This audio speaks so much volume and speaks so loud.

Every time I hear it, it whips me back into shape mentally, babe, go for it.

How much time you get?

If you're lucky, 75 years, 75 winters, 75 spring times, 75 summers and 75 autumns.

When you look at it like that, it's not a lot of time, is it?

Don't waste them.

Get your head out of the rat race and forget about the superficial things that preoccupy your existence and get back to what's important now, right now, this very second.

And I'm not saying drop, let the world come to a grinding halt.

I'm saying that you can become a seeker.

You can be loving more, you can be taking some chances.

You can be living more, can be spending more time with your family.

You can be getting in touch with the part of you that lives instead of fears, the part of you that loves instead of hate.

I get emotional.

Every time I hear hits, it hits.

That was, that was impactful.

It.

It definitely whips you back into perspective.

Like what's important in my life right now?

That's the word.

That's the word.

I.

Let's keep it going.

It's going.

Play the vibe.

Play something that, that does the same.

Starts with some, some deep tones.

So let's start with some deep tunes as well.

That's the tone.

Hit the tune.

Hey, co work yeah.

Partially functional.

Half of me is comfortable the other half is close to the cliff like Mrs. Huxtable these boys got them hostess and clips they packed like lunchables like white boys in grade school while we ate school made food just high in a wish I was trying they knowing when mama hit the stove she wasn't buying that.

That's so weird.

Crying a bit.

That's just like, that's how that work.

You reach your hand to fire you.

Pull it back when you get burnt.

Gotta learn when you get hurt even if it's with cupid he beat you and you went back.

He's officially stupid.

You know how I am with that.

You always kill those little, like those little vocals in the background every time.

I remember one time I brought that up in a song and you said, what sound is that?

And then you said, oh shoot, you're.

You're literally singing the background noise.

I'm like, yeah.

Cuz I'm always paying attention to the lyrics.

So a lot of the times I don't catch any of that until I, I, I heard the whole song.

So I play it back and then that's When I start listening to the beats and what the beat's doing, what the vocals are doing.

But it's crazy how people interpret music so different.

And speaking of music, we connected off of that.

But it's so funny how differently we interpret it.

I'm the person that feels the beat, and the beat gives me the mood before I listen to the words.

Sometimes it could be years that I hear a song and I'm just in my feelings, and years later, I finally listen to a part of the lyric.

I'm like, oh.

Like I'm hearing it for the first time.

Meanwhile, you're like.

I'm like, you're just catching on to this.

Like, this was crazy.

Yeah, that.

That, that.

That's definitely.

That was.

That was something I always looked forward to when we was.

When we would speak, because I was like, I gotta.

Got some music ready for.

I got.

I gotta send her something.

And even.

Even I'll listen to something and I'll send it to you.

Like, you gotta listen to this.

And there's times that I'm not gonna lie, I'm looking for those reactions.

Like, you come over and be like, babe, this was crazy.

And sometimes I. I don't get that.

And it's because you're listening to the beat first or the background first, and some of the music.

Sometimes it kind of like, no, no, I think that is just how you interpret music.

Because then when you give it another listen, you'll come back and.

And you'll talk about it or you'll play it.

And I hear you playing, and I'm like, oh, she the.

I said, but that's because I. I understand now the way you interpret music.

So it's just.

Is.

Is.

Is.

Is definitely intriguing, but here we are.

Hey, what's up, guys?

The Parental Exchange Podcast.

Welcome.

I am your host, Nicole.

And I'm your host, Chico.

And this is all about real parents exchanging real experiences.

No judgment, just growth and connection.

Let's go.

Let's get it.

So, you know, let's, let's.

Let's.

Let's let everybody know who we are first as well.

Right?

My name is Chico.

I'm from Patterson, New Jersey.

I am about to be 33, and I'm a father, fiance, brother, Dominica employee, Dominican to the core.

And I love content creating.

This is my safe space.

Hopefully it becomes yours as well.

And, you know, content creating, as far as podcasting goes, I started in 2016, and it's been a journey for me this year feels like the real run.

It's my Marathon run.

And, you know, I'm.

Yeah, 33.

Marathon run.

Nipsey.

Anybody that knows, you know, Nipsey is one of my top five.

So I reference a lot of marathon stuff, a lot of J. Cole stuff.

So that's just me and my beautiful fiance, Nicole.

Thanks, babe.

Yes, Nicole, I am 30 years old and also born and raised Patterson, New Jersey, Borica.

But you will definitely.

Yeah, you'll definitely know I'm from here once you hear me talk Spanish.

But we won't talk about that.

We won't get into that.

I am.

I am.

You know, I feel like I identify myself as just this bubbly person.

You know, I'm a mom.

I love to laugh.

I love to have a great time.

I love being a mom.

I. I think we could talk about that in a whole nother.

In a whole nother podcast and a.

Lot of that coming.

And health and fitness is what rocks my world, especially coming into this new year.

Amazing.

Amazing.

So this is 2026.

We're back.

And when I say we're back, it's.

