Coping with Lost Self Expectations

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:11

Welcome to the Black Keelan Journals where we recognize mental health as a strength and not a weakness. My name is Ashley, and our guest host today will be the infamous Nikki B. Today's episode, we will be talking about the pressures of self-expectations and how we cope when we don't meet them. So, Nick, tell me about yourself.

SPEAKER_03 0:31

Yes, man. Thanks for having me on the show, by the way. Um, yeah, I'm like I said, my name is Nikki B. From Atlanta, Georgia. Currently reside in Charlotte, North Carolina now. Um, yeah, so working a nightlife. And you know, it's 2024 is off to a kind of rough start, but we're gonna make it through.

SPEAKER_00 0:51

Okay. So do you ever feel like your family set too high expectations on you growing up?

SPEAKER_03 0:57

Um, yes and no. Um, as they come from both sides of the family, you know, it's different expectations from both sides. So like dad's side is more structured, or as far as like everybody knows their plan, you know, but on mom's side, just like, okay, we see what happens, you know what I'm saying? Move to the city, find a job, and you know what I'm saying, go on from there. But so I had to cope with who do I want to please more. You know, like growing up, you know, do I want to spend time on my mom's side, spend time on my dad's side. So who's gonna have the biggest impact for me? You know, growing up, my dad's side had more impact because I can see the things they were doing in life. You know, everybody had a steady job, kids, married, you know what I'm saying? They passed the quota, you know?

SPEAKER_02 1:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:44

So it was that was the expectation, you know what I'm saying? Get a good job, start a family, have kids, you know, get a house. That was the expectation for their side for me.

SPEAKER_02 1:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:55

On mom's side, it's like, okay, it's more like make something happen. You know what I'm saying? As far as like, you need to do this and do that, but it just made something happen.

SPEAKER_00 2:05

It's only the something, right?

SPEAKER_03 2:07

Yeah, as long as it's something. You know what I'm saying? If it's working on on the form or working in the city, working remotely, it's just you had to do something, you know, just don't be sitting around.

SPEAKER_02 2:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 2:20

But that was the expectation. So growing up, I didn't know what to do. So that was at least my dad's side, I stopped playing sports, tried taking school seriously, tried to go to college. That was the goal to go to college because everybody on that side went to college. Mom's side, everybody didn't go to college.

SPEAKER_01 2:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 2:34

Some went to the army, some work in the jailhouse, because it's like I said, their country, they're from Sacrament. So it's do that, do this, you know what I'm saying? So it's more structured. I feel like, okay, have a plan. You know, so I knew what to do and to follow it. So that was the expectation growing up for me.

SPEAKER_00 2:52

Okay. So fast forward to where you are now. Your point in your life.

SPEAKER_03 2:57

Yeah, so now is the expectation I have, like for reaching like a college degree, I've done that. You know, get in the house, you know what I'm saying? Being on my own, I've done that. So now the next expectation is to get married, you know, to have kids like that. But as you grow up in the society, it changes dramatically. You know, what you think is gonna happen is never gonna happen. What you expect is gonna happen can turn a whole twist, you know, take you a whole different direction.

SPEAKER_02 3:24

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 3:25

I never expected to be in Charlotte. So, like I said, my dad's side, it's like close-knit. You stay in the city, you stay close by two grandma. Stay close by your two parents. So, like right now, like everybody stays within like a 15-20 mile radius.

SPEAKER_02 3:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 3:40

So you gotta be close. Just in case anything happened, need to be close. So I I took that opportunity to leave the city and be on my own. So I got backlash for it, I got praise for it, but you just gotta find that come around, like, what side do you really care about?

SPEAKER_00 3:57

Yeah. So did you ever give yourself like like age expectation? You know, people be like, oh, by 25, I'ma do this, by 30, I'm gonna have this, by 40, I'm gonna have this.

SPEAKER_03 4:09

So I'm I'm a 90s baby, so so expectation was to do as your parents did, or your grandparents, you know, it was no be a rogue. So and that's sometimes where our parents fall short, because they want us to be just like them. Like my mom had me at 24, 25. So when I turned 25, 26, oh, she said, Where's my grandbaby? You know, so that's the expectation she had for me. Yeah. I'm like, I'm in a society now where that's that's that can happen right now. You know, milk was was 198 then. Yeah, it's 479 now. Like, I it's expectation. I can afford to have a baby right now compared to my grandparents had. They had five kids. Like today, expectation to have a kid, you need to be making more than the regular person just to survive. Two people in the household, let alone having a baby.

