Let me talk about talk. There we go, he said, you live in life as a gringo, where you question where you fit in every time you mingle, they say you do. This would not that my raps really been the life as a gringo.

Let me talk about talk. There we go, he said, you live in life as a gringo, where you question where you fit in every time you mingle, they say you do. This would not that my raps really been the life as a gringo.

Yes, hello, and welcome to another episode of life as a Gringo. I am dramas, of course, and not just any episode the first episode of twenty twenty five.

Yes, hello, and welcome to another episode of life as a Gringo. I am dramas, of course, and not just any episode the first episode of twenty twenty five.

Welcome back. I'm here, We're here together, we are are ready to take on another year hopefully. Oh man, I have to say, listen, it's nice to be back. It is nice to just get out here and just be yapping. But man, these breaks they never they never last long enough do that. It was nice to to just kind of like I was still working this. I'd be bullshitting myself like, oh, I'm gonna take some time off and relax, you know, But really I was still working. The beautiful thing was I wasn't really setting an alarm in the morning, so I was just waking up whenever I felt like it, letting myself if I felt like staying up a little later than usual, you know, being being bold and dangerous like that really, which means like staying up untill eleven instead of ten these days, and yeah, it was it was nice to like not I think for me, like I said, I didn't take completely off, but I was like far more intentional with how I was spending my time, so like I wasn't as connected. I wasn't feeling the need to like do content for social media, you know outside just like stories and stuff like that for fun. I was not like checking my work email. Yeah I was. It's just like on my own schedule, like whatever was like whatever burning desire I had in my heart to work on I did, which pretty much was just music, which is amazing because I walked away now after this break were like two original tracks that I'm really excited about that I'm going to be finishing up in the next couple of weeks. So that's exciting stuff. That'd be the first time I've produced anything in I don't even know, dude, Like it's like three years. It's just fucking insane considering that that was just like so much of my focus back in the day. But yeah, wild and really excited. I feel like I've found myself a bit within that, and like I just felt like a kid when I was doing it, so, you know, working, but like fun work. I was just like in my studio for six to eight hours, just on my computer playing the same exact song over and over again and tweaking little things, and that was just fun to me. I was losing my mind. But yeah, now we're kind of back in the swing of things, a little more responsibility these My schedule is a little bit more packed. That have to be far more intentional with like carving out time for music and things like that. But all blessings nonetheless, I hope you had an amazing holiday season.

Welcome back. I'm here, We're here together, we are are ready to take on another year hopefully. Oh man, I have to say, listen, it's nice to be back. It is nice to just get out here and just be yapping. But man, these breaks they never they never last long enough do that. It was nice to to just kind of like I was still working this. I'd be bullshitting myself like, oh, I'm gonna take some time off and relax, you know, But really I was still working. The beautiful thing was I wasn't really setting an alarm in the morning, so I was just waking up whenever I felt like it, letting myself if I felt like staying up a little later than usual, you know, being being bold and dangerous like that really, which means like staying up untill eleven instead of ten these days, and yeah, it was it was nice to like not I think for me, like I said, I didn't take completely off, but I was like far more intentional with how I was spending my time, so like I wasn't as connected. I wasn't feeling the need to like do content for social media, you know outside just like stories and stuff like that for fun. I was not like checking my work email. Yeah I was. It's just like on my own schedule, like whatever was like whatever burning desire I had in my heart to work on I did, which pretty much was just music, which is amazing because I walked away now after this break were like two original tracks that I'm really excited about that I'm going to be finishing up in the next couple of weeks. So that's exciting stuff. That'd be the first time I've produced anything in I don't even know, dude, Like it's like three years. It's just fucking insane considering that that was just like so much of my focus back in the day. But yeah, wild and really excited. I feel like I've found myself a bit within that, and like I just felt like a kid when I was doing it, so, you know, working, but like fun work. I was just like in my studio for six to eight hours, just on my computer playing the same exact song over and over again and tweaking little things, and that was just fun to me. I was losing my mind. But yeah, now we're kind of back in the swing of things, a little more responsibility these My schedule is a little bit more packed. That have to be far more intentional with like carving out time for music and things like that. But all blessings nonetheless, I hope you had an amazing holiday season.