It's.

It's funny because it's like an insider, because we.

We started the idea away what year it was 2000.

Zaya was about to be one, so we had to be around 22.

22.

Yeah.

And the.

The.

The idea came back.

You know, everything happens in God's timing.

And today, you know, we're kicking off 2026, talking about what's important in our life.

And while we were discussing this, right, doing our vision board, AKA our action board, taking action.

That's right.

It automatically led us to the five.

Fs, the five Fs of 2026.

And we want you guys to also dive into what your five Fs are going to be.

But we definitely wanted to talk about what that is for us as individuals and also as partners and parents.

And we're here to lock in with y'.

All.

Let's get it.

So let's start off with number one.

Number I wish they could guess right now what the first F is.

I know what y' all thinking.

Unthink it.

Unthink it.

Unthink it, Unthink it.

Because it's nothing near that.

It is faith.

Faith is number one.

Ultimately, you know what you.

That faith you have pours into everything else in your life.

And if you have a list of things that are important to you, God first.

Right?

Because God is going to grace your family.

God is going to, you know, bless you in order to bless your family.

You know, I'm a big believer and I felt like I can't.

I don't give God credit enough or haven't.

And this year I want to change that.

This year I want to put God in the, in the center of it all because I've noticed myself in situations where I felt like, how do I get out of this?

And it's always God that reels me back in because that's my anchor.

That's what I go to.

That's what a lot of us go to.

Whatever your faith is, that's the first thing you go to whenever you're in trouble, but is often not celebrated enough when you're actually winning.

So I want to make sure that I keep that always, no matter what the storm is, the ups and downs, faith.

Right.

So how does that, what does that look like for us?

I would say it starts with us actually practicing it more like making sure that we first off, before we even hit play, we prayed on this moment and prayed to bring some good insight, pray to bring some good connections within ourselves.

And I think it's, yeah, it's all of that.

Making sure God is present in all of our things and also practicing that.

So we, we do go to the house of the Lord at least that one day a week.

You know, we are going and making that something that we do as individuals for our own.

We started, we started last Sunday and you know, the weather, the weather and just I, I guess I was the rushing.

I didn't see that we, that the services were, were canceled.

But we made the effort, we got there.

Now we know where it is because it's kind of our first time going back into this new location, into this new, basically new church.

So it's definitely going to be something that, you know, we don't do once in a while.

It's something that we're going to stay consistent with and we're going to hold each other accountable.

And that's what you did because essentially you saw me kind of just like already, like I didn't know that services were canceled.

And I was already like, ah, it's canceled.

I said, babe, it's already 11.

I said, cool, yeah, services, that's.

Well, what's up?

But it was really a 145.

It made it even more doable.

So I said, we said we were going to do it, let's do it.

And this, this year is about that.

And so even when you don't feel like it, we got to do it.

And so I was saying this before.

There's so many different things coming at us in this lifetime, whether it's the things that we're exposed to, the people, our families, sometimes the things that we're exposed to and the things we, we go through could be a little bit toxic that we need that faith or we need that different insight.

We need to seek more.

And so just so much things getting thrown at us in our life that we need to dive deeper and dig more into our faith because we can just get this clouded judgment of, of even like wrongfully thinking of who we are as a, as people based on all that.

But when you really seek inside, you really get that faith.

I'm here, I'm ready for it, and I'm excited to see how it evolves me as a person.

For sure.

For sure.

Definitely.

Yeah.

I, I, I'm a, I'm a firm believer.

Ever since I, I, I, I got into personal development.

Right.

A lot of these things are rooted from principles from the Bible.

And I did learn quickly that the, you know, whatever you're putting in your system, the things you listen to on a daily and watch y, if it's not something that's bringing value, right.

Or something that's, that's inspiring you to be better version than yourself, then essentially you're not going to pour that out to other people, to other things in your life.

And you realize that because I, I feel it like, I feel I'm already kind of like a morbid person where I think about like the, the, the sides that you don't want to think about and bringing it up at the wrong.

Thing.

Yeah, but it's, it's generally something that I already gravitate, gravitate towards because of my personality.

So I understand that that also becomes something very, very toxic because now that's all I'm pouring out around me.

That's all I'm, you know, I'm not bringing any value.

I feel it.

And that, that was another thing where it was like anytime I was connected with God, anytime I was reading the Bible, anytime I was listening and, and really like absorbing these things, it would show because my personality, the things I was pouring into people was not the, you know, scarcity.

It wasn't, it wasn't fear, it wasn't negativity, you know, and, and sometimes we don't do it intentionally.

It's just that that's what we're consuming.

So that's what we' so I, I, I strongly believe that if you're not tuning into something, just if you can't make it to church physically I know that some parents, Sundays and Saturdays is your day to, you know, catch up with life, Take a minute to worship, to listen in something on YouTube today, we don't have excuses because you could be in God's house.

In your house, you can play it from your.

From your YouTube.

You can, you know, watch the churches that.

That stream live.

There's ways that you can for weeks, 100%.