SPEAKER_00 5:07

So now, like thinking back on like childhood, growing up, do you feel like those expectations your family had has ever affected your relationship with any of them? Like, especially your parents?

SPEAKER_03 5:19

Um as far as like affecting it, I wouldn't say it's the love in there gonna be lost, but sometimes you can also feel like you you can do better with what you've done because they expected more out of you. So, like I say, it's a different time than where they grew up, you know. But for me, I know I grew up fast because I knew we was in that kind of a predicament where I had to grow fast, you know. So yeah, it's just I don't know, it's hard it's hard to answer that question, but I I don't know how to answer your question really. It's hard to like say they're disappointed, because they never be disappointed to you unless you do something like go off go down the street shooting, shooting at everybody or something like that, you know what I'm saying, going crazy. But it's you know, sometimes you feel like okay, they want me to do better, but I can't do better right now. So I get to a spot mentally, physically, and emotionally where I can upgrade my life. Yeah. Right now, just not say I'm going with the flow, but I'm just waiting for my opportunity to elevate.

SPEAKER_00 6:28

Yeah, okay. So do you have siblings?

SPEAKER_03 6:31

Yes, I do. I have two brothers and a sister.

SPEAKER_00 6:36

Older, younger?

SPEAKER_03 6:37

Yeah, I'm the baby.

SPEAKER_00 6:38

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 6:39

You will someone say I was a mistake, you know. I wasn't playing, you know. That was it, but no, but just jokingly, but yeah, I'm the youngest, youngest cousin, the youngest sibling, and this I know with me, when I grew up, I have three older siblings.

SPEAKER_00 6:57

So I'm the baby, too. Like my sister and brother, when my mom had them, she wasn't the best, like financially, like they weren't the best household. Like, so I know when she had me, she just was better, like off financially, better off in a better place. She had a marriage, she had a you know, good house, all that stuff. So I always had that pressure growing up that oh, you had the better lifestyle, you had the two-parent households, like you should be doing more with your life. Have you ever felt anything like that being the youngest? Um, or have you ever like a better question? A better, have your siblings ever made you feel like you should be doing more because you were the last. You probably had it better or anything like that.

SPEAKER_03 7:38

Yeah, that was kind of different for me because I went from being the youngest to the only child.

SPEAKER_01 7:43

You know, crazy.

SPEAKER_03 7:44

So um, so you know, from the age like six or eight, I was the youngest, you know what I'm saying, youngest sibling in the house. And I went to being the only sibling in the house.

SPEAKER_02 7:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 7:57

So the expectation for like my brother and sister was to do better than them. So it was never like, oh, you got a better life or anything like that. Because I'm trying to fight to be better than you because of mistakes that happened in the past.

SPEAKER_02 8:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 8:13

So I feel I at times I feel like I was the big brother. You know what I'm saying? Because I'm taking care of my mom, taking care of my dad, make sure the household is straight because my parents are older. I know more about technology than they do. I know about what's going on socially currently than they do. So I feel like I had to be that somewhat provider for them because I was the only child in the house that was knowledgeable of what was going on in their life.

SPEAKER_02 8:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 8:44

So just to be honest, you know, brothers and sisters, they they went to jail. I was the only one that had went in jail. If it had knocked wood, I'd knock on it. Yeah. So for them to be in jail and me be out, you know, seeing my mom emotionally go through stuff.

SPEAKER_02 9:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 9:05

My dad goes through stuff, like, do I run from it or do I embrace it? So I embraced it, you know, at an early age, I was never the one to ask for video games, clothes, stuff. Yeah. I knew.

SPEAKER_02 9:19

They just seemed like they didn't have it, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 9:21

I knew that my brother needed the money. I knew my other brother needed the money. You know, I got nieces and nephews. They needed help. So as far as me like growing up early, I grew up early. So like you can call me Mr. Crowd, you can call me Julius, you know what I'm saying? So when it comes to money, I knew the dollar meant something.