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I actually I haven't seen it base since or been on the podcast since what Christmas? So yeah, some nice time with the family, you know, and we're back at it. Man, I hope everybody's doing well. Yeah, I'm trying to shake the rust off a little bit. Here. What are we talking about today's show? Let's talk about intention right, Like I this is and I don't want to, like I hate putting this idea of like pressure. I'm like, it's the new year. We gotta fucking go because I don't know about y'all. But like I was like, oh, we're I'm fucking excited to get back to work, you know, and and first week of the year and then like I just wasn't super into it. I was like, oh shit, this is what it feels like to be back on that grind again. So I was like I felt myself like being weighed down by like, oh no, I don't have I'm I lost that fire for twenty twenty five, that excitement, and it's like, no, it's just like, listen, you gotta take a little bit time to get back into swing of things and and get back into like a routine with it all, especially when you broke it and like we're just living in like this fucking weird in between space where you kind of were doing things but weren't really you know. So yeah, if you're not like overly fired up right now, don't feel bad. You know. I know, somebody like David Goggins or like one of these red pill motivational bros would be like, you know, fucking losing their mind right now if you were to say that. But you know, here on the human side of things, and I've taken it. I'm not taking a shot at them. I would say with some of my stuff sometimes when you little pick me up, but you know, on the human side of things. You gotta just you know, kind of roll into it as best you can here. So yeah, that's what I'm doing. I'm I'm trying to just kind of get my mental together and get back into like the routine of grinding it out every day and being super focused and discipline really more than anything. So with that said, a practice that I've been doing over the last maybe two years, two or three years, I usually will select like two or three words that I think encapsulate my vision for the new year. And I find this to be a bit better than like a New Year's resolution, because I think with a new Year's resolution, which I you know, whatever that works for you, cool, but for me it never worked. I think more than anything, right, this statement to live by, I think more than anything for me. If I can select some words and sort of allow them to be the guiding methodology for my year, that's a little bit more tangible for me as far as like staying in line with it. It's easier for me than like this intention of like gonna lose thirty pounds, especially when I always have goals in general, right, and especially I don't work within like one goal. I'm working within. You know, I have like an overarching vision, but like three six months and a year goal right now is that I'm working on. So for me, it's been far better to kind of just set a couple of words that I can quickly kind of go back to and keep it in the back of my head throughout the course of the year as life begins to life and you know, life be life and sometimes and starts throwing bullshit at you. It's easier for me to have a couple of words to kind of like meditate on in the moment rather than like reading some sort of asenine goal that seems so far away. So yeah, so we're gonna talk about that, and just I think the power of setting intentions. I have this article from Calm the call Map, that I thought was really powerful, and I'll kind of talk about what my words are for the year as well. I like this because it's also not incredibly specific to just me, right Like, I feel like I can share this with somebody and hopefully it can like ignite something in them as well. You know, feel free to steal my words if need be, but I feel like it's it's something that I can like sort of I don't know. I'm trying to think of, like I feel like I can exude these these words, this mentality that these words are provide me with and like, you know, pass them on to the people that I interact with to a degree far easier, you know, And I think that that is Yeah, that's a that's why I like the word thing. I probably just over explained this more than is necessary, but yeah, you get it, you're smart. But this is actually something This was a practice we started, I started implementing personally, but then when we started doing the Just Be Social Club, I think this be like the first thing that I would do with people, at least the first one that we did, because we did start it in January a couple of years ago. So it was a great time to kind of be like, hey, like this is how we're gonna start. We're gonna just sort of set these intentions and then allow that to be the umbrella for everything we do this year. And I know a lot of people within that found it to be super helpful, so I wanted to kind of continue on with that. But yeah, let's just talk about intention a little bit and why it's just so incredibly important. I was talking about like a north star, and I think things like this are really good for that. And again I think the words if they feel less cumbersome than like being this very specific fucking thing, I'm gonna lose thirty pounds, I'm gonna do this, do that right? To me? That can feel a bit like heavy, and it's easy to fall off because you can be like, all right, I have a fitness goal. I want to lose twenty pounds or whatever it might be, and then I'm gonna do that by going to the gym every single day, and then it's like, oh, I missed Jim the first one, the one of the you know, a day, the first week of the year, and then it's easy to fall off track where I think if a better way to do that would have been I'm going to be far more disciplined this year. And then with that you can say what is discipline? Discipline is Okay, I know I need to lose some weight, or I want to get more fit, or I you know whatever, that means eating better, That means going to the gym. And when you and natote, because we all will fall off the wagon at some point in some way, shape or form, you can go back to that word discipline, because a disciplined person, when they fall off the wagon, doesn't use it as an excuse to just fucking spiral out of control. A disciplined person will pick themselves up and get back on track the next chance they get. And that's why the words are so powerful for me personally. AnyWho, let's talk about this Calm article. This article from Calm will do it in a SEGM week call for people in the back, say a lot for.