And we enjoy it, too.

Sometimes if we can't make it or we just want to be within our family, be comfortable at home, make a breakfast, sleep in, we just pop a.

A live sermon on or something that speaks to us in that moment, and it hits every time.

And it's.

And it's.

The sermons are just so good these days as well.

They're so modernized.

But.

Yeah, so there's just no excuses, guys.

Find what brings that faith to you.

So that's F number.

Yes.

Now let's move on to F, number two.

Family.

Yeah.

Familia.

La familia.

That's number two, right?

If it ain't number one, it's number two.

Because essentially, you know, God pours into your family.

You know, what you believe in will pour into your family.

Especially when Zaya came into the picture, it was kind of just like, where are my priorities?

Where do they need to change?

How am I going to impact his life?

Do you remember what you felt when you first saw.

Saw him?

For me, it was like, I need to live.

Like, I don't know why, but immediately it was just like, I need to live.

I need to be here.

Because this feeling, it was like, automatically like, I'm here, bro.

And you were so anxious for this child, which.

I was in labor for a very long time, active labor for a few hours, but I was in labor before that, active stage for, you know, almost a whole day.

So he was like.

And then at some point, it became.

And then it became, we got our baby.

Baby.

That's the first thing he said when that baby got on my chest.

We got our baby.

Baby.

I didn't know what to say.

I just know that we got a baby.

Like, I said that.

And I.

And I.

The way I said that was because I was trying to avoid crying.

So it was kind of like that.

That was my.

That was the voice that came out.

Yeah.

Oh, and I. I love that you said that.

I didn't think of that as much as I did.

Like, this is actually real.

And for a very long time, I'm wondering how many parents felt like, that's really my kid.

I really Got every single day, you wake up and look at them.

Like, I think I'm finally used to the fact that I have a child roaming around in this earth.

And, like, I'm just so blessed.

Like.

But I hold that day near and dear to me.

I still have.

I wrote down.

Remember in 2022, I said.

I wrote it down on my notes, and I said, I'm gonna write out exactly what I'm feeling right now so that I don't forget it.

And I still have it on my notes.

Nice.

I was like, it's 2:22 in the morning.

Ironically, it was, too.

You should put that in the vision board around the family.

Yeah.

Well, like, just.

What.

Just so that you can remember that feeling when we're watching the action board and we're looking at the things that we want to achieve.

I thought you meant, like, to experience that again.

I was about to say.

Don't start.

We still have one child.

Relax.

He wants another one, y'.

All.

So we'll see.

I'm.

If.

If God gives us that blessing, I'm here for it.

I think right now is about everything we have going on right now.

There's so much within these five Fs that we're going to talk about today, but if that is another blessing in my life, I'm here for it.

But family and how we can be present with our family is going to be key in this second F. It's spending more time with family.

I made a lot of changes within the last few months to be able to have more time with my family because I realized that that was more valuable to me than, you know, the money I was making at the time or the status I had at the time.

And it was consuming me to a point where I didn't even want to get up.

I didn't want to get up out of bed.

And I was like, you know what?

I got to change something.

I got to change something.

Because where I want to be is when my son.

Well, this is.

There's.

There's not that much time where he's this small.

I want that.

When you think about 75 years.

Yeah, there you go.

That.

That clip.

I'm.

I'm sure that that.

That weighs heavy.

When you're always you.

When you're battling yourself for spending so much time in something that, you know, ultimately you're getting something in return that's benefiting your family, but it's not pouring into your motherhood.

Right.

And.

Which means a lot to me.

Yeah.

Yeah.

It's part of it become.

It became heavily a part of my identity.

It's not everything in me, but it became something very important to me that I wanted to not take too much time away from.

So, yeah, 100%.

I love.

I loved what I was doing, but it just became too much.

And I knew it at some point.

It was just too much.

So I had to make that.

I had to take that step back.

And it's brought different change because now I'm striving for a lot.

A lot of other things on my own to make that freedom for myself, for my family.

But I. I have no regrets.

Yeah.

So for me, this quality time, this f. Is quality time and.

And meaningful memories, traditions with the family.

What are we going to start doing now?

That's what I was gonna say right there.

Can remember.

Our son can remember what memories?

Like, he'll say it sometimes.

He'll give me, like, remember when we went to the Hot Wheels?

I want to go to Hot Wheels again.

And now he's remembering.

So what is the tradition that we're going to do that we might not have had as kids?

I'm thinking to do something with like.

You remember when we went to Dominican Republic and he.

He pet the.

The lizard?

Yeah.

It's like go to different places and.

And try to do that with different type of animals because he loves animals and he doesn't show any type of fear.

Even with the things he's scared of, he still goes and curiously wants to see them and.

And try to, like, att touch them.

And, you know, that.

That's admirable because I won't get near a spider.

So.

And that.

That is the mentality we have.

I think over time we.

We've gotten in such a fear of everything because we're thinking about the wh.

Ifs or the negative things that are happening.

But we got to think like kids, and we got to think more.

Less scarce.