SPEAKER_02 9:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 9:41

And that was expectation, like, you know where you come from. Don't try to have funny or something like that. You know, we came. I'm gonna say you come from the gutter, but we're better than most, but we was less than most, you know. That makes sense. But yeah, but as far as like my my siblings, I had to take on the role as the big brother. You know what I'm saying? Take care of them too, as far as taking care of my family.

SPEAKER_00 10:07

Do you think having to grow up in that environment created like resentment towards your older siblings?

SPEAKER_03 10:14

No, I would I would never say that. Okay. I would never say that because I always love them from the bottom of my heart, but it was tough growing up because I didn't have that role model I needed at the time.

SPEAKER_01 10:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 10:30

You know, if you're born the older child, you're gonna act like an older child. If you're born a younger child, you're gonna act like the younger child. So I was born being a younger child, so I was still in that mindset.

SPEAKER_02 10:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 10:40

I need somebody to look up to. So like I said, my cousins got 20 years of me. I'm the only cousin that has a 20. So you can see the gap between my cousins. So me growing up, I'm I'm with Rama, you know? So I'm I'm watching prices right in the morning. I'm watching let's make a deal, eating, yeah, drinking coffee and greasing eggs and my uncle and stuff at the kitchen table. So like I grew up old. That's how I grew up fast. So that's I don't listen to rap like that. That club scene. I actually work in a nightlife, but I'm not a clubber.

SPEAKER_02 11:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 11:19

So that's I'll never resent them for that.

SPEAKER_00 11:24

So looking um just back, like an overview, how do you do you have to ever cope with any of that? Like the expectations.

SPEAKER_03 11:35

Um when you say like cope with it, what do you mean?

SPEAKER_00 11:39

Like, do you ever just think back and be like, damn, I should be here and I'm not? Like, how do you process those emotions?

SPEAKER_03 11:46

I mean if you're human, you're gonna do it. It's always, what if maybe this or if I do that I can change? But but I do it, I'm a night out. So in the middle of the night, I'm always doing that. So me thinking about what could happen is all the time.

SPEAKER_02 12:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 12:07

You know, what if I stayed in Lina? What if I went to Morehouse? What I went to across the country. You know, it's always been the back of my mind what decisions I made. But as I always say, it's the universe. Gotta let the universe unfold in front of you. Because the more you try to turn to another lane, you're gonna get hit.

SPEAKER_02 12:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 12:27

You know what I'm saying? Even though you put your blinkers on, and you gotta let that car pass before it can get over. So I feel like I'm stuck in a lane trying to get over. And but the universe is telling me to stay in this one lane. So as far as me trying to think about the expectation I could have had or trying to meet and trying to change the thing from the past, it's it's sometimes useless.

SPEAKER_02 12:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 12:53

Because the more you think about the past, you never go for it. So that that's how I feel about that.

SPEAKER_00 13:00

Okay. So would you have any advice for people that probably are the opposite, that struggle with the what-ifs or the could have been and should've been, would have been like that mindset that people can struggle with on a daily basis?

SPEAKER_03 13:14

Uh advice.

SPEAKER_00 13:16

Yeah, just like uh, you know. Um what helps you not go into that place? Like what helps you stay narrow-minded, laser bit focused, focused.

SPEAKER_03 13:28

Uh I mean, I tell this all the time. If anybody asked me for advice, tunnel vision.

SPEAKER_00 13:31

There you go.

SPEAKER_03 13:32

If they're not asking me for advice, I tell them just you have to find yourself first. Because you really can't take advice of somebody else, you know what I'm saying, that's not in the same shoes as you.

SPEAKER_02 13:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 13:42

No, everybody got different shoes, different sizes, different walls, different paths, stuff like that. But you can give somebody advice, but sometimes you gotta you gotta find that in your heart, like what's right for you.

SPEAKER_01 13:54

You know what I'm saying?