I actually I haven't seen it base since or been on the podcast since what Christmas? So yeah, some nice time with the family, you know, and we're back at it. Man, I hope everybody's doing well. Yeah, I'm trying to shake the rust off a little bit. Here. What are we talking about today's show? Let's talk about intention right, Like I this is and I don't want to, like I hate putting this idea of like pressure. I'm like, it's the new year. We gotta fucking go because I don't know about y'all. But like I was like, oh, we're I'm fucking excited to get back to work, you know, and and first week of the year and then like I just wasn't super into it. I was like, oh shit, this is what it feels like to be back on that grind again. So I was like I felt myself like being weighed down by like, oh no, I don't have I'm I lost that fire for twenty twenty five, that excitement, and it's like, no, it's just like, listen, you gotta take a little bit time to get back into swing of things and and get back into like a routine with it all, especially when you broke it and like we're just living in like this fucking weird in between space where you kind of were doing things but weren't really you know. So yeah, if you're not like overly fired up right now, don't feel bad. You know. I know, somebody like David Goggins or like one of these red pill motivational bros would be like, you know, fucking losing their mind right now if you were to say that. But you know, here on the human side of things, and I've taken it. I'm not taking a shot at them. I would say with some of my stuff sometimes when you little pick me up, but you know, on the human side of things. You gotta just you know, kind of roll into it as best you can here. So yeah, that's what I'm doing. I'm I'm trying to just kind of get my mental together and get back into like the routine of grinding it out every day and being super focused and discipline really more than anything. So with that said, a practice that I've been doing over the last maybe two years, two or three years, I usually will select like two or three words that I think encapsulate my vision for the new year. And I find this to be a bit better than like a New Year's resolution, because I think with a new Year's resolution, which I you know, whatever that works for you, cool, but for me it never worked. I think more than anything, right, this statement to live by, I think more than anything for me. If I can select some words and sort of allow them to be the guiding methodology for my year, that's a little bit more tangible for me as far as like staying in line with it. It's easier for me than like this intention of like gonna lose thirty pounds, especially when I always have goals in general, right, and especially I don't work within like one goal. I'm working within. You know, I have like an overarching vision, but like three six months and a year goal right now is that I'm working on. So for me, it's been far better to kind of just set a couple of words that I can quickly kind of go back to and keep it in the back of my head throughout the course of the year as life begins to life and you know, life be life and sometimes and starts throwing bullshit at you. It's easier for me to have a couple of words to kind of like meditate on in the moment rather than like reading some sort of asenine goal that seems so far away. So yeah, so we're gonna talk about that, and just I think the power of setting intentions. I have this article from Calm the call Map, that I thought was really powerful, and I'll kind of talk about what my words are for the year as well. I like this because it's also not incredibly specific to just me, right Like, I feel like I can share this with somebody and hopefully it can like ignite something in them as well. You know, feel free to steal my words if need be, but I feel like it's it's something that I can like sort of I don't know. I'm trying to think of, like I feel like I can exude these these words, this mentality that these words are provide me with and like, you know, pass them on to the people that I interact with to a degree far easier, you know, And I think that that is Yeah, that's a that's why I like the word thing. I probably just over explained this more than is necessary, but yeah, you get it, you're smart. But this is actually something This was a practice we started, I started implementing personally, but then when we started doing the Just Be Social Club, I think this be like the first thing that I would do with people, at least the first one that we did, because we did start it in January a couple of years ago. So it was a great time to kind of be like, hey, like this is how we're gonna start. We're gonna just sort of set these intentions and then allow that to be the umbrella for everything we do this year. And I know a lot of people within that found it to be super helpful, so I wanted to kind of continue on with that. But yeah, let's just talk about intention a little bit and why it's just so incredibly important. I was talking about like a north star, and I think things like this are really good for that. And again I think the words if they feel less cumbersome than like being this very specific fucking thing, I'm gonna lose thirty pounds, I'm gonna do this, do that right? To me? That can feel a bit like heavy, and it's easy to fall off because you can be like, all right, I have a fitness goal. I want to lose twenty pounds or whatever it might be, and then I'm gonna do that by going to the gym every single day, and then it's like, oh, I missed Jim the first one, the one of the you know, a day, the first week of the year, and then it's easy to fall off track where I think if a better way to do that would have been I'm going to be far more disciplined this year. And then with that you can say what is discipline? Discipline is Okay, I know I need to lose some weight, or I want to get more fit, or I you know whatever, that means eating better, That means going to the gym. And when you and natote, because we all will fall off the wagon at some point in some way, shape or form, you can go back to that word discipline, because a disciplined person, when they fall off the wagon, doesn't use it as an excuse to just fucking spiral out of control. A disciplined person will pick themselves up and get back on track the next chance they get. And that's why the words are so powerful for me personally. AnyWho, let's talk about this Calm article. This article from Calm will do it in a SEGM week call for people in the back, say a lot for.

The people in the back, Say a lot for the people in the say a lot for the people in the fact.

The people in the back, Say a lot for the people in the say a lot for the people in the fact.