Less scarce, scarce, less scarce and more like the possibilities.

Like, what does it feel like if I do this?

Yeah, I want to be that excited.

Like how I went skydiving.

Would you do that with me?

Never.

Never, Never.

I'm sorry.

So I remember my sister shout out to my twin.

She.

I remember one time she told me, nick, I can't go down.

I can't take.

Do these roller coasters because I lose my breath, and I'm like, girl, like, what are you talking about?

That is now me.

I can't go down these water tunnels and things that shoot straight down without feeling like I went on a slingshot in a carnival.

Never.

One and done.

One and done.

I would never do that.

That shit.

That's crazy.

See, that's one shit that.

Because the thing is that I look at that.

You have a professional hovering over you to get you safely on the ground.

Not even that.

It's just.

I am in a mechanical death trap.

Because I looked at that as.

I always thought those strings were so, like, flimsy.

I was just like, nah, never.

With the, with the amount of pressure you're going up.

I never trusted, especially carnivals because you hear the rumors of how they don't.

You've seen it.

They don't maintain, they don't.

They don't maintenance their machines as well.

And they don't have good insurance from.

From what I hear, right?

So I'm just like, nah, I'm cool.

Ever.

Anytime I saw that slingshot, I was like, never.

And I love jumping off of high, high things.

Like I, I jump off of cliffs.

I've done skydiving.

I'll do it again.

I'll do it tomorrow.

By the way, he's never just jumped off a cliff.

Oh, yeah, I wouldn't.

I'd be running.

They say Looney Tunes.

You know what that is?

Next.

You've never seen Roadrunner.

You're too young for that.

Yeah, so.

So, yeah, no, definitely traditions and family.

Quality time.

Right.

Memories.

Oh, and in a, In a picture aspect too.

Like, locally, I, I wanna, I want us to prioritize.

Like, go out, do something out here.

Doesn't always have to involve spending money, but just, you know, dedicate a day for us to, to do things together and have like a slow day.

Not rush, not run around, not like running to make it to this or make it to that.

Those.

That type of, you know, it doesn't have to be on a weekend, but I just feel like one day we have to have that either.

Even if it's just to watch a movie together as a family.

I, I feel like Zaya loves that, you know, go to the movies to watch a movie.

That was amazing.

I love that experience with him because I felt like he, he was living life.

He was eating popcorn, watching, looking at us, laughing.

It was just like he was actually taking in.

And I was, I was always nervous about going to the movies with him because.

Felt like he was going to be running around, not, not, not saying.

Still not paying attention, crying.

And that was not it.

I loved it.

You'll go again?

Like, absolutely.

I want to go this weekend if we can shoot.

Yeah, I still want to go See David.

So yeah.

Yep.

I mean that plays into both the faith.

Yeah.

Something that is more so educational and then you know, family.

So boom, there you go.

What are you guys going to do for your f of family?

What comes next?

What comes next?

So after family, you know, we got to talk about fitness.

You know, we got to talk about fitness.

You don't like when I flex?

You don't like it.

You don't like it.

But yeah, not like you gotta wait till I, you know, I get, I get bralette so we can, you know, do it together.

Yeah.

Only be leaving me out of it like.

Yeah.

So yeah.

No.

What health.

Health is wealth.

What do I think about?

I'm start with me because I want you to think about this question.

What do I think about when I think about fitness?

Not only because it's what, it's my form of living, it's what I do for my career, but I think about the longevity and the fact that I do want to live on this earth for more than 75 years.

So I'm trying to get stronger.

I know what happens to my body when I hit a certain age as a woman.

I know all of the different things that happen hormonally, pre menopausally.

Like I know all of these things.

And with that, with that knowledge, I'm not going to act like I'm here to avoid it.

I'm going to do what I can to not slow it down, avoid it, but try to adapt to it because it's coming no matter what.

And so two things for me, longevity and being as strong as I can for my family, for my little one and, and for you as well.

I mean when I say family, I mean everybody.

Like not just for the flex, but I want to be strong now the size going to be about £40 now I want to lift over £40 like that.

I'm kind of progressing my.

I'm going progressive overload with him on the account of him.

So those are my big whys and why I keep doing what I'm doing.

And if people, more people thought about that as their why instead of just an obligation and more of a non negotiable, then their lives will change tremendously.

So start small, period.

That's all you got to do.

Doesn't have to be the most hardcore strategic plan.

Just has to be a non stop plan.

Something that my non negotiable is I can't go more than two days without doing it.

I'm not going to be perfect.

But if I go one day without it.

And then another, I'm not gonna let it be three.

And that, that's, that's a rap.

That's my mentality.

So what do you feel for you is important when it comes to fitness?

What is your reasoning for this?

Third F.

So many things just come to mind.

Like, before it was the, the, you know, surface level.

Things like looking good and being able to take your shirt off, right?

And then it just became generational.

Like, in my mind, like, I've seen my family.

I know what, you know, diseases, what, what type of health issues our family struggle with, right?