SPEAKER_03 13:55

You gotta clear your head. And you gotta listen, like I say, listen to the universe. Like the universe is gonna tell you where to go. You just gotta pay attention to the signs. And so you gotta let it unfold in front of you. That's that's my quote. I don't know if it's somebody else's quote, but that's the quote I love by let the universe unfold as it should. Because the more you try to act like, and that's with Rome Society now. You know, they take advice from social media, from people who caught that break, what's in the right place and right time. They caught that break. They in the right position. And you want to be, you following them, you want to be in that position, but oh, I'm going into Christian. I can't be like this guy. You can't be like nobody else. No, and another quote I have is you are you, and that's true and true. There's no one alive that's you than you. So the more you realize that you have to find yourself in order to move forward, that's gonna be part of the biggest thing you have to do. Because me giving you advice and telling you what to do isn't always gonna work. Yeah, you can follow my steps or follow my advice, stuff like that, but if it's not right with you, then it's it's pointless of telling you what to do. But I gave my two cents anyway, though.

SPEAKER_00 15:06

I'm actually glad you brought that up. The point of social media. Do you feel like, especially in this present age, that social media is like a big influence on people, how they feel like they should be in life.

SPEAKER_03 15:17

And that shit's a damn devil.

SPEAKER_00 15:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 15:20

That shit's a damn devil. I think our our society has lost its way when it comes to social media. Like I said, we are chasing a a dream that's unreachable. You know, you got people you follow that has 18 million followers, and you feel like you can be like that person overnight.

SPEAKER_02 15:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 15:43

That shit ain't gonna happen. No, nothing your right damn mind thinks that's gonna happen overnight. So many people, like I said, be in the right place at the right time. They work for it for years.

SPEAKER_02 15:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 15:54

So just because you follow them for two damn months, light day posts, light day stories, don't mean you're gonna be the damn same person they are. It's not gonna happen.

SPEAKER_02 16:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 16:04

So when it comes to society with social media, we're in trouble. So that was it. When it comes to expectations for society now, it's different from way then because people can't even read no more.

SPEAKER_00 16:19

Yeah. Or tell tell time. Like I have these kids that I work with at my job, you know, the little like regular clock. And I was like, Yeah, you can go on break. And he was like, What time do you want me to go? And I was like, go like 10 minutes till 10. And he was like, What time is that? And I was like, What do you mean? They don't take you this in school anymore.

SPEAKER_03 16:39

Like, goddamn shit. What's going on in America now?

SPEAKER_00 16:42

It's crazy. So you don't even write cursive anymore. I'm like, that was when I grew up, that was a requirement that you had to learn how to write cursive. Like, they don't even, yeah, it's sad.

SPEAKER_03 16:51

See, so like I said, I I grew up in Atlanta, right? Atlanta Public Schools, May's high school. But we back then, we didn't, they took our books away from us. We didn't have books. So the teacher had to teach, you know?

SPEAKER_02 17:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 17:05

Now they have iPads, they can use their phones, they're not doing the groundwork. Yeah. They're not writing no papers. You know what I'm saying? They can they can talk into a damn mic and write that paper for them. No, I know people that came here write their name. So technology, social media has, they claim it's pushing us to the future, but it's sending us back. Like hell. So they also the expectation as America, society, is high. But in in within a dream aspect, yeah, not reality aspect.

SPEAKER_00 17:40

That American dream life.

SPEAKER_03 17:43

So them American, you know, the American pie everybody chasing. You know what I'm saying? Trying to get a piece of the shit pie. But yeah, this social media is totally taking this back. And that's that and that goes into the mental health of women, black men. I say, like you chasing this. They say then the definition of insanity is, you know, trying to do something with the getting the same results, stuff like that, but that's what's going on. Like people are slowly losing their mind trying to chase this dream or chase this persona of I need to be like this person and be like this next person. So instead of being they self.