All right, so this is like there's a bunch of really good information to hear, especially specifics on how to set intentions and practices like they talk about meditation and things of that nature. I'll include the link to this in the show notes. If you want to read the entire thing. It is helpful. I'm not going to dive into that because I'm not going to read the entire article and be here for thirty minutes reading an article. But article is called Power of Setting Intentions and how to set Mindful Ones, and they talk about how setting intentions is more than just a self help trend. It's a transformative practice that influences how we navigate our daily lives. It's about cultivating a mindset that guides our actions, emotions, and thoughts towards a desired way of being. Unlike goals, which are often specific and target driven, intentions are rooted in our deepest desires and values, shaping the quality of our experiences rather than just the outcomes. Through intention setting, we can identify what truly matters to us and make that the center of our daily actions and decisions. I love that. I'm gonna pause on that because I think at piggybacks off of what I was talking about, right, the idea of like I used, weight loss, it's a popular goal for people, and choosing the word discipline over setting a specific weight loss goal, because really, when you think about what are you trying to do when you're losing weight? For example, you are, yes, trying to get physically healthier. You want to feel better about yourself. Aesthetically, you want to look in the mirror and be proud of what you see. You want to you know, live a life, a longer life, right, all these amazing things, But what you're really trying to do or the bigger goal, right, or the more effective one that will give you the long term desired results. It's more than just losing the weight, right, because so many of us have gotten into the best shape of our lives only to you know, spiral and put the weight back on or lose all the games that we had right. I mean, listen, I'm thinking about when I was in August, not for nothing to humble brag to myself, I was. I was in really good shape, in all the best shape I've been a while. I wouldn't say great shape, but for somebody who really hates working out, I was pretty consistent. I was eating right, and I was walking around tank tops all day every day. And that's the first time in my life I felt confident in myself to do so. Right now, it ain't tank top season for me, even if even if the weather allowed it, I can't. I'm not I'm not in tank top shape right now, right, I'm not feeling great about that. But the larger sort of thing with that is, yeah, I want to look good in a tank top, you know what I'm saying. To have these children arms just fucking hanging out, you know, like it's nobody's business. Have a chest that's I'm poofing out there. But more than anything, I want to be the type of person that has the self control to make decisions that are best for them in both the short and long term, right, and more so the long term. So that's why when we talk about intention, it's saying, okay, for people, the thing that really makes you keep off the weight, stay on the health regiment is adapting a lifestyle where you become disciplined and your intention is to be a person who makes better decisions. That's what keeps off the weight because then future moving forward, it's not just about taking off twenty pounds, it's about being somebody who is not going to give into the temptation of eating extra you know, eating the fucking donuts, and not given to the temptation of not you know, moving your body and working out. Right, you're somebody who saying I want to be a disciplined human being that makes the best practicing decisions for myself in the future. And that's why, to me, intention is more powerful than these goals. And I think goals are great, you know, I, like I said, I have my three months, my six month, my one year. Right now, goals, But I think the intention is far bigger as far as who do I want to be as a human being? Right, These goals are incredible and they're going to be, you know, beautiful moments for me to experience, But the bigger picture is the intention of becoming a better person in all facets of my life, right, and that these goals are just a sort of means to become better. Right Again, the fitness goal allows you to begin to develop discipline. Discipline will then have an amaze effect on every single aspect of your life, right outside of what you eat. It the way you carry yourself, the way that you stay true to your word, be it a promise you made to your spouse, you know, a promise you made to yourself. Right, all that bleeds into you becoming a person you could truly be proud of. Right, Bigger than just that one goal, and that sort of intention you set and who you become allows you to become and achieve more than just those your short term goals that you had set for yourself. Right, And that's why I'm obsessed with the idea of intention over goals. I think I think a goal and I don't mean don't have goals. I think you understand that the intention is kind of like this bigger vision for yourself as a human being in the long term, and then recognizing these goals are just the steps that help you to continue to get there. But you have to have that bigger vision of who you want to be first and foremost and sort of allow that to be the thing that you're really like, you know, working on each and every day and reminding yourself of right now, just kind of skipping around in this article here they say what does intention setting mean? Intention Setting is a conscious and deliberate act where you identify and articulate what's genuinely important to you. Intentions are about your inner journey and how you want to experience life. For instance, setting an intention to be more present in your daily interactions isn't about achieving a specific outcome, but rather about cultivating a mindset of mindfulness and deeper engagement. And a lot of things are kind of coming to my head as examples, particularly when we talk about because I'm reading this and I'm like, what a privilege it is that this is the shit that I'm conscious in thinking about right now, and I think about my parents and their upbringing and how this I might as well be speaking, you know, mandor and to them right now if I was to bring this up. But I think about I've talked about, like my relations with my parents, and I think it's a great example. I have this intention of having a healthier relationship with my parents, having healthier communication, and I fall short so many times. You know, there are times where I just lose it and I get pissed at them just like anybody else does, or I get frustrated. But in my mind, I'm doing the little things that I can, and you know, fairly successfully doing the little things that I can to ensure that we have a healthy relationship. Right when I talk about humanizing