And if I continued the path that I was on, where it was just like, no, no direction, indulging in everything, not having enough movement, then I was going down that road and I didn't feel good.

Like, I just.

One, it's.

I want to feel good.

Two, I want to have energy to, to catch up to my son.

I want my son to look at me and want to be like me.

And when I say like, like, it's not an ego thing, like, be just like me, I want him to be able to just know that certain things are essential in life, like working out.

I don't want him to feel like he has to go the lazy route with things.

And, you know, if I want him to see that in me, I have to be an example of that.

And that comes with implementing that.

So it's a transition.

Like, I, it's not the easiest thing for me to.

Because I, I honestly, I'll be honest with y', all.

I don't like the gym.

And I'm being straight up, like, I haven't gotten there yet.

Where the gym is this thing where, you know how some people just post, like the gym is their sanctuary.

I get anxiety.

Like, I just, I, I don, I don't really care for certain things in the gym.

I guess I just don't like being overcrowded in the gym that I go to.

Doesn't help in that space, but it's just not something I look forward to, right?

But that has been changing, especially after we did the nine week challenge and I saw that I was able to make it happen.

And I'll go in and I'll lock in with what my workout routine was.

I went from 195 to 174, and now I'm at 170.

So I haven't stopped.

I haven't gone backwards.

And that's, you know, that's amazing.

I feel amazing.

I wake up in the morning, I feel like I can, you Know, carry my own weight.

I don't get tired.

Like, I play basketball and the other day we ran full court games.

I did five miles and I felt like I could keep going like that, to me, is priceless.

You're already, you're already doing what you said you wanted to do and show Zaya and soon he'll be playing basketball with you.

Absolutely.

And that's why some, some of the things that I want to buy for home workouts is so he can see me, because I can't bring him to the gym with me, right?

And it's like, yeah.

So he just hears me going to the gym, he's like, daddy, you going to the gym?

And I'll be like, yeah, I'm going to the gym.

But I want him to see what I'm doing at the gym, right?

So some of that is, I want to have some of that at home so he can know that the things that we got him, those little workout equipment is actually something you use and, you know, kind of start getting him into seeing that.

But yeah, that, that it for me, it's just breaking generational curses being here and doing all that I can to avoid falling into those pitfall pitfalls.

And, you know, like you said, I know what these things, I know what old age brings.

Right.

It's, it's, there's a lot of things that if you don't take care of now, you're going to pay for later.

And I don't want to wait and find out.

Yeah, here's where we're going to end this and say you can have 100 different problems at work, with family, with your relationship, but the moment your health becomes an issue, you got one problem, and that's the one that you want to focus on so that you can be able to get through those relationship issues.

Right?

Come out on the, the better end of that family issue, that thing that's going on at work.

Because if health is the issue, nothing else matters.

Nothing else matters.

So we leave it here is, is how do you, knowing where the end of the road comes, how do you make it the best?

Because you only got one body.

How do you make it the best journey on the way there?

Mic drop, can you do that?

Bomb?

I think it's, I don't want to mess it up, but I believe it's.

There we go, let's get it, you know, and I, I, I, I'll just share what some of my commitments are, you know, with, with fitness so you can have an idea like the action board is to take action.

Some of the action that I have to make happen is I, I, I committed to three days minimum doing movement, and it's going to be involving, you know, cardio and weightlifting, and that's just minimum.

You know, ideally, I want to do five days, but I understand that I don't have control over certain things, so I'll give myself like that in between.

You know, that's a good place to be, especially where I'm at.

And, you know, and if I could do more, I'll go from there.

Yeah.

Like, three days, babe, is better than zero days.

And it's gonna get you further than what zero days would get you.

So you start small and you build from there.

If it's one day a week, it's one day a week is one day more than what you were gonna do.

So I'm here for it, and I'm gonna hold you accountable to it.

Let's get it.

All right, so the following F number four, and that is.

Tell me, what is it?

Finance.

Okay, so number four.

Number four.

I. I had drew a blank.

Oh, okay.

Sorry.

Because I'm like.

You didn't see.

I was, I was laughing because I'm like, it's coming, it's coming.

I thought you wanted me to say.

I was like, damn, babe.

But you, you knew the Fs.

You knew the order we were going.

All right, so F number four is finance.

Our finances, man.

Like, it's not everything, but it's almost as important as air.

Yeah.

You know, like, you need it.

You need it as much as you need to breathe, and especially in this economy.

So, you know, I had an unhealthy relationship with money, and it comes from, you know, things that you grow up learning or hearing or seeing or not learning or not learning.

So, you know, it's still a lot to unravel, but I feel like we are both in a place where we have our heads on the same page when it comes to, you know, holding ourselves accountable, being, you know, disciplined, getting rid of debt, which is that that unhealthy relationship with money is like, not looking as that, that as a problem or not being urgent enough to get rid of, not not acting urgent enough to get rid of it sooner.

Saving, you know, and having respect for money.

Right.

You don't have to have love for money, but respect it.

Right?

