotta address first. Always so by the way, these last few instances I'm sure you can hear in the background. Maybe the mic's picking it up, maybe it's not. Cuddy is uh officially taking his, well, I don't know, third nap of the day. Uh, and you can hear her snoring in the background. Let's see if we can catch it. I don't know if the mic caught that. Uh I don't know if he was he was close enough, but uh yeah, if he did, there you go. There's your cuddy snores for the day. Um Well, listen, I think I think that was that was all that I wanted to kind of touch on today. Uh, I appreciate anybody who listened all the way through and and indulged the the passion of this conversation. Again, it does mean a lot to me, and I'm sure it means a lot to a lot of you listening as well. Um, but it's also just something to always keep, you know, to remember that we all got our own life story, we all got our life experiences, and and we all deal with certain challenges or difficulties and things that we try to overcome, things that we're just trying to do right in our life. Um, but it's also good to remember that there's an element of responsibility and accountability, that accountability that comes with that. And it it's always valuable to recognize that because at the end of the day, the most important thing that we're ever gonna do in this life is represent ourselves as people and how we can possibly impact other people. At the end of the day, the biggest thing that we'll leave when our last days are here and we've lived our last day, our legacy, our impact on others is gonna be one of the biggest things, if not the most important thing, that we leave behind. So we can never ever forget to be responsible and have that accountability. Thank you everybody for listening. Again, go spread the word about this podcast for anybody who hasn't checked it out yet. I've got plenty of other episodes. This was episode 10, by the way. So a nice little monument that we've hit as our first little accomplishment or achievement for the podcast. This has been the 10th episode now. Very proud of what we've done here so far. Lots more on the way. Um, I'm hoping to have my first guest on very soon, and maybe even have a video version of the podcast. Hopefully that's coming soon. Um I'm working on that now. But thank you all for being very supportive, for sending me love and any feedback at all. I will always appreciate that. But spread the word, check out any episodes you haven't already. Let me know what you'd like to hear about. Go check out my Instagram page. Um, again, you can check it out on Apple Podcasts, Spotify. I have the audio direct link in my bio as well on Instagram. But yeah, holler if you want me to talk about anything, give me any feedback, and otherwise, I will talk to you on the next episode. Take care, everybody.