them and recognizing their traumas and all that they're going through, again, stepping into conversations with the with the knowledge in my mind, the presence in my mind to say, this is a difficult conversation, but I want to maintain a healthy communication with my parents, right And then I look at, you know, my dad, for example, whom I love, but he's very bullish as far as his emotions and his inability to control them and inability to not get worked up at times. He's very much just like in the moment, not thinking about the greater point of the conversation or the interaction, but just what he's feeling and reacting very much so in the moment, very reactive, right, And that is so much of why, like a lot of our parents, myself included, you know, we we or a lot of us, we grew up in these explosive lifestyles or explosive households in different ways because our our parents didn't sort of have that filter of intention. They were just very reactive, right they they were, They're reacting off of trauma, off of their own raw emotions. They you know, didn't do the self work, or didn't have the opportunity to or the resources, or it wasn't common knowledge how it is in today's day and age. And because of that, they have the inability to sort of have this filter that allows them to slow down in the moment and try and process things in a way that helps them put their best foot forward. And again, nobody's perfect at it, but my batting average and not losing my shit with my parents is far higher than it used to be because I've begun to learn about intention and develop a presence of mind because of these intentions that I've set, right, the intention of wanting to have a healthier relationship with my parents now gave me a bit more of a presence of mind that in those moments where I'm being triggered and I'm you know, feeling anger or hurt or pain or whatever it might be, that intention is there in my mind and allows me to sort of slow down and process what I want to get out of this situation rather than just being reactive. And I think that that's why again when we talk about these words and having attention for your year, it allows you to sort of have a bit of a filter that like allows you just sort of slow slow down life just a little bit where you're not so reactive. You're not you know, just jumping at what's happening in the moment, but you're allowing yourself to look at your reaction through the lens or your you know, your potential reaction through the lens of how it does this align with what I want my year and my future self to look like. And that's why having that intention is so important. I really feel like it just sort of slows things down, right. It's it's kind of like you know, imagine the ability in life where to like have life play in slow motion just for a second. Right, That's sort of what you're doing when you have an intention and you keep it in your head because it develops that presence of mind, and presence of mind allows you to sort of hit the slow mo button when a situation is happening, right, because you know, things are happening so fast, and if you're not able to be processing in that way, if you haven't worked out that muscle again, it's just reactive and reactive, you know, moments and just quick reactions are not generally going to produce the best desired results for you. So I think this intention, of this presence of mind why it's so powerful, Because it's like being able to hit a slow mo button as something is happening, where you can really take in all that's going on and react in a quarters with a greater vision that you have for yourself and life in general. And that's why it's so important. And I'm just gonna read they gave you twelve examples. I'll end this article here. I'll go through quickly twelve examples of mindful intentions that you could set. One I express my thoughts and feelings within too. I make a conscious effort to recognize and meet my physical and emotional and mental needs. Three, I prioritize building and maintaining meaningful relationships for I place trust in my intuition and my emotions. I choose to move joyfully through the world. That's a good one. I accept my full range of emotions without judgment. That's another good one. I embrace uplifting opportunities. I actively seek and create moments that bring joy to my life. I acknowledge and appreciate the good in my life, both big and small. I seek personal growth through all my experiences. I am fully present in each moment. I explore my creative side without judgment. So these are all examples of intentions you could set for the year. Obviously, I talk about doing it in words. It's whatever works for you. Like. You don't have to follow I'm trying to you know what I'm trying to do. What I'm trying to convey is sparking an idea in your head and then having you personally adapt it to whatever works for you personally. It's not one size fits all. So for me, I'd rather have words than like a sentence. But this is I think amazing as well. There are certain things that's like I'm gonna pull from it. Whatever works for you. If you want to have a sentence that you feel like is your intention for the year, or you want to have a couple of words like I do, whatever works for you. I think either way, it's just cultivating that presence of mind. And that's the thing. I think. Presence of mind is a muscle, and in order to work that muscle out, you have to do things that allow you to kind of slow down and setting an attention and then reminding yourself every day of that intention, meditating on it, journaling on it, looking yourself in the mirror. Like That's why affirmations and things like that are so important, and that's why they work for so many people. And I think it's we have to understand because it sounds to like talk to yourself in the mirror or whatever, but what you're doing is working out that muscle that gives you presence of mind. Mind right, because positive affirmation, like you're saying, okay, I am beautiful. It feels silly to be saying that to yourself in the mirror, but again you are working out that muscle in your mind to create a presence of mind. So when you have a moment where somebody says something nasty to you because the Internet is a fucking weird place, or you have a negative thought about yourself and you know you're gonna critique yourself in a negative way, that presence of mind you're creating by that intention through affirmation allows you to combat it with no, I am beautiful, right. Or you have this thought, this mindset in your head, this idea in your head that erases or fights back against whatever negative moment you're going through in the present moment, right, And that's what we're trying to do, is just create like this armor around ourself that pushes back, like this imaginary force field that pushes back against those sort of negative thoughts or negative moments that may pop up throughout the course of our day, our week, our life. You