Because when you respect money, it means you respect your time, because the, the money you get paid goes is based off the time you spent making it.

So if you look at things as I spent $20 on this shirt, and I get paid $20 an hour.

That means an hour of my life was paid, was used to pay for that shirt.

When you look at money that way, you start building a respect for it and a respect for yourself, and you'll make better decisions.

And that's what my goal for 2026 is, make better decisions with the money that is, you know, we're blessed with.

With all the growth and all the things that we've been experiencing entering 2026 and continue to.

That we're able to manage it, be disciplined with it, and respect it.

Interesting.

I. I think this is the first time I'm hearing you say that, so I love your perspective.

And I think every time we talk about this, you find something different that speaks you more.

So that's dope.

That's dope.

And.

And speaking in that life for myself, it's definitely like, I don't like owing anybody any money anything.

I don't like owing money.

So, you know that.

I just.

I'm so happy that I got through at least one of those complete clears of debts.

This for the start of 2026 already, it was like, let's go, let's go.

I already cleared one of my big debts, and now I'm more motivated to do more.

And I.

And.

And what I would like to do for this f. This year is keep diving into.

And I sent you this podcast today.

Keep diving into ways to not only help me be financially well off, but our son to be financially well off and think about ways to help him do investments.

Now, how do we get him to start investing?

How do we invest for him?

What do we do to.

For good savings for him?

So when he's old enough, he has money to spend on whatever it is he wants to go after.

Plus, we're instilling him being a hard worker.

So that's a big one for me.

I definitely.

I've always worked hard.

I've been working since I was 15 years old.

Started in downtown Patterson in a retail clothing store.

Shout out to my godmother.

Now, I won't call her my godmother's sister, but she's like an aunt to me.

And that.

That was like, all right, money, let's go.

And from then, I've been working hard ever since.

So these are the big things for me.

Getting out of debt, finding ways to invest for myself and for our family.

And also those podcasts that I'm listening to are.

And I definitely am gonna reference this too.

They are podcasts that tell you what you should be doing to help you clear that debt.

So there's just a lot.

And the first.

We also are using these tactics.

First being, what is the debt that is the most and holds the most interest that has to go right now, and that's the one that we ear attack.

And we're doing it together.

So this partnership, this was a big thing for me.

I've always done things by myself.

When you said, babe, we're working together, I'm like, what?

What?

My money's not my money?

Like, what?

Like, that hit me like, a ton.

Of your money is your money, my money is your money.

But at some point, our money becomes our money, right?

Yes.

Yes.

And I'm like, okay, so we're not tracking that.

I spent this much this month.

You spent that much, so now you owe me a little bit.

No.

Yes.

That was the mindset I always was on.

Like, all right, so.

So I spent a little bit more this time.

So now it's your turn.

And that was how we were able to kind of like, give ourselves like, that great.

That support, but support.

You know, now it's just if you're gonna move as a unit, you have to merge as a unit.

You have to literally be one.

And when I think about even wanting to get married, that's the point.

It's to, to symbolize that unity, to, to look at it as, this is us moving together into whatever it is, whatever space, no matter what, all in.

Right?

And you know, when you talk about getting out of debt and having strategy, you know, I, I.

We were blessed to be able to have, like, people around us, like, like my cousin Omar is in the financial service field, so he is aware of what things you need to pay attention to when it comes to your.

Your, your finances.

And when he kind of gave direction, like, hey, do this, do that, do this.

This is the plan.

Boom, like, it made sense.

And, and just like how, how we had that guidance from Aubrey and Terence when it came to our dieting and stuff like that, boom.

It.

It just started stacking with stacking up results, and we started seeing it.

Like, we started seeing how we were.

We were feeling less stressed about certain things.

We're like, oh, we.

Even if we downsize or downsize on, you know, our expenses and all in our living and, and, and we're seeing the money because of that.

But at the same time, we were also eliminating things.

So now we don't we our money and going into those things.

Right?

So we're able to put more money in this area and, and fill this cup and start seeing what our potential is.

And now we're like, damn, we can reach our goals even sooner.

Especially if we kick up vulnerable moment.

Because this is a space to have it is that finances really brought a disconnect between us.

Oh yeah.

For, for, for a while.

And it was, it was rough.

It was rough.

And, and then coming into, along with us, figuring out.

Right.

One of the steps I recommended or also just kind of mentioned that helped us was that we tackled what had the highest interest first.

And that's been helping us.

But another thing was we made ourselves.

We set ourselves with real expectations of like, hey, we had to change the position in which we had ourselves in.

And that meant changing where we were living.

And that was a big one for me.

The moment that I knew that I had to leave our first apartment that our child was raised in, I was broken.

But that was big of you to, you know, you, you.

I remember going to bed that night and I went to bed at 7 o', clock, just my head was like, count.

I said, whoa, like this might really happen.

And it did.

Like about eight weeks later we were saying bye to our first apartment ever.

And now I'm in my new space and I feel, you know, I still feel at home.

I feel like I knew I would never not feel at home wherever we were, but it was a space that I cherished.

