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What is up, y'all? My name is Fia. I am a 24-year-old Native American coming from the Tohono O'odham Nation in Southern Arizona. This is my podcast, I am not a professional. I am just a rez girl off the rez. I really created this podcast for entertainment, for anybody out there, ears on the nation, to motivate the youth to do the same thing. Get out there, become their own thing, do what they want, for anybody that is on a healing journey, anybody that is trying to find themselves, really motivate themselves that there is a light at the end of the tunnel, that the journey that you are on, it's a long journey, especially if you're healing past traumas, family, generational traumas. It is a long process, especially hurt from childhood. It is a very long process. One of the main focus, I wanted it to be on mental health. Struggling through mental health from a young age, I really got to know how it is to live with it, knowing how it is to live with depression and suicide and anxiety. I had suicidal thoughts when I was younger. I didn't think I was gonna make it past 18, so here I am, and it says a lot. And I really wanna motivate all the youth out there that there is such a big world out there. Your situation that you're in right now, where you're at, how your life is looking, that's not how it's always gonna be. If you really want it and you work for it and you go out for it, your life is gonna definitely change because you have a mindset like no other. Coming from the nation, we get a lot of criticism, When I was younger, we were always told, go out of the nation and become something. Go get your education and come back and become something on the nation," but what people don't realize and what a lot of people from the nation don't realize is that there's a lot of criticism that us youth heard when we were younger, it was like if we didn't do things a certain way, it was bad, or if we messed up one time, it was bad, or if we followed the certain path of drugs or alcohol, you're immediately deemed bad, "oh, you're a bad person." A lot of people from the nation don't realize that criticism really hits hard, and now it got to the point where I feel like people around my generation have made it off the nation, they don't wanna go back now. And that's where I really wanna encourage everybody, any Native American out there, any Native American listening to this, please make sure to go back to your homeland because yeah, all this land is our land, but make sure to go back to the motherland. Take care of it. Make sure those people are taken care of. You may not want to, but that's where you came from, and you have to always be proud of that. You have to always be proud of where you come from, I always felt like that when I was younger. I was Native American, being happy that I was coming from where I was coming from, and as I grew older, unfortunately, my childhood was taken from me at a young age, and I really lost myself in that depression and my anxiety, and I felt like a lot of people didn't see me. I grew up with parents that really hushed mental health. I grew up with parents that really talked to me when I was talking big about my dreams and what I wanted to do. They were just like, "Oh, maybe don't dream that big," or maybe I shouldn't go that far, or, "Oh maybe another day," they wouldn't really encourage, and I see that a lot now on the nation. Unfortunately, there's a lot of jealousy and envy within each other, especially within families. People are gonna be people. You have to just be you. People are gonna be in their toxic ways. Some of those older people, they just sat in that toxicity, and they got on with their life. And if you don't wanna live like that's perfectly fine. Go out, heal yourself, and distance yourself. Create that peace. Create that peace for yourself and go be happy. Go be happy. Go make money. Money makes the world go round, and I truly believe that. And as long as you're out here making money, that's the most you can do. When I was younger, unfortunately, I lost my little sister to suicide. This is another reason why mental health is so heavy on my plate. I know that it was really hard for me to deal with that, and I know that there's a lot of people out there that go through this and walk that tightrope. I know that there's a lot of youth out there, that you're not really sure why you're here. You're not really sure why you were put here. You're here for a reason, and I want you to remember that. I remember being 14, 13, and walking that tightrope. I remember not thinking I was gonna make it. I remember just being a kid and not understanding this world yet. But as I grew older, especially after I turned 18, I really realized hey, this world is so much more bigger than it is, and I'm still learning a lot. I'm still growing a lot. I'm just a rez girl, I don't know everything, but I'm excited. I'm excited to venture onto these new journeys and see where it takes me, and I really wanna encourage others just like me, just like how I was when I was a youth, people that don't think that they're anything, people that don't see it right now, just wait. Just wait because once you're an adult and you're off on your own, you can do anything. And if you are an adult and you're just not really sure what you're doing, take a deep breath. It's okay. Not everybody has it figured out from the beginning. It would be that easier to be a billionaire if everybody could do it. So if you are an adult, please go. Don't be afraid. Heal yourself. Heal yourself for your children. Heal yourself for your spouses. Heal yourself for yourself, for your self-peace. Go out so you don't have to be such a hating person, so you don't have to live with that. If there's a reason why you act a certain way, it's most likely a trauma response. If there's a reason why you talk a certain way, it's most likely where you come from. You can do anything in this world as long as you learn it. You can do anything. Just make sure that you put a smile on your face, and you do it with pride because you know who you are, and you know where you came from. Not a lot of people can say that. This is their motherland, and we have come from here, and our creation stories are from here, and our creator is from here. Our Culture and tradition individually, each and every single Native American is so sacred and so beautiful in different ways. Look at your own culture. I want you to think about your own culture right now and think about the most beautiful listing. Is it a song? Is it a rattle? Is it a mountain? Is it a story? Take pride in that. Take pride in who you come from because this world is definitely scary, especially where it's coming from and where it's going. Remember who you are because who knows what's gonna happen in this future. Go out there and become something. Go out there and create businesses. Go out there and follow your dreams. Forget what they say because, yeah, they're always gonna be jealous. I used to tell people, Native Americans, when they're jealous of you, they won't tell you. They'll just make fun of it. If they see you have a new car, they're gonna be like, "Eh, can't even pay for it." They see that your makeup looks nice, and it's "Eh, it's too much for you." They see that you're making good money, and it's "Eh, you have all the money in the world, don't you?" They see that you're living a good, happy life. they're gonna go around to everybody and gossip around you and saying how you're living your best life. And be it because they are nothing but miserable, jealous, envious people. Go live your life. Do what you have to do. And anybody that is dealing with drugs and alcohol, just know that there is peace without it. Just know that there is sanctuary within yourself if you just trust yourself. There's a lot of people out here that just don't understand that Taking that discipline is definitely something that peace needs You know, in order to have that within you, in order to be that peaceful, you need to be there and present, not just numbing it out, a lot of people do these things just to numb out what they don't wanna heal, what they don't wanna sit through, and it sucks. It sucks 'cause a lot of people, it's trauma. A lot of people don't wanna talk about it. A lot of people are just embarrassed. And trust me, it does hurt. The healing does. What you are healing will hurt, but you just have to sit in it. Trust me, it will slowly not hurt, And soon you're gonna find yourself going on your day without even thinking about it, without even hurting while thinking about it, even thinking back in your past and looking up at yourself, being like, "Yeah, I came from that. That made me." I think it's something growing up on the res, if you don't have hot water, you gotta boil some water on the stove. If you don't got a heater, you gotta open up the oven. If you got a wood stove, you gotta go outside and chop some wood. It's a different life growing up on the res. A lot of people may not like it. A lot of people may be embarrassed because it's not like out here in the world. But hey, this is civilized res. We would still be living in adobe brick houses if we didn't civilize along with them. So of course, we're still gonna look a little res, and that's okay. Be proud of that. Be proud of grandma's house. Be proud of, grandpa's old truck. Be proud of your mom and your dad, unfortunately, I lost my parents at a young age, so going through this world as a little res girl off the reservation is a little different for me. I know that they're overhead watching me and that I'm excited to go on this journey. I know that the right people will find me, and I'm really excited, and I'm excited to find my soul tribe. Thank you for listening to anybody that listened all the way through. I really do appreciate it. My name is Fia.