know. So that's what it's out. So I want to kind of talk about now what my words are for the year, And it's just as it means, I guess if inspiring you, you know what you could be thinking about your intention is for twenty twenty five. Well, first we'll take a quick break and then we'll be right back. I think, all right. So I was just reflecting on on so much as I was thinking about these words, I wanted to be really intentional about it, like like more intentional than maybe I've been in the past. And and I think when I say intentional, and when I when I talk about more intentional than I've been in the past, I think, I think I think in terms of not trying to be so in control of things. And I'm actually looking at these these words, I'm actually there's another one just came to my mind. I'm doing four four words. But I think in the past, when I've thought about these things, I've had a particular sort of idea in mind, and I've sort of used these words as a vehicle to force them to happen, for a vehicle to reinforce what I hoped would happen. And I think what I'm giving myself now with these these four words is RULs to survive the inevitable up and downs of this year. And I'm not even saying that in a pessimistic way of like twenty twenty five is gonna be a rough year. I think twenty pointy five is gonna be an amazing year. I have the utmost belief in that. But even the best of times have their low moments, have their disappointments, have their heartbreaks, and I want to be somebody who's mentally ready for all of that. And I think, especially after a challenging twenty twenty four, I don't think that I sort of gave myself or I don't think I mentally understood what I really needed in order to just go through all those moments, right. I think I think because of those moments, I can build the callouses a little bit more, and not in a bad way, but the ability to sort of push through those moments and maybe recognize what I need right. And I know I'm kind of talking circause I'm kind of processing right now. There's a lot coming up for me as I talk about this, But I think I think not relying on the moment or the goal or the vision that I have to be the thing that tells me if I'm okay or not right. I think that's that's like external I guess, you know, validation to a degree, but I think it goes beyond that. I think the I think like the next level of my journey of my growth of of what I'm striving for is to be somebody who is okay through all the madness, you know, who who is sort of not like because I think, you know, twenty twenty four, it was like I had these all these sort of seeds planted, and I was like, I'm waiting for that moment. I know I'm going to get that you know, that call, that email, that opportunity, I'm going to create that thing that then allows us to ascend and do the next thing or whatever it might be. And sort of having a bunch of different disappointments and letdowns and really feeling them and feeling as if my life is derailed because of them. I think now I'm reflecting and saying like, those moments were heartbreaking, disappointing, and all of the above, every every sort of adjective you could think of, But they didn't need to be moments that derailed my life. They didn't need to be moments that made me question everything and questioned myself to the point that I sort of froze in place. And I think that is what I'm trying to get to, right And I talked about this on my story on Instagram today just as a thought that was happening as I've I've already kind of had a big disappointment coming into this year. You know, I had a for a Friday, I was supposedly playing a big show at like my my dream venue. I think I've talked about Webster Hall in New York City, like two thousand people, and it felt like it was like, all right, it's the start of me kind of getting back to just like being in sync with the things that I love doing, music being one of them. And unfortunately it got canceled. The the headline who show it is he has some sort of health issue he's battling with that he can't make this show. So it got canceled for now, and it was incredibly disappointing. I got that news yesterday, and the old programming in me began to build up the evidence that I personally can't catch a break, that I have this black cloud flying over me, and we got really close to sort of me derailing and just going into like this deep depressed, dark headspace right because you know, and for some it might sound like it might just sound like, oh, who cares, it's like a concert one concert show, and yeah, to a degree it is, but it is something that it's something of this size. I can't understand it. And if you're not in my particular industry, it might not seem like that big of a deal. But this is like the big leagues and you got called up, you know, to go play like for the Yankees or something, after being in the minors, and then all of a sudden that call up got canceled. Now you're you know, it's like a fuck, now I'm back to playing in the miners. Before I even had a chance to show it, I was what I could do like this was this is These types of gigs are the domino effect where they set the tone for bigger and better bookings and growth and things like that. Right, So, there was a lot sort of that I had planned that was piggybacked off of this one gig, and now with it gone, it's like, fuck, we're starting at the ground level almost again. Right. So it was easy for me to make it mean something personal about myself, about my luck, about the way that God is or isn't behind me right now. The universe isn't working in my isn't conspiring in my favor, right And I allowed myself to kind of be in that rut for for a little bit. I took like two fucking naps for no reason, right, and you know, went through more junk food in my kitchen than I wanted to, and ate cereal for dinner, you know, like did all the fucked heartbreak things basically. But then I I, ironically, as I was like in bed to actually sleep, you know, after taking my multiple unecessary naps, I got kind of struck with an idea, uh, you know, and and I kind of like, I'm not gonna lie. I prayed, and I even like praying, I just kind of spoke to God the universe again that the word is interchangeable for me. But I also kind of, I guess, speaking to myself, just having a conversation, you know, and like through that conversation, finding peace and just sort of reiterating to myself that things will work out as they are supposed to. You always find a way, and maybe it's not the way you want it to be, maybe it's not as fast or as big or whatever, but you always find a way to be able to fight another day. And that's a gift in itself, right, And that conversation with God reminded me of that, and then like you know, when I was going to sleep, like ideas of how of like how to sort of bounce back from this setback and like figure out a way to reinsert myself into it began to come to me. Right, Like I energized and excited all over again. And