So, you know, do what you need to do so that you can be out on the area and the place that you want to be in the future.

And that's, that's where we're at for sure.

Yeah, absolutely.

Because you know, it.

And I remember talking to you and kind of like the pep talks that we had to have because it was kind of like, you know, this is the part where you have to, as, as men, sometimes we have to look, make hard decisions and try to lead our family.

And this is the scary part for some of us because we're like, you know, I hope this is the right decision because I know that she's broken up about it, but I, it was like I was a hundred percent like, nah, this, there's nothing that can go wrong if we go this direction.

We're preparing ourselves for success.

And I understand that sometimes you gotta remove certain things from your life in order to get new things in your life.

And that was one of those things where it was like, yeah, it looked nice and yeah, it was, it was, it was comfortable and yeah, it was our space.

When we talked about long term, it wasn't where we wanted to stay.

Right, Right.

And it was kind of like, if we want to move on and this is a part of our burden, because just the thought of being able to save this much more by removing it, it just.

For me, it was like, I got no attachment to it.

Like, I automatically just, like, detached myself from it because I was like, I want this for my family, and this can't be big enough to hold me back.

Like, no, we're gonna make this happen.

And then we were like, all right, let's stay here, but then let's.

Our goals are going to take longer.

Right.

So we can stay where we're at, but we're going to move slower.

Sometimes some of us are moving slower with the things that we want to achieve because we haven't let go of the things that are holding us back.

And that was.

Was one of those things where we just noticed it's.

If we didn't have it available, it was the perfect spot.

Right.

If we didn't have anything else, but because we knew that we had not an option and an opportunity, it was like, are we that egotistic to not at least entertain this and say, if we plan on moving here or over there or buying a house here, this makes sense.

And that's where, like, you know, sometimes you just got to get together, get in a huddle, and it's not going to be pretty.

And, you know, one might not be all the way in than the other, but there.

There has to come, you know, that you have to come to an agreement.

Because I. I also did tell you, like, hey, we can do this and stay, but ideally, let's look at what we're trying to achieve and how long it's going to take to make that happen.

I think it's going to stretch us for more years than we wanted to.

And.

And, you know, you know, I. I definitely appreciate that you.

You know, even with that feeling, even with not wanting that wanting to let go of that apartment for the, you know, attachment and the memories and things that you've built there as well, you.

You made that leap, you know, and that.

And that.

That takes a lot of, like, trust within your relationship to take certain leaps and.

And let go of certain things.

So.

Thank you.

Yeah.

Because now where.

At that.

That place where we're.

We're seeing some of those things.

Right.

And.

And honestly, even really, like, letting go of that space eventually led you to chasing or.

Or not chasing, but going in.

Into that entrepreneur space because you also felt like you had a little bit More wiggle room to be able to take more chances on yourself, which you haven't done.

You know, like, you haven't taken enough chances on yourself because you, you.

You often seek a little bit of the security, and I understand that.

And, and, and this is another area where you're also getting out of your comfort zone and really taking a chance with yourself, which is admirable to see because I know that later when you are thriving to where you in the area that you want and the things that you want to achieve, Z is going to be looking down and be like, that's my mom.

Like, she's.

She's a great mom, and she's out here hustling and killing it.

Like, that's, that's something to also look forward to when you, when you think about long term and what the vision looks like for you.

I appreciate that.

Yeah, for sure.

Yeah.

Thank you, babe.

Yeah.

Got it.

All right.

Well, that brings us to our final F. I know this one.

Oh, you know this one?

I know this one because that's what I'm all about.

If you think about don't want the party to end.

Definition, always me.

And the last F, y' all is fun months.

Amongst all your obligations, amongst all the things that you want to strive for in this life that are going to bring you the hardships and, you know, the headaches and the struggles.

How do you have fun?

What are the hobbies that you're going to get into?

Get into something, you know, it doesn't have to be.

It could be something you do together as a couple, as a family, or something that you do by yourself, whatever it is that you.

You enjoy.

And for me, fun right now is basketball and vinyls.

That's something I look forward to.

I. I just ordered a new vinyl from my favorite artist, and I'm, you know, the fall off comes and drops.

I'm getting that vinyl and I'm playing it on vinyl first.

That's.

That's my thing.

Right?

And now I'm learning about certain things.

I, I had no idea that I had to care for the vinyls a certain way because now some of them are warped.

No.

So, So I have some in.

In.

In the display here, and when I took them out to play them, I realized that they were warped, which means.

That means, like, they.

They're uneven.

They, they, they, they.

Oh, yeah.

It has like this.

Yes.

That unevenness comes from, you know, not storing it correctly.

And I'm like, oh, so now I have to reorder some of these vinyls Right.

But if they're ever, ever available, I have something from Nipsey.

I don't even think they can.

They've dropped anything else after that.

But that was a learning thing for me.

And now I'm like.

But because I'm getting into it, I'm like, I'm invested in it.

I'm like, I'm gonna make sure I take care of them now.