SPEAKER_00 18:32

Well, I know for me personally, like when I told you before, like I'm the youngest out of four. So I had like the better schooling, I had played all the travel sports, I had my mom had money when she had me. So like constantly when I was growing up, I had to always hear, oh, you should be doing this with your life. You had the better childhood, you had the better parents, you had the better this. So like growing up, I've always had like that immense pressure that I should be doing so much more with my life because I had the better childhood and I went to the better schools, I had the best education center. So I feel like, especially maybe not with I guess with guys too, but like with females, especially, that we just have this like over intense pressure to be so much that society. Like you have to be a mom, a good wife, uh, you know, have a good job, do all these things. But I feel like even when we do meet those expectations, it's like it's still more, you know, that we have to accomplish. Even now, my mom is like, well, what are your plans for like five years when I'm like, mom, I don't have that. I'm not thinking that far ahead of my life right now. I'm trying to sell, I'm trying to set like daily, weekly expectations I can like reach, like reachable. She always has like this. You need to be thinking five, ten years in the future, you need to have this plan, A, B, and C set. I'm just like, I'm not like you. Like I'm never gonna have my life planned out that far ahead. So I feel like, especially now, maybe not with everyone, but I feel like parents now, especially when they're like more better off, they set these like impossible expectations for their kids. And I feel like it's just not fair. That can also, because I know with me, it like affected my mental health like tremendously. Like I just sit in my room sometime and think like, damn, I'm just not where I should be at all. No, I'm only 25. I'm just like, I feel like I should be doing so much more and not to think that, like, Ashley, you're still young as hell. Like you have so much time to meet all these goals. So I just feel like, have you ever felt like that? Like you just, you know, like you, I I needed to slow down and give myself time. Like I still have so much time to do this and do that.

SPEAKER_03 20:46

Ashley, I just had this conversation with somebody not too long ago about figuring it out. You know, that's how you're young enough to not have to, not to have everything figured out, but you're still young enough to figure it out. So I think when people realize that, like, you're not gonna get everything, like I said, in one day, in one week.

SPEAKER_02 21:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 21:07

Shit takes time. So like you might not figure it out today or tomorrow, but some some sometime down the line, you're gonna figure it out. It's gonna click to you. Like, just like that. So that was just gotta stay on the path that's belongs to you.

SPEAKER_01 21:24

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 21:24

You're you'll get there. You know what I'm saying? But like for us me, it's just you gotta you gotta make a way out of no way. So you know, you like if you shit, you make sugar, you know? But you know, you you said something about expectation as a wife and mother and stuff like that. Let's talk about it.

SPEAKER_00 21:47

Having kids, like I just feel like, you know, you know, especially with guys, even especially when people get married, they're like, Oh, you got to know how to cook, take care of the kids, stay at home, have a career, like y'all just have. You got them right.

SPEAKER_03 22:00

He's goddamn right. You said that. You said the motherfucking word right there.

SPEAKER_00 22:05

Well, why is that though?

SPEAKER_03 22:06

What? You know how to cook?

SPEAKER_00 22:08

I mean, yeah, I mean, I get like cooking and you know, take care of kids, but why do you feel like that's only a woman's expectation?

SPEAKER_03 22:16

It's not, it's not expectation for just for a woman, it's expectation as a family. And I think that's not the lost way. You know what I'm saying? Growing up, the man was the man.

SPEAKER_00 22:28

Yeah, the woman stayed home with the kids.

SPEAKER_03 22:33

I'm nice, baby. I knew my big mama. I knew my great grandma. I say my great granddaddy, I knew them. I knew how they treated their wives. See how my granddad treated his wives. See how my dad treated his wives. And you can see the expectation of each generation and the results. So you can see that great-granddaddy didn't take that shit.

SPEAKER_02 22:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 22:57

You gonna come in the house, you gonna clean, you're gonna put the kids to bed, and then you're gonna come to bed with me. That's the expectation.

SPEAKER_01 23:06

That's a lot.

SPEAKER_03 23:06

For the great granddaddy. Granddaddy? Alright, nah, I just need a meal. You know what I'm saying? I'm gonna bring them, I'm gonna bring the paycheck home to take care of the house. You know what I'm saying? A little less controlling. Dad, divorce. You know what I'm saying? So expectation now, uh our generation, you be single to the day you die. Because I'm not, for a female, I'm not going to cook for no man. I'm not gonna clean for no man. You I I might have your baby, but I don't want that child support. I want I want all the benefits to come with that baby. But I'm not gonna be, I'm not gonna be a mother though.

SPEAKER_00 23:46

I don't feel like that's what all women though. Oh with my ass. It's not like I feel like like some, especially women who have careers, something I don't really want to be a housewife.

SPEAKER_03 23:57

No, no, this this is 2024. Nobody's telling you to be a housewife. I know, but I'm just saying, like I got better jobs most niggas today.