that is the That's what I mean by intention is I'm gonna read you my words just so because I feel like I'm in circles, talking in circles without telling you, like what my words are. My four words are this resilience, persistence, faith, and legacy. And I think in that moment that conversation I had with myself, with God, with the universe, I actually displayed those first three words resilience to say that, you know what, this setback sucks. It's so fucking disappointing, but we're not going to you know, we're going to keep on pushing forward. Persistence, right, the idea of continuing to work. I made a plan. I woke up this morning worked on something I needed to do for the plan. Right, That's that persistence that even the face of failure, it's you know, maybe I maybe I said, you know what, fucking I'm gonna just take it day to myself, take the next part of the day off. But I woke up the next morning right back at it again. That's that persistence. And then the faith word, the faith that if it's not this, it will be something else in a good way, the faith that as long as I just keep getting back up, things will pan out and I'll end up where I'm supposed to be. And to me that right there, as I reflect on it, I'm recognizing how big of a mindset shift that is and how much of a gift these words are, because I don't know if a year ago, I know for a fact a year ago, I wouldn't have been able to bounce back so quickly or remain this positive, this fast in the face of it all right amidst the storm of disappointment. You know, I had a lot of big disappointing moments last year that I feel like really created a lot of brain fog and disappointment and uncertainty that lasted for months at a time. And that's why these words are so important. That's why this intention is so important, because right then and there these words allowed me to work through this problem. And yeah, the emotion is still there. The disappointment still exists, but it doesn't paralyze me. It doesn't freeze me in place, because I understand the greater vision and the greater intention I have for this year, and those words provide me with a clear, quick plan of action in response to a disappointing moment. I'm going to be resilient. I'm going to keep persisting and I'm going to have faith that everything is going to work out. That right there, that re energizes you to get back up and I can get right back to work right. That's why it's so important and so powerful. And that last word legacy I just added. I was reflecting on the Bad Bunny album. I just you know, bear with me. This might sound like left field, but this Bad Bunny album literally brought me to tears the first listen for so many different reasons. The visuals that he put out, everything, and on the like on the Internet and looking on social media, I'm recognizing, like this is such a universal thing that's happening. I think so many people are feeling it, but specifically Puerto Ricans I'm I'm seeing and we're like all having a very similar reaction. I think a feeling seen, of feeling united and energized collectively behind this. And I've had my own critiques of Bad Bunny. I've been a huge fan forever. I've always remained even while still having healthy critiques, I think, but I recognize, like what this man is creating and what he's igniting, and what he stands for. And when you look back, especially now, is sort of having this body of work of what he has meant to the people of Puerto Rico and the inspiration that he's had on this younger generation, my generation, and even younger. I see it when I walk around the island, that legacy that he and neverly will leave behind when he's done making art, when he leaves this earth, it's stamped in there. And regardless of other critiques I've had and things of that nature, his art has truly spoken and inspired so many people, and his actions have in a way that changed the course of our community and our culture for the better, I think. And it's this marrying of the thing that you love and you're passionate about and that you're gifted with. You know, for him, it's music, but he's made it something so much bigger than just music than just some Regaton songs that we listen to in the club, than just being some celebrity. He's made it a means to unify and celebrate, I think, and in that celebration, unify his community and put us on a on a global stage and make us feel so powerful in being seen. And I think there's there's something so special to that in terms of like I think for me, and I'll end it herecause I'm gonna go for another fucking tangent, but I think for me, I would always devalue what I do and I would always tell this isn't important, this means nothing, even like specifically when it came to music, there's love that I had for it, this burning thing that is just like inserted in me since I was a kid, and I walked away from it for a while for a while because I was like, this isn't deep enough, This doesn't affect or help enough people. And yeah, as an industry it's very superficial. But what I recognize being somebody like bad Bunny, especially in this moment right now, your gift can be a vehicle for something far bigger than just the gift itself, if that makes sense. Yes he's a musician. Yes he's an incredibly talented one. Yes he's got hits, and he gets played in the club and on the radio, and he wins awards. But he used that as a vehicle to have deeper and more meaningful conversations and as a result, created an impact that will last forever. Essentially, that defines a generation, defines a culture of people, his people. And I recognize now that you can marry your passions and that whatever you do can be as deep and effective as you want it to be. And your art, your creativity, your passions, your vision can have impact and you can add deeper meaning even if everybody around you is just doing superficial bullshit and you could still win. I think that's to me the greater arching thing as well as like we're seeing somebody not only win in the traditional superficial metrics of the entertainment industry, but winning as a human being that is enacting positive change and being a person of inspiration and influence in a positive way for the people and the community and the culture that he values. And that's legacy right there. That's choosing to go a level deeper, and that's what is another word I keep in mind because I think my first go around with music, it was superficial. It was external validation. I love music, right, and it was bigger than you know, just wanting to be like famous or something like that. But I'd be lying if I said it wasn't about, you know, proving people wrong and making myself feel good by being quote unquote somebody. And now it's like, I love it. It makes me feel good to be around it, to do it, to make it, to play it. But I also recognize it's a powerful vehicle for me to enact the type of change and inspiration that I want. Right, I'm like, I'm using this as something