I got this, you know, this, this, this little desk for my vinyls and my vinyl player that was gifted by my brother in law and I'm like excited to play on it and I'm.

That's something I look forward to.

That's my me time.

That's a vision.

I have to sit down playing vinyls and just vibe out.

So that's fun for me.

That's my way of fun and investing in some of that for myself.

How about for you?

Well, I'm going to take it to a level of even with us, it's once a month.

There's definitely you and I time.

Oh yeah.

Time to connect.

We're using this space.

Oh yeah.

To connect.

But I also want to have fun together and do something and you know, vibe out with our music and try a new place.

So we definitely have that on our radar since we just had our date night, couples date night this past weekend.

And so at least once a month, date night or, or girls night, go out there with the girls.

And also for me, it's, it's starting to, and I want to share this with my viewers and those who follow me on my fitness page is to tap into new healthy recipes.

So from home, everything that I look at when we go out to Costco's is like we'll send them ingredients.

What's in them?

Ingredients.

And I'm more aware of what I'm putting in my body and I find it fun to try new recipes and try different flavors.

And I've really been enjoying my meal prep.

So taking it to a next level.

I have some new ideas for myself.

So it's going to be cooking for me.

Date night, girls night.

Those are like my times to go out and have fun and unwind when I need to as a couple or just as myself with my girls.

And reading more, so a lot more reading on development, personal development.

Right now I'm listening or listening in, but also reading the Let Them theory by Mel Robbins and it's giving me a lot of perspective.

Something I can always think about my day to day and it's actually fun.

It, it's.

I Love it.

I love that.

Love that.

And, and hey, listen, I look forward to the recipe because I'm the one that gets the test.

I know.

I'm gonna start making a meme of every time I bring you a plate that's gonna stay tuned.

Every plate of food that I bring.

The last recipe I made was chinos.

Chinos, right.

Because we love our chicken and broccoli.

That was our staple.

At one point we would get chicken and broccoli, white rice, and then he would get like wings and papitas, French fries.

And we would like conquer, divide and.

Tear it up, eat, watch a movie.

That was our Saturday in the.

The old apartment.

Yep.

So I just made a healthier version and I was excited and it had no.

And it was.

So.

Yeah, that's the crazy part.

Like, my mom's tried to make it and, and, and she's.

She's nailed.

I don't want.

She's nailed.

I want to get his mom mad because they be bringing her food and she says, I can make that.

I'm like, no, because she does.

The problem was that she didn't buy the type of chicken, like thin sliced.

It was chunks.

So.

Yeah, but it was chunks when she made it.

So it was, it was taste wise.

It was close.

The texture wasn't.

So this one, it was all that.

It was kind of like making you feel like you dead.

I just ordered chinos.

So that was what, you know, the.

Texture and the flavor.

Yeah, yeah, that was it.

That was it.

No Spanish, no Spanish sassons, none of that.

So stay tuned for the recipes.

I'm trying to do at least once a week.

But filming it is also hard.

Like, I don't always film.

I do a lot of stuff just in the moment.

I'm like.

But I'm like, dang, I could have filmed that.

So I gotta get better with that.

So that's.

That's another goal of mine.

Yeah, just try to film more everything that I do from my gym.

I'll be going to the gym.

My account has not been posted and I've been working.

It's like, I. I gotta get better.

So that's a part of the action plan, you know, staying consistent with the things that you do and just putting it out there.

Because it's like, you know, this is great, this little saying.

People say if you didn't record it, it didn't happen.

If it's not on camera, it didn't happen.

You know, and it's like, if you at least try to think like that, at least it may.

It may help you to just be.

Be account, like, hold yourself accountable to remember.

Like, oh, let me set this camera up real quick because I get you, like, especially in a space where it's crowded, you got people getting in front of your camera.

You're like, I wanted people all up in my frame.

I get it.

But.

Or I don't want them to feel uncomfortable.

I think it's more about their comfort.

Like, if they get my frame, I don't care because I'm in a public space.

And I, like, I understand that.

That's what.

That's what I'm.

But to recap, everybody, these are the five Fs.

What are the five Fs for you?

What is something you want to take into the new year, leading into your next.

You know, how are you going to feed into those five Fs for yourself?

Recap is faith, family, fitness, finances, and fun.

I Hope all the Fs given today, it resonates with you and that if there's at least one thing within those five areas that you'd like to add into your 2026 and something that you like to remove from your 2026, tell us about it.

Yeah, I would love to know.

I think what excites me the most about this is that I get to connect with the viewers who are willing to listen and willing to share and build that relationship with us, because I. I want to hear it.

I want to hear it.

This is me building community for myself in 2026 as well, both in the fitness world and in the parent world, or not aspiring to be one.

Not yet.

Already have been one.

Seasoned parents, all of y'.

All.

You're all welcome.

And I want to hear.

We want to hear from you.

It's exchange.

It's exchange information.

You know, your network is your net worth.

I believe in that still.

So.

So with that, guys, we leave.

This is to parental exchange, and thank you for.

For sitting with us.