SPEAKER_00 24:05

That is true. But if for someone to expect a woman to come home, you know, work a full-day job, come home, take care of kids, cook dinner, have a house clean, and still be a wife to her husband, like that's a lot, I feel like, every day, on a daily basis.

SPEAKER_03 24:23

You know what you just what you're saying right now? What you being fucking lazy.

SPEAKER_00 24:28

That's not lazy. I'm not saying it's not possible, but I'm just saying. I'm just saying men nowadays don't offer any help, I feel like. As far as taking care of the house. I don't think that should be just a woman's job.

SPEAKER_03 24:45

Look, I told you. It's not just I cook, I clean. I told you, I grew up by myself. Mama raised me. She had she was in this group where she had a lot of sisters within like the same organization. So I called them aunties. I was raised by women. Know how to cook clean, make sure to take care of my wife. I know how to do that as a man. Every man is like that though. Okay, but every woman's not the same either.

SPEAKER_00 25:07

Yes, that's true.

SPEAKER_03 25:08

Some women out here that was raised right that know how to cook for themselves clean. I know motherfuckers, girls, they got rings around their toes right now. Toy black. You know? They're not raised being raised right. Yeah. So how can you expect a man to want you to be his wife and you can't even take care of yourself? And that's why I go back to social media. Y'all want this lifestyle for a man to provide for you, but you can't provide something to that man.

SPEAKER_00 25:37

But like you just said, it's not everybody. But it is a very generalized at this point perception.

SPEAKER_03 25:44

10%. It's 10% that's wife material.

SPEAKER_00 25:49

That's it.

SPEAKER_03 25:51

It proves me otherwise.

SPEAKER_00 25:52

I mean, I can't cook. I can only prove myself. Give me the numbers.

SPEAKER_03 25:55

I'd give you, I'll give you my numbers. People, I gave you my numbers. She can't come up with shit.

SPEAKER_00 26:00

I'm just saying though, like I feel like it should, it should be a more equal.

SPEAKER_03 26:06

Is it equal?

SPEAKER_00 26:07

It should. I didn't say it is, I said it should be.

SPEAKER_03 26:09

Y'all done came out with lists. I can't even take your ass the damn to the movies no more. We can even go bowling.

SPEAKER_00 26:16

That's not what everybody though. You your ass don't want to go. That's not what everybody, though. Some people, some girls like simple shit like that.

SPEAKER_03 26:24

And like I said, that's 10%.

SPEAKER_00 26:26

Yeah. I guess.

SPEAKER_03 26:28

The day you find a woman that's known to IG is the day you find your wife.

SPEAKER_00 26:32

What's Instagram to do with anything? You can find you a good wife on social media. Stop looking at me like that. You can. You can. Are you saying the same thing for men? That you have to they can't be on social media to find you a good husband? Is it vice versa?

SPEAKER_03 26:51

What's the expectation though? What's the expectation of society? For a man is supposed to provide for the today's generation of women, they want to provide with trips, money.

SPEAKER_00 27:04

But I feel like people should in this generation should know that's not realistic, though. Especially with the way this economy is set up.

SPEAKER_03 27:11

Understand that, but all we want is a wife. That's expectation for us. But we can't find it because you want to get a BBL using all your money. Now I'm on child support and I'm paying for your body.

SPEAKER_00 27:26

Yeah, you got a point.

SPEAKER_03 27:28

How'd that happen? Tell me that, Ashley.

SPEAKER_00 27:30

I can't.

SPEAKER_03 27:31

I'm just saying. Expectation is fucked up in America. No doubt.

SPEAKER_01 27:36

Oh my goodness.

SPEAKER_03 27:38

Well use that if we're snippet.

SPEAKER_00 27:46

Well, thank you, Nikki B, for coming on my podcast. I really appreciate it. I feel like the most important takeaways from this episode, I just um give yourself time to figure it out. Don't let other people's or yourself or social media expectations uh take you off your path. You know. Um, you can join us for our next episode. We'll be talking about social media and how that affects young kids' mental health and just everyone's mental health. Uh, you can follow us on Instagram at the Black Keelan Journals, and you can follow my wonderful co-host on Instagram at Captain underscore underscore with a key. Thank you. This has been the Black Keelan Journals, and we'll see you all next week.