that is a springboard for the sort of legacy that I hope to leave behind. And when i put in the hours in the studio and I'm busting my ass doing this, and that I recognize that it's bigger than just any notoriety that comes along with being a musician. I'm doing it with the intention of this also allows me to open doors to be the type of philanthropist and activists that I want to be for my people, and to have the types of conversations that I think are important and to speak on behalf of those who can't speak for themselves. So yeah, legacy, Yeah, thank you all for listening and giving me that platform, the platform, the ability to do this. Honestly, I feel like I'm like realist. Honestly, you should have, I think, on the way to work every morning, we should all have a podcast by ourselves, just talk to yourself. Like that's literally what I'm doing right now. It just feels less crazy because I know this is going to go out to people. But but yeah, I thought I just worked through so much right there. I feel fucking pounds lighter. But yeah, those are my words. Resilience, persistence, faith, and legacy. That's my theme, my intention for twenty twenty five. Dude, it's like the storytelling bad but like, yo, you gotta watch the short film. He's telling the story of what's happening to Puerto Rico right now, Like it's, oh my god, it's so it's just a fucking he's telling you a story. But he's also like you're grinding, you know. It's like it's it's it's the most beautiful fucking thing ever because it's like you can listen to it and just fucking listen to it for energy and like music, and then you can sit there and get lost in the messaging behind it and like feel so deeply connected and just energize to do something. And that's like what he's so great at. He fucking found a way to pull it all together. Like it's the medicine with the candy. I'm gonna bring you in with pereo and like we're gonna listening togaton beats and you're gonna want to shake your ass and do all those things and while out, but in between all of that, I'm going to hit you with this messaging that makes you recognize what's important in this life and makes you aware of a struggle that is happening to your people and how we all need to be more active in fighting back against it. And like, man, that's a fucking blueprint right there for great art and having a lasting legacy through your art. And we all have our own vision or own passion, our own way of contributing to this world. For him, it's music, you know, For you, it might be podcasting, might be writing, it might be poetry, but whatever it ends up being. But like, to me, that that is like a life that is fulfilled, a passion that is fulfilled, one that is worthy of the gift that you've been given from God. The universe of this fire inside of you is one where you're able to really marry all these different human emotions together and leave people not only entertained, but dig a bit deeper to leave them in spir And yeah, that's that's fucking legacy right there. With that said, let's time have them to talk about today. A neat little bow in a second we called conclusion, Stu. We'll take a quick break here and then we'll be right back time conten All right, So I'll keep this short because I feel like I spent super deep on on everything. I feel like I just gave you a very practical example of why intention and then a goal is how we should be approaching the year. Again. It's like this, it's a tool, right, that's what these words are, or that's what that sentence is. It's like you're putting together ikea furniture, and in order to do so, in order to survive the hell that is assembling ikea furniture, you have to utilize that little bag of fucking shitty tools that they give you. Right, it's a net. It's like, it's what helps you get there. And that's what intention is. Intention is the little ikea bag of shitty tools that comes in the box, all right. The goal is to put the shit together to have the goal is to have a coffee table. But without that little bag of shitty tools, you're not going to be able to have the dream of sitting in front of a coffee table, right. That's you have to look at it. And I think that's what I gave you, a real working example of me reacting and moving forward from that disappointed news that I got, using those words that I set for myself as a toolkit to work through the emotions of that and come out on the other side on my path, continuing on my journey towards that goal that I set out for myself. And this is like, listen, this is this is I'm not even trying to like, I didn't invent this, so I'm not even gasking myself up. This is next level shit, right. This is the mindset that the world's most successful people have. This is when you and you want the secret sauce to get rich quick scheme, whatever the fuck it is. It's these types of mindsets that are the overarching key factor to why people found success and why others felt short to whpe. Some people are miserable in their life and others are far more happy and fulfilled. It's little things like this, seemingly little things like this, right again, that Ikia tool set on its own is very laughable. That little skinny ass like aluminum foil looking wrench that they fucking give you right, laughable on its own, But in context of assembling a shitty coffee table, it's essential. And I don't know why I Kia is on my brain right now, but it is. I think that's a good I think that's a great analogy personally that I will gasp myself about. I think it's a great analogy anyway. Intentions. So if you haven't done that yet, there's one thing you listen to me this year. Take some time and just figure out a couple of words a sentence, something like this is your compass, Right, if I want to be dramatic and talk more in terms of like fucking self help, guverrus, this is your compass that guides you back. This is your north star. This is the bumper rails on a bowling lane. Right nudges you back back to where you're trying to get to. And if you're a small child or just a horrendous bowler, those rails are essential for you not having a miserable day at the bowling alley. And that's what these words of intention are, or these sentences. It's that. So with that said, thank y'all so much. Happy first week of twenty twenty five. We'll be back on Thursday. Of course, we're a Thursday Trends episode. You better believe I'm probably gonna be analyzing the Bad Bunny album. I might do a whole episode on that. We'll talk, we'll think of it, we'll think on it. But anyway, Thursday Trends. We shall be back Thursday, obviously. Until then, set your intentions for the year. It's great to be back, great to talk to you. I love and miss you all. I love you and I missed you all. Thank you so much for you know, not forgetting about me over the last couple of weeks. Happy twenty twenty five and we'll talk soon till then. Stay safe. This is Life as a Greo is a production of the micro Thura podcast Network and iHeartRadio.